OSM Training Guide: How to Develop Players
Manager Guide · 2026-02-07 · 3 min
Most training advice circulating for OSM describes settings the game does not have: camp lengths to pick between, training intensity levels, a fitness-only mode. None of those exist. The real system is simpler — and stronger once you use it properly.
How Normal Training Works
The training screen gives you trainers split by position: attack, midfield, defence and goalkeeper. Each one works on players in his own specialty — the attacking coach on your forwards, the defensive coach on your defenders. You hand a player to the trainer that matches his position, wait out the timer, and claim the progression when it finishes. There is no intensity level to choose and no separate training type: the trainer's specialty *is* the position mapping.
What Age Changes
Age is the main thing deciding how much progression a session returns. The younger the player, the more he gains per session; the return falls off noticeably as he ages. The game's own event calendar confirms this from both directions — there are days that add extra progression for players up to 24, and separate days that add progression for older players. That the second one has to exist as its own event is the clearest sign that older players gain less by default.
The Universal Trainer
Alongside the normal trainers there is a separate one. The event calendar lists it apart from them and usually on a shorter timer — there are days where the normal trainers drop to 2 hours and it drops to 1. Beyond that timing difference we cannot verify a behavioural difference, so this guide does not invent a progression multiplier for it.
Training Camp — A Team-Level Mechanic
Training Camp is not a player-development tool. It is a squad-wide mechanic used before a match. It is not applied to individual players, does not vary with a player's age, and has no duration selector: there is no 'long camp', 'medium camp' or 'short camp' setting in the game. You get a limited number per league and the price rises with each use. So the real decision is not how to use it — it is which fixture you save it for.
Secret Training — Information Denial
Secret Training is not about development either. It stops your upcoming opponent getting at your tactical information: it blocks friendlies against you and closes off having your tactics read. It has nothing to do with player age and does not become 'risky' for older players — that was wrong on this page for a long time, and it is corrected here.
It cuts both ways. In a week your opponent uses it, you cannot reach his information either. If a Data Analyst report will not come through, or our Screenshot tool comes back empty for that fixture, this is usually why.
Where to Spend the Slots
Trainer slots are limited, so the real question is not how to train but who to train. Our approach: the youngest group first, then the prime-age players carrying your eleven. Past 28 we spend a slot only to push a starter up one level — the same slot buys more on a younger player. That is a priority preference, not a rule of the game. For finding the youngsters worth developing see the scout guide, and for squad planning as a whole the transfer guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How does training work in OSM?
- There are trainers split by position — attack, midfield, defence and goalkeeper. You hand a player to the trainer matching his position, wait out the timer and claim the progression when it finishes. There is no intensity level to pick and no fitness-only mode.
- Can I choose a camp length in OSM?
- No. There is no long camp, medium camp or short camp setting in the game. Training Camp is a single squad-wide mechanic used before a match, limited to a set number of uses per league, with the price rising each time.
- What does Secret Training do in OSM?
- It does not develop players. It stops your upcoming opponent reaching your tactical information — blocking friendlies against you and closing off having your tactics read. It is unrelated to player age and does not become risky for older players.
- Does age affect training in OSM?
- Yes — it is the main thing deciding how much progression a session returns. Younger players gain more per session and the return falls off with age. The event calendar confirms it from both ends, with separate days boosting under-24s and older players.
- How should I train an ageing squad in OSM?
- Give the slots to the youngest group first, and past 28 spend one only to push a starter up a level. That is OSM Next Level's approach to allocating a limited resource, not a rule of the game.