The Ultimate Football Manager

NormandyWept · August 17, 2015

NormandyWept -- you didn't alter your "scoreboard" at the bottom of your update to list your completion of the international side. You are still showing 4/5 on the Continentals.

Good spot! I quoted a previous club update, and so missed the international update which had happened since. I'll update with a quick edit now!

Hatton90 · August 17, 2015

Well i had well and truly fell out of love with this game in Russia..I think it was a mistake to settle for Lokomotiv as I think that I could have got a better job had i been patient. Turned the game on for the first time in a couple of weeks and it was transfer deadline day at the start of the season, and the board refused to give me any money, i leaked it to the press and they sacked me.

I'm kinda happy.

Will just look after Ghana until the World cup in 2022. Hopefully I will be more patient next time when it comes to club jobs. I hope that i persevere with this save as i really like this challenge and this community we have going.

jaysdailydose · August 17, 2015

Good spot! I quoted a previous club update, and so missed the international update which had happened since. I'll update with a quick edit now!

Glad I could help, sir!

jaysdailydose · August 17, 2015

Well i had well and truly fell out of love with this game in Russia..I think it was a mistake to settle for Lokomotiv as I think that I could have got a better job had i been patient. Turned the game on for the first time in a couple of weeks and it was transfer deadline day at the start of the season, and the board refused to give me any money, i leaked it to the press and they sacked me.
I'm kinda happy.

Will just look after Ghana until the World cup in 2022. Hopefully I will be more patient next time when it comes to club jobs. I hope that i persevere with this save as i really like this challenge and this community we have going.

Even if you feel you need to start a new save, don't think the community won't still support you. I've had to restart on a few occasions, and if anything, the community has been MORE supportive. And I'm absolutely loving my save and the level of immersion I have with it now.

No matter what you do, we will be here to support you! Best of luck whatever you decide!

TheEarl · August 19, 2015

Feeling a bit bored here at the moment, playing in Mexico is perhaps the most boring league I have played so far.

What are your thought on the best/poorest league or most/least fun?

My experience is that unlike most others I really enjoy Brazil, and wish I "could" have stayed there longer. I also enjoy club football far more than international football. But now I am trying out my luck again with Paraguay this time, trying to save their qualification to World Cup, and then hopefully have a shot at the next Copa America.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, but not giving up this challenge. Miss updates from guys like burtur a lot.

vikeologist · August 19, 2015

For me, its certainly difficult keeping committed to the challenge, because inevitably there will be times when you will enjoy a league / team less than a prior one. Its a marathon, and some parts of the course are through quicksand. Not feeling the love for my save at the moment. After Dortmund, Barcelona and AC Milan, I took a job at recent surprise champions Sochaux, but they're still a small club and hard to improve. With the above three clubs I adopted a slightly different (and more skill-dependant) tactic, and maybe my new guys simply aren't up to playing like Barca and Holland. It's troubling that my best central defender is a Dutch guy who almost never got into the squad even when he was younger and central defence was our Achilles heel. I hope that PSG have a vacancy soon and rescue me.

TheEarl · August 19, 2015

For me, its certainly difficult keeping committed to the challenge, because inevitably there will be times when you will enjoy a league / team less than a prior one. Its a marathon, and some parts of the course are through quicksand. Not feeling the love for my save at the moment. After Dortmund, Barcelona and AC Milan, I took a job at recent surprise champions Sochaux, but they're still a small club and hard to improve. With the above three clubs I adopted a slightly different (and more skill-dependant) tactic, and maybe my new guys simply aren't up to playing like Barca and Holland. It's troubling that my best central defender is a Dutch guy who almost never got into the squad even when he was younger and central defence was our Achilles heel. I hope that PSG have a vacancy soon and rescue me.

PSG will rescue in most cases, so keep my fingers crossed for you to get a job there. America (MEX) could be a good club to manage , they are one of 2-3 clubs in Mexico that are the best, but still Mexican league doesnt intruige me, and ofcourse the playing material compared to Man.City/PSG , but also Corinthians had some really nice players.

Hope after this season to tick off N.A.Champions League, and move back to Europe.

jaysdailydose · August 19, 2015

This was my last Cambridge Update, but I messed up editing for a new post.

jaysdailydose · August 19, 2015

December 19, 2017

The American Werewolf in Football, Jason Jackson, will continue his career with Sheffield United and hopefully ride that Royal House of Saud capital right back into the Premier League. I was given a £1.3M transfer budget to use in the upcoming January transfer window, with thoughts of a possible Sky Bet Championship title on our minds. We are in third place, but ten points off of the top spot. Obviously, I'm more concerned with getting us promoted and getting us to the financial promised land of the BPL, but we've got to put together a solid rest of the campaign to do so. The former manager, Karl Robinson left to take over ninth-placed Watford, also in the Championship. Unless Robinson didn't get along with the Board of Directors, it is kind of a head-scratcher. But hey, his loss is my gain.

It is so nice to actually move to a club with a very positive balance, as we currently have a club balance of £8,417,580 upon taking over the club. I'm very, very excited to take over at Sheffield United! As part of the requests to the board in the job interview, they agreed to upgrade our youth facilities and our junior coaching levels, as we are building through youth as part of our vision. Nice to work with executives that understand to build through youth, you MUST invest in your youth setup! Our youth facilities were already classified as "Good", so you can see they are taking winning seriously here!

TheEarl · August 20, 2015

The Earls Ultimate Football Manager Challenge

Season 2024/25 – America (MEX) / Paraguay

As mentioned before I won the Mexican league already in the Apertura Stage, but there was no good club to change for mid-season, and I was still to complete the N.A.Champions League, so it had to be a full season in Mexico.

Board expectations was a mess to look at with messages going for winning everything, but also mid-position position and quarter final, I didn't bother I wanted to win it all anyway.

I bought in a know player for me , Paulo from Corinthians to strengthen the midfield as we seemed to get a lot of injuries there, and also got a new physio that helped to some extent. The league stage of the Clausura went really well, winning 16 out of 17 games only loosing away to Santos Laguna. In the N.A.Champions League, we got DC United in the quarter final. A 2-0 win away was followed up by 3-1 at home, and total 5-1 aggregate score.

In the semi final we got main rival Monterrey from Mexico. We only managed a 1-1 draw away after both teams had a sending off. I felt a bit unsure for the first time before the return game at home, as we had 3 players missing the game due to suspensions. But 2 early goals secured a place in the final after 3-1 on aggregate to face Toluca. In the final itself we made everything easy for ourselves. Played at home in the first leg, and racked up 4 goals in the first 25 minutes. Eventually winning 5-1 at home and 2-1 away. 7-2 on aggregate and we where Champions League winners.

In the Clausura Playoffs we got Santos Laguna in the quarter final. The only team that beat us in the league stage, and we lost the away game again by 3-5. But winning 6-0 at home gave us a comfortable win in the end 9-5 on aggregate. Semi final against Chivas, and another defeat away by 0-1. 3-0 at home did the job though, and another final against Toluca. This time it was more closely contested we played 2-2 away and only won 1-0 at home to take the Clausura final by 3-2 on aggregate.

Star players:

Top goalscorer: Alan Pulido - 52 goals

Top performer: Jorge Arturo Bello - 7,88 Av.r.

Top assists: Javier Campos - 33 assists

Next up will be to try to find a European club again, hopefully in Germany or Spain as I need those nations, but Portugal could be fun also for the "tenth nation" needed.

I also got a job with Paraguay in february , they where 61st in the world rankings, and sitting in 6th position in the World Cup qualifying stage of South America. 7 games to go and we needed 5th position to secure playoffs or 4th for direct qualification. So far have only played 2 games, a 6-3 win at home to Uruguay, and a 3-3 draw away to Chile. This has brought us up to 40th position in the world rankings and 5th in the qualifying group.

--------------------------------------------

Challenges completed:

Club

5/10 top domestic leagues (Brazil,Italy,England,France, Mexico (Apertura/Clausura))

5/10 domestic cups (Italy,English FA, English League Cup, French League Cup, Brazil)

3/5 club continental championships (Europe, S.America, N.America)

1/1 club world championship (with Roma)

International

1/5 continental tournaments (Africa)

1/2 world tournaments (World Cup with France)

9 minor Trophies: FA Trophy (England), League Two (England), Johnstone Paint Trophy (England), Italian Super Cup, Euro Super Cup, European Nations League, French Champions Trophy, Europa League, Sao Paulo State Championship

Competitions won more than once: UEFA Champions League won twice (Roma 2 times). Brazilian Serie A won twice (International and Corinthians), Mexican League won both Apertura and Clausura (America MEX)

---------------------------------------------

Managerial career clubs:

2014/15 Bristol Rovers Played in Vanarama Conference, took over at 18th position, won FA Trophy, quarter final of Johnstone PT, reach 1st round proper of FA Cup. Finished 2nd in Vanarama Conference and got promoted. Manager of the month in Vanarama Conference 3 times.

2015/16 Bristol Rovers Played in League two, league winners, promoted (obviously), won Johnstone PT, reached 3rd round proper of FA Cup, and 1st round of League Cup. Left club at end of season. Manager of the year in League Two, Manager of the month in League Two 4 times.

2016/17 Brighton Played in Championship for the whole season, finished 2nd, reached 6th round of FA-Cup and 2nd round of League Cup, promoted. Manager of the year in Championship.

2017/18 Brighton Played in Premier League, left the club in march sitting in 11th position and knocked out of FA-Cup in 4th round and League Cup in 4th round, club finished 8th in Premier League with new manager.

2017/18 Wolfsburg Played in Bundesliga, took over club in march at 8th position and already out of DFB Pokal, finished 6th but was banned from Europa League due to failing FFP.

2018/19 Wolfsburg Played in Bundesliga, finished 2nd in the league to Schalke 04, but lost in the 3rd round of DFB Pokal to Dortmund. Left the club at the end of the season.

2019 Internacional Played in Brazilian Serie A. Took over after 7 games in 12th position, won the league (first club landmark), was already out of the cup, and lost in 2nd Preliminary round of Copa Sudamericana. Manager of the year in Brazilian Serie A.

2019/20 Roma Played in Serie A, took over in 13th and finished 2nd to Juventus, lost the TIM Cup final to Juventus, won UEFA Champions League. (second club landmark)

2020/21 Roma Played in Serie A, won the league (third club landmark), TIM Cup (fourth club landmark), Italian Super Cup, UEFA Champions League and Club World Championship (fifth club landmark), but lost Euro Super Cup to Arsenal. Manager of the year Serie A.

2021/22 Man.City Played in Premier League, won the league (sixth club landmark), FA-Cup (seventh club landmark), League Cup (eight club landmark), Euro Sup Cup, but lost the Champions League final on penalties to Chelsea. Manager of the year in Premier League, manager of the month 6 times.

2022/23 Paris SG Played in French Ligue 1, won the league (ninth club landmark), won French League Cup (tenth club landmark), lost 10th round of French Cup, knocked out in group stage of Champions League, but won Europa League, won Champions Trophy in France.

2023 Corinthians Played in Brazilian Serie A, took over in 5th, won the league, won the cup (eleventh club landmark), lost in quarter finals of Copa Libertadores.

2024 Corinthians Played in Sao Paulo State Championship, won the State Championship, won Copa Libertadores (twelfth club landmark), left the club in Brazilian Serie A as virtual league leaders after 8 games.

2024/25 America (MEX), Played in Liga MX, took over in Apertura Stage with 5 games to go in 2nd position. Won the Apertura League and the Apertura Playoffs (thirteenth club landmark). Won the Clausura League and Clausura Playoffs. Won the North American Champions League (fourteenth club landmark). Left the club at end of season.

Managerial career national teams:

2017 Ivory Coast Took over in march after nation had being knocked out at group stage of African Nations. Qualified easily for World Cup.

2018 Ivory Coast Took just 1 point in group stage of World Cup. Qualified easily for African Nations.

2019 Ivory Coast Won African Nations (first national landmark) then resigned from the job.

2020 France Took over in july after nation had being knocked out in 2nd round of UEFA Euro Nations. Won group stage of Nations League.

2021 France Won Nations League, qualified for World Cup with maximum points.

2022 France Won World Cup (second national landmark)

2022 Brazil lost Superclassico de Americas

2023 Brazil lost in quarter finals of Copa America, sacked.

2024 France joined but resigned without playing any games.

2025 Paraguay joined in 6th position of World Cup Qualifying, played 2 games currently in 5th position. Joined at 62nd position of World Rankings.

TheEarl · August 20, 2015

I won the next game with Paraguay 4-3 against Bolivia, and winning 7-0 against New Zealand in a friendly. As for club management, my choice fell down in the end to take over Ajax.

Hatton90 · August 20, 2015

After steering Ghana to 5th in the World Rankings, and top pot in the World Cup draw, I was confident of an easy draw. I didn't get it.

I got Chile (12th), Holland (16th) and Australia (34th) and that's the order of the fixtures aswell.

Board expects me to qualify for the second round. You never know what could happen.

NormandyWept · August 22, 2015

Season 2065/66 - Lazio

League | Schedule Part 1 & Part 2

Another year treading water at Lazio. We are progressing: early-season form in particular suggested that we would substantially improve our finish, and whilst 9th isn't a significant improvement, the overall play was much better.

I'd still jump at the chance to take a top job, but with my manager this old I feel it's better not to spend ages holidaying, and I'll see if we can sneak a Cup with Lazio as I continue to try and improve their fortunes.

Challenge Progress

Club

5/10 top domestic leagues (ARG, FRA, IND, KOR, USA)

6/10 domestic cups (AUS, BRA, FRA, IND, KOR, MEX)

4/5 club continental championships (Africa, Asia, N.Am., S.Am.)

1/1 club world championship

International

5/5 continental tournaments (Africa, Asia, Europe, N.Am., S.Am.)

2/2 world tournaments (WC, Confed.)

Seasons

CLUB CAREER
                               Leagues        Cups
Season        Club           1st      2nd    1st  2nd   Cont.   CWC   Other & Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15  RSA  Ajax CT        12th                                     Took over with 3 games remaining, in 15th
2015/16  RSA  Ajax CT                         R2   R1                 Sacked after 16 games, in 16th
2016/17  AUS  Wanderers       6th             QF
2017/18  AUS  Wanderers                       won                     Sacked after 22 games, in 10th
2018/19  IND  Dempo                           GS                      Sacked after 19 games, in 11th
2019/20  IND  Bengaluru       6th             SF   F
2020/21  IND  Bengaluru       2nd             won  F
2021/22  IND  Bengaluru       1st             GS   won  CC R2
2022/23  IND  Bengaluru       2nd             won  F    CL Q3E
2023/24  IND  Bengaluru                                 CC QF         Resigned after CC QF defeat/before league season
2024     KOR  Jeju            5th             SF
2025     KOR  Jeju            8th             SF
2026     KOR  Jeju            8th             QF
2027     KOR  Jeju                            QF                      Left for Pohang after 32 games, in 7th
2027     KOR  Pohang          5th             won                     Took over with 6 games remaining, in 5th
2028     KOR  Pohang                                    CL GS         Sacked after 16 games, in 5th
2028     KOR  Jeonbuk         5th             SF                      Took over with 20 games remaining, in 7th
2029     KOR  Jeonbuk                         R4                      Sacked after 35 games, in 7th
2030     KOR  Jeju                                                    Left for Wellington after 16 games, in 4th
2030/31  AUS  Wellington     10th
2031/32  AUS  Wellington     10th
2032/33  AUS  Wellington      7th
2033/34  AUS  Wellington                                              Left for Perth after 4 games, in 6th
2033/34  AUS  Perth           9th                                     Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th
2034/35  AUS  Perth           7th
2035/36  AUS  Perth           5th/SF
2036/37  AUS  Perth                                                   Left for Seoul after 12 games, in 2nd
2037     KOR  Seoul           1st             SF        CL won  3rd
2038/39  MEX  Chivas          6th/SF  3rd/ F  QF  won
2039/40  MEX  Chivas         11th     2nd/QF            CL won
2041     USA  New York        1st/won         R4
2042     BRA  Internacional   5th     1st/won won                     Reached 1,000 games in management
2043     BRA  Internacional           1st/won SF        CL QF         Left for Lanus after 34 national games, in 7th
2044     ARG  Lanus           6th             R5        CS P2E
2045     ARG  Lanus                           R5                      Left for Velez after 15 games, in 11th
2045     ARG  Velez           4th/1st                   CS QF    F    Took over with 14 games remaining, in 1st
2046     ARG  Velez           5th/4th         R7        CL won   won
2047     ARG  Velez           1st             R7        CL QF
2049/50  FRA  Monaco          4th             F   R4    EL GS         Sacked after final game of season
2050/51  ITA  Inter           4th             F         EL KR2
2051/52  ITA  Inter                                                   Sacked after 16 games, in 14th
2051/52  ITA  Lazio           8th                                     Took over with 21 games remaining, in 12th
2052/53  ITA  Lazio                                                   Sacked after 5 games, in 17th
2054/55  RSA  Wits           10th                 R1                  Took over with 12 games remaining, in 13th
2055/56  RSA  Wits                            R1  R1    CL won   5th  Left for Valencia after 29 games, in 8th
2056/57  ESP  Valencia        7th             R5        EL GS         Sacked after final game of season
2057/58  FRA  Monaco          3rd             SF  F     EL won
2058/59  FRA  Monaco          2nd             SF  R4    EL F
2059/60  FRA  Monaco          1st             won QF    CL R1
2060/61  ITA  Roma            3rd             R1        CL QF
2061/62  ITA  Roma            3rd             R1        CL GS
2062/63  ITA  Roma            3rd             F         EL F          Reached 2,000 games in management
2063/64  ITA  Roma                            QF        CL QF         Resigned after 33 games, in 8th
2064/65  ITA  Lazio          10th             R1
2065/65  ITA  Lazio            9th            QF

INTERNATIONAL CAREER

                        Rank         Cups
Year  Nation           FIFA  NL   World  Cont. Conf. Other & Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2032  Saudi Arabia      12                           Joined 11th Jul, 29th in FIFA Rankings
2033  Saudi Arabia      25
2034  Saudi Arabia      49         GS
2035  Saudi Arabia                        won        Resigned 4th Feb, 38th in FIFA Rankings
2036  Norway            61   C                       Joined 27th Jul, 54th in FIFA Rankings
2037  Norway            57
2038  Norway            44   B
2039  Norway            39                           Resigned 14th Nov, 39th in FIFA Rankings
2042  Tunisia           36                           Joined 20th Jul, 42nd in FIFA Rankings
2043  Tunisia                             GS         Resigned 27th Jan, 37th in FIFA Rankings
2047  South Africa      22                           Joined 17th Feb, 10th in FIFA Rankings
2048  South Africa      19
2049  South Africa                        won        Resigned 7th Feb, 19th in FIFA Rankings
2049  USA               14                           Joined 1st Aug, 9th in FIFA Rankings
2050  USA               19         GS
2051  USA                                 won        Resigned 30th Jul, 31st in FIFA Rankings
2052  Spain              9                           Joined 21st Jul, 7th in FIFA Rankings
2053  Spain             10  won                      Reached 1,500 games in management
2054  Spain              1         won               Left for Brazil 2nd Aug, 1st in FIFA Rankings
2054  Brazil            14                           Joined 3rd Aug, 13th in FIFA Rankings
2055  Brazil            15                GS
2056  Brazil             2
2057  Brazil             6
2058  Brazil                       R1                Sacked 15th Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings
2058  Spain              8   A                       Joined 21st Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings
2059  Spain             18
2060  Spain              2                won
2061  Spain                 won                 won  Resigned 9th Jul, 2nd in FIFA Rankings
2062  Brazil             6                           Joined 23rd Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings
2063  Brazil                              won        Resigned 7th Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings

Wheresmyspacebar! · August 22, 2015

Damn Normandy.

Is Lazio that far behind Roma/Juventus atm? Jesus.

Im sure if you stick it out a couple more years, you'll be able to build your team up.

Youve only got a few more leagues to go!! Keep it up

(Currently writing my update in a new post, gonna be a biggish one)

Wheresmyspacebar! · August 22, 2015

Wheresmyspacebars Challenge, Take2.

Season 2021/22

Soooooo.

The mighty mighty PSG!

As i said, i left Madrid in a good spot, to look elsewhere (Was actually hopefull for PSG/Bayern or Juventus).

It then turned out, that Low was potentially leaving PSG to take the vacant spot. A week later and it had happened.

PSG was open, i applied and with my credentials, i honestly dont think i was in any point to remotely not get it.

And i did, looking at the team and the league, it was nice to see PSG had won the last 9 League titles (The previous year by a landslide). Somehow though, they hadnt won the Cups in a while, hopefully i could change that.

Ligue 1

After winning 9-1 to OM in the French Champions Trophy, I had to replay them away, a week later.

I walked out 7-0 winners against what is the current 2nd best team in the country.

I then went on to win every game bar 1 loss in the league (Including cups) and pretty much wrapped the league up by christmas.

After Xmas, i kept up the charge and walked out winners by the biggest landslide in the past 3 years.

Raiding Real Madrid for the best RB in the game ATM for £35M and a steal of Ronaldo for a easy £4M (Who scored 34 goals at age 37) early on in the season helped me out a ton.

With Xmas transfers being around and being the richest team in the world (With a £200M++ budget, i brought Raheem Sterling in for a record £140M + £80M clauses to just make my team even more powerful).

So, i walked out with 36W, 1D and a solitary loss, with another big league in my bag.

French Cup

Nothing much to note.

An easy walk through to the final, with no real big teams to play.

I got a 4-0 victory in the final to take a domestic double. (Triple including the shield)

European Champions Cup

So, a championship im not really focusing on anymore (Why do i need to...)

I used this mainly to rest key players (Ronaldo/De Bruyne/Depay) and see what happened.

I walked the group stages.

Then made my way through to the Semi Finals against Barcalona.

After winning 2-1 away, i went into the 2nd tie with a very weak team (With the French Cup final coming up.)

I got destroyed 5-2 at home. Probably my worst result of my career so far and Barcalona knocked us out.

Moving On?

Anyway, after winning the League and Cup with PSG, i left sharpish.

Fortunately (Not sure why it happened) Gelsenkirchen were after a new manager.

After 2 title wins in the last 5 years, (2nd in the other 3) as well as being current champions, i just had to take them on.

The other options i had were mid table italians or a low lvl MLS team.

Anyway, since taking over, ive brought in Ronaldo from PSG for a low price of £1.8Million.

Hopefully i can help them defend the title but we'll see what happens.

Internationals

So, after the last update, i mentioned id managed to swing the Spain Job.

After i started managing in Spain as well, i dont know whether that made any impact but regardless, im happy.

Spain with 5th when i took over, with an aging squad and actually not that many young players that were useful which is surprising.

Anyway, with WC Qualifiers coming up.

I walked them, 9W and a Draw. 50Goals for and only 6 against.

Placed into GroupC with Turkey (15th), Ecuador (17th) and Iran (59th)

It started off with a nice easy game against Iran. I rested a couple of stars and still walked out 6-1 victors.

My next game against Ecuador, i went out all guns blazing and won 6-2 (putting myself and Turkey on 6 points each).

Definitely my hardest game came next. I managed to swing what turnt out badly, going 1-0 down at half time, to win 3-1 and progress.

The main issue? Argentina (Ranked 2nd) had had a bad group stage and was now my opponent in the 2nd round.

Second Round

After going a goal down. Again.

I managed to pull one back before half time and run out 3-1 winners in the end.

My QF game would be against the Mighty Germany.

Quarter Final

Definitely a LOT closer game.

Nothing much to report though. I managed to get an early 1-0 lead and then i decided to go a lot more defensive.

This worked out well and i was through to the SFs against Brazil.

Semi Final

So, this was down to be a close game. For obvious reasons. Its brazil.

At half time, i was getting worried, a lot closer than i had wished but i changed formations to be a bit more offensive and hoped id get a goal with a fresh Diego Costa.

Brazil made it easier, having a player sent off 2 minutes into the 2nd time.

With that, i walked into the final for a clash against fierce Rivals France, who i had 1L and 1D against in my Spain Career.

Final of the World Cup 2022

I went out with what was my strongest, fittest side.

Resting my star player so far (Azpilecuita) as he was down to very low fitness.

It was definitely a very close match.

Honestly, i was so worried. The internationals worry me in this challenge because of how little they come around.

Winning 2-0 in the final is such a big thing for me though and especially with a team like spain.

I was ranked 3rd in terms of winning the tournament and i did have a big big challenge through the KOs but my team did well and im very happy with what happened.

Im going to stick with Spain because obviously i want to win the Confederations Cup which will be played just after the European Championships (Which spain lsot to france on penalties 2 years prior.) so hopefully i can knock both world championships with Spain and the european side.

Managerial career:

[u]Domestic[/u]

2014/15: Baronovici. Finished 8th in the Belarusian First League and reached the QFs of the Belarusian Cup.
2015/16: Baronovici. Finished 2nd in the Belarusian First League, Promoted and reached the 3rd round of the Belarusian Cup
2016/17: Baronovici. Finished 1st in the Belarusian Highest League, also won the Belarusian Cup and the Super Cup
2017/18: Southampton. Finished 3rd in the English Premier League. Reached the 3rd round of the FA cup and the QFs of the Capital One cup
2018/19: Southampton. Finished 1st in the English Premier League. Won the FA and Capital One Cup. Knocked out in the 1st round of the Champions League
2019: Corinthians. Finished 1st in the Brazilian First League. Won the Brazilian Cup and the Copa Libertadines, as well as the World Cup Championship
2019/20: Sparta Prague. Won the Czech First Division.
2020/21: Real Madrid. Finished 1st in the Spanish League. Won the Spanish Cup and the European Champions Cup.
2021/22: PSG Finished 1st in Ligue 1. Won the French Champions Trophy and the French Cup.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[u]International[/u]

2014/15: Malaysia U23. Reached the QFs of the Asian Games
2015/16: Haiti. Reached the 3rd round qualifications for WC
2016/17: Haiti. Reached the 4th round Quals for WC, Won the Carribean Cup, ranking up to 89th from 105th
2017/18:
2018/19:
2019/20: Cape Verde.
2020/21: Spain. 5th In World
2021/22: Spain. Up to 1st in World, won the World Cup.

Challenges completed:

Club

6/10 top domestic leagues (Belarus, England, Brazil, Czech Republic, Spain, France)

6/10 domestic cups (Belarusian Cup, FA Cup, Capital One Cup, Brazilian Cup, Spanish Cup, French Cup)

2/5 club continental championships (Copa Liber, European Champions Cup)

1/1 club world championship (Won as Corinthians)

International

0/5 continental tournaments

1/2 world tournaments (WC won as Spain)

Other Cups: Super Cup (Belarus/Baronovichi) / Carribean Cup (Haiti) / French Champions Trophy (PSG)

NormandyWept · August 22, 2015

Damn Normandy. Is Lazio that far behind Roma/Juventus atm? Jesus.
Im sure if you stick it out a couple more years, you'll be able to build your team up.

Youve only got a few more leagues to go!! Keep it up

Yeah, Lazio are way off the pace. Some of it's my fault, but also the slide to a mid-table team has meant that there really isn't money to spend, and a lot of top players of course don't want to miss out on European football.

It's a World Cup year, so maybe there's a shortcut? But if not, Lazio are getting stronger. We have some great young players and don't need too many transfers ahead of what should be another stronger campaign. I hope it isn't just one league place a time though or it may take a while!!

(Currently writing my update in a new post, gonna be a biggish one)

Gratz on a fantastic season with PSG, and for already getting Ronaldo to move with you to Schalke. Hopefully another league title is in order?

ashton321 · August 23, 2015

Dalkurd - Season Review 2015

Dalkurd FF

So my first club in this challenge meant I was off to Sweden.

I was offered a job with Dalkurd who operate in the third league of the Swedish football, I am amazed to have been given a league in any that is not the bottom so I happily took on the challenge.

When I took the team over they were bottom of the league after 6 games and seemingly in dire straights. For some reason the powers that be felt it was me who could lead them to glory.

I began my tenure in charge with two decent wins which I think is a first for me. I then began a bit of an up and down year as I would win a couple pick up a draw then lose a game. It seemed that consistency was not going to happen for me. I continued in this vein till then end of the year where a bit of bad form removed any remote chance I had of picking up the final play off spot to be promoted. I think that may have been a little early for us anyway.

In the cups we had a tremendous 8-0 win over a team below before we pushed a top flight team close in a 1-0 defeat to go out in the 2nd round.

In terms of next year. I am almost certain I will stay here as my reputation is not amazing at the moment so I cannot really go anywhere else. I am little concerned about my wage budget as I am a over it at the moment, I am hoping the new year will allow me a bigger budget to keep the players I have but also to sign a few new faces. I honestly think with a couple of additions we may push for promotion next year.

League

Career Summary


Season     Team          League          	  Position         Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015     Dalkurd       Swedish 1st Div N           6th               N/A

Trophy Cabinet

jaysdailydose · August 23, 2015

Sheffield United

Things did NOT go well. I was hired just before Christmas, and sacked before the end of March. Was supposed to keep them in the Playoffs of the Championship, but we had slipped to tenth, although we were less than 5 points off the playoff pace. They gave me an ultimatum to win the next game, against Watford at their place... we were 4-6 dogs, and managed a draw... it wasn't good enough. I don't really think I got a fair shake, as the squad was just on the verge of a breakout, which they showed by winning their last five matches after my dismissal to make the Playoffs, where they were ultimately defeated by Blackpool in the Final.

My transfer business in that short time should benefit them for years. I brought in AMC Kostas Fortounis from Greece on a free... and within five matches he was worth £8.5M. All told, the best three players I brought in now have the highest valuation on their squad. £16M in valuation off three free transfers. I think that should have saved me, if nothing else, but it wasn't to be.

I'm back on the job hunt hardcore, I would much prefer to have a real preseason to get my system in play. I'm also not going to be interested in any more places that want me to "Play direct soccer" or "Make the most of set pieces." I really don't like playing direct unless there is a very good reason... (Like when I was with Cambridge and they refused to relay the pitch for three seasons.)

Oh well, I never figured I'd get through this challenge unscathed, but I can't lie and say I'm not disappointed. But, we'll shake it off, and get back on the gaffer horse as soon as we can.

jaysdailydose · August 23, 2015

Ashton321 -

Welcome to the challenge, and best of luck to you! You'll love our little community of challengers!!

ashton321 · August 23, 2015

Cheers jay, any ideas where to next mate? I am enjoying my game thus far just started the season

BustaRaymes · August 23, 2015

SPORTING KANSAS CITY

2025 report

Competitions: http://imgur.com/l5MqMni

We didn't do as well as last season, but I'm still satisfied. We retained the Supporter Shield and reached the final of the MLS playoffs. Halfway through the season there was a huge dip in form, but an 8 game win streak put us back in the top spot. The loss in that final game is just a minor upset, as I already completed that part of the challenge. We were unluky to go out in the cup, I really underestimated second league SA Scorpions and we got knocked out hard. But the main reason for playing this season was to qualify for the quarter finals of the NACL, which we did fairly easy.

Squad: http://imgur.com/7n5Tr5I

Instead of the schedule I decided to throw in the squad for a change. You'll notice the MLS record-breaking average of Malaga-loanee Alfaro, the goal tallys of Phil Denny, unskilled but supersub Matthew Gutiérrez and my very own CR7-style winger Klasanovic, and the solid performances throughout the whole first team. I only had to replace last season's star midfielder Torres, and got Klasanovic, Ressureiçao and Arnaud to strengthen the squad. Most of the other players are fringe players who are young and just good enough to do their job when I need a replacement. Outside of the first 11, I only really used Ressureiçao and Zayat regularly, the rest only plays during injuries or to take off tired players. I'm really happy with my team, we score goals pretty easily and don't let in too many.

Star Players:

Mirzet Klasanovic http://imgur.com/FePZaA4

The big buy of the season, he started out a bit mediocre but scored some important goals near the end of the season. Surprisingly, there's only been some slight interest from other MLS clubs and it's not hard to hold them off.

Victor Alfaro http://imgur.com/WCv1FAO

I hoped he would make the same impact as Torres did, but he did even better. He broke the assist and average record while firing in some free kicks himself too. I tried to hold on to him for one more season and Malaga accepted, but he wants to leave. So again, I need a creative midfielder. Got my eye on an awesome Swede, Lundh.

Now what?

The NACL QF are played in the second week of february, a month before the MLS kiks off, and I'm going to play Santos Laguna. So I have to play a huge Mexican side halfway through the pre-season games. I've already built up the opponents towards that first match but it's not ideal as I expect to lose some players. Phil Denny is 32 and although he scores a lot of goals, Ressureiçao and Klasanovic are better options for his position. Cody Cropper is the best goalie in the US but he wants to try his luck in Europe, multiple Premier League clubs show an interest in Alan Graham, and I expect some interest in Arnaud, Kingo, Ryan and Klasanovic. If a European clus wants them, it's going to be really hard to hold on to them. Expecially Ryan, who's only 21 but already a regular in the USA national side. During recent weeks, some Dutch (probably my next stop) squads showed some interest in me. It's going to be hard to reject those when I get knocked out of the NACL. But I'm really enjoying my time in the MLS, and I might just want to play on for another shot at the cup and/or NACL. As always; we'll see.

jaysdailydose · August 23, 2015

Cheers jay, any ideas where to next mate? I am enjoying my game thus far just started the season

Well, I am trying not to have to move out of the Championship, but honestly no jobs have become available and the season is back in swing again. I absolutely hate taking over midseason because of how long it takes to get a fluid tactic, but I guess you have to play the hand you're dealt.

I did apply for a lower Ligue 1 job in France, but it's still inspiring laughter. I'm still not even five years into the challenge, so I've got time to be patient, in my humble opinion. I would like to get started making some accomplishments, but I've got to make sure its the right situation as well... I don't see getting into another situation where direct play is a necessity being of benefit to me, for example.

I will definitely make a short post once I've gotten into another job, I just didn't want to make a full update as there wasn't much to tell, really. Definitely not anything good.

EDIT: For reference, I'm going to whip up a season update and I'll just cut and paste my quick update earlier into it, for posterity's sake.

jaysdailydose · August 23, 2015

An American Werewolf in Football!

Sheffield United 2017-18

Profile

Things did NOT go well. I was hired just before Christmas, and sacked before the end of March. Was supposed to keep them in the Playoffs of the Championship, but we had slipped to tenth, although we were less than 5 points off the playoff pace. They gave me an ultimatum to win the next game, against Watford at their place... we were 4-6 dogs, and managed a draw... it wasn't good enough. I don't really think I got a fair shake, as the squad was just on the verge of a breakout, which they showed by winning their last five matches after my dismissal to make the Playoffs, where they were ultimately defeated by Blackpool in the Final.

My transfer business in that short time should benefit them for years. I brought in AMC Kostas Fortounis from Greece on a free... and within five matches he was worth £8.5M. All told, the best three players I brought in now have the highest valuation on their squad. £16M in valuation off three free transfers. I think that should have saved me, if nothing else, but it wasn't to be.

I'm back on the job hunt hardcore, I would much prefer to have a real preseason to get my system in play. I'm also not going to be interested in any more places that want me to "Play direct soccer" or "Make the most of set pieces." I really don't like playing direct unless there is a very good reason... (Like when I was with Cambridge and they refused to relay the pitch for three seasons.)

Oh well, I never figured I'd get through this challenge unscathed, but I can't lie and say I'm not disappointed. But, we'll shake it off, and get back on the gaffer horse as soon as we can.

Progress

Club

0/10 top domestic leagues

0/10 domestic cups

0/5 club continental championships

0/1 club world championship

International

0/5 continental tournaments

0/2 world tournaments

[b]CLUB

Season        Nation/Club/League        League                                     Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b]
[b]2014/15       ENG/Cambridge/L2           18th                     Took over after 17 matches in 22nd place
2015/16       ENG/Cambridge/L2            1st                       Promoted as Champions of League Two
2016/17       ENG/Cambridge/L1            8th                  Predicted to finish 23rd, biggest overachievers
2017/18       ENG/Sheff Utd/SBC           DNF                Took Over December in 3rd, Sacked in March in 10th[/b]


[b]
International

Season        Nation          Highest Ranking                            Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/b]
[b]2014/15 
2015/16
2016/17
2017/18[/b]   

[b]Additional Non-Achievement Trophies: Sky Bet League Two Champion (2015-16), Sky Bet League Two Manager of the Year (2015-16)[/b]

jaysdailydose · August 23, 2015

October 13, 2018

We have been hired on at Bristol City on October 13, 2018. We are currently dead last in the table with only 6 points from 11 matches!! The club has a very positive bank balance at just over £9M, so our finances are very secure. We have been granted a £1.4M transfer budget and £235K per week in wages. The expectations I agreed to were "above mid table" but I'm thinking they will rehash this expectation once I am fully installed in the job, as I am just going through initial meetings currently.

Club philosophies this time are right up my alley: Play attacking soccer, and I asked to play possession soccer. We're also going to be building through youth signings and our youth system. As long as I can figure out what has the rot set in, I am excited to be part of Bristol City!

BustaRaymes · August 23, 2015

jaysdailydose Sounds like a doable job to repair what happened there with that transfer budget, right? I always find that after a few seasons there are more than enough decent players available on a free, and even if you need a lot of players, there's room enough to push some of the transfer funds into wages. Good luck!

TheEarl · August 24, 2015

jaysdailydose Sounds like a doable job to repair what happened there with that transfer budget, right? I always find that after a few seasons there are more than enough decent players available on a free, and even if you need a lot of players, there's room enough to push some of the transfer funds into wages. Good luck!

Have you been at Sporting Kansas all career BustaRaymes?

jaysdailydose · August 24, 2015

jaysdailydose Sounds like a doable job to repair what happened there with that transfer budget, right? I always find that after a few seasons there are more than enough decent players available on a free, and even if you need a lot of players, there's room enough to push some of the transfer funds into wages. Good luck!

You would think, unless they do me like they did at Sheffield (3 months) and I barely make it to the window... but yeah, I was able to add £16M in valuation to that Sheffield roster off frees... they are off to a crap start, though. New manager brought in players I wouldn't have even thought of after that little run at the end of my tenure... they got older in the offseason. That's never a good thing, and that's why they are in 18th and dude that replaced me has already been sacked.

ashton321 · August 24, 2015

Dalkurd - Season Review 2015

Dalkurd FF

I felt that going into this year, I would need to add a few new faces to try and challenge for the league. I added a couple of new guys, mainly a midfield general and a new defender a lot of my targets would not join me as I could not offer the wages that they were after. After loosing a couple of players, I kinda felt that I had a very similar squad from the year before.

I began the year well enough grabbing a few decent wins in which I quickly ran to the top of the league. This year was similar to the last season in that consistency was the magic word for me and any other team. We continued to keep a fairly consistent string of results in the first three quarters of the year as we staked our claim for the title.

We then hit a brick wall after we lost in the first round of the cup. This moved into our league form and we lost a few on the bounce and moved out of the promotion picture.

We had to hit back and hit back we did, we strung a winning run together and moved into the second spot in the league. A nervy last day lead us to the promotion playoff. We won this easily and I had been promoted.

In terms of whats next for me. I decided that I had enough of the this team. I know have a National reputation so I hope that I can move to more reputable Swedish side or possible to a decent team abroad. I do not feel that I will be able to kick on with the small budget here in the higher league.

League

Career Summary


Season     Team          League          	  Position         Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015     Dalkurd       Swedish 1st Div N           6th               N/A
2016     Darlkurd      Swedish 1st Div N           2nd              Promotion

Trophy Cabinet

I left Dalkurd in January 2016. I did not expect to be out of work for a whole year but I was before a very good sized club came in for me.

Valenciennes FC

This will be the next club for me and I feel a really good step up as the French 2nd Division is better than the Swedish 2nd. The club have not been great these last few seasons finishing midtable in the second division after 7 years in Ligue 1

This year they are 12th and looking for a midtable finish. The Finances are awful and look like being 5mil in the red by the end of the year so that will be a challenge. One I am willing to take on though.

NormandyWept · August 25, 2015

Season 2066/67 - Juventus

League | Schedule Part 1 , Part 2 & Part 3

Raffaele Basile had enjoyed a spectacular career as Juventus's manager, and when he retired from football in the summer of 2066 I saw my opportunity to finally escape the ingrained mediocrity of SS Lazio. I was soon unveiled as his successor, and therefore something of Italian football's David Moyes: I certainly have grey hair, I've definitely been managing a midtable side with aspirations of better despite a limited budget, and I was stepping into some massive shoes: even the stadium of Juventus is named after the all-conquering Basile.

I say "all-conquering", but actually Juventus had been usurped by first AC Milan and then AS Roma in recent years at the top of Italian football. With a five-year gap since their last title win, their objectives aligned with my own personal ones for this challenge: get their trophy back.

To that end, I wasn't *too* disappointed when Barcelona spectacularly turned around our two-goal lead from the first leg of our Champions League last-16 fixture. We refocused on domestic football, to devastating effect for our rivals. The summer signings of a couple of veteran wingers (Guillermo Amoroso, returning to Europe for one last time from Corinthians having earlier starred for PSG, my former Spain international team star Dario Pjaca, and a player I'd sold from Roma previously in Yesid Lopez acquired for a total of just £6.8m) paid off in great style as we led Serie A for much of the campaign, although a tendency to lose (sometimes even heavily!) whenever we had the chance to pull more than 3 points clear certainly kept it interesting and only a great late-season run set up the opportunity to finally claim my elusive Scudetto with one game to spare.

Alongside that, we advanced confidently to the Coppa Italia Final, even defeating Roma en route, and put in a fine performance to win 2-0 against AC Milan and claim a domestic double that seemed the stuff of dreams during my Lazio reign. Without a doubt this was the most fun season I've played in the past few! To make it even more satisfying, Lazio spent most of the season in the relegation zone, dragged themselves clear with two games to go, and then capitulated again to stunningly be demoted to Serie B. Maybe I'd been doing really well with them after all!

Italy is finally finished. Germany, Spain, England and A.N. Other remain. Let's see which big job is available next...

Challenge Progress

Club

6/10 top domestic leagues (ARG, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, USA)

7/10 domestic cups (AUS, BRA, FRA, IND, ITA, KOR, MEX)

4/5 club continental championships (Africa, Asia, N.Am., S.Am.)

1/1 club world championship

International

5/5 continental tournaments (Africa, Asia, Europe, N.Am., S.Am.)

2/2 world tournaments (WC, Confed.)

Seasons

CLUB CAREER
                               Leagues        Cups
Season        Club           1st      2nd    1st  2nd   Cont.   CWC   Other & Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014/15  RSA  Ajax CT        12th                                     Took over with 3 games remaining, in 15th
2015/16  RSA  Ajax CT                         R2   R1                 Sacked after 16 games, in 16th
2016/17  AUS  Wanderers       6th             QF
2017/18  AUS  Wanderers                       won                     Sacked after 22 games, in 10th
2018/19  IND  Dempo                           GS                      Sacked after 19 games, in 11th
2019/20  IND  Bengaluru       6th             SF   F
2020/21  IND  Bengaluru       2nd             won  F
2021/22  IND  Bengaluru       1st             GS   won  CC R2
2022/23  IND  Bengaluru       2nd             won  F    CL Q3E
2023/24  IND  Bengaluru                                 CC QF         Resigned after CC QF defeat/before league season
2024     KOR  Jeju            5th             SF
2025     KOR  Jeju            8th             SF
2026     KOR  Jeju            8th             QF
2027     KOR  Jeju                            QF                      Left for Pohang after 32 games, in 7th
2027     KOR  Pohang          5th             won                     Took over with 6 games remaining, in 5th
2028     KOR  Pohang                                    CL GS         Sacked after 16 games, in 5th
2028     KOR  Jeonbuk         5th             SF                      Took over with 20 games remaining, in 7th
2029     KOR  Jeonbuk                         R4                      Sacked after 35 games, in 7th
2030     KOR  Jeju                                                    Left for Wellington after 16 games, in 4th
2030/31  AUS  Wellington     10th
2031/32  AUS  Wellington     10th
2032/33  AUS  Wellington      7th
2033/34  AUS  Wellington                                              Left for Perth after 4 games, in 6th
2033/34  AUS  Perth           9th                                     Took over with 23 games remaining, in 10th
2034/35  AUS  Perth           7th
2035/36  AUS  Perth           5th/SF
2036/37  AUS  Perth                                                   Left for Seoul after 12 games, in 2nd
2037     KOR  Seoul           1st             SF        CL won  3rd
2038/39  MEX  Chivas          6th/SF  3rd/ F  QF  won
2039/40  MEX  Chivas         11th     2nd/QF            CL won
2041     USA  New York        1st/won         R4
2042     BRA  Internacional   5th     1st/won won                     Reached 1,000 games in management
2043     BRA  Internacional           1st/won SF        CL QF         Left for Lanus after 34 national games, in 7th
2044     ARG  Lanus           6th             R5        CS P2E
2045     ARG  Lanus                           R5                      Left for Velez after 15 games, in 11th
2045     ARG  Velez           4th/1st                   CS QF    F    Took over with 14 games remaining, in 1st
2046     ARG  Velez           5th/4th         R7        CL won   won
2047     ARG  Velez           1st             R7        CL QF
2049/50  FRA  Monaco          4th             F   R4    EL GS         Sacked after final game of season
2050/51  ITA  Inter           4th             F         EL KR2
2051/52  ITA  Inter                                                   Sacked after 16 games, in 14th
2051/52  ITA  Lazio           8th                                     Took over with 21 games remaining, in 12th
2052/53  ITA  Lazio                                                   Sacked after 5 games, in 17th
2054/55  RSA  Wits           10th                 R1                  Took over with 12 games remaining, in 13th
2055/56  RSA  Wits                            R1  R1    CL won   5th  Left for Valencia after 29 games, in 8th
2056/57  ESP  Valencia        7th             R5        EL GS         Sacked after final game of season
2057/58  FRA  Monaco          3rd             SF  F     EL won
2058/59  FRA  Monaco          2nd             SF  R4    EL F
2059/60  FRA  Monaco          1st             won QF    CL R1
2060/61  ITA  Roma            3rd             R1        CL QF
2061/62  ITA  Roma            3rd             R1        CL GS
2062/63  ITA  Roma            3rd             F         EL F          Reached 2,000 games in management
2063/64  ITA  Roma                            QF        CL QF         Resigned after 33 games, in 8th
2064/65  ITA  Lazio          10th             R1
2065/65  ITA  Lazio           9th             QF
2066/67  ITA  Juventus        1st             won       CL R1

INTERNATIONAL CAREER

                        Rank         Cups
Year  Nation           FIFA  NL   World  Cont. Conf. Other & Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2032  Saudi Arabia      12                           Joined 11th Jul, 29th in FIFA Rankings
2033  Saudi Arabia      25
2034  Saudi Arabia      49         GS
2035  Saudi Arabia                        won        Resigned 4th Feb, 38th in FIFA Rankings
2036  Norway            61   C                       Joined 27th Jul, 54th in FIFA Rankings
2037  Norway            57
2038  Norway            44   B
2039  Norway            39                           Resigned 14th Nov, 39th in FIFA Rankings
2042  Tunisia           36                           Joined 20th Jul, 42nd in FIFA Rankings
2043  Tunisia                             GS         Resigned 27th Jan, 37th in FIFA Rankings
2047  South Africa      22                           Joined 17th Feb, 10th in FIFA Rankings
2048  South Africa      19
2049  South Africa                        won        Resigned 7th Feb, 19th in FIFA Rankings
2049  USA               14                           Joined 1st Aug, 9th in FIFA Rankings
2050  USA               19         GS
2051  USA                                 won        Resigned 30th Jul, 31st in FIFA Rankings
2052  Spain              9                           Joined 21st Jul, 7th in FIFA Rankings
2053  Spain             10  won                      Reached 1,500 games in management
2054  Spain              1         won               Left for Brazil 2nd Aug, 1st in FIFA Rankings
2054  Brazil            14                           Joined 3rd Aug, 13th in FIFA Rankings
2055  Brazil            15                GS
2056  Brazil             2
2057  Brazil             6
2058  Brazil                       R1                Sacked 15th Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings
2058  Spain              8   A                       Joined 21st Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings
2059  Spain             18
2060  Spain              2                won
2061  Spain                 won                 won  Resigned 9th Jul, 2nd in FIFA Rankings
2062  Brazil             6                           Joined 23rd Jul, 6th in FIFA Rankings
2063  Brazil                              won        Resigned 7th Jul, 8th in FIFA Rankings

TheEarl · August 25, 2015

Congrats NW just 8 more landmarks and you are finally done!!!

BustaRaymes · August 25, 2015

Have you been at Sporting Kansas all career BustaRaymes?

No, went through Hong Kong (Kitchee), South Korea (Suwon), China (Renhe), Brazil (Portuguesa) and Colombia (Nacional). Aside from Kitchee I haven't had the success I hoped for at those clubs, so my tally (2 leagues, 2 cups) is a bit low. But I enjoy Kansas, so I'm going for another shot at the NACL, and after that I'm going for Europe to grow my reputation so I should be able to join the biggest clubs in the other continents.

TheEarl · August 25, 2015

No, went through Hong Kong (Kitchee), South Korea (Suwon), China (Renhe), Brazil (Portuguesa) and Colombia (Nacional). Aside from Kitchee I haven't had the success I hoped for at those clubs, so my tally (2 leagues, 2 cups) is a bit low. But I enjoy Kansas, so I'm going for another shot at the NACL, and after that I'm going for Europe to grow my reputation so I should be able to join the biggest clubs in the other continents.

Best of luck BustaRaymes...

TheEarl · August 26, 2015

The Earls Ultimate Football Manager Challenge

Season 2025/26 – Ajax / Paraguay

As I took over Ajax, they had just finished 3rd in the Eresdivisie and only qualified for Europa League. That meant I quite restricted transfer and wage budget. But there was a lot of talents in the squad. Most notably a 18 year old defender Piet Jansen with 5 star potential. A few other talents also, and I managed to sell a lot of deadwood. Bringing in I started with 3 familiar faces from America (MEX). Javier Campos upfront was top goalscorer in Mexico. Jose Alberto Torres perhaps the best individual player at left back and Paulo the Brazilian midfielder who I bought in Mexico from Corinthians. I also got a loan striker Claudio Ramos from Arsenal, a few backup defenders and French national striker Neal Maupay. Later due to injuries I loaned Joshua Kimmich in midfield from Man.City and a striker Roberto Redondo from Valencia.

Board expectations Ajax: Win the league, win the cup, reach 2nd knockout round of Europa League.

We started out really well in the league winning the first 7 games. I thought PSV would be the toughest opponent, but they slipped up early on loosing 3 of the first 4 games. Feyenoord followed us for a while but we opened up a solid gap very early in the season indeed.

In Europa League we faced Las Palmas, Basel and Red Star Belgrade in the group stage. We won 5 out of 6 games only loosing to Basel away. Comfortable winners of the group as Basel drew a few games.

In the Dutch Cup we won 4-0 in the 2nd round against minnows Quick 20. And then 4-1 against RKC from Jupiler league in the 3rd round. The 4th round was against Utrecht and only a 1-0 win in one of the closest games of the season. Quarter final was another home game, this time against ADO Den Haag and we won 3-0. Semi final was another home game, this time against PSV and a 3-1 victory secured a place in the final. The final was against Go Ahead Eagles. A team at the bottom of the Eresdivisie but a team that actually managed a draw against us in one of the league games. Trejo games us the lead early on, but Eagles came back and equalized. Midfielder Donny Van De Beek then made it 2-1 and we hang on for a one goal win to secure our first title of the season.

In the league we just raced away, and in a 34 games season we where league winners 6 games from the end. Finally we took 92 points (30-2-2) scoring a 140 goals and winning by a 30 points margin over PSV who had a decent run in the later stages to claim second.

Europa League 1st knockout round we played against Anderlecht. We actually lost away 2-3 but won comfortably at home 6-2 for a total 8-5 aggregate score. 2nd knockout round was the target for the board and we played Basel again. No slip up this time as we won 7-1 at home for a total 8-1 aggregate score. Quarter final was against Celtic, once again a sound 4-1 victory at home made sure we progressed after 6-3 on aggregate.

Arsenal in the semi finals was the most nervous game of the season. Yet again we won 4-1 at home. But at The Emirates we slipped up and went down 0-4 early on. I thought the adventure of Europe was all over, but Trejo wanted it otherwise and score 2 late goals to claim the aggregate score of 6-5 in our favor.

The final was played in Italy at Artemio Franchi Stadium in Florenze. Chelsea on the other half of the pitch, and we completely crushed them 5-1.

So totally 3 titles where won, and another 2 landmarks to the challenge could be added to my belt.

Star players:

Top goalscorer: Luis Miguel Trejo - 69 goals

Top performer: Daley Sinkgraven - 8,24 Av.rat

Top assists: Francisco Di Franco - 32 assists

With Paraguay I tried to qualify for the World Cup even if that is a landmark I already have completed. With 4 games left of the qualifying group we where in 5th place, which would give playoffs. First we played Peru and won 3-1 at home. This was an important victory as Peru was ahead of us in the qualifying group. We closed the gap down to just 2 points with this victory. Next up was Argentina away, and I hoped for a draw to not let Peru get too far ahead. An early goal from star midfielder Juan Ignacio Miranda gave us the possibility to play on counter attacks. In the end we won 3-1 and leaped into 4th position on the table.

Brazil at home was the penultimate game of the qualifiers. It looked like a 0-1 defeat for most of the game, but our 2nd best striker Sergio Diaz scored 2 minutes into stoppage time to give us a 1-1 draw. In the final game we played Ecuador at home and a smashing 4-1 victory secured a direct qualification to the World Cup.

Board expectations Paraguay: Reach 2nd Round of World Cup.

We played a few friendlies at the end of 2025 and start of 2026 and before the World Cup itself. Central African Rep. was beaten 6-0, Morocco 3-1, Dominican Republic 5-1, Sweden 2-1 and we lost to Mexico 0-1.

The World Cup itself was to be played in Mexico. The group stage saw us play Norway, Canada and Holland. A medium though group that could have been both easier and harder.

Paraguay - Norway 3-1

Goals from Rodrigo Baez, Daniel Franco and Tony Sanabria secured a 3-1 win against Norway. They equalized to 1-1 in the first half but we dominated the game so much, creating no less than 11 clear cut chances.

Paraguay - Canada 1-0

Goal from Carlos Medina. We rotated the squad pretty much for what looked like the easiest game. A bit nervous towards the end as we got defender Gustavo Gomez sent off, but we hang on for the win.

Paraguay - Holland 4-0

On paper by far the toughest game, both teams where ready for the Knockout Round before the game, but I wanted to win to get an easier route. The Dutch manager rotated a bit but played his best striker Sven Versteeg. It didn't matter as we won 4-0 after goals from Sanabria, Miranda, Miguel Lopez and an own goal.

Paraguay - Peru 3-0 2nd Round

Goals from Anthony Diaz 2, Carlos Medina. An easy victory actually where everything went to plan and some players got a bit of rest.

Paraguay - Serbia 6-2 Quarter Final

It was really good that we won the group as we got a nice easy way towards the final. Serbia was not really a Quarter Final material of World Cup. Sanabria scored 4 goals, Medina and Lopez 1 each. Easiest game of the whole tournament.

Paraguay - Belgium 2-0 Semi Final

We had the shortest resting period before playing the Semi Final, and I feared players like Hazard and Lukaku would stop us. But late goals from Andres Cubas and Fidel Rivas sent us to the World Cup Final.

Paraguay - Holland X-X Final

Holland missed Sven Versteeg in the Final due to injury. He and Tony Sanabria had scored 6 goals each so far in the tournament. But when Holland lack one classy player they can just put in Zakaria El Amrani (my former top goalscorer in Roma and Man.City), so they still had a strong team. Players like Depay who was rested in our group match obviously played in the final.

Jonathan Valiant gave us the lead 1-0 after 30 minutes. But Holland came back in stoppage time of the first half on a set-pice from defender Ian Westerhof. 1-1 at half-time. Then Cesar Estigarriba gave us the lead 2-1 again after 54 minutes. Just 2 minutes later El Amrani was there to make it 2-2. The conclusion came just another 2 minutes later as Lopez scored 3-2 for us that proved to be the winning goal. Holland pushed on but we held strong to win a famous World Cup trophy for Paraguay!!!! Vestige was crowned top goalscorer as he had played less minutes than Sanabria both scoring 6 goals.

After the World Cup I left both Ajax and Paraguay, Paraguay had risen from 61st in the world rankings to 1st!!!

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Challenges completed:

Club

6/10 top domestic leagues (Brazil,Italy,England,France, Mexico (Apertura/Clausura), Holland)

6/10 domestic cups (Italy,English FA, English League Cup, French League Cup, Brazil, Holland)

3/5 club continental championships (Europe, S.America, N.America)

1/1 club world championship (Roma)

International

1/5 continental tournaments (Africa)

1/2 world tournaments (World Cup with France and Paraguay)

9 minor Trophies: FA Trophy (England), League Two (England), Johnstone Paint Trophy (England), Italian Super Cup, Euro Super Cup, European Nations League, French Champions Trophy, Europa League (both with Paris SG and Ajax), Sao Paulo State Championship

Competitions won more than once: UEFA Champions League won twice (Roma 2 times). Brazilian Serie A won twice (International and Corinthians), Mexican League won both Apertura and Clausura (America MEX), World Cup (France, Paraguay)