[FM17] FC Rostov - from one-season wonder to the new force?

[Fola]

This is a great read- really enjoying it. One quick question mate, more related to layout. How do you get your screenshots full size and not to shrink down? When I try to insert screenshots they always appear so small on the screen, while yours are easy to read as they're larger. 

[Koetzer]

@Fola I copy and paste an image itself, not a link. Then it appears in full size (or a size to fit the screen).

[Koetzer]

Pre-season 2023/24

Transfers out

Transfers in

Except Ruffier’s retirement, first team squad remained unchanged. Some reserve players were sold or loaned out, and a few youngsters joined for free – Olarticoechea and Villarmea from lower league Argentinian clubs, Hungarian international striker Gyuracz and Jason Powell from famous FFA COE academy.

 

CONCACAF Gold Cup ended with Canada beating Mexico in the final. USA team with Smith in the squad won bronze medals.

Copa America went without our representatives, Argentina won the title defeating Mexico B (though I guess it was stronger squad than those who played Gold Cup, our former player Fabian Gomez was the captain here and finished the Copa as top goalscorer).

Dinamo managed to retain most of their squad despite relegation, but still they were far from matching us. Another trophy for our collection.

Actually I expected more difference after 5 years in a row on top  

Also our board agreed to upgrade training facilities, youth facilities and youth recruitment.

[john1]

Good signings  How's the Japanese goalkeeper coming along? I am sure he's improved alot since joining you?

[Koetzer]

@john1 Aoki is developing but still it's only half a season since he joined us. 

August 2023

Not the best way to start. Scored only late in the game (once again it was Frolov’s effort, as in the last match of previous season against Mordovia) and couldn’t even protect that lead, conceding in injury time.

That’s surely better. We dominated during the whole game, and Krasnodar didn’t even record a single shot on goal.

Quite a boring match, but in the end we looked better (not a surprise, as Zenit already played European qualifiers in mid-week) and got 3 points in injury time.

Once again our finishing was too poor, and this time cost us 2 points. Still finding our form at start of the season.

Too early for any serious analysis, all the competition is still coming up. And the only team we have beaten comfortably is leading the table now  

 

Tougher draw than last season, Schalke was one of the strongest teams in 3rd pot. Legia got the last spot in group H.

Transfer window was still open during August, so we signed Slovakian midfielder Michal Benko for free and offloaded some players (the most notable was Alexandr Frolov, quite a good player but not going to be a top one, so a potential fee of 3M + 50% profit from next transfer was enough to convince me selling). And yes, he shouldn’t be confused with Mikhail Frolov, our promising striker, both came through our academy but don’t seem to be related.

[Koetzer]

September 2023

 

Terek defense was hard to break, but shortly before half-time Jean managed to score after a free kick. In the second half we got a man advantage and then easily secured our win.

That resembled a game against Zenit a lot. Not so impressive performance from both teams, but in the end we scored the winning goal in a counter.

The toughest group game was scheduled first, ending with our defeat after Vietto’s goal in the beginning of second half. So we’ll have to chase the leaders, and so should win the next match against Schalke at home.

We lost both games to Rubin last season, and this one started the same way. They got an early lead and were really better at the beginning of first half. Kabiru’s goal was actually our first shot in the game, and that was a turning point. Second half was ours, starting with a penalty converted by Grujic.

Pleased to win anyway, but the quality of our football was disappointing. Playing extra 30 minutes against FNL team won’t help our fitness as well.

 

Krasnodar is on top, that 0-3 loss against us remained the only game where they dropped points. CSKA and Lokomotiv started poorly, still searching for their first wins.

[Koetzer]

October 2023

A huge advantage against Kuban, but their goalkeeper tried his best to keep his team in game. Only in the second half we found a way to goal.

The game was equal in terms of stats, but quality of our chances was far higher. Mangena and Kabiru were outrunning Schalke defense for the whole match, eventually scoring four. That big win surely increases our chances to advance, but there are four matches ahead, and AEK shouldn’t be underestimated as well.

Two goals after free kicks in first half (what’s interesting, Krylja managed to score between them, and also from a free kick) and two counters in second, a confident win as the result.

Awful performance, seems like our form was heavily influenced by international break. Played against currently worst team of the league and could only get a draw. 

Kabiru scored an early goal, and then our counters led the game to a huge win. Hope we’ll be able repeat this at home too.

Two early goals and a red card for Mordovia player before half-time actually ended this match.

Great month for us, not counting that draw against Ural. 4 points clear from Zenit, and Krasnodar declined a bit after impressive start.

[john1]

Superb win over Schalke  Surprised to see CSKA Moscow 14th, Are they not strong as they used to be?

[Koetzer]

On 27.05.2017 at 03:11, john1 said:

Superb win over Schalke  Surprised to see CSKA Moscow 14th, Are they not strong as they used to be?

They have debts and are weaker than at start of the game, but still are strong enough to be in contention for European places. So I think eventually they will climb up.

 

November 2023

Confidently advanced to quarter-final after a goal in our first attack. We’ll face Rubin there, would be tough to beat them, considering our previous meetings.

Poor AEK, they clearly wanted this game to end earlier. We scored 15 in last three European games, but our qualification is still not secured, Schalke will have a chance if we lose to Arsenal at home.

We can’t keep that scoring rate in domestic matches, maybe because of weaker starting 11 than in Europe, or just less motivation against opponents like Anji. However, one-goal win is still a win, and we extend our unbeaten run.

Another tough game, the only goal was scored shortly before the final whistle. Kabiru curled a free kick above the wall, and the ball went in with a help of near post.

Arsenal had a better first half and finished it on top after Grot’s long shot, but after half-time we improved, and right substitutions were key to the winning result. Maksimovic equalized soon after coming into the game, and with few seconds to go Jean scored the winner in a quick counter. Both we and Arsenal advance from the group, the last matchday should just determine the order.

Confidently leading in the league and hoping to hold the first place in Champions League. Though away match with Schalke doesn’t guarantee us anything.

[Koetzer]

December 2023

CSKA regained form after a poor start and managed to break our unbeaten run. Our weakened squad still had more chances to score, but couldn’t convert any of them.

Started strong, as Maksimovic gave us an early lead after Olaleye’s cross. Schalke soon equalized with an own goal from our captain Duarte, but then… if someone still didn’t know how dangerous could be our counters, we showed that once more. 4 goals, as well as in the home game, and top place in the group. Just hope that time we won’t be drawn with Barcelona, as they are second again…

We were a bit fortunate with the winning own goal, but actually deserved 3 points from this game, creating a lot more chances.

Two goals in first half made us too complacent, and that almost cost us a win. Lokomotiv managed to equalize after our own mistakes (second goal was scored by our former player Cisse), but closer to the end Yamlikhanov added an assist to his impressive performance, crossing to unmarked Mangena.

CSKA is out of relegation zone and actually not far from European places now, while Lokomotiv is going to battle for staying second year in a row.

Not Barcelona or PSG, luckily. Marseille is a team we’ll be able to beat if won’t get complacent.

Youth team finished ahead of Arsenal on head-to-head matches and will face PSV in knockouts.

[john1]

Decent results in Champions League, Good draw against OM  Good to see your U's19 doing well.

[Koetzer]

Mid-season 2023/24

Transfers out

 

Terry Olaleye, our best right-back was close to leaving during last two seasons, and finally Man Utd managed to pay his release fee. At least it didn't happen on deadline day.

Transfers in

Luiz Ricardo – best replacement for Olaleye I could find. Hope he would step to his place immediately.

Also another Australian joined our squad, along with representatives of more exotic nations, like Togolese Dakonam, Beninese Radji and Sri Lankan Kumar (probably the best footballer ever born on that island )

 

Youth intake gave us three players with first-team potential – left-back Biryukov and central midfielders Kovalchuk and Burkov. Not bad at all.

[john1]

Decent signings, got to say first time i have ever seen Sri Lankan regen  He looks pretty good.

[Bigpapa42]

Love seeing the Sri Lankan player. Have some connection to the country, though I've never been, so would love to see a player like that come through in one of my saves.

Another nice season underway. I am the sads to see Loko struggling so badly again, though.

[Koetzer]

February-March 2024

Not much to say about that game, quite a decent result for playing away. Winning at home should be easier. U19 team meanwhile lost to PSV in the Youth League.

Despite a huge advantage in shots and possession, we clinched a win only few minutes before final whistle. Kabiru shot from a free kick, ball deflected from the wall, but Lystsov was first on the rebound and volleyed it into the net.

Rubin is a cursed team for us, third loss in four matches sent us out of the cup.

We still have a good lead in the league, so this draw wasn’t a big problem. But zero goals from all our strikers after the winter break, that’s really concerning.

Yamlikhanov managed to break that goal drought, though we had a lot more chances in this game. Dinamo could use our bad finishing and save at least a point, but Zobnin couldn’t beat Mitryushkin with a penalty.

Marseille prevented us from creating many chances, but what we managed to do was enough. 3 goals from 4 shots on target, incredible rate for such an important game. We’re in the quarter-finals once again, and who will we face there?

Defending title holders, that says it all. We beat them two years ago though, on the same stage.

Frolov received his first call-up to the national team, and that clearly boosted his performance. Two goals, another win and actually the end of any competition for the title.

Though nothing is clear behind us, even some teams from bottom half still have a chance for European places.

[john1]

Will be tough draw against Man City, I hope you can do it!!

[Koetzer]

April 2024

Early red card for Fernandez made us play defensively, so a goalless draw was not the worst outcome (especially considering that all teams behind us dropped points as well).

Our fifth game against Man City, and still they can’t beat us. That result surely left us with good chances before the return leg.

Games against Rubin are never easy.  Even though we played much better during all 90 minutes, the only goal was scored only after a mistake from their keeper.

We were better in the first half and fully deserved that goal. Kabiru received a through pass from Mangena and fired the ball past Rulli. After half-time Man City attacked more, but actually the only real chance they could create was a header from Stones that hit the post. We defeat Guardiola’s side once again and repeated our best achievement so far.

Current leaders of La Liga, confidently defeated Real in quarter-final. Well… there can’t be easy opponents on that stage.

Ninth clean sheet in a row, that’s a new club record. Though it took time to break Kuban solid defense. 

And there we made it ten, just before a trip to Madrid. Simeone is still there, so that will be a battle of two teams who certainly know how to defend.

Just a few points remaining for another league title, actually nothing distracts us from European games now.

[bsanchezb]

Really nice to see you on the forum  Good career and good luck)

[john1]

Fantastic result against Man City  

[Koetzer]

May 2024

We scored an early goal and even 10 minutes before the final whistle were ahead, but Bonazzoli changed it all scoring twice. Disappointed to lose like this, though with that away goal we are not out yet.

A win guaranteed us the title, but with all the best players being rested for the second semi-final we couldn’t even get a draw, conceding a late goal.

It started almost the same way as the first leg, Grujic used a bad backpass from Atletico defender to run one on one with Oblak and give us a lead. But we all remembered what happened in Madrid, so had to keep concentration till the final whistle. Visitors anyway managed to create one real chance in the end, but Aoki saved a close range shot from Driussi. No Russian club reached the Champions League final ever before, and finally we made it. One step from the trophy, the team which stands on our way is… Manchester United. We played them six times, and never won.

We already became champions before the match, but couldn’t disappoint our fans. Even despite conceding first with an own goal by Maksimovic, we recorded a confident win in the end.  Frolov got his first hat-trick for us, great job from our talent.

 

Dropped some points in the last matches, but still finished with a huge advantage. Krasnodar clinched 2nd place, overtaking Dinamo on the final matchday. Lokomotiv gained good form in the end, escaping direct relegation, but still need to contest their place in playoffs against Baltika.

 

The only game remained in this season, and the most important. Chance to make history.

[Koetzer]

Champions League Final 2023/24

 

Man Utd have serious injury problems, but their squad is surely deep enough to replace unavailable players. 

 

Starting lineups:

Rostov: Aoki – Smith, Duarte, Larsson – Schennikov, Sergeev, Ricardo – Grujic, Ogasawara – Mangena, Kabiru

Man Utd: Davidson – Grimaldo, Rugani, de Vrij, Florenzi – Sanches, Tielemans – Mbappe, Barone, Batur – Martial

 

Everything's ready for the final, teams entering the... what the hell?

That was unexpected. Well, I’ve encountered all types of pitches while playing FM, but really? Almost square pitch at San Siro, in Champions League final? Oh, and making things weirder, Giuseppe Meazza pitch is standard 105x68 meters. Hard work for groundsmen I guess, changing all the marks between Milan and Inter matches  

 

9’ Tielemans tries his luck from distance, well over the bar.

15’ Kabiru takes a free kick, off target as well.

17’ Another long shot (maybe not so long on that weird pitch), form Barone that time and wide again.

22’ Free kick from a corner of the penalty area. Tight angle, but Grujic curls the ball towards near post, and it goes in! 1-0, great start!

27’ Tielemans gets a yellow card for a foul on Kabiru.

29’ Another free kick from Grujic, far from goal.

30’ Grujic gets yellow, Mbappe tries to score from a free kick, but the ball goes slightly over.

33’ Probably first shot from inside the box, Martial dribbles past Smith, but Duarte blocks his effort.

43’ Ricardo runs past Grimaldo on the right wing, crosses to the box, Kabiru reaches it before two defenders on a volley, and it’s 2-0!

45’ Cross from left wing, Florenzi clears the ball, but it falls to Grujic outside the box. He shoots, and Davidson manages to save!

 

12 (5) – 7 (1) on shots, incredible first half for us. But it’s still only a halfway, and last time against Red Devils we also were 2-0 ahead after first half…

 

47’ Corner from Batur, but Ogasawara confidently clears.

51’ Yellow cards to Renato Sanches and Sergeev just inside a minute. Tielemans tries a long free kick, ball files somewhere to the stands.

53’ Long shot (yeah again) from Grujic, goes on target but no problem for Davidson.

56’ First substitution in this match, Martial out, Lautaro Martinez in.

58’ Pass from Mangena, United defenders lose Kabiru, he shoots, and Davidson parries it to the corner!

60’ Martinez tries to cross from right wing, Sergeev closes down and launches a counter, Kabiru is alone against three defenders but still manages to shoot. Davidson saves though.

64’ Grimaldo crosses high from left wing, Larsson intercepts, but Sanches is first on the rebound and shoots… 2-1, no chances for Aoki.

65’ Mancunians go for their second immediately, Mbappe tries to shoot from tight angle, Aoki redirects for a corner.

66’ Maksimovic in, Grujic out. Refreshing the midfield by removing a booked and tired player.

69’ Two dangerous attacks in a row. First Martinez shoots over the bar from a promising position, and then Mbappe outruns Larsson, but his shot goes right to our keeper.

75’ Yellow card for Duarte.

77’ Oien in, Ogasawara out. Another substitution to hold the ball in midfield.

78’ Free kick by Mbappe, far away from goal.

81’ Fosu-Mensah and Brandt for de Vrij and Mbappe, last changes from Prandelli today.

85’ Martinez wins a ball from Larsson and desperately shoots from 30 meters. Over.

90’ Oien dribbles inside the box and crosses low for Mangena, but Rugani saves in the last second.

90+1’ Savchenko for Schennikov. Wasting time…

90+3’ Batur crosses from right wing, Duarte clears it to a corner. Another chance for Batur, cross to the far post, and Aoki claims the ball. Long kick from our goalie toward Mangena, Rugani wins a header, tries to launch another attack… intercepted by Oien! 3 added minutes are over, United are all out attack, a deep cross, Larsson clears, they repeat, and Larsson again gets the ball. Mighty kick to the opponents’ half, Mangena is here! Holding the ball… and there’s the final whistle!!! We are the best club of Europe!

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Still hard to believe. Thousands of hours played for the latest years, but the last time I’ve won the Champions League (in a proper career, not including some experimental saves) was in FM10 with a Dutch side Volendam (still remember a newgen striker named Michel Achterberg and a club legend Jack Tuyp, who scored in that final being almost 40 at that time).

 

Kabiru finished the tournament with 11 goals, same as Icardi who got the Golden Boot with less matches played. Dream Team was dominated by Man Utd players (though 4 of them couldn’t play in the final), we were represented only by Mangena.

[Keano16]

Yes man! Great achievement.

[Koetzer]

Awards

Best Player: Kramaric (Krasnodar)

Players’ Select:  Kramaric (Krasnodar), Prochazka (Anji), Duarte (Rostov)

Top Goalscorer: Kramaric (Krasnodar) – 21, Lovric (Dinamo) – 20, Cristo (Terek) - 14

Goalkeeper of the Year: Mitryushkin (Rostov)

Young Player of the Year: Abramovich (Rostov/Mordovia)

Team of the Year

Glad to see our player getting a best youngster award while on loan (though I doubt he'll be good enough for first team). 

 

Spartak got the last European spot by winning the cup.

FNL season finished with Ufa and Volgar promoted directly, and Orenburg defeated Amkar in play-offs, while Lokomotiv held their RFPL place once again. Tyumen faced second relegation in a row.

 

European Review

Champions League – everything already said    

Europa League – Sporting (Mazzarri) will be our opponent in the Super Cup. That result also didn’t allow us to close the gap from 6th place in coefficient table.

 

England – Man City (Pep), Chelsea (Jardim), Man Utd (Prandelli). Stoke (Allardyce) and Swansea (Lampard) qualified for Europa League, Frank’s first achievement as a manager.

Spain – Atletico (Simeone), Barcelona (Conte), Real Madrid (Emery).

Germany – Bayern (Allegri), Leverkusen (Klopp), Schalke (Hasenhuttl).

Italy – Roma (Ancelotti), Fiorentina (Stramaccioni), Napoli (Fonseca). Juventus (Tuchel/Hoffmann) declined sharply after Conte was poached by Barca and finished only 5th.

France – PSG (Mourinho), Marseille (Moldovan), Bordeaux (Gourvennec)

Netherlands – Ajax (Langeler), AZ (Kooistra), Feyenoord (van Bronckhorst)

 

For some of our players it's not the time to celebrate yet, as they are called up for the Euro. Spain will host it this year, and certainly hope to defend their title.

Georgy Schennikov joined Russia squad later as an injury replacement. 

[john1]

Congrats on winning the Champions League  

[Koetzer]

@Keano16 @john1 thank you, hope that win will help to boost not only our club, but a whole league too.

Pre-season 2024/25

Starting with reputation update. We’re worldwide now!

Transfer out

Fernandez lost his starting place during the last season and became unhappy with that, so had to sell him. Not a big issue though, Muldoon progressed well in our reserve team and on loan and I feel he’s ready to be a good rotation option. Also sold some reserve players, who don’t seem to develop more, and huge amount of loans as usual (including those to some really reputable clubs like CSKA and Rubin).

Transfers in

The only position I wanted to improve in the first team was left wing-back (replacing 33 year-old Schennikov), but decided to wait until winter, as there is a very tempting option to get one young Brazilian for free. So we only signed two potentially good players – Argentinian center-back Cuello and Australian midfielder Guida.

 

Euro 2024

Spoiler

  

Arsene Wenger retired with a huge win. France didn’t concede any goal in knockout rounds and deservedly claimed the cup. Sweden with our Robert Larsson in the squad got bronze, Kosovo and Lithuania surprised everyone advancing from their groups, and Russia… well, it was a nightmare. 0-3, 1-4, 1-5, and the manager’s job status is still stable! Krasnozhan took charge in 2018, since then the team got 1 point from group in 2020 (and didn’t score at all), couldn’t qualify for WC 2022, relegated to division C of Nations League, and now showed probably the worst Euro performance of all time, but FA is ridiculously patient.

 

Spartak actually used their only chance to equalize before the half-time, but in second half our advantage was clear and led us to the win. Starting the new season with a trophy, and again Kabiru scores the decisive goal.

3.25? Easy money  

 

The board agreed to improve junior coaching and youth recruitment (to exceptional/well established level), and also set an affiliation with Partizan to benefit our youth intakes even more. Hope to see its influence in February.

[john1]

Good link up with Partizan  Hopefully you can get couple of them through youth intakes  

[Koetzer]

August 2024

We weren’t so much better, but all our three shots on target were successful. Nice way to start.

Mangena and Kabiru got injured in training during a week, they both will miss the UEFA Super Cup. Disappointment to lose our best attacking duo before that match, but a chance for other strikers to impress.

As against Terek, we scored early and controlled the game after it. What’s interesting, I already agreed a loan for Jose Ramos, but had to cancel it after two our strikers went injured, and he was really useful in this game. Also that was a first-team debut for Korneev, who scored just some minutes after coming into the pitch.

The Super Cup game was… not ‘super’ at all. Defense prevailed over attack, with a very few moments from both sides. 90 minutes ended without goals, and the match seemed to go on penalties, but with 5 minutes to go Maksimovic crossed from a free kick, Rui Patricio confidently got the ball, and then… No comments. Probably the weirdest way to win the trophy  

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Hangover after a trophy. The team was fit enough, but couldn’t find any motivation for this game.

Another tough game against league newcomers, we could only break their defense in last 15 minutes. Mangena returned after injury with a goal.

Two more from Mangena, he’s really a top player able to make difference in our game.

 

Perfect start from Zenit, but will they hold this form for long?

 

Marseille was the strongest team in 4th pot, so not the best draw for sure. However, we must qualify from that group, no excuses for the defending champions.

 

Thanks to agents’ offers we found some more promising youngsters before the transfer window closed – Mauro Manusovich, Peter Medgyes and Kane Mitchell (fifth Australian in our squad).

[john1]

Not bad start despite suffering defeat against Anji. Manusovich, looks promising. Quite tough group you are drawn in! Hope you can do well and finish in top 2.

[Koetzer]

September 2024

 

Starts of season are never easy for us. We were a lot better than CSKA, but couldn’t score, Akinfeev is still in good form despite his age. 5 points from Zenit, it’s early but already a bit concerning.

Confident win, despite only one goal scored. After Kabiru gave us the lead, we were in full control of this game. Good start of the group.

This time our goalscoring was a lot better, than in previous matches, but defending was far from ideal. Dinamo players were sometimes allowed too much space near our goal, so the result was not clear until last minutes.

Easy win against a lower league side. Maybe this year we’ll be more successful in the national cup too.

Zenit suffered first defeat, so we are quite close with a game in hand. Spartak and CSKA conclude the leading group.

[Koetzer]

October 2024

I think I’ve seen that already in March Our African strikers destroyed OM defense once again, sending us top of the group. Now probably the toughest part starts, two games against Real Madrid.

Frolov and Ramos assisted each other in the first half, securing another win for us. Zenit lost meanwhile, so a win in postponed match will give us the lead.

Conceded from a free kick in injury time, and that was actually the only highlighted moment for Orenburg.

That was the first time we played Real, and we were the favourites, still can’t get used to this status. But that didn’t put extra pressure on us, confident start and early goal from Mangena as a result. Real had enough chances later, but all their efforts were stopped by Aoki. Three wins in a row, and we are comfortably leading the group.

Last season runners-up are struggling so far, and this match didn’t improve their position as well. Krasnodar had some potentially dangerous attacks at first, but then we took full control of the game.

Harder than we may expect, but one late goal from Yamlikhanov was enough to advance. Spartak will wait us in quarter-final.

Still second place, but hope that will change very soon.

[john1]

Fantastic month  Hope you can beat Real Madrid at their place  How is the club finances looking now?

[Koetzer]

@john1 our finances. We got better sponsorship deals after CL win, but still not enough to cover our expenses alone, so we have to rely on prize money and transfers.

November 2024

That was too easy, in contrast with our previous games against Rubin. The result was actually set after 12 minutes, and closer to the final whistle Frolov added two more, sealing his hat-trick.

Nightmare start, as we allowed James Rodriguez to score twice in first 10 minutes. That was too much to hope for a positive result, Real controlled the game and both times we managed to score, they answered almost immediately. We lost, but still are on top of our group, with 2 points gap from Real and OM.

We didn’t take any shots on goal till 28th minute, but our first was successful, and that actually determined the outcome. 3-0, and we’re taking the lead (despite still played one game less than Zenit).

Extremely disappointed. We were ahead at half-time, but two free kicks changed it all. Zenit returned to the top spot, though we can close the gap by winning a postponed game.

Bounced back with a six goals win over Anderlecht. We already advanced from the group, but still need 3 points from Marseille to be seeded first.

And one more confident win, everything was clear before the half-time.

We are equal with Zenit, but they have advantage on head-to-head game. Three Moscow teams share the third place on some distance from us.

Good job from our board, we got the same fee as if Man Utd resold him for about 100M (doubt this would happen, Olaleye is a world-class player but unlikely that someone would pay that for a defender).

[Koetzer]

December 2024

Confident and expected win over currently bottom team of the league. Moved to the leading spot once again, as Zenit dropped points against Ufa.

Two early goals from Ramos were actually enough to secure another win for us.

Zenit drew two in a row, allowing us to get 4 points gap. Krasnodar is still very close to relegation zone, clear disappointment after 2nd place last season.

 

That was tougher than at home, but we repeated the result. Set pieces from Kabiru were key to the win, Smith scored a header after his corner cross, and then our Nigerian striker confidently scored a free kick.

We topped the group, but the draw wasn’t kind to us. Atletico caused us a lot of problems in last season semi-final, and will obviously fight for revenge.

 

Mexicans tried their best to stop us, their keeper Avila was especially good, denying some clear chances from our players, but once even he was unable to save. Mangena actually needed not to miss an open goal after a cross from Luis Ricardo.

A free kick goal from Grujic, that’s a familiar way to start the major final for us Soon after this Marko impressed once again, assisting for Ramos. Second goal made the outcome clear, but after half-time we added two more, bringing more joy to our fans who came to Algeria for that final. Best of the world!!!

Marko Grujic won the Golden Ball… not the proper one, unfortunately. That was an award for CWC best player.

[Vilmar]

Lovely stuff to read so far. Took a good 30 minutes to catch up but I enjoyed it!

[HawkAussie]

Just read through and how was the European Championship in 2024?

[john1]

Tough draw against Atletico! But who knows what could happen  Nice to see gap has opened up between you and Zenit  

[Koetzer]

@HawkAussie it was in pre-season post. In case if spoilers don't work: groups (part 1, part 2), playoffs.

 

Mid-season 2024/25

Transfers out

 

Transfers in

Jose Antonio – that Brazilian I announced in pre-season post. He surely must be great on our left wing.

 

International tournaments

African Cup – South Africa defeated Gabon in the final, Mangena finished as the top scorer with 5 goals (including decisive ones in semi-final and final). Shongwe, who’s on loan at Rubin, was in the winning squad as well. Nigeria (Kabiru) and Mali (Diawara) couldn’t advance from their groups.

 

The link with Partizan didn’t work immediately, no Serbs in this year youth intake. However, we got a top potential goalkeeper Chebanov and two quite good strikers – Skokov and Orlov.

[kidthekid]

Antonio looks great, you rarely see attacking wingbacks like that in FM, usually they are converted wingers, but this guy is a natural.

[john1]

Antonio is like Brazilian Gareth Bale

[Koetzer]

February-March 2025

Atletico had far more shots on goal in this match, but most of them were not dangerous at all. We responded with some counters, though without clear chances as well. So the result was quite deserved and retaining chances for both sides. The worst episode happened few minutes before the final whistle – our star arrival Jose Antonio suffered a serious injury in his first ever competitive match for us and will be out for the rest of season. Crap.

Tough game despite a huge statistical advantage. Ufa managed to equalize with their only shot on target and were close to get a point, but a lucky deflection after Frolov’s shot helped us.

Three misses in shootout, and we losing the cup quarter-final third time in a row. Not a priority trophy for us now, but still hoped to break this bad run.

One goal shortly before half-time was enough to secure another win in the league. 6 points from Zenit now.

Another boring match, ending with a shootout as the result. Both Aoki and Oblak were in great form, saving three shots each, but everything was decided by Duarte. Our captain missed, sending us out of Champions League… And we’re losing second shootout in a week. The only consolation was our U19 team, which defeated Tottenham in the Youth League (on a shootout as well) and will face PSG in quarter-final.

The league remained our only competition, and in these circumstances we must win it confidently. That wasn’t our best performance against Volgar for sure, but was more than enough.

And even more comfortable win against Krylja, our league title shouldn’t be any problem if we continue playing like this.

[john1]

Unlucky to go out on penalty shootout against Atletico. Good luck to U's19 against PSG  

[Koetzer]

April-May 2025

Apart from two matches against Lokomotiv and Zenit, quality of our football was not encouraging at all, but the results were enough to secure another title with three games remaining.

 

Awards

Best Player: Starkov (CSKA)

Players’ Select:  Starkov (CSKA), Fuerte (Zenit), Tyurin (Rubin)

Top Goalscorer: Starkov (CSKA) – 20, Fuerte (Zenit) – 20, Ovchinnikov (Spartak) – 16

Goalkeeper of the Year: Mitryushkin (Rostov)

Young Player of the Year: Starkov (CSKA)

Team of the Year

Two Atletico (oh, not them again) loaned strikers were on fire this season.

 

FNL - Ural and Dinamo SPb promoted, and both playoff games finished with RFPL teams held their spots.

Russian Cup - Zenit won the trophy, defeating Spartak in the final. A small consolation for them after losing 2nd place in the league.

 

European Review

Champions League – Man Utd reached the final and lost it again, despite having a home advantage at Old Trafford. Mourinho’s second continental title in PSG and fifth in his career.

Europa League – Pochettino finally won the major title with Spurs.

Youth League – we couldn't go past our best performance, losing to PSG in quarter-final.

 

England – Man City (Pep), Man Utd (Prandelli), Chelsea (Jardim)

Spain – Real Madrid (Emery), Atletico (Simeone), Barcelona (Conte)

Germany – Leverkusen (Klopp), Gladbach (Weiler), Schalke (Hasenhuttl). Bayern (Mancini/Tuchel) finished only 6th.

Italy – Roma (Ancelotti), Fiorentina (Stramaccioni), Juventus (Hoffmann)

France – PSG (Mourinho), Monaco (Guegan), Lyon (F.de Boer)

Netherlands – Ajax (Langeler), Feyenoord (van Bronckhorst), AZ (Kooistra)

[john1]

Not bad month  Congrats on winning the league  

[Koetzer]

Pre-season 2025/26

Transfers out

Maksimovic still was a good player and a fan favourite, but with that number of talents in midfield I decided to sell him. Same goes to Jean, who was a very useful player at first, but played only couple of matches last season. As for others sold, they hardly were able to reach the starting squad (maybe except Villarmea, but as I said we got enough promising players on his position).

Transfers in

Two Argentinian prospects for free, center-back Bonanno and midfielder Espindola.

 

International tournaments:

Confederations Cup – Italy defeated Mexico in the final, our former player Fabian Gomez won the best player and best goalscorer awards. Australia (Muldoon, Davidson) finished third in their group.

Gold Cup – USA (Smith) lost the final to Canada. Seems like FM files were messed with EHM  

U-21 Euro – Switzerland won the final against Spain on penalties, Russia (Frolov, Melnikov, Burkov, Drannikov) lost all three games in the group.

 

Luck obviously wasn't on our side, we had a huge advantage in shots, but were unable to convert it in goals, and Zenit scored from a long shot, their first on target. Well, hope that won't be an issue in more important matches this season.

Quite predictable odds for the title.

[john1]

Decent clear out  Bonanno looks promising  Unlucky about result against Zenit.

[Koetzer]

August 2025

Took us longer than wanted to break Orenburg defense, but after Larsson’s goal we were in complete control. 4-0, great way to start a competition.

Quite the same as in previous game. A goal shortly before half time and successful counters after.

Our finishing against Krylja was nowhere near standard, and that cost us points. 17-0 on shots, but none of them reached the net.

Much better against Rubin, we got four from five shots in first half. Frolov is leading the goalscorers chart with 7 goals.

Anji started the season well and were in leading group, but in this game they had no chances. Larsson scored twice from free kick crosses, and then Frolov added two more to his impressive goal tally in August. It’s 9 in 5 games now!

So far we are sharing the lead with Zenit. September seems to be tough for us, as we face Spartak, CSKA and Lokomotiv, and start our continental games as well.

 

That’s tough, Juventus were 3rd seeded and of course went to our group. Dinamo Zagreb got the last spot in group H, some Europa League groups will probably be stronger.

Also some more outgoing transfers were done before the deadline.

[Koetzer]

September 2025

Frolov show continues! Another hat-trick in 4 minutes, and he already scored 12 in the league. Just hope this form will last longer. Though in the end CSKA used our complacency and almost equalized.

Juventus started in attacking way but their defense played too loosely, allowing us to score two in early counters. Unfortunately, we couldn’t hold this lead after half-time. Calhanoglu equalized with a long shot in injury time. Still a good result, but I’m disappointed as felt we could win this game.

Two corners gave us another win. Frolov hasn't gone without a goal too, 13th for him this season.

Trips to Far East are never easy, but we played good enough to get a confident cup win.

Hard to explain what happened in this match, even playing against top European teams we didn’t look as poorly as against Spartak. Let’s hope it was just a one match drop.

That last loss didn’t allow us to finish month as sole leaders. October won’t be easy too, with Zenit, Krasnodar and Tottenham in schedule.

[Koetzer]

October 2025

Nothing less than 3 points was acceptable against Austrian side, and we achieved it quite easily. Larsson scored his fourth goal in the season, not bad for a defender.

Conceded from the first shot but managed to overturn the game. Frolov got his 15th league goal, he may break the club goalscoring record even before winter break.

Meanwhile in Europe… Our former defender Strinic, playing for Liverpool now, was a part of this win (probably a new continental record).

Worst game we ever played. Even after our former player Fernandez decided to help us and got a red card, we were crap. And Zenit took the lead after it.

Not surprised with another loss, even though we replied immediately after first goal, Spurs were far better. Two in a row, team morale is seriously damaged, and with that background we need to play Zenit away.

We even weren’t favourites before this match, but managed to bounce back from recent failures. Kabiru was the best on the pitch, his free kick goal shortly before half-time set the game for us, and in the second half he added another goal from a penalty and also assisted to Savchenko.

Strikers didn’t take their chances against Mordovia, but the game was saved by Greg Muldoon. His first ever goal few minutes before the final whistle guided us to quarter-final. The stage we couldn’t go past for last 3 years.

Leading on a head-to-head result against Zenit, but actually the whole top half of the table is quite close. Surprised to see Mordovia in this group though.

First place seems to be out of reach, even if we defeat Spurs at home, they still need to drop points somewhere else to allow us finish on top.

[john1]

Mixed feeling for those 2 months  Will be tough to finish in top 2 in your CL group!

[Koetzer]

November-December 2025

Once again we dropped points on last minutes. We had an advantage after scoring a penalty and should have won this match, but Kane equalized with probably the only dangerous shot after half-time. Moved down to 3rd place and now need only a win from the next game against Juve.

Another league match where we played far from our standards. Frolov was nowhere near his previous form, and defense made so many mistakes that actually we were lucky to get this draw.

Russia couldn’t qualify to the World Cup, finishing third behind Romania and Denmark. Krasnozhan’s job status is… very secure 

Dinamo played well before the first goal, but then we scored two in a minute, they received a penalty and a red card, and so the game was done at half-time. Nice result before a decisive European match, Frolov finally scored after more than a month of drought.

Controversial game for Marko Grujic. His two excellent passes were converted to goals by Kabiru and Mangena, but then he got a red card which made our task much harder. However, we held the minimal advantage and returned to 2nd place. The only thing we need to do is to defeat Red Bull in the final game.

Another hat-trick for Frolov, he’s regaining that start of season form! 19 league goals are the new club record, and that’s with not even a half of games played. 3 goals more, and Mikhail will break club record for one season in all competitions.

Twenty for Frolov, though he didn’t even take a shot, just a lucky deflection after Mangena’s effort was counted as his goal 

Our second squad managed to get 3 points from Orenburg in the last league match of the year.

3 points clear from Spartak, not the worst outcome for this part of season. Great performance from Mordovia, they are still in contention for European places. 

Red Bull denied our attacks in the first half, but then Kabiru took his chances and scored twice. A late consolation goal couldn’t influence the result, as well as another group game, where Juventus defeated Spurs but remained third behind us.

Hoped for Ajax or one of German teams, but… guess we need another miracle to advance further.