FM20 All-European (Less England) Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[Muggert]

2 hours ago, Geminilightning said:

Yeah. That just happened. What a ridiculous game.

Seems like the offense is still working! :-)

[Muggert]

2038/2039 - CD El Ejido

I really thought this was our year. We smashed Barcelona and Real Madrid and we still had a sligthly dissapointing season.

We once again set a new points record in the league, but despite gathering 93 poitns we ended up 3rd.

Izo was simply amazing. He's really upped his game this season. We need him to continue to target the Champions League next season.

In the Champions League we absolutely destroyed Barcelona and then met a much weaker Milan squad and lost.... Maybe next year.

Overall only a single trophy. The lowly rated Supercoppa.

League: 3rd - Cup: 4th- ChL: SF - ESC: Win!

Squad - Competitions - Transfers - Finances

Players of the season:

DC Silva -  DL Stevanovic - AMR Izo - ST Camara

Youngster of the season:

DC Grande

Next season:

Allright ... We need to end this soon. I'm gonna go all in next season and go for the treble.

I'd like new backups in all our attacking midfield positions. We struggled when Brunneau and Izo both went down,

[Biscotti]

7 hours ago, Muggert said:

We once again set a new points record in the league, but despite gathering 93 poitns we ended up 3rd.

93 points and still 3rd is just insane. 

[rlipscombe]

@Geminilightning – congrats on a great first season.  Good luck next season.

@Muggert – like the look of that front line!  Wow on the Real Madrid score – it wasn’t a fluke either looking at the stats.  And then Barcelona – Wow!  Shame about Milan though.  Unlucky in the league – 3^rd with that points haul?!?!?

[karanhsingh]

@Muggert - that's insane that you finished 3rd with that points haul! I have often seen this in Spain, the big 3 just rack up crazy points season after season. Hope that next season is the one for you! Respect for continuing with the challenge this long!

@Andy Sava - that is really, really unfortunate but stick with it! Next season is surely the one  

[Muggert]

4 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

@Muggert - that's insane that you finished 3rd with that points haul! I have often seen this in Spain, the big 3 just rack up crazy points season after season. Hope that next season is the one for you! Respect for continuing with the challenge this long!

@Andy Sava - that is really, really unfortunate but stick with it! Next season is surely the one  

I haven’t come so far to fall short... I want the Champions League. Two semifinals the last two years.... Next though!

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Muggert said:

I haven’t come so far to fall short... I want the Champions League. Two semifinals the last two years.... Next though!

That's the spirit! 

[Biscotti]

4 hours ago, Muggert said:

I haven’t come so far to fall short... I want the Champions League. Two semifinals the last two years.... Next though!

I know that pain, man. Keep plugging - you'll probably get there before I do.

[rlipscombe]

well done on surviving the first season @Vipertitan.  good luck improving on that next season.  (I'd try saying the club name but i wouldn't know where to start!!  )

[Thebaker]

I know i had taken a hard line with some players but i seem to have become more disciplined than the game allows 

[jmarchand]

I've been playing this challenge in the past (FM12, FM13) and recently got back into FM20, so I decided to hop into it and dive in the lower leagues of Italy. After holidaying for a year, I decided to settle on Città di Campobasso, a small team in Molise. Reading through their history, they managed to be in Serie B for a few years in the mid-eighties, but that was about it. 

I've been playing a few seasons so far, so bear with me, my first update is going to be a bit more freeform and summarized than others, but I'll try to make it entertaining and give some proper details...! Many of the players have evolved/retired since then, so I'll go with a few highlights and showing the Best Eleven from the year instead. 

 

2020/21

Freshly promoted from Serie D, our facilities are all rated as Poor and the squad is at best, unimpressive... A few additions were to get midfielder Giovanni Sbrissa on loan from Sassuolo (he was already on loan at other Serie C sides prior to that) as well as signing Edoardo Defenti on a Free Transfer. I also got Matteo Cincilla on a Free transfer from Ravenna (Serie C). Sbrissa held the midfield strong, Cincilla held it together in goals and was named PoM 3 times when he was the only one holding it together and Defendi went on to score 12 goals. Danilo Alessandro, who is already at Campobasso, scored 11 from AML .

As for league performance, we stayed up! Objective Completed! Finished 15th, 1 point above the playout. 15 draws out of 38 matches allowed to keep our head above the water. 

 

2021/22

Quickly realizing that I needed to strengthen the defence (notably) and that I was being overrun in the midfield, I changed tactics a bit and was also able to feed off the scraps of teams higher up in the division releasing some players. It's the season of consolidation. I like how the goals are very well distributed across the team and how Sbrissa really stepped up. Notable additions are: 

- Eduardo Alcides Dias: DC released from Inter. Was the rock at the heart of the defence on that year. Turned out that it was the first player I sold for some money 2 years later. 

- Andrea Pittavino: DL got from free from Pro Vercelli after coming out of Juventus' youth system. Turned out to be solid even in Serie B

- David Wiser: DM/MC, released from Inter, solid in the midfield, especially in 2022/2023

- Simone Trimboli: MC, loan from Sampdoria. Impact sub youngster who scored quite a few important goals.

- Rosario Cancello: ST, released from Inter. Our top scorer that year, but really didn't develop after that. 

 

League performance:

Climbed a bit more up the table, finished 12th. 13 wins, 10 draws and 15 losses, a -3 goal difference. Not bad, it's a step in the right direction. 

 

2022/2023

Alright. This team was shaping up nicely but needs to step up. A slew of rejects from Serie A came to the rescue. It's also the year where I adopted Gegenpress. Things went well from then on... :)

Notable additions: 

- Luis Görlich: DR in loan from TSG Hoffenheim II. Integral part of our defence and of our attack. 4 goals, 6 assists, 7.12 avg. rating. 

- Alessandro Fontanarossa: DC released from AC Milan. A youngster at the time, but will grow up pretty well. 

- Emmanuele Torrasi: MC released from AC Milan who would become an integral part of our side. 13 goals, 9 assists, 7.25 avg. rating. 

- Gaetano Pio Orastinio: AMC released from Inter. 7 goals, 4 assists, 6.97 avg. rating.

- Attilio Altomare: ST released from Napoli. 19 year old which carried us throughout the year. 23 goals, a nice poacher. 

   

League performance

It's the year of the promotion! Finished 6th in the league with a nice 17 wins and 13 draws. Finished the year in strong form and this carried all the way through the playoffs and managed to run through all of it! Serie B, here we come! in a future post! 

 

 

CLUB HISTORY

Season    |    League    |    Position    |    Italian Cup    |    Champions League    |    Europa League    |     Europe Conference League
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  20/21       Serie C/C           15th        2nd Qual Round	          N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  21/22       Serie C/C           12th        2nd Qual Round	          N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  22/23       Serie C/C     6th - Promoted    2nd Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
 

 

[rlipscombe]

@jmarchand - good to see you and to read your progress in Italy.  Good luck in Serie B next season

[jmarchand]

Città di Campobasso

2023/24

While we secured promotion to serie B through the playoffs, our finances were not great. We were losing 200-300k Euros per month and our debt was rapidly rising to a bit more than 4M Euros during the course of 2024. This was notably due to our abysmal attendance of ~1800 people. Even in the Serie C, we never got close to breaking even even as I slimmed the team down. This explains why I could not sign much players during this season, as I didn't have the money to pay them. There were two notable additions. The first  was GK Gabriel Brazāo, which I got from free from Chievo. He was brought to Italy by then-Serie-A Parma, but failed to make an impact there ans continued on a string of loans until he was released to Chievo for a season. The other is AMR Alessio Tribuzzi, a good 24-year old who would then lead our playmaking efforts in the next years to come. 

This season was hard. It started quite well, but then the guys fell into a slump in which we had 1 win and 2 draws in 15 games. A friendly after Christmas against the lowest sunday league team that I could find managed to turn things around and barely avoided relegation, winning only 3-1 on aggregate against Venezia. 

Compared to last season, Atilio Altomare scored 15 goals, but it was obvious that he didn't have the chops needed to proceed further. In contrast, Emanuele Torrasi continued to boss the midfield, scoring 13 goals in the process. 

Overall, tough season, but I managed to stay up and can only be hopeful for the future.

League Table

 

Best Eleven

 

After the season, Campobasso was subject of a takeover. The chairman stepped aside and someone from within came in, along with a loan of ~6M Euros. It took us briefly out of the (deep) red, but still helped quite a bit. Turns out we'd burn through that budget quite quickly. 

 

2024/25 - The season of hope

With 61 goals against last year, my focus going into this year was to strengthen the defence. Despite the limited budget, I was able to get Pietro Grassi (released on a free from AC Milan) who became a strong rock in the defence. I also somehow got DM/MC (and Greek international) Antonis Siatounis to join the adventure. Last but not least, Andrea Campanelli was signed on a free when he was released from Inter. He looked promising, but somehow did not live to the expectations that I had put in him. The fans loved him because he was 19, apparently had massive potential, but when Udinese showed some interest at the end of the season and wanted to pay 1.8M Euros for him, I was ever so happy to let him go (he since then rots on Udinese's bench). 

Finances were still terrible, attendance was not up and at the end of the season, we were back in the deep red (3.54M Euros in debt, actually). We can see that here, when the takeover happened and the nice uptick when I sold Campanelli. Still, things are pretty gloomy at the bank. 

I don't exactly know how, but we somehow ended in 5th place. Looking at the schedule, there's a lot of 1-0 wins, 2-0 wins, 1-1 draws, etc. We can see in the Best 11 that there were not too many goals to go around. In the Italian Cup, we progressed one round farther, but drew Fiorentina and lost 1-2 in Florence in the 4th Qualifying Round. So yeah, there was hope! 

The fifth place got us in the playoffs, where we promptly lost 0-1 against Juve Stabia, who had finished 8th in the league. Disappointment here, but we could see the light. 

At the end of the season, Gabriel Brazao, our fine Brazilian keeper, got an offer from Fortaleza in the Brazilian first decision, refused our contract offer and moved over there on a free. Bummer! 

League Table

Best Eleven

 

2025/26 - Turning things around

After selling Andrea Campanelli, everyone was upset. The fans lost a youngster who they though had some potential, the owner wanted more money and the teammates thought that we had no more ways to score goals and wanted to see immediate improvements. And it was clear that I had to score more goals, but Campanelli was not cutting it. Browsing the list of free agents and released players (as any cash-strapped manager like I was would do), I noticed a name I knew... Edinson Cavani. Yeah, this guy. He had already called in for retirement in December of 2026 at the tender age of 37. His techincal skills were through the roof still, but he was slow as a turtle, but hey, he could bring a nice reputation boost to the club...  

Turns out he was willing to sign with us for 4k Euros per week, which I could afford after selling Campanelli. Come on in, Edinson! In the end, he played 12 games, scored 2 and had a couple of assists. Not great, not terrible. 

To complement him, I splashed out the cash that I still had from Campanelli for Mariano, a 18 year old in Barcelona B. I got him on a loan for 63K and his salary of 425 Euros per week. A steal. He started a bit slow, finding his marks, but really took off after Christmas. 

This is exactly when my charming owner decided to slash the wage budget from small to close to nothing. Mariano's contact with Barcelona was up at the end of the season and I had the hope of signing him on a permanent basis. Instead of that, I could not offer him more than 350 Euros per week, which I didn't even have the decency to offer him... I asked for more wage budget, the owner refused so I decided to try the "Leak to Press" button, to see what it would do. A press conference later, I was called into his office by a fuming owner, imposing me a point quota in the next 5 games to keep my job. 

The guys responded like champs for some reason to this, winning all 5 games, smashing Cesana 6-2 and Etnella 6-1 in the process. Then in April and May, in the final stretch of the season, 10-game unbeaten streak, with 9 wins to have us soar back in the league table, finishing 6th. 

We ended up losing in the semi final, after a 5-5 tie over two legs. I thus learned that the tie breaker was whoever finished higher in the regular season, so I lost to Lecce, who got promoted in the end. bummer. 

On top of all of that, Mariano decided to sign for direct rivals Empoli, who were just relegated from Serie A. I was fuming. He finished the regular season with 29 goals (an all-time Serie B record), 6 assists, a 754 avg. rating, won Player of the Year, Striker of the Year, Top goalscorer, Player's Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and was named in the Team of the Year. Basically he had won it all, it was a special season from a special player (more on him later...!) 

League table

Best Eleven

 

TEAM HISTORY

Season    |    League    |    Position    |    Italian Cup    |    Champions League    |    Europa League    |     Europe Conference League
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  20/21       Serie C/C           15th        2nd Qual Round	          N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  21/22       Serie C/C           12th        2nd Qual Round	          N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  22/23       Serie C/C     6th - Promoted    2nd Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  23/24       Serie B             16th        3rd Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  24/25       Serie B             5th         4th Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  25/26       Serie B             6th         4th Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A

 

[jmarchand]

 

Città di Campobasso

2026/27

After getting carried by Mariano's prowess last year and losing him on a free transfer because of my stupid owner, I was determined to push forward. Promotion to the Serie A and playing against the big clubs is my only way forward at this point as the prize money from getting promoted is nothing compared to what we might get in TV rights...

After the departure of our keeper Gabriel Brazāo two years earlier, I was managing to keep the head above the water by getting keepers on loan, this year was no exception as I signed Julien Branco on a loan from QPR (who are in the Championship). At 23 year old, he was decent and, more importantly, available as the unremarkable keeper from last year decided to turn us down and go back to England. 

Our wage budget being still close to nothing and transfer budget being exactly nothing,, I attracted youngster William Mercier on loan from LOSC. He filled the whole left by Mariano's departure very well, scoring 24 goals despite missing 4 weeks with a hernia towards the end of the season. 

Other key players include Luca Falbo, who has signed for us at left back way bank in 22/23, when he was released on a free transfer from Lazio. He was unspectacular and on the fringe of first team until then, but somehow stepped it up that year as I found a way to better use his strong crossing skills. 

Finally, another player who really stepped up this year was Alessio Tribuzzi who, like last year provided 14 assists to our goal scoring machine, while scoring 11 himself too.  Strong performance from the lad. 

Italian Cup

I haven't talked much about our performance in the cup in previous seasons as they were mostly unspectacular. Getting through the qualification round until drawn agains a Serie A side, then get logically beat out. This year was different, though. Scraping wins in qualifying rounds against Etnella and Benevento (a top serie B team at the time), we were drawn against Bologna in the 4th Qualifying Round. Score was 0-0 after regulation and going down to 10 men at the 69th minute and they scored at the 105th minute. William Mercier showed then great determination and quickly answered at the 109th. Ended up winning in penalty shootout when Branco stopped them twice. 

This was of great help, as appearance in the next rounds of the Italian Cup yielded 600K Euros in prize money instead of the pitiful 11.94k Euros in the qualifying rounds. My banker was very happy about that. 

We were then drawn against AC Milan, one of the top Serie A teams, in San Siro. This game deserves a screenshot, not words...

 

We were through, with probably one of my biggest upsets in all of my FM career. To give a sense of perspective, our total wage budget was 68 K Euros per week and half of the players in AC Milan's side are paid more than this... 

We then drawn Inter in the Quarter Final, went to San Siro again and got our butts handed to us on a platter, losing 0-7. Yup. Miracles only happen once. 

League Performance

Form was strong this year. While our top striker scored less than last year, the rest of the team really stepped up and wins by a 3-4 goal margin were rather common. We always stayed in promotion contention and on top of the year when it mattered, securing the title with 3 matches to go. 

I was also really glad that arch-rivals Empoli didn't manage promotion, losing to Benevento in the playoff final. My beloved Mariano ended up warming up their bench for most of the season, starting 3 games and not scoring any goal. A wasted year in his life. 

It was a really strong year for my guys. 3 of the 4 defencemen (Magrini, Grassi and Falbo) ended up in the Serie B team of the year, along with William Mercier and Emanuele Torrasi. 

 

Off-season

This is where I was really saved. The TV rights for Serie A were of 49M Euros per year, to be paid over the course of the next season. Our finances really got back in the green in a matter of 2 months and, depsite the fact that players were demanding larger contracts, which I mostly gave them, we went from losing 400K Euros per month to making ~2.5M Euros per month. Massive, massive jump. 

Here is the income graph, red is the TV Rights for Serie A, the spike in yellow earlier is the bank loan which was part of the takeover a few years back. 

Stadium is still small, owner is still stupid and lacks ambition, but I've been able to get him to improve a bit of the facilities. We now have Average Youth Recruitement. It's not much, but it's a start. Also, I no longer have scouting restrictions, so I immediately sent my best scout over in Brazil and Argentina to find me some sweet sweet young talent...  

It means that I had a transfer budget also, for the first time since starting to manage Campobasso...

 

The Hunt for Mariano

After a year on the bench, I was determined not to let Mariano rot at Empoli much longer. I was able to secure a transfer for the lad which got both the board and the fans really happy. At 2.8M Euros, it was the most expensive transfer in the history of Campobasso, but even my stupid owner gave me an A- for that transfer...! I managed to sign him on a 5-year contract at a reasonable wage and he felt just right back in my lineup. So far, in 5 games in Serie A, he already scored 4 goals... 

 

TEAM HISTORY

Season    |    League    |    Position    |    Italian Cup    |    Champions League    |    Europa League    |     Europe Conference League
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  20/21       Serie C/C           15th        2nd Qual Round	          N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  21/22       Serie C/C           12th        2nd Qual Round	          N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  22/23       Serie C/C     6th - Promoted    2nd Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  23/24       Serie B             16th        3rd Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  24/25       Serie B             5th         4th Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  25/26       Serie B             6th         4th Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  26/27       Serie B      1st - Champions    Quarter Final               N/A                     N/A                         N/A

 

Alright, I've caught up with where I am in my save now... :-) Things are going well, next step, surviving in the Serie A. Then, start the push for Europe. 

Forza Campobasso! 

[rlipscombe]

great update @jmarchand - managed to tell the story of the past few seasons there.  Good to see Mariano back at the club.  Good luck in Serie A.

[Thebaker]

@jmarchand - well done on reaching Serie A.  Mariano looks like a decent player, surprising that he scored so many at that level though, your tactics must be right for him. I never understand why the AI clubs do what Empoli did, get the top league scorer in and bench him 

[Geminilightning]

Alta de Lisboa - 2021/2022 Season

Overview | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Competitions | Table | Squad | Team of the Season | 

Transfers | Finances | Profile

Overview

An important stepping-stone season. Went professional, stayed within budget, managed to not be relegated.

Portuguese Second League

We were near the top of the table for most of the season, but Academica and Portimonense were too good to keep up. Still, fourth place isn't bad, I can't complain. 53 goals socred was good for join-third in the league, but conceding forty-one wasn't best. Still, there were some very entertaining games.

Portuguese Cup

We lost in the third round to Chaves. Actually, we tied them in regulation 3-3 and then completely fell apart in overtime to lose 3-6. Still, making it to the Third Round is okay. It's all about the draw, though, and I'm hoping I'll get to like the fifth round soon.

Portuguese League Cup

We actually finished second in the Group Phase after a 4-1 victory over Gil Vicente. Unfortunately, only the Group winners make it to the Semifinal rounds, but it was a result that nobody expected.

Transfers/Key Players

I brought in five players - two on frees - and they were all very important. 

Diogo Martins was the keeper for the year. Conceding fifty goals in a total of forty appearances, he was decent. The one thing that he was very good at was stopping penalties. 

Paul Ayongo was the leading scorer of the year with twelve, with three assists. He did get injured a few times, but was a steal, especially at 16,500 Euros.

Tarcisio was the big signing of the year at 38K, and he chimed in with nine goals and seven assists. Notably, he is very flexible.

Paulo Marcelino was the AMC signed to replace Carlos Alberto Nogueira. He had three goals and nine assists.

Dudu was signed to shore up the back line, and will be needed now that a few of the players I've had will be let go.

Gui Ferreira was an assist wizard from the back line, though he will be let go the next season, as we couldn't agree on a reasonable contract.

Vladislav Zhikov is probably my best player, though - and I'll probably not be able to sign him past the next season. He is already valued at 180K!

João Nobre is a homegrown product who contributed nine goals last season. I am excited to see him continue to develop.

Next Season

The budget is set around 2M, and there are some players whom I will need to offloard/sell I hope for another Top half of the table finish while getting the finances in better order. 

Seasons

2020/2021 | Portugal Championship - Champions | Portugal Cup - Second Round
2021/2022 | Portuguese Second League - Fourth Place (57 pts) | Portugal Cup - Third Round | Portugal League Cup - Third Phase 

[Muggert]

@jmarchand Great grinding... I entered the serie A some versions ago with a team but fell short. I found the serie A very difficult to win. I hope you do better than me!

Edited September 6, 2020 by Muggert

[rlipscombe]

@Geminilightning - strong first season there in the division.  good luck repeating that next season, if not improving...

[Muggert]

2038/2039 - CD El Ejido

So... This was the year. I believed and we almost delivered.

After defeating RB Leipzig, Chelsea and Bayern we entered our first ChL final..... And lost... 4-2 against a strong Dortmund team.

As a consolidation prize we won the league for the second time. 3 points in front of Real. Barcelona had an awful season and ended 30 points behind!

In the cup we were knocked out by 2nd tier Santander even though we fielded our strongest eleven.

League: Win! - Cup: 4th- ChL: Runner Up - Supercoppa: Win!

Squad - Competitions - Transfers - Finances

Players of the season:

DC Silva -  DL Stevanovic - AMR Izo - ST Camara

Youngster of the season:

AMC Lange

Next season:

Izo broke his lower leg and I'm afraid we'll be seeking to replace him in the starting eleven. He'll be a valuable backup.

Besides that I need an upgrade at DR and we'll be good to compete in all tournaments.

If I find the right players I'm contemplating changing our attacking structure on the right side.

[rlipscombe]

unlucky @Muggert.  it definitely feels close now though.  good luck next season.

[karanhsingh]

That's unlucky! What tactical changes are you looking at? 

[Muggert]

My current tactic is this:

Most games i go attacking mentality though.

What I'm tinkering with in the offseason:

Change AML to IF(A) and the DL to FB(S) + Change AMR IF(A) to W(S) and DR to WB(S)/FB(A) - To give us more varied attacking patterns

Change the CM duo to B2B and DLP(D) - To push an extra player up the field.

Change our LOE to Higher and our pressing to Urgent. - To give us some extra space for our speedy front 4.

I'm still ages behind the top dogs in finances and I can't afford the players currently capable of upgrading the AMR spot. I might find a decent winger cheaper and that way give us extra options in attack.

Edited September 7, 2020 by Muggert

[jmarchand]

Going quite well in Serie A at the moment, playing way above expectations. 

 

And then this stretch of the schedule happens. 

 

Time for a team meeting, I think! 

[rlipscombe]

13 hours ago, jmarchand said:

Going quite well in Serie A at the moment, playing way above expectations. 

 

And then this stretch of the schedule happens. 

 

Time for a team meeting, I think! 

tough run of fixtures that....  i hope the meeting does the trick!

[Muggert]

 

Rematch!

[Muggert]

Apologies for the long post

Gametime!

El Ejido v Dorussia Dortmund ... Champions League final 2041 The rematch!

Ejido:

3 semifinals and a final in the last 5 years... Is this the year.

Even though I haven't made a single signing for the first team I may have found a longtime replacement for Izo. Mohammadzadeh starts as a raumdeuter at AMR.

Our star DC Silva is injured and is on the bench. Besides him we're in our strongest formation. Since last year DR Chirciu has been replaced by Cuenos,

We'll rely on our strong offensive quartet with Fittaioli as a deep playmaker.

Dortmund:

Reigning champs. 3 finals in 5 years including this one. 1 win.

They'll rely offensively on highly technical and pacy player Mora and Molina.

On the midfield we need to close down Mostefa if we want to control the game.

Hopefully we can hit their backfield in the channels as most players lack pace.

Let's get it on!

8th minute - Brunneau is clear in the area but his finish is weak... 0-0

12th minute - After a corner we hit Dortmund on the counter. Camara drives the ball forward and delivers the cross to Mohammadzadeh who beats the goalkeeper but hits the post... 0-0

22th minute - We get caught in the transitional stage and Mora goes clear on goal.... He calmly places the ball in the far top corner... 0-1 Dortmund

28th minute - Andric fires a powerful freekick on goal but Roth saves well... 0-1

36th minute - Brunneau send in a free-kick and Fittaioli head it home... It's all square 1-1 ... Oh no.. That's the flag... He's offside.. Still 0-1

40th minute - After a brilliant spell of possesion Stevanovic swings in the cross. Camara heads it but Barrera pulls of a great save... 0-1

42th minute - Aksoy is clear in the penalty area finishes straight on Roth.. Picks up the return ball but blasts it past the post... 0-1

HALFTIME

While Dortmund have had the biggest two chances we've had numerous good ones.

We'll try shortening our passing and hopefully we wont get caught in transistion as happened a couple of times. We'll lower our defensive line to create less space behind as wel as our LOE to give our players more space in front,

Rafael is having a bad game. We'll be warming up Touindouba and Soares Xavier.

60th minute - Camara is clear on goal but puts it wide of the post from a tight angle. - We replace Mohammadzadeh with Izo... 0-1

64th minute - After only 4 minutes on the pitch Izo test Barrera after turning with the ball brilliantly. He saves... 0-1

80th minute - We put on Touindouba and Gorosito to make one last push.

84th minute - Izo launches a freekick onto the back post.. Gorosito heads it across and a Dortmund player puts it into his own net. 1-1!! - ... Once again the linesmans flag is up... 0-1

88th minute - Mora almos makes it 2-0 but a sliding tackle from Grande blocks it... 0-1

91th minute - Gorosito is clear in the box but is taken down......... VAR awards a penalty! ... Club legend Izo steps up... And equalises... 1-1

FULL TIME 1-1 ... We're going to extra time!

After going all out in the final 10 minutes we revert back into a standard offensive type of football. We have no real defensive midfielder left on the field and that might cost us.

EXTRA TIME:

98th minute - We make our final sub. Hansen replaces Stevanovic in the left back. Hansen has really been a revelation for us this season. Unfortunately for him his playing the same position at the same club as arguable the best defender in the world... 1-1

107th minute - Brunneau slips past 3 defenders and squares it for Diego who finishes straight on the keeper... 1-1

113th minute - After passing the ball around for ages around the box Juninho takes a long shots and it's just outside the post... 1-1

119th minute - The teams are preparing for penalties as Mora suddenly is open in front of the net.... Roth pulls out a gret save... 1-1

ITS GOING TO PENALTIES!

Although we've never had great penalty takers I'm pretty sure we have a decent PK record. Our team has a generally high composure that will definately help. 

Izo will take the first, then Bruneau, Fittaioli, Gorosito and 5th will be Diego with his 20 composure. Let's bring it home!!!

PENALTIES:

Barrera saves Izo's penalty, while Mora scores ... 0-1 Dortmund

Bruneau scores! As does Stransky... 1-2 Dortmund

Fittaioli levels it, but Andric puts Dortmund back on top... 2-3 Dortmund

Gorosito shoots straight on the keeper and misses... It's al down to Juninho... He scores...

For the second straight year we have lost the Champions League final to Dortmund... Bummer...

 

 

 

[Muggert]

2040/2041 - CD El Ejido

Long story short. We lost the ChL final to Dortmund. I really thought this was the year

Lost the championship to Barcelona. Got knocked out in the semifinal of Copa del rey..

At least we won the Supercoppa!

League: 2nd- Cup: SF- ChL: Runner Up - Supercoppa: Win!

Squad - Competitions - Transfers - Finances

Players of the season:

DC Silva -  DL Stevanovic - MC Fittaioli - ST Camara

Youngster of the season:

AMR Mohammadzadeh

Next season:

A bunch of players needs to renegotiate their contract that's gonna be expensive.

We still haven't got the financial capacity to splash the cash like the big boys. Our 30K seater stadium is really holding us back.

Hopefully I can renegotiate everyone and bring in at least one quality player.

Time to bring this challenge to an end :-)

[jmarchand]

On 09/09/2020 at 11:13, rlipscombe said:

tough run of fixtures that....  i hope the meeting does the trick!

It did! Just finished my season, full report coming up soon! 

[rlipscombe]

6 minutes ago, jmarchand said:

It did! Just finished my season, full report coming up soon! 

[jmarchand]

Città di Campobasso

Previous update: 

 

Season 2027/28 - A first crack at Serie A

So, after winning Serie B last year with a great performance, the team (and the manager) was excited to move to Serie A and compete against the big boys for the first time. A good result in the Italian Cup in the previous season against Milan showed us glimmers of hope, but then a 0-7 beating against Inter quickly showed the team that we weren't quite there yet... 

During the off season, there were a couple of interesting transfers. 

I have managed to get Mariano back, for a 2.8 M Euro fee on the last day of the transfer window, screenshot of him in the previous update. Other notable additions were Melvin Zinga, a 300K Euros transfer who would be our first-string keeper and Alex Ghidini, a promising midfielder who was featured most of the year in the first team. 

 

League Progression 

After a rough welcome in the league (Roma - Juventus - Inter to open the season), the guys picked it up and started playing very well. We were confidently beating some weaker teams, but still struggling against the big 5. Standout games are a 3-3 draw against Roma to open the season, a 3-1 win against Napoli in which we completely dominated and a 3-2 win against Sassuolo in which we came back from behind to win it in the last 5 minutes. There are still a few things to improve, we tied 2-2 at home against Udinese where a win would have qualified for European competitions and a 1-0 loss against Genoa, just before our super tough stretch of the season posted above.   

 

 

We have had a couple of hard injuries during the year. Mariano missed 5 weeks because of a knee tendonitis and got injured again when I sent him with the U20 sides for a game and missed 4 more weeks. Bummer. Newly signed forward Miodrag Manic tore his hamstring, sidelining him for 3 months after only playing a few games with us. 

Despite of that, proud of what the team accomplished this year. 

Cup Performance

Mostly unremarkable, reached the first round after a win in extra time against Sampdoria, but got knocked out by Juventus shortly after. We fielded the best team we can, but we're not quite at the Juventus level yet. Fiorentina went on to win it, though! 

Finances

As mentioned in the previous update, the TV Rights really propelled us to a new level. I'll let you guess when we joined the Serie A just by looking at the finance screen...  We now have ~30 M Euros in the bank and are in the process of upgrading Yout and Training facilities. Our stupid owner is starting to see the light and has also given us a 9M transfer budget for next year. Who knows where this will take us! 

Our stadium only has 7500 places used in normal matches, hoping that the board will expand this and at least reach the 25000 seats that's already in our stadium. With the current owner, I don't see that we'd be building a new stadium anytime soon. 

 

First Team Squad

We've been short of depth in defence, but Fontanarossa and Grassi held the fort while GK Zinga closed the door. I know this is where I have to improve during the off season. There are a few loanees in there that I renewed for a few years. William Mercier is a steal at 2.8K Euros per week and 13 goals and Luca Dörfel is a good quality at left back, but I'm not too much attached to him and he can get the axe if I find someone better. 

Here are a few standouts: 

Mariano - 15 goals (second best in Serie A!!), 7 assists, 7.28 avg rating

 

Alex Ghidini - Promising 20 year-old, mostly took the place of Emmanuele Torrasi as my Mezzala in the midfield. 

 

Melvin Zinga - 6 clean sheets, Serie A goalkeeper of the year

 

Miodrag Monic - Signed in January (after Mariano's injury) and will likely get a nice success as a Shadow Striker. 

Awards

Serie A Young player of the year: Mariano! 

Serie A goalkeeper of the year: Melvin Zinga! 

 

Objectives for next season

- Wisely use the 9M transfer budget

- Improve defensive line

- Refrain from the impulse of buying more strikers

Team History

Season    |    League    |    Position    |    Italian Cup    |    Champions League    |    Europa League    |     Europe Conference League
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  20/21       Serie C/C           15th        2nd Qual Round	          N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  21/22       Serie C/C           12th        2nd Qual Round	          N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  22/23       Serie C/C     6th - Promoted    2nd Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  23/24       Serie B             16th        3rd Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  24/25       Serie B             5th         4th Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  25/26       Serie B             6th         4th Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  26/27       Serie B      1st - Champions    Quarter Final               N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  27/28       Serie A             8th            1st Round                N/A                     N/A                         N/A

 

[rlipscombe]

great update and great first season in Serie A @jmarchand.  Mariano had a great season and good to see him back.  The price tag may well be a steal!  Like the look of Ghidini as well.  Good luck next season and enjoy spending the money (wisely obviously!)

[Muggert]

 

Revenge!!

[jmarchand]

15 hours ago, Muggert said:

 

Revenge!!

With a good beating too. Good job and go get that Champions League trophy! 

[rlipscombe]

19 hours ago, Muggert said:

 

Revenge!!

 bet that felt good.......

[Muggert]

@jmarchand & @rlipscombe - I had a pretty good time :-)

 

I just sold backup MC Soares Xavier for 74 million pound to Inter... And we splash the cash.. Time to bring in the talent that takes us home..

Welcome Alysson .. 110 million pound

[rlipscombe]

1 hour ago, Muggert said:

@jmarchand & @rlipscombe - I had a pretty good time :-)

 

I just sold backup MC Soares Xavier for 74 million pound to Inter... And we splash the cash.. Time to bring in the talent that takes us home..

Welcome Alysson .. 110 million pound

big price, but looks like a player....

[Thebaker]

Table | Squad | Transfers

 

Started the season as favorites and soon topped the league. By Mar it was a battle between only Eger and Ferencvaros, the fixture congestion lead to a downturn in results but Ferencvaros ended with 7 games in 18 days (Eger had 2 in the same period) in May and could only draw most of them handing the title to my team with 2 games to go.

Reached the final of the Hungarian cup for the first time but the team were poor losing 0-1 to Ferencvaros.

In Europe the team completed in the euro cup II again and reached the group stage. They topped the group with 2 games to go allowing me to play reserves in the last 2 games. The team were outclassed by Napoli in the 2nd KO rd, twho went on to win the tournament beating Ferencvaros in the final.

Finances went up but it was spent on training and youth improvements as well as increasing the stadium by 1660 seats.

I sold long time player Menczeles but Silva and Santo (bought last season) ensured he wasn't missed. Neya had a low min fee clause which i didn't realize until it was activated and he went.

Rose was his usual solid self and i turned down bids of £9 million from some Chinese clubs. Him and Pantovic are still my main pairing but possibly need replacing going forward.

Up front Ilyuschenkov was again my top scorer, i also brought in Okrah for a snip, he finished as the league top scorer and African player of the year. I turned down bids for Ilyuschenkov of £7.5 million from Benfica and Porto during teh season, luckily this didn't upset him to much.

Season	League	Position	Hungarian Cup	Europe	Top Scorer	Attendance	Training	Youth	Junior	Youth Rec	Notes
2020/21	Division II	15th	3rd Rd		Korbely (11)	546	Below Average	Basic	Fairly Basic	Fairly Basic
2021/22	Division II	8th	2nd rd		Baros (18)	608	Below Average	Basic	Fairly Basic	Fairly Basic
2022/23	Division II	9th	4th Rd		Kasza (15)	712	Below Average	Basic	Fairly Basic	Fairly Basic
2023/24	Division II	12th	2nd rd		Licuriceanu (19)	579	Below Average	Basic	Fairly Basic	Fairly Basic
2024/25	Division II	1st	4th Rd		Baros (23)	779	Below Average	Basic	Fairly Basic	Fairly Basic	Promoted
2025/26	Division I	5th	Quarter Final		Mencezeles(9)	2145	Below Average	Basic	Fairly Basic	Fairly Basic
2026/27	Division I	3rd	4th Rd		Licuriceanu (15)	2022	Adequate	Below Average	Average	Average	Qualified for Europe
2027/28	Division I	5th	2nd Rd	2nd Q Rd Euro cup II	Bracun (11)	2542	Average	Adequate	Adequate	Adequate
2028/29	Division I	6th	Semi-final		Illyuschenkov (22)	2402	Good	Adequate	Good	Good
2029/30	Division I	6th	Semi-final		Illyuschenkov (21)	2344	Great	Adequate	Excellent	Exceptional
2030/31	Division I	2nd	Semi-final		Illyuschenkov  (35)	2280	Great	Adequate	Excellent	Exceptional	Qualified for Europe
2031/32	Division I	2nd	Semi-final	1st KO Rd Euro cup II	Illyuschenkov  (35)	2894	Excellent	Average	Exceptional	Exceptional	Qualified for Europe
2032/33	Division I	1st	Final	Qtr-final Euro cup II	Illyuschenkov  (33)	3177	Superb	Good	Exceptional	Exceptional	Qualified for CL

Edited September 12, 2020 by Thebaker

[Muggert]

@Thebaker Congrats on the league win!

[Thebaker]

51 minutes ago, Muggert said:

@Thebaker Congrats on the league win!

Halfway through the next season and its proving much tougher in the league with injuries and fatigue. Got to the CL groups and was thumped 9-0 by Man Utd

[rlipscombe]

@Thebaker - well done on the title.  sounds like the CL proving tricky...

[Muggert]

2041/2042 - CD El Ejido

A promising season fell short as we lost to Chelsea in the QF of the champions league.

We collected 3 trophies in the CWC, Supercoppa and the Copa del Rey

Something was odd in this season and we'll try to change some little things to start the new season.

League: 4th- Cup: Win- ChL: QF - Supercoppa: Win! - Club WC: Win

Squad - Competitions - Transfers - Finances

Players of the season:

DR Cuenos -  DL Stevanovic - AML Bruneau - ST Camara

Youngster of the season:

AMR Mohammadzadeh

Next season:

We need to create a better tactic against big teams which won't leave us this vulnerable on the backed.

Since Cuenos has emerged as a world class DR I'm contemplating signing a solid DM and playing the 4-4-2 narrow diamond.

The team is pretty much competetive on all areas.

[Andrew Haines]

Time for a European challenge but not straying too far from home.. had a good go through the leagues but settled on a challenge in Scotland. East Kilbride it is.

profile

[Andrew Haines]

East Kilbride

 

League Two– 2020/21 – 1st

Squad

Transfers

Overview

A great first season saw us storm to promotion as champions at the first time of asking. Most of my initial signings were youngsters released from the SPL and a handful of loan signings. They gave me a decent base to work with on a small wage bill. I inherited however strikers Ruian Paton and Ross Kavanagh who were prolific until the arrival of Courtney Baker-Richardson in January. Courtney would go on to score 17 league goals in 17 games.

As well as our impressive league form, we enjoyed a run to the Quarter Finals of the Scottish Cup where we were defeated by SPL side Kilmarnock. Unfortunately, there were no juicy ties to bring in revenue.

Key Players

Courtney Baker-Richardson – 17 league goals in  17 games for the ex-Swansea strker.

Record     

Season          League                          Position          Europe                        Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21         Lge 2                           1st                                             Promoted, Champions

                            

[rlipscombe]

unlucky @Muggert.  hopefully a tactical tweak will get you back to your best.

welcome back @Andrew Haines - good luck in Scotland with East Kilbride.  Good first season there.  Can't argue with Baker-Richardsons' form.

[Muggert]

@rlipscombe Seems like our new 4-4-2 narrow tactic is working pretty well...

We're a bit unstable in the league but we're dominating a strong group in the Champions League... 4-1 away win in Paris and this beauty...

 

[rlipscombe]

@Muggert looks like it is going well... 

[jmarchand]

Again hell in September.

 

Looking forward to an easier stretch of the schedule again. 

[rlipscombe]

4 hours ago, jmarchand said:

Again hell in September.

 

Looking forward to an easier stretch of the schedule again. 

Ouch!!  tricky run.  At least October SHOULD be easier..... 

[Thebaker]

@Muggert - looks like the tactic is working, surely this is your season.