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The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge


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9 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

How is Cagliari doin in your save?

I'd say constantly mid-table with 3 top half finishes, including a season in the Europa League. They also have one relegation, but they got promoted straight back up.

In the Europa League, they got knocked out in the Second Knockout Round by Real Sociedad on away goals in the 2025/26 season.

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15 minutes ago, JLAB said:

I'd say constantly mid-table with 3 top half finishes, including a season in the Europa League. They also have one relegation, but they got promoted straight back up.

In the Europa League, they got knocked out in the Second Knockout Round by Real Sociedad on away goals in the 2025/26 season.

Sounds good.

Im always interested how Cagliari is doin, if someone plays in Italia.

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5 hours ago, XaW said:

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FC Novokuznetsk - Season 2023/24 Review

Table | Squad | Transfers  | Finances

After the promotion last season, I had no expectations for what we were going to do, other than try to avoid being relegated back down. And we did survive with a nice margin down to the relegation zone. The level of players are certainly higher here, but not frighteningly so, except with a few teams such as Avangard Kursk and Kaluga. Hopefully we can get in better players going forward so we can establish ourselves here before pushing onwards.

Financially we are struggling though, I've had two takeovers so far, and the only thing they've done is take up a loan to cover the debt and then we continue losing much money. Suspiciously, most of the losses are in the "other" category, so I guess that is some form of corruption or scam... It keeps us from getting any improvements though.

We finally were entered into the Kubok Rossii this season where we beat Zenit Irkutsk and Novosibirsk before losing to Shinnik Yaroslavl in the 3rd round.

Youth

What? I mean, what am I supposed to do with this info???

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Well this was pretty horrible! I'm not even going to pick out anyone from this intake, because it's quite frankly dreadful at this level!

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U21s:

They only played friendlies.

U18s:

Our u18s were entered into a somewhat complicated system this season. First they entered into a league system, Russian U18 Division - Moskovskaya oblast Group 9, where they finished 1st and qualified further. In the Group Stage they also finished 1st in Group D to go through to the next stage. The final stage was a knockout round where they lost in the quarter finals to Volgar Astrakhan U18s.

Statistics:

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A Belarusian was not very surprising, but the guy from Ivory Coast was. No clue how he ended up in Siberia...

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Record Breakers:

Most goals in a match: Sevada Torosyan - 3
Most goals in a league match: Sevada Torosyan - 3
Most clean sheets in a season: Alexandr Djuldinov - 6
Worst discipline: Maxim Maslov 22h - 14 yellow, 0 red
Most league apps overall: Maxim Korshunov - 127
Most league goals overall: Sevada Torosyan - 51
Oldest player: Alexandr Djuldinov - 36 years, 294 days
Oldest goalscorer: Maxim Korshunov - 31 years, 30 days

Trophy cabinet:

Empty

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Those youth personalities, ouch

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3 minutes ago, Brentmeister said:

Those youth personalities, ouch

Yeah, it's quite annoying because my HoYD is quite good, well for this level at least!

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This season was a bit better (the season update will be out soon!), but I would change him out if I could find anyone better. There's slim pickings in the lower tiers in Russia though, so no one better have wanted to join as of yet.

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FC Novokuznetsk - Season 2024/25 Review

Table | Squad | Transfers  | Finances

We got moved into another group this season, and man this was a harder group than last season! The whole entire season was a struggle to survive, but in the end we finally finished above the dreaded line. The main reason for the problems this season was that the goals just dried up for everyone, and when we already have a quite shaky defence, we were doomed to struggle. We still have major issues financially, and we really need a cup run, or some big sale or something to bring in money, otherwise I have no idea where this is headed!

In the Kubok Rossii we lost to Orel in the 1st round.

Youth

Anything would be better than the last, but this was really promising!

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Again, anything would be better than last season, but this was pretty good. We got in a great Azeri goalkeeper, and that was much needed.

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Maxim Bondar' 25k (and that strange apostrophe at the end of his name is not a typo from me, it's how his name is) is a really talented goalkeeper, and will be 1st choice already.

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U21s:

They only played friendlies.

U18s:

In the initial stage they finished 3rd in the Russian U18 Division - South Group 8 and qualified for the next stage. Then they won Group D in the Group stage and went into the knockout rounds. There they lost in the quarter final to eventual winners KamAZ u18s.

Statistics:

Spoiler

We added Croatia and Azerbaijan as well as our first North American nation in the USA.

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Record Breakers:

Worst discipline: Maxim Maslov 22h - 9 yellow, 2 red
Most league apps overall: Maxim Korshunov - 146
Most league goals overall: Sevada Torosyan - 59
Fastest goal: Maxim Maslov 22h - 46 seconds
Oldest goalscorer: Maxim Korshunov - 31 years, 170 days

Trophy cabinet:

Empty

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I have only just realised the database in my Friar Lane & Epworth save is bugged.  The leagues at tiers five and six have the incorrect number of teams in them and my OCD won’t allow me continue.  I got from tier 11 to tier 6 with youth only.

So maybe I should just stick with the out of thE box leagues.  Reading the usual editors whose work is usually the best, this years editor has so many faults and bugs with it, that are not being fixed.

So where to now.  Any ideas?  Europe please in a difficult league.  Difficult as in low ranking.

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South Shields Season Review 2036/37 - Championship

 

LeagueWhat a slog this season was, all my fault as well. I stopped doing the training myself (just adding bits here and there each week) and it might be a coincidence but we suffered a lot of injuries this season meaning we very rarely had our best 11 on the pitch, plus I had a massive bout of overthinking and kept tinkering with the tactics, almost like I was trying to find a perfect one that would see me win all the time :D in Feb I instead went back to the system that we've used for most of the previous 15 seasons and after that we improved, only losing 4 of our final 19 games (lots of draws though) we go again next season but with me being far less of a tinkerman!

FA CupOver the 2 games I think I used 5 formations which gives you an insight into where my head was out. Poor from us though

League CupA rotated side early in the season lost to a side the league below

Transferslots of loans as usual but have started to sell some deadwood even if it's only for small amounts it's just nice to get rid of them

SquadNot much to say, still very promising really. 

Financespretty bad, only in the black thanks to TV money at end of the season, we need a rich takeover or promotion for the money to improve training ground and max out the youth stuff

Youth Intakenot a good one with only 2 tagged so I bit the bullet and brought in a new HYOD who I really really like

Jordan Overton 37A - looks a decent winger
Hamza Hanoon 37B - how could I not tag a attacker from Iraq? 

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Youth Recruitment	Youth Coaching		Notes & Achievements 

2021/22		VNLN		5th 		Adequate		Adequate		First coaching badge
2022/23		VNLN		2nd 		Adequate		Good			Promoted via playoffs, FA Trophy runners up
2023/24		VNL		16th 		Average			Excellent 		2nd coaching badge
2024/25		VNL		12th 		Average			Excellent		3rd coaching badge
2025/26		VNL		6th 		Average			Excellent		Promotion via playoffs
2026/27		League Two	1st 		Good			Exceptional		Promotion as champions
2027/28		League One	11th 		Good			Exceptional
2028/29		League One	14th 		Good			Exceptional
2029/30		League One	7th 		Good			Exceptional
2030/31		League One	1st 		Good 			Exceptional		Promoted as champions. Completed all coaching badges
2031/32		Championship	18th 		Excellent		Exceptional
2032/33		Championship	8th 		Excellent		Exceptional
2033/34		Championship	7th 		Excellent		Exceptional		Training ground upgrade, Academy up level 3, new ground announced
2034/35		Championship	6th 		Excellent		Exceptional		Lost in playoff semi finals
2035/36		Championship	9th 		Excellent		Exceptional 
2036/37		Championship	11th 		Excellent		Exceptional		Moved into new stadium

 

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Farnborough 2035 Youth Intake

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Not a great class in terms of star rating but the personality and team DNA is improved over last year.  Personalities are vastly improved.

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Edited by keeper#1
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FC Novokuznetsk - Season 2025/26 Review

Table | Squad | Transfers  | Finances

Once again we moved into a new group at this level, and I have no idea if the groups are random every year or what, but this time the group didn't feel as hard as last year. I don't know if we are better, or if the opponents are poorer, but we never got the same thumpings as we did before. We still lost quite a few and only just survived, but we did it by a bit of a margin this time around. All in all, things on the pitch are slowly improving, but I can see us spending a whole lot of time at this level. The main reason? Finances! We are almost a million in the red, and with a quarter of a million in loans as well, this just can't go well unless the board starts pumping money into the club! Still, I try to focus on what happens on the pitch and training, and the rest will figure itself out...

In the Kubok Rossii we lost to Amkar Perm in the 1st round.

Youth

Another promising preview.

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Not bad, but the left wing position is not the one I need the most...

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Maxim Nikulin 26g is a pretty talented winger, and will be part of the first team squad.

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U21s:

They only played friendlies.

U18s:

They had a poor season and finished 6th in the Russian U18 Division - Moskovskaya oblast Group 9 and were knocked out.

Statistics:

Spoiler

Only Russian this intake.

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Record Breakers:

Most goals in a match: Konstantin Omarov 22a - 4
Most goals in a league match: Konstantin Omarov 22a - 4
Most league goals overall: Sevada Torosyan - 69

Trophy cabinet:

Empty

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Chengfeng Season 35/36 Review

Table - Squad - U23 Squad - U19 Squad - Transfers - Finances

What a season. We were able to secure our best ever CSL Finish with finishing 9th. The main reason were lucky draws. We actually drawed 15 of our games, half of the games played. Alot of them were quite lucky and our GK Tao Junchen was easily the pick for player of the season. Our best players really delivered this season.

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Also Liu Honliang from the 35 Intake broke into the first team, because we actually have no other right winger

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Our Intake Preview looked pretty good

Spoiler

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and then it was ok

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Zhong Cheng looking like the best of them

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We will keep our players and hope they sign new contracts. Fu Yibing doesnt want to at the moment, but really hope he will change his mind. Another great info is that the board agreed to upgrade the youth recruitement, which is now exceptional. Facilities upgrading is not possible, because our finances are only looking ok.

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3 minutes ago, JLAB said:

That can't be a good thing.

I have the same facilities (level) and now 3 million in the bank... But we are losing a lot per season, so I'm going to get all the upgrades I can! I mean, if we are going to struggle, then why not get in good players while we can! :D

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1 hour ago, steve.rush said:

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Sannois SG 2034-2035

We survived relegation quite comfortably. Still leaky at the back but we picked up some important wins at home.

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We lost 3-1 at home to Ligue 1 OGC Nice in the French Cup Eleventh Round.

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Mouhamed Keita 32b is our new star and possibly our best talent so far. Only 17, he was our top scorer and assist provider on the season. Jean Etoundi 28e has the gloves and was decent.

Samy Chastang 29c and Matteo Lux 26a are among our best players.

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We are now in a position where we are able to keep hold of our best players. Finances are healthy and investment in facilities is being made regularly. Avoiding relegation will be the target again.

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Keita looks excellent, especially for 17

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1 hour ago, Armeniar said:

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The end of our fairy tale - La fin de notre conte de fée

S14 - Ligue 1 (1st) - Champions League (Winners)  - Coupe de France (Qtr Final) 

Squad - U19 - Out on loan - Transfers

Transfers

An important change in goal. Vincent was sold after 7 seasons as first goalkeeper to our big rival AS Monaco, where he would keep the bench warm. Jabnoun started banging on the door, and after two excellent seasons at FC Lorient, he was labelled a 'wonderkid'. He and Abu-Badu, also a wonderkid, would eventually alternate throughout the year.


Ligue 1

After several seasons of narrowly missing out on the title, I was hoping that this would be our year. And that would be an understatement... We defeated AS Monaco on the second day of the competition, so the tone was set immediately where we normally struggled against them. A painful draw at home for P$G on the third match day against city rival Paris FC gave us a small lead. Both us and P$G played a near-perfect first round. We drew at home against the Parisians, hugely important to stop them catching up with us, while they even lost at home to Lille two match days later. So we went into the second round as number one... (click) Great!

The following match day, we were again caught off guard: AS Monaco won 0-1 at our place, allowing P$G to overtake us. This proved to be short term, however, as P$G first came up short at Bordeaux and then at Brest. We conquered the first place again, but we still had to play in Paris. The table before the match against P$G was a telling one (click). Winning meant creating a gap that they would probably not be able to bridge again, losing meant being back at zero. Right in line with this phenominal season, we did what we could not do in the previous 23 confrontations against them: win, 0-2.

P$G's hegemony came to an end. After 17 seasons, a new club can call itself the number one in France:

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Fourteen seasons, only with our own youth. A huge statement to the petrodollars of P$G! :classic_ninja:

 

Champions League 

Because we finished third after two seasons as number two, we actually started our magisterial run through the preliminary rounds. These were easily completed with half a B-team. In the group stage, we won all our home games despite the busy schedule in combination with the league. It proved sufficient for first place. After that, we drew Ajax who had not played any KO's for several seasons. In Amsterdam, however, they surprised us 2-0, but at home we easily rectified that with a forfeit score. Then Villarreal were eliminated and Man City had to acknowledge the superiority of our young team. On to the CL Finals!!!

Previous confrontations showed that Bayern were a good fit for us (click), but the CL final is of course a separate event. After a night of thinking about who I would send onto the pitch and whether I would change my tactics slightly, it was time to start. I was just sitting down in front of my desk, all suited up as it should be for a CL-final :lol:, when I already had to jump for joy: our great Gaspar needed less than 4 minutes to open the score. Huge pressure from my shoulders, but also from our players as it turned out. After 15 minutes it was already 2-0 in our favour, Özkan wanted to score again like last year against Bayern. I began to fluctuate slightly between dreams and fears of a heroic comeback by Bayern, but that proved unnecessary. Gaspar, Özkan and Bamba completed the demonstration, allowing us to win our first ever CL final on an incredible way:

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Coupe de France

Loss against Montpellier who had a top day. Fighting on three fronts was clearly too much for the boys, don't mind.
 

U19

Also played champion, again beating P$G.

Youth intake

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The last intake was a nice one to end with. Berrada & Moreaux were guaranteed to become interesting players for the club. 

Extra

As a final update, there will be a detailed overview of the heroes who made this all possible.

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Congrats:applause:

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2 hours ago, Armeniar said:

 

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The end of our fairy tale - La fin de notre conte de fée

Squad overview

S14 - Ligue 1 (1st) - Champions League (Winners)  - Coupe de France (Qtr Final) 

For several editions in FM, I have been playing almost exclusively with youth. I was determined to get into this Hall of Fame one day, but until today I never succeeded. I never had the courage to persevere and usually gave up after about ten seasons, despite always having a challenging career. Now the moment has finally come, after a first attempt in Italy failed with Taranto. That it worked out this time is thanks to the choice of club, Sedan was the best choice I could make. Decent facilities to start with, a relatively large stadium and a nice club history. On top of that, the club turned out to be a gold mine in terms of talents. That's of course one of the reasons why I can finish this challenge relatively fast.

After 14 seasons, I would like to conclude with an overview of the selection that secured the CL-win:
 

Starting XI

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Goalies

Abu-Badu: Ghanaian international who alternated with Jabnoun, who returned after two seasons with Lorient. They both did a great job, so I didn't choose one of them in particular. Both labelled as wonderkids, thanks FM21 for the busload of talented goalkeepers. 

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Jabnoun:

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Defenders

Coulibaly: polyvalent central defender, who became an enormously welcome option at right back because of his footballing qualities and acceleration. This season was the year of his breakthrough, he performed flawlessly. Also in the big games, such as the CL final.

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Carment: Tall central defender who could also play football. Gigantically reliable defender, perhaps the best I've ever had. Since his debut he has consistently achieved an average rating above 7.00, the last four seasons even 7.25. Also saw his performance rewarded as a French international. 

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Bamba: The club's first French international, and rightly so. Even collected 20 caps in a short time. Bamba has the mentality we all dream of while doing this challenge, the physicality that makes attackers fear him and the versatility that every coach wants to see. He was an enormously useful player who always delivered a good performance, mainly at centre-back but also on the right or in midfield. He was being difficult about signing a new deal for a long time, but after this season he would be one of the big earners with €110K p/w.

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Cuvillier: on paper the weak link of the team, yet he always managed to convince me to choose him. Cuvillier is the type of player who will never excel, but will likewise never really disappoint. He kept some of the better options on the bench in important matches.

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Back-ups:

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Roos: A fierce defender who was also very important in our success story. He also got around 32 starting appearances because of the many games, so he deserves the credit just as much. Especially since he can put down an average rating of 7.35 this season.  Extremely reliable.

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Soler: The first great talent to enter as a defender. At that time, he had everything: two-footed, big and extremely versatile. He spent eleven seasons with the club, promoted to the Ligue 1 with us and in the last few years was mainly the first stand-in. At one point he could have gone to China for 80 million, which is a frightening sum if you consider his potential. Anyway, he wasn't sold because he was of gold value to the club. 

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Coskun: A youth player who started at the season "0". Confronting to see that he is already 30. For a long time, he was the first player on the match sheet, until about two or three seasons ago. Eventually he became a back-up who was there when needed, so I didn't think of ever getting rid of him. I think it's particularly nice that someone who has been there from day one can and does win the CL. Has the most league apps ever at Sedan, 380.

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Camara: this boy did not stand out when he joined the ranks, but in the months that followed he showed himself. In combination with his excellent mentality, this ensured that he got his chance and grabbed it when needed. He got 25 games as a starter across all competitions this season and did an excellent job, both at centre-back and in midfield.

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Midfielders

Medane: our playmaker and one of the star players, needed a season or two to really grow but then showed his class. Extremely talented midfielder who has mastered all aspects of the game. Excellent passer, but also an indispensable pawn defensively. For some time in great demand by Man City, recently also became French international. 

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Schaal: Was a great duo with Medane in midfield, not the man of the goal or the assist but made the team run better. 

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Traore: The number ten of our team. Traoré has always remained loyal to the club despite much interest in him. His vista was a huge asset, at times he played like Kevin De Bruyne in between opponents as if they weren't even there. He was also a record international at the club, having been a key player with Burkina Faso.

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Back-ups:

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Camara & Bamba (above)

Barbier: our captain in recent years. He has had a huge contribution to our success, both on and off the field. As captain, he immediately solved all the issues in the dressing room without any trouble. Twelve seasons with the club, the last few years rather in a role as a substitute who nevertheless regularly made his contribution. 

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Sabatier: Good old Kevin, nine seasons with the club where he was crucial in the promotion to Ligue 1 and the first seasons there. Now he was a very useful player to bring in to get some experience in the match, as his 27 appearances as a sub this year show. He would leave at the end of the season of his own volition, nothing better than doing that with a CL title and Ligue 1 win in his pocket. 

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Traore: Was on the verge of a breakthrough, seemed to be a very interesting option. As a central midfielder, I wanted to polish him up a bit in terms of marking, because I play with BWMs.

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Attackers

Bokungu: Some names from your FM career you never forget, Bokungu is certainly one of them. For six seasons in the Ligue 1 he was our top marksman, he was by far the club's star player for times and swore loyalty to Sedan. Scored the winning goal in the EC2 final and gave an assist in the CL final. He was no longer the most talented player at the club, but I never gave up on him and showed him my loyalty as well still making him one of our pivotal players. This season he scored 23 goals and 18 assists, even though he didn't play everything.  A real icon, I love you Chérubin.

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Gaspar: The team's best man, player of the year in France. Could play on almost every attacking position, but came mainly from the left. In recent years, he was without doubt the engine of our success and the most decisive player. Maker of the opening goal in Manchester and also in the final against Bayern. A talent out of a thousand, also French international. He would sign a contract extension after this season whereby he would earn by far the most, €250K p/w, and thus reject almost all other top teams in Europe. Also one of the few players who could have gone to P$G, but wisely turned them down.

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Özkan: A real pocket striker, as they say. Small, fast and a damn cold-blooded finisher. This year he really broke through with 36 goals, top marksman in the Ligue 1 and goalscorer in the CL-final. Turkish international who won the World Cup last summer, is at the beginning of a great career. Was a joy to have him as my striker, as I often struggle in other saves to have a real goalscoring striker.

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Back-ups:

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Chretien: He was unlucky that club icon Bokungu was ahead of him in the pecking order, otherwise he was guaranteed to be a starting player. Always good for a string of goals and assists, this year 17 & 12 respectively.

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Amisador: Was unhappy for quite a while because I didn't let him leave on loan, so he didn't show his full potential. Interesting option to have on the bench, was really moving up the ranks and showed some nice things especially this season.

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Closing remark

Thanks to all of you guys! Keep it up, even in the hard times. There's no more satisfactory challenge than this one! As for me, I'll probably be lurking around again in this topic. I think my next challenge is going to be the rise of Andorra, which I can't post here :ackter:

well done @Armeniar :applause:

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9 hours ago, XaW said:

Once again we moved into a new group at this level, and I have no idea if the groups are random every year or what, but this time the group didn't feel as hard as last year.

It actually shouldn't be random as the groups are based in different regions, but not long ago so few teams remained in the east that this zone was simply disbanded and remaining teams were distributed to other group. Have no idea how FM can emulate the creative minds of our football authorities :D 

And one fact to give you some hope in this challenge - Alexandr Golovin, the most valuable Russian player at the moment, started his career in Novokuznetsk :) 

Edited by Koetzer
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38 minutes ago, Koetzer said:

It actually shouldn't be random as the groups are based in different regions, but not long ago so few teams remained in the east that this zone was simply disbanded and remaining teams were distributed to other group. Have no idea how FM can emulate the creative minds of our football authorities :D 

And one fact to give you some hope in this challenge - Alexandr Golovin, the most valuable Russian player at the moment, started his career in Novokuznetsk :) 

Heh, well, the groups seems to swap around a bit and I noticed that the size of the leagues seems to change based on different teams being promoted. So there are some workings happening, I just don't quite understand them! :D

Thanks for the information. I notice the club doesn't have any favoured personnel, perhaps he should be added then? ;) If he was well liked there, of course! This is the thing I really like about playing and posting regarding these, for me, obscure teams, someone in here usually have some random piece of information I find fascinating! :)

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3 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

What is Wales like @XaW?  The out of the box two tiers.  You managed there for a while.  Is it fun?

It's very low level, but still fun. I got out of the lower level quite fast, so can't say much about that, but the top tier is quite the fun mix of the amateur Uni teams, and the more professional teams.

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How It Started (Start of Challenge)

20201128073918_1.thumb.jpg.b57fb6b49c680ff695780f5bcf0b36e6.jpg

How It's Going (New Stadium)

20210407095758_1.thumb.jpg.74091de982a82a1af300b4f219d1c064.jpgCan't say I'm really a fan of the new stadium. Going to name it (in my head) the King Midas Stadium. I mean looking at it now the old stadium was pretty gold as well, but it's really not very aesthetically pleasing.

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PEPO 2021 Season Summary 

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On the Pitch

Ykkönen (Finish 2nd Tier): 9th Place (of 12)

Relegation Playoffs: 1st Place

Suomen Cup: Lost in Group Stages (3rd of 6 in group)

 

A rollercoaster of a season. We started off in the preseason Suomen Cup tournament which was the first test for my 12 man team, and despite finishing 3rd in our group and not moving onto the next round there were some encouraging signs such as a 5-0 thrashing over FF Jaro. We used the momentum from the tournament into the start of our league where we started off really hot and six games in were holding a slim lead in 1st place in the league table. However, being a team of only 12 players would impact us as fatigue plagued us and we fell into a 12 game winless streak. Which is bad when there's only 22 games in the season. The board and the fans were after my head until we finally got a win against the last place team. However, it was too late to recover our season as we finished in 9th. Onto the relegation playoffs we went. The Finnish 2nd tier of 12 teams divides into two playoffs. The top six lucky teams go into the promotion playoffs, while the bottom six losers go into the relegation playoffs. We made quick work of it though with our new found late season confidence getting enough points to survive by the 2nd game and finished 1st in the group. I managed to survive the season, and despite the board and the fans seemingly hating me and holding biweekly fan polls of whether or not I should be sacked, they awarded me a two year contract extension. We didn't actually do that poorly though. Despite our long losing streak, we were mostly having low scoring loses and ties, which you can see from our goal difference remaining a positive 2 for the season. We just had a lot of struggle closing out games and would concede late goals due to a team of tired bodies. Going into next season with at least some substitutes now should help battle our fatigue problems. 

 

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In terms of how individual players played, we had a very young striker duo in Joona Viskari and Aleksi Sainio who struggled at times. Sainio led the team in goals, but he only scored 9 league goals in the season, so a lot of room for improvement. Viskari is arguably the better player of the two though and has more potential and seems to be our striker for the future until we get better players at least. Keen eyes will see that one of defenders scored a significant amount of goals. Central defender Roope Huhtala scored seven league goals for us. He was a monster at the corners and with his thick had he bashed in seven goals off set pieces. We also was our best player, led the team in average rating and was rock solid in defense. Nados Cózor was solid in the midfield and led the league in assists with 12. Our sole goalkeeper, Craig Hill, also was solid and kept us in games we deserved to lose and was named goalkeeper of the year for the league. Unfortunately he is now 33 years old, so I don’t know how many more years he has in the tank and we still don’t have any prospects who could replace him. Despite the poor season we definitely had some bright spots in how some players played.

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Off the Field

Transfers: None in, none out

Finances: We’re in the black! With $788,808 to our name, and we even made a little bit of money. Upgraded our academy coaching and youth recruitment to average so may see if I can upgrade them again to take advantage of our current finances.

Youth Intake

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My Head of Youth Development warned me that it was going to be a poor youth intake and he didn't lie. There's a couple of good players, but a lot of bad personalities and few players in positions of need (goalkeeping and central defense). Hopefully mentoring can fix a couple of these players. Simo Ruotsalainen is the best of the bunch, has decent determination and could probably play next season in the rotation as a central midfielder. I may adjust my tactic for him to include an AMC since that’s his best position. Unfortunately he is unambitious but I have a couple of fairly ambitious players who could mentor him. Mikael Bäckmen is next best of the bunch. His best position is as a central midfielder, but because we’re so thin on defense I’m going to train him to play central defense. Very low in determination though. Juha Mönkkönen was rated the second best in terms of potential by my HoYD, but his current stuff doesn’t rate that well in my eyes. Maybe he’ll improve and reach his potential but I’m not that optimistic. Finally, Janne Forsman looks like he may be a solid striker for the future for us. He already has a finishing of 10, which is the exact same as our current strikers, but is obviously still a little raw. If he can improve a bit he looks like he could be a fairly good player for us. Got to laugh that he likes to take long free kicks despite having a long shot rating of 3 – probably misses a lot more than he scores.

All of the players were locally born, and the only other nationality represented other than Finland was Sweden.

 

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I like the idea of keeping track of the nationalities and see how many I can collect through the youth intakes. So far only two of the 55 European nations are represented. 

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Next Season’s Expectations: I don’t see any reason for why we can’t finish in the top half and play in the promotion playoffs. I don’t think we should be promoted, and I don’t think it would be good for us since the squad is still very thin. But when healthy and rested the squad has been able to play with the best of them so with a couple of rotation pieces from the youth intake to keep the squad fresh I don’t see why we can finish in the top 6.  

 

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So it is time for Wales and Cardiff Draconians.

Club Introduction

Cardiff Draconians

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The Manager

This is me.

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Personal Coaching Data

Season     Reputation            Qualifications          Att   Def   Fit   GkD   GkH   GkS   Tac   Tec   Men   WWY   Ada   Det   PlK   YoK   LoD   MaM   Mot
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start   Minimal   (0.25*)     None                      1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     4     1     1     1     4     1     1     1

Club Facilities

Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Start   Poor                 Poor              Basic                 Basic            Limited            Local   (0.50*)

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage
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Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage     Time At Club
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Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
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Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
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Cup Competition Victories
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Career Overview

Season     Champions League    Europa League    Europa Conference League             League                             Position     JD Welsh Cup     Nathaniel MG Cup                    Achievements
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Record Number of Appearances (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Appearances
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Record Goal Scorer (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Assists (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Assists
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Record Number of Clean Sheets (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Clean Sheets
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

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FC Novokuznetsk - Season 2027/28 Review

Table | Squad | Transfers  | Finances

Another season in Group 1, but with a team less this season. So things are being swapped around at this level still. We had another season of solid, if unspectacular, performance. We finished in the same spot, with around the same points and around the same goal difference. Still, the players slowly improves, so no change is a good change currently. Still losing money though, but interestingly not as much as last season. Perhaps it's a sign of things slowly improving.

In the Kubok Rossii we beat Zenit Irkutsk and Spartak Vladikavkaz before losing to Tambov in the 3rd round.

Youth

The preview looks promising.

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Not as bad personalities as last time, so things are improving.

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Andrey Voronov 28c is a very nicely rounded fullback.

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U21s:

They only played friendlies.

U18s:

They finished 2nd in the Russian U18 Division - Moskovskaya oblast Group 9 and got knocked out.

Statistics:

Spoiler

No new ones this season.

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Record Breakers:

Most league apps overall: Sevada Torosyan - 170
Most league goals overall: Sevada Torosyan - 93

Trophy cabinet:

Empty

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Associação Ferroviária de Esportes - Wikipedia

 

Season 4 (2025) - Transfers

After taking a short break from FM21, I'm back in the Ferroviária hot seat.

League - After narrowly missing out on promotion by one point last season, my aim was to get into the Série A this year. We ended up smashing my expectations, winning the league by 17 points!

São Paulo State Championship -I decided to use the São Paulo State Championship as a chance to use youth players and to instant result the games to progress through the seasons quicker as the competition is basically meaningless in this challenge and takes up around 13 games a season. Depending on how deep your cup runs go, you can easily play 70+ games a season!!!

Copa do Brasil - knocked out in the first round to a 4th division team after my player got sent off after 4 minutes.

Best Player from our 2025 intake and one of our best players to come through so far and with a professional personality.

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Season 5 (2026) - Transfers

League - After promotion last season, trying to not get relegated was my only goal. We ended up 15th, 4 points above the relegation zone (4 teams out of 20 get relegated in Série A). We still managed to qualify for the Copa Sudamericana (South American Europa League equivalent) as basically if you don't get relegated you get into continental football. 

São Paulo State Championship - Quarter Final 

Copa do Brasil - 5th round

2026 Youth Intake - Potential to be a very decent player for us. Also got our first youth facilities upgrade.

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Season 6 (2027) - Transfers

League - Slight improvement in our second season in the top flight, comfortably finishing mid-table.

Copa Sudamericana - Made it through the play off games but went out in the group stage.

 

São Paulo State Championship - Quarter Final 

Copa do Brasil - 4th round

2027 Youth intake - 3 star current ability and 19 flair at 16, could become my star player very quickly. Being in the Série A has boosted the finances a lot, we are currently £30m in the green and the board is improving both the youth and training facilities.

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Edited by CarlosTTR
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I've come to the sad realisation that the Siena club legend, Jack Oliver who has scored over 200 league goals for my Siena side has effectively been replaced by my younger talents.

He helped me get 2 promotions in 3 seasons and has scored over 100 Serie A goals. What a legend for the club he is.

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18 minutes ago, JAwtunes said:

Has anyone had this before?  First time I can remember this happening in one of my saves.

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Yeah I had it with one of my youngsters, I stopped playing him for a while but had problems with him later on. Complaints about fines etc

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2 minutes ago, djsterry said:

Yeah I had it with one of my youngsters, I stopped playing him for a while but had problems with him later on. Complaints about fines etc

That's a shame.  What I find a little odd is that he is 24 yrs old and has been my main creative mid for several seasons.  He won the Slovakian league when out on loan and the Polish league several times in my team.  I wonder if the league/team reputation improvements have caused this recent issue with handling pressure.

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50 minutes ago, JAwtunes said:

Has anyone had this before?  First time I can remember this happening in one of my saves.

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I almost always have that issue with some of my players.

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2021/2022 - Futebol Clube Barreirense - Campeonato de Portugal Serie E

CLUB PROFILE | GENERAL | FACILITIES | HONOURS | CLUB VISION | FINANCES

MANAGER PROFILE: CHARACTERISTICS | ATTRIBUTES

The youth intake the club got before I took over looks kind of promising. We will see what we can do with mentoring.

I lost my Zhejiang Yiteng F.C. when I updated to Big Sur on my Mac. This makes me sad because I really loved that save.

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1 hour ago, JAwtunes said:

That's a shame.  What I find a little odd is that he is 24 yrs old and has been my main creative mid for several seasons.  He won the Slovakian league when out on loan and the Polish league several times in my team.  I wonder if the league/team reputation improvements have caused this recent issue with handling pressure.

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If I remember correctly the player became my first choice CB but his performances nose dived as my reputation increased/ I became more successful. It might be linked I noticed quite a few of my players all of a sudden "dreaded big matches etc"

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