The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge

[vikeologist]

Rather than edit my last post, I'm going to clarify that the only league you can add to the game is Gibraltar, because it is now the only official add-on, and if you do add Gibraltar for the purposes of this challenge, you should probably sit down, take a deep breath and reconsider your tactics for doing this challenge.

Clarification: In the very, very unlikely event that at the end of the challenge, you have 9 leagues and 10 cups, and want to get that final league championship in Gibraltar, cool. But at the risk of it being a spoiler, managing in a league as small as that at the start of the challenge would be a mistake. But, you can all do it if you want.

Edited December 16, 2021 by vikeologist

[Joaquimorais]

15 minutos atrás, vikeologist disse:

 

 

I'm aware, I uploaded it because I like to follow the Japanese league, but I won't take over any team from Japan, I'm going to remove the league

[vikeologist]

2 minutes ago, Joaquimorais said:

 

I'm aware, I uploaded it because I like to follow the Japanese league, but I won't take over any team from Japan, I'm going to remove the league

Thanks. I didn't spot it before.

 

[Joaquimorais]

1 minuto atrás, vikeologist disse:

Thanks. I didn't spot it before.

 

I use ''realism mode'', this is a problem?

[vikeologist]

3 minutes ago, Joaquimorais said:

I use ''realism mode'', this is a problem?

What is 'realism mode'? Explain in Portuguese if you need to.

O even better, post a screenshot from the game.

Edited December 16, 2021 by vikeologist

[Joaquimorais]

5 minutos atrás, vikeologist disse:

What is 'realism mode'? Explain in Portuguese if you need to.

Tem um brasileiro que criou uma DB que deixa os treinadores da américa do sul, com mais variações táticas, deixa os jogos contra os times mais difíceis pra compensar o fato de não ter ''altitude'' na Bolívia por exemplo no FM.

 

website - MOD de Realismo e IA :: Brasil MundiUP (webnode.com)

Edited December 16, 2021 by Joaquimorais

[vikeologist]

7 minutes ago, Joaquimorais said:

Tem um brasileiro que criou uma DB que deixa os treinadores da américa do sul, com mais variações táticas, deixa os jogos contra os times mais difíceis pra compensar o fato de não ter ''altitude'' na Bolívia por exemplo no FM.

I understand.

I didn't know this existed, and we have never been asked about this kind of database before.

I'm going to say that you can use it, but for the moment nobody else can.

For questions like this, I have always asked other people for their opinions. All the core rules for the challenge were reached democratically, and I think this should be as well, but you can definitely continue to use it.Don't add any other databases though.

what does everybody think?

Quote

There is a Brazilian who created a DB that leaves the coaches of South America, with more tactical variations, leaves the games against the teams more difficult to compensate for the fact of not having ''altitude'' in Bolivia for example in FM.

 

Edited December 16, 2021 by vikeologist

[Joaquimorais]

11 minutos atrás, vikeologist disse:

I understand.

I didn't know this existed, and we have never been asked about this kind of database before.

I'm going to say that you can use it, but for the moment nobody else can.

For questions like this, I have always asked other people for their opinions. All the core rules for the challenge were reached democratically, and I think this should be as well, but you can definitely continue to use it.Don't add any other databases though.

what does everybody think?

 

okok, thanks!

[avzbruvz]

POST 1: Origins

Not sure what's going to happen with this journey, but this is how it is beginning.

 

 

My manager is Alex Hammond, a totally inexperienced and unknowing 19 year old from England. 

My database currently includes the top divisions everywhere but Europe (so Asia, Africa and North & South America). Will see if this works, and where we can land up.

Did the cheeky move of putting the start date in game as early as possible, so we begin on 7 December 2020 (although can't access some leagues until they open up in Summer 2021).

The plan is to go around the continents, and end up in Europe at the end. Since need to manage in the big European leagues, am starting elsewhere where I can work up my badges to be able to then take over teams that can mount serious Champions League charges.

Also excited to see what happens with the national jobs and where that might take Alex.

(This is all coming from a person who typically only ever manages in England, sticking to his comfort zone.)

Here goes nothing.

Season   Team    Position  Notes and Achievements
 
Challenge Progress

Club

0/10 top domestic leagues (Insert nations)

0/10 domestic cups ()

0/5 club continental championships ()

0/1 club world championship

International

0/5 continental tournaments ()

0/1 world tournaments ()

 

[avzbruvz]

14 hours ago, vikeologist said:

I understand.

I didn't know this existed, and we have never been asked about this kind of database before.

I'm going to say that you can use it, but for the moment nobody else can.

For questions like this, I have always asked other people for their opinions. All the core rules for the challenge were reached democratically, and I think this should be as well, but you can definitely continue to use it.Don't add any other databases though.

what does everybody think?

 

Surely if it makes it more difficult it should be permitted, no?

[avzbruvz]

10 hours ago, avzbruvz said:

POST 1: Origins

Not sure what's going to happen with this journey, but this is how it is beginning.

 

 

My manager is Alex Hammond, a totally inexperienced and unknowing 19 year old from England. 

My database currently includes the top divisions everywhere but Europe (so Asia, Africa and North & South America). Will see if this works, and where we can land up.

Did the cheeky move of putting the start date in game as early as possible, so we begin on 7 December 2020 (although can't access some leagues until they open up in Summer 2021).

The plan is to go around the continents, and end up in Europe at the end. Since need to manage in the big European leagues, am starting elsewhere where I can work up my badges to be able to then take over teams that can mount serious Champions League charges.

Also excited to see what happens with the national jobs and where that might take Alex.

(This is all coming from a person who typically only ever manages in England, sticking to his comfort zone.)

Here goes nothing.

Season   Team    Position  Notes and Achievements
 
Challenge Progress

Club

0/10 top domestic leagues (Insert nations)

0/10 domestic cups ()

0/5 club continental championships ()

0/1 club world championship

International

0/5 continental tournaments ()

0/1 world tournaments ()

 

 

POST 2: First Job

Not sure if the idea of starting so early has worked, but it's now June 2021 and I've just been hired! 

Terengganu FA, of Malaysia, have taken the plunge and have bravely hired a manager with absolutely no previous football experience. This is a club that is predicted to finish third in the league, but are currently floundering in mid table in 8th, although they are only 5 points off top spot with only 6 matches remaining.

Surprisingly, they are also still in the Asia Confederation Cup, having finished second in their group, and anything can happen in the knockout rounds (although right now, I don't quite understand how the tournament actually works! Seems like it is all regionalised and then it all comes together at the end. Guess we will see.)

Additionally, they have also reached the semi finals of the national cup tournament, the Piala FA Malaysia.

So there is a real chance of silverware, even though I have joined a team that just sacked their manager.

I'm excited to see where we can take this team, although I don't want to spend too long in Asia, and hope to move on within a couple of seasons maximum - which is a real possibility given the supposed strength of Terengganu.

 

UP THE TURTLES!!

 

Domestic
Season   NAT   Club               Division                      Pos   Cup   Cont            Notes and Achievements
2021     MAL   Telengganu FA      Astro Liga Super Malaysia
 

Challenge Progress
0/10 Leagues 		
0/10 Cups		
0/5  Continental	
0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 	
0/1 Worlds

Total 
0/32

 

[vikeologist]

1 hour ago, avzbruvz said:

Surely if it makes it more difficult it should be permitted, no?

This particular database seems to present no problems. I don't know if it makes it harder.

My concern would be opening the floodgates on to all sort of other databases, some of which may make the challenge easier.

 

[b4usiddhu2]

21 hours ago, DomD said:

Hey, I'm copying your format for keeping track of the challenge progress, hope you don't mind

Good luck finding a new job.

Absolutely no problem 🙂

Regarding the new job, well it’s not going well so far 😃

[BigJack]

New Job

Appointment

Having decided to stay put after basically breaking Asian football, I stayed with Guangzhou whilst keeping my eyes open for any appealing roles. My eyes were firmly on South America and when the Corinthians job became available, I instantly applied. Currently sat 9th in the league but with a few games in hand, the board have given me the target of qualifying for the Copa Libertadores, which requires a top 7 finish. We are still in the Brazilian FA Cup but have already been knocked out of the Copa Sudamericana.

I have inherited a decent squad, but one that is lacking defensively. A budget of 6m is not amazing but I will use this season to fine tune my team and scout some new signings and hopefully build a squad capable of challenging for honours over the next few seasons.

Hall of Fame

Upon leaving each club I manage I will select the players I think had the most influence on my success for a hall of fame. 

Cape Town

Ibrahim N'Goran (AML) - was only with us for one season before moving on, but what a season it was. He was the main man as we managed to win a first DSTV Prem title.

Romuald Traore (AMR) - Another player who I managed for just the one season. But with N'Goran moving on, he made up for the goals and assists loss to lead us to a league and Champions League double.

Brandon Peterson (GK) - Signed on a free at the start of our first season in the Prem, he went on to make 144 appearances in total and was a mainstay as we conquered Africa.

Neil Zondi 22a (ST) -  Part of first youth intake, he went on to become our main goal threat. He scored 63 goals in 93 games in all competitions.

Tigres UANL

Aldair Benitez (CM) - Only been in charge of him 6 months but this kid can go on to be something very special. Will look to resign him at some point in the future.

Dejan Joveljic (ST) - Was here when I arrived and has been sensational up top. 37 goals in 36 games meant he was a key part of our treble winning team.

William Ramos  (AMC) - The American was one of our first signings at the club. 9 goals and 20 assists in 52 games doesnt justify just how important he was to us.

Miguel Rodriguez (CB) - Another player who was only with us 6 months. But the big centre back deserves his place, an average rating of 8.09 and 10 goals from 21 games is superb returns.

Guangzhou

Ibrahim N'goran (AML) - He was sensational for me at Cape Town and he has been on another planet ever since bringing him to Guangzhou. 85 goals alongside 69 assists in just 76 games is unreal. 

Zhan Zhiqiang (ST) - Another player who's goal return has been spectacular. Signed for 1.8m the Chinese striker has hit 92 goals in 78 games. 

 Lee Tae-Suk (LB) - Wing backs are a vital part of my tactical system and the South Korean has played the role to perfection. 40 games and 17 assists is a nice return. 

Neil Vargas (CB) - The American cb was one of the first players I signed as when I took over the side had no quality in defence at all. Alongside Tae-Suk, Vargas has been a major part of a defence that has broken records. we conceded 8 goals in 34 league games last season and at one point kept 14 consecutive shut outs with Vargas playing a key role.

Edited December 18, 2021 by BigJack

[avzbruvz]

On 17/12/2021 at 09:06, avzbruvz said:

 

POST 2: First Job

Not sure if the idea of starting so early has worked, but it's now June 2021 and I've just been hired! 

Terengganu FA, of Malaysia, have taken the plunge and have bravely hired a manager with absolutely no previous football experience. This is a club that is predicted to finish third in the league, but are currently floundering in mid table in 8th, although they are only 5 points off top spot with only 6 matches remaining.

Surprisingly, they are also still in the Asia Confederation Cup, having finished second in their group, and anything can happen in the knockout rounds (although right now, I don't quite understand how the tournament actually works! Seems like it is all regionalised and then it all comes together at the end. Guess we will see.)

Additionally, they have also reached the semi finals of the national cup tournament, the Piala FA Malaysia.

So there is a real chance of silverware, even though I have joined a team that just sacked their manager.

I'm excited to see where we can take this team, although I don't want to spend too long in Asia, and hope to move on within a couple of seasons maximum - which is a real possibility given the supposed strength of Terengganu.

 

UP THE TURTLES!!

 

Domestic
Season   NAT   Club               Division                      Pos   Cup   Cont            Notes and Achievements
2021     MAL   Telengganu FA      Astro Liga Super Malaysia
 

Challenge Progress
0/10 Leagues 		
0/10 Cups		
0/5  Continental	
0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 	
0/1 Worlds

Total 
0/32

 

POST 3: Early Cup Run

Spent some time sorting all the basics of the team. Biggest issue is that they have 7 foreign players, when are only allowed 4 in the match squad. So decided to put half of them up for sale straight away. Managed to sell one for £35k, so that was good. Also brought in a couple of local players not help bolster the squad and strengthen the weakest areas; some of these players even went straight into the starting line up.

And four games into our career, we've managed to win all four!

We started with a solid first leg win over Pahang and then backed that up with a league victory over Perak. We then were able to coast through our second leg against Pahang, before a surprisingly hard-fought victory in the final against second tier opposition.

With a couple of results going in our favour elsewhere, we sit in 8th knowing that winning our game in hand can catapult us up into the title picture and into the Conf. Cup places (although we already qualified for the group stages with the cup win!).

Don't think the rest of the season will be so easy. We have a small squad and they are already showing the first signs of fatigue. But now that we've hired scouts, hopefully we can bring in some more Malaysian players to help strengthen our squad and enable us to win the title and push for the Asian Champions League as well.

Domestic
Season   NAT   Club               Division                      Pos   Cup 1  Cup 2  Cont            Notes and Achievements
2021     MAL   Telengganu FA      Astro Liga Super Malaysia             W
 

Challenge Progress

0/10 Leagues

1/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA

0/5  Continental

0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
1/32

UP THE TURTLES!!!

[avzbruvz]

12 hours ago, avzbruvz said:

POST 3: Early Cup Run

Spent some time sorting all the basics of the team. Biggest issue is that they have 7 foreign players, when are only allowed 4 in the match squad. So decided to put half of them up for sale straight away. Managed to sell one for £35k, so that was good. Also brought in a couple of local players not help bolster the squad and strengthen the weakest areas; some of these players even went straight into the starting line up.

And four games into our career, we've managed to win all four!

We started with a solid first leg win over Pahang and then backed that up with a league victory over Perak. We then were able to coast through our second leg against Pahang, before a surprisingly hard-fought victory in the final against second tier opposition.

With a couple of results going in our favour elsewhere, we sit in 8th knowing that winning our game in hand can catapult us up into the title picture and into the Conf. Cup places (although we already qualified for the group stages with the cup win!).

Don't think the rest of the season will be so easy. We have a small squad and they are already showing the first signs of fatigue. But now that we've hired scouts, hopefully we can bring in some more Malaysian players to help strengthen our squad and enable us to win the title and push for the Asian Champions League as well.

Domestic
Season   NAT   Club               Division                      Pos   Cup 1  Cup 2  Cont            Notes and Achievements
2021     MAL   Telengganu FA      Astro Liga Super Malaysia             W
 

Challenge Progress

0/10 Leagues

1/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA

0/5  Continental

0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
1/32

UP THE TURTLES!!!

POST 4: The Rest of the First Season

 

A late season charge up the table, with four wins from our last five matches helped the team to a respectable league finish.

A second place finish seems a success given the initial struggles the team had before we were signed. A simple 4-4-1-1 tactic helped enable the different players to utilise their strengths and work together to have some nice victories, including a solid 1-0 win against Johor Darul Ta'zim, the champions.

With the league finishing in July, we then had the Piala Malaysia and Confederation Cup to focus on.

We started the Piala Malaysia terribly though, only earning two points from our first four group games; but we managed to turn it around with two vital victories, including a 6-0 thrashing of Penang, to finish second on goal difference and qualify for the knockout stages. 

Meanwhile in the Confederations Cup, our chance for continental football, we won our regional semi final but lost to a 117th minute winner against Indonesian outfit Bali United.

We had a tough quarter final draw against the league champions, but having beaten them recently, we went into the tie with confidence and secured a 5-0 aggregate win, with a dominant man of the match display from Brazilian David da Silva.

A similar result in the semi finals, but that doesn't tell the whole story. A nervy 1-1 draw away in the first leg left the tie up in the air over an international break, with the second leg played two weeks after the first. But our players returned to Terengganu determined, and a solid 3-0 victory secured our place in a second cup final of the season....

We started strong, going 2-0 up inside 35 minutes. Although the got a goal late to make it 3-2, we held on and an own goal helped us earn more silverware to end the season in style.

Double cup winners in our first half season in charge is hopefully a sign of what is to come.

Just lucky that managed to take over a team initially predicted to finish in the top 3 that just had a bad run of results.

Challenge will be to win the league, as Malaysia only have one spot in the Asian Champions League. And with a maximum of four foreign players permitted, will need to do some top notch scouting of the local players to bolster our squad in order to mount a firm title challenge.

Bring on the second season.

UP THE TURTLES!!!

(P.S. FYI was annoying but my game crashed after I had first played this cup final, having won 2-1 with two stressful late goals, but my game crashed shortly after. Have learnt to save my game before and after every match.)

[avzbruvz]

Anyone able to help?

Seems like I have international management turned off in my save game, as no job opportunities for managing a nation have showed up at all throughout my tenure. 

Just wondering if there's a setting that I need to change...

[avzbruvz]

7 hours ago, avzbruvz said:

POST 4: The Rest of the First Season

 

A late season charge up the table, with four wins from our last five matches helped the team to a respectable league finish.

A second place finish seems a success given the initial struggles the team had before we were signed. A simple 4-4-1-1 tactic helped enable the different players to utilise their strengths and work together to have some nice victories, including a solid 1-0 win against Johor Darul Ta'zim, the champions.

With the league finishing in July, we then had the Piala Malaysia and Confederation Cup to focus on.

We started the Piala Malaysia terribly though, only earning two points from our first four group games; but we managed to turn it around with two vital victories, including a 6-0 thrashing of Penang, to finish second on goal difference and qualify for the knockout stages. 

Meanwhile in the Confederations Cup, our chance for continental football, we won our regional semi final but lost to a 117th minute winner against Indonesian outfit Bali United.

We had a tough quarter final draw against the league champions, but having beaten them recently, we went into the tie with confidence and secured a 5-0 aggregate win, with a dominant man of the match display from Brazilian David da Silva.

A similar result in the semi finals, but that doesn't tell the whole story. A nervy 1-1 draw away in the first leg left the tie up in the air over an international break, with the second leg played two weeks after the first. But our players returned to Terengganu determined, and a solid 3-0 victory secured our place in a second cup final of the season....

We started strong, going 2-0 up inside 35 minutes. Although the got a goal late to make it 3-2, we held on and an own goal helped us earn more silverware to end the season in style.

Double cup winners in our first half season in charge is hopefully a sign of what is to come.

Just lucky that managed to take over a team initially predicted to finish in the top 3 that just had a bad run of results.

Challenge will be to win the league, as Malaysia only have one spot in the Asian Champions League. And with a maximum of four foreign players permitted, will need to do some top notch scouting of the local players to bolster our squad in order to mount a firm title challenge.

Bring on the second season.

UP THE TURTLES!!!

(P.S. FYI was annoying but my game crashed after I had first played this cup final, having won 2-1 with two stressful late goals, but my game crashed shortly after. Have learnt to save my game before and after every match.)

Domestic
Season   NAT   Club               Division                      Pos   Cup 1  Cup 2        Cont            Notes and Achievements
2021     MAL   Telengganu FA      Astro Liga Super Malaysia      2      W     W      Regional Final 
 

Challenge Progress

0/10 Leagues

1/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA
(Piala Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA)

0/5  Continental

0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
1/32

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by avzbruvz

[vikeologist]

10 minutes ago, avzbruvz said:

Anyone able to help?

Seems like I have international management turned off in my save game, as no job opportunities for managing a nation have showed up at all throughout my tenure. 

Just wondering if there's a setting that I need to change...

I didn't think there was a way to turn off international management on the full fat game, which it looks like you're playing.

Look in the staff - jobs part. If a job appears in job security, you can get it.You can look and see which international jobs might be available.

I mean,you're in your first couple of seasons. If no international manager has been sacked, I don't know that's a bug. Managers are usually sacked after major competitions, and maybe there just haven't been any.

Edited December 19, 2021 by vikeologist

[Joaquimorais]

@vikeologist Pro desafio não vale apenas 1 copa por país?

[vikeologist]

4 minutes ago, Joaquimorais said:

@vikeologist Pro desafio não vale apenas 1 copa por país?

Sim.

Well spotted.

@avzbruvz It needs to be cups from 10 separate nations, so you only have 1 of the 10 cups needed so far.

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by vikeologist

[avzbruvz]

On 27/11/2021 at 13:51, vikeologist said:

Malaysia is possibly the absolute best nation for this.

@vikeologist I thought this ^ meant that both counted towards the count.

I guess you meant that they both can count towards the count.

Will change.

Thanks for letting me know.

[Joaquimorais]

Club América - 2027/28 - Copa do México

Group Stage 

 

México 27/28

 

 Sorteio da Copa América 2028

 

[vikeologist]

10 hours ago, avzbruvz said:

@vikeologist I thought this ^ meant that both counted towards the count.

I guess you meant that they both can count towards the count.

Will change.

Thanks for letting me know.

It's a good nation at the end of the challenge because somewhere along the line most people still need a cup once they have the 10 leagues, and I think it's Malaysia that has a little self-contained cup that is outside of the league system, but anyway, it's good to know the nations with 2 cups because it gives you twice the chances.

[vikeologist]

8 hours ago, Joaquimorais said:

Club América - 2027/28 - Copa do México

Group Stage 

 

México 27/28

 

 Sorteio da Copa América 2028

 

On the leader board.

[avzbruvz]

20 hours ago, avzbruvz said:

Domestic
Season   NAT   Club               Division                      Pos   Cup 1  Cup 2        Cont            Notes and Achievements
2021     MAL   Telengganu FA      Astro Liga Super Malaysia      2      W     W      Regional Final 
 

Challenge Progress

0/10 Leagues

1/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA
(Piala Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA)

0/5  Continental

0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
1/32

 

POST 5: The Title Push

With a first proper transfer window and a good budget from the board, we set about rebuilding the team, ready to take on Johor Darul Ta'zim and their eight year stranglehold on the Astro Liga Super Malaysia. And it seemed like our recruiting was a success, as we were predicted pre-season to finish second. Time to prove the bookies wrong!

With the first league doubling as the Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup (the Malaysian Super Cup), the tie against Johor Darul Ta'zim would be more than just a good judge for how the season would go.

And a 3-1 away win at the defending champions was a good way to set as up for the season ahead.

By the halfway point, our team had settled in nicely, with the foreign players being rotated under the league rules, mixing in nicely with the local lads. Coupled with a deep run in the Piala FA Malaysia, to defend our crown, we had an 11 game unbeaten run, spanning all of March and April, leaving us top of the league with a healthy nine point lead over the chasing pack.

 

And the season only improved from there. Another five matches in the league were won, before a break for cup matches. Although we lost in the domestic semi finals, we did manage to win all three games in our Confederation Cup group, to qualify strongly for the knockouts.

Back in the league, another couple of victories and we are out of sight, sealing the title, and a place in the Asian Champions League(!), with three games to spare. The club's first league title, and a second season winning multiple trophies!

Now it's a question of resting players, ready for a charge in the Piala Malaysia, and to see if we can go deep in the Asian Confederations Cup as well.

The only worry is the club's finances, which seem to be struggling of late, not least because of the goal bonuses that Excequiel Vazquez has racked up, scoring a goal a game in the league.

Hopefully bonuses can help cover these financial holes.

UP THE TURTLES!!

 

Domestic
Season   NAT   Club               Division                      Pos   Cup 1  Cup 2        Cont            Notes and Achievements
2021     MAL   Telengganu FA      Astro Liga Super Malaysia      2      W     W      Regional Final 
2022     MAL   Telengganu FA      Astro Liga Super Malaysia      1     SF             


Challenge Progress

1/10 Leagues
Astro Liga Super Malaysia 22 - Telengganu FA

1/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA
(Piala Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA)

0/5  Continental

0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
2/32

 

[darren1983]

New York Red Bulls Season 2027 Review

 

Well another massive gap between updates as real life stuff gets in the way but as I have nothing to do but sit inside for another 8 days (great timing to get covid) I should get through seasons a bit quicker   anyway here we go

 

League -  The league was a good battle this season, we started alright as the side got used to my tactics but we didn't look convincing as we struggled to find a settled side due to me trying to find the right players I liked and also injuries. Just as we found our groove the European summer transfer window opened, I used it to try and bring in depth to the squad with some free loans which turned out to be smart as we lost our key man Veerman to Ajax (13 goals and 11 assists at the half way stage of the season) and we hit our worst run of form as we lost 4 out of 6 games (1 win and 1 draw) as Chicago Fire went on a mad run of 17 wins in 19 games to open a 6 point lead over us, we managed to get it down to 3 points with games to go but still needed them to lose a game for us to have a chance, they did and we won putting us top. All we had to do was win 2 games and thankfully we did despite having half our team injured again. We won both games as did the Fire meaning we won our conference on GD and that also meant we finished top of the Supporters Shield but sadly for me that doesn't count for anything here.

Playoffs - I was confident going into these as the bye to the semi final gave us a chance to get some rest and we cruised past New England. In the final we played a Miami side we had beaten 3 times this season but we had one of our games where nothing we did mattered and everything they did killed us (their 3 goals came from their first 4 shots while we had a xG of nearly 3 and scored none) as we crashed out out 3-0. Annoying way to end the season

US Open Cup - I've got a good record in cups and wanted this one checked off early and we made it to the final with ease. The final was a real kick in the teeth though as we never showed up first half (only had 30% of the ball) so I tore into them and 2nd half we battered them but couldn't get a breakthrough till the 83rd minute when we won a penalty. We only missed 1 penalty of the 8 we had this season and of course it was this one. Just as I was thinking about changes to make for extra time they scored a 92nd minute header to win. This one hurt 

Transfers - I don't yet really understand all the rules here but I'm doing what I always do in bringing in younger players, I have tried to use European loans where I can for cheap deals to see us through

Squad - getting younger but it's small, outside of our first 11 there's not much

South Korea - After the 2026 Asian Cup the South Korea job came up and I took it. We started well and got our highest ranking ever and top the group stage in world cup qualifying and have won all 5 games so far. I like this side as it's old but with some really good young players coming through (have a 18 year old RB at Dortmund and a 19 year old DM at Man Utd for example) as well as a strong domestic game. I am building for the 2030 World Cup and the 2031 Asian Cup here so this will be a nice long term run here I hope.

Career Progress

Season	     Club			Competition		Position	Notes & Achievements
2021/22      Black Leopards		Championship		5th 		Took over after 11 games down in 15th place
2022/23	     Black Leopards		Championship		1st 		Promotion. Got 1st coaching badge and started on the 2nd 
2023/24	     Mamelodi Sundowns		Premiership		1st 		Won all domestic cups, African Champions League, got 2nd and 3rd coaching badges
2025	     Shanghai Shenhua		Jia League		1st 		Won promotion as league winners, won the Chinese FA Cup, Got continental B licence 
2026	     Shanghai Shenhua		Super League		1st 		Won League and Asian Champions League
2027	     New York Red Bulls		MLS			1st 		Lost in MLS Cup Semi Final, Lost in Cup final

Challenge Progress

 

2/10 top domestic – South Africa 2024 (Mamelodi Sundowns) China 2026 (Shanghai Shenhua)
2/10 top domestic cups – South Africa 2024 (Mamelodi Sundowns), China 2025 (Shanghai Shenhua)
2/5 club continental – Africa 2024 (Mamelodi Sundows) Asia 2026 (Shanghai Shenhua)
0/1 club world championship

1/5 continental competitions – Africa 2025 (Egypt)
0/1 world tournaments

What's Next?

Tbh I'm not totally loving life in the MLS and if a nice job in Mexico opens up I'll be tempted but for now the plan is to build a squad next season, need more US players though as am getting close to international limits here. We need depth and quality to manage on 3 fronts next year as despite this being a season where I didn't win anything our first place in the Supporters Shield means we do qualify for the North American Champions League.

[berrers]

2043/44

- MARSEILLE -

 

COUPE DE FRANCE

Already ticked the french cup off the list last year so wasn't of any importance. Sochaux manage to go one better than just making last years final.

 

EUROPA LEAGUE

Completed the sweep of all the European cup competitions during the challenge.. not that it really means much but still good to do.

 

LIGUE 1

Rennes were 2pts clear going into the final day but met a Lens side fighting for survival ..and they come unstuck, while we despite falling behind at home to Sochaux managed to defeat them comfortable and claim and unlikely title victory... so unlikely at no point of the season were we ever top.

 

INTERNATIONAL

With no good Asian nations jobs currently available and with the Asian cup the only international trophy I require there was no value in taking any international job

 

WHAT'S NEXT

With the French cup and league won in consecutive seasons my work in France (and the big 5 leagues) is now done. South Africa was my desired destination to get the african champions league completed.... unfortunately no good jobs came up or were available during the pre season and as I plan to do africa last I still have a loose league (having failed in Belgium) I need to pick up so when the Rangers manager departed to join Real Sociedad and the vacancy came up it was too much to turn away. Celtic have won the league for 13 straight years so it's time to change that.

[vikeologist]

@berrersI guess it's good that you haven't failed with any of the Asian nations yet, so they should all still give you at least one chance.

Out of curiosity, which Asian national jobs are still available to you? (You can tell which ones are still there by looking in job security).

If you added Asian players to the database at the start, you should still have quite a few potential employers. 

Hopefully you can also pick up a cup in Scotland. It's another one of those useful nations (also S Africa) with 2 domestic cups, (although as above, only one of them can count towards the challenge).

[DomD]

Has anyone encountered a bug where a league keeps switching to viewable?

I loaded these leagues at the beginning of my save:

After a while I noticed that England was view-only, which I didn't think I had selected, so I switched it to playable. But then when the first season rolled over, it switched back to view-only.

I have it selected to playable again, but it seems to randomly switch back to view-only when I check it.

 

 

 

[vikeologist]

28 minutes ago, DomD said:

Has anyone encountered a bug where a league keeps switching to viewable?

I loaded these leagues at the beginning of my save:

After a while I noticed that England was view-only, which I didn't think I had selected, so I switched it to playable. But then when the first season rolled over, it switched back to view-only.

I have it selected to playable again, but it seems to randomly switch back to view-only when I check it.

 

 

 

I think it's a known issue and there's apparently a workaround.

If you think your problem's different or you have helpful info to add, tell SI in the bugs forum.

[avzbruvz]

23 hours ago, avzbruvz said:

POST 5: The Title Push

With a first proper transfer window and a good budget from the board, we set about rebuilding the team, ready to take on Johor Darul Ta'zim and their eight year stranglehold on the Astro Liga Super Malaysia. And it seemed like our recruiting was a success, as we were predicted pre-season to finish second. Time to prove the bookies wrong!

With the first league doubling as the Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup (the Malaysian Super Cup), the tie against Johor Darul Ta'zim would be more than just a good judge for how the season would go.

And a 3-1 away win at the defending champions was a good way to set as up for the season ahead.

By the halfway point, our team had settled in nicely, with the foreign players being rotated under the league rules, mixing in nicely with the local lads. Coupled with a deep run in the Piala FA Malaysia, to defend our crown, we had an 11 game unbeaten run, spanning all of March and April, leaving us top of the league with a healthy nine point lead over the chasing pack.

 

And the season only improved from there. Another five matches in the league were won, before a break for cup matches. Although we lost in the domestic semi finals, we did manage to win all three games in our Confederation Cup group, to qualify strongly for the knockouts.

Back in the league, another couple of victories and we are out of sight, sealing the title, and a place in the Asian Champions League(!), with three games to spare. The club's first league title, and a second season winning multiple trophies!

Now it's a question of resting players, ready for a charge in the Piala Malaysia, and to see if we can go deep in the Asian Confederations Cup as well.

The only worry is the club's finances, which seem to be struggling of late, not least because of the goal bonuses that Excequiel Vazquez has racked up, scoring a goal a game in the league.

Hopefully bonuses can help cover these financial holes.

UP THE TURTLES!!

 

Domestic
Season   NAT   Club               Division                      Pos   Cup 1  Cup 2        Cont            Notes and Achievements
2021     MAL   Telengganu FA      Astro Liga Super Malaysia      2      W     W      Regional Final 
2022     MAL   Telengganu FA      Astro Liga Super Malaysia      1     SF             


Challenge Progress

1/10 Leagues
Astro Liga Super Malaysia 22 - Telengganu FA

1/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA
(Piala Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA)

0/5  Continental

0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
2/32

 

POST 6: The rest of the second season

After winning the title, I rotated the team for our last few league games, resting up our key starters, including star striker Excequiel Vazquez, for the cup matches that were to follow.

In the Piala Malaysia, we played well, winning our group. At the same time, we also won a couple of matches in the Confederation Cup ASEAN Zone playoffs, to make it through to the Interzone Playoffs. (To be honest, I was never too sure how many continental matches we had to play to win the tournament!)

After a friendly during the international break to keep the players (during which time I was at the Asian Games (see below), we kept up our momentum and didn't lose again until the Piala Malaysia final, where Johor Darul Ta'zim got some revenge for us stopping them from winning a ninth consecutive league.

But we did manage to win the confederations Cup, beating Indian outfit Churchill Brothers, Aussies Melbourne Victory and then Al-Jaish from Syria in the final.

Again, this season was summed up by a couple of signing that luckily gelled together quickly and kept scoring goals when we needed them to. In 40 appearances across the season for us, he managed to rack up a phenomenal 46 goals, and scored an average game rating of 8.02!

 

At the same time as the second half of our continental run, I was asked to take charge of the Malaysia U-23s, as they played at the Asian Games tournament. There was no way I was turning down that opportunity.

We had a decent start at the tournament, thrashing the weakest team of our group, Turkmenistan, 6-1. And after a defeat to South Korea, we left our winner-takes-all showdown with Jordan having scored another half a dozen goals in a 6-2 victory.

With momentum on our side we cruised past North Korea in the Second Round, but our dream run ended in the Quarter Final when Qatar managed to overturn out early goal and crush our dreams with two later goals.

 

The plan is now to rebuild the team over the winter, ready for a big push in the Asian Champions League. Who knows how far we'll be able to go if Vasquez maintains his form into next season. It's just a challenge of ensuring we have enough local players to complement the few foreigners that we are allowed to have in our squad. But if a bigger Asian team came calling, who knows if I would turn them down!

 

UP THE TURTLES!!!

 

 

Challenge Progress

1/10 Leagues
Astro Liga Super Malaysia 22 - Telengganu FA

1/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA
(Piala Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA)

0/5  Continental
(AFC Confederation Cup 22 - Telengganu FA)

0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
2/32

 

[DomD]

On 20/12/2021 at 14:17, vikeologist said:

I think it's a known issue and there's apparently a workaround.

If you think your problem's different or you have helpful info to add, tell SI in the bugs forum.

Thanks, that sounds like my problem.

[berrers]

On 20/12/2021 at 13:28, vikeologist said:

@berrersI guess it's good that you haven't failed with any of the Asian nations yet, so they should all still give you at least one chance.

Out of curiosity, which Asian national jobs are still available to you? (You can tell which ones are still there by looking in job security).

If you added Asian players to the database at the start, you should still have quite a few potential employers. 

Hopefully you can also pick up a cup in Scotland. It's another one of those useful nations (also S Africa) with 2 domestic cups, (although as above, only one of them can count towards the challenge).

@vikeologist  I remember taking the advice on the sheet and adding them at the start so still have the following available!

I am already out of the league cup as I chucked it... tbh i've done the whole challenge so far thinking it was only the main domestic cup that counted i.e the fa cup equivalent in every country! 

 

[vikeologist]

1 hour ago, berrers said:

 

 

I am already out of the league cup as I chucked it... tbh i've done the whole challenge so far thinking it was only the main domestic cup that counted i.e the fa cup equivalent in every country! 

 

Glad to hear about the Asian jobs. When you didn't reply I thought it might have been bad news and you'd trashed your computer and house.

Sorry you misunderstood about the cups. I've added a clarification, but I worry that the opening post already has too much info.

[avzbruvz]

On 21/12/2021 at 09:37, avzbruvz said:

POST 6: The rest of the second season

After winning the title, I rotated the team for our last few league games, resting up our key starters, including star striker Excequiel Vazquez, for the cup matches that were to follow.

In the Piala Malaysia, we played well, winning our group. At the same time, we also won a couple of matches in the Confederation Cup ASEAN Zone playoffs, to make it through to the Interzone Playoffs. (To be honest, I was never too sure how many continental matches we had to play to win the tournament!)

After a friendly during the international break to keep the players (during which time I was at the Asian Games (see below), we kept up our momentum and didn't lose again until the Piala Malaysia final, where Johor Darul Ta'zim got some revenge for us stopping them from winning a ninth consecutive league.

But we did manage to win the confederations Cup, beating Indian outfit Churchill Brothers, Aussies Melbourne Victory and then Al-Jaish from Syria in the final.

Again, this season was summed up by a couple of signing that luckily gelled together quickly and kept scoring goals when we needed them to. In 40 appearances across the season for us, he managed to rack up a phenomenal 46 goals, and scored an average game rating of 8.02!

 

At the same time as the second half of our continental run, I was asked to take charge of the Malaysia U-23s, as they played at the Asian Games tournament. There was no way I was turning down that opportunity.

We had a decent start at the tournament, thrashing the weakest team of our group, Turkmenistan, 6-1. And after a defeat to South Korea, we left our winner-takes-all showdown with Jordan having scored another half a dozen goals in a 6-2 victory.

With momentum on our side we cruised past North Korea in the Second Round, but our dream run ended in the Quarter Final when Qatar managed to overturn out early goal and crush our dreams with two later goals.

 

The plan is now to rebuild the team over the winter, ready for a big push in the Asian Champions League. Who knows how far we'll be able to go if Vasquez maintains his form into next season. It's just a challenge of ensuring we have enough local players to complement the few foreigners that we are allowed to have in our squad. But if a bigger Asian team came calling, who knows if I would turn them down!

 

UP THE TURTLES!!!

 

 

Challenge Progress

1/10 Leagues
Astro Liga Super Malaysia 22 - Telengganu FA

1/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA
(Piala Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA)

0/5  Continental
(AFC Confederation Cup 22 - Telengganu FA)

0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
2/32

 

 

POST 7: Champions League time

With the team having financial issues in the middle of our second season, lots of players chose not to renew their contracts and were instead either sold on or chose to leave at the end of their contract. But after winning the Confederation Cup, we actually had money to spend, so we managed to bring quite a decent bunch of lads, ready for a push at winning the Champions League.

This included a Brazilian striker named Gabriel Barbosa, just not the Gabriel Barbosa, who I planned to unleash alongside our star striker Excequiel Vazquez.

Again, our first league match doubled as the Super Cup. And although we were now the league champions and Johoe Darul Ta'zim the cup winners (the opposite of 2022), we still won the match and retained the Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup with considerable ease.

This time around a tried rotating the team a lot more, focussing in the beginning of the season on doing well in our Champions League group. Meaning that we lost early in the Piala FA Malaysia, much to the board's dismay!

But weirdly, the knockouts for the Champions League didn't occur to well after the 22-match league season, so we were able to dominate the second half of the season, only defending the title on the last gameweek of the year.

And with that league win, we etched our name atop Malaysian football history books!

Our Champions League journey wasn't so easy.  In the Second Round, we faced up against Suwon Bluewings. Uncharacteristically for us, we sat back and let them attack, but 2 goals in added time helped us to squeeze past them and keep out continental dream alive.

And although we were rotating players for domestic matches to keep them fresh for the Champions League, they did play when there were long breaks between matches, helping us to secure another piece of silverware in our short tenure at the club.

And in the last match of the year, one that took place a month after the semi final, we had to ensure we stayed fresh. So we ended up playing four friendlies against the second team, to keep the squad match sharp, ready for the historic occasion, the first time in the Turtles history.

And the players showed up, dominating against Al-Ittihad and showing that our tactics fitted the players perfectly.

Vazquez was unstoppable, hitting 4 goals when it mattered most, with the win sealed long before half time even arrived.

 

Not sure how to proceed now, but I've come to Asia and done all that's needed. Tempted to just resign straight away, otherwise could stay on until the right job arises, even waiting until after the Club World Cup to see how that goes.

Will probably also take a break from this save, as have kind of binged my way through these first few season, but the results have reflected the attention to detail that I've given this side.

UP THE TURTLES, the Asian Champions!

 

Challenge Progress

1/10 Leagues
Astro Liga Super Malaysia 22 - Telengganu FA

1/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA

1/5  Continental
Asia Champions League 23

0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
3/32

 

[Danny_H22]

The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge: Jan 2022 – May 2025

Gomel

 

Vysejsaja Liha: I was offered the Gomel job in January 2022 after they sacked their managed following a 7^th place finish. The team I adopted had a few stand out talents, but lacked any depth. Luckily for me, we were about 3 months away from the start of the domestic season. I got right to work and signed 11 players to bulk out the squad and hopefully help us achieve the predicted 6^th place finish.

We were challenging for the top spot for the first two thirds of the season, but ran out of steam in the final 10 games; picking up only 2 wins, drawing 5 in a row against the teams around us. Despite the drop in form, we managed a respectable 4^th place finish, 2 points shy of a place in the Europa Conference League Qualifiers.

My second season luckily didn’t carry on from the end of the first and we once again found great form with 7 wins in our opening ten games. However, this time it was the middle run of games that really put a stopper on our season, with us picking up a solo win over a 7 game run – including losses to two teams who were fighting for the top spot. This was especially annoying due to the fantastic form we managed to gather in the tail-end of the season, with us winning an amazing 13 times within 14 games – the only dropped points coming in a 2-2 draw against top of the league, BATE Borisov. In the end, we would miss out on winning the league by 3 points.

At this point, I knew I had a team that could challenge for the league so spent the preseason focusing on securing new contracts and resigning some of the loanees who had helped take us to the second spot. That paid off and we won our opening 11 games of the season, conceding only 3 goals in that timeframe, before losing 1-0 to second place Rukh Brest. As it happened, this would be our only loss of the season and we stormed to the title, winning by a massive 15 points over a 30 game season.

 

Kubak Bielarus: The cup format in Belarus is quite peculiar as it starts mid way through one season and continues until mid way through the next – with the next season cup games starting around 4 days after the final. It was because of this format that I ended up sticking around as Gomel manager for an extra 6 months.

During my time at the club, we played in the cup four times, with our first time being a very disappointing loss on penalties in the 3^rd round. The following season was much better, however we still didn’t make the final thanks to an aggregate loss to Dinamo Minsk in the semi-final. We then regressed slightly, making only as far as the quarter-final in my 3^rd attempt. Luckily for us (and the sake of completing the challenge as quickly as possible) we carried on our league winning form into the following season and managed to beat Dinamo Minsk 2-1 in the final. This would end up being my last game in charge of Gomel.

 

Supierkubak Bielarus: We featured in this season opener twice and we beat BATE Borisov to win it twice. Not much more to add.

 

Europa Conference League: Whist we had enough about us to challenge on a domestic level, we didn’t have the quality or depth to make any impressions in Europe; getting knocked out in the Second Qualifying Round in back-to-back seasons.

 

International: When attempted this challenge, I like to get an international job as early as possible just to help build my reputation, so in November 2022 I signed a contract to become the new Guinea manager. What followed was a pretty successful 8 month term before I jumped ship to the 7^th ranked Nigeria, who had a great chance at success with the AFCON less than 2 years away.

And, it turns out, success was indeed on the cards. A routine group stage saw us score 9 and concede 2, brushing aside Congo, Tunisia and The Gambia to set up a Second Round tie against DR Congo. This game proved tougher, but with an in form Iheanacho, I didn’t need to worry and his 84^th minute goal gave us the 1-0 win. The Quarter-Final certainly wasn’t a walk in the park and it took extra time for us to see off Mali with the 2-1 victory and set up a Semi-Final against my former side Guinea. The reason I left Guinea was because of the clear talent divide between them and Nigeria and that difference was on show here as we stomped them 4-1 to book our place in the final. On paper, this Final should have been the toughest game of the tournament as we faced off against in form Morocco, but my guys just had too much about them and obviously wanted it more on the day. Goals from Osimhen (2) and Iheanacho gave us the 3-1 win and gave me my first international cup of the challenge.

 

 

Season	    Team              Position    Cup                      Continental                                 Notes and Achievements     
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022        Gomel             4th         3rd Round                -                                           -
2023        Gomel             2nd         SFs                      3rd Qual. Round                             -
2024        Gomel             1st         QFs                      3rd Qual. Round                             Won Supierkubak Bielarus
2025        Gomel             -           Won                      -                                           Won Supierkubak Bielarus. Left in May

Challenge Progress

Club
1/10 top domestic leagues: Vysejsaja Liha (Gomel, 2024)
1/10 domestic cups: Kubak Bierlarus (Gomel, 2025)
0/5 club continental championships:
0/1 club world championship:

International
1/5 continental tournaments: AFCON (Nigeria, 2025)
0/2 world tournaments:

International:
Season     Team                Notes and Achievements     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022	   Guinea              -
2023       Guinea              -
2023       Nigeria             -
2024       Nigeria             -
2025       Nigeria             Won AFCON

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by Danny_H22

[darren1983]

Season 2028 - New York Red Bulls - Season 2028

 

League - We won our conference and the supporters shield last season but fell at the conference final so the aim was just to get back to the playoffs and try and win them this year. We had a rocky start to the season as I juggled new players in to the squad and we soon found ourselves quite the way off league leaders New York City (they smashed us early on 4-1 which had me worried) so I started to focus my attention on juts making sure we finished in the playoffs while also having a real go at the US Open cup again. Injuries hampered us in the middle part of the season (at 1 point I think we had 9 players missing) but as the injured lot returned we hit a purple patch and were comfortably 2nd and then New York had a real wobble (losing 3 in a row) and we caught then passed them, they stumbled again at the end of the season meaning we won the conference by 6 points and also won the Supporters Shield again.

Playoffs - Wining the conference put in the semi final where we cruised to a 2-0 win over Columbus Crew, in the conference final it was our old friends new York again, a proper battle this saw us edge them 3-2 and into the final against Nashville. They were no match for us as we easily won our first MLS Cup

Champions League - Gonne ok so far, annoyingly it runs August to April while our season runs Feb to October so it's not yet complete, but we won our group and have made the 2nd round so far

US Open Cup - losing last years final in injury time hurt, this year we cruised to the final again but couldn't break down Portland this time and they looked to have won it before a injury time own goal from their keeper saved us and we then won the final on pens

Transfers - some good work this close season as I lowered the age of the squad while improving the quality, my focus was on US players in the close season with a couple foreign additions in the summer

Squad - bigger than before as we added much needed depth, I've learned how to trade as well making targetting US based players slightly easier. Also used the loan market where I could

South Korea - am enjoying my time here in South Korea, we have a group of 4 or 5 players 22 and under that are all going to be very good (2 play for Dortmund, 1 for Man Utd and another for Liverpool) and it's fun building a side around them. We currently sit top of our world cup qualifying group at the halfway stage. 

Career Overview
 

Season	     Club			Competition		Position	Notes & Achievements
2021/22      Black Leopards		Championship		5th 		Took over after 11 games down in 15th place
2022/23	     Black Leopards		Championship		1st 		Promotion. Got 1st coaching badge and started on the 2nd 
2023/24	     Mamelodi Sundowns		Premiership		1st 		Won all domestic cups, African Champions League, got 2nd and 3rd coaching badges
2025	     Shanghai Shenhua		Jia League		1st 		Won promotion as league winners, won the Chinese FA Cup, Got continental B licence 
2026	     Shanghai Shenhua		Super League		1st 		Won League and Asian Champions League
2027	     New York Red Bulls		MLS			1st 		Lost in MLS Cup Semi Final, Lost in Cup final
2028	     New York Red Bulls		MLS			1st 		Won MLS Cup, Won US Open Cup

Year		Nation			Honours
2024		Egypt
2025		Egypt			ACON winners 2025
2027		South Korea
2028		South Korea		Qualified to final group stage in World Cup Qualifying 

Challenge Progress

3/10 top domestic – South Africa 2024 (Mamelodi Sundowns) China 2026 (Shanghai Shenhua), USA 2028 (New York Red Bulls)
3/10 top domestic cups – South Africa 2024 (Mamelodi Sundowns), China 2025 (Shanghai Shenhua), USA 2028 (New York Red Bulls)
2/5 club continental – Africa 2024 (Mamelodi Sundows) Asia 2026 (Shanghai Shenhua)
0/1 club world championship

1/5 continental competitions – Africa 2025 (Egypt)
0/1 world tournaments

 

[avzbruvz]

On 23/12/2021 at 12:17, avzbruvz said:

 

POST 7: Champions League time

With the team having financial issues in the middle of our second season, lots of players chose not to renew their contracts and were instead either sold on or chose to leave at the end of their contract. But after winning the Confederation Cup, we actually had money to spend, so we managed to bring quite a decent bunch of lads, ready for a push at winning the Champions League.

This included a Brazilian striker named Gabriel Barbosa, just not the Gabriel Barbosa, who I planned to unleash alongside our star striker Excequiel Vazquez.

Again, our first league match doubled as the Super Cup. And although we were now the league champions and Johoe Darul Ta'zim the cup winners (the opposite of 2022), we still won the match and retained the Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup with considerable ease.

This time around a tried rotating the team a lot more, focussing in the beginning of the season on doing well in our Champions League group. Meaning that we lost early in the Piala FA Malaysia, much to the board's dismay!

But weirdly, the knockouts for the Champions League didn't occur to well after the 22-match league season, so we were able to dominate the second half of the season, only defending the title on the last gameweek of the year.

And with that league win, we etched our name atop Malaysian football history books!

Our Champions League journey wasn't so easy.  In the Second Round, we faced up against Suwon Bluewings. Uncharacteristically for us, we sat back and let them attack, but 2 goals in added time helped us to squeeze past them and keep out continental dream alive.

And although we were rotating players for domestic matches to keep them fresh for the Champions League, they did play when there were long breaks between matches, helping us to secure another piece of silverware in our short tenure at the club.

And in the last match of the year, one that took place a month after the semi final, we had to ensure we stayed fresh. So we ended up playing four friendlies against the second team, to keep the squad match sharp, ready for the historic occasion, the first time in the Turtles history.

And the players showed up, dominating against Al-Ittihad and showing that our tactics fitted the players perfectly.

Vazquez was unstoppable, hitting 4 goals when it mattered most, with the win sealed long before half time even arrived.

 

Not sure how to proceed now, but I've come to Asia and done all that's needed. Tempted to just resign straight away, otherwise could stay on until the right job arises, even waiting until after the Club World Cup to see how that goes.

Will probably also take a break from this save, as have kind of binged my way through these first few season, but the results have reflected the attention to detail that I've given this side.

UP THE TURTLES, the Asian Champions!

 

Challenge Progress

1/10 Leagues
Astro Liga Super Malaysia 22 - Telengganu FA

1/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA

1/5  Continental
Asia Champions League 23

0/1  Worlds

0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
3/32

 

 

POST 8: Waiting to move on

Although I had won everything there was to win with Terengganu, I stuck with them, waiting for a top club to sack their manager and step in there.

This meant that I spent the beginning of 2024 strengthening the side, signing a top Malaysian midfielder from Wigan (who we had on loan for 6 months last season), a decent African left back and a class Chinese attacking midfielder. This bolstered the squad, leading to us going 10 games unbeaten in the league. We also rotated for the cup, and still managed to get through a couple of rounds.

But in mid-May, a club fired their manager, and after applying, they actually wanted me to take over. So our journey in club football in Asia has finally ended, having won trophies in each of our four seasons we were there....

And on goes our journey, taking over at South African side Orlando Pirates, who are struggling in 5th in the league, although they are in the cup final, so an initial opportunity to get some silverware on the board.

 

COME ON YOU BUCS!!

[avzbruvz]

20 hours ago, avzbruvz said:

 

POST 8: Waiting to move on

Although I had won everything there was to win with Terengganu, I stuck with them, waiting for a top club to sack their manager and step in there.

This meant that I spent the beginning of 2024 strengthening the side, signing a top Malaysian midfielder from Wigan (who we had on loan for 6 months last season), a decent African left back and a class Chinese attacking midfielder. This bolstered the squad, leading to us going 10 games unbeaten in the league. We also rotated for the cup, and still managed to get through a couple of rounds.

But in mid-May, a club fired their manager, and after applying, they actually wanted me to take over. So our journey in club football in Asia has finally ended, having won trophies in each of our four seasons we were there....

And on goes our journey, taking over at South African side Orlando Pirates, who are struggling in 5th in the league, although they are in the cup final, so an initial opportunity to get some silverware on the board.

 

COME ON YOU BUCS!!

 

POST 9: The Short First Season in SA

We joined Orlando Pirates with just four league games to go. But they are also in the big cup final. Still not too sure why they fired their previous manager, but I'm not complaining.

(I seem to have lost the screenshots from the cup final, so can't post from the game itself, or the post match reports, but...)

We go unbeaten in our last few games to finish the season, and pick up some silverware, so a good start to life in Soweto.

Gives us some Continental football, albeit not Champions League.

Over the winter, I have brought in some players to strengthen the solid core of a squad that I took over, including bringing in Barbosa from Terengganu.

Also finally managed to get a gig at a national team. Taken over the Super Eagles, who are in the middle of the third round of African qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. They aren't doing too badly, so, fingers crossed, we can take them to US, Canada & Mexico for that.

We are predicted to finish top, so hopefully we can live up to that.

Also have a random bunch of different tournaments to play in, so might be about squad rotation, to keep everyone fit throughout the season. 

Bring it on.

COME ON YOU BUCS!!

Challenge Progress

1/10 Leagues
Astro Liga Super Malaysia 22 - Telengganu FA

2/10 Cups
Piala FA Malaysia 21 - Telengganu FA
Nedbank Cup 23/24 - Orlando Pirates

1/5  Continental
Asia Champions League 23 - Telengganu FA

0/1  Worlds
***********************************************
0/5 Continental 

0/1 Worlds

Total 
4/32

 

[berrers]

On 23/12/2021 at 12:16, vikeologist said:

Glad to hear about the Asian jobs. When you didn't reply I thought it might have been bad news and you'd trashed your computer and house.

Sorry you misunderstood about the cups. I've added a clarification, but I worry that the opening post already has too much info.

@vikeologist it's ok, feels like I'm doing it properly if I get the main domestic cup 

[berrers]

2044/45

- RANGERS -

The remit was simple, end Celtics Thirteen year title dominance.

SCOTTISH CUP

A much needed domestic cup ticked off the list. There was a concern at one point when we were one down at ht in the final but it was a pretty easy run.

 

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Thought we had absolutely no chance in this but deservedly went through over the 2 legs

Kept things pretty tight on the road and won all our home games.

Beat my old side Marseille courtesy of a couple of loanee's I took from there :\ Lost to Chelsea at home 2-1 when we should have won and they had more than enough to shut me out at the bridge. A great CL run though with a side not expected to do much in the competition.

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP

This ended up being very easy. Celtic never really got going and had a poor season (even though I lost to them both times away) . The League was already confirmed by the time they had split the sides into the championship group.

 

INTERNATIONAL

Still no Asian nation jobs have become available yet and with the next Asian cup not until 2047 it could be sometime before they potentially do.

WHAT'S NEXT

Two more trophies ticked off the list in Scotland in one season which is good and I have done all I can there now so there is no point in hanging around. As it stand there is still no decent African league jobs available so I can either resign and wait till there potentially is or try to go to another country and try to potentially get another domestic cup ticked off. The PSV manager has just left after they won the league which could keep me ticking over until and African prem job becomes available.

 

[BigJack]

Corinthians 2029

Competitions

Serie A - League Table    Results 1    Results 2

I took over in June with the club sat 9th in the league. Sitting 11 points of top with 3 games in hand. We managed to start on fire and topped the league for 2 months. Then we had a bad patch of form and dropped points in vital games against the sides around us, and this proved our undoing as we settled for 3rd. 

 -  Copa Do Brazil 

Lost in the semi finals to Palmerias 

Squad

Squad    Transfers

The squad is a decent standard but improvements are definitely needed ahead of next season. The likes of PSG, United and Real Madrid are sniffing around a few of our players so I am hoping to receive some at least one decent fee to fund some squad improvements. The best 3 players this season were

Almir De Castro (ST) -  He has been brilliant this season. I prefer a striker with better finishing but he managed to bag 35 goals in all competitions so I can hardly grumble.

Tafael (RW) -  He was unhappy when I arrived due to not getting regular football and I dont see how he was left out by the previous manager. Scored 22 and set up 10 in 38 starts.

Giovanni Reyes (CB) -  Has been brilliant this season for me, although he is currently unhappy due to me not accepting £10m bids. Will more than likely move him on if I can get a decent fee for him. 

Next Season

Having ended the season trophyless for the first time in a while, I am actually enjoying what is a much more challenging league. We have the basis of a good squad and with a few improvements can hopefully challenge for the title again next season. We have also qualified for the Copa Liberatores so I am hoping we can challenge for that also. I have 1 season remaining on my contract but am open to extending that if we dont win what we need this coming season.

Club Career
							Leagues			Cups
Season	Nation		Division	Club		1st	2nd		1st	2nd	Cont.	CWC	Other Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22	S.Africa	Gladbank Champ	Cape Town Spurs	1st	n/a		n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	Promoted to DSTV Premiership
2022/23	S.Africa	DSTV Prem	Cape Town Spurs	5th	n/a		SF	QF	n/a	n/a	Achieved National C coaching badge
2023/24	S.Africa	DSTV Prem	Cape Town Spurs	5th	n/a		RU	SF	n/a	n/a	Achieved National B and A coaching badges.
2024/25	S.Africa	DSTV Prem	Cape Town Spurs	1st	n/a		SF	WIN	n/a	n/a	Achieved Cont. C License and started B license.
2025/26	S.Africa	DSTV Prem	Cape Town Spurs	1st	n/a		SF	QF	WIN	n/a	Achieved Cont. B License and started A. Resigned on 6/6/26
2026/27	Mexico		Liga MX		Tigres UANL	1st	1st		WIN	R1	WIN	n/a	Achieved Cont. A License and started Pro License.
2027	China		CSL		Guangzhou FC	3rd	n/a		R1	n/a	n/a	n/a	Hired on 12/7/27. Finished Pro License.
2028	China		CSL		Guangzhou FC	1st	n/a		WIN	n/a	WIN	n/a	Won treble. 
2029	Brazil		Serie A		Corinthians	3rd	n/a		SF	n/a	n/a	n/a	Hired on 11/06/29. 

International Career

Year	Nation		F.Rank	NL	Cont.	WC	Other Achievmennts
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023	Ivory Coast	56th	n/a	n/a	n/a	Took over on 10/09/2023
2024	Ivory Coast	41st	n/a	n/a	n/a	Qualified for 2025 AFCON
2025	Ivory Coast	25th	n/a	WIN	n/a	Won 2025 AFCON. Resigned on 2/10/25.



Challenge Progress

Club
3/10 Top Domestic Leagues
---------------------------
DSTV Prem 24/25 - Cape Town Spurs.
Liga MX 26/27 - Tigres UANL.
CSL 2028 - Guangzhou FC.

3/10 Domestic Cups
---------------------------
Telekom Cup 24/25 - Cape Town Spurs.
Copa MX 26/27 - Tigres UANL.
CFA Cup 2028 - Guangzhou FC.

3/5 Continental Championships 
---------------------------
CAF Champions League 25/26 - Cape Town Spurs.
CONCACAF Champions League 26/27 - Tigres UANL.
AFC Champions League 2028 - Guangzhou FC.	

0/1 Club World Championship
-----------------------------

International
1/5 Continental Tournaments
-----------------------------
Ivory Coast 2025 AFCON.

0/1 World Tournament

10/32

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by BigJack

[vikeologist]

@BigJack

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2022/23 Oldham Season Report

Maybe I‘m returning to this challenge only for a season as a holiday from my ‘National’ save.

Honestly I applied to a lot of jobs in an attempt to escape Oldham, but I was unsuccessful.

There was a job in Asia, Uzbekistan, that I probably should have applied for, although I suppose I probably wouldn’t have got it anyway.

Anyway, Oldham rallied in the second half of the season from mid-table inconsistency, and with 2 matches to go were assured of a playoff spot and neck and neck with 2 other sides for the 3^rd automatic promotion place.

Our penultimate match was against top placed Cambridge. We sneaked a victory and after the match I was very confused by the trophy presentation. Was it a cup final and I hadn’t noticed. It was of course losers Cambridge being crowned as league champs, my befuddlement caused in large part by the fact that I spent FM21 managing similarly stripped Folkestone Invicta.

Anyway, even though we only had a 2 goal difference advantage, a win in our last match would probably be enough for promotion.

 

We won our final match 1-0 with a late goal, and we needed the win. Anything less and we’d have missed out. It was certainly a squeaky bum situation.

Top Goalscorer - Hallam Hope – 16

The explanation for why we left it until the last day of the season is here. Hope started 42 matches. I did sign a replacement striker, (although I had to use him as a left winger when my starter was injured or suspended). Hope’s goal rate was respectable until near the end, but he didn’t score in our last 13 matches (and bear in mind we won 10 of them including the last 8).

OK. I took my eye off the ball, and should have dropped him. I’m lucky we were promoted.

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) – Carlos Tevez – 7.33

Oh sorry, did I not mention that I got then 38 year old Carlos Bloody Tevez to sign for English League 2 us at the start of the season. I used him as an attacking midfielder. As above, this may have been a mistake, but I have got away with it.

 

Man of The Match – Carlos Tevez  - 5

Most Valuable Player– Carlos Tevez  

He’s 39 now, and even with the promotion, I don’t think he’s planning on sticking around.

To be fair, neither am I.

Domestic
Season	Team		Division		Position	MVP				Notes										
22/23	Oldham		England League 2	11th		Jayson Leutwiler 		Took over after 21 matches in 23rd and steered them to safety.
23/24	Oldham		England League 2	3rd		Carlos Tevez			Promoted on last day of the season.
				

International
Year	Team				Achievements




Challenge Progress 0/32

Club
 0/10 top domestic leagues 			
 0/10 domestic cups 								
 0/5 club continental championships		
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 		
 0/1 World Cup

 

[vikeologist]

2 years in, been itching to dip my toe into international management for this challenge.

I don;t think there's much point managing an international team that stands no chance of winning something, but others do seem to have done well in raising their reputation.

Anyway, I was offered 3 jobs, Iraq, DR Congo and Cameroon.

I plumped for Cameroon. The top nations in Africa and Asia that had vacancies turned me down, but Cameroon is viable and has some good players that should fit into my tactics.

Now I just have to hope that having an international job won't interfere from my ardent desire to move on from Oldham into a better club job. I did hope a club job would come before the end of the ACON and Asian Cup.

And immediately, we draw DR Congo in the World Cup Qualifying 2nd round, so I guess I'll find out pretty soon whether I made the right decision.

Edited December 30, 2021 by vikeologist

[darren1983]

New York Red Bulls Season 2029 MLS

 

League - Due to still being in the Champions League our form at the start of the season was very up and down as I was rotating players in and out in order to rest them while also bedding in a couple new players, meant we fell behind the Chicago and New York City but we found form and won 12 out of 13 games to get us near the top with 14 games to go and the eagle eyed among you will have seen the season hasn't ended and there's a reason for that which is I have moved on.

Champions League - This was my focus going into the season as we had won everything else we needed to win here but I also knew I had another chance this season if we failed. It was a tough run as we had Cruz Azul, who we drew with in the group stage, a 2-2 draw at home had me worried for their away goals but 2 goals in the opening 4 minutes wiped those out and we added a 3rd 2 minutes after they pulled 1 back to end their hope. In the quarter finals we beat Club Necaxa 3-0 over the 2 legs setting up a semi against Pumas as it seemed we would have to go through all of Mexico to win. A nervy 1st half saw us trail but we grabbed a goal just after the break to get a 1-1 draw. The home leg again saw us blast out the box with 2 early goals in the opening 20 mins, they were better 2nd half and scored twice and we looked to be heading out on away goals before a 82 minute winner. We went full shutdown mode and held on for the win. In the final we played Club America, away from home as well, they were having a poor season outside of this but were still a decent side. We were very good on the day and just after HT we were 3-0 up, they pulled one back on 87th minute but we cruised to it. We did it the hard way here.

Club World Cup - The Champions League win gave me my first crack at the Club World Cup a few weeks later, a really rough draw with Juventus and Flamengo. Juve battered us but could only score one while we dominated Flamengo and should have scored more than one but 2nd spot as a goodbye present was best I could really hope for

Transfers - I brought a couple more young American players to add to our squad as we look to set up for the future

Squad - I really like this squad, have done a very good job in refreshing it and building one that should dominate over the next few years with or without me, it was actually hard to leave as I had built a spine of American players 23 and under here

South Korea - this is going really well as we have qualified for the wold cup next summer with ease

Career Progress

Season	     Club			Competition		Position	Notes & Achievements
2021/22      Black Leopards		Championship		5th 		Took over after 11 games down in 15th place
2022/23	     Black Leopards		Championship		1st 		Promotion. Got 1st coaching badge and started on the 2nd 
2023/24	     Mamelodi Sundowns		Premiership		1st 		Won all domestic cups, African Champions League, got 2nd and 3rd coaching badges
2025	     Shanghai Shenhua		Jia League		1st 		Won promotion as league winners, won the Chinese FA Cup, Got continental B licence 
2026	     Shanghai Shenhua		Super League		1st 		Won League and Asian Champions League
2027	     New York Red Bulls		MLS			1st 		Lost in MLS Cup Semi Final, Lost in Cup final
2028	     New York Red Bulls		MLS			1st 		Won MLS Cup, Won US Open Cup
2029	     New York Red Bulls		MLS			2nd 		Won North American Champions League, finished coaching badges, left club after 19 games

Year		Nation			Honours
2024		Egypt
2025		Egypt			ACON winners 2025
2027		South Korea
2028		South Korea		Qualified to final group stage in World Cup Qualifying 
2029		South Korea		Qualified for World Cup, got to 14th in the world

Challenge Progress

3/10 top domestic – South Africa 2024 (Mamelodi Sundowns) China 2026 (Shanghai Shenhua), USA 2028 (New York Red Bulls)
3/10 top domestic cups – South Africa 2024 (Mamelodi Sundowns), China 2025 (Shanghai Shenhua), USA 2028 (New York Red Bulls)
3/5 club continental – Africa 2024 (Mamelodi Sundows) Asia 2026 (Shanghai Shenhua), North America 2029 (New York Red Bulls)
0/1 club world championship

1/5 continental competitions – Africa 2025 (Egypt)
0/1 world tournaments

What's Next

After claiming the champions league I started to look for my next move, I wanted to move to South America but no decent looking jobs turned up but a couple in the Premier League did including Liverpool who offered me an interview but I didn't get it, instead I have moved to a sister club in RedBull Salzburg who missed out on the title for the first time in this save last season, I'm thinking ta season or 2 here before jumping would be a nice way to pick up another league title and a cup.

[Danny_H22]

 

The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge: May 2025 – Feb 2027

Ulsan Hyundai

 

 

K League Classic: I took over the club with them sitting bottom of the league after 14 games, 11 points from top four and with only two wins all season. I wouldn’t usually accept this kind of role so early into this challenge, but I could see the potential and knew that with some depth signings, they would be capable of mounting a title challenge.

My assessment was spot on and over the remaining 24 league games, we climbed the table to a rather impressive 3^rd place finish – losing only 2 further league games – setting us up nicely for my first full season in charge. A season that started as the last had ended and saw us go unbeaten for the opening 16 league games before succumbing to our first lose of the season at the hands of FC Seoul. Luckily, my team stayed strong and didn’t let this bump in the road derail their season as they put together an even more impressive unbeaten run with 17 wins from the remaining 21 games to storm the league and claim the title with a 31 point difference over second placed Suwon Bluewings.

 

Hana Bank FA Cup: Our cup adventure began a month after I joined with a 3-1 win over Suwon FC and continued over the next 5 months as we pushed aside Jeju United and Jeonnam Dragons to book our place in the final against lower league Ansan. The gulf in class was very evident and we put 7 goals past them over two legs.

The following season wasn’t much different with wins over Pohang Steelers, FC Anyang and FC Seoul on our way to a back-to-back final, with our opponents this time a much stronger Gangwon FC. Luckily for us, they weren’t as strong as us and two 1-0 wins gave us our second cup win in as many years.

 

AFC Champions League: Whilst my predecessor had done me no favours in the league, his form in the Champions League was quite something and his Ulsan team topped the group with 5 wins from 6 games and gave me a running start with a second round game against rivals Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. As it happened, bragging rights would remain with us and we booked our quarter-final spot with a routine 2-0 win. We took that form into the next game, beating Higashiosake Rosa 5-1 and then Sakai FC 3-0 in the semi-finals to set up a final tie against Al-Ahli. What followed was quite the boring affair where we never really threatened our opponent, despite a late goal in our favour. Al-Ahli ran out 2-1 winners in front of 60k people, but we at least showed that we would be able to challenge on the grandest stage.

And the following season, challenge we did! Despite a lose in our first group game to Buriram Utd, we stormed the group by winning the next five games – scoring 19 goals and conceding just 2. The second round presented us with a chance at redemption and we brushed aside Buriram in convincing style, putting four past them on the way to a 4-1 win. Up next was Shandong Luneng, who posed no issues as we beat them 2-0 thanks to two early goals by Pucciarelli. The semi-final proved even easier and Central Coast Mariners showed that they really weren’t on our level and we strolled to a 5-1 win to put us in our second Champions League final in 2 years. Al-Duhail would be our opponents this time and we had clearly learnt from our mistakes of the previous year. An early goal from Park Ji-Soo was enough to see us lift the Champions League and claim our position as the number club in Asia!

 

International:  After winning AFCON, I moved over to Australia to prepare them for the upcoming Asian Games where they hoped to defend their title. This proved a lot easier than I had anticipated, with 7 wins from 7 games against the like of Kyrgyzstan, Syria and China. The only slight bump in the road was the final against fairly evenly matched Iran who held us to a 0-0 draw over 90 minutes, but couldn’t stop us in extra-time and we ran out 2-0 winners. 16 goals scored, 0 goals conceded and another winners medal around my neck.

 

Season	    Team              Position    Cup                      Continental                                 Notes and Achievements     
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022        Gomel             4th         3rd Round                -                                           -
2023        Gomel             2nd         SFs                      3rd Qual. Round                             -
2024        Gomel             1st         QFs                      3rd Qual. Round                             Won Supierkubak Bielarus
2025        Gomel             -           Won                      -                                           Won Supierkubak Bielarus. Left in May
2025        Ulsan Hyundai     3rd         Won                      Lost in Final                               Joined in May.
2026        Ulsan Hyundai     1st         Won                      Won                                         Manager of the Year

Challenge Progress

Club
2/10 top domestic leagues: Vysejsaja Liha (Gomel, 2024); K League Classic (Ulsan Hyundai, 2025)
2/10 domestic cups: Kubak Bierlarus (Gomel, 2025); Hana Bank FA Cup (Ulsan Hyundai, 2025)
1/5 club continental championships: AFC Champions League (Ulsan Hyundai, 2026)
0/1 club world championship:

International
2/5 continental tournaments: AFCON (Nigeria, 2025); Asian Cup (Australia, 2027)
0/2 world tournaments:

International:
Season     Team                Notes and Achievements     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022	   Guinea              -
2023       Guinea              -
2023       Nigeria             -
2024       Nigeria             -
2025       Nigeria             Won AFCON
2026       Nigeria             Lost in WC 3rd Round
2026       Australia           -
2027       Australia           Won Asian Cup

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by Danny_H22

[vikeologist]

@darren1983

[darren1983]

So this is fun, a player who came through my first intake at Black Leopards has developed pretty well and is in my Red Bull Salzburg squad