[FM21] Bundesliga(s) - The German football thread

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Hiya I am looking at starting a German league save with a team and try replicate Brentford/Barnsley's data approach transfer policy.

I want a team that doesn't have developing youth in their club DNA so I have had a look and here are a few German teams that fit my criteria.

I just can't decide who to manage so I was just wondering if anyone has any pro's or con's for each team to help me decide.

Union Berlin 
Ingolstadt 
SC Paperdorn 
Duisberg 

[enders357]

Help! I've just started a save as Eintracht Frankfurt and they have no B team. I've found using the u23s in other countries to be imperative to keeping the whole squad fit. Is there anything I can do?

 

EDIT: Apologies, I found the option to ask the board for a II Club immediately after posting this and they have said they'll be setting one up, so it's only one year I have to cope without it.

Edited August 1, 2021 by enders357

[JawZy]

Started as Dusseldorf, sitting top going into jan window

Edited August 30, 2021 by JawZy

[JawZy]

On 30/08/2021 at 21:01, JawZy said:

Started as Dusseldorf, sitting top going into jan window

 

 

Kownacki was very important in this season!

[john1]

Red Bull Leipzig 2020/21 season half way point

 

Decided to start new save with RB Leipzig (using updated transfers just before Chan went to Wolves on loan) before FM22 comes out. Will be focusing on signing young players and develop them into first team

 
 

What a start especially with a draw against Bayern, in first game of the season even we dominated the game but couldn't break down Neuer. Disappointed with 2-1 loss to Union Berlin, once again we dominated especially going 2 goals down, also had goal disallowed too. We also finished top of our Champions League group  However, I do expect Bayern to be on our arse rest of the season and win the title  

Transfers

Left transfers dealing to my director of football (Luis Campos) I only bought in Max Normann Williamsen for 7M, so I left bringing in players to Luis Campos for first team and Bernhard Peters to bring in youth players. I have bought both of them in when I took over, and improved the staffing at the club. They both bought in few players in the team and youth team. Campos, also bought in Dejan Jovelijic, on loan from LA Galaxy. I have also been playing few youngsters like Kacper Smorgol, Julian Pfennig, Erik Uhlmann and Sanoussy Ba.

Tactic

 

I have also gone for classic 4-4-2 formation, which I thought would suits the players, even Julian Nagelsmann, used it in 2019/20 season.

I believe Poulsen and Frosberg, have been excellent, sadly Poulsen picked up dislocated shoulder injury and ruled out for few months after scoring 2 late goals against Shakhtar Donetsk   

 

 

Edited September 2, 2021 by john1

[john1]

 
Laptop froze, so had to play Bayern again, won 2-1 this time

[john1]

4 days later, we play Bayern again, in Bundesliga

 

Angelino  Also sold Marcel Sabitzer, to Arsenal for 50M, so in the market for a RM.

[mikenevo]

Just started my save with Dortmund! I've signed a handful of young players, many that I was able to just approach for free with just having to pay compensation. I also managed to sign Camavinga who I want to partner with Bellingham in the middle. I've promoted Moukoko who I plan to partner with Haaland and have back up youngsters Ernest Poku (AZ) and Dane Scarlett (Spurs) to help out and develop. Re-training Jadon Sancho to be a CAM because I don't use wingers, hopefully that will go well and Giovanni Reyna will back him up. I've sold off both goalkeepers and brought in Vandevoordt as first choice keeper, with Owusu-Oduro (AZ) as backup / cup keeper.

This will be an interesting season as I look to go with youth where possible and shift out the older players. I think in the long term it will be better as I should be able to mold them to fit my tactic, something which older players probably don't do too well.

[john1]

Can't believe I just won the Champions League  Was expecting a hammering, as they was clear favourite for this. So I switched from attacking to positive mentality. Poulsen and Silva's partnership is on fire Will do update tomorrow. 

 

30 medals \o/

Club also agreed to have II/B club next season, hopefully it will be useful steps/developments. from U's19 to B team to first team over the years.

Edited September 4, 2021 by john1

[mikenevo]

Just reached 31st December in the first season and Haaland is absolutely insane. He just won World Player of the year, World Footballer of the year and European Golden Boy and obviously part of the World Team of the year. I've also got Moukoko playing alongside him now  Definitely looking forward to seeing how he progresses!

[mikenevo]

Season 2 and I have Mbappe, Haaland and Moukoko up front! 

[tyro]

First save for me this year: Kaiserslautern. I randomly picked them back in the 90s to play as my team and want to try to bring them back to the Bundesliga this year. 

[jackripper]

Will be doing a Schalke career with there debt etc.

[tyro]

I actually finished season 1 with Kaiserslautern. It has been several FMs since I finished a season with a team. The data hub and starting in the 3rd league with a club that i used to play with a long time ago really got me interested. 

It was a bit of a rollercoaster and took time to get going. We only lost 3 games all season and my goalkeeper had 20 clean sheets but so many draws. Unbelievable. After 10 games we were firm around spot 3-5. But every time we could've gone top with a win we drew. It was so frustrating. Around February I have up on the 4231 and used the 433 with a DM. It gave my players more space and we started scoring and winning. We ended up in 3rd playoff spot and then had to beat Sandhausen to secure the promotion to the 2. Liga. And we did.

The board had already been unhappy that we didn't get promoted and I wanted to tell them, hey wait a moment we can still get it through the playoffs. 

Now is the end of the season and i am already moving some players out and bringing others in. It is not easy finding a striker that is better than those i have with only €400,000 transfer budget. 

The other two teams they were promoted were Zwickau and Wiesbaden. 

[badger100]

Started as Dortmund and budget is quite low but pipped Munich to the title last day of season but did lose to them in Cup and CL and once in the league. At end of firt season everybody wanted my players but had to sell Haaland in the end but held on for £191M but now not sure what to do and will probably wait for full release as its a rebuilding job as need a new left back, right back, GK and forward and i do not want to get too into it as i will probably have another go with them tomorrow.

Never done a German save before so looking forward to it.

[Major Raver]

Season 1. Playing as Hamburg. 4 games to go, promoted as Champions, was unbeaten until the game that clinched the championship. Knocked out of the Quarter Finals of the Cup on penalties by Armenia. 

 

Turned off transfers for the first window, got the board to raise wages and give me 2mill for January. Signed a few young players available on free, and both Joris Gnagnon and Fernando Llorente. Both have done a great job. Managed to sign Arezo in January for 900k, 400k, with a further 500k over 3 years. Sold Heyer for 375k

 

Kept all the top players, thankfully all agreed to stay till the end of the Season to help us get promoted, and now they are happy to stay permanently. 

 

Best 11

GK Hauer Fernandes

DR Vagnoman

DC Gnagnon (Free)

DC Jonas David

DL Liebold

MC Doyle

MC Boubacarr Kebbeh (Free)

AMR Jatta

AMC Wintzheimer

AML Kittel

SC Llorente 

 

I need to do some work for next season, especially in Central Midfield. I also need a Goalie, I've decided Fernandes isn't top division. Only have 5.2mill to spend, so might need some loans as im loath to sell anyone decent. Have some promising youngsters coming through the ranks but they are a few years away.

 

[n1mez]

Nobody playing in the Bundesliga in FM22?

I have a nice RB Leipzig save going. Love it!

[BoobyBlah]

I'm playing as Dortmund currently. Just finished season 3, success has been solid.

Won the league each year. Won the Champions league second season (after 20 odd shootout) and then got knocked out in group stages season 3 so I won the Europa league.

Finally convinced Musiala and Wirtz to join, so next season should be a lot of fun. Trying to build a solid German core, but there aren't a lot of great talents.

[Captain Funk]

On 08/12/2021 at 15:04, n1mez said:

Nobody playing in the Bundesliga in FM22?

I have a nice RB Leipzig save going. Love it!

Sorry for late reply, but could I see your team? I could be interested in picking up the gloves from Julian Nagelsmann in an RB Leipzig save, too :-)

[n1mez]

On 21/12/2021 at 17:30, Captain Funk said:

Sorry for late reply, but could I see your team? I could be interested in picking up the gloves from Julian Nagelsmann in an RB Leipzig save, too :-)

Sorry for me as well. 

Dont have the save anymore - im currently managing Salzburg. Wanna be there for 2-3 years then move on to Leipzig

 

[MarvBAFC]

After having a year off FM i finally got back on with this years instalment.

After much success with Hamburger SV in previous editions (FM19 - Winning the Bundesliga in my 3rd season before moving onto Real Madrid & FM20 - Returning the club to the Bundesliga winning the DFB Pokel 3 times in a row even as a Second Tier side) i decided to try my hand with them once again and be the manager to finally raise this giant from the ashes. 

Just finished my 1st season, absolutely gutted to not win the league but promotion was priority. Heidenheim were unstoppable at times during the season, once leading us by 12 points, to get this close on the final day was heart-breaking.

  

After an up and down start to the season in which i changed tactics twice (started with 5-3-2 vertical tika taka changing to 4-3-3 gegenpress) i finally settled with a new tactic. See below with my preferred starting XI: 

 

After settling on this just before the mid season break we didn't lose a game for the rest of the season in the league

No signings were made at all during the season. Key players are as below:

Amaechi was fantastic on his return from Bolton playing as an inside forward on the right, just like a new signing! Looking forward to hopefully developing him in the Bundesliga. Wintzhiemer may become the main man up top soon depending on if Glatzel can make the step up.

The Under 19s also won the German Youth Championship by beating Bayern in the final. This guy will be getting some game time next season:

49 in 41 is an insane return for a youth player. Hoping he can develop, shame about his work rate.

Hard work starts now to try and avoid the drop 1st season. Germany normally has alot of players that run there contracts down so hoping to pick a few gems up for free. I'm sure this side could survive as it stands though.

Edited December 28, 2021 by MarvBAFC

[MarvBAFC]

Glatzel is now demanding a new contract. We don’t currently have funds to offer him one. I’ve got over the this a couple of times now and it doesn’t sit well with the rest of the squad. Any advice? 
 

thinking about just selling him but could be hard to replace 

[Rainbowz]

Playing FM22, I tried managing Victoria Koln in the 3. Liga and my god, it might be one of the hardest challenges I've done. The squad is an okay mid-table side, but nothing special. However, you have very little money to spend to improve the squad. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Well, your entire club is being sunk by a single player. Marcel Risse.

For some ungodly reason, he's on £24,500 a week! For a 31 year old winger who's only just your best player, it's insanity. For reference, the second highest paid player is on £4,900 p/w. Well, maybe you can simply sell him? Nope, he's only just signed and is a team leader, so enjoy a mutiny should you try and sell him on too early. That's if you can sell him at all. I couldn't find a single club willing to sign him, even with me agreeing to pay half his wage. He's only on a 1 year contract, but by the end of the season you'll be about £2-3m in the red, with no money to spend to improve your extremely average squad.

If anyone is looking for a tough challenge in Germany, I'd recommend this. You're essentially playing against the clock, trying to get promoted ASAP before your finances become unmanageable. You do have some good players (including a bit of an under the radar wonderkid), but it's definitely not a promotion-chasing squad.

[wpmk]

On 29/12/2021 at 11:26, MarvBAFC said:

Glatzel is now demanding a new contract. We don’t currently have funds to offer him one. I’ve got over the this a couple of times now and it doesn’t sit well with the rest of the squad. Any advice? 
 

thinking about just selling him but could be hard to replace 

In my first season with Hamburg SV. Just won the league with late goal from Timon Burmeister (league mostly sewn up so just said screw it at 1-0 down). Glätzel has been okay as my Deep Lying Forward but can’t see him getting goals in the Bundesliga. Sounds like there isn’t much of a budget so been eying up Rouwen Hennings on a free transfer (ex-Hamburg academy but never got any games). Mostly need someone who can hold ball up and bring others into play, at least until I can afford someone better.

Amaechi was great on his return from loan (him and Vagnoman on the right is chef kiss) but think he’ll need some competition. I renewed Wintzheimer as him and Jatta have done well for goal contributions.

Don’t think I’ll make any loans permanent and will probably let Gyamerah go to save on wages.

I’ve signed Finn Becker from St. Pauli to give Kittel some competition and cancelled Tommy Doyle‘s loan since he doesn’t play IRL. Sold Alidou too because he’s leaving IRL.

Suhonen and Meissner seem meh so found them loans. I’ll give Opoku a chance in the summer. Sanne and Owusu seemed useful in cameos.

David, Vagnoman, Reis, Ambrosius, and Amaechi have been fantastic so looking to build around them…with the experience of Jatta, Kittel, Meffert, and Leibold to help them grow.

Everyone is starting to want new contracts though, but managed to get Jatta to back down, and used him as an example to get Kittel to back down too. Jatta’s technicals are hilarious but he’s a Hamburg SV man and a great team leader. I’d love him to do well in the first division.

EDIT: Funnily enough the second half of our seasons have been near identical.

EDIT 2: You have to pay out €499k euros to Arsenal for winning the 2. Bundesliga with Amaechi.

 

[n1mez]

I have started as Kaiserslautern! Nobody playing in the Bundesliga this year?

[kad38]

nobody is starting this year with the Hertha Berlin challenge ?

[oze07]

im looking at the bundesliga for a save. either dortmund,rbl or leverkusen? to be fair, i dont think im good enough to win the league with leverkusen, dortmund will prob be easier, but rbl have some amazing youngsters, but irl i know they are hated, but i dont know if its replicated in the game?

[krisdonna]

1 hour ago, oze07 said:

im looking at the bundesliga for a save. either dortmund,rbl or leverkusen? to be fair, i dont think im good enough to win the league with leverkusen, dortmund will prob be easier, but rbl have some amazing youngsters, but irl i know they are hated, but i dont know if its replicated in the game?

Well as a non German i do think Leipzig has a nice transfer policy, they also have no history which is quiet interesting.

[n1mez]

10 hours ago, oze07 said:

im looking at the bundesliga for a save. either dortmund,rbl or leverkusen? to be fair, i dont think im good enough to win the league with leverkusen, dortmund will prob be easier, but rbl have some amazing youngsters, but irl i know they are hated, but i dont know if its replicated in the game?

Well i have only really played a "Red Bull" save this year. Where i was at Salzburg, and sold my best players to Leipzig. So i kinda like both teams. Their philosophy in recruitment and playstyle really appeals to me. 

Im playing as Kaiserslautern right now though, such a fun club. 

[wpmk]

Abandoned my Hamburg save because of bugs. Managed to reach DFB Pokal final in first season against Dortmund. We were 2-2 going into ET but I could only make 3 subs while Dortmund could make 5. Obviously their 5th substitute scores the winner right at the end with my depleted team.

Runner up should've seen us get a Europa League place the following season since Dortmund already qualified for Europe through their league position. Got to the Qatar World Cup before realising. The bugs left a tainted feeling and ruined the save.

[BoobyBlah]

12 hours ago, wpmk said:

Abandoned my Hamburg save because of bugs. Managed to reach DFB Pokal final in first season against Dortmund. We were 2-2 going into ET but I could only make 3 subs while Dortmund could make 5. Obviously their 5th substitute scores the winner right at the end with my depleted team.

Runner up should've seen us get a Europa League place the following season since Dortmund already qualified for Europe through their league position. Got to the Qatar World Cup before realising. The bugs left a tainted feeling and ruined the save.

Did you make your transfers all at once? I thought you could only have 3 instances of substitutions, but could sub up to 5 players in total?

 

Apologies if that's wrong or you did it right.

[yoyosm]

17 hours ago, wpmk said:

Abandoned my Hamburg save because of bugs. Managed to reach DFB Pokal final in first season against Dortmund. We were 2-2 going into ET but I could only make 3 subs while Dortmund could make 5. Obviously their 5th substitute scores the winner right at the end with my depleted team.

Runner up should've seen us get a Europa League place the following season since Dortmund already qualified for Europe through their league position. Got to the Qatar World Cup before realising. The bugs left a tainted feeling and ruined the save.

This is not a bug, it is the new 5 substitute rule in football (introduced in 2020). The 'five-substitute rule' is a temporary change to the maximum number of substitutes a team is permitted to make during a game, increasing the number from three to five. However, while the total number of substitutions possible in a game is now 10 instead of six, managers will only be allowed to make changes at three points in the game.

Example: you can substitute 2 players in min. 70, 1 player in min 85, and 2 players in min93 meaning 5 players during 3 points in the game.

The old rule: you could substitute 3 players either at all at one point in the game, or at two or 3 points in the game. 

[wpmk]

I made first 3 subs in one go then no matter how many times I tried I couldn’t use the remaining subs, either in second half or extra time.

Mildly infuriating and carried on regardless because we overachieved but then not getting the place in Europe was the deal breaker.

[sedge11]

On 05/01/2022 at 20:26, wpmk said:

Runner up should've seen us get a Europa League place the following season since Dortmund already qualified for Europe through their league position. Got to the Qatar World Cup before realising. The bugs left a tainted feeling and ruined the save.

Pretty sure the runner up in cups don’t get a European place, that was stopped years ago.

[LucasBR]

Anyone playing in Germany this year? I'm doing a Dortmund save whilst waiting for the latest patch to be rolled. I'm going to play with HSV or Werder Bremen, haven't decided yet which one.

 

Haaland is a cheat code, this guy is simply unstoppable!

[yoyosm]

I'm also playing with Dortmund.  Somehow BVB is overrated this season..

I think Haaland + Knap tactics is a cheat, a game breaker. Won almost everything (except the DFL Cup in the beginning of the season)

Haaland is unreal... best signing Adeyemi

Passlack was the pleasant surprise, Moukoko did not perform as I expected

won also the world cup

Tactics mainly used

as a second tactic I also used (for home games). I changed the mentality to positive for both tactics

Transfers first window: a lot of young lads and some high quality for 1st team

Conte was sacked and Favre was appointment as new Tottenham manager...so I received my main big money source: after they bought Hazard, during the last days of the January transfer window they came wanting Emre Can. I've negotiated something like this

 and bought Ginter (already signed him as a free for summer) very cheap during the last transfer day.  With a lot of funds, I bought Rovella and Musiala (end of March when usually the players can be bought cheaper - already happened to me on 2 different saves) and the remaining increased the wage budget (the best player was still available, nobody wanted or offered him contract yet). After he accepted my offer, I listed Malen ... and surprise, Tottenham wanted him and gone he was

so the full transfers of 2021/22

and the transfers of 2022: quality and free

thinking of changing the tactics to someting like this:

Other tasks: upgraded the facilities, took Dresden (2nd Bundesliga) as a loan affiliate so I can send the players to develop there.

Increased the staff numbers and did major staff change

P.S. check for this young lad from Bayern (maybe he has random attributes) but played him a couple of games and it did it well

[luka_zg]

Is it possible to keep Haaland in BVB after the 1st season?

Does he want to renew the contract with the club?

[Ewan0404]

Started on FM22 tonight as Bayer Leverkusen on the winter update. Will update at the end of the transfer window.

Should we maybe change the thread title for FM22 as well?

[Swills417]

I've jumped shipped from La Liga in my FM21 save and joined an impressive Dortmund side at the start of the 2027/28 season. 

The club are in a healthy financial state and have provided me with €250m for the seasons transfer budget 

However, there is good depth across the squad, with options available in each position rated at least 3 starts according to the current assistant.

The front is definitely the strong point of the team and should score plenty:

ST: Isak

LW: Dominik Szoboszlai

CAM: Brahim Diaz

RW: Manor Soloman

This is definitely an area that doesn't need any attention unless a bigger club swoops in.

There any sort of Dortmund traditions or "ways of playing" that can make the game feel more true to life? I will work to play a gegen-press and develop academy players. Anything else? Any affiliated clubs or unofficial partnerships they have with other clubs? 

 

 

 

 

[torehj]

How do I get my second team, Gelsenkirchen II, into the 3.division? They play only friendly matches still after 4 sesons.

[toolkit68]

8 hours ago, torehj said:

How do I get my second team, Gelsenkirchen II, into the 3.division? They play only friendly matches still after 4 sesons.

You cant without a custom database as there are only so many free slots in the 3. Liga. There is a custom database that extends the German League system all the way down to 7. league.

Check my answer here with a link to that database - can also be found on Steam workshop

Edited April 18, 2022 by toolkit68

[torehj]

22 minutes ago, toolkit68 said:

You cant without a custom database as there are only so many free slots in the 3. Liga. There is a custom database that extends the German League system all the way down to 7. league.

Check my answer here with a link to that database - can also be found on Steam workshop

Ok. So there is nothing I can do in-game to improve the chances for them to get promoted to the 3.div?

[toolkit68]

On 18/04/2022 at 18:19, torehj said:

Ok. So there is nothing I can do in-game to improve the chances for them to get promoted to the 3.div?

Not really. This has been a long standing problem in FM now due to how deep SI is actually representing the German leagues. The only method i have found 'out-of-the-box' is as mentioned to setup the entire season with lots of friendlies and hoping that a spot in the 3. Liga is appointed to you at some time.

[Mackem742]

Just started up my first German save with Hamburg. I watched Thogdens vlog on the recent Hamburg v Hertha promotion/relegation playoff which Hamburg lost so Im going to give them a go. For anyone who has managed to get them promoted what are the transfer budgets like in the Bundesliga?

[n1mez]

Crazy that there have been so little activity regarding FM 22 in here. Nobody playing in Germany? Im in 2026 with Hertha, and i absolutely love it. Have won the DFB, once, semifinal in UCL at best, and i have been nr 2 in the Bundesliga a couple of times. 

I have got the stadium expanded to 90.000, and try to keep it realistic with players i buy. I love the Red Bull philosophy, and have really raided Salzburg for players and staff. I have Christoph Freund as a Sporting Director, and try to keep it realistic. My biggest transfer have been Charles de Ketelaare, for aprox 36 mio pound. 

I have really upgraded on the youth, and i have gotten some absolutely insane regens coming through. 

[bosque]

En 28/6/2022 a las 3:46, n1mez dijo:

Crazy that there have been so little activity regarding FM 22 in here. Nobody playing in Germany? Im in 2026 with Hertha, and i absolutely love it. Have won the DFB, once, semifinal in UCL at best, and i have been nr 2 in the Bundesliga a couple of times. 

I have got the stadium expanded to 90.000, and try to keep it realistic with players i buy. I love the Red Bull philosophy, and have really raided Salzburg for players and staff. I have Christoph Freund as a Sporting Director, and try to keep it realistic. My biggest transfer have been Charles de Ketelaare, for aprox 36 mio pound. 

I have really upgraded on the youth, and i have gotten some absolutely insane regens coming through. 

I think it's my new favourite league. Playing with Leverkusen. It has the right amount of games and it's very exciting trying to beat Bayern, a very interesting league.

[mikcheck]

Em 05/07/2022 em 16:16, bosque disse:

I think it's my new favourite league. Playing with Leverkusen. It has the right amount of games and it's very exciting trying to beat Bayern, a very interesting league.

I'm also playing with Leverkusen, FM21 tho. But I'm already a few seasons in, to a point where Schalke is a very strong team.