The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge

[Winski]

8 hours ago, SkiIIs said:

love it!

Maybe as an addition we can also scratch off the countries that arent offered to be completed as well

Thanks all!

Yes, that's a good idea. It'll be something like this, but I'll need to check which countries aren't available for this challenge. Some countries, like Bosnia for example, are only available with an additional league pack. But you can still complete the challenge.

[JAwtunes]

6 minutes ago, Winski said:

Thanks all!

Yes, that's a good idea. It'll be something like this, but I'll need to check which countries aren't available for this challenge. Some countries, like Bosnia for example, are only available with an additional league pack. But you can still complete the challenge.

This is very cool. I checked to make sure you added my old Poland save when you posted this last night and was happy to see it there

I wasn't sure if you had started adding green to leagues not eligible in vanilla dB but I assume not as many in the Balkans and Eastern Europe are grey. So just a few notes. Latvia is available but not in vanilla, you'd need to open the lower leagues in the editor.

Luxembourg would also be eligible, but again would need a custom db.

Lichtenstein are eligible but it's a bit different as it's via the Swiss league. Perhaps you could add as a grey dot?

You could maybe add green dots for San Marino and Gibraltar as they have domestic leagues but are not eligible.

Maybe could add Faroe Islands label next to the islands?

I think this would be fun to see in one of Darren's opening posts for FM23 👍

[thomas_e]

17 hours ago, Winski said:

I just made a quick overview of countries that are completed in this challenge. One for Europe, and one for the whole world. It's just a quick version, but it's a nice overview to check which countries are completed.
 

Great stuff! Great overview and always a great story behind every completed challenge. Norway and Iceland is really, really impressive..

[JAwtunes]

1 hour ago, thomas_e said:

Great stuff! Great overview and always a great story behind every completed challenge. Norway and Iceland is really, really impressive..

Yeah agreed, very impressive. As you say it's the stories that are told so I would add Padders to that too. Playing approx 250 seasons, and in England too, is just nuts. I was gutted for him when he got an ultimatum from the board on his last journey and then got the sack. Don't think he's been back since... #bringbackPadders

Edited September 30, 2022 by JAwtunes

[thomas_e]

18 minutes ago, JAwtunes said:

Yeah agreed, very impressive. As you say it's the stories that are told so I would add Padders to that too. Playing approx 250 seasons, and in England too, is just nuts. I was gutted for him when he got an ultimatum from the board on his last journey and then got the sack. Don't think he's been back since... #bringbackPadders

Agreed! I really enjoy playing this challenge, and it's the only way I play FM, but I honestly enjoy just as much reading about the stories from other players! Of course I wish everyone success, but reading about the failed attempts is also a lot of fun as many people have a great sense of humor about it. And even though some players succeed and some don't in completing, we are all in it together and can relate to the struggles along the way. 

Padders is truly a legend, I think we are all in his fan club. 

It's great to see more and more people joining the challenge and it seems like people who try it wants to stick with it. If there wasn't a challenge section on this forum I dont think I would play a lot of FM, as I do feel the game has stagnated quite a bit over the last few seasons and the promotional video put out yesterday was honestly a joke. Luckily I dont think about that at all when I play youth only, its almost another game. 

[Libertine13]

54 minutes ago, thomas_e said:

It's great to see more and more people joining the challenge and it seems like people who try it wants to stick with it. If there wasn't a challenge section on this forum I dont think I would play a lot of FM, as I do feel the game has stagnated quite a bit over the last few seasons and the promotional video put out yesterday was honestly a joke. Luckily I dont think about that at all when I play youth only, its almost another game. 

If it wasn't for the challenges section here I'd have given up with FM a few seasons ago. Taking an English club to glory with South American and Eastern European wonderkids can get a little samey.

I love the journey with this challenge, in fact I've only managed one 2. Bundesliga title in all my hours of playing FM22 so far! 

[Winski]

I just did the colours the other way around, because it's more logical that a completed country is green

I only made Greenland, Ireland and Monaco red as not eligible. The other (European) countries are eligible, either with the vanilla db or with a custom db. It's not possible to add grey dots. So I can't include a dot for Liechtenstein.

Europe:

Spoiler

World:

Spoiler

 

[JAwtunes]

37 minutes ago, Winski said:

 

I just did the colours the other way around, because it's more logical that a completed country is green

I only made Greenland, Ireland and Monaco red as not eligible. The other (European) countries are eligible, either with the vanilla db or with a custom db. It's not possible to add grey dots. So I can't include a dot for Liechtenstein.

Europe:

  Reveal hidden contents

World:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Love it!

How did you create that? I'm tempted to do one for myself but to show how many seasons I've managed in different countries. It might force me out of my Europe comfort zone.

[thomas_e]

28 minutes ago, Libertine13 said:

If it wasn't for the challenges section here I'd have given up with FM a few seasons ago. Taking an English club to glory with South American and Eastern European wonderkids can get a little samey.

I love the journey with this challenge, in fact I've only managed one 2. Bundesliga title in all my hours of playing FM22 so far! 

100% agree. It's amlost plug-and-play. People sign 99% of the same players and use 99% of the same tactics. 

How some people are getting 100k views on youtube videos where they show how to build a tactic (that they themselves have copied of someone else), find wonderkids who are extremely easy to find and set up a standard training regime is beyond me. OnlyFans makes more sense...

[Andrew Marines]

Guys, i wanna try this challenge but i'm lost in all those pages. Other than the first page, what should i know?

[JAwtunes]

12 minutes ago, Andrew Marines said:

Guys, i wanna try this challenge but i'm lost in all those pages. Other than the first page, what should i know?

TBH everything you need to know is in the first post.  Once you have a save in mind then you can @ Darren and XaW to double check.

I think main things would be

1. No signings or loans

2. at least 2 divisions and bottom division must have relegation spot(s).  There is some flexibility on this so can check with the @ above

3. only db edits allowed are cosmetic or needed to add unplayable nations / divisions

4. post annual updates. Best not to just turn up at the end to say you've completed it as we cant follow the journey (which I think most actually quiet enjoy - I know I do)

GL

[Neo_Geo]

18 minutes ago, Andrew Marines said:

Guys, i wanna try this challenge but i'm lost in all those pages. Other than the first page, what should i know?

First of all welcome.

As @JAwtunesoutlined above those are the main points although other people often get caught out by the loan back when a player is sold and this isn't allowed.

[Winski]

27 minutes ago, JAwtunes said:

Love it!

How did you create that? I'm tempted to do one for myself but to show how many seasons I've managed in different countries. It might force me out of my Europe comfort zone.

Thanks. I used this website: https://www.mapchart.net/index.html

It's very easy to use.

[Andrew Marines]

11 minuti fa, JAwtunes ha scritto:

TBH everything you need to know is in the first post.  Once you have a save in mind then you can @ Darren and XaW to double check.

I think main things would be

1. No signings or loans

2. at least 2 divisions and bottom division must have relegation spot(s).  There is some flexibility on this so can check with the @ above

3. only db edits allowed are cosmetic or needed to add unplayable nations / divisions

4. post annual updates. Best not to just turn up at the end to say you've completed it as we cant follow the journey (which I think most actually quiet enjoy - I know I do)

GL

Okay so, i wanna start in Switzerland. Gotta load both the divisions and holiday until?

 

[thomas_e]

4 minutes ago, Andrew Marines said:

Okay so, i wanna start in Switzerland. Gotta load both the divisions and holiday until?

 

Switzerland doesn't say, but you can usually find the reset dates by googling, they are usually the same from year to year. I found somewhere just now that it's June 26th, but I can't promise anything. 

Save a couple of days beforehand and make a back-up, that way you can get different teams. 

[Andrew Marines]

 

 

Swiss Super League

Swiss challenge league

Switzerland 1st July. Start of our adventure.

Thun promoted to super League;

Lausanne relegated to challenge League;

Kriens relegated to an unplayable League;

And the team we were waiting for is: Chiasso.

If it's all okay i'm gonna update every year how it goes

 

 

[JAwtunes]

We have the best set up in the league 

[Daddy]

5 hours ago, Andrew Marines said:

 

 

Swiss Super League

Swiss challenge league

Switzerland 1st July. Start of our adventure.

Thun promoted to super League;

Lausanne relegated to challenge League;

Kriens relegated to an unplayable League;

And the team we were waiting for is: Chiasso.

If it's all okay i'm gonna update every year how it goes

 

 

Welcome to the club and good luck in Switzerland!

[Neo_Geo]

Santa Venera Lightnings FC Season 6 (2027/28) Review

Domestic
Just like season 5 we won the Super Cup (against Hibernians), we went out of the FA Trophy (in the semi finals against Hibernians) and in the league an unbeaten season for the winners....Santa Venera Lightnings 

We drew against Hibernians twice and the 3rd draw was actually against San Gwann away (beat Floriana twice).

So it was a pretty good season domestically underpinned by a slight formation and personnel tweak as the best eleven below will show. I brought Attard forward to be a box to box midfielder rather than sitting as a defensive midfielder and his average ratings got over 7 for the season. However I think the key thing this year was the front 4 with Zarb Cousin (27G) taking over from Cauchi (23C) on the right and Dimech (24K) now cementing the inside forward position on the left. Sciberras (26I) with 29 goals in 35 games was a huge part of our success.

 

Europe
A little bit of progress this year as we managed to get through a qualifying round in the Europa Conference before narrowly being put out by FC Haka

 

Youth
Best youth intake so far of the save and I think I've got a couple of gems (which if I'm right could be very frustrating as we are still not professional). Also we have our first non Maltese player that looks like they will have a part to play in this adventure.

  

Friggieri and Kovalchuk are the two that really look to be the difference makers in terms of current ability, I think Kovalchuk may well break records next year as far as goals scored is concerned. I was able to play Zammit and Friggieri towards the end of the season and despite Zammit's current ability being higher than Zarb Cousin he wasn't performing nearly as well. As for Friggieri he had two league games and average 7 with 83% pass completion, so a decent start. As Kovalchuk is only 15 he wasn't eligible to play yet.

Youth Origins
 

Youth Details

 

Other News
I was offered the Maltese national job, which is annoying that I can't accept it until the challenge is over (would have been lovely for a build a nation save at this stage)

Club Info
Training facilities, junior coaching and youth recruitment all improved this season and look at the key player and top prospect....both are the players coming through this years intake.

 

Trophy Cabinet

 

Next Season
We didn't lose in the league to Hibernians this season but they continue to be the thorn in our side though I have high hopes with the new players coming in that we will see a step up in the quality of our starting XI. In Europe we are back in the Champions League qualifiers and whilst I'd love to go through a round I think its still a bridge too far at this stage, the trouble is I have to make a decision between asking for facilities to be improved with the money that we get versus saving it up and requesting to go professional so we can tie down the best youth players so if we lose them it should be for some form of transfer fee.

Back in the groove with this save now and having seen the features for FM 23 and not seeing anything that will have a major impact on this challenge I feel like I'm not yet done with FM 22.

[JAwtunes]

 

Cardiff Corinthians - Season 10 (2031/32) Review

This was a fantastic season that saw us win our second league title in three seasons and also reach the final of the Welsh cup for the first time.  We were knocked out of the league cup at the Quarter Final stage and only made it to the second qualifying round of the Europa Conference League.

Our league form was the standout thing this season.  we lost just once in the league, 1-2 away to Bala Town, and were therefore unbeaten against TNS in the league for the first time.  our points total (79) was lower than both of the previous two seasons (80 and 82), but thankfully TNS were just not able to match their recent league form as they managed their lowest points haul for seven seasons (67).

TNS did manage to beat us in the cup final unfortunately, but as this was our first time making it to the cup final I was happy just to have reached the final.  Hopefully we can add this cup to our collection one day.  I think I remember reading that the Welsh cup is held in very high regard and the winners were historically considered the Welsh champions (I cant find the source now - so may have dreamt it!).  That may not be the case anymore, and it doesn't provide UCL qualification, but I am going to treat the competition seriously going forward as I do want to get our name on the cup.

We spent all of the money we earned from our Europa League run last season on Training and Youth Facility upgrades and have slipped from approx. £4,000,000 to -£330,000.  This is worrying but I am hoping we might be able to sneak into the Europa League or Conference League group stage next season and bring in some much needed income.  Going professional and investing heavily in our facilities and youth should hopefully mean better intake in future and the possibility that we might actually be able to develop one or two a little.

Competitions

Premier League - 1st (qualified for European Champions League qualification round)

Welsh Cup - Runner-up (lost to TNS on penalties in the final

League Cup - Quarter Final

Europa Conference League - 2nd Qualifying Round

Spoiler

League

League - Player Records

Welsh Cup

League Cup

Europe

Players - This is how we lined up this season

Spoiler

Fans PotY and Young PotY went to Robbie Gordon again.

Spoiler

Youth Intake

An excellent preview (described as a potential golden generation, 5 star) did not disappoint.  we signed about 7 of the intake with one in particular looking very promising.

Spoiler

Facilities and Youth Spend

We managed to spend last seasons Europa League money on improvements to our training and youth facilities.  We also had an increase to our youth recruitment.

Spoiler

Youth Facilities

Youth Recruitment

Training Facilities

Affiliates

We still have three Welsh affiliates.  Bangor 1876 finished 2nd in the Cymru North, Undy were 2nd in the Cymru South and Carmarthen Town were 4th in the Ardal SW.

Spoiler

Player Records

SUMMARY

WALES National Team

An amazing campaign for Wales (51st in world ranking) saw them finish second in their Euro 2032 qualification group, ahead of both Slovakia (66th) and N.Ireland (68th).

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by JAwtunes

[OlivierL]

On 29/09/2022 at 16:56, Winski said:

I just made a quick overview of countries that are completed in this challenge. One for Europe, and one for the whole world. It's just a quick version, but it's a nice overview to check which countries are completed.

Love this ! Belgium, Russia , Turkey are on my bucket list to try .

[JLAB]

2 hours ago, OlivierL said:

Love this ! Belgium, Russia , Turkey are on my bucket list to try .

Shame Russia's not able to get into European competition anytime soon.

[OlivierL]

20 minutes ago, JLAB said:

Shame Russia's not able to get into European competition anytime soon.

True and my own country Belgium is first on the list, Turkey second after I saw the very good fatih terim documentary.  

[Libertine13]

Season 4 (2025/26)

We bounced back from the disappointment of relegation last season. Almost got our hands on the title in the process, finishing 3 points off top spot, a loss and a draw in our final two games of the season deciding our fate. I'm really hoping we've got enough about us to stay up next season, I don't want to yo-yo between the bottom two leagues without any progress. I feel like I'm a couple seasons behind where I'd want to be already!

 

Our stand out performer was Andreas Frederiksen (25a), who got himself 18 league goals in his 33 appearances as a DLF. We're still very reliant on Mikkel Jensen, one of our four remaining legacy players, for goals and assists whilst we blood a few more of the young talents coming through.  

The Youth Intake was littered with 4/5 star potential players yet again, despite the fact that we've not been able to upgrade any of our facilities yet due to the lack of finances and we'll likely have to get to the 3F Superliga before we get any sort of significant income. 

The only player who looks like they might push for a first team role straight away is Faroe Islander, Bui Johannessen (26a). I'll most likely train him as a mezzala as we are pretty short in the centre of midfield.

[schnauzer]

Hello everyone!

I've decided to have another go at this, having had multiple tries at it on the last two editions of FM. I think the highest I reached was the Vanarama National, so I'm hoping to do better this time.

I will be playing as the Lancashire-based club Bamber Bridge FC:

 

Here is my manager info:

 

I'm thinking that I might not buy the new FM as I wasn't blown away by the new features, so hopefully this thread keeps going! 

 

[JAwtunes]

8 minutes ago, schnauzer said:

I'm thinking that I might not buy the new FM as I wasn't blown away by the new features, so hopefully this thread keeps going

The last few YAC threads have been open to older versions so you should be able to continue your journey on the new one.  I'm planning on doing the same tbh.

[SkiIIs]

Season 2037/38 - Panionios

Started the season off with Champions League qualifiers entering in the third qualifying round.  First up we were against Celtic, a team we were familiar with having played them 4 times in the last 3 years, and knocking them out of the Euro Conference league first round 6-2 on aggregate just 6 months prior. It was a similar story, drawing away 1-1 but then smashing them 7-2 at home meaning Galatasaray was the only thing between us and entering the group stage for the first time in the clubs history. First up away to a hostile crowd we put in a superb performance and beat them 4 - 1 to all but seal our fate. We returned at home to a 3 - 1 win as well.

Seeded 3 for the groups, we got a group that gave us a fighting chance with Tottenham, A Madrid and APOEL. First up Spurs at home and we won 1 - 0. We then lost to Atletico 2 - 0 away but the result that killed us was then losing to APOEL at home 2 - 1 after scoring an own goal and getting a red card. This loss cost us qualifying out of the group as we finished 3 points off Tottenham in second. 

The extra European games didnt really hamper our league performance as we managed to finish second in the 1st stage.  As the Greek league lost their third Champions League spot, that was the goal however we did have teams breathing down our neck.  We ended up finishing 4th by a considerable margin in the end and back in the conference league. 

With the champions league money we were able to upgrade our training facilities a couple of times to Superb and expand our stadium a little. 

however something really strange has happened as we were charged from our cash balance but also copped a loan as well for the same amount for the stadium upgrade.

Evidence of paying for the ground maintenance in last months expenditure:

then got a message saying we need to pay 35k a month on a new bank loan when we had about a 10m positive cash balance:

Youth intake was ok, theres a couple of players that could become first team starters and thats about as much as we can ask for i think at this point in the save. 

 

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by SkiIIs

[glennuk]

Worthing FC - Season 29 - English Premier League - End of Year Review

League - 6th

A decent season overall, a shame not to finish in the top 4 again as I feel that we can compete with anyone. We won the last game of the season 2-0 against Man U the league winners. We are still not the most consistent team though and can win against a top 4 team and then lose against a lower team the next week. We are still one of the better defensive teams in the league, but as we have slowly become more attacking, we of course sacrifice more goals at the back.

Champions League - First Knockout Round

We were well beaten by a good Dortmund side.

The Squad

We are continuing to try to integrate some of our more promising youngsters. Our top 3 can all play on the wing or up top, so we often rotate those positions. I am still unsure if this is the BEST method moving forward, but Dylan Ward (YP25A) does get more time as the lone striker than anyone else. Again our defense is strong and are our best and most consistent performers. Allen Baker-Moran (YP13C) is our captain but is getting towards the end of his career. He is starting to decline and will have to be replaced in the lineup within the next 18 months or so. It is a similar case for our RB Ciaran Lowe (YP14C) these however are positions in which we don't have many great prospects, so the next few years could be tough. Kirk Welch (YP13B) and Conall O'Hanlon (YP14A) are also heading towards that way. There should be quite a bit of upheaval in the squad within the next 2 years.

Finances

Biggest news is we are now a Worldwide Reputation club. Stupidly rich and getting richer. 

Other News

Carlos Marchena our HOYD is retiring. Luckily our current Assistant Manager used to be our HOYD and did well, so Lawson D'Ath is heading back to the HOYD role. Marchena was actually very disappointing for his incredible stats.

We are rising up the European rankings too.

U18s

Our Under 18s won the FA Youth Cup and came 2nd in the U19 Champions League (lost on penalties)

Edited October 3, 2022 by glennuk

[DazRTaylor]

Youth Candidates

Season 2024/25

C. E. Jenlai

Our first preview was pretty decent:

As it was our first intake, they are all rated as being rather good.

[DazRTaylor]

Youth Candidates

Season 2032/33

SV Kozakken Boys

It was another terrific preview:

The intake did not disappoint either.  A four star current ability is incredible and big things are expected of him.

[ANGL]

En 30/7/2022 a las 14:07, ANGL dijo:

 

First attempt for completing the challenge, wish me luck

Back after 2 long months, changing home + holidays left me with almost no time to play. Unfortunately...

[ANGL]

AS ARAPIRAQUENSE - SEASON 13 (2035)

Manager Profile - Transfers - First team Squad - Finances - Club Info

 

SERIE A

7th place, not the best season. After previous season win, this year the top prority was Copa Libertadores.

 

COPA LIBERTADORES

The final:

Maybe I deserved more? Went more offensive after the 3-2 and conceded a fourth goal... and then, when I thought it was over, an injury time goal and another that would have sent it to overtime... which was disallowed after an offside. This game is heartbreaking sometimes.

 

COPA DE BRASIL

3 wins in 4 years, this is being our competition.

 

 TOP RATED PLAYER - José Ivan 5A (7,66)

TOP GOALSCORER - José Gilmar 6H (40)

Unfortunately, José Ivan is leaving to Man United (25M € + add-ons) and José Gilmar 6H wants to leave, so hard times ahed.

 

YOUTH INTAKE

 

SAVE SUMMARY

TOP 10 ACADEMY PLAYERS

Grey: no longer at the club

[JLAB]

So a question for those who have played in the Mexican Leagues, how does the relegation and promoted system work?

I've been strongly considering doing a YAC save there in FM 23, but have been struggling to figure out how a team goes up and down.

Edited October 3, 2022 by JLAB

[Daddy]

1 hour ago, JLAB said:

So a question for those who have played in the Mexican Leagues, how does the relegation and promoted system work?

I've been strongly considering doing a YAC save there in FM 23, but have been struggling to figure out how a team goes up and down.

They restructured and paused relegation during 2020 due to Coronavirus. It's paused until "at least 2026" and there are persistent rumors of a MLS merger so who knows. Regardless I don't think it'll qualify for the challenge for a few years.

[SkiIIs]

i stuffed up my Panionios save, i usually holiday between games and/or stop to name players to play for the u19's but i somehow must have clicked on holiday indefinitely and went on holiday for over a month missing out on 7 league games.  It's fair to say the team didnt perform over those games so I'm going to take a break from the save and rethink whats next

Might check Olivier's map and target a non European uncompleted country

[SkiIIs]

Decided to try Indonesia after learning the heard way that South Korea and Singapore cant be played in the official game

[Neo_Geo]

Santa Venera Lightnings FC Season 7 (2028/29) Review

Domestic

So this is the year it felt like it all clicked into place. An unbeaten domestic treble with the only blip being a 4-4 away draw with Floriana. We had Hibernians away on day 1 (second time in 3 seasons) yet we beat them 6-3!

We broke the record for most points and most goals scored however 33 conceded is something I'd like to address.

If we continue like this I think we will be the top rated Maltese side this time next season.

I predicted Kovalchuk would break records.....

The guy was simply on fire scoring 46 in 37 starts and 5 sub appearances in all competitions (including 8 in Europe)

As far as the best eleven is concerned the average ratings over 7 are starting to show a lot more now

 

Europe
I was expecting to re-use my template of the details of the matches played as I didn't think we'd play that many but what a season it was in Europe as we finally made our mark!

Narrowly missing out to Slavia Prague we qualified for the Europa League play-off meaning a loss there would see us enter the Conference League in the group stages so guaranteed European Group Stage football. The win over Astana at home was without a doubt the pivotal moment.

So we beat Levski on penalties (they actually scored in the 122nd minute to take it to penalties)

I opted to simply go for it in the league games, I wasn't expecting to get any points (other than maybe Slavia Prague as we only lost out narrowly to them in the CL qualifiers) so we had nothing to lose by going with our tried and tested 4-2-4 wide as we have a better attack than defence which proved the case with 12 goals scored although 23 conceded which was a new record 

Needless to say the main thing here was the prize money.

 

Youth

Another good intake this year with 3 players that would either be in the starting XI or pushing for it. There are also signs of us getting different nationalities with a Faroese, German and Montenegrin appearing this year.

  

Azzopardi now has a central midfield partnership with Friggieri from last seasons intake pushing one of my earlier season standouts Martin Attard onto the bench, but thats how this save goes.....no room for sentiment!

Youth Origins

Youth Details

I opted to replace my HoYD this season with a higher rating and has better judging player ability and working with youth. They also have fairly professional personality and have a closer fit to the formation (4-2-3-1 wide which I may go to at some point given Scicluna this year looks to have some promise in that position).

 

Club Info
The money from the European progress has been invested and we are now a professional club with the first contract offered to Kovalchuk of course! In addition to that I've managed to convince the board to a number of improvement which now shows us as having the best facilities in the country

 

Trophy Cabinet

 

Next Season
Same again please! 

Going professional means we simply have to win the league which I think we can do again but Hibernians are very good at getting results against the rest of the league so it means we absolutely need to keep beating them and the rest. The change to professional should help kick on some of the development of the players and it may be the season where I find out who is capped and who really has 5 star potential.

[WhiteCat33]

Mellieha Sports Club

Season 20 2041 – 42 Malta Premier League

 

Europe

Long story short: we qualified for Champions League and then got blown away in the group stage. Inter are the reigning champions of Europe & Italy and Athletic Madrid are consistent #3 in Spain. I have to say our home loss to Inter 5-6 was a crazy affair.

Youth Academy

The main reason this save is stalling out is the just dismal intakes the past few seasons. I'm 3 years into a new HOYD so we still have a couple years till we can see if this guy will improve anything. Really feeling the YF bug here.

Youth Intake Preview

Youth Intake

Best prospect is my half Australian, but of course he is a natural in 4 positions I don’t use and really he's not all that great to begin with.

Also interested to see what happens to this Determined LB, if he can become useful and help replace my aging (28) FB in a few years.

We are getting some players from our affiliates who are so far nothing to get excited about, but that sums up all my intake players...

Transfer Market

So Nicholas Buhagiar 14a has been a ticking time-bomb since I tricked him into a 7 year contract when he joined the club. Over the summer Arsenal & Porto started a bidding war for him culminating in this 46.5 M offer by Arsenal. Somehow though, in November, he actually became happy for the first time in years and let us negotiate a contract, and he accepted! He will be the highest paid player in Malta, but we have the money to do what we want. Getting him for 4+1 more years makes what was a disappointing season a success as this is our LB depth chart:

Club Info

With last years EC2 title we are up to 3* Reputation, but we are still unable to upgrade Youth Facilities or add more affiliates.

Summary

Slowly playing when I have a chance, but really in a holding mode till the next FM. I might switch this over to a normal save and just blow through our budget to make an actual run for the Cup as I feel like this team has peaked already.

[SkiIIs]

Season 2022 - Indonesian League 2

The season starts off to my surprise with a Youth Intake which helped fat up the numbers around the squad. With teams at this level, some of the players were first team starters.  Jaya, Sutanto and Lestaluhu were straight into the XI with a number also joining the squad.

The second league is split into two groups with the top 4 going into a second phase of 2 groups amongst the 8 teams. The Top 2 then play a 'semi final' game to get into the final where both the winner and loser get promoted.  The two loses of the semi final then play off for promotion.  A strange old method which makes it an interesting challenge.

We were predicted to be the 3rd worst team across both group A and B in League 2 however we were clearly the best team in our group.

We then shot some blanks in the second phase but a 4 - 0 win against Perserang in the last game got us top spot as the other two drew.

We were then paired against the second team of the other group of 4 PSMS over two legs. We were losing 1 -  0 up until the 85th minute at home where we popped in 2 goals.  Away we lost in penalties after losing 2 -1.  We still had a chance of promotion as we played a 1 game play off against Persik where we again lost in penalties after a 0 - 0 draw that we dominated.

Finances are tough and so we werent able to improve anything apart from a couple of coaching badges. I presume this will be another finance battle until we start qualifying for continental football

[glennuk]

Well....my Worthing save is definitely stagnating. My intakes are underwhelming, my board won't upgrade my stadium (even with a 675million bank balance) and I made the mistake of thinking...this year I could well win the league and the champions league in one.....let's just say it has all come crashing down quickly.

Will take a week or two off, but by then FM 23 will be out. So may continue (will at least update to where I currently am), but it has become more frustration than fun right now.

[Siepe1990]

Season 7 & 8 (2028/2029 & 2029/2030) - all images

Season 7 (Bundesliga): after finishing well above the relegation zone in my 2nd season on the top flight and only 7 points short from Conference League Places, I was quite positive about the new season. Somehow I still managed to hold on to my biggest talents and best players, so I started the season with my trusted 4-1-2-2-1 Wide - Vertical TikiTaka. Actually can't remember much from this season, apart from the fact that I was really struggeling to make the tactic work. I think it simply has to do with my opponents being way stronger and them knowing how I'm going to play, because it wasn't great at all. I switched formations a dozen times during the season, but came back to my TikiTaka basis every time. Due to a very good run of form in February (3 wins / 1 draw) and April (4 wins / 1 loss), combined with the fact that all rivals were really close together and losing points to eachother, I somehow found myself in 7th place - enough to qualify for the Conference League next season!

Honorable Mentions: after winning NxGn in 2028, my boy Lenz did it again in 2029 ; no surprise he also became U19 Player of the Year as well, with ultra-talented right back Lauberbach winning the U17 Player of the Year.

Youth Intake: I don't know how, I don't know why... but I somehow signed NONE of my Youth Intake...  I'm positive I told Marco van Basten (my DoF) to sign them all... but somehow, this didn't take...

 

Season 8 (Bundesliga): this season started off badly, with my left wing back Kammlott (Youth Intake of 2023) being bought by Eintracht Frankfurt for only € 5.25M. His last season was his first season to really come in to his strength, scoring a 7.1 average over 29 matches (7 assists, 1 goal, 2 PotM), so really sad to see him go. Furthermore, this really left me with a challenge on left back. I had a new talent (Tino Hebestreit, Youth Intake 2028), but he still had to turn 17 when the season started and I was still re-training him as a Left Back, since he originally was a Winger. I had no choice however, and threw him in right away. In the early stages of the league, I was really struggeling with the busy schedule of the league, the DFB-Pokal and the Conference League, as well as still struggeling with my formation and tactic, as my 4-1-2-2-1 Wide - Vertical TikiTaka simply wasn't working anymore. After a lot of trial and error, I finally found something that worked: a 5-2-3 (with 3 Strikers) - Wing Play. With my man Hebestreit marauding on Left Back and my star player Jura (Youth Intake 2024) playing as a False Nine on the right flank. Besides 2-times NxGn-winner Lenz as a central striker, this allowed me to also play Bozan (Youth Intake 2027), labelled the next 'Burak Yilmaz', as a Trequartista on the left striker position. Armed with this amazing force up front and the added defensive certainty with an additional CB, results were coming my way fast. Most amazing month was February, where we managed to win 5 and draw 2, including the 3rd Round of the DFB-Pokal against Werder Bremen and the Conference League First KO-round against Legia (having finished 2nd in a group with FC Kobenhavn, Sivasspor and Hearts). In the Conference League, we faced (and defeated) FC Kobenhavn again in the 2nd round, only to be knocked out by Real San Sebastian on penalties in the Quarter Finals. The QF were also the final stage of the DFB-Pokal for us, but in the league we managed to get some decent points, ending us at an amazing 6th place, managing to qualify for the Europa League!

Honorable Mentions: another year, another NxGn-win ; this time for Mehmet Bozan, who played 29 games in which he scored 13 and provided 8 assists, scoring a 7.15 average - amazing stuff for a 19-year old! Lenz however wasn't left without trophy's completely: he won the Golden Boy 2029 - only the second player to do so after Schubert. My new left back Hebestreit managed to win the U17 Player of the Year and my Carrilero Florian Krämer (Youth Intake 2027) managed to win the U19 Player of the Year. (Fun fact: I've won the U17 PotY 5 out of the last 6 times - starting with Kammlott in 24/25 - and I've won the U19 PotY the last 5 years running - first time by Baar in 25/26).

Youth Intake: no mistakes this year - I triple checked - and some decent talents. Especially Varrelmann seems nice, already being chased by some bigger teams. 

 

Status of Facilities: insane really - Exceptional Academy Coaching ánd Youth Recruitment, State of the Art Training Facilities and Excellent Youth Facilities ; let the Wonderkids gather!

 

[PequenoGenio]

For FM23 there gonna be a very nice team to try this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catania_S.S.D.

[Daddy]

9 hours ago, glennuk said:

Well....my Worthing save is definitely stagnating. My intakes are underwhelming, my board won't upgrade my stadium (even with a 675million bank balance) and I made the mistake of thinking...this year I could well win the league and the champions league in one.....let's just say it has all come crashing down quickly.

Will take a week or two off, but by then FM 23 will be out. So may continue (will at least update to where I currently am), but it has become more frustration than fun right now.

That stinks. Especially that deep into a save. 

[iamnobody]

1 hour ago, PequenoGenio said:

For FM23 there gonna be a very nice team to try this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catania_S.S.D.

That does sound like a fun challenge.  I believe a mod would be needed though.

[SkiIIs]

12 hours ago, glennuk said:

Well....my Worthing save is definitely stagnating. My intakes are underwhelming, my board won't upgrade my stadium (even with a 675million bank balance) and I made the mistake of thinking...this year I could well win the league and the champions league in one.....let's just say it has all come crashing down quickly.

Will take a week or two off, but by then FM 23 will be out. So may continue (will at least update to where I currently am), but it has become more frustration than fun right now.

pretty much where i got to with South Shields. 20 odd seasons in and the intakes just stagnated which ended with a decline in results and ultimately relegation and my marching orders 

[SkiIIs]

Season 2023 - Celebest FC

Youth intake. Bit disappointed with the intake as I was hoping for some first starters as we got last year:

Dominated the season again:

Dominated the second phase:

Crumbled in the two leg play off against the top team in Group B. The first leg away was scheduled during youth internationals so was missing half my team. Managed to  only lose 1 - 0.  Home leg we copped an early goal and could only score 2 so we lost on away goal.   

Final playoff we just didnt turn up and couldnt create chances.  Managed to equalise with 10 mins left but we copped 3 goals in extra time to not get promoted again.  Quite brutal

Did manage to improve youth facilities once this year which is now Average.  Finances are still tight for other things

 

[JAwtunes]

Cardiff Corinthians - Season 11 (2032/33) Review

Our best season yet.  Refusing to let our top player leave has meant we have been able to compete with TNS again, and this season we did a league and cup treble.  To cap it off we even managed to qualify for the group stage of a European competition again so made plenty of money.  Winning the league will remain our priority, followed by making the group stage of a European competition, for the foreseeable.  This should starve TNS of the European money they need to maintain a full-time squad and, in time, should mean we can start to focus a bit more on getting results in Europe.

We are apparently now the highest reputation club in the league:

and the Welsh Premier League has recently shot up the reputation rankings (we're now in a 2 star league and ranked 81st, having started 104th in our first season in the league):

Slightly less impressive, but our league attendances are creeping upwards and we my be in the top half in a few seasons.  Attendances for the best supported clubs don't seem to have gone up much, despite the increase in the league reputation.

Competitions

Premier League - 1st

Welsh Cup - Winner

League Cup - Winner

Europa Conference League - Group Stage

Spoiler

League

League - Player Records

Welsh Cup

League Cup

Europe

Players - This is how we lined up this season

Spoiler

Fans PotY went to our left mid, Jay Lennie 30a.  We are starting to receive offers from ENG Championship and SCOT Premiership clubs, along with an offer from a club in the Bundesliga.  I activated his contract extension and am hoping to get another couple of seasons out of him before letting him go (assuming I don't p**s him off by breaking too many promises).

Spoiler

Youth Intake

We were told to expect a 5star golden generation and while the intake wasn't great, it was ok and was given a 5star rating.

Spoiler

Preview

HoYD

Facilities and Youth Spend

We spent the money we earned from qualifying for the group stage of the Europa Conference League almost as soon as it arrived.

Spoiler

Youth Recruitment

Junior Coaching

Training Facilities

Affiliates

Will still have the same three Welsh affiliates.  Bangor 1876 finished 4th in the Cymru North, Undy were 2nd in the Cymru South, and Carmarthen Town were 10th in the Ardal SW

Spoiler

Player Records

SUMMARY

WALES National Team

Wales qualified for Euro 32 and made it out of their group, ahead of Norway and Ireland.  They lost to Turkey in the second round.

Spoiler

Matches

 

 

 

 

 

[Libertine13]

Season 5 (2026/27)

Our season was written off within the first ten games, where we only managed one solitary point. We only managed 3 wins in the preliminary stage which left us bottom and pretty much consigned to relegation. We did have a little resurgence in the relegation stage but it wasn't enough to avoid the drop. We really struggled for goals, our top goal scorer, Kyle Russell (25C), only managed 10 league goals. Our chances weren't helped when we lost our best defender, I had to let him go for free but we did get a 50% sell on clause.  Hopefully him going to a 3F Superliga side we might end up getting some cash from a future transfer. 

Transfer of Thomas Laursen (22C)

The intake was a very positive one. Three players who have the ability of stepping into the first team straight away. The keeper, Claus Pedersen will however stay with the youth team since there's no way he'll get in ahead of our current keeper, who is arguably our best player. 

Carsten Gammelgaard (27A)

We also had another player poached, this time I'm not too upset as the potential ability isn't too high. Again, I'm hoping we'll end up getting some sort of fee from a future transfer.

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by Libertine13

[SkiIIs]

Season 2024 - Celebest FC

Season starts off with a youth intake which was ok but none of these are going straight into the first team. Muhurram is a bit stiff that Jaya 22B who has just been capped for the National team at 17yo is one of my best players and so will be back up for a little while.

Dominated the phase 1 league as per previous years, this time really getting the end of some big wins. 

Those solid wins continue into the second phase where the average scoreline was 3 - 1 for us.

Play off time, paired up against PSMS who broke our hearts over two legs in penalties in my first year with Celebest.  First game away, we practically sealed promotion coming back from a goal down to win 4 - 1.  We draw the home game 2 - 2 to enter the Final play off for the title against Madura who we beat 2 - 1 only a month ago in the second phase.  This time we lost in penalties after a 3 - 3 draw where we copped two late goals.

With annual sponsorship money coming in Jan, we were able to upgrade the youth recruitment again to Good.  This was the only upgrade with Finances really tight

 

[SkiIIs]

Season 2025 - Celebest FC

Season starts off with the Youth intake with no real standouts.  Until we improve our facilities i cant see these improving too much

Rasul was probably our best prospect even with the poor personality

First season into the top league i had relatively high expectations as we've been very competitive in the cup fixtures against other teams in League 1. What came to me very quickly was that we were going to be in a title fight with one other team in Persib. A 20 game unbeaten run (13 wins) put us first and despite a little stumble at the end, we held on to win the title. 

In the Cup we had a very suitable draw and given the league games are nicely spread out on weekends generally, were able to field strong teams. First round we got a non league team, second round league 1, round 3 and 4 was against league 2, QF league 1, SF non league and Final against league 2.  Toughest leg was against non league team in the semi final where we lost the away game 2 - 0 but managed to take it into extra time in the return leg and won it in extra time.  

Winners of the Cup for the very first time:

Finances were ok, making a small profit thanks to the prizemoney. Used some of it to upgrade the youth recruitment again