The FM22 Youth Academy Challenge

[XaW]

Looks like I'm quite close already! Perhaps I can release an initial version of the lower league Norway mod tomorrow, if the test runs goes well.

[Makoto Nakamura]

11 minutes ago, XaW said:

Looks like I'm quite close already! Perhaps I can release an initial version of the lower league Norway mod tomorrow, if the test runs goes well.

I'm working on the Asian leagues so I can try with Bhutan!

[iacovone]

Högaborgs BK Season 2027 Review

Table (4th)  | Finances | How It Unfolded | Squad Stats

Okay this is much more like it. After last year's 8th-place finish, really pleased to see us bounce back and achieve our best ever season in the fourth tier of Swedish football. 4th remains our highest finish but we set records for goal difference, fewest goals conceded and points. We're on the right track. Possibly the most pleasing thing about the season is our target man from the third intake Tom Pettersson (YP3b) notched 14 goals as a target man. His big six foot four inch frame causes carnage in the box and long may it continue!

Elsewhere, I promoted Alexander Jansson (YP2c) from the reserves immediately to captain of the club for his 16 leadership and it really paid dividends. He's not amazing but is aggressive and knows how to head a football. He managed two goals and the highest rating at the club over the season. Otherwise Johan Mirza continued to build on his record number of club appearances and Daniel Garis notched a club high seven assists over the season, rebounding nicely from a disappointing year 2026.

Intake 1 | Intake 2

We were promised a great goalkeeper and whilst Jaime Martinez (YP5a) is promising, he's not going to be a starter immediately so more one to keep an eye on. Andree Lindskog (YP5d) has a bit more about him but it's in a position we don't really need immediate reinforcements for so again we'll be monitoring his development. 

Mohamed Birgersson (YP5j) is the only other graduate I'm keen on at this stage, largely because of his long throw ability. We're short on the left wing so I'll definitely give him some minutes next year and see if he can do some damage yeeting the ball into the box.

Record Breakers

As we head into our sixth season I feel a tinge of optimism. The best youth products from the first few intakes are developing into good players at this level and if we're smart I think we can push for those top two positions. We need to find nine points from somewhere though and it's a tight league so I might be off with my ambition but let's see. 

Best XI | Best XI Overall

[TheGreatTraveler]

Well now that the new game is out my motivation is back so here we go on Holiday!

Made it into the Champions League back in FM12 or 13 or 14 or something with FC United (couldn't win it) and last year managed to take Freamunde all the way to the Portuguese Premier Division before my mind drifted elsewhere... I really am my own worst enemy with this challenge. 

Think I'm going to go back to England and see if I get caught up in the grind again  Love seeing 16 pages already upon release day!

[TheGreatTraveler]

And here we go, to Tamworth! Looking forward to one day becoming the best club in the Birmingham Area!

[Braumiller]

Ok, attempt number 2   And I'm (hopefully) signing up for the long slog through the English pyramid!

This one looks like a risk / reward start, as they come up a little more prepared than others, but the board have immediate expectations (they want mid table in the first season).

The club culture has one great and one problematic section (two problematic if we fail to be entertaining.....).  Hoping we can drop the sign high rep one......

Starting profile

Thank you for the tactic PMs, I think I have my set up now!

[Watson156]

Has anybody else been getting a LOT more transfer bids since the full game has come out? On the beta I would get perhaps 3 bids for players a week. I'm now getting at least 3 bids per day.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Watson156

[lewis999]

10 hours ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

2040/41 End of Season Review

A good end to the season sees us qualify for the conference league again and finish in our expected position.

  

   

Overall Best XI

2040/41 Best XI

Kallum Parry (YP15j)

Mykee Anthony (YP17j) - Danny Ellis (YP9a) - Rhodri Hughes (YP17e) - Mikey Berry (YP8a)

Ethan Roberts (YP13g)

Tom Dyer (YP16i) - Grant Moore (YP14j)

Warren Kelly (YP14a)                                                       Andy Duffy (YP18i)

Kristian Anthony (YP16k)

What does Niall Noor look like for TNS to effectively steal him? He was 3* CA at 15 from one of your other screenshots so was curious. Good luck on toppling TNS, looks like a challenge!

[libbyshuss]

Vanarama National League

2033/34 - Season 12

Season Summary

League - It was a real struggle. We just could not pur a run together. We'd win 1 or 2 then lose 4 or 5 on the bounce. Somehow we managed to keep our head above water. In the end though, we had an awful run in and it was a competition between us and Dulwich Hamlet to see who could be worse. Luckily, they were worse than us, losing their last 4 to keep us up. I'm under no illusions though, we were seriously lucky.

This years challenge seems way harder than last year!

FA Cup - we made it to the 3rd round again! could we get a money spinning away tie? No, we got league 1 Swindon Town away. Who beat us easily

Players

So with double excpetional for my youth recruitment/junior coaching I'd have hoped for league 1 ready youths. Turns out it's not so easy this year

Biggest issue remains age though. I'm hoping that experience has a bigger impact than previously, because we really struggled with this team!

Justin Stevens 28A - A real problem. 1 year left on his contract, refusing to sign a new one, can never play more than 1 game in a row due to fitness. Even had the temerity to complain he wasn't played enough. There wasn't an option to scream !you're never bloody fit enough!" at him. He'll waeken the squad but the smart move is to cash in while I can.

Kai Bibby 29C - I lost Gareth Savage 27A on a free transfer. Just refused to sign a new contract. So Bibby had to step up, and he did! one of the only success stories of the season

 

Youth

Come on double exceptional!!!

Not bad! At least 2 who can step straight into the first team if needs be. There's a good chance I'll start the season with a 16 year old in goal!

 

Finances and Upgrades

That double excpetional takes its toll on the finances. Another reason we could do with some money from a sale

 

Career

I'm clinging on to the National League. Relegation would not surprise me tbh

I found this offer difficult to turn down as well! In the Championship as well!

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by libbyshuss

[Makoto Nakamura]

2 hours ago, lewis999 said:

What does Niall Noor look like for TNS to effectively steal him? He was 3* CA at 15 from one of your other screenshots so was curious. Good luck on toppling TNS, looks like a challenge!

He's only made a substitute appearance for TNS so far.

[iacovone]

10 hours ago, iacovone said:

Dammit. Not sure what's happened, I'll give it another try tomorrow. Thanks for checking your file @libbyshuss

Got it working 

[Makoto Nakamura]

One of the very few non excellent intakes.

[hyrule_king]

Will be giving this a go , just want to try a game with Ipswich and get them into the CL.

[Makoto Nakamura]

@XaW Not going to lie, your database is drawing me in as well, I'd just need to get a certain club promoted.

Honningsvag, the northernmost club in the world.

[XaW]

7 minutes ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

@XaW Not going to lie, your database is drawing me in as well, I'd just need to get a certain club promoted.

Honningsvag, the northernmost club in the world.

Yeah, I just uploaded it, but I can't guarantee the stability yet, but a few seasons in it seems to work (with a few wobbles in regional divisions).

What do you mean, north? 

[Makoto Nakamura]

7 minutes ago, XaW said:

Yeah, I just uploaded it, but I can't guarantee the stability yet, but a few seasons in it seems to work (with a few wobbles in regional divisions).

What do you mean, north? 

It has given me a bigger idea...

The 4 corners of European Youth Only Challenges

Northernmost: Honningsvag Turn & IF - Norway

Easternmost: FC Nogliki - Russia

Southernmost: Bnei Eilat - Israel

Westernmost: Futebol Clube dos Flamengos - Portugal

 

 

[JLAB]

I'm making two separate saves with the additional lower leagues loaded in one of them so I can get more players in the sides, and another one without the additional leagues loaded. I wanted to see how big of a difference it can make.

[CardiffDragon]

 

 

2024/25 review

 

Holy S**t!!!!!!!! we have somehow made it to europe!!!!! and in the process beat , yes that is right, beat TNS!!!!!

it was the first time we have ever beat them or even drawn with them and what a time to do it, in the cup final, that means and my jaw is still on the ground we are playing in europe next season

 

As for the league.... we did so much better than last year when it took a win on the last day of the season to keep us up, the first two youth intake players are progressing, but slowly, still youth and training facilities are poor due to our finances but hopefully  the money from europe will help with that but we have improved reruitment and junior coaching although there was nothing in this years intake to get the blood pumping!

 

 

made it to the playoff final and would have been heartbroken if we had not qualified already for europe

 

so the adventure continues......

 

 

[WhiteCat33]

RAAL La Louviere: Pro League A 2031/32 (Season 10)

 

Season Performance

We qualified again for EC2 Playoffs!

We end up in a 2-2 tie in our final match and luckily KV-K failed to win against Gent so we still win the Playoff Table! Now we have to beat Anderlecht in the Final for a spot. Of course it will be Away as they are from the top group, which will be a sell-out crowd at a Rival club.

It wasn’t to be. They got an early set piece goal and then turtled the rest of the match and I couldn’t break through. Granted the fact I am this competitive with Anderlecht is a major accomplishment, sadly no European football though.

Here’s the Final table. Because KV-K finished ahead of us in the regular season they get the final EC2 slot, hurts that we were just 1 win away from European Football both regular season and playoffs. Can almost taste it.

This is still an amazing season especially when you take our financial backing into account.  Belgium has no league winnings, other than European Football the main income source for the clubs is Sponsorship Income (and tickets). As you can tell we have a way to go to reach the level of Anderlecht. We entered Pro A at about 850k, so have grown to at least not be last. 

One thing I have to say is keeping this team together has only been possible thanks to the serious money the Board have injected into the club to keep it solvent. During Winter the board injected 1.2M. They did it again in March with another 1.4M so they are pumping money into the club to keep us afloat. I plan to sell players this transfer window to help to actually boost facilities again, so expect a transfer special update in the near future.

Season Best XI

Head of Youth Development

As my original HOYD's contract was up at the start of the season and he was 60 I decided to switch out my HOYD. I stuck with another Dutch national, but upped the quality for 3x the salary. I upgraded to Resolute from Balanced  & got my formation while getting a much younger person. Also weirdly they don’t have any coaching badges so hopefully that will help their reputation go up more when I can finally afford to get him some. Might also ditch the U-18 Head coach and let him run the team as winning the U-18 league should give him more reputation.

New: 

Old: (he was on ~78k a year)

Maybe cause my HOYD is new he can’t keep the vultures away because we had our first poach since we climbed into Pro A

Youth Intake

Preview was decent enough 

 

Since we changed over the HOYD I had low expectations and this was above that. I think though this class is really the last class of the old HOYD and next year we will start to see the beginning of what my new Dutchman finds out in the world.

Roster:

Ludovic Lafaye fractured his arm in the trial game, but he could make an awesome DLP

Wing back is good timing  as well as my LB might just have outgrown us & his release clause (his salary def. has)

Woot 6’6” CB! My CBs are trash right now so even though he’s slow he has possibility.

Manager Thoughts:

This is the 3rd season since I've done a major sale and it shows as our talent has grown with the age of our starters mostly around 19/20 with some key players in their mid 20's. I have lots of potential talent in the youth team so its time for a trimming of the talent tree to harvest that green. I'll save that for a second post though.

Results Spreadsheet:

 

[Koetzer]

Our starting center-back wants to join the bigger team...

which only promoted from the unplayable tier a season before  And their reputation is lower as well.

 

2 hours ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

It has given me a bigger idea...

The 4 corners of European Youth Only Challenges

Northernmost: Honningsvag Turn & IF - Norway

Easternmost: FC Nogliki - Russia

Southernmost: Bnei Eilat - Israel

Westernmost: Futebol Clube dos Flamengos - Portugal

Nordkinn FK is based in Mehamn which is even a bit more to the north. I remember playing for them in some old version and signing 40+ year old Mario Jardel who was tearing up the lower divisions  No idea if they can get promoted to playable levels here. And I think the southernmost point should be somewhere on Canary Islands instead  

[Makoto Nakamura]

34 minutes ago, Koetzer said:

Our starting center-back wants to join the bigger team...

which only promoted from the unplayable tier a season before  And their reputation is lower as well.

 

Nordkinn FK is based in Mehamn which is even a bit more to the north. I remember playing for them in some old version and signing 40+ year old Mario Jardel who was tearing up the lower divisions  No idea if they can get promoted to playable levels here. And I think the southernmost point should be somewhere on Canary Islands instead  

I've had a look on google now, didn't know about Nordkinn!

 

Stadium one is Honningsvag and stadium two is Nordkinn, so Honningvag is still marginally further north but it's also almost a 6 hour drive between the two!

[Padders]

Bottom of the league, not won a gamel, conceded 17 goals in 5 games

Don't worry, we will roll over for you

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Padders

[Daddy]

 

Preview:

I don't use DM with my tactics, so hopefully he's retrainable. The Keeper will be needed as I'm going to lose my starting keeper as he wants double what the board allows. I'll keep trying, but he's likely gone.

Preview Table:

I'd say the team is fighting quite bravely. Bottom third in goals for so scoring is still an issue, but just outside top five in goals allowed and three of them were just games my team got stomped. Unless the team completely bottoms out I expect to still be hanging midtable.

[OlivierL]

I was about to start in England but 46 games (without cup games and playoffs) scares me.. it would take me too long to finish a season.

 

[karax268]

3th Season - Gresik united - 2024

 

 

Another great regular season and another collapse in the playoffs.

 

 

We had a good cup run, beating  first league persik on the way. in the end the fixture congestion was not really worth it.

 

 

Bit tilted at the moment at bottling the promotion to be honest. but maybe it is a blessing in disguise. several legacy players are either retiring or just leaving at the end of the season. Next season might be a bit more inconsistent without the verterans

[Miek]

7 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

I was about to start in England but 46 games (without cup games and playoffs) scares me.. it would take me too long to finish a season.

 

Make sure to install the Instant Result button. You can fly trough a full season that way. 

[OlivierL]

3 minutes ago, Miek said:

Make sure to install the Instant Result button. You can fly trough a full season that way. 

Yes i did that before in Iceland and some seasons in Gibraltar. I'm using IR for all my friendlies (or Iceland league cup games) but i can't use it all the time for 'real' games, takes the fun away for me  

 

[JLAB]

So we're taken on our first job of the challenge in Portugal managing Beira-Mar, who have some superb facilities.

As per the requirements, we have no coaching badges and only a Sunday League Footballer.

One of the main reasons I took over Beira-Mar was the amazing facilities at the club already and the incredible stadium which was built for the 2004 Euros.

Still, the season preview on the 30th before the loans disappeared gave us a good chance of getting a 2nd straight promotion. The key to doing well is managing to give our players new contracts as they are all on amateur contracts at the beginning of the save. So let's see what we can do here.

[ATW]

Another year - another start to my failure to complete this challenge.  Starting in Spain again...

 

The Club - Unión Deportiva Lanzarote

The Manager

Facilities 

Edited November 9, 2021 by ATW

[Guest]

Starting this with Hitchin. How often do I have to update?

[ATW]

1 minute ago, Fudal said:

Starting this with Hitchin. How often do I have to update?

At least once a season (at the end) but some do a half season update, and others update if they have anything they find interesting or funny to share...  

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, ATW said:

At least once a season (at the end) but some do a half season update, and others update if they have anything they find interesting or funny to share...  

Thank you 

[iacovone]

9 hours ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

It has given me a bigger idea...

The 4 corners of European Youth Only Challenges

Northernmost: Honningsvag Turn & IF - Norway

Easternmost: FC Nogliki - Russia

Southernmost: Bnei Eilat - Israel

Westernmost: Futebol Clube dos Flamengos - Portugal

 

 

I love this. Very tempted to restart but keeping my head down with Hogaborgs for now!

[Panneton0]

Like many others, I will try out the challenge with FC Utd

I will also try the challenge while attempting to keep my Total Control philosophy (70% possession, attack-oriented DNA that I managed to develop in FM20). With kids, this will prove very very difficult, but I believe there is fun in doing tough stuff. Right?



Just a little somethin' somethin' to show how newbie I am, and so it begins!

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by Panneton0

[Makoto Nakamura]

We have no staff but apparently this is our best player, and he actually isn't too bad!

We have one real player, one goalkeeper and no strikers.

And these are the very beginning odds. Predicted dead last.

[Libertine13]

2026/27

We went into the season fresh off the back of a Promotion Play Off loss, but with the hope of being able to finally get promotion to the second tier of German football. However, with our star player being unsettled by all the interest in him and thus upsetting the majority of the squad, we were never settled. Patchy form where we'd go games without scoring (cheers Pronichev) or runs where we'd concede such silly goals when dominating games meant the season was pretty much a write off as we got to the half way point. I decided to blood a few of the younger player who really shouldn't be thrown in at this level, just to get them some experience. Just three wins in our last 12 league games resigned us to 11th place, our worst league finish under my stewardship.

It wasn't all doom and gloom though, the youth intake preview was rather positive. There were A level players in key positions, so that gave us something to look forward to at least.

When we finally got our intake (I believe it came through in early April this season for some reason!) it was pretty underwhelming, considering we were meant to get quite a good bunch of youngsters.

The one diamond in the rough, a Togolese full back by the name of Koffi Attisso, was already getting attention from other clubs after signing for us. So I have high hopes for this lad, once he's old enough I'll have him promoted to the first team.

[Makoto Nakamura]

2022 Youth Candidates

Here's a surprise! The Norwegian Youth Intake is in pre-season, I had no clue!

[craigcwwe]

They've arrived in a timely manner @Makoto Nakamura!

[Makoto Nakamura]

[Makoto Nakamura]

9 minutes ago, craigcwwe said:

They've arrived in a timely manner @Makoto Nakamura!

Definitely! We're still predicted to finish last though! 

[ATW]

 

First home game, first home point... look at those stats though 

 

[Makoto Nakamura]

Our goalkeeper scored an 89th minute equaliser and we beat Haugesund on penalties with a quality FM'ing!

[WhiteCat33]

RAAL La Louviere: Pro League A 2032/33 (Season 11 Pre-Season Transfers)

 

Transfers:

Ruben Serrano 24d: Sadly the brother duo of outside defenders has ended. At least I got the best transfer possible on him as he has a 4M release clause. Also will be very nice to pull that 300k salary off the wage bill he was the 3rd highest paid player. Annoying I'll have to play against him in league though.

Here is his stats. For my club he was a defensive star.

Seasonal Performance. A true talent for the club, but we need the money badly.

 

Gautier Andre 27a: This transfer I reluctantly did. Not happy about the price, but he was being awful at renegotiating his contract which was in that final 2 year window. He insisted on a 500k release clause with a 250k p/a salary. Yeah I don't care how good you are that is not going to happen at my club. Looking back I should have jacked up the installments, should have been able to boost it to 2M.

He was a good GK no doubt about it. Wish I could have kept him without risking him splitting on a free. I have 1 18 year old prospect now who will jump into first chair like Andre did 2 years ago and a 22 year old backup that is out on loan for 6 months and a couple 16 year olds. Will be a leaky defense this year. 

Upgrade:

Selling these two has already gotten one upgrade. Hopefully we can line a second up at the end of the season.

Manager Thoughts:

I have a very young and questionable defense this year having sold the two best players back there so I don't expect a 3rd hunt for European places. If you remember my financials though it was necessary. I will be using 5 under 18 players in my defensive rotation. I do have a good offense though, so should make for some high scoring fixtures. It's nice having such trash at the bottom of the league that relegation isn't a concern anymore.

Transfer Tables: (Edit)

I meant to add these in, so here's an edit. Sad to see Inter haven't loaned out my CB so he's languishing in their reserves. Makengo is really doing well in Eredivisie his value range is now 6.8 - 10M so if they do ever sell him it will be a big windfall for us. Komah on the other hand never really found a rhythm in Bundes 2 and has been passed off every couple seasons.

Edited November 10, 2021 by WhiteCat33
Add Excel Tables

[Guest]

[OlivierL]

 

Berchem Sport - Belgium - Intro - 3th tier - Eerste Nationale

Database |Club info | Club Vision | Facilities |Finances |Youth intake 22

Intro

I played one season with them on FM21 but stopped playing after a big data bug and huge youth setup costs. Why Berchem again ? They play in my hometown Antwerp and I live very close to Berchem(located in Antwerp). They are the second closest team i could pick in Belgium. A Youth only with players from Antwerp is what I've wanted to do for a long time with my own club (Royal Antwerp FC , but they play in the first division) I also know some players and staff members of Berchem. Berchem is the friendly rival of my club and is nicknamed 'the nicest team in town'. Berchem has also received the 'Royal' title in their name, which is something special in Belgium. Berchem was in first division for 41 years. The last year was in 86 / 87 and they became 3 times vice-champion but never champion. After finding old kits (and today i was able to replace them with new created kits , thanks @stefaanpeeraer ) I was ready to go.

After playing last year five seasons with Aalst(Belgium) and got them in the 1th tier .Afterwards we played in Gibraltar and in Germany with RW Essen. I think that the third tier in Belgium seems to be the right choice for me. Not a small country, not a big country either. Starting in a third division is not too high or too low and Berchem has quite good youth facilities and reputation. We start with 19 senior players and 10 youth players.

In Antwerp we have three 'big' teams . Royal Antwerp F.C. (Bosuilstadion), Beerschot(Olympisch Stadion) and Berchem Sport.

Stadium

Unfortunately there is one mistake in the database and that is the stadium. Berchem has a beautiful old stadium but half of it was recently demolished. This beautiful gate and main stand is left over.  The database uses their old capacity(12245 - 2687 seats) while in reality they have 1250 capacity( 360 seats) . In the future they will get a new stadium for +- 4000 seats but everything is currently on hold because of the Covid situation.

Ludo Coeck stadium - build in 1929

           What is left of the Ludo Coeck Stadium since 2020 . They are using a temporary stand in front of their old main staind.

Squad

Andy Van Hoof, Fabio Pinto and Jeroen Van Den Driessche played for Antwerp youth when i was a youth coach / scout ,years ago. And i tried to 'poach' Rik De Kuyffer to Antwerp but he went to Club Brugge before returning to Berchem.

Key players

   

Youth intake 2022 - Best of the class

  

Spoiler

                                                I tag/sort them by PA and CA after youth intake and my calculation.

Edited November 10, 2021 by OlivierL

[Guest]

End of Season 1

[XaW]

8 hours ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

That's a bit of a travel for them! 32 hours through Sweden and Finland by car!

[Makoto Nakamura]

6 minutes ago, XaW said:

That's a bit of a travel for them! 32 hours through Sweden and Finland by car!

That'll be why we won on penalties then!  

[XaW]

Just now, Makoto Nakamura said:

That'll be why we won on penalties then!  

I think the only big team who can travel further than them is Start from Kristiansand.

That's some 5D chess you are playing there, Makoto!

[Makoto Nakamura]

2 minutes ago, XaW said:

I think the only big team who can travel further than them is Start from Kristiansand.

That's some 5D chess you are playing there, Makoto!

Just wait for the Russian leg of the challenge if we end up having FC Nogliki vs Baltika Kaliningrad!