FM22 Global (Less England) Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[aldojags]

On 26/04/2022 at 20:16, Muggert said:

Karpaty Lviv - Ukranian Persha Liga 27/28

Squad - Competitions - Finances - Transfers

Favbet Liga: 9th - Kubok Ukrayini: 2nd Rnd

Key players: DC Tatar - AMC Dron - ST Pylypchuk

We're slowly building the club and finished at 9th. ST Pylypchuk and AMC Dron had excellent seasons for the team. While we scored the 4th most goals in the laegu we also conceded a bunch, 2.06 a game to be excact.

Next season:

I'm confident we'll survive another year. We'll try to build a talented squad and a more solid tactic.

Pylypchuk is monitored by Porto and could be gone with a release clause of only 4,2 million.

If he goes and we don't manage to get a replacement. It'll be a long season.

Some good looking players there and healthy finances. Hope u keep that striker, but if u lose him honestly see if you scout fellow eastern european nations you’ll find someone, i did this challenge in Bulgaria lasst year andthe amount of gems i found in Serbia Croatia Romania Slovakia etc u can always find a replacement. 
 

you’re building the club up well, the guy u sold to Kyiv i dont remember seeing him in prev season reports was he a star man for u?

[Muggert]

22 hours ago, aldojags said:

Some good looking players there and healthy finances. Hope u keep that striker, but if u lose him honestly see if you scout fellow eastern european nations you’ll find someone, i did this challenge in Bulgaria lasst year andthe amount of gems i found in Serbia Croatia Romania Slovakia etc u can always find a replacement. 
 

you’re building the club up well, the guy u sold to Kyiv i dont remember seeing him in prev season reports was he a star man for u?

No he was a prospect who would never get the time he needed to develop due to Dron.

We've signed a couple of players from the Italian league system to our team. They're expensive wage wise but we're slowly improving and we're still only at 80% of our wage budget. And it looks like some things are changing!

[aldojags]

2 hours ago, Muggert said:

No he was a prospect who would never get the time he needed to develop due to Dron.

We've signed a couple of players from the Italian league system to our team. They're expensive wage wise but we're slowly improving and we're still only at 80% of our wage budget. And it looks like some things are changing!

Yeh that is a statement win right there!

[Muggert]

Karpaty Lviv - Ukranian Persha Liga 28/29

Squad - Competitions - Finances - Transfers

Favbet Liga: 4th - Kubok Ukrayini: QF

Key players: DC Tatar - MC Kokhman - ST Fomin

The goal was to establish ourselves in the best tier and build towards europe. Well.... The build went fast!

We took off with 3 other teams behind Shakhtar and quickly build a gap to 6th. We kept the streak going and ended 4th!

Loanee ST Fomin was excellent, and our new guys DMC Volpato and MC Awua did well! 

Next season:

First season in europe is always difficult. Competing on two fronts will be difficult with the budget we have.

We'll focus on getting to the group stage and then switch our main focus to the league to avoid a relegation battle.

[Muggert]

Woohoo!

[Muggert]

We've had a great start to the new season.

We have qualified ourselves to the group stage. 

8 points in 4 games in the league in which we had away games against both Dinamo Kiev and Shakthar.

Our main focus will be the league though.

[Muggert]

As we qualified for Europe we signed a new deal with Adidas for this season. This will be our kits for the coming season... (I love Kitbasher)

[jmarchand]

  

Season 14 | 2035-2036 | Back in the right direction

An early exit from continental competition last year was a bit of a letdown, I was hopeful that it would not happen again this year. I still don't think that Fethiyespor's squad is strong enough to rivalize with the big guns on a regular basis, but our European standing have been steadily improving and we're now on the verge of cracking the top 10. Despite all of our improvement, I feel that we still need that big one or two signing that could really make the difference, but I have not found them yet. 

As a plus side, the quality of Turkish football is improving, Besitkas is now consistently qualifying from their Champions League Group and the likes of Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe are making good progress. Hopefully, the (now revamped) dynamic youth rating is starting to kick in a bit... 

 

Transfers

With our goalie Gerson Ramirez being from Colombia and getting at his top potential, I have been on the lookout for a replacement keeper in the past couple of years as the registration rules insist on having one Turkish keeper in the squad, on top of him taking a foreign spot. I finally found this replacement keeper this year in the form of Azat Açikgöz for 49M€ from FC Augsburg. While not being a massive upgrade from Ramirez, it allows one more foreign outfield player, which made selection a bit difficult in the past years. 

I also nailed the transfer of Adrian Kelly (more on him below), who was in the NxGn list as the Australian Mbappé, for free from Dortmund. Lightning quick, good dribbling and ability in front up front, I think he's going to be great and at 18, he already has 29 caps and 7 goals with Australia. 

This year again, big teams came after our players and got some of them unsettled... 

• Patrice Irié Bi went on for 50M€ to Manchester City, just after I hailed him here as our first player being recognized as world class. Kicked a fuss in the dressing room and had to let him go in order to avoid trashing my dynamics... In 16 appearances for them in the Premier League, he scored 5 goals and 2 assists, with a 7.35 avg. rating. He really is able to play at the highest level and it's a shame that I lost him. 
• Harun Reis, a solid Turkish option at center back was poached by Dortmund for 30M€. He was good, but not 30M€ good. 
• Ibrahim Khamis, a promising Egyptian centre-back that didn't quite fit in our system was also on the way out for 23M€ to Bayern Munich. 
• Kazim Dinçer, as shown above shattered all the records of transfer fees when moving to Manchester United for 85M€. He's already a regular in the Premier League, with 35 starts, 4 goals and 6 assists. Manchester United was right, he's a great player. 
• Welcome Lingwati is off to Chelsea with a loan back option. He really had a bad year and didn't show up in big matches. I got in a loan back option, but he didn't blow me away and made 12M€ on the transfer. Whereas I was a bit sad at losing Irié Bi, I'm not too sad at losing Lingwati... 

To cover for these two midfielders, I got Hilmi Alkan Borussia Mungendgladbach as the game showed that he had also the Turkish nationality as a squad option. When I brought him to the team, it appears that he takes a foreign spot. I really don't understand this one and I don't think it's even something I could "fix" in the editor. Has anyone ever seen something like this? 

Finally, I also brought in Matheus Victor from Porto B for 23M€, which will become a good option in the midfield in a DLP role. However, he broke a foot in his third game with us, out for 3 months... Looking forward to see who well he slots in the team next year. 

 

European Champions League

In the group stage, we were drawn with Liverpool (out of pot B!), Torino and Anderlecht. We convincingly went through, with two 1-1 draws when facing Liverpool and some rather convincing wins when facing the other two. We were in good position to go through first in the group on goal difference, but then Liverpool hammered Anderlecht 5-1 in the final day (with 4 goals from Satriano, he went on to score 16 in 11 games), while we only managed to win 2-0 against Torino, finishing 2nd in the group... 

In the First Knockout Round, we were drawn against Barcelona. A tough draw, but both matches turned out quite even. In the first leg at home, we conceded 2 early, but the team rallied back and we dominated the match after these horrible first 25 minutes to score 3 and finish with a convincing xG of 3.95. The return leg was an epic showdown, very evenly played and it went to extra time, as it was 1-2 after regulation. In the 98th minute, Pedri scored from a dreaded midfield run to put us one down, but Matheus Victor came in flying on a corner to tie things up. In the penalty shootout that ensued, each team converting their first 7 shots, before a fingertip save from Açikgöz saw us through. Riots at Camp Nou, Fethiyespor is through! 

Révélation

 

In the Quarter Final, we were drawn against Real Madrid, and we were not close in these two legs. We lost the first leg 1-2 in a somewhat even match, but then on the way back, we weren't close and lost 1-3... Real Madrid went on to beat Liverpool and are through to the Final. 

Interesting one, Liverpool has actually completely outclassed Manchester City 7-0 at home in the first leg of the Quarter Final, a very convincing result... 

Révélation

 

 

League

Despite the increasing reputation of the Turkish League, this year was a very convincing showing from the lads in the league. Despite losing our 54 games without defeat, we went on without looking back and tied the league record for the number of points in a season and have beat the record of the number of wins in a season. 93 points, 14 points above second-place Galatasaray and only 12 goals allowed all year, which beats the lowest mark of 14 goals against by Besiktas in 2026-2027. 

Notable result, Fenerbahçe is missing on European football next year, as they finished 7th this year and we're back at 6 spots this year. 

Révélation

 

Turkish Cup

It's been a while, but I really angered the board, with rotating the sad a bit too much and somehow losing 1-0 against Alanyaspor, which was hovering at the middle-to-bottom of the table every few years. An exit in the Quarter Final is really unacceptable for us and the board was really not happy. 

 

Turkish Super Cup

A 1-0 win against Besitkas added more silverware...! 

 

Team and Individual performances

 

A good showing from the team, lots of rotation and a good appearance from Ibrahim Önal, a youth prospect from 2033 (more on him below). 

 

Luis Antonio - ST - 37(5) apps, 34 goals, 16 assists, 7.87 avg. rating

This year, he has become a Legend at the team, which in itself is a great achievement. He's been very consistent, scoring goals, handling corner duties and getting through balls to the other striker in the pair. He's been great and a true complete forward. He has also come up 3rd in the Champions League Golden Boot ranking, behind Satriano and Mbappé...! Love him! 

 

Révélation

 

Ibrahim Önal (YP33) - ST - 18(13) apps, 14 goals, 3 assists, 7.24 avg. rating

A youth prospect, on the receiving end of Luis Antonio's passes during play, I like the potential that he has. At 18, he's earned 2 caps already, which is very encouraging. 

Révélation

 

Adrian Kelly - AMR/ST - 10(9) apps, 5 goals, 5 assists, 7.08 avg. rating

The Australian Mbappé is going to be a star in the future, he will likely get a main role in the squad next year. I'm thinking to either play him up front next year or at the wing as an inside forward, but i'm not sure exactly where to go with him... Opinions? 

Révélation

 

Youth Watch

A very forgettable intake this year. Not wasting space and your precious time on it. 

However, take a look at how Osman Bayindir has been progressing on loan in the 1.League... He won Young Player of the season there and will likely be called in to rotation in the squad next year. 

Révélation

 

Other News

- The board is still improving the stadium, we're getting close to 28000 seats now and expanding every year (we're getting to 33k seats next year)

• European Winners
  • Champions League: Real Madrid (3-0 over Dortmund) - Second straight title for them
  • EURO Cup: Chelsea (over Ajax)
  • EURO Cup II:  Benfica (over Club Brugge)
• Turkish Form in Europe
  • Besitkas: CL First Knockout Round (against Liverpool)
  • Galatasaray: EURO Cup Second Knockout Round (Against Juventus)
  • Fenerbahçe: EURO Cup Second Knockout Round (Against Villareal)
  • Trabzonspor: Champions League 1st Knockout Round (Against Atletico Madrid) - Finished 2nd in their group in front of Milan. 
  • Konyaspor: EURO Cup II Second Knockout Round (Against sc Hereenveen)
  • Yeni Malatyaspor: EURO Cup II Group Stage (finished 4th and well beaten)

 

Summary

Year

Season

League

Position

Points

Goal Diff

Cup

Europe

Europe Ranking

Avg. Attendance

Top Scorer

Top Assist

Training

Youth

Junior

Youth Rec

1

2022/2023

2L

11

51

-4

3rd Round

NA

NA

-

4013

Serhat Mutlu (10)

Sezer Yildim (9)

Basic

Basic

Fairly Basic

Limited

2

2023/2024

2L

1

75

32

4th Round

NA

NA

-

4257

Onur Demir (12)

Yunus Kefeli (10)

Basic

Basic

Fairly Basic

Limited

3

2024/2025

1L

7

57

17

5th Round

NA

NA

-

5765

Damion Probodziak (17)

Yunus Kefeli (10)

Basic

Basic

Fairly Basic

Limited

4

2025/2026

1L

2

69

39

5th Round

NA

NA

-

5973

Eren Aydin (19)

Mohammed Sabah (9)

Basic

Basic

Fairly Basic

Limited

5

2026/2027

SL

13

36

-5

6th Round

NA

NA

-

7642

Zain Al-Din Salman (16)

Yunus Kefeli (7)

Basic

Basic

Fairly Basic

Basic

6

2027/2028

SL

7

53

-4

Qtr Final

NA

NA

-

7533

Zain Al-Din Salman (20)

Antoine Semenyo, Yunus Kefeli (9)

Adequate

Basic

Adequate

Fairly Basic

7

2028/2029

SL

5

63

16

6th Round

NA

NA

--

8148

Zain Al-Din Salman (14)

Ismail Olgun (8)

Average

Below Average

Good

Average

8

2029/2030

SL

4

66

18

Semi-Final

EC2

2nd KO Round

158

9633

Jeredy Hilterman (22)

Burak Ince (15)

Great

Adequate

Exceptional

Excellent

9

2030/2031

SL

5

64

30

Qtr Final

EC2

WINNERS!

51

10523

Jair Grisales (29)

Burak Ince (13), Mimeirhel Benita (13)

Excellent

Average

Exceptional

Exceptional

10

2031/2032

SL

1

78

53

Semi-Final

EC

2nd KO Round

40

11240

Ismail Olgun (22)

Harun Açil YP30 (11)

State of the Art

Good

Exceptional

Exceptional

11

2032/2033

SL

2

81

64

WINNERS

CL

1st KO Round

24

12010

Ismail Olgun (24)

Luis Antonio (17)

State of the Art

Great

Exceptional

Exceptional

12

2033/2034

SL

1

84

68

WINNERS

CL

Semi Final

14

12227

Luis Antonio (37)

Luis Antonio (22)

State of the Art

Great

Exceptional

Exceptional

13

2034/2035

SL

1

88

73

Final

CL

1st KO Round

13

16606

Benjamin Medrano (32)

Luis Antonio (14)

State of the Art

Great

Exceptional

Exceptional

14

2035/2036

SL

1

93

78

Qtr Final

CL

Qtr Final

12

17272

Luis Antonio (34)

Luis Antonio (16)

State of the Art

Great

Exceptional

Exceptional

[Muggert]

@jmarchand Luis Antonio looks incredible!

[aldojags]

@jmarchandloaded squad there particularly up front, love the look of Onal, and the Australian is going to be a world superstar. I dont think the inside forward will work unless u train him on left? His left foot is very weak so cutting in from right onto his weaker foot prob wont work so well? I’d always just keep it simple and go advanced forward for him with those attributes. 
 

great money made on those sales too, shame tho as some of those players are champions league winning calibre! 
 

look like whole turkish league improving too if 2 other teams also reaching champions league knockout.

[Muggert]

Things are going well so far!

[Tyer]

Decided to come back to this challenge after having success in Scotland, played a couple more seasons and felt pretty stagnated, deciding to start over in Switzerland!

Will update club once I'm done vacationing

Looks like year one will be tough

 

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by Tyer

[Tyer]

Interesting they start as professional, makes it a bit easier.

[Muggert]

Karpaty Lviv - Ukranian Persha Liga 29/30

Squad - Competitions - Finances - Transfers

Favbet Liga: 4th - Kubok Ukrayini: Runner-Up - UEFA Conference League: QF

Key players: DC M'Bakata - MC Kokhman - ST Pylypchuk

We did well far into the season, but in the end battling on three fronts cost us.

Still we had an amazing season. I'm really proud of the boys.

Our reputation is rising and we managed to sign a couple of young brazilians to te the team this season.

Next season:

Once again we're in Europe and it seems like we're closing in on the top-2 in the league.

We'll need to make our team strong enough to take advantage if one or both of them slip up.

We have a good squad allround, but we'll be looking for 'star players' and an adapting tactic in the new season.

All while keeping our young Ukranian talent due to the foreign player policies.

[Thebaker]

@Muggertlooks like you are well placed to win the league soon

[Tecmo]

Spartans 2030-2031

A much improved season for us as we were battling for a playoff spot the entire way and ended up getting it, finishing 3rd with 54 points, a 16 point jump from last season. Our goal difference actually stayed the same though at -1 as we didn't put down some of the beatings that we did the previous season.

League Table

The playoffs didn't go our way unfortunately as Raith outclassed and advanced easily. One thing I really ran into a lot for the first time this season was fatigue. It seemed like my whole team was running on fumes by the end of the season. Definitely need to look at improving our depth.

Premier Sports Cup

Finally some success here as we made it out of our group for the first time, winning the group even by knocking off Kilmarnock, who had just been relegated to our league, for the first time. We subsequently lost at Falkirk in the second round.

SPFL Trust Trophy

No repeat of last season's success here. Beat Hearts Under 21s 2-1, then fell in a disappointing game at Clyde.

Scottish Cup

This was the highlight of our season as we took advantage of a favorable draw. We struggled in our first game, only managing a draw against Peterhead but turned that around in the replay with a 3-0 win. We then beat Inverness 1-0 and then went to St. Mirren and managed another 1-0 win. The quarter final drew us at home against Raith and we won quite easily 2-0 to reach the semi final for the first time. We avoided Celtic and Rangers as they were drawn against each other and wound up facing Aberdeen in Glasgow. My team outperformed expectations and fought hard but couldn't find the next and ended up losing 0-1. Oh but so much sweet, sweet, much needed money for our reward.

Key Players

We brought in 3 new starters, all on loan, but DM Gavin Chalmers easily made the biggest impact, giving me the deeplying playmaker I've desperately wanted in that spot. Signed on loan from Hibernian, the 21 year old was our player of the season with an average rating of 7.28 in league play. He will back back on loan again next season.

Youth Intake

Probably our poorest yet, which doesn't reflect well on my newly signed Head of Youth Recruitment. The only player I see having a chance of contributing is a right fullback with some potential but a long ways off.

Finances

Our cup run was huge for us financially. We had dipped to more than 100K in the red but after the gate and competition reward we are now over 1 million in the black. I've upped our scouting budget a bit and we got a nice increase in transfer funds that I can hopefully take advantage of this offseason.

Around Scotland

Rangers finally ended Celtic's run of dominance, winning the league for the first time since 2021/2022. They also made it to the Champions League group stage but finished last in their group. Celtic finished third in their Champions League group but had a decent run in Europa, getting to the quarterfinals.

Looking Ahead

The spine of my team is pretty much in place but I still need to find consistent attackers at AML and AMR and I'm looking to replace both fullbacks. Maybe we can force our way to the Premiership next season with some added firepower? We've already taken some steps to strengthen our depth with some released youth players signed from the big Scottish clubs.

 

[Muggert]

@Thebaker Yep...

And our newest piece to the puzzle arrived today. DL Majoro - He's gonna be an asset!

Edited May 5, 2022 by Muggert

[Thebaker]

2022/23

Table | Squad | Transfers

The board expectation was for a top half finish and the squad looked strong in midfield but lacking in goal and defence. After a decent start a poor run in nov and dec meant promotion was not likely this season. A good last few months took the club up the table and ended only 1 point from the playoffs. In the spanish cup 1st rd the team was at home to federation first division Leonesa but were outclassed 1-3.

Finances are terrible with no real chance of turning it around as the money coming in is not close to the money going out.

The star players were Morer with Fassini and Tito who was particually good as the season progressed the main scorers.

The youth intake was solid enough with this player the best of them.

Season

League

Position

Spanish Cup

Europe

Top Scorer

Top Assists

Attendance

Training

Youth

Junior

Youth Rec

Notes

2022/23

Federation 2nd Gp3

6th

1st Rd

N/A

Fassani (19)

Morer (11)

2207

Average

Average

Average

Average

 

 

[Muggert]

@Thebaker That young kid could do a job for most teams in the league!

[Muggert]

Meanwhile in Ukraine there's yet another thrilling championship battle!

We just beat Dynamo Kyiv away.

First would be great. 2nd and Champions League qual good. 3rd and Europa League ok. 4th and the Conference League again? Not so much fun !

[jmarchand]

It's been a good year for Luis Antonio...! 

 

 

And for Adrian Kelly. (now he's attracting interest and wants to leave... Booo!) 

 

Look at all these great arrows and progress graph for Pedro Esperanza...! 

[Muggert]

@jmarchand Your upgrades in training facilities have been worth every penny!

[Muggert]

Karpaty Lviv - Ukranian Favbet Liga 30/31

Squad - Competitions - Finances - Transfers

Favbet Liga: 2nd - Kubok Ukrayini: QF - UEFA Conference League: 2nd Knockout

Key players: DC M'Bakata - MC Kokhman - ST Pylypchuk - ST Gumenyak

I bit disappointing in the cup and in europe. A loss on away goals to AZ is understandable though.

Our early exits meant we could concentrate on the league and it payed off.

For the first time we've toppled one of the big ones. It was extremely close with 4 teams within 2 points with 5 games to go.

Dynamo Kyiv just kept winning as Vorskla, Shakhtar and us struggled. In the end we pulled it off!!

Next season:

So let's see if our Champions League qualification will gain us a reputation boost.

Hopefully we can get into the Champions League Group stage, but we'll take a Europa League group stage,

Our team is pretty balanced, and we might sign a couple of high profile names. But our team is pretty good.

The vultures are circling some of our players. Our foreigners are 'expendable', but we'll do everything in our power to keep our Ukranian top players.

[aldojags]

@jmarchandooft! Antonio never had a giant sniffing around him?

 

@Muggertsome good young players there, hope u get into the group stage, the 2 ukranian strikers home grown?

 

@Thebakerlike the look of that youth prospect for year one!

[jmarchand]

Il y a 1 heure, aldojags a dit :

@jmarchandooft! Antonio never had a giant sniffing around him?

He’s had a few recently and I think I might lose him on a free transfer now… I was always able to reject their bids, he never became unsettled, but in the last 18 months, he’s been unwilling to renew his contract. I promised him we’d get to the later stages of the Champions League, which we are on our way, but January 1st just rolled around and he instantly got 3 bids by crappy teams which I can’t do anything about. And the CL Quarter Final isn’t close, so I think I won’t even have time to fulfill my promise…

[Thebaker]

@Muggertlooks very close in the league. You seem to be finding a lot of great young players but have a very young squad is it just that older players want too much money and are harder to keep?

[jmarchand]

Future looks pretty bright!

 

[aldojags]

2 hours ago, jmarchand said:

Future looks pretty bright!

 

Haha thats brilliant, go and sign the other 2 make it a full house

[Muggert]

@aldojags Yeah.. They're both homegrown. I have another striker out on loan in Zorya as well.

 

@Thebaker It's simply about profit for me. If I get in young talented youngsters I can sell them on a year or two later. I need to invest in our facilities. With the foreign rules dictating 4 Ukranians in the starting 11 I need to upgrade both training and youth.

 

This year we've flipped three players, MC Waltinho, DL Majoro and DR Juninho for a 34 million pound profit. 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Muggert

[jmarchand]

It's happening! 

 

[jmarchand]

 

Full update coming in later, once I'm done sweating. 

[jmarchand]

  

Season 15 | 2036-2037 | Completion!

Yeah, there has been a slight spoiler above, so this update will be a bit different than the previous ones, with (finally) the completion of this challenge. Let's first have a look at how the team did in the Champions League, then take a deep look at the team that achieved it. 

 

Champions League

 In our group stage, we were in pot 1, by virtue of winning the Turkish league last year. We were drawn against Arsenal, Olympique Lyon and Slavia Prague, a generally quite manageable group. And manage it pretty well we did. 

We were really never in danger. The two ties against Arsenal were harder, but we prevailed by 2-0 at home and 3-2 when going to London. The other matches were almost a formality, and once we had won the group, I even took the liberty of rotating the squad for Champions League...

This set us with a tie with Barcelona in the First Knockout Round. Our guys confidently stepped into Camp Nou, never felt intimidated a bit and came up big in the second half, scoring 4 goals on the way to a convincing 4-1 win. In the return leg at home, we held on to a 0-0 draw, a closely fought match in which neither team really got going. I don't mind at this point and knocking Barcelona out! 

In the Quarter Final, we were faced against PSG and we were able to walk out of Paris with a 1-1 draw. Not the most convincing of showings, but a through ball from Kelly to Luis Antonio just before half-time got us going. In the return leg, we were confident in getting a result at home and the guys delivered. A convincing win for 2-1 (12 shots on target against 1) saw us through on an inspired pass by Dogukan to Kelly, rounding Donnarumma to put it in the back of the net. 

When we got to the Semi Final, we were then drawn against Real Madrid, starting at home and we played a very convincing second half of football, after getting down one goal on a penalty. Adrian Kelly (2 goals) and Luis Antonio combining once again to do what was needed for the first leg. The return leg was a cliffhanger, with Fethiyespor going down 2 goals (27th and 70th minute). But then, at the 85th minute, one of their Center backs Lloyd McNally picks up a second yellow. In the following throw-in, this beauty happens. 

Which leads us to the Final against Liverpool and our former star, Harun Açil, who is now playing regular football and doing great in the Premier League. It was an insane match, to the level which I don't really remember in my past years of playing FM... 

After a rather uneventful first half, we go on top thanks to a somewhat lucky goal by Pedro Esparza. Adrian Kelly's shot gets blocked and Esparza pushes the rebound in an empty net. 1-0 Fethiyespor

Then, Martin Satriano finds himself at the end of a perfect cross and taps it in the net. Tied at 1-1

At the 84th minute, in his last game for us (more on that later), Luis Antônio dribbles around the keeper on a 1 on 1 and walks the ball to the back of the net to make the game 2-1 Fethiyespor. 

But he is not done, at the 90th minute, Luis Antônio gets loose again on a 1 on 1 and this time, blasts a ball on the inside of the post, the keeper doesn't move and it is 3-1 Fethiyespor. 

Think it's over? Think again! 

A dubious penalty is being called and Leandro Pires tucks it home. 3-2 Fethiyespor and it's starting to be uncomfortable at the 93th minute (there were 5 minutes of stoppage time). 

Then, at the 94th minute, the unthinkable happens. Right off the kickoff, a turnover happens, ball goes to the left wing and Oliver Kendrick somehow gets free in the surface to tapi it home. 3-3 tie, we're going to overtime. 

 

Crap. 

 

In extra-time, it was quite even until the ball was sent forward and picked up by Adrian Kelly. He taps it down to Pedro Esparza who just plays the through ball back to Kelly. One on one against the keeper, he puts in a sublime finish in the bottom right corner at the 118th minute. 

This time, we were able to hold on for the last 2 minutes and were European Champions. 

 

Here is the full drama and replay: 

 

Révélation

 

There you go, our first win in the Champions League...! As they say, to be the best, you have to beat the best and it is really what I think we've done here. in the Coefficient list, we're currently sitting in 12th place, but Real Madrid is 1st, PSG is 4th, Liverpool is 5th, Arsenal is 7th and Barcelona is 9th... Clearly not a walk in the park (hint: it never is) and I'm quite proud of this run. 

 

The League

In the league, it was really never close. We lined up wins after wins after wins, except towards the end of the year where I saw that we had a legitimate shot at the Champions League and I rotated the squad more than I would normally have done... We then tied the most ever points for a club in the league (with Fenerbahçe in 1988/1989) with 93 points. We tied our own record of 30 wins in a season and only lost in the penultimate match of the season when a fully rotated squad lost against 7th place Yeni Malatyaspor, after a quite disappointing performance. But we were in the middle of the Real Madrid tie in the Champions League, so that's ok...

 

The Team

GK: Junior - Remember last year when I said that I had my Turkish keeper and that he was around forever? Well I was lying. Junior came from Grêmio on a 18.75M€ transfer and was objectively better than the previous guy, despite costing us a couple of goals due to a poor handling of the ball. He was more of a sweeper keeper, which I am not used to play with, but saved a couple of great goals for us and was an integral part of that last year. 

DR: Salih Ylimaz - He was initially our rotation option at right back, but got propelled in the first team when I got a ~40M€ bid for Cornel Oprea, which was quite equivalent, minus the Turkish nationality. In the last winter transfer window, he got mad about his playing time and arranged a transfer at the end of the season to Wolfsburg. I view that position as the weakest spot in our first XI. 

DC: Srdan Durdevic - Serbian defender who I signed last year from TSC for a whooping 1.8M€. I think I got him in the NxGn list. In his second year, he really stepped up and became a central part of our defence at only 21 years old. He is still on the way up with regards to his potential, I'm pretty sure that he'll reach it and become a world class center back. 

DC: Ender Ak (YP28) - A youth product from 2028, Ender Ak was quickly in the first team and never really gave back his spot. At this moment, he's our 3rd best center back, but he got to play the Champions League at right back because Yilmaz got injured - and got a 7.3 rating! 

DL: Alexandru Vistenau - An uncertain case for the final, he missed the semi-final against Madrid with a pulled groin, he's been our dependable left back all season, in a position that is quite hard to fill. He rotated early with Cornel Oprea, but once he was the only Romanian left, he got the starting job and ran with it. 

DLP: Matheus Victor - This young Brazilian really came of age this year, after signing for 22M€ from Porto. He held the Deep Lying Playmaker role in our tactic, sending the killer ball often with great efficiency. He's not getting a lot of assists (only 2 this year), but is often the second pass before a goal or the pass which allows to unlock the situation. 

MC(A): Umit Saglan - Another longstanding servant who was in the shadow of our strikeforce upfront, I was glad he got his moment to shine in the semi final against Madrid. A versatile midfielder being able to play a few roles, but mostly on the attacking side of things, his flair, vision, technique and passing make him a quite gifted player. 

ML: Dogukan Kocabas - Signed for a bargain of 120k€ back in 2030 from Turkucu Munchen, he's been our stable left winger for a few years now. Pacey, great dribbling, some vision, passing and crossing, ye's always been a good asset for us and is probably one of the best pieces of business I've done in this save. 

AMR: Pedro Esparza - I'd like to say that I rescued him from the depths of Atletico Madrid B for a small 1.3M€ in the winter of 2034/35, but he evolved to be our right winger of choice. This year was especially a breakout year, with 16 goals and 17 assists across all competitions, in 33(5) appearances. At barely 20 years old, his potential is sky high. 

ST: Adrian Kelly - He came leaps and bounds since last year, where he was in the top 10 of the NxGn list and got acquired on a Free (yes, you read that right) from Dortmund II. This year, with 22 goals and 11 assists, he starts to live to his potential, having been named the Australian Mbappé... He had a brief stint during the year where he was unhappy that I blocked a transfer to Atletico Madrid, so he got mad and missed a match (not a training, a match!) after gong clubbing... One hefty fine later, Madrid was no longer interested and he started to play football again. 

ST: Luis Antônio - Keeping this club legend for the end, he decided to run out his contract and couldn't renew him. He came in big in his last match at Fethiyespor, with 2 goals in the last 5 minutes. In the end, he played 5.5 seasons for us, after joining on a 10.5 M€ transfer from Palmeiras. During his stay in Fethiyespor, he won plenty of awards, notably the Ballon d'Or in 2034-2035. He is rightfully listed as a club legend, with 152 goals in 218 appearances and a minimum of 15 assists each year. A true complete forward and definitely my player of the save. 

[Muggert]

@jmarchand Gotta love that Antonio got the cup in his farewell season!

[Muggert]

Karpaty Lviv - Ukranian Favbet Liga 31/32

Squad - Competitions - Finances - Transfers

Favbet Liga: 2nd - Kubok Ukrayini: SF - UEFA Conference League: 2nd Knockout

Key players: DC Guardia - MC Kokhman - ST Pylypchuk - ST Danilin

Another pretty good season. 2nd place and Champions League Qualification.

Shakthar had a comfortable lead from the get go in the league and never looked back.

In europe we got knocked out by Ajax in the Champions League qual and Marseille whooped our ass in the knockout round after a group win for us,

We lost our wonderkid DL Majoro in the winter break along with our DR Juninho and our hopes of the championship I think went away with them.

Danilin was our key player and picked up every important award in Ukraine!

Next season:

Last year Shakthar had a down season. This season it was Dynamo Kyiv. Let's hope for both next year

Our finances are healthy and we upgraded our training facilities to good.

We have some cash in the bank and will splash it on the right players. We have a budget of 18 million pounds and are using only half our wage budget!

[aldojags]

@jmarchandfantastic, knew you would get there soon the way the past few seasons have looked and the squad you had assembled.

 

Now for the question, who's the better player...Antonio, or Matas!?

[jmarchand]

Il y a 2 heures, aldojags a dit :

@jmarchand

Now for the question, who's the better player...Antonio, or Matas!?

I think that, objectively, Luis Antonio is the better player, but I am way more attached to Daniel Matas, due to the fact that he was a youth product of Dubrovnik and he stayed with us all the way to the end. At one point, I thought I’d get the same kind of player with Harun Açil, he performed great be I couldn’t hold on to him. 

[jmarchand]

Contrary to my GOSK Dubrovnik save last year, I don't think that I will continue on this save, so now would be a good moment to take a step back and look at this year's challenge... 

 

Managing in Turkey

I liked the 3 division setup in the league, offering a few seasons of challenge before getting to the top flight, but in the end, with 2 seasons in each division, it wasn't an overly difficult challenge getting there. The talent pool in Turkey is large enough so that the restriction that you cannot sign a foreign player before reaching the SuperLig Isn't much of a big deal. In the top flight, the rules which are meant to change in the future (a maximum of 5 non-Turksih players) is bugged in the game and it never really gets in effect, despite the warnings in the game. The Turkish diaspora is quite widespread and scouting Germany is especially worthwhile as there are quite a few players with a Turkish second nationality. 

When getting to the SuperLig, breaking in the top 4 of Besitkas, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor in itself is an interesting challenge and does keep the league interesting even when you are involved in European football. Despite my success in the last few years, it really wasn't a cakewalk all the way to the end. 

The league is at the limit of the big ones, so at the point you get these great youngsters, they are going to be poached/unsettled for a while before your club reputation can increase enough so they want to continue with you. 

The prize money is being distributed after each league win/draw, which makes it super interesting and prevents the finances from these large swings that we see in the season. There is quite a good amount of money in the Turkish SuperLig. 

 

An overview of the history of the teams's best players

Here is the Overall best XI in the history of the club. Funny thing that the weird asymmetrical 4-3-1-2 which I started to play with in the 2.League held up all the way to the top. The system stayed and I found players to play through them. 

 

The Srikers

Luis Antônio - much was said about him but he is the epitome of a complete forward, getting roughly as many assists as goals year in year out. 5.5 seasons with us, club legend, and 152 goals and an average rating close to 8. Hard to top that. 

Jair Grisales - He came to Fethiyespor on a free transfer from Colombia and spent a few years being our main man on top. His highlight is a 29 goals season in 2030, but then he got passed by Benjamin Medrano and Luis Antônio, I moved him to Watford where he stayed for 2 seasons, scoring 14 goals in the Premier League in 2033, before coming back to Besitkas and scoring very well (24 and 19 goals) when he came back. It's the first player whom I've sold abroad and then came back to Turkey and performed well. 

Benjamin Medrano - The Chilean youngster didn't stay long with us, played 2.5 seasons, but scoring 30 goals in his first season, which was a great return on investment. For some reason, his development completely stalled and he was passed in the pecking order by a few youngsters who were not holding a Foreign spot, so off to OGC Nice he was for 27M€. Still, 62 goals in 80 apps is quite a good return. 

Zain Al-Din Salman - He is a testament of scouting these lesser known countries, especially when reaching the top flight. He came in from Syria on 425k€ and scored 15 and 19 goals, keeping us alive in the SuperLig when we initially came in. He continued as a rotation option as our reputation increased and allowed us to sign better players and sold him for 6M€ when it was time. 

 

In the Midfield

Arguably, the midfield was really our weakness, we never really got the great midfielder in there. 

Ismail Olgun - Our club's longest servant, signed from Besitkas when we arrived in the SuperLig where he was not making it to the first team. He was a reliable option for us at right wing or DLF, depending on the rest of the squad and he even got a season of 22 goals and 10 assists in 2033, against all odds. Loved the returned that we got from him and was a team leader and a calming force in the locker room. 

Faruk Sari - Loaned in from Trabzonspor in our first season in the SuperLig, then subsequently bought for 400k€, he was a good force in the midfield, attacking from deep and getting anywhere between 7-10 goals across all competitions and always getting an average rating above 7.1. In the end, he left to Galatasaray for 2.4M€ after he was definitely pushed out of the first team (he played only 3 games there). 

Umit Saglam - Found in Frankfurt for 11.75M€, he became a regular in our midfield, either playing a Deep lying playmaker role or sometimes in a more attacking central midfielder role. He belongs there for the Champions League Goal of the Season, the howler shown above which allowed us to beat Real Madrid in that Champions League push. Always scored a few goals, got anywhere between 5-10 assists in the game, he's world class, but I don't think we're using it as much as we can... 

 

At the Back

Yusuf Götkas - Interestingly, he is the only player in that list which was with us in the lower leagues, he was on loan in the 2.League from then 1.League side Ankaragücü and eventually got signed permanently for Fethiyespor. Transferred to Gaziantep, he played 6 games there then retired from football. 

Ender Ak (YP28) - Our only youth prospect in our overall best XI, Ender Ak started playing in the first team at the tender age of 18 and he's been a good presence in the team ever since. He scored 18 league goals, mostly from corners where he was a real force. In 282 games and still playing regularly in the first team, he is set to become the longest-serving player in Fethiyerspor history next year. 

 

 

The Top Youth Prospects

Harun Açil - Class of 2030 - Moved to Liverpool in 2033, after confidently stepping up in our first team and getting some good results in European football. After he moved, he became a regular player in their midfield, with 10 goals and 8 assists this year. He lost in the CL Final this year (yek yek yek). He is a world-class midfielder earning 205k€ per week at only 23 years old. He is going to be awesome. 

Révélation

 

Gürcan Özdemir - Class of 2030 - Moved to Dortmund in 2034 for 22M€, played 3 seasons there and was transferred this year to Manchester United for 93M€ (I had sold my clause of profit for next transfer earlier, though...). He only played one full season for us, in 2032/2033, showed quite a bit of promise but got unsettled when Dortmund showed some interest. 

Révélation

 

[Thebaker]

@jmarchand well done on the CL win, seemed only a matter of time. Turkey seems similar to countries like Portugal and Holland where once you get to the top you can compete in europe and slowly improve the squad to challenge the big leagues.

[Thebaker]

Squad | Table |Transfers

 

The board wanted to reach the playoffs this year and a steady but unspectacular start meant the team were hovering around the playoffs by xmas. With the team short on strikers and goals i brought in Alfredo in Nov and he proved to be the catalyst for the team performances changing going 18 unbeaten until the end of the season and easily making the playoffs. In the playoff semi-final the team were on top but finished 2-2 against Marino after extra time and went though as the higher finishing league team.

In the final against Murcia the team really took their chances well to gain promotion.

In the spanish cup the team went out to L1A Ferrol 1-2 at home in the 1st Rd.

The board offered to set up a b team which i acccepted but didn't realise would cast £500K, as a result the finances are very precarious now and the board reduced the wages allowed to less than the current budget.

The midfield is again the real strength with Morer the best player. Alfredo ended as top scorer.

The youth intake had a number of players with good potential with this one the best player.

Season

League

Position

Spanish Cup

Europe

Top Scorer

Top Assists

Attendance

Training

Youth

Junior

Youth Rec

Notes

2022/23

Federation 2nd Gp3

6th

1st Rd

N/A

Fassani (19)

Morer (11)

2207

Average

Average

Average

Average

2023/24

Federation 2nd Gp3

2nd

1st Rd

N/A

Alfredo (14)

Tito (9)

2185

Average

Average

Average

Average

Promoted

 

 

[Muggert]

Alright... A great season from ST Danilin and he could be a key to go into the group stages in the Champions League.

Sometimes you just get an offer you can't refuse.

Our biggest problem is running out of quality Ukranians for the starting-11. But hopefully we can improve our youth facilities now.

[Muggert]

Champions League here we come!!

Edited May 15, 2022 by Muggert

[aldojags]

Excellent @Muggert, it's a shame to lose a star man but early in the CL days, £40m can be reinvested really well and be good for you in the longterm.

 

Tough group in CL, hopefully you can scrape 3rd?

[Muggert]

9 minutes ago, aldojags said:

Excellent @Muggert, it's a shame to lose a star man but early in the CL days, £40m can be reinvested really well and be good for you in the longterm.

 

Tough group in CL, hopefully you can scrape 3rd?

I hope so.

I invested 16 million in two new Ukrainians. Their prices are really inflated, but they are both starter level at the moment. With development potential of course! 😊

And a new superstar GK came in for 4 million pounds.

I think to build a long term competitive team I need to overpay for the Ukrainian talent and get bargains elsewhere in the world.

And then… If my board would finally rebuild our youth facilities! I could start to match the intake of the big two!

 

[Muggert]

Karpaty Lviv - Ukranian Favbet Liga 32/33

Squad - Competitions - Finances - Transfers

Favbet Liga: 2nd - Kubok Ukrayini: 2nd Rnd - UEFA Champions League: Group Stage

Key players: DC Olteanu - MC Kokhman - AMC Favorov - ST Pylypchuk

Another record point intake for the club. Points wise.

DC Olteanu was a big hit for only 5 million and ST Pylypchuk scored 22 goals in the league and showed a life after Danilin. Pylypchuk has been great for us so far in his career 120 goals in 191 matches.

In the champions league we were in the hunt for 3rd until the last gameday, The cup was a disaster though

Next season:

Shakthar will be storming out the gate this year. No European competitions to think of.

We've continued to build our team but need top talent which are hard to find at the moment.

Even though we have a bunch of capable of playing well we need a top-end player. And probably need to offload a player or two.

[Thebaker]

Squad | Table | Transfers

Started the season quite well and was always midtable with no real danger of going up or down. A poor finish to the season meant the club ended up close to the relegation spots, although i did play a few youngsters. Defensively the team was good but struggled for goals, creating good chances or even getting poor chances on target seemed to be beyond the team. Top scorer Alfredo scored 5 of his 9 goals in 2 games.

In the spanish cup the team were away to Laredo from the spanish federation 2 league. In a game they should have won the team lost 1-2 against a team that got relegated from that league.

The club was finally taken over near the end of the season and the new board took out a loan to clear the deficit but with 29K interest payments per month it won't be long before the finances are poor again. Attendances did rise helped by a sell out for the game against Barca B who are rivals. Training facilities were decreased at the end of the season.

Morer was the best player again closely followed by new signing Pelayo who was responsible for the good defensive showing.

Season

League

Position

Spanish Cup

Europe

Top Scorer

Top Assists

Attendance

Training

Youth

Junior

Youth Rec

Notes

2022/23

Federation 2nd Gp3

6th

1st Rd

N/A

Fassani (19)

Morer (11)

2207

Average

Average

Average

Average

2023/24

Federation 2nd Gp3

2nd

1st Rd

N/A

Alfredo (14)

Tito (9)

2185

Average

Average

Average

Average

Promoted

2024/25

Federation 1st B

13th

1st Rd

N/A

Alfredo (9)

Morer (8)

3332

Adequate

Average

Average

Average

 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by Thebaker

[Muggert]

 

That should help 

[Britrock]

Hyeres 83 FC - 2034/35 season review

This season started so slowly that I was initially worried about relegation after 8 games without a win. Luckily we then hit a purple patch and won 7 of the next 9 which set us up for the second half of the season. A 9-1 humiliation at PSG was the lowpoint, but a few weeks after we started on a 6 game winning run. A couple of defeats (including a 3-2 loss to Monaco with the most insane 94th minute goal to seal the defeat) left our European hopes finely in the balance, but we recovered to go unbeaten over the last 6 games with 5 wins and finished 6th to skip the Europa Conference League and go straight into the Europa League! I had a lot of success in the ECL last year in Greece (one victory and 3 or 4 losing finalists) but it's nice to go straight into the bigger brother of the two.

Spoiler

The squad will need a bit of beefing up to cope with the extra games, and the board have given me ~£8m to achieve that. We weren't too busy in the summer, and in fact quite a few of the players we did buy didn't pan out. Antonio Luis Rey came in to be our new playmaker and was average at best, and other than that we signed mostly squad depth or youngsters. Timon Bonig was an impulse purchase and probably a stupid way to blow £10.5m and set a new transfer record and spent most of the season on the bench behind Nijs and Mubarak but performed well when called upon. He'll be needed more next year with Europe on the schedule. On deadline day I suddenly realised I needed some depth as I had a few players out on extended international duty at AFCON and the Asian Cup so I brought in a few guys to provide better cover than what we had. They did the job required to perfection.

Spoiler

Top performer was Mubarak up front with 13 goals, 4 assists and a mind-bending 7.59 avg rating. He's so good, a 6'4'' athletic freak who's dominant in the air, good with the ball at his feet as well and so consistent. Top scorer was Nijs, who only scored 17 this year but considering it took until the 10th game of the year for him to score, 17 in 24 is a pretty good return! Elias Jelert led the team with 10 assists from right wing back with Nijs and Hartvig both contributing 8 assists (Hartvig also had 9 goals, mostly penalties). At the back Pablo Paz had a great average rating but gave away 3 or 4 penalties through dumb tackles so he's definitely on my watch list. Castellano was solid as always in goal, but is getting a bit nervous about appearing for Spain. He wanted us to win the Coupe de France to help increase the club's reputation (we lost in the quarters to Marseille) but I'm hoping that qualifying for the Europa League will satisfy him. Inter are interested though so I'm a little nervous, especially as he's club captain...

Spoiler

Financially things look a little ropey - the money seems to have dried up a little from our owner and he's not as interested in pumping in as much cash now that all our facilities are better. We're over £9m in debt, although we are building a new stadium so maybe it's a bit unfair to criticise him too much. One more season and we'll get to move in to it, hopefully we'll have expanded the fan base enough by that point to fill it regularly, we seem to have capped out just below 10k avg attendance. Here's hoping a good Europa League run will boost our reputation enough to get more supporters onboard as well as getting more prize money in!

Spoiler

[Muggert]

Things are looking good!

[Britrock]

Considering we're a 4th seed with no prior European experience, this draw turned our rather well for us I think! My rivalry with PAOK from last year is renewed again!

[jmarchand]

Il y a 4 heures, Britrock a dit :

Considering we're a 4th seed with no prior European experience, this draw turned our rather well for us I think! My rivalry with PAOK from last year is renewed again!

 

You got this. For a side from Ligue 1, this feels very much like a workable draw.