[FM22] The Cape Verdean Challenge

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

(With a clear nod to the legendary Sammarinese Challenge)

The Challenge.

Part 1. You have to start as manager of Africanos Bragança (Portuguese club side), and without using the editor or any scouting tools, you have to get to and win both the Primeira Liga and the Champions League.

Part 2. You have to win the World Cup with the Cape Verde National Team.

The basic idea is that you manage both the Africanos Bragança club side, (who, if you are lucky, will get promoted to the Portuguese fourth tier after you holiday a season), and the Cape Verde National Team, using the players produced by an improved club academy to benefit the National Team in a long-term save.

The Club.

From what I can ascertain, Africanos Bragança were only formed in 2000 as a Cape Verdean diaspora student club and have never played higher than at regional level in Portugal (where they will start upon starting a new save). Crucially for the purposes of this challenge, they produce newgens with Cape Verdean nationality! 

Their infrastructure (at least, in FM terms) is weak: adequate training facilities, poor youth facilities and basic youth recruitment. There is much to do here, even to get a single promotion.

The Country.

Although a tiny island nation, Cape Verde’s fortunes are on the rise, as they currently rank 76th in the world, and peaked as high as 27th in 2014. They have qualified for three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations and were close to qualifying for the 2014 World Cup before fielding an ineligible player in a 2-0 win against Tunisia. At the time of writing their all-time appearance holder is Babanco with 62 caps and their all-time top goalscorer is Héldon who found the net 15 times between 2009 and 2015.

Setup.

Fairly relaxed about this, to start with I loaded the Portuguese leagues including the 20 (!) feeder leagues to the fourth tier. I also loaded all players from Cape Verde and African players with national reputation.

Add yourself as an unemployed manager.

Holiday to 1 June 2022, and save.

Holiday to 30 June 2022, and see if Africanos Bragança are one of the 20 teams promoted to the Campeonato de Portugal. If not, reload from 1 June and try again. It took about 6 reloads for Africanos to appear as a promoted club on my save.

If all else fails, I may be able to upload my own 30 June 2022 save file for anyone interested. 

Rules.

The challenge ends if you are sacked by Africanos Bragança before winning the Primeira Liga and/or the Champions League.

The challenge need not end if you are sacked by Cape Verde before winning the World Cup, but I am unsure how likely it is that you would be considered for the national job again.

Otherwise I am fairly flexible on how people might wish to go about this challenge. I started with Sunday league reputation and no badges but that’s just a preference. I will also allow myself to sign players rather than rely solely on academy projects, indeed, this is virtually a prerequisite for all but the most sadistic as the squad you inherit will contain many players who will fall afoul of the league’s strict home-grown criteria. In any case, the challenge requires a strong emphasis on youth development. 

For my own challenge attempt I’d like to think that, in time, I will restrict transfers of non-Cape Verde players (say, no more than four a season) whilst waiting for the academy to become halfway respectable. I also set my nationality to Cape Verdean but again, that’s up to you.

In terms of the national team, I have chosen to wait until I’ve built a bit of a reputation before taking on the job. It is NOT against the rules to "create" a vacancy at NT level by adding a new Manager to the role and then instantly retiring them, though my personal preference would be to take on the role organically.

Final thoughts.

Again, I’m fairly relaxed on how the challenge is approached, since this is likely a decades-long project even for those who afford themselves the maximal benefits. It’s not quite as difficult as the San Marino equivalent, and for that reason I’m genuinely intrigued as to what can be achieved: a Cape Verdean Balon D’or winner? Cape Verde’s first Olympic medal? A heated rivalry with Portugal (both on and off the field given the possibility of dual nationality academy products)?

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Reserved for now.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Start of 2022/23 Season

So the elephant in the room is the possibility of a bug in FM22 that affects youth development. I started on this a week or so ago and would be tempted to restart but for the fact that my save has been really enjoyable so far.

The squad were pretty poor at first glance, requiring a whole raft of signings (many of which I made before realising quite how stringent the rules on home-grown players is in Portugal) but had one particularly useful looking defender in Steven Nascimento. Appropriately he scored the team's first goal of the season from a set piece as the team won their opening game.

Having played every team in our opening group once so far we look like a decent unit and hopefully will not be drawn into a relegation battle even if we do miss out on the top spots. 

The highlight of our unbeaten league start was a ridiculous 5-5 draw with Torcatense where we were 4-2 down at half-time, got it back to 4-4, immediately surrendered our lead again before equalising once more with what was virtually the final kick of the game.

That match was also notable for a 10.0 performance for our standout player so far, Chinese winger Yu  Junwei, who scored one goal and assisted the other four.

Edited November 11, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[Jimbokav1971]

Great idea for a challenge. I would have done this long before now had I knows a club like this was possible. I will be back! 

[OlivierL]

I'll probably start in the youth challenge topic with Africanos, but I have to figure the homegrown situation out. Thanks for mentioning them @Jimbokav1971in your topic.. I knew they were playable but was afraid for the homegrown thing and poor quality of the regens.

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm in 2030 with my Portugese save and I've just looked at Africanos Bragança to see how they are doing. 

They were promoted in 2023/24 but then relegated again immediately to non-playable. 

They were then promoted again last season. 

They are struggling in the league and currently sit 2nd bottom. There is only 1 game left to play and then they will go into a Relegation Stage against 7 other teams who didn't finish in the top 2. They then have to finish outside the bottom 4 to avoid relegation, (and that seems unlikely at the moment). It probably depends on what sort of Relegation Group they get put into. and also what their imminent intake will look like. 

I've just started playing in March 2030 so their intake is imminent. If it's ok with @Joy_in_LeeuwardenI'm going to post their intake here, (including CA/PA), but I will spoiler it so it's hidden for those who don't want to see it. It will at least give us an idea of what the club will produce. 

This is the CA/PA of all the (CPV) at the club in my save. (They are all Newgens so no info being spilled here. It's just to give you an idea of what sort of standard of player you are likely to inherit. 

Spoiler

Just to act as a comparison here are the non (CPV) players in the squad. 

It's pretty obvious that the (CPV) players are pretty limited in comparison to their (POR) counterparts. 

The Youth intake isn't far away so I'm not going to post this yet. I will hold off to add in the Youth Intake and then post. another spoiler below containing the Youth Intake CA/PA info. 

My 1st instinct is that it's not possible to do this with a Youth Only save because the quality of the (CPV) players is reduced by too much, but if it was easy everyone would be doing it right?  

Spoiler

This is really unusual and there are a few things to note here. 

1. The intake doesn't happen in March as happens in other Portugese clubs. The intake happens either in mid-April, (2024, 2027 & 2028 intakes), or the end of Jun, ( 2023 & 2030 intakes).

2. The 2028 intakes saw 5 players signed from the intake, with all 5 having (POR) as a 1st Nationality and (CPV) as a Secondary Nationality. All other visible players from all other intakes show as just (CPV). 

3. The ages of the players are wrong. They should be young teenagers, but they are coming through aged 26 & 27 in some cases. The whole thing is really strange. 

4. We know the CA and PA is going to be lower for (CPV) players than it is for (POR) players, (at least I would have thought so), but that doesn't seem to make a difference here. 

5. The players from the most recent intake only have PA's of about 50(ish), but they also have CA's of a similar level. Is that related to their age?  The whole thing is a little strange. 

I hope nobody minds that I posted that in here and apologies if you do. If it's a big problem for anyone then let me know and I will delete the more sensitive parts. 

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

@Jimbokav1971 Wow, that does not sound good. And this issue is on a completely new non-beta save presumably. 

Well, the second half of the opening phase of the season is not going particularly well, but I'm not far off finding out about my own intake. If the ages of the intake are comparable to yours that basically makes the save unworkable, at least until the club's facilities improve. But I'll persevere for now.

[Thebaker]

i think @Jimbokav1971 youth intakes are due to that not being a playable club before and the intake making up the numbers, hence an intake in jun with older players in 23 and 30. the ones in 24 would have been 16 at that time.

I am playing as africanos and 4 years intakes are as normal (14 players aged 15-16 each year about 16 apr) I don't know the pa but they look poor in most years.

Edited November 13, 2021 by Thebaker

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Ah, cheers!

[Jimbokav1971]

55 minutes ago, Joy_in_Leeuwarden said:

@Jimbokav1971 Wow, that does not sound good. And this issue is on a completely new non-beta save presumably. 

Well, the second half of the opening phase of the season is not going particularly well, but I'm not far off finding out about my own intake. If the ages of the intake are comparable to yours that basically makes the save unworkable, at least until the club's facilities improve. But I'll persevere for now.

 

12 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

i think @Jimbokav1971 youth intakes are due to that not being a playable club before and the intake making up the numbers, hence an intake in jun with older players in 23 and 30. the ones in 24 would have been 16 at that time.

I am playing as africanos and 4 years intakes are as normal (14 players aged 15-16 each year about 16 apr) I don't know the pa but they look poor in most years.

1. No it's not a new save. It's continued on from the Beta. 

2. I think @Thebakermight be correct about the older players being as a result of them coming through when the club was in a non-active league, however the club is currently in it's 2nd season in a playable league over the course of this save. The 1st Season was 2023/24 and the intake comes at the end of the season so that would have been the 2024 intake.... They are aged... 22, 21, 22, 21 & 22 so that fits in with his thinking.  It doesn't fit in with the 2030 intake and I'm not sure..... oh hang on. I might have called them the 2030 intake, but they actually came through in 2029 so the 2030 intake actually hasn't arrived yet, (because it's at the very end of the season). That makes sense now. 

3. I will have a look in Jun 2030 and see what this next intake is like, but I expect it to be more of what we have seen before, (with max PA's of approx 50). 

I don't think this stops the challenge from being possible, (although very hard with Youth Only). I think it depends on how a Nations Youth rating is impacted. We know it's fluid now, but how do you change it. Is it domestic structure performances in Continental competition, (club coefficient), or is it National side performances, (Nation coefficient), a mix of the 2 or something else completely. 

I think what made the San Marino challenge a little easier is that not all the players produced were (SMR) Nationality and many of them who were, were dual (SMR) (ITA) Nationality, This allowed players to be taken from the pool of other Nations where the Youth Rating was higher. 

I still think this is possible, (theoretically even playing Youth Only), but it's going to be a tough old slog. Good luck to anyone who gives it a serious go. This is @Makoto Nakamuraterritory. 

[OlivierL]

12 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I'm in 2030 with my Portugese save and I've just looked at Africanos Bragança to see how they are doing. 

They were promoted in 2023/24 but then relegated again immediately to non-playable. 

They were then promoted again last season. 

They are struggling in the league and currently sit 2nd bottom. There is only 1 game left to play and then they will go into a Relegation Stage against 7 other teams who didn't finish in the top 2. They then have to finish outside the bottom 4 to avoid relegation, (and that seems unlikely at the moment). It probably depends on what sort of Relegation Group they get put into. and also what their imminent intake will look like. 

I've just started playing in March 2030 so their intake is imminent. If it's ok with @Joy_in_LeeuwardenI'm going to post their intake here, (including CA/PA), but I will spoiler it so it's hidden for those who don't want to see it. It will at least give us an idea of what the club will produce. 

This is the CA/PA of all the (CPV) at the club in my save. (They are all Newgens so no info being spilled here. It's just to give you an idea of what sort of standard of player you are likely to inherit. 

  Reveal hidden contents

Just to act as a comparison here are the non (CPV) players in the squad. 

It's pretty obvious that the (CPV) players are pretty limited in comparison to their (POR) counterparts. 

The Youth intake isn't far away so I'm not going to post this yet. I will hold off to add in the Youth Intake and then post. another spoiler below containing the Youth Intake CA/PA info. 

My 1st instinct is that it's not possible to do this with a Youth Only save because the quality of the (CPV) players is reduced by too much, but if it was easy everyone would be doing it right?  

  Reveal hidden contents

This is really unusual and there are a few things to note here. 

1. The intake doesn't happen in March as happens in other Portugese clubs. The intake happens either in mid-April, (2024, 2027 & 2028 intakes), or the end of Jun, ( 2023 & 2030 intakes).

2. The 2028 intakes saw 5 players signed from the intake, with all 5 having (POR) as a 1st Nationality and (CPV) as a Secondary Nationality. All other visible players from all other intakes show as just (CPV). 

3. The ages of the players are wrong. They should be young teenagers, but they are coming through aged 26 & 27 in some cases. The whole thing is really strange. 

4. We know the CA and PA is going to be lower for (CPV) players than it is for (POR) players, (at least I would have thought so), but that doesn't seem to make a difference here. 

5. The players from the most recent intake only have PA's of about 50(ish), but they also have CA's of a similar level. Is that related to their age?  The whole thing is a little strange. 

I hope nobody minds that I posted that in here and apologies if you do. If it's a big problem for anyone then let me know and I will delete the more sensitive parts. 

I was talking with @Joy_in_Leeuwarden and told him that the starting squad in combination with the poor youth intakes makes it impossible to do a youth only. Because u can't survive with this squad in the first season(s). Maybe i'm wrong.. then i come back to this challenge at a later stage. Did a third holiday now and the three intakes had a lower attribute average as in my gibraltar first seasons.

Edited November 13, 2021 by OlivierL

[Thebaker]

3 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

 

 

I don't think this stops the challenge from being possible, (although very hard with Youth Only). I think it depends on how a Nations Youth rating is impacted. We know it's fluid now, but how do you change it. Is it domestic structure performances in Continental competition, (club coefficient), or is it National side performances, (Nation coefficient), a mix of the 2 or something else completely. 

As you have the editor i assume, perhaps you could look and see if Cape Verde youth rating has changed from the start, pre game editor has it at 46.

With Africanos i don't know if the youth rating is taken from Portugal or Cape Verde, i imagine its Portugal as this is where the club is based

[Jimbokav1971]

14 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

As you have the editor i assume, perhaps you could look and see if Cape Verde youth rating has changed from the start, pre game editor has it at 46.

With Africanos i don't know if the youth rating is taken from Portugal or Cape Verde, i imagine its Portugal as this is where the club is based

Oriental Dragon are a Portugese team that get Chinese newgens. The low quality of their Newgens makes me thing that the Youth rating is take from the Nation of the player in question rather than the Nation of the club. 

That would seem to be backed up by the lower PA of the (CPV) players coming through at Africanos. 

The (CPV) Youth rating is 46 again in FM22

[Thebaker]

6 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Oriental Dragon are a Portugese team that get Chinese newgens. The low quality of their Newgens makes me thing that the Youth rating is take from the Nation of the player in question rather than the Nation of the club. 

That would seem to be backed up by the lower PA of the (CPV) players coming through at Africanos. 

The (CPV) Youth rating is 46 again in FM22

might be worth looking at other clubs at that level, comparing with ones with poor facilities like Africanos which is almost at the lowest point barely above 3 for all youth (poor, basic and basic) and a poor rep at the start.

My last intake was a bit better as my rep has grown (now 2 stars and national) but the facilities were the same. Pina was wanted by TND in the top division and is now 5 stars potential six months later, other 5 star potential players at the club are rated as 2nd div or prem division potential.  A current 4 star player is a good championship player.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Well, if nothing else, this save has yielded my latest-ever immediate equaliser

 

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

A rubbish second half of the opening stage means we'll enter the relegation playoffs. The whole campaign went awry after a missed penalty against Pedras Salgadas, a game we dominated but somehow lost due to a late long range strike. In fact, many of the goals we've conceded have been from distance. 

 

Quite a weird look to the final stage, with us finishing third from bottom but ten points ahead of the seventh placed team and losing no more than any of the other teams in the group. Hopefully this bodes well for the relegation playoffs. 

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[Thebaker]

In 4 seasons thats as close a group as i've seen, 2 teams have always run away with the 1st stage in my save, in only 1 year did 2nd not get 29+ points. The relegation stage should be easier but is very tough due to the playing schedule, every 3 days rather than 2-3 weeks so rotation becomes necessary.

[bigmattb28]

Love stuff like this in FM. I'd deffo be up for giving it a crack but I'm too immersed in my current save. Will do it eventually though. Following to see how you all do.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

2023 Youth Intake

After what seems like an age I have my first intake of youth players and the verdict is...they're fine. Not going to push us to a higher level but have a chance in the fourth tier, which is a pretty poor standard of football all told. Some of our best players this season (Nascimento, Baessa) were generated in-game so on that basis we should have a few who will go on to to play next season or beyond.

The most notable four are:

Shame about the low determination, but hopefully I can fine that out of him.

If nothing else 6 foot 4 + that jumping reach should only add to our set piece prowess.

Silva won't be too far off the first team next season.

Instantly one of the fastest players at the club.

Edited November 18, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

On 14/11/2021 at 14:12, Thebaker said:

In 4 seasons thats as close a group as i've seen, 2 teams have always run away with the 1st stage in my save, in only 1 year did 2nd not get 29+ points. The relegation stage should be easier but is very tough due to the playing schedule, every 3 days rather than 2-3 weeks so rotation becomes necessary.

It's been tough, but at least all the other teams are running on empty too.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

For all the talk of the possible poor quality of youth players, it's quite something seeing your 15 year old striker chip the keeper to round off a four goal debut. Never seen anything quite like it!

Edited November 17, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[robterrace]

The away kit here isn't 100% accurate, but, here you go.

 

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

1 hour ago, robterrace said:

The away kit here isn't 100% accurate, but, here you go.

 

Ah that's great, thanks! @OlivierLpointed out to me that they also have some day-glo yellow/green kit (very 2017) as posted on their Instagram, but I'm a fan of the simple red/white scheme.

[Thebaker]

fernandes has had more impact  in 1 game than 4 years of my youth players, although my better PA youths have had poor starting CA and poor personalities which hasn't helped.

[robterrace]

1 hour ago, Joy_in_Leeuwarden said:

Ah that's great, thanks! @OlivierLpointed out to me that they also have some day-glo yellow/green kit (very 2017) as posted on their Instagram, but I'm a fan of the simple red/white scheme.

Not been able to find their Insta, but, I can do that as well as an alternative choice.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

2 hours ago, Thebaker said:

fernandes has had more impact  in 1 game than 4 years of my youth players, although my better PA youths have had poor starting CA and poor personalities which hasn't helped.

I am intrigued as to why both this years intake players and the likes of Nascimento who were generated when Africanos got promoted seem above average in relation to the rest of the squad. It couldn't be linked to me having all players from Cape Verde loaded, could it? 

1 hour ago, robterrace said:

Not been able to find their Insta, but, I can do that as well as an alternative choice.

No worries, the ones you've made will stand the test of time and also match the 3d kits. Massive thanks once again!

[Thebaker]

53 minutes ago, Joy_in_Leeuwarden said:

I am intrigued as to why both this years intake players and the likes of Nascimento who were generated when Africanos got promoted seem above average in relation to the rest of the squad. It couldn't be linked to me having all players from Cape Verde loaded, could it? 

 

My first few intakes were in the beta but the quality since the full game came out has been better. They have started with a higher CA it seems, 1 or 1.5 stars rather than 2 or 3 silver stars. Reputation may also play a part in better intakes.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Season 1: 2022/23

League:

Spoiler

Fixtures:

Spoiler

Having been slightly unlucky in finishing 6th in the opening stage, we comfortably avoided relegation in the second phase and were really starting to gel as the season drew to a close, finally delivering a couple of often-promised thrashings.

Taça de Portugal:

Won our first game against GC Alcobaça before being knocked out by a 120th minute goal against second tier Académico de Viseu, who got all the way to the sixth round before they were beaten by Benfica.

Standout Performers:

Yu Junwei

Spoiler

Being reasonably good at crossing and corners will be enough at this level but the 22 year old Chinese winger also delivered 6 important goals.

Evandro Lopes

Spoiler

A very solid defender who I mostly chose to play in the middle alongside...

Steven Nascimento

Spoiler

A promising season for the young captain of the team, we'll be working on his heading next time round.

Best Youth Prospect:

André Fernandes

Spoiler

He only played 4 games and that was enough to make him our joint top scorer in the league. If he develops effectively he should hit double figures next season.

Season Summary

Any Other Business:

Very exciting news!

Next Season: 

Another season of consolidation, with the younger players starting to find their feet a bit more I would hope. Would also really like to turn some of those many draws into wins.

Progress:

Edited November 18, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[Thebaker]

@Joy_in_Leeuwarden Well done on the first season, you are having a very different game to me, in 4 seasons none of my defenders have averaged that high and the board will not improve anything.

How did you get the right names for the league?

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

I had a new board elected just a couple of months into the save, perhaps I just struck lucky.

I just downloaded the real name fix file that appeared on sortitoutsi about an hour after the beta was released, I think it's since been updated but it might only work with new saves?

Edited November 18, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[bigmattb28]

14 minutes ago, Joy_in_Leeuwarden said:

I had a new board elected just a couple of months into the save, perhaps I just struck lucky.

I just downloaded the real name fix file that appeared on sortitoutsi about an hour after the beta was released, I think it's since been updated but it might only work with new saves?

Yep, new saves only bro

[robterrace]

There is a way of updating it for saved games, but it involves a bit of messing about with .edt files.

[Phelix]

Hey guys, I know it's of no use to you but in my Ultimate Manager save I have just set a new transfer record for a Cape Verde player, spending over 50million GBP on Edilson Cabral so I thought I'd show what my game has produced, I'm currently in 2029.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

1 hour ago, Phelix said:

Hey guys, I know it's of no use to you but in my Ultimate Manager save I have just set a new transfer record for a Cape Verde player, spending over 50million GBP on Edilson Cabral so I thought I'd show what my game has produced, I'm currently in 2029.

Yes please!

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

 

Start of 2023/24 Season

The board simply refuse to allow me to get that first coaching badge. All the same, they've agreed me to boost the junior coaching budget for a second year in a row.

It's been a good start since Merelinense, Limianos and (in my opinion!) Vianense are all quality sides. Hoping as a minimum we can win three of our final seven in the second half to improve on last season's showing.

As you can see, we've become masters of the late goal. We should have beaten Cerveira were were playing with ten men for much of the second half. The win against Limianos was the the best performance of the save so far as we were 2-0 down inside 15 minutes. A deserved thrashing by Merelinense seems more like the outlier than those three consecutive wins, thankfully.  

Seemingly everyone in-game was convinced he'd be rubbish, and the supporters were furious, but my best summer signing has been Isaac Cissé, he's the perfect foil as pressing forward for the 16 year old Fernandes and has even scored a few vital goals himself. Sometimes you just need a (comparatively) strong but limited two-star player to get the best out of a side.

[XaW]

I gave this club a go a few years back, but never got it to work, but now I'm trying again. I'm running this in parallel with the youth challenge, so I'll only take over the Cape Verdean national team when (if) I win the CL (if I get offered the job!). I hope this is allowed, and if not, then please let me know, and I'll vacate the thread!

Just taken over the club and will have to survive a few season with the starting line of players while waiting for newgens to appear.

[XaW]

Oh, and perhaps it was obvious, but if not, I'll be playing by the rules of the youth challenge (until completion) since they are stricter than the ones here.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Good luck! As you can tell, it takes me ages to get through a season so you'll overtake me in no time, especially with no transfer decisions to make. And absolutely, winning the CL before taking on the NT job is fine with me, I tried to allow maximum flexibility for people to take this challenge on as they wished.

[XaW]

 

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2022/23 - Campeonato Nacional Prio

Table | Relegation stage | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Well, this is quite the challenge, I'll tell you that! The match day squad needs at least 13 players who are "trained in Portugal"! Guess what most of my players aren't? So I had to use a lot of greys this season. The next issue? Players don't have this distinction when they come in through the youth intake. The positive is that 7 of them will be eligible for this in September next season, so a bit into the season we might not have to use grey players anymore. The rest will need yet another season to get it.

The initial phase went well enough, but we were not part of the top two (plus best 3rds) to go into the promotion stage. So our 5th spot meant we went into the relegation phase. 8 teams who play each other twice and the 4 worst go down (and out of the leagues). We fought hard and eventually finished 4th in our group and will get to play another season at this level.

I also seem to have a good board. They have given me several coaching licenses, as well as agreeing to improve both youth coaching and youth recruitment two times each!

Taça de Portugal: We lost on pens to Sabugal in the 1st round.

Player of the season: Bilimbota - The striker was more of less the only thing we had close to a threat on goal.

Youth intake:

As usual in the lower leagues, all 5 star potential. Still, at this time, I'd take whatever I can get.

Very highly rated by the staff, and I agree. My only gripe is that he is a bit short and not got great jumping. Hope he grows a bit.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

Trophy cabinet

N/A

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Well, we scraped through to the promotion playoffs (seriously, look at that goal difference. Honestly not sure how we placed higher than Limianos - because we put 3 past them in the away fixture?) even if the second half of the season felt a bit flat. We continued our habit of scoring late on and that late winner against Vidago epitomised what I'm choosing to believe is a resilient squad personality.

I'm glad we're now staying up, because I cannot see us having a chance in the promotion group. We couldn't lay a glove on Merelinense (who only conceded 4 goals in their 14 matches!) and this might be the case with most of the teams we'll be facing over the next three months.

Further good news is that the board have again agreed to bump my youth recruitment up another level. That 125 caps, 1,000 career goals wonderkid is surely just around the corner.

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2023/24 - Campeonato Nacional Prio

Table | Relegation stage | Squad | Transfers | Finances

This is really not an easy challenge, I can tell you that! We got 8 more players trained for the league this season, but the quality is very variable. And it also means I can use the original players quite sparingly. A few months into next season a new batch of players should be eligible, so I hope this issue is a thing of the past when we are well into next season.

We had a good season in the initial stage, as we ended on 24 points, 2 more than the first one. It still was a bit away from going into the promotion stage. In the relegation stage we did better than last time, and finished in a strong 3rd place to secure another season.

The board continues to be nice to me, and I now have a National A license done. They have so far refused the continental ones though. I also have more improvements to the junior coaching and youth recruitment. Towards the end of the season, I even got an improvement to the youth facilities accepted and it will be done over the summer.

Taça de Portugal: We beat Oriental Lisboa before we lost to Felgueiras 1932 in the 2nd round.

Player of the season: Tiago Monteiro - The defender had a strong season for us, and really helped us to stay up.

Youth intake:

The intake this season was a really strong one after we had the improvements done last season.

A good and versatile midfielder I hope we can get good use of.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

Trophy cabinet

N/A

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Very envious of you being allowing you to get your licenses. I can't get anywhere! In fact I'm not even allowed to question the board when they say no, even though I've been able to argue about other things like junior coaching.

Got my second intake today, and was quite alarmed when I compared last year's prospects to where they are now...

Edited November 25, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

2024 Youth Intake

We've had a couple of upgrades on the youth front but there is certainly no promise of instant results. I hope that there's one or two here who can make some impact in the years ahead, but frankly it seems like a fairly weak intake.

This year's most notable prospects are:

I'm looking to bolster options in central midfield, although he might also be one of our best wingers. Look at that dribbling and flair! That's advanced by our standards.

Would have been great if either his passing or tackling could have been a little better, but work rate and teamwork attributes should give him a chance of being a reasonable defensive midfielder.

Not sure how useful he'll be, but that's a very high bravery attribute at least.

The greater worry is how much last year's intake has regressed. André Fernandes might have made an impact on the pitch and gained a net 7 attribute points overall, but his finishing stat has dropped. More worryingly, last year's promising centre-back Nélson Furtado has almost completely collapsed, losing net 17 across his attributes! I've not seen a first year decline like that before. With that in mind, it's even harder to be upbeat about the new intake, but we'll see what happens.

Edited November 26, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[XaW]

11 hours ago, Joy_in_Leeuwarden said:

Very envious of you being allowing you to get your licenses. I can't get anywhere! In fact I'm not even allowed to question the board when they say no, even though I've been able to argue about other things like junior coaching.

Got my second intake today, and was quite alarmed when I compared last year's prospects to where they are now...

Yeah, the board just accepted the licenses up until I had completed the National A, so very happy about that.

We keep making money currently, probably at least partially because I haven't brought in anyone. I've also kept the majority of the players on their current contract (only a few have gotten new ones). I've had to use some greys every season so far though, due to the lack of Portugal-trained players. Hopefully, I'm past that hurdle in September when the next major batch of players get the home-grown distinction!

Improving the junior coaching and youth recruitment seems to have had a great impact on the intake, at least so far.

I have noticed that a lot of the players keep gaining Portuguese 2nd nationality because they want to be EU-nationals. An understandable reasoning, but I still hope the greatest talents will choose Cape Verde when they are good enough for the national team, rather than try out for Portugal. Guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it!

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2024/25 - Campeonato Nacional Prio

 Table  | Promotion Stage | Squad | Transfers | Finances

For the first time ever we avoided the relegation stage after we had a strong initial phase. We finished 2nd place with a single point down to two other teams. So a very close call, but we clinched it on the final day with a draw away to Fafe. In the promotion stage we were a bit out of our league, and finished rock bottom in our group. We only won two of our 14 games in the latter stage, so the step up from the initial phase was quite big. Still, it's a step in the right direction, and I hope we can do the same in the coming years.

Our youth facility upgrade was done before the season started, and I've asked for more, but no cigar yet. I did get an improvement in both junior coaching and youth recruitment, and those improvements are really good and should continue to give us better players in the coming years.

Taça de Portugal: We beat Estarreje before we managed to keep 2nd tier side Feirense to a draw through extra time before we finally felt defeat on penalties.

Player of the season: Wilson Fernandes 24f - The young defender had a great season for us. Surprisingly few problematic attributes for his age.

Youth intake:

Another strong intake, and it seems to show our investments are worth it.

Carlos Tavares 25a is a very nice winger. Pacey, good crossing and nice technique is a rare combination at this level.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

Trophy cabinet

N/A

[Bristol CityFC1981]

Gonna start this later. How many re loads did people have to do before they came up?

[XaW]

26 minutes ago, Bristol CityFC1981 said:

Gonna start this later. How many re loads did people have to do before they came up?

I reloaded for about 30 times, I think. Heard others had it much easier, but since it's (semi) random, you can get lucky or unlucky.

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2025/26 - Campeonato Nacional Prio

Table | Promotion Stage | Squad | Transfers | Finances

We keep improving, but we are still a few players away from promotion, I think. The strikers are probably the position we have the most need for. Our options are not horrible, but they are a bit lacking compared to the best teams in the league. We reached the promotion stage again this season after a good initial phase were we finished 2nd again. The improvements showed in that we didn't finish bottom of the promotion stage this time around. Still, we were quite far away from a realistic chance of promotion yet.

No improvements to the club this season, in fact the training facilities got downgraded! But the board agreed to more licenses. I completed the Continental C, and are current working on B.

Taça de Portugal: We beat Mirandela before we lost to Louletano in the 2nd round.

Player of the season: Wilson Fernandes 24f - He is the best player at the club, I think, and had another very strong season.

Youth intake:

A really good intake with some very good players!

The markings of a playmaker if I ever saw one. The Cape Verdean Xavi!

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

Trophy cabinet

N/A

[OlivierL]

4 hours ago, Bristol CityFC1981 said:

Gonna start this later. How many re loads did people have to do before they came up?

i'm tired of reloading for teams like them because i never get what i wanted.. but Braganca came up after one attempt

[XaW]

7 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

i'm tired of reloading for teams like them because i never get what i wanted.. but Braganca came up after one attempt

Make sure it's Africanos, and not the regular Braganca!