[FM23] - sexy football in Saxony - Eintracht Braunschweig FC

[karanhsingh]

And on another note, probably the best piece of news so far in the save!

I rarely stay at clubs long enough in FM to see a new stadium being built, so I am glad we are able to make it happen here. Although I hope 2027 is the date of delivery and not planning 

[Hootieleece]

DOF's sometimes find gems. I use mine to fill out the U-21's and after training some do make it to the first team.  I haven't gotten anyone as good as Kuol.

[KlaaZ]

That Austrian kid looks really good potentially!

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Hootieleece said:

DOF's sometimes find gems. I use mine to fill out the U-21's and after training some do make it to the first team.  I haven't gotten anyone as good as Kuol.

Yes and i find them particularly useful for loans

25 minutes ago, KlaaZ said:

That Austrian kid looks really good potentially!

Here's hoping!

[karanhsingh]

Here's the winter report from the 2025-26 season:

So we started off well, but then have had some poor results too. Overall, it's been a bit inconsistent for my liking. However we are maintaining our spot in the Champions League places, again partially due to other sides not doing as well as expected, this time including Dortmund.

Player performance wise, Kuol has been on fire so far already scoring 15 goals and making up for Guessand not being there. Millot has also picked up where he left off. However, the defense has not been too solid, and some of the better performers from last season in Miladenovic and Papela have been particularly disappointing.

[karanhsingh]

Also had a curious news item pop up -

This has to be some sort of bug - we sell out every single Bundesliga game but barely average 11-12k in the Champions League (!!) that too against the likes of Real Madrid. Go figure.

[warlock]

31 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

it's been a bit inconsistent for my liking

"Inconsistent" would be the right word, I think. Plenty of time to sort it out, though.

Kuol looks incredible.

[karanhsingh]

19 minutes ago, warlock said:

"Inconsistent" would be the right word, I think. Plenty of time to sort it out, though.

Kuol looks incredible.

Spoiler alert - the inconsistency remains consistent 

End of season update up soon!

[Hootieleece]

4 hours ago, warlock said:

Kuol looks incredible.

I looked up Kuol in my save good stats but I am not sure I want him leading the line. (He's a little short from my point of view).  I think he could make a great IF, Ramdeuter, AMC, Treq, Shadow Striker

[autohoratio]

8 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Also had a curious news item pop up -

This has to be some sort of bug - we sell out every single Bundesliga game but barely average 11-12k in the Champions League (!!) that too against the likes of Real Madrid. Go figure.

Probably UEFA comps requiring all-seaters so standing tickets can't be sold

https://www.transfermarkt.com/eintracht-braunschweig/stadion/verein/23

Quote

Name of stadium:    EINTRACHT-Stadion
Total capacity:    23.325
Standing room:    10.675
including 10.675 covered
Seats:    12.650
including 12.650 covered

FM doesn't seem to have implemented upgrading to convertible rail seating yet

[Jogo Bonito]

Very impressive form in 2025/26, that's a really healthy position to be in. Agree, shame about the stadium attendance issues.

[karanhsingh]

9 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

I looked up Kuol in my save good stats but I am not sure I want him leading the line. (He's a little short from my point of view).  I think he could make a great IF, Ramdeuter, AMC, Treq, Shadow Striker

Yes he's definitely not an all rounder. But is quite deadly with his pace. 

5 hours ago, autohoratio said:

Probably UEFA comps requiring all-seaters so standing tickets can't be sold

https://www.transfermarkt.com/eintracht-braunschweig/stadion/verein/23

FM doesn't seem to have implemented upgrading to convertible rail seating yet

Ah, i think that's a very good point! Thanks for clearing it up. 

5 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Very impressive form in 2025/26, that's a really healthy position to be in. Agree, shame about the stadium attendance issues.

Cheers mate!

[karanhsingh]

This time, the winter transfer window ended up being busier than expected. Our Colombian scout Juan Pablo Angel had been busy in his home country finding some absolute gems. We scooped up a couple of them from Medellin. Particularly with Andrade, we had to move quick as his contract was expiring soon and some of the bigger clubs were sniffing around. But as you can see, he looks pretty incredible!

On the outs front - we say goodbye to both Ihorst & Cacatalua who were not getting much game-time anymore. Ada has been really disappointing so he returns to his home-town club for a short loan spell. Will have to re-evaluate his position at the end of the season.

Here is the afore-mentioned Vicente Andrade - immediately termed as a wonderkid on joining the club. Has all the makings of a world class center half.

And his compatriot Juan Sebastian Clavijo - not quite at the same level but could also turn out to be a find, particularly with that determination and flair.

 

[karanhsingh]

And to wrap up the season, here are the fixtures from the second half:

Unfortunately, it was more of the same it terms of maddening inconsistency. I don't think we could ever go into a single game confident that we will dominate the opposition and win it. We are capable of doing a double over Dortmund but failing to win either game against bottom side Hertha. Also capable of conceding 4 goals in consecutive away games at mid-table teams like Werder and Schalke.

For the last 2 months, we actually switched formations from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2, in an attempt to arrest the poor form as well as be able to field both our star strikers on the pitch together. It did lead to a slight upturn in form, which gives me a decision to make for the coming season in terms of what our base formation will be.

Anyhow, the end result of the above fixture list is that we did eventually drop out of the champions league places, finishing 5th this time around, albeit with a higher points tally than last season (61 compared to 56 last season).

I actually do think though that the team would be better off competing in the Europa at this stage rather than the Champions League. But that being said, I would really like to find some more consistency in our play next season.

Player performance wise, the best have been the two strikers - Kuol and Guessand - even though Kuol had a dramatic drop off in the second half of the season. Enzo Millot enjoyed a successful campaign after joining us, finishing top of the assists chart with 15. Tonio Teklic continues to out-perform his attributes in midfield.

The defense it has to be said was a bit of a disaster this season, and I cannot really pinpoint why. Even new Colombian wonderkid Andrade has had a very slow start to life in Germany. I thought bringing in a solid DM in Breithaupt would shore things up but it has not been the case. Our other wonderkid El Sheiwi also had a quiet season this time around with just the 3 assists.

[Hootieleece]

Players need longer to settle in now I think. Your last month of the season was good except for the draw against Hertha.

[karanhsingh]

2 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Players need longer to settle in now I think. Your last month of the season was good except for the draw against Hertha.

Yes, that would be more realistic as well tbf. 

[karanhsingh]

Two years and we will have ourselves a new stadium!

[karanhsingh]

The summer of 2026 has been another busy one, with several ins and outs.

We actually broke the club record for biggest sale, with the transfer of Bodskov to Villa. He moves without ever playing a game for us. Seems like a good young player, but if we do move to a 4-4-2 he would not get much game time.

Now in terms of the ins - as usual I will profile only the main ones.

First and foremost, delighted to get last season's top scorer in on a free transfer (albeit at high wages) since his contract at Newcastle was up.

We have a new #1 in Finn Dahmen. On analysis, I realized that our keeper was a major weakness last year, and we have traded him for one of the keepers with the highest save rates in the division.

Another move to strengthen the defense, Tarek Buchmann signs from Leverkusen and he will probably partner Andrade at the back for us.

Jessic Ngankam is someone I had scouted for a while - he is a great all-rounder physically and should provide a good option up front.

Quadri Bassey was picked up by our African scouts and seems like quite a promising youngster with very strong mentals.

And finally Lion Operi from one of my favorite youth academies in the game in ASEC - he will provide competition for the right back role.

[karanhsingh]

I turned down/ pulled out of two massive moves this summer - Siemen and Schraml.

Siemen is a top quality keeper as @Carambau knows only too well, but ultimately I did not think Braunschweig spending 25m on a keeper would be realistic at this point in the save.

Luc Schraml looks like possibly the best German new-gen in the game, we had agreed a structured deal with 30m up front and another 40m over time. Again however I cancelled the move due to realism.

[Jogo Bonito]

Always got to be good to pick up your previous top scorer on a free. We have one of Kuol's brothers at Stuttgart (2nd team) and there is a third brother who is worth keeping an eye on too. All three were good young prospects in Australia. 

Of your transfers, I rate Dahmen and if I didn't have Seimen lurking in the background, I would have picked him up on a free transfer at the end of season 1. Decent IRL and expect him to do well for you in goal. I also have Ngankam and Walde on my shortlist, both have potential to do well in my opinion. Buchmann isn't somebody who had come on my radar at all. 

Good news on the stadium, the funding strategy doesn't sound too painful.

[karanhsingh]

4 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Always got to be good to pick up your previous top scorer on a free. We have one of Kuol's brothers at Stuttgart (2nd team) and there is a third brother who is worth keeping an eye on too. All three were good young prospects in Australia. 

Of your transfers, I rate Dahmen and if I didn't have Seimen lurking in the background, I would have picked him up on a free transfer at the end of season 1. Decent IRL and expect him to do well for you in goal. I also have Ngankam and Walde on my shortlist, both have potential to do well in my opinion. Buchmann isn't somebody who had come on my radar at all. 

Good news on the stadium, the funding strategy doesn't sound too painful.

Thanks! I had never heard about Buchmann either till we just came across him. As for Walde we already had him on loan last season so aware that he is solid if unspectacular. 

[13th Man]

Definitely a lot of good additions and I appreciate you’re going for realism.

Think I had Finn Dahman as a very capable cup keeper a few years back and he looks better in this version - very solid.

[karanhsingh]

4 hours ago, 13th Man said:

Definitely a lot of good additions and I appreciate you’re going for realism.

Think I had Finn Dahman as a very capable cup keeper a few years back and he looks better in this version - very solid.

Cheers mate - yes i want us to slowly build to the point where we are able to make 20-30m type signings even if we technically already have the funds. 

[SixPointer]

I like that you kept you signings as realistic as possible. Fair play cause it’s hard to knock back big deals especially when the players are out of this world. 

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, SixPointer said:

I like that you kept you signings as realistic as possible. Fair play cause it’s hard to knock back big deals especially when the players are out of this world. 

Thanks - and yes definitely want to try and get Schaml in at some point in the future!

[Hootieleece]

21 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Cheers mate - yes i want us to slowly build to the point where we are able to make 20-30m type signings even if we technically already have the funds. 

That is what I am trying to do in Preston, this season I had to break the bank and spend a record ($3.4M) for a goalkeeper during the preseason. (spoiler)

II think that my budget is the thing that keeps me from going truly wild in the transfer market.

[Carambau]

All of your new signings look good and for the future, and especially Dahmen is a very good signing in goal  

Schraml looks fantastic too, I hope you will be able to sign him in the near future before he gets unaffordable...

Looking forward to the new season  

Edited May 15, 2023 by Carambau

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Carambau said:

All of your new signings look good and for the future, and especially Dahmen is a very good signing in goal  

Schraml looks fantastic too, I hope you will be able to sign him in the near future before he gets unaffordable...

Looking forward to the new season  

Thanks!

Schraml is already in the 60-70m range, so definitely not in the "affordable" bracket  I am half hoping his team gets relegated this season

[karanhsingh]

What. A. Game.

Finally, we have ourselves a (deserved) win over the mighty Bayern! 

Full winter update up soon - thought will give a quick sneak preview  

[karanhsingh]

Mid-term report - Dec 2026

Well, certainly can't have too many complaints about how the season has gone so far! Moving to a 4-4-2 seems to have done the trick, with Guessand and Kuol being an absolutely lethal combination. Pretty amazing, considering I had never heard of either of them prior to this save.

Amazingly enough, we are yet to lose a competitive game this season. And then of course, there was THAT win against Bayern. We have had a few annoying draws, but it would be too much to be asking more from the team right now.

Of course, this still is not good enough to be top of the league, with Bayern on an incredible 42 points from 16 games. But even being able to compete with them has to rank as some achievement for this squad.

Guessand and Kuol lead the way as mentioned above, with a combined 39 goals between them already. Clavijo and Millot have both been excellent on the left and right respectively. Buchmann has made a strong start to his career with us at the back. Andrade is slowly developing into a world class operator, even if his match ratings don't show it (maybe due to his poor jumping).

[Hootieleece]

What a season you are having. Keep it up and knock off Bayern!

 

[karanhsingh]

22 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

What a season you are having. Keep it up and knock off Bayern!

 

They just activated the release clause for one of my best players 

[Hootieleece]

14 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

They just activated the release clause for one of my best players 

That is terrible.....but that is how they operate in real life.

[karanhsingh]

2 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

That is terrible.....but that is how they operate in real life.

Exactly right - 100%

[SixPointer]

Tremendous stuff!! Bayern game alone is superb. Can you topple them this year? Certainly in with best chance at this stage 

[karanhsingh]

22 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Tremendous stuff!! Bayern game alone is superb. Can you topple them this year? Certainly in with best chance at this stage 

Looks tough especially if the current transfer goes through. But at least i have a settled formation now. 

[karanhsingh]

Fckng Bayern. They've stolen him!

Of all the clubs he could have moved to...

[warlock]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Looks tough

Agreed, with them having the game in hand. But at least you're in touch if they do slip up.

Be a hell of a story if you go invincible and still don't win the title 

[Jogo Bonito]

Fantastic form this season. Shame to lose Enzo, although he only had about 2 or 3 cameos from the bench for me at Stuttgart in 1.5 seasons and wants to walk away for free in June 2025. So getting that fee from him isn't all bad. Good luck challenging Bayern.

[karanhsingh]

3 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Fantastic form this season. Shame to lose Enzo, although he only had about 2 or 3 cameos from the bench for me at Stuttgart in 1.5 seasons and wants to walk away for free in June 2025. So getting that fee from him isn't all bad. Good luck challenging Bayern.

Thank you! Yes it's a decent fee, although he has developed into a really good player. That being said, i doubt he will get much game time at Bayern. 

[13th Man]

Look at that form!  Bayern being Bayern, buying your players just to weaken you because they can.  Still, maybe it's not this year, but you're coming for them!

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, 13th Man said:

Look at that form!  Bayern being Bayern, buying your players just to weaken you because they can.  Still, maybe it's not this year, but you're coming for them!

Thanks and yes let's hope so!

You're right, Enzo doesn't know it but he's just going to rot on their bench I'm quite sure of it. 

[karanhsingh]

Well, we seem to be really living up to the billing of the thread topic!

Some sexy football has indeed been on show for the past 3 months, with an almost perfect record to boot! Both our strikers Guessand and Ngankam have been on fire - without wanting to say too much and jinxing it...

Incredibly, Bayern went through a bit of a hazy patch and dropped some cheap points, which now leaves us at the top of the table with merely 6 league fixtures to go (apart from this we are also in the Europa quarters and Pokal semis)

The flip side to this is that our remaining games include Bayern (away) - lose that and it's down to just 2 points. And then we also have Schalke away, Leverkusen away, and Dortmund at home. So plenty of potential banana skins. 

It's reminding me a bit of this Arsenal vs Man City title "race", and hopefully this one will not go the same way...

[karanhsingh]

In other good news, we had to dip into our academy production line when Kuol got injured for 2 months... this kid stepped up and has been pretty impressive!

He came through the youth system just last season and is already breaking records.. have high hopes of him!

 

[Hootieleece]

22 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

In other good news, we had to dip into our academy production line when Kuol got injured for 2 months... this kid stepped up and has been pretty impressive!

He came through the youth system just last season and is already breaking records.. have high hopes of him!

 

Train Him up at his Young Age with the Complete Forward Attack Role. Don't worry about the role familiarity of the one in the tactic. He will get that from game time. He needs the more rounded attribute development now.   Also after his stint in the First Team. He will be a loan candidate for next season. Preferably in Bundeliga 2 or 3. Because that would be better for him than more time in the under 21's.

[Carambau]

Bring it home!! Just a few steps more  

[Jogo Bonito]

If I was Ivan Toney or a betting man (what do you mean, it's the same?) then I'd be putting my money on you to claim the title. Best of luck, so close...

[karanhsingh]

12 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

If I was Ivan Toney or a betting man (what do you mean, it's the same?) then I'd be putting my money on you to claim the title. Best of luck, so close...

 Thank you! 

[warlock]

5 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Ivan Toney or a betting man (what do you mean, it's the same?)

Steady on old boy 

[13th Man]

Wow! Great opportunity even if the fun in is quite tricky. Even if Bayern do what Man City did to Arsenal this season, it still seems like a successful year.
Also, got to love when the academy boys step up and perform well to cover an injury!

Edited May 17, 2023 by 13th Man