[FM22] San Marino build a nation (Folgore/Falciano)

[TheNapalmNerd]

The setup:

I have been wanting to do a save like this for quite some time but never really got into it, and when I finally started a game (Tre Penne), I had some database issues which affected the game badly (Most teams had no youth squads, there werent any transfer deadlines and the Santa Marinese playoff system wasnt working).

I have tried working with the database and those issues seem to be gone for now. Let's hope there won't be any issues with the changes I've made. I know San Marino is a small country, but I was very annoyed at the fact that there werent any U23 and U19 squads and leagues earlier, so I have set up both of them and they seem to be working. Let's hope it continues that way.

 

The Beginning: Folgore/Falciano

 

I've taken charge of Folgore in the early summer of 2021. Folgore are a semi-professional team, and the reigning champions of San Marino. I've taken the identity of Antonio Benedettini a highly educated former regional football player, who has taken all coaching licences. Normally I play with Danish Krone as the currency, But I will be converting to euros in the game for everyones sake (I simply forgot in the first screenshots).

4.250 DKR = 575 Eur

 

Stature:

As you can probably tell it is quite the succesfull football club We've taken over.

Our transfer budget is 4K and the wage budget is 6K eur.

Being a semi-professional team we're only able to sign players on amateur contracts/Pay as you play anyways, which is good since our budget is highly limited.

And with all that said and done, Welcome to San Marino.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Overview of our European Campaign achievements:

2021/2022: Conference League Group stages: 3rd Place

2022/2023: Europa League Quarter Finals

2023/2024: Europa League Second Knockout Round

2024/2025: Champions League Group stages: 4th place

2025/2026: Champions League Group Stage 3rd place - Europa League Semi Final

2026/2027: Champions League First Knockout Round

2027/2028: Champions League First Knockout Round

2028/2029: Champions League Group Stage 3rd place - Europa League Quarter Final

2029/2030: Conference League Winners

2030/2031: Conference League Winners

2031/2032: Europa League Winners

2032/2033: Champions League Semi Final

2033/2034: Champions League Quarter Final

2034/2035: Champions League First Knockout Round

2035/2036: Champions League Runner-Up

2036/2037: Champions League Winners

2037/2038: Champions League Semi Final

2038/2039: Champions League Winners

2039/2040: Champions League Winners

2040/2041: 

 

UEFA Super Cup:

2032: Runner-up

2037: Winners

2039: Winners

2040:

 

FIFA Club World Cup:

2033: Semi Final

2037: Winners

2041:

Edited November 18, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

(reserved in case I need it)

[TheNapalmNerd]

Objectives

Right of the bat, we will be focusing on european football. As the reigning champions of San Marino Folgore/Falciano are qualified for the Champions league Champions Path Qualification.

We're not a good team, but having access to amateur contracts, we will be doing a lot of transfers (literally over a hundred), to improve the quality of players in the first team squad, so that we can be kinda competitive in european football. As such our updates will be focussing mainly on transfers, the squad and european football, as I don't feel the Santa Marinese division will be that exciting, maybe the playoff system in the late season.

I made a change to the database and set up Victor San Marino into the Serie C instead of the 5th level tier, so that they will be playable in the game. (I will have an extra manager added who will be holidaying the season there in order for them to progres and hopefully become a solid team in the Serie A).

[TheNapalmNerd]

The Squad

As things are from the start we don't have anywhere near a competitive team in europe. However for San Marinese standards, these guys are predicted first.

Not a lot of depth in that squad

 

The key player (for now):

A strong player for the current level of football in San Marino, but nowhere near European Football level.

Speaking of european football, that is actually the reason I chose Folgore as they are guaranteed several matches which will generate money, and maybe by then we will also have made progres with our squad so that we might be able to get a few coefficient points for the nation.

Rock bottom... I do however believe that if we can qualify for the champions path qualification, we can get a few points and lots of money in our finances.

I will be aiming for qualification for the conference league within the first few seasons.

 

Champions League Champions Path Qualification:

In the first round of the qualification for the qualification we'll be up against the reigning kosovian champions of Prishtina.

This should be doable. They seem worse than us.

Edited September 19, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions Path First Preliminary round: Prishtina

We've gotten a much stronger team within the first few days, but most of them came after squad registration deadline:

If we go through to the next round, we will be fielding a whole new starting 11. Mirco Spighi who was five stars before is now only rated three. Much has changed already. I'm digging the amateur contracts, as there are no release fees. Will be hoping we can keep the best players without other teams coming in for a free player.

Starting 11 for the first match. Fingers crossed

[TheNapalmNerd]

Our first victory!

An impressive performance against the Kosovian champions and we are through to the next round

 

Our next opponent will be the faroese champions from Havnar Bóltfelag as they beat the andorran champions, and I am very hopeful for the next match as they seem to be at the same level as Prishtina, while Inter Club actually has a much stronger squad.

 

The winner of the next round will go up against Gibraltarian Lincoln Red Imps. I actually have a good feeling about this. If we can go through the next two rounds we'll be up against Olympiakos in the second round of qualification. If things go well, the champions league adventure ends there.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions Path Second Preliminary round:

We've  said goodbye to almost everyone from the first match and have registered a much stronger squad. Once again we have presented new players after squad registration deadline:

We've also said goodbye to spighi who was our best player 11 days ago. Instead the best player is for now Brijan Ibrahimi

 

We're presenting a much stronger starting 11, but some of them won't be here should we go through to the next round.

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're into the champions path!

A nice victory in a match where there never were any doubts about the winner. This is news as we've gotten 100.000 euro per victory in the first two matches and we are now guaranteed at least six more european matches! And we noe have 200.000 Euro in our banking account, with at least 500.000 more to come.

 

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

We've gotten our first big name signing!

 

And it's Maicon who is the first superstar to come to San Marino. Albeit, maybe a bit too late for him to make a real difference at the club. He does however have very nice technical and mental attribute, though his physicals reflect the attributes of a player who is almost 40.

 

Preparations are ongoing for the two matches against Lincoln Red Imps, and the team is looking like a real contender in those two matches.

[TheNapalmNerd]

(H) Lincoln Red Imps

Lots of changes to the starting 11 once again, and we already have a new striker for the next round of registration. We got a lot of new players in, and Alvin Daniels on the Right Wing in particular is looking good. Daniels is a Surinamese international who might just soon get his debut in the national squad. There aren't that many surinamese players in the game, and he looks decent for the level of the national squad.

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

We hammered them at home!

Ibrahimi on fire once again and the whole team actually did very well. Lincoln has lots of "grey" players who aren't that good, but a few very good players for this level who could be a threat.

Great result, and we hope for the same in a week.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Second leg - Through to the next round

Everything went well in this match, and we're through to the next round where we meet Olympiakos. I'm guessing we're gonna have to try and not make a new record for most goals and biggest loss in that one. Every single one of their players is paid more than our whole wage budget.

Still we're through to the next round and this means that we're guaranteed at least a playoff match for the Conference League now, and a lot of money.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Second knockout stage: Olympiakos (H)

 

Another round of Champions League Qualification and almost a new team once again. Ibrahimi is still doing well in the squad, but we have his replacement for the next round of football. We got Maicon on the bench, but I discovered Haitian Jean-Sony was unattached while going through different national squads of the world. He is our strongest player for now and only 35 years old

 

We've gone a long way from Mirco Spighi to the level of this player. If we could have a whole team of players at this level, we would be able to get at least conferencce league football in the first season.

[TheNapalmNerd]

OMG!

This is amazing. I didn't think we'd stand a chance, but we somehow got a result at home. An exciting match. I kinda lost hope when they scored in the 86th minute, but threw everyone forward after their red card, and Ibrahimi just made himself a legend in my manager career. I have been playing FM since CM03/04, and this is one of the biggest results I've ever had. We're nowhere near the level of Olympiakos. Things are looking good for now, but I really doubt we'll make it through to the next round afther the match in greece.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Well....

Things went kinda as expected. Everything went bad right from the start and Olympiakos was just a much better team than us.

We've dropped to the Europa League Qualification, and are up against Dinamo Tbilisi.

This could be exciting. We're much better suited for a team like them.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Europa League 3rd round Qualification: Dinamo TBilisi (H)

 

The fans are pessimistic, but I think we stand a chance! Our starting eleven consist of mostly the same players as the last round, with a strong addition of Michael Fabbro up front

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Things are looking good for now!

We really should have done much better. Tbilisi only have one player on a contract. the rest are grey players, below the level of our players. But things are looking good for now. We might secure the conference league in the next match!

[TheNapalmNerd]

Through to the next round! We got Conference League!

And that means a ton of money, and hopefully incoming upgrades to facilities, wage and scouting budgets!

The match was terrible though. We should have been securing that victory long before. But we got some points for the nations coefficient.

Edited August 23, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're up against young boys in the playoff for Europa League. Olympiakos was a much better team, but Young Boys should be an end to our qualification adventure. I am very happy with conference league. It's above expectations for this club, and we might actually be able to get a few points for the coefficient from participating the conference league.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Europa League Playoff: Young Boys (A)

Only one new player in the squad this time. We've finally got some consistensy, but it looks like we're about to climb a mountain.

Edited August 23, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Could be worse

We tend to be better at home. This wasnt too bad.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Conference League it is

We struggled in this match, but managed to come out with an okay result. There was a doubt in the start of the game as things went level after five minutes, but they just had a much better squad.

Still, This is an amazing result. We got very far which is promising for the future. I'm just hoping I can keep other clubs away from our best players. They will be trying to poach them for a long time, when everyone we have is part time amateurs on a pay as ypu play contract.

[TheNapalmNerd]

The financial situation is looking very good!

And it's already been put to use!

We're going to be able to do magic in the free transfer market with the new transfer budget. It'll give a higher wage and scouting budget for unattached players.

[TheNapalmNerd]

We've been drawn into a relatively strong group. We should be able to cause a few upsets though. I think 3rd place is possible

Molde and Plzen should be a stumble, but Anorthosis are not that great a team. I'm just glad we're not Maccabi Haifa

We wouldnt stand a chance in that group.

The summer transferwindow is closing shortly and lots of new players are coming in after we were able to scout for unattached players worldwide.

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're saying hello to a legend in the FM Community!

We're playing with inside wingers, and he looks to be a decent force on the right winger. He should do well for one season.

[TheNapalmNerd]

I Think I broke the game...

Apparently we've had -72 players coming into our squad. Most of the 279 transfer deals have been released again, but everyone of them have helped us get to our current state, where we're a dominant force in the san marinese league, and have gotten into the Conference League. Our squad is as follows.

Allround a very strong squad, with a few familiar faces for the experienced fm player. I was very pleased to get Andreas Samaris into our midfield. At 33 years of age he's an experiencced player who should be able to commandeer the midfield to succes. We still have Brijan Ibrahimi in our squad. He is probably the one he made all this possible with 9 (!!!) goals through the qualification stages!

The above is our stronges squad which will be playing in Europe. In the San Marino league we're only able to field 9 foreigners at once, so I'm going to try and get the best possible San Marinese plalyers for the squad. There are about four okay players, and two of them are goalkeepers They are all playing in italy and don't want to come to San Marino at the moment, so I'm going to hope they won't get their contracts renewed.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Our dream San Marinese players:

Elia Benedettini

Eduardo Colombo

Filippo Berardi

Nicola Nanni

As you can see, compared to our players they are not going to do any positive difference in our squad, but in the San Marinese League these players would be superstars!

 

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

The best players

Romain Genevois

Andreas Samaris (C)

Franck Tabanou

 

 

And as a sidenote our two best Santa Marinese players:

Mirko Palazzi

Matteo Vittaioli

 

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

A few upgrades in the setup

[TheNapalmNerd]

Between a rock and a hard place

Bad start to the Conference League. Molde were just so much better than us.

Meanwhile Plzen beat Anorthosi in the other match

[TheNapalmNerd]

Another loss

Seems like we wont get that many points for the coefficient. Anorthosis we're just that much more effective than us.

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

We we're actually better than it seems, but there are just too many mistakes in the team. I think we're seeing the downside of being a semi-pro team. We're not that sharp.

It's still an okay result. We're not setting records for losses everytime.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Our first win!

We beat Plzen at home, and the tendency from the first match showed. We can win matches at this level. At least at home.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Late bloomers

Another great performance in the conference league, and all of a sudden we're standing with a chance of progressing through to the next round. We do however have Molde in the last game, and they destroyed us last time. It's a great performance though, and a promising showing for the future.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Our European Campaign is over in deadly fashion

This was a rollercoaster of a performance. Two comebacks, and then we throw it all away in the end. I'm devastated.

The result does'nt effect our progress, as we had to rely on other results that didn't go our way, but wow... What a match

Scoring 20 goals is what gets you through to the next round. Letting in 20 goals, is what destroys that dream.

Our european campaign is over. Now we only have the san marinese competitions left. I'm not going to give much update to that, other than we're destroying everything. I've been holidaying those matches so far, and just want to get to the end of the season now.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Not much to expect from youth intake.

 

We're going professional next season. And the next update will be at the end of the season. Unless we get some big names in.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Two big names have joined

They've mostly just joined the club for the fun of it. But they might be some great presences within the squad as well.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Golden generation?

No. Definitely not. We've invested into our youth setup, but I doubt we'll see much from this within the first 20 years.

[TheNapalmNerd]

The league

I Have been holidaying every match so far and we are now in the endgame!

The San Marinese league is a bit special as there are playoffs for the win, We've qualified for the quarter finals so far, and are waiting for the last four teams to be decided from 1/8 finals.

This means we have potentially five matches left, and we better have that, otherwise our next seasons european campaign is going to be over before it started. We need the champions path system, to qualify for the conference league once more. My contract has been renewed, and the board is actually expecting us to at least get Europa League group stages. Although we were kinda close the last time, I dont think it possible. We're saying goodbye to a lot of players right now, and with no more noncontracts next season, we wont have the rigidity we had this season where we could improve our squad explosively with squad registration.

Btw. The match we lost was 1-0 against Tre Penne.

I have been spending some time using most of our transfer budget signing youngsters for the future. In three years time we should be able to field a team of 18 year old who might be about the same level we are now. As long as we can keep a hold of these players we stand with an okay chance of actually being able to register a fine squad of players trained in San Marino by Folgore/Falciano for european football. Right now we have seven players in our squad who are only there to meet squad registration rules, and I was afraid of using them in the last campaign, as they are nowhere near the level required to be competitive in the early stages of qualification.

We're also still in the national cup, Coppa Titano, where we have blasted every opponent of the field so far.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Coppa Titano

Shows the difference in class we're experiencing in San Marino, and why I'm solely focussing on the european matches. We got "a lot" of money though!

[TheNapalmNerd]

Campionato San Marinese!

And with that we've qualified for the Champions League Champions path early stages for the next season. It wasn't the best match ever, but a win is a win in this case.

And once again they're throwing money at us!

It's not much, but it is something and the San Marinese league is not rated that highly amongst the european divisions yet. Actually it lies in 170th place below the regional english divisions. So the level of football really isn't that high. I think the current level of our own squad would be a team that is able to avoid relegation in the Serie B. That doesn't sound like much, but we've really come far in this first season.

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're going professional!

And in preparation for the next season our new budget is looking okay. We're not spending that much yet, but we haven't signed any players up full time yet, so it's hard to tell how much we're able to do in the transfer market.

[TheNapalmNerd]

I asked them to buy the stadium long ago and now they have realised that vision by not buying it...

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're building one instead

[TheNapalmNerd]

The start of something new!

We're moving up, and so is the San Marinese league:

Our recent campaign ensured that we dont't have the preliminary rounds of the champions league qualification next season. This is actually okay, since we're guaranteed atleast going into the third round of qualification for the conference league then.

A big jump up in the rankings, and we have the potential to advance even further this season.

We did okay last season and our coefficient took a jump as a result of that. There's still a long way to go.

 

 

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Preliminary rounds of the qualification:

We're up against Valur Reykjavik, who we should beat. But they have the potential to cause a few upsets.

The winner of the preliminary rounds is going up against romanian champions FCSB.

I would have really liked the gibraltarian champions once again in this round. FCSB are too strong for our liking right now.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Valur

Our starting 11 consists of players who have been here for almost a year now. After we went professional, we have secured contracts for almost every important player. There are too many teams interested in Fabbro, who doesn't want to renew his contract. But we have solid backup for him. Our topscorer Alex Lopez has signed a renewal with the option of an extra season if he plays five league matches.

We're only able to sign players for 1 year long contracts right now. I'm trying my best to make sure that there are clauses that ensure we have them for another season.

[TheNapalmNerd]

A bit too exciting for my liking

We should have secured that win much earlier than the last second. Alex Lopez threw himself at one of their players to abrupt their gameplay and secure us the win.

We've got Flora Tallinn in the next round.

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're through, but once again way too close

Flora didn't have a team that was supposed to be competitive, but once again we got through, even though we didn't play well.

If this play continues FCSB are going to destroy us in the first round.

 

Michael Fabbro will be out for 2-3 months with his injury. This might throw of interested clubs and give us a chance to give him a new contract. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Edited August 25, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd