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

[TheNapalmNerd]

San Marinese Golden Boy

This is a first one for us. We actually have a San Marinese golden boy. I doubt he'll ever be any good at absolute top level, but in San Marino he's looking like the best striker we've ever had. He hasn't fulfilled his potential yet, but will soon reach his ceiling I guess. Still this is testiment to the progress the nation has gone through over the years. 

A fine striker who could do a decent job in the bottom of the Serie A.

Along with Barretta we of course still have Riccardo Rosti who has now reached 24, and has become a very good player, who is actually doing an okay job for us. He has been part of every Champions League Succes we've had, and I plan to keep him in our squad and make him a legend of the game as one of the most winning players of all time.

His Technical ability is okay, but his mentals and physicals especially are what has taken him to a very high level.

Crazy improvement from this guy.

Both players are pivotal in the succes of San Marino. The national squad did okay over the last year:

That beating by Spain hurts, but we have some tight matches, that could easily have ended up with a much better result. Barretta has finally started scoring for the national squad and that will help alot. He comes at a good time. Marco Marani and Francesco Raschi are both 32 and will soon be done. But the striking department will not be hurt by them stopping.

With the results over the last year we're also looking at a nation nearing the top 100. Right now San Marino is no. 102, could the next year, be the one where they break into top 100?

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Quarter Final: Man Utd (H)

The bookies are putting Man Utd in second and us in first, so it's an even draw already. This is one of the most dramatic matches I've seen so far. Francini (Who we sold to them, old loan farm player) committed two penalties and we missed both of them. After his red card we threw everything ahead to try and secure the victory only for Rosti to get a direct red card shortly thereafter. Our old midfield general Jamie Ross scored the last goal of the match and we conceded another red card before the end. Terrible match, but one of the most entertaining games I've seen in this save.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Quarter Final: Man Utd (A)

Another entertaining match!

After their start we gained momentum and took charge, but it was tight most of the way and things could easily have tipped the other way round. Our new striking prodigy João Pereira did all the work himself.

He has been at the club since 18, but been away on loan for five seasons before breaking into the first team.

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're in the Champions League Final for the fourth time in a row, and the sixth out of the last seven seasons.

Standard Liege is our Belgian affiliate. We did mis 1 point for the coefficient against Bayern, but other than that it has been a succesful campaign once again. With our current squad we've built upon every season and we look stronger than ever with almost every position filled in with the best player in the world for that position. I am hoping that next season the other clubs will contribute more. This season we got two wins from the european group stages. That's not good enough if we want to conquer the world, which is my ambition. We're far from that, but hopefully soon, the other clubs will begin to buy foreign players and finally deliver to the ambition.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Meltdown...

I really did not expect anything like this. Our goalkeeper gave three goals away and everyone just didn't perform. We should have been the better side in every position but none of our players performed anything at all... Terrible end to the season. We've had a lot of injuries at the end of this season up front but our defence was just nowhere to be seen today. Dissappointment...

[TheNapalmNerd]

San Marino in Europe 2042

After a dissappointing end to the season it's nice to see that overall progress is still being made.

In the club coefficient rankings we're still 1st. And our nations coefficient still justifies 8th, but we're close in the run-up and might lose our position this year.

We really need to win the Champions League, and we really need some of the other teams to perform to their best in Europe.

Edited December 8, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're in March!

Overall things are going great this season. We had a draw against Bayern Munich in the Champions League Group stage, but other than that we are still winning all we can. It's been a long time since I last gave an update on our squad and it might be time for just that.

This is our strongest lineup as it is right now. We actually have a better Left Back in Cameron Sadler, but he's turning 30 soon and I am currently retraining Mario Luciani as a Left back because he just has so much potential in that spot.

 

Goalkeeper:

Our Goalkeeper is probably the best keeper in the game in 2043. He's made the team of the year on several occasions and was awarded the best goalkeeper in the world recently. Other than that he's also the most expensive player ever:

That's right. We bought him for way too much money, but we needed the upgrade. We have Salvini at the club, but he's away for the third season in a row with PSG, trying to make a step up. Salvini is a fine player, but just not the same level as Orzechowski.

 

 

Right Back:

Good player. Tied with Alfonso Peña in this spot. Peña is in midfield right now. We actually had a better player at right back, but we sold Gonzalo Gascon because he doesn't like big matches, and was getting older.

 

Centre Back:

Milovanovic has been the best Centre back in the world for many years, and now he has been overtaken by Jan Hansen who will be in our central defence for the next many seasons.

 

Left Back:

Our new Left Back is a former Loan farm player of ours, who was sent to Victor San Marino for a few seasons. He's homegrown in San Marino and does well in the registration regulations which is another reason we want him in our squad. Another reason is his abundant talent. He came back from loan and was sold to Bayern Munich with a buy back clause at 54M. When we sold him he was a three star player with a full five star potential at the age of 22. I haven't seen anyone else with full five stars, hence the buy back clause, because we wanted to keep track of his development, while we could not maintain it ourselves. He's proven to become a fine player over the last 2,5 seasons and we bought him back, trying to train him as a Left Back. 

 

Central Midfield:

Deadly central Midfield. Peña also in contention for Right Back, but Mané could easily be in mifield as well. Didier Dias primarily plays as a left Winger in our squad, because we still field San Marinese Superstar Riccardo Rosti in the Champions League.

 

Right Winger:

Scary good player. Was originally a central midfielder who we retrained (same with Didier Dias at Left winger) and he's been magnificent.

 

Left Winger:

Fine player, but mostly doesn't play because Didier Dias is here instead.

 

Strikers:

Both are Ballon d'or winners, with Pereira being the recent winner and Malyon winning last year. Malyon has been at the club since 18, and has never looked back. He's the record goalscorer at the club, and will probably go down in history some day as the greatest goalscorer in the world. Obviously it helps that he plays in San Marino, but he has still performed exceptionally in Champions League as well. And with 66 goals for England, he is only 41 goals away from being the record goalscorer for England as well. Mason Greenwood has 107 goals in 109 matches.

 

 

That's the lineup for now. We have great players in squad and a few players away on loan as well. Right now we are focussing heavily on sending out money to Victor San Marino and then the other squads in San Marino are up next.

Victor San Marino went into the Conference League in their first season back in Serie A after their relegation. Then they came close to relegation in the next (two matches a week was hard on them), and this season they are in contention for Conference League once more. I believe they are now strong enough to stay in the Serie A. We have sold them a few players, and they are consistently bidding on some of their former loan players. We are happy to sell players to them. Youngsters can become trained in San Marino and that might benefit us in the future, when we are registering for the Champions League.

Other than that we are fielding lots of San Marinese players in the league right now, trying to make the best of some of the talent we have at our disposal. Last year was a huuuuge dissappointment for the national squad. They were supposed to break into the top 100 but then they had this season:

The only nation they beat was the best one of them all. They really should have beaten both Iceland and Israel... That's about it for now.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Another European adventure is over...

But it is not our campaign. SS Cosmos have been participating in the conference League this season exceeding all expectations almost making it to the Quarter Finals:

This is so much better than expected. We've been used to the other teams not really performing at all. SS Virtus is probably the strongest team among the rest in San Marino, but they are consistently getting severely beaten in the Europa League. Meanwhile we haven't gotten much from the automatic qualification we had for the conference league (They always qualify for the conference league, because no one has won the Europa League Playoffs yet). But this year SS Cosmos has done brilliantly and won second place in the conference league giving us some much needed points for the national coefficient. We are bleeding points and have been overtaken by Turkey right now and are currently aiming for 9th at the end of this season.

We still need the last match of the first knockout round of the Champions League. If we win that match we're already ahead of last season in the coefficients. Very important. And look at 40/41 where we won the Champions League. We really need the other teams to contribute if we are to win anything. Right now a win in europe gives us 0.400 for the coefficient, because we have five teams in europe. We will inject more cash into the other clubs for the next seasons to see how they do.

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Final 2043

Once again we've gone all the way, and now we only have Strasbourg left. A few seasons ago they got a sugar daddy and it really shows. They have bought a lot of our players for high sums, and now they are in the final against us. This will be interesting. We are huge favourites.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Final: Strasbourg (N)

Deserved winners in a onesided match. Of course it helps when our former right back record buy from many season ago gets a direct red card.

A nice victory and a great end to the season. Nothing much has happened for San Marino this season, but luckily the SS Cosmos has performed well and done a difference that will be felt in the future, and maybe shows a promise of what's to come? Let's hope that.

Other than that the result is really nice and shows that our squad is terribly strong right now. We have Milovanovic who has turned 33 and wil start to deteriorate, but other than that we have a strong squad that could easily win many more trophies in the future. This is also the fifth trophy we've won in the Champions League, and Rosti now has five medals, contributing in four finals.

Our players are dominating the team of the year.

Edited December 3, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

[TheNapalmNerd]

San Marino in Europe 2043:

This is a first. The national league has actually gone down in the rankings, but that might as well be a result of the others going up in reputation, rather than San Marino going down.

In terms of coefficient, San Marino are now 9th after Turkey really has upped their game the past two seasons. Our best option is to overtake Austria and reclaim 8th.

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

UEFA Super Cup 2043: St. Pauli (N)

Another win, and we didn't even do any friendlies before this one. We've sold a few players and mostly just pushed a lot of money into the other San Marinese teams so far this summer.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Four teams in Europe

I know it sounds amazing and this is quite groundbreaking as it is the first time we've had four teams playing european football during the autumn season. This season SS Cosmos qualified for the Conference League and both Tre Penne and SS Virtus ended up in the Europa League.

The first round was amazing as every team won their match, and then it became more clear once again that the other squads still need lots of improvement berfore they will become dominant in europe. Still this was amazing and SS Virtus actually managed to win four matches and their group helping the national coefficient tremendously this season.

We're in february now and getting ready for the next stages, and we already have a very nice coefficient for the season and might even reach our highest coefficient ever, if we manage to win the Champions League again this season.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League final 2044

So once again we're in the Champions League final and this season we shouldn't have been in it, but managed a huge comeback. In the first semi final against Man Utd we lost 3-0 at Old Trafford. I still had hopes though. After all we beat Man City 7-2 at home, and we could replicate a result like that because we're really strong at home. With 2-2 at half time and Man Utd scoring on their only two chances in first half I gave the players the hairdryer treatment and then something clicked, and they managed a magnificent comeback with club legend Ed Malyon scoring the equalising goal in the 93rd minute giving us the extra time we needed to take the win and secure another Champions League Final! Marian Kunert scored two goals right of the bat in extra time and we could switch to a more defensive and not so intense formation to make sure we didn't get any injuries from this match.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Grey players

An option I've never used before in Football Manager, but this time around it actually makes kinda sense. When you're not able to fill up your squad the game generates "grey" players for your team. In San Marino we have to have at least two San Marinese players in the team for all domestic matches. Normally these players don't have anywhere near the current ability of the teams you're facing, but in San Marino, some of the players can actually become "quite good" compared to the general level of footballers in the San Marinese league. Some of the players we get are actually dual nationality, I believe it's due to our many affiliate clubs around the world, but choose to be San Marinese because they think they'll be able to get into the national Squad.

Overall some of these players might not make it into the national squad, but they can still be solid players for some of the other teams in the league. Right now the level of the league is still quite low. We have four teams that have a few players who are two star level, but still mostly 1,5 star in current ability. And we still have a few squads whose best players are only one star, meaning these players are quite competitive in the domestic games.

My focus right now is on signing up players, making them available for some of the other squads, hoping it will help San Marinese football in the future. I belive it could provide a huge improvement in San Marino. We only have one real good player in Riccardo Rosti, and then among the rest of the players we 3-4 decent players and a lot of players who would be good in San Marino and nowhere else. Some of the attributes are also evenly distributed, making sure that there are more allrounders. San Marino are lacking players with evenly distributed technical skills, and this might help a bit. There are still not many good players though, but there are a few players who might make that decent ability we could use for every spot in the national team. That would really help. There's no sight of a decent goalkeeper however, and I think that might be a future problem for long to come. They're all very bad...

[TheNapalmNerd]

On 22/08/2023 at 14:14, TheNapalmNerd said:

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.

Just for comparison with the grey players, this is Mirco Spighi who was the biggest profile at Folgore Falciano in 2021. He would probably be half or maybe one star now. The grey players we are getting right now are still below the level of the players we signed on free transfers in the first season. It's a long journey and we still have long ways to go, if San Marino are to overtake world football. Or just get close to the top at least.

 

So far some of the objectives have been to be competitive in europe, win european trophies and then end up winning the Champions League. Now our objective is to keep winning the Champions League while in order for San Marinese Club football to rise and become a greater force in Europe. That's the curren objective, and we can succeed in many ways. I'm just hoping eventually we can get into the top six of the national coefficient. Then we would have at least two teams in the champions League Group Stage, and two teams in the Europa League, and two teams nin the qualifying stages of the Conference League.

 

This season we had four teams in Europe, and it really helps on the coefficient. That's the objective. Make sure the other teams rise to the challenge, while maintaining our dominant position as well. That shouldn't be hard. Just very slow...

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Final 2044: Dortmund (N)

Winners! And an easy victory in a match without any doubts about the result. I'm glad we didn't meet Man Utd in the final, s that would have been a more evenly matched tie, with us still being the strongest but them easily able to cause an upset.

This marks our sixth Champions League win, and the end of another succesful season. We're slowly seeing the progress of San Marino in europe. SS Virtus came short in their draw in the europa league and lost the first tie in their second round of the Europa League knockout stages against Rangers 3-0. They still won their hometie 1-0 however, gaining important points for the national coefficient, which we'll see soon in the end of season summary over San Marino in Europe.

 

Another win, another succes, and another small step in the right direction for San Marinese Football.

[TheNapalmNerd]

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

San Marino in Europe 2044

 

We're back in 8th in the competition reputation list, which is another step in the right direction and a good influence on the reputation of the other teams in San Marino. I was told in some of the earlier pages that the other teams will start to buy more foreigners once they reach 3,5 star potential and right now we have two teams a three stars, so we'll soon begin to see more foreigners in the league, further strenghtening the other teams while positively influencing the reputation of the league as well. Really looking forward to that, because then they will start to accumulate more points in europe. Speaking of points in europe:

Had we not drawn one of the group stage matches against Celtic last season, we would have overtaken Austria in the National coefficient list endind up in 7th, which would have been the first time for San Marino reaching that high a spot. We're back in 8th for now and really need another season with one or more teams contributing or else we'll go down in the ranking again. It is very important that we stay in at least top 9, as we're guaranteed to have at least three teams playing in European Group stages, thus the chance of getting more points for the coefficient.

 

1 draw = 1 point

1 win = 2 points

(and then half of that in qualication matches)

 

Every point will be divided with how many teams are playing in europe that season. Right now five teams are qualified for european football every season, but so far the highest number of teams qualifying for the group stages have been four. It is still divided by five though. This means every win from our team contributes 0.400 to the national coefficient right now. Which is also why we need the other teams to help gather points as well. We're still  heading in the right direction, and it will be huge when get into the top four, where we'll be guaranteed four teams in the champions league every season. We're far of that still though.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Club reputation update:

Four teams now with 3 star reputation. It won't be long anymore.

[TheNapalmNerd]

UEFA Super Cup: Inter (N)

Another win in the Super Cup and a great start to the season. We absolutely dominated the opposition.

Slow start but in the end we got the result we wanted, after a match where they had no highlights in attack. We bought in Sven Slor as a future Left Winger option alongside Muhittin Yoldas at the start of this summer and they both contributed in their first match.

Slor came in for 106M and Yoldas is a former Loan Farm player, who we bought in for seasons ago for 20M. Fine players today. If Only Slor was taller he would have been a nice option up front. on a regular basis.

[TheNapalmNerd]

This is going to be a bad season in Europe...

I really hope we can win every match in Champions League this season, because the other teams haven't been lucky with their draws...

We won't get many points from those matches. If we are very lucky one of the teams might get 3rd place, but I really doubt it can happen.

Standard Liége is our feeder club in belgium to get better talents from our youth intake, and so far it has actually worked with us getting Henri Bovy from youth intake:

The best talent we have gotten so far, but not San Marinese He would have walked right into the national squad with those attributes.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Goal 50 Dominance:

Here's why we should be dominating every season. Most of the other players in the list have been in or around our club at some point as well. Out of fifty players only twelve of them haven'tbeen at Folgore Falciano at some point in their career.

[TheNapalmNerd]

I hate the board...

This is what happens every time I ask for a new stadium. We've been consistently filling up our capacity over the last many seasons and still they don't want to build a new stadium. Right now our limit is 12.195, and we really need a new ground in order for the club to grow further.

We have a 10 year sponsorship deal that ends in 2046. My hope is that at the end of that period, our board will finally agree to build a new stadium. Money is no problem. We still have 1B+ in our finances.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Final 2045:

I know I'm rushing through seasons right now, but seeing we're the best team in the world, it is not really that satisfying anymore to report about every big match, because we should theoretically win all of them. I like the underdog story and that was what drove me at the start of this save, but now it is more the general progression of San Marino we're looking for, which is also the reason why I'm rushing through seasons and maybe not telling all that much about the squad. The fact of the matter is that right now we still only have Riccardo Rosti who is a world class San Marinese player, and we're nowhere near anyone else having what seems to be that potential.

We've managed to once again qualify for the Champions League Final, which is what has saved the season for all of San Marino.

This season has been a bit of a let down in europe as the other teams only managed a win and two draws in their groups which of course is understandable given the groups they got into, but it made our season all the more important. At one point we were in 11th in the nations coefficient ranking. We're back in 9th which is the one that ensures we have three teams playing in european group stages. Overall this season the other teams have progressed a lot in their current ability. They have all invested into their squads and some of them have actually gotten a few good players which means that right now the best players outside of Folgore Falciano in the league are these:

Even a few natives in between. Finally we're looking at other squads that are spending money to get better, and that will probably soon help San Marino rise to the next level in european football.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Final 2045: Bayern Munich (N)

Winners! and a secure victory once again.

We had a slow start and Bayern actually dominated the game in first half. I switched to a defensive approach and all of a sudden Bayern had no more chances and we gathered forces, easily winning the match. Their goal was the last real highlight of the game.

[TheNapalmNerd]

San Marino in Europe 2045:

A step backwards after a season with lacking succes in europe. We should be able to soon get back to 8th.

After many seasons with succes we are of course still number 1 in the european rankings.

Overall in the national coefficient we just overcame a big upset and was able to keep our position in the nations coefficent.

We start the new season in 8th due to losing a very bad season, and right away we're tracing Turkey in 7th place. If the other clubs keep improving, we could potentially consolidate 7th this season.

Up next we have the Club World Cup.

[TheNapalmNerd]

FIFA Club World Cup Final: Man Utd (N)

Once we beat Everton (They had a few more days of rest than us) in the Quarter Final there was never really any doubt about us winning.

Solid performance going through the club world cup without conceding:

[TheNapalmNerd]

Times are changing at Folgore Falciano:

Over the last many seasons we've actually been quite consistent and kept with most of the same players in our starting eleven throughout. This season we're starting off by saying goodbye to quite the capacity in our squad as we're saying goodbye to our captain through the last seven or eight seasons: Borivoje Milovanovic

He's probably one of the greatest defenders the game has ever seen, and we brought him in at the top of his game, and as you can tell from the statistics he's been a consistent part of our continuing succes. After our first Champions League win, he became available to us, and he was part of the spending spree that took our team up to consistently being the best in the world. These recent years he hasn't been as much part of the first team, because he was on a decline so we didn't register him for domestic games, but he's still been solid in the european games. We do have decent cover for him with Tom Laskowski and Jan Hansen in our squad. Furthermore we have Ryan Dean (out on loan) and Brandon Jones for the future.

Tom Laskowski is homegrown and will be part of the team for a long time still, even though his attributes are a little below what we expect of our defenders. His performances are still very great and he came 12th in the latest Goal 50 ranking.

I have high hopes for Brandon Jones, and believe he can become the next Milovanovic for our squad. Ryan Dean I'm not so sure about, but we've managed to make him homegrown and will be looking into aiding his development to become a class defender or maybe a super sub at right/centre back.

[TheNapalmNerd]

UEFA Super Cup: Marseille (N)

They never stood a chance against us even though our defence was slightly different than usual. Both our centre backs and our left back were injured in this match, and we fielded a team with three midfielders in defence, still winning comfortably.

Lucianis versatility is strong. He can cover Left back, central mid and usually plays as our right winger. Fantastic player to have in our squad. Brandon Jones is naturally a midfielder who we're training for central defence, and Darren Byrne started in central Defence. He is naturally a midfielder who has the attributes to cover central defence. He doesn't like big matches...

He could be an okay central sub. I don't want to sell him, because he is just too good, but I don't want to start him either because of the big matches.

[TheNapalmNerd]

A double edged sword

So this season we're looking for succes once again in europe and right of the bat, things are going great. This season we have four teams in the european group stages.

Folgore in Champions League

SS Cosmos in Europa League (lost in the Champions League League Path third round)

Tre Penne in Conference League (Lost Europa League Playoffs)

SP Cailungo in Conference League (Unexpected, but went through three rounds of qualification). Cailungo pulled a huge upset beating some familiar faces in the qualification:

I could have lived with them losing to Victor, but this was about as local as it could ever get in qualification.

Victor San Marino resides in Stadio di Acquaviva and you can see Cailungo. About three kilometers between the two. Obviously we would very much like Victor to have succes in europe, but not at the expense of domestic teams. Cailungo advancing is the optimal outcome for us, and it will be fun to follow them in the autumn season.

 

 

This could be a perfect redemption in europe after last season. Two teams in Conference League should be able to guarantee us some points, while we'll take whatever Cosmos can give us in Europa League.

Both Tre Penne and Cailungo have great chances at advancing from their groups. Cosmos will be more interesting. They could potentially beat Guimarães, but logically they wouldn't get many points from that group.

Edited December 12, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

Reputation update:

We have our first domestic opponent with 3,5 star reputation. I don't know if it's their participation in Europa League (Because that hasn't been a succes), but things are moving forward.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Something is rotten in San Marino

...But something is cooking also.

This is how things are looking for the small nation right now. 105th in the world, and over the course of the past four or five seasons the nation has been flirting with top 100 but not quite sealed the deal yet. We're gonna have to wait another year to see what can become.

It has been a year of progress, although it is small. we started the year around 109th, after a few seasons with regression. This year was okay, as they beat who they should, but didn't do any wonders beyond that.

Well actually I'm very dissappointed they couldn't beat Moldova, but that's about it. A victroy against Ireland redeems that result overall.

 

The squad is getting stronger at the moment. Lots of the "grey" players we've had through have gone on to other clubs, and we've actually managed to sell some of them for quite the profit although most of them get released right away and we keep the players that are 1,5 stars in current ability.

This has resulted in a younger squad for San Marino and a squad with the potential to break into top 100 soon, if they all realise their potential.

nine players at the 29+ right now and only two of them started the last game. There are replacements already and the generational shift will soon be done. Marco Marani has been a top player for San Marino and should rightly so go down as one of the first real legends for the small nation:

Other than that there is not much to report right away. There are replacements ready in almost every position except for goal, which is the worst position. If it was anywhere else we could simply retrain someone, but the goalkeeping position keeps haunting us, and there are right now, no San Marinese goalkeeper better than 1.0 stars... We're hoping at every youth intake something will happen.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Still no goalkeeper

[TheNapalmNerd]

Autumn Europe

With four teams playing in europe this autumn we had the chance of getting many points for the coefficient. every draw equals 0.200 points and every win 0.400, because ariginally five teams participate in european football from San Marino.

Folgore contributed with 4 wins and 2 draws

Cosmos managed 1 draw

As stated earlier we didn't expect much from this group.

Tre Penne won their group with 4 wins and 1 draw

Cailungo dissappointed in the group stage and came third, managing 2 wins and 1 draw

Actually that's a big dissappointment, as both Shamrock Rovers and especially Dudelange are teams they should have beaten.

 

Overall it is still a succesful season with two teams playing in spring and the national coefficient looking very good for now, already doing better overall than we did in 40/41:

We're not far off Portugal in 6th and we should be able to overtake them when they lose their 17.900 season in the summer 2048. 6th place is important.

It grants two direct Champions League group stages, and at least two europa league group stages. We might not gather many points in europe the season that happens, but it would be good for the current ability of the other squads.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Grey player

Not really an important update, just something I find very funny.

That's a first. I have never seen a player from Crimea before. There is no nation page for the country in game, and he's dual San Marinese as well. It's like the game doesn't know what to do about him. He's half Crimean half San Marinese and his only language is English

Obviously not a good player and he's already been released from the club again.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Spring season is well on the way

We've had our youth intake and there is still nothing real to report, we do however have one San Marinese player who could become good in the future, but with the latest addition of the "grey players" the national talent pool has become a lot bigger. This guy might just be a level above the rest.

If he can get anywhere near three or 3,5 stars he'll be a huge asset for the nation.

 

Tre Penne unfortunately went out of the conference league in their first spring matches with the secon round of the Conference League, and with that we're the sole team once again in europe.

 

We're in the quarter finals of the Champions League up against Barcelona soon after absolutely demolishing Marseille.

Interestingly Barcelona has our (hopefully if he keeps developing) future goalkeeper on loan:

We bought him for way too much money as an 18 year old after failing the first contract deals and Everton signing him up. I kept getting reports on him that were positive and he seemed like the best future goalkeeper. Let's hope it stays that way. He's homegrown at the club. But really needs better reflexes.

Edited December 14, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

NxGn 2046:

Our first academy player to go all the way to the top of NxGn. Henri Bovy is a great talent and one who might possibly be the future boss of our midfield. Right now he's out on loan.

If you have an extra look at the list SP Cailungo have one of our players on loan this season and he entered the list in 3rd place. I hope they end up buying the player. Talent work is what will help the club grow.

[TheNapalmNerd]

The San Marinese cup and league system is not suited for European football.

Obviously it will never become a problem in real life, as measurements would be made to accomodate such situation, but in the game it can't make decisions like that. In the Coppa Titano we enter in the quarter finals in autumn and have semi final and final in late season. And that's when this happens:

We have Arsenal in the Champions League final and Pennarossa Calcio in Coppa Titano. The national league also has a plaoff system to determine the winner, so a lot of matches are gathered at the end of the season, while there are huge gaps in season where nothing happens. The season also starts in September, but preseason starts in June, because that's when we usually would start playing european football when we were in the lowest tiers of europe. This is a bad situation, but one we can live with, and have been doing fine over the years still.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Champions League Final 2046: RB Leipzig (N)

Winners! Once again, and this season is special because we won every trophy including the Club World Cup.

Dominating performance, and one that promises good for the future still. We have several players who have been part of the succes for a long while, and will soon be looking to replace some of the older players, but they still have a few seasons before their decline really starts. Our strikers are the best in the world, and it shows in the way they dominate the charts every season. Our goalkeeper is a few seasons away from retirement but five times worlds best keeper in a row. Succes is in the club, and it has rained upon San Marino, which we'll see when the coefficient update comes.

Edited December 14, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

San Marino in Europe 2046:

Our season ends on a high. The domestic league has risen to 7th place in the competition rankings list, the highest it has ever been.

With our fourth victory in a row in the Champions League we are of course no. 1 by a mile.

Interestingly some of the other teams are now strong enough to get points on a more consistent basis, and we have two other teams in top 100, with Tre Penne hopefully breaking into the top after next season.

With our better position in europe, the teams have a few coefficient points just because of the national position in europe. This can be helpful in europe, I do believe however, that the need more points to be seeded in qualification. But soon. In the national coefficient rankings we are also in 7th:

Our place in top 9 has been consolidated and we can once again look up. Next up we are chasing Portugal, who will be the highest high for a while. If we get to 6th place we are guaranteed two champions league group stages and two euro league groups. That will be good for everyone.

 

This also marks the end of our 25th season. We are eight times winners of the Champions League and have only missed out on one domestic super cup over the years, winning everything else. It is also the end of the 11th season with Riccardo Rosti in our squad. he's 28 years old now, and has been part of every Champions League win so far. He's never going to leave this club.

He went from unambitious to professional, and has become a world class player. The top story of the save so far.

 

[TheNapalmNerd]

There are no one star reputation teams anymore

Only two teams in the league don't have any players who are at least 1,5 star current ability either. Meanwhile two stars is still the highest we see the others having.

[TheNapalmNerd]

UEFA Super Cup 2046: Everton (N)

Tight result. Brandon Jones was dismissed early in the second half and it changed the game a bit. Hope he learns from this. He's a very bright prospect in defence.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Four teams in europe once again:

Things are looking good. This season we have four teams in europe again as SS Cosmos went through the Conference League qualification.

Meanwhile SS Virtus went into the europa league after (obviously) failing Champions League Qualification against Ajax, and Tre Penne luckily failed Europa League playoffs against Standard Liege instead also going into the Conference League. Cailungo lost to Austria Vienna in the Conference League playoffs, but we came pretty close to almost having five teams in europe for the first time ever.

Conference League Groups

I have high hopes for Cosmos this season as they should be able to go through their group. I'm not so sure about Tre Penne, but they should be able to gather some points.

Europa League group

Funnily enough Ajax also failed the Champions League Qualification and ended up in the same Group as Virtus, resulting in them meeting each other once again.

Not ideal, but maybe they can get third ahead of Cluj.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Familiar face new manager of Victor San Marino

After a terrible start to the season Victor San Marino have said goodbye to manager Bonifazi. Titani were originally expected to finish in 8th and are nowhere near that position right now.

 

Thus leading to the appointment of their new manager and the biggest name ever associated with the club

 

They should be in no danger of relegation, as they actually have a very strong squad compared to the bottom of the league. I guess they'll be better off, once their european campaign is done.

[TheNapalmNerd]

Three teams playing in spring!

Autumn season was a tough one as the other teams were unlucky in their draws for the group stage. Luckily we managed to come out with a little succes.

Tre Penne had a tough draw and ended last in their group only winning one match:

SS Cosmos had an okay draw and managed three wins and one draw, finishing second in their group going through to the first knockout round in Conference League.

SS Virtus were unlucky in their Europa League draw but managed to end in third winning one match and drawing two. They are going into the conference first knockout round as well:

We won our group, claiming five wins and an unlucky draw:

 

The performances from the other teams have helped the nations coefficient and right now we are in 6th position, being closely trailed by Portugal and Czech Republic:

We stand with a great chance at securing 6th place for one season at least, but we really have to make sure we win again this season next year we lose a good year while Czech Republic lose a bad season and get a huge point advantage against us. Meanwhile Portugal are losing momentum a bit. This will provide some interesting seasons to come.

[TheNapalmNerd]

European offdays:

First Knockout round ws the end for both Virtus and Cosmos. Meanwhile we've got our back against the wall ourselves.

Virtus drew Sparta Prague in the first knockout round. Czech repiublic is a direct competitor in the coefficient rankings...

Cosmos drew Anderlecht:

 

I never expected much from those draws as they simply met better teams, but it still hurts knowing that they no longer contribute in Europe.

In the round of 16 in the champions league we headed to Giuseppe Meazza and came out short.

A match we should have won and one that puts immense pressure on us after the exits of the other San Marinese teams. Otherwise we're in a really tight spot at the moment in the coeffecient rankings for next season:

Edited December 18, 2023 by TheNapalmNerd

[TheNapalmNerd]

We're still in it

But things were close. Our strikers are not taking their chances right now, and that's a huge problem in matches like these. Things should never be close, but somehow we ended up in extra teime with them scoring on their only shot on goal in ordinary time. Luckily we pulled through. Inter were one of the favorites for the title, and now our own path seems much easier withb them out of the equation.

[TheNapalmNerd]

We did it!

We got 6th place in the nations coefficient list. Both Portugal and Czech Republic are no longer represented in europe when we reached the Quarter Finals. We are up against Chelsea in Champions League and a late victory secured 6th place for us. If we can win it once again this year we will get a head start compared to Portugal next season, and catch up with Czech Republic who will be ahead of us when we lose a good year unfortunately.

look at that gap between 6 and 5. 32.714 points... That's about the same gap between Croatia ranked 25th and San Marino ranked 6th. It's going to be a long time before we get to challenge for the next spot.

This gives a direct Champions League group stage to the two finalists of the domestic league in 47/48, along with at least two Europa League group stages to number 3 and 4.

Maybe just for one season, maybe for longer. We'll do all we can to keep the spots, or at least win them back. The general level of football is still moving forward and the first four 2,5 star players has arrived in the league. Once this becomes more normal, we'll get lots of succes for the small nation.