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The FM24 Youth Academy Challenge


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Rein Meer AKA ReinBerg - Season 8 - Japan J3 League - Mid Season Review & Youth Intake

League

So another season of regression. I have changed my tactics up here and there as I was thinking possibly they were getting stale, or opponents knew how to counter. However we have just been plain bad this year. It is not a complete disaster, as we could theoretically still make the playoffs with a good run, but I am quickly losing patience with the J3 league.

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Youth Intake Preview

Luckily the Youth Intake Preview gave me some hope. A whole bunch of A's is a beautiful sight to behold, combined with a promise of defenders (which we desperately need) and CMs which we also really need, this could put the wind back in my sails!

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Youth Intake

So what did we get? We got a youth intake that fills my heart with gladness, tidings of comfort and joy and a renewed hope for this save (maybe we will get promoted at some point before FM25??)

Look at those stars in Current Ability!!! :applause: Considering many of my starters are at 2* CA, we have 4 players here who could jump into the first team on the day they sign their contracts.

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Top 3 - Youth Intake 8

Kaito Mizuno (YP08A)

What a talent. Incredible work rate, can pass, dribble and has some very strong mentals. Not the quickest winger in the world and definitely needs to improve that strength, but he will start day 1! Hoping we can keep hold of him, although I am sure it will be difficult if we don't get promoted soon.

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Kenta Kawai (YP08B)

Another incredible talent. Will most likely start at right back for me, but may also play as a CB or as a more defensive midfielder when trying to hold out a lead. Not 100% which position he will settle at, but excited that he seems solid all around and has some rapid acceleration.

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Yoshiyuki Maeno (YP08D)

I somehow forget to take a screenshot of my (C) 3rd best player, so here is Maeno. A full back who may be retrained on the left, but again very impressive to begin with. Solid tackling, marking and passing. Good crossing which I need from my full backs, great team work and work rate. Will probably get some game time this season and become a starter soon enough.

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Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur (ÍR)

Season 3 | 2026
Tier 1 |Besta deildin
 Finances|  Transfers| Club Overview | Squad overview |Tactic| Facilities|  Manager Profile  

 

So, season 3 is done, and another good season for us! We finished 6th, and qualified for the Champions Group. I'm not a big fan of such a play-off system, but it is what it is. We only won 1 match in this Group, so we finished last in the group. But hey, overall it was just a very good season. We aren't good enough to really compete with the big teams in this League. Hopefully in the next few years, because we do have some talented youngsters.
KA won the League for the 3rd consecutive time. Still no club on Iceland has a professional status yet.
In the Icelandic Cup we lost in the Third Round against Breiðablik.
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Best players
Best player this season was by far our most talented player Óli Valur Hrólfsson 24b. He is only 17 years old, but already our most important player. I really don't know for how long I can keep him. Some big Scandinavian clubs were interested in him, and at the moment Blackburn Rovers is scouting him. But I really hope that he will stay for at least one more season. He's got a contract until 2028, so for another 2 seasons.

Youth preview & intake
Another good intake! The preview wasn't spectaculair, but the intake gave us 7 Elite Talents! Two of them are DC's, a position where I can use some fresh quality. So hopefully these guys will develop into good defenders. 
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Spoiler

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U19's
Our U19 team won promotion to the highest youth level of Iceland! So I'm very happy with that.
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Facilities Upgrades
Still not possible to upgrade our Training- and Youth Facilities, but thankfully our board was willing to upgrade our Junior Coaching budget and Youth Recruitment. Junior Coaching is now excellent, so hopefully we will get some bigger talents in the next few years.
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Trophy Cabinet

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Progress
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7 hours ago, HanziZoloman said:

@kndrx well done got the back to back promotion from VNL to EFL2 and EFL1 too but haven been relegated then. Good luck to you. 
one question: how did you manage the financial pressure from going pro so far? 
thanks

My finances are falling right now, but one season i have sold player for 2,5 million

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1 hour ago, Anners said:

Who puts Christmas in the middle of my FM playtime? So inconsiderate. Anyway...

 

Previous Post:

 

2055/56 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

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League:

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Champions again! This is now the 2nd time we've won and continues this really weird trend I noted in the last update - if you're a non European team, it's incredibly likely that you'll win the title the next season. Can I stick £100 on Celtic to win the league next year please?

This was simultaneously more comfortable and more awkward than it seems - I've really not decided which one yet! We opened the season with 1 loss, 3 draws and 10 wins setting out our marker for the title with only St Johnstone close to us (I was tempted to make a post at that point...) before a slump around Christmas brought me back to the pack. Another solid run just after Christmas was matched by yet another slump in February. Thankfully we were able to pick up a little bit of form towards the end of the year again to get us that top spot, although having to go to Aberdeen the last day of the season was incredibly nerve wracking!

Cups:

A rare update for the cups here, as the slumps might be somewhat understandable:

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Managed to get to the League Cup Final but unfortunately lost on penalties, whilst we had a run to the Semi Final of the Scottish Cup and lost to an 118th minute penalty from St Johnstone. Who then promptly lose to Championship side Dundee Utd in the final. We weren't that far off the treble...

Youth Intake:

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Yes, that is a 3 and a half star player up front. Connor Grant at 15 nearly becomes one of the top players in the league immediately! So how does he look you might ask?

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Probably the best player I've ever produced in any FM. I could probably slot him anywhere in the midfield and he'd do a decent job right now. Solomon Frimpong is now 33 and getting on a bit (even though he still top scored for the club!) so Grant will do as a very very lovely replacement. My jaw still hasn't come off the floor when I look at his stats.

Other Business:

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Scotland has now overtaken Portugal for 6th place at the end of the 55/56 season which means we'll now get 3 UCL places! Although considering whoever doesn't get in Europe wins the league at the moment I'm not sure more places is a good thing. That also means, depending on Scottish Cup winners, the entire top 6 will get a European place.

Full History:

  Reveal hidden contents

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Last 5 Years:

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Cononor Grant. Wow. Best I've seen at that age I think. Those mentals. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In other news in Norway in 2025 ...

Bodø Glimt have won the Eliteserien title for the three game years: 2023, 2024, 2025. This is pretty realistic.
And in the OBOS-ligaen, our only rivals, Lyn Oslo, won promotion to the Norway's top tier.

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Lam Dong - Season 16 - 2035 - Vietnam - Wake UP 247 V. League 1 (Tier 1) - 1st - QF in Champions League

Again, I thought we were going to do it.

We drew a tough group in the AFC Champions League - Suwon Bluewings, Guangzhou Evergrande and Yokohama Marinos. Winning awy to Guangzhou in the first game set us up and we qualified easily in second place behind Bluewings. In the second round we faced Jeonbuk, the team that beat us in the Semis last year, and the team that has won the whole thing three times in the last six years. But this time, we outplayed them over two legs and took our revenge. Again, I started to believe. We avoided Suwon in the Quarters and I thought we had a favourable draw against Pohang Steelers. We went 1 - 0 in the home leg and whilst pushing for more goals, they hit us on the break. And again. And again. In the second leg they went 1 - 0 but we pulled one back, then they went 2 - 1 up and we pulled one back. Going into the second half we had the momentum and needed one more goal to face extra time. Then they had two men sent off with 25 minutes to go. And, well, I didn't have another highlight for the rest of the game. Might need to look at my tactics there. Still, again, it's progress. One or two more steps up in quality and I feel we're there. 

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Vietnam are now up to 5th in the coefficients. There's 3 Vietnamese teams in the group stage of the AFC Champions League.

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Won the league and cup double again. 

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The depth is coming to the squad though we still lack in midfield. Etterlin played up front this season but I'm going to retrain him as a left winger. He didn't score enough for me, and Van Buu seems more of a natural scorer. Etterlin already wants more wage than we can afford. But I put him on a 3 + 2 deal last season. TRan Tien Thanh will step into the first team this year, and he seems our best long term central defender. Those two moves should see us take a step up in quality. Have spent some money upgrading Training and Youth Facilities. 

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It didn't look like the best intake from the youth intake preview. But there were two or three players who look good, and have okay personalities and determination. Pham Manh Hung went to 5 star potential so I think he and Tien Thanh are the starting centre backs in 2 or 3 years. 

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CSC Ghiroda - Liga II - Romania - Season 4 - 2028

Here we go again..

I had to take a longer break, but I am back or should I say we are back? After the relegation in the last season we got rid of older players and rebuilt the team with with the new Youngsters from our Golden Generation last season.

Liga II

We managed to secure a spot in the Promotion Group after the first phase. We lost our good form a little bit in this group but managed to come back and secure the 3rd place. That means we have to face a team from the 1. League in 2 playoff matches. We had that before, in our first season in the 1. Romanian League 2 seasons ago. Back then we faced Chianja and beat them. These were probably the most intense matches I ever had in every FM save sofar. This seasons opponent will be Chianja. Again. From what I recall from the previous Playoff matches, we dominated them in our home game, they dominated us in their home game. As the 2. League Team we had our home game first:

Spoiler

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We dominated them again and probably played the best game we ever played infront of the biggest home crowd we ever had. Over 10 000 fans showed up, while we had an average of around 800 during League games. However, we wasted a lot of clear cut chances, while they scored pretty much every shot they had. 3-3 and a nasty away game in front of us...

After a draw in the first leg, we have to beat them away from home, where they dominated us last season. However we have a different Team now!

Spoiler

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We beat them! Promotion. After only 1 season we are back in the First League! This time we used our chances and beat them 0 -3!

Cupa Romaniei

Even tough I rotated a lot in the cup games, we didnt extremely well. We got out of the group stage for the first time in the teams history. In the quarter final we faced Dinamo Bucuresti. They bought the right to play at home from us and absolutely murdered us 6 - 0. But we made a ton of money from selling our home right and from the 50% ticket revenue, so I cant complain.

Youth Intake

Considering the last YI and the fact that our facilities are even better now, I expected way more than that but we still got really talented players.

Spoiler

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Only one real good personality? Damn this Intake could have been so good but we just got unlucky I guess. In my opinion the only 2 usefull player right now are Andrei Lazar and Karlo Mijic (Bosnia) who both play on the right wing.. a position where we already have 2 good youngsters...

#1 - Andrei Lazar:

Spoiler

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Absolute Beast! Very fast, good technicals and a nice workrate. Just imagine him with a decent personality... He could be an absolute star player.

#2 - Karlo Mijic

Spoiler

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Our first foreign player and the only one with a good personality this year. His Mentals are too weak, so he wont play in the first team for now.

#3 - Marius Molnar

Spoiler

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In comparison to our current Full Backs, he is a very good choice and will get some game time in the first squad. 

I didnt sign the guys with bad personalities and the rest will play for our U-19.

Facilities and Finances

Because of the relegation, we are loosing out on at least a million of TV - revenues. Even though I cut the wages and big money from the cup (700k) we are still in depts. Hopefully we can stay in the first league long enough to make some profit.

Spoiler

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The problem is, that out old stadium is not big enough for the leagues we play in. So we have to play out home games in a different Arena in Arad. That means our home games are not really at home.. Our board didnt really seem to care but then Vasilie Ungureanu took the club over from our old Chairman Poclid. And he cares. He cares a lot. Actually he cares so much that we are building a new stadium for around 2.100.000€. So we really have to stay in the first League to not become completely bankrupt. How ever the new board loved me so much that they accepted to improve our facilities one more time which means we maxed out our junior coaching:

Spoiler

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Awards

As usual, we will give out some awards for outstanding performances:

MVP - Offense 

This award goes to our top goal scorer this season, last season and the season before: Andrei David

Spoiler

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18 Goals and 3 assists, an average rating of 7,20. Very nice season.

MVP - Midfield

This award goes to the rookie Sergiu Dima. The right winger had the most assists from all Midfielders and had an impressive impact on our game.

Spoiler

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MVP - Defense

Mircea Stupu. His second and probably his last MVP award for us, since he want to leave and I will not force him to stay. Decent season, you could feel the stability when he played.

 

Spoiler

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MVP

The overall MVP Award this season will not be granted to one of these players above. This years MVP is a Rookie. A Rookie that was injured for 3 months but still showed impressive performances. Our player of the season is Alexandru Voicu.

Spoiler

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22 starts, 11 goals, 9 assists, the best in training every week. This kid is an absolute beast already. He was also named young player of the year in the League.

 

 

 

Edited by KingKCrush
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Rein Meer AKA ReinBerg - Season 8 - Japan J3 League - End of Season Review

League

Well an abject failure of a season, but the youth intake made up for it. Our legacy players are getting to the stage where they are regressing and despite some recent good intakes, our youth academy players are mostly at the league below (Nippon League) level. We were inconsistent and struggled throughout the season. The amazing youth intake we had this year has made up for a failure of a season, so there is hope for the future.

No idea what changed from the first 8 games of the season!! Look at that position graph....

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Squad

We are definitely an almost entirely youth team now. With most of the starters, apart from keeper and strikers being Youth Academy players.  Hopefully we can keep hold of them all, as quite a few of them have had interest from J1 league clubs. Naoki Kato (YP06F) has become our starting deep laying playmaker and has chipped in with 4 goals and 10 assists and the highest average rating of the season.

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Finances

We are losing money every year now. The hope is to get to J2 League as soon as possible. Last time I had a down year, I bounced back with a good year and with my youth intake having 3-4 potential starters, I think we have the possibility. We really need it, or we may be out of luck on this challenge sooner rather than later.

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Other News

Jo Song-Chol (YP05B) our North Korean capped youth player who was sold from under my feet by the chairman has already moved on. Luckily we got a little bit of money from it, but nothing amazing!

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An Embarrassing Start

Of course I have started the next season and this happened.....getting destroyed by our U18 team is not the start I imagined!

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vor 19 Stunden schrieb kndrx:

My finances are falling right now, but one season i have sold player for 2,5 million

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Thank you for the reply.

I‘ll follow your progress and hope to learn something. 
At the moment there is a takeover battle between two new owners, one wants to replace the Earl. Can it be over that way?

the Earl will take his time, prepare the tea carefully and dip the shortbread lovely. 
welcome back @DazRTaylor 

did you ever finish England?

Edited by HanziZoloman
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Rein Meer AKA ReinBerg - Season 9 - Japan J3 League - Mid Season Review & Youth Intake

League

We have had a bit of a bounce back season and some of our youth players are really pushing on and improving which has helped. We are still one of the strongest attacking teams in the league while being one of the weakest (in the top half at keeping goals out). The aim is to at least make the playoffs this year, then who knows what will happen.

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One example is our new starting left back Toshimitsu Kaji (YP06D) who has been tremendous, not only at the back, but chipping in with some vital assists and a goal or two as well. His improvement in the last 12 months has been one of the most positive examples so far, and I am hopeful he will continue.

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Youth Intake Preview

Another strong preview (although not quite as good as the last couple of seasons). Wingers are needed, as are CMs so this may be exactly what we need!

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Youth Intake

Another intake with a couple of players who could slot right into the first team. Anything about 2.5*s is first team worthy, so I am once again excited by the way things are progressing.

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Top 3 - Youth Intake 9

Norio Kakimoto (YP09A)

A player who will be retrained as an advanced forward as he has all of the qualities needed to play up top. The fact that he can do a decent job on the wing too, makes him extra special. The perfectionist personality is great to see and is the first one of this save for me.

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Shun'ichi Miyahara (YP09B)

A brilliant midfielder. Is being trained as a deep lying playmaker. Great work rate, strong team work. Good passing and technique, just needs to improve that vision. Could well be a starter for years to come. Hopefully we can turn that personality around, as it is the only downside on a very impressive looking youngster.

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Hiroki Higa (YP09C)

A decent prospect at Centre Back. His mental attributes are a bit worrying, but he definitely has potential to grow. He may take a few years to get first team minutes (we actually have had quite a few strong CBs recently).

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Other News

We have a player in the national setup now as Kaito Mizuno (YP08A) our best academy prospect from last year has been called up the U19s squad.

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I am also moving on up in the coaching badges, which is always nice to see.

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Edited by glennuk
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1 hour ago, FMBiGC0L said:

Great Achievement @leyrtj only took you 17 seasons I think its going to take me 17 seasons to get out of j-League Division Three at my rate!  👏👏👏

Thanks. Other managers have done it much quicker than me though.

I really wanted to do Japan, but am using FM20 which doesn't have the official leagues. I could have used a database but wanted to do a league no one had completed.

It's a long grind. Took me 8 seasons and lots of improvements before I saw progress. 

Edited by leyrtj
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South Africa - TS Sporting FC

South African Premier Soccer League (Tier 1)

2027/28 (season 4)

Predicted finish: 16th

Actual finish: 11th

little bit of a step backwards in terms of league finish but a huge jump forward in terms of bringing youth players through and easing legacy players out. The team is looking like it could be amazing in 3 or 4 seasons time. We did alright until christmas - after the winter break we went on an 11 match run without a win. But we played ok and had some mad results like this one, away at 11 times consecutive champions Sundowns

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Last 4 games or so we finally got the results our performances deserved and finished quite comfortably mid-table. 

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Players

Player of the Season: Sinethemba Nene 27A - 7.48 I don't like throwing 16 year olds is and don't tend to do it, but last years top youth graduate was just too good to ignore. So I tried him on the right wing and left him there. He was brilliant, easily our best player with a 7.48 average rating from 25 games. Question is - can I hold on to him?

Top Scorer: Mojalefa Mokhobo - 15  last years top man had to play second fiddle to Nene but still came up as top scorer from AMC. Now 30, his experience will be crucial as he's increasingly surrounded by kids.

Top Assists: Sinethemba Nene 27A - 14 well, he's a winger so I'd expect him to get a few assists! Really looking forward to seeing how he progresses over the next few seasons. he's still only 16!

Breakthrough star: Sanele Bunting 27B Not Nene! I tried a few people up front but couldn't settle on anyone. Bunting had 30 in 30 for the reserves so I gave him a chance. finished the season with 8 in 9 and first choice striker! and still only 16 as well!

It's a very young first choice XI now:-

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Youth

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I really like the look of the top prospect Khumalo. Nice determination, good starting technicals, what's not to like?

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Career

it's a young team, but it's a good one. Can we take a step up and push for a top 6 finish? Not sure to be honest.....

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9 hours ago, syemo said:

Do most people sim save this challenge?

I play on extended mostly. Sometimes comprehensive if i want to focus on tactics. 

13 hours ago, syemo said:

What country would people recommend to start this challenge?? I don't mind random ones.. just have to be on the regular database 

I like portugal.

You have a good journey to the top with 4 Tiers and the seasons aren't long in the bottom 2 leagues. And once you are in the top division you have the fun challenge to surpase Porto and Benfica.

Turkey is similar (where I manage now) but you have 3 tiers instead of 4

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On 29/12/2023 at 09:59, leyrtj said:

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Lam Dong - Season 17 - 2036 - Vietnam - Wake UP 247 V. League 1 (Tier 1) - 1st - AFC Champions League - WINNERS!

CHALLENGE COMPLETE!

Oh man. What a season. We won the AFC Champions League and therefore have complete the challenge. I'm playing on FM20 if that's important. The number one emotion is relief. I've come so close the last few seasons, so it feels nice to finally get over the line. This challenge tests you so much along the way. I've been totally obsessed with it over the Christmas period. I've now completed Africa and Asia. The next continent will be North or South America I think. I see Colombia hasn't been done yet so that's high on the list. 

AFC Champions League - Winners

We drew a medium to tough group with Ulsan Hyundai, Shanghai SIPG and Hokkaido Sapporo, and took 7 points from the first 3 games. We were then 3 - 0 up in the 4th games, then Hokkaido scored 3 goals in the last 5 minutes. A loss away to Ulsan left the group wide open as we travelled away to Shanghai SIPG. A tight game saw Lukas Etterlin score the winner and put us through top of the group. This season really was about Lukas Etterlin, and all action seemed to revolve around him. As mentioned in the previous update, he started the season at left wing, but things weren't clicking. We then put him back up front, and he then went to score more than a goal a game including the winner to put us through top of the group.

Finishing top of the group, we were hoping for a good draw and Melbourne City was pretty good, and we battered them at home to go through. Then it was time for Jeonbuk - we seem to play them every year - three years in a row to be precise. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors had knocked us out twice in recent years and won the competition numerous times. However, we enacted revenge again, and brushed them aside fairly easily. The semis against  Shangdong Luneng was a tight affair. In the away we were pretty dominant but they hit us on the break twice to win 2 - 1. The AI had started playing 2 up front against me, and it was proving really effective on the break with quick strikers. In the second leg Lukas Etterlin stepped up again. He scored a penalty in the first minute to settle the nerves, then again inthe 23rd minute, before completing his hattrick in injury time.

In the final we faced Al-Sadd from Qatar, a team who had won the Champions League 6 times in the last 10 years. Featuring a load of foreigners who had acquired Qatari passports (3 years needed), an old Bakaya Saka had scored the winner in the final last year. In the home leg, it was somehow goal less - Lukas Etterlin hit the post 4 times and they had 5 clear cut chances, but then we had a man sent off in the 57th minute. They peppered our goal but it finished 0 - 0. Then, disaster - we lost 8 players who went to the AFF Championship with Vietnam. We managed to put out a team, but our bench was full of U19 youth players. I genuinely thought we had no chance, but then Lukas Etterlin made his presence felt again. A 5th minute penalty was given to us and a golden chance for the away goal. Etterline stepped up and....put it wide. However, he scored a first time half volley in the 24th minute after a knock down from Nguyen Van Hien. Al-Sadd drew level in 49th minute with a header, but then Lukas Etterlin scored a header of his own following a cross from Truong Tron Sang. They scored a penalty to equalize and it was 2 - 2, but we were ahead on away goals. They absolutely dominated us for 30 minutes, and I was struggling to watch. But then he popped up again, laying on an assist for Nguyen Van Hien to make it 3 - 2. It was all over, and the trophy was our's. Had I been Al-Sadd I would have been gutted. Not quite an FMing but they deserved to win.

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Elsewhere in the League

The league was won again, but only by 3 points this time. We also won the cup and the Super Cup. In total we won the league 6 times and the Bamboo Airways Cup 4 times. 

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More on Lukas Etterlin

As mentioned above this season was all about Lukas Etterlin. He is the most memorable player I've had in the game even though I've only managed him for 2 season. Last season he was a bit inconsistent up front so I thought I'd put him on the left wing and I have another good striker to go up front. however, it wasn't working, so we moved him back up front. After a poor start to the season he then started firing at a goal a game. With 5 star ability and plenty more to go, he's far too good for this level, and he knows it. I rejected an offer for him from Hoffenheim and he kicked the toys out the pram. Luckily he was on a long contract with an extension clause. He missed training after staying out late to enjoy the Dalat nightlife 4 times. During this time he also acquired Vietnamese nationality. I'm quite tempted to continue the save, become Vietnam manager and see if he'll change nationality. He also did something I'd never seen before - scored a penatly from a rebound.

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The Final Squad

In the end I don't think the squad had any big weaknesses. Normally, with these saves, you lack in one position. Perhaps midfield we lacked during the save, but we have a couple of young talents coming through. Lukas Etterlin was undoubtedly the player that got us through. We had a team to compete in the knock out stages of the Champions League, but his goals were what helped us win it. It's strange. In my South Africa Youth Academy challenge I had a similar player come through at the same time - young foreign striker (Jamie Wood from England), who helped us win the Champions League. 

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Player Records

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Youth - for what it's worth

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Nice job man, congrats!

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On 22/11/2023 at 14:01, CJ'43 said:

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Kavala Football Club / Αθλητικός Όμιλος Καβάλα

Season 0 - 2023/24

InfoGeneralFacilities / Squad

 

I'm going to give Greece a try. Meet Georgios Angelopoulos, a 50-year-old Greek stepping into football for the first time as a manager of the newly promoted second tier side Kavala FC.

I saw you did a few seasons in Greece already, so I wanted to ask how are things financially? I am doing a Youth Only with Panionios (to give me a head start because of their facilities), but already from the third division I am bleeding money.

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Well, that was it. My career at IR is over. I'm devastated, as IR is one of my favorite clubs in FM. Last season went so well. But we lost our best player(Óli Valur Hrólfsson 24b) to Bordeaux. But even more bad was that I started the season without a goalkeeper.... I had three GK's, but I released one of them because he was constantly moaning for playing time, while he was really not good enough to even sit on the bench. So I released him on a free. Only a couple of days later my first GK broke his leg: out for about 7 months. So I had only one GK left: a 17 year old lad from the 2025 intake. And also this guy broke his leg :eek: So I didn't have a GK when the season started. I put my tallest player on goal, but it all didn't help. We lost almost every match(some of the results were 12-1, 9-5, 8-0 and 8-2) and we got relegated. They sacked me after the season.

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I am really, really devastated. I don't know where I will be heading next. Probably a different save then a Youth Only for a while, as I'm done with it for now. :( 

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