The FM24 Youth Academy Challenge

[libbyshuss]

Belgium - 2060/61 

Season Summary

Pro Jupiler League - WINNERS

A close run thing again as I prioritised the Champions League and mostly played the kids in the league. They did really well but still aren't really developing as fast as I'd like. None of them have really challenged me to drop one of the senior players in their stead. So, we won the league stage and went into the champions group top - this is where the title is really won and lost. And we almost did lose it with some inconsistent performances, having to rely on a final day victory over Standard to clinch the title again

 

 

Champions League - Round of 16

Having finished second last season we had to go through the league qualifying rounds, which can always be a potential banana skin. We managed to navigate them quite easily in the end though and were rewarded with a really nice set of fixtures for the league stage. We did pretty well, albeit with only two victories, qualifying for the knockout rounds without too much trouble. A brilliant pair of performances against Newcastle saw us take on PSG in the round of 16 - despite two excellent performances we were narrowly beaten and have got to try again next year....

 

 

Players

Nikolaus Veebruggen 58C - A really nice surprise as he was just a cover defender really. But did really well when called upon. Strangely, he's still not first choice but I try and rotate him in as much as i can. Rated a leading Pro Jupiler League already, which is nice, and the coaches reckon he could still improve a lot.

Guus Knol 59A

He's gonna be a superstar! Still only 17, he played 48 first team games this season. Towards the end of the season the media dubbed his a genuine bone fide wonderkid - not sure i've ever had one this young tbh. Currently on a 5 year (2+3) contract, i need to get him signed up longer!

 

Youth

After the last few seasons of fantastic youth intakes I was half expecting a rubbish one, so I wasn't too disappointed when it came in. 

 

Career

 

Edited May 6 by libbyshuss

[jrobertgordon13]

Poole Town - 2025/26

League - 17th

[jrobertgordon13]

Sorry about not including this earlier

[bg0123]

Hi everyone, I'm going to try this challenge.

Manager:

 

FC Rapperwil-Jona - Swiss Challenge League (Season 1)

 

Luckily, the only team that was promoted FC Rapperwil-Jona had quite the large roster of first-team and reserve players. Although, you are only allowed to register 21 players for the season and that includes youth players so it requires some planning. We finished easily in 3rd place in the league, hopefully that means we'll be challenging next season.

 

Best new Youth Prospects:

 

 

In season 2, we'll look to challenge. Maybe I'll bring in our very impressive looking youth striker Bilel Bejaoui who's already not very happy at playing at a level that's below his skills.

 

 

 

Edited May 6 by bg0123

[KOWAL]

COUNTRY - SPAIN

REGION- ANDALUSIA

CLUB - REAL JAEN C.F

[Ice029]

@darren1983 @XaW(forgot to tag you xD): I need your judgement as arbiter of the rules for this challenge. I wanna go to Finland now but there is a change in league structure there.

Digging through the database and irl articles, what seems to happen is that they are adding a 3rd tier which will contain the best teams from the old 3 tier which had 3 groups (now becoming the 4th tier, first unplayable in the game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_football_league_system - for reference the current pyramid 

Now my question is: are the teams in this new tier that were not playable at the start (10 out of 12 as 2 got relegated from a playable league) valid for this challenge or should I sim another season and pick one of the promoted teams to this new 3rd tier?

Edited May 6 by Ice029

[XaW]

5 hours ago, bg0123 said:

Hi everyone, I'm going to try this challenge.

Manager:

FC Rapperwil-Jona - Swiss Challenge League (Season 1)

Luckily, the only team that was promoted FC Rapperwil-Jona had quite the large roster of first-team and reserve players. Although, you are only allowed to register 21 players for the season and that includes youth players so it requires some planning. We finished easily in 3rd place in the league, hopefully that means we'll be challenging next season.

Best new Youth Prospects:

In season 2, we'll look to challenge. Maybe I'll bring in our very impressive looking youth striker Bilel Bejaoui who's already not very happy at playing at a level that's below his skills.

It looks like you started with a National C lisense... You need to start without one, sorry.

[XaW]

5 hours ago, Ice029 said:

@darren1983 @XaW(forgot to tag you xD): I need your judgement as arbiter of the rules for this challenge. I wanna go to Finland now but there is a change in league structure there.

Digging through the database and irl articles, what seems to happen is that they are adding a 3rd tier which will contain the best teams from the old 3 tier which had 3 groups (now becoming the 4th tier, first unplayable in the game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_football_league_system - for reference the current pyramid 

Now my question is: are the teams in this new tier that were not playable at the start (10 out of 12 as 2 got relegated from a playable league) valid for this challenge or should I sim another season and pick one of the promoted teams to this new 3rd tier?

I didn't know this happened in the game, but as such, I'd think the latter choice would be the right one, holidaying an extra season. My suggestion though, and I'll concede if @darren1983 says otherwise.

[darren1983]

5 hours ago, Ice029 said:

@darren1983 @XaW(forgot to tag you xD): I need your judgement as arbiter of the rules for this challenge. I wanna go to Finland now but there is a change in league structure there.

Digging through the database and irl articles, what seems to happen is that they are adding a 3rd tier which will contain the best teams from the old 3 tier which had 3 groups (now becoming the 4th tier, first unplayable in the game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_football_league_system - for reference the current pyramid 

Now my question is: are the teams in this new tier that were not playable at the start (10 out of 12 as 2 got relegated from a playable league) valid for this challenge or should I sim another season and pick one of the promoted teams to this new 3rd tier?

Yeah as XaW said - the 2nd option is best.

41 minutes ago, XaW said:

I didn't know this happened in the game, but as such, I'd think the latter choice would be the right one, holidaying an extra season. My suggestion though, and I'll concede if @darren1983 says otherwise.

 

[Virtual Male]

Season 14 2037/38

Manager Profile - Competitions - Facilities - Finances

 

Competitions

• Premier League (Past Positions) - 
• 
• Another strong start to the season saw us sitting in the top 6 for a few weeks before there was a bit of a reality check but we came back into some form and sat between 9th-14th for the rest of the season. A couple of results at the back end of he season saw us close the season in a comfortable 9th position.
• The Emirates FA Cup - Another year of nothing happening in either cup competition, exiting both at the earliest opportunity.
• Carabao Cup - A really disappointing result against a lower league opponent, not overly bothered at this point though.

Squad

• 
• The starting squad has developed well over the season with some of the players even being rated as Premier League quality players by my staff! They should carry on the same path next season so I'm hopeful that will lead to another quite comfortable season next year too.

 

• 
• Robert Jones - The star of my team and currently refusing to renew his contract so I've got a big decision to make over the summer. Keep Jones for another year and face the possibility of losing him for nothing in a year or look to cash in on him and take what I would expect to be a fairly sizable transfer fee even with him not having long left on his contract.

 

• 
• Alun Duckett - A tweak to the formation left Duckett playing as a pressing forward this season and he seemed to be a big fan of this change! Another 13 league goals this season but he was much more involved in the overall build-up play and his 7.10 average rating reflected this. 

 

Youth Intake (Preview)

• 
• An incredible youth intake preview lead to what is looking like a very good intake with 6 4.5*+ potential players coming into the club, some pretty good personalities in the higher potential players too so I'm hoping they'll be able to get up towards that potential ability. Lee Williams is one of the stand out players both in terms of ability and also because he's Gibraltarian, a new flag is always welcome!

 

• 
• Josh Gruffydd - Looks like he'll be the pick of the bunch in the coming years though, fairly solid attributes for a 15 year old and a model citizen too!! I think he might be the first to come through at the club since I started the save. He's going to spend a few years in the youth teams to develop into hopefully a player that can be an important part of both the Merthyr and Welsh national teams.

 

Transfers & Finance - Not much on the transfer front again this year, just a few loans out that didn't really do much and a couple leaving at the end of their contracts. £150m in the bank now and the board aren't allowing me the opportunity to upgrade anything at the moment so it's just going to sit there for the foreseeable future I think.

 

Other - We had 2 players in the NxTGN 50 this year so that proves we're on the up in terms of youth development I suppose. I also managed to convince the board to allow a Stadium Expansion bringing the capacity up to nearly 8,000 seats... Still nowhere near what we need though. We'll be playing in the Millennium stadium in Cardiff while the work is being carried out..

Edited May 6 by Virtual Male

[Ice029]

36 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

Yeah as XaW said - the 2nd option is best.

 

1 hour ago, XaW said:

I didn't know this happened in the game, but as such, I'd think the latter choice would be the right one, holidaying an extra season. My suggestion though, and I'll concede if @darren1983 says otherwise.

I ended up simulating another season, I got 3 new teams but something looks very weird...
Find below the proof that the team I picked is not playable in S2 and S1 and if you are happy it satisfies the rules IT'S ON (the loops and hoops I need to get through just because of a pyramid change)

15 dec 2023(start of season 2):

Spoiler

End of season 2 results(all 3 teams with R and red background have gone unplayable):

Spoiler

Start of season 3: 
The teams that remained in the division are marked with the R
The teams that got relegated from the 2nd tier(Ykkösliiga) are marked with P (JJK and Honka)
Teams that were unplayable in S2 have no letter

Spoiler

 

I will be using P-Iirot (Pallo-Iirot) beacause of the colors which were unplayable in 2023(S2) or at the start of the save:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 6 by Ice029

[Mattc08]

Hi All, 

I recently started this challenge  in Germany with Alemannia Aachen. 

Hopefully I can go back a little in my save to post some screen shots as I only just found this forum.

[jrobertgordon13]

17 minutes ago, Mattc08 said:

Hi All, 

I recently started this challenge  in Germany with Alemannia Aachen. 

Hopefully I can go back a little in my save to post some screen shots as I only just found this forum.

Welcome to the challenge!

[XaW]

9 hours ago, Ice029 said:

I ended up simulating another season, I got 3 new teams but something looks very weird...
Find below the proof that the team I picked is not playable in S2 and S1 and if you are happy it satisfies the rules IT'S ON (the loops and hoops I need to get through just because of a pyramid change)

15 dec 2023(start of season 2):

  Hide contents

End of season 2 results(all 3 teams with R and red background have gone unplayable):

  Hide contents

Start of season 3: 
The teams that remained in the division are marked with the R
The teams that got relegated from the 2nd tier(Ykkösliiga) are marked with P (JJK and Honka)
Teams that were unplayable in S2 have no letter

  Hide contents

 

I will be using P-Iirot (Pallo-Iirot) beacause of the colors which were unplayable in 2023(S2) or at the start of the save:

  Hide contents

 

What do you see if you go into the season summary for Finland and see who is promoted from "lower divisions" or what it's called? That should make it clear, hopefully.

[Padders]

On 03/05/2024 at 22:33, jrobertgordon13 said:

If he becomes a staff member you should try signing him

He retired unfortunately

Look at all those medals 

[Padders]

Season 106 - 2128/29 - SBC

We have managed to get back into the PL, finishing 2nd

We sat top for most of the season but form last couple of months was very patchy

Saxon Chick has taken the record of clubs record goal scorer

[Ice029]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

What do you see if you go into the season summary for Finland and see who is promoted from "lower divisions" or what it's called? That should make it clear, hopefully.

I never knew about that screen... Took me a while to find it but here we go, the team I want seems to be eligible

Spoiler

As for competitions, this is the order, first 3 are playable and clickable, Kakkonen is not (and I love/hate finnish language)

 

[XaW]

1 minute ago, Ice029 said:

I never knew about that screen... Took me a while to find it but here we go, the team I want seems to be eligible

  Hide contents

As for competitions, this is the order, first 3 are playable and clickable, Kakkonen is not (and I love/hate finnish language)

 

Yeah, that looks fine then! That's the place I usually check to make sure the team I want can be used!

[KingKCrush]

CSC Ghiroda - SuperLiga - Romania - Season 8 - 2032

SuperLiga

Our best season so far.  If you consider the xGs only we should have been the best offense in the league and we would have been in the Champions Playoffs. But xGs =/= Goals. In the end we ended up in the Relegation Group, where we finished 4th (10th overall) with 8 points above a possible relegation spot. Easy season . The biggest factor for our success is definetly our CM Cosmin Badea. He is 17 years old, he has already by far our best CA, he is very consistent, fairly professional and develops like crazy. He scored 17 Goals (which broke the record for most goals in a season) and assisted 12 more goals (which is 2 less then the all time record). PSG is interessted so I dont think we will keep him for too long, I just hope the board wont accept an offer thats way to low.

Spoiler

 

Cupa Romaniei

The cup is the perfect opportunity to rotate the squad a little bit, so thats what we did. We made it to the group stage where we only won one game which means we ended up as 4th. The 1st and 2nd place advance to the next round which means we are out.

Spoiler

Youth Intake

A few very promissing guys, however no one will be a starter right of the bat. The preview promissed us an outstanding CM however I dont really see that.

Spoiler

#1 - Szilard Vladulescu - Striker

Probably the most promissing one of the intake. Good first touch, decent finishing, nice mentals and decent physicals. Very well rounded player, however he needs to develop to play a role somewhen in the future.

Spoiler

#2 Valentin - Ghinea - Central Defender

1,96m very brave, professional and a good tackler. Exactly what we needed at the CB position however he lacks a little bit of speed right now for our high pressing line.

Spoiler

#3 - Emilian Budur - CM/FB

The center mid I have been promissed. Although is not as good as promissed, he is still quite decent. He cant pass yet, however he has a decent pace, good stamina, workrate, teamwork and tackling. Our problem positions are currently our Inverted Wing Backs and to be honest he could be a very good one... 1 jumping reach tough :|

Spoiler

Facilities and Finances

Over 500k in the bank! But we are still to broke to invest more money into our facilities according to our board. 

Summaries and Records

Season	Year	Division	Place	International Football	What happened	Youth Recruitment	Junior Coaching	Youth Facilities	Training Facilities	MVP
Season 1	24/25	Liga II	2	No	promoted	Limited	Average	Below average	Basic	Mirel Bolboasa - GK - 7.00 avg rating - 3 xG prevented
Season 2	25/26	SuperLiga	14	No	won relegation playoffs	Fairly Basic	Good	Below average	Basic	Andrei David - Striker - 17 Goals - 4 Assists in SuperLiga - 6.98 avg rating
Season 3	26/27	SuperLiga	15	No	relegated	Average	Excellent	Below average	Basic	Andrei David - Striker - 13 Goals - 3 Assits 6.87 avg rating
Season 4	27/28	Liga II	3	No	won promotion playoffs	Above average	Exceptional	Below average	Basic	Alexandru Voicu - Striker - YI 27 - 11 Goals - 9 Assits - 7.33 avg rating
Season 5	28/29	SuperLiga	10	No	saved from relegation playoffs on the last gameday	Good	Exceptional	Below average	Basic	Alexandru Voicu - Striker - YI 27  - 11 Goals - 2 Assists - 6.89 avg rating
Season 6	29/30	SuperLiga	12	No	1 point ahead of relegational playoff spot	Excelent	Exceptional	Below average	Adequate	Karlo Mijic - RW - YI 27 - 5 Goals - 6 Assists - 6.90 avg rating
Season 7	30/31	SuperLiga	10	No	6 points ahead of relegational playoff spot	Exceptional	Exceptional	Below average	Adequate	Cosmin Badea - CM - YI 30 - 11 Goals - 8 Assists -  6.94 avg rating
Season 8	31/32	SuperLiga	10	No	lead the league in xGs	Exceptional	Exceptional	Below average	Adequate	Cosmin Badea - CM - YI 30 - 17 Goals - 12 Assists - 7.11 avg rating

Edited May 7 by KingKCrush

[Mattc08]

Managed to go back a few saves to the start of the season to  show team and manger profile. Not a bad first youth intake preview. Youth intake came and Ricardo Kennedy is the pick of the bunch but I see Ridwan Akinola becoming a real star in the future. Just needs to work on his strength and a few key defensive  attributes and he could become a real key to this team for many years.

 

Edited May 7 by Mattc08

[Mattc08]

 

End of season and it was a very up and down year. But its only the first year and we are learning who the best players are and who will help us survive for the next few years.

 

[Ice029]

Without further to do, Finland here I come. I'll try to post updates but I can't promise anything.

The team, chosen because of the color scheme. All 3 promoted team were equally good (read bad) so we go for the yellow-blue bois:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallo-Iirot - wiki page for who cares about them

:

Starting state of the team, poor as expected. We will be above Real Madrid some day. Some day in the quite distant future:

Spoiler

The manager, a nobody with a big dream:

Spoiler

The save state, valid for this challenge of course:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 7 by Ice029

[bg0123]

I didn't realize that there was a lower qualification than National C so I have to start over with the proper settings. I will try in Iceland this time:

[Daddy]

@XaW @darren1983 I started up a new YC save last night, this was originally going to be the introduction post, but I noticed something strange and I want clarification if possible.

I disabled the in-game editor on the setup of the save, but here it's showing it's both used and disabled. Unless there's another setting to enable and disable the editor is this just a weird bug and I'm fine here? I'm not that far into the save but the team is clicking and I don't want to start over if possible. 

[darren1983]

4 hours ago, Daddy said:

@XaW @darren1983 I started up a new YC save last night, this was originally going to be the introduction post, but I noticed something strange and I want clarification if possible.

I disabled the in-game editor on the setup of the save, but here it's showing it's both used and disabled. Unless there's another setting to enable and disable the editor is this just a weird bug and I'm fine here? I'm not that far into the save but the team is clicking and I don't want to start over if possible. 

I don't have the in game editor so I've no idea if this just a visual bug or not. If someone that does can confirm that it's just a visual bug (and I think it is because the editor is greyed out at the top of the screen) then should be fine yeah. 

[XaW]

 

XaW - Marine FC - Season 2033/34 (Season 10) - Premier League

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Just all over an excellent season for us. Solid mid-table and not close to a relegation battle. I couldn't ask for more at this stage. The Premier League money makes us financially very happy, and overall everything is going swell. We even finished as the best team from Merseyside after Liverpool had a stinker and we also finished just ahead of Everton! As I posted earlier, we also have our first ever wonderkid, and in the NXGN we had 3 players represented.

James Nash 31a won it and it's easy to see why. He is a physical monster, has amazing mentals for a 19 year old, and even good technical attributes to round out an amazing player. Ceiran Mannion 32a is a bit younger, but still a massive talent that's currently a rotation player for us. The final one is Friday Shehu 31d, a player I'd like to play more, but both wide spots are occupied by two of our best players. Still, he fits in on both wings, and plays quite a lot.

So it grows well at the club, and now we just have to become used to this level, and also let the reputation of the club catch up.

FA Cup: We beat Norwich and Ipswich before we lost to Manchester United in the 5th round.
Carabao Cup: We beat Oldham and Luton before we lost to Liverpool in the 4th round.

Best players from the academy:

James Nash 31a - Now a wonderkid and probably the best player at the club.
Kevin Elliott 27f - Excellent season in the heart of our defensive line. Also uses his size to score a few goals too.
Rhain Macready 30a - Is slowly becoming an important cog in the tactical machine.

New club records:

Most league apps - Rakeem Hughes-Mason 26e - 302 apps
Most league goals - Rakeem Hughes-Mason 26e - 158 goals

Got a few more improvements accepted this season.

Also, we are expanding the stadium and will be playing at Anfield next season.

U21s

They finished 7th in the English U21 Division 3 this season.

EFL Trophy: The faced Tranmere, Salford, and Fleetwood in the group stage. They finished 4th and got knocked out.

U18s

They finished 1st in the U18 Professional Development League North this season and then beat Ipswich in the semi final before they lost on pens to Nottingham Forest in the final.

FA Youth Cup: They beat Crystal Palace before they lost to Liverpool in the 4th round.

Around the world

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

Sky Bet Championship - 2032/33
Sky Bet League One - 2029/30
Sky Bet League Two - 2028/29

Vanarama National League - 2026/27
Vanarama National League North - 2024/25

EFL Trophy - 2029/30

FA Trophy - 2025/26
(U18s) U18 Professional Development League - 2031/32
(U18s) U18 Youth Alliance League North-West - 2029/30
(U18s) U18 National League North West - 2026/27

Player statistics:

Most apps for the club

Name			Nation			2nd Nation		Time at club	Apps
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Rowlands 26c	England			Wales			2026-Present	348
Rakeem Hughes-Mason 26e	England			Antigua & Barbuda	2026-Present	345
Kevin Gallagher 27a	Ireland			England			2027-Present	305
Lewis Pritchard 26m	England			Ireland			2026-Present	294
Jason Fitzgerald 27g	England			Ireland			2027-Present	291

Most goals for the club

Name			Nation			2nd Nation		Time at club	Goals
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rakeem Hughes-Mason 26e	England			Antigua & Barbuda	2026-Present	181
Jamie Adams-Fisk 28d	England			<N/A>			2028-Present	97
Kevin Gallagher 27a	Ireland			England			2027-Present	86
Kevin Elliott 27f	Northern Ireland	<N/A>			2027-Present	40
Jake Conlon 27i		England			<N/A>			2027-Present	33

Most assists for the club

Name			Nation			2nd Nation		Time at club	Assists
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kyle McLean 28b		Scotland		England			2028-Present	61
Kevin Gallagher 27a	Ireland			England			2027-Present	60
Ben Jordan 26g		England			<N/A>			2026-2034	44
Jamie Adams-Fisk 28d	England			<N/A>			2028-Present	43
Rhain Macready 30a	England			<N/A>			2030-Present	33

Supporters:

Bingo:

Summary:

[jrobertgordon13]

@XaW you’ve nearly completed the bingo.

[jrobertgordon13]

2026/27 Poole Town

[SkiIIs]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

 

XaW - Marine FC - Season 2033/34 (Season 10) - Premier League

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Just all over an excellent season for us. Solid mid-table and not close to a relegation battle. I couldn't ask for more at this stage. The Premier League money makes us financially very happy, and overall everything is going swell. We even finished as the best team from Merseyside after Liverpool had a stinker and we also finished just ahead of Everton! As I posted earlier, we also have our first ever wonderkid, and in the NXGN we had 3 players represented.

James Nash 31a won it and it's easy to see why. He is a physical monster, has amazing mentals for a 19 year old, and even good technical attributes to round out an amazing player. Ceiran Mannion 32a is a bit younger, but still a massive talent that's currently a rotation player for us. The final one is Friday Shehu 31d, a player I'd like to play more, but both wide spots are occupied by two of our best players. Still, he fits in on both wings, and plays quite a lot.

So it grows well at the club, and now we just have to become used to this level, and also let the reputation of the club catch up.

FA Cup: We beat Norwich and Ipswich before we lost to Manchester United in the 5th round.
Carabao Cup: We beat Oldham and Luton before we lost to Liverpool in the 4th round.

Best players from the academy:

James Nash 31a - Now a wonderkid and probably the best player at the club.
Kevin Elliott 27f - Excellent season in the heart of our defensive line. Also uses his size to score a few goals too.
Rhain Macready 30a - Is slowly becoming an important cog in the tactical machine.

New club records:

Most league apps - Rakeem Hughes-Mason 26e - 302 apps
Most league goals - Rakeem Hughes-Mason 26e - 158 goals

Got a few more improvements accepted this season.

Also, we are expanding the stadium and will be playing at Anfield next season.

U21s

They finished 7th in the English U21 Division 3 this season.

EFL Trophy: The faced Tranmere, Salford, and Fleetwood in the group stage. They finished 4th and got knocked out.

U18s

They finished 1st in the U18 Professional Development League North this season and then beat Ipswich in the semi final before they lost on pens to Nottingham Forest in the final.

FA Youth Cup: They beat Crystal Palace before they lost to Liverpool in the 4th round.

Around the world

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

Sky Bet Championship - 2032/33
Sky Bet League One - 2029/30
Sky Bet League Two - 2028/29

Vanarama National League - 2026/27
Vanarama National League North - 2024/25

EFL Trophy - 2029/30

FA Trophy - 2025/26
(U18s) U18 Professional Development League - 2031/32
(U18s) U18 Youth Alliance League North-West - 2029/30
(U18s) U18 National League North West - 2026/27

Player statistics:

Most apps for the club

Name			Nation			2nd Nation		Time at club	Apps
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charlie Rowlands 26c	England			Wales			2026-Present	348
Rakeem Hughes-Mason 26e	England			Antigua & Barbuda	2026-Present	345
Kevin Gallagher 27a	Ireland			England			2027-Present	305
Lewis Pritchard 26m	England			Ireland			2026-Present	294
Jason Fitzgerald 27g	England			Ireland			2027-Present	291

Most goals for the club

Name			Nation			2nd Nation		Time at club	Goals
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rakeem Hughes-Mason 26e	England			Antigua & Barbuda	2026-Present	181
Jamie Adams-Fisk 28d	England			<N/A>			2028-Present	97
Kevin Gallagher 27a	Ireland			England			2027-Present	86
Kevin Elliott 27f	Northern Ireland	<N/A>			2027-Present	40
Jake Conlon 27i		England			<N/A>			2027-Present	33

Most assists for the club

Name			Nation			2nd Nation		Time at club	Assists
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kyle McLean 28b		Scotland		England			2028-Present	61
Kevin Gallagher 27a	Ireland			England			2027-Present	60
Ben Jordan 26g		England			<N/A>			2026-2034	44
Jamie Adams-Fisk 28d	England			<N/A>			2028-Present	43
Rhain Macready 30a	England			<N/A>			2030-Present	33

Supporters:

Bingo:

Summary:

Excellent first season in the top league and the talent seems to be coming in thick and fast too!

[resurectedja]

FM23*

Deportivo Armenio Season 1 – 2023 – Second Division

First FM23 season after two successful (and a bunch of unsuccessful secret FM21 youth academy saves). Decided to go to Argentina, never managed there in any capacity and it seemed like a fun idea to try and usurp the Boca/River dynamic and create a third club that is both world class in player production and performance. I picked my co-captain and leader in appearances from my Bulgaria YAC save as my avatar. The first screen shot might suggest that he is the invisible man himself, but I have managed to switch his profile picture. Must be daunting and awkward, being an almost 2-meter-tall Bulgarian in a country where the average person is 25 cm shorter. Talk about sticking out as a sore thumb.

The club had almost no staff, and especially no assistant who can filter out the staff that won’t sign for us. Took a long time before I signed my HOYD , who as you can see doesn’t offer much in terms of quality. I did pay attention to the personalities of every single person I brought in, never settling for a personality that didn’t guarantee high professionalism . I even managed to nab a famous former Premier League player . While my HOYD is poor, my director of football is quite good, for the level at least, and he is tasked with bringing in the Newgens.

Based on my last two saves, I decided to prioritize defensive solidity. That is why I picked this tactic as my starter, with an offensive variation for when I needed to turn things around and defensive one for when I have a lead and want to kill off a match.

 I was very optimistic about my first season, with a few hiccups. The season previews had as at 21 and 17.  And when I looked through the squad, there were plenty of players who looked similar in quality to what I had on my bench in Bulgaria. But I was not prepared just how good the season would go. The first inkling of potential success came in the second round of the cup (sixth in total) where we faced off against Newells Old Boys. They were around 10^th in the league when we played them. I thought they would dispatch us with an easy 2 or 3 nil. But we controlled the game and ended up 1 0 victors. We kept keeping clean sheets and winning games by a goal most of the game. With 15 games to go we were the best defensive team in the league and in second place, 4 points behind Alte. Brown. This is where I took a tiny tactical gamble. I decided to add a bit more penetration. The left wingback was changed from defend to support. The Central Mid on Support became a Mezzala on Support. The traditional GK a Sweeper Keeper on Attack. After these changes, we never failed to score and created a good run of form which led to our title. We weren’t as solid as before, but the balance between attack and defense was better and we won a lot more frequently. We also suffered our only two defeats in the season.  Boca scored 6 against us in the QF of the cup and another team scored 4 out of an xG of around 1. In the end we won the league 2 points ahead of Alte Brown, who lost in the playoffs, with Ferro getting promoted along with us. Our undefeated streak lasted for 30 games. But it wasnt smooth sailing and I really thought I might get sacked. Due to my manager not having enough reputation, the squad really wanted me out, even with all the wins, it took close to 6 months until Seca, the leader of the dressing room saw me as worthy of the team. We also had a club election and the new chairman said he wanted to see if I keep the job. Finances are rough we are 1,5 mil in the red, but the board injected cash and I hope the fact that we got promoted will increase sponsors and gate revenues.

Towards the end of January, we got our first youth intake, excellent in name and promising at least 3 players with high potential, a winger, a central mid and an attacking midfielder . Four months later, in mid-May we got our first batch of Argentine Newgens . Two out of our 3 Elite Talents were players who were predicted. Gustavo Marchesin is a talented winger with great personality. Very athletic, explosive, with surprising amount of aggression and finishing. He added a half of start potential by the end of the season and is already 2 stars in a bunch of roles. Have high hopes for him and I think he will get a couple of minutes next season. While the game things he is best as an AML, Matias Irala  is the promised AMC with lots of talent. He came in very raw and with a bad personality. I am trying my best to squeeze every ounce of talent out of him. He is very creative but lacks in a lot of areas, especially pace, determination and intelligence. The third elite talent was a CB who can play both FB positions as well, named Marcos Espinoza . While he looks like the guy she told you not to worry about, he is still far away from the first team. Decent all round attribute spread, nothing great or awful. We are lacking in the heart of our defense, and I really hope he can reach at least 3 star out of his 4,5 current potential, given he also has a bad personality.I would also add Patricio Correa  to this list. He wasn’t an elite talent when the announcement came, but by the time the end of the season came, he was also a 4,5 star potential. I have a hunch his balanced personality is on the higher end of professionalism and ambition because he keeps getting high training scores. A natural MC, he is probably the talented MC my preview predicted.

In terms of player performances:

Pio Bonacci is the leading scorer with 16 goals in all competitions.

Juan Pablo Salomoni is the player with the highest average rating.

Gonzalo Rios is our lead creator with 11 assists. Would have probably had more if he wasn’t pissed at my lack of reputation for half a season.

Onto the next season! Where we can hopefully get more than 1.11 point per game and survive in the league.

[Emenikeee]

Starting the challenge with Göztepe. I don't know if I will manage to finish this challenge let's see.  

*

We have one hot prospect already. He could develop to a decent player.

[andershs]

Macclesfield FC (England)
Season 11 - 2034/35 - League One

 

I have decided to return to my YAC save with Macclesfield again. I played the latest season just before christmas, so my recollection of what transpired is limited.
Having said that, we managed another promotion. That makes it three promotions in three seasons and takes us from the National League to the Championship. Excellent, but at the same time I am nervous to find out whether my players can compete in the Championship. I doubt it.

I will create a better update after next season, but leave you with the general overview for now.

League (Results 1, Results 2, Cups, League Chart) 

Team (Details) - I fear we will lose Cameron Bennett - 33A, Interest, Report as all the top clubs in the Premier League are lurking this summer. He is our best and most promising player by far. At the same time, it is the end of the road for our first regen Dieter Bickerdike, History who was at the club when I arrived.
He is simply not good enough for the Championship.

Facilities - I managed to upgrade the training facilities, such that they are again Average. 

Finances - That is a worry. 

Youth Intake (Dev. Centre) - Nothing much, but my existing players have improved. Mark O'Connor, Stephen Reynolds.

No Transfers In

Goal for next season: Survive in the Championship. Keep hold of the best players with our ruined economy.

 

Edited May 8 by andershs

[Riebow]

 

Challenge completed! We finally did it. We didn't play our best, but Henry Ike was absolutely clinical. A save that has taken me close to 6 months comes finally to a close.

 

[diegolawliet]

AFC Telford United (Pre-season 2 - 2025/26) [<-] PREVIOUS SEASON

Oh my god. I made it. We made it. Of course I'm not talking about the full challenge. But yes: we survived the first season . Believe me that is a huge achievement for me. I tried three times before this one and in every save I got relegated. We did a great job in this one. We started solid the season, had bad results in the middle, but we did great overall. You cand find our results here. We started with 3 wins in our first 4 matches. It couldn't fail and luckily it has not. The league table was tough, though. You can see we only finished with 6 points more than the relegated Hereford, and with a very poor goal difference (minus 18).

 

Of course at the beggining of the season we lost players. We always lose players, god. Five in total, three of them were thought as first team players. I had to change tactics to fit better our new squad, first to a 5-4-1 and finally to a 4-4-2. All the offensive players were doing a great job plus I hadn't many defenders, the 4-4-2 was a better option to end the season, and it worked. You can see the full stats there, but I want to recognize with a player profile picture the best ones: Piggott, Kerr (mostapps); Gibson, Stenson (most goals); Myles and Shaw (most assists). We will have to fight against transfers out again, we'll try our best to improve our first season.

 

Last but not least important are the new players. I decided to use the nicknames to recognize how wrong the assistants are . They came when we had three matches left in the league. Some of them made their debuts in those games. But there is not a great player really, no one came with the security to be a first team player. I sign evereyone because we don't know what can happen with transfers out, but I'm not really excited with anyone. For my assistant, the best ones are Alex Coultas and Theodore Alabi. I agree but I'd like to add Derek Walker and Jacob Evans to the list. Oh, and I signed a new contract for a year, happy for that.

 

Spoiler

 

[+] Best XI 2024/25 award
[+] Training facilities downgraded
[+] Club vision and expectations

Edited May 8 by diegolawliet

[andershs]

14 minutes ago, Riebow said:

 

Challenge completed! We finally did it. We didn't play our best, but Henry Ike was absolutely clinical. A save that has taken me close to 6 months comes finally to a close.

 

Fantastic. Congratulations. 

[bg0123]

Haukar - Icelandic First Division (Season 1)

 

Good first season overall, never at risk of relegation which is all I ask really.

Transfers:

FIrst Intake:

Best prospect:

 

Looking forward to integrate some of those youth players into the first team. Goal is to again not risk relegation this season.

 

 

[kierandaines]

 

This is the start of my second attempt at this challenge (my first on these forums), and I will be venturing to the sunny shore of Italy with Reggio Calabria - formerly known as Reggina. From what I can gather Reggina have had a tubulant recent history full of bankruptcy and quick promotions. Last in the Serie A in the 2000s, Reggina should be interesting. with the club boasting a 27k all seater. In 2022/23, Reggina came 7th in the Serie B, losing in the first round of the promotion play-offs, before promptly doing the Italian thing and going bankrupt, being reformed for 2023/24 in the Serie D.

 

The Manager:

 

 

[KingKCrush]

CSC Ghiroda - SuperLiga - Romania - Season 9 - 2033

SuperLiga

By far the best season so far, even though we had to let our best player go! Our board decided, over our heads, to accept a transfer offer from PSG for Badea of just over €6m. I tried to persuade them to consider it, but ultimately nothing came of it. Suddenly his market value has risen to just over €50m. And all we get is 6 ****ing million. However we had to do the best out of it. We hired new staff and had our training facilities upgraded for around €1.4m. At the beginning of the season we had difficulties to compensate the loss but with a few tactical changes we got better and better into the season. The xG table said 4th place would have been deserved, but the real table was of a slightly different opinion: 8th place and thus just missing out on the Champions Group. In the relegation group, however, we did extremely well, we almost managed to get through undefeated, but a very unfortunate 0:1 defeat against relegated Csikszerada on the last matchday put a stop to our plans. 

In the end, we finished the season in 2nd place in the relegation group, which is something special:
The top two qualify for the European Cup playoffs. So we have to beat the team in first place (FCSB) and then an opponent from the Champions Group. Then we get the chance to qualify for an international competition next season.

Spoiler

European Places Playoff Semi Final

We have to face FCSB, current IRL Champion in Romania and romanias biggest club. However they had a bad season and we were in form so I thought we had a chance.. at least until the 11th minute of the game. We gave away an easy penalty so they had the chance to go in front very early in the game. Up until now they dominated us anyway so it would have been deserved. But my GK decided to have his best game of his career right now and he saved the pen! The game changed, suddenly we were dominating but they somehow got a corner and scored. After 16 min they took the lead 0-1. But my team does not back down, just 2 mins after their Goal we decided to transform into prime Barcelona and destroy their defense with the most beatiful Tiki Taka combination I have ever seen. In the end my right wing Mijic made the last pass to my left wing Paraschiv who scores. 1-1. We wanted to score the next goal directly after that. I had the feeling they were not able to withstand our pressure but we could not score. 1-1 draw for halftime. After that is was a very even game. Both had a lot of smaller chances but no one was able to score. I decided to sub off both of my strikers and they had an imedieate impact. A cross from the left wing, my subbed in striker Olah heads it back to my other subbed in striker Voicu, who just had to tap it in. 2-1! 79th min! Just 2 minutes later we counter, the ball gets to Olah who scores! 3-1? No! Offside. We now have to survive 10 more minutes. But unlike Bayern today, we played it down smooth and with a lot of possession, we took home the W!

Spoiler

European Places Playoff Final

In the final we had to face Sepsi. The game was 3 days after the semi final and they didnt have a game like we did. They were completely rested and we were not. So I had to rotate a little bit and just hope we dont go into overtime..

The game was totally even, with both teams hardly creating any clear scoring chances. In the 34th minute, Sepsi gets a corner kick and we concede once again a stupid goal after a corner. 0-1. The game remained even until the 65th minute when we were awarded a corner. Our striker Vilcinschi heads the ball against the crossbar, from there it sprints to my central defender Nica, who bangs the ball past 4 opponents into the back of the net. 1-1! The game remained evenly poised, neither team was able to create a big chance and so the game went into extra time. Exactly what we didn't want, because the difference in fitness was slowly but surely becoming noticeable. However, it was us who took the first step. Our record-breaking substitute Coroiu gets the ball, dribbles down the right wing into the 16, finds the youngster Izvernar with a strong pass, who scores his first goal of the season in the 105th minute of the play-off final! 2-1. After that, everything looked like victory, the momentum and the ball were only on our side. But then a highlight. Free kick from approx. 30 m for the opponent. He's not going to... He was. He hits the free-kick directly into our box from 30m and scores. Penalty shoot-out.

My GK saved a penalty in the semi finals but today was not his day. He couldnt safe a single penalty, but we also scored every one of our penalties so far. 4-4. They started so they have the chance to make the 5-4. Burcea from Sepsi grabs the ball and prepares it. He doesn't look very confident. He starts up, takes a deep breath, runs, shoots and and and...
scores.

****! Golban, our goalkeeper was going the other way. 
Izvernar is up next for us. The 18 year old CM with 3 penalty taking. He has already scored in extra time. Scoring that one was harder than the penalty now. He runs up, tries to outwit the goalkeeper but it goes badly wrong. The goalkeeper has the ball safely and our European dreams are over for this season.

Spoiler

Cupa Romaniei

We lost in the first round to a 2nd league team. This was during the phase where we still didnt know how to compromise the loss of Badea..

Youth Intake

I think from now on I will simply ignore the YI Preview. We were promissed good full backs but did they deliver? Of course not! I need fullbacks!

Spoiler

This time we didnt receive a lot of players with good personalities which is kinda sad but it is what it is.

#1 - Samuel Giurgiu - CM

Luckily the best player from this years intake has a good personality. This guy is already an insane Playmaker and will probably play a role in the first squad in the very near future. Awesome Technique, Passing, Vision, Flair and Agility. He will be fun and a good replacement for Badea (even though no one can really replace him..  )

Spoiler

#2 - Eduard Nedelcu - (Midget) Goalkeeper

I was really happy when I first saw the intake. 2.5 Star CA?! Thats crazy! He definetly is a very good GK, especially for his age BUT hes only 1,79m.. wtf?! This game cannot simply reward you for your hard work somehow..

Spoiler

#3 Daniel Vieru - Right Winger

Since my GK is only 1,79m the game decided to straight up bully me and give me a winger who is 1,90m tall. I wont complain tough. We scored a lot of goals from crosses to the far post where our winger won the header. A 1,90 winger with 13 jumping reach will be absolute fun! He certainly will score a lot of goals through headers right? He has 3 Heading. Yeeeaaah nevermind.

Spoiler

So all in all not the best intake, however Giurgiu is an absolute beast!

Facilities and Finances

Because we sold Badea for €6 000 000 our financial situation is very relaxed. We upgraded our training facilities and hired new coaches from that money. We still have over 4 000 000 in the bank. The most important staff member we replaced is our HOYD. This year was not the best intake personality wise, so I looked for another HOYD and found some chinese guy with Perfectionist Personality. He doesnt know the country, so its definetly a risk but Im willing to take that risk.

Spoiler

What else happened?

My Board decided to get an afiliate club from Germany. As a german myself I was very happy until I saw who they chose:

Spoiler

Out of all clubs in the world they choose RB..?! The B in Board stands for Braindead 

Summaries and Records

 

Season	Year	Division	Place	International Football	What happened	Youth Recruitment	Junior Coaching	Youth Facilities	Training Facilities	MVP
Season 1	24/25	Liga II	2	No	promoted	Limited	Average	Below average	Basic	Mirel Bolboasa - GK - 7.00 avg rating - 3 xG prevented
Season 2	25/26	SuperLiga	14	No	won relegation playoffs	Fairly Basic	Good	Below average	Basic	Andrei David - Striker - 17 Goals - 4 Assists in SuperLiga - 6.98 avg rating
Season 3	26/27	SuperLiga	15	No	relegated	Average	Excellent	Below average	Basic	Andrei David - Striker - 13 Goals - 3 Assits 6.87 avg rating
Season 4	27/28	Liga II	3	No	won promotion playoffs	Above average	Exceptional	Below average	Basic	Alexandru Voicu - Striker - YI 27 - 11 Goals - 9 Assits - 7.33 avg rating
Season 5	28/29	SuperLiga	10	No	saved from relegation playoffs on the last gameday	Good	Exceptional	Below average	Basic	Alexandru Voicu - Striker - YI 27  - 11 Goals - 2 Assists - 6.89 avg rating
Season 6	29/30	SuperLiga	12	No	1 point ahead of relegational playoff spot	Excelent	Exceptional	Below average	Adequate	Karlo Mijic - RW - YI 27 - 5 Goals - 6 Assists - 6.90 avg rating
Season 7	30/31	SuperLiga	10	No	6 points ahead of relegational playoff spot	Exceptional	Exceptional	Below average	Adequate	Cosmin Badea - CM - YI 30 - 11 Goals - 8 Assists -  6.94 avg rating
Season 8	31/32	SuperLiga	10	No	lead the league in xGs	Exceptional	Exceptional	Below average	Adequate	Cosmin Badea - CM - YI 30 - 17 Goals - 12 Assists - 7.11 avg rating
Season 9	32/33	SuperLiga	8	No	missed european spot in penalty shootout	Exceptional	Exceptional	Below average	Average	Karlo Mijic - RW - YI 27 - 10 Goals - 11 Assists - 7.06 avg rating

[Daddy]

congrats @Riebow

[andershs]

I am faced with a difficult situation as a newly promoted team in the Championship.

Most of the players that have carried this team are now coming to me asking for new contracts. The problem is, that they are asking for wage amounts that are fair in the Championship, but which I am nowhere near being able to give them on our tiny wage budget.

As a result, a handful of my best players are only on a contract for another year and will leave thereafter.

How do you handle situations like this?

I fear, I have to try and maximize the amount of money from these players and then accept a major rebuild of the squad over a number of years.

[Koetzer]

Livorno | Season 2036/37 | Serie B

Once again we had a very strong start and a bad run in winter which left us on the edge of playoff zone, but this time managed to bounce back and climbed to 2nd place with three games to go! However keeping it wasn’t easy, first we had an away draw against Empoli (acceptable result with leaders), then lost to Reggiana at home and only got a point from Parma but other results went our way and we promoted with better head-to-head results against both Ascoli and Catania! Absolutely deserved result on xG too.

Coppa Italia

Epic cup start against Udinese, we blew a two goal lead in stoppage time, equalized after third goal conceded in extra time and won it with two penalty saves (three including one from the game itself) from youngster Magri! Second shootout wasn’t successful, but two away draws against Serie A teams give us some hope for the next season.

Squad stats

G.Magri *34a – first full season for our young goalkeeper, he had impressive start but predictably couldn’t keep this form consistent, so after our bad run I returned Biagini to goal and he had five clean sheets in a row! So we still have a good experienced backup as well.

F.Rossini *26a and M.Viligiardi *31c – our best goalscorer improved his stats a bit from last season, but his backup also got quite a lot playing time and won the Serie B best young player award.

L.Adamo *28c – had our best assisting performance in five years.

D.Balduini *26c – was solid in midfield and earned a new contract (currently twice higher than second paid player here, but you have to give players what they want in this challenge).

D.Burzagli *31b – a new name in first eleven, after two seasons on loan he appeared to be better than Sabba on the left.

W.Renai *32b – unless something changes after season update in Serie A, that was his last season in Livorno  

Transfers

Youth intake (preview)

Annunziata *37a | Reda *37b | Noto *37c | Bolognese *37d | Zanotti *37e | Pappalardo *37f | Muratore *37g | Luka *37h

No good goalkeepers this time, but a much better intake overall.

Prize money were immediately invested to upgrading training and youth facilities for the first time, hopefully we’ll generate a lot more income in Serie A even in case of relegation.

[jrobertgordon13]

Poole Town - 2027/28

[JAwtunes]

Congrats @Riebow 

[Daddy]

Czechia - FK Viagem Ústí nad Labem (I'll be calling the club UNL for my own sanity as an American who only speaks Philly). 

I wanted to try Czechia and UNL had a pretty full squad and pretty kit colors.

 

Season 1 2024/25 - Second Division:

I would have posted the intro sooner, but I had questions and then decided to finish the season first, so what was expected? Survival. I felt confident. 

Then my confidence shook a bit. The team was not very balanced, very thin at defense, which gave me lots of squad depth unhappiness, which made it a morale manager for a while.

An A rating for my strongest position wasn't what I was hoping, but an excellent rating with a lot of C players gave me hope it would be a deep intake.

As hoped there's a lot of players with some potential and a few coming in able to help now. 

Some hard luck at the end where we lost a few close matches. Still a mostly comfortable first season.

Two victims of morale manager. The club lost about $250K last year, but after all, was balanced out as the new season kicked in the finances are around $1.5M. I'm not going to be able to get upgrades until the club is profitable. My hope is I can slowly move the highest-paid players and have them adequately replaced by youth players. Most of the players are listed as "Third division" level players. 

Season 2 2025/26 - Second Division Season Preview:

I'm hopeful of being safe. There are four players exploring options so things may get dicey. Three are starters and the fourth was starting until I got the message. 

[Ron_Swanson]

 

[FM23] Reymersholms IK - season 36 - 2058

Poor intake, I don't know if the quality of youngsters dropped in last years or our best players are already so good that the ratings of intakes looks bad

Good season, we were pretty safe at the European Cups zone and I'm glad we got that 2nd place so we can play CL from the league phase and not qualifying rounds.

Last seasons run ended at Round of 16 where Real Madrid was simply too strong. With next edition we got a tough draw but somehow played our best earning qualification to playoffs.

Some more upgrades. We've built a massive fanbase and our new stadium still doesn't meet the demand so I asked for next expansion right after the last one got completed. Also our training facilities got downgraded so I had to max it up again.

[bg0123]

Haukar - Icelandic First Division (Season 2 )

 

More of the same in my second season at Haukar. Finished just out of the promotion playoff after a mediocre end to the season where we drew 3 and lost one to finish.

 

 

Another strong group of youth coming in at the end of the season:

Probably the best of the bunch:

 

Transfers (or lack thereof):

 

For next season I will aim to make the playoffs. I also would really like to get my first coaching badge but it's impossible when we're always in the red financially.

 

[XaW]

Congrats @Riebow! 

[jrobertgordon13]

On 08/05/2024 at 15:19, Riebow said:

 

Challenge completed! We finally did it. We didn't play our best, but Henry Ike was absolutely clinical. A save that has taken me close to 6 months comes finally to a close.

 

Congrats! 

[CDGBruno]

[Ice029]

Finland is weird man. In the season we got promotion to 2nd league we also won the cup (EUROPE BABYYYY) cuz every big team kept losing to teams slightly weaker and some nobodies from the 3rd tier with a bit of tactics just swooped in and yoinked the trophy:

Spoiler

Other worthy updates:
- All intakes are golden generations cuz team bad and recruitment got better (I am paying half a mil a year for the youth setup, europe money are a godsend)
- No incoming transfers (no screenshot to avoid spam, you have to believe me)
- We going professional next season

Spoiler

Mennään Pallo-Iirot