La Liga veterans - help pls

[janrzm]

In my beta save I moved from FC København to Valencia after 3 Seasons and it raised some questions. I’ve not managed in La Liga for years and a few things have changed.

1. Squad building - the state of the Valencia squad after 3 game seasons was shockingly dire. Only 15 registered players I think caused by the AI’s inability to work within the competition registration rules combined with the salary cap. Is this typical of what you see in your saves because it looks like AI teams will just continue to regress at an alarming rate? 
 

2. How on earth do you manage the salary cap in game, I see no tools, no total wages, bonus and appearance fee figures. Are you running spreadsheets to manage this? Seems quite remiss for the game not to include at least some basic numbers around the registration screen to assist players.

3. I’ve only bought a couple of players but both transfer negotiations defaulted to requesting a 5 year contract. Is this a bug or is there an issue around min contract length?

Thanks for your assistance, I don’t want to spend hours on a save if there are issues.

Edited November 19, 2023 by janrzm

[greenz81]

1. It's a known issue that someone in the feedback thread pointed out 

2. If memory serves me correct, the salary cap is an issue going back a couple of editions, due to it not being as flexible. Users complained of being promoted multiple times and the salary cap not being flexible

3. Might be one for the big forums to ask. As it's just 2 players, might be just a coincidence.

[janrzm]

10 hours ago, greenz81 said:

1. It's a known issue that someone in the feedback thread pointed out 

2. If memory serves me correct, the salary cap is an issue going back a couple of editions, due to it not being as flexible. Users complained of being promoted multiple times and the salary cap not being flexible

3. Might be one for the big forums to ask. As it's just 2 players, might be just a coincidence.

1. Yes, I pointed it out in the feedback thread and raised it in the bug forum. Was really trying to establish if the issue is historical in which case I wouldn't waste my time on a La Liga save. 

2, I've read posts around the accuracy and exact make of of the salary cap formula, can't see anything definitive. The game seems to be lacking the "tools" a player would need to manage the cap. It seems silly that there's no detail on how it is arrived at and even worse that the squad view doesn't adjust a visible figure for you as you add/remove players. I'm not surprised its missing though......

3. I'll go back to the save and make some more contract offers. I was seeing something completely different 2/3 years in Denmark, then Spain was a hard 5 years. 

[imbackagain]

Im playing as Real Betis. Ive just checked Valencia and Barcelona and they are not registering players also. Will they sell them in January? Or can they play for the B team? Is this broken?

[janrzm]

44 minutes ago, imbackagain said:

Im playing as Real Betis. Ive just checked Valencia and Barcelona and they are not registering players also. Will they sell them in January? Or can they play for the B team? Is this broken?

I've reported this in the bug forum and it's been acknowledged as an issue. I don't believe the AI is capable of building a squad without restrictions so once the La Liga wage cap is applied it literally falls apart. I wouldn't personally go near La Liga for a save because the AI teams are more hamstrung than normal so the challenge is diminished considerably. 

I don't think they'll move them to the B team, they may attempt to loan some out. Look at the attached image of the Valencia squad when I moved to it 3 seasons into the game. It's diabolical, only 15 registered players. 

Also, I really hate how there's no assistance in balancing the wages to meet the cap. You literally have to set up a spreadsheet from what I can see and work it out yourself, that's just something that should be in the game IMO. 

[jonnyfresh]

Does anyone know how the salary cap increases? Or what it’s based on?

 

im currently managing Valencia but having issues registering 23 players due to the wage cap

[Dadecane]

The “salary cap” only applies to players registered. So say the cap is 12m just to throw out a number, ur players registered cant add up to more than 12m in yearly salary. It shows u that on the registration page; as u register each player u see their wage added to the total up top with the checkmark. U can also toggle the views to show u their contract details so u see what each one makes. Appearance bonuses and all bonuses dont count towards this it is ONLY the yearly/weekly salary. Nothing else.

also im in my 4th season in spain now and all teams have their players registered correctly. But remember in spain u can play up to 4 B-team players u23 at any time on the field. 4 on the field. But 2 can come off and 2 more come on. Etc. last year, Gavi although one of fcb’s best players, was not registered. He was a B team u23 player and played every game thats it. Same goes for Alejandro Balde, and a few others. All were B team players last year. This year; Fermin Lopez is, and hes started every game in November.
 

So keep in mind that spanish teams may not register some very good u23 players, and its done on purpose. To not have them count against the wage cap. They can still be used every game as B team players. 
 

if u add to that the fact that u19 players dont have to be registered at all, and can still play, well then u may see some teams with only 15 first team players registered. BUT they use 4-5 B team guys. And 2-3 u19 guys. 
 

total size: 23 players more or less. 
 

im spanish amd a self appointed liga expert both IRL and FM, if u have any questions lemme know 😉 

 

🇪🇸 

[Dadecane]

Also to add to my post a lot of people say the B teams are useless cuz they dont play games. Not true. They do play games; under the hood. You will notice players u keep on the B team (and not take w u on match day) will always have green sharpness. Cuz they are playing games. U can see their form too, and see the games. 
 

most importantly, B teams in Spain are a way to keep YOUNG STUDS who are currently helping or even leading your first team from counting against your wage cap. Eventually that player will ask to be a first teamer or your assman’s will drive u crazy about it. But thats how it goes in real life. 
 

first 2 seasons under xavi, fcb used up to 6 B-team players all season long. Araujo was still a B teamer in 2022, Gavi was up to last season, Balde too, etc etc

[Dadecane]

Also remember on the training page to add any B team player that u use on the fist team. That way they train with the senior team, not the B team. 
 

B team player who doesnt count against wage cap, but trains and plays w the first team. U need 3-4 of those. Every team in spain has them IRL. 

[Dagenham_Dave]

Weird, I have La Liga loaded in my save (season 8 in game) and squad sizes all look normal with no registration issues that I can see. 

Real Madrid squad, good mix of youth and experience, and only 2 unregistered players. Someone away on loan and a goalkeeper. Once again I have to thank SI for giving me the most complete version of the game, and giving everyone else a broken mess. 

[jonnyfresh]

On 24/11/2023 at 08:49, Dadecane said:

The “salary cap” only applies to players registered. So say the cap is 12m just to throw out a number, ur players registered cant add up to more than 12m in yearly salary. It shows u that on the registration page; as u register each player u see their wage added to the total up top with the checkmark. U can also toggle the views to show u their contract details so u see what each one makes. Appearance bonuses and all bonuses dont count towards this it is ONLY the yearly/weekly salary. Nothing else.

also im in my 4th season in spain now and all teams have their players registered correctly. But remember in spain u can play up to 4 B-team players u23 at any time on the field. 4 on the field. But 2 can come off and 2 more come on. Etc. last year, Gavi although one of fcb’s best players, was not registered. He was a B team u23 player and played every game thats it. Same goes for Alejandro Balde, and a few others. All were B team players last year. This year; Fermin Lopez is, and hes started every game in November.
 

So keep in mind that spanish teams may not register some very good u23 players, and its done on purpose. To not have them count against the wage cap. They can still be used every game as B team players. 
 

if u add to that the fact that u19 players dont have to be registered at all, and can still play, well then u may see some teams with only 15 first team players registered. BUT they use 4-5 B team guys. And 2-3 u19 guys. 
 

total size: 23 players more or less. 
 

im spanish amd a self appointed liga expert both IRL and FM, if u have any questions lemme know 😉 

 

🇪🇸

Just a quick q, thanks for the above! Does the salary cap increase year on year? Or how is it done?

in 23/24 I finished 5th , 24/25 I won the Europa league and finished 3rd. The salary cap has only gone up from 525k to 675k. I have 100m in the bank but all my players are demanding new contracts.

[Dadecane]

1 hour ago, jonnyfresh said:

Just a quick q, thanks for the above! Does the salary cap increase year on year? Or how is it done?

in 23/24 I finished 5th , 24/25 I won the Europa league and finished 3rd. The salary cap has only gone up from 525k to 675k. I have 100m in the bank but all my players are demanding new contracts.

La liga decides each teams caps based on their overall financial situation, ffp, player sales etc. technically it should go up exponentially as youre succesful, but idk how or if the game reflects that very well. 

[jonnyfresh]

On 28/11/2023 at 00:25, Dadecane said:

La liga decides each teams caps based on their overall financial situation, ffp, player sales etc. technically it should go up exponentially as youre succesful, but idk how or if the game reflects that very well. 

If def feels broken. I finished second and my wage cap has risen to 725k a week. I’m making 40m profit a year which is more than my actual wage bill.

[DavutOzkan]

So how does one check which B-team players are registered and thus eligible to come up to the main team (I know they need to be U23). 

It seems that no matter which players I try to call up that meet the criteria of being U23, I am still told that they are ineligible. DO I just have to hope that my B-team manager registered the ones I wanted? 

Does it have something to do with my B-team not being in a playable league? I think they are in the fourth tier, and I only have the top three loaded, I believe. 

[NineCloudNine]

44 minutes ago, DavutOzkan said:

So how does one check which B-team players are registered and thus eligible to come up to the main team (I know they need to be U23). 

It seems that no matter which players I try to call up that meet the criteria of being U23, I am still told that they are ineligible. DO I just have to hope that my B-team manager registered the ones I wanted? 

Does it have something to do with my B-team not being in a playable league? I think they are in the fourth tier, and I only have the top three loaded, I believe. 

If you hover your mouse over the ‘Ine’ icon, a popup should tell you the reason they are ineligible. I suspect not being in a playable league is indeed the problem, since there’s nothing to register them for.

[warlock]

57 minutes ago, DavutOzkan said:

So how does one check which B-team players are registered and thus eligible to come up to the main team

I think there's some confusion here.  I'm in the fifth season of my Celta Vigo save and can use players from any of the B-, C- and u19 squads. I just add them to the bench ahead of matches. But you can't register them for the senior squad once they've been registered for another squad.

Re: the salary cap. As I understand it, the cap is calculated at the end of every season on a rolling three-year basis. So a club like Valencia (or Barca) with historic debts at the start of a new save will need at least a couple of seasons of profitability before the cap starts to move significantly. At Vigo I was lucky enough to qualify for the Champions League at the end of season1, so made a lot of money in every subsequent season. My salary cap went from around £500k a week, to £700k a week to around £1m a week.

We're still not on the level of Barca or Real Madrid, but we are rich enough that the board is now building a new stadium without the need to borrow any money.

I'd recommend a Spanish save to anyone, just be aware that the salary cap adds another level of challenge.

[NineCloudNine]

45 minutes ago, warlock said:

I think there's some confusion here.  I'm in the fifth season of my Celta Vigo save and can use players from any of the B-, C- and u19 squads. I just add them to the bench ahead of matches. But you can't register them for the senior squad once they've been registered for another squad.

I might have misunderstood but I thought the problem was not being able to see which players have been registered for the B team, since such registration is a pre-requisite for being able to add them to a first team squad for a match.

[warlock]

4 hours ago, NineCloudNine said:

I thought the problem was not being able to see which players have been registered

Sorry... we've already exhausted my knowledge of the subject . At the start of every season I know more or less who I want in the senior squad and, on registration deadline day, I register them. If there are any players I don't think are ready for first-team football, I send them to one of the junior squads based on my estimation of what they're ready for. As far as I know, those players all get registered for those squads by the powers-that-be.

The complication - I think - is that Spain has a general rule that once a player is registered for one squad, they can't be registered for another. So a player registered for the senior team can't be moved to the B- or C-team after registration deadline. They can be moved to the u19s but if they're too old they can't be registered and can't play. It sounds a bit complicated, but in my experience if you're careful at the beginning of the season and move players between squads in good time, they'll be registered appropriately.

Honestly, it's not something I've looked into closely and it's not something I've tried to do with B- and C-team players, apart from looking earlier to see which players were not ineligible for a first-team fixture. But I have, without any problem, played u19s in competitive LaLiga fixtures to cover for injuries or other problems.

[DavutOzkan]

Yes, my issue was that I can't see who is registered for my B-Team, and I do not have the option to look at registration for that team. 

I needed to call up a third keeper as one of mine got called up, and so I tried to call up a U23 keeper, but I kept getting "this player cannot be registered for this match" next to his name. 

Like I said, I think the issue is because my B-team is not in a playable league. Although, I was able to call up players in my first season (they may have since gotten relegated from a playable league, I didn't check). I loaded the league in, but I won't be able to test this out until the next season. I really want to take better control of my farm teams (playing with Athletic, so it's pretty important with them) going forward and I didn't realize they were in an unplayable league until now.