How much use is my B-team that doesn't play matches?

[Bahnzo]

I'm in Germany and I was asked if I wanted to setup a B-team. I thought, sure, great idea! But my save only has the 3 German divisions and this club is not in those, so it doesn't register as playing games. I mean, it technically does play matches, as players on that squad show matches being played, but if I put a player on that squad, it's not affecting their conditioning (they never reach match shape despite showing games played). 

So how useful is this team? What I'm really worried about is using it with youth players whom are too good for U19, but not ready for first team. Are they going to continue to train and improve as well as they would otherwise, or am I risking the development of that 17yr old with a great potential?

[lozzny]

En 16/2/2024 a las 22:06, Bahnzo dijo:

I'm in Germany and I was asked if I wanted to setup a B-team. I thought, sure, great idea! But my save only has the 3 German divisions and this club is not in those, so it doesn't register as playing games. I mean, it technically does play matches, as players on that squad show matches being played, but if I put a player on that squad, it's not affecting their conditioning (they never reach match shape despite showing games played). 

So how useful is this team? What I'm really worried about is using it with youth players whom are too good for U19, but not ready for first team. Are they going to continue to train and improve as well as they would otherwise, or am I risking the development of that 17yr old with a great potential?

In Germany, many reserve teams play in unloaded leagues, so maybe that's the reason they aren't affiliated in one. However, they are still useful.

Your reserve team manager can set up friendly matches every week, so the players in this team will have playing time, although their growth won't be as good as when playing competitive matches. It could be useful to develop young players with not enough potential for your first team but who may grow enough to be sold for a profit. Also, it allows you to accommodate more players in the club, so you can make some business. Loan the best ones and let the rest develop until they can be sold (even if it's only a couple thousand euros, if you can trigger a next sale clause, that's good business).

It's also useful to provide match recovery and keep match sharpness for players who are recovering from injury or who won't play enough as starters.

Finally, I'm not sure if Germany is the same, but in some leagues these teams may move up the ladder to a playable league (never to the first division). After all, theoretically, they are playing the pro ladder.