gowerNCFC Posted August 7 Share Posted August 7 (edited) Hey everyone. I've been playing as Balzan FC in Malta - attempting a build a nation save. It's been ongoing quite a while, and I thought I would attempt to put the progress into words... so here goes. The League This was pretty straight forward. The better the team has become, the more comprehensive the league title margins. We're by far the best team in Malta, and it shows. We rarely fail to win. Europe Naturally, success in the league has meant that we qualify for the champions league each season. Due to nation ranking, we start early, but we have managed to reach the knock outs quite frequently - but we do find ourselves getting outclassed by the big boys. Cup Pretty straight forward, apart from one season where the youngsters decided not to turn up... It's become a tournament for our second XI and youth prospects, but it's good for them to get first team experience. We have also won the Super Cup every season apart from one. The Ex-Players One of the things I've prided myself on within this save is developing players, and allowing them to leave at the right moment to bigger clubs. We managed to get Wolde on a free from an Ethopian team, solid him to Porto for £700k, who then sold him to Sociedad for £20m. This gave us a £7m in add ons... not bad for a free transfer! Gradel was signed from ASEC Mimosas for £210k, two seasons and 29 goals later he left for Chelsea for £8.5m potentially rising to £11.25m, not including sell on clauses. There are numerous players that we've bought, and had to sell quickly due to interest from the elite clubs. I am trying to be as realistic as possible when bids come in, as I have to accept the reality that we're a small fish in a very very big pond. Finances This is why we're untouchable in Malta. We've got such a big budget behind us, that when we lose players we can simply replace them with ease without having to break the bank at all. Facilities We have made a lot of progress here. We've managed to upgrade the training, coaching and recruitment to max - with the youth facilities slowly getting there as our reputation increases. We've produced some OK Maltese players, with the absolute standout being Alex Zarb - who is an excellent advanced playmaker. Tactics This very rarely changes, and has served us very well over the past 10 seasons. I find it to be very well balanced, and if you're a dominant team it will destroy teams. National Team Malta are improving - I have been managing them for the last couple of seasons. We managed to qualify for the Euros via the Nations League. We lost against Austria and Belgium, then drew against Wales so went out in the groups. World Cup qualification will be difficult as we have France, Croatia and Czechia in our group. Ouch. Nation Ranking The Maltese Premier League is now ranked 33rd in Europe, with the Malta overall 19th. We're gradually getting there but need some of the other Maltese teams to start qualifying for group stages now. The TV money is around £3m per year for each club - so fingers crossed some progress soon! I will be posting updates as often as possible on this - expect slow progress but this is a save I'm fully invested in so keep an eye out. Edited August 7 by gowerNCFC 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowerNCFC Posted August 7 Author Share Posted August 7 World Cup Qualifiers - June 2023 As mentioned on the update post - our road to the World Cup is going to be difficult. We've just played Bulgaria at home and managed a respectable 2-2 draw, and a narrow loss away to Croatia is about as good as we can expect. Standings It's going to be difficult to qualify from this group, but at the moment being competitive is what is expected. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowerNCFC Posted August 7 Author Share Posted August 7 Transfer Update - INS The transfer window has just opened, and we have made three new signings. Let me introduce you to them. Landry Guehi joins from our favourite shopping market, ASEC Mimosas. £210k could prove to be a bargain as he has brilliant potential, and should improve rapidly with first team football. Alin Oprea joins from FCSB for £2.5m. It's a little bit more than we usually pay for players - so I'm hoping he can step up to the mark when needed and keep improving. Finally, Ibrahima Diop joins from Generation Foot. He has been loaned back out to continue his development, but this is one I'm real excited for. I believe he will be a £50m plus player in the future. Transfer Update - OUT Philippe Moukoko leaves to join Premier League Derby for £1.7m plus 40% of profit on the next sale. He joined two seasons ago for £43k, so overall it was a win-win for the club with this sale. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowerNCFC Posted August 7 Author Share Posted August 7 Transfer Update - OUT Abel Naya leaves to join Villareal for £750k plus 40% of profit on next sale. We bought him for a year ago for £850k, and it didnt quite work out for him. Zarb was first choice AP, and Naya didn't impress when needed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowerNCFC Posted August 8 Author Share Posted August 8 Example of Sell On Clause We signed Ibon Sanchez for £19.5k, and sold him on for £75k without ever playing a game for us. He has just been sold for £6m - netting us a cool £1.260m. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowerNCFC Posted August 8 Author Share Posted August 8 July - 2033 Well that's July over. We opened up with a comfortable win against Hadjuk, before a couple of pre-arranged friendlies against Chelsea and Lecce. We did play a weakened team against Lecce, they're a team I'd usually expect to beat. The big one started this month. We drew Bulgarian champions CSKA 1948 in the second round - comfortably dispatching them 14-2 on aggregate. Next round we face a sterner challenge in the form of Molde. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowerNCFC Posted August 8 Author Share Posted August 8 Season Preview On the eve of our new Premier League season, we are clear favourites to retain our league title. We have 10 of the media dream XI - due to the lack of not having a natural defensive midfielder in our squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gowerNCFC Posted August 8 Author Share Posted August 8 August - 2033 Well... I thought Molde were going to be much more of a challenge - 15-2 says otherwise! Rangers were much more of a match, as we scraped through 5-4, thanks to goals in the 88th and 90th minute. I'm fairly happy with this draw. The target to get through to the play off round is a minimum of 8 points - and this can be done. Wins against Dinamo and St Gallen are a must. Our league campaign is underway in spectacular fashion, as we smash in 22 goals, with a 9-1 and a 9-0 win. More importantly, we win 4-1 away at Hamrun Spartans, who haven't finished outside the top 3 in 15 years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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