Koetzer

Livorno | Season 2042/43 | Serie A First part of the season was good, we were around mid-table in January (and 6th on xG), managed to get some points even from big teams and I thought it could be a season free from survival battle, but then… 12 games without a win and before the last matchday we were 18th, two points behind Perugia. Luckily it was a head-to-head game at home, and despite losing the first half we scored three after half-time and stayed up! Coppa Italia Heavily rotated squad couldn’t beat a higher placed team, no surprises. Squad stats L.Annunziata *37a – after two seasons on loan he was ready for our first team and immediately became a regular starter, scoring 16 goals (our best result on the top level). F.Multari *39c – our player of the season, who also scored the goal of the year in Serie A! C.Sardelli *38a – another youngster who developed well on loan and sent more experienced winger Adamo to the bench. M.Reda *37b – our defense wasn't good, but it’s mostly not his fault. We certainly need at least one more defender of this level. P.Tani *39g – one more new name in the first team, was rotated with Luka on the left wing and eventually had a better season, including a goal and assist in the decisive final game. Transfers – the first generations of our academy are leaving. Our best ever goalscorer Rossini (506 games, 237 goals, 26 assists) spent his last contract season in Moscow (for a really good fee), center-back Gorlero (333, 15+8) moved to Championship, Amelio (442, 77+69), Aziri (490, 89+100) and Antonini (252, 4+13) stayed in lower Italian leagues. Youth intake (preview) Brioschi *43a | Di Camillo *43b | Falomi *43c | Ambrose *43d | Marzierli *43e | Lah *43f | Porciani *43g | Napolitano *43h Some poor personalities, but I hope mentoring and high level facilities will let them develop. Finally we got a specific youth affiliate, Uruguayan Defensor Sporting has almost a perfect setup (19/20) for it. And the new stadium is almost ready, I can’t wait to see our new attendance numbers.

Must be a bug. Right now I have one new player as a regular starter, three others in rotation, and the board is very disappointed in this objective (fans are pleased at the same time, and that's the only difference in their assessments)!

Livorno | Season 2041/42 | Serie B Defeating Monza and Vicenza at home in April secured another promotion for us. We lost the title in a head-to-head game against Torino, but actually were much better during the season on goal difference and xG. Let’s hope this squad is now strong enough to survive. Coppa Italia Same stage and same place as last season. Squad stats The squad refreshed since last season, and three young players – Reda, Luka and Multari already became useful first team members (Vultaggio also had several good games but remains Balduini’s backup so far). Viligiardi, Leporatti and Rizza are not so young but reached their peak age and were the real leaders. And after the season Luka became our first player capped for the senior national team (well, technically there was a San Marino international a few years ago but he never played for our first team). Transfers – Formichi (269 games for us) and Metafonti (357, the last remaining player who was in the squad before me) left the team. Youth intake (preview) Duka *42a | Vetrini *42b | De Martino *42c | Papagno *42d | Porciani *42e | Granucci *42f | Nguema *42g Two top prospects from this intake look really promising, I even gave them both playing time on the last matchday. We got our first foreign affiliate in America (though no good academies to choose from).

Livorno | Season 2040/41 | Serie A Relegated once again. I'm planning a big rebuild in pre-season, the current team core is close to 30 and won’t play better while some of our youngsters can be at least useful rotation options and eventually make the team stronger. Coppa Italia The second round win was special, we had two players sent off but still managed to score twice in extra time. Squad stats Rossini finally scored more than 10 goals in Serie A. Aziri had his best season after promotion from Serie C (and he is considered a club legend now, along with myself and our first season captain Luci who became a U18 coach later), however he now has a younger competitor at left wing, another Albanian Luka. Some more youngsters were brought into the first team in the end, when our relegation was actually decided. Transfers – losing Bolognese hurts, right-back position is the weakest in our squad and he could become a useful first team player soon but his contract was expiring and he didn't want to sign a new one at all. Youth intake (preview) De Nuzzo *41a | Franzoso *41b | Mangiatini *41c | Costa *41d | Pierangioli *41e | Granucci *41f | Boffa *41g Quite bad personalities, but good potentials give us some hope. Two interesting things about this intake - our top prospect De Nuzzo has an elder brother in the squad (first time I see this among newgens), and despite having highest recruitment level we only get Italian players second year in a row. Our board finally decided to improve the youth facilities (been a few rejected requests before), everything else is perfect now.

Livorno | Season 2039/40 | Serie B Back to the top flight immediately! The start wasn’t so good, but after a few tactical tweaks we moved to the leading spot in December and stayed there until the end, clinching promotion with a game to go. Won’t be too surprised if we get relegated again though, the team isn’t really much stronger than a season ago (waiting for classes of '37 and later to reach their potentials). Coppa Italia The cup wasn’t so important this season. Squad stats F.Rossini *26a – returned as our best goalscorer. D.Balduini *26c – the captain, best midfielder and now a record holder with 490 games for us. S.Gorlero *26f – missed three last months with an injury, but became our best rated player (our defense was solid through the season, another starting center-back Caforio and goalkeeper Magri also deserve mentioning). Transfers – no notable departures. Youth intake (preview) Corsi *40a | Speranza *40b | Targioni *40c | Manecchi *40d | Giannini *40e | Sciapi *40f Worse than two previous intakes, but still has a few promising players. Meanwhile our U18 team won the national title from second try (should play in Europe next season, I think?) and U20 promoted to the top division. The construction of our new stadium finally started and will take three years, and the last training facilities upgrade is already on the way.

Livorno | Season 2038/39 | Serie A Miracles don’t happen twice in a row, we started the season with a 3-0 win over Bari but had to wait for the next one until February. A good run (3 wins and 2 draws) in March-April gave us some hope to survive, but it was too late and the final games were all against leaders. Our squad simply didn’t have a Serie A quality and relegated despite a better xG performance. At least we earned enough money to improve our youth setup and probably return stronger in a few years. Coppa Italia Was hard to expect a better result amid our record winless run. Squad stats Transfers – Conte was our first choice center-back for a few seasons, but lost his place to younger players. Youth intake (preview) A.Rosaia *39a | I.Rosaia *39b | Multari *39c | Taglioli *39d | Bertani *39e | Fanciulli *39f | Tani *39g | Maroni *39h Another excellent intake, hope these players will be able to take us to the next level when we return to Serie A. Our U18 team already reached the national final this year! We will suffer without this TV contract and attendances, but the money we earned here should be enough for at least two of seasons without promotion.

Livorno | Season 2037/38 | Serie A Somehow we survive, but I need to admit that my assistant Musacci is a much better manager than myself. After getting one win in first 14 games I was fed up with seeing this and delegated all later matches to him… and we climbed up after it, defeating Milan (eventual champions and cup winners), Lazio (our fierce rivals) and Juventus (despite finishing 12th, they are still a big team). Next season certainly woudn't be easier. Coppa Italia Repeated our best cup performance and could even hope for more, equalizing from 0-2 against Juventus but they responded quickly with third goal. Squad stats No one really stands out this season, though Magri won the best U19 player award and Caforio appeared as a new starting center-back after Renai’s departure. Transfers – Renai moved to a bigger club… that relegated to Serie B (promoted back now, so we’ll face him next season). We got a good fee for his remaining year of contract, though it doesn't seem so big now after a season in Serie A! Youth intake (preview) Sardelli *38a | Roventini *38b | Vultaggio *38c | Losa *38d | Porciani *38e | Ferrara *38f | De Nuzzo *38g Seven elite prospects, recent investments surely paid off! The TV contract here is just enormous for our current level, at least while wages are very low comparing to any other team in the league. So we arrange next facilities upgrade and started planning a new stadium (our century-old ground had sellouts almost in every Serie A game).

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.

Livorno | Season 2035/36 | Serie B The first half of our debut season was incredibly good – we were leading at the end of January, but could only win four games after it and almost lost the playoff spot (had no chances there anyway). The xG table puts us on 5th place though, so we played better than the actual result (which could be expected with one of the weakest squads in division). Coppa Italia We defeated a Serie A team! Bologna didn’t field their best squad, but that's not our problem anyway. And a shootout win over Pescara led us to the toughest opposition so far, the game at Diego Maradona stadium was decided quickly (Hojlund needed 30 minutes for a hat-trick) however we managed to score three after it. Squad stats S.Rizza *31a – our MVP of this season, played either mezzala or AP on the left wing and was equally good on these positions. F.Rossini *26a – struggled to perform on a higher level, but still scored a half of his usual goals number from Serie C. G.Sabba *30a – a new starting left-back and our best assistant. P.Fabbrizzi *29e – had a great start of his debut first team season (that was the reason why I moved Rizza to the left wing for a while, they both deserved a place in first 11), wasn't as impessive in spring but the same can be said about almost everyone. W.Renai *32b – our best center-back now, though he's wanted by Serie A and EPL clubs so may leave quite soon. Transfers Youth intake (preview) Falomi *36a | Ragusa *36b | Imbimbo *36c | Grazi *36d Third intake in a row with a promising goalkeeper, guess we shouldn’t worry for this position now. First academy upgrade in years!

Livorno | Season 2034/35 | Serie C/B What an epic title race, after 29 games we and Cesena had equal points (with our head-to-head advantage), both won eight in a row after it so everything was decided on the final day. We played away against Grosseto, conceded first, equalized with the first goal of our rotation left-back (!), then both teams had offside goals on the last minutes but the score stayed 1-1… and 0-0 for Cesena. After eleven years we are finally going to Serie B! Supercoppa Serie C Well… I left after 0-3 in Vicenza and fielded a fully rotated squad for the useless second game. No idea how we will survive against the same teams next season Squad stats F.Rossini *26a – another season with 25+ goals, hope he can keep this form on a higher level. A.Amelio *25b and E.Aziri *27b – our starting wingers, were good both in creating chances and finishing. D.Balduini *26c – a real leader in midfield. S.Rizza *31a – his debut season in the first team didn’t start well, but eventually he found a decent form. G.Sabba *30a – retrained to a left-back position and mostly was a backup to veteran Carcani, but managed to score a title-winning goal! G.Antonini *29f – became a starter when our best BWM Battochio suffered a long-term injury and actually played better than him. Andrea Fancelli – a record breaker (437 games for the club) who is still good as a right-back. Transfers – Sabattini (363 games/30 goals) and Malotti (251/15) were useful squad members, but now younger players took their place in the squad. The biggest transfer actually was Zellini (a left-back with probably good potential, but no progress at all) moving to Catania, he had a 50% future sale clause which we activated in winter and received 70k more. Also we got money from several staff being poached to better clubs. Youth intake (preview) Koné *35a | Vangioni *35b Second promising goalkeeper in two years! Finally reached a positive balance, I hope wage demands and other expenses won’t rise too much in Serie B.

Livorno | Season 2033/34 | Serie C/B Absolutely not what I expected after barely missing direct promotion. Attacking form remained almost the same, but defense was just awful – 55 goals conceded against 26 last season. Coppa Italia The season started well though, we got our first win in the real cup and earned a chance to play against a Serie A team. Squad stats Rossini finally reached the 30 goals mark, and it’s his fourth straight season with 25 or more! Sadly he missed the playoffs with injury, actually leaving us without any chances to progress. Transfers Youth intake (preview) Magri *34a | Ciardini *34b The only positive moment of this season – it seems we finally got a good goalkeeper in an overall weak intake. Slowly repairing the finances, even despite missing the later playoff stages where we had sold-outs in previous seasons.

Livorno | Season 2032/33 | Serie C/B Our best season with leading on xG and a number of points that would be enough to win any other group… but who cares if we lose playoffs like this? Must win the division to avoid this lottery next time. Squad stats Rossini became our all-time leading goalscorer at the age of 22! Two new players stand out here – Formichi who replaced club veteran Sabattini in the first eleven and eventually finished the season with the highest average rating, and Viligiardi (he moved from U18 team to a backup striker role but what’s more important – became our first player in the national youth squad). Transfers – another previously A-rated prospect left us without any progress, and the biggest surprise was Roma signing a player without high potential even for Serie C level (is he related to someone of their board? ) Youth intake (preview) Stabile *33a | Catalano *33b Poor intake, I only offered contracts to 7 players out of 16. However two previous intakes proved their quality, winning U17 Serie C for the first team (previously we had a few final and semi-final defeats) and a supercup against Napoli (well that’s a real surprise). Our attendances are rising, and we finally managed to make some profit during the season!

Livorno | Season 2031/32 | Serie C/B A drop from the last season, only 5th place far away from leaders. Somehow we defeated Juventus reserves in playoffs (their squad is even stronger than Atalanta U23 which we faced last year), but this form didn’t last long. Coppa Serie C – saved the game on the last minutes, but lost in a shootout again. Squad stats Rossini improved his own goalscoring record, but Aziri was nowhere near last season’s form and Amelio didn’t play since November with ACL injury (though Adamo provided a good replacement for him). Conte and Gorlero became a starting pair of center-backs with another youngster Battochio playing ahead of them. Transfers Youth intake (preview) Pedaggi *32a | Renai *32b | Abagnale *32c | Leporatti *32d One more intake with mostly defensive players at its top. The debt is over a million now, I hope we’ll get promotion (or a good takeover) before being forced to sell leaders. Good news – we had our first full international, 16-year old defender Francini made his debut for San Marino (not sure if he ever plays for our first team though ).

Livorno | Season 2030/31 | Serie C/B We were floating around the same 6th position for most of the season, but found a great form in spring with eight wins and two draws in last ten games and weren't too far away from eventual champions! Well… Atalanta academy is much better than ours, some of their players already have Serie A experience so this tough result could be expected. Coppa Italia Decent debut in the real cup, we actually had more chances than a Serie B mid-table team but couldn’t finish. Coppa Serie С This time our backup squad was hopeless. Squad stats No new names in the first team, but Rossini and Aziri became as the league’s best goalscorer and assistant, improving their own records. Amelio and Biagini (quite a surprise) were selected as the best midfielder and goalkeeper in the division. Transfers – Conte and Gorlero had an impressive season on loan in Portugal and will join our first team, hopefully becoming a good replacement for Brenna and Schiaroli who are both over 30. Youth intake (preview) Rizza *31a | Burzagli *31b | Viligiardi *31c | Caforio *31d | Francini *31e | Sodini *31f | Pistolesi *31g A better intake in terms of personalities. Rizza can become a good midfielder, and we got three promising defenders (so far it’s our weakest line).

Livorno | Season 2029/30 | Serie C/B The best season for sure! Our form was just perfect at start (seven wins in a row!), of course it couldn’t last forever but anyway resulted in a solid playoff spot. To be honest I don’t understand how the rules work here. After an impressive comeback from 0-3 on aggregate we conceded on 97th minute and I was sure it ends our season as Pro Patria finished 5th in their group, but somehow we advanced as higher seed. We had more points in regular season though, maybe this counts? A much easier round against third placed team from another group. Great start at home and who knows how it could end if our best goalkeeper Biagini didn’t suffer an injury, we conceded six without him Coppa Serie С As usual, I didn’t pay attention to this cup and fielded a fully rotated squad, but this time it was enough to win the trophy! The final wasn’t easy despite Pro Sesto barely escaped relegation in their group, we only got advantage in the last 20 minutes when leading players came from the bench. I guess we should qualify for the real Italian cup with this win. Squad stats F.Rossini *26a – the new name in our best eleven, started the season as a backup for Rossetti but eventually became our best goalscorer. E.Aziri *27b – great season for our Albanian winger, 12 goals and 15 assists! D.Balduini *26с – once again he was wanted by higher division teams, but dropped his concerns and agreed for a new contract. A.Amelio *25b – another good season on the right wing, sadly missed the decisive playoff games with injury. Transfers – some more money from selling reserve players. Youth intake (preview) Sabba *30a | Zellini *30b | Ejike *30c | Fabbri *30d | De Vito *30e | Manecchi *30f | Montefusco *30g Our new HOYD Bakkenes (Congre was poached by Monza) started with this bunch of unambitious players.

Livorno | Season 2028/29 | Serie C/B Promising start, but poor form in the end almost knocked us from playoff spots and of course we had no chances there. At least that’s some progress. Coppa Serie С Lost again, but who actually cares? Squad stats Rossetti had his best season with 19 goals, but again couldn’t score in decisive games. Balduini was a real team leader in midfield and agreed to extend his contract despite interest from several Serie B teams. Aziri became a regular starter on the left wing and finished the season as one of the best assistants, Amelio had another good season on the right. Transfers – sold first players for real money (both weren’t good enough for the first team). Youth intake (preview) Lanzafame *29a | Porciani *29b | Formisano *29c | Formichi *29d | Fabbrizzi *29e | Antonini *29f | Berardi *29g Preview didn’t lie about a promising striker, though he’s unambitious and isn’t a real goalscorer that we need. Also we got a left-back from San Marino, guess he will be our first international Finances become a concern (minimum full-time wage of 500 euros is way too high, youngsters can be paid 150 but really promising ones usually don't agree), so probably we'll have to sell our leaders soon.

Livorno | Season 2027/28 | Serie C/B After seven games we were bottom with only two points, so I decided to change formation to 4-3-3 and promoted several youngsters to the first team. This change worked, and we were playoffs contenders until another bad run in spring. I hope that was the start of our real progress. Coppa Serie С It was actually the first game which we played with the new tactics, and a shootout loss was quite a good result for our backup players. Squad stats The main result of this season is two our academy graduates – Balduini and Amelio appearing as regular starters and several others becoming useful backups. Sabattini took the mezzala spot in 4-3-3 and performed well, leading the team in assists. Lack of a consistent goalscorer is our main concern so far, Rossetti scored 10 but only two of these goals came after October. Glad he agreed to sign a new contract anyway, as we don’t have a better striker yet. Transfers – normally you don’t release an A-rated prospect after just two years, but Pedaggi had several serious injuries (for more than a year combined) and hardly can develop into a first team player now. Youth intake (preview) Battocchio *28a | Kouamé *28b | Adamo *28c | Zellini *28d | Manzo *28e | Palmisano *28f | Del Coco *28g A good defensive midfielder and more wingers for our formation. And it's nice to see all unambitious players in the bottom part of the list Facilities need some upgrade, but we can’t afford such investments in this division yet.

Livorno | Season 2026/27 | Serie C/B Same place and even same amount of points as last season, keeping a safe position until youngsters are ready to boost us. Coppa Serie С Won the first game in three years. Squad stats Just like in our first season, Giordani finished as the best goalscorer and Bartolini had the highest rating. Both of them and our best assistant Curcio are well over 30, that's really concerning as well as the fact that our best scoring striker Henrique didn’t sign a new contract and leaves to Brazil. Transfers Youth intake (preview) Hyseni *27a | Aziri *27b | Maiolo *27c | Malotti *27d | Girotto *27e | Bertini *27f Two wingers lead this intake, so I guess we’ll change from our current narrow formation in a few seasons. Also we got first two players poached (they don’t look very promising anyway) and signed a new HOYD – model citizen Daniel Congre. First notable achievement for the academy - our U20 team won promotion to the third tier. Another recruitment upgrade.

Livorno | Season 2025/26 | Serie C/B This could be predicted, our 30+ leaders started to decline and youngsters aren’t ready to replace them yet. Our xG could lead us to a playoff spot anyway, and we stayed clear from the relegation battle, so everything’s going OK at this stage. Coppa Serie С Same as last season, just fielded a backup squad in this useless cup (the match attendance says a lot about its importance). Squad stats James Tenkorang – the biggest surprise of this season. I expected him to be a useful backup after returning from loan, instead he became our best goalscorer! Lorenzo Sabattini – our leading midfielder, unfortunately missed last two months with injury (probably we could finish in top 10 with him). Felipe Curcio – declined sharply in physical ability, but is still good at set pieces (Tenkorang scored quite a lot from his crosses). Andrea Fancelli – third in average rating and always among the best in training. Lorenzo Schiaroli – our best center-back whose future was a huge concern, but he agreed a new three-year contract with a month remaining. Transfers – offloaded two players without any potential and loaned out more promising ones. Youth intake (preview) Rossini *26a | Burzagli *26b | Balduini *26c | Conte *26d | Pardera *26e | Gorlero *26f We got promising players in all lines (except goalkeeper), with a pair of strikers being the highlight of this intake. Despite having negative balance for almost the whole season we managed to get the first academy upgrade!

Livorno | Season 2024/25 | Serie C/B A good debut season, we secured a solid mid-table place from the start and finished in the playoffs zone (a totally mad system here with six rounds, so hard to hope for promotion if you don't win the group). Coppa Serie С Only two highest tiers play in the real cup in Italy, no idea what we could get from this one. Squad stats Giordani was our best goalscorer and assistant, but surprisingly not the highest rated player – Bertolini seems to fit perfectly for a carrilero role. Two players are retiring after this season, Luci’s decision was expected at his age, but Cesarini certainly could be a useful player for at least a year. Transfers – these two players on loan will replace retiring veterans in the first team squad next season. Youth intake (preview) Pedaggi *25a | Amelio *25b | Barletta *25c | Kané *25d | Castelli *25e Good intake in stars, but only Amelio has decent physical attributes here.

Perfection.

Unione Sportiva Livorno 1915 Manager profile A club without major trophies, twice finished as runners-up before WWII and had a few good seasons in 2000s with Cristiano Lucarelli winning the Golden Boot and Marco Amelia earning a callup for the World Cup winning Italy squad. In the same year Livorno had its only European experience (thanks to several clubs above being involved in match fixing), losing to Espanyol in the round of 32. Then comes a typical Italian story – relegation, financial troubles, bankruptcy, restoration in the lower leagues and finally promotion back to Serie C. Best eleven: Rossetti – Cesarini Giordani Sabattini – Tanasa – Bartolini Curcio – Brenna – Schiaroli – Fancelli Biagini No decent wingers (except one with expiring loan), a few 30+ players who will need replacement soon, but a good pair of center-backs in their prime, young goalkeeper, right-back and Sabatini should be our starters for years. Other players who need mentioning are Andrea Luci (39-year-old club legend who remembers Livorno’s last season in Serie A) and two promising youngsters from the first intake – Malotti (he will get some chances in the first team as a backup AMC) and Metafonti (so far will play for U18). Starting setup is quite good for this level. P.S. Already started the season, and what a debut it was! A game against one of our rivals, just relegated from Serie B, and we won it with a captain's free kick in injury time!

I'm afraid that could be the end, or at least a break from this save. We are good enough to dominate the Norwegian league and qualify for UCL knockout stage, but then come real big clubs and smash us. I would like to go down to Europa League where we have a chance of a better run, but there's no such option with this new (totally not Superleague of course!) format. In addition, this career started in beta and carries on some of its annoying bugs like strange scheduling, random IDs and name changes (they are not critical, just adding more to overall drop in motivation).

July – December 2036 Transfers out Sold Lawal with profit for the second time, offloaded several reserves players who weren’t going to break into the first team and our long time captain Kjelsrud Vik who is 33 now and wanted a new challenge. Transfers in Manuel Castro – another Colombian player in our squad and the reason why Lawal wasn’t needed anymore. Diallo and Bruno were signed for the youth team so far. We are starting from the main stage in Champions League this time, so had quite a relaxed summer schedule. Perez missed several games while taking part in the Olympics, but our attack was still strong without him and defensive failure against Brann surely couldn’t be explained by this. And despite Bodø/Glimt becoming only a mid-table team this season (that 5-1 away win wasn’t expected anyway!), we have a real title race with Molde – they are only three points behind. European schedule is a bit easier than last season, we certainly need to get six points from Sparta and Dinamo at home. Easily advanced to the third straight cup final and started the European season with a good result in Italy, but couldn’t hold the lead in a more important game against Sparta. Before October we only failed to score once, and now hit this bad run in the worst time. Molde lost the next game to HamKam so we returned a three point advantage (with a much better goal difference), but getting only draws from two easiest games in Europe may end our season earlier. Molde dropped points once again, so this draw against HamKam (the game was scheduled within the international break and we missed nine players) was enough for the title! I also hoped to get points from Sevilla (they lost all four games before), but we were smashed from the start Good finish of the year, we won our second domestic double (despite getting a bit complacent after third goal) and made a late comeback in Lille which can potentially save our European season (though we need to play Atletico and Barcelona in January, while Man City and Arsenal are outside top 24 and most likely get more points from remaining games, so our chances are still low). Squad stats Perez repeated his goalscoring record from previous season, Kontos and Mosbron shared the lead in assists while competing for a place in first eleven (though their combined result is still less than Kontos alone a year ago), Jalil beat the club record in average rating (which was set by Svarups in third tier back in 2024!) and won the league MVP award. Cimpanu and Høyvik claimed different youngster awards, the latter also became our first player capped by Norway (a surprise actually, he’s mostly a backup and not the best local player in our squad, but I guess the nation lacks good defensive midfielders). The board finally agreed to upgrade youth facilities to the excellent level, and our academy entered the world's top 10 now!

January – June 2036 Transfers out Ramirez left us after six excellent seasons, I hope his replacement will be as good in goal. Transfers in Francisco Javier – our new starting goalkeeper with good stats in Spanish second division. A bit concerned about his physical ability, hopefully he adapts to the Nordic football quickly. Mateus Alcarcel – not that we needed another central midfielder, but this Colombian youngster with expiring contract was really good (and he played in the same club with our leading striker Perez). Jørgen Hellebust – promising striker for the youth team. Not the best personalities in this intake, but what a player – Håvard Møller could already be a starter for most Eliteserien teams! Rydland and Sekigawa (our Japanese affiliation seemed to work) also have a chance to develop. Our odds are almost equal with Bodø/Glimt now, I’m sure they won’t be as bad as last autumn and it’s going to be a tough battle. Fjærås came from the bench at half-time and scored twice to secure our playoff spot! No easy options among the seeded teams, and we got Liverpool. Our chances actually ended after 20 minutes of home game, when Jelsa got his second yellow card. Well… at least we scored three. We had a perfect home form, but only got one win from first five away games and let Molde (with Solskjær returned as their manager) take the top spot for a while. Bodø/Glimt’s poor form continued from the last season, could it be a start of their decline as a top team? No problems in the early cup stages, Møller had 2+1 on his debut, becoming our youngest ever goalscorer, and scored one more from a free kick in the next game. Our second foreign affiliate with an excellent youth setup.