Koetzer

November 2022 Before the last game of the year we signed a great right-back for this level – Joannes Danielsen, capped 9 times for the Faroes, who was a free agent since summer but didn’t want to play for an amateur team until now. Three home fixtures were a chance to continue our winning run, but Brabrand managed to stop us. The final game before winter break was against Dalum, the team we couldn’t beat three times already, and this match could go the same way – they took the lead twice, but our young strikers turned things around in just 7 minutes! And Danielsen made an immediate impact, assisting to the winning goal. Six points over the closest pursuers and a close group behind them, the battle in promotion group should be very interesting. Islands news U18: 2-0 (H) vs Montenegro, 2-1 (H) vs Latvia, 0-3 (H) vs Romania in Euro preliminary group B – could actually win this group with a draw on the last matchday!

October 2022 After a mediocre September we found an excellent form, winning all five games! That included the first defeat handed to the league leaders, on their stadium and after conceding first. Levi Hanssen was the hero again, equalizing just before half-time, and then our defenders scored twice from Rogvi Joensen’s set pieces. That defeat against us actually hit Vanløse so hard, that they couldn’t win a single game after and we took the top spot! Islands news Betrideildin: HB won the record 25th title, KI finished second once again. B68 relegated with Gestur Dam in their squad, probably we’ll be able to bring him back. The first job interview from abroad – FH which finished 6th in Icelandic league.

September 2022 First loss in the league was fully deserved, Næsby outplayed us and could score more than one free kick. Two draws extended our winless run to four games, before we finally snapped it against Holbæk, the team that promoted from another 5th tier group but was predicted to finish much higher. Levi Hanssen, our most experienced player scored twice to secure this long-awaited win. So far we see a breakaway leader, three outsiders without a single victory and all other teams which most likely will contest the remaining five places in the top group. Islands news National team: 1-3 (H) vs Northern Ireland, 0-4 (A) vs Belarus in Nations League C – finished last with 0 points, will play in relegation playoffs next year. FIFA ranking – 136th (=) U21: 0-1 (H) vs Ukraine, 0-2 (H) vs Denmark in Euro qualifiers – finished 5th with 5 points (ahead of Estonia). U19: 2-1 (H) vs Turkey, 4-1 (A) vs Kosovo in friendlies.

July-August 2022 OB could become our cup opponents last season if we won that shootout against Dalum, and now we finally met. They relegated from the top tier but obviously were a much better team, still we were ready to face them and scored in a counter just before half-time! Second half was much harder, OB were sitting on our goal, finally equalized and scored twice more, both times disallowed for offsides. In extra time all our key players were extremely tired, somehow we withstood the pressure. The last substitution I’ve made was a ‘van Gaal move’ – Lindholm had a good game and saved us several times but I felt that Sonni Højgaard, who is 10 cm higher, could have a better chance in shootout. And that worked, he saved the seventh shot to give us a surprising win over a professional team! Unfortunately, this all was useless as then we again faced Dalum and were awful in front of goal with almost 4 xG The league started well, we are unbeaten so far and should at least qualify for the promotion stage (after 22 games the league splits in half, teams in both of them play each other twice more). Islands news Champions League: Vikingur – 1QR loss vs HJK (1-2, 1-4) Conference League: Vikingur – 2QR win Flora (2-2, 1-0), 3QR loss vs Shamrock Rovers (1-3, 1-0) HB – 1QR win vs Birkirkara (3-0, 2-0), 2QR win vs Lincoln (2-0, 1-2), 3QR loss vs Levski (2-1, 0-1 pen) KI – 1QR win vs Warrenpoint (3-1, 4-0), 2QR loss vs Bohemians (1-1, 2-2 pen) B36 – 1QR win vs Differdange (4-0, 1-2), 2QR loss vs Vaduz (0-3, 1-3) Overall points – 2.625 (1.375 in 21/22). A much better season with all four teams winning at least one round. And we sold our first season tickets!

Great job, attendances rise quickly in Iceland, so this new stadium can become too small again

Pre-season 2022/23 Our key midfielder received some offers from semi-pro 3rd tier teams, but preferred to stay! And actually the first team remained unchanged from the last season, apart from a backup left defender Gunnarsson who decided to retire. We are predicted to go down, which isn’t a surprise as we still have reputation lower than most of the 5th tier teams. Though Agnarsson and Joenson are selected among the top players of this division. Islands news National team: 1-5 (H) vs Bulgaria, 0-3 (A) vs Northern Ireland, 1-2 (H) vs Belarus, 0-2 (A) vs Bulgaria in Nations League C. Hopeless so far. FIFA ranking – 136th ( 10) U21: 1-1 (H) vs Estonia, 0-2 (A) vs Hungary in friendlies. UEFA club ranking – 45th ( 2)

April 2022 13-0 in three games, what a way to secure the title! And guess we were celebrating all the week before a trip to BK Union May 2022 Three final games which we played without any motivation, but still wanted to win (and with such a schedule there wasn’t any need in rotation as well). Our new wingers became the league’s two best players, and Dam almost won the best goalscorer title despite only playing half of the season. Squad stats Only two players remained in the first eleven during the whole season – Rogvi Joensen (well, that could be predicted) and goalkeeper Ragnar Lindholm (he actually did well, but I think we’ll need to find someone better to play in a higher division). So, preparing for the fourth tier now. Judging from the cup results (confident win over 10th placed team, a draw against 3rd, and that’s before the winter transfers), we should be competitive there.

After seeing this post by @OlivierL in FMCU discussion I noticed a team that might be interesting to manage. Ítróttarfelagið Føroyar, the club founded by Faroe Islanders living in Copenhagen, is playing in 6th Danish tier and potentially can boost the national team. I couldn’t find a database for 6th level in Denmark, so had to modify Riddler’s file from workshop, swapping Føroyar with the lowest reputation team based in Copenhagen (also added relegation from the 5th level, geographical borders for the divisions and set the league length to 27 games instead of 18, as they have it IRL). Seems to be working well after several testing seasons. In addition to Danish and Faroese leagues, I enabled those where I’ve seen Faroese newgens before. Because who else? The man who scored the most famous goal in the islands history and played for the national team in two sports – football and… chess! I’m planning to sign only Faroese players, so this club culture is totally suitable (though it’s not hardcoded, and in the test run AI signed a full squad of Danish players). Also I hope to get a youth academy soon (so far we don’t have any) and develop our own youth which should be much better than it could be in Faroese league (I did some experiments creating teams from low rating nations in the top leagues, and they were able to produce some top level newgens, so I guess the league where the team plays is more important than its real location in terms of youth rating). The best eleven, where two players clearly stand out – right-back Gestur Dam (who is also an assistant manager of our reserve team) and midfielder Rogvi Joensen. I hope they won’t be poached by higher division teams soon. And with an average age of 29 we certainly will need some refreshment from the islands. Despite having a much lower reputation than other teams in this division we are predicted to finish mid-table, which is really encouraging. Dam and Joensen are assessed as the best players on their positions. Speaking of the national team, I'm not going to manage it from the start but certainly will apply for the vacant job when our players in the club become good enough to be selected.