Koetzer

Pre-season 2027 It seems that work permits are not an issue in this division (at least our San Tomean youngster on loan got it immediately), but there is a limit of 9 non-HG players in the squad so foreigners have to be picked carefully. Transfers out Unfortunately, Shaw only wanted a full-time contract which we couldn’t offer. Saveljevs promotion clause made his wage too high for his ability, and Konradsen was loaned out as we couldn’t afford to have two foreigners on the same position with these rules. Two last remaining players from the 2023 squad, Balto and Svarups, also left. Transfers in Egy Maulana Vikri – an Indonesian star (surprisingly started his career in Poland!) to improve our attacking line. Ale Diaz – offered by his agent, looks like a great choice both for center-back and midfield positions. Emil Sandberg – a decent backup from Honningsvag (that’s even farther north than us!) Hannes Bordal – backup right defender, started in Rosenborg so counted as home-grown. Jose Matola – I didn’t plan to sign a goalkeeper but Molla wanted to leave for a bigger club (will join Catania in July) and the starting goalie of Mozambique was available for free. We also signed some youngsters as usual, both from Norway and abroad (the most promising player here is from South Sudan)! No wonders from the youth intake, probably Tiedemann can develop into a decent wing-back. Of course we are predicted to finish bottom (two last teams are relegated, 14th place goes to playoffs).

August – November 2026 Offloaded some fringe players to neighbours from lower leagues (yes, Alta also relegated last season so we are now the highest rated team in Finnmark). Tony Biakolo – young and already good center-back with an experience in Ligue 1 (7 games for Toulouse). Thomas Bjørgve – a great player for our level, he can cover any position in midfield and attack. And I didn’t notice that before signing, but he’s a Hammerfest native and played for HIF-Stein in 2018-19 before moving to Tromsø! Kristian Holsbø – another versatile midfielder for the bench. Luis Soares – one of a few youngsters signed for loan development and future sale (or maybe becoming useful players for us, not sure how work permits will work in higher divisions). Others will join next year after turning 18. What a perfect way to start the second half, we regained the lead and extended it to five points after a comeback win over Lyn! Bjørgve started to make difference immediately, 2+1 and a lot of good chances coming from his set pieces. I HATE reserve teams! Viking 2 not only snapped our good run, but also injured five players (including Bjørgve for a month). Luckily, other teams didn’t exploit our losses, we still have a gap of two points and a postponed game (international window moved to the end of September for some reason). Svarups settled on the bench this season and most likely won’t stay in the team, but his efforts in first two games of October were crucial. That goal against Fram in a postponed game increased our lead to seven points, so we only needed to win two games of the remaining four. But that couldn’t happen so easy, right? Two draws and a potential loss against Sarpsborg 2 would have scratched all this advantage, and there came Bjørgve – his goal and assist overturned this game and officially made us champions! No pressure on us in the last game, and despite Mjøndalen was fighting for a playoff spot we finished the season with a win. The final goal was scored by Kaspars Svarups, his 56th and last for us before returning to Latvia in winter. An absolutely deserved promotion according to this table. Squad stats Da Silva and Bjørgve proved to be excellent signings. Swaleh replaced Opgård as the first choice left winger and best assistant (I hope we’ll be able to keep him and our best center-back Shaw as they still don’t want to negotiate new contracts). Our youth also had a breakthrough season! Lost around 20k in a year, not too bad comparing to previous seasons. We will be renting a 1250-seated arena in Alta next season, I hope our fans won’t mind traveling 140 km for home games.

April – July 2026 Started with a disappointing defeat (third game without win against Moss), but bounced back with three impressive results including 5-1 over pre-season favourites Bryne! Da Silva scored his debut goal against Grorud as a substitute and continued with a hat-trick in the next game, so far taking the starting spot from more experienced Svarups. It’s also interesting that almost half of our goals in April were scored by defensive players. Climbed to the top with a win over Lyn, but failed to defeat two reserve teams and dropped back. The cup draw put us against a top division team immediately, we tried our best and actually had better stats but couldn’t score. The only narrow win and three draws were enough to finish the month on top, though only two points ahead of fifth place. Two classic FM games, at first we conceded from the only shot on target, then scored three from three first attempts despite being heavily outshooted overall. Best goal difference and xG, but not enough quality to get needed results in all games. Bryne and Fram Larvik are at risk of second straight relegation! Some good financial news, that doesn’t cover all our debt but any income is important. And time to unveil our new kits then:

Pre-season 2026 New year started with this surprising offer. HamKam actually finished third in Eliteserien and will play in the Conference league this summer! Not going to move anywhere but this could be a massive improvement. Transfers out Manneh, what a legend. Played zero games for our club, but became an AFCON runner-up as a regular starter for Gambia, won the best African youngster award and was sold for a record fee (yes, couldn't hope for better offers with our reputation) with a potential future clause. Martynenko also refused to sign a new contract without work permit and moved to Italy almost for free, but can bring us a half of his next transfer. Fantoft was overpaid for his ability, others just stuck in reserves. Tor Mienna, our veteran backup during last two seasons, retired and became a good coach for this level. Transfers in Omar Jama – Somalian international, born and spent all his career in Finland, will be our first choice playmaker. Filip da Silva – half-Brazilian striker, played in Irish and Swiss lower leagues before joining us. Also signed three youngsters released from Tromsdalen, Erik Gjøs is the most promising of them. Youth intake was really poor this time, goalkeeper Ivanovski has the best potential but I hardly can imagine him being our future starter. Still predicted last among the senior squads, but our odds are twice better than last season.

August – November 2025 Opgård joins a bigger club (Sandnes Ulf is currently 2nd in second tier), but stays with us on loan for this season. Olofinjana (second choice left-back) for some reason was wanted by a top division team and our squad was unhappy with his sale but he doesn’t have any good potential actually. Also had to loan out Martynenko and Manneh once again, I hope they will get the work permits if we earn promotion. Aleksejs Saveljevs – a Latvian international who spent half a year without a club but had really impressive stats in his home league before. Will replace Martynenko in the first team. Mathis Konradsen – a rotation option for right-back position. Sondre Laugsand – adding more depth as a center-back. Andy Harwood – an urgent free loan to replace Olofinjana (still not enough to satisfy our captain). Good form after resuming the season, we only lost to leading Viking 2 (who can’t gain promotion so our 4th place is effectively 3rd with small gap from a playoff spot). Two comeback wins (despite playing shorthanded since 21st minute against Hønefoss!) and a late strike from Harwood in his second game put us on top (well, technically it’s second place but potentially giving a direct promotion). Still, the three leaders are separated by the only point and will play each other in remaining five games. Despite this poor run of form we stayed ahead on goal difference, though a trip to Arendal on the final matchday is going to be very tough. This crisis couldn’t strike in a worse time. Mjøndalen had a poor finish too but still got one point more, and we stay in this division despite winning the xG table Squad stats Opgård’s stats were scratched after transfer, he had 5+8 for us overall. Svarups defended his top goalscorer title despite not being an uncontested first choice at front. Our U19 team won the regional Finnmark division with almost a perfect record, but lost to Skeid in playoffs. Not bad for only a basic academy. Finances are predictably getting worse, need a tycoon to buy us and build a normal stadium

April – July 2025 Almost a perfect start, similar to last season but this time our attacking performance was key to it – we outshoot every opponent and have a solid lead in xG. Let’s hope we can keep this form for long. Marco Molla suffered an injury against Hødd, and his backup’s poor kick ended with a late equalizer. Then we lost for the first time, not goalkeeper’s fault at all but clearly our squad isn’t the same without him. The cup draw was kind to us, two wins over lower league teams and a home fixture against second tier Sandefjord next. Bad month. Conceded twice in the last 10 minutes of cup game, hit a winless run in the league and in addition lost our best goalscorer Svarups for at least three weeks. One more unexpected blow – Martynenko, who played for us without any issues for season and a half, suddenly became unavailable and needed a work permit, so I guess we need another central midfielder At least Svarups got healthy and let us finish the first half with a much needed win. We stayed in a big leading group and certainly shouldn’t be concerned about survival, though should have been on top according to xG table!

Pre-season 2025 Transfers out Mayounga was unhappy with squad depth and had one year left on contract, so at least we got some money for him. Signing Poma last season was a mistake, the New Caledonian defender didn’t justify his regular starter wage. Others only played a few minutes and were offloaded to free some funds. Transfers in Henrik Johnsgård – a replacement for Mayounga, played for Tromsdalen a level above us last season (quite poorly, but I hope his ability would be enough for this division). Kurt Shaw – now we have a center-back from another small European nation to replace retired Lima. He never played outside Malta before. Gabriel Colin Davidsen – a backup defender from Tromsø. Kent Malic Swaleh – will be a rotation option for Opgård who is wanted by some bigger clubs and may leave soon. Already has 17 games and a goal for Tromsdalen in second tier. Abel Næss – will mostly use him as a backup striker (Svarups was great last season but doesn’t get younger), though he can cover both wings as well. Abdoulie Manneh – one of those Africans who couldn’t get a work permit last summer. He didn’t get it now either, but agreed to sign anyway and was loaned to Belgium. At least we’ll be able to sell him later. Askil Flaat – young midfielder with good potential. The youth intake was actually better than its preview, with left winger Chen-Bjerkestrand and center-back Gusev (the only foreigner all the way from Kamchatka!) having first team potentials. Better odds, but still predicted last (these two reserve teams actually make things harder as you never know when they would have better players available).

August – November 2024 No transfers during summer – simply couldn’t find any suitable player with EU passport and two young Africans failed to get work permits. Conceded penalties in every game and couldn’t take our own chances. Promotion is hardly possible now, but at least we still have four points gap from relegation. Two eight-goal games and a decent overall result, keeping us above the danger zone. With five more goals Svarups leads the scoring and average rating charts. Lost to the eventual league winners Fram Larvik, but managed to get an extremely important away win over Hønefoss (Lima became our oldest ever goalscorer, a record that would be hard to beat) and could officially secure survival in the next game but blew a 2-0 lead. Got a needed draw in Notodden to survive and gave fans a good performance on the last matchday (and a farewell to retiring Ildefons Lima). Positive goal difference, 5th on xG – we certainly should have finished higher this season! Squad stats Our players lead the league in all main charts (Svarups with 23 goals, 7.37 average rating and 6 POTM awards, Rødsand with 9 assists)! The most concerning thing so far, our 200-seated arena simply can’t generate any income.

April – July 2024 Perfect defensive performance, and we finished the first month as joint leaders! This included an away win over predicted league winners Mjøndalen who had Wanderson (the Bulgarian one) and world champion Shkodran Mustafi in their squad (he assisted our backup striker for a second goal ) Couldn’t score before the cup game, which we lost anyway but at least broke this bad form. Mathisen made his debut from the bench against Grorud, almost immediately assisted to Svarups and missed a great chance to score in stoppage time, awesome start for a youngster! A month of comebacks: from 0-2 in first two games (one was spoiled by a late goal conceded) and from 1-4 against Fram Larvik where Mathisen became our youngest ever goalscorer! Then we lost to Arendal, a team sitting bottom despite probably an excellent squad (Crisetig, Ante Coric, Jarstein play for them among others). The biggest win and quite a disappointing 95th minute equalizer to end this part of the season, the next game will be in a month. Two leaders have a small advantage, but nothing is set. We are closer to relegation zone in points, though still can dream about promotion.

Norway is obviously the northernmost place where football is played professionally. Current champions Bodø/Glimt are based beyond the Arctic Circle, Tromsø played a lot of European games being even further to the north, and that’s not the limit. Welcome to Hammerfest, a town with 11 thousand inhabitants situated north of 70th parallel. Local football reached its peak in 2000s with five seasons in Norwegian third tier (so were playable in FM08, my first game in the series). Later the club faced decline, eventually folded and was re-established as HIF-Stein in 2018. In 2022 the new club earned promotion to the 4th tier (and already relegated back IRL, but here I’ve managed to get them promoted to fully playable league). (technically this career is a spin-off of my youth academy try, which predictably ended after first season as the default squad wasn’t enough even to fill the starting 11 and first season’s newgens were only slightly better than grey ones) Breidablikk, our stadium with the only stand and 200 seats (not much room for expansion either ) After the first transfer window we got these players as the best eleven: Opgård – Svārups – Rødsand Martynenko – Rolland – Balto Mayounga – Çepele – Lima – N’Gakoutou Molla Defense is the most interesting part here – we signed the Andorran legend, 44 year-old Ildefons Lima (still good at this level, at least for a season), two young Albanians (both born in Italy) and two African internationals. Balto and Svarups remained from the default squad and four other players were released by our neighbours Alta (they play in another group on the same level). The first youth intake is ironically much better than one I’ve got in the academy challenge, right winger Mathisen and Eritrean goalkeeper Abraham have good personalities and potential for this level. This new squad is still assessed as the worst in division, however it certainly won't be hopeless.

Unless it's an edited database (replacing Russia with USSR or other inactive nation), you won't get European games to complete the challenge.

Well, no miracles here. The attack was solid (4th in goals scored and Svarups eventually won the top goalscorer title), but defense simply didn't exist (there was a game which we lost 4-8 ). Got first point in 7th game, first win in 14th, second half was much better but surely not enough.

Profile The northernmost available team for this challenge (predicted bottom in a view-only 4th tier, so it took LOTS of reloads to make them promoted), based in Hammerfest far beyond the Arctic Circle. Yes, that's the whole squad, not enough even to fill the first eleven (could be even worse if three players, including the only GK, weren't signed before the season update). Survival is hardly possible, but let's see Key players: Øigarden | Balto | Mienna | Svarups We also have the first youth preview, nevermind the ratings - any player will be useful for now, hope they arrive before the season start in April. @darren1983 restart date for Norway is January 13.

Season 2049/50 Changes No outstanding players here, except this Ukrainian goalkeeper. World Cup This time England won the final shootout… against Ecuador (they had only one naturalized player as a backup, the team leader Zambrano came through a local club)! Philippines couldn’t get any points at their first World Cup, while other debutants Barbados (the best player is a center-back Chandler) managed to win a group on better goal difference! And so it’s time to finish this experiment. In 28 years we got two new world champions (Serbia and Belgium) and new champions in every continent except Oceania (Austria, Venezuela, Gambia, Angola, China, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Suriname). Most capped player: Rohan Luthra (India) – 199 caps. Best goalscorers: Sergio Mane (Guinea-Bissau) and Ross Phillips (Trinidad and Tobago) – 93 goals. Best naturalized players by CA in 2050: Rob Cann (Montserrat) – 172 Mohamed Cisse (Togo) – 170 Abdoulaye Diakite (Mali) – 167 Best players of smaller nationalities in 2050 (appeared without manual nation change): Tyreek Gilzene (Jamaica, first club: Portmore Utd) – CA 180 Dondre Campbell (Jamaica, Waterhouse) – 178 Fabian Fredlein (Bosnia, Hertha) – 177 Simon Mwamba (Zambia, Zanaco) – 162 Mario Pedro (Angola, Sp.Cabinda) – 158 Alberto Rodriguez (Panama, CD Universitario) – 157 Aboubakar Nikiema (Burkina Faso, CF Rahimo) – 156 Gia Gelashvili (Georgia, Dinamo Batumi) – 152 Oybek Usmonov (Uzbekistan, Molde) – 151 Remy Goncalves (Luxembourg, Gent) – 151 Marios Adamou (Cyprus, AEK) – PA 178 Jean Marie Cineas (Haiti, Lens) – 164 Hamza Al-Kurdi (Syria, Tishreen) – 160 Matty Buffonge (Montserrat, Aston Villa) – 158

Season 2048/49 Changes Nigeria, Mali and Suriname got the best players here, San Tome and Principe made quite an unexpected appearance in this list. African Cup One more trophy for Morocco. Despite Togo losing in the first playoff round, Mohamed Cisse finished the tournament with the best overall rating. Gold Cup A boring final of two biggest nations.

Season 2047/48 Changes Mali get a really top player unnoticed by Spain so far. Euro A classic English shootout loss. Ireland could convert their last season’s improvement into a great result, but lost to another surprising team Sweden in quarter-final. Copa America The most reputable teams returned to the final. OFC Cup Solomon Islands without a single player from abroad defeated New Zealand in the group and only lost the final 0-1!

Season 2046/47 Changes A great year for Ireland with Sam Earl leading a group of four excellent players joining them. Other top players went to Ghana and Trinidad. Asian Cup Eighth trophy for Japan and another good performance from Philippines. Robert Giganto once again finished with the best overall rating and topped the assistants table. African Cup It’s the first trophy for Morocco since 1976! Tanzania had the best ever result with Suleiman as their leading player. Gold Cup After producing a lot of great Dutch players Suriname finally won the trophy itself! Surprisingly enough their best player came through a local academy.

Season 2045/46 Changes The best player here moved from Argentina to Israel. Ethiopia and Hong Kong also got their new leaders. World Cup Fourth final in a row and second title for Belgium, Emerson won the Golden Ball. Japan managed to reach the final four, Angola and Bosnia also got some surprisingly good results. Gambia, the only debutants, lost both games in group.

Season 2044/45 Changes San Marino got obviously the best player in nation’s history, also a good improvement for Switzerland, Japan and Belarus. African Cup Ghana defended the title, Angola with a new generation of Portuguese players made it to the final. Sergio Mane retired after this season with 93 goals in 100 international games, so shared a record for players in this experiment (not overall though). Gold Cup Jamaica won the trophy, El Salvador reached semi-final and that’s where a really surprising number was found. Orellana (not a naturalized player, came through a local club) broke Ronaldo’s world record with 135 goals for the national team!!!

Season 2043/44 Changes Top players joined Togo and Nigeria, also Ewen Tchen became the best player so far to join an Oceanian nation (he could be third best in New Zealand squad). Euro Italy won the first trophy since 2021, not too surprising as they have the world's best player right now - Davide Stazi (187/198 at 33 so he probably was even better at the peak)! A great result for Denmark despite this defeat. Copa America First final since 2011 without both Brazil and Argentina, and Uruguay won it that time too! OFC Cup Of course, one top player wasn’t enough to change anything, Tahiti couldn’t even advance to playoffs.

Actually Curacao is even smaller and made debut earlier. No idea about FM24 yet, maybe when I get tired of regular saves. Season 2042/43 Changes Not the best bunch overall, Grenada got a good player with amazing name (and yes, he’s really brave!) Asian Cup One more trophy for Japan and no unexpected teams in later stages. African Cup Guinea-Bissau only lost the final in shootout, Sambu won the best goalscorer title with 8 goals. Mane isn’t their first choice now but still managed to increase his goal count to 91 (Philips retired after this season with 93). One more remarkable thing is Lesotho qualifying to main stage for the first time (Ratsiu from Celta is their best player). Gold Cup Mexico returned to the top.

Season 2041/42 Changes Rob Cann is an incredibly good player for Montserrat, Faroe Islands and Aruba also got some decent improvement. World Cup England won the trophy without a single goal conceded in playoffs! Belgium played in three finals in a row now, Chile defeated Colombia for first ever World Cup medals. Comoros had a tough debut, still a good achievement for a small island nation to qualify ahead of stronger African teams.

Season 2040/41 Changes Bolivia got one more quality player who previously represented Argentina. African Cup Senegal defended the title, Guinea Bissau reached quarter-final with Sergio Mane as the best goalscorer. His international stats are really impressive – more than a goal per game, though he’s not the top scorer overall in this experiment (see below). Gold Cup Jamaica ended the USA domination with a late double from Gibson. Ross Phillips has 87 international goals now, maybe with weaker Caribbean opponents he would be able to reach the hundred mark before retirement.

Season 2039/40 Changes Quite a weak intake, the best player here joined Jamaica. Euro First ever continental title for England, no unexpected teams in later stages. Copa America Argentina won the classical final, Colombia scored eight against Chile! OFC Cup Anyone doubted?

Season 2038/39 Changes Another great player joins Mali, also there’s a very good improvement for Vietnam, Philippines, Montserrat and Ethiopia. Asian Cup Saudi Arabia beat Iran in the final, but what a run for Philippines! Already mentioned Robert Giganto became MVP and the best assistant of the tournament, while the top goalscorer title was shared between Syria’s Khalil and Thailand’s Boonsing (29 international goals with finishing 5 ) African Cup Senegal won the trophy this time, Togo reached the semi-final again with Yacoubou scored 6 goals. Gold Cup Three in a row for USA, not so expected final for Honduras and Trinidad reaching semi-final with Phillips as the best goalscorer.