Bishy's 'Ultimate' Career Game!

Hi all,

I'm new to this but recently had a brainwave - I often struggle to get into a game of FM and to counter this I've set up a new game that has me determined to win EVERY continental club championship in the world!

Active Countries/Leagues:

South Africa (1st Division and above)

China (1st Division and above)

South Korea (N-League and above)

Mexico (First Division A and above)

USA (MLS Only)

England (League 2 and above)

France (National and above)

Italy (Serie B and above)

Holland (Eerste Divisie and above)

Spain (LIGA Adelante and above)

Australia (A-League only)

Argentina (Second Division and above)

Brazil (Second Division and above)

You are to start as unemployed, and have your experience set to Automatic.I'd like this to run as a challenge so if anyone else wants a go, please feel free to post!

The goal is to build a career winning the following cups:

African Champions League

Asian Champions League

European Champions Cup

North American Champions League

OFC Champions League

South American Copa Libertadores

I would say you can choose your own leagues and database size, but obviously you need South Africa and Australia so that you'll be eligible to win the cups in those continents. And you obviously need to have one country selected from each continent.

Any feedback would be appreciated and let me know if you're having a go!

I'm into my 2nd season at the moment, will fill you in a bit later!

You can't play the OFC Champions' League on FM09... otherwise it looks good..

You can't play the OFC Champions' League on FM09... otherwise it looks good..

LOL - that sucks.. Its odd too seeing as there is details of the OFL Champions League in the competitions section!!

Anyhoo.. I can see theres a slow interest for now.. so I'll give you some details of my game so far!!

As an unemployed manager, I scoured the world for a new team looking for a boss. After a short search, being turned down by many top division clubs, I settled for a stay in Durban, South Africa - as manager of First Division Coastal side 'Durban Stars'

From the start, I thought it was going to be a hard slog - I was given a transfer budget of £3,000 and a wage budget of just under £1,000 a week. I brought in a few free transfers, and it seems like a lot of the other clubs in our league were trying to offload players to free up some budget - so a lot of them were allowed to leave on a free!

Considering my initial thoughts, this 1st season was pretty easy and we walked the 28 match league (8 teams, playing each other 4 times) - however as the South African first division is split into 2 (Coastal, and Inland), we had to playoff against the winner of the Inland - against Jonos Cosmos.

Durban Stars ended up losing this match 3-1 on aggregate, and at this point I was expecting another season in the First Division. However - after this match there was yet another playoff. The teams in 2nd in each of the regional leagues, the losing team of the first playoff, and the team 15th (out of 16) in the Premier league would enter a 4 team playoff.

My semi-final was against Ikapa Sporting - who I'd previously beaten in 3 out of 4 meetings in the same season. The 1st leg was away at Ikapa.. which we lost 1-0 (a player called LINDA Madonsela scored for the in the 64th minute) and we were completely outplayed. They had 28 shots (3 on target), we had 3 shots (0 on target).

This set up an extremely tense 2nd leg, which we needed to win to keep the promotion hopes alive.. 24,992 fans packed into Durban's Chatsworth Stadium to see the dream live on. Top scorer Bonang Ngaka tied things up for the Durban Stars after only 5 minutes, only for Ikapa's Warren Budde to get the important away goal on the stroke of half time. A strong team-talk at half time got the team motivated, and Ngaka responded by scoring another goal for Durban straight after half time. With the scores at 2-2, but Ikapa ahead on goal difference, we needed another goal. We threw more players into attack to get the all important goal.. and we were rewarded with a goal from Jokhonia Cibi on the 69th minute.. and we hung on to stay in the playoffs! A brilliant turnaround, and morale was running high going into the PLayoff Final.

The stage was set for the Playoff Finals, also to be played over 2 legs, against Maritzburg United - they finished 15th in the Premier League, thus had the most to lose. We had drawn 0-0 with them in a pre-season friendly.

Once again, the away leg was first - and deja-vu set in as we lost it 1-0. However on this occasion, it was a far more even affair, with Durban Stars dominating the possession and even having more shots!

3 days later, back in Durban's Chatsworth Stadium - 13,595 people watched as Durban Stars attempt to gain Premier League status (why 10,000 people less for the final?!).

The start of the match was tentative, with Durban Stars not wanting to concede any more goals, but after the initial 20 minutes the game became more open.. culminating in Durban Stars levelling the tie after 28 minutes with a stunning goal from Charlyne Bernon! Lebojoa Mphongoa then put the Stars in the lead on the 42nd minute - once against setting up a tense 2nd half. Considering what was at stake, Maritzburg didnt respond, and Bernon scored a 3rd for the Stars on the 83rd minute putting the tie beyond doubt.

Sure enough, the referee blew for full time, and the Durban Stars got promoted to the Premier League on the first attempt!

But the Premier League will not be an easy ride for the Durban Stars - and there will be a long way to go yet in their quest to become champions of Africa! What transfer and wage budget will they be given in the large step up to the Premier League, and will they even survive?

Stay tuned to find out..