***The AI Era - Forza Savona!!***

World Cup

Past Winners

Noticeable that Argentina and Italy have been the dominant international forces. Argentina having won it twice and coming runners up three times in the 5 World Cups we've had. Incredibly back in 2018 Australia blew the competition away winning the tournament in Spain. Showing it was no fluke they finished 3rd four years later in China.

European Championships

Past Winners

Early years saw a range of sides making the final but in recent years the Italian dominance has begun to show. They've won the last two finals against England and Romania.

Champions League

Past Winners

There has been a good mix of sides from Italy, England and Spain so far with Bayern Munich seemingly the most unlucky side having not won it since 2012 (finishing runner up 4 times!). Savona and Napoli are the last two winners, and the two lesser known of the list Interestingly Lyon are the only finalists from outside of the big 3 nations.

Uefa Cup

Past Winners

As has been historically true with the Uefa Cup, there have always been unexpected winners down the years. In this case Olympiakos winning it in 2012 has to be the most surprising.

European Super Cup

Past Winners

Club World Championship

Past Winners

Other than 2020 where Sao Paulo won the tournament, every Champions League winner has gone on to win the Club World Championship. Will Savona under new stewardship keep up this record?

Serie A

Past Winners

There have always been spells of dominance in Serie A down the years. Juventus in 2014-2016, AC Milan 2017-2021 and now Savona 2028-?. Napoli have been a force throughout my time in Serie A, always up there despite winning it just the once. Other than the odd occasion with Genoa in 2017 and Palermo in 2019 a 'smaller' club very rarely breaks into the top 3/4.

Current Table

As you can see there are a few unfamiliar names in the top flight. Albinoleffe have just been promoted coming 2nd behind Fiorentina last season. Frosinone are the other promoted side. The top 6 these days consist of AC Milan, Savona, Napoli, Roma, Juventus and Inter (although they finished 8th last year behind Lazio and Catania). Salernitana did well to stay up last season. Mantova have stayed in the league for a number of years now occasionally nicking points off the top sides.

Italian Cup

Past Winners

Recent years has seen a huge spell of dominance for Roma. 6 of the last 7 Italian Cups have headed to Roma.

Italian Super Cup

Past Winners

Catania in 2020 are the one surprise name on this list in the winners column. In the runners up column it is interesting to see Cagliari back in 2009 and Lecce in 2018

---- If there's anything else readers wish to see, let me know and I can add them to this post and for future posts

Sorted by CA

Name - Pos - Age - CA/PA

Pecoraro - D/WB R - 28 - 193/197

Badini - ST - 26 - 190/191

Cilona - DC, DM - 29 - 187/188

Quinto - AM RL - 24 - 186/188

Ceausu - DM - 29 - 178/179

Cardozo - AM C - 25 - 176/177

Blixt - AM RL - 29 - 174/176

Costanza - GK - 34 - 173/189

Giannini - DC - 31 - 172/173

Rotunno - ST - 29 - 169/170

Albanese - MC - 21 - 155/173

Gjoni - GK - 21 - 152/195

Moroni - DL - 25 - 147/159

Ferrari - ST - 23 - 144/183

Ali - AM RL, ST - 20 - 142/186

Rosi - ST - 32 - 140/168

Gambini - DC, DM - 34 - 137/179

Lucchese- DC, DM - 20 - 137/159

Ambrosio - GK - 27 - 136/184

CA of X:

190: 2

180: 3

170: 5

160: 1

150: 2

140: 4

130: 7

120: 8

110: 2

100: 5

Notes: Given that this is my first look at the CA/PA of my Savona team there are a couple of interesting figures to say the least! Now I knew Pecoraro was good but had no idea just how good! A CA of 193 is pretty special I can assume (not being an expert). I was a little surprised that Cilona had a PA of 188 as I'd expected to see him heading the list in that respect. Also again slightly shocked that Rotunno's CA was 169 (he had just hit a Champions League hattrick). Albanian GK Gjoni's PA of 195 is outstanding too, he's got age on his side so he could really develop into a world class keeper.

Name - Pos - Age - Nation - Club - CA/PA

Roberto Pecoraro - D/WB R - 28 - Italy - Savona - 193/197

Jacob Robinson - ST - 18 - New Zealand - Wellington Pheonix - 118/199

Name - Position - Age - Bought? - CA/PA

Borrelli - ST - 17 - Yes - 104/179

Innocenti - AMC - 16 - No - 78/176

Mengoni - AMRC - 18 - Yes - 130/172

Bellucci - ST - 17 - Yes - 114/166

Natali - DM - 18 - No - 94/164

Longo - AM/FC - 18 - No - 103/163

Landucci - AM/FC - 16 - No - 67/158

Simoni - DM - 18 - No - 123/158

Marchi - AMR, ST - 19 - No - 88/156

Fruggiero - AMRL - 17 - No - 78/154

Notes: It looks as if the few youngsters I snapped up in my last actions at the club look the most promising. Borrelli has excellent potential and is already on his way to reaching his PA. However the most impressive academy player is Mengoni who could already cope with rotation within the first team squad.

(last years position in bold)

1. Napoli (3rd) - 9352

2. AC Milan (4th) - 9104

3. Savona (1st) - 9080

4. Roma (2nd) - 9040

5. Juventus (5th) - 8331

6. Inter (9th) - 8112

7. Lazio (7th) - 7611

8. Catania (6th) - 7579

9. Lecce (12th) - 7078

10. Mantova (10th) - 7009

11. Siena (13th) - 6905

12. Parma (15th) - 6690

13. Atalanta (8th) - 6620

14. Verona (11th) - 6601

15. Pisa (17th) - 6573

16. Salernitana (14th) - 6359

17. Frosinone (-) - 6308

18. Empoli (16th) - 6187

19. Fiorentina (-) - 6143

20. Albinoleffe (-) - 5638

Elsewhere:

Arsenal - 9824

Barcelona - 9754

Man Utd - 9616

Chelsea - 9615

FC Bayern - 9517

R. Madrid - 9507

Valencia - 9395

Notes: Looking around the world is very interesting as Napoli only come in behind the 7 european sides mentioned above. With the success seen by Arsenal down the years it isn't surprising to me to see them sitting at the top but the others are quite surprising. On the domestic front I was pleased to see Savona up there but kind of expected them to be leading the way. However due to it so far being just short term success (only a couple of years) I can understand why Savona are 3rd. Napoli have sustained a league challenge year after year and have some of the worlds best players so for that reason I agree with them sitting 1st. Albinoleffe are going to have to do very well to stay up!

Well after the news broke of my resignation and the mass exodus that followed, every journalist around Italy speculated who Savona's first manager in 20 years would be.

On the 2nd July 2029 Eusebio Di Francesco (CA:150 PA:170) was unveiled as the new man at the helm. Di Francesco began his managerial career at Virtus Lanciano, moving to Lazio in Nov 2009. He forged a good early part of his career in Rome going against his roots of playing for Roma and managing their arch-rivals. He didn't win anything of note here.

He then stayed out of football for 5 years before Sampdoria took a chance on him. He took them to the Semi's of the Uefa Cup and finished 9th in Serie A. Although a poor start to their next season resulted in him getting the sack. Still not a great review of the new man .

From here he was given an opportunity at Palermo. He finished 10th in his first year in charge, following it up with a fantastic 3rd placed finish in his 2nd and last year there. Again a weak start to a domestic season halted Eusebio in his tracks. The Sicilian affair was over and he was sacked in December.

Fortunately for him, his 3rd place finish the preceding season was still prevelant in the footballing minds of Italy and he found new work 4 days later at Juventus. It was definitely a stroke of luck for Eusebio but he took full advantage of it remaining in charge for 6 years. His first year saw Juve win the Uefa Cup and finish 8th. He followed it up with a 2nd place finish in his 2nd season at the helm. By this point he was getting some deserved recognition. Despite finishing 5th the next year and missing Champions League, he did win the Italian Cup. In his 4th year in charge Di Francesco led Juve to the Uefa Cup Final again, this time to suffer defeat though. They finished 5th again. Following this season, Juve came 7th in what was to prove his last year in charge.

This successful spell led to the Italian National Team come calling in the summer of 2025 and he took the job. His tenure began well, winning the Confederations Cup. However his unsuccessful World Cup 2026 campaign (which ended at the quarter final stage) led to his dismissal.

He has been unemployed since then.

His hidden stats read like this:

Attacking: 10

Depth: 12

Directness: 8

Flamboyancy: 9

Flexibility: 10

Free Roles: 6

Marking: 9

Offside: 11

Pressing: 13

Sitting Back: 15

Tempo: 12

Use of Playmaker: 9

Use of Subs: 7

Width: 10

Buying Players: 15

Hardness of Training: 12

Mind Games: 6

Squad Rotation: 8

Notes: Fairly interesting appointment by Amir Cohen. He's been out of a job for 3 years which is a little alarming. I like his 'buying players' attribute though, we could see some interesting signings coming in.

Away from player transfers Di Francesco had to rebuild the backroom staff after the exodus of 15 of my key staff following my resignation. He signed just 3 - a fitness coach, youth coach and 1st team coach.

The media once again predicted Savona to come 3rd this year, not learning from last year's mistake. Though with a new man in charge, perhaps it was sensible to be a bit more cautious in their judgement. The chairman would obviously be expecting a challenge for the title as well as ensuring the club qualified again for the Champions League. Therefore pressure existed before a ball was kicked for Di Francesco.

After a comfortable pre season, Savona had two trophies to fight for immediately. First up was the Italian Super Cup against familiar opposition, Roma. A goal just before half time from Alexandru Ceausu, the Romania captain, gave Savona the lead, and this was how it stayed. Savona retained the Super Cup and Di Francesco had made an immediate impact.

4 days later the team flew to Monaco for the European Super Cup against Uefa Cup winners AC Milan. Again Savona ground out a 1-0 victory, this time Michele Badini getting the goal. Two trophies now for Di Francesco!

So with those two trophies in the bag, the Serie A season was upon us. They began in similar fashion with another 1-0 win this time over Catania at home. Following this came a 1-1 draw at Napoli - always a good result. A 2nd home win over Atalanta gave the fans confidence but a 3-1 defeat in Roma to Roma rattled them a little.

Much like the previous year though, a defeat away to Roma would actually be the making of the team, not the breaking. They thumped Inter 4-1 and followed it up with wins over Salernitana, Frosinone, Fiorentina and Siena to sit 2nd in the table. However an away 1-0 defeat to Juve pegged them back once again. Three consecutive wins over Verona, Pisa and Albinoleffe got them back on track before a 2-2 draw at Lazio.

As of December 31st they also beat Lecce and drew at home with AC Milan to sit 3rd in Serie A at this near-halfway stage.

The Italian Cup threw Inter and Savona together for a tough 1st round draw. The game was played at Savona and ended 1-1 after Moroni equalised with 5 minutes to go. It went on to penalties, which saw Savona come out on top.

Meanwhile the Champions League groups were picked with Savona receiving a relatively kind draw - Dortmund, Kayserispor and Ajax. They went on to win every game of the group conceding just 1 goal! This set of results sent a message out to the rest of Europe - Savona were ready to retain their title!

The Club World Championship was played in mid-December, Savona entering at the Semi Final stage. Their first game against Cruz Azul was a highly entertaining match ending 4-2 to the Italians - Doria, Blixt, Albanese and Badini with the goals. The final saw them thump Sao Paulo 3-0 in a very one sided match. Ceausu and Cardozo(2) scored the goals to secure Savona's third trophy of a very successful season thus far!

So with the turn of the year approaching, Savona sit 3 points off the top of the table, chasing down AC Milan and Roma. They're also still in the Italian Cup as well as the Champions League. Could a historic sixtuple (?) be possible!? It would be quite something...

A good first half of the season meant Di Francesco wasn't in great need of a new signing. The squad was big and still full of talent. The only 'ins' were co-ownership deals for two young prospects. They were Agostino Donato (ST) who will remain at Verona as part of the deal. His CA of 134 is impressive at just 19 years of age but even more impressive is his PA of 187! Potentially he could become a striker of real quality. The second man in on a co-ownership deal was Roberto Urbani (DR) who again will remain at his club - Lazio. Urbani is a year younger than Donato and his CA shows - slightly lower at 116. His PA is 176 so he still has a long way to go to fulfil his potential. Both players look shrewd signings by Di Francesco - indicating that he has an eye on the long term future of the club.

Di Francesco also felt the need to shed some of the fringe players from the club beginning with 33 year old Italian striker Pierangelo Rosi (CA:131/PA:169) who had come in and won the Champions League in his one season at the club. He moves on to Catania for just £150k. Following him out permanently was once-highly rated English goalkeeper Andrew Williams. He had come to the club as a 17 year old for the alarming fee of £6.25m. How things had changed in 6 years though as he was on his way to Celtic for just £375k. His CA of 125 is nearing his PA of 146 but in truth he never had the PA I thought he had when he signed all those years ago. A major flop.

The final 'out' was a big one. Andrea Cappellin had moved to Savona for £23m two years ago from Inter Milan. Unfortunately he came into a side that was flying by January and only became a bit part player for the remainder of the 2028/29 season. His season so far under Di Francesco had been brilliant really, 8 league goals in 13 games was a great haul thus far. However perhaps the size of the bid from Roma convinced him to sell and despite his impressive CA of 183 and PA of 190 he was on his way to Roma for £25m! He is still 25 so has many more years ahead of him. It'll be intriguing to see how he does in Roma as there are certainly plenty of goals in him.

I'd say that's another sensible transfer window from Di Francesco; some methodical signings came in and the one notable out was not a disaster as he recouped more than the money outlayed on him a year ago. They could be a little short up top though, we shall see in the coming months.

Savona Transfers

After a wonderful start to the season Eusebio Di Francesco had set the foundations for what could possibly be an historic year for Savona. The sextuple was still a possibility come January and with just the Champions League, Italian Cup and Serie A left to win, Dino Ferretti's (my) name was feeling distant.

The short winter break ended and Savona set off at a fine pace once more. 6 wins on the trot including a 2-1 Italian Cup Quarter Final win over Napoli meant the side were pulling away from the pack. Napoli halted them in Savona though gaining some semblence of revenge in an action packed 2-2 draw.

Despite this mini-setback, Savona got back on track winning their next three games, taking them to the end of February. These included impressive wins over Inter (1-0 away) and Roma (3-1 at home). Immediately following this result they flew to London to meet Arsenal again in the Champions League knockouts. They flew back delighted after mimicking last years result in the Emirates 1-1. A vital away goal was scored putting the Savona fans in high spirits for the defence of their crown.

Their league form did suffer from the 'continental hangover' though, surprisingly succumbing to Siena 1-0 away from home the following game! Even more surprising was the manner of the goal, or own goal, should I say! Goalkeeper Enrico Costanza somehow contrived to tip a cross into his own net.

Amazingly this did not have any long term effects on Savona's form though. Di Francesco clearly knows how to re-focus his squad on the game in hand. From this defeat they won their next 7 games in all competitions. This included a 4-1 win over Juventus at home in the Italian Cup Semi Final 1st Leg, which even though they'd end up losing the 2nd leg 2-1 would mean Savona were into their 3rd Italian Cup final in their history.

Also amongst these results saw Savona clinch a Quarter Final place in the Champions League after comfortably easing past Arsenal 3-1 on aggregate. They beat Bayern 2-0 at home in the first leg too - this turned out to be the 7th consecutive win. Savona then hit a blip. A 0-0 in the league away at Albinoleffe was shocking. A 2nd 0-0 with Bayern less so, this ensured progress to the Champions League semi finals. But a 3rd 0-0 this time at home to Lazio raised the alarm bells. The 2-1 defeat to Juve away in the Italian Cup was to prove another real turning point though as Savona marched on in the league with real purpose. They won 5 of their last 6 games, losing to AC Milan 3-1 away in the penultimate game of the league season. By this point they were already leading the chase for the Scudetto and it proved to be enough to claim a 3rd consecutive title! Another job well done by Di Francesco.

Back to the cups. The Champions League Semi Finals threw them the tricky tie against Chelsea. But another 1-1 draw in London set them up fantastically for the return to what was becoming a fortress - The Savona Stadium. Diego Cardozo started the match off perfectly opening the scoring after 4 minutes - leading the team to an ultimately easy win over Chelsea. 3-0 the final score and another Champions League Final

Before this, the Italian Cup Final approached. Their opponents were Roma - the most successful Italian Cup side in recent years. 18 times winners and 6 of the last 7 had ended up being Roma victories. Unfortunately for them this Savona side were in ruthless mood. Tommaso Cilona opened the scoring after 10 minutes, Alexandru Ceausu sealed it after 63 minutes. ANOTHER trophy .

With 5 trophies in the bag now, Eusebio Di Francesco had just the one big one to go. The European Cup already resided in the Savona trophy cabinet, but could it be retained in the space of 12 months? The lineups were the most alarming aspect of the CL final. A number of big names were missing for both sides but from what I can tell, there was no reason for it! Nonetheless it looked like it evened out for both sides. The 90 minutes were relatively poor, no big opportunities as neither team looked to press for the advantage. Milan's 33 year old Italian legend in CM was sent off with just 4 minutes remaining though, giving Savona an advantage heading to ET. However once extra time arrived Milan shocked the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, taking the lead through Gaetano Coralli (one of the fortunate youngsters to get a game in place of the missing men!). The 2nd half of extra time came along, Savona requiring a goal desparately. So who would get it? None other than the hattrick hero of last year's Champions League win - Riccardo Rotunno with a sumptuous volley! What a hero, a 113th minute equaliser that ultimately sent the final to penalties!

So to penalties. First up, club captain Tommaso Cilona, no doubt there, goal. Milan followed. 1-1. Romano up, 2-1. Coralli the goalscorer...2-2. Crescibene one of the summer signings, 3-2 Savona. Carvajal the Colombia captain...missed!! Bartoli for Savona...4-2. Ex-Savona man Francesco Cecere had to score....but didn't!! Savona retain the European Cup in dramatic circumstances!!

Quite the season I think you'd agree! Any doubts anyone had about Eusebio Di Francesco can be quashed after this 12 months. Phenomenal stuff. So what next for him? Will he continue to shape the squad to his tastes or will he just stick with the foundations here already? Its certain to be a cracking summer - the transfer window and World Cup 2030 all the way from Australia!

Any World Cup 2030 tips?

Here are the groups:

A: Argentina, Ghana, Ireland, Mexico

B: Holland, Japan, Morocco, Turkey

C: Czech Rep, Egypt, Iran, Portugal

D: Belgium, Brazil, Honduras, South Korea

E: Cameroon, Costa Rica, Romania, Russia

F: Italy, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Scotland

G: England, Sth Africa, Sweden, Uzbekistan

H: Australia, Bulgaria, USA, Uruguay

Notes: As you may have guessed a lot of my reports are in similar if not identical format to kipfizh's - something I hope he doesn't mind! For me they seem a good way to present a season's worth of info and are not too complicated. For that reason expect to see more of the same.

What can you say about a season like that? Di Francesco has surpassed everyone's wildest dreams by winning all 6 trophies the club took part in! Quite remarkable. Savona are now surely without a doubt the greatest club in the world having won back to back European Cups and the Club World Championship. By winning the league for the third year running they have definitely retained their status as the top Italian club.

Where can they go from here? In fact where can we go from here?! Well I guess as 5ergio has stated - maintaining the dominance is the toughest part now. I think we can attribute some of Di Francesco's success to the groundwork that had already been laid. However perhaps I'd taken them as far as I could and it required that fresh change to make it click more so than it had in Savona. As far as the experiment goes I actually feel this season could enhance it. Now we know that the AI does have the ability to maintain success at the top end, it is perhaps more interesting to see how they go about this. I'm expecting the summer transfer window to be full of surprises and am eagerly awaiting it.

There were many exceptional season long performances to get them to where they are now. Player of the season should be Michele Badini for his 30 goals, 14 assists and 13 MOM awards in 46 games. He led the line superbly on his own. Pecoraro chipped in with 8 goals in his 48 games from RB and Cilona led by example just for a change, 7 goals in 47 games from CM. Enrico Costanza played every game but 1 - 59 - and kept 31 clean sheets, very impressive! Behind the lone striker lay Diego Cardozo for the majority of the season and he performed, getting 15 goals and 12 assists in 54 matches.

The final league table is interesting. There's finally a slight shift as Napoli drop out of the top 3 for the first time in 7 years. Juve and Milan get the other two CL spots for next year, Roma, Inter and Lazio taking the Uefa Cup. Albinoleffe and Frosinone went straight back down, joined by Empoli. All 3 were far adrift, Frosinone especially - managing just 1 win all season . Coming up from Serie B are Palermo, Chievo and one of Viterbese, Ascoli, Sampdoria and Alessandria.

League Table

Notes: There will be a roundup of the Top 10 players for Savona coming soon. Following this will be the World Cup preview and review

(sorted by av.rating)

name - position - apps - goals - assits - MOM - av.rating

Badini - ST - 40(6) - 30 - 14 - 13 - 7.51

Pecoraro - DR - 48 - 8 - 4 - 2 - 7.23

Quinto - AML/R - 30 - 3 - 8 - 2 - 7.20

Blixt - AMR/L - 37(6) - 9 - 12 - 7 - 7.20

Ceausu - DM - 33(10) - 8 - 5 - 1 - 7.13

Sami Ali - AMRL/ST - 28(1) - 3 - 13 - 2- 7.12

Cilona - DC/DM - 40(7) - 7 - 4 - 4 - 7.10

Fanti - WB/AMR - 19(4) - 3 - 4 - 3 - 7.08

Doria - MC - 26(10) - 6 - 5 - 1 - 7.02 ---- New Signing

Bartoli - DLC - 35(12) - 1 - 2 - 0 - 7.01

Interesting top 10 in my eyes. Sergio Fanti a young winger we signed through a co-ownership a few years ago made a lot of appearances and did well on the whole. Sami Ali continues his development well. Cilona lower down than usual, and you keen observers will notice no Riccardo Rotunno! He was the unfortunate victim of the 4-5-1 formation this year, mainly sitting on the bench. But as usual when the chips are down, he delivers, as per the Champions League final.