Team names - Annoying

Does anyone else find it really annoying with most of the team names on Football Manager? Maybe it's just me, but it annoys me when it has "OM" instead of "Marseille" and this exists with most teams.

As an example, here's what the French Ligue 1 currently looks like:

AJ Auxerre

AS Monaco FC

AS Nancy Lorraine

AS Saint-Etienne

FC Lorient

FC Sochaux-Montbe

Girondins Bordeaux

Grenoble Foot 38

Le Mans UC 72

LOSC Lille Metropole

Montpellier Herault SC

OGC Nice

Olympique Lyonnais

OM

Paris Saint-Germain

RC Lens

Stade Rennais FC

Toulouse FC

USBCO

Valenciennes FC

And this is what I think it should look like (because it's easier to read):

Auxerre

Bordeaux

Boulogne

Grenoble

Le Mans

Lens

Lille

Lorient

Lyon

Marseille

Monaco

Montpellier

Nancy

Nice

Paris Saint-Germain

Rennes

Saint-Etienne

Sochaux

Toulouse

Valenciennes

I don't know whether this has been discussed before, but I'm sure everyone will agree that the second list is a lot more easier to read if you just want to scan through the table. Has anyone brought this up before? And does anyone know if there is a database or something with teams in Football Manager with their names shortened like that?

Thanks for any feedback/comments.

I made one for the the top 2 divisions in France just for myself. You can have it if you like.

The reason they are like that is down to licensing reasons I think.

Isn't this how each team spells its own name? I could be wrong but that was my understanding of it.

And to be honest, I don't think it's that difficult to read - most of the teams are self-explanatory and it doesn't take a genius to work out those that aren't.

The French league does look a bit odd with all the extra letters before and after the names, but it's hardly "most of the team names in Football Manager", most other leagues look pretty sensible to me.

And if it bothers you too much, just change them in the editor.

It is a bit strange but the simple solution would be to edit them yourself wouldn't take too long.

I agree mate, should be like your list, much easier.

Hi there,

The reason for the French clubs had initials either in front of or after their town/city name is that is the way they are named in real life. such as:

AJ Auxerre = Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise

AS Monaco FC = Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club

AS Nancy Lorraine = Association Sportive Nancy-Lorraine

AS Saint-Etienne = Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire

FC Lorient = Football Club Lorient-Bretagne

FC Sochaux-Montbe = Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard

Girondins Bordeaux = Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux

Grenoble Foot 38 = Grenoble Foot 38

Le Mans UC 72 = Le Mans Football Club

LOSC Lille Metropole = Lille Olympique Sporting Club

Montpellier Herault SC = Montpellier Hérault Sport Club

OGC Nice = Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice

Olympique Lyonnais = Olympique Lyonnais

OM = Olympique de Marseille

Paris Saint-Germain = Paris Saint-Germain Football Club

RC Lens = Racing Club de Lens

Stade Rennais FC = Stade Rennais Football Club

Toulouse FC = Toulouse Football Club

USBCO = Union Sportive de Boulogne-sur-Mer Côte d'Opale

Valenciennes FC = Valenciennes Football Club

As you see it is easier to shorten them than it would be to show their complete club names, although i agree it would be easier if they were just called by the town/city names people usually call them by.

Any way hope that kind of helps a little, as to what and why French and other forign clubs have letters either before or after their names.

England4Ever

just do it in the editor thats what i did. takes 2 minutes. hate seeing OM instead of marsielle etc. Theres a few others random ones i've seen aswell.

I believe it is a licensing issue as well. Not like it's the biggest problem in the world, is it?

I believe it is a licensing issue as well. Not like it's the biggest problem in the world, is it?

No, it's not the biggest problem in the world. But if you change one league, you practically have to do them all otherwise it would still be annoying.

If your a French player i'm sure you'd much prefer the names of your clubs to be spelt correctly.

The only one I find slightly annoying is OM. Probably cause anyone I know have always just called them Marseille since the Papin days. Makes no sense to say OM to me, but maybe that's what they are usually called in France for all I know.

France was once as the OP suggested...it was in FM07 (I believe) that SI acquired the rights to the FFF and the club names were changed to what they are today. It is indeed a licensing issue, as was announced at the time. And thus they will remain so in the shipped version of the game.

Don't like it? That's what the editor's for.

Personally, I agree with the OP. I much prefer Marsailles to OM and Troyes to ESTAC. Especially the latter, being the place which gave me my name...I like the editor. The editor is my friend.

I thought this was going to be someone complaining about teams like Athletic Club being called such instead of Athletic Bilbao etc. It's just as bad. Why should SI name teams the way English people know them? Annoys the hell of me when you see someone call Sporting (Portugal) Sporting Lisbon etc.

I'm glad SI have been forced/asked to call foreign clubs by the way they want to be seen, instead of the English way.

Shouldn't the "Short Name" field solve the issue?

I mean, while AJ Auxerre or LOSC Lille Metropole is the official name, they're mostly recognized simply as Auxerre and Lille. So why not keeping the full name in the "Long Name" field [visible in the Team Menu etc], while having the common, short name in "Short Name"?

Once the full, licensed, name is in the game, I see no reason to have league tables and fixtures flooded with tons of "FC", "CD" etc...

Any way hope that kind of helps a little, as to what and why French and other forign clubs have letters either before or after their names.

We here in Belgium have it too, although it doesn't show in the league table, but it does when you click on the club.

Well, licensing and their rules, they can be a bit weird sometime (early need for speed and their no-dmg rule while gran turismo could crash cars at will).

Well I've always been under the impresssion (all the French people I've ever talked about football with, even their official website is om.net) call Marseilles l'OM. For most of the clubs the acronyms is essentially the equivalent of the English habit of calling teams by the tag that comes in their name, e.g. Manchester having City and Utd (fan of the latter), and nicknames, e.g. the Gunners for Arsenal

While I can understand not liking OM, suggesting teams like AJ Auxerre or RC Lens should drop the letters is like saying the English Premiership should contain teams such as "Manchester"....

All French people I know call Marseille L'OM so why shouldn't FM do the same?

All French people I know call Marseille L'OM so why shouldn't FM do the same?

The French club names (both long, short and three letter versions) are the way they are under the terms of an agreement we have with the FFF, so cannot be changed.

That's why

Also, L'OM is their nickname