Your favourite nation & league?

It's probably been asked before but it's a good question so I'll ask it again!

What are your favourite leagues to play on FM?

My firm favourite is always the English league structure. I suppose being from England and watching English football all of the time makes me more interested in this kind of game.

On FM08, I have also experimented with the Italian lower divisions (got very upset with the playouts!), Irish Prem and First, German 2nd and 1st and India NFL (only 18 games!)

Out of these, I found the Indian most enjoyable for something totally different and it was so quick to get through a season.

I've been thinking of trying some new leagues in different nations but not sure where to go next.

I'd love to try Brazil but it has just confused me in the past due to the weird competition structures. I've never been to France or Spain but I'm slightly put off by the reserve teams in the their lower divisions (I like to play in the lower leagues). Mexico sounds quite tempting for something totally different and I've not had a game in Scotland for ages and that's always fun too.

So, over to you - what are your favourites and where do you want to manage in the future?

I only manage in England as I dont like being big teams(find it to unrealitstic that an unknown manager would be thrown in at Man.Utd. etc.(Yes, its unrealistic me being manager in the 1st place but much more realistic in LL)), i know almost every player in the LL's in Enlgand, i dont like the thought of playing in leagues without knowing anything about it, and im still on the original patch, so any thought of playing in Scotland goes out the window.

Its usually always CCL1 CCL2 or BSP for me

My long(ish) term games always seem to end up being with Man. United. But England is definitely not my favourite place to manage. That would have to be Russia. I've had my most favourite games there so far. But I'm going to try something new when FM09 is out.

Could someone post a screenshot of the Indian League rules?

Plus when people say what league is their favourite, they could post a screenshot on that leagues rules (if one hasn't already been posted).

Don't play the lower leagues in Scotland. If you qualify for the promotion playoff and lose your board thinks you came last!

My favourite leagues are the MLS, the English leagues, the Eredivisie, and the Swedish leagues.

MLS: My domestic league. The players have Championship/League 1 quality so it's not the very best but pretty good. The season is only 30 games long, with playoffs and the cup competition, which I like because I don't like very long seasons. There needs some work on the MLS in FM09. I usually start my career with Toronto FC (unless I want to go LLM), but maybe in FM09 I might go with the expansion team San Jose Earthquakes.

English Leagues: I never like taking over the big teams. I have a very successful Derby career going on and my LLM AFC Wimbledon career is taking off. I might have a go with Hull or Luton in FM09.

Dutch Eredivisie: I took over PSV in one of my career games and having a great time. We have won 11 consecutive league titles and counting. Not sure if I would want to take over a team other than PSV or Ajax though.

Swedish leagues: I took over Motala AIF of the Second Division Gotaland in another career game and had the best LLM experience so far. We are now in the First Division Elite as a mid-table team. I would definately want to manage in Sweden in FM09.

Leagues I wouldn't mind managing in the future:

Maybe head south from America to the Mexican league. I wouldn't also mind managing in Spain or Italy (though I really hate defensive football). I'm also a bit tempted to go to Australian A-League or an Asian league.

Rancer890 - I've heard a lot of people say how good the Swedish leagues are, especially in the lower divisions. What's so good about Sweden?

Don't play the lower leagues in Scotland. If you qualify for the promotion playoff and lose your board thinks you came last!

Is that true? Even with patch 8.0.2?

Rancer890 - I've heard a lot of people say how good the Swedish leagues are, especially in the lower divisions. What's so good about Sweden?

I personally think the Swedish Second Division is harder than the BSN or BSS. There's barely any money in the lower divisions, so getting promoted immediately in the 1st season is very important. I was about US$300k in the red and ended up $300k in the black after my first season in the 1st division. I was lucky to get back-to-back promotions (2nd Division -> 1st Division -> 1st Division Elite)

I think there's only one promotion spot and one playoff spot (I'm not sure 100%) from the 2nd Division to the 1st Division.

The combination of no money, and minimal promotion spots make it an accomplishment just to get a Swedish team out of the Second Division. Sweden is definately a good place to manage LLM.

Sounds good!

I nearly forgot to tell you. No money in the Swedish Cup (I think)

Good luck on your Swedish adventure:D

These are my favourites:

England: I always manage in several different games here.

Republic of Ireland: I like to try and bring success to the teams in my domestc league.

Spain: I remember managing in La Liga with Betis in CM 00/01 and enjoyed it so I managed there again with Betis and Real Madrid in FM08. I actually like the rule of only having a 25 man squad (it restrains me from buying too many players) and I like that the B teams compete in the lower leagues.

Holland: Managed there for the first time in FM08 with PSV and I enjoyed trying to build a squad and not being able to attract the really big names. I don't like the European playoff system, though.

USA: Only managed 2 short term games games there (Houston and LA Galaxy) and thought it was fun trying to get used to all the different rules.

Other leagues I tried and liked are Argentina, Scotland, Malaysia, Northern Ireland and Switzerland.

My favourite nation i suppose is Holland, no wp problems and as PSV not too stressful either. Also of course the prem. Might try another long term game in Russia.

England!

.... sometimes I play the La Liga.

I find Italy & Spain leagues on FM08 are easy .. the Premiership is quite hard for me so I like Premiership better

England. Tried the MLS for a couple of seasons but I couldn't get into it much. While I love trading on baseball and American football sims, I like the transfer system for soccer.

Is that true? Even with patch 8.0.2?

Yup had that in my last game.

Most of the time I tend to manage in England probably just due to thats where I live and where i'm most familiar with. The problem I find with these leagues is the damn work permit rules, the amount of times I've thought I'd made an incredible discovery only to find that he can't get a work permit.

I have to agree with what rancer890 said earlier about Sweden. The most fun I've had in LLM has been in two games and both were in Sweden, one with the same club as rancer, Motala AIF and the other with Gunnilse. I think its just great sometimes to play in a league you have no experience of and just enjoy the challenge.

For me it used to be the BSN/BSS... but now with 8.0.2 it's impossible to get a job there, so I've lost significant interest.

So, now it's the Swedish Div. 2 that's my favourite. I was essentially forced to play there at first, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Only downside for me was that there are so many Div. 2 leagues, and you kind of bounce around them from year-to-year depending on geography of newly promoted/relegated teams. As a result, it was difficult to build rivalries, which is one of my favourite parts of long term games.

My favourite is obviously managing in England.

Taking a team from BSN, BSS or BSP.

Taking them as far as you can. Turns into a really long game as well.

Brazil

I don't like the top Euro leagues as there are no foreign players limits (of they are not very strict) and there is way too much money there, so you can set up all-star teams way too easily.

Ελλασ for you matey!

since you can use 7 subs in the english prem, its my favorite league.

before that; the dutch eredivisie.

German league is the best IMO.

Good Points

7 subs

No player restrictions

League is of a standard that young players/newgens can progress despite not having massive PA's.

All of the top teams can beat each other.

Very good attendances.

Good climate, so no postponed games.

League cup takes place before season starts, avoids fixture congestion.

Relatively easy to manage budget and wages, as calibre of player is not in the top scale.

Bad Points

Bayern Munich

The poor sides are very very poor.

Difficult, but not impossible, to do very well in Europe.

Difficult to attract World Class talent.

I start every game managing in Germany and will be doing the same in FM09 to get used to it.

On FM08, I have also experimented with the Italian lower divisions (got very upset with the playouts!), Irish Prem and First, German 2nd and 1st and India NFL (only 18 games!)

Out of these, I found the Indian most enjoyable for something totally different and it was so quick to get through a season.

Hi crouchaldinho,

Million thanks for your comments..

Indian Football is known for its poor quality and semiprofessional and amtuar teams playing in the top league. Hope that will change after the rescent AFC challenge cup 2008 win by India.

Offcource my favourite nation is India and then Holland for their attacking football. I loved playing NFL ( Premier I league ) in FM 2007 and 2008. Still there are too many flaws in the game for Asian region. Like player call up for international matches on a club macth day and unrealistic regens with very poor physical stats. I agree that the training and youth conditions are very poor in India, still they are well above an english conference team..

Finally, I would love to see if SI make Indian second division playable in FM09, because my favourite team will be playing there next seson ..

Brazil You could quite easily have a long career game without ever leaving the Brazilian league. A great varitey of competitions, first the State then the Nationals means that you can never really get bored of the challenge. There are a range of big clubs to succed at whilst developing 'the next big thing' is a good challenge. I personally prefer the lower leagues (the Third Division is huge) and working my way up. Once you get your head around the format of the Brazilian calender (which isn't really difficult) and familiarise yourself with the main states and clubs your away.

Uruguay Most of the teams in the two divisions are based in just one city (Montevideo) with only 3/4 teams being slightly stronger than the others. Each season has two mini seasons so the competitions are short are you always in with a chance of winning. Also of the challenge of making an impression in the continental competitions against the top Argentine and Brazilian clubs. I'd never really played in Uruguay before FM2008 but it was very enjoyable.

Scotland - SPL - Only because im a Rangers fan and enjoy playing with them. I also find theres plenty of good young scottish players to bring to rangers on a first team level which is handy. Celtic usualy provide me with a good challenge and i have even seen it come down to the last game of the season. Other teams are not bad aswell always ponderd doing a falkirk game as they always play pretty well againts me. Shall be the league il play most next season as I lead Annan Athletic to the European title.

Or mayby current league title challengers Hamilton accies Good league if you like a challenge of splitting the old firm

In past versions in terms of an individual division I have always loved managing in The Championship more than almost any other league. Prior to FM08 (where my only experience is with Scunthorpe for 1 frustrating season) I always seemed to be able to do well in The Championship and loved the competitive nature of the league, the fact you can play open expansive football and still win games and you have that carrot of Premiership riches - once I got to the Premiership then it all got less enjoyable and more stodgy, needing to defend better etc, etc.

As for a nation's league though I've always loved managing in the Scottish leagues. In FM08 I have enjoyed a game in German hugely although that was mostly because I loved my Werder Bremen team rather than anything specific to the league itself.

Playing in Serbia as Red Star is by far my most favourite game and i believe i have mentioned that i have stated that in every possible thread now:P

RULES

Not much Reputation, so there is not much luck luring in big names, making Europe a big challenge but fun...

Average-good facilities, alright money for the players you can get

Brazil You could quite easily have a long career game without ever leaving the Brazilian league. A great varitey of competitions, first the State then the Nationals means that you can never really get bored of the challenge. There are a range of big clubs to succed at whilst developing 'the next big thing' is a good challenge. I personally prefer the lower leagues (the Third Division is huge) and working my way up. Once you get your head around the format of the Brazilian calender (which isn't really difficult) and familiarise yourself with the main states and clubs your away.

Colorado, you're somewhat of an expert on Brazil aren't you?

Any chance you can briefly explain what on earth it is all about to me? I get confused easily.

I realise there are state and national championships but I don't really understand it. :S

Any advice would be welcome as I fancy having a bash in Brazil at some point!

PMLF is the best person here to speak to about Brazilian football but I can certianly point you in the right direction.

The season runs yearly (so Jan-Dec, rather than Aug-May unlike most other leagues) and begins with the State Championships which last for 3-4 months. Due to sheer size of Brazil these competitions have a rich history where the clubs fiercely compete for local pride. Whilst these are of less in modern day, traditionally these are major competitons of great significance to supporters.

The standard of the individual State Championships vary greatly as does the format of each competition. Often there will be an Opening and Closing Stage with the winners from each playing in a deciding final (as in Rio State) or there could be several groups with each progressing to a play off or even a straight forward league. There is often a mismatch in standard during State Championship matches as top clubs will often need to play a third division or non league sides.

The Sao Paulo and Rio de Janierio State Championships are well followed and considered to be the strongest. The Minas Gerias, Gaucho, Bahia, Pernambucano and Paraenense are also considered to be some of the more important state competitions. Down the scale, some state competitions are very minor affairs with lower league clubs competiting.

Once the state competitions finish the Campeonato Brasileiro / National League begins and runs from May until Decemeber. There are three divisions (Division One, Two and Three/Serie A, B and C) with four promotion and relegation spots within each. The format is instantly recognisable with 20 clubs playing each other twice to decide the champion with the bottom 4 clubs being relegated. The top 4 clubs qualify for the all important Copa Libetadores (equivilant of Champions League) whilst 5th-12th qualify for the Copa Sudamericana (similar to UEFA Cup).

The Third Division (Serie C) however, is considerably more confusing with several rounds of group stages which continue until four teams are promoted.

In addition to all of this, there is also a knockout cup competition - the Brazilian Cup/Copa do Brasil which runs from Jan - June with it's winners also gaining a place in the Copa Libertadores.

Ask you can imagine there are alot of big derbies being regularly played because neigbouring teams compete in both the state and national championships. This in itself is another great thing about the Brazilian game irl and FM!

Just to finish, here is a brief list of well known and the States which their from-

Sao Paulo State: Sao Paulo, Palmeiras, Corinthians, Santos, Portuguesa

Rio State State: Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco

Minas Gerias State: Atletico MG, Cruziero

Paranaenese State: Atletico PR, Coritiba, Parana

Gaucho State: Internacional, Gremio, Juventude

Bahia State: Vitoria, Bahia

Pernambuco: Sport Recife, Santa Cruz, Nautico

Hope this helps, any more questions just ask here or in the Brazilian football in OTF where the Brazilian members can help further.

Very good post!

Appreciate you taking the time to write all of that out. Made it very clear.

I will certainly have to start a save in Brazil soon!

Playing in Serbia as Red Star is by far my most favourite game and i believe i have mentioned that i have stated that in every possible thread now:P

RULES

Not much Reputation, so there is not much luck luring in big names, making Europe a big challenge but fun...

Average-good facilities, alright money for the players you can get

They won the European cup, Prosinecki played for them. How have they not got a big reputation. In cm3 they knocked me(Bayern Munich) out of the CL!!!!

They won the European cup, Prosinecki played for them. How have they not got a big reputation. In cm3 they knocked me(Bayern Munich) out of the CL!!!!

Was that not back in the days of a corrupt and relatively large Yugoslavia, rather than a corrupt and relatively small Serbia

Yep, that got me in a crossword once(at school). "The capital of Serbia". Where the bloody 'ells Serbia? Luckily someone had a modern map, turned out Serbia was Yugoslavia. at least they didn't cheat like the Skops and name themselves after an area of northern Greece because they wanted people to thing Alexander the Great came from there!

Serbia was never Yugoslavia, Ryan! It was part of it. And admittedly the overwhelmingly dominant part. But that's not the same thing as actually being it. Serbia was a constituent republic of Yugoslavia, along with Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Macedonia (FYROM, if you insist!) and Montenegro.

Not Macedonia at all! Vardarska. In 1944, the Yugoslav communist leader Tito, wishing to weaken Serbia and set the footing for future territorial claims in Greece, he schemingly gave South Serbia the Greek name "Macedonia", and rewrote the history books claiming these slavic people to be descendants of Alexander the Great!

I say Serbia was Yugoslavia because Belgrade was both their capitals

Firstly, say what you like. Serbia wasn't Yugoslavia.

Secondly, cite all the history you like. The country to the north of Greece is officially called the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and is recognised as such.

But this is getting off-topic.

Serbia wasn't Yugoslavia just like England isn't the same as Great Britain.

Anyway, my most enjoyable league on FM08 has so far been Belarus. Quite poor quality, can't attract decent players, low attendances - stil fun though!

- Sweden. My best carreer ever with Akropolis, taking them from the abyss of the 4th tier to the CL. It looks like on FM08 it's much harder to get through the first div. elite (the second tier), I've had next to no success.

- Indonesia. Crazy, crazy league system. My only problem was with theAisian leagues that AFC cups and international matches clash, and it's really annoying. It really should be corrected, I mean e.g. I lost 12 of my players, who got called up for a WC qualifier, while I was playing an Asian CL 2nd leg...

- Denmark. Looks like fun, first time I'm managing there.

For anyone who may be interested, I've started a new game with the following leagues:

Belgium (Third Division and above)

England (Conf S/N and above)

Mexico (First Division A and above)

Sweden (Second Division and above)

Wales (Premier Division)

All this with large database. Also loaded the following small nations for a bit of fun: Aruba, Barbados, Cape Verde Islands, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg and India.

Going to start off with KB Karlskoga FF in Sweden.

Just hope my computer can handle all of that!

England; Blue Square North.

For anyone who may be interested, I've started a new game with the following leagues:

Belgium (Third Division and above)

England (Conf S/N and above)

Mexico (First Division A and above)

Sweden (Second Division and above)

Wales (Premier Division)

All this with large database. Also loaded the following small nations for a bit of fun: Aruba, Barbados, Cape Verde Islands, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg and India.

Going to start off with KB Karlskoga FF in Sweden.

Just hope my computer can handle all of that!

Sounds like an interesting game. I don't know about anyone else but I can't just run random leagues like that. I always have to try and have them regional so neighbouring countries and stuff so it's more realistic. I nearly always have to run Eng, Ita, Spa as these are the core nations in world football and then whatever else I fancy. Does anyone else find this???

I'd love to have a go at going through the Eastern European nations but there's just too many of them to run!

I do know what you mean Colorado but I am always cautious with the leagues I load as my computer isn't so fast (intel core duo 1.66ghz, 1gb ram).

To be honest, I'm new to the whole loading up nations thing. In the past, I have just loaded up one set of leagues from one nation. I don't tend to jump around too much.

The last save game I loaded up was England, Ireland, France, Germany and Italy. In this game, I attempted to start at the bottom and go for glory but, what do you know, I was bored to death by the time I got to the top before I'd even had one taste of top flight or european glory! It turns out the fun for me is all in struggling at the bottom as a small club! So, this time, I have loaded some interesting leagues where I am sure to struggle.

I know what you mean about loading up regional nations though, that's why I have loaded up small countries like Iceland and Faroe Islands plus Luxembourg to sit alongside Sweden and Belgium respectively. They should provide an interesting 'local' challenge if the jobs come up later in the game.

The theme for this save game is really managing in smaller nations on the periphery of European football.

I am hoping to spend some time climbing the Swedish league structure, then maybe explore Belgium or Wales, before heading off to Mexico towards the end of my career.

England is loaded from force of habit more than anything as I like checking on my favourite teams and, you never know, I might head back there at some point!

I've really gone for quality rather than quantity and picked places that I think I will go to during my 'career' instead of just loading loads of countries that neighbour each other or whatever.

In fact, my reasons for picking them are quite random too.

Sweden - because so many people recommended it, because of the pyramid structure and because of the low attendances and semi-pro teams at regional level.

Belgium - again, mainly due to low attendances in the lower divisions and I have heard people say it is really good for lower league management.

Mexico - bit silly really but I am holidaying here later this year so I thought it might be fun to include it. It might make an interesting contrast to the northern european leagues I have loaded.

Wales - I used to have relations in the north of Wales and holiday there when I was younger, plus there is the low attendances, some semi-pro teams, potential of being a huge underdog in Europe.

England - as I said in the post above, force of habit.

My best games have always been in England.

I like to play in the English League and try and take a mid-table team with good youngsters (like Tottenham or Aston Villa) and have a long term target of winning the league and consistently qualifying for the Champions League, or in other words, break into the top 4.

find it too unrealitstic that an unknown manager would be thrown in at Man.Utd. etc. SO DON'T MANAGE BIG TEAMS

(Yes, its unrealistic me being manager in the 1st place but much more realistic in LL)), ITS A GAME

i know almost every player in the LL's in Enlgand, NICE AND EASY i dont like the thought of playing in leagues without knowing anything about it, LAZINESS IN NOT RESEARCHING

and im still on the original patch,??? so any thought of playing in Scotland goes out the window. WHY IS SCOTLAND GETTING THE BEATING? NOT FRANCE OR SPAIN, I PUT THAT DOWN TO IGNORANCE IN NOT BEING PREPARED TO TAK INTEREST IN ANY OTHE LEAGUES.

Its usually always CCL1 CCL2 or BSP for me BEST STICK TO WHAT YOU KNOW

weird really people who don't know anything about "foriegn" nations leagues when they play a game like this especially not hard to research

N. Irish Premier Division, Blue Square South, English Premier division.

weird really people who don't know anything about "foriegn" nations leagues when they play a game like this especially not hard to research

To be fair, he was just stating a preference. Some people like playing with what they are most familiar with.

On a new FM, I nearly always start in England in BSS with St Albans City and play there until I get bored. I like it because I can really

put myself into the role, as I know it so well. That's how some people like playing the game.

I like experimenting with the unknown, i.e. nations I don't know so well, without researching them at all. I've actually found out quite a lot about obscure teams and countries through FM and I'm sure I'm not the only one!

And I think the thing about Scotland was that there was some sort of bug with the playoffs or something rather than anything insidious.