Reserve teams with no league (and France)

I know that a number of countries do not have reserve leagues, but if you play in that country you can have a reserve team. In that case, what do you all do with your reserve players? Loan them all out? Set a season of friendlies? Have no players in the reserve team? Nothing?

(And specifically: I'm playing in the French Ligue 1, which has reserve teams but no reserve league. There's also a "maximum 7 loans per season" rule. Does that mean 7 loans in... or out... or 7 total in & out? What do I do with a reserve team of 20 players if I can't loan out but a few of them?)

I rely more on youth players, and have a very large youth setup since they are often injured frequently. I also have a handful of fringe players on loans, send them to feeder clubs, and rotate players in the first team a bit more.

Honestly it doesn't make much difference to me, when I have a reserve league I don't really need it. All I usually use it for is players I was unable to offload, players awaiting loan or transfer listed players, or players coming back from injury that need a couple games.

It's like that in the German Bundesliga and at the moment I just create friendlies so that they can play a match a week. Main reason I do that is because I always stick my injured players in the reserves until they are match fit and they need games to get match fit! I have to do that whenever I'm in the English Premier league because there are only 9 other teams in the reserve league (that because there is a north and a south reserves league) and so there are big gaps in the fixtures calendar.

It is tedious doing this every season but I do try and make it interesting. Like in England I would only play away matches and just against non-league opposition so in a sense my reserve team is touring the country! I also go alphabetically, pick a team for each letter of the alphabet. Not many choices for Q and Y though!

Currently in my Schalke game, all my reserve fixtures are against all the other German teams II (reserve) sides. But I have noticed that I can't set a whole season's worth of fixtures, and so have to keep going back into my reserve's fixture list and set more friendlies every three or four months or so.

I know that a number of countries do not have reserve leagues, but if you play in that country you can have a reserve team. In that case, what do you all do with your reserve players? Loan them all out? Set a season of friendlies? Have no players in the reserve team? Nothing?

(And specifically: I'm playing in the French Ligue 1, which has reserve teams but no reserve league. There's also a "maximum 7 loans per season" rule. Does that mean 7 loans in... or out... or 7 total in & out? What do I do with a reserve team of 20 players if I can't loan out but a few of them?)

It's 7 loans in, you're allowed to loan out as many players as you like.

If there is no reserve league you can either send your reserves out on loan to feeder clubs, or set up a series of friendlies for your reserve team. I would go for loan out to feeder club, if the feeder club is of a decent enough standard and the player is guaranteed first team football with them, if not i'd go for the firendlies option.

Friendlies are the way to go. Every 2 weeks or so against other reserve sides. they'll never say no, even on short notice. and if you're playing a team that goes on hiatus like germany, you can play your own reserve team to keep everyone in shape.

It's 7 loans in, you're allowed to loan out as many players as you like. If there is no reserve league you can either send your reserves out on loan to feeder clubs, or set up a series of friendlies for your reserve team. I would go for loan out to feeder club, if the feeder club is of a decent enough standard and the player is guaranteed first team football with them, if not i'd go for the firendlies option.

That's great news! I always like to take a few loans in every year, but didn't want my loaning out to interfere with that. If that's the case, I think I will loan out pretty much everyone on the reserve team to the feeder clubs I have. I have some young South Americans who I could send to Belgium (and possibly make into EU-eligible).

I hate it when you are a confrence south team and your reserve team doesn't play against other teams, they do in real life!

in most leagues (definitely the german bundesliga) the reserves are not officially in a league, but if you look at your player stats, you will see that they still play many many games. friendlies are therefore not really necessary, because you might have your players play 2-3 games a week then, even if you don't see the fixtures.

I always leave talented youngsters in my reserves and they get plenty of match experience... same applies for injured first team players, who will always come back match fit to the main squad if I sent them to the reserves, despite not having a league (more proof that those games do take place)

I'll run a season of friendlies, which can also be handy for keeping first team fringe players match fit by dropping them into the reserves for a week when appropriate.

It takes too much effort to create 15-20 friendlies for your reserves