FM 09 Official International Management Guide

Welcome to the home of international management.

The aim of this forum is to give people a chance to discuss their national team saves and advise people of saves that they could potentially enjoy.

The main aim of every international team is naturally to win the world cup. However there are many other challenges within international management (some big and some small) which people may not actually be aware of.

My personal purpose of this guide is to try and prise people away from the top teams on the international scene and try and make the smaller nations great.

First of all, some important points about international management:

*When you first take the job, getting in staff can be quite important. There is no training but coaches which good scouting ability may be useful for scouting your players. However the lesser known the country the less likely world class staff will be interested.

*Always use the player search to make sure (especially with lesser known nations) that you arent missing any key players who havent been added to the team.

*Friendlies are the best place to try new things or perhaps against extremely lesser opposition. There are a lot less matches so the wrong tactic or wrong team picking can cost points and possibly a place in that competition.

Some of you more experienced international managers will probably be more aware of the challenges that lie waiting, but for those who are not so experienced, here are a list of teams which can provide both a very fun game and possible success:

#1 - Mexico - Mexico are a veru interesting team. They have some top class players but rarely perform irl. They have some good youngsters in dos Santos and Vela and experience through the likes of Pardo and their goalkeeper Sanchez.

I reccomend you select the Belarusian league and set the game start date to Feb 2008 as their world cup qualifying starts early. They have a relatively easy qualifying stage consisting of a qualifying knockout round and then two league rounds, the only main rival is USA. In 2009 they take place in the Gold Cup, which is the equilvalent of the Asian Cup and consists of North American countries. This is definately a competition you should be looking to win.

#2 - Montenegro - If i am honest probably one of my most enjoyable saves ever. Due to the fact they have only been recognised as a country recently, they have a very low world ranking down in 135th and therefore have very low expectations. However they have some top quality players in Mirko Vuicinic and Steve Jovetic (who is also only 18), another to watch out for is Ivan Fatic. They have some solid lesser known players who do a good job and after the first couple of seasons some very good regens came through.

Starting in June or July 2008 is recommended for this team as they start their world cup qualifying in september. Their qualifying group consists of Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgie and Rep. Ireland. Italy are the strongest team and losses are inevitable however the other teams are very beatable as i have found so qualification for the world cup is a possibility, despite the fact the expectations at the start are just to not embarass yourself.

#3 - Chile - Not a team i have actually had the experience of managing but a team i noticed due to the fact the managed to climb to 5th in the world rankings in my Montenegro save. They have the makings of a good squad, the highlight of which being Alexis Sanchez, a pacy forward who can play up front or on either wing. Along with players like Mark Gonzalez and Aruro Vidal.

Chile take part in the South American world cup qualifying, they have the likes of Brazil and Argentina to contend with however the real points can be gained from the other teams scrapping for places after 1st and 2nd such as Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador etc. They also take part in the Copa America, the next of these will take place in 2011 and although they have to contend with favourites Brazil and Argentina, there is still a possibility of a win.

There are many other challenges than this on the international scene, many of which still undiscovered by me. The Asian, African and Oceanic countries look interesting and could also provide some good saves.

There we go, there is my start to this guide. I hope many people will gain useful ideas from this thread and it will give them lots of happy gaining. Any other feedback would be most welcome.

I'll add this to the links thread, interesting opening picture.

Good job, very nice opener.

I will try and get this rolling. My greatest international experience as i have already said was with Montenegro. I first arranged a friendly with Monserrat, just to try and get the team flowing with a couple of goals, beat them 5-0, but not too convincing. This was followed by surprising victories against Bulgaria 5-2 and Ireland 4-2 before an expected lost 2-1 against Italy.

In 2009, i lost again to Italy 2-1 followed by a 1-1 draw with georgia. 3 straight wins against cyprus, bulgaria and georgia put me in a surprisng position to qualify. I lost the final match 2-0 to Ireland but still managed to come second, thinking i had qualified for the world cup. however i came bottom of the second placed teams group by one goal, so that was very annoying. And i am yet to carry on the save.

thinking about international after my Cherbourg save. Don't know who to manage though? Don't really fancy any of the ones suggested. Great opener btw

thanks very much. i have to admit Mexico are quite easy. But Montenegro are a great challeneg. but other than that do you have an idea what continent you would like to manage? and would you prefer a team with immediate success or a longer challenge?

would like to stick to Europe, not venture to far away

europe is a good choice. two good main competitions. well the obvious choices are spain, italy, germany, france, england or holland. england and holland are probably the most challenging of all them. then you have croatia and russia, who are the slightly smaller but still very competent teams. i mean you could take the challenge of the weakest teams in europe such as lictenstein, san marino, andorra and try and get them to win something. another idea is serbia or ukraine, good teams with potential to win things? what you reckon/

Russia could be good. Arshavin, Akinfeev etc. I will update to tell you how I am going on if that's ok

Yeah Russia are a great team. The etc been Zhirkov, Pobregnyak, Pavlyuchenko, Ignashevich and a good youngster is Dzagoev. I also forgot to mention Portugal, Romania, Czech Republic and Switzerland.

I'm going to start my Russia save now. Is it ok if I post to say how I am going on? Hope more people will start an international save

Good opener

I'm going to start my Russia save now. Is it ok if I post to say how I am going on? Hope more people will start an international save

Yes, it’s a thread for all International managers to post about there International saves.

Nice OP, very well done.

Now if you can say who are the best players of the teams you have played with, best starting eleven ... and say what you have done with them, would also be very interesting and probably helpfull to other members.

ok I will post after my first match.

Just about to start a game with scotland.

Accepted the England job while managing Liverpool

The english FA eased me into the job with 'the nations hopes are squarely resting on your shoulders', strong shoulders as they are I cant help but feeling the pressure

Playing a flat back four, two centre midfielders, two wingers and two forwards.

Having a massive 'selection headache' for upfront! Ashton is currently playing... it is that bad.

Won the first two qualifiers... Dominated but only scored a couple! I will keep you posted...

Okay well my starting lineup for Mexico was a basic 4-4-2 formation:

Ochoa

Osorio Marquez Araujo/Magallon Salcido

Dos Santos Pardo Villaluz Guardado

Vela Bautista/Iniguez

If you load all Mexican players or load the league you will find Iniguez, he has a pace of 20 and proved very useful to me. There are many of centre mids and strikers you can swap with any of the ones i have used. Pardo has a beast of a shot on him as well.

With this team i won the gold cup and qualified for the world cup getting knocked out in the first knockout round to a 119th minute offside goal against Brazil.

My team with montenegro was (4-4-2):

M.Bozovic

Lakic/Pavicevic Batak Tanasijevic/Fatic Pejovic

Drincic Vukcevic Boskovic\Novakovic Jovetic

Vucinic Purovic/Djalovic

With this team i got within a whisker of the world cup finals. i came second in my group (of which my expectations were not to be embarassed in the matches) and came bottom of the second placed teams table by 1 goal.

Mirko Vucinic was unbelievable, he scored hatfuls of goals, drincic was a useful right mid despite not being his favoured position. fatic becomes an awesome centre back. jovetic also becomes awesome. they also get some quality regens. i advise everyone to at least try with montenegro, the expections are low if things dont go to plan but there is potential to have a very good team.

well done JOSEPH!, and good luck. what year did you accept the job in?

Good thread mate, hopefully a lot of people will post in here.

I've been trying for an International job in my Arsenal game, but Brazil, Italy and Germany all turned me down:(

I was in Manchester United, and won the treble in the first season, and yet another treble in the second season (the second season was a bunch of lucky breaks, rather than my managerial skills). At the start of the third season, my debut international job appeared. Suddenly, I realized Nigeria had a vacancy after "some ****** manager that is unknown" managed to screw them up so badly that they are not able to qualify for the World Cup. I decided to apply for it, thinking that it will be funny. I got the job, and was completely flustered because I have no clue what to do.

I did help them qualify for the African nations cup, using the same 4-1-3-2 approach I used in Manchester United. Then, at the start of the fourth season, a dream job appeared. I mean it, it's my dream job. The Argentinian FA decided to invite me as a replacement for Diego Simeone for the Argentina job. Now, if you know how cool Argentina players are, is there ANY REASON to reject it. Now, I am the proud manager of Argentina, at least until I screw up and got sacked

if anybody wants a good challenge with an african team (that isnt one of the most well known) you could try DR Congo. they have some decent players e.g. lua lua, mbokani, illunga. it would be an interesting save to try and break the dominance of the other big african nations. start in feb 2008 to get all the qualifying matches to be playable.

anybody wanting an oceanic challenge, they could try with new zealand, they have one notable and very good player in ryan nelsen (CB). they have a relatively easy qualifying group for the world cup but then they will have to face an asian nation in a playoff to get into the world cup. they do take part in the oce nations cup which is quite easily winnable with the quality of competetion they are up against.

another good european idea is belgium. they are quite low ranked for a team with a good bunch of players. they have a tough qualification group with spain and turkey been the main threats and bosnia, estonia and armenia making up the rest, so there is a possiblity of qualifying. they have some good players in kompany, vanden borre, defour, witsel and fellaini who all happen to be young as well.

Happy gaming.

I became Serbia manager and here are the results so far:

football master 94 - those are some pretty damn good results. so you managed to win the world cup and on course to qualify quite easily for the euros, not bad. you must have a pretty good team? very good tactics? or great squad cohesion?

Note: Ivan Radasinovic is a 17 yr old regen with very very good stats

looks like a very good solid team. would you reccomend a save with serbia? and have you got a screenshot of that regen?

Yes, although i didnt become serbia boss straight away. The save is enjoyable as your trying to recapture the golden generation of Serbia. Serbia have a great footballing history while they were Yugoslavia ( producing players like Savicevic, Mijatovic and Dejan Stojkovic) and since becoming an independent country they have slowly been rising in the FIFA Rankings. Now as manager you have to make the best possible team with Serbia. They have talent with the likes of Stankovic, Vidic, Ivanovic, Kuzmanovic, Jankovic etc.

Beggining of my 4th season with barcelona and got offered England job,

Doing well so far won all 5 games all againt lesser opposition tho but pretty easy to be hones.

Manager before had won 10 and drawn 1 so had a lot to live up to but so far so good.

Top of world cup qualifying group easyily so things are looking promising.

England are a good team to manage, great youth prospects such as wilshire rodwell young etc. only problem is up top, strikers not the best, rooney not really performing, might try giving him a free role, so far owen has been best striker, absolut goal machine. Ashton all th irl wouldnt get in my england team in fm 09 he seems a very good target man.

My team

Almunia (english citizen)

Richards - Terry - Rio - Cole

Lampard - Gerrard

Walcott joe Cole

Owen - Rooney

Rest of squad include

Foster

Rodwell

Curtis Davies (amazing)

Beckham

Barry

Hargreaves

Carrick

Young

Downing

Ashton

Defoe

Crouch

Hoping to go all the way with this group of players, fingers crossed

you must be getting some decent regens through as well hardy6? walcott was a beast for me on my recent england save, not too good at shooting though. hows he doing for you?

you must be getting some decent regens through as well hardy6? walcott was a beast for me on my recent england save, not too good at shooting though. hows he doing for you?

Yeah got some good regens coming though in the under 21's not quite ready for the step up yet tho. walcott is a legend i absolutley love him, saving to but him for baca, shooting isnt the best to be honest but play him in AMR and he just dominates the LB all the time. he chips in with a goal every now and again but his assists are always high.

Just won my first game in charge of Russia. 2-1 in a friendly against holland. Arshavin scored a 30 yard wonder goal!

Beggining of my 4th season with barcelona and got offered England job,

Doing well so far won all 5 games all againt lesser opposition tho but pretty easy to be hones.

Manager before had won 10 and drawn 1 so had a lot to live up to but so far so good.

Top of world cup qualifying group easyily so things are looking promising.

England are a good team to manage, great youth prospects such as wilshire rodwell young etc. only problem is up top, strikers not the best, rooney not really performing, might try giving him a free role, so far owen has been best striker, absolut goal machine. Ashton all th irl wouldnt get in my england team in fm 09 he seems a very good target man.

My team

Almunia (english citizen)

Richards - Terry - Rio - Cole

Lampard - Gerrard

Walcott joe Cole

Owen - Rooney

Rest of squad include

Foster

Rodwell

Curtis Davies (amazing)

Beckham

Barry

Hargreaves

Carrick

Young

Downing

Ashton

Defoe

Crouch

Hoping to go all the way with this group of players, fingers crossed

How did you get Almunia in the squad, i know he's an English citizen but what did you do to get him into the England team?

i am guessing, you try to call almunia up to the england squad like you would do to any other player. if you cant do it or dont have the option to then he might not have done the paperwork yet. has anybody had mikel arteta being available for england?

Thanks Coleman...

Erm start of third season! Just getting into my third qualifier...

Hopeful I can win euro's with them

Almunia is in my England squad... Just try to get him before Spain do! Obviously you have a while due to Spain having two of the best keepers in the world. He will come easily!

i am going to start a new international game today. going to be either serbia or romania because they both look very interesting. will keep everyone posted.

Nice opening post. I am ready to start a international management game but I don't know which team to chose...

well harryseaess, in europe you could be montenegro (awesome), serbia, or romania. unless you fancy one of the big nations. in africa go for ghana, ivory coast, egypt, nigeria etc or for a challenge DR congo. otherwise try chile, mexico, new zealand, south korea, iran or bahrain. take your pick?

Harryseaess -

I would look at one of the following;

Mexico - As already mentioned, some very good experienced players like Pardo (who has nearly 150 caps at the age of 31), and Rafael Marquez of Barcelona who, iirc, is Barcelona's captain. Also Mexico has some exceptionally talented younger players such as Guardado of Deportivo, who is one of the best left midfielders in the game, Ochoa the goalkeeper of America (Mex), and Arajuo of Chivas. Finally, Mexico has an extremely talented future ahead. Players like Gio Dos Santos of Spurs can become World Class, and although his time at Tottenham has not been great, the potential is still there. Also, Carlos Vela, the talented Arsenal youngster who Arsene Wenger rates extremely highly is almost certain to become world class in the future.

Russia - Russia has an extremely talented squad that has only really come to light in the past few years. Andrei Arshavin has gone from a relatively unknown player, to one of the world's most famous players after an extremely successful Euro 2008. He is easily Russia's best player, and you should look to build your team around him. Other exciting Russians include Zhirkov of CSKA, who Chelsea are rumoured to be interested in; he is an extremely quick left back or left winger who can beat players, Igor Akinfeev; a former FM favourite who has seemed to have lost a few fans in recent editons of FM, but is still very good, and finally Pobregnyak of Zenit, who is probably the best cheapish striker on the game. For the future the most exciting player is Dzagoev of CSKA like Zhirkov; he is an AMC who is very big in Russia, expect to hear alot about him in the next few years.

Holland - Holland were once the Arsenal of International football, and were the team that invented total football with the likes of Bergkamp and Cruyff exciting fans and people throughout the planet, but now they're squad is not the same. They still have some very good players though, Sneijder of Real Madrid being probably the best; he is an extremely good set-piece taker, and is doing very well in Spain. Also, Arjen Robben is an exceptional talent, although a bit injury prone. If you manage to keep him fit, you will see on of the best wingers in the world, as his dribbling is immense. The best young players Holland have include - Royston Drenthe, who is again at Real Madrid (noticing a pattern here ); he is an attacking left back who was bought too hopefully one day fill Roberto Carlos' shoes, and although he is yet to do that, he is still a very good prospect. Finally we have Wijnaldum (spelling) of Feyernood. He is an attacking minded central midfielder who can become very good due to his high potential.

I hope this helps as it took me ages.

Seems a waste of time if ya just go with another team now.

Very interesting.

If I were to put in my own (patroitic) recommendation:

Singapore

They have a semi-decent team, more if you load the Singapore league. Among the best in South East Asia and probably one of the rising, young nations in Asia, they unfortunately have not qualified for many major tournaments other than those in their own backyard.

They don't start proper international games until 2009 in the game, due to the fact that the Asean Football Championship is omitted from FM2009 (shame). But they are actually in a decent qualifying group for the 2011 Asian Cup, of which they have only played in once (back in 1984 as hosts).

In their group, Iran are definitely the favourites, but Jordan and Thailand are beatable opponents. With two teams qualifying from each group this will probably the easiest chance of Singapore qualifying for a major tournament in years.

There will be long spells in between those six games in two years, but you can use that time to scout for upcoming talents to add to the squad.

I would say that they are absolutely a team with potential.

Harryseaess -

I would look at one of the following;

Mexico - As already mentioned, some very good experienced players like Pardo (who has nearly 150 caps at the age of 31), and Rafael Marquez of Barcelona who, iirc, is Barcelona's captain. Also Mexico has some exceptionally talented younger players such as Guardado of Deportivo, who is one of the best left midfielders in the game, Ochoa the goalkeeper of America (Mex), and Arajuo of Chivas. Finally, Mexico has an extremely talented future ahead. Players like Gio Dos Santos of Spurs can become World Class, and although his time at Tottenham has not been great, the potential is still there. Also, Carlos Vela, the talented Arsenal youngster who Arsene Wenger rates extremely highly is almost certain to become world class in the future.

Russia - Russia has an extremely talented squad that has only really come to light in the past few years. Andrei Arshavin has gone from a relatively unknown player, to one of the world's most famous players after an extremely successful Euro 2008. He is easily Russia's best player, and you should look to build your team around him. Other exciting Russians include Zhirkov of CSKA, who Chelsea are rumoured to be interested in; he is an extremely quick left back or left winger who can beat players, Igor Akinfeev; a former FM favourite who has seemed to have lost a few fans in recent editons of FM, but is still very good, and finally Pobregnyak of Zenit, who is probably the best cheapish striker on the game. For the future the most exciting player is Dzagoev of CSKA like Zhirkov; he is an AMC who is very big in Russia, expect to hear alot about him in the next few years.

Holland - Holland were once the Arsenal of International football, and were the team that invented total football with the likes of Bergkamp and Cruyff exciting fans and people throughout the planet, but now they're squad is not the same. They still have some very good players though, Sneijder of Real Madrid being probably the best; he is an extremely good set-piece taker, and is doing very well in Spain. Also, Arjen Robben is an exceptional talent, although a bit injury prone. If you manage to keep him fit, you will see on of the best wingers in the world, as his dribbling is immense. The best young players Holland have include - Royston Drenthe, who is again at Real Madrid (noticing a pattern here ); he is an attacking left back who was bought too hopefully one day fill Roberto Carlos' shoes, and although he is yet to do that, he is still a very good prospect. Finally we have Wijnaldum (spelling) of Feyernood. He is an attacking minded central midfielder who can become very good due to his high potential.

I hope this helps as it took me ages.

I'm waiting for hiddink to get sacked in my CSKA Moscow save. when i get the job, i'll keep everone posted

i had a game as montanegro and it was brill i was always near the top of the group and qualified for the 2014 WC but a poor showing there dissilusioned me and when brazil offered there job a accepted failing there and then getting the spain job

it wasnt any good when i left montenegro

Great post im manager of Argentina in my Liverpool save doing the world cup Qualifiers now

Thanks for the advice Teezy. I'm going to start a Mexico save . It looks very promising and exciting, I will keep you posted.

I'm waiting for hiddink to get sacked in my CSKA Moscow save. when i get the job, i'll keep everone posted

From my experiences, he won't be sacked unfortunately.

Thanks for the advice Teezy. I'm going to start a Mexico save . It looks very promising and exciting, I will keep you posted.

No problem, I'm glad it helped.

From my experiences, he won't be sacked unfortunately.

No problem, I'm glad it helped.

Damn it, even if they do poorly in the WC 2010?

International Management is something i've never done in my FM careers. I've tried to get several international jobs during my club careers but always got dismissed due to low my low reputation. Now I think of starting a game as an international manager. But there's one thing: If you manage a nation you're not really familiar with how do you know which players are good? Do you scout a lot of matches? Use the search engine? Use scouts?

How did you get Almunia in the squad, i know he's an English citizen but what did you do to get him into the England team?

just called him up. searched all players elligable to play for england and he was there.

Damn it, even if they do poorly in the WC 2010?

Well in most of my games they've exceeded expectations so I expect them to do that in your game too.

jaaaws in answer to your questions. if you dont know any of the players when first starting the game then open up the team report this will tel you your strongest squad, and even players in the under 21s, 19s etc are included if they are good enough. once you have done that, go on the player search, i tend to find that seraching by their price tag often can be a good indication of how good they are. appoint coaches who have decent scouting stats and get them to watch the leagues in which your players play most. i personally dont really scout the matches because if you have scouts already watching them and they give better reports. do you have an idea of who you want to be?

Well in most of my games they've exceeded expectations so I expect them to do that in your game too.

Lets hope not, as i want that job!!