The Colour of DLR

The Aim

Having just upgraded my computer quite considerably, I plan to run a test game with all the top leagues in Europe loaded to a) test my computer's performance over a long term and b) observe the effect of DLR on the game world when there's no human influence.

The Details

I'll be running the following set-up, with a large database, England 2011 start date and everything else on it's default settings.

I'm not sure how some of those extra levels slipped through, as I only intended England, Spain, Italy and Germany to have a second tier, but I doubt it will affect the experiment too much.

In terms of edits, I've fixed the Germany issue, added Nik33's data packs (just the ones that don't alter attributes or anything) and added my own lnc file to fix the names of the "big 3" in Portugal.

The Format

After an initial write-up detailing the situation in the game world, write-ups will be made at September 1st, February 1st and June 1st. I intend to go incredibly in-depth writing this up with a detailed breakdown of the situation in each Nation for every update along with a whole host of other details on the world as well. I don't know exactly what will be in every update, as I may find different things worth highlighting each and every time, but if there's anything you think you'd like to be updated on feel free to say as much.

I can't promise regular updates - probably more likely to come in fits and starts - but I will definitely do my best, and it will probably take some time to actually get going as I want to cover a lot of ground before I even holiday a day in the game.

This post will contain a quick reference of the content of each update, and a link to the first post for that update period.

September 2011 - Ganso and Maicon to Man City

Austria - Initial report

Austria have never really been a force in football - only having qualified for the World Cup on 6 occasions, although once finishing in 3rd place. Their World Ranking of 68th reflects this, but also hints that they can’t necessarily be ruled out of getting great upsets as they have previously peaked at 17th back in 1999.

The largest club are probably Red Bull Salzburg, who have finished either first or second in every season since their foundation, although by the in-game reputation Rapid Wien are actually ranked slightly higher. Austria Wien and Sturm Graz are also both well known names around Europe, but the rest of the teams in the league are mostly unknown outside of Austria without delving back a large number of years.

Looking at the financials, there doesn’t appear to be all that much money in Austria, with the aforementioned 4 clubs dominating the majority of the total capital.

Top Austrian players by CA

Top Austrian players by PA

Player spotlight: David Alaba, FC Bayern

18 year-old Alaba looks to have a great future ahead of him. Already capped 10 times, the central midfielder is currently playing at one of the biggest clubs in Europe and, assuming he can cement a first team place and develop well, could well be one of Austria's greatest ever players.

Belarus - Initial report

Belarus are a relatively young nation, having only gained their Independence in 1991, and as such do not have a huge amount of history to dwell on. They are currently ranked 41st and at the start of the game are 2nd place in their Euro Championship Qualifying group.

They only really have one club that holds any weight across Europe, BATE, who are way ahead of the rest of the clubs financially and by reputation. They have also won the league every season since the 2006 season.

At game start the league is already 8 games deep with BATE holding a 2 point lead and sporting only a single loss.

Top Belarusian players by CA

Top Belarusian players by PA

Player spotlight: Aliaksandr Hleb, Barcelona (on loan at Wolfsburg)

Hleb should be a pretty well-known name across most of Europe, having enjoyed spells at Stuttgart, Arsenal and Barcelona. At 30 years old the versatile attacking midfielder is certainly looking to be beyond his peak, but there should still be a number of good years in him yet. Being out for the first 3-5 months of the game, however, means he may drop off much quicker than he would like.

Interesting! Can't wait for more.

Belgium - Initial report

Belgium have long been a nation on the very edge of success, but thus far their only honours have been a second and a third at European Championships and a single Olympics win. They currently have a very exciting crop of young players coming through who could definitely make them a force to watch in the future.

There are a number of clubs that will be familiar to anyone with a decent level of European knowledge, including KAA Gent, Genk, Club Brugge and Anderlecht. By far and away the biggest side though, at least financially if not by reputation, is Standard, thanks to their purchase in 2011. The league has actually been pretty even up until this point, and it will be interesting to see if this new money has a significant effect on things.

Top Belgian players by CA

Top Belgian players by PA

Player spotlight: Dedryck Boyata, Man City (on loan at Bolton)

Not necessarily the first name that will come to people’s minds when you mention top Belgian prospects, Boyata does in fact have the potential to be a great player. Assuming he actually gets the game-time to develop, that is. It is unclear whether the extreme competition for places at Man City will help or hinder him, but getting loan spells at clubs of Bolton’s stature definitely bodes well for him.

Good work so far Biscotti, nice lay out. Where did you get your facepack from?

I'm loving this experiment already!

I'm loving this experiment already!

Ditto....looks interesting!

I honestly have no idea, as it's one I've been using for a few years now.

edit:- I've just had a look in my graphics folders, and it appears to be the panini pack.

Glad to see some positive feedback. It's going to take me quite a while to get all these initial summaries done before I can start holidaying properly, but hopefully I can knock out quite a large chunk of them today.

Bulgaria - Initial report

Bulgaria were once considered to be a fairly strong European nation, but in more recent years they have gone a little off the boil. There is a distinct lack of promising youngsters coming through, leaving their aging stars with nobody to carry on their legacy.

In terms of clubs, the big name in Bulgaria would have to be Litex, who have won the league for the past 2 seasons. While tey may be ahead in both value and reputation, their lead isn’t so great and both Levski and CSKA (Sofia) are also pretty well known clubs across Europe.

Top Bulgarian players by CA

Top Bulgarian players by PA

Player spotlight: Nikolay Mihaylov, FC Twente

Mihaylov is probably the brightest of Bulgaria’s talent, but his PA is still somewhat low all things considered. If he’s able to reach his full potential he will certainly be a solid enough player, but it also wouldn’t take all that much for him to be surpassed in just a few years.

Croatia - Initial report

Croatia enjoy a growing reputation within the footballing world, they were members of the former Yugoslavia until 1991 and have since developed to the point of being a formidable team. They have only missed one World Cup and one European Championships since their independence from Yugoslavia, and even managed to take 3rd place at the 1998 World Cup.

One club stands clearly head and shoulders above the rest in Croatia, with Dinamo being valued at double their nearest rivals Hajduk and a fairly sizable reputation lead as well. The last time Dinamo didn't win the league was the 2005 season.

Top Croatian players by CA

Top Croatian players by PA

Player spotlight: Ivan Rakitic, Sevilla

Not necessarily the biggest name on the Croatian team sheet, Rakitic has had a decent career so far, having come through the ranks at Basel before moving on to Schalke 04 and now Sevilla. He still has quite a bit of room to grow, and could quite likely establish himself as a top European player within a few more years.

Czech Republic - Initial report

The Czech Republic are, much like Croatia, a well respected team within European football who have yet to have any major success. Ranked at 42 in the world, they have certainly enjoyed better years, but with most of their stars not over the hill yet there is still plenty of room for them to be propelled up the rankings once more.

Sparta Prague are the only really big name in Czech football, having only twice not finished either first or second in the league’s history, and as a result they enjoy a huge financial and reputational lead over the rest of the country.

Top Czech players by CA

Top Czech players by PA

Player spotlight: Milan Baros, Galatasaray

A familiar name to many, Baros has enjoyed spells at Liverpool, Aston Villa, Lyon, Portsmouth and now Galatasaray throughout his career. He holds a Champions League winners medal, along with English FA Cup, English League Cup and French Ligue 1 winners medals. Probably too old to see much improvement from now, he is still a solid enough player and could well be instrumental in engineering some success for his national team.

I've always wondered what happens when all the top leagues are loaded; looking forward to seeing how this goes

p.s. these write-ups must take a lot of time!

I've always wondered what happens when all the top leagues are loaded; looking forward to seeing how this goes

p.s. these write-ups must take a lot of time!

Not so bad after I'd done the first one as I've now got myself a template, but it's certainly not a quick copy/paste either

Denmark - Initial report

Denmark are possibly one of the most under-estimated nations in Europe with a pretty solid squad across the board, albeit lacking in any particularly star players. Ranked at 21st in the world they are definitely in a position to pull off some great results, but after a few seasons will there be enough good youngsters to replace their older players?

Both Brøndby and FC København should be fairly familiar names, but also worth noting are the team of FC Midtjylland, who have had some financial investment in recent years and while they may not have the reputation it would still be foolish to discount them. København have definitely been the more successful team in recent years and will be looking to continue with that, I’m sure.

Top Danish players by CA

Top Danish players by PA

Player spotlight: Thomas Sørensen, Stoke

It seems to me like Sørensen has been around forever, having been a solid ‘keeper in the Premiership for well over 10 years now. He may not be on the same level as Schmeichel was before him, but has been able to maintain a consistent level of performance high enough to earn him many admirers. Both Anders Lindegaard and Kasper Schmeichel have the potential to be at least as good as him, but whether they'll reach that remains to be seen.

England - Initial report

And so we reach the first of our ‘major’ nations.

England have essentially always been considered one of the best footballing nations in the world - be this due to the ridiculous level of over-hype provided by the media or a genuine belief that they are that good. As things stand at the start of the game, though, almost all of their biggest stars are getting old and, while there are some good looking youngsters coming through, none of them look to reach the peaks of the current players, let alone surpass them. It has long been considered by many that the game has a bias towards the English and, while I don’t share that opinion, this experiment will hopefully either disprove or add weight to that argument.

England is bursting of some of the biggest names in Europe: Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham and Liverpool are all clubs you would hope to avoid in continental competition. Manchester United, though, are undoubtedly the biggest of the bunch due to their incredible consistency over the years - you have to go back as far as 1991 to find a year where they didn’t finish in the top 3 of the league. Arsenal are considered the highest valued club, but with the club in trouble on the pitch in the real world it will be interesting to see how long they stay there.

Top English players by CA

Top English players by PA

Player spotlight: Connor Wickham, Sunderland

It’s incredibly difficult to find an English player who hasn’t already had their entire lives laid bare, but I believe Wickham to at least have avoided the media glare somewhat thus far. 18 years old and labelled the next Les Ferdinand, he definitely has the potential to become an England regular, but he's currently quite a long way from that. One to keep an eye on to be sure.

Finland - Initial report

Finland are very much a minor nation in European terms. To date, they have never qualified for a major international tournament, despite producing a handful of notable players over the years, and don’t look like they’ll be doing so any time soon.

The only really noteworthy club in Finland are HJK, who hold a pretty decent reputation and monetary lead over the rest of the country. While HJK come up very regularly on the league history, there actually looks to be quite a bit of diversity.

EDIT - Completely forgot they were a summer league and therefore in progress!

At game start, FC Inter lead the league, but it's still very early and there are 3 teams with only a single loss or less.

Top Finnish players by CA

Top Finnish players by PA

Player spotlight: Perparim Hetemaj, Chievo (Co-owned by Brescia)

Serbian-born Hetemaj is undoubtedly one of Finland’s best players at the moment. Possessing a pretty balanced set of attributes he should be able to put in a solid performance in any central midfield role. I doubt he’s going to set the world alight, but he should be a pretty good player for quite a few years yet.

Will you be looking at Liechtenstein aswell? Just curious with their teams playing in the Swiss league and whether Vaduz might impact on DLR if they turn into a good side

Will you be looking at Liechtenstein aswell? Just curious with their teams playing in the Swiss league and whether Vaduz might impact on DLR if they turn into a good side

That's a good question, actually. I don't think the performance of just one club would be enough to raise the reputation of Liechtenstein, but I probably should include a note within my Switzerland updates in the interest of science.

France - Initial report

Not quite big enough to be considered a ‘major’ nation, France definitely have the quality to change that perception and have won 2 European Championships and one World Cup. A long list of players with very good potential means that the French national team should remain strong for many years yet to come - even if their national league doesn’t grow much in stature.

Lyon are definitely the biggest club in France, having gone through an extremely dominant spell throughout the 2000’s. Marseille are still a very capable team, though and with Lyon having slipped slightly the last couple of years they would be looking to capitalise. On the other hand, PSG are easily the richest club in France, having just received Middle East investment, and they will be hoping to turn that cash into results pretty quickly.

Top French players by CA

Top French players by PA

Player spotlight: Karim Benzema, Real Madrid

Despite only being 23, Benzema is already extremely highly regarded. A regular in the first team at Real and for the national team you would expect him to reach his full potential pretty easily barring any major injuries. With 12 international goals already, there’s a very good chance that he’ll be able to smash Thierry Henry’s record of 51 goals.

That's a good question, actually. I don't think the performance of just one club would be enough to raise the reputation of Liechtenstein, but I probably should include a note within my Switzerland updates in the interest of science.

Thats good to know, on FM11 I edited Vaduz's Training and Youth academy to all 20's holidayed for 5 years and about 6 YA players had PA's over 150.

Germany - Initial report

With the Bundesliga now rated higher than Serie A in-game, I think it’s fair to say Germany are one of the big boys now. They have a very young squad who showed much of their promise at the 2010 World Cup and can only get better from there. Better yet, a large number of their young stars are still based domestically, ensuring the strength of the Bundeslga moving forward.

Much like England, Germany boasts a large number of teams capable of European success, including Schalke, Borussia Dortmund, Leverkusen, VfB Stuttgart, HSV and Werder Bremen. Also like England, one club stands head and shoulders above the rest, with Bayern München having only failed to finish in the top 3 once in the last 15 years. Bayern also lead the way both in terms of reputation and value.

Top German players by CA

Top German players by PA

Player spotlight: Mario Götze, Borussia Dortmund

Götze is just one of many extremely exciting young German players and it’s hard to imagine him not having an extremely successful career ahead of him. Still at the club where he came through the ranks, it’s entirely possible we may see a big money move to another club, but being valued at over £13m already it would probably take an extremely large sum of money to pry him away.

Greece - Initial report

Greece have a strange record. While they won the European Championships in 2004, they’ve never really had all that much success otherwise - never placing again at a major international tournament and boasting all of a single runners-up medal in European club football.

Olympiakos are the biggest team in Greece, with a slightly higher reputation that Panathinaikos, but also of note are both PAOK and AEK - there’s been very few years when a team other than these 4 finished in the top 3 of the league. That also means there’s quite a financial void, as well, which doesn’t look like it will be bridged any time soon.

Top Greek players by CA

Top Greek players by PA

Player spotlight: Vasilis Torosidis, Olympiakos

Vasilis isn’t necessarily a big name, but he is rated as having the highest current ability of any Greek player in the game. A broad spread of stats means he should be pretty versatile, but with him never having played outside of Greece it seems unlikely that a foreign club will take a risk on him now.

This should be an interesting read, surprising to see that Croatia doesn't have slightly more talented players in terms of PA. Englands high rated players are all near the end of their career although i'm sure that quite a few regens of the same ability will be produced because of the standard of facilities.

The Netherlands - Initial report

The Netherlands (referred to in-game as Holland) are ranked 1st in the world at game start. Despite the strength of their national team, the majority of the best Dutch players ply their trade abroad and as a result the domestic league has declined somewhat since it’s heyday in the 70’s.

Ajax and PSV are obviously the best known names, but Feyenoord and FC Twente have also both seen some success and are certainly not unknown entities. The dominance of PSV and Ajax in the league has recently been broken, and as a result the Eredivisie is very much up for grabs. Presumably due to their successes, Ajax remain by far the richest club in the country and that will undoubtedly give them a huge advantage for the future.

Top Dutch players by CA

Top Dutch players by PA

Player spotlight: Georginio Wijnaldum, PSV

Probably an unfamiliar name to most, Wijnaldum is a product of the Feyenoord academy, where he had played his football until his £4.3m switch to PSV at the end of the 10/11 season. Capped at under-21 level, he’s still young enough to have quite a bit of growth and will quite likely become the next in a long line of great Dutch attacking midfielders.

This should be an interesting read, surprising to see that Croatia doesn't have slightly more talented players in terms of PA. Englands high rated players are all near the end of their career although i'm sure that quite a few regens of the same ability will be produced because of the standard of facilities.

Having PA's in the 160's isn't all that bad, and the players in the Croatian list are all still pretty young as well.

The England situation will certainly be interesting, but those English facilities are also (in theory) likely to produce great players of any number of nationalities due to the multicultural nature of English football.

Hungary - Initial report

Hungary were once a pretty strong nation, having been World Cup runners up on two occasions and having won 3 Olympic Games, but this success was so many years ago that not many will remember it any more. Their domestic league would definitely not be considered strong and without significant investment it’s probably never will be.

Debrecen are the name most will recognise from Hungarian football, but they’ve recently been caught by Videoton - whom it has been suggested have received financial and other aid from the government in recent times. There are no particularly rich clubs in Hungary, but there is still a bit of a void between those that compete regularly in Europe and those that don’t. Historically, the league has been Debrecen's to lose, but with them having not even made the top 3 last season are we on the verge of a sea change?

Top Hungarian players by CA

Top Hungarian players by PA

Player spotlight: Balazs Dzsudzsak, Anji

Dzsudzsak (not one to pronounce while drunk) is a left winger currently playing in Russia after his £12m move from PSV in 2011. At 24 he certainly has a good number of years ahead of him, but he is one of only a very few really good Hungarian players. If no great prospects come through in the next couple of years it may leave the Hungarian national side in a lot of trouble.

Iceland - Initial report

Iceland are the lowest ranked nation in this experiment, and it’s easy to see why. Barring the occasional solid player, Iceland have never really produced any real stars, and this looks like it may well continue well into the future.

With the nation as a whole being so lowly ranked, it’s no surprise that there’s no major names in terms of reputation. FH have definitely been the strongest team in the league recently, but having not had much success outside of Iceland it means there’s no real money in the country either.

At game start, the league is 5 games in, and it’s definitely far too early to draw any conclusions from that.

Top Icelandic players by CA

Top Icelandic players by PA

Player spotlight: Eidur Gudjohnsen, AEK

Having played at a number of the best clubs in Europe, Gudjohnsen is probably Iceland’s best ever player. That said, he’s never really been considered a world-beater and at 32 is now coming towards the end of his career. With nobody immediately looking like they’ll step into his shoes, it seems likely that Iceland will slide even further down the FIFA Rankings.

Republic of Ireland - Initial report

Ireland are the first of the “Home Nations”, despite not actually being part of the UK. This means that many products of the English youth system can trace solid roots back to Ireland and has been a source of the majority of their best players. Ranked as high as 31st in the world Ireland have a pretty strong national team indeed, but have never really tasted a huge amount of success in International competitions.

Because all their best players tend to come from England, the Irish league isn’t particularly strong. The best known team are Shamrock Rovers, although their league success has been limited and they’re certainly not the richest club.

Another summer league, Sligo have got themselves a bit of breathing room at the top after 13 games, but there’s still quite a long way to go.

Top Irish players by CA

Top Irish players by PA

Player spotlight: Aiden McGeady, Spartak Moscow

McGeady is quite a strange one by many standards. He’s part of the very small number of British players who play abroad, but is also an Ireland regular who has never played in the English pyramid. In previous versions he proved to be quite a journeyman, and it will be interesting to see if that remains the same now.

Israel - Initial report

Israel sit only one place behind Ireland in the FIFA Rankings, but do not have the luxury of a powerful neighbour to poach talent from. While they’ve never received won a continental competition, their clubs often prove to be tough opposition and only seem to be getting better as time goes on. They already sport a collection of youngsters that show the potential of being much better than their current crop of players.

While there are quite a few strong clubs playing in Israel, the most common you will hear are probably Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa, with the latter being marginally higher ranked by reputation. As we see in many of these mid-range nations, there is quite a gap financially between the big names and the rest of the pack. While the last couple of years has only seen those three do well in the league, you don’t have to go back too far before you start seeing other names, and that makes for a very interesting future for the Israeli league.

Top Israeli players by CA

Top Israeli players by PA

Player spotlight: Beram Kayal, Celtic

Currently playing his football in Scotland, Kayal is a great example of the future promised by Israeli football. 23 years old and still with some room to grow, he should have a solid career ahead of him, but may soon be surpassed by some of the exciting youngsters being produced back at home.

Halfway point achieved. Might slow down a little now, as I'm working for the next few days, but with any luck I should be in a position to start holidaying before next weekend.

Very interesting so far, have enjoyed reading the summaries and am looking forward to seeing how things progress as the game goes on. KUTGW

Italy - Initial report

Not so many years ago, Italy boasted the strongest league in the world and one of the strongest national teams in the world as well. Since then, though they’ve been tarnished by a huge match fixing scandal and have now Serie A has slipped down to 4th. Many of their best players are well past their prime, but that’s not to say there aren’t a host of promising youngsters coming through and it could herald a return to prominence for one of the greatest footballing nations in history.

I could probably list every team in Serie A and a few more beyond in terms of reputation and not be overdoing it, but instead I will only highlight a few. Inter Milan have been the most dominant force of recent years, although AC Milan have also come back strong of late. Rounding out the top 4 in the reputation rankings are Roma and Juventus. An awful lot of the money in Italian football is tied up in just 3 clubs.

Top Italian players by CA

Top Italian players by PA

Player spotlight: Andrea Poli, Sampdoria (On loan at Inter)

This 21 year old Sampdoria player clearly shows an awful lot of promise for Inter to have loaned him with an agreed £7m fee. Italy has a great tradition of strong, defensive minded central midfielders, but Poli looks like he could actually develop into quite a creative force - something that Italy seem to have lacked in recent years.

Northern Ireland - Initial report

Being another ‘Home Nation’ means Northern Ireland definitely punch well above their league stature would indicate. Ranking in at a fairly healthy 59th, they’ve spent most of history in the shadows of their Republic cousins. With a few decent looking youngsters coming up in England, could they make a name for themselves in the future?

Domestic football in Northern Ireland is not of a high standard, with Glentoran and Linfield being the best of a bad lot, having shared the title between them for the past 10 years. For whatever reason, Linfield appear to have pretty healthy financial backing, and it remains to be seen if this will unbalance the league significantly.

Top Northern Irish players by CA

Top Northern Irish players by PA

Player spotlight: Chris Brunt, West Bromwich Albion

A solid winger, Brunt is unlikely to ever develop to be much more than that and as a result is analogous to Northern Irish football as a whole - not a lot to look forward to beyond players that are “good enough”. Could this change in the future? absolutely. Do I think it will? Unlikely.

Really interesting experiment. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Two questions:

What are the specs of your PC?

Erm, what's DLR?!

Two questions:

What are the specs of your PC?

Erm, what's DLR?!

I can't answer the first question, but DLR is Dynamic League Reputation. In theory if a league such as the Czech Republic's start having teams doing really well in European competitions, the reputation of that league will increase which results in attracting better quality players to all the teams in the league.

Lovin the initial reports and the work you are putting in this Biscotti. KUTGW

Two questions:

What are the specs of your PC?

Erm, what's DLR?!

I'm running a Core i5 2500k with 8gb of RAM, although there's still quite a few upgrades I want to make to it beyond that.

Norway - Initial report

Norway are the highest ranked of the Scandinavian nations, although many probably think of Sweden as the better team. Their league isn’t really of all that high standard, though, meaning all of the biggest names play abroad.

Despite the relative lack of strength to the league Norway boast quite a number of recognisable clubs, but I’m only going to highlight the biggest of them: Rosenborg. Since 1992, they’ve only failed to win the league on 3 occasions. They’ve also got a sizeable financial lead, although it’s not necessarily as large as you might expect.

After 13 games of the season, Rosenborg sit top, but only by a point.

Top Norwegian players by CA

Top Norwegian players by PA

Player spotlight: Brede Hangeland, Fulham

Hangeland will be a familiar name to many fans of the Premiership, having made the move to Craven Cottage back in 2007. Born in Houston, Texas, he is a key member of the Norway squad and considered by many to be among the best centre-backs playing in England right now.

Poland - Initial report

Poland could easily be described as a minnow, particularly in recent years, but they have in fact managed to finish 3rd at two separate World Cups. In spite of this, Polish football seems to be at a bit of a lull, with no players standing out as huge stars and only one player looking to have huge potential, it could be a long while before the Poles are celebrating another success.

Despite their obvious domestic dominance, Wisla aren’t the highest reputation team in Poland. That honour goes to Lech, with Legia also slipping in ahead of Wisla. One unusual thing about the Ekstraklasa is that there is a fairly well defined curve to the finances, instead of the usual huge drop off you see in many of the mid-range European leagues.

Top Polish players by CA

Top Polish players by PA

Player spotlight: Wojciech Szczesny, Arsenal

One area Poland haven’t seemed to suffer is ‘keepers, with Kuszczak, Boruc and Fabaianski, plus until recently with Dudek. Szczesny, though, is the only Polish player to have a really significant PA and, assuming he gets utilised at Arsenal, could well reach it. It will be interesting to see if Poland continues to have this leaning towards goalkeepers.

Portugal - Initial report

Portugal are probably second only to England in the “promised much, delivered little” stakes. Long considered right on the verge of being one of the best nations in the world, Portugal have time and againfailed to deliver more than a solid showing in international competition.

Portugal are the classic example of the financial void, with Porto, Benfica and Sporting all being valued at a huge sum compared to next in line Braga. Because of their consistent success in the league, Porto are ranked highest by reputation.

Top Portuguese players by CA

Top Portuguese players by PA

Player spotlight: Christiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid

Whatever you think of him personally, there is no denying he is one of the world’s leading footballers. Valued at £35m and with so many high stats, there is no reason why Ronaldo isn’t going to be a key player for quite a number of years. The question still remains whether Portugal as a whole will benefit from his quality or if they’ll still remain as a ‘nearly’ team.

Excellent experiment!! I thought I knew a lot about european leagues and football, but here you give us plenty of interesting information.

Will be interesting to se how all of this pans out after a while. As a norwegian I don't have much hope that Norway is going to be a force.

PS. What is it with the names of the big 3 in Portugal? Was there something wrong?

Excellent experiment!! I thought I knew a lot about european leagues and football, but here you give us plenty of interesting information.

Will be interesting to se how all of this pans out after a while. As a norwegian I don't have much hope that Norway is going to be a force.

PS. What is it with the names of the big 3 in Portugal? Was there something wrong?

Yeah, due to (I presume) licensing issues, their names were merely 3 letter representations. Looking through my other saves, it appears to have been fixed with the same thing that fixed the Germany situation, so I didn't actually need to create the lnc file.

Romania - Initial report

Often considered to be a pretty solid nation, Romania have actually had very little success beyond the occasional upset result. While only having a single Champions League trophy, Romanian clubs are also well respected in European competitions, and if the Nation is to improve significantly this is where they will be looking for results.

Despite the level of respect they tend to claim, Romanian clubs don’t seem to rank all that highly in terms of reputation. Largest without doubt would be Steaua Bucharest, who have been somewhat dominant in the league for many years, but Dinamo Bucharest have a rich history and CFR Cluj have risen to rapid prominence after gaining financial backing in 2002. That financial backing leave CFR Cluj top of the pile in terms of value, but much like Poland there is a really smooth curve leaving minimal gaps for clubs to bridge if they want to climb.

Top Romanian players by CA

Top Romanian players by PA

Player spotlight: Gabriel Torje, Udinese

A few years ago I could easily rattle off 5 or 6 Romanian players of note if quizzed, but I noticed looking through the list today that I barely know any of them any more from real life. This is possibly due to a distinct lack of high calibre players and, while there is some potential talent, no breakout youngsters making a name for themselves. Foremost amongst said talent is Torje, who has a PA to become a really good player. That is, of course, assuming Udinese can develop him effectively.

Interesting that Romania has so few quality players at the moment - looks like things could get worse before they improve. The top PA players seem to be mostly at italian clubs, were they generated there or bought from romanian clubs?

I managed in Hungary last year and the clubs never improved their facilities, they all bought in young afrcian players and when finances improved young south americans. There were very few decent hungarians around.

Looks like they came through the ranks in their home nation but were quickly snapped up cheap by the Italian clubs - probably a hefty scouting relationship between the 2 nations. It will be interesting to see if the trend continues as the game progresses.

Russia - Initial report

Russia are a nation with much promise, but as yet they haven’t quite lived up to it. Domestically Russia is looking stronger than ever thanks to the influx of heavy financial backers and in theory this should result in even more high quality players coming through the ranks.

The financial reservoir in Russia means that there are quite a lot of “big name” clubs these days, but CSKA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg and Rubin Kazan are probably the biggest. The past 10 years have seen quite a selection of league winners and right now it’s difficult to see any one team that might rise to dominate.

At game start, Dinamo Moscow sit top by 2 points with 10 games played.

Top Russian players by CA

Top Russian players by PA

Player spotlight: Alan Dzagoev, CSKA Moscow

Russia currently don’t have all that many players with massive potential, but Dzagoev is definitely a player who will be strong in the future. His favourite club outside of Russia are Chelsea, and I'm sure he'll be hoping to reach his full potential in case they come sniffing around

Scotland - Initial report

Scotland are the “home nation” with the least need to lean o the English structure, sporting a fairly high ranked league and clubs with a history of European success, albeit very little recently.

There is a heavy reputation imbalance in the Scottish league, with Rangers and Celtic being way ahead of the rest of the nation. It’s been many years since they didn’t between them make up 1st and 2nd in the league, and you have to go right back to Sir Alex Ferguson at Aberdeen in the 80’s for a time when one of them didn’t win the league.

Top Scottish players by CA

Top Scottish players by PA

Player spotlight: Steven Naismith, Rangers

One of quite a number of Scots still playing in their domestic league, Naismith has the potential to be a solid if unremarkable player. While that may not seem great from a Scottish standpoint, he isn’t their only “solid” player and quite often a team full of solid players will be able to overcome a team full of average players with just one or two stars.