Polish League: Ekstraklasa!

[Widzew]

Hey I'm just curious if anyone else here is a fan of the Ekstraklasa! I think its a great league. Being Polish I have grown up with it even though my heart belongs to Liverpool FC but I will also support my home town club Widzew Lodz.

Anyways. If anyone is looking for a new save and cant make up their minds I would suggest the Ekstraklasa. The Season is only 30 games long. It has a Polish Cup which is like FA Cup among all Polish league clubs. A cool thing about this league that I like is having a mini off season in the middle of the season. January 1st all league play stops until late Feb to early March. There isnt any massive clubs in the league so its stays pretty competetive where anyone can win it. Legia, Wisla and Lech are the main top clubs as far as buying power goes.

Enjoy If you take on this challange. I would be interested to know if anyone has won the champions league playing in this league NOT AS legia or Wisla or Lech.

Right now im on year 2016 as Widzew Lodz, Ive made it to the group stages of champions league every year but making it out of this stage is one hell of a challenge. I came 1 point away from advancing my second year when I was drawn in a very weak group. I'm enjoying this challenge as its a nice change of pace playing a save not as Liverpool and steamrolling with a 600mil per year transfer budget.

Best of Luck!

[Chesters86]

I do enjoy Polish football and as a result I have a started a career as Zawisza Bydgoszcz, in Liga II. Currently trying to get them promoted in my second season, I'm enjoying the challenge as their isn't much money around in Polish Football (each month for me results in a loss) and its challenge to try and build the club up and try and make them one of the top teams in Poland!

However this challenge has suddenly become tougher as Wisła Kraków have been taken over by an American Tycoon!!

[noikeee]

I would love to have a go at Poland sometime in the future. Not this career as I haven't picked it and don't wish to ruin my game by adding more leagues, but have had plenty of fun in this kind of mid-level European leagues, most notably in Croatia in FM11, and currently in Belgium.

[Coentrao]

For me at least the winter break is kind of a turn off, two or three months without nothing to do and having to play a few friendlies to keep the match fitness is kind of boring, still i'm looking for a new save to play and this could be interesting, i would choose Katowice since they played against Benfica a lot of years ago and i always like to start on the lower tiers.

Are there any foreign players restrictions? And a reserve league?

[lola 10]

I've just been to Poland on a stag do,we see wisla krakow on the last day of the season where the other team won the league,that was a experience! I'm tempted to start with wisla

[Widzew]

For me at least the winter break is kind of a turn off, two or three months without nothing to do and having to play a few friendlies to keep the match fitness is kind of boring, still i'm looking for a new save to play and this could be interesting, i would choose Katowice since they played against Benfica a lot of years ago and i always like to start on the lower tiers.

Are there any foreign players restrictions? And a reserve league?

Your allowed 17! yes count it 17 foreign players! in the Ekstraklasa. There is a reserve league aswell.

[Widzew]

I have just been able to convince my board to build me a new stadium! I had a 10500 all seater that wasnt ours, I had 20mil in the bank and they decided to start building me a new 17500 seater. hopefully I can upgrade that alot higher as there are teams with stadiums that hold in the mid 30000's. I guess this adds to realism since Widzew in real life is getting a new stadium. The league really needs a successful club in Lodz as its the second or 3rd largest city in Poland.

[Coentrao]

Your allowed 17! yes count it 17 foreign players! in the Ekstraklasa. There is a reserve league aswell.

Had a look around and it looks nice, started a save with Warta Poznan and hopefully will overtake Lech someday.

[Oblivion]

Although I'm Polish I'm not a fan... I gave it a try a couple of times, but got bored after half a season.

[FMtillidie]

might give this is a try.

[Widzew]

Had a look around and it looks nice, started a save with Warta Poznan and hopefully will overtake Lech someday.

Good choice! I think you will enjoy your save! keep us updated im curious to know how things turn out.

[MacLovin]

Weird… Started a game with Polonia Warsaw a few weeks back. Won the league in my second season and then done the double in the third second.

In Europe I finished 3rd in my Champions League group and got knocked out the second round of Europa.

Enjoying the game it's great, season goes quickly. Wish my board would expand the stadium though sell out everygame and they refuse to do it, the only downside at the moment.

[Widzew]

Weird… Started a game with Polonia Warsaw a few weeks back. Won the league in my second season and then done the double in the third second.

In Europe I finished 3rd in my Champions League group and got knocked out the second round of Europa.

Enjoying the game it's great, season goes quickly. Wish my board would expand the stadium though sell out everygame and they refuse to do it, the only downside at the moment.

It took my board 4 seasons before they did anything about my overflowing stadium. Every year I won the league and make it into champions league. so lots of big cash flow for them to build me a new stadium. How much do you have in the bank? I had 20mil and they used $17mil of that to build a 17500 seater.. well construction is still ongoing. Maybe they just dont want to take out a loan.

[Baggy2011]

Think I might give the Polish leagues a go when I've finished with the save game I'm currently doing. I do like the eastern european leagues!

[Chesters86]

Managed to achieve promotion to the Ekstraklasa in my second season, still don't have much money and then board have given me a budget of £100,00 to sign players to keep myself in the Division. Can see it being a long season ahead!! Lucky I won the Polish FA Cup, so hopefully can garner some extra income via Europa League football (depending on how far I get).

[Widzew]

Managed to achieve promotion to the Ekstraklasa in my second season, still don't have much money and then board have given me a budget of £100,00 to sign players to keep myself in the Division. Can see it being a long season ahead!! Lucky I won the Polish FA Cup, so hopefully can garner some extra income via Europa League football (depending on how far I get).

You should be able to sign some decent players on free to help you stay up. How much did you get for winning the Polish FA Cup? I've yet to do it and I'm curious how much that brings in.

[pietrek]

Polish Ekstraklasa is the best :P Played Wisła, Widzew and Lechia for long, long time What I don't like in Ekstraklasa is that you have to do two training camps in the season :/

@up: it's not more than about 100 000 euros

[haunted1234]

iam polonia bytom fan

usually playing them, guess next season not anymore since football manager will have no third league support i think ;(((

but won the champions league with them after 30 years or so...

http://img4host.net/upload/181819154f8ee98393555.png

[yugo23]

I still have a save lying around with Ruch Chorzow. Won the lague with them after few seasons, even though every season before that was very close. I like this league because there are so many even teams that can challenge for the title.

[Widzew]

iam polonia bytom fan

usually playing them, guess next season not anymore since football manager will have no third league support i think ;(((

but won the champions league with them after 30 years or so...

http://img4host.net/upload/181819154f8ee98393555.png

Well you could always use the editor and put them into the second league.

That's pretty impressive winning the champs league. Whats your transfer budget like at that point? How big is your stadium?

[Chesters86]

You should be able to sign some decent players on free to help you stay up. How much did you get for winning the Polish FA Cup? I've yet to do it and I'm curious how much that brings in.

Managed to get a few players in, a few on free's and a couple of loan signings. Started off and after a few games I'm hopeful we can avoid relegation.

I think I got about £40,000 for winning the FA Cup!!!

[Widzew]

Managed to get a few players in, a few on free's and a couple of loan signings. Started off and after a few games I'm hopeful we can avoid relegation.

I think I got about £40,000 for winning the FA Cup!!!

mmm sounds like the best financial benefit from playing in that cup is the gate revenue from the extra home games...

[haunted1234]

Well you could always use the editor and put them into the second league.

That's pretty impressive winning the champs league. Whats your transfer budget like at that point? How big is your stadium?

started with 5000 or so from the default, they expanded it every couple years up to 16xxx, but had a hard time selling the whole stadium in the league, usually just vs big teams or on euro cup games

http://img4host.net/upload/181818054f8ee93de8e3c.png

i made another thread about this asking wether "monthly payments" are cheating...

bought pretty much the best players i found for monthly payments my bugdet was pretty big i usually cut on loans to get more transfer bugdet and could buy more guys trough monthly payments

after the champions league win i lost motivation to play more

edit: also i got really lucky on home grown players, got one striker and my carry, one super good defensive midfielder, was surprised i usually only gotten really crap players from my youth, these 2 guys had 5 stars both potential rating... the only 2 5 star players within the 30 years though...

[Widzew]

started with 5000 or so from the default, they expanded it every couple years up to 16xxx, but had a hard time selling the whole stadium in the league, usually just vs big teams or on euro cup games

http://img4host.net/upload/181818054f8ee93de8e3c.png

i made another thread about this asking wether "monthly payments" are cheating...

bought pretty much the best players i found for monthly payments my bugdet was pretty big i usually cut on loans to get more transfer bugdet and could buy more guys trough monthly payments

after the champions league win i lost motivation to play more

edit: also i got really lucky on home grown players, got one striker and my carry, one super good defensive midfielder, was surprised i usually only gotten really crap players from my youth, these 2 guys had 5 stars both potential rating... the only 2 5 star players within the 30 years though...

I have the transfer budget to sign some pretty talented youngsters right now but none of them want to come here. that's the problem I'm finding. Whats the best way to improve club rep do you know?

[haunted1234]

yeah its a very very very very slow process... this really sucks in football manager

you need to have good results in the league and the polish cup, will increase your reputation the fastest... but funny thing is even after winning the league couple times, and alot of top 3 finishes (slask in my game usually destroying everything dont know why) and winning the champions league, the youngsters from others clubs still will not talk to you... hope they will fix this in 2013

lech and legia usually got decent youngstars, but they will never come to you, if you are lucky you can get them if they sign full contract and play in the reserves... but even then they cost so much money, usually not worth it

i find its better to stick with older, solid players to get better results, just very late get some talents if you can


maybe some time i will try to challange myself just to play the league with polish players only... but usually you cant buy anyone who is half decent because he either will not talk to you or cost 2 much money... dont know if it is even possible to play only with polish players in this game :/

my squad is usually full of the 17 foreigners, only "ok" position to have a polish player is goalkeeper, later i was lucky to pick up the striker and my defensive midfielder, but after couple of years the players usually get polish citizenship, so my squad was practically all foreigners almost, just with citizenships...

[Widzew]

You figure the Polish Cup is important eh? Ive been winning the Polish league every year and making it into the champions league group stages every year but my rep still sucks. Second highest in the league. I just got drawn into a fair easy champ league group. If I don't make it past the group stages I'm going to be very upset lol. I'm praying that helps my rep for next years transfer market.

[haunted1234]

yes it helps just a little every time.. but like i said its sooo slow... for example i was in reputation like 8th or so, when i came 3 years inna row second behind slask, and i just moved up to 7th or so... although i was clearly the second strongest club in the country just for obvious reasons 3 years inna row

the reputation system is very unrealistic and static


edit: also when you upgrade your facilities, it helps the reputations a little

[Chesters86]

mmm sounds like the best financial benefit from playing in that cup is the gate revenue from the extra home games...

Yup, I was a bit disappointed with the amount I was given to be honest. It did have it's bonuses for me though as it gave me a Super Cup game against the League Champions and a little extra revenue for the few Europa League Qualifiers I played.

I decided to sacrifice the Europa League and focus on surviving in the Ekstraklasa as I don't have the biggest squad at the moment.

[av3ry]

Took over at Nieciecza in the First division. After starting unemployed and they being the first Polish club to sack their manager. 3 points adrift of safety after 19 games. Challenging.
Had I waited a week I could have had Lech Poznan but never mind.

[haunted1234]

@ widzew

btw here is budget screenshot from that safe

http://img4host.net/upload/020117004ff0da6c0a20b.png

[Widzew]

Just got to the second round after the group stages of Champions League.. Beat Benefica in the first round and gave Real Madrid a run for their money. Lost 4-3 and managed to win 3-2 at home. Lots of prize money and I hope that helps my rep! There are so many talented young Argentines that I would love to get my hands on.

[Widzew]

Took over at Nieciecza in the First division. After starting unemployed and they being the first Polish club to sack their manager. 3 points adrift of safety after 19 games. Challenging.
Had I waited a week I could have had Lech Poznan but never mind.

good stuff man, let us know how you fair in the coming seasons

[haunted1234]

started the challange today, started with polonia bytom and limited myself only to buy players with polish citizenship

[Widzew]

Man the rep is starting to tick me off. im still sitting in second behind Legia after winning the league 7 seasons in a row. in champions league every year. last season into the quarter finals. Facilities get upgraded every year. New stadium built while legia always finish 5th to 10th in the league and they actually gained a star while I sit at 3 and a half stars with second highest rep in the league.. Really starting to get frustrating. Almost feels like a rep grind. If a team in europe was making champions league every single year in real life young players would love to sign for them as apposed to stay at their club that has never seen champions league action... but nope they cant be bothered in FM.

I wonder if overral league rep is holding me back...

[haunted1234]

probably the overall league rep tbh

which place is poland in your game?

in my we even got once 9th in europe... but not for very long, i think it was just one season~~ despite me winning the CL one time all others clubs performed pretty bad usually

usually taking like 11-14th place consistently

[Widzew]

probably the overall league rep tbh

which place is poland in your game?

in my we even got once 9th in europe... but not for very long, i think it was just one season~~ despite me winning the CL one time all others clubs performed pretty bad usually

usually taking like 11-14th place consistently

I'll have to get back to you on that one. ive spent the last few days on a new liverpool save.

[Chesters86]

I managed to survive my first season in the Ekstraklasa with a good run of form to close the season and finish in mid-table. Gornik Zabrze won the League on goal difference, I managed to win the Polish FA Cup again this time having a lot of luck with the top teams getting knocked out in the early rounds and I ended drawing Liga I sides and faced a relegated side in the final.

Just come up to the Winter Break in my third season (second in the Ekstraklasa) and I'm in the top half, knocked out of the Europa League in the Group Stages having been drawn alongside Parma, Dortmund & Anderlecht on the plus side the extra income from playing in Europe has helped my financially and hopefully I can use the money to improve the Training & Youth Facilities.

[av3ry]

My AssMan went mental and organised 7 February friendlies in 2 weeks. What a nutter.

[Widzew]

probably the overall league rep tbh

which place is poland in your game?

in my we even got once 9th in europe... but not for very long, i think it was just one season~~ despite me winning the CL one time all others clubs performed pretty bad usually

usually taking like 11-14th place consistently

Where do I find the league rep again? I know ive seen it before but i cant seem to find it for the life of me lol

[Widzew]

So ive been given 28mil to buy players with and cant even spend it because no one still wants to join my club lol. jeez.

[Widzew]

well freaking lovely! 5 of my best players just demanding a trade. At least I was able to sell one of them for 30mil..... I mean I only got to the semi's of champions league...

[jmonfu]

I was offere the Legia job yesterday so will update you shortly. Not a very good team to start with, 6m to spend but I would rather put them on the wage budget and get some free's

I also got my first player in cause I needed an IF badly, will have a good luck at the team this eve.

[FrazT]

The Careers forum here http://community.sigames.com/forumdi...Career-Updates is the place for your updates so please use that in the future- thanks.

[ArsenalFan7]

I played a season or two with Wisla on a journeyman save, was brilliant. Was given good budgets of say £7-10million for the year and there's some great Polish talent to buy for cheap.

Will try and return there on a journeyman save next year.

[ptilinopus]

Glad so many people here are enjoying our league.

I'm currently in my second season with Korona Kielce. Lost the title to Śląsk Wrocław last season three matches before the end of the season and finished fourth. Planning to get into the Europa League group stages next season.

Good luck to everyone playing in the Ekstraklasa!

[Widzew]

Where in Poland are you from ptilinopus?

[ptilinopus]

Where in Poland are you from ptilinopus?

A small town in south-eastern part of the Subcarpathian/podkarpackie voivodeship. Sadly, our local team will probably never get into the Ekstraklasa, currently they're playing in the 7th tier of Polish football. :P

[arturs]

It is a pretty interesting league, similar teams, i only got a 2m transfer budget and i barely even touched it.. I was 1st in the league with Polonia 11points ahead and with few games remaining but sadly saved game is now corrupt