Your league opinions

This is not another "what league should i pick" in the traditional sense, but rather a guide for future reference for anyone starting a new game.... basically i want peoples opinions on different leagues, based on competitivness (how hard it is to win the league), spread of competition (how close the top and bottom teams are in the league), fun factor (how fun the league is), how good a league is at attracting top name players etc. This will allow people to express their opinions on the leagues in the game and give an indication to people like me as what leagues are worth running.

If anyone could give opinions on the Russian, Chinese, Dutch, German, Turkish and Austrian leagues it would be much appreciated. also, i think seeing everyones opinion of the english league would be interesting as well, just out of curiousity.

Dutch League

On FM, anyway, I the title race is generally between PSV and Ajax. You will not attack the top bracket of players but can attract the decent players. There are several good young players from South America, I found willing to come. You can also get some players in the top leagues. For PSV, I got Steve Sidwell, Paulo Ferreria and Christopher Samba. When the big clubs come calling though the players become unsettled. I sold Gomes and Christopher Samba for £18m and £13m respectively.

Having said that the title is between the top 2, there is potential behind them to build a squad and achieve success. Teams like Feyenoord, AZ and NEC all seem to to be challenging for Europe in the first season and certainly can close the gap on the top 2 in the coming seasons.

One thing I don't like about the League is the European playoffs. I am still not entirely sure on how they work but in my 2nd season with PSV I missed out on a Champions League place after finishing 2nd in the league despite being well clear of the rest. We have to play Feyenoord in the playoff in the final to decide who gets in the Champions League and we lost.

Other than the playoffs, I thought the league was fun and enjoyed trying to upset the big guns in Europe.

SERBIAN LEAGUE

Just like the Dutch league, it's primarily between 2 clubs, Red Star & Partizan (fierce rivals), as these two clubs are the only ones with any real depth.

In my experience, I have always dominated the league with Red Star as that is what te board expects, the same goes for the Serbian Cup. I'm sure Partizans' board have the same expectations but i think squad quality lies with Red Star.

When it comes to Europe, you should be able to make the group stages but from there is all down to luck.

Financially, your not exactly stricken for cash and you tend to be well under your wage budget (i'm currently 40-50,000 under mine)

You will be given approx. $3-3.5 millie for group stage qualification which can be very handy in the long run.

Transfers haven't been a problem.. It's a known fact that you won't be able to draw in the big names as you have a relatively low rep, but you can try and get the super up & comers (I got wijnaldum in season 3.. ACE), never really tried for more of the rest as i felt comfortable with the current squad...

You do have to be aware of clubs trying to steal your star players but they're not major clubs (I think the biggest club i had was Palermo).

If you are wanting European Dominance it's going to take a while, as you need to bring in quality youth players and bring them forward for maybe a chance in 10-12 years, yeah seriously, unless you are very lucky or outright good.

Your youth & training facilities are average - good, but in comparison to the clubs it seems fair, no luck in improving as of yet.

Staff isn't the best and you have about 20 people on the board of directors. You can bring in a 7* staff as i have done so but you have to get your rep up (i'm at 6745). start with a Ass-man, i managed to get Steve Eyre from Man City (he's a youth coach) and he had 19 JPA & JCA so i used him for report cards...

You can send your scouts out to certain nations but any region (that make sense?)

and as an extra bonus if you find someone abroad, you DON'T need a work permit to play in serbia. but you may have a bit of trouble with youths not settling well enough..

Umm any other questions, let me know