[FM14] Undrið FF, the Faroese Wonder

Club Background

Undrið FF is a Faroese football team from the Faroese capital Tórshavn. The team also plays at the Gundadalur. The club was founded 18 January 2006, under the name Undri FF. This makes the team the youngest member of the Faroe Islands Football Association.

The idea to found the new football team began with a birthday party in 2005.

The team is named after its first team sponsor, the Faroese representative of the Icelandic soap producer Undri, which means wonder. Later, the name was changed to Undrið to reflect the Faroese spelling of the word.

In the 2010 season the team lost the 3. Deild final to B36, but gained promotion to 2. Deild. The club also announced the signing of Rúni Elttør and Høgni Joensen, both former top-flight Faroese footballers, as team coaches for the 2011 season.

With such an odd backstory, I couldn't just miss out the chance of managing them!

Challenge Accepted!

The main goal of this career is seeing what I can achieve at the youngest club in one of the worst football scenes in Europe. While domestic success could eventually be feasible in a reasonable amount of years (mostly depending on how soon the club can go semi-pro), international relevance will take decades to eternity due to the inherent weakness of Faroese football as a whole.

As some sort of sidequest, success should be achieved while still keeping the Faroese identity as relevant as possible, although even with Top facilities and recruitment, it'll be hard to produce local quality players.

2014 Season - The Beginning

Season Expectations (board): midtable

Season Expectations (me): promotion

Faroese 2.Deild consist of 10 teams, but only 3 of them are actual teams (ie. not II or III squads of higher division sides), so due to complex promotion rules involving II and III squads, so missing a promotion spot is pretty much a monumental task.

In review

(This is a "posthumous" post, as I was already well into the season when I decided to open a thread about this save)

The squad was horrible in terms of quality and alternatives, and the transfer market wasn't much better. I just managed a couple of signings to have enough adequate players to face the common 4-5 weeks injuries that seem to plague amateurs.

However the presence of a very solid striker helped the team labour their way through the early fixtures, while building on teamwork and morale.

The turning point was a random and lucky change of formation: from a lackluster plain 4-4-2 to my old 4-3-1-2 (depsite lacking a true AMC). The new formation did the trick and we were able to go on a long undefeated streak, often with convincing wins. A defeat in the final matchday was disappointing but harmless.

A surprise win against NSÍ in the Cup provided us with sweet precious money (5k) and was the first hint of bigger and better things being an actual possibility. The 0-3 defeat in the QuarterFinals had to be expected and it didn't damage morale.

Fixtures

2014 Profiles

Erling Fles

Christian Vilhelm Jacobsen

Eyðolvur Reinert-Petersen

Plans for 2015

With already THREE failed takeovers in 2014, it's likely the club will have a new owner sooner than later, but I doubt it'll make a difference (unless they'll sack me).

I'll have to keep on scouting the domestic market while hoping I can find a couple of decent Free Agents with a career ahead of them (I signed several over30 guys last season, and a backup keeper aged FOURTY-FOUR)

There's also the risk of losing the few decent players to a bigger club that'll be able to offer actual wages too.

1.deild could be a difficult challenge, but there still are enough II sides to be reasonably optimistic about our chances to survive. However I'll need some pre-season friendlies to assess the quality of the team compared to the league rivals.

To be continued...

2015 Season, part I

Good news, or is it?

Finally the right takeover has taken place, and the team turned semi-pro.

Which is great because we now have a tiny wage budget, but on the other hand we can't offer Amateur contracts anymore, only part-time or non-contracts... That means the days of signing a dozen youngsters who look half-decent at age 16 to "see what happens" are over.

Now every single horrible players wants now a non-contract with 25-30 quids per appearence... Fair enough if they're not going to feature much, but every penny counts here, and the "better" players ask fees around the 200 mark or even actual contracts for the princely sum of 6-7k per year.

Key Transfers

We lost Christian Vilhelm Jacobsen, who defected for free to KÍ (where he's having a horrible season, but at 10k per year he can't complain), and half a dozen of rotation/fringe players who wouldn't have featured much anyway.

Luckly the youth intake gave us a decent target man who's already good enough to be in the first team

Bogi Mørkøre

In addition to a new, slightly better, LB and CB, the other key signings were another striker and a pacey midfielder... At that level, sheer pace is often enough to perform, overcoming the technical and mental shortcomings of the player.

Jákup Jacobsen

Bárður Frederiksberg

How it's going...

Things started well, too well maybe, and the team is now going through one of those "we can't score" phases... At least we don't concede much, but no tactical tweak at the moment seem to work.

Scrappy 1-0 wins and 0-0s are becoming the norm. Surely better than a 3-3 and a 5-4 win in the Cup Quarterfinals we had earlier on, but morale is starting to drop and my strikers can't find the net, not even with flashy Vegas-style signs showing the way.

Can we win promotion? I think so, but I'm not sure we will or even should... Non-contracts can only get us so far, and the board are already unhappy with the current total wage of 12k per year...

I'm thinking about focusing on the Cup... Semifinals are coming up, and with a bit (well, a lot) of luck, we could sneak our way into the final and eventually in Europe, while still not needing to get a full part-time starting XI that we can't afford.

Congrats on your quick success and good luck for the future. In my experience, it's in the top flight that things get a little bit more difficult, it takes a few years to get established and compete in Europe, or maybe that's just because I'm bad at this game.

2015 Season - Part II - We made it!

07 Vestur were a goalscoring machine and, despite us winning 2 out of the 3 head-to-heads (but we lost badly, 3-0 away), they deservingly won the division.

For us it was still a great season, while I'm still unable to overcome the usual slump in form with scrappy wins, disappointing draws and a handful of disastrous defeats (1-4 to Skála was especially shocking).

Our run in the Cup was brutally ended by HB with another 1-4 defeat after an encouraging (and falsely promising) 0-0 home draw in the first leg.

Player of the year

Local boy Bogi Mørkøre proved himself to be more than ready to play first team football. However the huge step forward in performances hasn't been matched by an improvement in his attributes...

The other striker, experienced Erling Fles, didn't handle the new level of football with equal ease, with "just" 12 goals and 10 assists in 27 games.

Bad news from the youth department, as the intake of new players was quite unremarkable, with just a handful of kids being worth a run-in with the senior squad in times of major need.

2016 season: a difficult (and expensive) challenge

So, we won an unexpected promotion to the Premier League - Effodeildin (or, as it's mistalenly called in the addon I'm using, Meistaradeliden)

A great achievement, but also a massive undertaking for our finances. The club generously provides a 150k wage budget, but considering every new signing will be asking for a part-time contract, and out of last season's Starting XI, probably only a couple of players are good enough at the highest level...

Luckly the transfer market suffers from massive turnover, so plenty of ok players get released at the end of every season... As, thus far, every good news has a bad side, the best free agents wouldn't even listen to our proposal.

A lot of new faces

Despite the hottest free agents snubbing us, I still managed to sign plenty of competent players, with some great coups among them:

Jens Joensen: our new leading CB, now with double-digits key attributes!!!

Dánjal Pauli Lervig: a fullback and a great utility player.

Ólavur Mikkelsen: a valuable jack-of-all-trades in midfield

Kristoffur Jakobsen: Behold the class of our #10! :o

Season expectations

Survival. I actually think it's feasible, but it'll depend on luck with injuries and on how good of a start we can make... With the midseason slump looming over us, it's vital to keep morale as high as possible, and that can be done only by winning games...

2016 in review: mission accomplished. Sort of...

It was quite a ride

The final position is probably a bit too flattering, but it doesn't really tell the whole story of a very uneven campaign.

Our debut in the top flights couldn't have been better, with a (lucky) away win over fellow relegation candidates 07 Vestur and a surprise win against EB/Streymur. Then a 2-2-3 run (interrupted by two laboured wins in the Cup), followed by an astonishing 8 games winless streak (0-5-3) from late May to mid-July.

Luckly the team behind us weren't faring much better and a couple more wins in the final part of the season helped us securing a midtable spot and establishing a bit of morale.

While the defense was the best in the league, despite being far from ironclad, the lack of goalscoring was a huge factor and we were unable to bounce back way too often from 1 goal disadvantage.

The glass is half full, the bank account not so much...

As I was fearing, building a reasonably competitive squad forced me to turn the Starting XI inside out, basically signing a whole new set of regulars... and since the semi-pro transition, most decent players refused to negotiate a non-contract... So with 6k per year as the basic request, it's no wonder a safe midtable spot put us up in the red.

Also, the stellar 16k p/y given to a 35yo Brazilian superplayer who didn't deliver one bit backfired horribly. At least he didn't want to renegotiate it and left at the end of the season. He won't be missed.

Season 2017: so close, so far...

Former champions HB went through an awful run of form midseason, allowing us to establish much closer to the top than initially expected, despite 2 losses against the former domestic powerhouse.

Some untimely draws against our two bogey teams (B68 and B36) turned out to be the deciding factor in us missing a historical title on goal difference (head to head we were 1W2D0L against eventual champions Víkingur, but they scored more and conceded less, so it makes sense after all).

I can't say I was too upset, despite the disappointment of losing an unexpected title in the final matchday. The team showed some progress and the results were less erratic, but we're not there yet. The play is still inconsistent at times and I have to admit we were more than lucky to be in contention til the very end.

In the Cup it was the same old story: semis against HB, 0-0 and 0-2, a traditional outcome you can bet your house on.

Anyway, it'll be Europa League next year... With no coefficient points I suppose we'll get a much stronger opponent and we'll need a lot of luck to make something out of it. But early rounds are always quite open, unless you get drawn against one of the few truly bigger seeded sides.

Key players

Once again, Helgi Samson was the topscorer with 18 goals in 25 games, with Jákup Jacobsen adding 10 more.

Top assistman was Kristoffur Jakobsen with 11 goalscoring passes (and 5 goals).

However former first-choice Target Man Bogi Mørkøre's downward spiral continued, with only 1 goal and 1 assist in 9 rather unimpressive outings.

None of the other signings in midfield and attack offered much more than last year's personnel did.

Defensively things were slightly better, with less goal galore games.

What now?

Well, the balance is still marginally in the red, so it means no major improvements in the squad can be made unless some "top earners" (at 7k py) are leaving, which is unlikely.

Domestically we can still mount a solid title challenge, but in Europe?

Looking forward to seeing how you do in Europe! Should be good for the bank balance (unless you have to shell out on plane fare on an away day in Turkey or something!)

Good work so far, let's hope the European adventure is worth the time!

Season 2018, part one

Pre-season friendlies = money AND morale

Our financial troubles had an unexpected (and small) turn for the better courtesy of two Big Clubs foolishly wanting to play a friendly at Gundadalur and even to PAY US real money for that.

What could have been good for the balance but devastating for the morale proved to be a complete success!

Slovan Liberec gave us the princely sum of 20k, and the guys stole a late (and utterly undeserved) draw along with the cash.

Brann were slightly less generous, but the historical 2-1 win (another late goal, at the end of a rather even match) was much better than a few extra thousand quids.

Finally, a striker

After trudging along with barely adequate scoring power, we managed to sign former international Arnbjørn Theodor Hansen

We're almost halfway through the league and it's another crazy season...

Reigning champions Víkingur have been disappointing and their manager has been sacked.

HB looked like certain winners after a great start, but have been through their usual slump (0-3-2) and dropped valuable points.

We've been slightly more consistent, with a stunning 7-1 win against NSÍ, but we still can't overcome HB and struggled big time against bottom team Royn and mediocre Suðuroy.

But now it's time for the much anticipated Europa League 1st Round draw...

Seeded Teams:

Kalju (EST)

Sutjeska (MNE)

Daugava (LTV)

Borac Banja Luka (BIH)

Cliftonville (NIR)

After a quick look at the teams (consisting mostly in "greys" who seem waaaay much better than they should IMO), I'm sure the only side we have a fair shot at is Cliftonville and maybe Daugava.

Kalju and Borac are just going to squash us...

Heh...

I do think we're done for already... Their worst player would still be a first team regular for us... the best ones would dominate our league on one leg...

With advancing being highly unlikely (and I'm being optimistic), the goal now is keeping the scoreline respectable.

Then again, the fans are confident of a big win, so I'm confused now.

BTW, should we miraculously advance, we'd get Red Bull Salzburg...

Going well in the league mate KUTGW

2018-19 Europa League 1st Qualifying Round

Sutjeska - Undrið FF 1-1

We took the lead from the spot and managed to hold onto it for most of the game, despite Sutjeska pushing forward (they squandered several good chances. They finally equalized on the 71st minute but we brought home a valuable draw.

Undrið FF - Sutjeska 2-0

Things started off horribly, with key midfielder Ólavur Mikkelsen picking up two silly yellow cards in three minutes, leaving us shorthanded and unbalanced. I had to drop one of the strikers into AMC position before switching from the starting 4-4-2 to a safer 4-1-2-1-2, effectively a 4-1-2-1-1 with only 10 men, to keep things balanced and to add density in midfield with an anchor.

Surprisingly the players kept their cool and took advantage of the opponents' horrible form, netting two goals in four minutes. Once again, Sutjeska failed to put their chances away, partly due to mediocre finishing, partly because our keeper put on a superb performance.

In fairness I feel we were very very lucky and didn't really deserve to advance... Form and fitness were the key factors...

P.S. If I'm allowed to break kayfabe here, I think the "grey players system" should be tweaked in next iterations... On paper all the teams I could have faced in the 1st qualifying round had top quality players compared to their nation and to the expected level of football they represent (basically most of them could be national team material for their country), but their fitness was so pathetic my barely decent Faroese side was able to outperform them on fitness only.

Match preparation and fitness should be at an acceptable level even for greyed out teams when they're part of an international competition.

To be honest, I feel that cheapens our achievement.

Low fitness or not they were still far superior quality and that still makes it an achievement.

2018-19 Europa League 2nd Qualifying Round

Undrið FF - Red Bull Salzburg 0-3

We managed to hold on for like 10 minutes, then we got played out of the stadium

Red Bull Salzburg - Undrið FF 4-0

It was slightly better, trailing by only one goal at halftime and by two for most of the game. The final score was a bit too punishing. 3-0 would have sufficed. Buy at least we got a few shots on goal!

As I expected, it was an unwinnable tie, and the scores reflect that. It wasn't an embarrassing thrashing, but we're still far far away from standing a chance.

Unfortunately the defeats and the fatigue had negative repercussions on the league, with two more losses to direct competitors for the title... It looks like another close finish, but with not so many chances of beinging it home.

Season 2018 - almost like 2017

The short-lived European adventure took its toll on the team, forcing rotation, morale and form drops in the league (1-3-2 record in the matches inbetween Europa League fixtures).

Dropping those points was once again a decisive factor and AB Argir managed to catch up and win the title, despite having lost plenty of matches.

We struggled again with consistency, and I'm still forced to switch back and forth from 4-4-2 to 4-1-2-1-2, but neither formation seem to work on a regular basis. Likely it's a mere matter of some players simply not being good enough compared to our rivals.

Arnbjørn Theodor Hansen was simply awesome, scoring 26 league goals in 26 games, but none of his partners up front delivered (only 5 goals for Samson, 4 for Nolsøe and former hot prospect Jákup Jacobsen failed to hit the target in 13 apps and was promptly benched sine die)

How to break the runner-ups curse?

There's no shame for a small club like Undrið in finishing second twice in a row... However it starts to get worrying because former powerhouses HB seem to have become a Domestic Cup Only side, and the league has been won by two dark horses for two straight years (Víkingur, who dropped down to 7th, and now AB Argir).

The league is open, probably TOO open, so we could and should take the final step forward.

It's our tactics

Likely it is... With Arnbjørn Hansen still going strong at 32, I'll probably switch to a lone striker setup next season. That'll provide more cover in midfield, while being versatile enough in the AM positions, fielding two wingers or to AMCs depending on the opposition's setup.

We still need a better keeper, but that's the position where talent is few and far between on the Islands, so unless we get a decent prospect, we're stuck with the decent 33yo we have now.

CB and CM could need a bit more quality, but I maintain what has kept us from winning the league already can't be bought or signed, and it's the L-factor (aka Luck)

Hard luck in the league mate.

Keep going and keep up the good work in this thread. Following it with interest.

Keep at it, the success will come. Don't let the frustration overcome you, sadly we can't win it all!

It's time for another year of Europa League, and the 1st round draw wasn't exactly kind to us... Unless the low fitness of grey players saves us, Apollon's players can run circles around ours.

On a more positive note, the league is halfway through and we lead AB by three points. Maaaybe this is our year, if the expected dip in form and morale due to European adventures doesn't cost us too many valuable points.

2019-2020 Europa League 1st Qualifying Round

Undrið FF - Apollon Limassol 3-1

A surprise 3-1 win that could (and should) have been much bigger, hadn't my strikers wasted way too many chances. We were just minutes away from a very very dangerous one-goal win, but in injury time we secured ourselves a relatively safe 2-goals lead.

Apollon Limassol - Undrið FF 1-1

If in the first leg the result was generous to our opponents, we were lucky not to leave Cyprus with the tail tucked between our legs. Despite Apollon having Spain-like ball possession and pass completion %, the game was rather even, but we needed a penalty late in the game to avoid unwanted injury-time drama.

I was disappointed we didn't keep the same level of performance in the away game, but as long as we advanced, it's all fine and dandy.

Also, in a lucky twist of events, hot favourites Slask got kicked out by Estonian side Sillamäe Kalev, who will be our next opponents. They look very much right up our alley...

Our fellow Faroese sides HB and ÍF advanced too, but Gent and Mlada Boleslav are likely insuperable hurdles (just like FC Copenhagen for AB in Champions League)

2019-2020 Europa League 2nd Qualifying Round

Undrið FF - Sillamäe Kalev 1-0

Yet another frustrating display of chance-squandering at home. A slim one-goal win that should have been much more comfortable. The strikers were simply awful, no matter what I tried.

Sillamäe Kalev - Undrið FF 2-2

The strikers seemed to have found their aim this time around, and a solid 2-0 win was the likely outcome, when suddenly it was the defenders' turn to forget how to play football (even at that modest level). We got away with a 2-2 that, once more, should have been an easy win.

It's weird how the biggest accomplishment so far for the club feels so annoyingly underwhelming because of HOW we achieved it. Maybe I'm expecting too much from the players, but the two legs against Sillamäe, who were more or less on par with a top Faroese club (but with awful match fitness and form) were a rather putrid display of football.

I'm starting to fear the mental limitation of the average player will be the biggest hurdle to overcome. Players who have been doing just fine in our mickey mouse league suddenly feel crushed by the pressure of "important" EL games against clubs from equally tiny leagues...

And now Genk will put us out of our misery... Hopefully with the 200k we'll get in prize money we'll be able to get a couple of players able to keep it together in continental competitions.

2019-2020 Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round

Genk - Undrið FF 3-2

The first half went as bad as I was expecting, but the team talk at half-time ("No pressure now") did the trick and we pulled two back. A very respectable result for us.

Undrið FF - Genk 1-2

Genk were reduced to 10 men early in the game, and I'd be lying if I say I didn't believe for a while an upset was an actual possibility. Unfortunately, but not so surprisingly, even shorthanded, Genk were stronger and sealed the deal with their second goal.

We went out, but we did so holding our head high. It could have been a humbling thrashing (potentially worse than the aggregate 0-7 to Red Bull Salzburg), but instead it was a valiant effort, especially away.

The players mede it up for the subpar outings against Sillamäe with a superb performance against Genk's much much stronger opposition.

Hey, could you post a link to the Faroese league file you're using?

Hey, could you post a link to the Faroese league file you're using?

I'm using THIS file, with some modifications to names and team colours.

BTW, the names of the competitions are spelt wrong, but I didn't notice before starting the game...

Season 2019 - THE DOUBLE!

FINALLY!!!

It was another close call...

We lost the last head-to-head game against AB, but still hade one match in hand (postponed due to EL fixture clash). Too bad it was against HB and we salvaged a 0-0.

Luckly AB drew unexpectedly against EB/Streymur, and we were hanging in, trailing by only 1 point...

It was once again down to the tiniest detail and to the most random episode... We struggled to overcome B36, courtesy of defender-goalscorer Rói Danielsen heading the game-winning goal in the final minute of injury time. In the next game it was Jógvan Andrias Nolsøe's turn to save our ass on the 86th minute at the end of another unimpressive yet vital win.

So it was down to the final 90 minutes...

AB faced a somewhat trick trip to B36, but we had 3rd placed Víkingur at home... For a change, AB failed to win, and all we needed was a win to finally break the 2nd place curse.

As I feared, the guys were cracking under pressure and Víkingur duly took the lead on the 9th minute. A quick one-two turned the game around just before half time, and we added a third early in the second half.

Just when I was thinking it was in the bag, they pulled one back. So I went conservative and it was working, until with only 6 minutes to go, our box-to-box midfielder picked up an injury and had to leave the pitch.

Of course I had no more subs available, and no other passable defensive player. So it was time for a 4-1-4-0, counter and timewasting...

To be honest I was expecting them to score the equalizer, damning us to another bitter bitter silver medal, but this year was our year, and we brought it home!

Small margins were by our side in the Cup final too... We went down, twice, to our cup nemesis HB, but in the end sweet sweet vengeance came from the penalty shootouts.

A historical double for us!

Player of the year

With our four strikers struggling to perform consistently, and considering the longest than expected runs in both Cup and Europa League, rotation up front was more a necessity than a choice.

Jógvan Andrias Nolsøe scored 15 goals (7 assists), Arnbjørn Theodor Hansen 13 (+9), Helgi Samson was back in business with 11 (+8) and the newest product of our crappy academy, Brandur Magnussen did well with 9 goals and 10 assists.

However the profile of the year was former AB defender Rói Danielsen, very dangerous on corners and therefore a valuable hand (or head) when in need of a goal.

2020-2021 Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round

Undrið FF - Malmö FF 0-2

As I feared, we didn't have a chance against the Swedes, and they duly disposed of us with one goal in each half. It could have been worse

Malmö FF - Undrið FF 3-0

And it was indeed worse in Sweden.. We didn't even come close to create something, and got 3 more goals for good measure.

Facing an actual side from an active league is still too big of a task for us, as the gulf in class is way too much and without the crutch of grey players' low fitness and form, we're just good for a sparring session.

However even such a disappointing and ultimately pointless foray in the Champions League was worth something... Namely

At least I can put that money to good use and improve our abysmal training and youth facilities (first upgrade, paid with EL money, to be completed next spring)

Great job on winning a double and a very solid showing in EL. I do think you are asking a bit too much from your players in Europe. Usually I tend to tell them no pressure and then they go well against/thrash the highly rated opposition. To draw Malmo in the first round of CL was just plain unfortunate, hope money will give you huge advantage domestically

I'm being too harsh with my players because if I'm too understanding in the pre-game team talk they tend to play with no desire, which, given the technical disadvantage, is a recipe for disaster.

I usually go for the "no pressure" talk at half-time if the scoreline is reasonable.

Currently on my way to another Double, but the money is almost useless because the domestic market operates on Free Transfers, even for part-time contracts. Also, no foreigner is even remotely interested to join, so I guess I'll throw the money into better training facilities.

I know you can't buy anyone with it but how much is that European money relative to your usual income/profit/loss?

180' of Champions League futility are more or less worth the prize money of the Domestic Treble (and of advancing to Europa League's 3rd Qualifying Round)...

In our buildup years, the balance was often in the red or close to 0. It was just with the first EL money we achieved financial security.

Season 2020: Treble and troubles

First thing first, we won an amazing treble... Super Cup, Cup and League!

It was relatively easy, courtesy of AB collapse and of a much better team effort. The triumph in the league was never truly in doubt, but we were good to reduce to a minimum the usual form slump.

Being made short work of by Malmö in CL 2nd qualifying round probably helped us retaining the league as well. It was disappointing, but the 500k we got for a sound beating were more than worth the trouble.

Defense is the best offense

Now I'm not sure I believe that, but the Faroese football scene is so currently desperately short of competent midfielders, most of the key players in the squad are defenders who can somewhat play in midfield.

That's been causing us to play a counter 4-4-2 with little possession and lots of long, direct balls... Hardly appealing, but serviceable nonetheless.

I'm now wondering whether a 4-2-2-2 with DMs and AMRL would be feasible.

For the records, those are the guys who played CM for us (BBM and CM/BBM)

Bogi Reinert Petersen

Gunleif Olsen

A fresh start in 2021

It's time to rebuild half of the starting XI, following retirements and departures of aging players whose abilities weren't evident anymore...

The defensive line is still doing great, thanks to a younger keeper and top-notch CBs.

As said, quality in midfield is scarce to say the least, and the wingers are either adapted fullbacks or speed merchants who can't pass or cross a decent ball to save their life.

Up front we lost both Arnbjørn Hansen (who retired at 34 after an injury-plagued final season) and Jógvan Andrias Nolsøe (whose two-footedness was hampered by average skills).

Last season it was again Helgi Samson's turn to shine, while our two younger forwards had a decent enough impact to earn themselves a new contract and probably even more playing time this year.

Ingi Mørkøre

Jógvan Nielsen

Also, I've been working hard to find a suitable replacement for Samson, as his physical decline is approaching fast... So what's better than signing a new striker AND weakening the main rivals?

Our next striker: Meinhard Olsen, from HB (41 goals in the last 3 seasons)

What's next for the Treble winners?

With the upgrades to training and youth facilities due in a few weeks, the first goal is to finally be able to develop the players' potential instead of seeing them flatline and eventually get worse already around age 29.

Than doing better in the CL is a must, to get even more prize money to reach the promised land of Professional status.

In fairness I think we're still far away from being able to sustain full professionalism... but who knows...

2021-2022 Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round

If last year the draw against Malmö wasn't ideal, things went from bad to worse this season with Legia Warsaw...

Undrið FF - Legia 1-2

I was really worried, but the players managed to keep Legia at bay for a fair amount of time, leaving them to shoot from the distance. Unfortunately an early goal and a blackout on a corner (think of Müller's goal against Brazil) consigned us to a 1-2 defeat. Respectable enough I guess.

Legia - Undrið FF 3-1

We took the lead early, but it lasted only for two short minutes. And two more minutes later we were down 2-1, courtesy of another corner kick mishap. A superb freekick by Blaszczykowski settled the final score in the first half already. At least in the second half we didn't concede more, but by that time it wouldn't have mattered anymore.

So, it's another early exit for us in the Champions League. The luck of the draw, for an unseeded side, is too important at that stage and once again it didn't do us any favour... Even more annoying seeing the HJK-Ekranas, Sheriff-Linfield and Buducnost-Omonoia draws in the very same round, but we got Legia, the team with the 3rd highest coefficient in the 2nd QR...

Honestly we did well with two narrow defeats.

Unfortunately it's still take a couple of years to improve our coefficient, also because other Faroese sides in EL have been following our suit, collecting First Round eliminations a plenty.

dw, you'll get there soon! Furthermore, the more your fellow sides lose, the worse your coefficient, earlier you start in CL and improve your personal coefficient - winning!

I'm not sure it'll be much help, because we can't go lower than the 1st QR in CL, so even if we get to beat sides from San Marino or Gibraltar year in and year out, odds are we're going to be unseeded in the 2nd QR, therefore getting kicked out of the competition by Swedish or Polish teams.

And considering EL is pretty much worth half the points and the money, a 2nd QR exit in Champions League is acually more rewarding on both accounts than an "epic" advancement to EL 3rd Qualifying Round. Not to mention losing the domestic league isn't a thing I'm willing to do on purpose in the vain hope of a better future in Europe someday

Enjoying this thread so far. Hopefully you can push on in Europe in the next few years.

Season 2021 - Biggish fish, tiny pond

We did it again... another treble, and undefeated in the league. A rather uneventful campaign, but in fairness the positives weren't that many.

It looks like a comfortable walk to the title, but we rarely played well, and our trusted 4-4-2 started to show signs of deterioration. Both fullbacks had a dreadful season, with one of our new signings, among the best LBs in the league at least according to his attributes, had such a sucky season I had to bench him.

Wingers struggled to produce for a rather long portion of the season, before one of our older (and not even that great on paper) guys finally started to deliver buckets of assists. Unfortunately his colleagues on the right side never reached that form.

Up front Jógvan Nielsen and the other guys provided more than enough goals, despite often forcing me to rotate between the four of them (also during games) because in turns they've kept having those horrible games when they couldn't put a beach ball through a garage door.

The only consistently good performances came from our new keeper (another top-notch free agent we stole from our rivals) and our CBs. A 0.81 goal against per game ratio is indeed worth much better leagues than the Faroese one, where other matches tend to have ice-hockey like scorelines.

As already posted, Champions League was another short and unsuccessful affair. We lost both games with dignity, but still an early exit with almost no signs of actual improvement.

Defenders, more defenders

Again, the only noteworthy new signing is another CB/DM/CM... Poul Nolsøe Mikkelsen.

Alongside last summer's acquisition of Hørður Askham, now we have an astonishing tally of FOUR defensive-oriented midfielders (or quasi-midfielders) who can surely break the opposition's attacks...

Once they've won the ball, though, things start to get a bit more difficult

Our only hope is youngster Ingi Holm who had a good season and is coming along very well, albeit nowhere near the level of playmaking and chance-creating we need.

Dwindling talent pool

However the big issue is almost all the original players in the db are close to the fateful age of 30, where part-timers' skills take a nosedive. And with the usual plethora of deeply flawed newgens, paired with subpar mental attributes and amateurish training facilities, the next generation of Faroese footballers doesn't look too promising...

Plenty of 5* PA players with zero chances of ever getting close to their potential, as their starting skills are too low or oddly distributed... Imagine your regular "uneven youngster" and then subtract at least 5 points from every single attribute...

A young CB with heading 10, marking 7 and tackling 8 isn't going to be much use anyway if his concentration/decisions/workrate/pace/acceleration are <4...

So, as even our training facilities aren't that great, despite two upgrades in two seasons, I'm afraid we'll have to settle for inferior players in a couple of seasons, with predictable effects on our already tenuous hopes of European recognition.

We'll see...

Also, much to my chagrin, the board keep on refusing to expand our scouting range outside the islands AND can't find a suitable parent club... I was hoping our yearly friendly with random Norwegian sides (and the one with the Czechs IIRC) could raise our profile enough to earn us a foreigner parent club or to attract foreing players on loan, but so far, nothing has happened

That left-back you benched? He's the current Faroese researcher for FM

You won't be able to scout outside the Faroes until you turn full-time, I'd pester the board to do it if you have enough money (but it will take a couple of million, I think).

The newgen creation in the Faroes is further hampered by the fact that the "Game importance" is set to "completely unimportant", which will hurt the quality of the newgens. The only realistic way is to save money until you can turn full-time, buy some good foreigners, make money from Europe and reinvest it in training facilities.

That left-back you benched? He's the current Faroese researcher for FM

Cool! What are the odds... It'd be interesting to ask him why his FM counterpart isn't performing for me the way his attributes should suggest

You won't be able to scout outside the Faroes until you turn full-time, I'd pester the board to do it if you have enough money (but it will take a couple of million, I think).

The newgen creation in the Faroes is further hampered by the fact that the "Game importance" is set to "completely unimportant", which will hurt the quality of the newgens. The only realistic way is to save money until you can turn full-time, buy some good foreigners, make money from Europe and reinvest it in training facilities.

The decision to switch to full-time isn't something I can ask the board about, isn't it? So I'll just have to wait to have enough money and hope the board will ever consider it by themselves.

Which, given the low importance and reputation of the whole league/nation, could as well never happen... In such case, I'm pretty much screwed...

The decision to switch to full-time isn't something I can ask the board about, isn't it? So I'll just have to wait to have enough money and hope the board will ever consider it by themselves.

Which, given the low importance and reputation of the whole league/nation, could as well never happen... In such case, I'm pretty much screwed...

It is, actually - go to Club Overview -> Talk to board -> Finance -> Professional Status.

In my experience, the importance and reputation have no bearing on whether the club turns pro, it's purely down to money. Making the transition from semi-pro to pro is the biggest leap in the game - since this opens up the foreign transfer market you will be able to attract much better players and compete in Europe, which in turn will give you more money to improve the club.

Nice career.

I've always felt attracted by Faroe, Gibraltar, Andorra...

Looking good in the league but you must make more progress internationally. Actually defeating a club twice in a single qualifying round for three years should give you enough coef.points to be seeded in 2 CL q.round. Make sure you mince your opposition as much as you can and don't let your guys relax in Europe.

2022-23 Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round

This time around the draw offered us a fairer challenge, with a trip to Moldova (or, better, Transnistria) at Sheriff. Surely a huge improvement over last season's Legia...

Sheriff - Undrið FF 1-1

It couldn't have started better, with a goal in the 4th minute... Then Sheriff got the equalizer and we went on to produce another of our trademark chance-squandering performances.

All the opposition got was possession, while we created chance after chance, completely unable to find the back of the net again.

Nonetheless, I'm not in the position to scoff at a 1-1 away draw. I just hope we won't have to look back and rue all those missed shots.

Undrið FF - Sheriff 2-0

It took 56 tense minutes for us to finally get the lead, and 70 to put the whole tie away. Once again, for all the chances we produced, the goal tally was dangerously small.

Sheriff looked moderately dangerous on occasions, but I think we deserved a much better scoreline than that.

Time to celebrate what I hope can be the pivotal moment of the career... Better coefficient means weaker sides in QR2, so becoming a mainstay in QR3 is our next feasible goal.

And now...

For the record, BATE thrashed Ventspils with an aggregate score of 14-0 in QR2, so maybe my delight at the draw was both premature and unjustified... Still, I do think we can at least mount a respectable challenge, provided my strikers finally find their form back.

2022-23 Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round

Turned out my first impression about the draw with BATE was right!

BATE - Undrið FF 2-2

For a change, it was our opponent's turn to think about a couple of wasted chances... However BATE weren't as dominating as the stats sugggest, because most of their shots were from the distance (or from set pieces), with only one truly dangerous CCC in a game they were forced to rescue twice.

Our weird "control-but-counter" tactic worked a charm and we were strangely effective, converting the only good chances we created.

Undrið FF - BATE 1-1

As I feared, there players felt all the pressure of such an important game (with away goal advantage, no less!) and we found ourselves trailing and very close to a Brazil-like collapse (the goal came after a criminal turnover in midfield, that happened twice more in the following minutes.

At halftime it looked like the tie was done and dusted, just a mere formality with more goals to come just in case... Instead, for probably the first time in my FM career, I had a stroke of brilliance and switched my CB with my DLP and the strikers. It wasn't much, but paired with a passionate team talk, it worked just enough to put the team back on track.

BATE never came close to our goal and we finally managed to push forward a bit, eventually lucking out a goal following one of FM's famous "ME graphical misrepresentation of actual football", almost followed up by another goal in similar fashion

In the end a scrappy 1-1, at the end of one of the sloppiest games I've ever had the displeasure to endure, was enough to secure us a historical spot in CL playoff round, meaning we're going to play in Europa League Group Stage!

I don't really care if we sucked in the second leg or if we'll get squashed for the next 8 games in Europe... The future looks brighter, hopefully with better goals that winning our mickey mouse league and being low-drawer filler in Europe

Koyr á Undrið!

Congrats on European football, fella. Excellent progress!

Oh such Europe, much cash, going professional next season!

2022-23 Champions League Playoff Round

Undrið FF - Celtic 0-2

As expected, we couldn't hold a candle to Celtic and the final score was probably too flattering to us. A solid win for the Bhoys.

Celtic - Undrið FF 2-0

If the first leg was somewhat a respectable effort, in Scotland we were back to a level of utter hopelessness I really thought were a thing of the past...

The only field we outdid Celtic was poor discipline... In the end another 0-2 loss that should have been much worse... Thank God their aim was remarkably off and the scoreline was kept to respectable figures.

Still, such horrible performances are a bit of a worry because it shows, despite our porgress, we're far from being solid enough to make it that far every year.

Also we can look back at the whole campaign with pride, and at our bank account with a smile

Also, the Europa League Group Stage draw was the best we could hope for... Still not much hope of coming out of it with many points (if any at all), but maybe we could steal a draw or two?

We avoided clubs from Top 4 nations and, hopefully, overly humiliating scorelines.

Fantastic work! Glad to see you finally in the group stages of a European competition with impressive performances on the way, only stumbling at the last hurdle for the CL but what can you do. Good luck!

2022-23 Europa League Group Stage

It began with a late home defeat to PAOK in a game that should have probably ended 1-1. The same happened away at Genk, when we threw away a 2-1 lead in the space of two minutes.

Braga crushed our hopes with a comfortable 3-0, with Barça-like possession %. That was by a mile our worst performance in Europe this season.

However we bounced back and secured our first ever EL points. Braga still dominated the game, but we showed an unusual deadly touch and put away the only two chances we created and at one point we led by two goals. It was just a matter of time before they caught us, but it was annoying it happened on corners and not on open play. Still, a point is a point (and is worth good money).

The morale boost didn't last, as PAOK literally bombarded us (28 shots, 13 on goal), and the final score (2-1) was way too flattering to us

The final game against Genk was a bit more even, but we were never close to getting a point. Our keeper's own goal in injury time was the fitting conclusion to a bittersweet campaign.

We didn't embarrass ourselves too much in terms of scorelines, but at times we did look completely out of our depth. Especially after the end of the league, our performances dropped noticeably.

All in all I feel we could and should have hung on to the leads/draws when we had the chance to... Advancement was never a possibility, but I'm a bit annoyed we were, pointswise, the worst team of the Group Stage (however a handful of other teams had worse GD).

At least you made it that far for the first time.