Building a Legacy in a Small Nation

Hello there,

Hopefully I'm posting this in the right area. If not please let me know where I should post it and I'll get it moved.

I'm looking for one final save once the January update has been released and I'd like to be at one club for many seasons and turn them into a super club, so we can challenge the big teams in Europe.

Now some people will think that's easy and suggest teams in Europe's top leagues, like England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Russia etc, but I want a challenge and would like a team in a smaller, lesser known European country.

Somewhere that has 3/4 teams challenging to win the league every season, so the domestic challenge will still be interesting for a good few years, while also attempting to crack the European competitions along the way.

The other criteria I have is that I'd like a team that hasn't had much success, so I can begin to work my way to a legendary status. The ground isn't too big, so over time I can help build a bigger stadium, possibly being named after myself and also I can build and develop the youth facilities, so in time we can bring through our own youngsters.

At the start, I'll need to sell some players to help begin our pathway to success, but also, be able to bring in some good players, so the country will need a fair amount of appeal and then those players can be sold on for a profit, as the likelihood is they'll want to move to a bigger club until I build my legacy. Finally, I don't want the club to begin with paying players big wages, for example anything above 2k a week, as I want to build everything from scratch pretty much, so if not a team in the highest division, the division below will be good enough.

I know it's a lot to look for, but surely there is a few teams out there that I could look to manage, so I'd really appreciate any ideas/suggestions any of you may have.

Thanks for reading and look forward to some replies.

Andy

Hello there,

Hopefully I'm posting this in the right area. If not please let me know where I should post it and I'll get it moved.

I'm looking for one final save once the January update has been released and I'd like to be at one club for many seasons and turn them into a super club, so we can challenge the big teams in Europe.

Now some people will think that's easy and suggest teams in Europe's top leagues, like England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Russia etc, but I want a challenge and would like a team in a smaller, lesser known European country.

Somewhere that has 3/4 teams challenging to win the league every season, so the domestic challenge will still be interesting for a good few years, while also attempting to crack the European competitions along the way.

The other criteria I have is that I'd like a team that hasn't had much success, so I can begin to work my way to a legendary status. The ground isn't too big, so over time I can help build a bigger stadium, possibly being named after myself and also I can build and develop the youth facilities, so in time we can bring through our own youngsters.

At the start, I'll need to sell some players to help begin our pathway to success, but also, be able to bring in some good players, so the country will need a fair amount of appeal and then those players can be sold on for a profit, as the likelihood is they'll want to move to a bigger club until I build my legacy. Finally, I don't want the club to begin with paying players big wages, for example anything above 2k a week, as I want to build everything from scratch pretty much, so if not a team in the highest division, the division below will be good enough.

I know it's a lot to look for, but surely there is a few teams out there that I could look to manage, so I'd really appreciate any ideas/suggestions any of you may have.

Thanks for reading and look forward to some replies.

Andy

Hi Andy

Scotland is a good shout mate, really tricky to conquer Europe there. One of my fave saves was taking Annan from Scotland league 2 to the champions league. Could never crack Europe though. If your looking for teams from top 2 divisions only, then hibs have to be a good shout.

If you want a really small nation, Cyprus is fun, and most Scandinavian countries too. Someone like nordsjaelland in Denmark or jaro in Finland.

Gibraltar

Hi Andy

Scotland is a good shout mate, really tricky to conquer Europe there. One of my fave saves was taking Annan from Scotland league 2 to the champions league. Could never crack Europe though. If your looking for teams from top 2 divisions only, then hibs have to be a good shout.

If you want a really small nation, Cyprus is fun, and most Scandinavian countries too. Someone like nordsjaelland in Denmark or jaro in Finland.

Hi Mike,

Thank you for the suggestions, I've managed in Scotland and Denmark on this years game already and enjoyed both, so am looking for a different nation to help freshen it up. I'm not a fan of adding leagues, so that rules out Cyprus. Finland could be interesting though, but one concern is how quickly can teams turn professional there, as I'd want to attract some good players. Do you know at all if it's easy to get professional status?

Appreciate your reply,

Thanks.

Gibraltar

Thanks for your suggestion mate. I've seen and read saves/stories and though I'd like a fairly hard challenge, I think once you win the league in Gibraltar it's easy every season, so am hoping for a country where there are 3/4 teams to compete with every season, as they will be bringing in some decent players along with myself.

Cheers.

Wales. A friend of mine started a save with Connah's Quay (who I think have one of the lowest reputations on the game) and has won the title every year. He's about 7 years in and made it to the knockout stage of the Champions League. Only trouble is he's finding it difficult to improve the league because no other teams are competitive.

What about Switzerland? There are a few teams over there who should all be competitive and you could take over one of the mid table clubs and build up to challenge those teams

Wales. A friend of mine started a save with Connah's Quay (who I think have one of the lowest reputations on the game) and has won the title every year. He's about 7 years in and made it to the knockout stage of the Champions League. Only trouble is he's finding it difficult to improve the league because no other teams are competitive.

Hi Mate,

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I did think of Wales, but as you said it will take a while to improve the league. Having thought more about it, I'm probably looking for a nation in between the top leagues and those further down, like Wales, Ireland etc. Would like somewhere in Duripe away from any home nations too, so I can learn about that country more.

Appreciate the reply though, thanks again.

What about Switzerland? There are a few teams over there who should all be competitive and you could take over one of the mid table clubs and build up to challenge those teams

Hi Mate. Switzerland is one country that has got my interest and am going to do some research later when I'm on the game. Would like a couple more countries to decide between also, but think Switzerland will be up there.

Great shout, thank you.

Hi Mate. Switzerland is one country that has got my interest and am going to do some research later when I'm on the game. Would like a couple more countries to decide between also, but think Switzerland will be up there.

Great shout, thank you.

No problem mate ? a few more to choose from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania, can't think of any more off the top of my head mate but should be a few there to keep you going

No problem mate a few more to choose from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, Romania, can't think of any more off the top of my head mate but should be a few there to keep you going

Thanks mate, I'll check them out too.

Cracovia - the oldest continually functioning club in Poland, the first team to win the national title, but the last time they won the league was in 1948. They also have a huge derby rivalry with Wisła Kraków, you can look it up somewhere.

Cracovia - the oldest continually functioning club in Poland, the first team to win the national title, but the last time they won the league was in 1948. They also have a huge derby rivalry with Wisła Kraków, you can look it up somewhere.

Thanks mate, I'll be sure to check them out. Cheers

What about Switzerland? There are a few teams over there who should all be competitive and you could take over one of the mid table clubs and build up to challenge those teams

Loving my current save with FC Luzern. 17l capacity ground, won the league once in the 80s, won the cup twice furthest they ever got in Europe was the QF of the cup winners cup in 1960-61, and it's a small league (10 teams) where Basel dominate. But with a bit of luck, can qualify for Europe and build from there. Plus the fans are amazing ;-)

In Austria, LASK or Austria Vienna are good shouts.

Loving my current save with FC Luzern. 17l capacity ground, won the league once in the 80s, won the cup twice furthest they ever got in Europe was the QF of the cup winners cup in 1960-61, and it's a small league (10 teams) where Basel dominate. But with a bit of luck, can qualify for Europe and build from there. Plus the fans are amazing ;-)

In Austria, LASK or Austria Vienna are good shouts.

Thanks Mark. I'm very tempted by Switzerland, especially maybe taking over Neuchatel Xamax. Got a lot of history, plus were demoted a couple seasons back and have won promotion every season to get back into the Challenge League.

At the moment, I'm looking at Croatia, Switzerland, Bulgaria and Slovakia.

Cheers

A country that I never hear people play is Israel.

Never done it myself but I think I might just do that once the next update is out

I'm contemplating the same thing and stumbled across SV Austria Salzburg that I think would be an interesting save as they are a club created after Red Bull invested heavily in the original club.

A country that I never hear people play is Israel.

Never done it myself but I think I might just do that once the next update is out

Yeah that's another good idea, will have a look at Israel when I'm on the game later. Cheers

I'm contemplating the same thing and stumbled across SV Austria Salzburg that I think would be an interesting save as they are a club created after Red Bull invested heavily in the original club.

Funnily enough I've been looking at them too. Like the idea of competing with Red Bull.

Only thing that concerns me is that in the Austrian League, your wages are limited to 50% of your turnover, not really sure how it works and puts me off! Do you know how it works at all?

Cheers

Not sure haven't really had an indepth look but i'm sure it will be an interesting save non the less

Not sure haven't really had an indepth look but i'm sure it will be an interesting save non the less

Ok no worries. If anyone does know please let me know. Yeah I'm sure it'll add another interesting twist to a save there.

I have a good one for you...Belarus

I managed there for 5 seasons at Dinamo Minsk, I had good competition with about 5 other teams, the league is fairly short and you can get through a few seasons quicker. During my 5 seasons I saw the league reputation increase a full star and also started to see more good quality foreigners coming into the league. I then left to manage in England but I plan on ending my career back in Belarus to see if I can make the league one of the better options in europe.

I have a good one for you...Belarus

I managed there for 5 seasons at Dinamo Minsk, I had good competition with about 5 other teams, the league is fairly short and you can get through a few seasons quicker. During my 5 seasons I saw the league reputation increase a full star and also started to see more good quality foreigners coming into the league. I then left to manage in England but I plan on ending my career back in Belarus to see if I can make the league one of the better options in europe.

Never thought of Belarus. Thank you. What sort of good players could you attract? Sounds promising, will definitely look at some options there, plus it fulfils the possibility of managing National Team too at some point.

Cheers mate.

Hello there,

Hopefully I'm posting this in the right area. If not please let me know where I should post it and I'll get it moved.

I'm looking for one final save once the January update has been released and I'd like to be at one club for many seasons and turn them into a super club, so we can challenge the big teams in Europe.

Now some people will think that's easy and suggest teams in Europe's top leagues, like England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Russia etc, but I want a challenge and would like a team in a smaller, lesser known European country.

Somewhere that has 3/4 teams challenging to win the league every season, so the domestic challenge will still be interesting for a good few years, while also attempting to crack the European competitions along the way.

The other criteria I have is that I'd like a team that hasn't had much success, so I can begin to work my way to a legendary status. The ground isn't too big, so over time I can help build a bigger stadium, possibly being named after myself and also I can build and develop the youth facilities, so in time we can bring through our own youngsters.

At the start, I'll need to sell some players to help begin our pathway to success, but also, be able to bring in some good players, so the country will need a fair amount of appeal and then those players can be sold on for a profit, as the likelihood is they'll want to move to a bigger club until I build my legacy. Finally, I don't want the club to begin with paying players big wages, for example anything above 2k a week, as I want to build everything from scratch pretty much, so if not a team in the highest division, the division below will be good enough.

I know it's a lot to look for, but surely there is a few teams out there that I could look to manage, so I'd really appreciate any ideas/suggestions any of you may have.

Thanks for reading and look forward to some replies.

Andy

Slovenia is decent. Not many clubs in the league but they have quite a few good clubs with good youth facilities and coaching. Maribor, Olimpija, Domzale, Koper, Rudar Velenje and Gorica are all decent clubs. I'm waiting for the new update and then will be starting with Maribor agian. Played with them last season with the aim of building a legacy. With a Slovenian club for me there's 3 main goals I set. 1st is win the league, get Champions League. 2nd Try get to the group, if you do, aim for 3rd at least and 3rd try to aim to win the Europa League. Champions League for me is close to impossible with a Slovenian club due to wages etc, and lack of being able to attract top class players. But you could find good enough regens to go far in the Europa. Also they're very strict on foreign players there, so adds to the challenge and makes you even prouder when you have a good team thats like 80% Slovenian doing well in Europe

Slovenia is decent. Not many clubs in the league but they have quite a few good clubs with good youth facilities and coaching. Maribor, Olimpija, Domzale, Koper, Rudar Velenje and Gorica are all decent clubs. I'm waiting for the new update and then will be starting with Maribor agian. Played with them last season with the aim of building a legacy. With a Slovenian club for me there's 3 main goals I set. 1st is win the league, get Champions League. 2nd Try get to the group, if you do, aim for 3rd at least and 3rd try to aim to win the Europa League. Champions League for me is close to impossible with a Slovenian club due to wages etc, and lack of being able to attract top class players. But you could find good enough regens to go far in the Europa. Also they're very strict on foreign players there, so adds to the challenge and makes you even prouder when you have a good team thats like 80% Slovenian doing well in Europe

Thanks for your reply mate, appreciate it.

Slovenia and Slovakia both interest me, especially as there is a few decent sides that will be wanting to challenge every season for the domestic title. I know wherever I go Europe will be the big test, but also want the league to be quite challenging for a good few seasons, as if it becomes too easy I don't want that to start putting me off.

Will definitely check Slovenia out once I get a chance to play FM.

Cheers

The Danish league is fairly even these days. No clear favourite like in Scotland, so if you pick a mid-table side it could be an interesting challenge.

The only minus: The excruciatingly long winter break...

The Danish league is fairly even these days. No clear favourite like in Scotland, so if you pick a mid-table side it could be an interesting challenge.

The only minus: The excruciatingly long winter break...

I did do a save with Spartak Myjava in Slovakia one year, that was immensely good fun.

The Danish league is fairly even these days. No clear favourite like in Scotland, so if you pick a mid-table side it could be an interesting challenge.

The only minus: The excruciatingly long winter break...

Yeah that's what puts me off slightly and also, I feel the national team is pretty decent. I'd like to go to a nation where the national team needs some work. Appreciate the reply though mate, thank you.

I did do a save with Spartak Myjava in Slovakia one year, that was immensely good fun.

Ooo tell me more..... We're you able to attract any big names? What were the finances like? Cheers

Why not try managing in Russia? There are quite a few big teams in the league with large finances who have the potential to do well in Europe. Zenit dominate the league IRL but the chasing pack aren't too far behind. I think the best challenge would be to take charge of Anji because they were the richest club in the world a couple of seasons ago, before their owner withdrew his finance. Now they're amongst the also rans. But it'd be an interesting challenge to get them challenging at the top again!

Why not try managing in Russia? There are quite a few big teams in the league with large finances who have the potential to do well in Europe. Zenit dominate the league IRL but the chasing pack aren't too far behind. I think the best challenge would be to take charge of Anji because they were the richest club in the world a couple of seasons ago, before their owner withdrew his finance. Now they're amongst the also rans. But it'd be an interesting challenge to get them challenging at the top again!

Thanks for your reply mate.

I'm ideally looking for a country that isn't as developed as Russia or similar. So I can then help build the country to hopefully begin to challenge the likes of Russia and others.

Still though, I'm sure it would be a great challenge for someone to do.

Thanks for your reply mate, appreciate it.

Slovenia and Slovakia both interest me, especially as there is a few decent sides that will be wanting to challenge every season for the domestic title. I know wherever I go Europe will be the big test, but also want the league to be quite challenging for a good few seasons, as if it becomes too easy I don't want that to start putting me off.

Will definitely check Slovenia out once I get a chance to play FM.

Cheers

I did Slovakia last FM. Nice thing is that even the majority of the second division clubs are professional, so you can take over a lower league club and don't have to worry about professional status. Last season there were Presov and Nitra in the second division that had a good youth setup for their level, so if you want to develop youth those could be interesting options. Also the second division can already prove quite a challenge there, since you have to top your group to get promoted.

Edit: Also iirc, you can only have 5 non EU players in your entire match squad, rather than your first eleven which is the case in a lot of other countries. So squad building gets pretty challenging.

I did Slovakia last FM. Nice thing is that even the majority of the second division clubs are professional, so you can take over a lower league club and don't have to worry about professional status. Last season there were Presov and Nitra in the second division that had a good youth setup for their level, so if you want to develop youth those could be interesting options. Also the second division can already prove quite a challenge there, since you have to top your group to get promoted.

Edit: Also iirc, you can only have 5 non EU players in your entire match squad, rather than your first eleven which is the case in a lot of other countries. So squad building gets pretty challenging.

Thanks mate. All good to know. What were the finances like once you got into top division? Also, could you attract any good players during your time?

Cheers.

What about the Ukraine league? As long as you're not Shaktar or Dnipro you'd probably have a good challenege. And I imagine there's a good bit of money floating around that league too.

One thing I'd note is maybe look into the ticket prices, sounds small but if you get a 80k stadium but it's only £5 a ticket you'll never make much money, and as the TV deal will be tiny/non-existent your finances will always be very tight.

Plus a low rep small league will struggle to sell its best players for decent money, meaning you cannot even rely on that. IMO to compete with the big boys in the CL you really do need money, even if its just to cover a modest wage bill.

One thing I'd note is maybe look into the ticket prices, sounds small but if you get a 80k stadium but it's only £5 a ticket you'll never make much money, and as the TV deal will be tiny/non-existent your finances will always be very tight.

Plus a low rep small league will struggle to sell its best players for decent money, meaning you cannot even rely on that. IMO to compete with the big boys in the CL you really do need money, even if its just to cover a modest wage bill.

On a long enough time-scale that ceases to be an issue. It is dynamic, but progress is indeed pretty slow. You can also end up being able to sell players for decent money, but that does take a while. Plus there's the fact that smaller leagues often experience (possibly buggy) huge boosts in TV and prize-money.

Thanks mate. All good to know. What were the finances like once you got into top division? Also, could you attract any good players during your time?

Cheers.

Hmm, at the start I was largely reliant on using my 5 non EU spots for decent Brazilian free agents. Take any that's offered to you on trial and try to sign the best/cheapest ones. Once I started doing better in the league I got some decent offers on my players from the middle east, which allowed me to cover my finances pretty easily and even get some facility upgrades. If you manage to actually qualify for the CL even once, the groupstage money alone keeps you covered for a while.

As for the players, at the start it's pretty hard, but in the long run I managed to get some Slovakian players that went abroad back home. Once you manage to convince your board to improve your scouting range far enough you can also start getting in some proper South American talent. I also had some Slovakian talents that attracted attention from pretty high profile clubs. Only issue is that they're pretty hard to develop at the start when your facilities are still underdeveloped and the quality of the league is rather low.

Just had a look at the save. In 2023 I had raised the club value to 31m, 9.4k stadium (Which isn't a lot, but almost double what you start with), excellent training facilities, superb youth facilities and extensive youth recruitment. On top of that my training and youth facilities are in the progress of being upgraded. 25m+ balance, 25m transfer budget, 15m wage budget, while spending 9m. I was starting to progress into the knockout stages of the CL as well. Improving the squad got really hard though, as I would've had to pay massive fees/wages for getting in players that actually would've improved my squad. As your income outside of the CL is basically non existant that would've been rather risky. Probably would've gotten there slowly, by simply grinding out more seasons but at that point I got bored of FM15, so I never got around to doing that.

How about Iceland?

They have short seasons, so if you do end up dominating the league you hopefully won't get too bored between European campaigns. That's the hardest part for me in REALLY obscure leagues. Not that I'm claiming to be a great FM player by any means, but once I get my club to a level where we're consistently hunting for European spaces, I tend to find that the rest of the league has trouble keeping up. I end up with seasons where not going undefeated is a disappointment (if I played my full strength team in every game and not arbitrarily rotate the squad to make it interesting), and it struggles to hold my interest. Not saying that applies to everyone though.

Ukraine is also a good shout. Any league where they can consistently get teams into the CL group stages, even if they then get dominated, or at least Europa League (Scandinavian countries, maybe even Israel?) will probably be good enough to at least have a few teams that continue to compete with you.

Hmm, at the start I was largely reliant on using my 5 non EU spots for decent Brazilian free agents. Take any that's offered to you on trial and try to sign the best/cheapest ones. Once I started doing better in the league I got some decent offers on my players from the middle east, which allowed me to cover my finances pretty easily and even get some facility upgrades. If you manage to actually qualify for the CL even once, the groupstage money alone keeps you covered for a while.

As for the players, at the start it's pretty hard, but in the long run I managed to get some Slovakian players that went abroad back home. Once you manage to convince your board to improve your scouting range far enough you can also start getting in some proper South American talent. I also had some Slovakian talents that attracted attention from pretty high profile clubs. Only issue is that they're pretty hard to develop at the start when your facilities are still underdeveloped and the quality of the league is rather low.

Just had a look at the save. In 2023 I had raised the club value to 31m, 9.4k stadium (Which isn't a lot, but almost double what you start with), excellent training facilities, superb youth facilities and extensive youth recruitment. On top of that my training and youth facilities are in the progress of being upgraded. 25m+ balance, 25m transfer budget, 15m wage budget, while spending 9m. I was starting to progress into the knockout stages of the CL as well. Improving the squad got really hard though, as I would've had to pay massive fees/wages for getting in players that actually would've improved my squad. As your income outside of the CL is basically non existant that would've been rather risky. Probably would've gotten there slowly, by simply grinding out more seasons but at that point I got bored of FM15, so I never got around to doing that.

That's brilliant to know and a real help with what you've told me. Thanks mate. Definitely has given me other areas I need to consider before starting up the save.

One thing I'd note is maybe look into the ticket prices, sounds small but if you get a 80k stadium but it's only £5 a ticket you'll never make much money, and as the TV deal will be tiny/non-existent your finances will always be very tight.

Plus a low rep small league will struggle to sell its best players for decent money, meaning you cannot even rely on that. IMO to compete with the big boys in the CL you really do need money, even if its just to cover a modest wage bill.

Thanks mate, another good bit of advice for me to consider when I decide on where and who to manage.

Appreciate it. Cheers

On a long enough time-scale that ceases to be an issue. It is dynamic, but progress is indeed pretty slow. You can also end up being able to sell players for decent money, but that does take a while. Plus there's the fact that smaller leagues often experience (possibly buggy) huge boosts in TV and prize-money.

Thank you again for the feedback and helpful information. It's appreciated and is exactly the advice I'm looking for to help me decide. Cheers

How about Iceland?

They have short seasons, so if you do end up dominating the league you hopefully won't get too bored between European campaigns. That's the hardest part for me in REALLY obscure leagues. Not that I'm claiming to be a great FM player by any means, but once I get my club to a level where we're consistently hunting for European spaces, I tend to find that the rest of the league has trouble keeping up. I end up with seasons where not going undefeated is a disappointment (if I played my full strength team in every game and not arbitrarily rotate the squad to make it interesting), and it struggles to hold my interest. Not saying that applies to everyone though.

Ukraine is also a good shout. Any league where they can consistently get teams into the CL group stages, even if they then get dominated, or at least Europa League (Scandinavian countries, maybe even Israel?) will probably be good enough to at least have a few teams that continue to compete with you.

Thank you for the reply mate. As you said I think over a few seasons, domestically in Iceland it will become too easy and then I'll get fed up of the save, which of course I don't want to happen. With Ukraine, I feel the country is already a slight force in Europe, with Shakhtar and a couple others. Guess I'm looking at countries just below the likes of Ukraine, Russia etc. Israel is a good shout though, so will look at them too.

Cheers

Andy,

Hungary could be an option for you, with Budapest Honved. I'm not sure how they stack up on FM16, but on FM15 they were only predicted to finish 13th in the 16-team Hungarian top flight, so there is work to be done. If you are looking to build in a dual National/Club management game, the history of Honved and their status as essentially the feeder club for the Hungarian Golden Team of the 1950s could give you a longterm vision and the opportunity to build from within. You could even take it a step further and try and deploy your own version of Gustav Sebes' Aranycsapat tactics in that era. Such a game; restoring one of the great names of European football, recapturing a golden era could give you something to get your teeth into.

They also start FM15 without a transfer budget and no wage budget to spare, so it likely isn't a 'quick-fix' club.

Ferencvaros, Debrecen, Videoton, Ujpest Dozsa, MTK should offer some decent competition.

I feel the national team is pretty decent.

Oh, they need work. Just look at their recent results IRL...

Never thought of Belarus. Thank you. What sort of good players could you attract? Sounds promising, will definitely look at some options there, plus it fulfils the possibility of managing National Team too at some point.

Cheers mate.

Belarus was definitely the most fun I have had managing on my career game so far, its the league I intend to return to once I see my management career in its twilight years.

The players I could attract at the very start were low level south americans (with a couple of bright stars), aging italians and some decent eastern europeans. When I left the league after 5 seasons, the standard had increased by one star and i was seeing better quality players joining the league, especially young brazilians who were seeking the european experience.

Andy,

Hungary could be an option for you, with Budapest Honved. I'm not sure how they stack up on FM16, but on FM15 they were only predicted to finish 13th in the 16-team Hungarian top flight, so there is work to be done. If you are looking to build in a dual National/Club management game, the history of Honved and their status as essentially the feeder club for the Hungarian Golden Team of the 1950s could give you a longterm vision and the opportunity to build from within. You could even take it a step further and try and deploy your own version of Gustav Sebes' Aranycsapat tactics in that era. Such a game; restoring one of the great names of European football, recapturing a golden era could give you something to get your teeth into.

They also start FM15 without a transfer budget and no wage budget to spare, so it likely isn't a 'quick-fix' club.

Ferencvaros, Debrecen, Videoton, Ujpest Dozsa, MTK should offer some decent competition.

Hi Andy,

Again exactly the sort of in depth reply I'm looking for and thank you for the suggestion too. Definitely will be having a look at Hungary and Honved, along with doing some extra research as well. Have you managed in Hungary before? If so, was it easy to attract any good players, once you've had success and is it possible to build the stadium at all?

Cheers

Belarus was definitely the most fun I have had managing on my career game so far, its the league I intend to return to once I see my management career in its twilight years.

The players I could attract at the very start were low level south americans (with a couple of bright stars), aging italians and some decent eastern europeans. When I left the league after 5 seasons, the standard had increased by one star and i was seeing better quality players joining the league, especially young brazilians who were seeking the european experience.

Ok that sounds very interesting and Belarus are fast becoming a nation that I will be considering. Cheers mate.

Oh, they need work. Just look at their recent results IRL...

Sorry, I was just going by what they are like in the game.

Have you managed in Hungary before? If so, was it easy to attract any good players, once you've had success and is it possible to build the stadium at all?

Personally, no.

I had considered Honved for my final FM15 file, prior to purchasing FM17. However, I consider it very much a long-term project game, and my leisurely speed of play invariably means I tend not to finish these games.

The Hungarian league is weakly-rated on 2.5 stars (at least on FM15), so I suspect you would need to be quite minimalist with your acquisitions, lending itself to the 'promote from within' style of longterm management that would characterise a 'true' Honved experience. The Jozsef Bozsik stadion (named after one of the Mighty Magyar legends) only holds 10,000, so expansion looks feasible once you start to build the club and reputation of the league.

A slightly off-piste suggestion; Argentina. The league is a bloated 30-team affair, with more choice meaning less repetition. The talent-factories of Boca and River ensure competition, the league always has a raft of quality players, and you have an extended choice of teams to build up to conquer Argentina, and then South America itself. All whilst staving off the European giants for your better players. I could suggest Argentinos Juniors; Maradona is always associated with Boca, but he only spent one season there in the early-80s and started his career at Argentinos, spending four full seasons there to one at Boca, before moving to Europe. The Argentinos stadium is named after him - something to bring a little context and history to the file.

The Belgian pro-league could also be worth a look? A nation on the up internationally, with a domestic league rated in the 3rd tier of the European footballing pantheon - around the same as Croatia/Romania/Czech Republic. Anderlecht and Genk should offer solid domestic competition and the league rating should give you enough opportunity to trade with similarly-rated leagues and perhaps the bottom-end of the 2nd tier (the Eredivise etc) whilst you build your club and the league rating up. The Europa League will be a challenge but not insurmountable, and then you can push on to greater things.

Any of these lesser European leagues you'll run into a problem. You'll have a challenge for the title the first few years, but once you get good enough to actually challenge for the Champions League (possibly after many seasons), the AI clubs won't follow you and the domestic league becomes really easy. It's an annoying problem I've run into in the past whilst trying to do a similar challenge, even in some of the slightly better leagues like Holland.

Another league that I'm not sure why nobody mentioned is Belgium. Anderlecht, Standard, Club Brugge should provide some good challenge in the first few years, and maybe the great youth academies in the country can boost these clubs a little in the future to offset a bit that problem of outgrowing the league.