FM10: Official VfL Wolfsburg Thread- Sponsored by Goalscoring Masters

VfL Wolfsburg:

Full name: VfL Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH

Nickname(s): Die Wölfe (The Wolves)

Founded: 1945

Ground: Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg (Capacity: 30,000)

Chairman: Hans-Dieter Pötsch

Manager: Armin Veh

League: 2008/09 Bundesliga, Champions

VfL Wolfsburg is a German sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, that currently plays in the country's first division Bundesliga. VfL went on to the top flight on the strength of a second place league finish in 1997. Early predictions were that the club would immediately be sent back down, but instead, the Wolves developed into a mid-table Bundesliga side. Recently, there was little success for the club, with two 15th place finishes only narrowly avoiding relegation. For the 2007-08 season the club hired former Bayern Munich manager Felix Magath, with whom they managed to finish an astonishing 5th place at the end of the season and for the second time in the club's history, qualify for the UEFA cup.

However, in the 2008-09 season Magath lead them to a first ever Bundesliga title. They embarked on a wonderful season which saw them break various records. Te Bundesliga was sealed when they defeated Werder Bremen 5-1 on 23rd May 2009. During the season, VFL Wolfsburg went on a 10 match winning streak, the longest in Bundesliga history. The backbone of their huge success was undoubtedly their fierce strike-pairing of Brazilian Grafite and Bosnian Edin Džeko who scored 28 and 26 goals respectively.

Squad:

The squad at the moment is very strong. There are definitely some standout players in there suchas Grafite, Dzeko and Misimovic, who should be kept at all costs.

Goalkeepers

GK: Andre Lenz

GK - Diego Benaglio*

Defenders

DR- Peter Pekarik

DR, DM, MC - Sascha Riether*

DC - Ricardo Costa*

DC - Alexander Madlung

DC - Jan Simunek^

DC - Andrea Barzagli*

D/WBL - Rodrigo Alvim

D/WBL - Marcel Schafer*

D(L)/MRL - Fabian Johnson

Midfielders

DM, MC - Makoto Hasebe

DM, MC - Jonathan Santana

DM, MC - Josue*

DM, MC - Sebastian Schindzielorz (Listed)

DM, MC - Rudiger Ziehl

ML - Alexander Laas

AMR/L - Ashkan Dejagah

AMRC (AMC) - Karim Ziani

AMRC (MR) - Daniel Baier

AMRLC (MC) - Christian Gentner*

AMR, ST - Philipp Kreuels

AMLC (AMC) - Thomas Kahlenberg

AML - Vlad Munteanu

AMC - Zvjezdan Misimovic*

Strikers

FC - Edin Dzeko*

ST - Grafite*

ST - Obafemi Martins

ST - Mahir (Out on loan)

The players marked with ^ are promising and capable youngster, the ones with * are important and established players.

Squad Analysis

Goalkeepers: A reasonably strong part of the squad for Wolfsburg. First choice keeper is Swiss international Diego Benaglio. He has had a good few seasons since joining Wolfsburg. Andre Lenz is a reasonable back-up as he won’t complain about a lack of games, but maybe should be looked at improving.

Defenders: The defence is very strong. The top 4 defenders don’t really need replacing until they get too old. You also have some good backup. The only slight weak spot is Peter Pekarik, who isn’t really a great backup, I would look to replace him. Fabian Johnson is also another who could go, or in the reserves.

Midfielders: Nice midfield, the captain, Josue, is a solid DM but can also play solidly in CM if you didn’t want a DM. Christian Gentner, Karim Ziani Ashkan Dejagah and Thomas Kahlenberg are solid midfielders who are capable as backup or starters all across the midfield. Zvjezdan Misimovic is a very creative AMC, he will play very well in this position, but can move back into the CM position. Id look at getting rid of Jonathan Santana and Vlad Munteanu, who aren’t really required.

Strikers: Obviously very strong. You have the ability to got 4-4-2 with Dzeko and Grafite up front, or play 4-3-3 while adding Martins for pace. You will probably need some backups if you play 4-3-3, and I’d reccomend Sercan Yildirim as a good young back up.

Star Player-Edin Džeko

Edin Džeko, born 17 March 1986 in Sarajevo, is a Bosnian footballer, who currently plays as a striker for German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg and the Bosnian national team. He had an astonishing goalscoring record for Wolfsburg last year which attracted the interest of many big clubs such as AC Milan, Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea. I would look to hold onto him for as long as possible.

Additional Info

Finances: Secure

Estimated Value: £46.5m

Continental Competition - European Champions Cup

Media Prediction- 2nd

Training Facilities - Good training facilities

Youth Facilities-Average youth facilities + academy

Transfer Budget

Title Challenge - £6m

Winner - £6.7m

Thats it I'm afraid, so aim high.

Why should you start a game with Wolfsburg?

Can you retain the title?

Can you lead them on a wonderful Champions League run?

Can you get the best out of Grafite and Edin Dzeko?

My demo still isnt downloaded, but Ill get the additional info done ASAP.

Looooooooooooooooooove the first picture.

Looooooooooooooooooove the first picture.

The logo?

Will definatly be playing a game with Wolfsburg this year, love the front pairing, Dzeko looks good on this game aswell. Good Thread.

I have been a follower of Wolfsburg for since around the 2001/2002 season and was delighted to see them win the title as they have always been a mid-table side so seeing them winning the title was fantastic.

I will definatly manage them this season but there will be other bundesliga teams id like to manage again as ive managed Hertha BSC (won the title and german cup 2 seasons on trott on FM08) HSV, FC Bayern and Dortmund in previous games.

Its great to see Dzeko and Grafite getting the plaudits they deserve, shame Grafite is getting on but still a great player! Gentner is also a player ime fond of

I see yoy used some of my strategies for squad list yet took out the confusing one. Should've been what I done.

Great OP, Dzeko is a great player.

Yeah, just copied it from the PM, but made it legible.

Psst.. if you want it too look less odd, delete the (AMC) or whatevers in the brackets next to your AM. That was because it looked messed up with ** in the middle.

Ive just realised that picture is actually of the Hamburg stadium, which is a shame as its awesome.

That's not the Hamburg stadium at all. How did you figure that it was? It is in fact Wolfsburg's. Plus didn't you notice the color scheme used throughout the stadium, and the actual Wolfsburg logo painted right on the seats?

It was Hamburg's, he's changed it since.

In that case, my apologies sned

Btw, the German league is not supposed to be playable in the demo is it? I wanted to try out Wolfsburg as well.

No worries DirtyACE, the previous pic was freaking awesome, but this one will do.

Nah not playable, but someone sent me the squad list.

Nice thread mate, this will be my first save when the full game comes out.

So very annoyed that Wolfsburg are unplayable on the demo. Will update this properly on release day.

Last year Hoffenheim were the first team I went in FM '09. This year VfL Wolfsburg are going to be my first game in FM10. Want to win the CL with them, and I think I have a good chance of doing so if I can keep hold of one of the best attacking triumvirates in world football while adding extra quality to the midfield and defence.

The German league is a great league to manage in. You have to compete against a number of good teams who can really challenge you for domestic success.

Good OP too.

Cheers

Dzeko must be almost impossible to hold on to, havent started as wolfsburg but in other games ive started he almost always goes to man u

WolfsBurg will definately be a team I try out. Keeping some of the star players looks challlenging, and keeping them happy as well.

Good OP!

Really looking forward too seeing how Misimovic is, hopefully he's really good.

Will be starting as Wolfsburg on the full game as I have a real soft spot for Bosnia (), so Wolfsburg are a great place to start with, Misimovic and Dzeko <3.

I played as Wolfsburg on 09, really good side.

Credit to the Foals lyrics in your location!

Going to make a Wolfsburg game soon.

Surprised we've not had any posts since release day. I've still not got the game as my local shops suck.

Thanks to Jack Edwards, who is helping me with the OP.

Ok, OP is fully updated, so you can get crackalacking.

Starting now. Will post updates.

Cool, will post updates once I get the game tomorrow

I've been asked to pop in here and tell you chaps that Sned has been perma-banned unfortunately. To put it simply, he had a bit of a Freudian slip in the OTF FMO Thread. Time to elect a new Wolfsburg Thread leader I guess. :/

Oh dear.

That's a shame, i liked him. He was a real advocate of my FM09 Catania thread.

What'd he do anyway?

He pirated FM10.

Anyway, I started my save just

He didn't pirate it. He admitted to downloading it but has since stated to someone he has bought it.

i love playing as a team in most top flight leagues...and a few lower leagues....but the german one really annoys me because the german players cant get into the national side

can anyone help with that issue??

That issue is not allowed to be discuss on the boards, perhaps Google will serve you better.

He didn't pirate it. He admitted to downloading it but has since stated to someone he has bought it.

Yeah, I think he started downloading it out of frustration that he couldn't get hold of a copy anywhere in his town. He says he got to 3% and cancelled it - he's not a 'proper pirate' but rules are rules I guess.