FM10: Mazz's Guide to Africa

Like many others, I've always been frustrated at the huge lack of depth in African football in previous versions of the game. While FM10 didn't add too much in terms of new data itself, the introduction of the New Editor gave us the chance to finally create a playable Africa. Somebody who has done a tremendous amount of work on implementing the African game into FM10 is FuryG and, if you haven't already, i strongly recommend downloading his superb "African Mega Database" which can be found here.

My objective this time round has been to find all the best African talent still playing in the continent and bring them over to Europe before anybody else, in order to turn them into stars. For this task, I chose to start with a French team - due to their strong ties with many African countries. I chose Le Havre AC (who start the game in Ligue 2), a club famous for producing young French talent, as my new post.

I am currently mid-way through my 2nd season in charge, after gaining promotion to Ligue 1, thanks in no small part to the Africans whom I have found and brought over to L'Hexagone. Since the beginning of the game, I have also taken charge of Hearts of Oak (Ghana) and ES Setif (Algeria), considerably widening my knowledge of the best players in Africa at the moment.

I have a huge number of players whom I believe have the talent to play at all different levels across Europe, so I will split it into groups of, say, 5 or 6 each time - with each player having a description and a screenshot too. Please feel free to add any players of your own ! This is basically just me advertising what Africa has to offer

1). Name: Dame Dieng

Nationality: Senegalese

Position: Central Defence

Current Age: 25

Current Club: Havre AC

Signed from: ASC Diaraf

Signed for: £190K

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/7068b964159248/

Opinion: One of the first players I signed, Dame has taken his time to settle in and establish himself. Last season, he was back-up to Loïc Nestor and Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik, and gave solid performances when called upon, but nothing spectacular. However, after I sold Kana-Biyik on to Lyon for a tidy £5m, Dieng stepped into the vacant position, and this season (in Ligue 1) he has been nothing short of fantastic. Being a newly-promoted team, we were always going to struggle on returning to the top flight, but Dieng's performances alongside Nestor have shown just how good a player he is. It's no wonder that many teams are sniffing round after him, and in the transfer window just gone he was the subject of a number of bids, most notably one of £2.1m from Benfica. Of course, it was swiftly rejected.

2). Name: Raphaël Djé Bi Tah

Nationality: Ivorian

Position: Left Back

Current Age: 21

Current Club: Havre AC

Signed from: Stade Malien

Signed for: £70K

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/cba57f64159243/

Opinion: Signed for tuppence before my first season, Raphaël went straight into my first team, and has basically stayed there ever since. He is a very solid and dependable player and I was quite impressed by his performances so shortly after moving continents. A good crosser of the ball, and incredibly keen to get forward and help out in attack. One drawback he does have, however, is his lack of stamina - so don't be surprised if he's lacking energy at around the 70 minute mark.

3). Name: Rufus Nyanfore

Nationality: Liberian

Position: Striker

Current Age: 19

Current Club: Hearts of Oak

Signed from: Junior Professionals

Signed for: Free

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/6d82ce64159269/

Opinion: Unbelievable bargain. I came across Rufus on one of my random journeys through random teams, scouting any player that looked somewhat promising. At first glance his stats looked great, but due to his age I wasn't expecting him to feature week-in week-out. However, he has been on fire and is by far my best striker at the moment. The screenshot was taken a few matches ago, and so no longer does him justice because I believe he's now netted 9 goals in 9 league games, propelling him to the top of the scorers' chart in Ghana. If his form continues like this, I'm going to have a hard time hiding him from European scouts.

4). Name: Makhtar Thioune

Nationality: Senegalese

Position: Central Midfield

Current Age: 26

Current Club: Molde

Signed from: N/A

Signed for: N/A

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/4c780364159247

Opinion: Okay, technically I’m cheating a bit here seeing as Thioune isn’t playing in Africa, but I just thought he was too good to ignore. Just by looking at his stats I was already determined to sign him, and then my scout reports came back revealing that he would be a superb addition to my squad. I finally had a bid of about £2.5m accepted close to the end of the winter transfer window, but the deal fell through. The problem? Thioune wanted to finish his career at Molde! Although I wasn’t able to sign him, I think that every effort should be made by others to do so.

5). Name: Ekow Benson

Nationality: Ghanaian

Position: Attacking Midfield

Current Age: 21

Current Club: Hearts of Oak

Signed from: Tema Youth

Signed for: £70k

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/c0d5fc64159257

Opinion: Probably the brightest young talent still playing in Ghana in the game, and he comes at such a cheap price (by European standards I mean, £70k was actually a club record for Hearts of Oak when I signed him). Benson is the cousin of Lyon’s defender John Mensah, and football obviously runs in the family. In his first season in my first team, his performances were sporadic – sometimes dominating, other times being invisible. However this season he clearly feels settled and as such his performances have gotten better and better. He possesses really promising stats (all except a 7 for dribbling), and is more suited to being a type of “quarterback” playmaker than a “give-me-the-ball-and-I’ll-run-through-the-whole-defence” type player. Will most probably bring him to Le Havre in a few years.

6). Name: Mame Alassane Diakité

Nationality: Senegalese

Position: Striker

Current Age: 19

Current Club: Havre AC

Signed from: Port Autonome

Signed for: £80k

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/b9e3b564159253

Opinion: I have extremely high hopes for this youngster. I believe he has the potential to become a fantastic player in the future. Who knows, maybe he'll even turn out to be Senegal’s answer to Samuel Eto’o? He definitely has all the makings of a top-class goal scorer, he simply needs to improve his stamina and strength/balance so that he can hold his own with the rougher defenders. I will most probably try to send him out on loan, preferably to Ligue 2, where he’ll be able to test himself against ‘easier’ opposition before making the step-up to first team duty.

I’ll leave it at that for the first post, but I have a whole load more to come soon

excellent OP

I use the pack as well.

Here are my findings:

Aboubacar Magassa - 19 - Mali - Centre Salif Keita - High PA, I plan to buy him.

Seydou Diarra - 19 - Mali - AS Bamako - Also High PA, I plan to buy him to.

Cheik Fantamady Diarra - 17 - Mali - Centre Salif Keita - High PA, I plan to buy him as well.

Mali is talented in FuryG's database.

Great OP .

It's a lot of unexplored talent in Africa, and especially with this database .

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=154925

That thread is only about talented africans, while this one is more of a guide of Africa in Football Manager 2010 where people can share experiences with certain teams and players .

I can see where you're coming from, but this is more of a "league" guide than it is a player guide .

This isn't about the league imo, its also about players.

This isn't about the league imo, its also about players.

I said it is about players too, purefun .

I just meant it as more of a continent guide, like the South America thread .

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=154925

This isn't about the league imo, its also about players.

I was aware of this thread before I started my own one, but it seemed to me that people were posting more well-known africans who were already playing in Europe, e.g. Romaric, Gervinho, Essien.

I was thinking of posting my finds there, but I didn't really want to spam up that thread, seeing as I have so many, and they're not what people are usually looking for, i.e. Premiership quality players. What I really wanted to have was a thread where I could just advertise the promising players I myself had found/bought, and hopefully it would be of help to others.

This thread is for players who are still based in the African Leagues, who haven't been discovered or poached by European clubs yet, and who haven't got a big reputation.

Therefore maybe the subtitle should "Discovering Unknown Africans with the potential to play in Europe"

Mazz

How did you take charge of ES Setif and Hearts of Oak? I can't take charge of any clubs in Africa apart from South-African clubs, as that is the only playable league in Africa.

If you downloaded an update or something, can you please post a link?

You have to download xmls of african leagues, most fan sites have them.

Actually if you link them that would be great.

I think the ones I have is giving me a crash dump.

Mazz

How did you take charge of ES Setif and Hearts of Oak? I can't take charge of any clubs in Africa apart from South-African clubs, as that is the only playable league in Africa.

If you downloaded an update or something, can you please post a link?

This is where I got all my African Leagues from:

http://www.fmsite.net/foro/Recopilacion-de-Ligas-y-Copas-Extra-para-FM-2010-t43462.html#

You can either download the whole megapack for Africa (Pack de Ligas Africa) or you can scroll down and download them individually if, say, you aren't interested in having the Zanzibar league as playable in your game .

However, I would recommend opening up in the editor any leagues that you might be interested in playing in, and adding maybe a Reserve League or Under 18s or something along those lines (if it doesn't already have it). I didn't do this, and now at ES Setif I don't have anywhere to put my non first-team-players for them to gain fitness/play matches. It's frustrating to say the least!

Thanks for posting the link to the pack, Mazz ..

I'm going to download it and start a new game with it and find new players . I will of course check out the ones you posted in the OP too .

I just found this player playing in the Ivory Coast top league :

Looks great, and I'm signing him for £250 K .

As long as I imrpove his physical stats and determination, he should turn out very well .

I just found this player playing in the Ivory Coast top league :

Looks great, and I'm signing him for £250 K .

As long as I imrpove his physical stats and determination, he should turn out very well .

He looks fantastic fabregas . I think I spotted him on my game too, but he was nowhere near as good as he looks on your game.

He looks fantastic fabregas . I think I spotted him on my game too, but he was nowhere near as good as he looks on your game.

Yeah, this is at the start of the first season, so I think he has random stats.. Looks like he could become really good .

Time for the next batch of promising Africans I believe

1). Name: Stephen Worgu

Nationality: Nigerian

Position: Striker

Current Age: 21

Current Club: Lyon

Signed From: Al-Merreikh (Sudan)

Signed For: £3.3m

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/653a5965271939/

Opinion: One of the most, if not the most, expensive Inter-Africa signings ever, Worgu has been on my radar for a long time. I scouted him very soon after starting my Le Havre game, and my scouts confirmed my view that he has a huge amount of potential. Unfortunately for me, he seemed out of my price range at the time. More unfortunately for me (if that makes grammatical sense), my interest had alerted Lyon to Worgu’s existence, and before I knew it they had snapped him up for an – in my opinion – overly excessive sum of £3.3million. That fee seems even more excessive now, when you consider that they have barely played him at all, as he is a long way down the pecking order behind, for example, Marouane Chamakh, Liedson and Ruud Van Nistelrooy to name but a few. I’ve tried in vain to loan him from them, but it looks as if – unless I find myself with a lot of cash in the near future – Worgu is destined to rot in their reserves for the next year. Fingers crossed that his contract runs down and I sign him on a free next summer.

2). Name: Mohammed Rabiu

Nationality: Ghanaian

Position: Defensive Midfield

Current Age: 21

Current Club: Havre AC

Signed From: Liberty (Ghana)

Signed For: £400K

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/105e5b65271903/

Opinion: I’ve just signed Rabiu for my Le Havre side however I really doubt that many others will be able to sign him as cheaply as I did, if at all. The reason being is that, while Rabiu technically starts the game as a Liberty player (and therefore counts for this list in my opinion) he is on loan at Sampdoria. Therefore, it is incredibly unlikely that they will not choose to buy him permanently when his loan expires, unless, like me, you do not have the Italian leagues activated. In my save, he returned to Liberty after his year-long loan spell, and I snapped him up not long after that. He has incredible potential, and looks like a definite possibility to be the heir to Essien’s position in the heart of Ghana’s midfield in years to come. I’m hoping that it won’t be too long before he’s commanding things in the Le Havre first team.

3). Name: Christian Okoua

Nationality: Ivorian

Position: Goalkeeper

Current Age: 19

Current Club: Havre AC (On loan at MC Alger)

Signed From: Africa Sports (Ivory Coast)

Signed For: £500

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/fd9be465272005/

Opinion: I believe Okoua has the potential to become a top Ligue 1 Goalkeeper in the future. He didn’t cost me a lot of money (actually, he hardly cost me any money) and therefore doesn’t have to live up to a huge price-tag, and a spell on loan in Algeria as a first team player should do wonders for his confidence and ability. I don’t expect to see him in my own first team for a few years yet, but he is definitely one to watch.

4). Name: Armand Ndoumou

Nationality: Gabonese

Position: Central Defence

Current Age: 25

Current Club: Havre AC

Signed From: US Bitam (Gabon)

Signed For: 90K

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/496d2465271973/

Opinion: I only signed Ndoumou in the summer transfer window just-gone as cover for my central defence, so he’s still a relatively new player for me. However, it feels like he’s been in my team from the very beginning. Tall, reliable, good in the air, he has all the makings of a good centre-back. Initially I used him in his second position at Right Back and he performed admirably. Although I don’t consider him a first-teamer, I would recommend him as a good addition to any team.

5). Name: Charles Taylor

Nationality: Ghanaian

Position: Attacking Midfield (Centre)

Current Age: 29

Current Club: Hearts of Oak

Signed From: N/A

Signed For: N/A

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/a7d94b65272027/

Opinion: Probably the most experienced player still in Ghana at the moment. Taylor is my captain and playmaker (along with Benson – see previous post), and everything seems to go through him. Last season, I had him out on the right wing and - granted it’s not his favourite position - his performances were hit and miss. However, switching him back to his preferred role in the centre this season has done wonders for the whole team. I don’t know whether it was just this change of role, or the fact that we now have a better squad than last season, but Taylor has been a man on a mission. A true captain and leader on the field, it’s been a while since he didn’t have any clubs interested in his services. He recently declared that he would like to leave in search of higher level football and, while I admire his long commitment to Hearts of Oak and respect his decision, I am intent on doing everything I can to stop him from going.

6). Name: Michael Gibson

Nationality: Liberian

Position: Striker

Current Age: 19

Current Club: Hearts of Oak

Signed From: Watanga (Liberia)

Signed For: £90K

Screenshot: http://www.imagebam.com/image/c063f365272049/

Opinion: The next George Weah? Gibson arrived in Accra as our record signing and, due to his impressive stats, I couldn’t wait to see him strut his stuff. Maybe it was the moving abroad business, or maybe it was the fact that his strike-partner Nyanfore (see previous post) hit the ground running, but Gibson failed to really deliver in his first few games. It wasn’t until the last few games which, coincidentally, coincided with an injury to Nyanfore that Gibson has really taken off – netting 5 out the 6 goals we scored in our Confederations Cup match, for example. I can see Gibson racking up plenty of goals in Ghana this season, and if he continues to impress I will be forced to buy him a plane ticket to Le Havre .

Some good players there .

I look forward to the next batch of youngsters .

I found a few good players during my save with De Graafschap recently, however I suffered a crash dump and am not sure If I still have them, when I fire FM back up, I\'ll post my findings.

Right, Ive recovered my game, and I have 4 players to introduce.

1). Name: Mohamed Rogers

Nationality: Sierra Leonian

Position: Left Back

Current Age: 22

Current Club: De Graafschap

Signed From: East End Lions (Sierra Leone)

Signed For: £50K

2). Name: Pape Bakary Gueye

Nationality: Senegalese

Position: Attack Midfield Centre/Striker

Current Age: 23

Current Club: De Graafschap

Signed From: ASC Diaraf (Senegal)

Signed For: £28k

3). Name: Gilbert Okelo

Nationality: Kenyan

Position: Defence Centre/Right

Current Age: 25

Current Club: De Graafschap

Signed From: Gor Mahia (Kenya)

Signed For: £40k

4). Name: Youssouf Sylla

Nationality: Guinean

Position: Midfield Right

Current Age: 25

Current Club: De Graafschap

Signed From: Horoya AC (Guinea)

Signed For: £60k

I cant be bothered with Screenie\'s and opinions, but all 4 are starters in my team, and should be for a long time.

I scouted two ethiopians if anyone wants to sign an exotic Ethiopian:

Tamirat Abebe

Adane Bekele

Both can develope into a good lower premier league, upper Championship players at max.

Ok I just went through most of Africa (except for North Africa, South Africa, and major countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Guinea, Gabon etc. and probably missed a couple more) with an editor to check for PA's, and am now scouting all of them. I will post a basic list of the 30+ or so players I scouted, and their club and nation. (I will not include PA for obvious reasons)

Oumar Banao

Is that Egyptian guy Aboutrika or whatshisnamethatdoesn'tleavetheEgyptianleague any good?

Is that Egyptian guy Aboutrika or whatshisnamethatdoesn'tleavetheEgyptianleague any good?

Yep he's a very good player, I remember having him on FM09 when I created the Saudi League and started as Al-Ittihad. He didn't take too much persuading to leave Egypt then. I haven't tried to sign him on this version though, and you might need to pay more than the £3m I did to get him last time.

Found this guy playing for AfricaSports in the Ivory Coast. He play's best on the right wing and he can be bought for around 200k. Can't really tell you how good he is in the matches, but it looks like he is going to be a future star.

Found this guy playing for AfricaSports in the Ivory Coast. He play's best on the right wing and he can be bought for around 200k. Can't really tell you how good he is in the matches, but it looks like he is going to be a future star.

I actually have him at Le Havre ! His dribbling is better on your game, but yeah I think he could be quite good in the future too. I want to loan him out to give him experience but so far it seems a no go. Hasn't been exceptional in any games he's played in, but to be fair I haven't given him a constant place in the first team.

Thank-you for this thread. I started one as well, for African Youngsters, not knowing this thread was around. Thanks again.

Baba Diawara, and Djalma Campos, Aristide Bance are worth checking out.

Though they are not in Africa. I will put a link through later that you will find interesting.

I role played while playing my Birmingham that I was paid by the CAF to do a little project called "African Talent Development" where I set up an African Academy in Birmingham.

Basically I just gave them EU passports and brought them over in real game talk. Yes I cheated, but I don't care if it's for the sake of Role-Playing.

I think I signed over 45 or so Africans, from various countries, all with the PA of 150 or more. I'm training them using my expertise training systems (*cough* Tugs *cough*) and just basically planning on training them for half a year, and loaning them out for the other half of the year (in two groups, one group is loaned out for the first half of the year, due to mostly come back in January, when they do, I will offer the other group of players to clubs for 100% free loans) so they could make a name for themselves and as well to raise the price tag. I am hoping that by the Summer transfer season of 2010-11, I could start selling the older Africans (around 23-24) for atleast a million euros each making a big prophet from the meagly 55 or so K I bought them for. I will show them all here after I complete one season, but I don't want to mislead anyone because I did edit their CA's a bit to make them more talented. (I did this per age. I think the 23-24's have the highest CA's at 120, 121-122's at 112-116, 20's at around 108 and anyone younger than that at their starting CA when I bought them. (Except for a few players like from Lesotho where they started at 60 CA which I raised to around atleast 80)) Hope you don't mind my minor edits.

So After a full season I will post my list of players here.

Could you tell us who you bought?

Yah no problem, I'll give you a list and when I m done with my season I'll post pictures. They all have good PA's though.

Heres my link, (looks like these players, if pro', would be worth checking out):

http://globalfootballsoccer.com/dame.php

Who is worth taking on trial, I play as Arsenal, Gills, C. Rapids in different saves, looking at taking over Fc Seoul and Gamba Osaka as awell. Really want an answer.

Ok the list is by nationality, after is spoilered with the PA's.

Eric Ndizeye - Burundi

Youssouf Dah - Burkina Faso

Charles Balbone - Burkina Faso

Issouf Sanou - Burkina Faso

Harouna Napon - Burkina Faso

Aboubacar Ouattara - Burkina Faso

Didier Timothee Mbai - Chad

Esaie Djikoloum - Chad

Bebe Roger Ollekam - Ivory Coast

Didier Boris Kadio - Ivory Coast

Mukanya Kabasele - Democratic Republic of Congo

Saturnin Ntzapamale - Central African Republic

Achille Penzy - Equatorial Guinea

Patrick Nyame - Equatorial Guinea

Tamirat Abebe - Ethiopia

Adane Bekele - Ethiopia

Cedric Ossey - Gabon

Jean-Pierre Nzambo - Gabon

Michel Ibinga - Gabon

Fabrice Effa - Gabon

Fortune Sita - Gabon

William Betha - Gabon

Xaviere Ngayidoula - Gabon

Mark Sekyere - Ghana

Mohammed Hamida - Ghana

Ebraima Sinateh - Gambia

Torric - Ghana

Gilbert Okelo - Kenya

Lire Phiri - Lesotho

Makoele Mofihli - Lesotho

Matlokotsi Makoa - Lesotho

Maliele Mofihli - Lesotho

Abdallaye Maiga - Mali

Hafizou Hamida Tandjigora - Mali

Abdel Karim Kouroumakan - Mali

Zoumana Sissao - Mali

Alou Bagayoko - Mali

Seydou Diarra - Mali

Aboubacar Magassa - Mali

Cheik Fantamady Diarra - Mali

Armando - Mozambique

Atusaye Nyondo - Malawi

Chiukepo Msowoya - Malawi

Pape Bakary Gueye - Senegal

Ass N'Doye - Senegal

Assane Aklesso - Togo

Konkoue Kodjo Yovodemi - Togo

Stophira Sunzu -Zambia

Rodgers Kola - Zambia

Some of them may have random PA's, but regardless their PA in your game should be around that. They will struggle to get Work Permits me thinks.

Whats the spoiler?

Im new to FM, so can someone explain how databases work, and how to get them, and how much they are?

Spoiler is each players PA (Potential Ability)

Basicalyl how good a player could get with the right training, experience etc.

It is common courtesy to spoiler PA's because not everyone likes to know them while playing because they consider it cheating.

The CA (Current Ability) is similar to PA, except it reflects the players Current rather than Potential ability and determines how good they are currently. CA's and PA's are out of 200. A person with a CA of 130 is a good English Premiership player, 140-150 is great Premiership player and 150+ is a star player in a Premiership club, or atleast, that's how I determine it.

Thanks

And database？

You can download them for free, SI Games doesn't create any databases other than patches which fix bugs and update players (also free)

K,

thanks

Off Topic ...

Does anyone know of any Asian Threads like this?

(Or any chinese/Korean/Japanese players i should check out?)

I'll make one actually, it's a good idea.

where should you pt the downloaded db to be able to get it loaded?

Made one yet PolskaGOLA ?

Lol,

I did actually. http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=188882

I did actually. http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=188882

Just East Asia, no room for western asians then ?

If they had updated the Middle East a bit more I'd think about starting a thread for it, because there are a number of good undiscovered players in Saudi Arabia especially.

One striker in particular, Nayef Al-Hazzazi of Al-Ittihad, is so poorly underrated considering he's been the best player in the whole region over the last year.

Anyway, back on topic . Should hopefully put another batch of Africans up soon, been a bit busy lately.

Let's keep unearthing these gems!

Hey all, i'm just into my 2nd season with AS Cannes starting off in the National League, I have sort out to get young French-Africans in my team. Here's a few I have come accross however you may need quite a few leagues loaded to find them:

Bakary Soro - Free Transfer at the start of the game, ex Charlton defender from the Ivory Coast. Can play CB or RB, solid as and great captain

Toufik Zemara (sp?) - French - Algeria winger / attacking midfielder again on a free, good playmaker

Mohamed Yahaya - French - Ghanian CB, 1st choice for me good in the air and strong tackle. Free Transfer

?? Keita - Can't remember 1st name but he's a DMC bought from Al Ittihad for peanuts. Aggressive hard tackler, but National League is definately below his standard

Joseph Maweye - Cameroonian Striker again on free, good goalpoacher and still young. Full International

Boubacar Gueye - Ivory Coast - France attacking midfield / winger, scores sensational goals from midfield

There's a few others but i'm in the office ATM will post more when I get home

Ubong Okure - 20 years old - Nigerian - Akwa United

He is a Right Fullback and has the potential to become one of the best fullbacks in the game.

Obviously Gladson Awako,

What happened to Sadick Adams?