Gundo&#039;s FM11 European Adventure Challenge™

It was the usual with winning the league, going a 2nd consecutive season without losing. The league cup and hungarian cup were also won using mostly my reserve team. In the CL a away draw to Bronby made the group tougher than it really was as neither Roma or Bayern were that good, 2nd place was still achieved. A 5-0 demolition of Bordeaux in the 1st KO rd home leg meant i could field my reserves in the away leg who went on to win 4-3. I faced Chelsea in the qtrs and lost 3-0 away and 1-0 in the 2nd leg at home.

The squad is very strong with a few stand out players in the defence, Keskin who was lethal at corners with 17 goals and Henrique. Claudio again did well and Hansen had a record number of assists. Ridel was consistant up front.

Almost nothing came in, the chairman sold Romagnoli (10 apps) for £13.75 million as i had only put 12.5 million price on him after buying him the year before, he should have been my RB for years. I also decided to sell on Wale (52 apss, 7 goals) as i had too many right midfielders and also Adel (238 apps, 9 goals) my first choice LB as he wanted to leave and kept throwing strops.

At the end of the season Arkhipov called it a day, i offered him a staff role even though he is not very good. I picked him on a free after being released by Zenit and he became my record appearance holder with 515, in the later years many were as sub or in the cup competitions. He is also my record goal scorer with 327 goals, after naturalising he appeared for Hungary with 41 caps and 8 goals.

2033/34

The league was a lot harder than in previous years as after xmas my strikers really lost form and i struggled to win games, i lost for the first time in 3 seasons. My defence was also decimated with only 2 fit defenders at one point. I just about scraped wins in the two cups but did get a record win of 11-0 along the way.

In Europe i had the easist CL group yet and so it proved putting 16 goals past Kiev (including 7 in one game) and Red star with only 2 against , against Arsenal i drew away and got outplayed at home to lose.

I beat Shaktar in both legs of the CL 1st KO rd before facing Feyenood in the qtrs. Keskin had been sold and Henrique was injured for the rest of the season in the week before. With Ridel and Vincetti also missing through injury i drew 1-1 away in the 1st leg. Vincetti returned for the 2nd leg to score twice as i won 3-2.

I faced Arsenal in the semis and Ridel was back from injury. After outplaying Arsenal in the 1st leg at home i ended up losing 2-1. The 2nd leg was a disaster as Ridel missed a penalty in the 7th minute, Arsenal scored twice quickly and Victorov was sent off in the 30th minute to ensure the tie was over. Arsenal didn't really bother pushing and won 3-0.

For the first time ever 3 hungarian teams reached the euro cup groups, the best ever showing.

The squad i started with was my strongest ever squad, however i let too many players especially defenders go out on loan and this possibly cost the team towards the end of the season. The decision to sell Keskin and Paulo was costly as the aging Victorov played 39 games although at a good average for most of them. Claudio had a good goal scoring year and was probably the star player. Ridel scored less than 30 goals for the first time ever only managing 19.

As mentioned above Keskin (193 apps, 41 goals) was sold as his contract was running down and he wouldn't discuss another, Paulo (156 apps, 1 goal) wanted 30K p/w and with several RB rated at a similar level i cashed in on him, a good profit on the 60K i payed for him. Aydin (50 apps , 18 goals) was bought for 2 million 6 years ago and i had high hopes for him but somehow he never seemed able to show what he could do with most of the games in the cups. Romero was another striker who i sold on as he was 6th choice.

Emeka (68 apps, 13 goals) always did quite well but was 4th choice midfielder and i have other younger and more promising players at the club.

Andrezinho (259 apps, 39 goals) left on a free at the start of the season as he wanted more first team football. A bargain 4.5K he was my first choice left midfielder for years before first Hendricks and then Johnson overtook him leaving him barely playing for the last 2 years.

The ins included Paulo Cesar who is a good prospect in midfield and with 20 determination and 13 influence could become a born leader to take the club foward.

Season            League             Position       Hungarian Cup               League Cup              Europe              Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12        Second Division        10th               1st Rd                     -                     -                      None
2012/13        Second Division        10th               1st Rd                     -                     -                      None
2013/14        Second Division        10th               1st Rd                     -                     -                      None
2014/15        Second Division        1st                2nd Rd                     -                     -                      League Winners
2015/16        First Division         3rd                3rd Rd                 1st Stage                 -                      European Qualification
2016/17        First Division         2nd                Winner                 Semi-final         2nd QRd   Euro cup            European Qualification, HC Winner
2017/18        First Division         1st                Winner                 Semi-final         3rd QRd   Euro cup            League winnner, HC Winner
2018/19        First Division         1st                Semi final             Quarter-final      3rd QRd   CL                  League winner
                                                                                                  4th QRd   Euro cup
2019/20        First Division         3rd                4th Rd                 Semi-final         Cl Group stages               None
2020/21        First Division         1st                4th Rd                 Winner             Euro Cup 1st KO Rd            League winnner, LC Winner
2021/22        First Division         1st                Winner                 semi-final         4th QRd   CL                  League winner, HC Winner
                                                                                                  Group Stage   Euro cup            
2022/23        First Division         1st                Winner                 Quarter-final      CL Group stages               League winner, HC Winner
                                                                                                  Euro Cup 1st KO Rd
2023/24        First Division         1st                Winner                 Winner             CL Group stages               Domestic treble
2024/25        First Division         1st                Winner                 Winner             CL 1st KO Rd                  Domestic treble
2025/26        First Division         1st                Winner                 Quarter-final      CL Group stages               League winner, HC Winner                          
2026/27        First Division         1st                2nd Rd                 Winner             CL Group stages               League winner, LC Winner
                                                                                                  Euro Cup 2nd KO Rd
2027/28        First Division         1st                Winner                 Winner             CL Quarter-final              Domestic treble
2028/29        First Division         1st                Winner                 Winner             CL Group stages               Domestic treble
                                                                                                  Euro Cup 2nd KO Rd
2029/30        First Division         1st                Winner                 Winner             CL Group stages               Domestic treble
                                                                                                  Euro Cup Quarter-final
2030/31        First Division         1st                Winner                 Winner             CL Group stages               Domestic treble
                                                                                                  Euro Cup Semi-final
2031/32        First Division         1st                Winner                 Winner             CL Quarter-final              Domestic treble
2032/33        First Division         1st                Winner                 Winner             CL Quarter-final              Domestic treble                     
2033/34        First Division         1st                Winner                 Winner             CL Semi Final                 Domestic treble

League Ranking (standard) Club coefficient/League Coefficient

15/16 - 71 (2*)

16/17 - 52 (2.5*)

17/18 - 59 (2*)

18/19 - 58 (2*)

19/20 - 68 (2*) - 381 /27

20/21 - 50 (2.5*) - 211/27

21/22 - 57 (2*) -125/22

22/23 - 44 (2.5*) -113/20

23/24 - 37 (2.5*) -70/19

24/25 - 30 (2.5*) -52/17

25/26 - 21 (3*) -39/14

26/27 - 17 (3*) -40/13

27/28 - 16 (3*) -33/15

28/29 - 15 (3*) -19/13

29/30 - 20 (3*) -29/15

30/31 - 14 (3*) -19/13

31/32 - 19 (3*) -14/13

32/33 - 16 (3*) -14/12

33/34 - 13 (3*) -14/13

Time^- · May 25, 2011

Hungary's spot in the UEFA coëfficients is determined by the average performance of the last 5 seasons. You had a top one this time and next season a lesser one will drop. I'm guessing Hungary will get an extra CL-spot if you manage to get past the group stages next season? Great to see your league is still improving!

I do find it bizarre that your club is still only 14th with 2 quarter finals and a semi in the last three years...

Thebaker · May 26, 2011

Hungary's spot in the UEFA coëfficients is determined by the average performance of the last 5 seasons. You had a top one this time and next season a lesser one will drop. I'm guessing Hungary will get an extra CL-spot if you manage to get past the group stages next season? Great to see your league is still improving!
I do find it bizarre that your club is still only 14th with 2 quarter finals and a semi in the last three years...

the coefficient is before the season started and hence before the semi-final, i still only moved up to 13th at the end of the year.

The reason i'm not ahead of others is the fact that i'm not really beating the other good sides and getting a lot of points for wins - i've only ever once topped the group and as i've just seen on another thread, the countries coefficient makes up about 20%.

The problem with hungary is that the other sides have almost completely failed to gain any points so all of hungary's points comes from Budafoks efforts.

Hungary is 11th in the ratings with 29 points. 9th gets another euro spot and has 49 points. 6th is another CL spot and has 57 points. The only way hungary will make up that difference is if the other clubs make it into the cl group stages and the euro cup groups and then later stages. The clubs have only managed 1 club in the euro groups for the 34/35 season.

Edit: by semi i realise you could have meant euro semi's

noikeee · May 26, 2011

A particularly satisfying result

Thebaker · May 27, 2011

A particularly satisfying result

Great result, i was going to say i've never managed to beat R madrid but realised thats because i've never played them:o

Scab · May 27, 2011

Let's give this a go. I've been doing awful on this iteration of FM for some reason, except on my old Asian challenge save. So, here's hoping another challenge will set things straight.

Say hello to the new manager of Ahlafors IF, where I will have to endure playing at this god-awful place.

Looks like a pretty decent team actually; predicted 8th of 12 and the board won't settle for any less than mid-table.

GoalieManPat121 · May 28, 2011

Welp I decided to give this challenge a go. Ive never done a LLM challenge besides dafuge's so it will be fun to manage in places I havnt before. I wasnt sure at first where I wanted to go so I used the scientific method of having my girlfriend name off random european countries until she said one that was allowed for the challenge. So I am headed to Denmark. I simmed a season and then joined up with newly promoted Ringkobing. This should be fun

Leto2626 · May 31, 2011

Challenges like this is what I play FM for ! Due time issues (and having a hard time dropping all my editor work from FM10 ) I only ordered a copy now (handy to have the final patch already though). Haven't decided what country to take, was thinking about a really small custom league but seeing how hard it is in Hungary already I might settle with something of that level

I hope you keep playing thebaker, not enoygh players of your type around here

Btw, how did the prize money for the league scale after 20+ seasons?

noikeee · May 31, 2011

I've got to warn you, this challenge is really fun until you start to dominate the league. At that point domestic competitions become boring, and the only interesting games all season long are in the Champions League. Gets old fast.

I think I'm abandoning my attempt in Croatia for this reason, though I'd like to at least finish the current season.

Leto2626 · May 31, 2011

I've got to warn you, this challenge is really fun until you start to dominate the league. At that point domestic competitions become boring, and the only interesting games all season long are in the Champions League. Gets old fast.
I think I'm abandoning my attempt in Croatia for this reason, though I'd like to at least finish the current season.

Well I've done this with Iceland in FM09, but the lack of dynamic league reputations made my highest achievable goal quarter final of the CL. I'm just curious if 1 club can actually improve the whole league, also financially in the long term. But I assume that will be the very long term ...

noikeee · May 31, 2011

It can, but very very slowly. Like, decades.

Leto2626 · May 31, 2011

It can, but very very slowly. Like, decades.

Well I always wanted to reach the next century in FM ...

Last time I tried the game became unplayable after 30 seasons, this time I should run less than 52 leagues...

Scab · June 4, 2011

Season 2012 Review - Ahlafors IF in the Swedish Second Division West Götaland

Well, the board wanted mid-table; I'd say this is about as mid-table as it gets. It's a flattering finish though, the full season considered, but facing Utsikten, Kinna and Vimmerby in 3 of the final 4 games helped us to a solid four-win finish. Considering we've only scraped together 8 wins in total, that made the difference.

So much to say, so few expletives allowed... In all seriousness, the defense has been a bit of a shambles. Nyberg's arrival in mid-season coupled with shifting Henriksson back down to CD from midfield helped quite a bit, but we're still very prone to making costly mistakes. It's not all bad though; we're doing okay out on the pitch with Larsson and Johansson proving the most creative, but concede almost half of what we let in from set pieces. I mainly blame our two hopelessly inept goalkeepers for this; really hoping to scout someone better before next season.

Aim for next season: Top half maybe. The teams around us aren't that good if I can just sort this squad out.

Season   League                  Finish    Achievements
2012     Second Division WG      6th       -

Thebaker · June 9, 2011

Budafok Hungarian Division 1

2034/35

I spent a lot of this season in 2nd place on goal difference behind Fehervar, but put together a huge winning streak after xmas to win the league easily. The 2 cups were retained.

In europe a loss to Ajax made the cl group hard but the team still progressed to the 1st KO rd. I faced Liverpool and was 3-1 down at home in the first leg before drawing 3-3. An early away goal in the 2nd leg raised hopes of winning but a liverpool goal 20 mins from time meant Budafok went out.

There was a big turnover of players this season with Arnau (56 apps) one of the first out, highly rated and bought for 1 million his attributes never really increased and most of his app were in the cups. Iriate has become a fantastic keeper in the last year with some first team action, i also bought Meziani for a record transfer fee who looks like he could become a world class keeper. This meant my first choice keeper Ozcan (198 apps) was sold as well as Adriaanse (25 apps) who had been highly rated. My chairman sold Henrique (117 apps, 14 goals) for 20 million, but replacing him were Ji-Parana at the start of the season and Augustino after Jan for a steal of a price at 500K. Cardinelli came in for the future but did'nt get many first team games. My main midfield pairing for the last 5 seasons Claudio (337 apps, 105 goals) and Vinceti (272 apps, 53 goals) were reluctantly sold on as there contracts were running out.

Camara had his best ever season nearly doubling his previous best goal haul.

2035/36

This was the first ever 100% league season and i was utterly dominant, i also won both cups.

In europe i was in a weak CL group but again lost out to my bogey team Arsenal. In the 1st KO rd i lost 2-1 at home to Chelsea after playing 60 mins with ten men, in the 2nd leg i went 2-0 up after 10 minutes. Chelsea scored after halftime to level the tie before Budafok scored again 5 minutes later.

In the Qtr-final i faced Athletico Madrid. In the first away leg i again played for 65 mins with ten men and then lost both midfielders in the 88th min after making all 3 subs, Madrid capitalised by scoring in the 95th minute.

I still felt confident of beating A. Madrid as i was a lot better than them.

In spite of 27 shots on goal and 11 on target i drew 0-0 in the 2nd leg.

A lot less movement this year with a young squad. Veerman (165 apps, 47 goals) went as his contract was running down leaving me without a really good right midfielder. Tico arrived and looks a great prospect, RB is a very strong area now. Afriyie (39 apps, 5 goals) was at the club for 7 years but never managed to get break into the team due the high standard of the other centre back, most of his games came in the cups. Lingaard finally started to show the form i expected when i bought him 4 years.

Coefficients pretty static.

League Ranking (standard) - Club coefficient/League Coefficient

33/34 - 13 (3*) -14/13

34/35 - 17 (3*) -13/11

35/36 - 12 (3*) -12/12

Scab · June 15, 2011

Season 2013 Review - Ahlafors IF in the Swedish Second Division West Götaland

Swedish Cup

There we go! A new 4312 lineup and a looong list of new signings made all the difference, and laid the groundwork for a terrific start. We hit a couple of bad patches after this, as evident from the league table, but nothing bad enough to knock us off course. Fantastic feeling to go up after barely surviving last season.

Did okay in the cup, but facing Hammarby - Allsvenskan winners just a few years ago - sealed our exit. At least we put up a decent fight.

Nyman and Sehlström were probably the most integral this season, solving my GK problem and further shoring up the defense, both justly awarded for their efforts. Lots of things happening up front as well, with Bahtiri and Wilhelmsson delivering right away, the former slotting in as a supporting striker next to Larsson and the latter lurking in the space behind. The loanees certainly did their fair share too; hopefully I can get a couple of these extended.

Aim for next season: Not sure how much harder First Division N/S are, but I'd certainly settle for staying up.

Season   League                  Finish    Swedish Cup    Achievements
2013     Second Division WG      1st       -              League winners
2012     Second Division WG      6th       2nd Rnd        -

Scab · July 12, 2011

Season 2014 Review - Ahlafors IF in the Swedish First Division South

Swedish Cup

Well look at that, I think I might just have hit gold with last season's tactic! Couple that with a few key signings in the off-season and we've been in control for all but the toughest of games. This also translated into a very successful cup run - Frölunda, Syrianska, and GAIS are all from the division above - but ironically it all came to an end against Akropolis from a division down. They've been proper giant killers though, making it all the way to the final (which is yet to be played).

Signed Nilsson and Hall, both on loan with us last season, on permanent deals, then strengthened the midfield and brought in Edholm and Nezirovac as new key players in defence and attack respectively. Edholm ended up forming a killer partnership with Sehlström, and Nezirovac, well, those stats on the squad list speak for themselves. Wilhelmsson had another fairly productive season, though now the clear 2nd-choice behind new signing Eriksson.

Aim for next season: This being one of those seasons where everything just fell into place, I don't dare to hope for the same again. I'll be happy enough to avoid relegation.

Season   League                  Finish    Swedish Cup    Achievements
2014     First Division South    1st       4th Rnd        League winners
2013     Second Division WG      1st       2nd Rnd        League winners
2012     Second Division WG      6th       -              -

Vipertitan · July 14, 2011

is this still going?

FMtillidie · July 14, 2011

done good so far bud.

Vipertitan · July 14, 2011

starting this again tomorrow, debating Sweden Or Croatia Or Iceland

maisonjaune · July 14, 2011

Decided to give this a go, with my nation of choice being Slovenia. The sole reason for this is that I'm fond of their national side's kits. Introducing John Mason, manager of newly promoted Adria.

The board expect me to avoid relegation, with a budget of £18K for transfers and a measly £2.1K/week wage budget. I'm working in pounds to avoid the Slovenian Tolar, which baffles me. Spending £710 on wages at the moment, so Slovenian people must be content with a low wage. No disrespect meant toward any Slovenians.

I'm going on a bit now, so here's some links and I'll get going.

Overview

Facilities

jakobx · July 15, 2011

We use Euros in Slovenia. Are Tolars actually still in the game? 710 pounds sounds a bit low even for a completely amateur side. Just ignore this even though it doesnt make any sense. FM has never been any good at modeling finances.

Time^- · July 15, 2011

I think most pre-euro currencies are still in the game. Simply because alot of people still calculate the old numbers to be able to comprehend them better.

maisonjaune · July 16, 2011

Season 2012 Review - ND Adria Miren - Slovenian Second League

With low expectations at the start of the season, I didn't know what to expect from my Adria team. Having made some transfers in the opening window, I ventured into the Slovenian League without anything to compare myself against. By the winter break, it was clear I was overachieving, having had a good run leading up to the break. January saw one or two new faces, at when the season recommenced, my team seemed to flop. A run of seven games without a win made relegation a real possibility - we were 2 points off the drop at one point - but then the final seven matches saw us unbeaten. A distinctly mid-table finish, but much more than I could have hoped for. Spare a thought for Tromejnik, who failed to score a point all season. They were my alternative to Adria at the start of this challenge.

There weren't really any outstanding players this season. Ante Bratic was probably our best striker, and also became a fan favourite. Other than that, I've nothing else to add.

Aims for next season

At a push, I think promotion is achievable. There were only two or three teams that I really think were better than me, so if I can string a good set of results together, I reckon I could make it. Improvements to the side will be necessary, especially in defence.

Something I should have done a long time ago was to request an expansion to our scouting range. Having only just made that request, the board agreed to allow me to scout the whole continent, as opposed to only Eastern Europe plus Croatia. Boardroom

Whether anyone in Europe will fancy a move to Slovenia is yet to be seen.

Season      Division                     Pos.      Cup         Europe         Achievements

2011/12     Slovenian Second League      5th       2nd Round     N/A         Avoided Relegation

maisonjaune · July 21, 2011

Season 2013 Review - ND Adria Miren - Slovenian Second League

Relegation. There's not a lot more I can say. I had high hopes last summer, but something has clearly gone wrong along the way. No key players departed, a few signings were made, but it seems I've done something wrong this season. The run in at the close of the season summed up everything that had come before, with my Adria squad managing only three points from the final ten games, not even picking up a win in that time. With nothing spectacular to add in terms of cups, this was, all in all, a season of serious disappointment.

It appears Slovenia is not the place to which I should take my evident managerial quality. I'll give this challenge another go at some point, but I'm going to concentrate on other saves for now. I'm not sure how I managed a fall from 5th to 9th in the league without doing anything I deemed wrong; perhaps 2011-2012 was just an anomaly.

For now, it's zbogom to Slovenija.

Season      Division                     Pos.      Cup         Europe         Achievements

2011/12     Slovenian Second League      5th       2nd Round     N/A         Avoided Relegation
2012/12     Slovenian Second League      9th       2nd Round     N/A         Relegated, if that's achieving something

Thebaker · July 21, 2011

Budafok Hungarian Division 1 2036/37

(pictures seem to have come out a bit odd)

The team wasn't as dominant as in previous seasons and ended with 80 points, the lowest total for 10 years. The hungarian and league cups were retained, strangely the hungarian cup final was played on the 17 June, 3 weeks after the last league game and only 3 days before the new season. The Cl campaign started with a 3-1 win over Barcelona and i was dominant in the group only losing the last game to Barcelona with my reserves playing. In the 1st KO rd 2 2-0 wins were enough to get past Inter. I beat Palermo 4-1 in the Qtr-final 1st leg at home and played my reserves in the 2nd leg, a decision that nearly cost me as the team went 3-0 down. I brought on some of my first teamers and went all out attack, drawing the game 3-3.

In the semi i faced Valencia losing the away leg 1-0 before squeezing past them 2-0 in the 2nd leg at home.

The final was a very even affair with few chances, Camara decided it with a goal in the 2nd half before i shut up shop when Ji-Parana was sent off.