FM12 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[corinthiano]

LLR - Zaragoza looks like a solid keeper. I think it is wise for you to keep the team intact for the new season. You have quality across the board and with less games and a more gelled team you can certainly expect better performances.

aldojags - it is the same as LLR for me when it comes to goalkeepers, not an attribute I look much into as I haven't had a keeper do something crazy so far. Seeing as Ceyhun Demircan's highest goalkeeping attribute is Eccentricty along with Kicking I will keep an eye open though now you have mentioned it.

Rlipscombe & LLR - the homegrown rule in Europe was something I struggled with at Real, I could never bring in quality youngsters with the money I had, so always had to go a little bit older, and with no restrictions at domestic level I just left it as a problem to solve once I was in Europe. In Turkey the restrictions are a lot larger, with only 6 out of the first 11 allowed to be foreign, so automatically I will have to look a lot more at young Turkish talent. I may be well ahead of myself but this summer I have already brought in three Turkish 18 year olds with potential to at least play in the second tier. This and the fact that my first youth product got a U19 call-up already makes me feel like I have started the challenge a lot better in this aspect this time around.

[aldojags]

The reason I've mentioned it as I've had a few scouts warn me under the part "weakness" in the scout report, it's listed as a weakness they have high eccentricity. the report always says somethin along the lines of unpredictable style of goalkeeping etc. Might not that be that significant, but unless the keeper is unbelievably good in other areas, I normally bypass the ones with high eccentricity.

My heart is broken...my youth prospect that I've bored you all with past few seasons in my game - Jimmy Donaldson, has gained French Nationality and is now playing for French U-19's after playing for Scotland U-19's last season! He's went from being touted as the next Davie Weir, to the next Laurent Koscielny. The whole reason I persisted with him was because I wanted to try and develop a player for the Scotland national team, and then he goes and switches allegiance! I don't know what to do, feel like releasing him for treason, or fining him! But I'll keep going with him, there's no way this guy will ever be good enough to play for first team of France, so still hoping I'll produce a Scotland international as my first real youth product with Viry-Chatillon. But I still feel betrayed, like the bit in Braveheart where William Wallace sees Robert the Bruce has sided with the English, just heartbreaking! hahaha

[corinthiano]

Hahahaha, I feel your pain! As a Brazilian I don't think I would ever be able to get one of my youth products into the national side, would be cool to hava a half Brazilian playing for the Turkish national team though...

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Corinthiano - I get a lot of my youngsters in very cheap, some even free, I run a secondary shortlist called, "Players to sign" - and I put a bunch of youth targets in there with the hope if I can't afford them right away I can shortly or offer when 6 months left on contract.

Aldojags - Well that's no good, terrible choice by the young man. I would like to even have a New Zealander come through the youth system, pretty sure if I got one who was half decent he would make the national side. My latest Youth Prospect has a 0.5 star potential, but has South Sudan as a nationality, thought I should try and get him into the national side of the newest nation in the world.

[corinthiano]

That is a very good idea LLR, cheers for that. I have come across that situation plenty of times where I just think no chance of signing him. Will start putting that kind of player ona shortlist from now on

[Manku]

Ramon Ramirez's

Real Massama

2013/2014

Recap

Pre-season:

After last season's 6th place, I was very confident I would be able to build a strong enough

squad

to fight for promotion. I knew I had to do a lot of cleaning up in my squad, due to the enormous amount of players I had. I basically let most of the contracts run out and gave away the players I deemed surplus. It was a

busy silly season

, with a few players coming in, and lots of them going out. As I usually do, I arranged friendlies with the strongest teams I could find. The boys played really well against the Premier League teams we faced (2W-3L-1D), which assured me we had a shot.

Taca de Portugal:

This season, we got to the third round of the portuguese Cup. We beat Moura(1-0), and Serzedelo(2-0), before we met Braga in the third round.That was a very good game, but unfortunately we

lost

on the PKs. Once again, I thought it was a good indicator of the quality of my team, we didn't shy away from almighty Braga, and made them earn their win.

Portuguese Second Division- South

:

This season was tough, we faced tough competition from Oriental, and even with our outstanding first turn record (12W-2L-1D), we found ourselves second. The title race went all the way until the very last day, when I was finally able to claim the title. The second turn was ugly, and my record is anything but impressive, if compared to the first turn (8W-2L-5D). Luckily, Oriental had a second turn even worse than mine, allowing me to climb up and snatch the first spot with 2 rounds to go.

For me this season only helped prove the old saying "A great offense wins games, but a great defense wins championships." As you can

see

, we had by far the best defense, and Oriental had the best offense, but in the very end we won. (I feel really good about that, not gonna lie.)

Play-offs:

After a long a hard fought battle to win the Division title, the job wasn't done just yet. We still had to face Oliveirense and Moreirense for the right to be promoted. We lost against Moreirense in our first game, and tied the second against Oliveirense. By game 3, I was very nervous. I had this feeling that I wasn't going to make it, and that after a long season the promotion dreams would be shattered. Yet, the team was able to turn things around and win the last two games. We got the top spot, and we are on promotion away from the top league!

Key Players:

GK:

12. Assis

Joined the team in the beginning of the season, and immediately became the first choice. Our goalkeeper, the man behind the best defense in the division, and the man who prevented Wins from becoming ties. A good goalkeeper does make a difference, and Assis definitely made a difference this season.

DC:

15.Renan Felipe

After joining the team during the previous winter, Renan Felipe adapted himself to our style of play, and the rest of the team. By the beginning of this season, it was already obvious who would be the main man in front of the keeper.

FB:

3.Alex Kakuba

After being the star of the team the previous season, Kakuba faced some problems with injury, and constant travel for international duty. Nevertheless, he still managed to be a big influence playing in both sides of the pitch. In fact I wich I could clone him so I could play him in both sides at the same time.

AMR:

11.Fabio Martins

Hands down our star player, best scorer, most assists, this kid was

absolute class

. Without him, we wouldn't even be a contender.

ST:

9.Diego Zaporo

Our lone striker, who is an assist machine. My system usually works with a striker who can assist rather than score, and Diego did the job perfectly. I'm glad he decided to lower his contract demands and stay with us for one more season.

Future:

We just turned professional, and moved up to a way stronger league. The goal is to try to hang in there this season, and build a squad for the future. I can't wait to see how it goes.

[corinthiano]

Great season Manku, well done on getting out of the the third tier, it is such a difficult to get out of of! Best of luck for next season, but be prepared for a long tense battle. If your game turns the same way as mine your club will have by far the worst reputation and wage budget, meaning attracting decent players will be tough.

[aldojags]

Well done manku, sure you'll do fine in the next tier now you've turned professional.

LLR- South Sudan? That a real country? Never saw a player with that nationality before!

[corinthiano]

South Sudan is the worlds newest country - wiki

I am surprised FM have included them already, although I can't imagine they actually play anything other than friendlies.

EDIT - sorry, hadn't noticed LLR already mentioned they are the newest country. Oh well, at least the wiki might be interesting

[aldojags]

Yeah had a read at it, they don't have FIFA membership yet, so surprising to see them in the game.

[DodgeeD]

I'm back again with FM life slowly moving along between bouts of thesis research and writing.... In fact, it's been so slow I've just finished the 2026-27 season and then realised I forgot to report on 2025/26!!

Congrats to everyone who has made progress in the challenge (too many since my last post to count!) and welcome to the new challengers.

Corinthiano - good to see you back in the challenge not only with a Turkish side but with an Ankara team as well (I've been to see Hacetteppe play a couple of times!) They are well known for producing decent youngsters who then get snapped up by the bigger Ankara teams before getting snapped up once more by the Istanbul 'Big 3'.

Back-to-back reports coming up!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Yeah had a read at it, they don't have FIFA membership yet, so surprising to see them in the game.

There is also place in the game for Basque (Not a FIFA member), Tuvalu, and I am sure there are others I just can't think of them I thought it was pretty cool to get a regen from South Sudan...random, but cool

[corinthiano]

DodgeeD - great to see you back too, even more so now you can answer random questions on the Turkish leagues

Great to hear that Hacetteppe are know for producing youngsters, I think this is well reflected in the game seeing as the youth facilities are pretty good and some very decent players have come through the first two youth intakes. It is about another Ankara team I wanted to ask you a question: is Ankaragücü in a huge mess? I read on wiki that they have had some financial problems and saw they got relegated by quite a distance this season. In my game they have gone down all the way to the 2. Lig and are even in danger of being relegated again!! I don't think I have ever seen such a rapid fall! Are you from Ankara btw? Or lived there for a while?

Look forward to hearing about your last couple of seasons with Afyonkarahisarspor, in my save the buggers have inflicted my only league defeat of the season so far!

[aldojags]

LLR- I agree, shows great detail. I've saw Basque too, but you can't click on them to see their team. I take it South Sudan is the same?

[DodgeeD]

Keçiorengücü 2025/26 Season Review

Quick Overview

Premier Division: 1st

Championship Group: Winners!!

(qualified for next season’s Champions League Group Stage)

Turkish Cup: Quarter-finalists

Super Cup: Winners!!

Champions League: 3rd in Group Stage

Europa League: Quarter-finalists

Premier Division

We had a good solid season, only losing twice. We led the way from about January onwards but we also had Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş snapping at our heels most of the way as all of the top three reached/passed the 80 point mark.

Final Table

Championship Group

As usual, the points were halved for the championship play-off and a defeat to Fenerbahçe in the opening match meant we dropped to second. We responded well wining the next 4 on the trot as the other teams beat each other allowing us to claim a 5th straight title!

Final standings

Super Cup

City rivals Gençlerbirliği were no match for us in the season curtain raiser.

Turkish Cup

We breezed through the first couple of rounds only to come unstuck in the quarter-finals where Gençlerbirilği got revenge for that early season Super Cup match with a 2-0 win.

Champions League

A tough start as we travelled to Old Trafford and inevitably lost to Man U. We then got a big win away to Ajax followed by back-to-back wins over Salzburg. All seemed set for qualification before disaster struck as we lost to both Man U and Ajax at home, consigning us to 3rd and a Europa League spot.

Final Group Table

Europa League

APOEL were our first opponents and were easily beaten to set up a 2nd Knockout Round tie with Juventus, the side who beat us in the Europa League final back in 2023. Revenge was sweet as we beat them 2-0 home and away to move into the quarter-finals. There we faced Arsenal. A 1-0 win at home in the first leg was a good start but we couldn’t follow it up as we lost 3-0 at the Emirates and said goodbye to Europe for another season.

The Squad: Transfers

The usual clear-out of fringe and youth players was accompanied by some big money departures as right-back Berkan Yemiş went to Man City for 12.5 million TL and French winger Delahaye went to Villareal for a similar amount. Delahaye’s replacement came in the shape of a promising young Turkish winger from the German leagues, Mustafa Sağlik, with a couple of youngsters joining him – Louis Rosseau would turn out to be the pick of them.

The Squad: Key Players

Akif Kılınç (DR) – the reason I was happy to sell m first-choice right back to Man City! Cemented his place in the first team and became a regular in the national side too.

Carlos Silva (DL) – took Turkish citizenship at the start of the season but then got called up and capped by his native Portugal. Very consistent on the left side of defence, enough so to win the Premier League Defender of the Year award and be the only Keçiörengücü player in the league’s Team of the Year.

Kadir Alagöz (DC) – Injuries restricted him to just 29 appearances this season but he was always first choice when fit..

Şahin Kaya (DM) – Also blighted by injuries this season but crucial as our most senior player.

Marius Dragut (MC) – The driving force of our midfield.

Mustafa Sağlık (AMR) – Came in as back-up but was a regular starter in the second half of the season.

Erman Ergin (ST) – Struggled with injuries during the season but when he was fit and scoring, we were winning.

Alexandre Tavares (ST) *screenshot missing* – Started the season in great form and won the Footballer of the Year in Turkey award only to have his season ended in early December by a broken foot. Here’s hoping he can bounce back next season.

The Squad: Ones to watch

Atahan Şen (YP9.2) continued his development with some great performances and Emrah Özkan (YP7) provided high quality back-up to our first choice strikers. Fırat Pak (YP11) added to our fine tradition of youth team products with a very good debut season covering at right-back. From outside our youth academy, Kaan Uygun seems to have found his position as a left-winger and Loris Rousseau had a fine first season with the club.

The Season Ahead…

Report coming up…

The Story So Far…

[b][u]Season[/u][/b][b]  | [u]Division[/u]    | [u]Position[/u] | [u]Play-Offs[/u] | [u]Turkish Cup[/u] | [u]Europe[/u]       | [u]Achievements[/u][/b]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012-13 | 2nd (Grp B) | 5th      | QF        | 1st Round   | N/A          | N/A
2013-14 | 2nd (Grp B) | 1st      | N/A       | 3rd Round   | N/A          | Promoted!
2014-15 | First       | 1st      | N/A       | 3rd Round   | N/A          | Promoted!
2015-16 | Premier     | 10th     | N/A       | 4th Round   | N/A          | Stayed up
2016-17 | Premier     | 6th      | Won in R3 | 4th Round   | N/A          | Qualified for Europa League
2017-18 | Premier     | 2nd      | 3rd       | 4th Round   | EL 4th QR    | Qualified for Europa League
2018-19 | Premier     | 2nd      | 2nd       | Semi-final  | EL Group     | Qualified for Champions League
2019-20 | Premier     | 3rd      | 2nd       | 5th Round   | EL 1st KO    | Qualified for Champions League
2020-21 | Premier     | 3rd      | 2nd       | 5th Round   | EL 2nd KO    | Qualified for Champions League
2021-22 | Premier     | 2nd      | Winners   | 4th Round   | CL Quarters  | League Champions!
2022-23 | Premier     | 2nd      | Winners   | Winners     | EL Finalists | Domestic Double; Super Cup Winners
2023-24 | Premier     | 1st      | Winners   | 5th Round   | CL Semis     | League Champions; Super Cup Winners
2024-25 | Premier     | 1st      | Winners   | Finalists   | CL Quarters  | League Champions; Super Cup Winners
2025-26 | Premier     | 1st      | Winners   | Quarters    | EL Quarters  | League Champions; Super Cup Winners

[DodgeeD]

DodgeeD - great to see you back too, even more so now you can answer random questions on the Turkish leagues

Great to hear that Hacetteppe are know for producing youngsters, I think this is well reflected in the game seeing as the youth facilities are pretty good and some very decent players have come through the first two youth intakes. It is about another Ankara team I wanted to ask you a question: is Ankaragücü in a huge mess? I read on wiki that they have had some financial problems and saw they got relegated by quite a distance this season. In my game they have gone down all the way to the 2. Lig and are even in danger of being relegated again!! I don't think I have ever seen such a rapid fall! Are you from Ankara btw? Or lived there for a while?

Look forward to hearing about your last couple of seasons with Afyonkarahisarspor, in my save the buggers have inflicted my only league defeat of the season so far!

You'll have plenty of questions once you get involved in the European places play-offs!

Ankaragücü had an awful season - bottom of the league with 11 points... Financial problems are a reality for many of the smaller teams here due to the absolute dominance of the big Istanbul teams and Trabzonspor. Ankaragücü regularly get gates of just about 2,000, don't own their stadium and have wasted cahs on journeyman foreign 'stars' and over-rated local players. I wouldn't be surprised if they are relegated again next year.

I'm from England originally but have been in Ankara for about 12 years now.

Btw, as you'll see from the above report, I'm managing Keçiörengücü raather than Afyonkarakisarspor.

[aldojags]

well done on your consecutive titles dodgeed. Dragut is a beast, and at only 20 I think you've got a superstar on your hands in a few years time.

[DodgeeD]

Keçiorengücü 2025/26 Season Review

Quick Overview

Premier Division: 1st

Championship Group: Winners!!

(qualified for next season’s Champions League Group Stage)

Turkish Cup: Winners!!

Super Cup: Winners!!

Champions League: 1st Knockout Round

Premier Division

Walked it! Undefeated with only 8 points dropped meant we topped the table by some distance.

Final Table

Championship Group

Even after the points were halved, we still a lead of 9 points. There was a minor hic-cup in our first game as we blew a two-goal lead at Beşiktaş to draw 2-2 but we were dominant after that, sealing the title with 2 games to spare as we humiliated Fenerbahçe in front of their own fans.

Final standings

Super Cup

Gençlerbiriliği again. We scored 6. They scored 1.

Turkish Cup

The early rounds were negotiated with little trouble until we reached the semis and Trabzonspor. We needed extra time to see them off 4-2 and set up a final with Galatasaray. That game went all the way to penalties but we held our nerve to win the shoot-out and complete the double!.

Champions League

This time, our domestic form transferred over to the Champions League as we stormed through the group stage, winning 6 out of 6 including two victories over Inter Milan. Celtic and Dinamo were just there to make up the numbers.

Final Group Table

Our opponents in the knockout round were Chelsea. We took an early lead at Stamford Bridge but the home side would rally and inflict our only defeat of the entire season upon us as they won 3-1. That one defeat would be decisive as, despite a valiant fight back, we could only win 2-1 at home and bowed out 4-3 on aggregate.

The Squad: Transfers

Big money came in this season as three major departures brought in 53 million TL. In the summer, I accepted a 19 million bid for my Danish goalie Sorenson and in January, Argentine striker Luis Petcoff, who was unhappy about lack of game time, moved for 20 million to Galatasaray (and promptly got injured!). We also made a neat profit as Portuguese winger Hugo Miranda joined on a free from Sporting in the summer and transferred for 12 million to Lecce a few months later.

Of the players to come in, I had high hopes for young Argentine/Spanish attacking midfielder Claudio Garcia Rémon as well as 20 year-old French keeper Jean-Baptiste Kalimunda.

The Squad: Key Players

Jean-Baptiste Kalimunda (GK) – what a great signing! Very quickly claimed the number 1 jersey and ended the season with the league’s Goalkeeper of the Year award and a spot in the Team of the Year – could be a great keeper for us for many years.

Fırat Pak (DR) – a long-term injury to Akif Kılınç meant an extended run in the side for the 17 year-old which he handled very well.

Carlos Silva (DL) – consistent yet again but bizarrely now playing for Switzerland after being capped by Portugal last year!

Ariel Domini (DC) – With Kadir Alagöz injured for most of the first half of the season, I relied on Domini to fill his boots.

Renato Gaucho (DC) – also stepped up to the challenge of replacing Alagöz.

Kadir Alagöz (DC) – İnjured for 6 months early in the season but came back and reminded us what he’s all about.

Şahin Kaya (DM) – Not quite as good as he was a few seasons ago but still a key member of the squad.

Marius Dragut (MC) – more of the same!

Mustafa Sağlık (AMR) – Again, did well, was named Turkish Cup Player of the Year and earned 3 caps for Turkey.

Kaan Uygun (AML) – now established as our first choice left-winger.

Erman Ergin (ST) – Top scorer for the season with his goals in the league and in Europe (including a Messi-esque 5 in one game against Dinamo). Provided plenty of assists as well, helping him to be named Footballer of the Year in Turkey.

Emrah Özkan (ST) - really made his mark towards the end of the season with some match-winning performances. Also scored a hat-trick on his Turkey debut and was the Turkish Cup Top Scorer.

Alexandre Tavares (ST) – Came back in style to become our top scorer in the league once again.

The Squad: Ones to watch

Claudia Garcia Rémon had a very good first season, providing solid cover for Dragut and getting called up to the Spanish U21s. Loris Rousseau also continued his progress with us as did Ömer Öcal, who bagged a few goals for the first team after a couple of seasons off on loan at our feeder clubs.

The Season Ahead…

We have new sponsorship deals this season and our stadium is about to be expanded to just under 17,000 seats. That, coupled with continued Champions League qualification and transfer income means we are financially very secure. However, instead of spending big, I may use the chance to renew some contracts as Ergin, Alagöz, Domini and Tavares all have less than 2 years to go on their contracts and will probably be asking for big bucks to stay.

On the pitch, I’ll be looking to progress in Europe. A few seasons ago, we were getting close with a Europa League final appearance and a run to the semis of the Champions League. Since then, we’ve slipped back a little so getting to the last four once again will have to be the aim…

The Story So Far…

[b][u]Season[/u][/b][b]  | [u]Division[/u]    | [u]Position[/u] | [u]Play-Offs[/u] | [u]Turkish Cup[/u] | [u]Europe[/u]       | [u]Achievements[/u][/b]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012-13 | 2nd (Grp B) | 5th      | QF        | 1st Round   | N/A          | N/A
2013-14 | 2nd (Grp B) | 1st      | N/A       | 3rd Round   | N/A          | Promoted!
2014-15 | First       | 1st      | N/A       | 3rd Round   | N/A          | Promoted!
2015-16 | Premier     | 10th     | N/A       | 4th Round   | N/A          | Stayed up
2016-17 | Premier     | 6th      | Won in R3 | 4th Round   | N/A          | Qualified for Europa League
2017-18 | Premier     | 2nd      | 3rd       | 4th Round   | EL 4th QR    | Qualified for Europa League
2018-19 | Premier     | 2nd      | 2nd       | Semi-final  | EL Group     | Qualified for Champions League
2019-20 | Premier     | 3rd      | 2nd       | 5th Round   | EL 1st KO    | Qualified for Champions League
2020-21 | Premier     | 3rd      | 2nd       | 5th Round   | EL 2nd KO    | Qualified for Champions League
2021-22 | Premier     | 2nd      | Winners   | 4th Round   | CL Quarters  | League Champions!
2022-23 | Premier     | 2nd      | Winners   | Winners     | EL Finalists | Domestic Double; Super Cup Winners
2023-24 | Premier     | 1st      | Winners   | 5th Round   | CL Semis     | League Champions; Super Cup Winners
2024-25 | Premier     | 1st      | Winners   | Finalists   | CL Quarters  | League Champions; Super Cup Winners
2025-26 | Premier     | 1st      | Winners   | Quarters    | EL Quarters  | League Champions; Super Cup Winners
2026-27 | Premier     | 1st      | Winners   | Winners     | CL 1st KO    | Domestic Double; Super Cup Winners

[DodgeeD]

well done on your consecutive titles dodgeed. Dragut is a beast, and at only 20 I think you've got a superstar on your hands in a few years time.

Cheers aldojags

Dragut is indeed a beast - that pace means he surges forward very quickly. A shame he's not a better finisher though as I could get him to score a few!

[aldojags]

Yeah he is a total athlete.

Tavares put in a phenomenal season after his injury last year. And your keeper looks brilliant, and I tend to find keepers keep improving until mid-late 20s particularly mentally and communication etc so you've got a gem there.

I just qualified for knockout phases of Europa league, stealing 1st place in the Group from Dynamo Kiev courtesy of a 7-2 victory away to RB Salzburg. Was my reserve team with 4 u19s playing also, including a 16 yr old keeper, and 2 17 yr old defenders, one of which being Jimmy "The Traitor" Donaldson, scored his first ever goal for the club.

Just got this guy lined up on pre-contract...John Larsson.

[corinthiano]

Oops DodgeeD - sorry about that, there are a couple of purple teams and the names are quite difficult to remember lol, I forgive your team for not beating me then!

I am amazed by the youngsters you keep producing, they are absolutely amazing. A shame about the European campaigns, but I am sure with the youngsters maturing you will be able to progress further in europe in the next few seasons.

I just read up on Keçiorengücü, they are also from Ankara and were founded as Hacettepe, is that right? Why do Turkish teams change names so much, do they get bored?

EDIT - aldojags - Larsson looks awesome! And that is an impressive win agains Salzburg, mainly with the side you put out. You reckon you can go all te way in the Europa League?

[aldojags]

corinthiano - nah I doubt it, still really debating whether to take it seriously or not. My absolute priority is finish top 3 in the league, which I'm on course for, but that's because I've only played reserve players in Europa so far, if I started taking it seriously, I worry my league form would suffer. Got Celtic in the first knockout round, then if I win that, got Malaga or Tottenham, so all 3 of those teams could be tough, haven't decided what to do yet!

Yeah Larsson looks the part, looking forward to getting him in the summer!

[aldojags]

My recruitment for next season continues with another bargain bosman on a pre-contract - Pep Remedious from Real Madrid, this guy looks phenomenal!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

LLR- I agree, shows great detail. I've saw Basque too, but you can't click on them to see their team. I take it South Sudan is the same?

It seems the South Sudan team is actually there, though they have no real players, and only ever play friendlies, I would be guessing they are in as they are an actual nation, as opposed to Basque which is not (Not trying to stir anything up, but I am speaking recognised nations), seems the same for Tuvalu & Kiribati, which both also compete in the Pacific Games, but not in anything else.

[corinthiano]

aldojags - another absolute gem you got yourself there. If you don't get into the top 3 this season then you surely will next season with those kind of signings!

LLR - Seems realistic to me that Sudan only play friendlies, they aren't even a CAF member yet and I think it would have been precipitated to include them in official competitions in the game. It is a shame though that you can't view the Basque Nation, they do play a few friendlies IRL so it would be cool to be able to do that in the game as well.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Corinthiano - Would be quite cool to play as Basque, but I would be guessing it is an issue with regions rather than nations, not really sure though.

[aldojags]

corinthiano - yeah I'm pleased with both signings. Sitting 3rd at the minute, end of January. Played well most of the season, see no reason why I can't finish top 3. 2nd would be great, get straight into Group Stages of Champ League, but PSG & OM are looking too strong at present.

[La Furia Roja]

Club History

Anthony Heath

Club Information

Decided to give the challenge a go.

First Action: Clear out dead wood and strengthen the side

Season Aim: Mid table finish.

[DodgeeD]

@ corinthiano, LLR and aldojags - I think Basque is only in the game as a 'nationality' so the 'basque-only' policy at Bilbao can be implemented. Non-FIFA countries like South Sudan, Guadeloupe and Reunion can play friendlies or enter regional tournaments as they do in real life but doing the Basque or Catalonia friendlies would probably cause issues with the nation a player is eligible for in the game. I had it once (back on FM 08 I think) when I was manager of the French team for a while and found a real gem of a player but he had been capped by Reunion so I couldn't pick him!

aldojags - I was very happy with Tavares' comeback. For some reason, my coaches don't rate him anymore (2.5 stars compared to 4.5 pre-injury) and are always telling me to drop him. I did have another stirker (Nicky Woodford) who was great until two serious injuries left him a shadow of what he was, which made Tavares' return all the sweeter. Good luck with the rest of the season and the push for a top 3 spot - looks like you have two good prospects coming in next season

corinthiano - I think it's a case of teams folding and being refounded that explains the name changes. As it happens, your Hacettepe only became Hacettepe a few years ago. Before that they were known as Gençlerbirliği OFTAŞ and were essentially the B team of Gençlerbiriliği (who should still be in the Premier Division in your game). However, they won promotion to the top flight and were faced with a choice of either severing all ties with their parent club or being denied promotion. They chose the former and as a result changed their name. It didn't do them much good though as they then suffered consecutive relegations thus making them eligible for this challenge!

La Furia Roja - welcome to the challenge and best of luck in Germany.

[DodgeeD]

Looks like this season may be tough....

I was delighted to see we were among the second seeds in the Champions League draw. Inter, who we beat last season, were also placed in our group but who did we get from pot 3? Bayern Munich! And pot 4? CSKA Moscow!!

On the contract front, I've negotiated new deals with Kadir Alagöz and Erman Ergin (both are now on 145k TL p/w) but the others with less than two years on their deals are demanding 250k-350k. My board won't sanction anything above 150k so I may end up having one last season with them before having to sell and revamp the squad a bit.

[aldojags]

Got a bit of a dilemma, Lubos Matta is wanting to leave for a bigger club, I'm in 20th Jan and my assistant has warned me Matta "will be forced to take things further" if i dont sell him, he's transfer listed by request, Sevilla are interested, but what else can I do? For £6m, he's not exactly been a raging success, but I still think he's got potential, don't want to sell, but after these next few months he's got 2 yr left on his deal. My instinct is to play hard ball, try and keep him, but obviously I want to cash in if I can, so was thinking of offering him out for like £10m with a 50% next sale fee, see if anyone bites. He's got a bloody cheek wanting to leave, he's nowhere near proved himself with us yet, paid £6m quid for him, and he's scored like 20 goals in 18 months, hardly form that would have a big club sniffing around. But his stats look phenomenal so surely he'll come good.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

@ corinthiano, LLR and aldojags - Non-FIFA countries like South Sudan, Guadeloupe and Reunion!

That all makes some sense, just as a side though, I currently have these three nationalities in my side:

Charles Yohans (DL) is Reunion/French

Mach Lokiru (MLC) is Spanish/South Sudanese

Jacques Nangis (ML) is French/Guadeloupe

My Current 18 man match-day squad is broken down as follows:

CZE: 3

FRA: 2

DEN: 2

ARG: 1

ENG: 1

WAL: 1

TUR: 1

GEO: 1

BRA/AUT: 1

CMR/BEN: 1

FRA/GPE: 1

SUI/BIH: 1

ARG/ESP: 1

SRB/HUN: 1

Then my other players who make appearances represent the following nations:

GER/RUS/BEL/MEX/CAN/POR

So that is 18 different nationalities in my normal matchday squad, but only one Spanish player (Jesus Montiquin - Naturalised) which is a bit sad, but the best Spanish players seem to cost a fair amount whereas I can buy ample replacements from around the globe quite cheaply.

[DodgeeD]

I've noticed that seems to happen in the game whatever the domestic league is. Currently in my save, any half-decent young Turkish player costs at least 5 million TL, often more, but there are better youngsters from South America and Europe available for half the price. Foriegn restrictions make it tricky so it's a good thing that it's easy to find German players with Turkish as a second nationality

[aldojags]

LLR I'm the same, French players are too expensive, got 3 Frenchmen usually in 1st team squad, but otherwise my squad is flooded with foriegners.

Just had a look at the 2nd Nationalities of my Under 19's quite a few have a 2nd nationality, quite common for French players I think isn't it? Got Italy, Benin, Central African Republic, Serbia, Morocco, St Pierre + Miquelon, Algeria, & Guadelope, those nationalities have all come through my youth system as 2nd nationalities in the last 2-3 years.

[corinthiano]

La Furia Roja - best of luck with RB Leipzig!

DodgeeD - thanks for the explanation, I had read up about Hacettepe and saw the whole Genclerbirligi B team thing, but they also changed their name twice before that! No wonder the attendances in the lower leagues are so poor, don't think the fans can get attached to a team if it keeps changing identity. Also, tough luck on that CL draw, that is a true group of death!

On the whole nationalities front I remember at my Real save the only Portuguese players I had in my first XI were the two Brazilians that naturalized Portuguese and were called by the national side. In this sense I quite like the stricter rules of Turkey, always nicer to do it with at least a few local players. Like DodogeeD mentioned it is handy that there are tons of turkish players in Germany and also a few spread around other European countries. If anyone remembers the awesome LB I had at Real, Seyithan Bilir, he was actually half Danish, half Turkish and started his career at FC Midjtylland.

Ah, also, finished another season with Hacettepe and I only have obe thing to say...I hate those bloody playoffs!!

EDIT - aldojags - makes sense for your youth players to have second nationalities, mainly of the former french colonies. In portugal I had a few players with Guiné-Bissau, Angola and Cape Verde and even Macau as second nationalities.

[Andy Sava]

Holstein Kiel

After being forced to take a long break from the beautifull game, Andy Sava is ready for a come back and took charge of his old team from last year's challenge, Holstein Kiel. The staff&fans welcomed him back to the club with open arms and are waiting for another fantastic campaign while he is in charge.

| Manager Profile | Club Information | Squad |

The objective for the first reason is to avoid relegation with a possible mid-table finish and to build the squad for a promotion in the second season.

Updates will be brought troughout the season with major updates after the first part of the season and at the end of the season.

[aldojags]

Say hello to Ilan Roger, my new youth recruit, a 4 star striker, who at 15 already looks pretty handy. Think I've got a total gem here guys don't you agree? High finishing and composure already. Really pleased with that! Never had a 4 star recruit before! Got a couple of 2 star players aswell which ain't too bad, they usually make for good squad players if they hit their potential, so signed them on too!

You ever seen "spineless" as a personality type in a report? Just noticed it whilst browsing my youth recruits! I'm not signing this guy, don't want a spineless player in the squad!

Welcome to the breach andy sava, good to see new blood on the thread! If your Kevin Schultz turns out as good as iacovones you'll be pleased!

[Crispypaul]

Fancied a break from my career game, so have tried this challenge again, this time in Spain, with Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa

Founded in 1923, Cultural y Dep. Leonesa are a professional Spanish club currently playing in the Spanish Second Division B1. The club play their home games at Reino de León and possess average training facilities and basic youth facilities. The club also has average junior coaching and an average youth recruitment network. The club is affectionately known as Los Culturalistas and retains a fierce rivalry with R. Valladolid C.F., S.A.D. and S.D. Ponferradina.

The club enjoyed probably their best spell of success during the 2000s. Although now enduring a thirteen year barren spell, having not won a competition since 1999, Los Culturalistas still have a history of which they can be justly proud. Cultural Leonesa won the Spanish 2nd tier for the only time in 1955, won the Spanish 3rd tier for the only time in 1999 and finished runners-up on three occasions, and won the Spanish 4th tier on five occasions and finished runners-up six times.

Profile

Club Overview

Club Information

Squad

Season expectations: Top half finish

Wage p/w: £25,578

Transfer budget: £15,161

[Romanista1994]

corinthiano - Hope you get promoted soon, I also totally agree with your hate of playoffs.

Manku - Congrats for the promotion.

DodgeeD - Great to see you back and going still going strong in Turkey.

La Furia Roja - Can see you getting promoted in the first season with RB Leipzig. Good luck.

Andy Sava - Good luck with Holstein Kiel.

aldojags - That's a great prospect, I can see him becoming a future French international. The other player's you've brought in look excellent as well, but good youth products always have that special feel about them.

Crispypaul - Good luck in Spain.

[aldojags]

crispypaul - good luck to you mate, that club sounds pretty well set up for a rise up the leagues, handsome starting wage budget too, though I don't know the standard of Spanish lower leagues, that may be the norm? Hope u enjoy the challenge

romanista - I hope so, I need to manage him properly, worried I won't develop him properly. I've got 2 "model professional" strikers who are currently tutoring other players, but when they are done I will hook him up with them, and next season begin to introduce him to first team from the bench. But he looks a diamond, I've got 2 strikers at the minute who are 4*, and their stats look world class, so I really hope I bring this kid through right and I could have as you say a French international on my hands. Really looking forward to his progression. got a few 2* PA youngsters who've started and played well in a lot of my Europa League fixtures, so I can't wait to see what Roger will be capable of!

Yeh there's something specially satisfying about playing your homegrown players, real pride when they score/play well! (jealously heads off to read prdh's old updates!)

[corinthiano]

Andy Sava and Crispypaul, best of luck!

aldojags - Ilan Roger looks pretty good, just got to get his jumping to improve to make sure you can take full advantage of his excellent heading ability.

[Romanista1994]

Yeh there's something specially satisfying about playing your homegrown players, real pride when they score/play well! (jealously heads off to read prdh's old updates!)

DodgeeD's as well, he's another that has had some fantastic players come through.

[aldojags]

I didn't know that, I'll go and have a look at his last post. What players do you know?

[Romanista1994]

Kadir Alagöz, Eman Ergin and Şahin Kaya are the main ones off the top of my head.

[aldojags]

bloody hell you're not lying they are quality, especially Ergin, they're all great, but him especially! good on you dodgeed whenever u read this, they are brilliant

edit: what facilities/youth recruitment u got?

[corinthiano]

Hacettepe Spor Kulübü - 2014/15 Spor Toto 2. Lig

Spor Toto 2. Lig Group A

Media Prediction: 7th

Board Expectation: Top Half Finish

My Target: Promotion

League Table: 2nd ǁ Position Graph

We were moved into group A this season and after a good start I was feeling confident it would be our year, as we sat comfortably at the top. Around the halfway mark we started showing worrying signs though, drawing a couple of easy games, letting our competitors get close. Then 3 extremes, first 5 games without a win saw us drop to third, followed by a run of 6 wins, which just about put us on top, but then a dreadful last 5 games saw us lose out first place and head to the playoffs off the back of a poor run again.

Third Place Playoffs

Quarter Final – It was a close game, but Semih Daglar clinched it for us with 5 minutes remaining.

Semi Final – Lost in a tight game to Y. Malatyaspor, a team which we had done the double over the regular league season…

Ziraat Türkiye Kupası

Fixtures

Another First Round loss, we clearly are not a cup team.

Hacettepe

Transfers ǁ Squad - Defence ǁ Squad - Attack

We relied much less on loans this season and managed to bring a couple of decent youngsters with potential in too. Overall I was happy with squad depth, which is what kept us in the top positions, as we really struggled with injuries this season.

First XI

GK: Ceyhun Demircan – A much more solid season by Ceyhun, who was been attracting some bids in the off season.

DR: Fahri Akyol – The half-german was excellent and we really missed him when he was out for 2 months during the season. Voted Fans Player of the Year.

DC: Emin Ergün – Kept up the solid partnership with Çakir.

DC: Onur Çakir – Same as above really, can’t complain about those two.

DL: Servet Gökçen – Replaced the ageing Can Ulun and had a decent season, although he is probably the weakest player in the first eleven.

DMC: Barbaros Barut – Very solid DM, really imposed himself on attacking players.

MC: Caner Yilmaz – Went from a back-up role last season to a place in the first team this year and I reckon he can still improve a bit.

MC: Taner Taktak – Present as always, have to say I have a soft spot for him.

AMC: Mesut Dogan – Again not 100% happy with him, he is still doing the job but it could be time to replace him if I manage to free up some wage budget.

ST: Semih Daglar – The real problem position this year, in the end Semih played more times and better than the other strikers along Onur Garip. I have managed to arrange a pre-transfer for the striker who helped knock us out, Ergun Cengiz from Y. Malatyaspor and I am hoping he will help us be deadlier in front of goal next season.

ST: Onur Garip – A better season from Onur as he broke the club’s league goalscoring record. He now has 39 league goals for Hacettepe.

Others

Emrah Bayram – Can’t really consider him a reserve seeing as he played as much as the other MCs and was equally as solid. It is a position I am very well served in.

Eyüp Özçelik – Managed to give my youth product some game time this season, at the rate he is progressing he could challenge for a place in the first team soon.

Mehmet Düz – Brought in the winter to help solve the striker crisis, was a bit of a failure.

Mümin Bas – Another excellent player to come through our youth setup, scored an amazing 29 goals for the U18s, with an average rating of 7.47. Could well see some first team football next year.

Other News

Finances – At least we are consistent when it comes to losing money, almost a million in the red now.

At least I reached my 100th game for the club, which is always nice.

This Season Targets

1. Promotion, I don’t care how anymore, obviously through a league win would be better. Nope, very frustrating.

2. Be more consistent and lose less easy points. Not really, our best season points wise, but we should have won a lot more matches, too often teams managed to hold us to goalless draws

Next Season Targets

1. Promotion, just promotion. Nothing else.

All we can do is keep going, at least the squad is getting stronger each year and some awesome youngsters are coming through, can’t say the future doesn’t look promising.

Career Overview

Season       League          Pos        Türkiye Kupası        Europe           Other Achievements
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13      2. Lig          2nd        Second Round          N/A              Lost in Playoff Semi-Finals
2013/14      2. Lig          3rd        First Round           N/A              Lost in Playoff Quarter-Finals
2014/15      2. Lig          2nd        First Round           N/A              Lost in Playoff Semi-Finals

[aldojags]

yeah corinthiano I think once you get the first promotion you'd climb the leagues pretty quickly. That is really frustrating though, two 2nd place finishes along with a 3rd, you'll get there mate. Who was your first save with again?

[corinthiano]

Cheers aldojags, my first save was with Real in Portugal, there it took me 3 seasons in each division to get up, gone past that point with Hacettepe but I am enjoying the save so will keep going on regardless.

[Manku]

I just promoted my vice-captain to captain, and nominated another player as vc. The guy who got promoted got mad at me, for replacing him. Does this make sense at all?

[Manku]

Ramon Ramirez's

Real Massama

2014/2015

Recap

Transfers

Squad

Table

Pre-season:

After getting promoted last year, I didn't really know what to expect from this season. We had, by far, the lowest reputation and wage cap in the league, and the squad wasn't very strong at all. Unlike last pre-season, this time we got crushed in our preseason friendlies, coming out with an awful record (2W-5L-1D). I was was scrambling for players, and though we had turned pro, the majority of the squad was still part-time. I feared the worst. Eventually I was able to sign some players on loan, who ended up making a difference later on.

Taca de Portugal:

This season, we started on the 2nd round and faced fairly weaker opposition, humble FC Famalicao. We started the game well, going ahead 2-0 on the first half hour. I got cocky and thought it was won already, so I decided to rest my star players because we had a match in 3 days. I was wrong. Famalicao came back and tied the game on overtime. I made some tactical changes, and we managed to score with 10 minutes to go on extra time, but Famalicao came back and tied the game right away. We went to PKs and, for the third year in a row, I got knock out from the PK spot. I was mad at myself for messing that one up.

Portuguese League Cup:

It was our first time competing in this competition, and we didn't know what to expect. We bow ou with one loss and two ties, in the the first group stage. Again, I didn't expect much from us so I'm glad we didn't get our butt kicked in all of the games.

Portuguese Second League:

Overall, it was a good season for us. We avoided relegation, which was our goal. We started the year really slow, and by the 4th game we were (0-2-2) and rock bottom. We were able to gain some momentum and joined the mid-table group. For the rest of the season we just hanged in there. At times we were very close to the top 3 but suddenly our form would drop and we would go down a couple spots. We ended up that low because of our form the last 5 matches, when we were lost 4 out of 5 games. All and all, it was a good season and we learned a lot from it. We ended up in 10th place with a (11W-13L-6D) record, which wasn't too bad in my opinion.

Key Players:

DC: Filipe Paiva Joined on loan from Belenenses and became Renan Felipe's partner in front of the keeper. He was also our third best scorer, a quality player.

DL: Mariano Cappi Joined on loan from Portimonense, a quality player and very good offensively. Whoever was the Left Winger, always played better with Cappi behind him.

FB: Alex Kakuba For the third year in a row, Alex made has been a great influence on both wings. This season, he kept improving, stayed healthy, and ended up getting himself a spot in the Team of the Year.

AMR: Fabio Martins Not as influential as last season, Martins was still one of the main men at Real. He scored some important goals and assists

ST: Gael Etock Also on loan, from Academica, was an absolute killer for us. He scored 13 goals in the league, and though he did have a goal drought that drove me crazy for a month, he did make a big difference.

Future:

We are going to start our second season at this level with the hopes that it might be the last one. I made many changes in the squad, and we got a bigger wage budget, which allowed me to sign some quality players. Hopefully it will be enough to get promoted.