Gundo&#039;s FM12 European Adventure Challenge™

2018-19: SL - 1st, CL Groups, EL Last 16

2019-20: SL - 1st, Cup Runners-Up, CL Groups, EL Last 32

2020-21: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Groups, EL Last 32

2022-23: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Groups, EL Semis

2023-24: SL - 1st, Cup Runners-Up, CL Last 16

2024-25: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Quarters

RocheBag · May 15, 2012

Wow! That is really great news. Hope this is the first of many CL-appearances. Who are you up against?

Thanks guys!

I was drawn into a group with Chelsea, AC Milan, and Zenit. The win was the last of the 6 matches, with me losing the first 5, but keeping all the scores close, even Milan and Chelsea away.

The turning point of this save was when I sold my superstar youth pull for 2.3M two seasons ago, that provided the cash to finally turn Professional, and get in some good players. I'm now the dominant force in Iceland, winning 31 domestic matches in a row, and have since qualified for the Champions League group stage again. About to do the draw now

RocheBag · May 15, 2012

And congrats on completing the challenge Taunton! It seemed almost impossible when I started but seeing you do it gives me a bit of hope

La Furia Roja · May 16, 2012

Congratulations to everyone here, Tauton especially, you could tell from the updates you got attached to the club.

I did it last year and its one of the best feelings to get in FM.

RocheBag · May 16, 2012

Of course, having this guy doesn't hurt either

Chutney132 · May 16, 2012

Congrats Taunton! A Great effort! You too RocheBag, that Hannesson looks immense for the Icelandic Leagues! How is he not capped more yet though?

My Hungarian dream is over, I'm afraid. In an attempt to clean up my saves (as I run incremental saves on a weekly autosave), I inadvertantly deleted the wrong file, thus losing the save... Serves me right for deleting all files at once rather than one by one...

But have no fear, I will be back shortly, I just might change leagues as I wasn't really connecting with Hungary. Any ideas on a relatively simple (to understand, not easy ) league system, in particular one where the season is short? Preferably one where no-one else is playing?

michaeltmurrayuk · May 16, 2012

So after a break thanks to Mass Effect 3 I am back

Austria Salzburg – Premier Division 2015/16 – Season 4

So after finishing last season in a comfortable 7th place but in the red the hopes for this season were again to avoid relegation and I was again to do it with no money. The bookies gave us odds of 150-1 whilst the media predicted we would finish 9th in the league, personally I was hoping to make a run at getting into Europe as some of my players are starting to get itchy feet.

Transfers - new signings were limited to to promising youngsters for free, though £75K was spend on a promising Hungarian Winger Debreczeni which might have been a mistake as he can not settle and has been away twice already. Sales wise various squad players and youngsters were loaned out whilst wantaway Striker Bodul was sold for a record £220K to a First Division side, before German Midfielder left for newly promoted LASK for £700K - he was refusing to sign a new contract and the money was too good to turn down.

FA Cup - Not sure how but we somehow managed to win the FA Cup, knocking out moneybags Mattersburg in the 3rd round was shock but not as big as our Semi-Final win over Austria Wien where we somehow won with just 9 men - it was a cagey affair with neither of us able to fashion clear chances but things started to go wrong in the second half as first my leftback Muller was forced off and then his replacement Delgado got sent off leaving me with a DM at left back and one man upfront but with Wien unable to find a way through it went to extra-time where Winger Rezic promptly got injured and with all my subs made I was forced to play extra-time with 9 very tired men, I was forced to move my strikers out wide and hope for pens as all we could really do was run the clock out by punting hopeful long balls and hoping we didn't conceed, however one long ball resulted in Zimmerman tackling the last Wien defender and rounding the keeper to slot the ball home to give us the most unlikely of leads that we somehow managed to hang onto to set up a place in the Final against Sturm Graz.

Before the final we were given some good news and some bad news - Spanish Striker Emilio was finally back from injury however Keeper Zach would miss out after picking up an injury the week before, I also made a bold move in putting 16yo Academy prospect Kovac on the bench as my centre-back cover - as my other centre-backs were tired and hadn't exactly impressed in the 9-1 maulling we'd just suffered at Red Bull (I sacrificed the league game for the cup - resting anyone who was going to play in the Final, however with injuries and players on international duty I played whoever I was left with which wasn't much).

It turned out putting Kovac on the bench was a masterstroke as after 22mins centre-back Unger went off injured and on came Kovac who opened the scoring in the 29th minute being the first to get his head on a corner (not a bad time to score your first goal) and then in the second half he was bundled over from a corner and midfielder Bergmann cooly slotted home the resulting penalty, whilst in Goal understudy Progelhof put in a fine performance pulling off some good saves, this also means we'll be in the Europa League next season Not that the board were impressed.

Table - we finished in a rather disappointing 7th place again this season we spend most of the season in 6th place fighting for 5th but at the tail end I concentrated on the cup with allowed Wacker to overtake us, the problem is the top five teams have vast more resources transfers and wages wise and whilst we can match them in one off games I don't have the squad to do it through the whole season.

Squad

Keeper Daniel Zach returned from his loan in Portugal muck improved and after a slow start has now made the #1 jersey his wiht some good performances, though Florian Progelhof did well when required and hopefully they push each other on.

In defence we had some more new faces that helped to make us more solid, at right back was Spanish youngster Oscar Sesma who had been released by R. Madrid whilst on the left was German Sven Muller who'd been released by Stuttgart. In the centre of defence Andreas Unger and Johannes Nordstrom have started to form a strong partnership helped by the fact that Nordstrom stayed injury free this season and has started to get his pace back, providing cover were Fabio Strauss the only original Salzburg squad member left, new signing Yaw Oppong who arrived on a free from Leverkusen and academy prospect Horst Kovac who looks like he is going to be a quality player.

In midfield Manuel Schuttelkopf was in good form down the right as was Jorge Ortega on the left however he is getting itchy feet and wants to move to a bigger club hopefully european football will encourage him to stay next season otherwise I'll have to cash in on him, providing cover was Croatian Ivan Rezic.

In the middle of the field playing the defensive role was new signing Dieter Bergmann who had an excellenet season and ensured we didn't miss Kapsa, in the playmaker role I again rotated between Julian Hobel and Markus Klotz.

Upfront Rexhe Bytyci was in good form whilst Emilio had a mixed season not helped by injuries nor the fact that he demanded a transfer however I have no desire to sell him to a domestic side and he'll need to wait for a foreign to come in for him. Providing cover was German Jurgen Zimmermann who put in some good performances and a Turkish youngster Fuat Gokkaya who is the first player I have with the Promising tag who will hopefully replace the wantaway Emilio long term - he did start the season off with a bang when he played for the injured Emilio however he hasn't scored since October.

Best XI - Spot on for I think the first time ever.

Academy wise it was a dissapointing season with just DM Aladin Handzic worth promoting and he is only 3 star.

Awards - I pick up two manager of the year awards (not sure why we need two?) and we are named the best team in the league.

Reputation - The cup win see's our reputation rise to the 7th best in the country, whilst the league drops down to 19th behind the Scottish and Spanish Cups. Whilst Coefficients wise we stay in 14th - we need to get above Belguim in 12th to get a Champions League group spot.

The biggest news was the fact that the board finally got planning permission to build us a new stadium with a capacity of 18,000 that is only bettered by Red Bull and LASK which should finally see us able to compete with the big boys, however the loan repayments of £150K a month will cripple me for the next two seasons.

Apart from the loan repayments our finances are looking good - player sales took us out of the red, whilst the cup run brought in some more money and some bumper new kit sponsors replacing the £80K and £10K sponsors with £340K and £180K I also now have five parent clubs bringing in £400K a year.

So the plan for next season is to hopefully enjoy our European adventure hopefully we'll get to the group stage luckly we only have the one qualifying round to get through and also manage to qualify again next season, the biggest thing will be to make sure the loan repayments don't cripple the club.

Career Overview

Season          League                League Finish     Achievements            Euro Ranking Austria (UCL/EL)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13        First Division             1st           Champions - Promoted          14 (2/3)
2013/14        Premier Division           6th                                         13 (2/3)
2014/15        Premier Division           7th                                         14 (2/3)
2015/16        Premier Division           7th           FA Cup Winners                14 (2/3)

Taunton · May 16, 2012

And congrats on completing the challenge Taunton! It seemed almost impossible when I started but seeing you do it gives me a bit of hope

Thank you. Just hang in there. When you get a foothold in Europe you will have lots to build upon.

Congratulations to everyone here, Tauton especially, you could tell from the updates you got attached to the club.
I did it last year and its one of the best feelings to get in FM.

Thank you. Yes it was special, and I got attached. Still am. The club is also from the area where my grandfather grew up, so that makes it extra special.

Of course, having this guy doesn't hurt either

Great player. And the best of all, he is icelandic. I struggled big time to find good domestic players.

Congrats Taunton! A Great effort! You too RocheBag, that Hannesson looks immense for the Icelandic Leagues! How is he not capped more yet though?
My Hungarian dream is over, I'm afraid. In an attempt to clean up my saves (as I run incremental saves on a weekly autosave), I inadvertantly deleted the wrong file, thus losing the save... Serves me right for deleting all files at once rather than one by one...

But have no fear, I will be back shortly, I just might change leagues as I wasn't really connecting with Hungary. Any ideas on a relatively simple (to understand, not easy ) league system, in particular one where the season is short? Preferably one where no-one else is playing?

Thanks. And sorry to hear about your save. I will reccomend Norway, of course, really straight forward league. Belgium is nice because of the foreigner rule, but the play off system is a bit complicated. I also always enjoy playing in Wales, but that will give you some challenge.

Looking forward to see your progress no matter what you choose.

michaeltmurrayuk: Good to have you back. Congrats with the cup, and good luck in Europe. Great update!

RocheBag · May 19, 2012

Well Fjaroabyggo's second foray into Europe was much more successful than the first. A couple of scrappy draws against Athletico Madrid at home, and PSG away, set the table for this result:

Add a home draw vs Chelsea (without the services of superstar Hilmar Hannesson even), and Fjaroabyggo finish third, marking our first knockout stage (albeit Europa League) appearance, and only missing out on second in the Group by 1 point. Things are looking up in Iceland.

michaeltmurrayuk · May 19, 2012

Austria Salzburg - Europa League Update

Salzburg were to make their second European debut (it seems we inherited the pre-Red Bull sides history after Red Bull bought the original Salzburg side, which means we are credited for being runners-up in the Europa League back in 1994 who lost to Inter Milan) with a trip to Croatia to face Dinamo who looking at their history have won the Croatian League every season since 2006 (and went one better than us by winning the Euorpa League back in 1967) and have dropped out of the Champions League into the Europa League each season so far, so not the easiest of ties but there are worse sides in the draw.

However it didn't take us long to make an impression with Emilio scoring after 3 minutes and it was clear we were the better side as we ended the game with a comfortable 3-1 lead to bring back to Austria.

In the Second Leg we didn't get off to the best of starts as an error from Unger allowed Dinamo to open the scoring, however Ortega brought us level on the night with a long range effort before a Bergmann pen put us ahead on the night aswell, before Emilio took over and scored an insane six goals in 20 mins :eek: - his fourth was the best as he robbed the ball from Dinamo from the kickoff ran through their team and slotted the ball past their Keeper, and if going in 8-1 down at half time wasn't bad enough they were again reduced to 10 men, in the second half we let our foot off and could only grab one more to make it 9-1 on the night though Emilio did manage to get two more goals ruled out for offside, and I wouldn't have minded another goal so we could banish the Red Bull result from our history.

In the group stage we were made the lowest seeds and got a group containing Udinese, Spartak Moscow and Sevilla and to make matters worse Emilio injured himself and would be ruled out for the entire group stage so he wouldn't be adding to his tally.

First up was a home game against Udinese where we came away with a creditable 1-1 draw, next we went to Moscow and returned home with a 0-0 draw that actually left us second in the group, next up was a double header against Sevilla who out matched us but could only win 2-0 thanks to some fine saves from my Keeper Zach, in the return game we put in a better performance however Keeper Zach managed to fumble two free-kicks into his own goal to leave us with another 2-0 defeat.

Next up was a trip to Italy and despite a strong showing our finishing again let us down as we eventually fell 3-1. The final game was at home to Moscow and with us out and this result just determining who finished last I fielded a largely second string side as the league was now more important, however they did me proud as we recorded a 4-1 win to secure third place and with Sevilla getting full points we were only two points behind Udinese in the end.

All we need to do now is requalify next season, and at the half-way point the league has again split - we are currently fifth 13 points clear of 7th placed LASK, eight behind second placed Austria Wien but 17 behind leaders Red Bull who are walking away with the league thankfully the top four get into Europe.

maisonjaune · May 20, 2012

After three months away from the game, I'm happy to present the next chapter of my challenge in Slovenia .....

NK Krka Novo Mesto

Season 2021-22 Update

Progress is slow, but sure. This season saw us edge ever closer to the top spot in the Slovenian League, finishing only 3 points behind leaders Maribor. It was a close thing about 6 games from the end, but we hit bad form at the wrong time and couldn't recover to nick the title.

Incredibly, this season was our sixth consecutive cup final appearance. We got back to winning ways this time, with a tidy 4-0 win over Celje, after an excellent semi-final defeat of Maribor, the holders. Winning the cup doesn't really give us anything useful, because our league finish qualifies us nicely for Europe next year anyway.

Which brings us to Europe this year. It seems that not wishing for group stages is the way to go, because we battled through the third and 4th qualifying rounds of the Europa League, and secured our place in Group A. It would be contested with Napoli, Rangers and Werder Bremen. Hopes were obviously low, and we travelled to Naples for the first of six group games. A shock 2-0 win for Krka put a smile on everyone at the club's face, and we welcomed Werder Bremen to Portoval in high spirits. Amazingly, we managed the same scoreline again, with 2 different goalscorers giving us 6 points out of 6.

Rangers proved to be an entirely different prospect. Despite the fact they'd only collected a single point from their first two matches, they triumphed 2-1 at our home ground. The return fixture proved equally unfruitful, as we went down 4-1 to change the complexion of the group entirely.

We entered the final two games placed third, with Napoli and Rangers just one point ahead of us, both on 7. Napoli came to Slovenia looking to hold on to top spot in the group, but it was us who held on for a 1-1 draw. Rangers took all three points in their game, leaving Bremen rock bottom, but us needing to win, and hope Rangers didn't lose.

Neither of those things happened. Werder Bremen romped to a 5-1 victory over us, and Napoli beat the Glasgow side, giving us a disappointing, but promising 3rd place finish.

|| Table | Graph | Cup run | Europe ||

Defensive strengthening was on my mind last summer, and in total I signed 4 defenders during the window, three of whom were free transfers. Add to that a new first-choice keeper and our defence was looking hopefully a bit more solid. Andrei Constantin, Vitaliy Lytvynenko, Fabinho, Patrice Michel and Vlastimil Homola were the 5 acquisitions in that particular transfer window. Add to that Jakub Novak in January and we have just about too many defenders to put on a pitch.

Plenty players left on frees, Mitja Plahuta being the most significant. Ladislav Adamek was poached by a Qatari club, adding a cool £1.1m to our bank. Nenê sadly was also taken from us; he returned to Brazil. Forward Dejan Mihaljovic signed for us on the final day of the January window, wrapping up a busy year of deals.

|| Transfers | Squad ||

Player of the season: Babacar Camara - Once again, this lad performed. 14 goals and 17 assists gave him an average rating of 7.66 over his 47 starts, and he collected eleven MotMs on his way. Top stuff.

Top Goalscorer: Mauro - Eclipsed everyone else this season. A new record goalscorer by some distance, Mauro's 33 goals make him a key player to hold on to. As if that wasn't enough, try 24 assists on top of that. Just unbeatable.

One to watch: Patrice Michel - Potentially a top defender, and as he is French, he qualifies for the EU National rule in place in the Slovenian League. An important player now and in the future.

|| Finances | Boardroom | Confidence ||

Our pitch has just been relaid, and the club's youth facilities are on the up. Slowly building the club into contenders, but I think I will still be on this challenge for a good few years yet.

Slovenian clubs had a superb year in Europe, with Maribor actually getting through their group, and also the First Knockout Round. Slovenia push up to 16th, just one place behind an elusive 2nd Champions League spot.

Next season: Progress in both league and Europe. I don't know what else to ask for.

|| Season  |          League           |  Position  |  Europe  |       Cup       |       Achievement     |    Top Scorer       ||
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|| 21/22   |  Slovenian First League   |   2nd/10   |EL Grp 3rd|     Winners     |  Europa League Groups | Mauro (33)          ||  
|| 20/21   |  Slovenian First League   |   2nd/10   | EL 3rd Q |    Runners-up   |           -           | Filip Pospisil (16!)||
|| 19/20   |  Slovenian First League   |   3rd/10   | EL 3rd Q |    Runners-up   |           -           | Mitja Plahuta (25)  ||
|| 18/19   |  Slovenian First League   |   3rd/10   | EL 3rd Q |    Runners-up   |           -           | Gregor Sculac (24)  ||
|| 17/18   |  Slovenian Second League  |   2nd/10   | EL 3rd Q |     Winners     |   Promoted, Cup win   | Goran Zinic (24)    ||
|| 16/17   |  Slovenian Second League  |   4th/10   |    -     |     Winners     |          Cup          | Goran Zinic (21)    ||
|| 15/16   |  Slovenian First League   |   10th/10  |    -     |    2nd Round    |       Relegated       | Miran Cavnik (11)   ||
|| 14/15   |  Slovenian Second League  |   1st/10   |    -     |    1st Round    | Promoted as Champions | Tim Ceh (15)        ||
|| 13/14   |  Slovenian Second League  |   8th/10   |    -     |  Quarter Final  |    Highest Scorers    | Mitja Barboric (13) ||
|| 12/13   |  Slovenian Second League  |   8th/10   |    -     |        -        |        Survival       | Mitja Barboric (7)  ||

midgetram · May 22, 2012

Nice to see you back michael and maison, and good luck in Europe to both of you.

FK Macva Sabac - 2025/26 End of Season Update - Super League

League (Positions) : 10 in a row! A return to normal this year after last season's hard fought win. Took the lead early on, and never looked like in any trouble to concede it. A 4-1 win over Red Star before Christmas basically put a gap between us that never closed back within 5 points. Partizan, backed by a Brazilian tycoon, finally managed to finish 2nd for the first time in 12 years.

Cup : After knowing that if I were to get far in both cup and Europe, the fixture pile-up would be immense, I decided to play mainly youth with one or two senior players to see how well they managed. Sneaked through one game, and almost got through another against a side that went on to finish 5th in the league. Not too bad of an effort though; might continue this selection policy next year too.

Champions League : After getting a nice group last year, I wasn't expecting the same fortune twice in a row. Not to be disappointed, we drew ourselves with Valencia and runners-up for the last 2 years Inter alongside Olympiakos. Draws in Milan and then at home to Valencia put me in a strong position to qualify, especially as Inter also only managed a draw in Greece. After doing the double quite easily over the Greek side, we went into our home game against the Italians knowing a win would secure top spot in the group. However, we lost due to a idiotic 92nd minute goal, meaning we had to go to the Mestalla and avoid defeat to qualify at all. Luckily we sneaked out with a 2-1 win, securing us 2nd in a tight group.

The 'luck' didn't stop there for us though; as in the last 16 we drew ourselves with the reigning champions Chelsea. We were fortunate to get away with a 1-1 draw at home, but we were never in contention at the Bridge; losing 2-0 and 3-1 overall.

It seems to me that we're on the 2nd level of teams in Europe, not good enough to consistently beat the top sides, but good enough to progress to the knock-out rounds year on year...

Squad (1)(2) and Transfers : Not much change in the approach, trying to use academy players when I can. Peric being the exception; after handing in his transfer request at Partizan in early October we somehow won the race to sign him ahead of all the big teams from Portugal, Russia and Germany. He's took a bit of time getting used to our system, but I'm expecting big things from him next season.

Player of the Season (who has NOT won it before...) : Ivan Damjanovic - ST

Eagle eye spotters would've noticed that he's already moved on to CSKA Moscow in the summer, but only since he's felt that he's done all he can achieve at the club. Being part of a 3 striker rotation has limited his chances somewhat so I don't blame his decision to wanting to move on.

Finances : We paid an obscene amount of tax this season, no idea why (perhaps the amount of transfer income the year before?), so naturally after making a loss of £9m beforehand the shareholders took another £11m for themselves...

Other Stuff : A selection of other events that have happened this season.

My Under-19s won the league once again, but got knocked out of the cup at the Quarter-Final stage. Also, the Reserves won the title for the 2nd year in a row.

2026 Champions League Final: Inter Milan 0-3 Man United. Congratulations Internazionale, you are the first team in CL history to lose 3 finals in a row. At least they now lead the UEFA coefficients list :rolleyes: Also in the knock-out rounds, we had probably the best/worst (depending on your point of view) penalty shootout in the history of penalty shootouts between Fenerbache and Barcelona.

2026 Europa League Final: Sevilla 1-0 FC Porto. Porto's run to the final went through Bayern Munich, Bordeaux, Roma and Man City so a little bit harsh that they didn't go on to win the final.

We had 16 players in the preliminary squad for the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, of which 14 got chosen. Serbia started off the tournament well, qualifying top of their group which contained the top ranked side in the world (Argentina). However, a poor showing in the 2nd round saw them get knocked-out by Russia 1-0.

The fairytale story of this world cup though were the Algerians. After drawing their opening game with Brazil, the hammered Croatia and Australia to come top of the group. In the 2nd round, they knocked out holders Netherlands 1-0 and in the Quarters dispatched the Argentines 1-0 also. In the semi-finals they came across the Germans, and despite taking them to a penalty shootout managed to come through it 4-3.

In the final, they faced Portugal; who won the World Cup back in 2018. Unfortunately all good stories have to come to an end eventually, and a 90+3 minute winner by Carlos Oliveira secured a 1-0 win for the Portuguese.

History

2012-13: FL - 5th

2013-14: FL - 2nd

2014-15: SL - 5th

2015-16: SL - 2nd

2016-17: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, EL Semis

2018-19: SL - 1st, CL Groups, EL Last 16

2019-20: SL - 1st, Cup Runners-Up, CL Groups, EL Last 32

2020-21: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Groups, EL Last 32

2022-23: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Groups, EL Semis

2023-24: SL - 1st, Cup Runners-Up, CL Last 16

2024-25: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Quarters

2025-26: SL - 1st, CL Last 16

crouchaldinho · May 24, 2012

Have wanted to try this challenge in Sweden for some time and think I might well give it a shot on FM12!

Just want to clarify something.

-You are free to use a Large, Medium or Small a database and [/font]you are permitted to load all players from your chosen nation however No additional players from any other nation should be loaded.

Does this mean the 'players based in nation' option or is it 'players of nationality'. Maybe even both?

Taunton · May 24, 2012

Have wanted to try this challenge in Sweden for some time and think I might well give it a shot on FM12!
Just want to clarify something.

Does this mean the 'players based in nation' option or is it 'players of nationality'. Maybe even both?

I think it is all players from your chosen nation.

Good luck, by the way. :thup:

DJB_1990 · May 25, 2012

OK, so I've decided to give this challenge a go. And yes, I've been boring and gone for Norway like a few others, but I've never managed there and wanted as many tiers to climb in the league system as possible so it sounded a good choice. This is my profile and Voss FK are my club.

Alexani · May 25, 2012

I completed this back in FM2007, but haven't tried it since. However, thanks to an inept board and a horrible transfer policy, my hometown team of Drøbak/Frogn currently languishes in the Norwegian third division. That means that I can manage the team I once played for in Gundo's challenge!

Manager Profile

In the early nineties, Drøbak/Frogn regularly challenged for promotion to Tippeligaen, but the club has fallen on hard times. My hometown is also somewhat famous for trying to claim that Santa Claus lives there (didn't really work), and for sinking German battleship Blücher during WWII.

FM claims that Seiersten Stadion has a capacity of 5000. As you can tell, this might be a slight exaggeration. 300 seats sounds about right, though.

Predicted 13th out of 14. Transfer budget of 12K, wages 4K. I bravely told the board that we can avoid relegation.

Now, off to find some staff.

michaeltmurrayuk · May 26, 2012

Austria Salzburg – Premier Division 2016/17 – Season 5

So after winning the FA Cup last season and qualifying for Europe, the board expected a mid-table finish (no idea what that means in a 10 team league?) and whilst they gave me some moeny for transfers they neglected to give me any money for wages, whilst the bookies gave us odds of 33-1 and oddly thought we might go down? and the media predicted we'd finish 8th.

Transfers - I continued to pick up cheap youngsters with potential, including a Danish born Turkish Centre-back Tuna Bektas who becomes the second player I have to get the promising tag. Saleswise I loaned out various youngsters and sold off various unneeded squad players, whilst Winger Jorge Ortega was sold to Spanish side Sporting for a record £3.4m (though I did have to give ~£1m to his previous club) his contract was expiring and with him wanting a move to a bigger club he wouldn't sign a new contract so I was forced to sell him as European football wasn't enough to keep him at the club.

Europa League

Salzburg were to make their second European debut (it seems we inherited the pre-Red Bull sides history after Red Bull bought the original Salzburg side, which means we are credited for being runners-up in the Europa League back in 1994 who lost to Inter Milan) with a trip to Croatia to face Dinamo who looking at their history have won the Croatian League every season since 2006 (and went one better than us by winning the Euorpa League back in 1967) and have dropped out of the Champions League into the Europa League each season so far, so not the easiest of ties but there are worse sides in the draw.

However it didn't take us long to make an impression with Emilio scoring after 3 minutes and it was clear we were the better side as we ended the game with a comfortable 3-1 lead to bring back to Austria.

In the Second Leg we didn't get off to the best of starts as an error from Unger allowed Dinamo to open the scoring, however Ortega brought us level on the night with a long range effort before a Bergmann pen put us ahead on the night aswell, before Emilio took over and scored an insane six goals in 20 mins :eek: - his fourth was the best as he robbed the ball from Dinamo from the kickoff ran through their team and slotted the ball past their Keeper, and if going in 8-1 down at half time wasn't bad enough they were again reduced to 10 men, in the second half we let our foot off and could only grab one more to make it 9-1 on the night though Emilio did manage to get two more goals ruled out for offside, and I wouldn't have minded another goal so we could banish the Red Bull result from our history.

In the group stage we were made the lowest seeds and got a group containing Udinese, Spartak Moscow and Sevilla and to make matters worse Emilio injured himself and would be ruled out for the entire group stage so he wouldn't be adding to his tally.

First up was a home game against Udinese where we came away with a creditable 1-1 draw, next we went to Moscow and returned home with a 0-0 draw that actually left us second in the group, next up was a double header against Sevilla who out matched us but could only win 2-0 thanks to some fine saves from my Keeper Zach, in the return game we put in a better performance however Keeper Zach managed to fumble two free-kicks into his own goal to leave us with another 2-0 defeat.

Next up was a trip to Italy and despite a strong showing our finishing again let us down as we eventually fell 3-1. The final game was at home to Moscow and with us out and this result just determining who finished last I fielded a largely second string side as the league was now more important, however they did me proud as we recorded a 4-1 win to secure third place and with Sevilla getting full points we were only two points behind Udinese in the end.

FA Cup - Our defence of the FA Cup didn't go well as Sturm Graz got revenge on us with a Third Round win.

League Table - We secured ourselves a rather excellent 4th place finish, we even managed to make Red Bull wait another week to claim the title after we stuffed them 5-1 to get some revenge. Whilst the final game of the season was a tense occasion as we faced Mattersburg with at the time the last Europe spot up for grabs - we were three points and two goals clear of moneybags Mattersburg so a two goal defeat would see them leapfrog us into the last European spot, however we held out for a 1-1 draw in a tense game that a few days proved meaningless as Austria Wien won the FA Cup on pens (interestingly one of my loanes missed the last pen to give Wien the cup) granting Mattersburg a european place aswell.

POS Graph - a strong finish to the season thanks to a lack of cup/european games and players returning from injury saw us snatch a European place, our excellent home record helped aswell, salary and spending wise we are still outmatched but Emilio and Bytyci listed in the top player stats for the league.

Squad - Europe and injuries took their toll on my side this season

In Goal Daniel Zach had a good season and has cemented his place as #1 however I have a couple of promising youth keepers who will hopefully push him further.

In defence Oscar Sesma was in good form at right back, covering him was Academy prospect Reinhard Schneider who proved a capable understudy, on the left German Sven Muller was in equally good form and covering him was highly rated English youngster Andy Baddeley who'd been released by Arsenal. At centre-back Andreas Unger and Johannes Nordstrom had formed a solid partnership which resulted in Unger being the first player I've had to be called up and capped for the Austrian National side, however it wasn't to last as Nordstrom randomly demanded a move to a bigger club and found him dropped for Academy youngster Sascha Mazur who slowly grew into the role.

In midfield Manuel Schuttelkopf had a mixed season on the right, whilst on the left youngster Jens Vogler replaced the outgoing Ortega and he had an excellent season ensuring that we didn't miss Ortega.

In the centre of midfield Dieter Bergmann had an excellent season, with Spanish youngster Josu Martinez providing cover who had been picked up on a free from Athletic, in the playmaker role Markus Klotz claimed the position as his own with some solid performances with Julian Hobel providing cover.

Upfront Rexhe Bytyci had his best season yet grabbing a record 14 assists and getting named in the Team of the Season (or Round as it seems to be called?), Emilio also had an excellent season he seemed to be spurned on by missing the Europa League Group stage through injury and upon his return from injury in the second half of the season was unstoppable, even more surprising was that he changed his tune about leaving the club and signed a new 4 year contract and now lists us as one of his favourite clubs. Covering for the injured Emilio was promising Turkish Striker Fuat Gokkaya who had an excellent season, and to provide support I brought in Brazilian Cristiano for a bargain £20K who didn't have the best of starts thanks to home sickness and injury aswell as the fact that I'm retraining him as a Striker. I also had a Swedish Striker Linus Hallenius on trial who chipped in with nine goals but his wage demands were way more than I could offer.

Academy wise I was given Mike Spies who has a 5 star potential the only problem being he can only play as an AMC which means I have to make the decision on whether to retrain him into a Striker or a Midfielder.

Best XI - About right as Emilio only makes the bench due to less appearances.

Overall XI - Unger, Nordstrom, Bergman and Ortega all get added.

Finances are looking healthy though thats thanks to player sales, we just need to survive the next season as once our new stadium is here we should be fine.

Home Screen

Rankings - the Austrian Premier Division moves up one place to 18 whilst the FA Cup stays at 22nd, but somehow the Scottish Cup climbs above the Dutch League. Whilst we drop down to 8th in Austria.

Co-Efficients wise it was a good season as Austria moves back upto 13th and is just one place away from an automatic Champions League Group Spot, it helped that LASK managed to sneak into Europe through the fairplay league.

So the plan for next season is hopefully reach the Europa League Group stages again and requalify for Europe before moving into our new stadium.

Career Overview

Season          League                League Finish     Achievements             Europe   Euro Ranking Austria (UCL/EL)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13        First Division             1st           Champions - Promoted                   14 (2/3)
2013/14        Premier Division           6th                                                  13 (2/3)
2014/15        Premier Division           7th                                                  14 (2/3)
2015/16        Premier Division           7th           FA Cup Winners                         14 (2/3)
2016/17        Premier Division           4th                                     EL GS        13 (2/3)

Alexani · May 28, 2012

The board expected a brave fight against relegation, while the media predicted us going down in 13th. We did better, finishing in a respectable 8th. We were never in any danger of going down, even though we spent most of the season hovering just over the relegation zone. This was due to the rubbishness of Stabæk in Tippeligaen, which meant that everyone knew that because of league rules, Stabæk 2 would go down. Since Pors and Nesodden were terrible, we could relax a bit.

All is not well, however. I went a little crazy with signings, while at the same time failing to unload players. We now have 30 players on the books, and that is clearly too much. As a result, finances suffered. The club is 159K in the red, which means that I need to have a yard sale. I'm expecting to sell/relase 15 players or thereabouts. Then I will try to sign a few new ones, and maybe get by with a squad of 18-20 players.

We did absolutely nothing in the cup, crashing out to Notodden in the first round.

Best players:

Fabien Vidalon: A rock in central defence, and top goal scorer. Would have struggled without him. He is 36, so not a man for the future. Will keep him for another season.

Andreas Granerud: My first signing, and the only one who can be called an immediate success. Provided 10 assists from his defensive midfield position. Can probably do a job for a couple of seasons, even if we go up.

Mammadou Diagne Latyr: Best striker, but then again, the others were rubbish. He only got going towards the end of the season, and scored 5 of his total 9 goals in the final three matches. Probable first choice next season, but needs to improve.

Future plans:

Do better at home. We were third in the league on away form, behind only Rosenborg 2 and Stabæk 2. If all games were played away, we would have gone up. At home we were 12th. Only Pors and Nesodden were worse. If all games were at home, we could have gone down. Clearly something that needs fixing if we are to be a great team.

We also need a new goalie. I brought in two this season, and they were both terrible. The amount of long shots let in were quite frankly ridiculous.

In other news, former Arsenal striker Kaba Diawara plays in my division. That is a career gone properly wrong right there.

Onwards to 2013. Hoping to do a bit better, consolidate and build for promotion in 2014, while not going bankrupt.

haze.13 · May 30, 2012

Union Royale Namur - Gert Fontaine - haze.13

Gert Fontaine has been announced as the new manager of Union Royale Namur as they prepare for the clubs return to the Belgian Third Division (A) following a year in the wilderness after a disappointing 2010/11 season that saw the club relegated from the Third Division.

I'm a late starter but keen to get into this challenge. Great to see some success already by some other posters! I have played quite a way ahead so I will try to get some updates coming soon.

midgetram · June 1, 2012

Another strong season there michael, hope you can get out of your EL group this season.

Solid start there Alexani. I think keeping your finances in check is one of the key areas at the start of these challenges, so hopefully you can get them under control next season.

Welcome aboard haze.13, looking forward to reading your updates

FK Macva Sabac - 2026/27 End of Season Update - Super League

Now press repeat...

League (Positions) : Number 11 in the bag here fairly comfortably. An early draw away to Partizan the only blemish, and we even managed to secure a 100% home record for the first time. Add to that a +100 GD and I'm running out of domestic objectives I'd quite like to achieve. The obvious one left is 100% season and then catching (and passing) Partizan's record of 13 titles.

Cup : Pretty comfortable here too. It's saying something that are hardest game of the run was at home to a non-league team. Destroying Red Star in the final is always fun to do.

Champions League : For the 2nd year in a row we got Inter as the top seeds in our group, this time joined by Shakhtar and Zurich. After losing a tight game in Milan, we flew through the next 3 games against the weaker sides (including a 4-0 demolition of Shakhtar). This left us just needing a win from the last games to qualify, whilst if we managed to win out, we'd get top spot in the group. We did the hard part by comprehensively beating Inter 3-0 at home, but then inexplicably drew 0-0 in Donestk to once again finish 2nd in the group. This was the chance to finish top of a hard group, and we kinda threw it away on the last day.

That draw on the last day was to prove costly, as for the 2nd time in a row we got Chelsea in the last 16. Once again we drew the home leg 1-1, and again we were outplayed in the away leg, this time just losing by the odd goal. Still no progress here this season.

Once again, next season we'll be top of the 2nd seeds. As long as we avoid Inter and Chelsea, we might finish top of the group for a change...

Squad (1)(2) and Transfers : Time to bid adieu to a few more legends; those being Petrovic, Vilotic and Zeljko. The sale of Zeljko did allow the emergence of Starcanin into the first team; whilst Damjanovic being sold did allow someone else to come in...

Player of the Season (who has NOT won it before...) : Borko Djurovic - ST

Oh yes, he's THAT good. I have a feeling Jonathan Dickson's (of old Red Star fame) record of 39 goals in a league season may be under threat if I play this kid for 75% of the games. Almost staggered he hasn't been given a full international cap, surely it's just a matter of time.

Finances : Less tax this year = Nice profit before transfers and dividends are even taken into account. I think I may keep a running total of how much these shareholders have taken out of the club, it must be around £100m by now.

Other Stuff : A selection of other events that have happened this season.

My Under-19s were pipped on the last day of the season (forgot to get the screen cap for that one), but were entered into the NextGen Series (or the FM equivalent any ways). A hard looking group for my youngsters, I'm just happy they won a game to be honest. Also, the Reserves won the title for a 3rd year in a row, this time just on GD.

2027 Champions League Final: Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid. No Inter Milan in the final is a shock, no English sides in the final 4 is an even bigger one. Madrid are now the #1 ranked side in Europe, so bets on us getting them in the groups have now shortened considerably.

2027 Europa League Final: Atletico Madrid 0-1 Sevilla. Back-to-back ELs for Sevilla, and their 3rd in 5 years. The Spanish do have a good depth of teams it seems.

For the first time in a long while, Serbia did not qualify for the 2027 Euro U-21 Championships, hosted in Germany this time around. Portugal continued the senior side's winning mentality, beating Italy 3-1 after extra time in the final; the 2nd time in a row the Italians have lost in the final.

The Copa America was hosted by Uruguay, however the hosts failed to get out of the group stages. Mexico were the shock winners of the tournament, beating Brazil on penalties in the final. The main surprise package however were Ecuador, who drew with Brazil in the groups and managed to secure 3rd place beating Chile in the play-off.

This completed an unique double for Mexico, after earlier in the summer securing the Gold Cup; beating Costa Rica in the final 4-0. The USA continued their tradition of semi-final appearences, once again being knocked out by the Mexicans.

South Africa hosted the African Cup of Nations, and went on to win the whole thing beating Ghana 2-0 in the final. Algeria, less than a year after their World Cup heroics, lost out in the Quarters 1-0 to the hosts and eventual champions.

Bahrain were the hosts of the Asian Cup this year, and were only just edged out in the group stages by Japan on goals scored. Previous champions South Korea retained their title, but only after beating Uzbekistan on a penalty shoot-out. South Korea went through the whole tournament only conceding one goal before the final shoot-out also.

History

2012-13: FL - 5th

2013-14: FL - 2nd

2014-15: SL - 5th

2015-16: SL - 2nd

2016-17: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, EL Semis

2018-19: SL - 1st, CL Groups, EL Last 16

2019-20: SL - 1st, Cup Runners-Up, CL Groups, EL Last 32

2020-21: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Groups, EL Last 32

2022-23: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Groups, EL Semis

2023-24: SL - 1st, Cup Runners-Up, CL Last 16

2024-25: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Quarters

2025-26: SL - 1st, CL Last 16

2026-27: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Last 16

berty1978 · June 3, 2012

I've decided to give this another go after having an enjoyable game in FM08, was Afturelding and made it as far as finishing 3rd in CL groups and then the Euro cup semis. Going with Iceland again as they have very short seasons.

So I started the game in Iceland in 2012 and holidayed for a season and the same two teams got promoted each time I reloaded, so unfortunately no Afturelding this time.

Handknattleiksfélag Kópavogs

Handknattleiksf%C3%A9lag_K%C3%B3pavogs.png

Berty Bassett takes over the managers position at Handknattleiksfélag Kópavogs (commonly known as HK for obvious reasons). Judging by the finances it looks like I have a fair bit of lee-way to spend on wages / have a transfer budget.

The team were in the premier division as recently as 2008 but two relegations since meant they were a second division side, but after promotion back to the first division I hope to fulfill their potential to become a big club.

HK play in the Kópavogsvöllur owned by premier division side Breiðablik, who are also understandably our fierce rivals.

Gundo · June 3, 2012

We are doing remarkably well in a tough Europa league group and actually look like qaulifying! Full Europa League report to come.

Chutney132 · June 3, 2012

Chutney132 returns with Serbia...

Well after a few weeks away, I'm back to try again with FK Partizan Bumbarevo Brdo in the Prva Liga Srbija. Predicted to come 14th (of 16) and with a ground boasting a mind-blowing 300 "All Seater" capacity, this could be difficult..

As a side note, you may notice I'm using a Serbian Alias on this save, in honour of a legendary Striker from my Banbury United (Dafuges Challenge) team on FM10. If this is an issue (as I see in the rules that we should use our actual nationalities) let me know and I'll start again as myself.

Chutney132 · June 3, 2012

I'm also pleased to see some newer players as well, maybe we can battle together for next to complete, given as the 'veterans' are WAY ahead of us at this stage... :thup:

michaeltmurrayuk · June 3, 2012

Austria Salzburg – Premier Division 2017/18 – Season 6

After finishing in an impressive fourth place last season the board expected a mid-table finish but again declined to give me any extra money for wages. The Media predicted we'd drop down to sixth whilst the bookies predicted the same with odds of 10-1. We were also given some good news when Mattersburgs tycoon pulled his support.

Transfers - A bit of the Ortega money was spend on some youngsters and I signed a couple of released youngsters, aswell as accepting free loanes from my parent teams. Saleswise I got rid of various unneeded squad players, though I'm slightly annoyed we only got £140K for Nordstrom despite demanding a move to a bigger side no one was interested in him.

Europa League - We started in the Third Qualifying Round this season with a trip to Bosnia to face Borac who we dominated and returned home with a comfortable 3-1 lead, the return leg was as one sided as last season but a 2-0 win was enough to see us through where we would face Portuguese side Braga without Emilio as he picked up an injury that would rule him out of both legs. The first leg in Portugal went horribly wrong as we just didn't turn up and were crushed 5-1 however we did claim an away goal so a 4-0 win in the Second Leg would see us through, in the second leg we did half of the job scoring four goals however we also conceeded four goals which ended our European Adventure for this season.

FA Cup - We comfortably made our way to the FA Cup final to face Wacker, however in the final we just couldn't score and Wacker hit us with a sucker punch scoring in the last minute to consign us to defeat (annoyingly they'd recently done the same to us in the league).

Table - Out of nowhere we walked the league this season thanks to a 20 game unbeaten run and three of those defeats came away in the last six games as we limped over the line, and intrestingly it was our home form that let us down this season as we drew eight home games but only lost the one. We got off to a good start beating Red Bull in the opening game and then in an early encounter thrashed Mattersburg 5-1 to send us top of the league where we stayed for most of the season with Mattersburg on our heels, and as a nice twist we would again face Mattersburg on the final day in what was looking like being the title decider enough so that it was moved to be live on TV however Austria Wien again made the game moot as we faced them in the last to last game and we crushed them 4-2 to win the league with a game to go. It did help that Red Bull (who managed to snatch third place at the death) and Austria Wien the normal challenges both had poor seasons. Whilst at the bottom it was a fight between the two Lustenau sides with Austria dropping down on the last day on Goal Difference. Our attacking player won it for us this season as we only failed to score in three league games whilst keeping 11 clean sheets.

For a change the board were impressed with the title whilst the fans made me an Icon.

Squad - Excellent performances all round this season.

Daniel Zach continued in goal and he was in fine form so nearly averaging a rating above 7 (which seems nearly impossible for a keeper), however his position is under threat from Promising Slovenian Marjan Zver who'd been poached for £90K last season from Gorica, and he is already better than Zach but he is a bit young to be thrown in front of my shaky defence fulltime.

In defence Oscar Sesma had a solid season at right back whilst Reinhard Schneider who came from my Academy was a capable understudy. On the left Sven Muller put in some good performances and is being pushed hard by his understudy Andy Baddeley.

In the centre of defence I actually had some decisions to make for a change the initial plan was to continue with former Academy player Sascha Mazur and Andreas Unger as my main pairing, however Mazur picked up an injury in pre-season and Malian Cheick Amala Diarra was given a chance and he took it, with all three of them having good seasons.

On the Wings Manuel Schuttelkopf had a good season on the right and was covered by Hungarian Szabolcs Debreczeni, whilst on the left Jens Vogler's season was disrupted by injuries which gave Geman youngster Nils Paulus who'd been released by Stuttgart a chance to impress.

In the centre of Midfield Dieter Bergmann had an good season in the defensive role, partnering him was the equally impressive Markus Klotz who has made the playmaker role his own now, though promising youngster Mike Spies put in a some good performances.

Upfront Emilio was unstoppable grabbing 36 goals in just 32 games breaking pretty much every record going (apart from the Premier Goals Record as some guy from the 70's scored 41 goals once) and winning every award - he became our alltime Record GoalScorer beating the previous record of 75, his tally of 31 league goals and 36 overall goals were also season records (beating the records he'd previously set) as were his man of the match awards and average rating. He also won Austrian Striker of the Year, Player of the Year, Player of the Season, Top Scorer, was named in the Team of the Year with Unger and most impressively he won the European Golden Boot! Whilst also becoming a Salzburg Legend. Thankfully winning the league kept him happy however his reputation has shot up to Continental so I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep him for, on the plus side his value is finally shooting up so he won't be going cheaply. His understudy Faut Gokkaya also had a good season. In the support role Rexhe Bytyci had another good season, however his place is under threat by Brazilian Cristiano who was in good form after settling in and even managed to break Bytyci's assist record grabbing 15 assists.

Best XI - I'd agree with that.

We also picked up a couple of Academy players this season Striker Christoph Kalinowski and Midfielder Dennis Schmidt who both have four star potential.

Finances - We lost money badly this season, however we moved into our new Stadium on time so provided people turn up we should be set for the near future.

Reputation - Winning the league boosted our reputation though only to sixth place, whilst Europe wise we moved up 181 places to 151st. Whilst our reputation increased it wasn't good news for Austrian as the Premier Division dropped down to 21st below the Swiss, Serbian, and Romanian leagues. Co-efficient wise we stayed in 13th and we are due to overtake Greece for the season afterwards that would give us an automatic place in the Group Stages of the Champions League.

One worry for the future is that my chairman spent the entire season trying to sell the club, which is a shame because this one has been nicely supportive and handsoff.

So the plan for next season is to try and keep hold of my better players (though everyone apart from Bergmann has a replacement who can step in, provided I don't lose too many players) retain the title and make it to the Champions League Group Stages - which will be easy enough as it appears due to Chelsea winning the Champions League we have been entered into the Group Stage automatically,

Career Overview

Season          League                League Finish     Achievements         Europe   Euro Ranking Austria (UCL/EL)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13        First Division             1st        Champions - Promoted                           14 (2/3)
2013/14        Premier Division           6th                                                       13 (2/3)
2014/15        Premier Division           7th                                                       14 (2/3)
2015/16        Premier Division           7th        FA Cup Winners                                 14 (2/3)
2016/17        Premier Division           4th                                 EL GS                 13 (2/3)
2017/18        Premier Division           1st        Champions                EL Q4                 13 (2/3)

vurogj · June 4, 2012

Great to see new people in this thread, I do read all of you guys' efforts, and like comparing methods and results.

haze.13 · June 4, 2012

Union Royale Namur - Gert Fontaine - Season 1 (2012/13)

June 8, 2013 - In a small room somewhere in Namur, Belgium

Please slap your hands together for the manager of Les Merles - the mighty Blackbirds - Gert Fontaine!

(A pleasing and somewhat enthusiastic applause from the fifty or so people in the room dies down to a quiet murmur...)

Gert, on the conclusion of your first season in Namur what is the overwhelming feeling for you?

Well, I am pleased. It has been a great season for us and one in which I have learned much, I have learned to coach, I have learned to believe in my players and above all I have learned that I have much more to learn.

Yes, yes. Now the big question, the contract? Where are things standing as we speak?

Ah, now. Okay, I think it is okay to speak about this now that the play-offs have concluded. Despite much speculation in the local papers I am pleased to announce that I have signed a contract extension for a further twelve months and I look forward with great pleasure to the new season as I continue in the role of manager at this great football club!

(Fontaine raises his hands to the humble audience seeking affirmation, he receives it in the form of a rapturous applause, well as rapturous as fifty people can be!)

Excellent news Gert! Congratulations, of course we all new you would sign on. Now I should hand over the microphone for our season review in the eyes of Les Merles manager for this season and next, Gert - Fontaine!

Okay, thank you Franck. It is an honor to present my first season review at the club and I will conclude the review with the announcement of the Union Royale Namur Player of the Season.

It was fantastic to make the play-offs in our first season back in the Third Division and as all that are present here tonight will attest it was a shame to fall just two matches from promotion. It is certainly something that we will strive for next season. With only one club gaining direct promotion to the Second Division the play-offs are a more realistic option for next season, however with a bit of luck, who knows? We may be fighting for top spot come next May.

To finish 4th in the table with 19 wins from a 34 match season was a great result considering we had 24 new players at the club after seeing 12 players depart in the summer. With one win and three losses from our first four games we started slowly, however it was not long that we found some rhythm. Playing a 4-5-1/4-3-3 for most matches Thomas Weydisch made an immediate impact on the wing, demonstrating his class from the first training session. Undoubtedly our strength was at the back with our captain and rock in defence the Brazilian Renan Filipe leading by example, Jonas at right-back was sensational on loan from KV Kortrijk - and as we know will sign permanently over the summer - and when young Adama joined over the winter break our goal keeping requirements were more than covered. I doubt that any of us expected the 21 year old Ivorian to command the position quite like he did over the second half of the season.

So all in all a really solid start for me at the club and I think we have plenty to look forward to for next season.

Finally I would like to announce that the Union Royale Namur Player of the Season is one player that left nothing behind every time he stood on the pitch, he was a leader, he was your leader - none other than - your Captain, Renan Filipe.

(Renan Filipe joins Fontaine on stage to a generous applause.)

Congratulations Renan. Do you have anything to say?

It is a surprise, a pleasure. What more can I say? Umm, I look forward to next season very much when we win the league!

Thankyou Renan, err Franck, here you go.

Thankyou Gert, once more congratulations Renan Filipe! Goodnight all, I look forward to seeing you all here this time next season. Bye now.

Season 1 Information

UR Namur Squad 2012/13

Belgian Third Division A - 4th

Belgian Cup - 3rd Round

Player of the Season - Renan Filipe

Top Scorer (League) - Thomas Weydisch (10 goals)

Most Assists (League) - Michael van Veen (8 assists)

Wages: 6000 euros

Balance: -72000 euros

berty1978 · June 4, 2012

Handknattleiksfélag Kópavogs - 2013 season summary

Handknattleiksf%C3%A9lag_K%C3%B3pavogs.png

Our first competitive matches were in the Upper league cup, in which groups of 8 play each other once. We actually had a fair crack at it, finishing 3rd on goals scored. Technically we were a minute from qualifying as Fylkir scored a last minute winner against us, meaning if we held on we would have finished top on GD.

We managed to get to the cup 4th round where we were unlucky to lose on penalties to eventual winners IBV.

I realised a little while into the season we would go on to rely mostly on agents offering out of contract players from abroad, and I took advantage of the situation bringing them on trial before deciding whether to offer contracts. We actually made a disasterous start to the league campaign gaining only a single point from our first three matches, but managed to come back from the dead to snatch second place in the last match of the season.

Our player of the season was Paco van Moorsel who was the first freebie to come in.

One to watch is Bjarni Gíslason who came through our youth setup last season.

Season | League - Position |   ULC  |  Cup      | Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 2013  | D1 - 2nd          | Groups | 4th round | Promotion

berty1978 · June 4, 2012

WD on winning the league and good luck in the champions league michael and good first seasons there alexani and haze.13.

midgetram · June 4, 2012

Welcome back Chutney, nice to see someone else joining me in Serbia As a side note; on my game Partizan (BB) - as they come up in game - have only managed to spend 2 seasons in the 2nd tier before getting relegated again, I'm sure you can beat that no problem.

Gundo, good to hear you've got a chance of progressing in Europe. Can't wait for the full report now

Excellent first season there berty, Gíslason looks like he could become a quality player too.

Congrats on the title michael, the money you get from CL participation will surely help build up the club as well as your new stadium.

And a nice solid start there haze, hopefully with a more settled squad you can make a push for promotion next year. I really like the format of your report too.

berty1978 · June 6, 2012

Due to the short seasons I'm behind on my updates, hope to do a few short summaries soon. I'm getting very frustrated though, determined to do well though, seeing as people have completed this challenge from Northern Ireland.

Chutney132 · June 6, 2012

Welcome back Chutney, nice to see someone else joining me in Serbia As a side note; on my game Partizan (BB) - as they come up in game - have only managed to spend 2 seasons in the 2nd tier before getting relegated again, I'm sure you can beat that no problem.

Perhaps Not.

Ah well. We'll try again...

Chutney132 · June 6, 2012

Right, Serbia take 2...

I've resurfaced at Cukaricki, a much larger team and yet predicted to come dead last...

(you may note I have played a little as them as I forgot to take a Screenshot when I took over, hope this isn't an issue)

Quick question midgetram, how long does it take for the Serbian League system to settle down? Its changed every season so far.

2011 - Prem was 2 down, First Division was 2 up, 4 down (reducing from 18 to 16 teams)

2012 - Prem same as above, First Division was 2 up, 4 down (but it was marked as 3 down ALL season until after the final day - I'm glad I was already down by then or that'd would have been annoying)

2013 - There's now a Promotion playoff between 3rd bottom in the Prem and 3rd in the First Division...

midgetram · June 7, 2012

Unlucky chutney, Cukaricki are an well established PL side on my game so hope you do better this time around

It stays the same from 2013 onwards on mine, as this is how it's supposed to happen IRL too (as mentioned here). The reason its 4 down in the First League is that there are 4 regional divisions below the First Division (1 team from each region getting promoted), although I agree its annoying that only 3 are marked as down until the final day (despite the league rules saying 4 down all the way).

Also, I wouldn't worry about the promotion play-off between the top 2 divisions, it's almost pointless as I don't think I've ever seen a First Division club be within 2 goals on aggregate; for example last season it was 9-0 on agg to the top division side.

Chutney132 · June 7, 2012

Unlucky chutney, Cukaricki are an well established PL side on my game so hope you do better this time around

Thanks for that explanation midgetram. I have actually won more games as Cukaricki in the first 6 of the season than I did in the 23 I had in charge of Partizan (BB) last year - and that was after losing the opening 2! I'm sure I've heard of them before, although probably from a random Europa League opponent on a previous save, as they don't appear to have any history of note. What really appealed to me was they are already professional...

Also, how do I qualify for the Cup? Partizan (BB) actually lost in the final :eek: in their promotion year (2011-12), but then I was never entered, and no entry again this year with Cukaricki. I assume its done on finishing position, or its random. One of the other promoted sides actually won the Cup last year, so I could have started the save in the Europa League :eek: , but that felt a little wrong, and not in keeping with the spirit of the Challenge (even though technically its acceptable)...

midgetram · June 7, 2012

I'm not sure if it's a bug or not, but promoted sides into the First League do not play in the cup at all for that season but you will the following years afterwards. Also, the sides that are promoted into the top division enter at the same time as the First League sides.

I'm guessing it's because the first draw you see is the 2nd preliminary round and so team allocation is done on where you are the season before (due to the late reset date that Serbia has), but I'm happy for someone to tell me it's something different if they know.

Chutney132 · June 7, 2012

Chutney132's Serbian Adventure - Take II

Cukaricki Season 1 - 2013/14

Prva Liga Srbija - Champions! Promoted!

Wow! What a Season! After the debacle at Partizan (BB) last year, I never saw this coming. We only hit top spot on the final day, and whilst always there or thereabouts I was never confident of a strong finish, as my teams traditionally fall apart late on...

Player of the Season (both in my eyes and those of the fans) - Nemanja Josipovic - 23 Appearances, 3 Goals, 13 Assists, 5 MOMs and an Average Rating of 7.15 was a great return for the 24 year old, and he's been signed to a new two year deal as well, which I'm hoping to extend this summer.

Season      League               Postion          Cup              Achievements

Partizan (BB)
2012-13    Prva Liga Srbija    15th (of 16)    Didn’t Enter    Sacked after 23 Games

Cukaricki
2013-14    Prva Liga Srbija    1st (of 16)      Didn’t Enter    Champions! Promoted!

Plans for next Season:

1) Survive - obviously. I don't believe my team is cut out for the Jelen SuperLiga, but I am WAY below my Wage Budget (Im using about 18% of it!), so hopefully I can use some of that to attract some better quality players

2) Plan for Long Term - even if I go down, I want to make sure this club is better positioned at the end of the year than when it started, so I will be focusing on improving both on and off the field

Final Thoughts:

What a Season! Really happy to have won promotion so quickly, but I am worried it will be too soon, as I didn't exactly set the Division alight... But I'm looking forward to it!

midgetram · June 9, 2012

Congrats chutney; for a tip for the top league, just make sure you get caught adrift early on. There's usually a large group fighting for that 2nd relegation spot and if you can be in that (or above) at the winter break you should be fine with astute January signings.

Josipovic looks like a good player to base the side around too

Chutney132 · June 9, 2012

Chutney132's Serbian Adventure - Take II

Cukaricki Season 2 - 2014/15

Jelen SuperLiga - 12th. Survival!

If last season was a Wow!, this one is definitely a phew... As season of many ups and downs, culminating in a 1-0 win over relgated Mladost on the final day securing safety. My personal 'Game of the Season' was this one, which came at the end of a long winless run (1 win in last 14 games), which really kick started our recovery. I'm pretty sure there are those who would claim the game 'cheats' if they were Hajduk Kula after that one (they had a goal disallowed too!)...

Lav Kupa - Out in Second Qualifying Round vs Novi Sad (Prva Liga Srbija) 1-3 AET - Not a very impressive debut, losing to a team I beat home and away without conceding a goal last year. But to be honest, I have no interest in this competition until I am established in the top flight.

Player of the Season (both in my eyes and those of the fans) - Nemanja Josipovic - 29 Appearances, 2 Goals, 7 Assists and an Average Rating of 6.82 wasn't as good as last year, but when most of my team averaged less than 6.50 he was head and shoulders above. He's resigned until 2018 too now, so I'm hoping he'll run the midfield for a few more years yet.

Season      League               Postion          Cup              Achievements

Partizan (BB)
2012-13    Prva Liga Srbija    15th (of 16)    Didn’t Enter    Sacked after 23 Games

Cukaricki
2013-14    Prva Liga Srbija    1st (of 16)      Didn’t Enter    Champions! Promoted!
2014-15    Jelen SuperLiga    12th (of 16)      2nd Qual Rnd          Survival!

Plans for next Season:

1) Keep progressing. I'm happy enough with the side, and I have a couple of good signings (or so I and the scouts think) coming in July, so here's hoping it'll be a little less stressful this time around. That being said, I'm happy to have a few dogfights if it means the team matures to the required standard. I'd really like to blood some youngsters, but no-one that promising has come through yet, and I don't have the money to improve the facilities yet. I've always found Serbia to be a great source of talent on previous saves, so here's hoping...

2) SCORE SOME GOALS!!! - 23 goals scored in 30 games (25 in 32 in all comps) is not good enough. Must do better. I mixed it between a rigid, balanced and fluid formation this year and none improved the scoring rate, so I think better players are needed.

Final Thoughts:

A really stressful, but ultimately rewarding, season. I thoroughly enjoyed the fight (although a couple of 5-0s and a 6-0 weren't too enjoyable ) and I'm up for another this year!

Chutney132 · June 9, 2012

Congrats chutney; for a tip for the top league, just make sure you get caught adrift early on. There's usually a large group fighting for that 2nd relegation spot and if you can be in that (or above) at the winter break you should be fine with astute January signings.
Josipovic looks like a good player to base the side around too

Thanks midgetram. As you can see above, I just about managed it this year, but I'm still a long way shy of chasing you down...

berty1978 · June 10, 2012

Handknattleiksfélag Kópavogs - 2014 season summary

Handknattleiksf%C3%A9lag_K%C3%B3pavogs.png

We did well in the group stage of the Upper League Cup, pipping KR to the top spot, but they also qualified and we got drawn together in the semis. They absolutely hammered us 5-1, as they turned out to be our bogey team this season.

Very disappointed in the cup to go out in the first hurdle losing to first division side Leiknir, allowed us to concentrate on the league at least.

It was a very up and down season in the league, though we were never top we were in the top 4 for the second half of the season and only lost the title by 3 points, but finished 4th. We were left rueing 2 heavy defeats to KR, a heavy home loss to surprise champions IBV (we beat them away), and many silly draws. All in all we could have easily won the league but it wasn't to be and we actually missed out on Europe on goal difference.

Our player of the season was Paco van Moorsel again who is fast becoming a fans favourite at the club.

Squad - Nobody really stood out as the average ratings all look pretty mediocre.

Finances - Not bad, I'm also well below the wage budget meaning I can get in any of those trialists the agents throw at me.

Season | League - Position |   ULC  |  Cup      | Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 2013  | D1 - 2nd          | Groups | 4th round | Promotion
 2014  | PRM - 4th         | Semis  | 3rd round | Overachievers

berty1978 · June 10, 2012

Unlucky with the sacking Chutney 132, but very good progress with Cukaricki since then.

berty1978 · June 10, 2012

Handknattleiksfélag Kópavogs - 2015 season summary

Handknattleiksf%C3%A9lag_K%C3%B3pavogs.png

We managed to win all seven games in the Upper League Cup group stage, although we did have a relatively easy group, managing to avoid KR and Valur. We got an easier draw in the semis than last year and beat Keflavik 2-0. The final was a much tougher affair as we lost 3-1 to Valur, who would turn out to be this years bogey team.

Much better in the cup this year, as we actually negotiated a tough first couple of rounds, beating last years champions IBV and KR, both away. Putting those teams out meant I had a pretty clear run to the final where we faced Vikingur. Match stats, we didn't play all that well but had plenty of chances and finally made the breakthrough in the 91st minute, our first trophy.

A poor start to the season saw us win only one of our first four matches, including a home defeat to Valur which would prove crucial. Despite coming back well after that, we could easily have won the league again as our only other defeat came at home to surprise package Stjarnan which was very poor. In the end we finished 2 points behind Valur, but a 2nd place finish and a first venture into Europe is good enough.

Players of the season -

Stefan Junker - Icelandic player of the season, excellent player who we'll struggle to keep hold of I think.

Taer Nassar - The scorer of the cup final winner and 9 goals in the league, great in the air.

Player of the season - We actually got a clean sweep in the Icelandic player of the season, strange choice that Winkler is above Nassar in second. No consolation for losing the league title though.

squad - A much better season overall, with all the first team apart from the keeper over 7 average rating. Our German defender Paul Untch is wanted by a host of ok German sides (ie Karlsruhe), with him wanting to move to a bigger club I'll have to sell.

finances - Around 150k down from last season but still well within wage budget, and playing in Europe should help out a bit.

Season | League - Position |   ULC  |  Cup      | Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 2013  | D1 - 2nd          | Groups | 4th round | Promotion
 2014  | PRM - 4th         | Semis  | 3rd round | Overachievers
 2015  | PRM - 2nd         | Final  | Winners   | Euro Qualification

midgetram · June 10, 2012

Congrats on surviving chutney, how settled is your squad at the moment? I always finds it takes a couple years to find players that work well together.

And also well done on the cup win berty, let's hope you get a kind draw in Europe this season.

FK Macva Sabac - 2027/28 End of Season Update - Super League

Same old, same old...

League (Positions) : Numero 12 was a bit harder than the previous couple, due to Red Star have a blistering start to the season, getting to Christmas with a 100% record, whereas we dropped points in a mad game at Rad. However in the new year, they regressed massively allowing us to ease over the line in the end. We even humiliated them on the day we won the title too, and then Partizan went on a 6 match winning run to pip them to the 2nd CL spot as well.

Cup : Lead a pretty charmed life in the competition this year. Never really showed up against Partizan but went through on pens, and dominated in the Semis against Red Star without killing either leg off. The final though was a different story. Due to international call-ups, we had a fairly inexperienced side playing against mid-table Sindjelic. No matter though, dominating from start to finish in a 4-1 victory. That's 8 domestic cups to add to out 12 league titles now for those who are counting.

Champions League : Oh hello Internazionale, so good to see you again. Paired with them for a 3rd year in a row, you know the story by now. 2nd in the group behind Inter, no real drama this time around.

However, this time we managed to avoid Chelsea in the last 16, instead getting paired with last-year's EL runners-up Atletico Madrid. Frankly, I would've preferred the English side. 1-1 draw at home (as per usual) and a 1 goal defeat away (as per usual) sent us out at the last 16 stage (as per usual).

Squad (1)(2) and Transfers : Slowly getting towards an all club-grown squad here, not sure whether that's impressive or stupid. Lukovic managed to get a lot of playing time this year due to big injuries to Djurovic and Bajic, yet all 3 were taken to the Euros by Serbia, and so eventually broke the club record for league goals, which was previously held by Vilotic.

Player of the Season (who has NOT won it before...) : Slavisa Kamberovic - AML

4 years in the first team now, and has an overall average rating in the league of 7.90. Maybe not the best player attribute wise in the squad, but probably one of the few very consistent performers I have in the bigger games.

Finances : £10m loss on the year before dividends and transfers taken into account. Paid £15m in tax this year (goodness knows why), so overall not doing too bad again.

Other Stuff : A selection of other events that have happened this season.

My Under-19s finished well behind Vojvodina in the league yet still comfortably 2nd, whereas the Reserves were pipped into 3rd this time around.

2028 Champions League Final: Atletico Madrid 1-1p FC Porto (Porto win 2-3 on pens). So the team that knocks me out still gets to the final, at least we can say that. 2nd final defeat in a row for Atletico after losing the EL one last year.

2028 Europa League Final: Man City 3-0 Roma. This was strong this year, with the QF line-up being; Man City-CSKA Moscow, Sevilla-Roma, Juventus-Bordeaux, Arsenal-AC Milan.

The 2028 European Championships were held in England this time, and shocks were made right from the off. World Cup holders Portugal failed to get out of their group, whereas Cyprus emerged from the Group of Death alongside Germany and Italy but crucially ahead of Belgium. Albania also qualified for the 2nd round ahead of Sweden in their group.

Serbia, with 13 Macva players (and 8 ex-players) coasted through the group stage with 3 wins out of 3 and easily went past Cyprus in the last 16. In the Quarters, they managed to hold on with 10 men to beat surprise package Denmark on penalties - where also the Dutch won a shootout :eek: knocking out the holders France.

A 2-0 win over Croatia in the Semi-Finals set up a match-up in the final with Spain. The final itself was a tight affair, but in the 2nd half Djurovic and then Basic in injury time secured a 2-0 win for Serbia. So essentially I've provided a winning team for the national side before they do it at club level. :lol:

In the Oceanic Nations Cup the Solomon Islands beat Samoa 1-0 in the final. New Zealand finished bottom of their group behind the two finalists and Fiji.

Also, I know its a known bug but it's nice to see that SI predict an American takeover of North Africa in the late 2020s

History

2012-13: FL - 5th

2013-14: FL - 2nd

2014-15: SL - 5th

2015-16: SL - 2nd

2016-17: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, EL Semis

2018-19: SL - 1st, CL Groups, EL Last 16

2019-20: SL - 1st, Cup Runners-Up, CL Groups, EL Last 32

2020-21: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Groups, EL Last 32

2022-23: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Groups, EL Semis

2023-24: SL - 1st, Cup Runners-Up, CL Last 16

2024-25: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Quarters

2025-26: SL - 1st, CL Last 16

2026-27: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Last 16

2027-28: SL - 1st, Cup Winners, CL Last 16

berty1978 · June 11, 2012

Well done midgetram, absolutely dominating domestically, need that final push to progress further in the CL though, good luck.

berty1978 · June 11, 2012

Handknattleiksfélag Kópavogs - 2016 season summary

Handknattleiksf%C3%A9lag_K%C3%B3pavogs.png

Went through the Upper League Cup group stage unbeaten with a couple of disappointing draws. We got drawn against Valur in the Semi-Finals, but was disappointed to lose 2-1.

We had an easy run to the Semi-Finals in the cup, but in a poor display lost out to Breidablik 1-0.

Our first season in European competition didn't go too badly, I would have been happy to get through one round before starting and we did exactly that. We were drawn against Hungarian side Debrecen in the Euro Cup 2nd qualifying round, and we only just squeaked through in the end after a 2-1 home win and 3-1 down in the second leg to equalise on aggregate in the last few minutes to go through on away goals. We were drawn against Portuguese side Maritimo in the 3rd qualifying, while it was a difficult tie, I thought we may have an outside chance because they're not a huge club, though we lost 1-0 in both legs to go out 2-0.

I guess at the start of the season we would have taken 52 points in the league which smashed the points record, but somehow due to KR's improvement we lost the title on goal difference. It was entirely our own fault though as we had it won after a great season only to lose our final match at home to IBV who finished 7th, meaning a KR win would literally hand them the title on a plate, which they did. A very disappointing end to a good season.

League table - Graph

Player of the season -

Flemming Kuhn - Record signing who cost us £220k, but I think it will be worth it.

Best XI

Squad

Finances - Up from last season despite spending £220k on Kuhn, mainly due to selling star defender Untch to Karlsruhe for £725k.

Season | League - Position |   ULC  |  Cup      |      Europe         |    Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2013  | D1 - 2nd          | Groups | 4th round |                     | Promotion
 2014  | PRM - 4th         | Semis  | 3rd round |                     | Overachievers
 2015  | PRM - 2nd         | Final  | Winners   |                     | Euro Qualification
 2016  | PRM - 2nd         | Semis  | Semis     | EC - 3rd qualifying |

berty1978 · June 11, 2012

Handknattleiksfélag Kópavogs - 2017 season summary

Handknattleiksf%C3%A9lag_K%C3%B3pavogs.png

The Upper League Cup was very disappointing this year as we tried a new formation, but in a very evenly grouped table we missed out by a point, but 12 points from 7 matches is poor and we didn't deserve to go through. KR also missed out as Njardvik finished top on only 13 points.

We had another relatively easy run to the Semi-Finals in the cup, but again missed out in the semis, this time to FH 2-1.

We had an easier first tie in Europe this season, being drawn against Albanian side Flamurtari, and we didn't disappoint winning both matches 2-0. A nice draw for the 3rd qualifying would have been nice but we got Spanish giants Villareal, the aim then was to keep the scores respectable. I think we did that, losing 2-0 away and only 3-2 at home to go out 5-2 on aggregate.

Yet again in the league we got 52 points with an identical record to last season, but this time we won the title by a single point from KR, who else. I'm disappointed with the way we played through much of the season as we had four 1-0 wins in the last 8 matches, so we literally crawled over the line. It's a start though and we're crowned champions for the first time.