The Sammarinese Challenge.

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm at a bit of a cross-roads I think.

Yeah I have had some success, but not doing very well in the EURO's was a blow and just when I thought I was set to achieve either an unbeaten league campaign, or a clean sweep of all 5 trophies, I went and got well-beaten 2-1 by a good AC Milan team in the league, and then went and got hammered 4-0 by a rubbish Inter team in the Cup. I was off work last week and had loads of time to play, but I think I played more CIV V than FM. :o

I've decided that something has got to change to keep things fresh. I have been buying loads of youngsters with high PA scouting reports and developing them but from now on that is going to stop. From this very instant, the only players I will be buying will be Tutors and the intention is for them to just tutor and never play, (although we will have to see how that works out).

I am not very near fielding an all Sammarinese starting XI, but I've already fielded a starting XI that are all HG by club, (although admittedly some of them were bought when 16/17.

It hopefully should keep the challenge in the game, (it's got a bit stale since I won the World Cup), and get me flying through the seasons with the IR button.

By the way, neither loss was the result of the IR button. I played and managed both games myself. I can't complain at all about the Milan game. They were really good and we did well to keep it as close as we did, but Inter are absolute pants and that was a proper disaster!

[Jimbokav1971]

I'll hopefully have an epic update this evening too. Having my favourite and most rollercoaster season in the history of this challenge.

Can't wait to read the update. I love that others are really enjoying this.

[MADA]

Brill. What did you do do make it happen? Add leagues?

yep, and edited a few awful players (who i'll never use) to be SM nationality

cheating a bit, but had to do it to keep the game alive.

[AJiffyBoogle]

I have been playing this just casually myself. Does anybody know where to get kits for San Marino Calcio?

[coady]

This season was an absolute rollercoaster and provided some of my favourite moments in the history of the challenge. It has certainly kept it alive for me to carry on.

Club Transfers

Part 1... Part 2... Due to my list of outgoing loans this list had to be broken into two parts. You will notice that many fringe players left for good fees in both the summer & January. As well as the exit of Claudio Francioni, my 2nd youth product following in the footsteps of Volpinari, who has now moved onto Fulham incidently. Most of these deals have huge add-ons on top of these initial fees.

Club Competitions

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=11"]European Super Cup - We got a poor Milan side in this game to start the season on a high.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=10"]Italian Super Cup - Juventus again, defeat again. This is becoming my most desired trophy now!

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=6"]Serie A - So comfortable here, we won with 6 games to go then played lots of youth players to aid Champions cup & Italian cup campaigns.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=8"]Club World Championship - Easy to be honest, dominated the final with a largely reserve team.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=9"]Italian Cup - Inter were easy to beat, but every other game was tough going in this one.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=12"]Champions Cup - We excelled here after a tricky start and away leg struggles. The last 2 performances were insane.

Youth Intake 2024

We had a good youth intake this year, with many average players to add depth to a thinning NT squad. There was one stand out with Good serie A potential. =141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=18"]Silvano Piras

Review

I am so happy with this year on the whole. To have multiple HG players gracing the premier league is excellent, especially within 10 seasons. We were an Italian Super Cup away from a clean competition sweep this season, and it's by far the most dominant we've looked in Europe. That Super Cup is annoying me so much though.

[coady]

This season has thrown some strange things at me but I feel the sense of achievement now.

International Competitions

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=20"]European Championship Qualifying Group H - I mentioned in last seasons post that I'd received a terribly unlucky draw in this one. I'm so pleased with how we competed against these sides, but as you can see it wasn't quite enough as finished bottom of the group by a narrow margin.

I was surprised after this outcome to receive a draw link for the Play-offs. It seemed that our 4 points in the last 2 games and narrow goal difference got us into the Qualifying play-off by 2 goals! Who would have though that after finishing bottom of the group! To add to this luck, we then got a relatively good draw against Estonia.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=15"]European Championship Qualifying Playoff Semi-Final - We knew we were capable of matching Estonia, but they would be a really tough game. It proved the case, but we ran out very narrow winners.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=21"]European Championship Qualifying Playoff Final - We got another lucky draw, against Armenia, but they are still of similar quality to us. This game was pure stalemate until extra time.

We did it! And here's the draw we were handed on our debut.

Current Squad Issues

With a major tournament to prepare for, I had to try and improve some areas of the team where we still rely on amateur players. Piras from our club's youth intake helped with this, but convincing some average DN players was also going to be key. When you see this one you'll realise how weak my team is, but I was delighted =141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=18"]Michele Cenci decided to play for us as first choice right back now.

On a slightly lighter note, I used the attend game feature for the first time as an International Manager on FM. This because my first 2 youth exports played against each other in the FA Cup final. Volpinari received the POTM award for Fulham against Manchester United's Francioni in a 3-1 win. We also have our first 2 Sammarinese Managers in foreign leagues, with 1 in Serie C and 1 in the Lithuanian A-league.

I am likely to lose every game in this tournament but will update today anyway.

[leonavich]

I have been playing this just casually myself. Does anybody know where to get kits for San Marino Calcio?

Unfortunately, I don't use any kits in mine. Sorry!

[leonavich]

Good Job Coady! That is insane to have made it to the Competition proper with the national side! Let's see how you go, but I look forward to hearing a few upsets!

[leonavich]

2029-30

Club

Battling on all fronts cost us down the stretch as we just couldn't hang on to our league form consistently enough. We somehow managed to come second, despite losing a massive 12 games this season in the league, but this was due to having to juggle the Italian Cup and Champions League too, which we haven't had to face for quite a while in the last few stages. We managed to overcome to tough opposition in the Champions League, knocking off Manchester United (3-2ag) before a 3 tier Spanish onslaught of Valencia (5-3ag), Real Madrid (5-4ag) and Barcelona (1-0) in the final. Not only did we lift our second Champions League trophy, we beat the three best Spanish teams, and the Best English team to get there.

The Italian Cup was much the same, as we made it to the final to face Fiorentina. A rematch from 2 years prior, which we lost out on in a close match. This time around we had a stronger squad, but a few niggles meant we didn't go in full strength. Nonetheless, we but in a great counter attacking display to hit them on the break and once we had the net rippling, we presented a rearguard that was unbeatable, going on to win our first Italian Cup 1-0.

This gave us our treble, as we wont the Italian Super Cup all the way at the end of the pre season, before the Serie A began, however, we failed to monopolize they year with a quadruple as Fiorentina pipped us to the title by 5 points, picking up 79 to our 74.

We lacked depth this season as we ran into a few injuries during key runs, especially as the curtain was drawing down, but needless to say, our first Italian Cup and a second Champions League, are valuable additions to the trophy room. Next season, we expect battles on all fronts again, but our priority will now be the league to try and maintain our dominance in Italian football.

League: Runner up

Italian Cup: Winners v Fiorentina

Italian Super Cup: Winners v Inter

Champions League: Winners v Barcelona

Stand outs:

It was a year for our front line as our 4 best players where our front attacking 4. Leroy, our keeper and youngster Netinho, where close contenders but ultimately our forwards dominated and you will see why.

Ayoub Yilmaz - (46 games, 24 goals, 15 assists, 7.42 rating) Top scorer with 24 goals at just over a goal every other game, the last of which was a 91st minute injury time winner against Barcelona to lift the Champions League trophy. Played an insane amount of football and a high level and was one of, if not our best, all year.

Martijn Oosting - (56 games, 23 goals 21 assists, 7.32 rating) Was immense on the wing and up front with 23 goals, but it was his team leading 21 assists that helped us win treble and lift our first Italian Cup Trophy.

Adrian Cabralis - (43 games, 18 goals, 11 assists, 7.30 rating) Splashed out to sign him after a great loan spell and he delivered as our primary striker with 18 goals. He also had a great strike rate of 57% of his shots hitting the target at just 1.92 shots per game.

Niccolo Morra - (55 games, 17 goals 19 assists, 7.26 rating) Solid in the middle of the park behind the main striker, it was just his 4th time hitting double digits in goals and assists as he controlled the ball well. Teed up an assist in the Champions League final to instill his status as a San Marino Legend and Stalwart, still at the age of just 29.

Country

We ended up losing out on the qualifiers, but put in some good results against tough opposition. Wins over Israel (2-1) and Macedonia (3-0). We also beat Estonia (2-0), and Hong Kong (4-1) to round out a great year which saw us pick up 6 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. We ended on 16 points, 10 behind the Ukraine and Austria, but it was still a fantastic year for us, which saw us crack the top 60. Our team is starting to really fill out. We need a quality keeper and a few pieces in the middle, but we should be challenging in the Euro Qualifiers in 2 years time.

World Cup Qualifiers: 3rd/6 After 10 games

World Ranking: 58th

Stand outs:

Mario Dini - (7 games, 3.87 Tackles, 8.30 intercepts, 7.17 rating) Solid in defense, Dini came of age in the back, holding his marking well and tackling at high rates. His reading of the game helped us to 3rd in the Qualifiers and kept our scores close in the tougher matches against Austria and the Ukraine.

Simone Mularoni - (7 games, 5 goals, 62% shots on target, 7.30 rating) Played efficiently as he hit the target with almost 2/3 of his shots ad managed 5 goals in just 7 matches. One of our key players up front, but unable to distribute much as he played the target poacher.

Michele Bindi - (5 games, 2 goals, 2 assists, 7.24 rating) Was involved in either scoring or creating in 4 out of his 5 games and was solid in his hold up play drawing in 12 fouls from his 5 matches played. His height proved difficult in the air also, as he won 19 of his headers, which was just over 2/3 of all attempts.

Daniele Casali - (6 games, 3 goals, 2 PoM, 7.48 rating) He came of the bench 4 times but proved impactful in almost every game. He also shot at an incredible 70% on target and managed 2 player of the match performances despite only 2 starts. May be muscled out of the side as he is not a prospect but he is proving he cane be useful.

Youth Prospects

Youth Prospects:

Raffaele Felici - We seem to be producing a lot of defenders of late, so here is another to add to the roll out.

Simone Poggiali - We needed a wide player in defense and now we have one that could grow into a decent player. Dual nationality could prove an issue though.

[Jimbokav1971]

Club update. March 2041.

This seems to have become the norm for Youth Days in recent seasons. Not rubbish, but not spectacular either.

***Terenzi (SMR/ITA) (2041) is a much-needed left-sided winger, but even though he has only 2.0 PA, it equates to a "Good Serie B winger and the way that things have gone previously, he will opt to wait for a chance with (ITA).

Zunico (Spirited) is the only non (SMR) who will be offered a contract. In his case, 2.0 PA equates to a "Leading Serie A left back".

***Agostini (SMR/ITA) (Res) is hopefully not good enough that he will want to represent (ITA). (Decent Serie A Striker).

Casali (SMR) (Sporting) is a GK and I have learned to my cost that 2 decent GK's is not enough for the NT so even though his 1.5 PA equates to only "decent Serie A GK", the fact that he does not have DN makes him very worthwhile.

***G Forcellini (SMR/ITA) (F.Det) has DN, but hopefully his 1.0 PA (good Serie B player), will mean that he can secure him for (SMR) immediately.

I don't like the personalities that this HoYD is producing, and the quality isn't great either, so I will be looking at his contract and for a replacement.

[Jimbokav1971]

Coady. I know you have tried to explain it, but I really don't understand how you made the Playoffs. :confused:

Norway and Belarus qualify as 1st and 2nd, but don't Finland and Wales qualify for the Playoffs ahead of you?

Qualification confuses the hell out of me. I know I've been caught out myself a few times with this.

Congrats anyway.

[Edit]

I've just realised it was a Semi that you qualified rather than a Final, but how do you out-qualify either Finland or Wales who finished above you?

[coady]

Wales & Finland both qualified for the play offs too. The top 2 from each group qualify for the expanded 24 team Euro's, so that's 20 teams. Then the next 16 teams qualify for theplay off semi finals as 'lucky losers'. With 7 point & our goal difference (once the 6 team groups have their bottom team results deducted) was 15th best of the non-qualifiers, allowing us to scrape in with Azerbaijan. We were then lucky to get 2 very winnable games, taking us through in one of the extra 4 play off places. So I was very grateful for our 4 points in the final 2 group games, as I had no idea about this before.

In addition, I have played the Euros and much of the next season now (just been lazy writing them up). I will try to update tomorrow.

[leonavich]

Just after beating Barcelona in the Champions League final, I have been offered their post. I, of coarse, politely declined, to continue my legacy at San Marino.

[coady]

Warm Up Games

We picked five fairly easy games for this period, as I needed to get fringe players from my club reserves match fit. We were held by Latvia but beat the other 4 teams comfortably.

Group Stage

Vs Denmark - we gained a creditable draw in our debut, a stunning start but we didn't have the legs to hold on.

Vs Serbia - We rested everyone here, as the Dutch had won their first game. We banked on them getting through with one to spare and playing reserves against our first team. We lost 6-3 here.

Vs Holland (the holders) - they rested players as expected with first place secured. Even so, this was truly stunning!

Here's the final group table. We finished third on 4 points which I was delighted with and happy to take home from a first major tournament.

However...#

Again we benefitted from a lucky loser safety net. Holland's weakened team kept us in the Euro's and we progressed to the 2nd round, against the much feared Italy (who were largely made up of our club squad).

Second Round

Vs Italy - This was a bridge too far, we competed but did not have the legs or talent really. Note both Italian scorers from our club side as we went down to the eventual champions!

We were awarded overachievers from the tournament and I was so delighted with this first outing.

[Jimbokav1971]

Just after beating Barcelona in the Champions League final, I have been offered their post. I, of coarse, politely declined, to continue my legacy at San Marino.

Congrats Leon.

It's been years, (more like decades since I was last offered a job).

[Jimbokav1971]

Warm Up Games

We picked five fairly easy games for this period, as I needed to get fringe players from my club reserves match fit. We were held by Latvia but beat the other 4 teams comfortably.

Group Stage

Vs Denmark - we gained a creditable draw in our debut, a stunning start but we didn't have the legs to hold on.

Vs Serbia - We rested everyone here, as the Dutch had won their first game. We banked on them getting through with one to spare and playing reserves against our first team. We lost 6-3 here.

Vs Holland (the holders) - they rested players as expected with first place secured. Even so, this was truly stunning!

Here's the final group table. We finished third on 4 points which I was delighted with and happy to take home from a first major tournament.

However...#

Again we benefitted from a lucky loser safety net. Holland's weakened team kept us in the Euro's and we progressed to the 2nd round, against the much feared Italy (who were largely made up of our club squad).

Second Round

Vs Italy - This was a bridge too far, we competed but did not have the legs or talent really. Note both Italian scorers from our club side as we went down to the eventual champions!

We were awarded overachievers from the tournament and I was so delighted with this first outing.

That's a really good showing Coady.

Nice to see you taking a leaf out of my book and throwing a game with the bigger picture in mind.

Ouch! (ITA) did indeed give you a bit of a doing though. Still, all good experience though.

[Jimbokav1971]

I lost about a month of games in a crash, (nothing too significant), but I also lost it back past Youth Day and when I got there again the results were even poorer.

Where as I previously had 5 players with a PA of better than 0.5 (and 4 of them were Sammarinese), I only had 3 players the 2nd time around and just 1 of them was Sammarinese.

On the plus side he is at least a centre-half, but he's only going to be a "Good" Serie A centre-half so not going to be ripping up trees anytime soon.

Meh!

Trying to get back into it.

[coady]

This was a very mixed season in so so many ways. I shouldn't really complain but I have the odd frustration!

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=18"]Transfers

We pretty much broke even again this season, mostly thanks to crazy Russian league January offers. They saved me from a big loss on my striker flop Gonzalez, as well as making me a massive profit on long serving Bruninho. Ralph Van Den Ben more than made up for my other flop signing, scoring over 30 goals in a great season.

Club Competitions

European Super Cup - A comfortable win against a tired Zenit side.

Italian Super Cup - GRR! I cannot win this trophy!

Serie A - Easy for the second year running to be frank.

Club World Cup - Two wins on the bounce.

Italian Cup - Roma ran out of legs in the second half as we battered them in the final.

Champions Cup - We were all but out after 3 group games, but battled through to the final where losing star players to injury & international duty cost us with a last minute defeat. Just look who scored the winner!

Youth Intake 2025

A holding midfielder at last! Not great but will do. Many average youth players from the last 2 seasons have really come on strong and improved the national team no end. I will dedicate a post to that in the near future.

International Competitions

Nations League Division C - This was such a tight group, but we got very lucky on the last match day.

European World Cup Qualifying - We got a reasonable group in this one, thanks to our 3rd pot seeding. I'm amazed by the start we've made though. I had to pick this one out, especially considering all time top scorer Francioni was out injured!

These results are largely down to many average young prospects developing really well under tutors and staying fit much of the time. At club level, we're coming to a key transition period now where many old heads will be gradually replaced. This should keep the challenge fresh.

[leonavich]

Well done Coady, and sorry to hear Jimbokav.

I havent played much over the Easter break, but will hopefully get back into it. I have only really just started my season so my update will be a while away, me think.s

[Cardiovascular]

Been casually placing this also and in October of 2016 I've just won my first competitive game as San Marino manager with a 2-1 win over Montenegro! Propelled us up to 137th in the World Rankings, delighted.

[Jimbokav1971]

Been casually placing this also and in October of 2016 I've just won my first competitive game as San Marino manager with a 2-1 win over Montenegro! Propelled us up to 137th in the World Rankings, delighted.

I know it's only Montenegro, but that's pretty impressive.

[Jimbokav1971]

72nd ranked Israel just walloped Italy 3-0 in a World Cup qualifier.

[leonavich]

Mini update due to the elation I have right now... After 3 games (albeit against the weakest three in our group, here is the Euro's Qualification table)

This year has also gone extremely well. We are currently ranked 30th in the world, and have had an unbeaten runs so far this year. Our true test will be against Russia, who I expect we will lose to, but.... You never know!

Kuwait were our sternest opposition, ranked 35th, whilst Macedonia are 73rd, and our toughest Qualification opponents thus far.

[Jimbokav1971]

Club Update. April 2041.

I thought we were going out of the Champions League at the Qtr Final's stage after Marseille took us apart in a really good performance at their place with their young Polish winger running us ragged and them winning 3-1.

I needn't have worried though as we beat them 8-1 in the 2nd leg, (that's right EIGHT!). Our own young (home produced), right winger scored 4 goals and I thought the icing on the cake was a 97th career goal for Lucio but their GK somehow got a hand to a goal-bound free-kick and turned it onto the post, (which we then scored from).

Great game to get me back into FM with after a few weeks of slackness/busy at work.

[Edit]

It just seems to be a stay of execution however as we lost the home leg of the Semi 0-3 to FCBayern in an absolutely appalling performance.

[Jimbokav1971]

Looking good Leon.

[Jimbokav1971]

Club Update. May 2041.

With 3 Serie A games still to be played, it's party-time for the Titani as they celebrate an amazing Quadruple.

The bad news however is that none of the 4 trophies won were the Champions League, (where we were well beaten over 2 legs by FCBayern in the semi's), and we also crashed out of then Italian Cup 4-0 to Inter in the Qtrs.

Serie A. Champions. We have now won this 5 times in a row and 10 times in the last 12 years.

Club World Championships. Champions. The 4th time that the club have won this.

European Super Cup. Champions. The 4th time that the club have won this.

Italian Super Cup. Champions. The 11th time that the club have won this.

U19's Italian Cup. Champions. The 8th time that the club have won this.

Italian Youth Club Invitational. Champions. The 5th time that the club have won this.

U19 Champions Cup. Champions. It's only the 2nd time we have won this, (alos 1 losing Final), so I am quite chuffed to win it again. We went a goal down through a young (RSA) striker who Juve have bought in and who is already playing for the 1st team, but their defence was poor and we ran out 7-1 winners in the end in a very one-sided Final.

[Jimbokav1971]

NT Update. June 2041.

92 Players called up for International Duty.

[Edit]

We are due to play a World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan on Thursday 13th June 2041, (4 days away).

I have already selected my squad, and have left out Volp (SMR) (2024) (Det) because he is recovering from injury and is not going to be fit enough to play.

I have just been asked to select my squad for our debut in the Confederations Cup, (5 weeks away), and it seems that the only way I can pick Volp in that squad is to also include him in the Kazakhstan squad, (which seems silly).

:confused:

[Edit2]

It's lucky that this was only 1 player and that the opposition is inly Kazakhstan, but this really should be avoidable shouldn't it?

[Edit3]

Either I'm in a time-warp or......

The 1st Confederations Cup game, (Nigeria), is now 3 days after the Kazakhstan game, and then we have Mexico 3 days after that, and then big-hitters Portugal 3 days after that!

:confused:

[Edit4]

2042 World Cup Qualifier.

Kazakhstan 1 - 5 San Marino.

With the Nigeria opener in the Confed Cup only days away, I rested quite a few players. Rob (2033) (Model Pro) scored for the 8th consecutive International. (I guess that's just put the kibbosh on him scoring against Nigeria), but the real star of the show was young 19yo left winger Zafferani (F.Pro), who only made the squad because he has Dual Nationality and I am securing him long-term for (SMR). He isn't actually that good, (Serie B potential), but is well balanced for a winger.

[Edit5]

Confederations Cup 2041. Group A.

San Marino 2 - 0 Nigeria.

We rotated back to an almost full strength team but we were a little below-par and only Nigeria's really defensive tactics saved us. Rob (2033) (Model Pro) scored again to make it 9 games in succession he has scored in.

[Edit6]

Confederations Cup 2041. Group A.

Mexico 0 - 0 San Marino.

We bossed the 1st half and they bossed the 2nd. In the end it was a fair result, but we were lucky in some respects as Gian (F.Pro) was shown a straight red for a pro foul late on and I was sure they were going to spank the free-kick straight in. (It went just wide).

[leonavich]

Woah, so the schedule got pushed forward by about 5 weeks?

[Jimbokav1971]

Well either that or I'm just a bit dim and it was always like that and I forgot what month we were in, (quite possible).

[Daymor]

I have been absent for a while, but I brushed the dust off and got back into this save. It's still far and away my favourite save on FM. I will try post a bigger update in the next day or two.

But I just wanted to stop by and say it's good to see a few of you still going.

Leon

Good luck with the Euro's, even though as you said you have played the small fish in the group so far, if you can't win against them it doesn't bode well for your chances against Germany and Russia. So hopefully you can squeeze out a win or a draw against one of them and you should be in a pretty good spot to get through.

Jimbo

Always amazed at the size of your roster, 92 players called up for International Duty. That's nuts. I would like to build a bigger roster of SMR players, but they always complain about not getting game time, so I try send them out on loan at the age of 24 etc, and there are no bites for some. Even when I don't demand they cotribute to wages or anything, unfortunately that means most are shown the door. I have sold a couple of my better SMR players to other clubs in the hopes that they will get game time, as they are currently stuck behind better players in my club squad.

Coady

Seems you are also doing quite well which is good to see. Winning Serie A a couple times is nice, unlucky to lose out in the Champions League final. I have had that happen to me against PSG, but I lost in the worst way possible. My CD's were way up field and midfield was quite congested, so they decided to pass it back to my keeper who for some reason was quite a bit forward, and they lobbed my keeper for an own-goal. This was with about 10-20mins left in the game. But when I saw that I was crushed.

But sounds like you have a good squad, so no reason you can't get back next year and win it all.

Small Update

As I have been playing through I have been getting some pretty serious offers for my two Strikers, both youngsters who have come through my youth system. Fabio Sbravati (Italian) and Daniele Benedettini (SMR), Benedettini after going through a purple patch of form almost broke the $100mMil (US) valuation, but peaked at $99Mil. Sbravati, although at the time was not in my starting squad but a regular sub, Barcelona wanted him quite badly and approached me 5 times in one transfer window with ever improving offers after rejecting each of their previous advances. Eventually their top offer was for a total value of $129.5Mil, I still rejected the offer as I do not need the money (currently have ~$550Mil in the bank) and Sbravati is in my long term plans.

Offers for Benedettini didn't quite reach that height, I think they topped out at around $70-80Mil.

[Jimbokav1971]

Jimbo

Always amazed at the size of your roster, 92 players called up for International Duty. That's nuts. I would like to build a bigger roster of SMR players, but they always complain about not getting game time, so I try send them out on loan at the age of 24 etc, and there are no bites for some. Even when I don't demand they cotribute to wages or anything, unfortunately that means most are shown the door. I have sold a couple of my better SMR players to other clubs in the hopes that they will get game time, as they are currently stuck behind better players in my club squad.

It nuts but I have always had a penchant for a large squad anyway.

Even if I were to remove every (SMR) Nationality player, I would still have what some of you class as a large squad I think.

I keep every (SMR) that comes through the academy irrespective of ability until they are too old to play for the (SMR) U21 NT. That's a special little side-project at the moment, (but more on that in it's own update). If a player is (ITA) then they only get offered an initial Youth contract if they are good but if they are offered an initial Youth Contract, then it also means that they are offered a Full Time Pro contract with an option for a further 3 years. (I do this 100% of the time without fail). I take some of the aged competitions seriously(ish) so I don't want to loan players out too early. This also gives me a chance to mould their personality, (although I have had awful problems with the best product from 2 years ago who is slack and I have just been unable to do anything with him). When they are 19 and no longer eligible for the competitions, I have a look at them and see what's what. The players that are never going to play for the club side just go on loan, but with the players with decent potential, I consider keeping them to mould them further. It's very rare that a teenager plays for the club side nowadays. The only individual player I really care about is my goal-scoring GK, so I'm not overly bothered about blooding youth, (because I haven't produced any stars recently. Just lots of averageness).

As soon as a player will become Model Pro or Resolute, (or close to that if I am short of tutors in that position), then again I just loan them out. Having a quick look now....

17 GK's. 6 out on loan.

15 DL's. 6 out on loan.

16 DR's. 5 out on loan.

37 DC's. 9 out on loan.

7 DM's. 1 out on loan. I don't actually play with a DM, but they are players who can play elsewhere but who's best position is deemed to be DM.

1 WBR. Again, I don't play with wing-backs, but this Youth Player has not yet been retrained and WBR is still his best position.

25 MC's. 7 out on loan.

3 ML's. 2 out on loan. I play with AML's rather than ML's.

5 MR's. 1 out on loan. I play with AMR's rather than MR's.

14 AMC's. 2 out on loan.

13 AML's. 5 out on loan.

15 AMR's. 2 out on loan.

32 SC's. 1 out on loan. (I think I must have forgotten to offer the strikers & AMR's out on loan by the looks of it. I must have got distracted halfway though).

A little but of mental arithmetic makes me think that I have exactly 200 players at the club.

I actually released 9 players this season who either were not good enough or who wanted to leave, and sold... approx 11 players bringing in a cool £92.87M, (with the usual 25& sell on clause on each).

[Jimbokav1971]

U21 NT Update. September 2041.

For the 1st time in their history, San Marino have qualified for the Euro U21 Championship Playoffs.

They will play home and away against Ukraine U21's, (meh! I have just realised that they are the holders so we don't have a chance), with the winner progressing to the Finals itself.

We only finished 2nd in the Group, (behind a good Turkey U21 team), but I was really chuffed actually. Lost 2-1 away to both Turkey and Norway, but won 5 and drew 1 of our other remaining games. If I'm honest, I never thought this was going to be possible.

Remember, for Olympic qualification, (wow!) we need to get to the Semi's and win the 3rd Place Playoff or better.

[Daymor]

2028/2029 Season

What a year! The club side claimed only our second Serie A title, taking the title away from Juventus who have won it the last two years running. But even better than that we managed to snag the treble including the Champions League for the first time in the club's history, it doesn't get much better than that.

Once again it was our attack that did all the damage and managed to get us to the treble. With Benedettini and Papadinas leading the line our attack was pretty lethal, we also have good depth coming off the bench in Fabio Sbravati. Papadinas was again the main man up front claiming a slew of awards inclusing the Golden Boot again as well as setting a record average rating of 7.95 in the Serie A.

As good as our attack was, our defense was equally as impressive. With the side managing a good number of clean sheets, and limiting the goals scored against us in general. I run a bit of an odd formation in a 5-3-2, although play with an attacking mentality. I have found quite a bit of sucess with this formation and have stuck to it ever since. Since this is the first time I have played Football Managed it took me quite a while to find a formation that worked. So I don't usually tinker with it too much. I also made some good pickups during the previous year which really helped push us over the line, Ulises Avila a Mexican international Central-Midfielder and Marco Veratti which really helped solidify the center of the park for us.

Champions League

What an epic final it was. We were made slight favourites against Borussia Dortmund going in to the final. Dortmund had most of the running this game thanks to Vincent Matangalu who has been crowned the Best Player in the World several times in recent history. In this game it was more about holding on for dear life than anything else. We managed to survive despite injuries to both Avila (80min) and Papadinas (104min). In the end it came down to Penalties and we managed to sneak out with a victory. Luca Beccari was undoubtedly the hero saving 3 of them!

Preview/Odds

Schedule

Review

Dream Team

Serie A

Table

Squad

Team of the Year

• No real stars in this year's youth intake. But there a few fairly decent looking dual nationality players as well as Matteo Ceccoli who is quite gifted physically, I will just need to work on his technicals and he could be a good player and an upgrade over my current Right Winger in the NT, Giacomo Tosi.
  
• Francesco Giacobbi is a player with dual nationalities but plays as a Left Defender which I could use at the National Level. My first impressions are that he will not be good enough for the Italian side, so hopefully his DN status won't matter too much I might just have to wait a while before he is willing to commit to San Marino.
  
• Matteo Ceccoli as mentioned above has some impressive physicals, if I can get his technicals and mentals up to scratch he could start seeing some playing time in the National Squad quite soon. My current Right Winger, Giacomo Tosi was the second rated prospect from March 2021.
  
• The last two were signed mainly for depth. Reviewing this intake now I realise I should have signed a couple more players signing only 4. Anyway, Massimo Ceccheti could see some game time for the NT youth squads. Pietro Veronesi is in a similar position, adding depth to my youth squads.
  

National Team Update

Fixtures

Best Eleven

World Cup Qualifying

Another good year for the National Team as we finished off the last few games of the World Cup qualifiers to get through the group with the top seed narrowly edging out Holland on goal differential. The group ended up going as I was expecting, I was a little surprised Belarus didn't get a few more points, as outside of Holland they were the team I was most concerned about.

San Marino are off to their first World Cup! This should be an interesting experience, and a new experience for me. This will be the first time I have managed at the World Cup so I am definitely looking forward to it. I think my squad definitely has to potential to cause a few upsets and hopefully make it out of the group stage depending on our draw. If we can avoid injuries and if possible rest some players we might even be able to make it a bit further. At this stage my aim would be to get out of the group.

Honor Roll

I just want to take the chance to honor one of our most impressive club members who has just recently decided to hang up his boots. Marcello Ahmetovic, a club legend.

Profile

History

Legend Status

Marcelo came to the Titani from Cesena on loan for two seasons from 2014 - 2016 while the club was still in the Serie C. After which I managed to pick him up from Cesena on a Free. The contribution he has made to the club has been immense, turning out for the club a massive 468 times over 15 seasons.

The fact that Marcelo played for us all the way through the leagues from Serie C, right though to Serie A speaks of how much I valued his contributions from the back. He also managed to pick up 63 Caps at the National Level for Bosnia and Herzegovina scoring two goals in the process. To date Marcelo is still the most capped Titani player in history. An honor which truely reflects the value I placed on his contributions to our rise through the ranks.

Marcelo's status as a club legend was well earned and thoroughly deserved. He tutored a great many of my young players coming through the ranks. I could see no better way to pay tribute to the great man than to organise his Testimonial match against Cesena, the club from which he was acquired. Playing out the whole game and playing impressively.

I wish to thank Marcelo for the 15 great years, and wish him the best for the future (although he doesn't want a backroom role). You will be remembered.

[Jimbokav1971]

NT Update. Oct 2021.

The Nation has qualified for the 2042 World Cup in Portugal and will be attempting to retain their title, (a mighty big ask).

We finished top of Group 1, 7 points ahead of our old nemesis Serbia and won 9 of our 19 games, (just losing out 2-1 away to a Wales side who played very well).

1st choice striker Rob (SMR) (2033) (M.Pro) led the way with 8 goals in qualifying, but was well supported by left winger Umb Macri (SMR) (F.Pro) who contributed 7 goals in the campaign. I have no idea why my very average left wingers perform to such a high level. My tactic just seems to work that way. Yes they are given an (a) duty, but even still. The old left winger, (Visentini (SMR) (F.Pro) (2021) who is still knocking about in the squad), scored 63 goals in 159 NT appearances and he played as far back as 2021 when we were pants.

[Jimbokav1971]

U21 NT Update. Oct 2021.

So I mentioned that we had finished 2nd in our Euro U21 Qualifying Group and as a result had made the Playoffs for the Finals themselves. The only problem was that we had been drawn against Ukraine U21's who were the current holders, (winning the U21 Euro's in June 2040).

I didn't give us much of a chance against them initially, until I realised while setting up the pre-match instructions for the 1st leg, (away), that actually most of their stars from the previous year were now over age and illegible, and in fact we might just have a sniff of a chance.

Euro U21 Champs Qualifying Playoff 1st Leg. Ukraine U21's 1 - 3 San Marino U21's.

We played really well and I was looking to settle for 0-2 when they scored a consolation and it made me attack them again. We came up with a 3rd goal, (the icing on the cake), and I was well chuffed with a 3-1 lead going into the home leg.

Euro U21 Champs Qualifying Playoff 2nd Leg. San Marino U21's 4 - 2 Ukraine U21's. San Marino U21's win 7-3 on aggregate and qualify for the Euro U21 Finals.This was almost a disaster to end all disasters. We led 2-0 at half time, (so I decided I was able to sub off 1 of 2 booked players). I took off the right back as I had a replacement, but the left back who was booked had to remain on. We made it 3-0, (6-1 on aggregate), so I thought the game was as good as over and made what I thought was a like for like sub, taking off my best player, (a MC), and replacing him with a young MC. The only problem is that I somehow subbed off the new right back that I had subbed on and that was all 3 subs used in the 54th minute. In the 56th minute, (you know what is coming), the left back who was booked in the 1st half was shown a 2nd yellow and was sent off, (so I went to a back 3, only then realising my error with the previous sub), and no sooner had I pressed play but we had a red injury in the 58th minute, (to our best player, the MC who I thought I had already taken off). So the score is now 6-1, so we are looking good, but we have 32 minutes to play against the defending champions who are by this stage tearing us apart at will. We scored a 7th goal to make it safe and they scored twice late on, but to be honest it was like no game I have managed before. I ended up playing with no midfield so it was proper attack versus defence. Next goal wins! lol

Despite my errors, we won and have qualified for the 1st time in our history.

I honestly thought something like this would never be possible.

Next goal is to get to the Semi's.

After that, we have to win the 3rd place Playoff.

[Jimbokav1971]

NT Update. Dec 2041.

San Marino have been drawn in World Cup Group G.

San Marino (ranked 7th).

Uruguay (ranked 13th).

Slovenia (ranked 15th).

Costa Rica (ranked 53rd).

At first glance it looks like an easy group, but the rankings suggest that things could be a little harder. Still, I've got to be expecting to qualify from that group with something to spare.

[Jimbokav1971]

U21 NT Update. Dec 2041.

San Marino U21's have been drawn in Group A of the European U21 Championship, (which is being held in England).

Group A.

Bulgaria.

France.

San Marino.

Turkey.

Group B.

England.

Greece.

Holland.

Russia.

[Jimbokav1971]

NT Update. Feb 2042.

The draw for 2044 Euro Qualifying has been made and typically we are in one of the 2x 5 team groups rather than one of the 7x 6 team groups.

Group H.

San Marino, (ranked 8th).

Slovenia, (ranked 18th).

Israel, (ranked 53rd).

N.Ireland, (ranked 79th).

Lithuania, (ranked 127th).

[dynaboyj]

NT Update. Feb 2042.

The draw for 2044 Euro Qualifying has been made and typically we are in one of the 2x 5 team groups rather than one of the 7x 6 team groups.

Is there no Gibraltar in your game?

[Jimbokav1971]

Is there no Gibraltar in your game?

Yes. They are in Group E.

Group A.

Denmark

Finland

France

Iceland

Moldova

Sweden

Group B.

Azerbaijan

Belgium

Czech Rep

Georgia

Holland

Luxemburg

Group C.

Austria

Estonia

Faroes

Germany

Italy

Norway

Group D.

Andorra

Ireland

Romania

Slovakia

Turkey

Wales

Group E.

Armenia

Boz & Herz

Croatia

Gibraltar

Montenegro

Russia

Group F.

Belarus

Bulgaria

England

Kazakh

Liechtenstein

Scotland

Group G.

Albania

Hungary

Latvia

Malta

Serbia

Spain

Group H.

Israel

Lithuania

N.Ireland

San Marino

Slovenia

Group I.

Cyprus

FYR Macedonia

Greece

Portugal

Switzer;and

[coady]

A fairly disappointing season at club level, but the national team again made up for this with exciting progress.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=2"]Club Transfers

We went bigger this year, after getting £34 for striker Dona we needed to strengthen. We also bolstered in January after a poor first half of the season, starting our transition earlier.

Club Competitions

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=9"]Italian Super Cup - We finally won it!! We dominated comfortably against a poor Roma performance.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=6"]Serie A - We won the title again, just as comfortably in the end

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=8"]Italian Cup - A really disappointing final performance.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=10"]Champions Cup - Olympiakos: This was even worse, we were embarrassing in extra time.

Youth Intake 2026

Nothing sensational to report here again, but a few solid DN players that may help improve our depth in years to come.

National Competitions

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0"]European World Cup Qualifiers - We carried on our great form, leaving us just needing to avoid defeat at home to the Czech Republic on the final match day to top the group. We amazingly won 3-0 and qualify for our debut world cup!

This is my=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=11"] favourite national stats page, shows our upwards progress every single year in the rankings. Culminating in 11th place before the world cup.

[coady]

Build Up

We warmed up sensationally for our debut world cup with a =141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1"]trouncing of Estonia. We followed this up with wins against four other smaller nations, such as Bahrain & Jordan.

World Cup Group H

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1"]South Korea - We had our easiest opponent (on paper) first. This was a very tense encounter but we just about nicked it at the end.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=2"]Brazil - We knew we couldn't win this one, so we rested out first team for our final game. A comfortable loss resulted.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0"]Mali - This was a tough game. Thanks to other results, we knew a draw would likely get us through (presuming Brazil beat South Korea. This plan all worked perfectly and we held out for an extremely tentative draw.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=8"]This left the final table looking like this, sneaking us through in 2nd place.

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=11"]World Cup Second Round

Unfortunately, our 2nd place finish gave us a tough tie in the next round. We had a world class Belgium side to play and I instantly knew it would be our last game in our first world cup outing. 2-0 was a respectable result in the end though & I am proud of our debut performance.

[leonavich]

Nice job Coady. Well Done to make the second round.

[Jimbokav1971]

=141913051&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0"]European World Cup Qualifiers - We carried on our great form, leaving us just needing to avoid defeat at home to the Czech Republic on the final match day to top the group. We amazingly won 3-0 and qualify for our debut world cup!

Brilliant stuff.

I know how chuffed I was when I qualified for the 1st time well done. Just getting there is an accomplishment in itself. However you do, it's all positive stuff.

I think when you get to this stage of the save, the club part of the challenge starts to take a back-seat, (to a certain extent), and all you just want to do is fly through the domestic games and get through to Youth Intake Day and the NT fixtures and Cup competitions. That's certainly how I felt anyway. it's really just a tool to produce NT players.

I have been working back-shifts for a couple of weeks and it has stopped me playing FM, but I am back on earlies so back playing again.

My last couple of YOUth INtakes have been quite poor. Last season was reasonable, (but then I suffered a game crash), and when I relaoded the last save and went through it again the results were not as good.

This season, no crash, and some reasonable players, (no stars), but the best (SMR) eligible player has just 1.0 PA stars. Don't get me wrong, he's still going to be good, (decent Serie A striker), but I think it shows how lucky I was in previous years. I'm going through a bit of a tough time of it at the moment and while it's not impacting on the NT now, surely it will in years to come.

On the plus side, I have managed to get training facilities, youth facilities and... something else, upgraded, so fingers crossed this will improve things for next season and onwards. I've been having a little thing of when this save might run it's course and I certainly planning on going on until either Lúcio * (F.Pro) beats Rogerio Cen's career goal-scoring record, or he retires and ends that mini-challenge for me.

I think that's the best thing about this save for me. There are loads of challenges within challenges and it keeps the save interesting.

1. Getting San Marino to Serie A.

2. Becoming Champions of Serie A.

3. Winning Champions League.

4. Unbeaten domestic season. (Still haven't done this).

5. Clean sweep of senior trophies entered. (I'm not sure but I don't think I have done this). (Actually I have, but what I have never done is won EURO Super Cup, Italian Super Cup, Serie A, Italian Cup and Champions League all in 1 season. There has always been 1 missing or we weren't in the EURO Super Cup because we didn't win the Champions League the previous season).

6. Retaining specific trophies is always a decent challenge.

7. Winning all the Youth competitions, (U19 Champions League & U19 Italian Cup and Italian Youth Invitational is really hard because there is a period in February where the fixture congestion is simply ridiculous).

Then there are the NT milestones.

8. Just winning a competitive game was a challenge and after an early lucky win, it took me another 10 seasons to repeat.

9. Qualifying for the 1st World Cup is huge.

10. I always seem to struggle in the EURO's and it's far less attractive, but it's still a big deal to qualify.

11. Winning the World Cup should have been the pinnacle of the save, but to be honest it was a bit of an anti-climax because I didn't think we should have won, (I don't think we were anywhere near good enough to win).

12. I still haven't won the EURO's, (not even close), and to be honest I'm not sure it's even going to be likely to be close the way things are going. (Never going to happen).

13. Competing in the Confederations Cup for the 1st time, (not sure I did an update for this), as despite winning 1, drawing 1 and losing 1 in the group stage, we didn't progress to the knockout stages and I was a bit gutted actually.

14. Winning the Confederations Cup would be huge, but again I don't think it's a realistic goal for me. (Never going to happen).

15. Being ranked #1 in the World, (accomplished in May 2039) was great to tick off, but there are ways that you can manipulate the rankings, (I choose not to), but it was nice to tick off all the same.

16. Qualifying for the 1st U21 EURO Champs was HUGE!!!! Can't stress how chuffed I was with that.

17. To qualify for the Olympics I need to finish 3rd or better in the U21 EURO's. If I can do that I think I will die a happy man. I'm not 100% sure how realistic that is because I'm not sure what players if any I will lose between now and the end of the season when that is played, (hopefully everyone who was able to play in qualifying will be eligible for the Finals and that will do me fine. We aren't great, but we are at least reasonably balanced. It will take a decent team to beat us, (or a few injuries).

18. Playing in the Olympics would be amazing. End of.

19. Qualifying for the U19 EURO's seems to actually be reasonably likely. I haven't taken charge of an U19 NT game yet because I have been prioritising the U21's, but once I have done something with them I will turn my attention to the U19's. It's only 3 games in initial qualifying and I'm pretty sure that as long as I don't get a horrendous draw I should be reasonably competitive. I've just looked and there is an initial qualifying Round and then there is a 2nd qualifying Rund, (each with 4 Team Groups and playing each team once). I'm sure it will be hard with the big boys in 2nd Round Qual, but certainly getting through 1st qualifying Round is achievable.

20. Qualifying for the U19 Finals would be a really good target, even if winning it is probably stretching things too far. It's a real shame but there doesn't seem to be an U19 World Cup. I have looked at previous U19 EURO winners and they don't go on to compete against the rest of the World as far as I can see. Real shame. I was sure there was an U19 World Cup or something like that in previous issues. Maybe I'm getting confused.

I'm trying to think what other mini-targets and goals there are.

The only other one I can think of is the goal-scoring GK challenge which I am just loving and it's really helped the longevity of the save when I think I might have otherwise have become bored and just jacked it in. It's a real shame he's not (SMR), but I could be waiting for ever for a (SMR) GK as good as him.

Has anyone got any other little accomplishments or milestones that they look at?

[Edit]

Smart move on throwing the Brazil game coady. (If I wasn't trying to remain unbeaten, (and failing dismally), I would regularly be fielding much weaker teams in games. I already field weakened teams in terms of rotation,, but I mean proper weak teams with 11 (SMR) starters.

Congrats on getting out of the Group stages. That's all you can ask for I think. You should be well chuffed with that.

[coady]

Not milestones as such, but the biggest thing I look for is having staff and players around the world like many other big nations. This is so hopefully I won't have to rely solely on the club side to produce talent in the future. For example, my NT assistant manager was approached by Cagliari at the start of this season, and there are a couple of managers in Serie C too. With my first 2 ever youth products both in England's top divisions and a couple now in the German 2nd Division, this is something I always look out for and advocate where possible.

[Jimbokav1971]

I have just realised I have no less than 27 Model Pro's at the club, (and more being tutored), and a further 19 Professional players.

[leonavich]

No real mile stones, but I once got a player with over 200 caps. I just picked up a 4 star Sammarinese keeper, so I intend to use him at all times in league and National level to get him as many caps as possible, and to also get him as many goals as possible. Youngest ever keeper to Participate in a European Qualifier at just 15, so we shall see how he goes.

EDIT: Luciano Canini scores his first goal in his second International match from the spot!

[Jimbokav1971]

I once got a player with over 200 caps.

That's brilliant.

My most capped player is left winger Visentini (SMR) (2021) (F.Pro) who has 161, (and 63 goals), and is unlikely to add many more to that as he has been well and truly replaced now at the age of 37.

I just picked up a 4 star Sammarinese keeper

Oh you lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky man.

EDIT: Luciano Canini scores his first goal in his second International match from the spot![/QUOTE]

Oh that is brilliant. Can't wait to see him and follow this. If I got something like that I think I would wet myself.

so I intend to use him at all times in league and National level to get him as many caps as possible, and to also get him as many goals as possible.[/QUOTE]

Ooh. This could be a proper challenge for Lúcio (F.Pro) *.

A 4.0 star PA GK for me would be better than Lúcio (F.Pro) *, (who only has 3.5 PA stars but is obviously World Class now). The reason for this is that I have the following GK's all with equal or better PA.

In my squad right now, 1.5 CA stars for a GK = Good Serie A player.

In my squad right now, 2.0 CA stars for a GK = Good Serie A player.

In my squad right now, 2.5 CA stars for a GK = Star Serie A player.

In my squad right now, 2.5 PA stars for a GK = Star Serie A player.

In my squad right now, 3.5 PA stars for a GK = World Class Player.

Bakker "HvB" (NED) Model Pro * is an 18yo GK with 1.5 CA stars and 4.5 PA stars. He is nicknamed "HvB" because his media comparison is, "could be the next Hans van Breukelen". If 3.5

Ipek (FRA/TUR) (Res) * is a 17yo GK with 2.0 CA stars and 4.5 PA stars. (Going to be phenomenal!)

Bentka (GER) (Det) is a 16yo GK with 1.0 CA stars and 4.0 PA stars.

Hrustic (GER) (F.Pro) is a 20yo GK with 2.5 CA stars and 3.5 PA stars.

Lúcio (F.Pro) * is a 31yo GK with 3.5 CA stars and 3.5 PA stars.

Bosisio (F.Det) is a 16yo GK with 4.5 Youth CA stars and 2.5 PA stars. Is the joint best GK that I have produced through the academy.

Fulvio (F.Pro) is a 24yo GK with 2.5 CA stars and 2.5 PA stars. Is the joint best GK that I have produced through the academy.

GK 8.

GK 9.

GK 10. is a Model Pro tutor.

GK 11.

GK 12.

Vagnetti (SMR) (Sport) SELL is a 19yo GK with 3.5 Youth CA stars and 0.5 PA stars. He is the best (SMR) GK at the club by PA. :o

Can't wait to see some pics of Canini. What does his PA say? What is 4* PA equal to?

[leonavich]

Early days, But we shall see how he goes. He is about to make his first appearance for the Club side against Catania. He only has Star Serie A goalkeeper potential, so may not be the World Class keeper Lucio is.

Luciano Canini

[Jimbokav1971]

Early days, But we shall see how he goes. He is about to make his first appearance for the Club side against Catania. He only has Star Serie A goalkeeper potential, so may not be the World Class keeper Lucio is.

Luciano Canini

Star Serie A GK is plenty good enough.

That really is excellent.