[FM14] Undrið FF, the Faroese Wonder

[RBKalle]

Season 2023 - More of the same, please!

Another comfortable undefeated season for us. Nothing major to report, besides strangely low AvR for most players... Only a CB and our strikers averaged >7.00, with the rest of the regulars around the 6.80 mark.

We had a handful of sloppy games during the European fixtures congestion, but our rotation options proved themselves to be adequate for our domestic needs.

Along the way we also broke some club records, like the biggest win (7-0) and our players topped pretty puch every performance standing.

Unfortunately Jógvan Nielsen stopped scoring in August, but at least was still able to provide 9 assists during his awfuly long dry spell.

Profiles of the year

The duo up front finally formed a lethal partnership, with a rather fair distribution of goals and assists (although Nielsen's aforementioned scoring drought has been a problem in the closing months of the season).

Ingi Mørkøre scored 24 league goals and created 13 assists, with a record-setting SIX scorings against NSÍ.

Youngster Ingi Holm's progress has been fantastic, while he still has to find his mojo as Advanced Playmaker... Maybe next season I'll move him forward in AMC position to see if he can be more effective.

Next season: a professional job?

With a staggering profit of €4M, our balance looks healthy enough to allow the club to turn pro... But is it really the right move at the moment?

That would force me to renegotiate full-time contracts with all the players in the Senior Squad AND also with those half-decent youngsters who could actually benefit from fulltime training schedule.

Even considering youth contracts (2k p/y) and low low fulltime ones (let's say 8k p/y), that would probably mean something like 200k p/y on wages for youth and reserve teams.

Plus staff and some Top Players, I'm not sure we'd be able to afford to go pro...

I mean, we're not really good enough to make it to EL group stage every season, so an early exit in CL qualifiers would mean our main source of income would be cut short.. and if 500k are good money for a part-time club, they'd mean breaking even (if we're lucky and careful with the money) for that year.

So, is it maybe wiser to wait another season, or it's just a chance I must take as soon as I can?

[rodesire]

Go pro ASAP. You can scout further in Europe, get better cheap players and guarantee more European football easily. With 4mil in the bank you really have nothing to worry about, mate.

[RBKalle]

We turned pro, but as I was fearing, renegotiating the part-time contracts to full-time will eat up my whole wage budget by the time I'm done with the starting XI and the decent prospects...

BTW, should I get the coaching team on full-time contracts too in order to maximize their training skills (3.5* in each category) or for most players the jump from part-time to full-time schedule will be enough to improve at least a little bit?

With few notable exceptions, my best players are around age 30, so the main goal would be slowing their decline as much as I can, but surely that's not going to be worth en masse contract negotiations for players AND staff, isn't it?

Better scouting is a huge plus, but even barely ok foreigners (like, Norwegian and Danish guys with third-tier careers) ask for 100k p/y...

[rancer890]

If that were me, I would have waited till we reached 8-9 million in the bank. But if you're going to go pro, you might as well go all in and bring in the key coaching staff to full-time contracts.

[rodesire]

I say spend huge and make sure you're top of the pile. Even if you have 20 5kpy contracts that will be more than covered by a single round of CL. Get good staff, great players, update facilities if you hit the group stage again. Be dominating the league like you should!

[RBKalle]

Turns out every single player in my squad, no matter how awful, won't settle for less than 23.5k p/y, and younger players won't even negotiate a youth contract, so it's either Full Time or nothing.

At least I was able to convert the most expensive Part-time contracts into Full-time ones for the same wage, and the staff were reasonable enough with their requests (probably because their demands as part-timers were kinda steep already, around the 25k mark as well).

In the end I'm still well inside my wage budget, because I'm leaving the aging rotation players on their original P/T contract at least until the end of this season. Then I'll evaluate who's deserving to stay F/T and who's going to retire or to go free agent.

The only actual problem is most of the semi-decent foreigners I could sign are quite greedy, thus meaning I'm going to think twice or thrice before offering a big fat contract to a player... It's great in a way, because it'll prevent me from going nuts and hoarding half-decent/half-promising players or second-rate "stars" from Scandinavian lower leagues...

In fact, I think I'll try to keep a rather strict "Faroese only" policy, unless of course I can sign a foreigner or two who are head and shoulders above the level of our squad.

But as long as it isn't the case, I'll invest on our youth and training facilities... Winning in Europe with an all-foreigner squad would pretty much defeat the purpose of this career...

[rodesire]

Oh snap, this looks like a proper challenge now, maybe snap that Faroese guy who used to be a GK for Man City a while ago?

[RBKalle]

Oh snap, this looks like a proper challenge now, maybe snap that Faroese guy who used to be a GK for Man City a while ago?

Unfortunately Gunnar Nielsen retired some years ago in my save...

Currently the only international profile is Sonni Nattestad, but Brighton value him 3M and he earns more than my whole squad combined, so he's not an option... Even the couple of other decent players abroad (Norwegian and Danish lower leagues, nothing truly remarkable) have wage demands tat exceed their actual quality AND my resources.

But with those few exceptions, the NT heavily relies on my players.... So I'll have to keep on investing on youth and training, while trying to steal some U18 guys from neighbour countries and hope for them to become eligible for the Faroese NT someday, but I doubt it'll be a popular choice even among guys with little to no chance of ever getting called up to their native country.

[endtime]

Don't hold your breath, it takes 10 years for foreigners to become eligible for the Faroese NT. It should be 2 years for Danes, but I don't know if it's implemented in FM.

[rodesire]

Don't hold your breath, it takes 10 years for foreigners to become eligible for the Faroese NT. It should be 2 years for Danes, but I don't know if it's implemented in FM.

If that's true, Faroese challenge should be the new San Marino challenge. Infinitely harder!

[RBKalle]

Don't hold your breath, it takes 10 years for foreigners to become eligible for the Faroese NT. It should be 2 years for Danes, but I don't know if it's implemented in FM.

Oh crap... Didn't notice it takes so many years...

Apparently the game doesn't differentiate between Danes, Nordics and "generic" foreigners... it still requires 3285 days to gain Faroese nationality. BTW, do you have a source for the special rule regarding Danish citizens? I've googled a bit but didn't find a thing about gaining citizenship, just stuff about visas and work permits.

I suppose football follows special rules anyway...

[endtime]

It's a FIFA rule, article 6.1 of the Regulation Governing the Application of the FIFA statutes reads:

"A Player who, under the terms of art. 5, is eligible to represent more than one Association on account of his nationality, may play in an international match for one of these Associations only if, in addition to having the relevant nationality, he fulfils at least one of the following conditions:a) He was born on the territory of the relevant Association;

b) His biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant Association;

c) His grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant Association;

d) He has lived continuously on the territory of the relevant Association for at least two years."

According to Wikipedia subsection d) covers Danish nationals living in the Faroes.

[rancer890]

I think the only example in FM is the Chinese-HK thing. It takes Chinese nationals 2 years to become HK citizens. If the Faroese-Danish thing is similar, then SI should change it for FM15.

It's the only way too (I think) but HK players are considered non-foreign anyway in the CSL.

[RBKalle]

According to another FIFA document, the threshold is now five years AND subsection d) can be scrapped altogether following an agreement by both associations.

So either DBU and FSF decided to do away with it, or SI missed it... Maybe I'd ask the Scandinavia HR to see if he knows more about it...

[endtime]

That document you linked to is from June 2008, the one I quoted from is from 2013 (https://www.google.pl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCwQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fifa.com%2Fmm%2Fdocument%2Faffederation%2Fgeneric%2F02%2F14%2F97%2F88%2Ffifastatuten2013_e_neutral.pdf&ei=2W_VU5zAMIfY7AbegQE&usg=AFQjCNGf_NfA7o933SVyNC7RWneylzKOtw&sig2=SkyStgCVDElqM_zbLwNWxw)

I haven't seen any info that would suggest that the Danish and Faroese associations have decided to waive that rule, like the home nations did.

[RBKalle]

2023-24 Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round

Tough luck for us this year... Once again we got drawn against one of the highest ranked sides of the 2nd Round...

Undrið FF - FC København 1-2

The match wasn't a total disaster (they were often forced to shoot from distance), but in the end the stronger team won. Our goal was a banana shot from miles away and we didn't do enough to get a positive result

FC København - Undrið FF 3-1

Our already feeble hopes were crushed anyway by an appalling performance that quickly descended into farce... The first goal was started by our fullback hitting our winger straight in the face with a clearance; the rebound became a perfect assist for their winger who had a clear path for the cross and the subsequent tap-in from close range.

Second goal was a sliding own goal on another cross. And one minute later our midfielder lost the ball, Brazil-Germany style. Quick counter and debatable penalty decision.

So, in our first season as a pro club, we went out early and without mounting much of a challenge... We got about 500k in prize money from the CL, but it's likely even with the usual domestic treble, we're going to close the season with a loss. A marginal one I hope, but things will have to improve next season in Europe, otherwise we're going to be broke pretty soon...

In fairness though, I'll have to admit I didn't strengthen the squad enough for the CL. The biggest signings came AFTER we were already out.

I know I should have signed some better players during the pre-season, but I didn't find the right ones. Or, better, those who could have been truly useful were asking for insane (for our standards) wages, so I had to balance the requirements on two very sensitive areas: performance and finance.

Hopefully our two new stars will use the closing stages of the current season to blend in and they'll be ready to lead us to greener European pastures in 2024.

[RBKalle]

Season 2023 - Winning trophies, losing money

Another dominant domestic campaign, with several big wins (7-2 against ÍF, several 6-1 and 5-1, including one against rivals Víkingur) and almost no complaints about the football the team played.

The usual Treble was almost a foregone conclusion, but at this point it barely matters... Domestic football is a mere formality while waiting for the Champions League.

And there things took a turn for the worse, as FC København disposed of us with ease. That left us with a meager 500k of CL prize money, that added to the similar figure for the domestic trophies barely covered the scouting expenditures.

So we ended the season with a loss of2.5M, leaving us with enough money in the bank for the next season, but another failure would mean being in the red and basically never being able to bounce back...

2024, now with real football players!

While our top domestic players have been fantastic (Ingi Mørkøre was the league topscorer again, Ingi Holm is still improving and has attracted the interest of Red Bull Salzburg), we do need a couple of much better players to stand a chance in European competitions..

So after long and accurate scouting, I signed three Top Players.

A quality striker, Finnish Jari Pukki

A solid playmaker, Diego

And, against my "no old people" policy, Honduras international (and all-time top goalscorer) Jona

To accomodate all the great strikers, I've developed a very unbalanced, but effective, 4-1-2-0-3. Apparently the three strikers are isolated, but the two playmakers are doing a good job at linking defense and offense, at least domestically.

So far (mid-June 2024) Pukki has scored 25 goals in 17 games: an effort that repays us of the princely 180k p/y he's earning.

And now, it's Champions League time.. 2nd QR against Albanian Kukesi... This time we MUST advance!

[rodesire]

Looking astonishing in the league! The new signings must be huge for the local level and should do rather well in CL qualifying. That 4-1-2-3 tactic sounds like something I use. Devastating in attack against equal or worse teams. Against better teams it's either a glorious win or a hideous beating that we take.

[RBKalle]

2024-25 Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round

Undrið FF - Kukësi 4-0

Finally a convincing win in a European competition! Against the unfit Albanian side (all but 1 were grey players) our stars were able to make the difference. Pukki gave us an early lead and for a change I just knew it was going to be an easy match. Kukësi's feeble hopes for a comeback were killed by a (harsh) red card and, most importantly, by three more goals, with Pukki getting another hat-trick.

Nothing to moan about really: we played pleasant football and the scoreline reflected it. It doesn't happen as often as I'd like.

Kukësi - Undrið FF 2-5

I don't know if it was complacency or a more cautious approach (I switched back to the old 4-4-2 for the away game), but we went down early on, following a weak piece of defending on a through ball from the right. We bounced back with a header and a DFK goal, only to see their CB (4 Finishing, 4 Long Shots) scoring a screamer from outside the box.. Yeah, whatever...

Cue the hairdryer treatment at half-time and a couple of tactical tweaks and the second half was more like I had hoped. We still struggled a bit to create fluid attacks, but went ahead thanks to their keeper's soapy gloves on a tame shot from our left winger. Then another one on the counterattack and, finally, we got our football right for the fifth goal.

The final score, 5-2, is probably too flattering despite the other stats confirming we indeed created a lot of chances. Pukki had a poor game, so that explains why it took so long to kill the 2nd leg too.

Still, the positive thing is that we managed to score 5 while our Star striker had a rare day off... Last year we'd probably had lost or drawn such a match.

And now, Maccabi Haifa...

[rodesire]

2 more euro coefficient points, good job! Are you a seeded team in the second round yet?

[RBKalle]

2 more euro coefficient points, good job! Are you a seeded team in the second round yet?

I'm not sure, because for some odd reason the game doesn't let me view the 2nd round draw, but I get the news AFTER it's been done.

However, judging by the opponents we got this year, I supposed we were seeded, albeit probably as the lowest ranked among the seeded ones (coefficient around 7.5). For sure we aren't seeded in the 3rd round, and won't be for a long time

[rodesire]

I'm not sure, because for some odd reason the game doesn't let me view the 2nd round draw, but I get the news AFTER it's been done.

However, judging by the opponents we got this year, I supposed we were seeded, albeit probably as the lowest ranked among the seeded ones (coefficient around 7.5). For sure we aren't seeded in the 3rd round, and won't be for a long time

7.5 is actually a very decent coef, definitely seeded in 2nd round (usually seeds start from coef ~= 5) and not far off making it seeded in 3rd round. Depends heavily on whether there are some surprise league winners of course.

[RBKalle]

Over the years the gap between unseeded and seeded teams in the qualifying rounds has expanded and the ties are way too one-sided even when "mediocre" teams are involved, so unless the weaker team has real players, there are almost no chances for upsets because of the fitness gulf between actual players and grey ones.

After all, it's not a coincidence if we've been getting good results only against all-grey (or mostly-grey) teams...

For reference, only 3 of 17 ties in this season's 2nd QR were decided by one or two goal, while the rest ranged from comfortbable 6-0s to double-digits walkovers. (Rosenborg - Shirak and Dinamo Zagreb - Linfield 12-0, Derry City (!!!)- Jeunesse Esch 11-1, Viktoria Plzen - TNS 13-0 and a baffling HJK - Dila 13-3).

[rodesire]

Oh snap, those are huge results! Surely a bug though?

[RBKalle]

2024-25 Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round

Maccabi Haifa - Undrið FF 1-1

We lucked out a very valuable away draw, but the performance wasn't that great. Luckly Maccabi didn't manage to create that many dangers despite being in control of the ball for most of the game.

Improvements in away form are needed, because we concede too much space and the defensive line is shaky as hell even in standard play situations, but we'll gladly take a 1-1 away anyday.

Undrið FF - Maccabi Haifa 2-0

That was more like it! A goal in the very first minute put Maccabi under huge pressure and they never looked like a threat. Basically it was the complete opposite of the first leg, and we were good/lucky enough to wrap up the game with another DFK from Diego.

A very solid performance that gave us morale and, most important, access to EL Group Stage and to its prize money. At least two more years of "top level" football are guaranteed!

I still have worries about how often we fail to hold onto the ball and how easily we are under tons of pressure, especially in away games, against opponents that are indeed better than us, but not so much better...

Honestly I'm surprised we haven't yet been treated to one of those waterpolo-like results that happened in other rounds...

Wait, maybe I shouldn't have said that just before facing Celtic in the Play-off round...

[rodesire]

Well, if Celtic turn up like last night, you have a good chance of going through, mate

[RBKalle]

2024-25 Champions League Playoff Round

In-game Celtic are a very strong side, unfortunately for us...

Undrið FF - Celtic 1-2

The opening 30 minutes were simply brutal, with our keeper going God-mode to keep the scoreline to an acceptable level. Things improved slightly in the second half and we even had a great chance to steal a draw in injury time, but it would have been completely undeserved.

We conceded, as usual, on long through balls and corner kick... Don't know if it's lack of pace, poor positioning or general crappiness, but I can tell we're going to concede as soon as I see the other team building those types of attacks.

Celtic - Undrið FF 2-1

It started promisingly, with a dangerous DFK in the first minute. Then it went south very quickly... The usual cut-inside header and a ludicrous counterattack following a wasted corner sent us 0-2 down and consigned us to another first half of misery.

Celtic hit the woodwork twice and wasted several other chances, before we stopped them with a generous dose of good ol' fashioned shin-kicking. We pulled one back in the closing stages of the game, courtesy of a rare lapse in concentration of their defensive line, but it was indeed too little and much too late.

The aggregate scoreline (2-4) isn't even telling half of the story of the tie... We sucked. Badly for at least two of the four halves. And when we looked vaguely competent, it was probably because Celtic lowered their guard, knowing there was going to be only one possible outcome. That, or their manager gave them the wrong team talk, according to a piece of news after the 2nd leg.

Anyway, it's time for Europa League Group Stage, featuring Viktoria Plzen, Rapid Wien and Sporting Lisbon. The latter are just way out of our league, but I'm not excluding we could score our first ever EL victory against the other two sides.

[rodesire]

That's a decent result, a shame you couldn't get a draw in the first match You should still get all the money to go professional and super dominant domestically. Speaking of El, I fancy your chances against Rapid and Plzen could drop a point too!

[RBKalle]

2024-25 Europa League Group Stage

The feeling was right... We finally got our first win in Europa League and not just one, but TWO!

The opening game against Viktoria Plzen was a pleasant surprise, because we went toe to toe with them and came out deserved winners. Unfortunately it looked like a flash in the pan because we then lost to Rapid in another quite close match (possession aside, but that's not our strong suit anyway, not even in the league).

The two games against Sporting weren't really those we were supposed to bring points home, but losing 2-4 and 2-6 was disappointing. Our defense had never looked so leaky and their dismal performances took away a lot of the pleasure of having at least managed to score some against the best team in the group.

To rub salt on the wound, Viktoria took their win back in a game we should have drawn without too much problems, had the players remembered they were decent.

When the 4th place looked inevitable, we suddenly found our mojo again and defeated Rapid in another tight game.

6 points and 11 goals scored are a satisfying result for such a small team (we have only 3 foreigners, so it's still very much a Faroese side). However I can't help but worry about how shaky our defense is against slightly better (and vastly better) opposition.

One aspect has been a recurring problem: headers or clean cut chances following a high through ball from the flank. Basically any cross or through pass can cost us a goal because our defenders, even when well positioned, lose their man who's then free to run behind them and shoot on goal within the 6-yard box.

I've tried with tight marking, stick to position etc, but my Limited Defenders (D) just keep on acting like real-life pins...

[deltablue]

Well done getting a couple of wins.

[SRL88]

Shame you couldn't make it through in Europe, but those wins will help the coefficients.

[ShanghaiNugget]

A good showing, considering. Perhaps a few lucky results may propel you through next year!

[RBKalle]

Season 2024 - Back on track

An almost perfect domestic season and a satisfying run in Europe.

Another treble achieved without even breaking a sweat... We were so much in control I even had the chance to give proper first team football to a handful of local(ish) youngsters who could soon become valuable players for the domestic campaign.

With our foreign stars making a huge difference, it's important to develop a solid platform of local talents.

Nothing major to report about the league: the team performed well with my risky 4-1-2-0-3, although in some occasions I had to revert to a more balanced 4-4-2 when the other team was parking the bus to cope with our 3 strikers (or when they were standing offside for most of the game).

At times we conceded a few silly goals, but all in all I can't complain about a 26-1-0 season with 84-16 goal record.

Profiles of the year

Finnish striker Jari Pukki showed why he's earning so much money, scoring 38 league goals in 27 games, for a season overall of 52 in 44.

Finally we've found a lethal finisher for our attack, while the other strikers still kept a respectable tally of goals and assists.

Among the youngsters, with Ingi Holm still improving, and already a bona fide Top Player (for Faroese standards, that is...), a honourable mention to Aron Egilsson: at 19 he has established himself as my first choice as RB, benching none other than our current all-time leader for league apps.

Danish youngster Kenneth Kristensen is also looking good, but my tactic doesn't suit his skills, as he's one of those unfortunate newgens with the "AM who can't create a chance" template.

Greedy foreigners vs mediocre faroese

With the new season on its way, I felt it was time to rejuvenate the squad, but I had to solve a critical situation, namely the lack of actual wingers... Until now it was either versatile fullbacks (who were good on occasions, but are now pushing 30 and facing the inevitable decline) or wide strikers doing double duty (terrible idea for lack of pace/vision and for the repercussions on their fitness and performance as strikers)

Cue Bosnian international Memhed Jazvin for the left flank.

The jury is still out on the right midfielder, as a Ghanaian kid I've found looks physically awesome and technically more than qualified, but has putrid mental skills (<6 from Agg to Det). He's been scoring during his pre-season triel, but I'm not convinced...

On the homegrown side of things, besides the few products of our youth system, the league hasn't much to offer, especially in midfield. I've either plundered all the available talent or the last few youth intakes have been truly awful for other clubs.

Whatever it is, I'll have to work with the little domestic talent I have, investing money on youth and facilites.

[MADA]

really enjoying this

[rodesire]

Great in the league, solid in Europe, as long as you keep developing locals and get those foreigners reasonably cheap (not uber extortionate), you could seriously improve the league level!

[RBKalle]

2025-26 Champions League 2nd Qualifying Round

Breiðablik - Undrið FF 0-2

In an interesting derby for the supremacy in the Northern Atlantic, the team put in a solid performance and secured an important away win. First goal was the usual keeper mistake, failing to save an easy shot on the near post, while our most recent signing, Danish CB Thim Hansen scored the second goal on his debut following a scramble in the box. Nothing truly spectacular, but surely serviceable.

Undrið FF - Breiðablik 3-2

And because we just can't have good things, we went down 0-1 in the first half... Luckly with some brilliant pieces of finishing, the Pukki-Nielsen duo put us back where we should have been all along. At half time I was genuinely satisfied. Probably my team talk didn't do enough to keep the players focused, because in the second half we started to lose ground, allowing Breiðablik to have the ball and to create chances. They pulled one back with a our CB as the unwilling architect (a loose cross hit him in the back and the ball fell just where their striker was waiting it), but failed to complete the comeback.

Good to be through, but I'm not happy with the lack of character the players showed in the second half. How long will it take to score a convincing win?!

[RBKalle]

2025-26 Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round

So it's Rapid again... Last year in EL Group stage it was a win apiece, but had it been a knockout stage, the Austrian side would have advanced 3-2 on aggregate...

Undrið FF - Rapid Wien 0-0

Man, a clinic in awful finishing... Our keeper had to do one (important) save, while Rapid could have put a shirt and gloves on an inflatable doll and we still wouldn't have scored... That was truly the most awful all-around performance I've ever seen. Something that I would have expected in Faroese lower divisions, not in a CL qualifier.

Still, a goalless draw at home is the second best result we could get.

Rapid Wien - Undrið FF 1-1

The second leg was slightly more interesting, with Rapid creating a couple of chances, just to be denied by our keeper. We then took the lead with our first chance and looked quite solid well into the second half. Just minutes after we wasted a good opportunity to put the game beyond reach, Rapid equalized on the counter. I was then ready to sit and watch my team to collapse, but luckly Rapid players spent more time kicking my players' shins than the ball goalwards. So we brought it home with surprising ease.

A truly appalling tie to be honest. Neither side did enough to deserve a spot in the playoff round, let alone in the Group Stage. However in this career I can't afford to be picky, so in a very Machiavellian fashion, the end justifies the mean, so as long as we advance, I don't really care if we sucked balls or we stole a win.

[RBKalle]

2025-26 Champions League Playoff Round

Undrið FF - Grasshoppers 3-3

I knew the tie was going to be exciting and quite open, but I wasn't ready for such a rollercoaster!

We went ahead with a ludicrous scramble in the six-yard box, but the Swiss pushed hard and turned the game around just before and after half-time. Pukki equalized with a good solo effort (and with the keeper's help), but we got hit again on the counter. Pukki completed his hat-trick with an exact copy of the second goal.

It was a very even game and we definitely deserved to get something out of it. Our defensive shortcomings, namely poor positioning especially on the left side, costed us two goals, but Grasshopper's keeper didn't fare much better, so the draw was a fair reflection of the game.

Winning in Zurich won't be an easy task, but it's not as outlandish as it could have seemed before the first leg.

Grasshoppers - Undrið FF 4-3

We were close to the biggest theft in the history of football... Grasshoppers went all out attack from the very first kick of the ball and should have been ahead by two or more by the time we scored the opening goal.

We didn't even have the time to enjoy the lead and it all went to hell quickly... Our keeper activated "octopus mode" and saved two close-range shots before conceding the equalizer. Then two more awful pieces of marking allowed them to score again. From 1-0 to 1-3 in the space of 7 minutes.

The half-time talk worked and we pulled one back. Only to concede AGAIN after the kick-off. With little more than 10 minutes to go, we hit them on the counter and, against all odds and the flow of the game, we were just one goal away from making history. Ingi Mørkøre even had the chance to score the 4-4, but the last defender managed to block the shot.

In fairness, we didn't even deserve to still be in contention at the point of the game... Grasshoppers dominated us for the majority of the game and could have scored 10 goals with a bit more accuracy and luck. Our keeper did magnificently to keep the scoreline to an acceptable level.

Once again, the defensive aspect of our game failed us: through balls and crosses from deep are a huge threat and I can't seem to solve it in a satisfying way.

Or maybe some strikers in European football are simply too good for us.

So it's Europa League Group Stage again... I have to admit I was starting to believe we were going to make it to the actual Champions League this year, after the first leg of the Playoff. Sadly the second leg was a rude awakening.

Better luck (and better defense FFS) next time... Now let's try to milk some more money in EL.

Group G

Sporting Lisbon (again... groans)

Athletic Bilbao (on paper, a bit weaker than I thought)

OB (niiiice, a derby against the Danes... That can be good)

[rodesire]

Well, good showing in the qualifiers, the team does look a bit appalling in defence/offence..

Speaking of EL group, I am really sorry for you, to get Lisbon and Bilbao is beyond harsh.

[RBKalle]

2025-26 Europa League Group Stage

No need to feel sorry... Athletic were nowhere near as good as their name and history suggested...

And we're through!!!

It was a dream start against OB... The game was much closer than the astonishing scoreline is telling, but again our keeper was awesome, their strikers much less so (they scored on the 90th minute). And Jani Pukki was f'n awesome!

Then of course we fell back into our old habit of losing, with 3 straight defeats. Twice to Sporting, but 1-3 (both times) was a slight improvement compared to last year's 2-4 and 2-6. The 1-2 away defeat to Athletic was disapponting because I felt a draw was completely possible.

For a change, when everything looked lost, we won a close match in Denmark with our trademark late goal.

So it was the final matchday against already eliminated Athletic (we were tied at 6 points with OB, ahead on H2H, while Bilbao had 3 but losing H2H against the Danes). We had to win to advance, hoping that group leaders Sporting would crush OB, thus securing a 100% win ratio in the group.

Our morale was high, and the passionate team talk did the trick! We were leading 2-0 after 7 short minutes!!! Athletic got reduced to 10 men halfway through the first half, but the foul caused an injury to Pukki, who had to come off.

We kept a solid grip on the game in the second half, and when Athletic pulled one back with a few minutes to go, the guys didn't collapse under pressure and even went on to score the third goal on the counter.

So it's time for the Knockout Stage, an important "first time" for us, if only for the morale and reputation boost we're getting, not to mention a much higher coefficient next season... I'll have to capitalize on this lucky (but deserved) break on the transfer market, provided the 6th takeover attempt of the season will collapse ASAP...

[Jolanthustrel]

Those are a fantastic run of results. Congratulations on reaching the knock out stage. Hopefully you don't get a giant that slipped up in the champions league and keep the run going.

[Torminator]

Amazing read! I will be following this. I have a feeling you'll make it to the CL groupstage in your next season!

What is your financial balance at the moment?

[deltablue]

Good luck with whoever you get

[rodesire]

Awesome to see you do well! Best of luck in knockouts!

[RBKalle]

TAKEOVER COMPLETED!

(and they even thought about firing me!!!)

Our bank balance is still solid... luckly the new chairman paid for the facilities upgrade out of his own pocket, and we'd be able to register a very solid profit this season as well.

[Marinho]

very nice career !

Question: How did you manage to attract foreign players, at all ? Seems neigh impossible in my save. I even beefed up the clubs facilities and finances (for basically all clubs) to give the Island teams an opportunity to improve and to provide me with more of a challenge. Still, no foreign influx at all

ah, turning professional does it, missed that part

[nie jem frytek]

Wonder(ful) career. KUTGW!

[BoxToBox]

Fantastic thread, really interesting stuff.

It's taken a little over 10 years, but having read the entire thread I can probably guess it's been very enjoyable!

Dang mate, you read slowly!

[oche balboa]

Great stuff

Are you running any other leagues

[RBKalle]

Great stuff

Are you running any other leagues

Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and, for some odd reason, San Marino. I wanted to have a decent and affordable talent pool for the early years and possibly some viable destinations for my best players. No need for the usual Big Nations, because this isn't going to be a Road to the Top save, and the game can still simulate top-tier leagues well enough.

Maybe in a couple of seasons I'll deactivate the lower divisions and add better leagues to have better players... but it's still a long way, as we can't yet afford to sign talented but greedy players from more reputable leagues.

Reputation-wise we could attract a couple of decent-ish Championship/L1 players, but the fact they currently earn as much as my whole starting XI is a bit of a problem.

P.S. Update coming tomorrow.