FM16 Youth Academy Challenge

[dkouv]

European Update 2033/34

I’ll lay out the journey in full here:

Last 16

We had a tough draw against Man City, but felt strangely in control throughout the tie. A see-saw away tie ended up in a 3-2 defeat with my wingers Rönnbäck and Olsson playing superbly, getting a goal and an assist each. We were the better team at home and deservedly won 1-0, thanks to a set-piece header from my Danish striker Christofferssen; even though my fullback Nyberg got sent off with 10 minutes to go, which ensured a somewhat tense finish to the game.

The most pleasing result of the last-16 was however that my nemesis Atletico were eliminated by Bayern Munich, who finished runners-up in my group.

Quarter final

Dortmund were the next opponents. We played well in the away leg and could have won, but it ended in a 1-1 draw, and we needed an 87-th minute equaliser from my star striker Westerberg to seal it. We dominated the home leg, going 2-0 up and missing a penalty, but Dortmund pulled a goal back, again making for a nervy ending. We held on for a 2-1 win and went through 3-2 on aggregate.

Dortmund away | Dortmund home

Semi final

This is where I saw that the draw was opening up, with both Real and Atletico Madrid, who have been owning this competition, eliminated. Moreover, I drew Shakhtar Donetsk in the semi, who must have gone well to get there themselves, and the other two teams were PSG and Bayern, both of whom I have beaten in the last two years. In the away leg, Shakhtar got a player sent off early on and we won 3-1; it could have been more. I played my strongest team for the home leg again but went 1-0 down just after half time, with Shakhtar creating a few good opportunities, showing they were no mugs at this late stage in Europe. We held on and scored 2 late-ish goals to win the home leg and go through to the final. The only downside was that my best player Westerberg strained his ligaments which ruled him out of the final.

Shakhtar away | Shakhtar home

Final

We were up against FC Bayern, who were in the same group as us – with both group games ending up as a draw. Ström played upfront to replace the injured Westerberg, and Jansson stepped in to fill in Ström’s place in midfield. We scored in the 3^rd minute, my striker-cum-rightwinger Olsson bundling in a rebound from close range. Bayern created attack after attack, with many shots and openings but not too many clear-cut chances. Still, I felt it was only a matter of time till they equalised. But somehow we held on until the end, with Bayern’s English striker Richard Maddison putting a point-blank header over the bar at the end of stoppage time.

We were European Champions; challenge completed!

Kiruna vs Bayern UCL 2033/34 final

UCL fixtures | UCL final summary | UCL win

Well, this was without doubt my most enjoyable save on FM in many years, which I really didn’t expect on FM 2016 because I didn’t like the ME for this version at all. So thanks very much to those who have designed this challenge, and kept the thread going; and best of luck to those still doing it!

I might carry on a bit and try managing Sweden or splash out and buy a player (!!), or maybe try out the Ultimate FM challenge; given how much I've enjoyed this one - although I'm under no illusion about being able to complete that one anytime soon!

[vikeologist]

@dkouv Congratulations. Achieving this challenge is a great achievement. At least, I think so because it's completely beyond me.

 

I hope that you will try the Ultimate Challenge. I think that the 2 challenges complement each other. One can achieve the Ultimate Challenge (eventually) through sheer perseverance, but to achieve this one you have to be able to actually get the best out of your team tactically.

 

I've given up on this Youth Challenge as it was pretty clear that we were going to get relegated, and thus I wouldn't achieve the challenge before FM17 (or indeed 18 or 19).

Copying you and downloading the instant results skin meant that I was sort of oblivious to things going south until it was too late. I'm sure that the instant results thing doesn't change the results as such, but if I manage the matches myself, at least I can make sensible substitutions and try to turn things round. It's a pity because my assistant was a model citizen, and I've never had one of those in FM. Ok, he was a manager and not a player, but I hoped from more from him; specifically that I could leave him to manage the team while I got on with my golf swing.

 

Anyway, I look forward to seeing how a man (I presume) of your talents gets on with the Ultimate Challenge, presumably when the new version comes out.

[XaW]

Ok, I'm back....again. I just can't leave this challenge alone. Hopefully this will keep going untill FM17 comes our. I've loaded up, and I'm going to go for the Czech Republic. I don't think I've ever played there before, so this should be interesting. Holidaying now, and will hopefully find a team soon.

Edit: Ok, I noticed I've actually playing the Czech Republic before, so I switched country. I'm headed to Northern Ireland instead. I'm the new manager of Ardglass. My profile and information. The club has no youth coaching and no youth recruitment, so this should be a challenge.

[dkouv]

@vikeologist thanks for the kind words (you're right about "man", although I think any talent was also mixed in with some luck, and it being quite late in the game-cycle, which meant that I had a few tactics from other saves, most downloaded or tweaked, that I could try, which made things easier on that side...) Tough luck with the challenge, I'll def follow your updates for the future FMs if you decide to take it up again. Btw I also found that my results got worse with the instant result button, despite quite a good assistant - but it didn't matter too much in the league. Not sure if I'll start the Ultimate Challenge on FM17 or this version, probably depends if I end up buying FM17 as soon as it's out or wait to see what SI changed in the ME (usually I just end up buying it though!)

@Duroliponte England looked quite daunting to me, not only because of the league structure but the number of games played each season. Having so few games really helped in Sweden, especially in those early seasons when your facilities are crap, you're losing money and just getting by in the league. So I'd go for somewhere with small leagues even if you do go for a multi-level system; I can't think of anything off the top of my head (apart from Sweden of course  ).

And good luck to @XaW, looking forward to the updates!

[XaW]

Well, the Northern Irish adventure went wrong. The club was semi-pro, but all my players had amateur contracts and by the time I noticed most of my players had gotten offers and some accepted soon after. I just couldn't play the first season with 8 players, so I abandoned the save.

However, I'm not done. I'll just go somewhere else. I've decided to go to a place I know quite well, my home country, Norway. My profile and information as I have take over a club not far from my current location, Oppsal. Located in the south-east part of Oslo, the captial, I actually drive past the stadium on my way to work. But how on earth it would fit the 2 700 capacity I have in FM, I will never know. Anyway, I've just taken over and are looking forward to all the youth coming through, despite our rather poor facilities.

[XaW]

XaW - Oppsal IF - Norwegian 2. Divisjon avdeling 1 - 2016

Table | Past positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Football is coming home...at least for me. Back in the home country for me, and a country I haven't played much in for many many versions of FM. When I took over the club I found we had some good players, though everyone was on amateur contracts, so I lost a couple of the best players during the season due to the fact that they wouldn't sign part time deals with us. Though I luckily had enough players to cope with the loss, it still hit us a bit. As the season progressed we fought well with just about everyone, so it was clear from early on that this would be a mid table season. In the end a mid table finish was the result as well. I haven't had any youth intakes yet, so I don't know when the intake is, but I'm guessing it's during the pre-season. I'll post when I get it.

In the Norwegian Cup we beat Romsås before losing to top flight outfit Strømsgodset in the 2nd round.

Season	|       League	         |     Position	   |    Europe	|         Top scorer   	     |    Achievments
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016	| 2. divisjon avdeling 1 |      7th	   |      N/A	|  Haakon Engelsen Berg (14) |   Mid table

[XaW]

Youth intake - 2017

This intake gave us 3 very talented players, but the rest was seemingly rubbish.

New players:

Espen Ramstad (YP17a) - A very talented goalkeeper. Needs a bit of work on his physicals, but a great talent. Should be 2nd choice next season.
Tor Iversen (YP17b) - Promising left back. Better than one of the left backs we have, so he should be part of the main squad.
Robert Andersson (YP17c) - We have a couple of good right backs already, but he will fight for the right to play.

[XaW]

XaW - Oppsal IF - Norwegian 2. Divisjon avdeling 1 - 2017

Table | Past positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Well now, that was very unexpected. The season started with a bang as we wont the first 3 matches pretty easily. I expected us to hit a bump when we lost the match after that, but we still kept on going. As the season progressed we stayed in the top and fought for the top spot. With 10 matches left we hit a bit of a rough patch when we went 4 matches without a win. At that point it looked like Grorud got away while Tromsdalen was right behind them. We got a couple of wins, and while both teams above us got some points we fought for it going into the final match of the season. We were 3 points behind Grorud, and 1 point behind Tromsdalen, but with better goal difference than both of them. Grorud had a tough match against Ullern, while Tromsdalen had easier match against Mjølner. We had a home tie against Kjelsås Fotball who were fighting for survival. Grorud found themselved 2 behind after just 10 minutes while no goals was to be seen for Tromsdalen or Mjølner. We also had problems when we went behind after only 13 minutes, though we managed to equalize just before half time. After the break we managed to take the lead with a couple of quick goals to take the reigns. When Mjølner scored twice on Tromsdalen as well we started believing. When the whistle was blown we were crowned champions! Just after the season ended we had to expand the stadium and install under-soil heating to comply with league regulations in the next tier, so we have a huge loan now.

In the Norwegian Cup we beat got drawn against Strømsgodset again and lost in the first round.

Youth Intake:

A decent youth intake, though only a couple of players worth to tag.

New players:

Petter Brøske (YP18a) - A very promising midfielder. Will be part of the main squad next season.
Torkel Knudsen (YP18b) - Talented defender who might be good.

First Intake:

Espen Ramstad (YP17a) - Got a couple of matches due to injuries. Did ok, though his stats don't improve a lot, but I suspect that's down to our facilities.
Tor Iversen (YP17b) - Got more matches than expected, but did good. Even scored a goal for us.
Robert Andersson (former YP17c) - Poor season from him, and when he was poached by a lower league team I didn't mid much.

Season	|       League	         |     Position	   |    Europe	|         Top scorer   	     |    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016	| 2. divisjon avdeling 1 |      7th	   |      N/A	|  Haakon Engelsen Berg (14) |   Mid table
2017	| 2. divisjon avdeling 1 |      1st	   |      N/A	|      Morten Jensen (11)    |   Promted as Champions

[Jintro]

Great work XaW. It's hard to judge the players because I have no idea what a third division avarage player looks like in Norway, but if it's anything like Denmark than I really like Iversen.

Good luck proving yourself against the slightly bigger boys next year.

[XaW]

1 hour ago, Jintro said:

Great work XaW. It's hard to judge the players because I have no idea what a third division avarage player looks like in Norway, but if it's anything like Denmark than I really like Iversen.

Good luck proving yourself against the slightly bigger boys next year.

Thanks! Quite frankly, my players are mostly rubbish. But they are efficient enough to play the simple kick and run type football I'm playing at the moment. Though, I think I'll struggle next year. In the second tier of Norwegian football, about half the teams are professional while the rest is semi-pro. I'm part of the semi-pro part of the league and will most likely get thumped in all matches against the pro ones. Actually, I still have a couple of players on amateur contracts since they won't sign deals yet since they claim I have a "lack of talent" in the squad. I agree, but that's why I'm trying to sign them up.

My other issue is that the youth players I've tagged won't talk contract with me, and I've noticed that other teams are free to poach them and I have no means of stopping it, so I'm just hoping that no one are going after them before my reputation increases enough for them to sign.

[Mushtaq]

Can this be played on FM Touch?

[Jintro]

On 1-11-2015 at 01:30, Shakes said:

 

Yes, it's possible. Just refrain from using any cheats that get unlocked in classic mode. Youth intake day is at the end of the season in classic, so you get them later than in normal mode which might make it a little harder first season.

This is from Shakes, who's been around the challenge for a long time, so I guess that counts as a yes (Classic = Touch). 

[XaW]

XaW - Oppsal IF - Norwegian 2. Divisjon avdeling 1 - 2018

Table | Past positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

My first try at the second tier of Norwegian football was a season of two halves to be sure. We started very good, at least compared to what I had feared as we only lost 1 of the first 12 matches. Even though we drew a lot of matches it still put us comfortably up towards the top of the table. Going into the half way break we held a very good 3rd place and were fighting for a very surprising promotion. After the break we hit a little slump before getting a couple of wins again. Then we lost all sense of what football is, and the last part of the season went horrible. In the final 10 matches we only won 1 match and got 1 draw, the rest was losses. Of course, this meant we steadily dropped down the table, while still having a comfortable distance to relegation. Thankfully, our opening part of the season made sure we didn't get relegated. Hopefully we can avoid slumps like this in the future.

In the Norwegian Cup we beat FK Tønsberg before losing to Moss FK in the second round.

Youth Intake:

The youth intake this time was ok with 2 talented players

New players:

Martin Slorby (YP19a) - Very talented and versatile midfielder. Should get some matches next season.
Adrian Andersen (YP19b) - Promising left back.

Second intake:

Petter Brøske (YP18a) - We have a lack of good midfielders, so he plays quite a bit. Does well.
Torkel Knudsen (YP18b) - Backup in the defense. 

First Intake:

Espen Ramstad (YP17a) - No matches this season, but some improvements.
Tor Iversen (YP17b) - Some matches, and keeps improving.

Season	|       League	         |     Position	   |    Europe	|         Top scorer   	     |    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016	| 2. divisjon avdeling 1 |      7th	   |      N/A	|  Haakon Engelsen Berg (14) |   Mid table
2017	| 2. divisjon avdeling 1 |      1st	   |      N/A	|      Morten Jensen (11)    |   Promted as Champions
2018	|      Adeccoligaen      |      9th	   |      N/A	|      Wilhelm Adra (11)     |   Mid table

 

[brenosantos]

Football Manager 2017 isn't going to be released in Brazil, so I decided to start this challenge again. I was thinking about playing in Norway, but @XaW is already playing there, so I'll start in Finland instead.

[Jintro]

Not a bad season @XaW. If the good games had been more spread out over the season you would have been delighted. Probably too soon for a fluke promotion anyway.

[brenosantos]

@brenosantos - FC YPA - Finland - First Update

Manager Profile | Manager Information | Club Facilities | Initial Squad | Club Finances

Ok, I'm already in love this club. Pretty good facilities for a finnish 2nd tier club, good colors, good logo, our stadium is called Safari and we have a 49-year old goalkeeper in the squad! Our finances are also decent and I'm expecting to do well in the Ykkonen, despite our media prediction (9th).

[XaW]

10 hours ago, @brenosantos said:

Football Manager 2017 isn't going to be released in Brazil, so I decided to start this challenge again. I was thinking about playing in Norway, but @XaW is already playing there, so I'll start in Finland instead.

Feel free to join me in Norway. It's cold but fun up here!

10 hours ago, Jintro said:

Not a bad season @XaW. If the good games had been more spread out over the season you would have been delighted. Probably too soon for a fluke promotion anyway.

Yeah, all in all it was a great season, though the slump was horrible. It looked like we couldn't even hit a ball straight. Though a promotion this season would have been a curse in disguise I think. I have no doubt we would be sent straight down again, and this time with a not as pleased board I think. I'm looking at promotion in 3-4 seasons maybe, unless we can have a lucky season before that.

[brenosantos]

And... I've been sacked. YPA was relegated with two games to go, I thought it was a good squad, but in truth 95% of the players were terrible. Our youth intake was pretty good, with a decent ST, three defenders and a winger already featuring in the starting XI. 

Fixtures | League Table

Now it's time to start in another country, I've tried this challenge in Iceland, Poland, Belarus and Finland without success, now I'll try something in Wales.

[Sn00gle]

Its hard to give a chance to this challenge in any country other then top nations of geting good YP. You have less chance to get good player in Poland with 140PA than in Sweden or Germany not speaking about Spain or England.  Its long term proces to dominate league in that countries.

 

[Jintro]

@@brenosantos Tough luck, first few seasons are always the hardest, good luck wherever you end up.