[FM20] [FM19] The Great San Marino Challenge

[boroinbishop]

I'll put screenshots on when I have a little more time, only got about an hour to play before work so wanna get this next season underway.

[boroinbishop]

What is rule with using players who gain Sammiranese citizenship? are we allowed to use them? means that players that have played for the club for a few years would be able to play for the national team, personally i think that would make the challenge too easy.

[duesouth]

4 minutes ago, boroinbishop said:

What is rule with using players who gain Sammiranese citizenship? are we allowed to use them? means that players that have played for the club for a few years would be able to play for the national team, personally i think that would make the challenge too easy.

The qualification period is 30 years, so only very rare cases should occur in game.

If they are dual - then if you can pursuade them (easier at the start of the save), then you can use them.

[boroinbishop]

Second season just about done, finished 5th in the league which was a surprise considering the quality of my squad, Pescara managed to do an Arsenal and have an invincible season, not losing a single game, i've qualified for the play-offs so could still get promoted.

Youth intakes have been pretty poor so far, as you'd expect, but i did have a half  decent keeper come through, wanted to develop him as my first choice keeper but Livorno came in with an absolutely whopping offer of 15K, the board decided that such a monstrous amount of money was too good to accept. (yes that was sarcasm) and sold him on deadlne day, and kindly gave me £0 towards my transfer budget to replace him.

Will let you all know how i get on in the play-offs.

[duesouth]

11 minutes ago, boroinbishop said:

Second season just about done, finished 5th in the league which was a surprise considering the quality of my squad, Pescara managed to do an Arsenal and have an invincible season, not losing a single game, i've qualified for the play-offs so could still get promoted.

Youth intakes have been pretty poor so far, as you'd expect, but i did have a half  decent keeper come through, wanted to develop him as my first choice keeper but Livorno came in with an absolutely whopping offer of 15K, the board decided that such a monstrous amount of money was too good to accept. (yes that was sarcasm) and sold him on deadlne day, and kindly gave me £0 towards my transfer budget to replace him.

Will let you all know how i get on in the play-offs.

Love the board doing that!  Keep an eye on him - maybe down the road, you can sign him again.

Good luck in the play-offs!!

[boroinbishop]

Quick update before i head out to work.

jeez there are a lot of games in the play-offs, however i'm doing well, breezing past most teams, i did have a close game against reggiana, very much park the bus in the last 15 minutes but a 2-1 win saw me progress, i'm into the semi finals, so 3 or 4 more games and i could be serie B, however it is gonna have to wait until tomorrow.

[duesouth]

1 minute ago, boroinbishop said:

Quick update before i head out to work.

jeez there are a lot of games in the play-offs, however i'm doing well, breezing past most teams, i did have a close game against reggiana, very much park the bus in the last 15 minutes but a 2-1 win saw me progress, i'm into the semi finals, so 3 or 4 more games and i could be serie B, however it is gonna have to wait until tomorrow.

Yes, very much a long and winding road in the Serie C playoffs - good work so far, good luck tomorrow!

[boroinbishop]

So, i've managed to sneak an hour on after work while the Mrs is out, finished the play-offs and I've done it! a 5-1 win in the final against Novara, It's a miracle i've managed to get promoted with this side, with a wage budget of 8k p/w.

If you're looking for a target man take a look at Tomasso Caselli, he's got 35 goals for me this year, including two 5 goal hauls on his own in the play-off games,bank balance is sitting at around 300k due to having such a low wage budget.

Next year i need a completely new squad again, luckily i have a lot of loans that will go back to their parent teams so i have a fairly clean slate to start with,got a wage budget of 31k next year so a massive increase on this time around.

Again,  i'll throw all these screenshots up when i have a bigger chunk of time to play.

[boroinbishop]

Also, if you're looking for a right winger, Franco Di Nolfo, got him on a free in the first season, has been a star performer and has lived up to his potential and after two seasons is now rated as a decent Serie B player.

[TacticalGenius]

Di Nolfo is great. Had him on my first save and will be trying to sign him again on this one. 

[duesouth]

San Giovanni 2019/20 Update Part 2

We managed to qualify for the Champions Playoffs with 1 game to spare - finishing 5th in the end - not bad with the board's objectives being "avoid finishing bottom".  However, the playoffs were over right away against Tre Fiori.  It was 1-1 after the home leg - we gave up an awful own goal - and we lost the second leg to 2 corners and a penalty.  Still, overall a solid first season.

Youth Intake

A pretty normal type of intake for this league - lots of 4 and 5 star potential players - but training only two days per week as an amateur club, it's hard to bring them on.  Hopefully, I can give one or two a go in the first team, but there aren't a massive amount of fixtures, so tough to do without upsetting first team players.

National Team

Just two friendlies to report on - a 0-0 draw away to Malta - and then another win!  We managed to beat Azerbaijan away 1-0 with a scrappy goal from Matteo Vitaioli - but it looked like a thing of beauty to me!!  So, that's unbeaten in three games and two clean shots in a row!  Happy days!

[refusodelpasso]

Just found out about San Marino Calcio dissolving as I wanted to start my adventure - If I follow the instructions listed on the OP to bring back San Marino Calcio and have everything transfer to them, is there a way to get their club logo in the game or would I have to use the default FM one?

[TacticalGenius]

A gift to those playing as Cattolica.

[duesouth]

9 hours ago, refusodelpasso said:

Just found out about San Marino Calcio dissolving as I wanted to start my adventure - If I follow the instructions listed on the OP to bring back San Marino Calcio and have everything transfer to them, is there a way to get their club logo in the game or would I have to use the default FM one?

If you are playing as San Marino Calcio, if you find a decent FM19 logo pack, they should be in there.  I'll post it from home later (if I remember - it's an age thing! )

[refusodelpasso]

3 hours ago, duesouth said:

If you are playing as San Marino Calcio, if you find a decent FM19 logo pack, they should be in there.  I'll post it from home later (if I remember - it's an age thing! )

Perfect, thank you! I've started up my adventure and I do indeed have the San Marino Calcio loaded.

[viney]

So I've decided to take on the challenge and as if it didn't seem hard enough to win while managing San Marino, I went down to 9 men against Belgium in my first match in charge. Possibly set some kind of record here with Belgium having 71 (Yes you read that right!) shots against me in a 14-1 defeat.

The club side I've taken charge of is Cosmos in the San Marino League Group B.

Edited November 29, 2019 by viney

[duesouth]

18 hours ago, refusodelpasso said:

Just found out about San Marino Calcio dissolving as I wanted to start my adventure - If I follow the instructions listed on the OP to bring back San Marino Calcio and have everything transfer to them, is there a way to get their club logo in the game or would I have to use the default FM one?

Actually remembered - put the kits on here too

 

 

[duesouth]

18 hours ago, refusodelpasso said:

Just found out about San Marino Calcio dissolving as I wanted to start my adventure - If I follow the instructions listed on the OP to bring back San Marino Calcio and have everything transfer to them, is there a way to get their club logo in the game or would I have to use the default FM one?

And here's the small logo also:

[duesouth]

@viney Welcome to the San Marino Challenge - I believe that's called a baptism of fire!!  On the plus side, the only way is up (surely?)!

[boroinbishop]

Serie B is starting well, the players I could attract were pretty poor, since ended up signing a lot of young players rated leading serie C standard who have potential to improve to leading serie B. Alongside a few loans that are serie B standard currently.

Got an absolute bargain striker, Nicolo Busi, a pressing forward that will suit my system well, cost me 52k but is currently a serie B standard player that has potential to play in Serie A. I had him on my fm19 save and he turned out good enough to get a few Italy Senior squad call ups.

 

A quick (risky) tip, my starting budget was pretty small, 121k, ate into that straight away with wages, however I lowered our bonuses for the league competition which gave me an extra 200k to spend/ put into the wage budget.

 

Played 5 games so far, won 3 drawn 2. For the squad I have this is an unbelievable start, I think each year my success has come down to being really strict in looking for the players' attributes that really fit in with my tactical style.

[refusodelpasso]

Another victory over Kazakhstan to add to the list - my first International win with San Marino. With regards to the club side we're top of Serie D at Christmas so hopefully I can celebrate a title win and promotion to Serie C soon!

[boroinbishop]

Here we go with the screenshot uploads, finally got some time to put them on.

Serie D/F table: 

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1924400362

Fairly easy first season, 19 points clear.

Serie C/B

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1924400309

Somehow managed to finish 5th, gaining promotion to Serie B and back to back Promotions.

Transfers:

First Season:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1924400253

Honorable mentions to a few players here, Danso, Di Nolfo and Simonti are still cutting it for me in Serie B despite signing them in my Serie D season, Simonti is probably the weakest member of the squad at the moment but his attributes fit how i want him to play (he was on loan then then signed him when his contract ran down). Once i get promoted to Serie A (hopefully within in a couple of years) i'd expect Di Nolfo to still be a big part of my squad.whilst another name on their Casselli, is still whit me on loan (third season in a row), scored 33 goals last year and is now my sub striker.


Second Season:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1924400181

The two that stand out here are Zalewski and Canessa. Zalewsk is a left midfielder, who this season i converted his loan into a permanent deal as he became a free agent, again, he is currently performing well in Serie B. Canessa was my target man last year, scored roughly 25 goals, not sure exactly how many. was key to the way i play, strong and quick helping me move the ball to the forward line quickly.

Re-gens:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1924399983

Got one decent player as i mentioned before, he got poached by Livorno for a massive fee of 15k (board decided that that sort of money would obviously secure San Marino's future for the next gazillion years.)  with only 4k paid up front. My scouts now have him rated as a leading Serie C player with potential to play in Serie A, nice one chairman.

I haven't taken over the national team yet, i'm going to wait until i'm producing some half decent talent, i've got no interest in getting hammered every game lol.

[boroinbishop]

How do i get those links to show a screenshots?

[refusodelpasso]

There we go! First season success as we wrap up the Serie D Group F title. Even gave some of my young Sammarinese boys a run out in the final game.

A large part of my success can be attributed to young keeper Elia Caprile. The Chievo loanee conceded just 16 goals and kept 21 clean sheets for me, I highly recommend him for those at this level. Got him in on loan again for next season, we're going to need his stability for sure.

In National Team news, we've been drawn against Liechtenstein and Faroe Islands for my first Nations League Div. D campaign. We actually agreed to play these teams prior to the draw in friendly matches and got some positive results, so hopefully we can continue this momentum into the competition.

 

[Dave.]

Alessandro Lucarelli - Tre Penne/San Marino
AUGUST 2019

Alright - its been a while since I've been on these forums or even played an FM game, but I've just bought FM20 and have a weekend to myself so fancied getting stuck into a save.  I've had a lot of fun with both San Marino and Tre Penne in the past, so thought this would be a great way to reignite my love of the game.  Enter former Sammarinese international footballer Alessandro Lucarelli who takes charge of both Tre Penne in the Campionato Sammarinese and his national side, San Marino.

[JLC9912]

First official victory with San Marino Calcio. Use the Drive file to start the challenge. Besides, I’m also manager of the San Giovanni Sanmarines championship.

I have serious doubts about whether to use a more conservative approach with a 5-line, or be aggressive and go on the attack with a 4-2-4. Fortunately I have had time to test the tactics and define the main one before the Nations League begins. Anyway, these are my tactics to use.

I can’t deny that I’m quite excited to have the Nations League begin to test the true San Marino level.

[JLC9912]

First victory with the national team of San Marino. I believe that Nicola Nanni will be the next historical scorer of San Marino.

[Dave.]

Alessandro Lucarelli - Tre Penne/San Marino
OCTOBER 2019

Alright - so a couple of months in, a few things to report.  Firstly, despite some heavy defeats, it's going well!  We have already ticked off the first achievement with a win in the Sammarinese Super Cup on penalties over Tre Fiori, which despite the late equaliser to even get ourselves into a shootout, was probably deserved on the balance of play.

I won't get into too much detail on transfers, since as an amateur club they're all over the place - coming and going on free transfers all the time.  However, we've managed to keep hold of some of our best and build up the squad with decent prospects at the same time. 

We did tremendously well in Europe, winning two tight games to qualify from the preliminaries.  We were then pumped in the first qualifying round of the Champions League, before beating Valletta over two legs in the Europa League, with the second leg performance being particularly fantastic, despite only winning by a goal to nil.

Our work in the league starts in earnest now, and I will bring you a mid-season summary of results when we get to that point.  Meanwhile, a quick screencap of our first international game below - managing to earn a point!  It's not a win yet, so not overly notable, but what a start.  Granted, we have lost every game since (and again, I'll round these up at the end of 2019 when international football is over for the year), but it's a promising sign for the young and up and coming San Marino national team.

 

[JLC9912]

First place group with San Marino. Also first place with San Giovanni in group A of the first phase.

 

[boroinbishop]

Erm guys, i seem to have managed to finish in 1st place in Serie B, considering my squad has a lot of 2 star players rated decent Serie C standard i think i've broken the game lol.

It went down to the last game, i could have finished anywhere from 1st to 4th but managed a 4-0 win over Juve Stabia. 

I switched Di Nolfo to the opposite wing and he's scored 21 league goals from getting on the end of crosses, mad.

Budget for next year is finally good, 80k p/w wages and transfer budget of £7m, i think i'm going to let my key players from this season have a chance, and improve on my CM's, i'm still using Gaiola and a guy i signed on a free transfer in Serie D so i think they definitely need upgrading, will probably send them out on loan in case i get relegated.

[TacticalGenius]

I’ve got Cattolica SM promoted to Serie B via playoffs, and SMNT topped the Nations League group. Went a record 6 games unbeaten with SMNT. 

Next season at club level will consist of filling up with as many good loans and decent freebies as possible to try and stay up. Board has decided our new policies are to play counter-attacking football and to not sign anyone over 30, which is what I’ve been doing anyway. My tactics for both club and country are counter attacking, and I have been signing and capping younger players. 

[duesouth]

San Giovanni 2020 Group A

So far, so good for San Giovanni - with another first place finish.  In home games, I've switched from a 4-1-4-1 to a 4-1-2-2-1, which has seen more goals - hopefully we can keep the form going in the second part of the league.

San Marino National Team - Nations League 2020

On seeing the group, I thought we could do OK - but we got thumped by the best team in the group, Latvia, 4-1 in the first game, so I wasn't thinking promotion.  However, we won our next 5 games, including a 4-0 win against Latvia to gain promotion.  We actually went 1-0 down in the last game to Liechtenstein after 90 seconds - but we scored twice before half time and held on.  We earned promotion ahead of Latvia on a head-to-head tie breaker - which we won 5-4 - so Berardi's goal away to Latvia in that first game was anything but a consolation goal.

Edited December 3, 2019 by duesouth

[parkin90]

On 02/12/2019 at 18:04, duesouth said:

San Giovanni 2020 Group A

So far, so good for San Giovanni - with another first place finish.  In home games, I've switched from a 4-1-4-1 to a 4-1-2-2-1, which has seen more goals - hopefully we can keep the form going in the second part of the league.

San Marino National Team - Nations League 2020

On seeing the group, I thought we could do OK - but we got thumped by the best team in the group, Latvia, 4-1 in the first game, so I wasn't thinking promotion.  However, we won our next 5 games, including a 4-0 win against Latvia to gain promotion.  We actually went 1-0 down in the last game to Liechtenstein after 90 seconds - but we scored twice before half time and held on.  We earned promotion ahead of Latvia on a head-to-head tie breaker - which we won 5-4 - so Berardi's goal away to Latvia in that first game was anything but a consolation goal.

Nice progress, hopefully you can get into Europe soon and really kick on! I'm just back from holiday so I can get stuck into this challenge again soon! Serie C is going to be a long slog! Got one good player from my first intake produced one decent player and I've thrown him into the first team to help him develop.

 

[duesouth]

3 hours ago, parkin90 said:

Nice progress, hopefully you can get into Europe soon and really kick on! I'm just back from holiday so I can get stuck into this challenge again soon! Serie C is going to be a long slog! Got one good player from my first intake produced one decent player and I've thrown him into the first team to help him develop.

 

Cheers - January window at the moment and hoping we don't lose our best players.  Amateur contracts mean we can lose people for nothing.  Europe is the answer and turn the club pro.

The way the divisions are in Italy, the step up from Serie D to C - and then C to B is big - but hopefully you do better than expected.

19 for determination for your centre half is excellent - hopefully he really develops for you.

[refusodelpasso]

Got some San Marino NT progress to update with. It's been an incredible Nations League campaign, although it began with a hefty 1-4 defeat away at Liechtenstein. Following that we went on to smash the highest rank side in the group, Faroe Islands, twice with an aggregate scoreline of 9-2! We also beat Liechtenstein 1-0 in the home leg which sealed our promotion to Division C! Nanni and Berardi are edging ever closer to the great Andy Selva's record goal tally as well.

In club matters, we're currently sitting in 6th at Christmas in Serie C - although we're too far behind to think of automatic promotion. Given that it's our first season back at this level and we're still semi-pro (we turn professional in the Summer coming), survival is the main aim despite our great position in the table. Winter is also the time of year where we get a preview on our youth intake, and this year we seem to be bringing in a 'golden generation'... Admittedly it's a golden generation for Serie C level, but it's still exciting and beneficial for the NT.

 

[JLC9912]

First season with San Marino Calcio completed. It was a long season but fortunately we managed to ensure the permanence a few games before the championship ended.

With the San Giovanni we achieved a double League and Cup, we also ended undefeated in both competitions.

With this, we’re supposed to qualify for next season’s Champions League, but we’ll have to see.With the national team of San Marino we are not getting good results despite playing quite well for the quality of our staff.

                                                                            

[refusodelpasso]

Finished our first season back at Serie C level, and it went considerably better than I could've expected. We ended the season in 4th place, and while we were never troubling the top spot for automatic promotion, I entered the season with the concern of survival so this has been a major success. From the league table it's clear where the problems lie - we typically score less and concede more than those around us. It's lead to only a few draws, so if we don't play well we often lose rather than manage to scrape a point. 

In the playoffs we overcame Carpi to reach the 3rd Round with a narrow home win, however Juve Stabia proved too tough a test for my boys. Not upset about the playoff performance by any means, hopefully next season we can go one step further and achieve promotion.

In the Summer I plan to have quite a large squad overhaul. We're turning professional and so the quality of player we will be able to attract will increase, and the full training will allow us to begin properly developing young players. With the right additions to the first team and depth we should hopefully have it in us to fight for promotion to Serie B next year.

Edited December 6, 2019 by refusodelpasso

[parkin90]

Hello!

If anyone fancies a detailed read I also blog about my save.

Part 1: https://stratmangaming.wordpress.com/2019/11/26/a-serene-rebirth-1-setting-the-scene/

Part 2: https://stratmangaming.wordpress.com/2019/12/05/a-serene-rebirth-2-building-quickly/

[duesouth]

34 minutes ago, parkin90 said:

Hello!

If anyone fancies a detailed read I also blog about my save.

Part 1: https://stratmangaming.wordpress.com/2019/11/26/a-serene-rebirth-1-setting-the-scene/

Part 2: https://stratmangaming.wordpress.com/2019/12/05/a-serene-rebirth-2-building-quickly/

A great read - look forward to more moving forward!

[duesouth]

San Giovanni 2020/2021 Update Part 2

Last season we hit a bad run in April and into the playoffs, where it was a quick exit. This year, sometimes playing 4-1-4-1 - but also using a 4-1-2-2-1 at times - we hit a much better run and finished 2nd in Group 1.  We kept going and going - able to win the double!  The hardest game was the Pennarossa game in the Champions Playoff Semi-Final - we drew 0-0 in the 1st leg and were 1-2 down in the 2nd leg at home - but scored and went through as the higher seed.  Both finals were actually fairly comfortable - so it's into Europe for the boys!

Youth Intake

The intake was much the same as last year... other than a 3.5* CA central midfielder in Michele Pedini.  I couldn't register him in the league, but he played both Cup semi-finals and the final - his stats:  2 goals, 1 assist and an average rating of 7.4.  He scored a cracker in the final to put us 2-1 up - a lead we didn't relinquish.  He might be pushing for a National Team call up fairly soon...

[parkin90]

Pedini looks promising for an early regen! Throw him into the national side it should help his development.

[Extazx2]

Hi guys !

 

I've taken the ride for my first save on this fm 20.

I want to add kits to the game, but not sure how to do it.

The id is 829175 right ?

If so ,in my config file i should have 

		<record from="sanmarino_home" to="graphics/pictures/team/829175/kits/home"/>
		<record from="sanmarino_away" to="graphics/pictures/team/829175/kits/away"/>

But i feel like it's not working.

(for those who wants, they are handmade from the fc12 templates !)

[JLC9912]

Sammarinan supercoppa won. No complication.

In European competitions we were pitifully eliminated in the first round.

[FoxGe1994]

On 07/12/2019 at 13:36, duesouth said:

San Giovanni 2020/2021 Update Part 2

Last season we hit a bad run in April and into the playoffs, where it was a quick exit. This year, sometimes playing 4-1-4-1 - but also using a 4-1-2-2-1 at times - we hit a much better run and finished 2nd in Group 1.  We kept going and going - able to win the double!  The hardest game was the Pennarossa game in the Champions Playoff Semi-Final - we drew 0-0 in the 1st leg and were 1-2 down in the 2nd leg at home - but scored and went through as the higher seed.  Both finals were actually fairly comfortable - so it's into Europe for the boys!

Youth Intake

The intake was much the same as last year... other than a 3.5* CA central midfielder in Michele Pedini.  I couldn't register him in the league, but he played both Cup semi-finals and the final - his stats:  2 goals, 1 assist and an average rating of 7.4.  He scored a cracker in the final to put us 2-1 up - a lead we didn't relinquish.  He might be pushing for a National Team call up fairly soon...

Where did you get the logo pack for SM league? 

[parkin90]

Second youth intake was nothing special......however I got a Brazilian/Sammarinese regen as the best player. Never seen someone with that combination before haha

[FoxGe1994]

@duesouth

Achievements:

 

[duesouth]

1 hour ago, FoxGe1994 said:

Where did you get the logo pack for SM league? 

I got it for FM19 and just copied it over, so can't be 100% sure (long time ago at my age ) - think it was FM Scout...

[duesouth]

21 hours ago, parkin90 said:

Pedini looks promising for an early regen! Throw him into the national side it should help his development.

I've just played Austria and Belgium - held him out of that squad, but will get him in fairly soon.  He's not been great so far in Europe...

[duesouth]

53 minutes ago, parkin90 said:

Second youth intake was nothing special......however I got a Brazilian/Sammarinese regen as the best player. Never seen someone with that combination before haha

It could be a winner though - you can tell him to argue with the ref in Portugese!

[FoxGe1994]

1 hour ago, parkin90 said:

Second youth intake was nothing special......however I got a Brazilian/Sammarinese regen as the best player. Never seen someone with that combination before haha

I just had youth intake with San Goivanni - got an american/sanmarinese player.
The other clubs got:
2 american/sanmarinese
1 canadian/sanmarinese
several argentine/sanmarinese
1 brasilian/sanmarinese like you

 

I have never seen these combinations before