[FM20] [FM19] The Great San Marino Challenge

[parkin90]

20 hours ago, viney said:

2021 Update

New Completed Challenge Achievements

Club

Win a European Qualifying game

Win the San Marino Super Cup

Country

Beat a team ranked in the top 50 in the World

Summary

Club

The 2020/21 season with Cosmos was disappointing failing to win the Champions Playoff again after just one defeat in the first two stages. We also lost the San Marino Super Cup Final in our first match meaning that a 3-1 win after extra time in the San Marino Cup Final led to our only silverware of the season and giving us qualification for the Europa Conference League. In the off-season the side turned semi-professional hopefully meaning that better players will be attracted to the club leading to dominance domestically and progress in continental competitions. During the off-season, the board also announced plans to build a new stadium as well as upgrading both the youth and training facilities.

We started the 2021/22 season getting knocked out of the Europa Conference league in our first qualifying round after losing on away goals to Kalju (4-4 on aggregate). We bounced back from the disappointment with a 3-0 win over Folgore in our next match to secure the club’s first San Marino Super Cup victory under my management. We carried on our good form domestically and are undefeated going into the new year.

Country

The San Marino national team recorded another win (San Marino 4-0 Faroe Islands), our first in a World Cup qualifier. Matteo Vitaioli reached 74 caps in our first match against Northern Ireland to set a new appearance record. In September we got our 2nd victory of the World Cup Qualifiers, a 3-2 home win against Albania. It was total dominance from Albania in the stats for 93 minutes but unfortunately for them we scored in the 1st and 95th for a real smash and grab victory. Being 59th in the world put them just short of the ranking that was needed for another achievement in the challenge. In October we completed a double over the Faroe Islands, winning 3-2 away from home. We then beat Greece 2-1 in our 2nd game of the window in a sensational result and our first win against a top 50 ranked nation (Greece ranked 26th in the world at kick-off). We ended the international break 3rd in the group, 4 points behind Greece who were in 2nd. A 0-0 draw away to Northern Ireland coupled with a win for Greece ended our very slim hopes of finishing 2nd in the qualifying group but meant that 3rd place was guaranteed. Our final game of the year saw us suffer a disappointing 4-1 defeat to Albania but despite this I still think it was a successful year overall. We ended the year ranked 175th in the world.

What tactic are you using? That form with the national team is literally unbelievable.........

[viney]

2 minutes ago, parkin90 said:

What tactic are you using? That form with the national team is literally unbelievable.........

It's one of Knap's (4-1-3-2 Formation). I chose to leave out the 11-0 & 8-0 defeats to France in my report .

[duesouth]

San Marino Calcio - 2020/21 Season - Promozione Emilia-Romagna Group A (L6) - End of Season

After a slightly slow start, after the winter break we kicked into gear winning 13 of 14 games to seal the title with 3 games left.  That gave us the chance to give some young players a chance, and we drew 2 and won 1 of those 3 dead games.  The game play was pretty dull, if truth be told, with the vast majority of teams parking the bus against us.  The most common formation for the opposition was 3 central defenders, with 2 DM's sitting in front and 2 wing backs - so in many games it was a case of being patient.  There were 2 late winners to lift the tedium - one by Riccardo Dragoni against Persiceto with a cracking long shot from outside the box - and the other from winter window loan signing Nicholas Casciola against Agazzanese (Casciola was signed as our number 1 striker Jacopo Curcio was injured for 2 months).

I've now got decisions to make with the squad.  I'm going to be rather ruthless and discard a few players at this point in the journey, as I suspect we might find Eccellenza a little more difficult.  Certainly we'll need a new left back and holding midfielder - but also possibly a central defender, attacking central midfielder, right winger and centre forward...

Youth Intake 2021

Much the same as last season - no one knocking down the door to play in the first XI - but lots of potential.  Being part time does make it harder to develop players though - as they are only training 4 sessions per week in season.  I'll see if we can send one or two of last year's class out on loan next season.

 

[parkin90]

Season 2021/22 update.....we upset the odds to finish 2nd in the league after blowing a 1 point lead with three games to go.

We did well in the playoffs with an epic comeback in the semi final to progress to the final.......

Where International call ups robbed us of 12 of my match day squad and we went down 3-2 to Cesena

With the national side we drew a tough group for World Cup Qualifying and finished bottom as we only managed to pick up a single point when we drew at home with Azerbaijan.

 

Youth Prospects

We had a good youth intake without any real stars despite being labelled as a golden generation. The best player was probably Nicola Stefanelli but he needs to develop a lot in order to become a reliable player.  

[duesouth]

23 hours ago, parkin90 said:

Where International call ups robbed us of 12 of my match day squad and we went down 3-2 to Cesena

 

I bet you are as sick as the proverbial parrot!  So close!

[parkin90]

22 hours ago, duesouth said:

I bet you are as sick as the proverbial parrot!  So close!

Mate, I was absolutely gutted......I was surprised how well we did with a poor team! What makes it worse is that Juventus U23's are now in my league the season after so they will probably walk the league!

[duesouth]

San Marino Calcio - 2021/22 Season - Eccellenza Emilia-Romagna Group B (Level 5) - Winter Break

There has been a step up in quality of the opposition - but frustratingly game play wise, most teams still park the bus against us.  As with last year, we started slowly - partly because we've changed 5 players and team cohesion took a hit.  However, after winning 2-0 vs La Pieve at the end of October, we started a run of 7 wins and 1 draw.  We're not free scoring, so I'm tweaking tactics a little to get that going - but winning 1-0 in our last 4 games is good enough I guess - and we're second.  Hopefully we can kick on - there's just 1 automatic promotion spot and 1 playoff spot - so we'll need to keep playing well.

[TacticalGenius]

It’s been a while, so here’s an update. 
 

I’ve lived a semi-charmed life at Cattolica Calcio, having won Serie D, promoted via playoffs in Serie C, won Serie B and finished 14th, 7th and 4th in Serie A. We’ve won the UEFA Europa Conference League as well. The board have been good to me, improving the youth and training facilities every time I’ve asked since we reached Serie A, and we’ve got a new stadium under construction, which will take us to 16,000+ capacity. We’re still in the Stadio Giorgio Calpi, which is 1072 capacity, meaning we’ve set unwanted records in Serie A, the Europa Conference and the Champions League for lowest watched games. Our transfer budget has been consistent at €15m a season for the past 3 seasons, and our record signing is Rhian Brewster, who joined for €9.5m at the beginning of last season. 
 

The NT has been consistently meh, having won League D and been promoted to League C, relegated back to D and finished second, to spend another season at the same level. We have managed one small feat though, to have never finished bottom of ANY group since I took over. In our current 2026 WC qualifying group we are up to 4th! But we will not be getting any higher than that. We are currently 170th in the World Rankings.

We are getting seriously desperate at CB and LB for any players at all, not even terrible ones. We’ve produced a RB and ST at Cattolica who have ‘good Serie A’ potential, and our GK and midfielders are all Italian ex Serie B/C players who took Sammarinese nationality whilst at the club so whilst they’re not that good, they’re better than the Sammarinese players. The issue I’m also facing is that the players released from Cattolica as not good enough for our level aren’t being picked up by smaller/Sammarinese clubs, and are retiring relatively young, some in their mid-20’s. And because we don’t have a ‘B team’ we can’t really keep them, I tried loaning them out for a while but it got to a point where we had a load of players refusing to go on loan and not being registered for the club either...

We’ve produced the two aforementioned players who will hopefully make an impact for both the club and country (the ST already has 2 goals in 3 games for NT) but the others coming through are really poor, yet we’re having to use them because there’s no one else. 

If we don’t get someone through soon for the CB or LB positions, I’m going to have to get really creative tactically to make it work. The Sammarinese league is active but the clubs aren’t producing anyone even useable.
 

I’ll be back at some point in the future with more updates. 

[duesouth]

San Marino Calcio - 2021/22 Season - Eccellenza Emilia-Romagna Group B (Level 5) - End of Season

The second half of the season went very well - although scoring goals was still a problem, we were excellent at the back and managed to win a lot of games 1-0.  We went into the last 3 games 3 points ahead of Corticella in second... but due to play them away in our second to last game.  Things were made much easier when we won our 3rd to last game (1-0 - a free kick from Michele Moroni in the 78th minute) and Corticella lost.  We then went into that game needing just 1 point from 2 games to go up.  We beat Corticella 1-0 courtesy of a goal from our backup left inside forward Daniele Minelli (just 18 years old) - in because of an injury.  So, it's back-to-back-to-back promotions as champions - Serie D was where San Marino Calcio finished in real life (just - winning a promotion relegation playoff game) - so it's back to where we were.  I fully expect big changes to the playing squad - we need a striker big time and I think we might get in some loans from Serie A or B clubs to help.  I've already overhauled the Director of Football/Scouts, so that team is much better - and will do the same with the coaching staff.

Youth Intake

Pretty poor - and another promotion means it's harder for players to grow to become good players at what will be a Serie D level next season.

[Cuomo10]

Reading through this thread has been great and I will be starting the challenge today based in San Marino.

[Cuomo10]

@duesouth

Ive taken over at San Giovanni and also the National Team. First victory with the NT (we lost our first game against Scotland).

San Marino National Team Targets/Achievements

Win a game

Win a competitive game (includes Nations League)

Have a player score a hat-trick in a game

[duesouth]

18 minutes ago, Cuomo10 said:

@duesouth

Ive taken over at San Giovanni and also the National Team. First victory with the NT (we lost our first game against Scotland).

San Marino National Team Targets/Achievements

Win a game

Win a competitive game (includes Nations League)

Have a player score a hat-trick in a game

All added - a nice win there!

[TacticalGenius]

@duesouth

Win promotion from Serie D

Win the Serie D Girone F Title

Win promotion from Serie C

Win promotion from Serie B

Win the Serie B Title

Go from Serie D to Serie A in 3 seasons 

Avoid relegation in Serie A in your first season in this division

Qualify for Europe (won Euro II, qualified for champions league)

Win Manager of the Year in Serie A
 

all ✅ 

will post pics if needed. 

[Cuomo10]

23 hours ago, duesouth said:

All added - a nice win there!

Cheers mate. 

[duesouth]

On 31/12/2019 at 23:50, TacticalGenius said:

@duesouth

Win promotion from Serie D

Win the Serie D Girone F Title

Win promotion from Serie C

Win promotion from Serie B

Win the Serie B Title

Go from Serie D to Serie A in 3 seasons 

Avoid relegation in Serie A in your first season in this division

Qualify for Europe (won Euro II, qualified for champions league)

Win Manager of the Year in Serie A
 

all ✅ 

will post pics if needed. 

All added - cracking going!

[Cuomo10]

San Giovanni; Season 1 Update

15 new players came in and I released the same number as we needed to get rid of a few foreign players due to the league rules

We made an excellent start by winning 6 from 6 in Group B securing 1st place and qualifying for Group 1 @duesouth

 

 

We've drawn our first 3 games so far in Group 1 and have also made it to the Semi Finals of the Cup

 

Youth Intake Preview

Next update will be at the end of the season

[Cuomo10]

San Giovanni; End of Season 1

Despite the board being happy for us to avoid relegation, it was a bitter sweet 1st season. 

We finished first in Group 1 after a string of solid results @duesouth

We bowed out of the cup on penalties in the Semi Final in a match that we heavily dominated across both legs but just couldnt find that elusive goal.

We faced Tre Penne in the Champions Play Off Final but we lost to 1-0 to a goal in extra time. It does however secure us European Football for next season.

The Youth Intake wasnt a spectacular one but there is definitley one player, CM Roberto Zanotti, with some decent ability who will be pushing for 1st team game time next season

 

I also like to keep track of certain things throughout a save

Season

First Phase

Group Phase

Play Offs

Cup

Super Cup

Europe

Finances

TV £

Prize £

Sponsors

Youth Costs

Season Tkts

Avg Att

Corp. Fac

Training Fac

Data Analysis

Youth Fac

Jnr Coaching

Youth Rec

Start

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Basic

Poor

None

Poor

Basic

Limited

19/20

Grp B Winner

Grp 1 Winner

Runner Up

Semi Final

-

-

£83,796

£68,942

£20,672

£1,378

£1,143

65

378

Basic

Poor

None

Poor

Fairly Basic

Basic

[Cuomo10]

@duesouth

A comprehensive victory in our first taste of European football. Zanotti, my YP1A, bagged a brace on debut...

[Cuomo10]

San Marino NT Update

An unbeaten calendar year!  I know the opposition wasnt spectacular but still

3 wins and a draw mean that we have achieved promotion from the Nations League Group D @duesouth

[TacticalGenius]

So close!

[TacticalGenius]

Cracked it!

[duesouth]

2 hours ago, TacticalGenius said:

Cracked it!

Well played!

[duesouth]

San Marino Calcio 2022/2023 Season - Serie D

I was basically ruthless with the Eccellenza title winning team from last year - just 2 are regular starters and several squad players were released.  I was able to bring in 5 players on loan - a keeper, right back, left back, left inside forward and striker.  Goals were a problem again - and although we were doing OK, the football was pretty dull to watch.  So, I got some help on the tactical section of the forum and things improved - basically it was switching my DLP from right centre midfield to left centre - his interplay with the left back and inside forward is great - and it's also opened up more space for our right winger Marco Ciarcelluti who is our leading scorer with 12.

Despite not losing yet (won 14, drawn 4) we are only second to Piacenza.  We did actually beat them 1-0 when we played each other and play them again at home on 19 February.  Hopefully we can kick on and win the title as the playoffs don't always mean promotion.  We've been in this position the last 2 seasons and gone on to do this - so fingers crossed!

[Cuomo10]

San Giovanni; Season 20/21 Review

Our European campaign only lasted 2 rounds but landed us some good money

We finished top of Group A during the 1st phase and finished 3rd in Group 1

We performed excellently in the Play Offs and beat Folgore 2-1 in the final @duesouth (also marked off this achievement Qualify for the Champions Playoffs)

A 3-1 extra time victory against Juvenes Dogana in the Cup meant that we secured the domestic double @duesouth

It was a great season and most players performed very well. 2 of my youth intake players from last season were both first team starters and Roberto Zanotti had an amazing first season and scored a total of 16 goals across the season @duesouth. We lost our best player, AML Thomas Rosti to an Italian side in January, he was a 5* CA player but Mosca performed well when called upon

Not a bad 2nd season intake and another stand out MC emerges in Alessandro Righi. I am re-training Cervellini as an AML as he could get some game time there across next season

 

Season

First Phase

Group Phase

Play Offs

Cup

Super Cup

Europe

Finances

TV £

Prize £

Sponsors

Youth £

Season Tkts

Avg Att

Corp. Fac

Training Fac

Data Analysis

Youth Fac

Jnr Coaching

Youth Rec

Start

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Basic

Poor

None

Poor

Basic

Limited

19/20

Grp B 1st

Grp 1 1st

RU

SF

-

-

£83,796

£68,942

£20,672

£1,378

£1,143

65

378

Basic

Poor

None

Poor

Fairly Basic

Basic

20/21

Grp A 1st

Grp 1 3rd

W

W

-

Euro Cup 1st QR

£659,713

£69,520

£427,212

£5,275

£6,520

69

507

Basic

Poor

None

Poor

Average

Fairly Basic

 

 

Edited January 4, 2020 by Cuomo10

[Cuomo10]

Zanotti wins the Player of the Season award and caps off an excellent first season @duesouth

[Cuomo10]

@duesouth Super Cup Winners

[duesouth]

San Marino Calcio 2022/2023 Season - Serie D - Part 2

If you had told me Piacenza would finish the season with 29 wins, 3 draws and just 2 losses - I would have thought we were playoff bound.  However, both losses were against us - the second a 2-1 home win after we fell behind to a very offside looking goal!  We were able to win every league game in the second half of the season to go undefeated on the season and win the title!  Piacenza lost against us after the winter break - but outside of that didn't drop any points either until the last game of the season, when we were 2-0 up early and 3-0 up at half time and clearly on the way to the title.

The big moment for us was signing striker Edoardo Soleri.  Without a club, I tried to sign him in the off-season, but he wanted too much money.  I had a further two tries in the first half of the season - but again no joy.  I tried again in January - and was delighted when he signed!  He scored 11 goals in 14 league games, with an average rating of 7.46 - not something we were getting from our loanee striker Lorenzo Coccia.

There were a couple of games I thought we were going to get "FM'd" - but we escaped that.  The second to last game of the season was the best moment of the save so far.  0-0 away to Virtus, we went all out attack in the last 20 minutes - but no joy.  In the 94th minute, we got a corner - the shot was deflected and out for another.  The ref thankfully found time for us to take it - and the ball was pulled back to the most unlikely hero Gabriele Zafferani - a 2020 youth product right back who was making his first appearance of the season (our regular right back was suspended - I started his backup who I took off as he was having an awful game) - and he hit a shot into the top left hand corner of the net to give us the 3 points!

That left us needing just 1 point from the last game - home vs Jesina - and we won easily 5-0 after 2 horrible defensive mistakes gifted us a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes.

I didn't know what to do with the Poule Scudetto, but put out my usual team in the first game, which was a very dull 0-0 with very few chances.  We needed to win in our second and final game in the group to qualify - and we did 2-1.  The semi was 1-1 and went to penalties, which I usually lose on FM, but we won 5-4.  The final was against Taranto - and we won 2-1 to give us a cup and a little bit of prize money.

So, 4 seasons and 4 promotions - and this one was easy in one way in that we were undefeated - but tough as Piacenza made it a close race.  It's on now to Serie C - and with the move, the last of our players from our Prima Categoria (Level 7) days will leave the club, which is a little sad - but "thank you" and "good luck in the future" to right back Rocco Sapienza, central defender Marco Fratini and left winger Luca Giovannini.  I'm once again going to be ruthless - plus I'll need to replace the 4 regular starters we loaned in.  I'm hoping Serie A clubs will let us sign some promising young players and not ask us to pay their wages.  I'm hoping to stay out of relegation trouble and with 11th place securing a playoff spot, perhaps have a dart at that - it will all depend on our recruitment, which for me is always the most fun part of FM.

Youth Intake

One word: awful

[mattboy_slim]

Completed Challenge:

Go undefeated domestically (league - both stages, Champions Playoffs, San Marino Cup and San Marino Super Cup)

Perfect season

[Cuomo10]

11 hours ago, mattboy_slim said:

Completed Challenge:

Go undefeated domestically (league - both stages, Champions Playoffs, San Marino Cup and San Marino Super Cup)

Perfect season

Well played, that's a good achievement. I'm deep into my third season and although dominant, we lost the 2nd leg of the Quarters. How are you finding the youth products coming through? I received my latest intake last night and there are some quality looking players. 

[Cuomo10]

Season 21/22 Review

Our European campaign was alright to be fair. We cruised past the prelims despite being the underdog in both ties. We played well against Valur and missed a pen in the away leg when we were 1-0 up. We got battered by Rosenborg though in the Euro Cup II. The prize money was very nice though and allowed us to improve our youth recruitment and junior coaching

We dominated domestically and secured the treble @duesouth

Some of our players have declined in ability across the past season; Parma, Raschi, Cuomo, Ceccaroli, Zafferani and Santi. The latter bagged 25 goals in 31 starts despite declining from 4.5* PA to 2.5* PA. It could be a big season coming up for Doria. There are a lot of stand out performers across the team, Zanotti YP1A won the fans player of the year for the second successive season and produced some good numbers in terms of goals and assists. 7 of our youth products featured in some capacity last season, with most playing a big part across the season.

Our Intake is impressive and we're reaping the rewards of investing in the youth setup. Ercolani and Pedini will play big parts next season and I will continue to blood the youth in the first team. There are a number of players on the cusp and I may hold out from signing anyone to try and get the most out of the players. An example from last seasons intake is Cervellini YP2B who came in at 2.5*CA and is now 4.5* CA.

The board have also made the decsion to go semi-pro

 

Not too much to report on from the NT front. We didnt qualify for the World Cup, but did pick up a couple of wins and draws along the way. Nanni is now on 8 international goals...

[Cuomo10]

I forgot to include this in my last post

Season

First Phase

Group Phase

Play Offs

Cup

Super Cup

Europe

Finances

TV £

Prize £

Sponsors

Youth Setup

Season Tkts

Avg Att

Corp. Fac

Training Fac

Data Analysis

Youth Fac

Jnr Coaching

Youth Rec

Start

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

Basic

Poor

None

Poor

Basic

Limited

19/20

Grp B 1st

Grp 1 1st

RU

SF

-

-

£83,796

£68,942

£20,672

£1,378

£1,143

65

378

Basic

Poor

None

Poor

Fairly Basic

Basic

20/21

Grp A 1st

Grp 1 3rd

W

W

-

E Cup 1st QR

£659,713

£69,520

£427,212

£5,275

£6,520

69

507

Basic

Poor

None

Poor

Average

Fairly Basic

21/22

Grp A 1st

Grp 1 1st

W

W

W

C Cup 1st QR

£1,612,045

£108,132

£798,432

£8,400

£22,794

71

839

Basic

Poor

None

Poor

Adequate

Average

[Cuomo10]

Season 22/23; First Update

Ive decided to split my updates into 3 parts; 1st is European qualifying games, 2nd is mid-season, and third is end of season

We had a strong run in Europe which has led to us qualifying for the group stages of the Euro Cup II @duesouth 

The 2nd leg against Fehervar was crazy. They went 1-0 up in the 77th minute but we scored twice in a minute in the 85th and 86th. They then and went and done the same by scoring twice in a minute in the 91st and 92nd min!

We took a beating away to Standard but were competitive in the return leg at least. This is the group that we have been drawn in

The prize money has been great and now have over £5.5m in the bank - time to improve the youth facilities and try and turn professional. 

[mattboy_slim]

Challenge completed:

Qualify for the group stage of the Europa Conference League.

Wasn't expecting this to be honest - after comfortable wins against Lincoln and Astana, we got absolutely demolished over 2 legs by Dinamo and then a narrow loss to Sion in the Europa league playoffs.

Boost to the bank balance is always welcome, and hopefully will manage to scrape the odd result and improve the clubs rep. Already finding this challenge is gonna take a looooong time, not had any half decent youth intakes so far so think I'm many years off managing the national team.  Still turning out to be one of my most enjoyable saves though!

[Cuomo10]

4 hours ago, mattboy_slim said:

Challenge completed:

Qualify for the group stage of the Europa Conference League.

Wasn't expecting this to be honest - after comfortable wins against Lincoln and Astana, we got absolutely demolished over 2 legs by Dinamo and then a narrow loss to Sion in the Europa league playoffs.

Boost to the bank balance is always welcome, and hopefully will manage to scrape the odd result and improve the clubs rep. Already finding this challenge is gonna take a looooong time, not had any half decent youth intakes so far so think I'm many years off managing the national team.  Still turning out to be one of my most enjoyable saves though!

It's a great bank booster. I got battered in my first group game. 

Is that Berardi from the national team in your club side? How were you able to sign him if so as I've been trying and no interest at all. Can I also ask what leagues you're running in the background as you have some diverse player names and I'm still stuck with being able to sign players within San Marino. 

[duesouth]

Great progress from both @Cuomo10 and @mattboy_slim - qualifying for the group stages of Euro II at about the same time.  Well played, both!

[Cross]

So I would like to play a youth only game, but the save you shared of SM Calcio in the Serie C is way to hard for me. The difference with the other teams is huge and the selection in inbalance.

Is there also a save available for the Serie D where I don't have to edit anything but load the leagues?

[duesouth]

On 01/11/2019 at 12:10, duesouth said:

use this file https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1917811437 which will see Cattolica Calcio San Marino playable in Serie D - the club will produce Sammarinese youth intakes (thanks to @parkin90 for this).  This needs to be used with this Serie D database -  https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1920497135 .  It may also be worth downloading a San Marino League database and enable that league also (link below);

@Cross This option is Cattolica Calcio San Marino in Serie D - they've been edited to produce mainly Sammarinese youth players.

[Cross]

Cool thanks! Will start a new save tonight

[duesouth]

9 minutes ago, Cross said:

Cool thanks! Will start a new save tonight

No worries - good luck and enjoy!

[Cuomo10]

1 hour ago, duesouth said:

Great progress from both @Cuomo10 and @mattboy_slim - qualifying for the group stages of Euro II at about the same time.  Well played, both!

Cheers mate. I'm hoping the European run will boost the clubs rep as my finances should allow me to dominate domestically. I've been blessed with some good intakes during the save so far and will continue to focus on improving the youth set up

[mattboy_slim]

13 hours ago, Cuomo10 said:

It's a great bank booster. I got battered in my first group game. 

Is that Berardi from the national team in your club side? How were you able to sign him if so as I've been trying and no interest at all. Can I also ask what leagues you're running in the background as you have some diverse player names and I'm still stuck with being able to sign players within San Marino. 

I've got all the Welsh leagues running (I'm Welsh), English down to national leagues, and all the Italian leagues running. 

I have found that scouring the Welsh clubs around youth intake dates reveals some good new gens. Most are valued eventually at £500 at most, and the club invariably accept £0. Through this method I've managed to pick up a few good players, Botfield, Gowans and Downes are the ones I've kept on. 

Berardi I'd have to check when I'm at home but I'm nearly certain I only got him last season after I'd turned semi pro. He's great on the wing. 

Think investing in the youth setup is by far the best way for this challenge, but even with upgrading the facilities when I can I've had no notable youth prospects come through so far. Early days though! 

[Cuomo10]

42 minutes ago, mattboy_slim said:

I've got all the Welsh leagues running (I'm Welsh), English down to national leagues, and all the Italian leagues running. 

I have found that scouring the Welsh clubs around youth intake dates reveals some good new gens. Most are valued eventually at £500 at most, and the club invariably accept £0. Through this method I've managed to pick up a few good players, Botfield, Gowans and Downes are the ones I've kept on. 

Berardi I'd have to check when I'm at home but I'm nearly certain I only got him last season after I'd turned semi pro. He's great on the wing. 

Think investing in the youth setup is by far the best way for this challenge, but even with upgrading the facilities when I can I've had no notable youth prospects come through so far. Early days though! 

Ah ok, I may add some leagues to increase player scope. I've invested in youth recruitment and junior coaching and my youth facilities are also being upgraded. I've had some quality youngsters come through to be fair and almost have a starting 11 of my clubs youth intake players. We're also turning professional at the end of the current season so my grip domestically should become a lot tighter and can start to develop the youngsters more. 

[mattboy_slim]

4 hours ago, Cuomo10 said:

Ah ok, I may add some leagues to increase player scope. I've invested in youth recruitment and junior coaching and my youth facilities are also being upgraded. I've had some quality youngsters come through to be fair and almost have a starting 11 of my clubs youth intake players. We're also turning professional at the end of the current season so my grip domestically should become a lot tighter and can start to develop the youngsters more. 

Just got home and checked Berardi, got him on a free in 2022 after he was released from Vibonese. Definitely worth getting him in if you can. Should think you'd definitely be able to once you turn professional.

[duesouth]

A quick admin note for anyone who wins Serie D.  The Poule Scudetto at the end of the season - my advice would be to make sure you lose and get knocked out in the group stage.  I won it - but it delayed the board's decision to go full-time - this didn't take place until June and it's meant I'm still part-time for my first season in Serie C.  Indeed, I'm the only part-time team in Serie C!  That's meant recruitment has been tough - scouts are bringing me Serie D CA/Serie C PA players and Serie A clubs generally won't loan to us as we're only part-time.

Oddly though, I'm quite enjoying the challenge - it's certainly tougher than the previous 4 seasons and at least no one has parked the bus against me yet!

[Cuomo10]

14 hours ago, mattboy_slim said:

Just got home and checked Berardi, got him on a free in 2022 after he was released from Vibonese. Definitely worth getting him in if you can. Should think you'd definitely be able to once you turn professional.

He moved on to another club last season, i did try and sign him but he didnt think we were big enough. He's also just become the NT's top scorer for me. I'll post the screenshot on my next update

[Cuomo10]

54 minutes ago, duesouth said:

A quick admin note for anyone who wins Serie D.  The Poule Scudetto at the end of the season - my advice would be to make sure you lose and get knocked out in the group stage.  I won it - but it delayed the board's decision to go full-time - this didn't take place until June and it's meant I'm still part-time for my first season in Serie C.  Indeed, I'm the only part-time team in Serie C!  That's meant recruitment has been tough - scouts are bringing me Serie D CA/Serie C PA players and Serie A clubs generally won't loan to us as we're only part-time.

Oddly though, I'm quite enjoying the challenge - it's certainly tougher than the previous 4 seasons and at least no one has parked the bus against me yet!

Im loving the challenge at the moment, albeit that Im not in Italy completing it. 

[Cuomo10]

Season 22/23 Mid Season Update

 

Its been a largely successful season so far. We have won every game domestically with the exception of a 1-1 draw away to Tre Penne. We retained the Super Cup and finished top of 1st Phase group.

We picked up 2 wins during the group stages of the Euro Cup II and finished a very respectable 3rd

The first team now features quite a few of our youth players with a some very good prospects. My 2 wingers have been superb and Doria has stepped up nicely. Andrea Santi is still producing the goods up front despite his 1* rating. 

We fielded a starting 11 of my youth intake players in the 2nd leg of the 1st round of the cup to pleasing effect, winning 4-0 @duesouth

With finances very secure its now time to improve the facilities and also turn professional.

My youth intake preview is interesting and hopefully at least another top prospect will come through.

 

National Team

Its not been a bad year for the NT as we have managed to pick up some good wins and are now ranked 172nd. We finished 3rd in our nations league group.

In other news... @duesouth

[TacticalGenius]

Just had a €92m bid from Arsenal for our star Sammarinese striker! And I rejected it!

[TacticalGenius]

YES!

[TacticalGenius]

What a season! Title winners, and with the last kick of the ball in the final game of the season! A 90+4" equaliser against Fiorentina meant we won the title on goal difference!