Can B-teams get promoted from non-playable leagues to playable leagues in FM2020?

[VMX]

Hi there!

So I'm considering buying FM again (last one I got was FM15), but I have a question I couldn't find answered anywhere else.

I like to play long-term games in which I start at a team in the lowest-level division and try to get them promoted to the top. One of my major gripes is that, in those countries where B-teams are a thing (e.g.: Spain), they never seem to be get promoted from non-playable leagues to playable leagues, no matter how well the first team does. And B-teams are always going to start in non-playable leagues if you're managing a lowest-level team, obviously.

For instance, in my latest save my team was promoted to Primera like 10 seasons ago, and we even won the ECL a few times... yet my B-team is still sitting in a non-playable league.

Not only is this unrealistic, but it's also dragging my first team down because I can't really send any players to the B-team for development purposes. When they become 19, I'm forced to either move them up from the youth team to the first team (where it's very challenging to give them enough play time and it can often put too much pressure on them) or try to loan them out to another team (which is usually hit or miss as they may not get enough play time either).

I know they've added the ability to request your board to create a B-team if you don't have one, but I couldn't find anything related to the promotion of existing B-teams from non-playable leagues.

Does anybody have any info about this?

Thanks!

Edited December 1, 2019 by VMX

[KlaaZ]

I don't see why they wouldn't. The chance of them being promoted depends on reputation though, I believe. So if they're rather low rep compared to other candidates..

[VMX]

I had read that before, yes.

But I actually used an editor to give them an unrealistically high reputation, and then tried to re-run the "end of season" day dozens of times, and it never happened. There seems to be something else preventing them from getting a promotion.

Also, often times the B-team is not in the first non-playable league, but maybe in the one below that. So they would first need to get promoted to the first non-playable league, which I've never seen happen, before they could get promoted to the playable league. Maybe that's where the issue actually is?

[Vali184]

24 minutes ago, VMX said:

 

Also, often times the B-team is not in the first non-playable league, but maybe in the one below that. So they would first need to get promoted to the first non-playable league, which I've never seen happen, before they could get promoted to the playable league. Maybe that's where the issue actually is?

Then they will never promote. I had a long save with a Spanish club on FM19, my B team never promoted. I gave them reputation 10000 with the editoe, put by best u23 players in the B team but nothing worked. 

But. This year on FM20 I used the editor to add my B team to the last playable league. Or you can download a custom database and edit it by swapping your B team to another team.

[VMX]

1 hour ago, Vali184 said:

Then they will never promote. I had a long save with a Spanish club on FM19, my B team never promoted. I gave them reputation 10000 with the editoe, put by best u23 players in the B team but nothing worked. 

But. This year on FM20 I used the editor to add my B team to the last playable league. Or you can download a custom database and edit it by swapping your B team to another team.

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to know!

A couple of questions, since you seem to have experience with this:

• When you say you used the editor to add your B team to the last playable league, you mean you did that before starting the game, right? Or can you actually do that now in the middle of a save? My issue is that I want to start a new game with a team that would begin in the last playable league, so my B-team can't be there at the beginning of course.
• If I download a custom database that adds a new playable league to the bottom (say, Spanish Tercera) but my B-team is in the league right below that one (e.g.: Regional leagues), do you know if it becomes now possible for the B-team to get promoted from its Regional league to Tercera, since Tercera is now playable? Or does that not work when the lowest playable league has been added manually?

Really appreciate your help, as I want to make sure I get this right before starting a 30+ season game...

Edited December 1, 2019 by VMX

[SkyFlare]

Didn't happen with me but I saw another club's B team get promoted from the regional divison (not playable) to the lowest playable division. So yes.

[yezzko]

Also depends on the league rules f. e. in Spain your B-team can play up to level 2(La liga 2), in France level 4(National 2), Germany level 3(3. Bundesliga).

[VMX]

1 hour ago, SkyFlare said:

Didn't happen with me but I saw another club's B team get promoted from the regional divison (not playable) to the lowest playable division. So yes.

You mean that you had manually added Tercera to the database, and someone else's B club got promoted from regional to Tercera?

[SkyFlare]

It wasn't in the spanish league, it was in the portuguese. I didn't mess with the database, Sporting's B team got promoted from the regional to the 3rd PT league.

[jcp1417]

i would wait for an editor file that unlocks the non playable leagues.

[VMX]

9 hours ago, jcp1417 said:

i would wait for an editor file that unlocks the non playable leagues.

I have an editor that will unlock the Spanish Tercera, however the B-team I'm interested in is actually in the division right below that one (regional division).

Do you know if by unlocking Tercera, teams in the regional division will now be able to promote to it, since they're right below it?

[Vali184]

10 minutes ago, VMX said:

I have an editor that will unlock the Spanish Tercera, however the B-team I'm interested in is actually in the division right below that one (regional division).

Do you know if by unlocking Tercera, teams in the regional division will now be able to promote to it, since they're right below it?

Open that editor file and go to the regional divisions and make sure your B club is there. If it's not there, swap it with another club from the regional division, give it a performance boost and edit it to your liking. Then try and reload the game until your team promotes at the end of the first season.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Vali184

[VMX]

9 minutes ago, Vali184 said:

Open that editor file and go to the regional divisions and make sure your B club is there. If it's not there, swap it with another club from the regional division, give it a performance boost and edit it to your liking. Then try and reload the game until your team promotes at the end of the first season.

Ok thanks. So I take that as a "yes" in that the clubs from a non-playable league can get promoted to the first playable league, even if the first playable league has been added through an editor file and wasn't there in the original game. Right?

[goxmed]

Did you ever manage to get your B team promoted to the playable leagues? I am struggling with a similar problem with Barcelona B, on FM 2010 actually. They were relegated from the 3rd tier (lowest playable league) during the first season. Now I am on the sixth season and I still can't get them promoted from the 4th tier.

I have moved players good enough to play in La Liga to their squad, and I can see from the players' stats that the goalkeeper keeps a clean sheet in 60 percent of his games, and that two of their strikers scores almost 1 goal/game. The midfielders have loads of assists etc. It's been like this for a few seasons now but still they don't get promoted.

I don't know what to do to solve this problem. Move even more good players to their squad? I can't understand how they don't get promoted from the 4th tier with the team they already have though...

What I am gonna try next is to find out what date they decide the promotions and then reload that day many times to see what happens.

[Baodan]

12 hours ago, goxmed said:

What I am gonna try next is to find out what date they decide the promotions and then reload that day many times to see what happens.

This should work.

[goxmed]

36 minutes ago, Baodan said:

This should work.

Thanks, I think so too. Will give it a try.

[bowieinspace]

They definitely can on fm22. I’ve had my third team promoted from unplayable league to lowest playable league in Spain. I think fm22 was the first time I’d seen that happen to be honest. Have no idea what contributes to it though 

[phanos]

On 19/01/2022 at 10:34, goxmed said:

Thanks, I think so too. Will give it a try.

Did you find the date tha the promotion gets decided?

[bigmen]

En 20/1/2022 a las 19:47, bowieinspace dijo:

They definitely can on fm22. I’ve had my third team promoted from unplayable league to lowest playable league in Spain. I think fm22 was the first time I’d seen that happen to be honest. Have no idea what contributes to it though 

Hey bro, did your team already had the "third/b team" created or did u ask the club to create it?

Edited August 21, 2022 by bigmen

[Berniyh]

On 11/06/2022 at 17:42, phanos said:

Did you find the date tha the promotion gets decided?

I think it's decided after the last game (including playoffs to an upper league if applicable) in the playable league they would get promoted to. So might be some time in May or June, depending on your club/country.

Problem is that there doesn't seem to be a way to find out right away, you have to forward about half a month to whenever the league changes to the new season, which is highly annoying. So from my trial and error the best procedure seems to be:

1. make sure you create saves regularly in the end phase of the league (just to be sure you don't miss the right date by a big margin), if you can, save on the day right before the last (playoff) game in the playable league (Save 1)
2. make a save game shortly after (Save 2)
3. rush through the rest of the days, ignoring all of the decisions they want you to make
4. after the new season has started (standings are reset), find out if your team is there
5. If your team is not there, load Save 1; if your team is there, create Save 3 (just to be on the safe side) and then load Save 2

Worked for me in FM2023.

But I had to reload so many save games to get there and to find out when the new teams are being decided … After that, it was about 5 or 6 tries to get the b-team promoted.