[FM18] How do you call a piggy bank in Switzerland? Lichtenschwein

[rodesire]

Where do you even begin this?

So a while ago, I had a moment of madness to suggest someone does a Liechtenstein save and try win the Champions League there. The catch is the fact, it's a tiny country, it has no league structure oh and there is no direct Champions League places for this nation.  The only way to get there is to win the Europa League, so no pressure then.

There is only a single playable Liechtenstein club in the default DB and only 2 more with Claassen's 5 tier Switzerland expansion.  I have decided to sim a few season and will be starting in summer 2021.  In the meantime, Vaduz has become a bit of a joke, failing to win any Liechtenstein cups, only getting to the final once.

Eschen managed to promote to the third tier and have been doing rather well there, so I will be taking the lowest available Liechtensteiner club - newly promoted to fifth tier FC Schaan. They have won the Liecthenstein Cup 3 times and last were in the final in 2016, so the potential is there.

The financial situation and the stadium is quite what you'd expect in the fifth division:

The squad is very bare though with only 5 defenders, 3 centre mids and a single GK across 3! senior teams and U21s

I will be doing a youth only save with buyback options, so we will be able to buyback the players from our academy.  I will also only hire staff from the adverts, so i don't expect anyone competent for a while.

Edited September 24, 2020 by rodesire

[rodesire]

Achievements at FC Schaan

Spoiler

Season  League  Position    Cup     European Cup    Achievements
2021/22 Tier 5  1st/14      Winner! n/a             Double, promotion to tier 4, National C badges
2022/23 Tier 4  3rd/14      QF      EL 1st Q round  Half-point in Europe, promotion to tier 3, National B and A badges, first Liechtenstein international
2023/24 Tier 3  12th/16     QF      n/a             Youth facilities upgraded
2024/25 Tier 3  9th/16      Winner  n/a             n/a
2025/26 Tier 3  4th/16      Winner  EL 2nd Q round  First win in Europe, first tie win in Europe, back-to-back Cup win
2026/27 Tier 3  1st/16      Winner  EL 1st Q round  Another double, club becomes professional
2027/28 Tier 2  6th/10      Winner  EL 2nd Q round  First professional contracts

 

Achievements with Liechtenstein

Spoiler

Year  Record Nations League  Qualifiers    Other Competitions    Achievements
2028  x-x-x  Div D                                               Got hired in Nov 2027

 

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by rodesire

[Kingofcm03]

Good Luck with this! I had narrowed this down to the last 3 "next save" options but maybe I can put a line through that now. 

Edited February 3, 2020 by Kingofcm03

[vara]

a Balzers save is on my list for this year, so watching your attempt will keep me occupied in the mean time. good luck, mate

[Carambau]

Wurst Thread name ever 

[rodesire]

It's summer 2021, preseason as Schaan are preparing for the first season in division 5, Switzerland.

You may recall they hired me recently, a fresh faced 28 year old who hasn't achieved much in footballing life or otherwise.

The team itself is basic, has won 3 Lichtensteiner Cups with most recent back in 1994. It's be nice get this club a bit more league success.

My first task in a youth only save is survive the first season, there are only 16 outfield players and a single goalie across 3 senior and U21 teams. With everyone on non-contract terms it's an uphill struggle to keep the guys around usually. And so it proved in this case, my only GK leaving as well as my best centreback.

My right back did his ankle in the first friendly leaving me with just 3 natural defenders at the club.

Undeterred, I signed a greyed-out keeper for the second time in about 15 years of playing FM.

The rest of the preseason was rather uneventful as we had a reasonable set of friendly results against mostly better opposition, hopefully, we can survive until the youth intake when things should pick up a bit.

 

[Sheriff7]

Hi mate.Liechtenstein saves are my favourite!If i remember right Shaan is the biggest city-village in Liechtenstein.If you want my advice ask an administrator or test it your self if it possible to quilify in CL through EL.They should have fix it but you never know.Cheers!

Edited March 11, 2020 by Sheriff7

[rodesire]

Winter break, 2021

All in all it's been a pretty remarkable start to life in Liechtenstein.  We were predicted lower midtable but our reputation is the lowest in the league and we only have 5 defenders in the club.  Still we came hot out of the blocks and managed to hang with all but the best teams in the league, some memorable results in there, such as 8-3 in the cup.

This kinda positive kinda mixed form we're in dropped us to P5 but it's a very open league and there's still a long way to go.  The cup draw has been very kind as we drew a B team that I would expect to beat, especially with youth intake arriving in winter.

In other news, my assman is going for an expensive coaching course whilst I get my first badges.

Last but certainly not least, we got first improvements to our facilities as we expand our junior coaching!

[Sheriff7]

Great start!Good luck in cup soon or late you are going to face Vaduz and you never know you could play in EL very soon in this save.

[rodesire]

Winter break 2021/22

Looks like this club has elections every year, so no resting on laurels there.  We got a new chairman, which did not change our financial situation much.

We did however get youth recruitment upgrade just before the youth intake which is very welcome

Sadly, we lost our top midfielder who went to a club division above and wouldn't renew his non-contract

The friendlies went really quite well but we mostly played terrible sides with Eschen/Mauren the only half decent side

[rodesire]

Youth intake 2022

Given only 18 player first team, it was imperative to get bodies in.  The one thing I did not anticipate was the fact that most of my first team is not homegrown anyway, so the newcomers could not join the team without kicking someone off. Still, it was nice to see kids arrive and they will be classified as homegrown within a year.

Slightly d'oh personalities all round and only a couple standouts here, really.

We only have 2 centremids, so Negele will be slotting right at the playmaker position in first 11. Ritter has a terrible personality but is actually fairly decent, so I am aiming to tutor him and hope against hope that he can produce when it matters.

 

[rodesire]

Liechtenstein Cup 2021/22 mini-update

Usually, a youth intake helps out a lot in youth saves early on but I certainly wasn't expecting to cruise quite as easily as we are.

What's even more special is the fact, we're not facing Vaduz in the cup final.  Instead, it's the new mega power Eschen/Mauren in 1. Liga Promotion. Their rise has been steady for the last 5 years and we might soon find 2 Liechtenstein team in second division with us knocking on 3rd division doors soon too.

Either way, the cup final was a bit of a slog-fest as I went into a defensive 451 and having held incrediby throughout 90 minutes, we found a cheesy goal in extra time.  They had no more legs, so we get a maiden cup win of the save in very first year!

[rodesire]

Spring 2022

Having won the Liechtenstein cup, I asked the board for more facility upgrades and they somehow approved both JC and YR improvements which is pretty insane. We're suddenly at adequate/fairly basic level which should be really good value for 4/5th division.

Speaking of league football, we had a storming close of the season.  Our defense tightened up with new winter arrivals and we kept on scoring.

In the end a nice title win by 8 points from next eligible team and a lil graphic to confirm we got a double in the first year of the save

[Sheriff7]

You won Liechtensteiner cup so soon!Great!

[rodesire]

54 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

You won Liechtensteiner cup so soon!Great!

Vaduz got knocked out early and Balzers got kicked out too, so it was a very easy road and then we FM'ed the final a little bit, lol

[rodesire]

End of season 2021/22

A frankly ridiculous season to be honest with you, lot.  I expected to be competitive but with only 18 man squad we somehow managed to win both the league, and most incredibly, the cup.  I don't see us winning the cup for another 3-5 years at least as the draw was simply incredible this time.

We had a few outstanding performers this year but it was mostly strikers who kept scoring despite not really being that good.

Each of them scored at least 17 goals in a 30 game season which is frankly ridiculous.  Centremids were underwhelming but the wingers picked up the slack chipping in with a dozen goals and at least 20 assists.

And the best part? We made money!

[Sheriff7]

Hadzipasic was great in my save with Vaduz and Liexhtenstein(in fm17 if i remember correct).

[rodesire]

1 hour ago, Sheriff7 said:

Hadzipasic was great in my save with Vaduz and Liexhtenstein(in fm17 if i remember correct).

oh interesting, he's really hit and miss for me, his finishing is all over the place

edit: yeah, i am aware he scored 20 for me but i feel any half decent player could do that honestly.  the amount he missed is insane and he rarely runs away into 1 on 1s which are my bread and butter at this level.

Edited August 2, 2020 by rodesire

[rodesire]

EL 1st qualifying round 2022/23

We have no European coefficient, almost no hope but I am very excited to try and make a mark in this competition anyway.

We start by facing Derry City, a semi-pro Irish side (surprisingly at 2* rep)

The board thinks we can go through this round, I am not so sure.  Just had a look through their players, and they'd be a decent second division Swiss team. They even have Adam Rooney!

Our pre-match preparations go awful as we lose our main holding mid for nothing yet again. 

The matches, well, not much to say.  We got roflstomped at home.  We missed three one-on-ones completely and Adam Rooney just scored when he wanted.

Second leg was a tad better as we played an arguably worse game but Derry didn't have their shooting boots on, so that's first European coefficient half-point for us. 

Classic FM thought nil-nil draw is a bad result, so I had this message pop in my inbox after the return leg.

[rodesire]

On 04/02/2020 at 00:48, vara said:

a Balzers save is on my list for this year, so watching your attempt will keep me occupied in the mean time. good luck, mate

Haha, there is another save that involves transfers that seems to have gone rather well.  @Sheriff7 did a Vaduz save on last year's FM i believe too, that was great fun

On 03/02/2020 at 23:42, Kingofcm03 said:

Good Luck with this! I had narrowed this down to the last 3 "next save" options but maybe I can put a line through that now. 

What are the other ones you were thinking of doing?

[Fudal]

0-0 Hammering 

[rodesire]

World Cup 2022 update

It was a very boring competition as all the big guns sailed through the group stage without a fright. Ukraine livened the tournament by beating what's in front of them to get to the semifinal.

The gods smiled as Brazil avenged 2014 humi71ation to win the world cup vs Germany in the final.  Jemerson was the unlikely hero to give Selecao their 6th title.

[rodesire]

Life after Europa League

Our first foray into Europe was a bit of a disaster (as expected) and as usual, we did not get round participation money when losing

Still, a minor reputation increase and it looks like our attendance might go from 200 to around 250 this season.

We lost a couple players, one I wanted to get rid of, the other, not so much.

Luckily, i was able to get Ritter right back which is great to see.

Last but not least we finally got some international recognition as our ex players have been playing for Liechtenstein senior side for a while now.

[Sheriff7]

9 hours ago, rodesire said:

Life after Europa League

Our first foray into Europe was a bit of a disaster (as expected) and as usual, we did not get round participation money when losing

This is a bug isn't it?

[rodesire]

9 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

This is a bug isn't it?

yeah, on fm18 it is.  if your season starts before the European update day (June 20), you only get participation money if you win the round.

[rodesire]

Autumn 2022/23

Having been dumped out of Europe, we started the season slightly on the back foot before navigating a couple of relegation six-pointers early on.  Then we kinda just caught fire and kept getting those late goals that gave us at least 7 points in the first half of the season.  An excellent start to life in fourth division as I was fearing getting releagated in summer.

The league table looks brilliant, we pretty much nailed the survival in the league this year.  There are no direct promotions from this league, top3 teams need to navigate two play-off rounds and I don't think we're quite ready for that this season yet.

Getting more of my badges may help me get there tho, hopefully I can do most of them during the winter break to keep the training going as smoothly as possible.

[rodesire]

Youth intake 2022/23

We invested extremely heavily into upgrades over the last 18 months and it has really come into fruition as the intake is absolutely bonkers.

Only Negele was better than any of the 5* potential guys in this intake, and given much better personalities, this is truly a golden generation.

My two favourites in here, both from Schaan (with shoutout to GK called Schaan). Weirather would be starting if I could register him and eventually I am hoping I could make a passable inside forward-cum-winger out of him.  Banzer is a strange kind of striker, short and slow but deadly finisher. Bundles of flair but no balance or dribbling.

[rodesire]

Random errands from Spring 2023

Barely three weeks after the intake we got our biggest international call-ups yet, oddly enough featuring newgens already.  They played no matches, so how does Liechtenstein staff know about them?

Whilst you ponder about that, spare a thought for Hartmann, a classic underdog youth player.  Good enough for a bench spot thanks to lack of bodies there, plays second match in a row in starting 11 just to suffer career ending injury.

Oof.

 

Meanwhile, Liechtenstein cup continues to be dominated by Eschen/Mauren who won their fourth in 5 years with Vaduz choking yet again.

[rodesire]

Spring 2023

A tale of two moods as we started awfully after the winter break, taking a while to get going before steamrolling almost everyone and then choking hard at the end again.

Somehow we were guaranteed a playoff spot with two games to go as I decided to play kids to refresh the slightly tired old legs, yet still finished comfortable third.

It is now early June with potentially 4 playoff matches in the next 10 days.  The last message you want to receive is this:

Am I proud? Yes. Am I devastated to be losing my best players to call-ups in crunch time? Absolutely!

[rodesire]

The semi-final opponent for us was Fribourg who smashed our backups 3-0 just 4 days previous.  I had a good feeling as they had played their strongest 11, so they were a lot more tired.

It proved to be the case as after a strong start, they faded around half-time and I was able to see the game out with youngsters and take a commanding 3-0 lead.  In the return leg I played a lot more kids but we did just enough and went through to the final 3-1 on aggregate.

[rodesire]

I was dreading we'd get matched against LS Azzurri in the final as they seem to have insane regens for this level.  Luckily we got one of the other teams left in the draw in Red Star.

The international call-ups would span both matches, with the return leg affected the most, so I played my youngsters in game 1 trying to secure as much advantage as I could and it really paid off. Having scored an early long-range freekick, Hug shithousedGetafed his way to a penalty to take a commanding 2-0 lead to home leg.  There we only had 15 registered players but we were still able to prevail having scored on an early counter, 1-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate.

And here goes the confirmation we reached the third division!

[Sheriff7]

Great job mate!

[rodesire]

4 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Great job mate!

thanks, now the hard work begins!

[rodesire]

End of season 2022/23

What a fantastic season it's been yet again for us as we got back-to-back promotions.  It didn't look like this was going to be the case early in the season as we started poorly and the quality of the teams around was definitely a step-up from division five.  Yet, somehow, we found another gear and won just enough to get to the play-offs where player management was enough to get through.

Unlike last year's goal galore, only Kevin and Moritz got past 10 goals, they were joined by wingers as only players providing more than 5 assists.  A lean year and perhaps one of overachievement.

Remember how we started the year with the Europa League campaign? All that money is now spent on youth facilities and I can only hope it will pay off fairly soon as we're projected to lose so much money next year.

[rodesire]

Pre-season 2023/24 news

I have this defender who I got in an intake 16 months ago and he managed to leave the club for the second time in his short career and I am not sure I can get him back any time soon.  He even rejected a part-time deal with weekly salary to join a fourth division side, so I am really confused what's going on with him.

Unlike him, I did sign a contract extension for another couple years, so I hope I can ride out this season's uncertainty.

Speaking of, we're predicted to be rooted to the bottom of the league and for once I think bookies are right.  We're missing a lot of quality to even be competitive.  It's good to see Eschen/Mauren up top, maybe we'll have a couple Liechtensteiner teams in second tier in a year's time..

Luckily the board is quite reasonable with expectations this year.  I think we can hit both targets and the wage budget should be enough to sign the youth intake in spring.

[rodesire]

2023 Autumn update

Having had a back to back promotion I was expecting a major bump in rep and the season ticket sales.  Alas, we only got a tiny bump which could mean my finances will be severely stretched this year.

This is also the first time we'll get any money for a league finishing position, so even relegating but not being last is important.

In terms of fixtures, it was a bit of a rude awakening as we got exposed quite bad, multiple big losses with only one win by more than a single goal.

We did not achieve much in the Cup either as we met the arch nemesis Eschen/Mauren and were stopped.

A big reason why we did so poorly was the international callups.  Don't get me wrong, it's awesome for my players to be recognised and be getting more experience but the league does not play nice and makes us play games despite not having even 11 players.

Still, we're managing a point a game which means we're 6 points above relegation zone with 13 to play.  Eschen/Mauren is running away with the league, so they'll probably swap with Vaduz to become highest rated Liechtensteiner club.  All that Europa League money has really transformed their fortunes.

[Sheriff7]

Too many "internationals" too soon...

[rodesire]

1 minute ago, Sheriff7 said:

Too many "internationals" too soon...

Yeah, if they gave me no league fixture during the callups I wouldn't need to field grey players and then dealing with 0-5 morale hits for a few weeks after.

[Sheriff7]

You should have the option to postpone your games but (propably) your division level don't helps.

[rodesire]

11 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

You should have the option to postpone your games but (propably) your division level don't helps.

Actually, I don't which surprises me because I usually do but this time there is very little I can do, especially with the rigid squad registration rules that do not allow u21s or HGs to be added at any time.

[rodesire]

Winter 2023/24

It's election time at Schaan and once more the chairman gets reelected.

Probably more of the same slow development then with no changes?

Um, okay, these philosophies are all new and the last two are against the youth only policy but we'll deal with that.

At least we finished spending the Europa League money and back to near zero in bank.

So I sold a youngster as well as a main goalie.  Now that may seem a bit controversial but I have at least two kids coming through and I did not want to hamper their development (read pay their salary, so I can loan them out), so I got rid of my no.1.  Hopefully, we don't relegate and the match time will make kids develop much faster.

[rodesire]

Youth intake 2024 and the return of Ritter

I've decided to bring back Ritter again.  It's going to be his 3rd stint at the club and he's still only 18. Hopefully he'll show his worth for us.

Youth intake was a bit more of a mixed bag this year with a couple outstanding players but much less depth than last year.

Klein is the ultimate frustrating keeper.  He's got great personality but all his skillpoints are not quite where I'd like them to be.  He's also 5'10 which is not what you want in a keeper.

Marxer, however, is a much more wanted prospect.  Yea, he looks raw but I can see him challenge for first team next year already and establishing in first XI for a decade if his development goes well.

[rodesire]

Spring 2024

Can we survive the drop having been 6 points clear of relegation before the winter break?  Well, our form remained similar with some major wins in the middle providing a fairly decent platform, the late losses were regrettable as the morale just washed away.

In the Liechtenstein Cup, it was a final for the ages as Vaduz collapsed spectacularly allowing Eschen/Mauren win their 5th Cup in 6 years. It's all over for Vaduz as they seem to be in free fall now.

Eschen Mauren ended up winning the league by quite a margin, swapping places with Vaduz as we placed a quite spectacular 12th, 11 points clear of relegation.

Receiving 58k for our performance was certainly an icing on the cake and could be the difference that allows us to stay afloat for a couple more seasons yet.

There were a lot fewer outstanding performers with time round.  Only two strikers hit 10 gaols and only Vogt made more than 5 assists.  A quiet year where we focused on surviving rather than breaking records.

[rodesire]

Summer 2024

It's time for Euros and there is a massive shock as we have a second time winner in... Denmark!

They roflstomped Germany in the final after a rather unremarkable run with the big boys all in the other half of the tree.

Back at the club level, we signed a slightly better sponsor deal that will pay for all the staff for the year whilst the ticket sales remained stagnant which is a concern to me.

We also made two sales, Lampert's time at the club was truly over but Negele suddenly threw a fit and we had to let him go, luckily we got a fairly good deal out of it and maybe, just maybe he'll come back to us in a couple seasons time.

 

[rodesire]

Autumn 2024

What a tale of two competitions. We have been awful in the league, scoring at a decent clip but our defense has been shambolic as we just can't stop conceding.  Luckily a couple times we managed to keep it under control to gain vital wins but the situation is quite critical.  In the cup though, we're a completely different team, having thrashed B-teams twice we then smashed second division Eschen/Mauren to smithereens. Baffling, truly baffling.

This leaves us facing Balzers with Vaduz, the other big team left in the Cup whilst in the league we're hanging by a thread.  I really hope the kids get their act together or we will get relegated.

 

[rodesire]

Youth intake 2025

After a brilliant intake, I was expecting even more this year, better facilities, better coaching, surely we'd have a bunch of gems to kickstart our season?

well, not really.

It's not a bad intake as we have multiple 5* PA dudes but only three have 1* CA or more which is worrying.

Only two of those are any good and this is definitely a writeoff year especially with those personalities.

Nilas seems decent but my coaches already saying he doesn't have a lot of potential left in him which would be a great shame. Tschutscher on the other hand seems to be a bit more raw but I hope he can somewhat replace Negele next season.

[rodesire]

Liechtensteiner Cup final 2024/25

We have finally defeated the Eschen/Mauren, so can anyone stand in our path to Europe?  Balzers couldn't keep up and it was the old boys of Vaduz in the final.  Could they spoil a party and become only the second fourth tier team to go to Europe in recent history?

No, my keeper scored a pen and missed one but we had more than enough to batter the relegation threatened side and win another ticket to Europe!

shoutout to @Jimbokav1971 goalscorer keeper in a cup final!

Edited September 5, 2020 by rodesire

[Jimbokav1971]

7 minutes ago, rodesire said:

No, my keeper scored a pen and missed one but we had more than enough to batter the relegation threatened side and win another ticket to Europe!

shoutout to @Jimbokav1971 goalscorer keeper in a cup final!

Even better than that, you had a GK with the same name as the club score a goal in a Final.  

[rodesire]

8 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Even better than that, you had a GK with the same name as the club score a goal in a Final.  

He's a treasure, I can only hope his potential is good because I want him to become a club legend.  When the club unimaginatively builds a Schaan stadium, it will be named after a legend after all.

[rodesire]

2025 Spring

What an end to a season! We clinch our second Liechtensteiner Cup this save and top it with an amazing form in the league as we finish the season with 10 points in 4 games all against top6 sides in the league.

Relegation was never a worry once we got into April and we ended up comfortably in mid-table after that burst of form.  Vaduz suffered back-to-back relegations whilst United Zurich was only 6 goals away from gaining back-to-back promotions!

And getting that P9 comes with quite a bit of money for this level, this should be enough to upgrade the training facilities now.