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

[rodesire]

Season review 2024/25

What a season it has been! We were relegation threatened for three quarters of a season but ended on a ridiculous high and finished in the highest position yet. We topped that with a splendid Cup campaign smashing FC Vaduz in the final to book another European ticket.

It's been a lot more positive season for us as more kids have established themselves as seniors with Weirather in particular making a quantum leap. Amongst strikers, Kevin (shoutout @Sheriff7) scored 10 with Moritz getting a couple late goals to get to 9 with GK Schaan (same name as club) scoring 7 pens and a freekick. Vogt once again topped the assist charts, with 13 this time round.  I really hope he can continue this form as he passes 30 this summer and our facilities are rubbish.

We also snatched a slightly better sponsorship deal for next year which will pay for staff wages this year whilst the tax bill is unfortunate with European money we should be able to cope with and still be able to upgrade the training facilities heading into 26/27.

[Sheriff7]

On 06/09/2020 at 15:42, rodesire said:

Season review 2024/25

What a season it has been! We were relegation threatened for three quarters of a season but ended on a ridiculous high and finished in the highest position yet. We topped that with a splendid Cup campaign smashing FC Vaduz in the final to book another European ticket.

It's been a lot more positive season for us as more kids have established themselves as seniors with Weirather in particular making a quantum leap. Amongst strikers, Kevin (shoutout @Sheriff7) scored 10 with Moritz getting a couple late goals to get to 9 with GK Schaan (same name as club) scoring 7 pens and a freekick. Vogt once again topped the assist charts, with 13 this time round.  I really hope he can continue this form as he passes 30 this summer and our facilities are rubbish.

[rodesire]

Europa League qualifiers 2025/26

We start the campaign in the first qualifying round courtesy of Eschen/mauren winning pre-qualifiers last year.

Our first round opponent is Hapoel, a 3.5* rep team with a surprisingly old squad, Guy Melamed, anyone?  We start the tie in Liechtenstein and it's an insipid performance from the visitors who are out of stamina playing a passive 5-3-2, passing the ball between the centrebacks before giving it away.  Our attacks are in contrast of that as we exploit mismatches and score two early goals to take control of the match, we add a third one and by the end of 90 minutes we have one leg in the next round.  Return match in Israel is a bit more expected, as they still lineup in a defensive 5-3-2 but finally utilising the physical dominance they have over us.  Luckily, Schaan has a good night in goal, keeping it tight for a while as we lose 1-0 on the night but progress on aggregate for the first time.

We face Radnicki Niš in the second round.  2.5* rep but arguably a tougher opponent, much fitter than us and a lot more technically advanced.  Once more we start at home and despite conceding an early one-on-one we pull ourselves back in it.  We score from a set-piece and Schaan once more comes up trumps as he saves a penalty and it takes a late miss from Kevin to not give us an undeserved home win.  return leg is a lot more straighforward for the serbs who keep peppering our goal with shots and having scored early we're not really a threat.  Until 89th minute that is when banzer hits the bar from 30 odd yards only for the ball to rebound off the keeper behind the goal.  1-0 on the night for the Serbs and we're out with a huge payoff for us.

 

[rodesire]

Autumn 2025

it's been a strange little autumn, though it started quite predictably.  The bookies still think we're not ready for this division and tip of us for relegation just ahead of Balzers.  I really hope both teams can defy the odds and avoid second consecutive Liechtensteiner relegation.

Our task got a little bit more difficult as my star left winger refused to sign a new contract, so I sold him before we lose him for nothing.  In hindsight, it was a torrid decision but I thought that would allow others to develop as this kid was already improving like a wonderkid and we only had one more season left of him.

We started the season on fire, threatening to take the promotion spot but then our form just fell off the cliff as I sold Weirather.  Mind you relegation is not an issue but I would have loved a shot at promotion.

We're miles off both relegation and promotion zones, so it may be a good year to try push as high up the league table to get that extra money for league position.

[rodesire]

Youth intake 2026

Yet another golden generation but is it actually any good?

3x5*, 2x4.5* PA implies it's not half bad but only two boys have at least 1* CA which is worrying.

Top2 PA talents seem alright.  Wolff will be playing for first team in a couple seasons most likely, he's got a nice distribution of skills already.  Frick, however, is a weird mixture of and I am not quite sure which role to train him for. We do have a gaping hole in midfield, so he may star for us before too long.

[rodesire]

Looks like some of my more promising kids are now switching allegiance to Switzerland.

Whilst I appreciate them not getting battered on the international duty, it's a bit strange as I don't think any of them are that spectacular and I haven't even had a bid from upper division clubs for any of them.

I also wonder how will that affect their full international status going forward, will they switch back to Liechtenstein around 22-23 years of age, will they declare for Switzerland that will never cap them?

[rodesire]

Liechtensteiner Cup 2026 final

We just about saw off Balzers, defeating them in extra time after a long and painful battle with ourselves really.

There could only be one side in the final and that's Eschen/Mauren.  Can we make it two in a row, or will they claim 6th Cup in 8 years?

They certainly started brightly and were ahead after 15minutes.  Almost right away we managed to catch a lucky break as Marxer's ball got deflected into the path of Hug who made no mistake to restore parity. I was sure we'd go into the break at one-apiece when Wachter scored a second, magical freekick from the edge of the area to send home fans ecstatic. Half-time talk was more of a hair-dryer treatment, most of the guys are still kids but they have good personalities and can handle fair criticism.  Second half was all us.  The goal wasn't coming though, until an hour mark when a harmless Vogt cross was amazingly directed home by Franek. 2-2 on the night. We kept piling bodies forward, looking vulnerable on the break and scything opponents frequently a la Man City. And it happened. Another calamitous loss of concentration by Franek, who lost the ball to Marxer on the edge of his box and they 18 year old made no mistake dispatching the ball far corner to win it at the death.

A wonderful result for us, another 200k secured for next season and most importantly, silverware to improve our coefficients.

[rodesire]

Spring 2026

We really turned on the jets in the second half of the season, averaging two points a game and scoring for fun.

Main culprit for that is Marxer 24c, who's finally hit puberty and started improving.  He also hit 14 in 15 matches after the winter break including 5 minute hattrick and 25 minute poker in penultimate game.

This magic form was barely good enough for third place though as we just couldn't catch the top two who ran away with the league.  At the back of the table it was an instant relegation for Yverdon and Balzers unfortunately join them as a second Liechtensteiner team to be relegated in 2 years.

The money for P3 is massive, that pays our JC expenses for a year and all the wages at the club.

[rodesire]

End of season 2025/26

Massive turnaround in form this year as we went from lower mid-table all the way to top3.  Some of the youngsters are coming along nicely, so hopefully it's a sign that we can challenge for promotion in not too distant future.

Once again we win the Liechtensteiner Cup to try and make another tilt at qualifying for the Europa League.  We frankly have no business being there but the experience and money we get will grow the club tremendously. This year's second Q round journey allowed us to get training facilities upgrade which is going to make a huge difference to improving the kids.  Currently only way they get better is by playing big minutes for the first team.

Speaking of the squad, a lot of rotation this time round as everyone started at least 9 games. Both keepers scored, with Hug curling in a beautiful freekick and Schaan being the penalty merchant.  Up top, Marxer 24c had a breakout year with 18 goals, Vogt once more topping the assist charts with 8, Banzer 23b also got 8 assists in what was a very good second year for the 19 year old. Only 4 players had no goal contributions as we even scored a couple corners and freekicks at the business end of the season.

[rodesire]

The breakout season earner Marxer a call-up to Swiss U19 squad for the EURO U19 finals, I really hope he end up playing as he got the pace to hurt the opponents.  If they won't play him, Liechtenstein is losing a big talent that could feature in the main team for years to come.

[rodesire]

World Cup 2026

Still under old 32 team format, the World Cup has been better than ever.  It was mostly the usual suspects in the last16 but there was still a surprise waiting.  Nigeria made it to QF and Senegal went to semis as France won it from Italy to avenge 2006 edition with Zinedine Zidane going wild in the stands.

[rodesire]

Europa League 2026/27 Qualifiers

We started our European campaign against the Finnish Cup winners SJK.  Normally, i'd say it's a winnable tie but we just got roflstomped in away tie.  despite opening the scoring, we conceded 3 shortly after and home tie was more of the same.  Shithousing 2 goals wasn't enough as we got dumped out at the first hurdle.

[rodesire]

Summer 2026

The bookies will never learn, will they?  We're predicted rock bottom by the media and the board, interestingly.  I was quite a bit bolder in the player meeting suggesting we should aim for top half and the players agreed with me.  Up top it's United Zurich's title to lose.  They have been second for two seasons in a row now and I cannot see anyone stopping them.

Speaking of improvements I finally decided to go for Continental C licence having completed my previous badges a couple years earlier.

 

[rodesire]

How have the mighty fallen, once Liechtenstein's only big club, Vaduz now lose to my grey second team in the Cup.

[rodesire]

We got a training facilities upgrade, so now we boast below average facilities, so that should enable me to max out my current players and salvage whatever is possible with the rather poor intake last year.

[rodesire]

Autumn 2026

We had a tale of two sessions once more. Started extremely strong in the league with a little wobble only thing preventing us from reaching the summit.  However a run of 1 win in 4 really hurt us but we did recover some points before too late.

In the Cup we met our second team and made light work of them.

The late first half collapse means we're 10 points behind united Zurich who have barely lost any points so far.  We're still in third but there is a cluster of solid teams around us and we'll have to work hard to remain there.  In the Cup we'll be facing our junior team where Frick has scored 2, 3 and 5 goals in three matches for them so far.

[rodesire]

So this guy somehow has scored 10 goals in the cup, think he might be ready for some first team action next season, possibly relegating Kevin to tutoring duties only.

[rodesire]

I think this might be the crucial moment of the save as we just got good Junior Coaching. We better start getting some pretty good players or we'll go down like a lead balloon under the weight of youth setup costs.

[rodesire]

In real life Felice D'Amico is a youngster at Sampdoria with barely 2 Serie A matches.

https://www.transfermarkt.com/felice-damico/profil/spieler/392500

On this save, he's a 2026 Ballon d'Or and Golden Ball winner

[rodesire]

Youth intake 2027

You invest in the facilities, coaching, recruitment, do you get your money's worth in the youth intake?

It's a golden generation!

But it's not really.  We have one decent chap who is the first youngster this save not to have come from Schaan but other than that it's a dire intake.  Poor personalities and very little potential in these kids.

The only light in this year's edition, Matthias is a german/swiss boy who seems to be your typical winger minus the flair.  Hopefully he can improve and take right wing as his own in a couple years time as my current right wingers are frankly uninspiring.

[rodesire]

Spring 2027

We're done with yet another season.  I did lose a couple months of progress due to a grievous mistake but managed to soldier on.

But before I delve into the results, one of my team's stalwarts and all time appearance and goalscoring leader has decided he wanted a new challenge. And so we bid goodbye to Kevin, 103 league goals in 256 appearances.  It will take a while to break these records for anyone.

Meanwhile we steamed full on as we tried to claw back deficit in the league.  An almost perfect campaign that was only punctured by Bruhl spanking us 3-0 in penultimate game and they had been ahead at the winter break.  In the meantime we once more defeated Eschen/Mauren dominating them before conceding a fluke goal to make last few minutes tense but still raising the trophy after a 2-1 win.

Spectacularly, our form was enough to get us promoted.  Bruhl were close but couldn't keep up and had to contend with second.  The real bottlers were United Zurich who lost 20 points on us in just 13 games. At the other end of the table it was agony for Tuggen and especially Black Stars Basel who suffered a back-to-back relegation.

 

[rodesire]

2026/27 season review

Yet another smashing season as we keep on improving our best ever result in the league.

Trailing by 10 points into the winter break we found all the form in the world to snatch the promotion from United Zurich and Bruhl.  We also defended the Liechtensteiner Cup from Eschen/Mauren who will face us next season regularly.

Once again a team effort, as both goalkeepers scored, two strikers in double figures which is great to see and the right wingers stepped up in Vogt's absence.  Only two players had no goal contributions (and they only played a handful of games each.

Our sponsorships are now through the roof as we have turned professional, this might just allow me to sign my brightest talents to full time contracts they so deserve but I can't afford.

In addition, I have finally become a club legend after 3 promotions and 4 Cup wins.

[rodesire]

Pre-season 2027/28

Sometimes I think I have something awesome up my sleeve like bringing back old players to tutor kids only to realise they don't overlap a single position.

At least the board hasn't noticed my incompetence yet as we got both Junior Coaching and Youth Rec upgrades in time for new season.  It costs 75k a month to maintain this setup, so I really really hope we can get something decent soon enough or I will go bankrupt.

The season goals are lofty, getting through a round in Europa but for some reason they don't care about the only Cup that can give us money spinning fixtures next year.

[rodesire]

Europa League 2027/28 1st Q Round

Once more we head into Europe and this time we got a great draw as unseeded team, Ruzomberok from Slovakia, 2* rep side with similar players to us, can we make use of that and go through?

In home leg we ended up destroying them completely shutting down their narrow 4222 but unable to find that decisive goal until deep into injury time.

Away leg was completely different as Slovaks equalized on aggregate before a short burst in the second half gave us an unassailable two away goal lead and we got a third for good measure. 3-1 on the night, 4-1 on aggregate and we're through.

[rodesire]

Europa League 2027/28 2nd Q round

We drew Olympiakos from the hat in what was one of the toughest teams available, so I was definitely fuming as there is no way we match them especially with first leg away.

My worries were well-founded as we got destroyed away, being completely shutdown and only a miracle performance by Schaan, the keeper, saving a penalty and no fewer than 10 shots in total prevented this being a tennis score, 2-0 to Greeks on the night.

The return leg in Liechtenstein was much better as we managed to get out of our half for once but our finishing let us down early before we succumbed to lack of fitness as a semi-pro side. 1-3 on the night, 1-5 on aggregate and we're out.

[rodesire]

2027 August-September

We have 36 league matches this season, so splitting the season into quarters kinda made sense to me.

Pre-season ended well with season tickets up almost 25% with barely 27 seats not sold for a year. 2700 further standing spaces should provide extra support if needed.

In fact we will need all the support we can get as we sold our best player barely a game into the season as he requested a transfer. Goodbye sweet prince, enjoy top division.

First two games of the season came right after European games, so I ended up fielding backups who somehow managed to snatch a point at Aarau. When we got 3 more vs Biel-Bienne I thought we could reach mid-table but we quickly came back down to earth as our lack of fitness got exposed and we kept conceding multiple second half goals.

Still, p8, 6 clear of relegation zone already after nine games. I reckon we can survive, just need to make sure we pick points against Biel-Bienna and Chiasso every time.

[rodesire]

Surprise Liechtensteiner update

I was prepping for the league match when I noticed chatter about Liechtenstein manager being in danger of being sacked.

Honestly,  that's a fairly decent run, especially considering the opponents and getting 5 points in this group is very very good. Still, Mario Frick has been fired and I've been installed as his successor.

Whilst the team's ranking has gone through the roof recently, we're definitely not a very good team as our competition record is pretty awful.

This was the first time we did not finish last in any competitive group since the save started.

 

The team itself, here's the best players in each position:

Our GK is pretty good in the air but other than that a not particularly impressive specimen.  My own two keepers will hopefully keep developing and snatch his crown in a couple years time.

Philip is by far our best centreback which tell you just how awful this national team is at the moment.  He's young so unless we start pumping out great players, CB position is his for the next 10-12 years.

Noah is a nice breath of fresh air, excellent technical midfielder who can do some heavy lifting, I'll be using him a lot and I hope to build my next two-three cycles around him.

Frick is a current superstar though, well balanced striker with great mentals, one of the old guard players who played most of this save in top2 divisions in Switzerland and has become irreplaceable for the national team too.  There are a couple kids vying for his place, but Yanik is too good to be dropped for the next two years at the very least.

 

[rodesire]

October-December 2027

We suddenly found some form outta nowhere, it's almost like kids improve given gametime! Also, my defence has gotten really quite solid which is surprising as there hasn't been any real skill improvement there. our possession stats are attrocious - 45% avg but we keep getting results on the counter.

Myself, it's been a while since I done any badge, so a good time to get some done as this season is all about getting as much money in the coffers before we go super broke.

All in all a very very good start to the season. We're handily mid-table, 15 points clear of the drop already and pretty much having secured the professional status for another year.  My attention will be turning to youth intake next.  I have very high hopes but the big question is can the intake play the tail end of the season or will registration stop before the intake comes through?

Edited September 30, 2020 by rodesire

[rodesire]

World Cup 2030 Qualification draw

We got a hell of a draw for the upcoming World Cup as shown below, with Portugal the only missing team in group 10.

We must beat Andorra in the battle of the minnows but I doubt we'll get any more points since Georgia is having a golden generation of 20-23 year old regens that we simply cannot compete with.  Scotland is still very strong and both Switzerland and Belgium can easily make WC quarterfinals on their day.

[rodesire]

Youth intake 2028

I have put all my chips into the youth development at the cost of financially ruining this club in a couple seasons time, so it was paramount we had a good intake.

Well, this is more than good, this is a godlike intake for us.

All these four standouts will be starting for us the rest of the season and they are sensational.  I will be probably calling up some of them, so they cannot commit to Switzerland later on.

[rodesire]

2028 January-February

It's an extremely busy period in Switzerland as we end up playing twice a week for almost a month after a winter break.  Luckily, the preparation I gave the lads paid off as we collected 5 wins and if it's wasn't for a collapse in the last game, it should have really been 6.

This leaves us comfortably in upper table as we have mathematically secured another season in the league.  Chiasso is starting to show some signs of recovery including winning over us.  Let's hope they don't end up recovering though for Eschen/Mauren's sake.

[rodesire]

March 2028 international break

We have a couple friendlies on our hands, so it's a good time to blood in a few youngsters and build up our coefficient.

We did just that, with Uzbekistan victory a particularly sweet one as they're a decent team and we were never in trouble. In addition, I gave debuts to a number of players, including the centreback from the last intake. He's already a top5 player in his position for the country and he can only improve.

[Sheriff7]

Welcome back!Great result against Uzbekistan.

[rodesire]

16 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Welcome back!Great result against Uzbekistan.

Thanks, been a while!

[rodesire]

Liechtenstein Cup 27/28

Our main team had no trouble making the finals but it was the second team of older rejects that sprang a surprise.  They reached a semifinal where they held out against Eschen/Mauren and then stole the game on penalties.

So, for the first time this save we have an all-Schaan final. Our second team is ineligible for Europa League, so we got the European money for one more season.

The final itself was a bit tenser than I would have liked but we prevailed with keeper scoring the final goal via a long range freekick. Shoutout @Jimbokav1971 yet another finals goal from my keeper.  They seem to enjoy those big games up in Liechtenstein.

[Jimbokav1971]

Got to love a GK scoring any goal, but especially so a free-kick in a Final. 

[rodesire]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Got to love a GK scoring any goal, but especially so a free-kick in a Final. 

I think I had a GK scoring in every final we won  Pretty crazy considering they end up on 3-4 goals a season.

[rodesire]

Spring 2028

We have already won the Liechtensteiner Cup but it was the league where we had been overachieving all the way in P4. Sadly, the form didn't last as we lost 5 straight and narrowly missed out on a few tens of thousand euros in prize money.

This also dropped us to P6, an astonishing debut result but now that leaves us in a funny situation where staying professional in this league is going to kill our finances unless we qualify for a group stage in Europe.

[rodesire]

A big shock of the year goes to Young Boys who only went and won the Europa League becoming the first Swiss club of the save to win any silverware.

Their 5-0 annihilation of Arsenal in semi-finals probably the high point of the run.  Zenit also made semifinals whilst FC Basel reached round16 in what was an upset year.

[rodesire]

End of season 2027/28

It's been another solid year for Schaan as we have comfortably survived our first season in the second Swiss division.

Top6 position in the end and a Liechtenstein Cup to ensure European football for one more year.

This was only enough for a third place in manager of the Year voting, which was slightly surprising given we were relegation certainties last year.

The squad is still terribly young with barely  a couple players above 20.  The more pressing question is who will be getting full time contracts in early 2029?  We can only afford 12, maybe 14 minimum full time contracts, so I will have to be rather restrictive and possibly lose quite a few talented kids in process.

[rodesire]

Nations League Draw 2028

It's time for the nations league draw, we're still in bottom division having never finished anywhere but bottom of the league. This is not the year when the winners can get into the Euros through the playoffs, but I am still hoping for a better performance from the lads.

Our group is a mixed bag, I'd much rather be in first group but there's a clear favourite in every group this year.  I am hoping we can get second place behind Slovakia but Latvia and Faroe Islands will certainly be a handful for us.

The scheduling has been fairly kind with Slovakia trips coming in early, so we can focus on the lesser teams later on.

[Sheriff7]

What is Slovakia doing down there?You are very unlucky mate.

[rodesire]

1 hour ago, Sheriff7 said:

What is Slovakia doing down there?You are very unlucky mate.

They had a ridiculous group C and got relegated, apparently?!