[FM18] Scandimania [Closed]

[rodesire]

Champions League 2026/27 Group stage draw

Having finally made it to third seed I was expecting a slightly nicer draw than usual.  The missing team below is Schalke in pot4 

I needn't have worried, PSG for the third time in this save, last season's finalists Arsenal and Sassuolo from pot 4  Pretty sure we landed top3 teams from each pot which is unfortunate but hopefully we can still progress to Europa League out of this group.

[rodesire]

August 2026

We're preparing for the busiest time of the year with 9 matches before we have another 11 in September.

We did really well, except we dropped points for the first time in 23 months.

The league table is looking great, us at the top with a bit of buffer, FH getting closer to that UCL spot, IA still in full attack mode.  KR recovering as I hope they can make a late push for the European slots.

Finally, the finances.  Once again we're about 15 mil positive for the year despite spending almost 11 million on the facilities.  This means, it's time to start seeding Icelandic clubs.  My plan is to give 2.5million to the CL spot winner and 2million to EL spot holders. 8.5 million which will reduce director payments by about 2-3 mil and tax bill by another 1.5-2mil.

[rodesire]

Nations League Division C - Matchday 1-2

It's time to see if the new generation is any good.  The expectation is to promote and it's a fair one as Ireland is the only significant foe in this group.

We dispatched Georgia with some sensational football as everyone just clicked offensively despite the numbers suggesting it was an even game.

Bulgaria match was immensely frustrating as we struggled against their pace and just couldn't get anything on target.

Ireland won both opening games, so we're already playing catch-up.

[rodesire]

Champions League 2026/27 Group stage - Matchday 1

Once again we're nowhere near the favourites but our odds are getting shorter every year.

In game 1 we welcomed PSG and remember, we beat them last year, could we make it two in a row?  For an hour it was all PSG but we held a lot better than usual.  They needed a 30 yard dipping strike and a defender clearance hitting Mbappe and going in to get their goals.  We dominated last 30 minutes but only were able to get a single goal. 2-1 to PSG and it feels like it's the one that got away.

Sassuolo perhaps surprisingly drew with Arsenal so we're already bottom of the group with work to do.

[rodesire]

End of season 2026 awards and our first wonderkid!

The Frenchie I got last year has become our first wonderkid of this team!  I can only imagine how great he must be if he's labelled wonderkid at a 3* rep team.

In terms of awards it was back to greatness as sweeped the individual awards this year.

As usual only one entry in the team of the year. IA and FH dominating it with 4 entries each.

[Sheriff7]

French guy looks unbelievable.He wont stay for too long there..

[zethani]

I would be like to see how effective is going to be the seeding of other Icelandic teams

I am toying with a similar idea in my save, but for now I have only distributed money among my feeder clubs.

There is something that I feel fundamentally wrong in financing my own competition ahahah

[rodesire]

2 hours ago, zethani said:

I would be like to see how effective is going to be the seeding of other Icelandic teams

I am toying with a similar idea in my save, but for now I have only distributed money among my feeder clubs.

There is something that I feel fundamentally wrong in financing my own competition ahahah

I am curious too and will report once a season!

and same about Iceland, getting 100k TV money for a season in top20 european league is just plain wrong.

[rodesire]

September 2026 and CL Group stage Matchday 2

We close out the domestic season with a match in London against Arsenal.  Despite stunning them on aggregate we still hadn't beat them in 90 minutes.  Could we do it here?

Not really.  Any hope we had was promptly smashed as Gunners went 2-0 up within opening 10 minutes.  From there on they just toyed with us as my attacking quartet was surprisingly ineffective. The only saving grace was Greg parrying away a late penalty to deny Arsenal a third.

Across other 10 matches this month we ground out a set of wins with some very late or early goals as most of the teams go ultra defensive against us and don't go forward even at 1-0 or 2-0 down.

At the end of the day, it's us at the summit, unbeaten for 46 matches now.  FH follows into the best qualifier 2nd round in UCL. IA, Fjolnir and late risers KR all make Europa League. In the end it was agony for KA who we relegated with that 1-0 and Fylkir who didn't recover from 6-0 drubbing just 3 days before the final matchday.

In UCL, we're bottom and suddenly need at least 4 points from Sassuolo matches to have any hope of progression.

[rodesire]

Nations League - Matchday 3 & 4

It's crunchtime in the Nations League as we face Ireland who are top of the group as well as Bulgaria.

Historically we have struggled against Ireland, so could this be aa turnaround point?  We dominated the ball and despite the stats saying they had shots on target it was our poor finishing that kept the match close.  In the end, it was Valgeir passing into the back of the net from 10 yards who decided this game.

Bulgaria match was equally frustrating as we kept creating chances but just kept missing everything.  Luckily, Magnus stuck around to get a brace before we eased off to setup a nervy finish.

Two wins out of two mean we're top of the group, just. Bulgaria and Georgia are out of the promotion races already, so it's the Ireland match next month that will likely decide the winner here.

[rodesire]

More shopping therapy

As I mentioned before, i have dumped 8.5 million into 4 Icelandic clubs in hope that they will use the money somewhat wisely and get out of debt/get new good players/compete in Europe.

I have also signed a fair few players as I expect some outgoing transfers this winter.

Steinar and Konsta are two promising centrebacks, scouts say they're at least 4* potential and I am having a dearth of local defenders at the moment, so they will slot nicely.

Yet another Steinar up front.  I was contemplating buying more strikers but I am already up to 9 across main and U19 teams and playing a single striker formation that's just daft.

Last but not least is Ivan. With Tiago asking for a move for the last 3 months, I expect him to leave this winter and I've been tracking Ivan for almost 3 years and have finally pulled a trigger. He's immense and I can only hope he sticks around for the duration of his contract.  If he develops at all I can see him getting our first Elite player media description.

[rodesire]

Champions League Group stage - Match 3

Off to Italy for a must-win match.  If we fail to win here, we'll be relying on Sassuolo not beating Arsenal/PSG and beating them at home which is a lot of ifs.

Luckily, we took care of the business eventually.  The game was very open right from the off and as usual it was a controversial decision that sparked us into life.  We hit a crossbar of a corner only to concede a penalty of an ensuing counter.  Cenk Tosun may have scored but that opened my attitude to Sassuolo as we grabbed two excellent goals before the break. When Nils threaded one for Raul in the second half it was merely a confirmation of our dominance.  Once more, we hit the crossbar and I shut the shop for the last 15 minutes allowing Sassuolo to salvage the stat sheet.

Unsurprisingly, PSG won their game, so we're just 1 point behind Arsenal in third.  If we can repeat the trick and beat Sassuolo at home, we'll pretty much guarantee spring European football.

[rodesire]

Champions League Group stage - Matchday 4

Long story short, we needed a win.  We got a win in the end but the Italians certainly made us work for it. Once again Valgeir scoring in a crucial match, the guy is not fit for a Champions League run but he's a born winner.

PSG beat Arsenal in the other game of the group, so we're up to second on 6 points, 2 clear of Arsenal who play Sassuolo next.

[rodesire]

Nations League Division C - Matchday 5 & 6

It all comes down to the final two matches as we seek promotion to Division B.

We kicked off against Georgia and promptly bottled it in the first 50 minutes going 3-1 down.  We did recover to 3-3 but just could not score the winner.  Ireland won their match which meant we had it all to do away in the final match of the group.

When Ireland scored early, I thought it was all over.  But Valgeir had other ideas.  He scored a slalom solo goal before feeding Magnus for our second.  As I shut the shop and Ireland went forward we broke them for third late in second half. 3-1 on the night and we win promotion to Division B!

A much much tighter result in the end than needed.  Shouldn't have dropped points against minnows and both Ireland wins very a bit dicey statistically.

[rodesire]

One in, one out

We're saying goodbye to Wilmer who has not developed one bit, unfortunately.

In the meantime, welcome Aleksandar.  Whilst I am investing in facilities it's all these other clubs producing gems like Aleksandar

He is shockingly good for Iceland but not quite Magnus good at 17.  I expect to raise his determination and professionalism and see if he can eventually take over Atli's 3rd striker option up front.

[rodesire]

Here's a quick squad shot as we head into the two final CL group stage games that will be in 2027 season.

Solid performances at the back with a fair few goal contributions.  Now my segundo volantes and defensive midfielders do not seem to be doing anything which is a shame. Up front it's goal and assist galore with Marcio hitting 20 and Jimmy(!) on 15 which is a shocker.  Balana has contributed 12 goals and 18 assists which is ridiculous and Tiago chipped in with 15 more assists.

[rodesire]

Financial summary 2026

The TV money has finally hit 100k mark as we went up from 83k last year.  It's still nowhere near enough to sustain a team in Iceland but it's getting closer at least.

Reducing the club profit meant lower director payments as well as lower tax bill and Icelandic clubs get the bulk of the money anyway, that's a massive win in my book.

Sponsorship is creeping up slowly but 300k won't do much for us now.  It's also a bit concerning that our corporate and matchday income is down despite reaching Europa League finals.

[rodesire]

Champions League 2026/27 Group Stage - Matchday 5

We're off to Paris to meet the death machine of Mbappe, Kane, Neymar and three Serbian superstar regens who went to WC final last summer.

I went full on defensive there as my goal was to keep it close for as long as possible and once their knackered players start making mistakes, attack in the last 15 minutes if we're still even or just behind.  For the most part, the plan worked.  It was an atrocious match of football as nothing much happened except for a Harry Kane 20 yard wonder volley to give PSG the lead.  As we tried to claw our way back into the match, Tiago managed to hit the bar and then miss the goal in a one on one all in last 10 minutes of the game.  Shame, he could have won it for us.

Arsenal and Sassuolo played out a nil-nil draw which means Arsenal need to defeat us to finish second in the group. We're now guaranteed Europa League football but can we get Champions League knockouts instead?

[rodesire]

Champions League 2026/27 - Matchday 6

We're hosting Arsenal in a winner takes all clash. We have never beaten Arsenal but even a draw would be enough for us to progress.

We started strong with Valgeir doing Valgeir things, dancing through packed defence playing a neat 1-2 and passing into the back of the net with just 16 minutes on the clock.  Unsurprisingly, Koskinen got a flashback and conceded a penalty on the other end that Gunners converted.  As they piled forward to grab a second it was us scoring from a corner to restore a 2-1 lead. Arsenal tried a lot but nothing would come off for them.  They lost their star fullback with 20 minutes to go and then Valgeir ran half the pitch in injury time to spray the ball to the wing receive a cross back and emphatically finish for a 3-1 win on the night.

To add insult to Arsenal's injury, Sassuolo improbably defeated PSG in the other match of the night leaving Arsenal with no European football in spring.

Schalke and Porto were the other two big casualties of the group stage with Juventus, Sevilla, Inter and Barcelona all dropping into Europa League.  Much more hipster knockout rounds as PSV and Benfica topped their groups, whilst FCK, Sporting and us made it through too.

[kidthekid]

incredible job coming out of that group.

[rodesire]

1 hour ago, kidthekid said:

incredible job coming out of that group.

Thanks, Arsenal bottled it and Sassuolo did their part with the ultimate backstab.  Then again, I feel we're getting close to competing with the biggest sides at home but still very poor away from home.

[rodesire]

Upgrades!

The board has agreed to max out the facilities to State of the art which should maximise the youth improvements very quickly.

Other huge news is expanding the stadium to its max potential. We'll now have 3k standing, 2.2k seater and hopefully be able to convert the terraces to seats in the next year or so.  Afterwards, I'd really like a 8-12k seater with 20k expansion potential as anything less than that would make long term success here if not impossible, then extremely hard.

[rodesire]

World player of the Year 2026

We finally have a regen win Footballer of the Year award

It's a Man Utd winger and he's a beast

Ballon d'Or still dominated by the old guard with Mbappe having not won any.  He's had a remarkably bland career failing to get going both for club and country/

[rodesire]

Euro 2028 Qualifiers

We have hit an all time Icelandic high World Ranking but unfortunately, it's the Nations League that counts here.

England, Belgium, Kazahstan, Faroe Islands and San Marino.  3 incredibly easy opponents and 2 unbeatable.  Looks a guaranteed P3 unless something really weird happens. Might be a good time to blood new guys given we have secured Euro playoffs through winning Nations League.

[Sheriff7]

Great result against Arsenal and a very weird draw for national team!

[rodesire]

wheeler dealing

It's time to refresh the team and let some vultures feast.

First out is Arto, he's been very good until now but he's maxed out on his potential and that red card against Dortmund still stings a season later.

Tiago has been angling for a move ever since he arrived, so my job was to get the best possible deal, especially with Repic already a king on left wing.

Nicola was making some noises but Juve went from 900k to 9mil in a space of a week and the board went over my head.

Lad is going to be an absolute machine and I am gutted to lose him.

In comes an Icelandic centremid as I try and coach all the promising domestic talent in my U19s. Dragoljub is a decent central winger but I will make a left wingback outta him.

Last but not least is this really good Icelandic centreback. If we get injuries to the main team, he may well play in the league this season as he's almost ready.

[rodesire]

Champions League 2026/27 1st Knockout Round - Home leg

It's been a much more hipster tournament and the first set of matches is pure 🔥 

We got the defending champions in Real Madrid, so how did we do against the royalty?

I played a wide 4123 and we completely nullified their threat as Real kept shooting from 30+ yards out.  Meanwhile, Repic finished a swift counter midway through first half and we should have had more, really.

[rodesire]

MIni transfer update

I finally found an affordable Model Citizen, who's going to be the tutor for everyone for a decade if we can keep him

Since he's terrible, I loaned him back for 18 months by which time he should be almost 21. 3 more seasons on loan and he can start pumping the team with Model Citizens.

Adam has finally left us.  He's had a lacklustre career, never really shining.

He didn't develop much as his unambitious personality would suggest.

[rodesire]

Champions League 2026/27 - Away leg, Volsungur lead 1-0 on agg

We're off to Madrid with a slender lead on paper, yet huge in practice.  Score once and Real need 3 to progress.

We kick off and almost immediately we catch the merengues out of shape with Repic skinning a centreback before finishing emphatically near post to silence the home away.  The joy didn't last as Madrid score two corner goals in the next 10 minutes to leave the tie very delicately balanced.  They take over the game completely as we end up defending despite a positive attitude.  We get to half-time still leading on away goals.  I make my usual subs 60 minutes in to give us even more of a fitness advantage (RM have not rotated their squad enough whereas we had 1 competitive game in 2 weeks).  That's when disaster strikes, as my centre forward is carried off with 20 minutes to go.  Further scans would show it's a hamstring issue and he'd be out for at least a month. Meanwhile we're reduced to strikerless on the pitch as Madrid pushes on and on and on but just can't get anything past Greg.  As we go into injury time, they get a deep cross and hammer one into the crossbar from an acute angle.  The ball falls to Nils, who expertly evades a couple challenges and sends a long ball for Alvaro to run onto.  As we waste another minute by the corner flag, the ref blows full time and it's 2-1 to RM on the night but 2-2 with away goal win to us.

Once again, the season issue shows up as we only get the participation money if we win in a round 

[pheelf]

Slaying the Galácticos with a team from Iceland...that's great progress.

If you can beat them, then you can probably beat anybody.

Good luck in the quarter final.

[rodesire]

5 hours ago, pheelf said:

Slaying the Galácticos with a team from Iceland...that's great progress.

If you can beat them, then you can probably beat anybody.

Good luck in the quarter final.

Truth be told, any other game, Real put 4 or 5 past us in Spain and we go out. Similarly with other big clubs, we can finally hang with the likes of Bayern and PSG at home but youngsters get so flustered away it's painful to watch.

Speaking of quarterfinals, another huge opponent, no.1 rated team in the World.

Gotta love the draw pitting Volsungur's riches against Man Utd's rather more modest budget. Man Utd's lowest paid bench player in UCL (62kpw) earns as much as my whole team (55kpw).

Edited May 20, 2020 by rodesire

[rodesire]

Euro 2028 Qualifiers - Matchday 1 & 2

We got an extremely rough draw as our opening two matches are against Belgium and England whereas the other international breaks will feature such powerhouses as San Marino and Faroe Islands.

Anyway, we kicked off the campaign against Belgium and got utterly roflstomped at home.  It was a gutless performance and we never threatened to make it a contest.

Heading into England game, I was even more worried as it was my second squad playing it but once again, the second XI proved it can hang with the big boys. We kept it scoreless in the first half, then proceeded to concede two worldies, Alli hit the post twice from 30 yard volleys and it was sub Magnus who brought the game back to 2-1.  We had a chance to snatch a late winner but Teitsson smashed it over the bar from a corner deep into injury time.

We're dead bottom of the group.  Better get some points and quick!

[Sheriff7]

Well if you ate 4 from Belgium 6-0 defeat for us was ok then..

Edited May 21, 2020 by Sheriff7

[rodesire]

30 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

Well if you ate 4 from Belgium 6-0 defeat for us was ok then..

Yep, let's see how many we can put past Faroe Islands 🙈🔥

[rodesire]

Club updates 2027

Up by 300 season ticket holders which should mean we'll be selling out the reduced capacity most of the year before filling 50-70% next year if all stays the same. Very happy about that, as gate receipts and merch income need to rise if we're to sustain European adventures.  I cannot keep selling players indefinitely and replacing them as eventually we'll just get stuck in mediocre state.

JR up to extensive, surprised it didn't tick over to well established but it's still the best in Iceland.

[rodesire]

Champions League 2026/27 Quarterfinals - Home leg

We're playing Red Devils, arguably the strongest remaining team in the competition.

They bring the whole superteam to Iceland, so I went for a defensive 4231(2DM) just containing Man Utd and not really attacking.  This worked surprisingly well as I decided to forgo my best defenders instead pushing on my fastest ones. They managed to keep the visitor attackers largely under control and with a couple bad misses we stayed in the game. My striker then proceeded to miss a couple good crosses before Raul kicked the ball into the post from a yard out to deny us a famous lead.  Man Utd had shots but they barely stung my keeper's palms.  In the end a nil-nil draw, but not a bore draw.

[rodesire]

Champions League 2026/27 Quarterfinals - Away leg, 0-0 on aggregate

Off to Manchester in for a potential second massive upset of the knockout stages.

Jose Mourinho ruffled a few feathers before the match calling us an easy match-up but most importantly he almost threw a league game to rest some of his key personnel. In this match I was in for more surprises as Man Utd played 3 different players to the first leg with barely 200 international caps between them. You could definitely see the change in the intensity as the hosts went on to humiliate us, no less.  They pushed and probed and this time round Greg was the saviour tipping the shots onto the bar, saving howitzers and most importantly performing a magic double save, deflecting a point blank header before saving a follow-up a la Seaman in FA Cup.  What an absolute legend.  Shamefully we didn't create anything on the other end as the game fizzled out into extra time. More dross there as neither team could threaten any more and even a late red card to Man Utd could not save the crowd from the penalties.  De Gea saved one shot, whilst Greg saved none and it was enough to give Man Utd the ticket to the next round.

[Sheriff7]

Amazing campaign mate.Unlucky against ManU.I bieleve in last 2-3 versions of fm is very difficult to win in penalty shootout.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Sheriff7

[rodesire]

On 22/05/2020 at 23:52, Sheriff7 said:

Amazing campaign mate.Unlucky against ManU.I bieleve in last 2-3 versions of fm is very difficult to win in penalty shootout.

Thanks buddy, trying our best there.  Hopefully, we can get to the top soon enough.

[rodesire]

Transfer update

Two more players have left us

Volkan was a decent prospect who spent his last season on loan but he just wasn't getting enough game time and with two prospects ahead of him it was time to cash in.

I think I undersold him quite significantly but he was getting very unhappy and spreading the unrest.

Snorri is an academy product who just ran out of potential at 19 which is a shame.

He was third choice on the left for me, so hopefully he strengthens FH without causing us trouble.

A few massive sales and we did spend 8.5m on helping other Icelandic teams. Meanwhile, Repic popped to a wonderkid, what a player he is already.

[rodesire]

European competition review 2026/27

What a difference 12 months make. Champions League featured a number of hipsters this time round with us and Sporting making it to QF and bowing out by the slimmest of margins.  Atletico lifted the trophy after a 96th minute De Gea calamity Karius would be proud of.

My keeps surprisingly got a third place in best GK awards there, hopefully that'll boost his valuation a bit, he's so underrated.

Europa League looked more like a Champions League with 4 leagues dominating the quarter finals and only CSKA Moscow not a Big5 entrant in round16. Inter atoned their Europa League final loss from two years ago.

 

[rodesire]

Domestic Cup finals

We're starting with the Champions Cup first as we face FH who finished a distant second last year.

The game itself was a lot closer than I expected as FH countered us hard but struggled to put their shots away.   Instead it was Alvaro who kept sneaking from the wing to score an opportunistic brace.

Meanwhile, in the League Cup final we faced a newly promoted Prottur and we promptly destroyed them with our first eleven.  A rather ominous result for Icelandic teams as I played kids in second half yet scored 5 then.

[pheelf]

Really unlucky against Man United, you could have done with that red card a little earlier in the game .

Still going really well though to take a team of that quality all the way. Impressive progress, KUTGW.

All the best

[rodesire]

The last dance

We've been touted as favourites for the league title once more and it's easy to see why. What I am pleased about is FH/KR/IA all shortening their odds and hopefully becoming regular European fixtures.

Domestically we've been in impeccable form, 6 wins, 0 conceded and playing outrageous football at all times.

Top of the league, with some gap already.

[rodesire]

This is the end of this save.  My work computer has been remotely wiped today and I have lost steam and my FM save. Absolutely gutted. Dunno where next from there

[Sheriff7]

[Jimbokav1971]

On 25/05/2020 at 16:59, rodesire said:

This is the end of this save.  My work computer has been remotely wiped today and I have lost steam and my FM save. Absolutely gutted. Dunno where next from there

Note to all. 

SAVE TO CLOUD every now and then . 

The save is dead. 

Long live the save. 

[rodesire]

21 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Note to all. 

SAVE TO CLOUD every now and then . 

The worst part is I thought I had it in cloud but it never synched for whatever reason.  I would save locally and save to cloud straight after so I never tested the cloud version.