[FM20] Capital of Siberia

[Koetzer]

Novosibirsk, the third largest city in Russia with population over 1.5 million. Often unofficially named ‘the capital of Siberia’, it’s the major industrial, commercial and scientific center of this huge region. However, football here rarely had a good time, even in comparison to other Siberian regions. Tomsk had a Premier League team for about ten years, other neighbours can boast about local players reaching the national team and European clubs (like Smertin, Sychev and Golovin). Though Novosibirsk had one moment to remember, ten years ago… 

FC Sibir, led by a Belarusian manager Igor Kriushenko, reached the top division for the first time ever. The team, which obviously lacked quality to play at this level, anyway caught the attention with their attractive and sometimes way too adventurous style… well, and this unusual kit design too. 

The start of the league season was poor, despite avoiding big teams (except CSKA) the first win came only in 8th game, at home against Rostov. At this point it was clear that the relegation battle is going to be tough, however there was something really positive that spring. Those years the league and cup seasons in Russia were held with different schedules, and while the league was only at its start, the cup already went to the decisive stages. With most of top teams eliminated on early stages, Sibir had a relatively easy route and after defeating Luch (a second tier side) and Alania (who as well won promotion to RPL the previous season) reached the final against Zenit. They already earned a European place, and according to the rules of that time, Sibir qualified to the Europa League regardless of the result! 

The final itself didn’t bring any surprises (Zenit won 1-0) but the feeling of incoming European football inspired the team. Two wins, draws against Dinamo and Lokomotiv (the latest came after this amazing long shot from Dmitry Molosh, who actually scored other three similar goals that season), and the situation didn’t look as hopeless as before. 

In July Sibir made their European debut against Cypriot side Apollon Limassol. The home game ended with 1-0 win, the only goal was scored by team captain and best goalscorer Alexey Medvedev (who would soon leave the team and join Rubin, the reigning champions). The return leg in Cyprus was tough despite playing with a man advantage since 15th minute, but 2-1 loss was enough to qualify for the next round and face PSV. 

19th of August became a historical day for local football. With both teams reduced to ten players even before half time, there were few scoring chances and the game could end with a boring draw, when this happened: 

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Of course, we couldn’t hold on this advantage in Eindhoven, losing 0-5, and also couldn’t keep the pace in the league. A home defeat to Alania after two goals in injury time didn’t mathematically mean relegation but the safe 14th place wasn’t anymore close. The team returned to FNL and never actually battled for promotion since then, being a midtable side. And in summer of 2019 the club was dissolved due to rising debts, with a new one, FC Novosibirsk founded immediately and entered PFL, the third and lowest professional tier in Russia. 

The new club had ambitious goals – it was planned to win promotion to FNL in the first season, and then reach the Premier League once again before 2030. However, they were only third before the winter break, 12 points behind leading Irtysh Omsk. And in current situation its future (as future of most regional clubs in Russia which heavily depend on support of local authorities) is actually unknown.

[john1]

Oh my god! You are back!!  Good luck with  FC Novosibirsk  

[Koetzer]

@john1 thanks! Hopefully it will be a long career, still haven't managed more than 3 seasons with any club in FM20.

So, I’m taking charge of FC Novosibirsk in Professional Football League, Russian third tier which consists of five regional groups. The eastern one is the largest geographically but has the fewest number of participants. Only six teams are located here, in a territory between Omsk near Kazakhstan border and the island of Sakhalin in the Pacific Ocean!

 

We are predicted to finish first, and of course our board demands promotion.

Squad

We have a lot of experienced players who can lead us to success this season, but surely will need to replace them in near future.

Mykola Tsygan – spent six seasons for Sibir in FNL, obviously will be our starting goalkeeper.

Ilja Gul'tyaev – in real life he hasn’t played for Novosibirsk yet, joining during winter transfer window before all the games in spring were postponed. A great defender for this level, and I think he can help us even after promotion.

Roman Belyaev – the only player remained from the 2010 squad. Born in Novosibirsk and spent his entire career here (except one loan).

Denis Dorozhkin – our starting and only decent striker who hasn’t score any goal in two previous seasons  

 

The facilities are quite decent, for the first season our stadium is under reconstruction with the only stand in use but I doubt that we'll have attendances close to 5000 in the third tier  

[Koetzer]

July-August 2019

The first quarter of the league is over, and own goal is our MVP so far   We could have a perfect record after it but Irtysh equalized from a free kick on 94th minute. No doubt, they will be the main threat to our title chances this season.

[LUFCspeni]

I've always found this save idea really interesting, given the geographical wonders of Russia. I wonder, could a team that end of Russia attract some Asian players due to proximity? And are Vladivostok still a team?

[Hootieleece]

Good Luck with this save!

Does Irkutsk have a team? If so what is the name. I might try a save so I don't copy yours.

I had a fun save with Arsenal Tula in FM19 even won the Russian Premier League with them. 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Hootieleece

[Koetzer]

@LUFCspeni I remember some Japanese and Korean players in our eastern clubs but none of them were actually good. I think, language and lifestyle difference are more important in this case. Luch Vladivostok are in FNL (second tier) in FM20 but recently announced that they won't play at professional level next season  

@Hootieleece yes, Zenit Irkutsk are in the same league with us. I guess, overtaking Zenit St.Petersburg with them can be a nice challenge  

 

 

September-November 2019

Still going unbeaten! We shared the lead with Irtysh before a head-to-head game in Omsk, where they equalized after a late penalty and so the positioning remained the same. But in the next two games Irtysh only managed to get draws, so our two wins put us four points clear before the long winter break! Our best goalscorer so far is Ilja Safronov, who actually got a place in starting 11 only because we need to have two under-22 players on the pitch.

Our first youth preview seems… quite average.

 

Other news: as usual, autumn is a season of sackings which included two major Moscow clubs. Spartak replaced Tedesco with their club legend Andrey Tikhonov, while CSKA appointed Luciano Spalletti, who previously won two Russian titles with Zenit. 

Russia failed to qualify directly to Euro 2020, losing to Scotland. Cherchesov was sacked, and now Marcello Lippi will try to guide the team through playoffs.

[Hootieleece]

Are you using a special database? I couldn't find them in the normal game. My Russia only has 2 Leagues...

[Koetzer]

1 hour ago, Hootieleece said:

Are you using a special database? I couldn't find them in the normal game. My Russia only has 2 Leagues...

i made this file which simply activates 3rd tier with basic rules set to real ones. I don't understand much in advance rules editing so the cup structure is default (with only few D3 teams participating), also players don't go to holiday during winter break, but anyway I didn't plan to stay on this level for long  And unfortunately I didn't find any other detailed Russian database file with realistic rules for FM20.

Russia v3.1.fmf

[Koetzer]

March-May 2020

Irtysh once again scored a late equalizer against us, but they dropped too many points in other games so we easily secured promotion with three matches to go, after 1-0 win over Zenit Irkutsk. Judging from the next game, we really celebrated a lot and missed a chance to finish the season unbeaten, but managed to recover and finally defeated Omsk in our last meeting.

We also had the first youth intake, and actually none of these players is worth noticing. Best of them can potentially reach level of our current starters, but by that time our first team should become much stronger. 

 

News

Russia lost to Austria in Euro playoffs, and Lippi resigned after two games in charge. Great job 

[Koetzer]

Squad stats

Despite Narylkov had the best average rating and was selected as the best player by fans, my personal MVP award certainly goes to Gul’tyaev. He became one of our top goalscorers (as a center-back!), and the only game he missed ended with 1-4 loss in Barnaul.

 

Season summary

RPL – Zenit defended the title, and actually the whole top three remained the same as last season.

FNL – great achievement for Chertanovo, the club which fully relies on their academy promoted to the top tier! And only nine points separated playoffs and relegation spots.

PFL – Alania, Sokol, KamAZ and Lokomotiv-Kazanka promoted.

Russian Cup – Dinamo Moscow won their first trophy since 1995, defeating Nizhniy Novgorod (the team which almost relegated from second tier but managed to beat CSKA and Zenit in the cup).

 

Champions League – Zidane defeated Guardiola and returned the trophy to Madrid. Zenit reached the knockout round, the result that Russian clubs can’t achieve in recent years.

Europa League – two in a row for Chelsea. CSKA lost to Getafe In the first knockout round, other Russian teams couldn’t advance from group stage.

[EvilDave]

Great to see you back, I'm always keen for a Russian save so will be following along keenly. Novosibirsk is far too big to be out of the top flight for long, so fingers crossed it doesn't take you too long to escape the FNL either!

Looking around the country, how tight was the FNL?! Shinnik relegated (boo!) with 48 points, Chertanovo promoted with 57. Fingers crossed Rotor can re-establish themselves in the RPL, Alania make a good fist of it next year, and Shinnik bounce back...

[Koetzer]

Season 2020/21

So, we are predicted last (17th place because there are three B teams which can’t be promoted). And the league starts on 5th of July, just two weeks after season update and five days after free agents and loans become available, so basically we have to start with almost the same squad as we had last season. That surely adds a lot to the challenge.

Though we managed to sign three new players before the first FNL game, and all of them should be first choices on their positions – goalkeeper Soldatenko, defensive midfielder Yakimov, and the first foreigner in our squad, Czech mezzala Janosek.

[Koetzer]

July 2020

 

It’s really tough to find players who can improve our squad and at the same time want to play here. We signed an affiliation with Dinamo Moscow but their available youngsters either rejected loans or weren’t good enough. Though players from other Russian big clubs like Tiknizyan, who can cover all the left side, and right winger Vorobjov agreed to join us for this season. Also we signed center-back Voskanyan, who is an Armenian international so won’t be counted as foreigner. The search will obviously continue in August, as we need more positions to improve (especially a good striker to replace Dorozhkin in starting 11).

A home game against Alania was probably the best start in current situation, and a long shot from Narylkov brought us the first win in FNL. Then we came from behind in Kaliningrad and could make it three in a row against Torpedo, but they equalized immediately after our goal. So, despite two defeats from teams currently in top three, our FNL start was quite good.

 

News

Spain won the Euro 2020 after two extra time goals by Diego Costa, and Messi finally won an international trophy, scoring the decisive penalty in Copa America final.

[Hootieleece]

The problem  with the Moscow Kids is they think Novosibirsk has no Social life...the think they will be stranded in the middle of no where with lots of trees and snow! Lol!

[CTID86]

Congrats on season 1! Decent start to season 2 aswell so far

[Koetzer]

August 2020

Finally the squad building for this season was completed. Striker Proshlyakov and winger Mazurin joined us on loan (so we reached the maximum number of loans allowed here), also we signed right-back Pokidyshev (played for Shinnik last season) and central midfielder Bobko (a real journeyman who played in Sweden, Kazakhstan and Georgia only during last year).

Tough schedule as we had to start the month with two games against teams which relegated last season, and even one point there was obviously a good result. Then we got half of points from two away games before meeting the closest neighbours from Tomsk. This game was the first where we could start all our newcomers, and the result was really impressive! Two debutants, Makurin and Bobko, played especially well, getting a goal and two assists respectively. Then we started in the cup with mostly backup squad and were close to be knocked out, but advanced in shootout after Proshlyakov equalized on the last minute of regulation time. And finally, the game against Arsenal Tula which I expected to be very hard (they still have a lot of players from RPL), but actually we should have won with a bigger margin, missing a penalty and some other good chances before scoring in injury time, These results pushed us far away from relegation zone and I hope we won’t have to pay much attention to it during the season.

 

News

Top summer transfers (Russia): Magomed-Shapi Suleimanov (Krasnodar -> Bayern, 35M), Nikola Vlasic (CSKA -> Man Utd, 24M), Andre Schurrle (Dortmund -> Spartak, 7.5M). That’s interesting, I didn’t play FM20 with the latest database patch before, and think Suleimanov’s attributes were really improved there as he signed with such a big club (unfortunately can’t afford to scout him).

[Koetzer]

September 2020

The reconstruction works on our stadium were finally completed, so the game against Lokomotiv reserves was played with the full capacity of 12500 (and 10538 tickets were sold)!  I was surprised to see Corluka, Dzagoev and some other players with RPL experience in their squad but they couldn’t even take a shot on target. And as for away games, we won one of three in the league but that was our biggest win this season. 

The cup draw seemed bugged as at this stage we should have played against RPL side, but somehow had Yenisey and got revenge for the league defeat. In the next round we’ll face Rotor at home, they are currently bottom of RPL so probably we have a good chance to reach quarter-final.

[Hootieleece]

Hope you are finally able to bring some real talent to the squad soon. You are doing well within the constraints. Glad to see Arsenal Tula doing well enough....I have a soft spot after my save with them.

[Koetzer]

11 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Glad to see Arsenal Tula doing well enough....I have a soft spot after my save with them.

I was surprised they ended up here, usually they do much better in first seasons, being mid-table in RPL or even fighting for European spots. 

[Koetzer]

October 2020

Almost perfect month in the league, and we are not so far from playoff spots with half of the season already completed! Home games went especially well, we scored ten and didn’t concede at all. Also I accidentally clicked on our goalkeeper to take a penalty against Chaika (probably because was too distracted with our kit choice in such weather), luckily he scored  

And then we faced Rotor in the cup without injured Gul’tyaev, Yakimov and Tiknizyan, though our attacking force remained strong and we scored in the first attack. Visitors answered immediately, and on 10th minute we already were behind but came back with three goals even before half-time! Second half was boring, and we advanced to quarter-final and will play against Krasnodar there.  That’s a much stronger opposition but we’ll play at home in March, just after the season restarts so who knows what may happen?

[Koetzer]

November 2020

Akhmat stopped our unbeaten run, though we didn’t play badly, just poor conversion of our chances and some strange referee decisions made the difference. Our goal was ruled out due to offside despite there was a back pass from opposition defender   More important thing is that loss didn’t affect us, and we won all remaining games with clean sheets! Proshlyakov scored six and was selected as player of the month, while we are now only a point behind the playoff spot. Hope we'll keep this form after a long winter break.

Not sure about this golden generation label, but that certainly sounds better than last year, hopefully some local talents will appear.

[Koetzer]

Winter break

We added two more free agents to our squad – Goran Zakaric can cover all attacking midfield positions and will be our primary set piece taker, while Nikoloz Zardiashvili looks like a real gem found in Georgian U21 team. He obviously has the talent to play in RPL in near future! The only issue is that we now have 4 foreigners in our squad so can’t start them all in the league.

Youth intake

Two players really stand out here – Rusakov, who potentially can become a good playmaker, and defensive midfielder Gapon. Of course it's not a real golden generation though  

 

Top Russian transfers:

Fedor Chalov (CSKA -> Real Madrid, 78M). Another Russian player joins European top team, and that’s a national transfer record! Now it’s interesting to see how CSKA would spend this amount of money.

Waldemar Anton (Hannover -> Zenit, 13.5M). Zenit bought the best available defender with Russian passport, so it’s not any surprise.  

Pedro Rocha (Spartak -> Lokomotiv, 6.5M). Spartak bought this winger for 12M and he only played 12 games for them, spending three seasons on loans in Brazil.

 

In other news, Eden Hazard won both Ballon d’Or and FIFA awards, and Ghana defeated Egypt in African Cup final (shouldn’t it be held in summer now?)

[Koetzer]

March 2021

Our cup hopes ended on 27th minute when Seraskhov was sent off. And still we weren’t as poor as the scoreboard can say, just their attackers were much better in converting chances.

And despite the long break we managed to extend our league run to seven wins in a row! Hoped for eight though, but SKA scored early with a long shot and parked the bus. Still we overtook Arsenal and entered the playoffs zone with nine games to go. April fixtures can decide a lot, as we are going to play against both Arsenal and Nizhniy Novgorod.

Edited April 29, 2020 by Koetzer

[Koetzer]

April 2021

I knew that 7-0 win won’t do anything good for us in later games, especially as we lost Zakaric for the whole month. The season is actually over.

[Hootieleece]

I feel for you coming so close to Promotion Playoffs especially since my pet team kept you out.

I am going to do a Baltika save soon. My idea is to become a team that only uses Germans for foreign players when in the Russian Premier League.

[Koetzer]

43 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

I feel for you coming so close to Promotion Playoffs especially since my pet team kept you out.

I am going to do a Baltika save soon. My idea is to become a team that only uses Germans for foreign players when in the Russian Premier League.

Yes, especially the last game when we were 1-0 ahead with 10 minutes to go was heartbreaking. Though I hardly expected being so close to potential promotion before the season  

Good luck with Baltika, though it would be hard with the way scouting knowledge works in FM. No matter how close you are to other countries, you still get the pool of your region (Eastern Europe) first.

[Koetzer]

May 2021

We didn’t give up after disappointing defeats and won three in a row, including a game against eventually promoted Sochi, but Arsenal won all these games as well and ensured their playoff spot before the final matchday. And just compare this table with the previous season, when Rotor won the league with 69 points and Chertanovo eventually promoted with 57!

Playoffs: Arsenal Tula 2-2 Khimki (on away goals), Nizhniy Novgorod 1-4 Krylja Sovetov. Congratulations to @Hootieleece 

 

Squad stats

Most of our signings proved to be successful. Mazurin became the best young player of FNL (so far he doesn’t want to stay here for one more season, but I know that may change after season update), and four players (Tiknizyan, Voskanyan, Janosek and Proshlyakov) were selected into the team of the year. Also both our winter transfers really improved our squad, and who knows what would have happened if Zakaric wasn't injured during our decisive fixtures in April...

 

Season summary

RPL – Zenit won their third title in a row, overtaking CSKA. Our parent club Dinamo came third, though it’s now only a Conference League place as Russia fell to 7th in UEFA rankings and Orenburg surprisingly won the cup! None of the promoted teams could keep their place, and that’s good news for us, they all seem weaker then Sochi, Akhmat and Arsenal.

PFL – Salyut Belgorod, Luch Vladivostok, Volgar Astrakhan promoted along with two more reserve teams – Zenit-2 and Ural-2.

 

Champions League – Chelsea lifts the continental trophy third season in a row, the big one this time!  The final was played in St. Petersburg, and Hakim Ziyech scored the winning goal on 88th minute. Three Russian teams (Zenit, Lokomotiv and Krasnodar) played in the group stage but none of them could reach playoffs (Krasnodar were especially poor with six losses and 1-21 goal difference).

Europa League – two Italian teams played the classic Italian game in the final. Zenit and Lokomotiv went out in the first knockout round.

[Koetzer]

Season 2021/22

Predicted fifth, the board expects top half finish, and I hope at least for playoffs.

And again we’ll have to build the squad during starting months of the season. I signed Belarusian left-back Krivulkin as a first team option just few hours before our first game, and others (Shamov, Krasilnichenko and Mokhov) will be mostly backup players. As for loan signings, only Proshlyakov remained from the last season squad.

[DaneBramage]

I've enjoyed playing in this division before, are you still able to make four subs each game? Always liked that.

[Koetzer]

14 minutes ago, DaneBramage said:

I've enjoyed playing in this division before, are you still able to make four subs each game? Always liked that.

Yes, this rule still exists.

[Hootieleece]

It's always a good sign if the Bookies predict that your better than some of the relegated teams. I am expecting minimum of playoffs and at least an outside shot at winning it.  (barring injuries to key players)

[Koetzer]

July 2021

Probably signing second striker on loan isn’t a good idea when you have a limit of five loaned players in the squad, but I didn’t find anyone good enough who we could bring to the club permanently, and actually Vostrikov looks even better than Proshlyakov. And Grulev replaced his teammate Mazurin who played for us on left wing last season and rejected our new offer.

Great start, we missed the first win after conceding on 95th minute but didn’t drop any points in later games and took the lead! Zakaric became FNL player of the month with six goals and currently leads the goalscorers table. Also it’s interesting that none of the relegated teams are near the top so far (Rotor actually looked hopeless playing against us).

[Hootieleece]

Relegated teams are often hurt by large amounts of turnover...Team Cohesion is a thing in this years ME. After I figured it out I never try to replace more than three starters and always try to promote the backups over bringing in someone new, 

[Koetzer]

August 2021

Two more loans before the window closed – Meschaninov will be a starting center-back, and Cherkes adds more options for our midfield.

Still going unbeaten, and our win streak extended to eight games before we couldn’t break through SKA defense. They are currently second, so I guess it’s not a bad result as well. Vostrikov scored six goals and won the player of the month award.

In the cup we faced Rotor once more with most of our key players on the bench, and they managed to get a draw after 90 minutes. Zakaric, who came in as a substitute, gave us the lead on 115th minute though visitors still had a chance to equalize in remaining time – Samsonov took a penalty and hit the post.

[Koetzer]

September 2021

That was a tough schedule, we faced two relegated teams and two teams currently chasing us in the table. In addition, we had to deal with international issues (both our strikers were called up for U21 team and were unavailable against Chertanovo) and injuries (luckily, key players remained healthy). And despite this we finished another month unbeaten, confidently leading in the league and advancing into the next cup round as well (will play against Tambov at home there, so I believe we'll have a chance to reach quarter-final once again)!

[Koetzer]

October 2021

With half of the season already played we still remain unbeaten and clearly aim for the title! But what’s even more impressive, we destroyed RPL side Tambov in the cup, scoring five goals within 15 minutes. And the quarter-final draw wasn't bad too, we will face Ural at home. They are currently 5th in RPL but it’s certainly better than getting CSKA or Lokomotiv.

[Koetzer]

November 2021

The game against second placed SKA Khabarovsk perfectly summed up this part of season, no chances for our opponents. With eight points above everyone else promotion should be only a matter of time, Khimki and SKA will most likely contest the second direct spot after winter break.

Not a golden generation this time, but hope that defensive midfielder who was mentioned three times really has some potential.

[Koetzer]

Winter 2021/22

Just like last year, I found a promising youngster in Georgian U21 team. Davit Kukhianidze looks like a player who can help us not only this season, but in future as well.

The preview said we’ll get a DM as the most promising player, but actually striker Zakharchuk looks much better and is the only one who caught my attention here.

[Koetzer]

March 2022

We conceded first against Ural but equalized immediately, scored the second goal just before half-time and got a man advantage soon after it, so our task became a lot easier. Rubin defeated CSKA and became our opponents in semi-final, would be a tough away game but I can’t say it’s impossible to beat them.

In the league we managed to increase our advantage, even despite finally losing. Have to blame injuries though, FM as usually strikes into the same place – we lost three central midfielders during a week! Zardiashvili is out for the rest of season, Bobko and Kukhianidze will miss most of April fixtures with some difficult opponents in FNL and cup semi-final  

Also we had a youngster poached from our academy for the first time. Yes Alexey, you certainly made a right choice to leave us for the team currently on 18th place  

[Koetzer]

April 2022

We lost two more games in the league but secured promotion anyway! And the cup semi-final against Rubin (initially thought that we should play in Kazan, but it was reversed for some reason) was the main highlight. They played better and were ahead with ten minutes to go, when their center-back was sent off and we equalized almost immediately. Both teams scored in extra time, and everything was decided in the sixth round of shootout. Shamov saved a shot from Begic, and our local youngster Rusakov confidently sent the ball under the bar!

And now only our parent club Dinamo Moscow stands between us and the cup! Luckily we have only one player on loan from them  

[Koetzer]

2021/22 Russian Cup final

PromAgro stadium, Stary Oskol

The final was played in a town with a population of 250 thousand people which never had a team playing higher than 3rd tier. And the 15000-seated stadium wasn’t even half full  

We had couple of chances when the score already was 2-0, but Dinamo were far better in this game and could easily score twice more than they did. It’s disappointing but we already exceeded all expectations, and in addition while European football could bring us a lot of money comparing to our financial state, it would also turn our schedule into a nightmare (which will be hard enough with that strange winter tournament in Qatar).

[Koetzer]

May 2022

We finished the league with three wins, including absolutely epic one against Rotor with three goals in injury time!

Playoffs:  Baltika 1-3 Sochi, SKA Khabarovsk 2-4 Krylja Sovetov. I hoped that at least one team would win promotion here and make our next season a bit easier, but both RPL teams held their places.

 

And of course we won a lot of individual prizes:

Zakaric – best player, best foreigner, best midfielder, best assistant and 2nd goalscorer.

Vostrikov – best young player, best forward and best goalscorer.  

Voskanyan – best defender. Also all three of them were selected into team of the year, along with Krivulkin, and I became a manager of the year as well.

 

Squad stats

Zakaric was exceptionally good this season, both in creating chances and finishing them. Would be interesting to see him on higher level, as well as Vostrikov and Grulev who both will stay with us next season.

 

Season summary

RPL – Spartak managed to end Zenit domination, and that was enough for Zenit board to sack Sergey Semak who won three league titles before.

 

Champions League – sixth title in nine years for Real Madrid after Alisson missed the decisive penalty. Lyon surprisingly reached semifinal, defeating Barcelona and Man City. Both Zenit and CSKA finished last in their groups, but at least Russian fans can be proud of Fedor Chalov who lifted the cup and won the golden boot with 9 goals.

Europa League – Valencia won this trophy for the fourth time. Orenburg, the only Russian representatives here, managed to finish third in their group.

Conference League – Marseille made the history as the first ever winners. And as expected, more nations were represented in playoffs, including an Austrian quarter-final and two Russian teams losing to eventual finalists on the same stage.

[Koetzer]

Season 2022/23

Predicted last of course, but with the same odds as Sochi and that’s encouraging.

A busy window, and it’s still going so more arrivals are expected. Along with well-known Grulev and Proshlyakov, a lot of new players joined us: 

Nikolay Popov – we loaned a player from PSG, what a start! Though actually he spent only three days in Paris after they bought him from Spartak  

Valery Kichin – will be our starting left-back. Also as Kyrgyzstan international he isn’t counted as foreigner (we are restricted to have 8 foreigners in the season squad, though all U21 players can play without registration and it's not a big issue yet).

Nihad Siladji – signing this Serbian giant touted as new Nemanja Vidic was a gamble, as other teams were interested and I didn’t see all the attributes. Not ideal, but he's certainly good for our level.

Ivan Lapshov – just a backup central defender.

Carlos Arguello – one of free agents I found while browsing South American U20 teams and offered them trials. Obviously will be our starting right-back.

Alex Matsukatov – central midfielder who can actually play any role.

Dmitry Markitesov – and another versatile player on loan.

[Koetzer]

July 2022

Three more players joined us on free transfers:

Milos Drincic – will be our second starting center-back. Not sure if that matters in FM, but he and Siladji speak the same language so shouldn’t have any communication issues.

Matias Miranda – I mentioned the group of Argentinian youngsters on trial, Miranda is the second to sign a contract with us. Would use him as a backup player at first.

Greg Ingram – was offered by his agent and appeared to be our best defensive midfielder (hope to find someone better for the first team though). What’s really strange, he didn’t play a single game for Worthing in Isthmian league!

I admit we had a really easy start, apart from CSKA who didn’t give us any chances, scoring three in first 30 minutes. But I never expected winning all four games later and finishing the month second, among all the big teams! Enjoying it until we have to meet them all  

[Koetzer]

August 2022

We made two more signings before the transfer window closed – defensive midfielder Dino Besirovic joined us on loan from Hajduk, and Russian U19 team striker Anatoly Shestakov moved from Chelyabinsk for free.

The season schedule was incredibly lucky for us, we still avoid the big teams and extend our unbeaten run (could even be eight wins in a row but we conceded on 94th minute against Rostov). We share the lead with CSKA, having the best attack in the league, but now the real challenge starts – all six games before the World Cup break will be against teams from top half. 

[Koetzer]

September 2022

I had to expect this against current champions and runners-up. At least we advanced to the next cup round and will face Rubin there.

[Hootieleece]

Glad to see you doing well in RPL. Arsenal Tula not so much.

[Koetzer]

October 2022

FM in its best, before the game against Krasnodar we lost all our starting and backup wingers, so I had to change our tactics to narrow 4-1-3-2 and surprisingly it worked! And it was a very good month overall, we lost to Rubin twice but won the remaining games against Moscow teams. Of course the home ground (a snow covered field with green grass and trees outside the stadium  ) helped us a lot, as well as ability to talk about revenge before all three games we eventually won.

So, at the middle point we are third in a close leading group, and Vostrikov leads the goalscorers chart with 10 goals. Hope we can keep this form when the season resumes after a World Cup break.

[Koetzer]

It seems we shouldn’t expect much from this intake.

 

World Cup

The group stage didn’t bring any big surprises, maybe only Algeria and Cameroon weren’t predicted to finish ahead Denmark and Colombia. Uzbekistan performance is also worth noticing, they managed to beat USA in their first ever World Cup and became the only Asian team which avoided finish fourth.

Second round was way less predictable with big teams like Brazil, Argentina and Italy all went out. And Algeria didn’t stop with that, becoming the first African side to reach the semi-final! The trophy once again was contested by European teams, and Germany won their fifth title (so equaled with Brazil). Kai Havertz was selected as the best player, and Harry Kane won his second golden boot with 6 goals.

Ballon d’Or was surprisingly awarded to Dejan Kulusevski whose national team didn’t even play in the World Cup (he won the Champions League with Real, but for example Havertz did the same and won the World Cup too). FIFA choice was more traditional – Kylian Mbappe.