The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

dkouv · July 15, 2021

Cultural Durango – Season 6 (2026/27)

The club turned professional after the promotion, so I spent the summer offering everyone new contracts and trying to keep us under the £7k per week wage budget. The quality of the teams in this division didn’t seem that much higher than in the one below, so I was hopeful of us being able to stay up without too much trouble.

Primera Division RFEF Grupo I The early season form justified my hopes as we were solidly mid-table and playing well in most games. But then our form really started to click and we went on a pretty crazy 16 game unbeaten run which actually saw us go all the way up into the promotion slots. I definitely expected our form to tail off but we just kept on going, beating the teams around us and below us, and sealing the title with a game to spare. To my immense relief there are no playoffs in this division, so up to La Liga 2 we go!

This means that in a rather bizarre turn of events, after 4 seasons of bouncing around Segunda B we are suddenly two promotions to the good, and will be mixing it up with the (almost) big boys in La Liga 2.

Players: The usual suspects Goikoetxea and Diomande 02a continue to be key, but the player of the year award goes to Alejandro Bilbao 04c who developed really well after going pro, which now means that we have one good defender! This guy really carried the team at times, being the only member of our back line rated above 2 stars, and thanks to him we actually ended up having one of the meanest defences in the league.

Youth intake: Not much depth and no defenders once again, but Mikel Dulce 06a is a good prospect with good personality. I could do with a new HOYD next year though.

Intake 02 review This was the key intake that brought in most of our current first teamers, and was responsible for the two promotions once these guys developed. Syndou Diomande 02a and Urko Gomez 02b are the two star talents, but Diomande is much more consistent which makes him much more important to us despite his lower CA rating. But it was also the other players like Iker Llorente 02d, Ignacio Kortazar 02h, and most of all Diego Garitano who proved to be the unexpected successes and gave us much of our first eleven.

Facilities/Finances: More than 400k in the red now, I hope La Liga 2 brings in some money.

Transfers: nothing of note


Season    |  League             | Pos. |     Europe     |   Best player                 |  Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22   | Segunda B Grupo II  |  9   |     n/a        |  Juanma Iparragirre (MC)      |
2022/23   | Segunda B Grupo II  |  14  |     n/a        |  Lander Goikoetxea (GK)       |
2023/24   | Segunda B Grupo II  |  3   |     n/a        |  Lander Goikoetxea (GK)       | Lost in playoff semi final
2024/25   | Segunda B Grupo II  |  5   |     n/a        |  Syndou Diomande 02a (AMC/ST) | 
2025/26   | Segunda B Grupo II  |  1   |     n/a        |  Syndou Diomande 02a (AMC/ST) | Promoted through the playoffs!
2026/27   | Primera RFEF Gupo I |  1   |     n/a        |  Alejandro Bilbao 04c (DC)    | Promoted


Facilities
----------
Season    |  Coaching     |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.    |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22   |  Excellent    |  Fairly basic     | Adequate       |  Adequate     |  3000
2022/23   |  Excellent    |  Fairly basic     | Adequate       |  Adequate     |  3000
2023/24   |  Excellent    |  Fairly basic     | Adequate       |  Adequate     |  3000
2024/25   |  Excellent    |  Fairly basic     | Below average  |  Adequate     |  3000
2025/26   |  Excellent    |  Fairly basic     | Below average  |  Adequate     |  3000
2026/27   |  Excellent    |  Fairly basic     | Below average  |  Adequate     |  3000

dkouv · July 15, 2021

Does anyone know if the HOYD preferred formation affects the distribution of positions in the intake? I'd like to get some defenders in so thinking about hiring a HOYD who prefers a back 3 or back 5 formation, but not sure this would make much difference (I remember in the past there was a forum post somewhere arguing that the preferred formation does not matter)

Brentmeister · July 15, 2021

54 minutes ago, dkouv said:

Does anyone know if the HOYD preferred formation affects the distribution of positions in the intake? I'd like to get some defenders in so thinking about hiring a HOYD who prefers a back 3 or back 5 formation, but not sure this would make much difference (I remember in the past there was a forum post somewhere arguing that the preferred formation does not matter)

I was listening to a FM podcast by The Athletic this week (I'm sad, I know!) and they had one of the developers on who said HOYD preferred formations can have an affect on the types of player brought through.

darren1983 · July 15, 2021

Someone remind when I start this thread next season what a slog England is. I thought getting to the Premier League was one but trying to compete with the players at the top clubs here is brutal at times.

TerminalPortugal · July 16, 2021

PORTALEGRENSE (2025/26)

This season was one where I knew that things could either go fine or we could be blown out of the water, having lost Pedro in midfield and with a lack of confidence in key areas. However we started the season really well and by the 15 game mark of the new season, relegation was completely out of my mind as we started well, really getting a good early home record although the away record was pretty appauling. As we got the second part of the season however we were really really bad and we could not buy a win but our early season form had been enough for us to never really flirt with relegation and we finished in 17th place, 12 points ahead of Uniao de Leiria who were relegated in 23rd place. All in all a very good season for us as we cement ourselves in Terceira, and to be honest my thoughts are slowly moving away from fighting relegation to working out how we can move up the table and begin to challenge the leaders. Let's be completely fair at this stage our squad is by far the worst in league and by a long way. The season prediction had 23rd place being closer to a title win than they were to us, with our odds of 650-1 to win the league.

On the player and contract front, we finally had a breakthrough with Pedro Almeida, whose contract was due to run out at the end of next season. He was a nightmare in the early season, asking to move, missing training, missing early season friendlies because he was out drinking the night before. But we just stood firm and eventually he let us know that he was now happy to stay at the club following interest in him subsiding from Academica de Coimbra. However at this stage he still did not want to sign a new contract because he did not believe that the team were up to his standard, but eventually this position also changed and we were able to sign him to a new deal. Admittedly the deal is an expensive one with on £1,000 per week, something like 3 times the next nearest player, but he is worth it with the goals he brings and I don't know where we would be without him. His new contract runs until June 2029.

In terms of other players, three key players stand out at the moment with Michael Marta impressing more and more with a full season behind him now as he became the key man in defence for us, which still very leaky but he is helping to improve things. Another man who is improving things in defence is Miguel Gandum who cemented himself as the number 1 keeper at the club having dethrones Tim Alber who is getting older. He could still improve a lot and having a good keeper in between the sticks is key to keeping things tight at the back. The other name to bring up is Rafael Pascoal, who fits in alongside Almeida up front. We had struggled with finding the man to partner him upfront with many of the candidates coming in recent youth intakes having key deficiencies in key places, but he seems to have what we need, in terms of having good size, decent speed, a decent finish and composure for this level, him and Almeida could be lethal next season.

Fixtures and League Table

League Table

Fixtures 1

Fixtures 2

Youth Intake

Youth Intake Briefing

Top Prospects

Other Prospects

Transfers

Transfers

Not a lot going on in the transfer apart from confirmation of Pedro leaving and obviously no transfers into the club.

Squad

Squad

Summary

Finances keep getting worse, so much so that I am looking at where I can cut some of non playing staff, such as the Chief Scout, which I can live without and other support staff. In terms of the players I have been pretty ruthless in deciding contracts and there should be a few players and prospects that have not yet panned out leaving the club in the near future via release.

Cheez3y · July 16, 2021

Chalkanoras Idaliou - Season 2021/22

Media Prediction // Transfers

I took over the club on August 14th, so those where already made

Upgrades/Downgrades/Misc

Junior Coaching: Basic -> Fairly Basic

Youth Recruitment:: Fairly Basic -> Adequate

Kypello Kyprou

Games

We drew AE Limassol in the 2nd round and we played pretty damn well.

We took them all the way to pens...and lost.

Defteri Kategoria

Results I + Results II

After a weird start with 9 draws in 3 months, we had a pretty decent run.

Top 8 will be the target for the next 2-3 seasons.

Finances looking bad as expected.

We got an ok team.

Chrisos (Y21) is clearly the best player we got.

Top 3 Regens

Brentmeister · July 16, 2021

Season 11 review
Another excellent season saw us almost complete half the challenge.
We came runner up in the Copa Libertadores in a final where we played excellent but just couldn’t get the job done. Hopefully the experience makes the players stronger next season.

-------------------------------

Serie A
We finished 5th this season, a massive 18 points behind the eventual winners. We’re not really getting any closer either. A rethink is needed.

Losing our last remaining wonderkid and best player we’ve produced so far, 11 games into the season obviously hindered our cause.

I think I’m gonna refuse to sell anyone now even if it means they run down their contracts and become unhappy, we have 200m+ in the bank anyway so we don’t need the money, but we do need the senior players. We can't keep selling a first teamer and taking a step back.

----------------------------------------

Sao Paulo State Championship
Another quarter final exit.

This cup is probably as hard to win as every other competition I'm in. All the best teams are from my state, São Paulo, Santos, Palmeiras and Red Bull; They are basically the best teams in Brazil, which also makes them the best teams in South America barring a couple of Argentinian powerhouses.

---------------------------------------

The Brazilian Cup
A decent showing for once. Quarter final.

-------------------------------------

Copa Libertadores
Runners up!
A favourable run and a few good teams getting knocked out early, helped us all the way to the final. Our inexperienced team played well and probably edged the match but just came up short.

We still almost didn’t make the final as we nearly threw away a 3-0 first leg lead, twice!

11 games in 34 days leading up to and including the final did us no favours at all. The scheduling in Brazil is brutal.

----------------------------------

Performances
We finally have our 30 goal striker as Brazilian German Getulio Vargas fired 32 for us.

Our best player was young Moises, who came in at CB aged 18 and instantly cemented his place as a starter. A glaring flaw is his marking, only rated at 8, so I'll be working hard to improve that next season.

Both players made the divisional team of the year.

After the departure of Bruno Henrique to Manchester United for a record 57m, we’re officially wonderkidless.

----------------------------------

Youth preview and intake
The preview wasn’t a golden generation but I was quietly excited at the variety presented.

When intake day came, they didn't disappoint, I have a good feeling about this bunch. I reckon at least 3 will become wonderkids.

Bruno Luis is pick of the bunch IMO. At 6’ 5” (198 cm) and with 14 dribbling, 15 aggression and 16 in flair and technique, we might just have the new Zlatan on our hands!

---------------------------------

Finances, upgrades and miscellaneous
Still rich and still no transfers.
We reached 600 games as manager.
The board tentatively mentioned a new stadium but nothing is certain yet.

TerminalPortugal · July 16, 2021

PORTALEGRENSE (2026/27)

A really bad season for us as we take a step back and almost get ourselves relegated surviving on the final day of the season to finish in 22nd place. There was a lot of turmoil at the club as I took a hard stance on some of those who wanted to leave the club but ultimately it was my fault because I kept switching up the tactics in search of something that was a little bit more solid defensively and to be honest we did not find that, and simply became a bit poor in front of goal which made things worse. Plenty to work on for next year.

1. Pedro Almeida | 2. Pedro Manuel | 3. Miguel Gandum | 4. Michael Marta | 5. Nelson Rosa

Summary

We tried to make some money with some pre-season tournaments, it worked but it just meant that the chairman put less money in to keep us afloat, so a small improvement. I will see if I can do it again this year so that we can make some extra money.

XaW · July 16, 2021

Follo Fotballklubb - Season 2032 (Season 11) Review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Well, this was some season! In the league we continued to fight along the best teams in what was an extremely exciting season for a lot of teams. The fight was quite even between Molde, Vålerenga, Stabæk, Rosenborg, and ourselves. And with 5 matches left, the title could end up at any of us. Before the final game, we had in our hands, and a win would give us the title. However, we only managed a 2-2 draw away to Ranheim, but luckily for us, Vålerenga also drew and that gave us the title on the final day! The first big step in the competition is completed! This also means we are heading into the Champions League next season, so the next step begins.

Financially, we are quite sound as we sold a few players this season. We have now maxed our youth coaching and youth recruitment and we are working on improving the facilities as well. So things are going in a very promising direction. I've also started to get approved some feeder teams in other countries, but only Iceland and Sweden so far. I hope to branch that out in the coming years.

In Norgesmesterskapet we beat Madla and Emblem before losing to Rosenborg in the 3rd round. Man, we've had some tough draws early on in the cup the last few years!

In the Europa Conference League we started in the 2nd qualifying round. We beat AC Oulu of Finland, Vaduz of Liechtenstein, and Lille of France to reach the group stage. There we drew Djurgården of Sweden, Zürich of Switzerland, and Villarreal of Spain. We won all matches, except away to Villarreal and won the group! The competition is still going and will be updated in the next season review.

Youth

Quite the "meh" intake this time. It did happen slightly before I changed HoYD though, so the next one will be the first for the amazing new guy.

Per Kristian Gundersen 32c is a strange type of striker, he can't and also won't try to score. But he is a talented player.

Statistics:

Spoiler

A few more Swedes, but no new country. A bit more varied Norwegian places though.

2nd team:

They only played friendlies

U19 team:

After getting relegated last season they were back in the Norwegian U19 Championship Oslo this season. They thumped it hard, won it, and qualified for the promotion playoff. There they lost to Kristiansund in the semi final and have to stay in the same division next season.

In the Norwegian U19 Cup they beat Sandviken, Egersund, Eik Tønsberg, Sandefjord, Vålerenga, and Odd before eventually beating Brann in the final to claim their first cup win!

Records broken;

Most goals in a match: Per Kristian Gundersen 32c - 4

Trophy cabinet:

Eliteserien - 2032
PostNord-ligaen Avdeling 2 - 2022

Norwegian U19 Championship Oslo - 2024, 2026, 2027, 2032
Norwegian U19 Cup - 2032

Proffa · July 16, 2021

2 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

Bruno Luis is pick of the bunch IMO. At 6’ 5” (198 cm) and with 14 dribbling, 15 aggression and 16 in flair and technique, we might just have the new Zlatan on our hands!

Looks promising.

BTW, for a while I was wondering that something is "wrong" here. Then I realized that you got custom thresholds for attribute colors. Like 14 for green instead of default 16 I think. Not that it really matters, it's preference of course. :cool:

Brentmeister · July 16, 2021

24 minutes ago, Proffa said:

Looks promising.

BTW, for a while I was wondering that something is "wrong" here. Then I realized that you got custom thresholds for attribute colors. Like 14 for green instead of default 16 I think. Not that it really matters, it's preference of course.

I like to adjust the thresholds relative to the league I'm in, makes it easier to form an opinion on a player's abilities, for me at least.

No point having the green attribute set at 15+ if you're in Serie D for example, when it's probably closer to 11 or 12.

I may change it to 15 now I'm challenging for the league and champions league on a (semi) regular basis

Edited July 16, 2021 by Brentmeister

libbyshuss · July 16, 2021

2022/23 - season 2

Naional League North - 17th

Season Summary

In the end a really successful season but it was so close to complete disaster

league - so, we started pretty well and were happily bumping along mid-table. Not really threatening the ply-offs, but miles off relegation as well. But then once we got to January our form deserted us. We got dragged closer and closer to a relegation battle until we were only 3 points away. In the end we were sfe ut only 5 wins from our last 26 league games does not fill me with confidence for next season!

FA Cup - here's where we were vikings! We got throught the qualifying rounds easily enough and made it to the first round proper, where we were drawn against Enfield Town, who were bottom of the national league south. We won 2-0, setting up a home game against Woking of the league above. We were brilliant, coming out 2-0 winners and put ourselves in the hat for the third round! I was praying for an away game at a Premier league team but it wasn't to be - but we did get the next best thing. An away game at a top Championship side - recently relegated West Ham!

They battered us but so what? We made 500k out of it!

Players

so the team was essentially the same as last season. we had a great youth intake but they were all 15/16 and way too young to promote really. In the end one youth player made it, but he didn't do very well. But it's all about the long game, he made some really strong improvements as the season went on

the First XI:-

Max Ryan was again the most importnat player. 39 goals from the lad this time. I'd be relegated for sure without him.

Youth

so another pormise of a golden generation, albeit with much fewer green lines this time around

The intake looks alright to be honest. A fair few 4 star potentials and some ok personalities.

Wladron looks interesting - i'll defnitely give him some first team action next season, see what happens.

Another interesting mix of nationalities as well. My first players from Africa and the Americas!

Finances and Improvements

Even before the West Ham windfal we were doing well for money. Having a skeleton staff and keeping wages at under 50% of our budget meant we were making a nice profit month on month. The extra 500k was thrown straight at improving our youth coaching. We've already got the best youth set-up in the league. I just gotta hope I can stay up while I wait for it to pay off!

Career

dkouv · July 16, 2021

19 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

I was listening to a FM podcast by The Athletic this week (I'm sad, I know!) and they had one of the developers on who said HOYD preferred formations can have an affect on the types of player brought through.

Sounds like a good podcast, might make me finally subscribe to The Athletic ))) Might give it a go then, there's currently a HOYD with a 5-3-2 preferred formation going spare

TerminalPortugal · July 16, 2021

PORTALEGRENSE (2027/28)

This year was very much one of keeping things simple of the pitch and spending a lot of time looking at the finances and seeing ways in which we could scrimp money and generate revenue. We managed to completely turn around our finances by essentially throwing friendly tournaments all pre-season and even in the gaps in the season where we could. This increased our revenue massively and we managed to make an almost £1m swing in our finances, which starts showing me a potential route to continue to improve because to be honest we had hit an impasse over the past few season, with the only prospect being survive for our lives.

In terms of the performance in the league, the first thing to mention is that all the friendlies obviously come at a price and Pedro Almeida our best player went down with a broken foot and out for 4 months as I was refusing to pay a specialist to see him to save the money. But we started the season very well and some of the new guys in the first team stepped up such as Pascoal and Manteiga. About the time Almeida came back to fitness is when we started having a hard time of things on the pitch and I think from about December we could barely ever win a game of football and mostly lost. However we had opened up a gap in the league and while at one point it came down to being 4 points above the relegation places, that was as far as it got and in the end it was actually very comfortable. Incidentally it was also our biggest points haul so far in the Terceira. In the end Almeida was pretty out of sorts and for the first time in 5 years he did not finish the club top goal scorer as Rafael Pascoal stole that. Hopefully he returns to form next season, he is moaning he wants to leave along with our second best player in goalkeeper Michael Gandum but we did at least manage to extend his contract to 2031, and even reduced his basic wage down a smidge.

The friendlies pretty clear took a toll on the players but I have to persist with it if I am going to have any chance of improving and anyway the finances were just getting worse and worse anyway so we either suffered a slow painful death as we slowly ran out of money and had to let everyone go anyway or we put up some kind of fight despite the issues with the amount of games we are playing, make our money and keep targeting survival each season. In terms of improvements we have already managed to persuade the very conservative board at the club to improve the junior coaching with our windfall of money this season. The target is to improve all the major areas of the club and slowly improve the team with better prospects and better training.

1. Pedro Almeida | 2. Michael Gandum | 3. Sergio Guimaraes | 4. Michael Marta | 5. Pedro Manuel

Summary

XaW · July 16, 2021

A bit annoyed my chairman stepping in here... I would hope he could trust in me to make the judgement when it's high enough.

TerminalPortugal · July 17, 2021

PORTALEGRENSE (2028/29)

We followed the same strategy with a view to raising the cash to start some investment into the club facilities and we have been successful on that front. Even though the current accounts show a deficit, we actually made a stonking profit this season when you take out the investments that were made. The investments were a brand new training facility and work has already begun on a new youth facility too, but that is still under construction. We also got agreement from the board to raise the junior coaching again, although it has not yet been fully implemented so at this time we still remain on adequate junior coaching but this should rise to good in the near future.

On the field we were actually brilliant this season, again the early season form was what helped us. But this the form was seriously good, at one point a third or a half into the season we were sitting pretty in 4th place, but like has been the case most seasons the second half of the season was far worse and we eventually finished in the safety of 13th place. The big positive is, that this was the first season where we did not flirt with relegation for a moment all season. I am pretty sure the additional matches we played in friendly tournaments is taking its toll on us in the hard yards of the season, but I am quite happy to suffer that and see improvement in the club. Secondly I think a promotion for us now could be a bad thing, as I am pretty sure we would be relegated straight away, players would get increases in the wages due to the promotion and overall it could be disastrous. We need to manage this potential coming promotion if it comes in the next few years carefully and make sure that the playing staff is at that level and that we are ready financially and in terms of facilities at the club.

I have noticed a reduction in our pre-season odds, which started in out first season at about 800-1, where every other club is normally under 50-1 for the title, to now around the 250-1 mark and even as low at points in the season of 200-1. This may still say we are the worst team in the league by a mile every season but the gap is slowly shrinking and by the time it shrinks I think we can do the upset and get promoted when we need to with the squad that can perhaps keep us up in the second division.

In terms of the players, Manteiga had continued to come on strong and now I have a real dilemma upfront with Almeida, Pescoal and him as well youngster Bolas who is knocking on the door and likely to make the move to the first team this coming season. Michael Gandum in goal agreed to sign a new deal, a real headache for me as he is one the best players on the team and really I am short in the goalkeeping position behind him with an aging Alber well past his best at this point. We look stronger in every position this season and we still have players slowly improving in the Under 19's ready to compete for first team places so things look rosy. The strategy has not changed, get the money through the friendlies and continue to invest. Over the course of nigh on a decade I have been at the club we have slowly been changing the board's goals from one that wants to buy players and sell them on, to a one that develops players. They have already embraced the development of players as a goal which is making getting investment into improving the youth setup easier, but also they are now willing to talk about the selling players for a profit goal which has been an annoyance for me and always a mark against my name when looking at my objectives as obviously with this challenge I cannot comply with it. But they are slowly changing and I expect in the next few seasons we can continue to change the vision for the club.

1. Pedro Almeida | 2. Miguel Gandum | 3. Sergio Guimaraes | 4. Ricardo Manteiga | 5. Anthony Howarth

Summary

UnkleTass · July 17, 2021

ACN Siena 1904 Season 2040/41 Review

Our 20th season in charge here at Siena and a great one for me and the boys. We not only remained in Serie A, but we qualified for Europe for the first time and also had a nice cup run to the semi finals of the Coppa Italia. A 7th place finish will see us play in the Europa Conference League next year and confirm Siena's best ever finish in the league. The only downside is the crown jewel in our treasure chest Alessandro Mari 37D* had a 3rd season slump only scoring 10 goals this year but at 20 years old you can't get too angry he will be a star. Also Daniele Ripa 25A* became the all time league appearance record holder considering the academy was only adequate when he came in, its a great effort.

We had a minor bump in the road that we had to re-upgrade both the training and youth facilities at the club, but with the bank we have been able to build up by our consecutive seasons in Serie A the board were more than agreeable to the investment back into the club

Which takes us nicely to the fact we have a new board, our 4th now I believe. So this summer we will have to hash out a brand new club vision. Here's hoping they believe in youth development otherwise this could get really sticky.

This was a European Championship Year so I actually got quite a few international job offers from all the teams who underperformed versus expectations, including one from Italy my country of work. National acclaim. Love it.

Challenge: Squad League Table Transfers

Key Players: Giorgio Cordaro 37A* Fabio Longo 37D Gregorio Beccani 32B

Youth Intake: Preview Actual

Manager: Profile Attributes

Jobs: International

Extra: Finances Moments Coppa Italia ECL Future Star Takeover

darren1983 · July 17, 2021

Currently have 5 players on international duty (2 at the ACoN and 3 at Asian Cup) for the end of December and all of Jan - 4 first teamers including my best keeper. This is going to be a long 6 weeks in which we play 10 games

TerminalPortugal · July 17, 2021

PORTALEGRENSE (2029/30)

We continue to progress in the league this season as we managed our first top half finish as we finished in 9th place with 70 points. It looks like we are really beginning to establish ourselves in this division, and I am now less fearful of relegation with each passing season. We continued the policy of making money through pre-season and in season tournaments to raise money and we have managed to improve the finances to just under £1m in the bank at this stage, although we did undertake any of the expensive redevelopments on the training ground of youth facilities as it is going to take a lot more cash than that to do that. We did however get our Junior Coaching up to excellent and our youth recruitment is now up to adequate so hopefully we should get better prospects through and with the coaching we have, also more prospects that are close to first team football from the off. Whether this is the case remains to be seen.

Pedro Almeida was back with a vengeance after a couple of middling season plagued by injury as he bagged himself plenty of goals and walked away with the Top Goalscorer for the league. Ricardo Manteiga is turning into a very capable partner in attack as he established himself as the guy next to Almeida. Michael Gandum also continues to improve and he is key at the goalkeeper position, so often in the season he picks up a man of the match performance to help us to an unlikely win or draw. I tied down the majority of players that I needed to to new deals including Almeida and Gandum, so hopefully there is no prospect of them running down their contracts.

Top Players At Club

Miguel Gandum | Pedro Almeida | Sergio Guimaraes | Ricardo Manteiga | Michael Marta

Summary

scarp · July 17, 2021

Champions League Final

OAKA Spyros Louis

29th May 2049

21:00

Welcome to OAKA Spyros Louis Stadium in Athens! 87 292 fans found the way to the stadium today as Real Madrid face surprising finalist Brora Rangers for Champions League title!

Real Madrid: Ikechukwu - Morales, Terzi, Lopez, Leandro - Moreira, Dude, Soares, James - Davey, Aleksic

Brora Rangers: Fox - Milne, Chaoui, Maclean, McWilliams - McMahon, Gibb, Wilson, Smith - Thomson, Doig

4th, Maclean gets a yellow card for tackle on pacey Davey.

10th, another yellow card for Brora Rangers, Gibb had to hit the brakes and break up Real Madrid's counter attack.

14th, Doig finds Smith who shoots from just outside the sixteen and the ball fizzes just past the post, agonizingly close for Johnny Smith!

16th, Dude gets yellow card for a foul on Sean Wilson near the halfline lane, Stuart Doig takes the freekick and with amazing cross finds Gibb who scores past Ikechukwu with his left foot and sends Brora forward! GOAL FOR BRORA RANGERS!

31st, Dude gets booked for foul on Thomson.

33rd, Moreira finds James from the corner kick who heads the ball just little bit over the top.

45th, Gibbs finds Smith with a cross on right side, Smith produces not his best shot on near post and Ikechukwu comfortably saves.

46th, pacey Davey goes through three Brora players but Fox saves and holds the ball.

HT, Brora Rangers 1-0 Real Madrid

59th, Davey once more makes an brilliant effort to run through the Brora defence like knife through butter but once more the finish is not as clinical as he wished for, Fox saves the shot from the angle.

73rd, booking for Lucas Lopez who hit McMahon with his elbow.

80th, Real Madrid tries to push hard but so far Brora's defence is very complex and does not allow for any chances.

86th, Soares with a long shot try but goes just a little bit wide.

90th, referee adds five minutes, can Brora finish the job and achieve the unachievable?

90+4, throw for Real Madrid near Brora's box, James does one-two with Soares and crosses the ball to the box, ball finds Morales who scores on the far post! 1-1 and we will most likely head to overtime! So close for Brora, lets see how will the equalizer affects Brora's presence on the pitch.

94th, Davey finds Morales with through pass but Morales shoots wide!

95th, counter attack for Real Madrid, Morales passes it ahead of Davey but Fox produces fantastic save to deny Madrid! Corner for Real Madrid.

96th, Moreira takes the corner, Lopez reaches the highest but the header goes just to the middle of the post where Fox makes a comfortable save.

102nd, Ikechukwu finds Gomes with a fantastic long ball and Gomes sends the ball behind the back of Fox! What a blunder by Brora's sweepers who just let him go for free. 2-1 for Real Madrid! 18 minutes to go!

107th, Coffey finds Doig with a low cross but Doig misses from fantastic position! That sure looked like a certain goal! Superb cross from Coffey.

111th, McWilliams crosses from right wing, his pass finds Kieran Jarvie who manages to score past Ikechukwu with a fantastic shot! GOAL FOR BRORA RANGERS, and it is all square now!

120+1, both teams look proper exhausted, it is penalty time!

Penalties

Thomson wins the coinflip and chooses Brora to go second, penalties will be taken in front of Real Madrid's fans corner.

First on the menu for Real Madrid, Davey. Davey does not give a chance to Fox as he comfortably sends it to the right low corner! 1-0

Gibb starts for Brora, Gibb is designated penalty taker.. Gibb shoots it in the middle and although Ikechukwu kind of stayed near the middle he could not save the shot! 1-1

Moreira is next.. shot goes the same way as Davey's penalty and it's 2-1!

Stuart Doig next, european golden boy from year ago.. same as Gibb, puts it in the middle as Ikechukwu jumps to the right. 2-2

Now comes Soares..and once more no chance for Fox! Third in a row to Fox's left side! 3-2

Thomson for Brora, soon 30 years old team captain... He steps up confidently and gives no chance for Ikechukwu! 3-3

Lopez now.. and he misses! Lopez sends the ball too wide! 3-3

McWilliams comes next, 19 years old right back.. Probably have not taken many penalties throughout his career... Fantastic shot to the left and no chance for Ikechukwu! 3-4

Fulvio Terzi for Real.. he has to score or Brora Rangers wins the Champions League.. Terzi steps up, shoots to the right.. AND FOX PRODUCES A FANTASTIC SAVE! BRORA RANGERS ARE THIS YEAR'S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNERS!

scarp · July 17, 2021

Brora Rangers 2048/49

Champions League Group Stage | Champions League KO Stage

Fantastic season by all means! Althought we have not won any domestic cups, we managed to clinch the title and most importantly, we won the Champions League! Unachievable was achieved and now it's time to move forward. We also played in Club World Championship but were missing key players due to internationals and lost to PSG in quarterfinals. This tournament also makes it impossible for me to deliver all the usual screenshots as it progressed to new season Key players were the same. We were playing fantastic football all season long and it will be interesting to see what happens to Brora Rangers as I retire.

Transfers

Key players: Stuart Doig, Mark McMahon & Alex Maclean

libbyshuss · July 17, 2021

2023/24- Season 3

National League North - 15th

Season Summary

Neither good nor bad, it was mid-table mediocrity from start to finish

League - we could never get going. Once we started to look like we might put a good run together we then started to look like we might put a bad run together. It was plodding along the middle from day one in reality

FA Cup - could we repeat the heroics from last season? Nope. Havant and Waterlooville beat us in the 4th qualifying round, despite being bottom of the National LEague at the time. Walloped us as well, showed us just how far we have to go.

Players

A definite transition season as I eased out some of the poorer older players for youth. The younglings were pretty much awful across the board but if I don't play them they won't improve. right? We'll see I guess

The first XI shows how poor they were for most of the season. Only our keeper got over 7 average rating and Max Ryan had his poorest season yet with only 25 goals this time round

Youth

Not sure about this. Only three lines of green text but a golden generation? Lots of information about what I won't get - but what will I get?

Well, not too shabby by the looks of it. and some more nationalities to add to the collection!

I got a lot of youths now. I need an U23 team really but will the board give me one? No they won't the beggars!

Finances and Improvements

Money is still ok, we're still in the green. And the board let me have a little improvement again. As long as I can keep making these little steps we're heading in the right direction. It really is a slog in England in the early days though. Most worrying thing is how I've been haemoragging supporters since we started. year on year our average attedance is lower and lower.

Career

scarp · July 17, 2021

Guys, thanks for the fantastic concept and the support through out the save. I love this challenge but it was the only save I played so far in FM21 so probably will take a break from it now, but will definitely join again with next FM If anyone has any questions or just want me to take any screenshots, please let me know. It was fantastic and often frustrating 28 seasons but in the end we made it Something that definitely helped a lot, was a fact that I had only Scotland loaded so throught the years the league became third best and as soon as I managed to win in Scotland it was just matter of time to win Champions League. Thanks a lot once more for support and good luck to everyone!

XaW · July 17, 2021

Congrats @scarp! Impressive work! :applause:

JLAB · July 17, 2021

Congrats on completing the challenge @scarp

dkouv · July 17, 2021

@scarp congrats, completing this with Brora is no mean feat for sure! Nerves of steel there in the final ))) Wonder what you were thinking when Real scored that 94th minute equaliser... Probably something unprintable

Padders · July 17, 2021

Season 71 - 2092/93

Not overly surprised.

Relegated!

We are just not good enough

In 24th place pretty much all season.

Intakes do look better since the upgrade in facilitates. Lets hope some of them are actually quality

Not had one "potential" Premier League player yet in 70 seasons!

Edited July 17, 2021 by Padders

Padders · July 17, 2021

Oh dear, another takeover but this time threatening to replace me as manager!

The manager linked is one of my ex players Alan Harris :lol:

Proffa · July 17, 2021

After 70+ seasons, how old are you in the game, Padders?

Image getting a message saying the board/fans think you are too old for the job. :kriss:

Padders · July 17, 2021

19 minutes ago, Proffa said:

After 70+ seasons, how old are you in the game, Padders?

Image getting a message saying the board/fans think you are too old for the job.

You don't go past 100. Just stays the same age

TerminalPortugal · July 17, 2021

PORTALEGRENSE (2030/31)

Another season in the books and we managed to slightly improve on league position finishing in 8th place, but this time around there was no point at which we looked like we could move towards the top of the table. We again carried out our mass friendlies campaign and brought in plenty of money but the investments on the junior coaching and youth recruitment improvements have to some degree meant we are now committed to doing the friendlies each season as our youth setup costs over £1m per annum to keep going.

On the field Pedro Almeida was again the standout guy with 21 goals this season, and also topping the assists and the average rating. The youth programme has begun to pay some dividends with Miguel Carapinha at just 16 years old breaking into the first team and already being one the best players at the club. Einel Barbeiro a 17 year old from Sao Tome and Principe has also broken into the team on the left wing and again has already made himself one of the teams better players. We have also instituted a policy of bringing up the top set of youngsters from this years youth intake to the first team to allow for some mentoring as we now have some players who have some decent personalities to do the mentoring.

We have made improvements this season, getting a new youth facility, and improved both the junior coaching to exceptional and youth recruitment to good, which should hopefully mean that we should be getting some good players through on the youth intakes and clearly they seem to be going further afield to find these players, this year we got a few Brazilians, from the ex-colony countries of Portugal as well as Libyan and an Zanibar/Tanzania dual national. The prospects this year also look very good and I expect them to be improving the team in the next 3 or 4 years to the next level together with the youngsters that are still to come.

Top Players

Miguel Gandum | Pedro Almeida | Miguel Carapinha | Sergio Guimaraes | Einel Barbeiro

Summary

libbyshuss · July 18, 2021

7 hours ago, TerminalPortugal said:

Another season in the books

you're moving through those seasons impressively quickly!

scarp · July 18, 2021

@XaW @JLAB @dkouv Thanks a lot guys! Good luck and KUTGW!

XaW · July 18, 2021

Follo Fotballklubb - Season 2033 (Season 12) Review

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

First things first. At the end of the last season we were still in the Europa Conference League knockout rounds after going past the group stage. In the 2nd knockout round we drew Fiorentina of Italy, and while we managed a good 0-0 away we lost 0-1 at home and got knocked out.

Before the season started we played in a Community Shield-like competition called Mesterfinalen, here we beat Rosenborg hard and claimed the trophy.

The league went as well as I could have hoped. We dominate the lesser teams now, and we are the better side most games against the bigger ones as well. Molde did what they could to follow us, but eventually they fell and we could leave them behind as we took our 2nd consecutive title. Interestingly, our two losses this season came away to Aalesund and Bodø/Glimt, and I consider them small accidents as we should have gotten something from those matches.

In Norgesmesterskapet we beat Stakkevollan, Hødd, Lillestrøm, Kristiansund, and Start before we lost to Molde in the semi final.

In the Champions League we went straight into the group stage because Norwegian football has risen through the ranks the last season. Here we drew Real Madrid of Spain, Porto of Portugal, and Feyenoord of the Netherlands. We surprised everyone, including ourselves as we beat Feyenoord twice and even beat Real Madrid at home. We drew both matches against Porto and lost the final away match to Real Madrid. That put us in 2nd place behind Real Madrid, and I'm very happy we have outdone what I expected us to do. My initial goal was to fight for the 3rd place, but Porto did much worse than expected, so we are through. The rest will continue next season, so I'll update then.

Youth

Not the worst intake, so I'm happy to take it.

Sebastian Øyehaug 33d has some very nice attributes, and especially his mentals looks great for someone so young.

Statistics:

Spoiler

Nothing new to the list this time either.

2nd team:

They only played friendlies

U19 team:

In the Norwegian U19 Championship Oslo they retained the title and qualified for the promotion playoff. They lost to Hønefoss in the semi final and stays down.

In the Norwegian U19 Cup they beat Urædd and Øygarden before they lost to Stabæk in the 3rd round.

In the UEFA Youth League they struggled as they faced the youth teams of the same clubs as we did and they finished last in their group.

Records broken;

Most goals in a match: Erik Arnesen 25h - 4
Most goals in a league match: Erik Arnesen 25h - 4
Most clean sheets in a season: Torgeir Johansson 29e - 18
Most league goals overall: Erik Arnesen 25h - 134

Trophy cabinet:

Eliteserien - 2032, 2033
Mesterfinalen - 2033
PostNord-ligaen Avdeling 2 - 2022

Norwegian U19 Championship Oslo - 2024, 2026, 2027, 2032, 2033
Norwegian U19 Cup - 2032

TerminalPortugal · July 18, 2021

PORTALEGRENSE (2031/32)

This was the season when we broke out from the mid-table and this was a very successful season for the club. At first things didn't seem to be going our way particularly although we led the league very early, inconsistency soon had us back down mid-table, but at the back end of the season we were reborn with a consistency not seen before and we just kept winning, until it was undeniable that we were indeed in a race for promotion. Our rivals were Academico de Viseu and Vitoria de Guimaraes B for promotion. In the end we could not quite get the job done, Vitoria B were just too consistent and managed to win all their remaining matches as we finished 4 points short. But in that time going for the title we beat the leaders, we beat Academico who were in 2nd place in back to back games. We beat Braga B away as well a game we lose normally. So perhaps we have turned a corner.

A big reason why things suddenly looked so rosy is firstly the coming of age of some of the youngsters already at the club. Miguel Carapinha at 17 years old is undeniably class. Einel Barbeiro continues to impress and now has 8 caps for Sao Tome & Principe. Romario Monteiro has got his minutes in and looks quality. And Gilson Cesar has not played a huge amount but he did become our youngest scorer ever and he is clearly going to be coming through in the next year or two. The second main reason for end of season form is some of the absolute beasts we got through this season. Celio from Brazil is brand new youngster from this years intake, and as soon as he arrived at the club he was instantly in the top 5 best players at the club, not for potential but for actual current ability. He looks brilliant and I could not help but throw him into to affairs straight away. The exceptional junior coaching is paying off.

The youth recruitment was the only thing improved this season and I did it right at the end of the season pretty much just as the last game of the season finished. The cost of the youth set up is very prohibitive for us, but it is making us a better club no doubt and without the ability to transfer players it is our only route to improvement. I will continue to run the friendlies to at least offset the majority of the costs but we are losing a bit of money each season, despite having a wage bill that does not even hit £10K a week and is the lowest in 3rd Division by a mile.

Top Players

Miguel Gandum | Miguel Carapinha | Diogo Pereira | Pedro Almeida | Celio

Summary

libbyshuss · July 18, 2021

2024/25

Season 4

National League North - 20th

Season Summary

Almost a complete disaster and the end of the challenge!

League - we started well enough, were happily mid-table at christmas but for some reason we just couldn't buy a victory. At times we were truly awful, other times we were really unlucky. We slipped into the last relegation place after 44 games and went into the final game of the season level with points with Telford but in the relegation spot due to goal difference. We were playing 24 placed Lancaster luckily enough and won 4-0, while Telford only drew, so we stayed up by the skin of our teeth. Not a good season though - we seem to be going backwards!

FA Cup - made it to the 4th qualifying round, outplayed Blyth from the division above but narrowly lost the replay. It seemed to kick start our poor run of form

Players

So they were pretty much uniformly terrible. Only Max Ryan got over 7 average rating and saved us again with his 33 goals. Halfway through our poor run of form I changed our formation, looking for anything. It seemed to work for two games but then we slipped back into losing game after game sadly. So who knows what I'll go with next season. I may stick with 4-3-3, I've never found AMC to work at these lower levels at all.

Youth

Another one of those with no green lines but a promise of a golden generation. Disconcertingly vague.

I do like the intake - this HoYD is giving me some great personalities

Finances and Improvements

Treading water on this point as well. We're still in the green but the board wouldn't let us improve anything

Career

England is such a slog!!!

Edited July 18, 2021 by libbyshuss

Cheez3y · July 18, 2021

Yes gimme some midfielders. I really need a decent DLP.

HbG93 · July 18, 2021

Going too take on this challenge in my home nation Norway. And I figured since Lørenskog IF became my choice. It was only right too create a manager based on their most famous player John Carew.
Excuse the rather absurd 3D model face scan attempt :lol:

Edited July 18, 2021 by HbG93

XaW · July 18, 2021

1 hour ago, HbG93 said:

Going too take on this challenge in my home nation Norway. And I figured since Lørenskog IF became my choice. It was only right too create a manager based on their most famous player John Carew.
Excuse the rather absurd 3D model face scan attempt

Hyggelig med flere nordmenn her!

That face model of Carew is not that far off, but falls somewhere along uncanny valley for me. Some abominable horror that!

Zdnap_ · July 18, 2021

Season 2027/2028

Another amazing season, where we went from Europa League qualification to Champions League qualification. Schäfer was once again a massive factor in our good performance, but the goals were more spread out between him, Hofmann, Aydinel, and Altintas and Kuta, the emerging youngsters. Weingarten was a rock in defence, and Traub has become a very reliable option to pair him with in the second part of the season, despite his ridiculously high aggressivity.

Spoiler

We started very slow in the Bundesliga, but then we found our rythm with some adjustments, and with Traub playing in the second half of the season we became quite solid, and slowly crept up to the qualification spot for Champions League.
The DFB Pokal didn't go too well, with an early defeat in the third round.
Our Europa League campaign saw us qualify 1st of our group, only to suffer a bitter defeat to Atalanta on away goals.

Spoiler

Statistically we are still the same be cause we use the same tactic. The difference comes mostly from our Central Defenders progressing noticeably, and the goals becoming more spread out across the attacking line.

Spoiler

Our regens feature two big and talented left backs, Mbayo and Miranda. Since Mbayo is kind of two-footed and Miranda can already play a bit at right back, Mbayo will be trained as a left IWB, and Miranda as a right IWB. Hopefully they can surpass Lasogga and Bubner who are a bit too limited, and disappointing this season.

Spoiler

The club itself is still going really well. No more changes to the stadium, but our facilities maxed out, and I could choose two affiliates, Go Ahead Eagles in the Netherlands, and BK Häcken in Sweden.
Some of the legacy players had their contract running out which caused some small difficulties, but we end the season with a good squad.

Spoiler

Many awards this year, including a global one with Schäfer named as European Golden Boy and FIFA Best U21 Men's Player. Garinyan also won German U17 award with Traub second, while Weingarten won German U19 with Hansen second. Altintas won Newcomer of the eyar, with Kuta second, and finally I won Head Coach of the year.

Spoiler

Season 2028/2029

WE WON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE !
Just kidding, but we did win the Youth League, so basically Champions League for kids !
For the senior team it was another good season, despite some small injury crises.

Spoiler

Nothing too special in our Bundesliga campaign, but we were in the race until the end. That title race was crazy, with Borussia - Bayern as the title match, that eventually decided that Hertha would win. In the end we are 4th, but with slightly more points, and still in the race in the last days thanks to Bayern and Borussia below average performances.
The DFB Pokal was catastrophic again, with another early defeat in the third round.
Our Champions League campaign was interesting as we finished the group 2nd behind Manchester United, but before Atletico Madrid and Dynamo Kieve (again). Honestly we did not deserve that place, but Manchester United offered u the victory by playing their U19 team, as they were qualified as first since their 4th match win against Atletico. And then we were unsurprisingly eliminated by Inter.
We did win the Youth League pretty easily. Our youth players are progressing way more quickly than those in the big clubs since they get much first team playing time very early.

Spoiler

Once again we are very lethal before the goal, and our defence has progressed again. Schäfer is scoring more this year, and Topal is a fantastic newcomer.

Spoiler

Nothing too wonderful in our youth intake this year. A good central midfielder, and a good goalkeeper. Both are nothing special physically, which doesn't bode well. But a decent goalkeeper is always good, especially since I'm quite lacking in this deprtment (I sold too many before realizing that they could be quite a problem in this challenge).

Spoiler

Facilities are already maxed out, finances are still well, so the only change in the club itself would be the 4 new affiliates (because we have too much money) : Suwon Samsung Bluewings FC from South Korea, FC Cartagena from Spain, Adelaide United FC from Australia, and Fudbalski Klub Radnički Niš from Serbia.
Once again some legacy players had their contract running, but it went quite well, and we end the season with a better squad again. And I finally completed Continental Pro Licence.

Spoiler

Not as many awards as last year, but we are still impressive in Germany. Saba won German U17 award, Kuta German U19 and Topal Newcomer of the year.

Spoiler

Another big news is that Mirbek Eraliev finally accepted to negotiate a new contract ! And my nemesis Kelvin Ofori continues to bully us, even the journalists are mocking us (but we still win)

Spoiler

Evolution

Lotte

Me

On 22/06/2021 at 10:17, vikeologist said:

@Zdnap_ I think normally you should definitely go with a Model Citizen HoYD.

I'm not aware that domestic knowledge comes into it. Maybe it does, and someone knows different; perhaps you since you raise the issue.

The tactical formation could be a factor though. Like I use a 442, and my HoYD, who is a Model Citizen, prefers a fairly different formation, so I do get some players who I can''t play in their natural position. But then again, I don't know how different that would be if I had a HoYD who used exactly the same tactics as myself.

I believe that personality is key. In my relatively narrow experience there is a huge correlation between personality and development, that seems to me to exceed how much playing time they get, but you suggested that your squad is already professional, and the HoYD F Pro. It's not like my HoYD trots out immediately M Pro and M Citizens, so changing your HoYD won't make a huge difference. The people who need to change HoYDs are I believe those in the early years of a challenge with a 'Balanced' HoYD with a truly horrible personality.

I think yours is a low risk low reward decision, because you're probably in a good spot already.

Are all of your intake in the exact positions you need? It certainly can be a pain retraining your high potential players in a position they're not natural in. 3 of my first XI are still 'out of position', but not badly so,

Thank you for your advice. I went for the Model Citizen HoYD, and it didn't change much indeed xD
The potential of the players might be a bit lower, but the personalities got a bit better.
The positions of the players I get are not too bad. The only problem would be that I get way too many left wingers for no apparent reason. With the last HoYD (442) I believe got more central/attacking midfielders than with the new one (442-2DM), but they nearly always have several positions anyway.
Anyway the only one that I have ever seen with a 442 Diamond Wide preffered formation is myself. Does staff like that even exist ?
And is there a way to get a natural inverted wing back ?