The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge

[The7Striker]

@vikeologist does India League and cups, count ? Its a second tier but its the only FM has. Sorry if you did respond to that before. Thanks.

[vikeologist]

1 hour ago, The7Striker said:

@vikeologist does India League and cups, count ? Its a second tier but its the only FM has. Sorry if you did respond to that before. Thanks.

Unless somebody can think of a reason why not,  i am saying that it counts. Are they Completely separate leagues ? I'll have a look at the league this weekend if i have time,  but i am saying yes to you. 

[The7Striker]

15 minutos atrás, vikeologist disse:

Unless somebody can think of a reason why not,  i am saying that it counts. Are they Completely separate leagues ? I'll have a look at the league this weekend if i have time,  but i am saying yes to you. 

Thanks.

Irl I belive 1st its promoted to Super League but in FM they are separate, so no promotion.

[The7Striker]

Neroca FC 2023/2024 Season Review

 

After what felt like years without games, we were back in action in the Durand Cup. After such a very busy transfer window, I still managed to take them to the semi-final, where we lost to Rajasthan.
This year's preview saw us finish mid-table, which I was happy if we were successful in that regard, but the lads went even further and clinched the title on the last day, always nice to have some silverware on the belt.
We also managed to qualify for the Federation Cup after the league was over and we did the job, a cup win for us.
The board was awesome this season, it allowed me to get a National B and A licence, as well as start the Continental C one.
It was my last season in India, as there is no promotion to Super League and outside of Durand Cup, I can't win anything else here.
 

 

Challenge Progress

Club

1/10 top domestic leagues (India)

1/10 domestic cups (India)

0/5 club continental championships 

0/1 club world championship

International

0/5 continental tournaments 

0/1 world tournaments 

 

[darren1983]

Season 2029/30 Review FC Nordsjaelland 

 

After taking over a third of the way into the season last year I did what I usually do and spent the rest of the season scouting in order to plan for the following season. As a result the turnover in the squad has been massive with only 4 of my starting 11 at the club when I took over (and 2 of those were in the reserve team) so there was a deal of transfer deals done over the summer and the season. We did make 12m while spending 6m. The downside is that it took us a few games to really get going in the league and it probably cost us. Midtjylland won their first 9 games (in fact I think they win something like 12 of their opening 13 games - with 1 defeat to us in game 11) so we never really got close enough to pressure them. Of our 6 defeats 4 of them came to Copenhagen which while starting a new life long blood feud for me it also hurt us. In the end we finished 5 points off of Midtjylland but with a points total that would have won the league in any other season. Hopefully sets us up well for the bext season, as long as we can improve our record against Copenhagen we should be alright.

The cups were a lot of fun, in the Polken we finished runners up last season (the club also finished runners up the previous 2 seasons) and I thought our run was over at the quarter final stage as we faced Copenhagen but this of course would be the one time we beat them this season. We did lose the 2nd leg to restore reality but was enough, we made the final to face league champions Midtjylland (who beat us in last years final) and 2 early goals meant we were never in trouble as we win the cup. I put a lot of focus on this this season as we were really out of the running for the league.

We were also in the Conference League and while this doesn't need to be won I did want to do well, we made it to the semi finals which was great but Southampton were far too strong for us. Hopefully it gives us a nice rep boost ahead of the summer transfer window. The only issue with doing well here as well as in the domestic cup was the fixture congestion it caused. After the league split we played every weekend and midweek for 3 months straight (the only break was the international break) and maybe cost us a couple times in the league. We're in Champions League next season so I probably wont have to worry about fixture congestion in the latter part of the season  

 

Career Overview

Year		Club			League	Position	Nation			Notes & Achievements 

2022/23		Polokwane City		NFD	11th 		South Africa		Took over with 9 games left of the season
2023/24		Polokwane City		NFD	1st 		South Africa		Completed first coaching badge
2024/25		SuperSport United	PL	1st 		South Africa		Won Nedbank Cup and completed second coaching badge
2025/26		SuperSport United	PL	1st 		South Africa		Won Champions League and completed third coaching badge
2026		Daegu			KL	4th		South Korea		Took over with 8 games to go
2027		Daegu			KL	1st 		South Korea		Won the FA Cup
2028		Daegu			KL	1st 		South Korea 		Won Asian Champions League. Completed B licence. Started on A licence.
2028/29		FC Nordsjaelland	SL	4th		Denmark			Cup runners up
2029/30		FC Nordsjaelland	SL	2nd 		Denmark			Won the cup

 

Year		Country			Ranking		Notes & Achievements
2025		Algeria			26th 		Qualified for World Cup
2026		Algeria			26th		
2027		Algeria			15th		Won Cup of Nations
2028		USA			12th 
2029		USA			11th 		Gold Cup Winners

Challenge Progress

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues – South Africa 2025 (SuperSport United), South Korea 2027 (Daegu)
 3/10 domestic cups – South Africa 2025 (SuperSport United), South Korea 2027 (Daegu), Denmark 2030 (Nordsjaelland) 
 2/5 club continental championships – Africa 2026 (SuperSport), Asia 2028 (Daegu)
 0/1 club world championship 

International
 2/5 continental tournaments – Africa 2027 (Algeria), North America 2029 (USA)
 0/1 world tournaments

 

[leyrtj]

Season 2030/31

I joined a Real Madrid team who were short of success but high on expectations. I've never quite seen a squad like it. So many high profile but average quality players over 30 on >200k per week. A massive clear out left a few hundred million to spend, and spend it we did. We brought in two ex-wingers, one of them who we signed for the third time. A successful season at the end, winning La Liga. Unfortunately we go knocked out of the Copa del Rey in the 3rd round. At the end of the season, there weren't many jobs around, but I saw Kaizer Chiefs available, so I resigned. Then the next day the Bayern job was available which would've been perfect. But then, Real appointed the PSG manager meaning that job was available. Even more perfect, so off we go to PSG,

On the international side, we managed to win the African Cup of Nations with Senegal. We weren't the best team in the competition but got an easy draw - Congo in the semis and South Africa in the Finals. They had a man sent off after 9 minutes in the final, but we still needed extra time to win it.

Reflections on the challenge after 12 seasons

We're now officially halfway, having won 16 out of the 32 trophies required. It certainly feels like we're over halfway but the stats don't lie. I've really enjoyed the challenge so far. I really like starting unemployed with no badges and building your way up. Definitely makes it more fun, and also means you're dealing with regens when you get to a big fan. That suits me as I actually don't like managing real life players, I prefer the regens. 

The trophies that I was most concerned about were the Club World Cup, Gold Cup and Asian Cup as those were the ones I'd never won before. The Continental Champions Leagues as well as I find them a matter of luck. The only one of those left is the Asian Cup, which is already the one I'm now most concerned about. Realistically, I need to get the South Korea or Australia job, but those managers have been in the job for 7 years. Also the Asian Cup is only every 4 years, compared to the African Cup of Nations and Copa America being every 2 years. I also realize I only have 4 cup competitions so far, as I've tended to leave a club once I've won what I needed there. 

My plan going forward is firstly to complete France, just need Ligue 1, but I really need to win the Cup as well. Then I will do African and North America in any order. Following that I'll will do a bit of a journeyman to pick up 2 or 3 more national cups. Then the plan is to finish in Germany. 

Signed this guy 3 times now.

[leyrtj]

Quick questions.

1) Firstly, for the big 5 European Leagues, the only requirement is that you need to win the league? Not the cup? That's how I've read the rules.

2) Secondly, the rules say "Domestic Cups from 10 separate nations ". So does that mean if I go to Scotland and win both domestic cups, I cannot count it as 2 cups? Just 1 cup?

[vikeologist]

24 minutes ago, leyrtj said:

Quick questions.

1) Firstly, for the big 5 European Leagues, the only requirement is that you need to win the league? Not the cup? That's how I've read the rules.

2) Secondly, the rules say "Domestic Cups from 10 separate nations ". So does that mean if I go to Scotland and win both domestic cups, I cannot count it as 2 cups? Just 1 cup?

1.  Any 10 domestic cups,  where all top division teams compete,  so no,  doesnt have to be the big 5,  but 

2.  Has to be 10 different nations,  so can only count 1 of the SCOTTISH cups. 

[leyrtj]

Okay thanks. Makes sense. Otherwise could do Scotland then Northern Island and pick off 4 cups. 

[SkiIIs]

Season 2038/39 - Manchester United

Second full season in with Man Utd and after not getting any ticks last season with them, this year I wanted to make in roads.  If you asked me before the season what the priorities would be, I would have answered League, CL then cups.

We started the league off with some easy kills, but in our 7th game we lost to Chelsea, then drew with Spurs, then lost to Watford which threw us off. Arsenal on the other hand won their first 16 games including a victory over us which pretty much destroyed any hope of winning the title. So at that point, the priorities were CL, Cups then League. 

In the CL, we only lost to Real Madrid in our league games away to a 91st minute winner so form going into the knockouts was pretty good. In the round of 16, we were given Juventus. Away in the first leg we found ourselves somehow down 4 - 0 after 61 minutes. Knowing that the league was gone, I was again staring down the barrel of no ticks again this year.  We managed to peg a goal back in 70th minute to give the team a bit of hope going into the home encounter.   Was hoping for an early goal to fire up the team but after dominating we went into half time at 0 - 0. After the restart, Vinicius scored and then 5 minutes later Josema made it 2 - 0 on the night and 4 - 3 on aggregate, game on!  Or so i thought, Juventus scored in the 61st minute. With 5 minutes left of normal time left, we were still down by 2 goals so i went attacking and in the 88th and 90th minutes we scored to tie encounter up!  Amazing as i had totally given up by this stage!   So extra time we go and we cop a penalty 2 minutes in so again I was absolutely pissed after the massive fightback we looked gone however the team managed an equaliser to take the game to pens. I coulndt watch at this point, but they missed their 4th, we scored all our 5 to get through the next round!  We then made light work of Milan in the QF's, we edged out Tottenham in the semis 3 - 2 thanks to a plucky 1 - 0 win away then beat Newcastle in extra time after they scored in the 92nd minute to tie the game 1 - 1.  What a ride this Cup was!!

We also won the Carabao Cup so two ticks this year was a pretty good result. 

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by SkiIIs

[Crispypaul]

  

  

      

Crispypaul
Ulsan
K League 1
2030

This is reduced as we only played part of the season

AFC Champions League - Fixtures - SH Port were beaten thanks to a great away win.  Next were our domestic challengers Jeonbuk whom we smashed 11-2 on aggregate.  Then holders Suwon whom were beaten thanks to a good early home win.  In the final we faced Saudi side Al Hilal with a home win enough for us to lift the trophy

I resign just before the world cup on the basis there should be some decent European jobs coming up now

International (USA) - the 2030 World Cup next

Domestic
Season	 Team			Division			Position			Notes						
2022/23	 All Stars 		South African NFD	 	3rd				Promoted through playoffs
2023/24	 All Stars		South African PSL		4th				
2024/25	 All Stars		South African PSL		1st				Won MTN8, Telkom, Confed Cup
2025/26	 All Stars		South African PSL		1st				Won MTN8, Telkom, Nedbank, CL, resigned
2026	 St Louis City FC	MLS				6th				Lost in SF playoffs
2027	 St Louis City FC	MLS				1st				Won MLS Cup, CL, Open Cup
2028	 Ulsan			K League 1			1st				Won KFA Cup
2029	 Ulsan			K League 1			1st				Won KFA Cup
2030	 Ulsan			K League 1			n/a				Won AFC CL, resigned

International
Year	   	Team				Achievements
2023/24		Ghana
2024/25		Ghana				Qualified for AFCON, sacked!
2025/26		Senegal				Qualified for World Cup
2026		Senegal				World Cup SF
2027		Senegal				Won AFCON, resigned
2027		USA				Joined after Gold Cup
2028		USA	
2029		USA				Won Gold Cup, qualified for WC 2030
2030		USA				tbc

Challenge Progress

Club
 3/10 top domestic leagues (All Stars, South Africa, 24/25; St Louis City, USA, 2027; Ulsan, South Korea, 2028)
 3/10 domestic cups (All Stars, South Africa, 24/25; St Louis City, USA, 2027; Ulsan, South Korea, 2028)
 3/5 club continental championships (All Stars, Africa, 25/26; St Louis City, North America, 2026/27; Ulsan, Asia, 2029/30)
 0/1 club world championship 

International
 2/5 continental tournaments (Senegal, Africa, 2027; USA, North America, 2029)
 0/1 world tournaments

[Crispypaul]

 

         

USA
World Cup 2030
 

Group Stages -  Table

Beat Slovakia and drew with Ghana enough to win the group

Second Round

Spoiler

USA 4 Mexico 2 - beat our close rivals in an entertaining game

Third Round (if applicable)

Spoiler

Croatia 2 USA 5 - crazy game helped by Croatia's straight red

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Belgium 1 USA 1p - scabbed it with a close win on penalties

Semi Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

USA 1 France 1p - hearts broken as we lose to the French on penalties

Final/Third Place Playoff (if applicable)

Spoiler

Uruguay 3 USA 3p - our third penalties game gave us the bronze medal

I resigned at the end

 

 

[Crispypaul]

After the World Cup I was in the hunt for a European Top 5 job but nothing came up yet, instead I am joining Belgian giants Anderlecht

I also got another international job, Australia, ahead of the Asian Cup in January 2031

Edited May 16, 2023 by Crispypaul

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2041/42 Real Madrid Season Report

 

When I quit Inter at the end of last season, the Real Madrid manager took the job; which was convenient.

Real’s wage bill was crazy, and I had almost no money to bring in new players because I had to reduce the transfer fund down to almost zero to free up any wages.

So, success wasn’t guaranteed. By the halfway point we had a 7 point lead in the league, but then in the second half of the season Sevilla gained 52 points from the next 18 matches. That’s 17 wins (including against us) and a draw.

Fortunately we still managed to keep our neck in front and wrap it up in our penultimate match.

We also won the cup.

We went out in the Champions league Q/F 7-6 on aggregate to (cough, thanks to me) defending champs Inter in a crazy second leg. But honestly, that was probably a good thing as we’d have had a crazy schedule otherwise, where thanks to Sevilla we had to (almost) win every match.

Top Goalscorer – Luke Gillam – 59

I intended to have a bit more rotation of my striker, but Gillam maintained a good strike rate and started 43 matches in all competitions. He was rested quite a lot though.

Given the goal tallies my strikers are netting, it would be interesting if I took over a side with an 18 year old striker who can start, as I might abandon the challenge in the hope of achieving the 1,000 goal challenge. Even in the Youth challenge I never came close to that number.

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) Luke Gillam – 7.87

Man of The Match – Luke Gillam – 10

MVP – José Antonio Palacios

I had 4 exceptional players (none of whom are Gillam) who were the engine of the team, especially my attacking midfield pair of Palacios and Hugo Gonçalves. Palacios played a lot more though and is in my Spain squad for the upcoming World Cup, so he’s my man.

 

I’m at the stage of the challenge where it’s becoming a bit of a drag, so it’s possible that after the World Cup I’ll do a season or two of something else.

However, France and Germany might be more difficult if jobs at PSG and Bayern don’t become available. I particularly want to manage PSG, as in all the years of this challenge and other saves I’ve never managed them. I’ve been turned down a few times, and there was at least one time when I really wanted to manage them because my favourite player in all challenge attempts played for them.

Domestic
Season	Team		Division	Position	MVP			Notes										
22/23	Black Leopards	S African L1	5th					Took over with 8 matches to go.Edge of relegation to edge of promotion.
23/24	Black Leopards	S African L1	1st		Kiyaam Bull 		SA Cup Q/F
24/25	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	10th					Took over with 6 matches to go. Won SA Cup.
25/26	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	2nd		Sphesihle Maduna	Won Confederations Cup.
26/27	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	1st		Mduduzi Shabalala	League, ACL, SA Cup, S8 Cup.
2027	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	12th					Took over after 8 matches. Lost in Playoffs Prelim
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Connor Buck		Lost in final.
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	2nd					Lost in S/F
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Kevin Castañeda	Lost in final.
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	3rd					Left before playoffs
2029	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	n/a					Lost immediately in playoff plelim.
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd					Won league. Lost Champions League on penalties
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	1st					League champs
2031	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	1st		Hugo Moreno		League / NACL double.
2032	Suwon		Kor L1		2nd		Johnny			Took over in 8th with 21 matches to go.
2033	Suwon		Kor L1		1st		Johnny			League, Cup, ACL
2035	Gremio		Bra L1		11th					Took over midseason. Won Copa Sudamerica to qualify for Copa Lib.
2036	Gremio		Bra L1		1st		Kluvert Ako Oru	League, Copa Lib S/F
2037	Flamengo	Bra L1		2nd		Endrick			Club World Cup, Brazilian Cup, Libertadores. Missed out on league by 1 point.
39/40	Man Utd		Eng Prem	1st		Diego Esedin		League, Carabao Cup, Champions League
40/41	Inter		It Ser A		1st		Dániel Kis			League and Cup double, plus Champions League.
41/42	Real Madrid Sp La Liga		1st		José Antonio Palacios	League / Cup double.

International
Year			Team		Achievements
23-24			Fiji			Oceania Cup S/F
24			Morocco U23		Olympics Losing Finalists
26-27			Iran			Asian Nations Cup losing finalists
27-31			Morocco			ACON S/F
						WC R2
						ACON winners.
31-32			Belgium			Euro S/F
32-34			Mexico			Gold Cup, sacked after World Cup
35-36			Australia
36-40			Brazil			WC S/F, Copa America
40-			Spain


Challenge Progress 22/32

Club
 7/10 top domestic leagues 		(S Africa, Mexico, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain)			
 6/10 domestic cups 			(S Africa, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain)							
 5/5 club continental championships	(Africa, N America, Asia, S America, Europe)		
 1/1 club world championship

International
 3/5 continental tournaments 		(Africa, N America, S America)	
 0/1 World Cup		

 

[leyrtj]

Season 2031/32

Pretty easy year in the end. I wanted PSG as they are by far the best in the league. Walked the league and cup with not much in the way of competition. The squad didn't actually need much work, but seems I can't help but do a squad rebuild wherever I go. Nothing much else to say here really. France done.

I also managed to finally get the South Korea job. The manager won the Asian Cup last year, so I wasn't hopeful. However, they managed to come 3rd in the East Asian Cup, and the job was available. One thing I've noticed is that some international jobs get advertised one day and then a new manager is appointed the next day. Which might be why I never seem to be able to get the job. This time I was following them in the East Asian Cup, and then saw the job. i was offered the job the next day. It's a three year wait until the next Asian Cup, and I've turned down Brazil in the mean time. I really need to win it.

I resigned from PSG in June, and for the first time in the save struggled for the next job. I've loaded some smaller league, but nothing looked attractive. There was a job in South Korea available, with the team already in the Semi-finals of the cup, but decided not to take the risk. I've never managed there before, and if I didn't win the cup then it might be a 2year rebuild. 

I chose instead to take over Rangers. Having two cups in Scotland seemed worth it, with one of the finals being in December, so the possiblity of a 6 month in and out was there. In terms of the save, I know I need to go to North America and Asia and then Germany, but I've only won 5 cups, so I know I'll need to stop off a couple of places on the way. With two cups in Scotland and NI, they seemed worthwhile. I don't need to win the league in Scotland but it would take the pressure off a bit. One other strange thing was that the Kaizer Chiefs job came up, and I thought it's time to go and do Africa. But they turned me down. 

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by leyrtj

[numero uno gunner]

Season 2022-23

Sundowns

So, I decided to take the job at Sundowns, and this season has been an absolute blast.

We won the league at a canter, finishing 12 points clear, a mightily impressive performance in a league which only has 30 games. We dominated from the start, winning 15 of the first 17 games. We only started really dropping any points when we focused on other competitions. Well, the Champions League, to be more precise. 

By the time we sealed the league title, we had already won both the Super 8 and the South African Knockout Cup, the latter with the most comfortable 2-0 win you'll see in a long time against Orlando Pirates. Having already won a domestic trophy in South Africa with Maritzburg last season, I didn't need to win one this year, but winning breeds confidence and sets standards. With that in mind, you can imagine my frustration when we lost on penalties to Orlando Pirates in the South African FA Cup, having been 3-0 up at half time. We were still competing in the Champions League at this point, so I was annoyed that we'd given up our chance of winning a quintuple, let alone doing it in that matter. Golden Arrows, who finished 10th in the league, then beat Orlando Priates 1-0 in the final as well.

Winning the league was the secondary target this season, as I'm confident I'll pick up league title wins along the way, but winning the Champions League was always priority number one. We beat Gambia Armed Forces 13-0 on aggregate in the preliminary round, before beating ASKO 9-0 on aggregate to qualify for the group stages. We were grouped with ES Setif, CR Belouizdad and last year's winners, Al-Ahly. We were incredible, winning all 6 games, scoring 16 and not conceding at all. Simba were then despatched 3-0 over two legs, stretching our clean sheet record in the competition to 12 games. We faced familiar opposition in the semi-finals, where we played last year's league winners, Cape Town City, who were struggling in the league. We didn't turn up for the first leg away, losing 2-1, but they also had 2 goals disallowed as well. We scored in the first minute of the return leg to even the tie, before going on to win 3-0 and take us through to face ES Tunis in the final.

It's probably worth mentioning Peter Shalulile at this point. A phenomenal season from him up front, scoring 38 in 33, including 17 in 12 in the Champions League. What I didn't need to happen was for him to damage his achillies tendon a day before the Champions League final. Terrible news and even worse timing. It meant my summer signing, Evidence Makgopa, would need to step up. Could he make himself the hero?

Yes, yes he could! He netted in the 78th minute for the only goal of the game, in a very, very nervy final. We'd conquered the continent! Due to the lack of viable options for winning the African Champions League, I'm so ridiculously pleased to have got this off the list only two seasons into the challenge. One of the things I've learnt from completing this twice is that somewhere along the line, you need to just be in the right place at the right time, and I think beating Sundowns on the last day of last season to stop them winning the title contributed to them hiring me for this year. I spent wisely, bringing in a couple of players to improve a first team which was arguably already far and away better than the rest of the league, as well as a few players to provide the depth to challenge on multiple fronts.

This team has been excellent. I'm going to start keeping a challenge XI at the end of each season, and quite frankly, all XI so far come from Sundowns.

GK: Sifiso Mlungwana (Sundowns) - 25 clean sheets in 43 games. Trustworthy.

RB: Abubbaker Mobara (Sundowns) - Average rating of 7.54, with 5 assists in 17 games. So, so good.

CB: Rivaldo Coetzee (Sundowns) - Average rating of 7.38. Big game player.

CB: Olisah Ndah (Sundowns) - Average rating of 7.44. Leader.

LB: Aubrey Modiba (Sundowns) - Average rating of 7.18. Consistent.

CM: Bongani Zungu (Sundowns) - 92% pass completion rate for the season. Dominant.

CM: Teboho Mokoena (Sundowns) - All round midfielder. Reliable.

AMR: Marcelo Allende (Sundowns) - 17 goals and 16 assists. Absolute Wizard.

AMC: Thabiso Kutumela (Sundowns) - 16 goals and 10 assists. Key goals in big games.

AML: Themba Zwane (Sundowns) - 17 goals and 15 assists in 29 games. Incredible.

ST: Peter Shalilule (Sundowns) - 38 goals in 33 games. Clinical. 

 

I now need to wait and see what jobs come up. I've done a couple of coaching badges, and I'm looking forward to the next challenge. I'd like a club in their nation's top league somewhere in Asia or South America next I think, but we shall see what happens!

 

Season   Team    	Position	Notes and Achievements
2021-22	 Maritzburg	10th		Took over halfway through the season in 16th. FA Cup winners!
2022-23	 Sundowns	1st			League winners! Champions League winners! Knockout Cup winners! Super 8 winners!
 
Challenge Progress

Club

1/10 top domestic leagues (Sundowns - South Africa)

1/10 domestic cups (Maritzburg - South Africa)

1/5 club continental championships (Sundowns - African Champions League)

0/1 club world championship

International

0/5 continental tournaments 

0/1 world tournaments

 

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2042 Spain World Cup Report

 

My 4^th World cup in a row.

I reached the semi-final with Brazil 4 years ago.

Then I had to reach the Q/F to preserve my job. This time with Spain I’m expected to win it. That’s what I came here for, but so far the sum of the Spain team has proven to less than it’s world class parts.

However, we are injury free, and teams do sometimes come together in tournaments.

Group Stage

Spoiler

Spain          5-0    Senegal

Spain          0-0    Venezuela

 

First result made me optimistic, and was then brought back down to Earth in the second. Still, we finished top of the group, and play China next.

Second Round

Spoiler

Spain          5-0    China

Next up is Serbia. Not an easy match, but it gets a whole lot more tricky after that.

Third Round

Spoiler

Spain          3-1    Serbia

Fairly comfortable, and I rested a few players.

Next up is the big match, against Brazil, who you probably don’t remember, but I left after the Copa America because I didn’t think their players were good enough. There’s no doubt that the Spanish squad are better players, and the Brazil side have staggered their way through the tournament so far, but I’m still concerned.

Quarter Final

Spoiler

Spain          p2-2  Brazil

We were sloppy throughout the match, and then missed 2 of our first 3 penalties. I thought we were, and in particular I was, toast. Spain sucking at penalties brought back some unhappy memories.

But somehow we made it through.

We nearly faced another of my teams next that I left because they weren’t good enough, Australia, but Netherlands won their penalty shootout. Hopefully they’ll be as tired as us.

Also, no pressure, but Denmark won the first semi-final.

 

Semi Final

Spoiler

Spain           1-3    Netherlands

We were awful. 2-0 down we pulled back a goal thanks to a dodgy penalty, but didn’t look like equalising, and they scored a third right at the end of the match with us throwing everyone forward. This was a real chance to win the World Cup; tossed away.

Final / 3^rd Place Playoff

Spoiler

Spain          2-0    England

After The Tournament

Spoiler

We actually moved up the world rankings to 3^rd, and I thought finishing 3^rd in this competition might just save my job, but no. I was sacked.

Once again, England didn’t offer the job to me. (They must be hard coded to not appoint Scottish managers), so I have the choice between France, Italy and Portugal. Seems pretty obvious to choose France, but I’ll have to take a closer look at the options.

 

Talking of jobs I’ve never been offered. the PSG manager left to take over at Real Madrid. I’ve never had managerial dominoes fall so conveniently for me before, and the PSG job was the one job in this entire game I most wanted, having always been turned down before, (in many Ultimate Challenge attempts). I’ve just checked. I think I’ve never managed a French team twice in all my attempts, and never PSG.

It hadn’t escaped my notice that PSG kept offering all you b******s jobs either.

Anyway, this time they have seen sense and offered me the job, and frankly it’s not a great PSG team, on or off the pitch, (I have a transfer budget of £120k), but I just need to pick up the league and cup in a year and I can tick them off the list.

Domestic
Season	Team		Division	Position	MVP			Notes										
22/23	Black Leopards	S African L1	5th					Took over with 8 matches to go.Edge of relegation to edge of promotion.
23/24	Black Leopards	S African L1	1st		Kiyaam Bull 		SA Cup Q/F
24/25	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	10th					Took over with 6 matches to go. Won SA Cup.
25/26	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	2nd		Sphesihle Maduna	Won Confederations Cup.
26/27	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	1st		Mduduzi Shabalala	League, ACL, SA Cup, S8 Cup.
2027	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	12th					Took over after 8 matches. Lost in Playoffs Prelim
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Connor Buck		Lost in final.
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	2nd					Lost in S/F
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Kevin Castañeda	Lost in final.
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	3rd					Left before playoffs
2029	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	n/a					Lost immediately in playoff plelim.
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd					Won league. Lost Champions League on penalties
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	1st					League champs
2031	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	1st		Hugo Moreno		League / NACL double.
2032	Suwon		Kor L1		2nd		Johnny			Took over in 8th with 21 matches to go.
2033	Suwon		Kor L1		1st		Johnny			League, Cup, ACL
2035	Gremio		Bra L1		11th					Took over midseason. Won Copa Sudamerica to qualify for Copa Lib.
2036	Gremio		Bra L1		1st		Kluvert Ako Oru	League, Copa Lib S/F
2037	Flamengo	Bra L1		2nd		Endrick			Club World Cup, Brazilian Cup, Libertadores. Missed out on league by 1 point.
39/40	Man Utd		Eng Prem	1st		Diego Esedin		League, Carabao Cup, Champions League
40/41	Inter		It Ser A	1st		Dániel Kis			League and Cup double, plus Champions League.
41/42	Real Madrid 	Sp La Liga		1st		José Antonio Palacios	League / Cup double.
42/43	PSG			Fr Ligue 1

International
Year			Team			Achievements
23-24			Fiji			Oceania Cup S/F
24			Morocco U23		Olympics Losing Finalists
26-27			Iran			Asian Nations Cup losing finalists
27-31			Morocco			ACON S/F
						WC R2
						ACON winners.
31-32			Belgium			Euro S/F
32-34			Mexico			Gold Cup, sacked after World Cup
35-36			Australia
36-40			Brazil			WC S/F, Copa America
40-42			Spain				WC S/F. Sacked.


Challenge Progress 22/32

Club
 7/10 top domestic leagues 		(S Africa, Mexico, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain)			
 6/10 domestic cups 			(S Africa, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain)							
 5/5 club continental championships	(Africa, N America, Asia, S America, Europe)		
 1/1 club world championship

International
 3/5 continental tournaments 		(Africa, N America, S America)	
 0/1 World Cup		

 

 

 

[darren1983]

Season 2030/31 Review - FC Nordsjaelland

 

The squad building over the past 19 months was designed to have a strong team to push for the title this season. We once again hit the transfer market to give us some real depth although we still made a profit with the sale of our DM Jovic to Watford in Jan, this weakened us though as my squad planning didn't take losing a player in the middle of the season into account. There is a cycle to managing in this type of league with my transfer strategy of high PA young players and that is usually about 3 years. We had 15 clubs sniffing around star man Peter Gehrt in Jan as well but I managed to hold them off till the summer.

After finishing runners up last season the target was again to push but we started slowly, we drew our first 4 home games 0-0 despite having an xG of over 2.5 in each game. We soon clicked though and found ourselves top, a little wobble after the winter break was soon glossed over as we stormed to the title, winning it by 11 points, the clubs first title since 2012! What helped us this season was both Midtjylland and Kobenhavn losing their young strikers to bigger clubs while we were able to hang on to ours.

In the cups we started off in the Champions League but really bottled it as we won 3-0 away from home to Djurgardens I rotated as we lost 3-0 and were knocked out on pens. This meant we had Europa league football, we finished 3rd in the group and made our way to the quarter finals where we would face those damn gits from Djurgardens again, this time my rotated 11 (which is what I was using in all season to keep us fresh for league games) won the home league 3-1 before we once again lost the return leg 3-0. Djurgardens are now on my list of teams I hate. In the domestic cup we retained it after beating Kobenhavn in the final.

In Jan I also got the South Korea job after they bombed out of the Asian Cup. They have a really good crop of players in their early 20's for me to build around over the next 4 years and providing I don't mess up the World Cup in a couple of years I reckon we should be winning the Asian Cup next time around.

Think I'm going to leave Nordsjaelland now as I have a offer on the table from LA Galaxy but not sure I'll take it just yet. Might wait for more of the US season to happen first bit either way I'll be gone from Denmark

Career Overview

Year		Club			League	Position	Nation			Notes & Achievements 

2022/23		Polokwane City		NFD	 11th 		South Africa		Took over with 9 games left of the season
2023/24		Polokwane City		NFD	1st 		South Africa		Completed first coaching badge
2024/25		SuperSport United	PL	1st 		South Africa		Won Nedbank Cup and completed second coaching badge
2025/26		SuperSport United	PL	1st 		South Africa		Won Champions League and completed third coaching badge
2026		Daegu			KL	4th		South Korea		Took over with 8 games to go
2027		Daegu			KL	1st 		South Korea		Won the FA Cup
2028		Daegu			KL	1st 		South Korea 		Won Asian Champions League. Completed B licence. Started on A licence.
2028/29		FC Nordsjaelland	SL	4th		Denmark			Cup runners up
2029/30		FC Nordsjaelland	SL	2nd 		Denmark			Won the cup
2030/31		FC Nordsjaellan		SL	1st 		Denmark			Retained the cup, started final coaching badge

Year		Country			Ranking		Notes & Achievements
2025		Algeria			26th 		Qualified for World Cup
2026		Algeria			26th		
2027		Algeria			15th		Won Cup of Nations
2028		USA			12th 
2029		USA			11th 		Gold Cup Winners
2031		South Korea		35th 

Challenge Overview

Club
 3/10 top domestic leagues – South Africa 2025 (SuperSport United), South Korea 2027 (Daegu) Norway 2031 (Nordjaelland)
 3/10 domestic cups – South Africa 2025 (SuperSport United), South Korea 2027 (Daegu), Denmark 2030 (Nordsjaelland) 
 2/5 club continental championships – Africa 2026 (SuperSport), Asia 2028 (Daegu)
 0/1 club world championship 

International
 2/5 continental tournaments – Africa 2027 (Algeria), North America 2029 (USA)
 0/1 world tournaments

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by darren1983

[darren1983]

Didn't take long after leaving Denmark to get a new job as I take over a struggling Atlanta United side

[vikeologist]

Quote

I have the choice between France, Italy and Portugal. Seems pretty obvious to choose France, but I’ll have to take a closer look at the options.

I think it is indeed going to have to be France, but it's a bit of a risk, because they don't have a great goalie. (There's an old guy I can try to tempt out of international retirement, but I have to look as much as 4 year down the line). The first team is a bit long in the tooth, but I think it's still a better bet than Italy or Portugal.

It's a pity none of the Asian national jobs were vacant as the Asian Nations is in less than a year

[vikeologist]

@darren1983 Welcome back to the leader board.

[SkiIIs]

Season 2039/40 - Manchester United

Having won the champions league last year, the focus for my third season with Man Utd was to win the league then move on to one of the other Top 5 leagues. The challenge again was going to be able to go the distance with this formidable team that Arsenal have. 

Again Arsenal started like a house on fire, taking off from finishing with 100 points the year before with 12 wins and the solitary draw to Everton in the first 13 games.  That was when we played them and gave them their first loss of the season 3 - 0 with all three goals coming in the second half. At that point, we were already 6 points behind so this helped close the gap to 1 game. From that game on we were neck and neck with Arsenal matching their results but then they drew 4 games in a row with 9 games to go and we managed to get above them by a point. We then played them away with 8 games left still 1 point ahead of them and in a bit of a plucky game walked away with a 1 - 0 win scoring in the 90th minute. It was very underserved but nonetheless we'll take it. We then lost to Man City but fortunately Arsenal also dropped some points the week after and we managed to seal the championship with a couple games left!

Arsenal got their revenge knocking us out in the semi final of the Champions League a week after we beat them, but im happy with the overall outcome.  Didnt really do much in the cups which was not a priority. 

Was in two minds of whether to leave or not as the Club World Championship is on towards the end of next season and the only gig worthwhile was Inter but eventually i decided to take the job after delaying as much as possible. Inter had just won the Serie A so wont need a whole lot of work with them.

Edited May 24, 2023 by SkiIIs

[SkiIIs]

2040 Copa America

Looking forward with my first tournament with Brazil which was held in Bolivia.  We started off our group phase a little sketchy with a 0 - 0 draw with Ecuador but we found our gear in the next game beating Japan 2 - 0. We then made easy work of Peru, host nation Bolivia then Colombia 5 - 1, 6 - 1 and 8 - 4 respectively.   On the other side of the fence, was closely watching Argentina's performance which in contrast were really poor and almost didnt qualify for the knockout stages.  But to my detriment, they finished fourth and with us topping the table, it meant we faced them in the Quarters!

Quarter Final 

Spoiler

Brazil 0 - Argentina 1 - and with that i was rightfully sacked.   Really having no luck on the international stage at all 

Semi Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

N/A

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

N/A - the washout is I am now the new manager of France after declining the Argentinian job.   And just for ***** and giggles, Colombia ended up beating Mexico to win the Cup, i had smashed them 8 - 4 earlier lol

 

[leyrtj]

On 20/05/2023 at 09:43, vikeologist said:

Vikeologist's 2041/42 Real Madrid Season Report

 

When I quit Inter at the end of last season, the Real Madrid manager took the job; which was convenient.

Real’s wage bill was crazy, and I had almost no money to bring in new players because I had to reduce the transfer fund down to almost zero to free up any wages.

So, success wasn’t guaranteed. By the halfway point we had a 7 point lead in the league, but then in the second half of the season Sevilla gained 52 points from the next 18 matches. That’s 17 wins (including against us) and a draw.

Fortunately we still managed to keep our neck in front and wrap it up in our penultimate match.

We also won the cup.

We went out in the Champions league Q/F 7-6 on aggregate to (cough, thanks to me) defending champs Inter in a crazy second leg. But honestly, that was probably a good thing as we’d have had a crazy schedule otherwise, where thanks to Sevilla we had to (almost) win every match.

Top Goalscorer – Luke Gillam – 59

I intended to have a bit more rotation of my striker, but Gillam maintained a good strike rate and started 43 matches in all competitions. He was rested quite a lot though.

Given the goal tallies my strikers are netting, it would be interesting if I took over a side with an 18 year old striker who can start, as I might abandon the challenge in the hope of achieving the 1,000 goal challenge. Even in the Youth challenge I never came close to that number.

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) Luke Gillam – 7.87

Man of The Match – Luke Gillam – 10

MVP – José Antonio Palacios

I had 4 exceptional players (none of whom are Gillam) who were the engine of the team, especially my attacking midfield pair of Palacios and Hugo Gonçalves. Palacios played a lot more though and is in my Spain squad for the upcoming World Cup, so he’s my man.

 

I’m at the stage of the challenge where it’s becoming a bit of a drag, so it’s possible that after the World Cup I’ll do a season or two of something else.

However, France and Germany might be more difficult if jobs at PSG and Bayern don’t become available. I particularly want to manage PSG, as in all the years of this challenge and other saves I’ve never managed them. I’ve been turned down a few times, and there was at least one time when I really wanted to manage them because my favourite player in all challenge attempts played for them.

Domestic
Season	Team		Division	Position	MVP			Notes										
22/23	Black Leopards	S African L1	5th					Took over with 8 matches to go.Edge of relegation to edge of promotion.
23/24	Black Leopards	S African L1	1st		Kiyaam Bull 		SA Cup Q/F
24/25	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	10th					Took over with 6 matches to go. Won SA Cup.
25/26	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	2nd		Sphesihle Maduna	Won Confederations Cup.
26/27	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	1st		Mduduzi Shabalala	League, ACL, SA Cup, S8 Cup.
2027	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	12th					Took over after 8 matches. Lost in Playoffs Prelim
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Connor Buck		Lost in final.
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	2nd					Lost in S/F
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Kevin Castañeda	Lost in final.
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	3rd					Left before playoffs
2029	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	n/a					Lost immediately in playoff plelim.
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd					Won league. Lost Champions League on penalties
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	1st					League champs
2031	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	1st		Hugo Moreno		League / NACL double.
2032	Suwon		Kor L1		2nd		Johnny			Took over in 8th with 21 matches to go.
2033	Suwon		Kor L1		1st		Johnny			League, Cup, ACL
2035	Gremio		Bra L1		11th					Took over midseason. Won Copa Sudamerica to qualify for Copa Lib.
2036	Gremio		Bra L1		1st		Kluvert Ako Oru	League, Copa Lib S/F
2037	Flamengo	Bra L1		2nd		Endrick			Club World Cup, Brazilian Cup, Libertadores. Missed out on league by 1 point.
39/40	Man Utd		Eng Prem	1st		Diego Esedin		League, Carabao Cup, Champions League
40/41	Inter		It Ser A		1st		Dániel Kis			League and Cup double, plus Champions League.
41/42	Real Madrid Sp La Liga		1st		José Antonio Palacios	League / Cup double.

International
Year			Team		Achievements
23-24			Fiji			Oceania Cup S/F
24			Morocco U23		Olympics Losing Finalists
26-27			Iran			Asian Nations Cup losing finalists
27-31			Morocco			ACON S/F
						WC R2
						ACON winners.
31-32			Belgium			Euro S/F
32-34			Mexico			Gold Cup, sacked after World Cup
35-36			Australia
36-40			Brazil			WC S/F, Copa America
40-			Spain


Challenge Progress 22/32

Club
 7/10 top domestic leagues 		(S Africa, Mexico, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain)			
 6/10 domestic cups 			(S Africa, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain)							
 5/5 club continental championships	(Africa, N America, Asia, S America, Europe)		
 1/1 club world championship

International
 3/5 continental tournaments 		(Africa, N America, S America)	
 0/1 World Cup		

 

Out of interest what is the 1000 goal challenge? Obviously it's to score 1,000 goals, but is it just league goals (seems tough), or all league cup and international?  

[leyrtj]

Season 2032/33 - Rangers

After finishing with PSG, there were a few jobs available in the smaller leagues I'd loaded. I need to win a few more cups, so was hoping to do a one season cup win. Kaizer Chiefs came up, but they rejected me for some reason. So I was left with Rangers. Soon after joining them, I realised Celtic were dominant in Scotland. A legacy of my youth was that Rangers and Celtic were at similar levels, but in the 2020 game they weren't. I brought in a couple of Colombian wonderkids who I'd scouted at PSG but weren't good enough for them, and a few free transfers. Then I brought in a load of loans from Premier League teams. We started badly and were knocked out the firstc up competition in Scotland. Quite annoying, as Celtic entered at the quarter final (as they were in Europe), then we were drawn away to them before we could bring in any players. They battered us. Then we brought in some players, which was enough to keep up in the race for the title with Celtic, and we were a point clear at the top at Xmas. We strengthened again in January and it was enough to win the title with 3 games to spare, ending Celtic's 21 year streak of winning the league. We also won the cup, knocking out Celtic in the quarter final. Scotland doesn't have any limits on loans and we were able to bring in some real quality (because of my reputation I guess). 

Season 2033/34

I was looking to move to another small league to win another cup, but then the Cruz Azul job in Mexico came up. No brainer. They had the equal top wage budget and were predicted to finish 4th. A healthy transfer budget of 25m was also attractive. After reading the introduction to this thread again, I also realized they were in the Copa Corona, as they hadn't qualified for the Champions League. Perfect, I thought. One season to build a team and win the domestic cup, then 1 (maybe 2) seasons to win the CONCACAF Champions League. The team already looked pretty decent but was lacking in any quality outside the first XI. With Mexican born limits, I therefore needed to bring in some quality foreigners and some Mexican born backups. Starting the season, we were predicted to finish 2nd and had 4 players in the dream eleven. 

We started extremely well, winning out first 8 games, and almost securing qualification for the play offs already. We continued like this and finished 1st in the Apertura League. All looked good. Up to this point in the challenge, I felt I'd ridden my luck a few times - winning cup competitions without deserving it and jobs coming up at the right time. I'd not really struggled yet, other than with Egypt early on. FM and luck came back to bite us, as we went through a torid 3 month period either side of Xmas. First we lost on penalties in the Apertura Play off finals. We were coasting in the second league of the final, in control and 2 goals up going into injury time. I'd stopped watching, and was watching some cycling instead. Then I looked at the screen and the opposition had equalized - two goals in injury time out of nowhere. No problem I though - we win on away goals. But no, the rules for the final change (away goals count in the quarters and semis, but not the final). We then went on to lose on penalties, even though they had a man sent off. Disbelief. Not the end of the world at least. I don't like the play off system in the Apertura/Clausura, but at least you get two chances to win the league each season. On the same day we were FMed again in a South Korea macth (see below).

On to February and the cup. We knew we only had one shot at the cup, as we'd already qualified for the Champions League. The top teams weren't playing, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem (hmm). We were 5  - 1 up on aggregate in the second leg of the quarter finals with 30 minutes to play. This time I was focused, but it wasn't enough. Again, out of nowhere they scored goal after goal, levelling it in injury time to 5 - 5. Extra-time, and then we lost of penalties.

We did at least win the Clausura playoff final, meaning a league title. We did our best ot throw it away again, needing a 80th minutes goal to win the semi finals on away goals. It sounds strange, but this league win doesn't help us much in the challenge. We now have 9 league wins, and we have to win the Bundesliga, so at least we don't need to win another league in the meantime. However, we're only on 6 cup competitions. If we win the cup in South Africa and Germany (the only two required stages left), then we still need to do 2 other clubs on the way. With the lottery of the cups, we're not guaranteed to win it in the first year. For this save, one of the challenges I'm finding is the grind, especially in Europe. When I do this challenge again, I may look to stay at a club if I don't win the cup in the first year.

South Korea

We've been in the job for 2 years now, without much happenning as we're waiting for the Asian Cup. However, we had to play in the East Asian Cup, with China, Japan and Chinese Taipei. Tough competition this as you're only allowed to play players playing domestically (or in Asia it seems), but the expectations are based on ranking. Still, with plenty of talent it wouldn't be a problem, surely? Well, a 9 - 0 win over Chinese Taipei and two FMs later, we finished 3rd in the group. The last manager got fired for finishing 3rd in this competition, so I assumed I'd be fired. However, we weren't, not sure why. We need to qualify from our World Cup group, and then it's the Asian Cup next January. 

 

 

[vikeologist]

10 hours ago, leyrtj said:

Out of interest what is the 1000 goal challenge? Obviously it's to score 1,000 goals, but is it just league goals (seems tough), or all league cup and international?  

I guess it's quite an old challenge.

Here's one example of it, but I think the 'Danny Roberts' in question was even further back, Dafuge doing his challenge in about FM06

So it's all goals , leagues, cups, international, under your control.

[leyrtj]

Interesting challenge. I guess it works well with Build a Nation in a smalle league. 

[vikeologist]

20 minutes ago, leyrtj said:

Interesting challenge. I guess it works well with Build a Nation in a smalle league. 

I did quite a long build a nation,  but my top striker didn't get that high. That nation was Scotland though.  If I was going to give it a proper go,  you'd want it to be one of the big nations and be able to bring in whatever supporting cast you want. 

[Crispypaul]

  

Australia
Asian Cup 2031
 

Group Stages -  Table | Fixtures

Topped the group as expected

Second Round

Spoiler

Oman 2 Australia 4 - entertaining win here.  Next up a big game against South Korea

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

South Korea 0 Australia 1 - a miracle goalkeeping performance kept us in it after a man sent off

Semi Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

UAE 1 Australia 0 - another sending off didn't help as we lost to the eventual winners.  I resigned afterwards

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Crispypaul]

  

        

Crispypaul
Anderlecht
Belgian Pro Division
2030/31

League - Summary - Finally broke Antwerp's dominance over the past few seasons as we lifted the trophy

Croky Cup - Fixtures - also retained this trophy with a defeat of Antwerp again in the final

Europa League - Table | Fixtures - finished just about in the top places in the table to avoid an extra round of games.  In the round of 16 we had Athletic Bilbao and won comfortably.  Next off to Everton whom we saw off despite losing at Bramley-Moore dock.  Back to Merseyside for the semis however Liverpool were too much.

Finances

Transfers - as usual with these there was a bloated squad

Squad

Key players:

Darko Draca - Serbian goalkeeper, had a great season

Tiago Dantas - strong Portuguese midfielder

Zeno Debast - solid Belgian international defender

Antonio Natali - a mid season purchase for this prolific striker from Genk

Arian Kalantari - bought him over from Ulsan for £6m and continued to be prolific

Kelechi Iheanacho - signed the highly experienced forward on a free for the season

In close seasons a couple of interesting jobs come up - and an obvious one for me offers so I am now Tottenham manager

Domestic
Season	 Team			Division			Position			Notes						
2022/23	 All Stars 		South African NFD	 	3rd				Promoted through playoffs
2023/24	 All Stars		South African PSL		4th				
2024/25	 All Stars		South African PSL		1st				Won MTN8, Telkom, Confed Cup
2025/26	 All Stars		South African PSL		1st				Won MTN8, Telkom, Nedbank, CL, resigned
2026	 St Louis City FC	MLS				6th				Lost in SF playoffs
2027	 St Louis City FC	MLS				1st				Won MLS Cup, CL, Open Cup
2028	 Ulsan			K League 1			1st				Won KFA Cup
2029	 Ulsan			K League 1			1st				Won KFA Cup
2030	 Ulsan			K League 1			n/a				Won AFC CL, resigned
2030/31	 Anderlecht		Belgian Pro			1st				Won Belgian Cup, left at end

International
Year	   	Team				Achievements
2023/24		Ghana
2024/25		Ghana				Qualified for AFCON, sacked!
2025/26		Senegal				Qualified for World Cup
2026		Senegal				World Cup SF
2027		Senegal				Won AFCON, resigned
2027		USA				Joined after Gold Cup
2028		USA	
2029		USA				Won Gold Cup, qualified for WC 2030
2030		USA				World Cup SF, resigned
2031		Australia		Asian Cup SF, resigned

Challenge Progress

Club
 4/10 top domestic leagues (All Stars, South Africa, 24/25; St Louis City, USA, 2027; Ulsan, South Korea, 2028; Anderlecht, Belgium, 2030/31)
 4/10 domestic cups (All Stars, South Africa, 24/25; St Louis City, USA, 2027; Ulsan, South Korea, 2028; Anderlecht, Belgium, 2030/31)
 3/5 club continental championships (All Stars, Africa, 25/26; St Louis City, North America, 2026/27; Ulsan, Asia, 2029/30)
 0/1 club world championship 

International
 2/5 continental tournaments (Senegal, Africa, 2027; USA, North America, 2029)
 0/1 world tournaments

[darren1983]

 

2031 Season Review Atlanta United 

A quick update here as I had just under a third of the season to play when I took over. we lost our first game and then narrowly won our 2nd. What was helpful was that after these 2 games we had the weird league cup thing between USA and Mexico, these game gave me a chance to work out my best side, and also gave the players a chance to get used to the tactics, in games that didn't mean a great deal. We did manage to get to the Western Semi final stage which gave us a few games, we carried over the good form for the rest of the MLS season winning 6 and drawing 2 of our final 8 games to sneak into the playoffs. In them we faced a Toronto side we were ended on equal points with and this of course was the game our keeper decided the best form of action was to not save a shot. We played alright but found ourselves 3-1 down and managed to pull it back to 3-3 before we let in a goal in injury time to fall at the first hurdle.

This squad is not good and I need to do a massive rebuild this off season, I'm not sure I'll be able to change as much as I would like to in this window and I also have to get to grips with all the different rules to see what type of player I can bring in but as of right now my backline really needs fixing. We also need better up top. 

Career Overview

Year		Club			League	Position	Nation			Notes & Achievements 

2022/23		Polokwane City		NFD	 11th 		South Africa		Took over with 9 games left of the season
2023/24		Polokwane City		NFD	1st 		South Africa		Completed first coaching badge
2024/25		SuperSport United	PL	1st 		South Africa		Won Nedbank Cup and completed second coaching badge
2025/26		SuperSport United	PL	1st 		South Africa		Won Champions League and completed third coaching badge
2026		Daegu			KL	4th		South Korea		Took over with 8 games to go
2027		Daegu			KL	1st 		South Korea		Won the FA Cup
2028		Daegu			KL	1st 		South Korea 		Won Asian Champions League. Completed B licence. Started on A licence.
2028/29		FC Nordsjaelland	SL	4th		Denmark			Cup runners up
2029/30		FC Nordsjaelland	SL	2nd 		Denmark			Won the cup
2030/31		FC Nordsjaelland	SL	1st 		Denmark			Retained the cup, started final coaching badge
2031		Atlanta Utd		MLS	8th 		USA

 

Year		Country			Ranking		Notes & Achievements
2025		Algeria			26th 		Qualified for World Cup
2026		Algeria			26th		
2027		Algeria			15th		Won Cup of Nations
2028		USA			12th 
2029		USA			11th 		Gold Cup Winners
2031		South Korea		35th 

Challenge Overview

Club
 3/10 top domestic leagues – South Africa 2025 (SuperSport United), South Korea 2027 (Daegu) Norway 2031 (Nordjaelland)
 3/10 domestic cups – South Africa 2025 (SuperSport United), South Korea 2027 (Daegu), Denmark 2030 (Nordsjaelland) 
 2/5 club continental championships – Africa 2026 (SuperSport), Asia 2028 (Daegu)
 0/1 club world championship 

International
 2/5 continental tournaments – Africa 2027 (Algeria), North America 2029 (USA)
 0/1 world tournaments

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by darren1983

[SkiIIs]

On 21/05/2023 at 22:50, vikeologist said:

Vikeologist's 2042 Spain World Cup Report

 

My 4^th World cup in a row.

I reached the semi-final with Brazil 4 years ago.

Then I had to reach the Q/F to preserve my job. This time with Spain I’m expected to win it. That’s what I came here for, but so far the sum of the Spain team has proven to less than it’s world class parts.

However, we are injury free, and teams do sometimes come together in tournaments.

Group Stage

  Reveal hidden contents

Spain          5-0    Senegal

Spain          0-0    Venezuela

 

First result made me optimistic, and was then brought back down to Earth in the second. Still, we finished top of the group, and play China next.

Second Round

  Reveal hidden contents

Spain          5-0    China

Next up is Serbia. Not an easy match, but it gets a whole lot more tricky after that.

Third Round

  Reveal hidden contents

Spain          3-1    Serbia

Fairly comfortable, and I rested a few players.

Next up is the big match, against Brazil, who you probably don’t remember, but I left after the Copa America because I didn’t think their players were good enough. There’s no doubt that the Spanish squad are better players, and the Brazil side have staggered their way through the tournament so far, but I’m still concerned.

Quarter Final

  Reveal hidden contents

Spain          p2-2  Brazil

We were sloppy throughout the match, and then missed 2 of our first 3 penalties. I thought we were, and in particular I was, toast. Spain sucking at penalties brought back some unhappy memories.

But somehow we made it through.

We nearly faced another of my teams next that I left because they weren’t good enough, Australia, but Netherlands won their penalty shootout. Hopefully they’ll be as tired as us.

Also, no pressure, but Denmark won the first semi-final.

 

Semi Final

  Reveal hidden contents

Spain           1-3    Netherlands

We were awful. 2-0 down we pulled back a goal thanks to a dodgy penalty, but didn’t look like equalising, and they scored a third right at the end of the match with us throwing everyone forward. This was a real chance to win the World Cup; tossed away.

Final / 3^rd Place Playoff

  Reveal hidden contents

Spain          2-0    England

After The Tournament

  Reveal hidden contents

We actually moved up the world rankings to 3^rd, and I thought finishing 3^rd in this competition might just save my job, but no. I was sacked.

Once again, England didn’t offer the job to me. (They must be hard coded to not appoint Scottish managers), so I have the choice between France, Italy and Portugal. Seems pretty obvious to choose France, but I’ll have to take a closer look at the options.

 

Talking of jobs I’ve never been offered. the PSG manager left to take over at Real Madrid. I’ve never had managerial dominoes fall so conveniently for me before, and the PSG job was the one job in this entire game I most wanted, having always been turned down before, (in many Ultimate Challenge attempts). I’ve just checked. I think I’ve never managed a French team twice in all my attempts, and never PSG.

It hadn’t escaped my notice that PSG kept offering all you b******s jobs either.

Anyway, this time they have seen sense and offered me the job, and frankly it’s not a great PSG team, on or off the pitch, (I have a transfer budget of £120k), but I just need to pick up the league and cup in a year and I can tick them off the list.

Domestic
Season	Team		Division	Position	MVP			Notes										
22/23	Black Leopards	S African L1	5th					Took over with 8 matches to go.Edge of relegation to edge of promotion.
23/24	Black Leopards	S African L1	1st		Kiyaam Bull 		SA Cup Q/F
24/25	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	10th					Took over with 6 matches to go. Won SA Cup.
25/26	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	2nd		Sphesihle Maduna	Won Confederations Cup.
26/27	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	1st		Mduduzi Shabalala	League, ACL, SA Cup, S8 Cup.
2027	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	12th					Took over after 8 matches. Lost in Playoffs Prelim
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Connor Buck		Lost in final.
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	2nd					Lost in S/F
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Kevin Castañeda	Lost in final.
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	3rd					Left before playoffs
2029	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	n/a					Lost immediately in playoff plelim.
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd					Won league. Lost Champions League on penalties
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	1st					League champs
2031	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	1st		Hugo Moreno		League / NACL double.
2032	Suwon		Kor L1		2nd		Johnny			Took over in 8th with 21 matches to go.
2033	Suwon		Kor L1		1st		Johnny			League, Cup, ACL
2035	Gremio		Bra L1		11th					Took over midseason. Won Copa Sudamerica to qualify for Copa Lib.
2036	Gremio		Bra L1		1st		Kluvert Ako Oru	League, Copa Lib S/F
2037	Flamengo	Bra L1		2nd		Endrick			Club World Cup, Brazilian Cup, Libertadores. Missed out on league by 1 point.
39/40	Man Utd		Eng Prem	1st		Diego Esedin		League, Carabao Cup, Champions League
40/41	Inter		It Ser A	1st		Dániel Kis			League and Cup double, plus Champions League.
41/42	Real Madrid 	Sp La Liga		1st		José Antonio Palacios	League / Cup double.
42/43	PSG			Fr Ligue 1

International
Year			Team			Achievements
23-24			Fiji			Oceania Cup S/F
24			Morocco U23		Olympics Losing Finalists
26-27			Iran			Asian Nations Cup losing finalists
27-31			Morocco			ACON S/F
						WC R2
						ACON winners.
31-32			Belgium			Euro S/F
32-34			Mexico			Gold Cup, sacked after World Cup
35-36			Australia
36-40			Brazil			WC S/F, Copa America
40-42			Spain				WC S/F. Sacked.


Challenge Progress 22/32

Club
 7/10 top domestic leagues 		(S Africa, Mexico, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain)			
 6/10 domestic cups 			(S Africa, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain)							
 5/5 club continental championships	(Africa, N America, Asia, S America, Europe)		
 1/1 club world championship

International
 3/5 continental tournaments 		(Africa, N America, S America)	
 0/1 World Cup		

 

 

 

if it makes you feel any better, after a few weeks in with Inter I started a domino effect of top managers moving on. Real Madrid manager took the Man Utd job that i vacated, then PSG manager went to Real.  I then had an interview for the PSG manager as they'll be playing in the Club World Cup later this year but they decided to bring in Arteta from Dortmund instead

[leyrtj]

Season 2034/35 - Cruz Azul - Mexico

After losing in the Clausura Playoff Final, we had to be aggressive in the transfer market to win the CONCACAF Champions League which we'd qualified for. We focused on Mexican born talent because of the restrictions and any foreign signings had to be significantly better than what we had as we were at our foreigner max. The first half of the season went smoothly, winning the Apertura Playoff final against Tigres. We were knocked out in the first round of the Leagues cup but I played the reserves in that as it doesn't count towards the challlenge. We continued strong into the second half of the season, winning 16 out of 19 games. Going into the playoffs we also had the final of the CONCACAF Champions League against Atlas. Going into the second league 1 - 0 up, I thought i would be a formality. I even applied for a few jobs that came up. Unfortunately, it all went wrong again. Atlas somehow won the second league 3 - 0, and we were facing another season in Mexico. To rub salt into the wound, Atlas then beat us on penalities of the Clausura Playoff final. 

Season 2035/36 - Cruz Azul - Mexico

Enough was enough. We were aggressive in the transfer market again, bringing in a superstar Uruguyuan striker from league rivals Monterrey (see below). I decided to give more importance to the first half of the season. As the Champions League doesn't start until February, last season I did give the Apertura and Leagues cup much importance. After losing the Campeon de Campeones (again to Atlas) we won the Apertura again and also the Leagues cup. Fast forward to April and it's the CONCACAF Champions League again. And once again, it's up against the bogey team Atlas. They've now managed to beat us in four finals over the last three seasons, and I was nervous. But we had an all-star team, surely it couldn't happen again. Well, after 23 minutes of the first leg we were 2 - 0 down and being battered. I'd actually really started to like my team, and I was already rationalizing another year wouldn't be so bad. But we pulled a goal back, then struck the winning goal in the 81st minute of the second leg. North America done 

I've enjoyed my 3 years in Mexico. I'd never managed here before but it was fun. It had a similar feel to being in Colombia and Brazil. I'm not sure why it feels different to the Euro leagues, but FM does a good job there. I really like this team, possibly me favourite of the save. But we resigned and it looks like we're going to Dortmund. 

South Korea

It's been an interesting few years with South Korea. After losing the East Asian Cup, we managed to reach the quarter finals of the world cup, knocking out England on the way, We then lost in the final of the Asian Cup to Australia. Absolutely gutted. Somehow we didn't lose our job again, so it's a four year wait until the next one. With the Euros, World Cup and Copa America still to win, we're behind compared to Club Management. It's probabl another 10 years minimum to win those. So at least we can take our time club wise. 

1,000 goal challenge?

I bought this guy in my final year at Cruzl Azul, and he ripped up the league, socring 53 across all competitions. I've actually made an additional save at this point. I'm tempted to come back and try 1,000 with this guy, though he's probably too old. Let's say he has another 15 seasons, so 16 in total. Going at his current rate would mean around 800 in total. Also, he's wanted by big clubs, he I probably wouldn't be able to keep him. 

 

[vikeologist]

halfway through the French season. Nice are pushing us all the way. In fact they're probably in 1st with their game in hand.

But guess who their top scorer (and only decent striker) is on loan from.

Just a matter of whether I recall Theo Salter at the start or the end of the transfer window.

[leyrtj]

Season 2036/37 - Borussia Dortmund - Germany

After leaving Cruz Azul, we had a choice of Dortmund or Hertha in Germany. We went for Dortmund as they had a much larger wage budget and it's a team I've always wanted to manage. I bought in 4 players from Cruz Azul and a few others and I thought we had a decent team. The board wanted CL qualification but I thought we might challenge for the title or win the cup. We started well and were 4 points behind Bayern at Xmas. Then Bayern won game after game and walked away with it. Hard to be upset when an AI team runs away with it. Towards the end of the season I started rotating a lot for the cups, so lost some games. Bayern seemed to do the same. Then we lost in the final of Pokal to Monchengladbach. Totally dominated the final but couldn't score. As we're so far far behind on the challenge internationally, I see us staying at Dortmund for 5 seasons. We need to win the Asian Cup with South Korea in 2 seasons. but we need to keep the reputation up, so that we can get the Brazil/Euro job afterwards. So plenty of opportunities to win the cup, but a wasted opportunity. We need to bring in some quality this summer.

Season 2037/38 - Borussia Dortmund - Germany

We strengthened again  over the summer, focusing on a bit of quality in defence and some young back up with potential. We were 4 points clear at Xmas and then went on to dominate the second half of the season, winning the league easily. Unfortunately we got knocked out early in the cup, again an undeserved loss. We also go to the Champions League final, but lost toBayern. We've already won it so not a big issue, but would've been nice to win it. Need to win the cup next year, and cups haven't been our friend in this save. 

Season 2037/38 - Borussia Dortmund - Germany

The squad didn't need much strengthening, but I brought in more quality depth. I've been trying to bring in a world class keeper, but there's not many options (always found the game doesn't produce enough world class keepers). We've been after Bayern's keeper, but they won't budge, unless I bit over 200m, which I don't have. We had a shocking start and were languishing in 8th after 6 matches. We started getting some form together and were 4 points behind Bayern a Xmas. A league win wasn't necessary but my board wanted me to win the league so, in order to keep my job and win the cup, I needed to stay near the top at least. Then in the 3rd round of the cup, I got FMed again by a bottom of the table team. I considered rage resigning and almost did. Instead I stayed and waited to see if a good job came up. It did. Schalke appointed the FC Kobenhavn manager, who were top of the table and still in the cup. So off we went, hoping to get a quick cup win.

Season 2037/38 - FC Kobenhavn -Denmark

The transfer window had passed so no chance to do any transfers. They were 10 points top of the league and still in the cup. They were still in the Champions League quarter finals as well. They had a number of quality loans in from English teams. We kept a similar team and just managed morale, and managed to win the league and cup fairly easily. We then resigned again and waited for another job. We've completed the 10 league wins and need 3 more cups, so would ideally like to take a top team in a country with two cups. And then the Benfica job became available after Manchester United took their manager, so off we go. The first cup in Portugal is over by December, so if we win that we might be off again.

South Korea - 2035 - 2038

Two East Asian Cup wins were encouraging. Then, after 7 years in the job, we faced the 2038 Asian Cup. We've been waiting for this for so long now, we have to win it. Australia were our main competitors, and they had a number of decent players playing in Europe. They beat us in the 2034 final. We drew them in our group, but beat them 3 - 1 and eased through to the next round. In the Second Round Australia were surprisingly beaten by Syria. Surely, this was our chance. We eased past Malaysia and North Korea, then faced a decent China in the semi-finals. After dominating the game, China shocked us by equalizing in the 75th minute. Luckily, we scored two more and made the final against Syria. Syria knocked out Australia and Japan on the way, and had a decent team. But we destroyed them in the finals. Finally, the Asian Cup is won. We resigned, and probably have to wait a year to pick up Brazil or a good Euro nation. Staying at Benfica will help keep our reputation up for that. 

 

[SkiIIs]

Quick update from me at Inter, we ended up winning the league with a few games to go.  Got knocked out of the Cup in the Quarters in a disappointing loss away to Lazio.  Then as i resigned from the Inter job my game crashed and im back at round 21 in the league 

Ive got the screenshot of us winning the league but no point, will try to win it all again...

[darren1983]

2032 Season Review - Atlanta United

 

We have to start where we usually do with the transfer window. We had some ageing players whose contracts were running down taking up international slots so I let them expire and leave which allowed me to go against the grain and target younger players for those rolls. In the end the 3 main summer signings all came from Serbia. The biggest outlay was the 5m (spread over 3 years) for goalkeeper Milos Jevtic. Was so good this season that he broke into the Serbia team. After him came one of the best bargains I can remember as we spent just 600k on CB Marko Jovanovic. Was a rock this season. We also spent 2m on Stefan Mitrovic and boy what a striker he turned out to be. 42 goals in 45 games this season. During the season I also got to grips with the trading system and added good depth to the squad, I may have screwed the club in the short term with their draft spots but ah well.

The league was a real battle, we settled well and were undefeated for 4.5 months (with a few too many draws for my liking) but Montreal were a beast. They lost 2 of their first 3 games but then won 19 of their next 23 games. Not only did they keep pace with us they overtook us at stages but in the run in they stumbled due to so many games. They, like us, had the Champions league but also the Canadian championship to play in so while we sometimes could rest during the week they had extra games and it cost them. The 5 point winning margin flatters us a bit. Their poor form at the end of the season continued into the playoffs where they lost on pens to Cincinnati in the first round. While we skipped that round we faced Charlotte in Semis where we beat them 2-0 in the eastern final we faced Cincinnati and were 3-0 up with 20 to go before doing all we could to throw it away as we hung on for a 3-2 win. That set up a MLS final with LAFC who had finished first in the West. Again we were the better side, this time for 80 mins but the final 10 were a real battle as again we really struggled to hang on but we did as we won 2-1.

The cups were also a big thing this year, we took the US Open cup seriously and had a pretty easy route to the final against Austin FC. I was worried going in as international duty robbed us of our keeper, a CB and our main CM (and captain) injury also robbed us of our best wide man, star CB Jovanovic and meant that Mitrovic wasn't full fit. Didn't matter though as even a 75% fit Mitrovic was too good for them scoring 4 in a mental 8-1 win. We also breezed through the open stage of the Champions league with more to come in the first half of next season.

With South Korea there isn't a great deal to add but we did win the East Asian Championship and sit top of our world cup qualifying group just past the halfway stage.

Career Overview

Year		Club			League	Position	Nation			Notes & Achievements 

2022/23		Polokwane City		NFD	11th 		South Africa		Took over with 9 games left of the season
2023/24		Polokwane City		NFD	1st 		South Africa		Completed first coaching badge
2024/25		SuperSport United	PL	1st 		South Africa		Won Nedbank Cup and completed second coaching badge
2025/26		SuperSport United	PL	1st 		South Africa		Won Champions League and completed third coaching badge
2026		Daegu			KL	4th		South Korea		Took over with 8 games to go
2027		Daegu			KL	1st 		South Korea		Won the FA Cup
2028		Daegu			KL	1st 		South Korea 		Won Asian Champions League. Completed B licence. Started on A licence.
2028/29		FC Nordsjaelland	SL	4th		Denmark			Cup runners up
2029/30		FC Nordsjaelland	SL	2nd 		Denmark			Won the cup
2030/31		FC Nordsjaelland	SL	1st 		Denmark			Retained the cup, started final coaching badge
2031		Atlanta Utd		MLS	8th 		USA
2032		Atlanta Utd		MLS	1st 		USA			Won the Open Cup, finished all coaching badges

 

Year		Country			Ranking		Notes & Achievements
2025		Algeria			26th 		Qualified for World Cup
2026		Algeria			26th		
2027		Algeria			15th		Won Cup of Nations
2028		USA			12th 
2029		USA			11th 		Gold Cup Winners
2031		South Korea		35th 
2032		South Korea		36th 		Won the EAFF Championship

Challenge Progress

Club
 4/10 top domestic leagues – South Africa 2025 (SuperSport United), South Korea 2027 (Daegu) Norway 2031 (Nordjaelland) United States 2032 (Atlanta Utd)
 4/10 domestic cups – South Africa 2025 (SuperSport United), South Korea 2027 (Daegu), Denmark 2030 (Nordsjaelland) United States 2032 (Atlanta Utd)
 2/5 club continental championships – Africa 2026 (SuperSport), Asia 2028 (Daegu)
 0/1 club world championship 

International
 2/5 continental tournaments – Africa 2027 (Algeria), North America 2029 (USA)
 0/1 world tournaments

 

[SkiIIs]

Season 2040 / 41 - Inter Milan

As mentioned before, my game crashed after winning the league and so had to start again in January with 17 league games remaining. I mostly IR'd the non critical games including champions league and the intalian cup.  I wouldnt have felt comfortable winning the Italian Cup given we didnt win it the first time round.  So it was bittersweet after losing to Juve in the semi final.  The league we wrapped up quite easily again with a couple games to spare.

The screenshot of the first win before the crash:

And so the journey continues but not sure where.  The Sevilla job is the only decent thing available right now but not sure its that appealing to me. Hopefully i start a merry go around after resigning...

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by SkiIIs

[vikeologist]

@leyrtj Might be useful to have a list of which nations have 2 cups. Malaysia and Scotland obviously. England and South Africa don't count because we have to manage there anyway.

I'm sure I've done a list sometime, but unfortunately the search terms, two/2 domestic and cups all basically turn up every post in this thread.

Edited May 30, 2023 by vikeologist

[leyrtj]

4 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

@leyrtj Might be useful to have a list of which nations have 2 cups. Malaysia and Scotland obviously. England and South Africa don't count because we have to manage there anyway.

I'm sure I've done a list sometime, but unfortunately the search terms, two/2 domestic and cups all basically turn up every post in this thread.

Thanks. It's a good idea. I've actually just won two more cups by following that strategy - going to countries with two cups. So far I know of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales (I think), Portugal.

[vikeologist]

6 minutes ago, leyrtj said:

Thanks. It's a good idea. I've actually just won two more cups by following that strategy - going to countries with two cups. So far I know of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales (I think), Portugal.

I can't find the post where I listed them (maybe I never did).

I think this is a complete list;

Malaysia

Scotland

Finland

Northern Ireland

Portugal

Republic of Ireland

Wales

If anybody thinks this list is wrong / incomplete, let me know because I'll put it at the start of the thread soon.

[leyrtj]

Season 2038/2039 - Benfica - Portugal

We joined a Benfica side who were already dominant in their league. I sold off the excess squad members and made a few signings, but nothing major. The goal was to win either of the two cups, preferably the Taca da Liga League cup in February. The side was unstoppable in the league from the side, winning 31 out of 34 games and giving me my first unbeaten season in the save so far. Once again, the cup (why we're at Benfica) should have been a formality, especialy as there are two of them. But we found a new nemesis in FC Porto. Porto are not as strong as usual, but they were decent. First they knocked us out of the PT cup 5th in December. Then, in January they beat us 2 - 0 in the Taca da Liga final. Domestically, we lost 2 games all season and it was those two.

Season 2039/2040 - Benfica - Portugal

We didn't do too many transfer over the summer. The team was dominant, and I thought we couldn't keep getting unlucky in the cup. Also, it was hard to attract anyone who would improve the team, as the elite players weren't interested. This time we weren't so dominant in the league. We dropped a few points early on, and Porto were much stronger, so that at Xmas we were level on points. In the cups, we progressed once again to face Porto in the Taca da Liga final. They'd beaten us in the league and I was nervous. They'd caught us on the break each time before, so we played much more defensively. An awful game of football resulted and it went to penalties. After missing the first penalty, I thought FM just didn't want us to win another trophy. But then Porto missed two penalties and we'd won. Lucky we did as we then lost in the semi-finals of the PT Cup to a bottom of the side table. Across two legs we amassed 64 shots on goal but couldn't score and then lost of penalties. As we'd achieved the goal of winning a cup, and were in danger of losing our lead in the league, I resigned as I saw an interesting job available. 

Season 2039/2040 - Coleraine - Northen Ireland

It was mid-season in Northen Ireland and I saw the Coleraine job was available. They were a decent team and were still in the cup, so I thought it could be another 6 month stint like in Denmark. Also, I think it's easier to build a team to dominate in the lower leagues. We got through to the final of the Tennent's Irish Cup, and were 2 - 0 in the final, but lost 6 - 2 in the end. Coleraine's main keeper had 2.5 silver stars....

Season 2041/42 - Coleraine - Northern Ireland

We brought in a lot of loans over the summer, and made some good domestic signings and went from 4th favourites to favourites for the league. We won the first 9 games, and I then knew we had a good team. It was also smooth progress in the cups, and we booked our place in the Bet McClean League Cup final in February by beating Linfield in the semis. Waiting until February for the final was a bit annoying, but a 4 - 0 victory over Cliftonville meant we were now up to 9 cups. We stayed a few more weeks to win the league and then resigned.

The Final Leg

We have one more country left - South Africa. The Ajax CT job was available but didn't appeal to me and I saw another interesting job might be available soon. In April Mamelodi Sundowns sacked their manager and off I went to them. I've never managed in South Africa before and am looking forward to it. On the club side, we "just" have one more domestic cup and the African Champions League left, so this might be our last club. Though, I may need to join a big European club in a couple of years to keep my repuation high enough to get a big Euro nation job. I also became the Brazil manager in 2038 and our first World Cup with them is appoaching. Interestingly, our first game with the Sundowns is the final of CAF Confederations Cup. Unfortunately, this doesn't qualify us from the African Champions League.

Forgot to take screenshots of the wins, so team name isn't highlighted. Have included manager milestones as proof. 

 

 

  

[leyrtj]

5 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

I can't find the post where I listed them (maybe I never did).

I think this is a complete list;

Malaysia

Scotland

Finland

Northern Ireland

Portugal

Republic of Ireland

Wales

If anybody thinks this list is wrong / incomplete, let me know because I'll put it at the start of the thread soon.

Great idea. I would definitely target these if/when I do the challenge again. I may even be tempted to start in Malaysia, and target the cups first rather than Champions Leagues. 

[vikeologist]

5 minutes ago, leyrtj said:

Great idea. I would definitely target these if/when I do the challenge again. I may even be tempted to start in Malaysia, and target the cups first rather than Champions Leagues. 

The advantage of Malaysia is that one of the cups takes place outside the league schedule, so you only have to play the cup if you take over at the right time.

[leyrtj]

Nice tip. Scotland is nice as the league cup is done by December, then you can join a summer league or wherever. 

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2042/43 PSG Season Report

 

 

It was bound to happen eventually, but although I won the league fairly comfortably, I failed to win the cup (going out in the S/F to our inexplicably close rival Nice).

That means I am now 2 cups behind my league total.

I brought back a couple of old (in both senses of the word) faces for my campaign; Fabão from my successes at Flamengo, Man Utd and Brazil, and Stefan Schwarz from last season at Real Madrid. Fabão depressingly is in steep decline, even though he’s only 33. He also missed a lot of penalties. He only scored 6 out of 11 before I relieved him of that duty.

On the national stage, France under me have limped their way to the Nations league S/F taking place this summer.

I now really do intend to take a break from the challenge. Last summer I took over PSG in the middle of the World cup, and then took over France afterwards, and having put in all the initial work on those teams / squads, wanted to see at least one season through.

Top Goalscorer – Bruno Le Bris – 42

Not a bad total as I didn’t play him in every match. I used him as a striker for PSG, but as an attacking midfielder for the national team. If I was staying longer, I’d replace him.

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) Luís Ferro / Bruno Le Bris – 7.57

Ferro is a right winger I brought in.

Man of The Match – Bruno Le Bris  - 9

MVP – Luís Ferro

Ferro is basically our best player, in both attack and the wing, along with the defensive midfielder I brought in, Stefan Schwarz.

This was not a great PSG team though. I knew that when I took over, and their mediocrity cost me the cup. Mostly they were brilliant. Sometimes rubbish. It kind of sucks that I waited so long to manage such a rubbish PSG team.

Domestic
Season	Team		Division	Position	MVP			Notes										
22/23	Black Leopards	S African L1	5th					Took over with 8 matches to go.Edge of relegation to edge of promotion.
23/24	Black Leopards	S African L1	1st		Kiyaam Bull 		SA Cup Q/F
24/25	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	10th					Took over with 6 matches to go. Won SA Cup.
25/26	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	2nd		Sphesihle Maduna	Won Confederations Cup.
26/27	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	1st		Mduduzi Shabalala	League, ACL, SA Cup, S8 Cup.
2027	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	12th					Took over after 8 matches. Lost in Playoffs Prelim
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Connor Buck		Lost in final.
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	2nd					Lost in S/F
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Kevin Castañeda	Lost in final.
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	3rd					Left before playoffs
2029	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	n/a					Lost immediately in playoff plelim.
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd					Won league. Lost Champions League on penalties
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	1st					League champs
2031	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	1st		Hugo Moreno		League / NACL double.
2032	Suwon		Kor L1		2nd		Johnny			Took over in 8th with 21 matches to go.
2033	Suwon		Kor L1		1st		Johnny			League, Cup, ACL
2035	Gremio		Bra L1		11th					Took over midseason. Won Copa Sudamerica to qualify for Copa Lib.
2036	Gremio		Bra L1		1st		Kluvert Ako Oru	League, Copa Lib S/F
2037	Flamengo	Bra L1		2nd		Endrick			Club World Cup, Brazilian Cup, Libertadores. Missed out on league by 1 point.
39/40	Man Utd		Eng Prem	1st		Diego Esedin		League, Carabao Cup, Champions League
40/41	Inter		It Ser A	1st		Dániel Kis			League and Cup double, plus Champions League.
41/42	Real Madrid 	Sp La Liga	1st		José Antonio Palacios	League / Cup double.
42/43	PSG		Fr Ligue 1		1st		Luis Ferro			League

International
Year			Team			Achievements
23-24			Fiji			Oceania Cup S/F
24			Morocco U23		Olympics Losing Finalists
26-27			Iran			Asian Nations Cup losing finalists
27-31			Morocco			ACON S/F
						WC R2
						ACON winners.
31-32			Belgium			Euro S/F
32-34			Mexico			Gold Cup, sacked after World Cup
35-36			Australia
36-40			Brazil			WC S/F, Copa America
40-42			Spain			WC S/F. Sacked.


Challenge Progress 23/32

Club
 8/10 top domestic leagues 		(S Africa, Mexico, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain, France)			
 6/10 domestic cups 			(S Africa, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain)							
 5/5 club continental championships	(Africa, N America, Asia, S America, Europe)		
 1/1 club world championship

International
 3/5 continental tournaments 		(Africa, N America, S America)	
 0/1 World Cup		

 

[leyrtj]

7 hours ago, vikeologist said:

Vikeologist's 2042/43 PSG Season Report

 

 

It was bound to happen eventually, but although I won the league fairly comfortably, I failed to win the cup (going out in the S/F to our inexplicably close rival Nice).

That means I am now 2 cups behind my league total.

I brought back a couple of old (in both senses of the word) faces for my campaign; Fabão from my successes at Flamengo, Man Utd and Brazil, and Stefan Schwarz from last season at Real Madrid. Fabão depressingly is in steep decline, even though he’s only 33. He also missed a lot of penalties. He only scored 6 out of 11 before I relieved him of that duty.

On the national stage, France under me have limped their way to the Nations league S/F taking place this summer.

I now really do intend to take a break from the challenge. Last summer I took over PSG in the middle of the World cup, and then took over France afterwards, and having put in all the initial work on those teams / squads, wanted to see at least one season through.

Top Goalscorer – Bruno Le Bris – 42

Not a bad total as I didn’t play him in every match. I used him as a striker for PSG, but as an attacking midfielder for the national team. If I was staying longer, I’d replace him.

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 matches played) Luís Ferro / Bruno Le Bris – 7.57

Ferro is a right winger I brought in.

Man of The Match – Bruno Le Bris  - 9

MVP – Luís Ferro

Ferro is basically our best player, in both attack and the wing, along with the defensive midfielder I brought in, Stefan Schwarz.

This was not a great PSG team though. I knew that when I took over, and their mediocrity cost me the cup. Mostly they were brilliant. Sometimes rubbish. It kind of sucks that I waited so long to manage such a rubbish PSG team.

Domestic
Season	Team		Division	Position	MVP			Notes										
22/23	Black Leopards	S African L1	5th					Took over with 8 matches to go.Edge of relegation to edge of promotion.
23/24	Black Leopards	S African L1	1st		Kiyaam Bull 		SA Cup Q/F
24/25	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	10th					Took over with 6 matches to go. Won SA Cup.
25/26	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	2nd		Sphesihle Maduna	Won Confederations Cup.
26/27	Kaizer Chiefs	S African Prem	1st		Mduduzi Shabalala	League, ACL, SA Cup, S8 Cup.
2027	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	12th					Took over after 8 matches. Lost in Playoffs Prelim
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Connor Buck		Lost in final.
2028	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	2nd					Lost in S/F
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd		Kevin Castañeda	Lost in final.
2029	Atlas		Mex 1st Ap	3rd					Left before playoffs
2029	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	n/a					Lost immediately in playoff plelim.
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	2nd					Won league. Lost Champions League on penalties
2030	Pumas		Mex 1st Ap	1st					League champs
2031	Pumas		Mex 1st Cl	1st		Hugo Moreno		League / NACL double.
2032	Suwon		Kor L1		2nd		Johnny			Took over in 8th with 21 matches to go.
2033	Suwon		Kor L1		1st		Johnny			League, Cup, ACL
2035	Gremio		Bra L1		11th					Took over midseason. Won Copa Sudamerica to qualify for Copa Lib.
2036	Gremio		Bra L1		1st		Kluvert Ako Oru	League, Copa Lib S/F
2037	Flamengo	Bra L1		2nd		Endrick			Club World Cup, Brazilian Cup, Libertadores. Missed out on league by 1 point.
39/40	Man Utd		Eng Prem	1st		Diego Esedin		League, Carabao Cup, Champions League
40/41	Inter		It Ser A	1st		Dániel Kis			League and Cup double, plus Champions League.
41/42	Real Madrid 	Sp La Liga	1st		José Antonio Palacios	League / Cup double.
42/43	PSG		Fr Ligue 1		1st		Luis Ferro			League

International
Year			Team			Achievements
23-24			Fiji			Oceania Cup S/F
24			Morocco U23		Olympics Losing Finalists
26-27			Iran			Asian Nations Cup losing finalists
27-31			Morocco			ACON S/F
						WC R2
						ACON winners.
31-32			Belgium			Euro S/F
32-34			Mexico			Gold Cup, sacked after World Cup
35-36			Australia
36-40			Brazil			WC S/F, Copa America
40-42			Spain			WC S/F. Sacked.


Challenge Progress 23/32

Club
 8/10 top domestic leagues 		(S Africa, Mexico, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain, France)			
 6/10 domestic cups 			(S Africa, S Korea, Brazil, England, Italy, Spain)							
 5/5 club continental championships	(Africa, N America, Asia, S America, Europe)		
 1/1 club world championship

International
 3/5 continental tournaments 		(Africa, N America, S America)	
 0/1 World Cup		

 

Totally understand the take a break thing. This is such a tough and long challenge. I've been meaning to take a break for a while, but then think just one more team/trophy and then I will. Then you get near the end and think I might as well finish it. 

[vikeologist]

4 minutes ago, leyrtj said:

Totally understand the take a break thing. This is such a tough and long challenge. I've been meaning to take a break for a while, but then think just one more team/trophy and then I will. Then you get near the end and think I might as well finish it. 

Probably only taking a break for one season. Luckily you're going to finish soon, which saves me trying to be the first to complete on FM23. When i first did the challenge, i took a long break within the challenge, managing Newcastle for about 8 seasons until we won the league and cup. I mean, i wasn't trying to not win for 8 seasons, but I knew it was a long term project.

[leyrtj]

33 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

Probably only taking a break for one season. Luckily you're going to finish soon, which saves me trying to be the first to complete on FM23. When i first did the challenge, i took a long break within the challenge, managing Newcastle for about 8 seasons until we won the league and cup. I mean, i wasn't trying to not win for 8 seasons, but I knew it was a long term project.

Actually I'm playing FM20, so you're still there to be first for FM23. I was tempted to start in South Africa with a 2nd division team and build my way up there, as South Africa is my last required country, and I'm bheind internationally. But might do that with the other challenge in the forum. Bayern next for you maybe.  

[leyrtj]

Brazil - World Cup - 2042

Well that didn't go very well. Not an amazing Brazil team but good enough to challenge. We looked good in the group stage, but then drew Germany in the 3rd round. We edged the game but lost 1 - 0. Sacked and then because we moved to South Africa our reputation had dropped, so we couldn't pick up any other international jobs. Oh dear.