The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge

[Crispypaul]

And it didn't take long for two to come up - firstly I am back in Mexico with Cruz Azul  whom I managed in FM 2020.  Interestingly we had one game left of the 2023/24 Clausura which was the 2nd leg of the final, which we lost, but it does mean we have qualified for the 2025 NACL already

Next up I didn't have to go far as the Mexico job came up after the Copa America which I accepted - we have the Gold Cup in 2025 to look forward to next.  Also we're a host for the 2026 World Cup of course so I will hope to stay for that too.

Edited January 5, 2021 by Crispypaul

[_JHTB_]

Santos Laguna 2028 Apertura

Every year I tell myself that I'm not going to make a lot of changes to the first team, but I may as well utilise having a tycoon owner so made 9 signings over the summer for the first team. That said, I did try and focus on improving on foreign players at the club with both Mexican players and other foreign players. Something I did this season which I don't do all too frequently was sign 3 players who were over 30 but two of the 3 were Mexican so a benefit for squad registration purposes. Our first game of the season came in the Leagues Cup, a competition that the board wanted us to win, where we were perhaps a little unlucky in drawing our fixture before losing on penalties.

In the league we got off to a sensational start, winning all of our opening 10 games, we were just rampant, and really, for all but one of the wins good value for the 3 points. It was starting to look like we might manage an unbeaten season [or 19 games) but two screamers from Pumas in the opening 15 minutes left us fighting an uphill battle and losing our first game of the season though we did ultimately go on to top the Apertura regular season. Top spot meant we faced against 8th placed Necaxa in the quarter final in a tie that we were comfortable victors before the semi-final draw actually pitted us against 7th place Cruz Azul so a perhaps easier draw. My centre back had other ideas deciding to get sent off in the 10th minute in the first leg which was away from home, Cruz Azul took full advantage to beat us 3-0 though I was hopeful we could give a go of it in the return leg. It took us 3 minutes to see the 3-0 aggregate scoreline go to 4-0 though by the 10th minute it was back to 4-2, unfortunately, the game was very back and forth eventually finishing 4-2 on the night and seeing us miss out on a chance to win the title in spite of being 8 points clear in the table. I did finish the season yesterday, but was annoyed so held of sorting my update till now.

Best player: James Ward-Prowse

One of the 3 over 30s we signed and what a signing Ward-Prowse was for us he managed 4 goals and 11 assists in the 19 game season from a combination of central midfield and right back. He managed over 1.5 key passes per 90 more than the next best player in the league. Unfortunately an injury towards the end of the season has decimated his physicals, but hopefully he can make good contribution for the next 6 months at least.

What Next?

We start in the Champions League in the new year and that is my main aim really, if we can secure a league title that'll be a bonus, but I'd happily forgo winning the league if it meant champions League was secured.

Story So Far

Challenge Progress

 

[libbyshuss]

2039 Gold Cup

Mexico

At 7th in the world we were strong favourites for this. The last 5 finals had been between USA and Mexico, with Mexico winning 3 and USA 2 so it was clear from the start who our main rivals would be

Group Stage

Spoiler

 

A nice easy draw pitted us against Guatemala, Cuba and Haiti. We started with a 10-0 win against Guatemala and it was all downhill from there. NExt game was 6-0 and the final game only 2-0

 

Quarter Final

Spoiler

 

Trinidad and Tobago looked like they might offer us a sterner test. They didn't, we won 4-1

 

Semi-Final

Spoiler

 

Costa Rica in the semi. No problemo, the days of Paulo Wanchope have long gone

 

Final

Spoiler

 

No prized for guessing who we faced in the final. The USA! we were favourites, we had a much stronger squad, and so it played out. lovely stuff

 

 

What's Next?

Spoiler

 

I only need the Euros and the Asian equivalent to complete the international challenge. South Korea would be lovely but i've not yet seen the job come up. I'm sure it's possible still....

 

That international record for the last 3 looks nuts, but 90% of those matches are agsinst much poorer sides. Still, 100% win rate is nice!

 

 

 

[The Regista]

Good lord, I'm gone for a day and there's so much to catch up on!!

Great to see this thread buzzing everyone. Keep up the good work!

[The Regista]

@darren1983congrats on the AFCON win. Any more international sides lined up?

@Phelix Domination of the South African footballing leagues. I suppose that should still be a nice increase to your rep. Be The Coach challenge sounds interesting - what does it involve?

@Gregg88 Those newgens look exceptional. One more year at Spurs for you?

@libbyshuss What luck with the Dortmund job eh? Surely the Pokal is in sight for you next season? Looking at your achievement list you must be thinking you can finish it all

@Crispypaul Congrats on the Greek double. Where is next for you?

@_JHTB_ Best of luck with the league and Champions League!!

[darren1983]

Season 2024/25 Review

League - dominate. After last season's title win we really took control this season. We won our first 15 games of the season and no one ever really looked like being a threat to us.

Champions League - The one I wanted to win. We breezed through this until the semi final stage where faced Supersport. They were the first side to beat us in the league a couple months before but I was still confident, The home game was tight and settled by 1 goal, a mistake from our LB allowed their striker in to score. In the away leg we found ourselves a goal down again, this time after 15 mins, we managed to grab a goal just before HT. At the break I made some tweaks and we grabbed a 2nd with 30 to go. We grabbed a 3rd in injury time to seal it. In the final we play Cape Town and despite them being the best side in South Africa before I took over here we beat them for the 8th straight time. This time 7-0.

MTN8 Cup - played our backups here and cruised it

Telkom Cup - also played our backups here and cruised it till the final. First time Cape Town gave us a struggle, took 2 late goals in extra time to win this one 

Nedbank Cup - once again mainly backups till the final where we crushed Orlando Pirates

Carling Black Label - pre season comp, beat Pirates

Squad- I like this squad, really good mix of young players and others at their peak, with a couple of seasons it's easy to build a dominate force in South Africa and that's what we've done here

Key Players

Taariq Koopstadt - star man on the left, missed a couple sizable chunks of the season with injury but still scored 25 goals and got 13 assists from the left wing
Rivaldo Coetzee - best defender in Africa, criminal he doesn't get called up for the South Africa side
Max McMillian - my gem, have had him on loan in every season as a manager, from FS Stars to here (he's joining on a free when his contract ends). over 40 goals this season and 92 in 103 league games for me.

Career Progress

Season		Club		Country		League		Position	Notes/Achievements 
2020/21		FS Stars	South Africa	NDF		5th 		Took over in 8th. Started 1st coaching badge
2021/22		FS Stars	South Africa	NDF		1st 		Completed 2 coaching badges & started a 3rd
2022/23		FS Stars	South Africa	Prem		2nd 		Won Cup, completed national C licence, left club on 5/2/23
2022/23		Kaizer Chiefs	South Africa	Prem		9th 		Won Nedbank Cup, Started Continental B licence
2023/24		Kaizer Chiefs	South Africa	Prem		1st 		Won cup and CAF Con Fed cup
2024/25		Kaizer Chiefs	South Africa	Prem		1st 		Also won Champions League and all Cup. Almost finished coaching badges too

International
Year	Country		Notes
2025	Nigeria		Won ACON

Challenge Progress

Club
1/10 top domestic leagues (2024 – South Africa Kaizer Chiefs)
1/10 domestic cups (2022 – South Africa, FS Stars)
1/5 club continental championships (2025 – African Champions League, Kaizer Chiefs)
0/1 club world championship

International
1/5 continental tournaments (2025 – Africa, Nigeria)
0/1 world tournaments ()

What's Next?

Well Africa is done so it's time to look for a new place, couple interesting jobs might be coming up in China but done that before. The job I currently want is FC Seoul in South Korea, never managed there before and despite a media prediction of 2nd they're currently 10th after a little more than halfway. They're also still in the champions league. I've had an interview so just gotta wait now.

[darren1983]

33 minutes ago, The Regista said:

@darren1983congrats on the AFCON win. Any more international sides lined up?

Nah not yet. Gold Cup this summer though so hopefully either USA or Mexico have a shocker 

[JamLUFC]

2027

Our first full season at Incheon United, and back in the top division, had us as 3000/1 outsiders for the title - could we score a major upset? No. Quite simply. 

That said we had a very good season. Despite being rank outsiders we managed to secure a top half finish at the split for the league, and ended up in 6th place which was a huge positive. The cup run was a disaster as we went out at the 3rd round stage (which we entered at) after rotating the entire team - I think it's now five seasons since I've won a cup match let alone even competing for cups!

The next step is a tough decision. I was offered the Rosenberg job midway through the season which I rejected as I still had an outside chance of getting into the Champions League. The £8m transfer budget was very tempting, as I think the highest I've had so far has been about £100k. In fact in my career I've only spent a total transfer fee of £1.1m. I've had my budget for next season which is £0, and a £60k wage budget which is 20% down from what I'm currently spending so I have very little room for maneuverer. I've got my eyes open for other jobs coming up and my contract is up in two months with no sign of a new deal being offered. LAFC, Anderlecht and Newells Old Boys I've put in for but I don't think I'll get offered these, and I have declared my interest in managing Ulsan Hyundai who came second in the Korean league and have Champions League football so fingers crossed they decide to bin off their current manager. I've also applied for Sunderland who are 8th in League One but that's more just to test the waters of where my reputation is.

On the international front I'm still unemployed since leaving Nigeria. I was applied for and was offered jobs with Japan and Jamaica but rejected both. I think it may be a case to see what comes up after Euro 28 and Copa America

[Gregg88]

37 minutes ago, The Regista said:

 

@Gregg88 Those newgens look exceptional. One more year at Spurs for you?

I did indeed stay for another year! I signed a 30yo Rashford after Utd released him. Crazy!

Managed to win the Copa America too. Ticking along nicely now.

[Gregg88]

4 minutes ago, JamLUFC said:

 

Our first full season at Incheon United, and back in the top division, had us as 3000/1 outsiders for the title - could we score a major upset? No. Quite simply.

I read this perfectly! You mentioned the odds.....I thought "has he?" then I came crashing back down! Haha.

Good luck on the job front! Intrigued to see what you do....

[JamLUFC]

9 minutes ago, Gregg88 said:

I read this perfectly! You mentioned the odds.....I thought "has he?" then I came crashing back down! Haha.

Good luck on the job front! Intrigued to see what you do....

The job offers come in, and the budgets blew me away! Sunderland offered me a £15m transfer budget to get them into the Championship, Anderlecht had a budget of £40m however I took a smaller budget of £20m, however as a Leeds fan it was too big to turn down the chance to emulate the great man...

[Gregg88]

27 minutes ago, JamLUFC said:

The job offers come in, and the budgets blew me away! Sunderland offered me a £15m transfer budget to get them into the Championship, Anderlecht had a budget of £40m however I took a smaller budget of £20m, however as a Leeds fan it was too big to turn down the chance to emulate the great man...

 

The perfect badge in my eyes.

[The Regista]

Been drawn against AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League Play Off Qualifying Round...

Yeah... I'll be playing the kids for those two matches...

[Crispypaul]

2 hours ago, The Regista said:

 

@Crispypaul Congrats on the Greek double. Where is next for you?

 

In Mexico both at club and international level so hoping to get North America sorted pretty quickly!

[treva]

On 16/11/2020 at 23:09, treva said:

Finally got through my second season with Spurs to end up losing my second Champions League final of this save. My god this challenge tests your enjoyment of playing this game!

Made all the more annoying is that I told myself I wouldn't get FM21 as I wanted to finish this save.. Will put together an update when I've calmed down.

And I've just lost the Champions League semi final to Arsenal 3-2 on aggregate after being 1-0 up after the first leg (35 yard free kick was the winner). That's two Champions League final losses (AFC and UEFA) and one CL semi final loss. Shoot me.

Edited January 5, 2021 by treva

[darren1983]

New job in South Korea with FC Seoul

First time managing here. Squad does not look great at first look but has been used to my preferred 433 (or 451 or however the game has it listed) so that should help

[_JHTB_]

Anyone for a penalty? It's mad enough having these 4, but we did actually miss a penalty earlier in the game as well, and, I'll be honest, most of them looked pretty harsh decisions

 

[treva]

2036/37 Season

This season was all about the Champions League. Regardless of what happens, it would be my final season at Spurs. Instant resulting all non-Champions League matches, we ended up falling one point short of a three-peat as Arsenal came out on top with a flawless home record. We picked up our second straight Carabao Cup but dropped out of the FA Cup in the fifth round, the first time we've not made the final since taking charge.

In the Champions League we went perfect through the group stage, beating Atletico Madrid, Marseille and Shakhtar both home and away. Our next two fixtures probably couldn't have been easier, seeing off Schalke 5-1 on aggregate before dumping out Hertha Berlin 6-0 on aggregate in the quarter final. Then came the big one: Arsenal in the semis. We took the upper hand with a 1-0 home leg victory, however it all unravelled at the Emirates where we went down 3-1 - the final goal coming from a ridiculous 35 yard free kick. Another Champions League heartache, particularly because I have no doubt that our squad is the best in the world - to not have won a Champions League with them is a travesty.

That left just one competition left before resigning - the Club World Cup. We had luck with the initial draw, easily dispatching Auckland City and Morella to set up a revenge match with Arsenal in the QF. We dominated from start to finish and qualified for the semis with a 4-0 victory. Barcelona were more of a match in the semi final as they took us to penalties. Luckily we have the best goalkeeper in the world and thanks to two saves we made it through 4-1 in the shootout. PSG, who beat us in last year's Champions League final, stood between us and the trophy. This time around we made no mistake, beating them 3-1 to sign off the season with a much deserved world championship.

It's been three amazing seasons with Spurs and, whilst it's a shame we didn't win the Champions League, it's time to crack on with the rest of Europe. The Juventus and Monaco jobs are available, so let's see what happens.

 

 

With Mexico there's not been a lot to report except we won the CONCACAF Nations league, beating both Costa Rica and USA 4-1 to take the title. We've moved up a spot in the world rankings to 9th and now we are ready for the Gold Cup to start.

 

 

Challenge Progress 12/32

Club

4/10 Top Domestic Leagues: Indonesian Liga 1 (x2), Chinese Super League (x2), Liga BBVA Bancomer MX Apertura (x2), English Premier League (x2)

4/10 Domestic Cups: Piala Indonesia (x2), Yanjing Beer Chinese FA Cup, Copa Argentina, Emirates FA Cup

2/5 Club Continental Championships: CONCACAF Champions League, Copa Libertadores

1/1 Club World Championship: Spurs 2037

International

1/5 Continental Tournaments: 2035 Africa Cup of Nations

0/1 World Tournaments:

Edited January 6, 2021 by treva

[Gregg88]

Season 2029/30  - Tottenham

Swayed by members of this forum....I stayed for another season! And well......it was a great decision. A lucky season. But a great one.

Champions League in the bag - via penalties. I actually got angry when the first pen was missed. Yep.....it's come to that point. I got so lucky in the knockout stages. You'll see from the fixtures below. Totally undeserved! 

I mean....

Losing the Carabao Cup Semi Final to Liverpool......on penalties.

Losing in the FA Cup 5th Round to Norwich......on penalties.

You can see why I thought the worst! After that 1st miss, I had 2 rounds of pens to calm down.....then BAM. 4th penalty missed. "Pass me the whiskey".

 

The League season was gone at an early stage. Chelsea went so far clear and only got slight reeled in towards the end.

On the plus side....Free agent signing Marcus Rasford banging in 30 league goals. 45 goals in 48 games in all competitions just to really take the p*ss. Only 7 assists though! Greed. Pure Greed.

 

My time is done with Spurs.....after the Club World Championship that is. Not fussed if I win it or not. I will attack it with someone from Germany, Italy or Spain at a later date.

My date with Mexico has to be near. Surely!

[The Regista]

Uh oh... @treva better not read your update @Gregg88...

Congrats on both your successes with Spurs and best of luck with your new jobs.

[treva]

12 minutes ago, The Regista said:

Uh oh... @treva better not read your update @Gregg88...

Congrats on both your successes with Spurs and best of luck with your new jobs.

 

Anyone ever had an issue of not physically being able to resign? I think it's because I'm already out of contract but when I click to resign it just doesn't do anything. Juventus job has been applied for, nothing else is available, so I better hope I get it otherwise I'm stuck playing the start of this season.

Gold Cup with Mexico will keep me occupied for now.

[Phelix]

I've recently been knocked back for high profile jobs (Real Madrid, AC Milan and Man City) because I apparently show no inclination to "focus on attacking set pieces". Has anyone else had ridiculous reasons for being knocked back?

[_JHTB_]

I'm a little conflicted, my contract at Santos Laguna runs out in the summer and IF I win the Champions League I'm planning on leaving even if I don't secure the league title, however, if I do win the Champions League we'd qualify for the Club World Cup this summer. But the Club World Cup finishes after my contract expires so I'm unsure whether to sign a contract extension even if I do win the Champions League to give a stab at the CWC or just move on to pastures new. 

What would you all do? 

[JamLUFC]

Annoyingly if I had held on the Kaizer Chiefs job come up (with them in the African Champions League) just after I took the Newell's Old Boys post, but I'm loving the Argentine league at the minute. I don't think I'll come close to toppling Boca yet but the league itself is crazy. 12 out of 20 teams qualify for continental football and no-one can defend. Just from the last matchday there were scores of 3-4, 4-0, 2-7 and three games finishing 3-1. If anyone's thinking of looking at leagues I'd recommend it.

1 hour ago, _JHTB_ said:

I'm a little conflicted, my contract at Santos Laguna runs out in the summer and IF I win the Champions League I'm planning on leaving even if I don't secure the league title, however, if I do win the Champions League we'd qualify for the Club World Cup this summer. But the Club World Cup finishes after my contract expires so I'm unsure whether to sign a contract extension even if I do win the Champions League to give a stab at the CWC or just move on to pastures new. 

What would you all do? 

I would move as the likelihood is a European side will win it however it would depend how long you'd have to wait for it too with it being every four years now. If it's only a six month wait then maybe sign a new deal but look out for any other jobs which appeal

[_JHTB_]

Santos Laguna Clausura 2029

Following our general dominance in the Apertura section of the league I didn't really make many signings, most just like for like on outgoings, and really, the league section went much the same as the previous one, if not better, with us lasting until the 18th of 19 games to lose a game and only drawing one of the other games we were absolutely dominant but of course, that all counts for nothing as we have to play some playoff games to give half the league a chance to make the previous 19 games mean very little. The quarter final saw us face off against Queretaro where we played two relatively close games considering they finished 8th in the regular season, but both were victories for us to see us through to the next round against Pachuca. It may have been leaking in to my write up so far of me not liking the fact that winning the league (which we did by 13 points) doesn't mean winning the league and that's because Pachuca beat us 4-0 in the first leg of the semi-final leaving it all for us to do in the second where we could only draw 2-2, so despite setting the all time record for points in the Liga BBVA MX with 100, smashing the previous record of 76 points we come away without a league title.

 

We were in the Champions League also this season with out journey starting against Costa Rica's Herediano a team that we should beat. The first half of the first leg was actually pretty poor, with us failing to breakthrough their defense however, the second half saw us score 4 without reply in the second half to take a commanding lead to the second leg. The second leg is the one where we got our 5 penalties, the first of which also resulted in their player getting a red card 3 minutes in (not a red card, probably not even a penalty) so we won the game 7-0 to see us to the next round. We were on the end of a similar red card penalty decision in our next game against Montreal Impact, though the game was already 1-1 when it happened, they scored their penalty, but we did manage to persevere and come back to win the match 3-2, the second leg was a relative walkover us winning 3-0.

The final 4 teams in the competition were all Mexican so given our performance in the league I was pretty confident we'd be able to do pretty well, though we were pitted against a team that in my time in Mexico till then I hadn't recorded a victory over, that changed in the first leg as we were relatively comfortable in a 4-1 victory in spite of conceding early on. The second leg we also seemed to be making easy work of, but a mini collapse in the second half did see us end up drawing the game 4-4 which was disappointing, but inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. The final set us up against Pumas who were the only team to beat us in the regular Apertura season so had to potential to be a tough tie. Though, the first leg just went well all told, away from home we managed to score two second half goals to give us a handy advantage for the second leg. A goal in the first minute of the second leg did alleviate any worries of us throwing the game away and we did end up winning the match 3-0 securing us the North American Champions League.

Best Player: Patricio Barbuscia

Honestly, the best player for this half was likely striker Jonathan Lopez who came to life in the second half of the season scoring 35 of his 48 goals. However, I wanted to give it to a Goalkeeper as he kept 20 clean sheets in 32 games which is just really good, his form with us did actually see him get his first two starts for the Argentina National team also.

What Next?

I'm leaving, I'm not staying for the club world cup, I think I might have been tempted had I won the league but I'm just going to try find a new club, and as @JamLUFC did say, most likely to be won by a European club so would be a waste of a contract. I'm unsure where I'll land next as it'll depend on what's available. I have spent a lot of this year improving my media handling as I feel this was a large contributor to not getting any international offers last summer, it's the gold cup this year so I might be able to one of the USA or Mexico jobs and work towards completely finishing North America which would be good.

Story So Far?

Challenge Progress

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by _JHTB_

[Gregg88]

January 2030 - Jeonbuk F.C

So as my plane took off from Heathrow with the destination set for Mexico, we hit some scary, scary weather and the pilot had to take a huge (really huge) deviation and ended up in Korea of all places! What are the chances!

 

A transfer budget of £29 million and available wage budget of £200k has allowed me to essentially buy the league. The team finished 2nd last season, so we are in the Asian Champions League too.

I'm going to stick my head out and say that I will win the league (I'm currently buying all the best players ). The board expects it.....I expect it. All eyes on the win!

 

 

 

[Crispypaul]

Think I'm going to take a break from this and come back again - after a clean sweep with Cruz Azul I somehow got the Tottenham job.  It seems too unrealistic at the moment that in 4.5 years I've gone from the third tier in Norway to managing one of the largest clubs in England.  I also got offered the France job completely out the blue.

I might come back after the next patch to see if its a bit more sensible.

  

  

 

[lukefox44]

Luke Fox

Supersport United 

2029 / 2030

After winning the league last I was hoping to retain the league and have serious go at the champions league. In South Africa if you finish in the top 8 there is 3 domestic cup competitions and 15 Champions league games if you reach the final, so rotation and prioritising the champions league were a must. By doing this I played a complete second elven in all three domestic cups, we did ok considering this to be fair. getting to the Semi finals in the Nedbank Cup and MTN Cup and the Quarter finals in the Telkom knockout, I was pretty pleased with this as it showed we had decent back up options and more importantly it kept the board happy.

Last season in the league we only lost 2 games, this season started out with us getting 1 point from 3 games and the slow start continued until about the 8 games when we had around 10 or 11 points I think and sat in mid table. The board were not yet unhappy, but I will be honest I was starting to get a bit worried. I didn't really know what if anything to change, so I just sort of carried on and hoped for the best, the best came and we went on a 24 match winning run in all competitions and won the league with 4 games to spare. Early scare avoided.

Mid season we also had a bid of £600k for our main man, Sasomsap, matching his release clause from Charleroi and maybe most worrying Benfica. I was convinced he would leave and we only had 9 days left of the transfer window and I was scrambling around trying to find a replacement, anyone i found who would join was nowhere near the levels of Sasomsap. I was still confident of winning the league but this put my Champions league bid in serious question.

I then received this in my inbox 

Spoiler

I couldn't believe it, he had the chance to move to a bigger club on probably bigger money and he choose to stay and try and help us achieve our goals. That's not to say his contract with us is not a good one, its heavily performance based and easily the most lucrative on our team.

Spoiler

Now we managed to keep our main man onto the main event of the season the CAF Champions league -

The prelim and first round were super easy so I will quickly gloss over them here. We won them 20-0 and 12-1 respectively, all while playing our second string 11 we used in cup games, no normal starters even on the bench.

Group Stage

Spoiler

 

Quarter finals

Spoiler

 

Semi Final

Spoiler

We dominated both games but somehow lost the away leg 1-0, no away goals is always tough to overturn, but I had faith. The second leg was extremely nervy, even when we went 2-1 on aggregate with 25 mins left a goal would of sent us out. I desperately wanted that 3 goal as a cushion, but it never came, we hit the woodwork a staggering 4 times and it was starting to feel like on those games were we would eventually concede.  But the boys held on, onto the final.

The other semi was an all South African affair between Cape Town City and Mamelodi Sundowns. Neither were doing particularly well in the league but I was really hoping for the Sundowns. Cape Town City had beaten us in 5 of our last 7 meeting, they had been somewhat my bogey team in my time in South Africa. On the flip side the Sundowns had lost to us in our last 5 consecutive meetings including recent 5-0 and 7-0 results.  

 

Final

Spoiler

Like previously mentioned, we always beat the Sundowns. 3-0, no drama's.

What's next

Spoiler

Well that's the domestic side of Africa done, so I've resigned and will be looking for a club job in either MLS or Mexico, think I'm leaning towards Mexico if I'm honest. The Mexican league has just finished, I think, so it might be a long time before my next club job. 

On the international side, there is a world cup  due to start in 2 weeks so once that's over I will again try and pick up an Asian national team and have another go at the Asian cup.

Just a quick side note, Sasomsap who chose to stay with us this year was decided it was time to leave a day after I resigned and has been sold, he couldn't possibly imagine staying without me, this loyalty will be rewarded and will try and pick him up at some point in the future haha.

 

Challenge progress

Spoiler

Nearly a third of the way there, if I ever get the hang of international management I might be in with chance. 

 

 

Edited January 8, 2021 by lukefox44

[libbyshuss]

22 hours ago, Gregg88 said:

I got so lucky in the knockout stages. You'll see from the fixtures below.

that's one hell of a tough group to get out of as well. congratulations!

[libbyshuss]

18 hours ago, Phelix said:

Has anyone else had ridiculous reasons for being knocked back?

i've only ever had "not the right person to take us forward at this time", i wish i had some slightly more interesting reasons

[libbyshuss]

17 hours ago, JamLUFC said:

if I do win the Champions League to give a stab at the CWC or just move on to pastures new. 

What would you all do? 

i'd move on and hope a job came up at a team more likely to win it to be honest.

[lukefox44]

2 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

i've only ever had "not the right person to take us forward at this time", i wish i had some slightly more interesting reasons

I just had that trying to get the South Korea job after they got knocked out in the groups in the world cup.

They went on to give the job to someone with lower attributes and rep, was gutted.

[vikeologist]

@lukefox44 Congrats on making it to the leader board. 

Maybe my new welcome to the leader board thing is an inspirational quote from that country. I can't promise my dark humour won;t come into play in the future, but I decided to go with Mandela rather than Jan Smuts on this first one. After today's events I'm not quite ready to suggest that 'Jan Smuts was right about one thing'.

 

As for when to quit or stay at a club, I'm not sure it's strategically a good idea to quit a league with 2 league championships a year, but with Mexico you have to factor in that _JHTB may not have been in the Mexican Cup, so he'd basically be hanging around for just one competition. In other circumstances this will often be a cup, and t's a pain in the arse. The Mexican leagues are ultimately mostly a cup.

It's definitely not worth hanging around in Mexico for the World Club Championship. It is unlikely that one will win with a no European team, unless you have the kind of record where you win everything everywhere.

Remember though that the WCC is only every 4 years, and you need to plan ahead a bit and make sure you're keeping track of when the next one is. No point winning the European Champions League 3 years before the next WCC is you've also rapped up the domestic side.

Edited January 8, 2021 by vikeologist

[lukefox44]

1 hour ago, vikeologist said:

@lukefox44 Congrats on making it to the leader board. 

Cheers mate.

CAF Champions league, upto ten in the challenge and a Mandela quote, what a day.

 

[dkouv]

Season 5 (2024/25) - Cruz Azul / Ivory Coast

Took a bit of a break; plenty of catching up to do on this challenge. Lots of people seem to be making good progress, congrats! As well as to those sticking it out despite the setbacks, which is by far the point of this challenge ))

In comparison with my pre-Christmas Ivory Coast ACON adventure, things were rather calm on the club front. After taking over at Cruz Azul, I discovered that we were desperately short of Mexican players (we needed at least 9 in the squad to comply with league rules), and had more or less no depth to the squad, but with a good budget we had enough time left to plug some of the holes in the summer window and strengthen more judiciously during the winter break. The key signing was the Argentinian Jeremias Perez Tica from Newell’s, who was unbelievable upfront for us, and a bargain at £4.7m.

 

We led the table in the Apertura but of course this just meant we were seeded first for the 8-team playoff at the end. The most tense game was the semi final where we lost the first leg 1-0 to local rivals Club America, but two early goals in the return leg made sure we took the aggregate lead, and ran out 3-1 winners on aggregate. We won the final easily against Monterrey, which meant that we got the league win and qualified for the all important North American Champions League.

 

I really wanted to win the cup since we won’t enter into it next season as a result of our CL qualification. We had a pretty easy road to the final where we again faced Club America. We only managed a tepid 1-1 draw at home but roared back at the end of the second leg to win 3-1 on the night and 4-2 on aggregate. Then my computer crashed so I had to replay the final and had a rather unexciting five-goal aggregate win.

After strengthening in winter we won the Clasura fairly easily and seem well placed for next season’s adventures; Champions League is definitely the aim and barring some FM-ings it should be within reach. Aside from Perez Tica, our two other key players are Mexican international Marcel Ruiz, who was already at the club when I joined, and Venezuelan wonderkid Alexander Vargas who was wanted by Man City but I managed to sign him before they did.

 

                                                                CLUB CAREER
                                                                -----------

 Season    Club               Division       League     Cups                           Notes
                                                        1st    2nd    Cont    CWC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21    TS Sporting        RSA Div. 1       5                                      Took over in 9th, finished 5th
2021/22    TS Sporting        RSA Div. 1       1                                      
2022/23    Orlando Pirates    RSA Premier      1        Won    Won                    A quintuple of league, MTN 8, Knockout cup, Nedbank cup and CAF confed cup   
2023/24    Orlando Pirates    RSA Premier      1        Won    Won    Won             A clean sweep domestically + champions league    
2024/25	   Cruz Azul	      Mex Liga BBVA    1  	Won  			      Won both aperture and closure                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                           INTERNATIONAL CAREER
                                                           --------------------

 Season Nation         Cups                                                         Notes
                       World Cup   Euro's   AFC   ACON   Gold Cup   Copa America

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21 Turkmenistan         
2021/22 Uzbekistan                                      			    Qualified for World Cup through playoffs
2022/23 Uzbekistan                                       			    World Cup Group Stage; Asian cup Q/F
2023/24 Ivory Coast
2024/25 Ivory Coast				   Won
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Challenge Progress:
  
Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues: South Africa (Orlando Pirates); Mexico (Cruz Azul)
 2/10 domestic cups: South Africa (Orlando Pirates); Mexico (Cruz Azul)
 1/5 club continental championships: CAF Champions League (Orlando Pirates)
 0/1 club world championship: 
 
International
 1/5 continental tournaments: ACON (Ivory Coast)
 0/1 world tournaments:

Overall: 6/32

 

[JamLUFC]

2027/28

The badge still amuses me. 

So after leaving Incheon United in November I was appointed as manager of Newells Old Boys who lay 19th in the Argentine Premier division after 17 games and had one objective - to survive. We succeeded with this with five games to go, and only narrowly missed out on the Copa Sudamericana spots as we finished in 14th. I do think we could have finished much higher, but a combination of too many draws (15/38 games we drew, 10 were in the first 17 games!) and a leaky defence just saw us miss out on continental qualification. Despite being in 14th we finished as the 3rd highest scorers in the league, so we're not too far off where we need to be.

There are though positives, we've brought through some good young players who will be part of the first team next season, and our form in the second half of the season has me confident we can challenge for a top six finish and qualify for the Copa Libertadores. On the downside I am already out of the cup after drawing Velez in the fifth round, making it about six years since I last won a cup game!

It's nice to be in a position where I'm not going to be actively looking for club jobs, however with both Euro 28 and Copa America coming up I'm expecting jobs to come available for me to consider going into the 2030 World Cup

 

[vikeologist]

Quote

@vikeologist Not only did I not win the Gold Cup with Mexico, I got knocked out by Costa Rica on penalties in the quarter final. Potentially the worst performance anyone managing Mexico has ever achieved in a Gold Cup during this challenge?

Oh , I've at least equalled that. That's why i to this day refer to a certain nation as Jabloodymaica.

[_JHTB_]

16 hours ago, vikeologist said:

As for when to quit or stay at a club, I'm not sure it's strategically a good idea to quit a league with 2 league championships a year, but with Mexico you have to factor in that _JHTB may not have been in the Mexican Cup, so he'd basically be hanging around for just one competition. In other circumstances this will often be a cup, and t's a pain in the arse. The Mexican leagues are ultimately mostly a cup.

I think in hindsight it might have been better for me to stay as I'm in mid September without another club job thus far, so that's near enough half the season I could have completed, however, in fairness staying for a league isn't really something that appeals to me all that much as I wouldn't have been in the cup as would be in continental competition. Especially as I already have 2 leagues and 5 of the leagues are already set in stone give n the challenge rules which means there's only 3 other leagues that I'd need to win and really would expect I should be able to collect them on the way for the rest of the challenge in leagues where winning the league means winning the league (I'm not bitter, promise). Cue, 20 years down the line I'm struggling to tick off the league side of the challenge, but that's half the fun (supposedly )

[The Regista]

]

It's been a while since I've posted, and had much chance to play due to going back to work, but at the beginning of October we're currently looking like this.

I've used my previous experience of lower league management to call on players that I know are half decent (Sepp Van Der Berg, Zech Medley, Ryan Edmondson, Matt O'Riley to name but a few) along with retaining the services of Coulibaly, Galbraith and Slattery all as loan signings for this season. Adding to the mix some new permanent signings such as Omar Bogle and Duncan Watmore, and I think we've got a great squad to challenge for the title. Though we are 1-3 on to win the division, Dundee United are currently 1-334 ON to win it. However, we've got a game in hand and are ahead of them by a single point right now. Still very early days but in good standing to achieve my main goal this season.

The Scottish Cup win last season dropped us in to the Playoff round of the Europa League. Despite hoping for a nice draw we were pitted against AZ Alkmaar. As soon as the name came out I knew we were going to play youngsters and it showed, losing 7-1 on aggregate. Nothing to be ashamed of - we'll take the payday. What I didn't count on was dropping into the new Euro Cup. We're doing OK so far - drawing with Malmo and Portimonense away. We were ahead at half time against Malmo too! Sparta will win the group most likely, but the scenes if we could finish in 2nd place...

Right now, my plan is that IF we win the division or get promoted via playoffs I'll leave Dunfermline. I don't see myself sticking around for a Premiership campaign. I think I will have exhausted what I can of the club, and if I can come away with one trophy as progress to my record along with a 2nd tier league victory, I'll take it! But I won't rush to leave - there's got to be the right job available.

Haven't thought about internationals yet. Currently studying for the National B licence. 

[vikeologist]

18 minutes ago, _JHTB_ said:

I think in hindsight it might have been better for me to stay as I'm in mid September without another club job thus far, so that's near enough half the season I could have completed, however, in fairness staying for a league isn't really something that appeals to me all that much as I wouldn't have been in the cup as would be in continental competition. Especially as I already have 2 leagues and 5 of the leagues are already set in stone give n the challenge rules which means there's only 3 other leagues that I'd need to win and really would expect I should be able to collect them on the way for the rest of the challenge in leagues where winning the league means winning the league (I'm not bitter, promise). Cue, 20 years down the line I'm struggling to tick off the league side of the challenge, but that's half the fun (supposedly )

Well, Asia and South American leagues. 

I expect the cups ae going to be a problem. I mean I spent a whole year (actually about 4 matches) in a nation just to pick up a cup that I missed out on with the only attempt I had in Mexico. That's the problem with Mexico. Twice the chances to win a league. Half as many to win a cup.

[_JHTB_]

20 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

I expect the cups ae going to be a problem.

Ditto, even though I didn't finish my attempt last year it was the cups that were lagging far behind everything else for sure.

[_JHTB_]

Santos

A new club and from one Santos to another. My return to club management since leaving Santos Laguna comes in the form of a trip down to Brazil to take over at Santos. I did have a lot of different interviews over the summer but only one other job offer which was with Chinese Super League side Tianjin, but I felt they probably weren't the team for me to try and conquer Asia with so I turned them down a bit of patience and I landed myself a pretty good job all told, Santos aren't having the greatest of seasons this year, but last season they were runners up in the Copa Libertadores so obviously have a decent enough team. This season is just for stabilising as we're already almost through the season but I've got a lot of games to look forward to as if there's one thing I remember from Brazil is that you play a LOT of games each year so may take a bit longer to get through a season.

One of the factors of it taking a little longer to get a job at club level was probably owing to the fact that I'm back at management at an international stage with me becoming the manager of U.S.A following their exit out the Gold Cup at the hands of Jamaica. The first task with them was to qualify for next years World Cup which I did in the first two games but the long term plan is focusing more on the Gold Cup in two years time so basically trying to meet expectations in the World Cup.

[treva]

I've taken the Juventus job. They've finished 6th, 1st and 6th in the last three seasons. Their squad really isn't very good. Hopefully we can bring in a few players to give us a chance of challenging for the title, particularly at the back where we are very, very weak.

Somehow kept my Mexico job despite being knocked out of the Gold Cup in embarrassing fashion. Costa Rica, who beat us on pens, went on to win the semis and final on pens as well. Fair play to them. I will try again in 2039...

[The Regista]

]

Not again...

[_JHTB_]

Santos 2029

(managed to find a badge that wasn't quite so big)

We joined Santos with 9 games of the season to go, and the team in poor form sitting in 10th in the league a little way from what the league suggests would be needed for Copa Libertadores qualification (6th) and we also joined on the day of a match against fierce rivals Corinthians so an immediate opportunity to endear myself to the fans. We lost 2-0, a all round poor performance where we were easily second best which wasn't really ideal but a little understandable given the clubs form though, we were utilising the same shape that they seem to have been playing for the season though, so don't really have that as an excuse. Following that, we did managed start performing pretty well and started winning games including a game where I could get retribution with the fans with a massive 8-1 victory against another of our fierce rivals in Palmeiras. We continued our good form through the rest of the season flirting with getting up to the 6th place that would see us qualify for the Champions League however, we fell short finishing 7th but still ended up qualifying anyway contrary to the league rules.

What next?

The end of this season has given me optimism looking ahead to next season, but also provided me an idea of where I need to strengthen, the main area being defense as our better two centre backs have a combined age of 71 which wouldn't be bad if it didn't mean they had terrible physical attributes. Managing to snag qualification to the Copa Libertadores is a huge bonus as it could allow us to get it secured within just one season at the club, though I'd not be disheartened if we had to spend a little while here.

[The Regista]

First decision of the save.

Plugging away with Dunfermline. We are top of the Scottish Championship by 4 points with a game in hand, into the Quarter Finals of the Scottish Cup with a good chance to progress against Alloa and in the semi final of the Trust trophy too.

I've been approached by Aberdeen. They're currently in 7th, 6 points behind 5th placed Motherwell with 3 games in hand on them.

I only took the interview on as I wondered where my stature was at. Clearly in Scotland it's pretty good given my first year in the game. Arguably the best club on paper in Scotland outside of Celtic and Rangers, I'm not 100% sold on the move. A 2nd tier championship win may be better on the resume than leaving now and someone else ruining my work. What would you guys do?

[libbyshuss]

9 hours ago, The Regista said:

A 2nd tier championship win may be better on the resume than leaving now and someone else ruining my work. What would you guys do?

i'd stay and go for the title win. Be different if it was celtic making the offer though.

[dkouv]

12 hours ago, The Regista said:

A 2nd tier championship win may be better on the resume than leaving now and someone else ruining my work. What would you guys do?

I'd go for Aberdeen probably; it would be nigh on impossible to win the Premiership with Dunfermline whereas with Aberdeen you should have a pretty decent chance. Not sure what works better for your reputation but soon enough you shouldn't have too much trouble finding jobs anyway, especially if you go for some of the more obscure parts of the challenge (Africa, Asia) after Scotland. 

[The Regista]

 

9 minutes ago, dkouv said:

I'd go for Aberdeen probably; it would be nigh on impossible to win the Premiership with Dunfermline whereas with Aberdeen you should have a pretty decent chance. Not sure what works better for your reputation but soon enough you shouldn't have too much trouble finding jobs anyway, especially if you go for some of the more obscure parts of the challenge (Africa, Asia) after Scotland. 

What I should have done is negotiate to take the job on at the end of the season.

The Orlando Pirates job is available. That may be a better move.

[MShing]

Leicester City Season Review 2031-32

 

We finished strongly last season but missed out on Europa League qualification on the last day. Our impressive form carried over to this season. I made a few signings to replace the aging outgoing stars they all hit the ground running and we shot to the top of the league.

Transfers

League

We started off so well, we were blowing everyone away, we went on a 34 game unbeaten run at one point. I really thought that we would win the league in our first full season. 

We were top of the league for most of the season, but whether it was pressure or lack of experience, the wheels fell off and after a few losses and draws we should have won, the pressure was on against title rivals Chelsea and Man City both away, we have no chance of beating them. Their squads were so good compared to ours, we threw the title away with only 5 or 6 games to go. I was not too disappointed though as we had performed way better than I had thought we would. The squad is now young and over the next season or two will become even stronger. 

Player of the Season

Sam Tol - We only signed him in January from Ajax, but he was rated highly by my scouts and this is the calibre of player we will need to take us to the next level. Last seasons star striker Ernie Brathewaite just could not reproduce his scoring heroics this season like he did last season. Sam was an instant success scoring goals for fun, with only half a season he finished our top scorer. 

Whats Next?

I might give Leicester another season or two, I'll see how next season pans out. I am in negotiations to sign a star centre back and AMC hopefully they will take us to the next level. If I cannot win the league with Leicester hopefully I can win a cup, move on then come back to win the league with a bigger club. The Liverpool job has become available I have applied just to see what transfer kitty they have. I probably wont take it if I am offered the job.

On the International side with South Korea, nothing of note has happened, we have the World Cup qualifying but we are the hosts so we will be there anyway, hopefully with the home crowd we can do well and maybe upset a few teams.

On another note, we sold our star AMC, This is the most I have sold a player for on any FM by a long shot 

I deferred the transfer to the end of the season so I could still make use of him this season, my joy of having all that transfer money to spend did not last long when this popped up

I bet Motherwell could not believe their luck! I hadnt noticed the 40% sell on clause in his contract which was of course arranged when he was signed before my time. At least I will get around £120 mil of it to spend. I do have the Scottish League active and the Motherwell Job is listed as insecure. I might keep my eye on that. I imagine it would be fun to play in scotland with that cash.

Season   Team   		Position  	Key Player		Notes and Achievements
21/22	 Supersport United	1st		Rodney Ramagalela	Won Telekom Knockout Cup
22/23	 Supersport United	1st		Oswin Appollis		Won CAF Champions league, MTN 8 Cup, Knockout Cup
2023	 Guangzhou Evergrande	2nd		Elkeson			Won Chinese FA Cup
2024	 Guangzhou Evergrande	1st		Anton Miranchuk		Won Chinese FA Cup, Won Asian Champions League
2026/27	 C.F. Monterrey		3rd		Duvan Vergara		Won Copa MX
2027/28	 C.F. Monterrey		6th		n/a			n/a
2028/29	 Newell's Old Boys	15th		n/a			n/a
2030/31	 Leicester City		8th		Ernie Braithwaite	missed out on Europa qualify 2 points
2031/32	 Leicester City		2nd		Sam Tol			sold player for £197 million

Challenge Progress

Club

2/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa, China)

3/10 domestic cups (South Africa, China, Mexico)

2/5 club continental championships (CAF Champions League, Asian Champions League)

0/1 club world championship

International

2025-27 	Nigeria		ACON 2027		Knocked out in QF pens		Sacked
2027-29		Ivory Coast	ACON 2029		Win				Resigned
2031-		South Korea

1/5 continental tournaments (ACON - Ivory Coast 2029)

0/1 world tournaments ()