FM21 Global (Less England) Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[SolnaRoyal]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
FC Karpaty Lviv Season 10 Year Anniversary (Part 3)
2031/2032
Introduction - Season 2021/2022 - 2022/2023 - 2023/2024 - 2024/2025 - 2025/2026 - 2026/2027 - 2027/2028 -2028/2029 - 2029/2030

End of seasons recap

 

Well, 10 years has past in the club. So let´s have a look and what we managed to do so far.
With our addtion to the Europa League title we now have managed to bring home the following trophies (exluding Copa Del Sol that was already here)
Even after our title loss this year I think we have managed to do some good in the league and also in Europe within 10 years.

Our ranking in Euorpe has us in the 23rd spot in the world right now, but with the new rankin in 32/33 I think we can make even further progress in the list!
We will also overtake Shakthar when next years ranking is released so another milestone for us.

Spoiler

The finances have been taken care of and we are at a stable 100M+ during the seasons, I really hope we can push this a little further up with more sales during the next couple of seasons. I will not go crazy about wages until I know we really are ready to compete for the Champions League title without having to rely on too much crazy luck.

We are currently ranked 7th in the world and if we manage to grow and reach the 6th place we will have two spots in the Champions League, so I guess I should not be too sad about Shakthar winning the league and going out in to Europe again. 
I have some doubts if I should keep the save going or start a new one with a team from a league that is a little bit harder and have more lower divisions as this one has moved very quickly. I also think I could use a break from Ukraine for a while. 

Best Eleven, well here we can see some names that are missed but not forgotten. J. Enete is still up there in the top
R. Janicki is now a coach for our U19 team and the plan is to bring him up to assistant manager in a couple of years.

Spoiler

 

 

Player of the Decade

With over 200 games and almost 10 years of service, Edo Pedisic is the player of this decade. I don´t think he has ever had a bad season with us except the first one after being promoted, and there are no plans on letting him go now.
 

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by SolnaRoyal

[Biscotti]

With the progress you were making, I can see why you were keen to press on @SolnaRoyal - that's some great stuff there! Do you feel like the end is within reach, or is it a bit more that you got a touch lucky this year and there's still lots of work to do?

 

I'm also now curious to know where you're actually from, because I've never seen that localisation of København. As a Brit, I'm used to seeing Copenhagen, but I've never seen it spelled as Köpenhamn (which is presumably the spelling in your native language)

[jmarchand]

Yikes! Poor San Marino U21s... 

 

[SolnaRoyal]

 

45 minutes ago, Biscotti said:

With the progress you were making, I can see why you were keen to press on @SolnaRoyal - that's some great stuff there! Do you feel like the end is within reach, or is it a bit more that you got a touch lucky this year and there's still lots of work to do?

 

I'm also now curious to know where you're actually from, because I've never seen that localisation of København. As a Brit, I'm used to seeing Copenhagen, but I've never seen it spelled as Köpenhamn (which is presumably the spelling in your native language)

To be honest, a touch of very good luck this year, this is always when the saves starts getting boring, you can pretty much dominate the league but you are working with luck to progress in Europe.
I cant remember what user said it on here, but qualifying for the group stages / promotion / relegation is always the best part of the save. As I wrote in part 3 I might take a break from this save and let it sit for a week or two so that I wont just take a gamble with the entire bank just to win the CL title. 

I´m from Sweden, hence the "Köpenhamn" as both Norway and Denmark uses the ø instead of ö and "havn" means "hamn (Harbor)" "København" becomes "Köpenhamn" 

Still waiting for whoever started the Sweden save earlier in the thread btw! 😎

[aldojags]

Bloody hell @SolnaRoyalwhat a run! 2 European trophies, and CL semi final, think you could be the first completion on this trajectory!

 

We sound like a similar stage in saves, domestic stuff is quite easy - but I may have ruined my save as I got a bit impatient the other night and spent £70m, but i really dont think im better off for it, plus I got fed up with moaning of some players and just sold them and threw money at some players, that whilst they are quality, I probably didn't need them, just got bored and I could afford them. Also annoyingly, the board have added in sign high reputation players into my objectives, and were "devastated" that I didnt do it, so I went and threw some money at some higher profile players on tons of wages, but I'm honestly no better off!

[SolnaRoyal]

@aldojagsHaha I know that feeling, at least the board has not sold the club yet so nobody is spending our money yet. The key has been to turn a profit each season in the transfer market and when I splurge on somebody expensive parts of that cost should be covered with transfers out.

I am starting to have a look at a save to keep on the side and report on it here as well, just have to find the perfect country for it. 

Edited March 23, 2021 by SolnaRoyal

[jmarchand]

Quick update on Champions League progression in 2031/2032. 

 

My objective 1 last year was "improve defence for real this time"... Who needs defence anyway, it's overrated. 

 

 

Menéndez and Matas up front form a great duo, can't wait to show them in more details to you

 

[rlipscombe]

all sounds great @jmarchand - looking forward to hearing more! 

[Britrock]

A sad day for everyone connected with Veroia. I tried to call Beijing's bluff by doubling Koulierakis' valuation ... and they went right ahead and bid £11m for him. I'd forgotten I said I'd give PAOK 40% of future transfers so it's not even worked out that well for me!

239 games, 13 goals, 4 assists, 9 MotM, a 7.07 career average rating, Greek player of the year 2028, 4x supporters player of the year, club captain and a club icon. I'm not really sure how I'm going to replace him in the January window...

[aldojags]

nightmare @Britrockwe have all been there - when you're keen to sign a player, you agree to all sorts of contractual nonsense, then it comes to selling them for a ton of money and you end up giving half of it away!

[aldojags]

Season Review Spartak Pleven 2033-34

Just a shorter update as not much to update! Manager Profile

 

Strolled the league as usual, and finally got out my champions league group. However was completely pasted 6-0 on aggregate by Man Utd in 1st knockout round, so I needn't have bothered. Just so far off the top teams I feel.

 

Finances are ridiculous - sold lots of players for fortunes, and signed loads for a lot of money - highlights being Marcelo Cortes, Juan Martinez, Sobrazo (injured all season didn't play 1 game though) , Arturzinho, Martin Vljeck, and last but not least, returning hero Marin Calin! I sold him a few years ago, well the board did, and I was fuming at the time. But he didn't quite go on to become the world superstar i thought he would, but i was still happy to pay £15m to Dortmund to bring him home! We are so loaded in attacking mid that he doesn't always get a game, which for a player who looks like that is ridiculous.

 

Facilities are best possible. 

 

Youth preview.

 

Youth intake.

 

Disappointing again, so much so i fired my HoYD, guy I have got in his place has some good stats, as well as a driven personality, I'm hoping for the youth intakes to improve soon! According to my club vision I have the best youth system in the world, it doesnt feel like it! Main player who broke into first team squad was Tvesto Nikolov - I dont think he's much to look at but his physicals are off the charts, my coaches all have him pegged for big things, and Juventus have been sniffing around him all season. He's got a few goals from the bench.

 

I got this message too - basically as a result of the crazy amount of players we sign then sell, we apparently are highest developers of European top league players! Not home grown unfortunately, all imports!

 

Also this, the next gen award, 2nd place is our player on loan at Ludogorets, and 3rd place is our player also, not bad for a small club from Bulgaria!

[CAASI]

I've started this new challenge in Portugal. This one is going to be special because it's with the club that produces Cape Verde newgens. 

[aldojags]

Welcome caasi! Ive been on holiday to cape verde, loved it! Be interesting to see your progress!

[Thebaker]

@CAASIwelcome, that looks like an interesting club, i love clubs like that.

@aldojags you are unlikely to get a youth intake with much better that you are getting simply because your first team is so good. A 3.5 star potential player will likely be a first teamer by the looks of it and most top European clubs possibly bring through 1 every 3 years maybe. Its a bit like finding class players on free transfers, you reach a certain level as a club and it just doesn't happen

[aldojags]

@Thebakeryeh you are right, we all just crave that “golden generation”, i never had 1 in fm 20 and havent had one in fm21 either! 
 

but yeh a 3 star player for me if hit full potential would be a quality starter, i just want the 4-5 star potentials!! 😂👍

[Thebaker]

6 minutes ago, aldojags said:

@Thebakeryeh you are right, we all just crave that “golden generation”, i never had 1 in fm 20 and havent had one in fm21 either! 
 

but yeh a 3 star player for me if hit full potential would be a quality starter, i just want the 4-5 star potentials!! 😂👍

i have had loads of golden generations on fm21 , most don't amount to much. it gets a lot of usage especially when your team isn't very good.

A 5 star player potential player for you would be world class (pa 170+) which is very unlikely with Bulgaria's nation rating, how many world class bulgarian players irl have there been in the last 30-40 years?   2 i'm thinking

Edited March 25, 2021 by Thebaker

[aldojags]

Yeh you are right, and whilst im doing well as a club, Bulgaria havent really budged in the rankings, still in the 70’s or so, i had maybe hoped with my scouting knowledge worldwide etc may have dug up a wee star from elsewhere but hasnt happened yet. But i often get rejected by players due to standard of living and infrastructure concerns, so i doubt the next messi is gna be a in a rush to move to Pleven!

[Thebaker]

Squad | Table | Transfers

The season started badly when the team morale dropped to very poor and the team wanted a meeting after just 4 games (2 of which i won!), turned this around to win 8 games in a row to move up to 2nd. A late drop in form meant that 1st was not possible although Sollentuna started as 1-90 fav's to win the league.  After winning the playoff league games the team faced a 2 leg playoff against IFK Lulea. A 6-2 win a home meant that the 2nd leg was pretty comfortable even though the team lost 0-2.

No entry into the swedish cup.

Finances are a bit of a concern even though i didn't spend half the wage budget and i made 30k from getting promotion.

Diawara took some time to get going with only 3 goals in the first ten games but took off after that, replacing Avernas with Medew  as the 2nd striker also helped although Avernas had returned by the end of the season.

Hjort was top for assists from RB which was surprising as my fb's are not set up to be that attacking and the player did not even start the season in the team. I'm hopeful he can improve further.

Season	League	Position	Swedish Cup	Europe	Top Scorer	Attendance	Training	Youth	Junior	Youth Rec	Notes
2021	2nd Div NS	2nd	Not entered	N/A	Diawara (22)	316	Basic	Poor	Fairly Basic	Basic	Promoted via playoffs

 

 

[aldojags]

Well done @Thebakerdiawara what a season, especially if he started slow, have u got him signed up for longer? 

[Thebaker]

Just now, aldojags said:

Well done @Thebakerdiawara what a season, especially if he started slow, have u got him signed up for longer? 

yes, it took some haggling as he wanted to double his wages, i want to get rid of  his 'plays with back to goal' as he plays as a DLF(a). One of my wingers Johnson left as the squad wasn't good enough for him but he wasn't that great so i hope to find another winger.

[SolnaRoyal]

@Thebakernice to see the Swedish saves starting to roll out, love the second division as you only play each teams once. Makes for some crazy must win games. Watchout for the economy as there are nothing until you reach the 2nd and 1st tier. 👏👏

[Thebaker]

1 hour ago, SolnaRoyal said:

@Thebakernice to see the Swedish saves starting to roll out, love the second division as you only play each teams once. Makes for some crazy must win games. Watchout for the economy as there are nothing until you reach the 2nd and 1st tier. 👏👏

there were 26 games, each team played each other twice. Think the 1st season in 2020 (which i holidayed over) was covid affected and each team played the other once. I have played this year before in Sweden so i know what the economies are like, finding a team with decent fan base or sponsorship is a must as unlike in other countries you will struggle to make money from selling players.

Edited March 25, 2021 by Thebaker

[Britrock]

Veroia FC - 2029/30 end of season review

What a rollercoaster of a season! At the start of the year I was very down on the save, I couldn't see a future or a way out of being stuck in 3rd or 4th and after missing Europe last season I was fully intent on packing the save up and starting afresh in Austria. The squad was too average and I couldn't see a way to improve it significantly. But then a few things happened that changed my mind. Firstly, I read one of  @SolnaRoyal latest season reviews and in there he mentioned about how valuable the foreign players were and how he had to move some around to take advantage of the rule. And it dawned on me that I was wasting my Fgn player allowance on two Welsh wingers who are physical marvels but technically inept, a backup RB and a diva ST who demanded to be played as a DLF. The second thing was I saw a video on youtube by Zealand that explained how he structures his scouting to take advantage of the best regions in the world for talent, and I thought that I could easily set mine up to get a better picture of the world and find young stars who were much better than what I had. So I set up my scouting (send scouts to a region and set potential to Superb and then wait for the reports to come flooding in) and got to work selling all of the Fgn players that weren't good enough any more and, while I was at it I decided to clear out anyone at all who I thought wasn't up to it or who'd grown stale at the club.

So this is how it ended up. Before the season even started I was trying to get rid of the deadwood from the past - Camara, Lyberakis, Balogiannis, Heimisson and Maja were all moved on as they were from a time when I was a mid-table team. Then in January, the big moves started. Carlos Alberto, who insisted on being played as a DLF, went. Ross Craigie, a backup RB wasting a Fgn spot, went back to Scotland. Martim Marques, a backup LB who hardly ever played, went back to Portugal. And of course, sadly, club captain and icon Kostas Koulierakis went to Beijing for £11m.

As for the Welsh wingers - Ieuan Jones is leaving in the summer at the end of his contract and Jack Proctor has been on the transfer list for 6+ months. If I have to give him away for nothing this summer than I will.

Spoiler

So how did we rebuild after the fire sale? Much, much, much better. In the summer we signed Tiago Simoes from Asteras to improve the holding midfielder role and Ziga Lazerevic to play up front. I went a bit mad on ST over the summer, with a sudden desire to play a 4312. After losing the first game 2-0, that plan was very quickly abandoned and my glut of strikers proved to be a waste of money somewhat - in fact Macedo hardly played and will leave this summer on a free. Then in January my new scouting system was starting to bring lots of cheap youths to my attention. Felix Jara was signed to play AMR, Leandro Tubin was signed to play AML, Gjengaar, Porarinsson and Tanevski were signed as defensive cover but the big capture was Domenico Mariotti on loan from Juve. This guy was my Koulierakis replacement and he was a total stud. Hopefully Juve let me have him back next year because he is a man mountain.

As a comparison, I'll attach a pic of Jones and Proctor so you can get an idea of just how big an upgrade these guys are!

Spoiler

 

So transfer activity is all well and good, but did it actually make a difference? Well, we didn't lose a game in the new year and this year it was the turn of AEK to fall off the pace ever so slightly. Olympiakos were better than last year but still weren't great, so with those two falling away and no European distractions we were able to take advantage and finish second, putting us into the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League! It felt like an up and down start to the season but AEK were rooted to the bottom of the table after 8 games and Olympiakos were quite incosistent so we were able to hang around near the top without worry. They both picked it up as  the season went along, but avoiding defeat for the last 17 matches meant that we safely ended in second. PAOK are miles ahead of everyone still but we're slowly getting there.

Spoiler

To see just how much PAOK are breaking Greek football at the moment, I think these three images do a good job! Yep, thats them way off the bottom left of defensive efficiency, waaaaaay off the top of the attacking efficiency and 10/11 players in team of the year. Just insane.

Spoiler

I'm so much happier with the squad now, the first team I reckon can get a lot closer to PAOK next year. My main concern is depth - I'm not one for a lot of rotation so trying to get good backups and keep them happy is a challenge. Financially we're doing ok, hopefully we make it to the group stages of the Champions League for that juicy payday, but we're basically surviving on transfer sales at the moment! The wage bill has skyrocketed recently and the stadium is still tiny.

Spoiler

Next year I just want to reach the group stages of the Champions League for the money. That will hopefully help to put a lot of things in motion that will put the club on a much stabler foundation moving forwards. A title challenge would be nice but it would require a hell of a fall off from PAOK so just being closer, or even just establishing myself as the second best team, would be nice!

Edited March 26, 2021 by Britrock

[SolnaRoyal]

Nice work @Britrock! Those FGN spots are crazy important. 

Looking at your progress you will soon have a title challenge on your hands, one or two CL group stages and you will dominate PAOK. 😎

[rlipscombe]

great to read the progress going on here.  Makes me want to jump in but just concerned left it too late to give it a proper go with the amount of time i get to play. Plus i have got the Owls into the Premier League.......

[jmarchand]

1 hour ago, rlipscombe said:

great to read the progress going on here.  Makes me want to jump in but just concerned left it too late to give it a proper go with the amount of time i get to play. Plus i have got the Owls into the Premier League.......

The lower leagues call you. You know it. Embrace it. 

[aldojags]

3 hours ago, SolnaRoyal said:

Nice work @Britrock! Those FGN spots are crazy important. 

Looking at your progress you will soon have a title challenge on your hands, one or two CL group stages and you will dominate PAOK. 😎

I agree. The recruitment overhaul has done the trick, my prediction is you are greek champions within 2 seasons 👍👍

[rlipscombe]

10 hours ago, jmarchand said:

The lower leagues call you. You know it. Embrace it. 

Ha ha.....  

[Tecmo]

On 24/03/2021 at 23:49, CAASI said:

I've started this new challenge in Portugal. This one is going to be special because it's with the club that produces Cape Verde newgens. 

I started a career with them, unfortunately missed the homegrown players requirement and screwed myself to start the season. Looks like a really fun team.

[Tecmo]

I tried Legnano in Italy and failed miserably. Looking at another try with either Kiruna in Sweden (north of the Arctic Circle) or Cizrespor in Turkey (Kurdish Turkey, they had to abandon play last season because of safety issues). Going to play it out a bit with both to see how we do.

[aldojags]

Keep meaning to ask you guys, have you ever heard a "journo" ask a football manager "good win, will the players be getting a day off because of this?"

 

What's with the concern over the players schedules? I have never heard this question asked once in 30 years of watching football!

 

But every few weeks I get asked by the press, it's weird!!

[Britrock]

Sometimes I wonder why I play this stupid game

[jmarchand]

This is going to be interesting...

 

Edited March 29, 2021 by jmarchand

[jmarchand]

OMG. It happened. In a very dramatic fashion too. Recap coming shortly. 

 

[rlipscombe]

@jmarchand...  Looking forward to the review....

[Biscotti]

Francisco | Sestao River Club | Spain | 2038/39 (Season 18)

I'm sure this will be a surprise to nobody, but the media predicted we were going to finish last and that we were some way short of being competitive. As a 38-game season, I figured the "points for safety" would have been around the 45 mark, like it is in the Premiership. It turns out that La Liga really is a lot less competitive than the Prem, and we secured our survival with 3 still to play on only 36 points before picking up a few more to bring us a respectable 15th place finish.  We weren't entirely in a position to spend on the transfer market, with only a £9m initial budget, so after the big purchase of making Di Vaio a Sestao player we mostly restricted ourselves to cheaper/younger players who might be able to help us in a couple of years time. Anything extra I pumped into the scouting budget and now I'm free to scout the entire world.

Competitions | Transfers 1 & 2 | Youth Intake | Fixtures Part 1 & Part 2 | New Records/PotS | Finances | Best XI (All-Time)

I think the biggest key to our survival this year was a degree of defensive stability. I felt like we struggled for goals a little this season, so the fact that Marcos Gori finished the season as our only player over a 7.00 rating was quite important. Arodi Toledo came through with a new club-record 10 assists from right wing-back, but I feel the fact the record is that low is quite telling in itself. I would be remiss if I didn't mention top scorer Roberto Lázaro, but only 16 is a little lacking compared to previous performances. My assistant suggests that he and his strike-partner aren't a good pairing, so I may be willing to consider any offers that come in over the summer for one of them.  I also feel like record signing Vincenzo Di Vaio should get a nod. His season wasn't all that remarkable but I did feel like we were a much better team when he was on the pitch.

The key positions I'm looking to strengthen next season are at centre-back - even though we weren't terrible defensively I still feel like there's a big scope for improvement - and at left wing-back - where our 5 star potential polish 21-year-old hasn't come on as much as I'd have liked from a player who's playing week-in and week-out. Depending on how much the board give me, I may also look to cash in on Lázaro and splash some cash up front.

 For the first time in a few years, we had multiple top prospects in our intake. Yann Magne (YP18a) is a 5'8" CB. Normally I would laugh him out of the room, but seeing as I'm playing a 3atb formation he might actually be serviceable as long as the others around him can pick up the aerial slack. I'll probably look to also train him at DM to add a little more flexibility to our formation. David Sola (YP18b) is a winger in a team which currently (and for the foreseeable future) doesn't use wingers. I'm not sure he has the pace or stamina to play a wing-back in our style, but perhaps a AMC or Mezzala might be viable training routes. The third man in our trilogy was Gorka Marco (YP18c) who is still a bit on the short side, but at least has somewhat of a jumping reach.

As for our previous graduates, Mikel Muñoz (YP15) had the most appearances. He's not terrible as a back-up, but I'm starting to think he's not going to progress beyond that. Not looking to offload him, but I wouldn't stand in his way if a reasonable transfer offer came in for him. Also making a small chunk of appearances this season were Joseba Palacios (YP13) and Xabier Larrazabal (YP12). The former still has some developing to do, but I'm not ready to write him off just yet, but the latter has proven surplus to our needs this season and is being released over the summer.

Basque count: 4 players (At least 10 starts, or 20 games overall)

[jmarchand]

  

Season 11 - 2031-2032 | The Golden Team

 

This update will be a bit special as we've reached the goal of the Challenge, which is to win the Champions League starting with a team which was just promoted to the lowest playable league in a country. Before jumping into looking at how it happened, I'd love to take a moment to acknowledge the team that did it and offer a bit of background of the main players in there. Some were highlighted in past updates, some weren't but they were all part of this journey. Let's take a quick look at Best Eleven for the year and overall. 

 

 

 

Let's take a look at the players, wrapped in Spoiler tags because it'll read better.  

 

Strikers

Daniel Matas

A product of our Academy in 2025, I cannot overstate the importance that he had on the save. He scored on his debut, on the first game he started after he turned 17, after scoring 30 goals in 13 appearances in friendlies with the U19s... And he didn't let go after that. With 236 goals in 240 games across all competitive matches and an average rating of 7.56 across all of his career, he was ever-present with GOSK Dubrovnik at every step of the way. An awesome flair, great acceleration and good first touch and dribbling meant that he got his share of 1-on-1 with the keeper, putting the ball in the back of the net more often than not. He briefly attracted a bid from Liverpool which I've turned away and he hasn't whined too much about it, especially since Liverpool was ranked 1st in the world at the time. At 22 years old, he is already listed in the Club Icons, deservedly so. He's by far the best regen I've had in all of my FM career. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Fernando Menéndez

When I saw him available on a free transfer from River, I didn't care anymore that I was bumping in my limits for non-EU players. In its only season, he managed to form a great partnership with Daniel Matas, and elevated his game even more in the Champions League, where he scored 20 goals in 12 games. the fact that his face is pretty much the same as Daniel Matas must be part of their success. He is in the same mould as Matas, a very gifted athlete with obviously lots of potential.  

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Midfielders

Aldair Torres - AMC

Signed in 2027 from Deportes Tolima in Colombia for 500k€, he grew to be the main creative midfielder in Dubrovnik and getting double-digits assists since the past 3 years. This year, he got challenged for his place in the squad, but his vision, technique and passing skills were still above the others and were great to slice the defence apart. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

James Heyes - MC

James Heyes was signed in 2029 when his contract was not renewed by Chelsea and continued there on a month-to-month basis. It cost me 2.3 M€ in compensation. Playing mostly in the center of the park, he fit in well in the scheme, especially in 2030-2031, where he got 9 goals and 12 assists in 33 games. Since Brexit, he counts as a non-EU national, so that limited a bit his playing time recently. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Matej Silny - DM-MC

A new signing in 2031, costing me 10 M€ from Sparta Prague and came in to solidify our midfield, especially when they're able to give a hand defensively. He ended up being very reliable and will definitely be a star for the future. He's passing great, tackling and being in the right place in the right time, at all time. A great player and I don't regret forking 10 M€ and 29 k€ p/w for him, making him one of the highest paid players on the team. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Antonio Dalic - MC-AMC

Signed in 2030-2031 from Red Star Belgrade for 2.5 M€ when I was looking for EU nationals to get me unstuck, he is the midfielder that played the most games this year, despite half of them coming off from the bench. He got rotations at AMC replacing Torres or in any of my somewhat attacking/playmaking midfield positions in the center of the pitch. I think he's still not yet being used optimally, I'd love him to move a bit more forward and use his great Long Shots ability. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Defenders

 

Samuel Paintsil - DC

A long-serving member of our defence, Samuel Paintsil was signed in 2025 from Ghana's Hearts of Oak. In his 247 games for GOSK Dubrovnik, he scored 12 goals and maintained an avg. rating of 7.13. A team leader, co-captain since a few years and always solid in defence. Mainly played in the center of defence, but was adept enough to cover us at Left Back when injuries struck. He was the one who attracted a couple of 40+M€ from China last year and I wanted to keep him around, which served me very well in the end! For some reason, he never went on to play in the African cup of nations, which is a plus for me!  

Spoiler

 

 

Eduardo Pérez - DC

Another long-serving member of my central defence, club captain since 4 years and signed on a Free transfer from Orlando City SC Academy in 2026. Before him, we were really weak in the air and he came in at close to 2 meters high and really patched that hole. I think that, in all of my years of playing FM, it's really the first American that I sign to some degree of success. At 26, he's pretty much plateau'd and I don't expect much improvement from him from now on, but he's been a loyal servant, even when his playtime diminished slightly. He is described as light-hearted, but looking at his sad regen face, he looks like he's ready to jump off the nearest bridge. Glad he didn't. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Nahuel Marin - DL

Before the season started, Hajduk put in a loan offer for this guy. This goes it to show two things. First, this free transfer from River was almost ready for prime time. Second, it showed how far we've progressed as a club when one of the (former!) top 2 clubs in the country wants your new signings on loan. Turns out I decided to keep him around as my other option, Boris Kordic was getting to 28 years old and not progressing much more... Turns out I was right, he progressed very well throughout the year and soon became my left back of choice. Again, a quality regen with a quality moustache. What more can you ask, right? I was really thinking of the next few years when I signed him, but looking at who's after him, his future might just be a big fat payment for us...! 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Zvonko Rudan - DR

A product of our academy in 2028, Zvonko Rudan is looking like a great product for the future too. In his first real season as a starter, he managed to his ground, get his first cap, score a few goals and a couple of assists. Well done, quite promising for the future. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Goalkeeper

Byron Pavez - 

Midway through the season, after cruising the league and getting some great results against large European sides, I started to believe that it could be a year we'd go far in the european stage. But at this point, our weak spot was in goals and I couldn't wait for Milan Stojkovic to bloom. He's good, but then I decided that a short-term measure was needed to improve between the sticks. Despite my struggles with non-EU players, I decided to sign Byron Pavez from Universidad de Chile for 3.8 M€, after coming in from great recommendations from my scouts. At a 4.5 star rating, I decided to make a move for him and deal with a bit more rotation in the league in the outfield. Great one on ones, great reflexes and that sad, stupid regen face I love so much. 

 

Spoiler

 

There you go, our Champions League winning squad. A total of 19.6 M€ in transfer fees for our starting 11, which is a total steal with the many free transfers that we have around. Next up, a look at how the season and the European campaign went on (Spoiler, it ended pretty well). 

Edited March 30, 2021 by jmarchand

[jmarchand]

  

Season 11 - 2031-2032 | The Golden Team

 

European Campaign

Winning the league last year sent us directly to the group stages. It might not sound like much, but these 2-4 matches saved early on helps preserve the team for the league and ensure that they're in form when it matters. 

We were drawn in third seed, along with Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and Galatasaray. At this point, we were confident of getting good results against Galatasaray, figured out we'd match out pretty even with Dortmund and not be quite there for Juventus. A loss of 3-2 against Juventus in Torino in the first leg tended to confirm that pronostic. But that didn't count on the character of this squad and the amount of firepower it had in front. After that loss, we never looked back and blew one team out of the water after another. It was such an impressive run, especially the 5-1 win against Juve, which pretty much sealed our first place in the league. 

 

 

Getting first in the Group proved to be key for us in the end as it allowed us to enter the first knockout round as a seeded team and be drawn against one of the teams which finished second. We luckily drawn against LOSC Lille, the smallest team still around. They proved to be too weak for the prowess of Fernando Menéndez, who scored 4 goals in the first 50 minutes of the first leg and Lille didn't know what had hit them. On the return leg, it was Daniel Matas' turn to feat, with a hat trick in the first half. It is just before this round that we signed Byron Pavez and, crossed our fingers and thought that this year would be a worthwhile push. 

At this point, we enter the "If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best" territory. The Quarter Final drew us against Inter, who amazingly, were sitting in 19th place in the European standings, just one place above the mighty GOSK Dubrovnik. We managed to hold them off and won 1-0 in the first leg at Lapad. Then, the second leg started on a bang and by the first half of that match, we were confident of moving on. 

Then comes the Semi Final. At this point, I'm getting pretty nervous because I know I have a chance. Then, we're drawn against Manchester United. Gulp. They're ranked 2nd in Europe at this point and they've beaten us a couple of times in the past. Then. Out of nowhere. I don't know how it happened, but this happened. 

The first leg at home came out like a masterclass in finishing, converting 5 goals in 7 shots on target on Gianluigi Donnarumma who, at 33 year old, is qualified to be a Legendary Goalkeeper. In the second leg, we played a bit more defensively the goal being not to make total fools out of ourselves at Old Trafford. We weathered the storm, even scoring on counter attacks en route to a 2-0 victory. 

Things are getting real: we're in the Champions Cup final now, to be played in San Siro. We face off against Real Madrid, who came up beating Manchester City in the Semi Final. 

The match starts off to a very bad start, with Fernando Menéndez getting straight red card for a very bad two footed tackle. He's off. A few minutes later, Daniel Matas slips past the defence and receives a pass in stride from Dalic from almost midfield and scores in the lower left of the net on a half volley. There's hope! With 10 men, we're forced to defend a bit more and eventually give in to Kylian Mbappé which we seemed to have forgotten in the area. 

Half time. All hope is not lost. We have Matas playing as the lone striker in front, with Torres behind him and our familiar 3 in the midfield (Dalic, Sliny, Heyes) and our strong line in the back. 

Coming back from the half, Matas scores from a long range direct free kick from the right side. A magnificent free kick. (Yes, it's two teams that are almost white playing against one another. Next team I'm managing will be chosen on the basis of the colour of their shirt)

We then hold on, but disaster strikes in the 80th minute in which Real Madrid showed why they were Real Madrid. A great passing play which left our defenders wondering what was happening. 

We kept pushing, as much as we could and redemption came only 3 minutes later, when Cristian Vasconcellos' header connected on a cross from Antonio Dalic and just under the bar. We were back up by one goal and trying to hold steady. 

 

 

After a couple of stressful minutes, setting our tactics to very defensive, adding a bit of time wasting, the referee blew his whistle and we were crowned European Champions. Played through it over lunch and my mind is stil blown that we were able to win against Real Madrid with 10 men without one of our best scorers. 

 

It's hard to overstate how much the pair of Matas and Menéndez carried us through this run. In 13 games, they both had 20 goals, tied for top in the competition and Matas also led the competition for assists! Our defence did the job quite well, but we really won this one from the front. It's hard to concede goals when you're dominating that much in front. We scored a total of 46 goals, the second most profitable team behind us was Manchester City with a puny 32. Hey, we scored almost twice as much goals as Real Madrid (25) in the same amount of matches. In-sane. 

 

 

League Performance

Our league performance was on par with the quality of football that we've shown in Europe. After a loss 2-1 to Dinamo in the second match of the season, we never looked back. I mean never. We did not lose another match in the whole year, drawing a couple here and there, but the rest being very convincing wins. Result? A +77 goal difference. An all-time Croatian record for the number of wins, for the number of goals (107, the old record being 98) for AND for the number of points in a season, beating an old Dinamo record from 2005. We were expected to finish first and we delivered big time. 

 

in the league, Daniel Matas scored 34 in 29 total appearances, sleepwalking to the title of best scorer. Menéndez came in third with 19 goals, but played only 22 games. 

 

Croatian Cup

Who cares about the Croatian Cup again? Right, the board. And also, suddenly me because I could do a treble with the way things are going! And things did go well, even with a rather heavily rotated squad in the Cup matches, we were never really endangered. There were a couple of closer scores in there, but the games weren't really close and we walked our way to the cup with a very convincing 4-0 win against Dinamo. 

 

The Squad

Not breaking it up too much (see post above for that!) but here's an overview of the squad that took us there, an impressive bunch of folks, sorted by Current Ability). We see that Matej Sliny, Cristian Vasconcellos, Zvonko Rudan and Nahuel Marin still have quite a bit of place to grow and that the budget of the squad remains somewhat modest. 

 

Croatian Clubs in Europe

• Dinamo: Got knocked off the CL in the Playoff, got 2nd in their EURO Cup Group Stage and actually made it to the quarter final where they lost to Arsenal.  
• Rijeka: Got 3rd place in their EURO Cup Group with lots of draws, then lost to Aberdeen in the Euro Cup II First Knockout Round. 
• Lokomotiva: Got crushed in their EURO Cup II Group, 1 win 1 draw. 
• Osijek: Didn't reach the group stage of the EURO Cup II, lost to Familicao in the Qualifying Rounds. 

 

Youth Prospects

We are at the point where most of our best youth prospects are playing at Second League level at 17 and 18 years old and there is a very promising batch coming. Nothing Danial Matas-like, but it bodes well for the future of Dubrovnik. 

 

Other News

• Finances are pretty great now, we have 122 M€ in the bank, a figure I've never dreamed of in the past. Getting 44 M€ from the end of the Champions League run was pretty great. 
• We haven't moved in our new stadium just yet! We have a top 5700 seats waiting to be filled! 
• Croatian First League has moved to 6th place and thus we get 2 CL Group Stages spots for next year.  
• GOSK Dubrovnik is now 11th place in Europe. In front of Barça and the big Italian clubs. Nice. 
• 

Edited March 30, 2021 by jmarchand

[Biscotti]

Congrats @jmarchand!

Feels like you've achieved it really quickly and I'm totally jealous (not least because it took me so very long in Croatia last time out).

[Britrock]

Amazing work @jmarchand! Insanely jealous as I bang my head into the Greek big three for yet another season 😂

[jmarchand]

6 hours ago, Biscotti said:

Feels like you've achieved it really quickly and I'm totally jealous (not least because it took me so very long in Croatia last time out).

Thanks! Earlier in the save, I commented on how I thought everything went too well. Turns out that feeling never left and got through all the way to the end. I'm still pinching myself a bit that I got all the way up there in only 10 seasons. 

 

3 hours ago, Britrock said:

Amazing work @jmarchand! Insanely jealous as I bang my head into the Greek big three for yet another season 😂

You're going to get there, I'm sure. One day, PAOK will try to loan your youngsters too.

[aldojags]

Tremendous @jmarchandoutstanding achievement! What system do u play against the european elite? 
 

My squad is full of players whom i honestly would sign if i was in la liga or the premiership, but i cannot get near the bigger clubs. Man utd scudded me twice in groups this year, although i did qualify in 2nd, i will face ac milan in that, maybe play that tie tonight.

That midfielder - Silny! He is incredible looking!

 

are u gna keep playing on for a bit?

[jmarchand]

13 minutes ago, aldojags said:

Tremendous @jmarchandoutstanding achievement! What system do u play against the european elite? 
 

My squad is full of players whom i honestly would sign if i was in la liga or the premiership, but i cannot get near the bigger clubs. Man utd scudded me twice in groups this year, although i did qualify in 2nd, i will face ac milan in that, maybe play that tie tonight.

That midfielder - Silny! He is incredible looking!

 

are u gna keep playing on for a bit?

I kept my 4-3-1-2 system which is quite attacking in nature, but sometimes, depending on how fearful I was of the opponent, I dropped it to Balanced or even Cautious when on the road against a bigger side and it played out pretty well. 

Here is how I was generally set up, it doesn't stray very far from a standard Gegenpress. When I noticed that their defenders were on the somewhat low side, I added instructions to play long balls (a bit more direct and hit early crosses) so that Matas and Menéndez could find the empty spot behind the defence. 

 

As to continue playing this game, I will probably play on this season to see what can I do in the Club World Championship. Also, it's the first season in our new stadium, might as well play a game in it...! 

But after that, I think I'll try my hand at another country, which I haven't played in. or go back to Italy. I have a bit of time to think about it! 

[aldojags]

THat's great man, look forward to seeing what you do next!!

[aldojags]

I've posted a few of these messages before folks, but I have a youth prospect, who is getting huge hype from my coaches, but I think he looks bang average...tell I'm wrong!

 

So this is the prospect in question - great physicals, but quite average otherwise...They have him down as a pressing forward for me, maybe in my 1 striker system I'd never have a place for him. I'm giving him a reasonable amount of game time to see where we end up...

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

To give you an idea, if he hit full potential, he'd be on par with this guy...I just don't see that happening!? 

Spoiler

 

[aldojags]

Well the appointment nearly a year ago of my Argentinian HoYD with a driven personality is bearing fruit on his first intake, few players here (and an actual non Bulgarian!) with real first team potential.

Preview 

 

Spoiler

 

Full intake (i made a mess of the spoilers - the players are listed in this spoiler if u click down!)

Spoiler

 

The best 3 players - Malinov (could be a problem, I don't play a DM, and he doesnt have the pace to pace in central midfield...

 

Spoiler

 

Ayoub Madi - French youth with Moroccan 2nd Nationality...looks a stud to me!

 

Spoiler

 

Nikola Kostov - young goalkeeper. Looks the part! Mercenary but I dont really care about that!

Spoiler

 

 

Few other decent ones but those 3 are amongst the best youths i've had in this save, they are probably 3 out the top 5, to get them all the same intake is excellent after years of drivel!

 

I have so far only produced to my knowledge 2 full internationals from youth set up, I have a feeling these 3 could all get capped - Madi may need to opt for Morocco but if I play it right surely he'll be good enough for them...

 

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 2021 by aldojags

[Thebaker]

@aldojagsnikolov is not as far off Vlcek as you think, its his passing ability which separates them, it would still take until his mid 20's to reach that level so i would sell him on.  Malinov could be converted to a good CM(d) and just concentrate on his quickness, he already has high values in a lot of areas.

Edited March 31, 2021 by Thebaker

[Britrock]

20 hours ago, jmarchand said:

I kept my 4-3-1-2 system which is quite attacking in nature, but sometimes, depending on how fearful I was of the opponent, I dropped it to Balanced or even Cautious when on the road against a bigger side and it played out pretty well. 

Here is how I was generally set up, it doesn't stray very far from a standard Gegenpress. When I noticed that their defenders were on the somewhat low side, I added instructions to play long balls (a bit more direct and hit early crosses) so that Matas and Menéndez could find the empty spot behind the defence. 

 

As to continue playing this game, I will probably play on this season to see what can I do in the Club World Championship. Also, it's the first season in our new stadium, might as well play a game in it...! 

But after that, I think I'll try my hand at another country, which I haven't played in. or go back to Italy. I have a bit of time to think about it! 

4312 has been my formation of choice since I had a save using it back on FM11 or 12, but I haven't managed to make it work in years. My FBs always get overrun by the opposition, so the fact you've won the Champions League with it has inspired me to resurrect it with Veroia. I actually signed a lot of the current squad with a view to playing the formation, but the first game with it we were hammered 2-0 and I abandoned it immediately. Fingers crossed this attempt is more successful!

[Britrock]

Veroia - 2030/31 end of season review

This will be shorter than recent reviews as I'm very close to the end of my tether with this save. We fluctuate between 4th and 6th each year, barely making any progress towards the top 3, and any kind of consistency of performance is impossible for any more than 5 games. It's driving me absolutely insane. Financially the club is in dire straits, falling back to £5m in debt at one point this year.

We finished the year in 5th in the league after a dreadful start, a good middle and a poor end. That means we qualified for the Conference League again, not great but the extra income is nice and so is the boost to the reputation.

In Europe, we made it to the playoffs for the Champions League but FC Midtjylland were too strong. We fell into the Europe League but got grouped with Roma, Marseille and Sion. Luckily Sion were useless so we finished third and fell into the Conference League, meaning we'd competed in each European competition in one season. From there we dispatched Besiktas, Lazio, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Zenit to make it to the final again. Unfortunately Leicester were our opposition this time and we fell to a 5-0 hammering. So close but yet so far once again!

Transfers were fairly quiet, the starting 11 should be fairly strong but I just can't find a formation that works consistently. Trying to find someone that will improve the team is increasingly difficult as we fall further into debt with each passing season. The wage budget stays fairly high but the transfer budget is still less than £1m, so signings have to be freebies at the end of their contracts.

Spoiler

Edited March 31, 2021 by Britrock

[aldojags]

I get the frustration @Britrockbut 2 European finals you are on the right lines it'd be a shame to pack it in! Wee bit of a drop off this year but you obviously know what you're doing with the run you've had in the save so far!