[FM21] FIFA World Leagues - A new idea redux.

[sporadicsmiles]

Introductory Ramble.

This is the second iteration of the world leagues I created last year. You can find that file here if you want to read the original opening ramble I made. This iteration is essentially the same, but updated for FM21. These updates include changing the teams in the pyramid based on the latest club rankings. 

For those who are new to FM and to this file, the idea was to stop super leagues just being dominated by European teams, since they have the most financial muscle and better players at the start. In particular you would never get to play as an African or Asian team in the top levels. Which is sad. Now, there are ways to force this, but I also want to make the leagues believable and challenging at all levels. So I created a global pyramid which is regionalised right to the top. I will get into describing how things are kept interesting in each league below when we look at them. So have you wanted to manage a small team from your country and have a realistic chance to get to the top division in a super league? This is the file for you.

The League System.

There are 5 levels in this file. Which is not a huge number, but that amounts to 240 teams from all around the world. split equally between Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas (sorry North and South Americans, I needed 4 "continents". Oceania is wrapped up in Asia too). This is split as follows.

1. World Premier League. 24 teams (4x6).
2. Division one. 24 teams (4x6)
3. Division two. 64 teams (4x16)
4. Division three. 64 teams (4x16)
5. Division four. 64 teams (4x16)

There is a division 5 in the file. This is not playable, it is there merely to ensure that the correct number of teams from each continental region is promoted each year. You must include it when you load the file, but it is just making sure things tick over.

Disclaimer: before I launch into showing the leagues, I have organised the teams using https://footballdatabase.com/ranking. So if, for example, you wonder why your team is lower than you think they should be, it is because I stuck to the ranking. There is no bias, do not shoot the messenger.

Premier League.

This is the setup for the premier league. You see there are 4 groups of 6 teams, representing each of the continental groupings. The fixtures work like this. Each team plays home and away against their own group. Then each group plays a single fixture against each teams from the other group, for a total of 28 games. So you play everyone in the league, and twice against teams in your group. What this means is that games in your group are vital, because you are ranked for relegation only against teams in your group. So even if you breeze against everyone as a European team, you have to do well in your pool or you are down.

The top team in each group qualifies for the championship playoff, and the bottom side of each group is relegated. The teams are also ranked in a total league table, and the 4 best teams who did not automatically qualify for the playoff are also in the playoffs. This means 8 teams can compete, but no relegated side can make it. The playoffs are single fixtures. I have tried to implement seeding based on total league position, so best plays worst and higher seed at home, but this is patchy at best, and never seems to work. 

Division One.

Division 1 works exactly the same as the premier division, except there are no end of season playoffs. The winner of the league is the team with the most points at the end. Fixtures work the same as above.

Division 2.

Now we properly regionalise. 4 groups of 16 teams. You play home and away against teams in your own group only. No inter continental games in the league here. This makes it a very challenging league to get out of. There is only 1 promotion spot for those 16 teams, so you have to earn your place in the big leagues. There is the possibility to change this to a playoff in each pool for promotion, but I prefer it like this. Earn your place out of this league, the sense of achievement is immense. The bottom 3 teams are relegated.

Division 3.

This works exactly the same as the division 2, except the top 3 are now promoted, so it is less brutal. 

Division 4.

Works exactly the same as division 3. This is the lowest playable level. If you are relegated here, you should get sacked. Like I said, division 5 must be selected when you start a game, but it is not playable. The games that take place in it are just so the game is happy to have this division shown. You can use it to preview what teams are being promoted though. The teams are selected randomly from pools of teams of the correct continent. 

Club World Cup.

This is a straight knockout tournament between all teams in the pyramid. The leagues are progressively added in round by round. The lower division side plays at home. Which makes the competition more difficult to win the higher up the pyramid you are. You have to play away against potentially very strong opposition. If you win this regularly, you are a god. Or very, very lucky with the draw.

The FIFA League cups.

Each competition has a cup competition just for teams in that level. This is to pad out the season a little bit. 

For the Premier and First division, there is first a group stage with 8 groups of 3 teams. Group winners go into quarter finals, which are two legged affairs all the way to the final. 

For the Second to Fourth Division, there is a straight knock out competition. So at least you get to play the teams in your league but not your region.

U23 and U18 leagues.

There are parallel leagues for the U23 and U18 teams. They exactly mirror the divisions outlined above. They have their own independent promotion and relegation however, so they will not generally be the same as the main division. I have not found a way to include the U23 and U18 teams from div. 5 teams who are promoted. And since I did not want to have to add a U23 and U18 team to every single team in the div. 5 pool there is no relegation from this league. 

Some things to keep in mind.

We are adding a lot of teams into these leagues who may not have players. This is particularly true for the Japanese teams for licencing reasons. So if you can find a file which contains an update to Japanese players, it will enhance experience. I have not tested this file with any, however. And if there are changes to the clubs there is a chance it will break this file. So if you want to run such files alongside this one, please holiday a season or two to make sure it works, so you do not find out after dedicating a bunch of time and realising later there is an issue. 

I will also suggest using my African player file, when it is released. This I will test to make sure it is compatible. 

If you want to change teams around, or add some in, that is entirely possible. Do not forget to change the U23 and U18 leagues if you want. All teams in the division 5 pools will stay in the correct divisions with promotion relegation. If you add a team not in that pool, then you will need to set the correct regional division. Just check a team from the correct continent to see how. That is all you need to do to ensure they stay in the correct groups. 

There is a rule that means 8 players must be home grown from the nation of the club in this file. That is mostly because I like to keep it a little real and not go full fantasy. Last year I also made a file with these removed, and I can do so again if people wish (it is a quick job). The squad size is 25, and all players under 23 are automatically eligible (which should help get around the home grown rule anyway).

Sub rules are 3 from 12 for all competitions. 

Possible extras.

Depending on my schedule, I may add an extra level at some point. This works out okay with the cups, I think, but it is a fair bit of work. I have to rank teams, create U23 and U18 teams, and make sure they stay in the correct groups. That is why it is probably easier to just edit in the team you want to play as if they are not there.

Download.

The file is attached at the end of this post. 

To install, save the file to "C:\Users\Your username\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2020\editor data"

Select the file when you start a new game. Then you want to select Gibraltar. You MUST select the fifth level. This ensure teams stay separated properly.

Thanks! Let me know about issues you find. Or ideas you have to make this even more fun. 

Updated for the latest patch.

 

SuperLeague v1p1.fmf

Edited February 23, 2021 by sporadicsmiles
updating file for the latest patch.

[lukavski]

Awesome!

[sporadicsmiles]

Trust me to do this the day before a patch! 

I have updated the file for the new patch, should work fine with the new DB now.