Which are the more competitive of the Smaller Leagues

[Dirkdiggler77]

I want to do one of the Euro Leagues that i have never managed in before but l prefer the established big fish with the history and ultras with the challenge of winning the Europa League and maybe champions League with domestic players.

Obviously that usually means that after a season or two the League becomes to boring because nobody can challenge you.

I am thinking maybe the Czech, Croatian, Polish, Austrian or Greek that sort or level not the Slovakian or Belarusian or more obscure level.

I want one where there are 3 to 5 genuine competitors to keep it interesting, Maybe a bit of money spread out through the teams and decent young players 

A well supported league as well so for example Greece and Serbia have all the fans of the big fish but then a man and his dog for the rest of the league

Anyone had any fun saves?

[Speedyol]

Id suggest trying a save where you can win the league and become the best club, Try out Euro cup or chamions league. And then leave for a new nation and keep if fresh. You also create good teams that you can face in the European cups later in the game.

Id recommend Pick out 3-5 nations, start in the lowest rated one because of wages and clauses its hard to go from managing a polish top team to a Irish First Division since they cannot afford to have you. I try and avoid managing the largest clubs, since I like to have beat someone like TNS or Dundalk F.C. instead of managing them.
I created a table to rank the leagues I have played in, so its easier for myself to know what order I should play the nations in.,  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16c2u5TVK5fEcBEY2xRuOoycxvJwFCOkwLyOCmd3cLms/edit?usp=sharing

 

I am currently managing Waterford, with lots of debt. I plan to move to Poland next. I also have Sweden and Spain as loaded as future planned leagues  But I think I want to return to Norway and win the Premier League there too at some point.

 

I left Caerau Ely as the wealthiest club in Wales having gotten to the euro cup 2 group stages a few times. I hope they continue to get better players and perhaps get to the champions league group stages at some point. (There is no money in Wales, winning the league gives you 70.000 price money. Every team is semi-pro except for The New Saints, Connah's Quay Nomads and Caerau Ely who manages to get some Europe money.

Edited July 2, 2021 by Speedyol

[Dirkdiggler77]

4 hours ago, Speedyol said:

Id suggest trying a save where you can win the league and become the best club, Try out Euro cup or chamions league. And then leave for a new nation and keep if fresh. You also create good teams that you can face in the European cups later in the game.

Id recommend Pick out 3-5 nations, start in the lowest rated one because of wages and clauses its hard to go from managing a polish top team to a Irish First Division since they cannot afford to have you. I try and avoid managing the largest clubs, since I like to have beat someone like TNS or Dundalk F.C. instead of managing them.
I created a table to rank the leagues I have played in, so its easier for myself to know what order I should play the nations in.,  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16c2u5TVK5fEcBEY2xRuOoycxvJwFCOkwLyOCmd3cLms/edit?usp=sharing

 

I am currently managing Waterford, with lots of debt. I plan to move to Poland next. I also have Sweden and Spain as loaded as future planned leagues  But I think I want to return to Norway and win the Premier League there too at some point.

 

I left Caerau Ely as the wealthiest club in Wales having gotten to the euro cup 2 group stages a few times. I hope they continue to get better players and perhaps get to the champions league group stages at some point. (There is no money in Wales, winning the league gives you 70.000 price money. Every team is semi-pro except for The New Saints, Connah's Quay Nomads and Caerau Ely who manages to get some Europe money.

 

Thanks i am usually like that in the bigger leagues where i like to de thrown the Giants or like a Hearts in the SPL.

I did do a Derry City save last year and got them into the Champions league groups which netted me about 10m transfer Budget and 100k a week on wages and it killed the Domestic League

I will probably do an Tromso save at some point and maybe go back to Wisla Krakow because they are struggling

 

But for now i want to take a Sparta Prague or Hadjuk Split and try to win the Europa in 2 or 3 seasons and then try for Champions League, I got Partizan Belgrade to Semi's of Champions League in my second season and brought back Mitrovic and other ex Partizan stars so it can be done but you only really have Red Star as competition

I have never done a journyman save because i like to be in control of developing the future stars i fear if i turn up 2 years in they will be stagnating in the reserves still

[Speedyol]

Good luck, It can be hard to get far in Champions League. Earlier this year I tried to win the Champions League with Goytre United. I managed to get to the group stages a few times, but often failed and ended in Euro Cup or Euro Cup 2 most of the time. 

Players good enough for the Champions League want to leave the club or simply not join the club because of the JD Cymru Premier is so low rated (comparable to Vanarama National or Sky Bet League 2. They dont want to play that low.
On the plus side I could field 1.5-2 star rated players in the League matches, except for the once against TNS and use my good players fully rested in all the Europe matches.

And the money is also just like Vanarama National. I sold 45 Season tickets and had a few hundred visitors on home matches.
And I sold 6 Shirts one year I was in the Champions League. how do you even rate the "Top 5 bestsellers" out of a total of 6 sold haha.

[Dirkdiggler77]

Fair play i have never ventured that far down it looks to be a very thankless  and frustrating experience

Like you said you basically have a squad of Vanarama players trying to get into the Champions league, even with money you just can't ever get the quality to compete

[Speedyol]

Try to start in the second division of Poland and win the champions league. They are much higher up, and still a challenge.  I really like their Match rules of forcing you to develop youth players every year.

One of the playing 11 needs to be under 22 for the duration of the match. that means if you only have a single U22 starting and he gets injured, you need a U22 on the bench ready or continue with 10 men. It makes the League a different challenge.

[Dirkdiggler77]

1 hour ago, Speedyol said:

Try to start in the second division of Poland and win the champions league. They are much higher up, and still a challenge.  I really like their Match rules of forcing you to develop youth players every year.

One of the playing 11 needs to be under 22 for the duration of the match. that means if you only have a single U22 starting and he gets injured, you need a U22 on the bench ready or continue with 10 men. It makes the League a different challenge.

I like that, if i could make one change to English Football it would be something along the Bilbao line of having a regional quota

The Russian league is like that i think with 5 Russians needing to be on the pitch at all time

[phd_angel]

Have you considered Brazil second or third divisions?  Winning chances are shared among several good clubs, and it's lots of fun.

Edited August 1, 2021 by phd_angel

[Grifty]

Sweden is good. There are some big clubs in there and certainly a Europa League challenge can be done quite early. I also find you get a log of good newgens in Sweden.

[styluz05]

Any of the Scandinavian countries Norway or Sweden.  

[turnip]

Croatia is a good pick because they have a high Youth Rating, so once you're one of the biggest teams with excellent facilities, you should get some very good youth players coming through.

[Britrock]

As someone managing in Greece, it's flipping hard to win the league. PAOK, AEK, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos have a MASSIVE headstart on everyone else financially and trying to claw that back without CL football (because those teams dominate the league) is super hard.

I started in year 2 with a newly promoted team in div 2 and I can now consistently finish top 4, but I've still not made the CL group stages and only made the qualification rounds once. PAOK have won the league 7 times in a row and are so dominant. I've made three europa conference league finals so I've boosted our coefficient to the point we're a top 6 league and have 3 CL places but it's still super hard to crack that top 3. 

Edited August 1, 2021 by Britrock

[oblongata21]

I quite like managing the Swiss League. There are a few teams that can win each year.

If you want more of a challenge, try taking Grasshopper Zurich from the second division back to CL contender.

[MT55]

Scotland is a go to country for me when I want a challenge. Celtic and Rangers are so dominant. On a previous FM I was managing Partick Thistle and I only lost once all year, but due to drawing a lot of games and Celtic being so dominant they still finished 10 + points above me. I tend to pick a team in the lowest playable league (League 2) and work my way into the SPL before challenging Celtic/Rangers and aiming for European glory. 

I tend to manage Elgin City as they have never been promoted from League 2 since being promoted to that league in 2000. 20 + years of playing in the same league...

[joshpmilton]

Something to be aware of if you pick one of the Nordic leagues is that the summer season means the off-season is particularly long. My Swedish season finished at the end of October, and didn't start again until mid-April. That's nearly 5.5 months of just clicking continue without any competitive games.