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[FM21] We have conquered the nation, now it's time to conquer Europe (Journeyman career)


noikeee
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October 2025

 

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The month started pretty poorly with a defeat at the hands of the current all-conquering Dortmund side - quite possibly the last time I'll field a libero - and then although we beat Union, we were very unconvincing. In the last couple of fixtures though, we looked better, and even knocked Bayern out of the cup which frankly I didn't expect.

In the Champions League we let a 1-0 lead over Juventus slide in the last 10 minutes, and we are now in a slightly tricky position after 3 draws in 3.

 

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November 2025

 

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I played this month a few days ago but kinda rage quit and didn't feel like posting. We continue to be unconvincing in the league - losing to Bayern dropped us to 5th, below the CL spots - and in the CL we got knocked out after 5 draws in 5 matches. The Europa League awaits us.

This is all a bit disappointing, feels like this season is going slightly backwards compared to last one, for whatever reason.

 

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December 2025

 

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Well that's a whole lot better, nice recovery. We did get beaten by Celtic in the CL, which sounds bad (well it is bad), but it didn't count for anything anymore and we played the backups and they were lucky.

In the Europa League we're facing Feyenoord.

 

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January 2026

 

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In an effort to trim out the numbers of this squad, so that we don't have a trillion players missing out on squad registration for Europe, I let 4 guys go (2 permanently, 2 on loan) and hired 1. We say permanent goodbye to 2 really good servants to the club, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Daniel Ballard (who was the club captain!!), they overperformed relative to their talents but right now weren't really of the required standard anymore.

All so I could splash the cash on this magnificent little ******:

 

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Well that's quite a substantial upgrade at rightback. I think he'll be just fine as IWB. Got an assist on his first appearance for the club.

 

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A nice month although I am concerned at just how many goals we are conceding this season. We seem to be steering clear of the pack and becoming a clear 2nd place, hopefully we can hold on to this, that would finally be some sort of progress, after having finished 4th the last 2 seasons.

February sees, of course, the return of European competition as we face Feyenoord in the EL.

 

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February 2026

 

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Another really good month. We did get knocked out of the cup after an extremely long penalty shootout (13-12!), but have consolidated our 2nd place in the Bundesliga with another 3 wins. And we're through to the EL last 16 after pretty comfortably dispatching Feyenoord in the 1st leg, although we did lose in Rotterdam. RB Salzburg are our next opponents in this competition.

 

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Youth intake 2026

 

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I'm not really having much luck with youth this career, barely gave even a chance to our academy players. This year's bunch doesn't look the worst I've had, but not exactly super exciting neither. I guess this striker starts with good attributes but the potential isn't amazing.

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March 2026

 

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Another really good month, we are scoring for fun at the moment and only failed to beat the current all-conquering Dortmund side. They are unbeaten in the league but we've cut the gap to them to 6 points, as we've established ourselves as the 2nd best team in Germany this year - finally, progress.

In the EL we smashed Salzburg in probably our best performance of the season and are into the quarter-finals to face Lazio - if we win it's then the winner of Southampton-Sevilla in the semis.

Our only problem at the moment is a mini injury crisis, Ouchi and Stevanovic have been out for a while and are about to return, whilst we've just lost Fonseca and Gakpo for the next few weeks. It's impressive though that we managed to score that many goals in March without Ouchi - the Brazilian shadow striker has been on fire this year with 20 goals scored already.

 

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April 2026

 

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Bit of a drop in form, possibly due to the combination of injuries + small squad + lots of matches against tough opponents in quick succession. One early conceded goal in the 1st leg kicked us out of the EL, and a big defeat to Bayern kinda ruined any chance we'd still have of still chasing Dortmund for the title (although it's still mathematically possible). However we did finish April in style with an angry 7-0 smashing of Bremen.

 

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May 2026

 

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A really solid end to the season but no chance of even pretending we'd fight for the title. Still, it's the club's best ever finish in the Bundesliga with a 2nd place, after the 4th places of the past 2 seasons.

 

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Season review 2025/2026

  • Bundesliga: 2nd place
  • DFB Pokal: third round
  • Champions League: group stage
  • Europa League: quarter finals

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Top 5 players of the season

 

5. Paulinho (ML, MR, AMR) - The club's most expensive signing yet last Summer, I never expected him to be a superstar but rather a solid, reliable option for the wings, also filling one of the homegrown-in-the-nation slots. That's exactly what he was, becoming one of 4 wingers who reached double figures in goals (Paulinho, Gakpo, Fonseca and Podda). His personal tally was 13 goals and 8 assists.

4. Burak Ince (MC, AMC) - A poor first half of the season, but then our talented playmaker came into life the final few months of the year, and just about made the mark of 10 goals and 8 assists. Now pondering a move to a bigger club, with Valencia currently interested.

3. Cody Gakpo (MR, AMR, ML) - A fairly limited player but one that overperformed as a poacher-from-the-wing, with some incredible goals as well, dribbling lots of people until he'd score. 14 goals and 6 assists. Nice free transfer signing!

2. Victor Fonseca (MC, MR, AMR) - Quite possibly the club's current biggest name, the Colombian has become a massive talent, whether he plays in the middle as mezzala or as right winger. 15 goals, 12 assists, his value has skyrocketed to 36.5M€ and I've promised he'll go if someone meets his 89M€ release clause (an easy promise - it's in his contract!!). Wanted by Arsenal, Dortmund, Hertha, Man Utd, Sociedad and Southampton.

1. Rogério Ouchi (AMC, ML) - Underperforming as winger last year, he absolutely exploded this season as I moved him back to shadow striker and he just couldn't stop scoring. 23 goals, by far our most prolific player, and 7 assists.

 

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Pre-season 2026/2027

 

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Evolution rather than revolution. We say goodbye to one of our best players of the last few years, playmaker Burak Ince, completely obliterating the club record for a sale fee as Arsenal splashed 68M€ for him. I am sad to let him go but this let me finance not just 1 direct replacement, but also the addition of another 2 potential starters for the first team. We also hired a few kids for the future.

 

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Let's start by the kids. On a free from Atletico Madrid, Godwin can add depth to the RB position with decent skills for IWB. He can also play as DM but I don't think he's playmaker-ish enough.

 

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One of 3 that we hired and loaned out immediately. Punt for the future, most likely to try to sell for a profit.

 

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Another punt for the future that I loaned out, he's got potential and time on his side though, fairly exciting prospect.

 

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Also loaned out. Aged just 17, he could still come very good.

 

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Onto the 1st of the 3 real heavyweight new signings for the first team. He's the Burak Ince replacement. Although not really as technically gifted as Burak was (we might miss Burak's long shots and free kicks), he can read the game extremely well, is much more robust physically, doesn't have the dreaded "inconsistent" trait, he's German which helps his adaptation period and the homegrown rules, and is just 21 still with a big margin to grow. I like.

 

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Centerback was the position we were most in urgent need of an upgrade, so I splashed a record of 42M€ (same fee as Salhi) on this Welsh guy. I'm not 100% convinced he's world class just yet but he could become that and I think he's a level above the other CBs we have.

 

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Almost a last minute signing, but I had him on the shortlist for a while, just in case bids would come for my midfielders.. and then I thought, wait a minute it's just 7.5M€, why can't I hire him anyway. I think he can be a wonderful mezzala and immediately gain Ronaldo Camará's place. He might just be my best signing of the season!

 

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Another large squad again, but I'm struggling to loan out the backup kids that won't have playing time - they just won't accept to move on loans. It should go better than last season's mutiny as people realise they wouldn't be registered for the Champions League, because we have lots more homegrown players now, so hopefully I can register almost everyone.

Goals for this season is to show progress in at least 2 of the 3 competitions we'll be in:

  • Actually fight properly for the Bundesliga title
  • Break past the Champions League group stage again
  • Have a cup run for a change, we've struggled in the DFB Pokal ever since the 1st season in which we bizarrely made the semi-finals despite being in the 3rd division

I'm optimistic as I think this squad is gelling well and the surgical additions should make us even stronger.

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August 2026

 

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A really good start, most of our signings have looked awesome, specially Ezequiel Burgos scoring goals for fun from the mezzala position, and also rightback Godwin Madueke having a storming start with 5 assists already.

What isn't so good is our CL group, we were again bottom seeds and giving a super tough one, Porto Atlético and Tottenham...

 

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September 2026

 

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A mixed month. There was a poor defeat to Bielefeld, and dropped points at Leipzig as well, but we pulled 2 excellent results in the CL, beating both Atlético and Porto by the slimmest margin. As it stands we top both the Bundesliga and our CL group.

 

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October 2026

 

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A crap defeat to Bochum taming down what otherwise was a really good month. Somehow Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Bayern (yes this is a thing) failed to capitalise on that and dropped points twice, so we still hang on to the top of the Bundesliga - as it seems a 4-way fight between us, Bayern, Dortmund and Hertha is brewing. Incidentally, we pretty emphatically beat Hertha so that was great.

In the Champions League, we stole a point away in London to remain undefeated, which I'm very happy with, considering our group. We look on course to qualify but still need another win or at least another couple of draws, I think.

Oh and we've progressed in the cup, in a pretty easy match, to the dreaded third round in which we're always knocked out. Fingers crossed this is the year we finally have a cup run again!

Also Merry Christmas everyone!

 

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November 2026

 

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A very late goal against Tottenham allowed us to qualify from the CL group with 2 matches to spare, something I'm delighted with, given how tough the group was.

However things in the Bundesliga have taken a step back - a defeat to Dortmund meant we suddenly dropped from 1st to 4th, and then further lost points to Hoffenheim meant we lost contact with the front trio.

 

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On 28/12/2021 at 17:34, rich ruzzian said:

Title looks far away. 
In Europe lets hope for a team not that strong so you can go progress to the next round. 

Yeah something's not really working, and I'm not sure what it is. We're conceding too many goals. By now I think we have the squad to challenge more seriously for the title.

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December 2026

 

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Bittersweet month, the win over Bayern was sensational, but after that Victor Fonseca hat-trick, he got injured and missed the rest of the month. With others like Podda and Gavi also injured and out for a few weeks, we really struggled against Freiburg and undone the good work in the Bayern match, setting us back again. The rest of the month went well but we continue on the backfoot on the title fight.

On the CL we progress as group winners to face Roma, which is a draw for the next round that I quite like.

 

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January 2027

 

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Bit of a trimming of the fat of the senior squad as we sent out 4 backups on loan. We did however purchase a sparkling brand new player...

 

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I haven't given him a go yet, but we do really need more and better centerbacks, its one of our weakest areas. He looks to have the potential, let's see.

 

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I'm quite fine with racking up boring 2-0 wins, thank you very much. Rogério Ouchi finally scored his 1st goal of the season which is absolutely mental, I'm not sure why he unlearned how to score, he got 23 goals for us last year!!! Anyway I digress, this was a really good month because the rest of the leading teams have tripped up, so we're back to the title fight again - 3 points off Dortmund.

The major goal continues to be the Champions League though - don't forget the goal of this career was to make certain teams European champions!! I could in theory win the CL without winning the league and that's "challenge completed"... It probably won't happen this year, but next month we turn our attention to it, as we face Roma.

 

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February 2027

 

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We finally reach the cup semi-final again, but in the league 2 extremely poor performances against Paderborn and Stuttgart resulted in lost points that may cost us dearly. We drop to 3rd 5 points behind Dortmund, we could've been breathing down their necks instead.

But it's all good because in the competition that matters the most to me, we did just fine in Italy with a clinical 1-0 win over Roma. One foot in the quarter-final.. can we hold on at home?

 

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March 2027

 

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Ouch, form fell off a cliff, even the draw with Roma we needed them to go down to 10 men. We need not to let our morale tank, because we've got our first ever Champions League quarterfinal coming up next. Against... Hertha. Who just smashed us in the league.

 

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13 hours ago, rich ruzzian said:

The title race is over for your team. Still comfertable for a champions league spot. Hertha is finally showing the potental in your save, they always have in real life. 

Hertha are silly overpowered in FM21, always become one of the best teams in Europe.

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April 2027

 

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We smash Dortmund (?!), and crucially, Hertha, to make our first ever Champions League semi-finals!!

We also come just within a penalty shootout of our first German Cup final.. but then, Bayern. And then Bayern. And then Bayern. And we came short the 3 times, and STILL have to face them again in the 2nd leg of the CL semi-finals. We're unlikely to overturn the leg, but at least, making this stage of the CL was a signal of some sort of progress at last.

 

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May 2027 (1)

 

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So we went to Munich. And conceded in the 3rd minute. That's it then, I thought.

Or.. is it? We immediately scored back through Burgos. Then we went to half-time, thinking... "hmm.. we're actually outplaying them and we only need a goal..."

A well worked team talk motivated them extra for the 2nd half. Cruz and Fonseca got 2 in 2 sudden consecutive blows. Bayern now had to score 3 to come back from that... it was never happening. We have made it to the Champions League final!!

The chance that we'd win the Champions League and complete the challenge before actually winning the Bundesliga... I talked about that scenario before as a possibility didn't I? Well, now we only need to win one match to fulfill that.

I brought back the tactics I was using in the Porto career and it's helping us. Can that be enough to push us to beat Liverpool, so I'll complete the challenge with the first club?

 

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May 2027 (2)

 

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I couldn't be arsed to do a play-by-play writeup like I usually do for these big finals. But I should've.

The lads were inspired. Scored twice early from the 2 chances we had. I worried a bit when Van Dijk got a header in, in a corner, just before half-time. So I reverted to the more defensive tactics. But Liverpool opened up too much going for the equaliser, and we ran riot with counters the 2nd half.

That's it then. Rostock champions of Europe. I really wasn't expecting it this season, so have been caught out by surprise! It wasn't even looking like it was going to be much of a good season, but suddenly, challenge completed! I'm supposed to move to a new club now!

 

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Season review 2026/2027

  • Bundesliga: 4th place
  • DFB Pokal: semi-finals
  • Champions League: winners

 

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Top 5 players of the season

5. Paulinho (ML, MR) - Although most of the season he was the backup to Gustavo Podda down the left, sometimes appearing down the rightwing as well, he actually won the place just ahead of the Champions League final thanks to suiting the wide playmaker better than Podda, and also being on a fiery streak of assists. 8 goals and a wonderful 16 assists.

4. Ezequiel Burgos (MC, AMC) - A solid first season for the club for the Argentinian midfielder, with 14 goals and 6 assists - another player that finished the season well, with 2 goals in the CL final, after a bit of a lull midseason.

3. Gustavo Podda (ML) - Finished the season on a downer (although he did score on the CL final from the bench!), but had had periods of sparkling form. 15 goals and 8 assists.

2. Ronaldo Camará (MC, AMC) - Pushed his way back into the first team as it became clear the expensive signing Youssef Salhi wasn't quite gelling. It's quite fantastic that he regained an important role again, 4 years after shining particularly on our first season in the Bundesliga. 12 goals, 11 assists, and the squad's highest average ratings at 7.22

1. Victor Fonseca (MR, MC) - His form went downhill at the end of the season and his average ratings weren't that impressive (7.09) but he's the most talented player in the side that did perform well, and did finish the year as top scorer. 16 goals, 8 assists.

 

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A challenge is a challenge - once it's completed, it's onto the next one.

I leave them with a Champions League trophy and also with a little treat for the future manager (I was planning to use him next season!!!):

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The plane's taking a bit too long, my next destination didn't look that far away on the map. I am off to an island to become the new manager of Cagliari Calcio.

 

The 1969/1970 champions of Italy, led by legendary forward Gigi Riva, have never won anything else of note, and of course have never reached an European final, which makes them elligible for this challenge. I took them because they a) were one of the few clubs available; b) the selection of elligible clubs in Italy was kinda meh and I'd rather just get it done with and wait for exciting clubs in other nations; c) they seem to have great youth; and d) they're actually absolutely LOADED with money, despite the fact the chairman isn't a "sugar daddy", which gives me a decent headstart, I didn't really feel like building a team from nothing again. Cagliari's current money is mental for a Serie B club, see:

 

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Bonkers. The previous manager seems to have failed to go up to Serie A with all this budget, which is well deserving of the sack:

 

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The squad is talented although filled with too many loan players, I think I'll try to let them all go then rebuild from what's left over:

 

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Here's the most talented non-loanees part of the squad at the moment:

 

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And we have an incredible youth talent. The next Donnarumma?

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Will be interesting to see what can I do with all that cash, when I join a club I'm always half-blind due to losing all the extensive database of scout reports, so it might be harder than it seems at first. But there's no excuses, we have to go up to Serie A on my first season in charge.

 

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  • noikeee changed the title to [FM21] We have conquered the nation, now it's time to conquer Europe (Journeyman career)

Little tweak to make things more interesting - I'll only be hiring players from the nationality of the club I'm managing in, or any surrounding countries (sharing a border, or directly faced across the sea).

For Italy this means I can hire players of the following nationalities:

San Marino
Austria
Slovenia
France
Switzerland
------
Spain
Croatia
Bosnia
Montenegro
Albania
Greece
Malta
Algeria
Tunisia
Lybia
Egypt

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