[FM22] The Cape Verdean Challenge

[OlivierL]

2 minutes ago, XaW said:

Make sure it's Africanos, and not the regular Braganca!  

I know, i started with them already and did a holiday test .. i was the one that said that it was impossible to do this with youth only because of the first season / rules. You showed us how  

[XaW]

Just now, OlivierL said:

I know, i started with them already and did a holiday test .. i was the one that said that it was impossible to do this with youth only because of the first season / rules. You showed us how  

Well, it's hard, but not impossible! And a few intakes later it's starting to look possible to at least survive and fight for a promotion. And from there, anything is possible!

[OlivierL]

2 minutes ago, XaW said:

Well, it's hard, but not impossible! And a few intakes later it's starting to look possible to at least survive and fight for a promotion. And from there, anything is possible!

That reason i'm posting here is because.. i'm doubting again  i really love a team with foreign regens, not many of them are playable.. Lusitanos FC(regen from Portugal) are playable in Andorra after one year holiday (they get promoted to the second tier) but they don't have any youth academy or recruitement ...  Also FC Romania in England , it's possible with an english database... But i promised to continue in Belgium with Berchem  

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

That reason i'm posting here is because.. i'm doubting again  i really love a team with foreign regens, not many of them are playable.. Lusitanos FC(regen from Portugal) are playable in Andorra after one year holiday (they get promoted to the second tier) but they don't have any youth academy or recruitement ...  Also FC Romania in England , it's possible with an english database... But i promised to continue in Belgium with Berchem  

I know the feeling! I'm committed to actually complete the challenge this year! It's so much fun with foreign youth players!

[OlivierL]

1 minute ago, XaW said:

I know the feeling! I'm committed to actually complete the challenge this year! It's so much fun with foreign youth players!

Sorry to spam in this topic but did you ever try Caley Braves (hard to get in the reloads) but i had 9 great seasons with them, two seasons ago.

[XaW]

Just now, OlivierL said:

Sorry to spam in this topic but did you ever try Caley Braves (hard to get in the reloads) but i had 9 great seasons with them, two seasons ago.

Nah, never tried them, but I have them on my list of teams to try. I just don't like the Scottish league system with 4 games against all opponents...

[OlivierL]

1 minute ago, XaW said:

Nah, never tried them, but I have them on my list of teams to try. I just don't like the Scottish league system with 4 games against all opponents...

I agree, i would love to have this kind of teams in the Belgium league of Iceland (short seasons).. but no teams like that in those countries   Good luck with Braganca for you and others. maybe i'll join , maybe not

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

After two seasons and having crunched the numbers, I must say the gulf between my youth players and the players I can realistically sign is not that great. Expecting to be able to find some useful recruits in my third summer in charge but if I were to start again I'd be tempted to go youth-only.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

One of the teams in my save appears to have gone haywire...5 managers in 2 months. Hmm.

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2026/27 - Campeonato Nacional Prio

Table | Relegation Stage | Squad | Transfers | Finances

This season was a rather big step backwards. We had a very rough start, so I changed from our 4-4-2 into a 4-2-3-1 and it helped a lot. It didn't help us into the promotion stage, but rather we fell back into the relegation stage. There we did great though, and won our group to avoid going down quite comfortably. I hope we can go back to the promotion stage next season, though.

No more improvements, as the money has dried up a bit. Still getting in some badges though, and I now have Continental B and working on A.

Taça de Portugal: We beat Carapinheirense, Merelinense, Olivera Barrio, Desportivo das Aves, and Tirsense before we lost to top tier Rio Ave in the 6th round.

Player of the season: Wilson Fernandes 24f - Another strong season in defense and he is still the best player at the club.

Youth intake:

In a way, I'm happy to see someone lower than 5 star potential. It means the current players are improving.

A very versatile midfielder with some nice attributes.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

Cape Verde had a great season as they got past the qualifiers for African Nations and when there they won their group ahead of countries like Senegal and Egypt. They got as far as the quarter final where they were knocked out by Nigeria. This is reflected in their current FIFA rank of 58th!

Trophy cabinet

N/A

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Season 2: 2023/24

(This is a shortened version of the original season report which I annoyingly deleted by accident on here one evening!)

League:

Spoiler

Fixtures:

Spoiler

Well, getting to the promotion stage was a huge achievement but we were slightly out of our depth here, winning just three games. we can take heart from the fact that we beat the eventual champions, and that our luck simply deserted us on a few occasions, but it's clear that our fairly direct style is not going to cut it against the bigger teams. 

Taça de Portugal:

Disappointing stuff as we exit at the first round losing to União de Montemor on penalties.

Standout Performers:

Steven Nascimento

Spoiler

Our young captain had another hugely impressive season at the back.

João Cunha

Spoiler

The goalkeeper had a tricky start but eventually started to find his feet and, rather embarrassingly, ended up as our joint-second assist maker.

Spoiler

Slightly less influential than last season, but 3 goals and 9 assists was still a good return for a comparatively young player.

Best Youth Prospect:

André Fernandes

Just short of the 10 goals I predicted, but still our top scorer aged just 16.

Season Summary

Any Other Business:

The in-game media seem convinced that we're leaving our stadium forever. We aren't.

Next Season: 

I want to bring in at least three players who are a level above what we have now with the aim of qualifying for the promotion stage again. But who knows what the transfer market may bring.

Progress:

 

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2027/28 - Campeonato Nacional Prio

Table | Promotion Stage | Squad | Transfers | Finances

I stuck with the new 4-2-3-1 tactic I devised last season, and it worked like a charm. We rolled through the first stage and won it without much issue, scoring loads and conceding few. Things got harder in the promotion stage, but we still did well and won our group to finally get promoted into the 3rd tier! I'm very happy with the promotion, as I think we've stayed here in this division long enough now. And when we where here, we also went on to win the playoff final to be crowned champions! Bring on the next tier, we are ready.

The continental A license is done and I'm working on the Pro version to complete that part. As we got promoted I also had some great news from the board. We are going professional before the next season!

Taça de Portugal: We beat Padroense and SP Espinho before we lost away to top tier side Tondela in the 3rd round.

Player of the season: Wilson Fernandes 24f - Many players had good seasons this time, but he still remains the stand out one.

Youth intake:

A good intake with some nice personalities for once.

Look at that, a striker with something resembling talent! This is much needed!

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

Cape Verde had a very poor World Cup qualifier as they got knocked out by Togo in the 2nd qualifying round. They have had a good start to their African Nations qualifiers though.

Trophy cabinet

Campeonato Nacional Prio - 1 (2027/28)

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Congrats on the promotion @XaW! You've got through as many seasons this weekend as I have matches, I might finally relent after all these years and get that instant result button.

[XaW]

Just had my first youth player get a U20 cap for Cape Verde. Small steps, but steps none the less!

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, Joy_in_Leeuwarden said:

Congrats on the promotion @XaW! You've got through as many seasons this weekend as I have matches, I might finally relent after all these years and get that instant result button.

yes his pace is crazy  but for this challenge you need to play instant result and maybe only play important games for promotion (or in the future , in europe).

I'm going to use the Instant result for my save.. also a team with Foreign regens but not Braganca

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

I don't really mind the glacial pace of things, but I think the Portuguese league is better suited to instant result given the greater likelihood of dead rubber matches.

Instant result has often seemed like an odd concept to me as someone who has been playing CM/FM for a *very* long time, but I think the slow pace of my current laptop has convinced me to switch.

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2028/29 - Terceira Liga

Table | Relegation Stage | Squad | Transfers | Finances

After the promotion last season, I was excited to see what the new tier had in store for us, and the setup seems to follow roughly the same as the previous one. First the initial stage, then the top teams go into a promotion playoff while the rest go into a relegation playoff. We did quite well in that regard, even if we unsurprisingly went into the relegation playoff. Still, we finished only 2 points behind the promotion playoff in a very competitive league. The level is not that much higher than one step below, but the best teams are quite a lot better than us currently. The first stage is also much longer than the lower level, while the promotion/relegation playoffs are shorter, so it feels more like a league then a playoff, rather than two leagues as below. In the relegation playoff we were pretty much safe from the start since Valadares Gaia was pretty much the worst team in this tier and doomed from the start. So we live to fight another season here.

I finished the Continental Pro license, so that part is done, other than that not much to say off the pitch. We are starting to lose a lot of money though, and the cup doesn't bring in much...

Taça de Portugal: We got a bye in the first round, then beat União de Leiria before losing to Estoril Praia in the 3rd round.

Player of the season: Hernâni Tavares 23i - Our other central defender had the better season this time, but he is not signing a new contract so we might lose him this summer!

Youth intake:

Another pretty good intake, even if it's not amazing.

A very attacking full back is a very nice addition to the squad.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

Cape Verde qualified for the African Cup of Nations and even won their group there. However, they got knocked out in the 2nd round by Guinea-Bissau. Still an improvement for them.

Trophy cabinet

Campeonato Nacional Prio - 1 (2027/28)

[lufc1992]

On 27/11/2021 at 14:58, OlivierL said:

I agree, i would love to have this kind of teams in the Belgium league of Iceland (short seasons).. but no teams like that in those countries   Good luck with Braganca for you and others. maybe i'll join , maybe not

I'm currently doing an identical challenge with IF Foroyar in Danish 7th tier, which has exclusively Faroese regens and has a squad good enough for a couple of quick promotions. 

Since the game was released I have been really keen to try the same thing out with Africanos & Cape Verde but wanted to wait until a Portuguese custom database was available so I could start from the beginning... Does anyone know when this is likely to be released? Seems to be the only major nation without one on the Steam Workshop so far...

Cheers

[OlivierL]

2 hours ago, lufc1992 said:

I'm currently doing an identical challenge with IF Foroyar in Danish 7th tier, which has exclusively Faroese regens and has a squad good enough for a couple of quick promotions. 

Since the game was released I have been really keen to try the same thing out with Africanos & Cape Verde but wanted to wait until a Portuguese custom database was available so I could start from the beginning... Does anyone know when this is likely to be released? Seems to be the only major nation without one on the Steam Workshop so far...

Cheers

Seems great , i only found out recently that their was a team in denmark with foreign regens. Won't be easy because Faroer has a small youth rating. good luck !

can't find a lower league for Portugal yet.

[XaW]

17 year old Adérito Brito 27i is the first of my players to get capped by Cape Verde! He came on as a sub when they destroyed Rwanda 8-0 in a friendly.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Cracking stuff. I will update post #2 once I find the time to incorporate this sort of thing.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Cape Verde update: July 2024

World Ranking: 65th

2022 Africa Cup of Nations: 4th place

2023 Africa Cup of Nations: Eliminated in Group Stage

2025 Africa Cup of Nations: 2nd in Qualifying Group*

2026 World Cup: Third Qualifying Round*

I had totally missed that Cape Verde only went out of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations at the semi final stage on penalties to Egypt, punching well above their weight. They did not so fare well a year later when they were eliminated from a tough group including Tunisia and Ghana. They will also face off against Ghana in their Would Cup qualifying group (alongside Zambia and Burkina Faso), having beaten Guinea in the second round. Their key player remains Atalanta's 26 year old winger Jovane Cabral: his attributes are not visible to me so I've posted his biography.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2029/30 - Terceira Liga

Table | Relegation Stage | Squad | Transfers | Finances

We did a bit worse in the first phase this time, but still ended in the same spot, just with fewer points. We did lose our best defender on a free due to his contract running out, so I think it's partially down to that. So far I've managed to keep most of the other players I want to hold on to, so it could have been much worse. In the relegation stage we did great and won our group, so we were never in any real danger of going down again. Hopefully, we can get in some good players the coming years, so we can start to push for that promotion playoff instead.

Not much happening off the pitch lately, other than us losing money. Luckily, the owner has started to put some money into the club, so we could be way worse off. But even with some money in, we are still plunging down into the red, and I don't really see any way out of it, other than a lucky sale, or a lucky promotion.

Taça de Portugal: We got a bye in the first round, then beat Portosantense before losing to Boavista in the 3rd round.

Player of the season: Wilson Fernandes 24f - We keep getting defenders as our best players, and Wilson had a good season for us.

Youth intake:

A decent intake, some very nice personalities finally!

Not really a striker, but an attacking midfielder is always a nice addition to the squad.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

Not many important matches for Cape Verde so far, but they've had a great start in the African Nations qualifiers.

Trophy cabinet

Campeonato Nacional Prio - 1 (2027/28)

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2030/31 - Terceira Liga

Table | Promotion Stage | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Ever had one of those season were everything just works? That was this season for us. In the first stage we went unbeaten, winning 17 of the 22 matches and drawing the rest. Unsurprisingly, we won our group and headed into the promotion stage. Here we just about copied things and won 5 of the 6 matches, drawing the last and thus securing the promotion to the 2nd tier! And to top it all, we beat Leixões in the final to be crowned champions of this tier! Everything just clicked this season, and we suddenly just couldn't lose. And the really interesting thing is that we didn't dominate. We had a lot of narrow wins, scoring late equalizers, and edging close matches. So while it looks like a dominating season, it was closer than it seems. Hopefully, we can stay up next season, and perhaps make some money!

Off the season, we ended the season at about evens, but that was due to investments by the board, so we are still losing money. And we are maxing out our stadium as well, so I hope the next tier has some good payouts, we need it!

Taça de Portugal: We got a bye in the first round, then beat Rebordosa and Castro Daire before we lost on pens to top flight team Rio Ave in the 4th round.

Player of the season: Luís Duarte 29a - Simply an amazing season from our inside forward on the right. 18 goals and 19 assists in 29 games is just madness!

Youth intake:

A good intake, and finally a couple of great goalkeepers!

I think Flávio is the best of the goalkeepers, and I think he is close to being the best one at the club already.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

In the African Nations qualifiers they won their group winning all matches! Then in the actual tournament they also won their group and went into the knockout rounds. There they lost to Mali in the 2nd round. They are in a very good 37th place in the FIFA ranking, a pretty high position for them.

Trophy cabinet

Terceira Liga - 1 (2030/31)
Campeonato Nacional Prio - 1 (2027/28)

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Start of 2024/25 Season

My third season started well, as I was finally able to get that first coaching badge! But we never did move to a new ground, so I don't know what the press were on about at the end of last season.

A gigantic transfer drive over the summer has seen significant upgrades in all areas of the pitch. We look equally good grinding out wins or handing out thrashings. Of course, this season would be the one where a five-win run does not see us pull clear, but I'm pretty content with life at the moment. Players who we once feared look distinctly second-rate next to ours now.

Kind of annoying we didn't get a cup run given our league form, it left October a very dull affair.

Of course, the flipside to this much improved performance is that the Cape Verdean players are getting much less of a look in, even if some of them are looking decent enough in the odd cameo. I hope that this will be offset  by further increases to junior training and youth recruitment.

Very hard to pick one standout player, but funnily enough if I had to pick one it would be one of our comparative old guard, Tomás Silva, previously in the shadow of Yu Junwei, he's gained a lot of sharpness among better teammates and fits our new tiki-taka system really well.

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2031/32 - Liga Portugal 2

Table | Past Positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Well, this was quite the season! And it started horribly as we only won 2 of the first 10 matches! After that poor start we started to find out footing, and we started to slowly climb up the ranks. And we really found form and continued climbing up the table. With 10 matches left we had an outside shot at promotion, and eventually we actually somehow managed to finish in 2nd! And that means back-to-back promotions! This is quite astounding to me, but I'll of course take it! Really think we will go down next season, though, as we are now way out of our league. And to add to it, we are losing our best player, Luís Duarte 29a, on a free to Torino this summer after he refused to sign a new contract. A good piece of contract news is that I managed to convince our star right back, Djaniny Cardoso 28l to sign a new deal at the end of the season! So at least we'll keep him. Wish me luck in the top tier next season!

Lost loads of money again. Hope Liga NOS will provide money next season, we really need it now!

Taça de Portugal: We beat União Lamas, União de Madeira, and Alverca before we lost to Portimonense in the 5th round.
Allianz Cup: We beat Paços de Ferreira before we lost to Penafiel in the 2nd round.

Player of the season: Luís Duarte 29a - Another great season for us, and we will miss him when he leaves.

Youth intake:

A left back! Those are a rare species here in Cape Verde!

Eriksson Carlos 32D is a very welcome sight. The fact that he can go forward is a nice bonus.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

In the World Cup qualification they are still in it after knocking Uganda out in the 2nd qualifying round. The group stage will start next season. In the African Nations they have had a good start to their group stage so far.

Trophy cabinet

Terceira Liga - 1 (2030/31)
Campeonato Nacional Prio - 1 (2027/28)

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2032/33 - Liga NOS

Table | Past Positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

We stayed up! The number one goal of the season accomplished. But it also highlights one of the issues with the squad, and one I am very aware of; Our central defenders are not cut out for this level. Patrick Fernandes 26k is our best choice, but he short stature causes him to lose so many key duels! I don't know how many times a cross has been headed in goal with him losing the duel. And I don't really use a DM, so I'm stuck with him there. Other than that we have a good squad, even if we are losing Adérito Brito 27i on a free to Mainz this summer. He has refused to speak about a contract for years, and I didn't manage to sell him this season to get a future fee either. So the next seasons are all about staying up and hope for good defenders!

We made money! We just about ended in 0 after making a nice profit through the season. I also manage to convince the board to improve junior coaching and youth recruitment again. At the end of the season I got the message the board wants to build a new stadium, especially since we are renting a new stadium now, since the one we started with is not suitable to be used in the Liga NOS.

Taça de Portugal: We beat Académica Coimbra and Amora before we lost to Porto in the 5th round. 
Allianz Cup: We beat Gil Vicente and Vitória de Guimarães before we finished last in our group behind Benfica and Estrela da Amadora in the 3rd round. 

Player of the season: Eriksson Carlos 32d - Not exactly Roberto Carlos, but Eriksson had a good season on the left back.

Youth intake:

A very strong intake, even if we are short on great defenders.

A very good versatile midfielder. Some very good attributes for his age.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

In the World Cup qualification they have had a good start to the group, even if Mali looks like they will be hard to beat. In the African Nations they won their qualifying group. Then they finished 2nd in their group to go into the knockout rounds, but in the 2nd round they lost to Nigeria to get knocked out.

Trophy cabinet

Terceira Liga - 1 (2030/31)
Campeonato Nacional Prio - 1 (2027/28)

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Incredible progress. You'll have completed this before Christmas at this rate!

[XaW]

1 minute ago, Joy_in_Leeuwarden said:

Incredible progress. You'll have completed this before Christmas at this rate!

I can only hope! Will be tough though, the top teams really crushed me this season.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

We've qualified for the promotion stage for the second year in a row, but with much greater authority this time. Thankfully back-to-back defeats wasn't enough to stop our momentum and I really feel we should be pushing for promotion now. Thankfully we're not in the same group as Maria da Fonte - look at that points total/scoring rate!

 

Very happy to only concede 7 goals after adopting a vertical tiki taka approach in the summer. The bulk of our goals have come from defenders and midfielders, our striker Rafael Costa is an improvement on what we had before but is not the finished article yet.

 

[XaW]

 

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2033/34 - Liga NOS

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

This season was quite strong, but it started quite poorly. We were never really in danger of going down, but we looked to finish on the lower half of the table for the most of the season. It was only towards the final quarter of the season we really found some form, and slowly climbed up a bit. In the end we finished just outside the European spots, but I'm still very happy with a 7th place. We tightened up at the back, and managed to concede 32 goals less than last season! That was the biggest change from last year, and if we keep improving like this a European spot should be possible in a few years, I hope.

We are filling out our borrowed stadium with a capacity of 5k, so our potential to make more money are higher. But we are still waiting for any news about the new stadium. We are working on the youth facilities now, and I hope the improvements will pay out soon! 

Update: We are building a new stadium (not named after me...)! It should be done in about 2 years.

Taça de Portugal: We beat Canelas 2010, Estrela da Amadora, Paços de Ferreira, Estoril Praia, and Famalicão to reach the final. There we got thumped by Porto and finished as runners up.
Allianz Cup: We beat Estrela da Amadora and Arouca to reach the 3rd round group stage. There we finished 2nd behind Porto, and ahead of Nacional and got knocked out.

Player of the season: Danilson Dias 31e - Our young very talented goalkeeper had an amazing season. Unfortunately, he has switched over to Portugal now, and are playing U21 games for them.

Youth intake:

A good intake for us, and even a good defender!

Finally, a good defender. Not the best ever, but certainly a good addition to the squad.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

They didn't get past the group stage in the World Cup qualifiers, unfortunately.

Trophy cabinet

Terceira Liga - 1 (2030/31)
Campeonato Nacional Prio - 1 (2027/28)

[XaW]

 

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2034/35 - Liga NOS

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Another strong season, and this time we even qualified for Europe! Conference League here we come! The league season itself was quite uneventful (cups is another matter), and the first outing in Europe will be an amazing addition to the club next season. Hopefully, we can continue like this in the coming season and eventually fight even closer to the top spots.

The new stadium will be done in about a season, if there are no delays, so that's something we are looking forward to. We are paying down on the loan already though at almost £200k p/m! So no wonder we have started to lose a bit of money now. Hopefully, we'll regain a lot of it with the new capacity and have fans flocking in then. Also, the youth facility upgrade was done at the start of the season.

Taça de Portugal: We beat Padroense, Braga, Famalicão, and Belenenses SAD before we lost to Benfica in the semi final.
Allianz Cup: We beat Sporting Covilhã, then Braga and Belenenses in the group stage before we beat Famalicão in the semi final. In the final we crushed Benfica to claim our first ever cup win!

Player of the season: Eriksson Carlos 32d - An amazing season on the left back, but he showed his passing skills as he provided an amazing 15 assists!

Youth intake:

Worse than the last season, specifically in personalities, but we got in a very talented striker.

Paulo Cruz 35b looks like a beast in the making! He has everything I want in a striker (perhaps except a bit poor jumping)!

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

They failed to qualify for the African Nations this time, and their reputation has taken a dump down because of it.

Trophy cabinet

Terceira Liga - 1 (2030/31)
Campeonato Nacional Prio - 1 (2027/28)

Allianz Cup - 1 (2034/35)

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Such good stuff, congratulations on the cup win! I have some progress of my own to report, which I hope to do later today. I even used the automatic result button a few times this season.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

2025 Youth Intake

A real indication that our upgrades have made some difference to our intake, there's improvement across the board, particularly on the physical side, but one very obvious standout.

A goalscorer in the making, certainly at this level, and maybe an outside bet to be capped at youth level? I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do.

Elsewhere we have three solid but not too exciting options. Would be unlikely that they could ever become proper first-teamers, but again, things are moving in the right direction.

 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

  Season 3: 2024/25

League:

Spoiler

Fixtures:

Spoiler

I spent hours poring over the squad in detail over the summer, offering tons of trials and trying to only sign players who truly stood out and could help us transition to a possession-based approach. It was time well spent, as we won promotion to the third tier and only lost 5 times in total. In the promotion stage, we had an unbelievable knack of scoring late goals, as so many draws turned into victories. We held our nerve, just about, to win the group and promotion. The only disappointment being that nearly every player underperformed in the Championship final, apart from our star player who was, inevitably, the one who was taken off with an injury. But still, a 9.5/10 season.

Taça de Portugal:

I was still tinkering with tactis and the line-up as we crashed out to Amarante in the first round.

Standout Performers:

Tomás Silva

Spoiler

He looked good in previous seasons, but played second fiddle to Yu Junwei. I don't know what happened, but this season he pushed on several levels, contributing 15 assists (a league record) and scoring 5 precious goals. When he went off in the final against Salgueiros I knew we'd be in trouble.

Ni Rodrigues

Spoiler

I was surprised when he joined us as even then the central defender was clearly too good for this level. So it proved, I can't remember him having a bad game. It seems...unlikely we'll have him for a second season.

Manú

Spoiler

There are so many players I could pick as contributing to the fact that we only conceded 20 goals all season, but the keeper brought in just before the season started was a phenomenon and saved a penalty on the final day of the league campaign to ensure our promotion.

Best Youth Prospect:

None!

Yeah, chances for youth products to play this season were few and far between and the mostly played for the B Squad. Hopefully that will change next time round, there are 2 or 3 players who aren't too far off the starting XI.

Season Summary

Any Other Business:

We're losing our synthetic pitch and our training facilities have been downgraded, boo. In better news, we have had our junior coaching boosted to 'good' now.

Next Season: 

It seems likely that we'll turn professional, bringing a new set of opportunities and challenges, but I'd like to believe we can avoid getting dragged down too badly into a relegation scrap.

Progress:

Edited December 10, 2021 by Joy_in_Leeuwarden

[XaW]

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2035/36 - Liga NOS

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Porto is a really good team! And they were the only team who finished above us this season. We did qualify for the Champions League after finishing 2nd this season, and we will finally try out our luck in the upper echelon of football next season. The season started magnificently for us, as we won our first 5 matches, and from then on we were part of the top of the table. Porto, Sporting CP, Benfica, and Estoril Praia were the other teams who left the rest in the dust, and only a very poor February with 6 matches without a win, including 4 losses, stopped us keeping up with Porto. In the end, we finished stronger and secured the 2nd place in the end.

The stadium should be done during the summer, and I hope we can have a fantastic season in our new home. We've also improve our youth facilities this season, even if we didn't make that much money.

Taça de Portugal: We beat Infesta 16-0(!) before we lost to Rio Ave in the 4th round.
Allianz Cup: We beat Sporting Covilhã, before we had a bad time in the 3rd round group stage and got knocked out.
Europa Conference League: In our first ever European try we beat SønderjyskE of Denmark, Gorica of Croatia, and St. Gallen of Switzerland to reach the group stage. There we finished 1st ahead of Osijek of Croatia, Qarabağ of Azerbaijan, and Oud-Heverlee Leuven of Belgium. In the knockout round we beat Rapid Wien of Austria before we lost to Italians Lazio in the quarter final. A very good run for our first every adventure.

Player of the season: Danilson Dias 31e - My goalscoring goalkeeper had a great season and he scored a massive 18 goals this season!

Youth intake:

The quality of the intakes are going down, but I hope that this is more due to the quality of the squad, rather than poorer actual intakes.

Aílton Tavares 36a is a very talented midfielder. A very nice personality as well.

Spoiler

Cape Verde watch:

Cape Verde are through in the World Cup qualifiers after beating Zimbabwe. They've had a rough start in the African Nations qualifiers though.

Trophy cabinet

Terceira Liga - 1 (2030/31)
Campeonato Nacional Prio - 1 (2027/28)

Allianz Cup - 1 (2034/35)

[OlivierL]

6 hours ago, XaW said:

XaW - Africanos Bragança - Season 2035/36 - Liga NOS

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Porto is a really good team! And they were the only team who finished above us this season. We did qualify for the Champions League after finishing 2nd this season, and we will finally try out our luck in the upper echelon of football next season. The season started magnificently for us, as we won our first 5 matches, and from then on we were part of the top of the table. Porto, Sporting CP, Benfica, and Estoril Praia were the other teams who left the rest in the dust, and only a very poor February with 6 matches without a win, including 4 losses, stopped us keeping up with Porto. In the end, we finished stronger and secured the 2nd place in the end.

The stadium should be done during the summer, and I hope we can have a fantastic season in our new home. We've also improve our youth facilities this season, even if we didn't make that much money.

Taça de Portugal: We beat Infesta 16-0(!) before we lost to Rio Ave in the 4th round.
Allianz Cup: We beat Sporting Covilhã, before we had a bad time in the 3rd round group stage and got knocked out.
Europa Conference League: In our first ever European try we beat SønderjyskE of Denmark, Gorica of Croatia, and St. Gallen of Switzerland to reach the group stage. There we finished 1st ahead of Osijek of Croatia, Qarabağ of Azerbaijan, and Oud-Heverlee Leuven of Belgium. In the knockout round we beat Rapid Wien of Austria before we lost to Italians Lazio in the quarter final. A very good run for our first every adventure.

Player of the season: Danilson Dias 31e - My goalscoring goalkeeper had a great season and he scored a massive 18 goals this season!

Youth intake:

The quality of the intakes are going down, but I hope that this is more due to the quality of the squad, rather than poorer actual intakes.

Aílton Tavares 36a is a very talented midfielder. A very nice personality as well.

  Reveal hidden contents

Cape Verde watch:

Cape Verde are through in the World Cup qualifiers after beating Zimbabwe. They've had a rough start in the African Nations qualifiers though.

Trophy cabinet

Terceira Liga - 1 (2030/31)
Campeonato Nacional Prio - 1 (2027/28)

Allianz Cup - 1 (2034/35)

great job , how many of your players are international ?

[XaW]

9 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

great job , how many of your players are international ?

Quite a lot of the Cape Verde national team is my players now. The two in yellow are former players, while the rest with tags are mine.

[OlivierL]

5 minutes ago, XaW said:

Quite a lot of the Cape Verde national team is my players now. The two in yellow are former players, while the rest with tags are mine.

i love it   something that won't happen (soon) in my save, French internationals coming through scotland..  

You are doing the job i thought wasn't possible with their starting squad. Please finish it now and don't go to England 10th tier or something like that. Would love to see teams like Braganca and Braves in the HoF of this and YT challenge.

[XaW]

5 minutes ago, OlivierL said:

i love it   something that won't happen (soon) in my save, French internationals coming through scotland..  

You are doing the job i thought wasn't possible with their starting squad. Please finish it now and don't go to England 10th tier or something like that. Would love to see teams like Braganca and Braves in the HoF of this and YT challenge.

Yeah, I'll play as long as I enjoy it, and for now I do!

[OlivierL]

@Joy_in_Leeuwarden please check PB.

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

Replied now pal, sorry, actually had a couple of days without playing FM! Now ready to plot a successful first campaign in the third tier...

[OlivierL]

  

Africanos Bragança - Portugal - Intro - 4th tier - Campeonato De Portugal

Database |Club info | Club Vision | Facilities |Finances |Youth intake 22

Intro

My Caley Braves is on hold due to some bugs in Scotland, unfortunately. I wanted to have another team with Foreign regens and that is why I end up with a wonderful club Africanos Bragança ! A team in Portugal with african students (mostly from Cape Verde)

. 

As a tribute to @XaW 's hard work with this club,  I will try to achieve the challenge with this team (with only youth) for him  I had to reload 40 times !

Database

Normal Database , Loaded Portugal and Cape Verde league (custom database) with international players from Europa and Africa and some other details.

Active Leagues - Custom Setup

City & Country

Africanos Bragança are located in Bragança . A town with +- 35000 people.  Bragança is a city in Portugal . +-150000 Cape Verdeans live in Portugal.

 

Castelo De Bragança 

Cape Verde is a group of 10 Islands outside West Africa, south of the Canary Islands and have a population of +-483628 people and a total of +- one million live abroad in the United states ( +- 500000). Some of them join Africanos Bragança to get a proper education and play football in the Portugese lower leagues.

In 1951, Cape Verde was incorporated as an overseas department of Portugal, but its inhabitants continued to campaign for independence, which they achieved in 1975.

Cape Verdean Football Federdation

Cape Verde of Cabo Verde are called Tubarões Azuis (Blue sharks) and since 2020 they have a logo with a shark on their chest. Cape Verde is number 80 on the world ranking and reached the quarter final of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations in 2013 . They never qualified for the Fifa World Cup . Cape Verde have youth nation rating '46' and Portugal '134'. The FCF organise competitions for almost every island , most of them have a first and second division.

One Nation, Ten Islands, 1 dream #Ontheroadtovictory

The club

There is very little to be found about AEAB . They have facebook, instagram and an old website but no wikipedia and very few news articles. I did see some recent youtube videos (in portuguese) about their project.

They were formed in 2000 and according to their website they attracted studens from Angola, Cape Verde, Guiné Bissau, Moçambique & São Tomé e Príncipe . 

African Student Association Bragança-IPB, has as its main objective to defend the interests of all African students studying at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança. Promoting the bond of friendship between peoples, culture and Sport.

 

Instituto Politécnico de Bragança - Escola Superior de Educação

The U19 (only thing i changed according to real life) joined the U19 Bragança league and can get promoted to higher U19 leagues. Something that wasn't possible at the Braves.

Stadium

Parque Desportivo De Santa Apolonia - Capacity 1000( 1000 seats) - Poor Youth facilities & Adequate Training facilities 

Can't find a lot of information but they have 1000 seats according to FM but in real life they have .. none 

 

 

Squad

We start with 13 real players and 6 newgens from first intake. The homegrown rule will be the biggest challenge, most of the players above aren't homegrown so i'll have to use many grey players in the first season(s).

Spoiler

 

Key players

   

Oliveira is our best defender, Bilimbota is our best striker.

Youth intake 2022 - Best of the class

Moreno 22A is a good fast striker for this level, i like him !

Spoiler

Facts

I know this will be a hardcore challenge, especially in the early seasons with hardly any homegrown players to meet the mandatory registration rules. I expect to end up in the relegation playoffs for a few seasons and have to survive there. Let the games begin !

Edited January 6, 2022 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

I was able to get this HOYD at the start, did you guys had the same ? Resolute, high determination.

 

[OlivierL]

That homegrown thing in the first season(s) is idd really hard. youth from intake (holiday season) are homegrown but how are they calculating this ?

Semedo 22C needs almost one more year before he is homegrown, strange.. he is only two weeks younger in comp. with Almeida 22D

 

Is this something at the background ? Semedo joined the club when he was 14/15 and Almeida joined the youth ranks when he was 13 or younger ? Something we can't check untill we go to the eligibility page from each player  ?

[OlivierL]

Africanos Bragança - Youth intake preview - Season 1 - Class 2023

Not excellent in my first season, strange.. but a good DC, two Mc's a DMC an two wingers..  I need them.. and i have to wait before they'll become homegrown

Edited December 17, 2021 by OlivierL

[Joy_in_Leeuwarden]

The eligibility at the beginning of the game was definitely off-kilter, I think you just have to ride it out unfortunately. And I have no memory of seeing that HOYD! You'd think I would as he has a pretty distinctive name.

[OlivierL]

 

Africanos Bragança - Portugal - Youth Intake - Class 2023

Preview

Not a great intake and many with a negative personality but some of them will go directly into the first team , if they become homegrown. I'll sign them all.

 
Sanches 23A has the best PA , Silva 23i has the best Ca . 

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

3 hours ago, Joy_in_Leeuwarden said:

The eligibility at the beginning of the game was definitely off-kilter, I think you just have to ride it out unfortunately. And I have no memory of seeing that HOYD! You'd think I would as he has a pretty distinctive name.

And to make it even worse.. in the relegation stage( probably also in promotion stage) you only get 5 subs.. so 2 more real not homegrown players to drop..

[OlivierL]

Intro

Africanos Bragança - Portugal - Season 1 (2022/2023) Review - 4th tier - Campeonato De Portugal

 

Squad| Youth Intake 23 | Transfers | Finances| Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2

Campeonato De Portugal : We finished 7th in the regular competition and had to play the relegation stage. We lost in our final game but Sabugal did the same.. so we are staying up ! Very difficult with an average of 5 'real' players that i could use , had to use 3 or 4 grey players in the first eleven , and also a very 'grey' bench. 

Taça de Portugal: Lost in the first round.

U19 : Our U19 lost their final game against Bragança (our neighbours) and finished 2nd. Only the champion gets promoted. so our U19 stays in the 3rd tier.

Key Players

  

Oliveira is our best defender but isn't homegrown so i couldn't use him in the relegation stage. Pereira is our other DC and he had a 'good' season.

Academy graduate with most Appearances (This season)

Moreno 22A played the most games as academy player and scored 4 , assisted 5.

 

Miscellaneous

The board upgraded almost everything , asking it only one or two times.

New president elected but he has no intention to invest.

Aim for next season

It was a frustrating season because of the homegrown rules. I know the second one will be like that too so I hope to not get relegated again and hold on. maybe by September I can use some extra youth players.

Cape Verde Watch

National Team | U23 Squad | U20 Squad

 

Cape Verde qualified for the Africa Cup 2023 .

MVP Cape Verdean International

Season Facts

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by OlivierL