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Moneyballing My Way To A Champions League Title in Every European Nation Part X: The FM23 Experiment


shaunvamos
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Promoted :D After just 4 seasons we're in the Serie A, a first for the Grosseto club. There's plenty of work to do if we want to stay up though. We have 3m in the transfer budget and about 35k in wages, so we'll have to recruit well and stay financially afloat.

 

 

 

Best XI

 

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Enej Klampfer  -  Davide Barosi  -  Riccardo Pagano

 

 

 

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Amazing that we were able to do a better job with a theoretically weaker first team.

 

 

 

 

Awards/Record Breakers

 

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Progress

 

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  • shaunvamos changed the title to Moneyballing My Way To A Champions League Title in Every European Nation - An Experiment in Squad Building (Italy)

2025 Preseason

 

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With the promotion to Serie A there was always going to be a heavy focus on recruitment, and I think we've done a pretty good job here, a nice mixture of youthful exuberance coupled with their ability to play well.

 

 

Centre Backs

 

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Arabat joins permanently, while Wooh takes a break across the border from Lens.

 

 

 

Wing Backs

 

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Both guys are signed relatively cheaply, with Zagre having some Serie A experience already.

 

 

 

Defensive Midfield

 

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Hingerl can make us a lot of money if he develops well, and his versatility is very valuable.

 

 

 

Attacking Midfielder

 

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This is our big scalp this season, a promising AM inexplicably released by Gent. Lyon had him on trial, so I threw as much money as we could afford at him and he bit. With a release clause of 6.5m we're set to make a huge profit.

 

 

 

Strikers

 

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Our two strikers this season consist of pacy Monaco loanee Lucas Michal and young, cheap Slovenian Tomaz Mujdrica, another player with acres of development potential.

 

 

 

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Pretty satisfied with this short preseason.

 

 

 

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As expected, we're huge favourites for relegation (1001.00). But I think we can just scrape through, assuming no injuries occur and destroy our depth. 

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January 2026

 

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Look, we're so out of depth in this division, our yearly salary is half that of the next lowest team, and forty times lower than Juventus. The fact that we aren't completely out of of the running already is a miracle. 

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February 2026

 

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Our best month in a long while, and we have a small amount of breathing room from the relegation zone. The Napoli and Atalanta games are also quite misleading, it was 1-0 until the final 15 minutes in each where we just fell apart.

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March 2026

 

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An incredible month, but the Juventus game has an asterisk where they had two players sent off and we beat them with 9 men. But we still had to score to beat them in Turin. We followed that up with a win against Sampdoria and a draw with Inter, both huge results. With 8 games to go we're 9 points clear of relegation, with a chance to go 12 clear with a win in our next game against Ascoli.

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Safety secured! The amount of money we've got as a result of this year and the next will provide a solid base to improve on our position in the seasons to come.

 

 

 

Best XI

 

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Christopher Wooh  -  Davide Barosi  -  Arthur Zagré

 

 

 

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I've reverted the attribute formulas back to the original format, so the overall is a little affected by that. But next season should see a huge improvement.

 

 

 

Record Breakers/Awards

 

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Progress

 

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2026 Preseason

 

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A few more players in as we finally have the money to afford some good young players. Arabat and Francofonte have to make way for them, but not before we made significant profit on each.

 

 

 

Central Defenders

 

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Our back 3 this season are all 19 or younger, so there's plenty of growing for them to do. The fact they all have 5* PA is a good sign too.

 

 

 

Defensive Midfielder

 

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Swiss U20 international Correia will be our DLP from the back this season, another player with plenty of promise who was brought in cheaply.

 

 

 

Central Midfielder

 

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Partnering Irigoyen in the centre is Austrian 2nd division pickup Alessio Eichner. An U19 international, he could prove to be another big find.

 

 

 

Strikers

 

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Our strike pairing this season are players who have both spent time here on loan, and were more than happy to join permanently. They aren't amazing, but they should definitely add some power up front which we desperately need.

 

 

 

Honourable Mention

 

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Pierre was picked up cheap from Caen and has the "promising" tag. He'll be coming off the bench as a LWB sub this season, but we'll see how he develops as he could easily start in the second half of the season.

 

 

 

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There's a lot to like about this preseason, loss to Juventus aside.

 

 

 

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Once again we're predicted last at 1001.00, but I'm confident we can push mid-table with our new, improved squad.

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August 2026

 

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What a start! Granted, we didn't have the most difficult teams to play, but we performed much better than we did last season against them. I'm not expecting this to be maintained against the big guys though.

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December 2026

 

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This is much more like it, three straight losses to strong teams and we're pushed down to 10th. 

 

 

 

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This is an exciting preview, especially now we've made upgrades to youth coaching and recruitment.

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February 2027

 

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What an incredible month. I was hopeful we would beat Sampdoria and Empoli, but the wins over Inter and away to Fiorentina were completely unexpected. With 10 games to go we actually have a serious chance of European qualification in only our second Serie A season.

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2027 Youth Intake

 

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Davide Gasparro 6A*  -  Stratis Taliadoros 6B  -  Christian Gozzani 6C*

 

 

Wow. What an incredible player Davide already is! He's stepping straight into the first team, but not in his chosen position of RWB. He's got the perfect set of attributes (at this stage) for a Libero, and he's also a whopping 6 foot 5. He's going to be huge if we can hold onto him.

 

 

 

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March 2027

 

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Our unbeaten run continues, and with 8 games to go we have a 5 point buffer to the final European places. It may look good at the moment, but we still have Roma, Juventus, Milan, Udinese and Napoli, so we probably won't stay this high for long.

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April 2027

 

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An unprecedented month. The win against Roma was incredible, before Juventus woke us up from the dream. But the clincher is the 3-0 over Milan. Everything went right that day, and with 4 games to go we have a 7 point advantage. Our final four games include Napoli and Cagliari at home, sandwiched between trips to Atalanta and Udinese.

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Lost to Napoli, but in the end it didn't matter. 5th place and a spot in the Europa League next season! Pretty stoked to have finished as the best of the rest, but there's a lot of work to do to even get close to the top 4.

 

 

 

Best XI

 

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Hélio Serrano  -  Arthur Zagré  -  Davide Barosi

 

Defensive performances were the name of the game for us this season, but I really should highlight the immediate impact Davide Gasparro has made. He's already accomplished at CB, and it only took him 5 or 6 games. He's going to be great!

 

 

 

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Record Breakers/Awards

 

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Progress

 

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2027 Preseason

 

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A pretty quiet preseason in terms of transfer activity, as we now seem to be at a level strong enough to not have to overhaul the first team each season. Guga is a rare find, a Brazilian with Italian 2nd nationality. Rejigging of the first team means he will only feature off the bench to start off with.

 

 

 

Central Defender

 

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A rare Italian signing, Scalvini is a former U21 international that boosts our backline.

 

 

 

Right Wing Back

 

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Completely stumbled across Albino, I can't believe that Hellas didn't offer him a contract straight away! What matters is that we did, for a fee that I think will more than pay for itself in the long run.

 

 

 

Striker

 

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Martucci is set for a huge season, with a holy trinity over 15 and immense speed. He didn't end up working out at Dortmund, and Berlin didn't really give him a chance either. He's here to prove them all wrong.

 

 

 

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A strong preseason, highlighted by the 3-1 win over Ajax.

 

 

 

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Finally not predicted last, but the pundits still aren't giving us the respect we probably deserve.

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August 2027

 

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It's a strong start, which is always nice.

 

 

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Definitely not the worst European group either. Valencia will probably be too strong for us, but Young Boys and Oostende should be on our level. Group H is comfortably the group of death.

 

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November 2027

 

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Lazio destroyed us, bringing us back to earth a little bit, but still in a strong position in the league. The Europa League situation is such that we are at least guaranteed a spot in the Europa Conference League, but it's not what I wanted from this group.

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December 2027

 

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A strong month, and we're through to the Europa League knockouts.

 

 

 

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We have a tough tie against Dynamo Kyiv, but it's definitely a winnable draw.

 

 

 

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Another excellent preview, which is in correlation with all the increases in our facilities and reputation.

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Hey, been following this for a few weeks and impressed how you did it with Curzon Ashton so quickly. I've tried using your formulas and I'm having issues getting it to work.

Your formula is this - ((Sum of all key attributes for role + (0.66 * (sum of all preferable attributes for role))) / total number of key/preferable attributes for role * 5) / rating if all attributes were 17 * 100 - but when I do it exactly like that, I'm seeing Premier League level players on a score of about 15. Although it scales for each player so the order is unaffected, the number isn't exactly a workable number.

Mind sharing your workbook to see where I'm going wrong?

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5 hours ago, SaintsFCFan7498 said:

Hey, been following this for a few weeks and impressed how you did it with Curzon Ashton so quickly. I've tried using your formulas and I'm having issues getting it to work.

Your formula is this - ((Sum of all key attributes for role + (0.66 * (sum of all preferable attributes for role))) / total number of key/preferable attributes for role * 5) / rating if all attributes were 17 * 100 - but when I do it exactly like that, I'm seeing Premier League level players on a score of about 15. Although it scales for each player so the order is unaffected, the number isn't exactly a workable number.

Mind sharing your workbook to see where I'm going wrong?

Sure! Here it is. There must be a small error in your formulas somewhere, but given they're all still ordered right it wouldn't be too far off being correct. My workbook also has transfer and staff formulas too so it's all easily accessible off the one document.

 

 

 

FMCU.xlsx

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February 2028

 

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Injuries and other fitness issues are contributing to our poor form, as we begin to lose touch with the European places. On more positive news we're through to the last 16 of the Europa League, where we'll be reuniting with Valencia.

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2028 Youth Intake

 

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Matteo Perri 7A  -  Andrea Sediari 7B*  -  Francesco Rulli 7C

 

Another incredible intake :eek: Three 5* PA prospects, 4 considered promising, a player who's Sammarinese, and other nations make their first appearance too! Our academy is going to be producing some star players if this kind of form keeps up.

 

 

 

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We took full advantage of our relatively easy run home, as Roma completely capitulated, and we are in the Conference League playoff next season. Consistency really needs to be our focus next season if we are to avoid these sort of close-run things.

 

 

 

Best XI

 

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Giorgio Scalvini  -  Arthur Zagré  -  Hélio Serrano

 

 

 

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Record Breakers/Award Winners

 

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Progress

 

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2028 Preseason

 

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A bit more activity on the leaving front this time, with a couple of players being phased out of the match squad and me trying to cash in on them. I've also loaned someone out for the first time in a long time, as I think I've seen on the forums that loaning players develops them quicker than playing youth fixtures. We'll see how true that holds. The only reluctant transfer out is starting LWB Arthur Zagre. Al-Ahli met his release clause, and I refused to pay him what he thought he was worth (about double what I expected to pay him) so he's off to Saudi Arabia earning 115k a week. Can't blame him really. He's replaced by Godart, who I've had my eye on for a while but just haven't been able to afford him until now.

 

 

 

Central Defenders

 

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Ghilarducci is another player I was looking to sign earlier on but couldn't due to price constraints, but he looks a strong Libero. Amey is a rare real-player signing, and will be our RCB.

 

 

 

Left Wing Back

 

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The aforementioned Godart is set for a big season in his first chance at playing European football in his career.

 

 

 

Central Midfielder

 

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Coria was the big buy this season, and for good reason. He's already tripled his value just by joining us, and look set to break into the national setup.

 

 

 

Speaking of the national setup...

 

 

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I wasn't going to apply for the national job until I won the league, which is what I will do in every nation I'm in, but they offered it to me outright and I figured why not. So I'll be having overseeing the development of Italy on a national scale as well.

 

 

 

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Great results, with the only blip a draw against Sampdoria in which a virtual second team was played.

 

 

 

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We shoot up the predictions, but I'm looking for top 5. If we can be a little more consistent, I can't see why not.

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August 2028

 

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A very strong start in the league, and we're easily through to the Conference League group stage.

 

 

 

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There are a few interesting teams here, but I think we should get through our group with no issues at all.

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September 2028

 

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A tough run of fixtures in September, dropping a few close results against Fiorentina, Roma and Torino, but we end the month with a good win over Milan to raise some morale. Our Conference League campaign is off to a flyer, emphasised by the big win over Sarajevo.

 

 

 

Transfers (Out)

 

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Forgot to include some more loans, Gasparro off to play for Serie A club Benevento and Gozzani to the Serie C.

 

 

 

National Team

 

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My tenure as Italy manager gets off to a great start, defeating world number 1 England followed by a tough win in Serbia. 

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1 hour ago, corinthiano said:

Great progress in Italy! Do you think CL qualification is on the cards for this season?

Thanks! I'm not sure if we're going to be consistent enough for the CL yet, but we could push for 4th place and get lucky.

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October 2028

 

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We take full advantage of our easier run of fixtures in the league, although we had to work hard for all of them. Progress in the Europa Conference League looks all but sealed, as we flog Zorya.

 

 

 

National Team

 

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A surprise loss to Sweden, but still top of the Nations League group.

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November 2028

 

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Our unbeaten run continues, and we sit pretty comfortably in the European places, as we continue to coast through the Conference League.

 

 

 

National Team

 

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Disappointing end to the Nations League, but it was always going to be tough against England. 

 

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