Back to Africa 2 - Liga Desportiva

[ToMexico!!]

Its finally time to head back to Africa for another FM save and this time we dive a little deeper into the continent. 

Previous saves; Finding Gold in Ghana; Back to Africa - Les Astres FC & Um Bongo, Um Bongo, they drink it in the Congo

The Country

Mozambique

Here's a map of Mozambique, its located in the South-Eastern area of the continent of Africa and is bordered by Tanzania to the North, Malawi and Zambia to the North-West, Zimbabwe to the West and E-Swatini and South Africa to the South West. Its capital city is Maputo, which has around 1.1m inhabitants and the country as a whole is home to around 30m people. 

The nation was colonised by the Portuguese after the initial arrival of explorer Vasco de Gama in 1498 and settlement in 1505. Mozambique gained its independence from Portugal in 1975 after four centuries of rule but the country is still influenced by Portugal through its football, six of its senior national players ply there trade for Portuguese clubs. 

The Club

Liga Desportiva de Maputo

Founded in 1990 in the capital of Maputo, Liga Desportiva have won four league titles most recently in 2014 and the league cup once. They have  appeared in the African Champions League three times, never going beyond the 1st Round. 

They play their home games in the 5000 capacity Estadio da Liga Muculmana. The club also start the save with Average Training and Below Average Youth Facilities whilst they have Average Academy coaching and fairly basic youth recruitment. 

Financially, the club start in the black with £80k in the bank but are projected to end the season in the red with a balance of -£30k. We do have a transfer budget of £42k to spend and room in the wage budget if we were to bring players in. 

The League

The Mozambican Premier Division is a league consisting of 13 teams with UD Songo as favourites to win, whilst we are predicted to finish in 9th place. What is also appealing to me is the league rules. 

As things stand we have no foreign players in the squad but thats not to say some will join in the future but a limit of four is perfect. We can focus on signing and improving Mozambican players and bringing players home from the likes of Portugal. 

Prize money is low which means no team can really get an advantage over another by winning the league and being paid handsomely. Another important note is that the league runs within a calender year, from March to October, which means when we reach the latter stages of continental competitions we need to think about contracts and player registrations as those competitions go across the end of one season and into the next season. 

The Manager

We start the save as a Namibian national on a 1-year contract with a National A licence. We are influenced by youth development but it is not the be all and end of all the save. 

The Staff

Beyond myself, we have just an assistant manager and GK coach which will be kept in place. 

The Players

Goalkeepers & Defenders | Midfielders & Strikers

We have 29 players in the first team squad which is a few too many but we don't have a reserves side to demote some players into. What we do have though is a decent enough starting squad with a senior international GK in Daniel Gueze and 10 players who are in the U23 international squad. Every player in the squad bar one is only contracted for 1-year so essentially every player is playing for a new contract. 

Our best player is Kabine, a young striker who I think can lead the line for plenty of seasons to come. 

I think we will be playing a basic 4-4-2 Wing Play formation and tactic to begin with a mould the team as we understand and improve the quality of the players we have. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by ToMexico!!

[Cheez3y]

Nice! Back to Africa! I really loved those save in Cameroon and Congo.

Will follow.

[ToMexico!!]

7 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

Nice! Back to Africa! I really loved those save in Cameroon and Congo.

Will follow.

Thank you very much! 

[corinthiano]

I spent a month in Maputo for work many moons ago so will be following with interest. Best of luck!

[Ryninho]

Mind me asking what database you're using?

[ToMexico!!]

12 minutes ago, corinthiano said:

I spent a month in Maputo for work many moons ago so will be following with interest. Best of luck!

Thank you! 

5 minutes ago, Ryninho said:

Mind me asking what database you're using?

Not at all, I'm using Riddler's off of the steam workshop.

[ToMexico!!]

Youth Intake Preview - June 2021

I don't have many, if any expectations for this or probably the next three intakes at least. 

[DerbyJack]

I can safely say I know nothing about Mozambican football, this should be an interesting one for sure.

Best of luck, what a challenge you have found!

[ToMexico!!]

12 minutes ago, DerbyJack said:

I can safely say I know nothing about Mozambican football, this should be an interesting one for sure.

Best of luck, what a challenge you have found!

Its a complete unknown entity to me too although with this being my fourth save in Africa I have an idea of how to play this save long term and what to expect in terms of transfers, intakes, domestic domination and how long it will take me to win a continental trophy! 

Thanks for taking a look! 

[john1]

Good luck in Mozambique! 

[ToMexico!!]

1 hour ago, ToMexico!! said:

Youth Intake Preview - June 2021

I don't have many, if any expectations for this or probably the next three intakes at least. 

Youth Intake Review - September 2021

Our first youth intake arrives and its better than expected according to below. 

Our players have solely been taken in from Maputo apart from Cassama who arrives from Bedanda in Guinea-Bissau. Valdo Langa is deemed the best player from the intake and already has 1.5 CA. 

Map

[ToMexico!!]

2021 Season Review

We've breezed through our first season. Expected to finish in 9th by the media, this is a prime example of a human managed team can overachieve with what is considered a poor team. The board's expectation was mid-table, as was mine when talking to the players in pre-season. However, we achieved two of the boards visions by finishing 3rd, reaching a top half finish a season ahead of expectation as well as Challening for the Title, four seasons ahead of expectation. 

We could and should have won the title, we were top going into the last game of the season but whereas we drew with 12th placed Ferroviaria de Lichinga both Incomati and Ferroviaria da Beira won, leapfrogging us and seeing Incomati winning the title of virtue of head-to-head record over goal difference. However, 3rd place was much better than we expected and I can not be too disheartened. Poor old Vilankulo, an amatuer side who lost all 24 games they played this league campaign. 

The League Cup starts as a group stage (four groups of four teams) and we topped ours consisting of Incomati, Textil do Pungue and Maxaquene, with top of each group advancing. We faced Group B winners Textafrica over two legs, winning the first leg 4-1 before drawing 1-1 in the reverse fixture with a rotated squad. In the final we would face another Ferroviaria side, this time de Nacala and thankfully there was no league hangover, with us winning 2-0 and netting us our first trophy. 

We started the season using a basic 4-4-2 to ease the players in as they no cohesion but as the season went on we moulded the formation into an assymetric 4-1-3-2 with the use of a winger back and inside forward on the left, a Segundo Volante at DM partnering a Mezzala in CM and a straight forward full back/wide midfielder combination on the right. The formation certainly utilising the players best roles. 

Top scorer for the season was Kabine, the player I alluded to in the write up at the start of the thread, he scored 20 goals but not after going the first five games of the season goalless, meaning we had to have a chat. He was supported well by his striker partner, Naftal Titos who 14 goals in 23(2) games. We now have the unenviable task of renewing around 75% of the squads contracts but most are not willing to enter negotiations until the latter stages of their current deal. 

Off the pitch, we signed a new 1-year deal taking us to the end of next season. We made no investments into the infrastructure of the club due to the limitations due to the finances. We did make some money however, we were awarded £43k in prize money for finishing in 3rd place aswell as a small pot of money for winning the league. At the beginning of the season we were projected to finish with a negative balance but now we should end the season with a firm positive one. 

[maxtothemax]

You might want to download a logo database to distinguish the Ferrovs haha. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

 @ToMexico!!  I am so glad you are back in Africa. I always enjoy your journey of building a nation especially in Africa. I can't wait to see how you do with these.

I wanted to do a build a nation with an East African nation like Tanzania but too busy to put the time in so far. 

Good luck in Mozembique.

[ToMexico!!]

22 minutes ago, maxtothemax said:

You might want to download a logo database to distinguish the Ferrovs haha. 

Well I wanted to change their names with the in-game editor but I can't see thats its possible. At least one has been relegated, so only the four to worry about next season. 

20 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

 @ToMexico!!  I am so glad you are back in Africa. I always enjoy your journey of building a nation especially in Africa. I can't wait to see how you do with these.

I wanted to do a build a nation with an East African nation like Tanzania but too busy to put the time in so far. 

Good luck in Mozembique.

Thank you @Ronaldo Beckham I've said it before and will say it again, its an under utilised continent with only South Africa in the vanilla game. If the likes of even Nigeria or Tunisia were added to the main game it would be so good to see. 

Thanks for your support! 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Well I wanted to change their names with the in-game editor but I can't see thats its possible. At least one has been relegated, so only the four to worry about next season. 

Thank you @Ronaldo Beckham I've said it before and will say it again, its an under utilised continent with only South Africa in the vanilla game. If the likes of even Nigeria or Tunisia were added to the main game it would be so good to see. 

Thanks for your support! 

Oh definitely. I would prefer Sigames/Sega to add more countries and invest in researching more in Africa which to their credit they are doing so but so much more can be done.

It is criminal we only have South Africa in the game without help from great people like Riddler.

We should have at least Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali, Ghana and Cameroon leagues.

[Cheez3y]

32 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Thank you @Ronaldo Beckham I've said it before and will say it again, its an under utilised continent with only South Africa in the vanilla game. If the likes of even Nigeria or Tunisia were added to the main game it would be so good to see. 

Agree 100%

I would even say the top 10 African countries should be in the game.

[ToMexico!!]

Transfers & Squad 

Our business for pre-season is done. 

Just one player joined, Fidel, a new right back who was released by Black Bulls having played 27 times for them last season. He immediately becomes first choice RB. 

Across the close season we managed to renew the contracts of 14 players to new part time contracts for either one or two seasons and we also renewed a further six players to non-contract terms to flush out the squad. We also released nine players from their contract, in turn, reducing the wage expenditure by around £400 p/w. We now sit with £560 of spare wage budget that can be used if needed. 

Our current first choice XI is below;

Fidel comes in at RB; Herminio has changed to a no-nonsense cover role and Sandramo has been promoted from the U20's straight into the first team as the Mezzala. 

Team Cohesion is at a all-time high and finally in the green after spending most of last season in the red. I don't envisage any further signings or changes to the first XI which could disrupt the improvements we have seen. 

[Jtomsett11]

Will follow this, really enjoyed your Congo save!

[ToMexico!!]

14 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

Agree 100%

I would even say the top 10 African countries should be in the game.

Looking at the competitions rankings in my save at the moment and giving the first 10 countries that would mean it would be; 

Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, South Africa, DR Congo, Sudan, Nigeria, Zambia and Tanzania. The highlighted ones would be fine but then you're missing Ghana (17th), Ivory Coast (19th), Cameroon (20th) and Senegal (35th). 

You could argue the top 15 countries could be added, its a tought call to add the correct nations. 

I mean they've added Canada and Latvia in recent times which do not appeal to me but the same could be said for the above to others. 

1 minute ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Will follow this, really enjoyed your Congo save!

Thank you! 

[Cheez3y]

3 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Looking at the competitions rankings in my save at the moment and giving the first 10 countries that would mean it would be; 

Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, South Africa, DR Congo, Sudan, Nigeria, Zambia and Tanzania. The highlighted ones would be fine but then you're missing Ghana (17th), Ivory Coast (19th), Cameroon (20th) and Senegal (35th). 

You could argue the top 15 countries could be added, its a tought call to add the correct nations. 

I mean they've added Canada and Latvia in recent times which do not appeal to me but the same could be said for the above to others. 

Yes the highlighted are a must have.

I didnt realized that Ghana, Ivory Coast. Cameroon and Senegal are so below in the list.

Combined with the 7 previously mentioned, you got 11 big nations.

If you check some of the transfer all over Europe or even the world, this would be a good representation and addition to the game.

[ToMexico!!]

5 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

I didnt realized that Ghana, Ivory Coast. Cameroon and Senegal are so below in the list.

Yeah they are quite low considering you are more likely be able to name a few top players from those nations rather than the likes of Tunisia, Morocco or Algeria. 

[ToMexico!!]

Youth Intake Preview - 2022

From one extreme to another, will this intake be better than last seasons? 

[ToMexico!!]

Senior Affiliation 

I didn't even look at this page until late last night and was pleasantly surprised to see this . 

We have an affilation with Benfica. 

A financially beneficial link that provides no financial benefit to us 

Looking at their squad they don't have any players that have come through via our club, let alone any Mozambican players. 

[ToMexico!!]

International Call-Ups - Aug 2022

Nine first team players called up for international duty including three into the senior team. 

[ToMexico!!]

1 hour ago, ToMexico!! said:

Youth Intake Preview - 2022

Youth Intake Review - September 2022

No change in the quality of the intake. 

Quite a poor intake overall which is expected with all players joining from the nations capital Maputo. A few players with some CA already but I don't see any of these players making the first team as things stand. 

[ToMexico!!]

2022 Season Review

Despite finishing 3rd last season and only signing one player, the media were predicting us to win the title; whereas the board wanted just a mid-tabled finish. 

I felt quitely confident going into the season, we had more cohesion and a settled side. We started the season reasonably well before being sent back down to earth by Black Bulls who defeated us 3-1 at home. I started to fine players for poor performance and we then won 8 games in a row, propelling us to the top of the table, yet we didn't open up a gap to the chasing pack. Then Kabine got injured for 7 weeks, missing four games in the process in which we collected just one points from the possible 12. 

The return of Kabine saw return to form, three wins on the bounce including against Costa do Sol saw us close the gap up a little at the top of the table. Back-to-back draws against Maxaquene and Incomati cost us the title, despite winning the last two games of the season 4-2 and 4-3 we finished in a second successive 3rd place behind winners Costa do Sol who leapfrogged Ferroviario da Beira on the last day. 

Three wins from three in the League Cup group stage saw us into the semi-finals against a strong Costa do Sol side, we won the first leg 3-1 before capitulating in the return leg losing 3-0 after having had a player sent off after 11 minutes. 

Both Kabine and Naftal Titos struck 23 goals this season with the former doing it in as many games after he missed five games due to injury. Right midfielder Nono made 11 assists this season seeing him finish ahead of Kabine (9) as the most creative player. 

Financially we're ok, we gained £45k in prize money this season which alone covers our current wage expenditure. Our youth setup is currently costing us £40k for the season which is a pittance of where it could be, until we are regular continental cup competitors I won't be investing in the infrastructure. 

[ToMexico!!]

Mozambique Abroad

With the affilation link with Benfica, I thought it would be a good time to look at players plying their trade abroad that have come through via Liga Desportivo or other clubs. 

When we filter the scouting screen to Mozambican players that are not based in Mozambique, this is what we get. Sidenote is that we have just 2% scouting knowledge, there are other players who we could see with a better scouting rage. 

We have 9 players, all playing in Portugal. The ones highlighted in yellow have been put in a shortlist as future transfer possibilities but its very unlikely we would be able to sign them. 

• Witi is a left winger who can play all down the left hand side. He came through at Liga Desportivo (formerly named Liga Muculmana) in 2013, he was loaned out to Nacional in 2014/15 season and Benfica in the same season, he spent subsequent seasons on loan at Nacional before joining permenantly in the 2018/19 season. 
• Kamo-Kamo came through at Ferraviario de Maputo in 2017 before joining Vitoria Setubal in 2019/20. 
• Clesio also came through at Ferraviario de Maputo but in 2011, he joined Benfica in 2013/14, has spent time in Greece and Azerbaijan before joining Maritimo. 
• Gildo came through at Ferraviario de Beira in 2013 but joined us in 2016 before being loaned to Maritimo joining them on a free in 2018/19. Currently at Amora in 3rd tier of Portugal but under bid by Varzim. 
• Raul came through at Ferraviario de Pemba before joining F. de Napula then Costa do Sol. He joined Amora on a free then joined us on loan for the 2019 season. Currently at Lusitania Lourosa. 
• Geny came through at Black Bulls in 2018 but immediately joined Amora before signing for Sporting CP.
• Geraldo Matsimbe came through from our academy in 2013 before joining Bragatino and Nacional on loan, signing for the latter permenantly in 2016/17. A few more loans before he joined Costa do Sol on a free before leaving to join Fafe. 
• Bruno Langa came through at Maxaquene in 2015, joining Amora on loan initially, now with Chaves. 
• Amansio Canhembe came through our academy in 2013, joining Vitoria Setabul in 2018/19. He spent time with Maritimo before joining Academica for just under £8k last season. Currently under bid by Farense, Mafra and Amadora. 

[ToMexico!!]

Transfers & Squad News - March 2023

For a 3rd successive season we do minimal business in the close season with just one player joining. 

We take Black Bulls first choice GK from them to have as our back up for the season ahead. 

For the season ahead, Gildo will drop to the bench and Mairoce will be first choice in central defence alongside Herminio. We also promoted Luis Silva from the U20's to act as striker cover for the season. 

I will also be spending the entire season fining players for poor performance, any player with a 6.3 rating or below will get fined half a weeks wages, which for most is about £7.50 to £15.  

[HowzatFM]

Good Luck, will be following closely

[ToMexico!!]

National Team Production - April 2023

Early days yet but we have one player that we have produced that is in the senior national team and that Kabine. 

 

[ToMexico!!]

Youth Intake Preview - June 2023

Back to a poor crop of players.

Yet its a slightly better looking assessment. 

[ToMexico!!]

Save Update - July 2023

I forgot to mention what leagues we have loaded. 

Well, originally it was just Mozambique as playable with England, Portugal and Spain as view-only but I've added Portugal as playable to the 3rd tier. 

We should now see more Mozambican players added into the game like Simon Cipriano who I missed due to the view-only aspect. We should also see more newgens via the intakes, I did check the top teams in Portugal and Benfica have had a right-back come through their latest intake in Antonio Macamo but he has no link to any club from Mozambique but does hail from Maputo. 

[ToMexico!!]

2 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Youth Intake Preview - June 2023

Back to a poor crop of players.

Youth Intake Review - September 2023

Slightly better than previewed. 

But its still not great. 

Spoiler

 

[ToMexico!!]

2023 Season Review

I won't beat around the bush here...

I thought it was going to just like last season, close but no cigar yet whilst we kept winning, fortunately for us Ferroviario de Nampula who were in 1st place with three games to go, gained just one point to see us seal the title on the last day of the season. 

We lost just twice this season; again to Black Bulls 3-0 and F. da Beira 1-0 in the other game. Hopefully, this will be the season that breaks the camels back and we can start to dominate domestically and thus enter continental competition season upon season. We received £58k for winning the title. 

In the League cup we topped our group once again, defeating Black Bulls, Maxaquene and Chibuto. We then defeated Costa do Sol 3-0 on aggregate in the semi-final to advance to our 2nd final. We would face F. de Nampula in the final who capitulated for us to win the title, however it would be without Kabine as he was away with Mozambique. We were winning until the 92nd minute when they equalised and then went on to win the final 2-1 in extra time. 

Kabine top scored this season once again, this time with 28 goals in 29 games whilst Titos scored just 13. Joao Mussa playing in the deep Sugundo Volante role made the most assists with 12 whilst wantaway Dilson managed 10. 

Financially we gained £77k in sponsorship and £66k in prize money which goes along way in this league. Player wages have crept up a little compared to last season but we can easily cover those and the youth setup at the moment. With Champions League football next season we could see some healthy attendances and maybe some prize money if we get through a round or two. 

[corinthiano]

Congratulations on the first league title! Out of interest, is there any team from Tete in the first division?

[ToMexico!!]

32 minutes ago, corinthiano said:

Congratulations on the first league title! Out of interest, is there any team from Tete in the first division?

Thank you! There isn't any from Tete unfortunately. 

[rmcf2017]

16 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Senior Affiliation 

I didn't even look at this page until late last night and was pleasantly surprised to see this . 

We have an affilation with Benfica. 

A financially beneficial link that provides no financial benefit to us 

Looking at their squad they don't have any players that have come through via our club, let alone any Mozambican players. 

Save challenge: Produce the next eusabio 

[Sonic Youth]

Three seasons already! And a league win to get continental football 

[ToMexico!!]

7 hours ago, rmcf2017 said:

Save challenge: Produce the next eusabio 

Would be perfect if he comes through via our academy. 

5 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Three seasons already! And a league win to get continental football 

Quick seasons, 24 league games and a maximum of six cup games. We now enter continental football this coming season, so a few more games. 

[ToMexico!!]

Transfers - March 2024

We enter our fourth season having done more business than all of those before combined. We needed to, to freshen the squad up a bit and to replace those I've allowed to leave. 

In total six players have joined with one costing an almighty £2k. 

First up we have our first foreign player; Benjamin Tandalet, arriving from Les Anges de Fatima in the Central African Republic. The right winger will have to adapt slightly by playing the deeper right midfielder role but that should be too much of a problem for him. We then splurge £2k on Aylton Zerefos, a young centre back from Black Bulls who is now the clubs 2nd highest earner of £85p/w. We snatch another from Black Bulls in Milton Jones, the young forward comes in as back-up. Paulo Magaia arrives next from GD Incomati, the young central midfielder was on non-contract terms, £100p/w later he will slot into the CM(Mez) role. 

After the new year ticked over two more players joined, Bernardo was released by Costa do Sol and joins us as back up to Fidel whilst we returned to Incomati for Zequito who will be first choice left winger (IF). 

[ToMexico!!]

Poached - May 2024

Perfect, exactly the club we want poaching our players.

[ToMexico!!]

Youth Intake Preview - June 2024

Promising, especially with the poaching. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

56 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Youth Intake Preview - June 2024

Promising, especially with the poaching. 

Looking like it will be a good youth intake ahead for you buddy.

 

[john1]

It is a such a shame you obly get 5% of future transfers of your centre back  

[ToMexico!!]

2 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Youth Intake Preview - June 2024

Youth Intake Review - September 2024

Not much here again despite a 4.5* PA player. 

Spoiler

 

[ToMexico!!]

Small issue in the fact I didn't enter continental competition this season. So I'm going to play another season to see if I enter, if not I'll have to start a new save. 

[ToMexico!!]

2024 Season Review

I finished our fourth season last night but I won't do a write up due to possibly not entering the ACL or ACC. Other Mozambican teams who finished 2nd & 3rd entered instead. This is what it should be each season. 

Anyway, here's the summary. 

[ToMexico!!]

Alls Well - August 2025

We've been drawn against ES Tunis in the ACL preliminary round. Which in its self is strange as we finished 2nd last season we should have been drawn in the Confederation Cup, almost seems like we're a season behind, will be telling if we are drawn in the CC next season. 

[Pompeyboyz]

With the Mozambique season being March to October, you did say that it would affect continental competitions. 

Trying to think how the Faroes are in Europe as they have the same season setup