[FM22] West Afri-Can we bring newfound glory to the club? Yes, we can! [Complete]

[corinthiano]

August 2029

We won the title emphatically by demolishing Benfica at their place, before a heavily rotated team got 4 points from the last 2 games, meaning we win the title by 6 points and completing the double!

[corinthiano]

2029 Season Review

A great season which sees us win the double. The new back five and switching Pina and Vaz around were crucial to our performance, we were not always playing great football but consistently managed to claw results. We did lose the Super Cup which was oddly played 6 weeks before the season began. We have also qualified for the Confederations Cup and will play ES Sahel, a game my successor is unlikely to win.

Squad by Appearances

The spine of the team played most of the time, which really helped us with consistency. Added to that, we had pretty good options from the bench which helped when the games came thick and fast at us.

Awards

We almost make it a clean sweep of awards, with Thiam finishing as top scorer for the second year in a row, just like Almami Vaz claims the Young Player of the Year again. Kojo takes Manager of the Year and we dominate the Team of the Season with 7 players.

Top Performers

Absolutely excelled in the DLF role and ran Thiam close for top scorer, which is unusual for this position in my tactic.

Also benefitted massively from switching positions wit Vaz, he actually scored more goals than he did playing up front last season.

I almost replaced him up front this season and I am glad I didnt as he was deadly in front of goal again.

Finances

We lost a lot more money this season, but there is still plenty left in the bank. At some point the club is going to have to cut spending though as it does not generate enough income with a 500 seater and no prize money.

Progress

The longest time Kojo has spent at a club, with almost 1000 day in Guinea Bissau. It was a good challenge and after the second season I thought it would take longer to win the title here, but we managed to hold on to our players and finally play consistently good football. I am unsure whether AFC Nhacra will be able to maintain this as I can see the bigger clubs poaching a lot of their players next season, but hopefully they can become an established side in the division. We now move on to the first former French colony of the save, Benin!

[corinthiano]

2028/29 West African Review

CAF Champions League

Good representation in the group stages again, although this time only Ghana and Nigeria had teams qualify, with each nation having one team progress and one team reach the end of their journey at this stage. Asante Kotoko impressively progressed from a group which Zamalek did not make it through and TP Mazembe were causalities in the group where Kano Pillars qualified.

Unfortunately the quarter finals were as good as it got, with Asante Kotoko losing to SuperSport Utd and Kano Pillars doing well to take Wydad Casablanca to penalties. We had an all South African final where Sundowns impressively won their third title on a row, making them the undisputed dominant force in African football at the moment.

CAF Confederations Cup

Not as good performance this year with only 3 sides making it to the Group Stage. Defending champions Horoya AC easily progressed past their group and are joined by Djoliba from Mali in the Quarter Finals. Ashanti Gold of Ghana narrowly missed out on qualification in what was a tough group.

It was an all West African quarter final as Horoya's experience in the tournament saw them through. They beat Club Africain in the Semi-Finals and almost managed to win back-to-back titles, but Pyramids were too strong for them in the final.

West African League Rankings

Ghana hold on to top spot in the region as their clubs continue the good performances in the continent. Guinea now moves to 2nd spot after Horoya AC goes far in the Confederations Cup again. At the bottom not many changes, but Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde and Sierra Leone keep moving down.

League Champions

A few first time winners this year to join Kojo's AFC Nhacra, with WAFA SC beating the big boys in Ghana and Sol FC finally winning after some near misses. We have a lot of record winners extending their leads, with Horoya AC continuing their recent dominances alongside Stade Malien. Enyimba Aba, Real de Banjul and Mindelense were the other record winners wining their domestic league this season.

Former Clubs

MC Breweries: Won the league again after a few years, which was a nice surprise as I expected them to slowly fade. Their awful run in the LFA Cup continues though with a Last 16 exit.

Kamboi Eagles: Another consistent and decent season as they finish 5th in the SLPL.

Nô Pintcha da Brava: Very disappointing season as they are not able to make 5 Liga Brava in a row, finishing 2nd to Sporting da Brava. They do somewhat make up for it by winning the Taça da Brava.

 

 

[corinthiano]

Chapter 5 - Benin

Benin is a country in West Africa bordered by Togo to the West, Nigeria to the East, Burkina Faso to the northwest and Niger to the northeast. The official language is French, but there are several local languages spoken in the country, with the most common being Fon, Bariba, Yoruba and Dendi. It is also a very ethnically diverse country, with Fon being the largest ethnicity at 40% of the population, followed by Adja and Mina at 15%. The population of Benin is roughly 11.7 million and whilst Porto Novo is the capital, Cotonou is the largest city with approximately 680 thousand inhabitants. Porto Novo has around 260 thousand inhabitants and there are two more cities of the same size, Godomey on the outskirts of Cotonou and Parakou in the North of the country.

There were several different ethnicities and systems in Benin prior to French colonization, the largest one being the Dahomey kingdom, which expanded rapidly along the coastline between the 1600s and 1700s. The kingdom started engaging in the slave trade with european nations from that period until the end of the 1800s when the kingdom weakened and was officially taken over by the French, which renamed it French Dahomey. Independence was gained in 1960 and was renamed to Benin in 1975. There has been a tumultuous history of different political systems, including military governments and a Marxist-Leninist state between 1975 and 1990. The current multi-party Republic of Benin exists since 1990.

The country is known to be the birthplace of voodoo, or Vodun as is known in Benin, which is practiced by 11.6% of the population. Most of the population is Christian (around 48%, mostly in the South), with 28% Muslim, mostly in the North.

The economy of Benin is dependent on subsistence agriculture, cotton and regional trade. Cotton is 40% of the country's GDP and 80% of its official exports. Tourism is still small in the country, with around 250 thousand visitors a year. Abomey, which was the capital of the Dahomey kingdom, is the main attraction of the country, with its Royal Palaces being declared UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Football in Benin

Football is the most popular sport in Benin. The national team joined CAF and FIFA as Dahomey in 1969. They are known as Les Ecureuils (The Squirrels) and have only made it to one Africa Cup of Nations in 2004, finishing last in their group, losing all 3 games, scoring only one goal and conceding 8. In-game they qualified in 2023 and 2027 and had much better campaigns, winning all their group games in 2023 before losing to Senegal in the Last 16. In 2027 they went one step further, beating Morocco in the Last 16 before losing to Zimbabwe in the Quarter Finals.

The top league in Benin was first played in 1969, with the Dragons of Porto Novo the most successful team with 12 titles. The Dragons however have not won a title since 2003 and there hasnt been a team that has really dominated the local game since then. That pattern has kind of followed in-game, where Loto-Popo have won most titles, but with Buffles FC and most recently ASPAC also winning.

In terms of reputation it is very even, with all teams at half stars. The Vitalor Ligue 1 has a weird format with 4 groups of 9, so there are plenty of teams to pick from. The key question here will be to pick a Professional side as there are Semi-Professional teams and Professional teams in the top flight. As we have seen with other countries the reputation should not matter too much but I would rather wait more to get a Professional outfit.

 

 

 

[zethani]

Good luck in Benin.

Some cool names: Dynamo Paracou e Abomey, Cheminots FC, Energie FC.... and then we have the Dragons.

Choose carefully

[corinthiano]

10 hours ago, zethani said:

Good luck in Benin.

Some cool names: Dynamo Paracou e Abomey, Cheminots FC, Energie FC.... and then we have the Dragons.

Choose carefully

Thank you! The name is not that cool but I did find a professional team

[corinthiano]

Ayéma Football Club

Ayéma Football Club is a team from...well, that is debatable and depends on your sources. Some places tell you they are from the capital in Porto-Novo, some tell you they are just outside Cotonou, more recent and probably accurate posts have them playing in Pobé, a town about 60km north of Porto-Novo. But FM tells me they are from Sémé-Podji, from a stadium I am not sure exists, so that is what we will go for . I found nothing on their background other than they were founded in 2009.

FM tells me they finished in third place in the top-flight in 2014, same year they finished as runners-up in the cup, which was the last year it was played. They also finished third in-game in 2023 and have the fourth highest rep in the country, but did are currently in the Relegation group after a terrible performance in the first phase. This lead their manager to be listed as precarious in the job. As there are not a lot of Professional teams around in Benin I decided to publicly declare interest in the job, and it actually worked as the manager was sacked two days later!

Assistant XI

A first glance at the teram tells me goalkeeper is our weak spot and we are also a bit short at centre half and centre mid. There are a lot of wingers at the club, who will see their time be cut short as Kojo refuses to adapt his preferred tactic.

Top Rated Players

Good young player that can play centre half or as our left back. Current U20 Benin international.

Another good player at the back, great foundation to build on.

Ivorian striker with good physicals, shame his finishing is not great.

Finances

Finances are not bad, not a lot of money but looks like the club is self-sufficient. The wage budget is low when compared to my time in Liberia, where had almost 3X, but I dont think finances in general are as good in Benin so we should hopefully be OK. We do need to trime down the wage budget though so a lot of work to be done in the off-season.

Initial Fixtures

This is the first time Kojo walks into a job mid-season. The Relegation Stage just started and we will need to get off the marks quickly to stay in the job.

 

[corinthiano]

February/March 2030

Before we go into team performance I think it is important to understand how the Vitalor Ligue 1 works, and how this database has some gaps. In the first round the teams are divided into 4 groups of 9. Each team plays each other twice in each group, with the top 3 advancing to the Championship Group and the bottom 6 going to the Relegation Groups. The Relegation Groups are split into two - North and South, with the split really happening on the groups - Groups 1 and 2 are in the North and 4 and 4 in the South.

This is where it gets quirky, in the Relegation Group you only play the teams that were not in your group, for a total of 12 games. In theory you are supposed to carry the points from the Group phase, which would make sense out of the rules, which isnt happening here, so essentially the you are in a group where you only play half the teams. Now thats OK and we can just put it down to West African rule making and scheduling

Whats clear to see though is that we are not meant to be in the relegation groups, with only UNB giving us any sort of problems, and that is with a very unbalanced squad not suited to my formation, so we should really make the Championship Group next season.

Next Fixtures

We end the season in April and there is very little to play for as we only need a win to stay up.

[corinthiano]

April 2030

A perfect month and we end our campaign with guaranteed top spot in our relegation group. We really should not have been here as we were too good for any of the teams we faced. End of Season Review coming up.

 

[corinthiano]

2029/30 Season Review

Kojo took over with the team in the Relegation Group and made light work of it, finishing with the consolation prize of being the best of the worst

Squad by Appearances

Squad is a bit thin and over reliant on very young players, there will be plenty of changes over the off-season

Top Performers

Our best player, dictating everything from the AP role. Unfortunately his contract is up and he does not seem to be willing to renew it...

Had to start him due to lack of options in midfield and he always delivered, has really low determination though so will be hard for him to develop.

Lead the front line for us as expected, glad I have already been able to tie him down to next season at a lower wage.

Finances

Small profit which is nice, the board however want to cripple our finances by giving me a wage budget 4 times higher than this season. I don't intend to use all of it, but as I am mostly worried about the short term I will use it to my advantage.

Progress

[corinthiano]

2029/30 West African Review

CAF Champions League

A great year for West Africans in the Champions League, with 6 making it to the group stages, including ASPAC from Benin! They unfortunately were out of their league at this stage like CI Kamsar from Guinea. Djoliba also did not make it out of a tough group, but Ghanaian pair WAFA SC and Hearts of Oak made it to the quarters alongside Stade Malien.

WAFA SC and Stade Malien fell at the first hurdle but we were so close to the first West African champion in this save as Hearts of Oak went all the way to the final, only losing to ES Tunis on penalties. It was ES Tunis' 5th Champions League trophy.

CAF Confederations Cup

With so many teams in the Champions League it is not a surprise that there were only three teams from the region at the same stage of the Confederations Cup. Enyimba Aba just missed out on qualifying from a tough group, but Horoya AC make it again alongside Senegal's Diambars FC.

The Quarter Finals was as good as it got though, with both sides losing to the eventual finalists, which saw Wydad Casablanca claim their second title by beaten Pyramids.

West African League Rankings

For some reason I am not able to filter only by top divisions so this is a bit untidy this time. Ghana holds on to top spot as their sides continue making good appearances continentally. The biggest riser is actually Benin due to the great achievements of ASPAC and they shoot past Liberia.

League Champions

Only one new champion this year as Ashanti GB break Horoya AC's dominance to win their first title in Guinea. There were not too many other close calls with Wakriya AC in Guinea being the only runners-up other than Academica do Fogo in Cape Verde. In terms of record holders, Enyimba Aba, ASFA-Yennenga, Real de Banjul and Mindelense extend their lead.

Former Clubs

MC Breweries: Went back to their usual 3rd spot behind LISCR and LPRC Oilers. Got unlucky with the LFA Cup draw too and were eliminated by LISCR in the Last 16. On the plus side they did have a small run in Africa as they beat Onze Fusées of Comoroes in the preliminary of the Champions League before being knocked out by Petro Atlético from Angola. They then dropped down to the Confederations Cup where they were soundly beaten by Pyramids of Egypt.

Kamboi Eagles: Finished a very average 7th in the SLPL.

Nô Pintcha da Brava: Did win back their Liga Brava title before finishing second to eventual champions Mindelense in the Cape Verdean Championship Group Stage. Did also retain their Taça da Brava title.

AFC Nhacra: A very feeble defence of their title, finishing a lowly 8th place. In the cup they were also knocked out pretty early on. The only consolation is that they won the Super Cup.

[corinthiano]

2030/31 Season Preview

We are 8th favorites, behind some of the "big spenders" in the league, but Renquins FC are only rated a bit better than us and won the whole thing last year so we might have a chance. First we will need to get through the group stage and with Loto-Popo and Dragons in our group we have to hope that we can either challenge them or guarantee third place to progress.

Transfers

In

Out

Lots of changes as we not only had to address gaps in the First XI, but also get some depth in as we cannot rely on 16-17 year old kids for that. I didnt go crazy though as we are only spending $13k of the $39k wage budget we were given. The First XI has a lot of new faces, I'll highlight those:

I briefly had him at AFC Nhacra before he was snapped away and with a lack of good goalkeepers in Benin it made sense to bring him in.

Decent option at right back, although I wish I would have waited a bit to get him as better foreign options came up.

Versatile, Beninese and on low wages. Diallo is not the ideal CB but will do for now.

Our best signing and best player at the club now. Will hopefully drive a lot of our play from the BBM role.

Decent and young player in midfield, will play either the Mezzala or AP role.

Had a decent season at Dragons but they released him anyway, happy to pick him up as a decent option in midfield.

Another unspectacular but decent player for us in the offence.

Best XI

Not sure I agree with the first XI entirely but main thing here is that we have a decent balance in the team, but not a lot of outstanding players. We are allowed to have 10 foreign players here which is a lot, so over time I need to use those slots better as some really good foreign players are getting spotted by our scouts.

Initial Fixtures

Guess we have to start against the best two teams in our group, that will give us a good indication of where we are against the country's best.

 

[corinthiano]

November 2030

A decent start to the campaign, especially considering the opposition we were playing. The AS Djidonou result was the only disappointment as they scored early on and we struggled to get back into the game, but at least we rescued a draw late on.

Next Fixtures

Calling December a busy month would be an understatement . We'll be pretty much wrapped up with the Group Stage then so hopefully we will have qualification secured or close to secured.

[corinthiano]

December 2030

A great month and our place in the Championship Group is almost sealed. A solid defence was the backbone of the great performances and that was telling on the game they had an-off day as we conceded 3 silly goals against AS Sobemap to have our unbeaten record end after 12 games. Hopefully just a blip rather than what is to come.

Next Fixtures

Just three games in the first week of the month and then I believe we will have a bit of a break until the Championship Group. The transfer window also opened for a month and whilst I am not actively looking for any players we could always go in for the right player considering we have plenty of wage budget left.

 

[corinthiano]

January 2031

We finish the Group Stage without conceding a goal and comfortably on top. Avrankou performed really well but just fell short of knocking out favorites Dragons and Loto-Popo.

Tranfers

In

None

Out

The transfer window went by very quietly as I did not find any players worth disrupting the team dynamics at the moment. Just sold a couple of U19 players that were not going to make it to the first team.

Next Fixtures

Just a couple of games in February before we enter into March Madness. Will be an interesting start though as Buffles FC are one of the favorites and I am keen to see where we stand compared to them.

[corinthiano]

February 2031

Not a great start in the Championship group as we love to ASVO in a game where we dominated possession but they had the better chances. We recovered with a win against Buffles FC, who I thought would be favorites for the title but have had an awful start.

Next Fixtures

I mentioned March Madness and this is why, 8 games including one week with 3 games!

Edited July 6, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

March 2031

We came out of March Madness in a very decent position, which could have been a lot better if we did not have a mini blip towards the end. Still very happy we are in race for the title although I have a feeling ASVO and ASPAC might be too strong for us.

Next Fixtures

Not as busy as March but still quite a few games. Pantheres FC and Requins FC have beaten us and we will have to get revenge if we want to keep up the pace.

[corinthiano]

April 2031

That is our title bid gone for this season. We were just about hanging in there before the ASPAC game. If we had won that we would actually have gone up against them, as it turns out they beat us in a thriller that saw the lead exchanged three times but where ultimately bottled and lost a key game at home. Heads then dropped at Buffles FC as we were down 3-0 within the first 30 minutes.

Next Fixtures

At this point I just want to avoid another hiding, although we should be beating Dynamo Abomey.

[corinthiano]

May 2031

Happy with how we closed out the campaign, solid draw at ASVO and then finished the season off with the kind of football we know how to play.

[corinthiano]

2030/31 Season Review

Got to be happy with our first full season, at one point it looked like we could win the title but the reality was that the squad is not quite good enough yet. Still, 4th place and 7 points to 1st is something we can work with.

Squad by Appearances

We had few standout players in the squad with a lot of competition for places. This combined with injuries and suspensions meant we rotated the squad quite a bit. It is a young squad too, which is encouraging.

Best XI

Think this reflects our first XI pretty accurately other than Gbényo at right back, who missed a lot of the season through injury.

Awards

And interestingly he played enough to make the league Best Eleven.

Top Performers

Our best player by a mile, unfortunately it looks like he does not want to extend his contract so could be on the way out.

Chipped in with a few goals and his injury in the second half of the season de-railed our campaign. Still not as great striker though and I feel this is the area we need to improve on.

Solid DLP and will hopefully improve.

Finances

Not great as we pretty much run out of cash, and this with me only spending a fraction of the crazy wage budget the board gave me.

Progress

[corinthiano]

2030/31 West African Review

CAF Champions League

It was always going to be difficult to follow last season, but we still have 4 teams from West Africa in the Group Stages. Ashanti GB and Enugu Rangers were not good enough, but Malian pair Stade Malien and Djoliba did well to get out of tough groups.

We had an all-Malian Quarter-Final, which Djoliba just edged. In the Semi-Finals they were not good enough to withstand Cape Town Spurs but it was still a respectable campaign. ES Tunis won a second successive Champions League and sixth title overall.

CAF Confederations Cup

A lighter Champions League meant a busier Confederations Cup with 6 West African teams. And 4 of them went through with only WAFA SC eliminated in a tough group and AS-GNN just glad they made it this far.

And we have the second continental title for West Africa in this save! Only the two big Ghanaians made it through the Quarter Finals and squared up in the Semis, where Hearts of Oak narrowly edged out Asante Kotoko. In the final they just edged out Zamalek on penalties to claim their second Confederations Cup and first since 2004.

West African League Rankings

The Ghanaian performance in the Confederations Cup moves them into the top 10 leagues of African and increases the league rep to two stars. Mali moves from 4th to 2nd most reputable league in the region due to their performance in the Champions League.

League Champions

We have two new winners this year in AS OTR in Togo and Johansen in Sierra Leone. Other than that a lot of record holders extended their leads again, with Horoya AC, ASEC Mimosas, ASFA-Yennenga, Real de Banjul and Mindelense winning national titles.

Former Clubs

MC Breweries: Third in the league yet again which is a decent performance and went far in the LFA Cup, reaching the final but losing to LPRC Oilers.

Kamboi Eagles: Mid-table mediocrity as they finished in 9th in the SLPL.

Nô Pintcha da Brava: Won a Brava double again, but were knocked out in the Group Stage of the Cape Verdean Competition, finishing 3rd in their group.

AFC Nhacra: Very good performance this year, finishing as runners-up only 3 points from Flamengo de Pefine. Also reached the Quarter Finals of the Cup.

[corinthiano]

2031/32 Season Preview

We move up to 3rd favorites this season behind Buffles FC and ASPAC. ASPAC are still the team to beat as they are the only ones that actually spend money on players. We also get our first player in the Media Dream Eleven in Bandélé Aina.

Transfers

In

Out

Less movement this year as we focused on improving the first team, with 7 new players in our ideal XI. On the outgoing from Samuel Bamba is the big leave as we did not convince him to stay on. Diallo and Nhaga were moved on to make room for better foreign players. Here are our signings that will make the first team.

Not a huge improvement on Issa Nhaga but crucially he is Beninese, which meant freeing up a foreign player spot.

Our signing of the window and it significantly weakens Loto-Popo which is a bonus.

Picked up on a free at the end of last season, he is our best central defender.

Regret this one a little, my scouts raved about him and I remember him being rated highly during my time with AFC Nhacra too, but he is only marginally better than Kouakou.

Another Bissau-Guinean but this one I am very happy about, our best midfielder and helps fill the void Bamba left.

Another decent addition, will play as our AP.

I said at the end of last season that we needed a new striker and I think Agbadou will do the business for us.

Best XI

Would more or less agree with this, happy with the additions, lets see if it is enough to close the gap on ASPAC.

Initial Fixtures

Our group is a bit tougher this year as we have Requins FC in there instead of Loto-Popo, as well as Energie FC who made the Championship stage last season. Still think we have enough to qualify from the group.

 

[deltablue]

Invincible Eleven seem to be well named

[corinthiano]

12 hours ago, deltablue said:

Invincible Eleven seem to be well named

 
it was once upon a time, now they struggle to stay in the top flight, not that invincible anymore 

[corinthiano]

October/November 2031

I expected us to do well in the Group Stage but we have been absolutely walking it, with some big wins along the way. Particularly pleasing was beating Requins FC who gave us a bit of trouble last season.

Achievements

Next Fixtures

Porto Novo might pose us problems but I am not too concerned with the rest of the fixtures, am hoping we can seal qualification to the Championship stage by the end of the month.

[corinthiano]

December 2031

A great month, which was almost perfect were it not for the 92nd minute goal we conceded against Energie FC that denied us a win against them. This was incidentally the only goal we conceded in the month as we have just been superb defensively. Qualification is secured nice and early to the Championship group.

Next Fixtures

We wrap-up the Group Stage with a couple of difficult games, but it is nice to do so with no pressure.

[corinthiano]

January 2032

Decent end of the Group Stage, I am not too concerned with the loss against Requins FC as our team was depleted through injuries and national call-ups and we still won the group comfortably.

Transfers

In

Out

January also saw the Transfer Window open and we only made a couple of singings. Aziz will play as our BBM and I am glad to have been able to sign someone that was starting for the best club in the country. Adétola comes in as someone that has potential and will cover whilst Lassana Mendes is out for a couple of months. On the outgoing from Fousseni was complaining about playing time, so when the offer came in I got rid of the fringe player. Here is Aziz:

Next Fixtures

Only a couple of games after a month break before we go into the end of season marathon. Hopefully we can put our mark on the Championship group early on, but we have a few season ending injuries that have left us a lot weaker, most notably up front with Agbadou out.

[corinthiano]

February 2032

We are absolutely ravaged by injuries right now, playing our 3rd choice GK, having our starting LB and DLP out and playing 3rd and 4th choice strikers, so I should be grateful we have not lost both games. That being said scoring a goal in the 89th minute only to concede in the 93rd is frustrating, but at least we edged the Loto-Popo game. The other good thing is that ASPAC have started poorly so it looks like it will be an even battle for the title again.

Next Fixtures

It is a busy March but not as bad as last year as we had weeks with 3 games. Some tough fixtures though at Buffles FC and ASPAC will give us an idea if we are ready for the title.

[corinthiano]

March 2032

A good month in what looks to be a very tight title race. Highlight of the month has to be the 4-3 at Pantheres, who were leading the pack at the time, we went behind twice but rallied back and turned the game around. The home draws against Djeffa and Buffles FC were a bit disappointing but considering he are still picking up a lot of injuries I have to be extremely happy where we are right now.

Next Fixtures

A key game against ASPAC to start off April before we have a kinder rest of the month, hopefully we can take advantage and cement some sort of lead at the top.

[corinthiano]

April 2032

An excellent month and we are in control of the title race now. We probably deserved to beat ASPAC, but they also deserved to beat us at their place so it evens itself out. From then on we were relentless dispatching most teams easily. We were running out of legs against Soleil FC after a busy week but managed to hold on to a win and lead the group with games in hand.

Next Fixtures

Three games to go to decide the title - 5 points and it should be ours, especially if we dont lose to to Pantheres FC. Can we do it?

[corinthiano]

May 2032

Yes we can! We completed a convincing double against ASVO to seal the title with a game to go. The defeat against Pantheres was anti-climatic and meant we did not finish the Championship Stage unbeaten, but who cares - Ayéma FC are Beninese champions for the first time in their history!

[zethani]

Great work so far.

Maybe it is not worthy at this stage, but you could consider to stay the season after the title to do the first Champions League campaign. 

[corinthiano]

3 hours ago, zethani said:

Great work so far.

Maybe it is not worthy at this stage, but you could consider to stay the season after the title to do the first Champions League campaign. 

Thanks! I actually thought about this as I never get to play in it but don't think I will get far with a Beninese club, plus would take me ages to get things completed if I did this every time . The ultimate aim though is to win the CL with a Ghanaian side though if I still have the patience for it at the the end of the save!

[corinthiano]

2031/32 Season Review

An impressive campaign sees us win the Vitalor Ligue 1. I knew we had the strength to do it but with all the injuries we had I feared the worst. Somehow the squad pulled through and our really solid defence was the main reason we won.

Squad by Appearances

This is where the injury problems become apparent, with only 9 players starting more than 20 out the 34 games this season. At one point we played our third choice goalkeeper from the U19s and star striker Agbadou only featuring in half the games.

Best XI

This is a fair reflection of who I picked when everyone was fit.

Awards

Not that many accolades for a title winning season, with only Danquah winning best Manager and Dandjinou third best Young Player. The strength of our defence was highlighted though with the GK and 3 out of the back four of the Team of the Season being from our side.

Top Performers

I have to include him despite only playing half the season before a nasty injury ruled him out for most of the Championship Stage. We would have walked the league if he was fit.

Started the season on the bench but his strong performances saw him win the AP spot back from Kamagaté.

Not one of our strongest players but boy did he perform when it mattered this year. Scored goals when he had strikers out and ran the midfield when we needed, his versatility was crucial with all the injuries.

Finances

Not looking good this season, hopefully there is some money to be made in the Champions League, otherwise they may have to cut costs.

Progress

The second longest stint at a club for Kojo and after 2 and a half seasons Benin is complete. The quirky style of the Championship was fun and I liked that it was pretty even at the top, even though ASPAC probably had the most quality squad and deepest pockets. The financial side of things might mean Ayéma FC wont be able to keep it up, but the squad is still strong and most have signed on for next season so hopefully they will keep up strong performances. We now move on to a country I am surprised to see so low on the list, Senegal!

 

[corinthiano]

Chapter 6 - Senegal

Senegal is a country in West Africa bordered by Mauritania to the North, Mali to the East, Guinea to the Southeast, Guinea-Bissau to the South and surrounding the The Gambia. Senegal owes its name to the Senegal river which runs through the country. The official language is French but there are a lot of different local languages and ethnicities, the largest being the Wolof, Fura and Serer people, with the Wolof language being widely spoken. The population of Senegal is around 16 million, with the largest city being Dakar with just over 2.6 million inhabitants. Touba in the inland is the second largest city with around 750 thousand inhabitants, with the cities of Pikine, Kaolack, M'bour, Rufisque and Ziquinchor all with overr 200 thousand people.

Pre-colonial times the biggest empire in Senegal was the Jolof Empire, which was a voluntary confederacy of various empires at the time. The Portuguese were the first to arrive in Senegal in the mid-15th century, with the Netherlands and Great Britain also passing by, but it was the French that gained control over the territory in 1677. Senegal was mainly used for slave trade and it was only in the 1850s that the French started to explore inland Senegal as slavery was abolished and began promoting abolitionist doctrine. In 1959 Senegal and French Sudan (now known as Mali) joined forces to create the Mali Federation and proclaim independence in 1960 and shortly afterwards separated to create the Senegal and Mali states. After independence president Senghor essentially ruled the country until 1975, when he allowed the formation of two other political parties other than his. He did remain in power though until 1980 when his successor Abdou Diouf took over and ruled until 2000. There have not been a lot of internal disputes over power and in 2004 there was the first change of political power in the country which went on peacefully.

The economy of Senegal is dependent on mining, construction, tourism, fishing and agriculture, with gold and refined petroleum big exports. Climate changes have been impacting Senegal's agriculture negatively which impacts the economy. Senegal has one of the most developed tourism industries in Senegal. There are a lot of nice beaches as well as National Parks to explore, plus Dakar and the historic town of Saint-Louis. A lot of tourists are attracted by Gorée Island, a former centre of West African Slave Trade and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Football in Senegal

Football is the most popular sport in Senegal, with the Lions of Teranga famous for their performance in the 2002 World Cup when they reached the quarter finals. Despite a strong team they have only won the African Cup of Nations once, in 2021, which happened before FM22 and was not mirrored in-game, where their best result is a Final appearances in 2025.

Football was introduced by the French in the 20th century and the first clubs were all created on the coastal part of the country. The league started in 1960, in the 1970s and 1980s a lot of clubs were created and the league finally became professional in 2007. Jeanne D'Arc and ASC Jaraaf were the first clubs created and most successful historically, but nowadays the level playing field is a lot more even. This was mirrored initially in-game but Diambars FC have now won 3 titles in a row and are pretty dominant, with their 4th all but secured.

In terms of reputation it is pretty even, with a few one star rep teams, but out of those only CNEPS Excellence has not won a title before...even worst only two other clubs in the top flight have not won the title before, so we may have to drop down to the second tier to get a job at an eligible club depending on our luck, but at least the top two tiers are professional which means less of a gap to bridge.

 

[corinthiano]

2031/32 West African Review

CAF Champions League

4 teams from the Region in the Group phase again, including a surprise appearance from AS Douanes de Niamey from Niger. Unfortunately they went out in the Group alongside Djoliba in what was a tough group with ES Tunis and Pyramids. Asante Kotoko also failed to make it out of the group, missing out on goals scored to giants Al-Ahly. The only West African team to make it through this year was Enyimba Aba who did well to knock out Wydad Casablanca and CS Sfax.

Enyimba Aba followed up on that good performance to knock out ES Sétif from Algeria on away goals in the Quarters. The Semi-Finals however were as far as it got, Sundowns proving to strong for the Nigerians. Sundowns went on to win their 4th title in 6 years and 6 overall to consolidate them as an African superpower.

CAF Confederations Cup

6 teams again in the Confederations Cup, and once more 4 teams make it through to the Quarter Finals as the region is performing well again. The only ones to miss out are Gold Star FC of Ghana and Ashanti GB of Guinea, who will be a bit disappointed to be knocked out by Ethiopian side Saint George.

The West African dominance continued as 3 of the 4 semi-finalists were from the region, and we had an all West Africa final as Hearts of Oak knocked out Saint George and Horoya AC beat Stade Malien. In the final Hearts of Oak comfortably retained the trophy to win their 3rd Confederations Cup in their history.

West African League Rankings

The Ghanaian league keeps improving and is now up to 9th in the continent. In terms of movements between West African leagues, the Burkina Faso league moved ahead of the Ivory Coast and Togo and The Gambia league actually dropping below Senegal and Benin. Seeing as Senegal was below when I won the league in Benin and that I have already done the write-up on the country I will keep Senegal as the next destination.

League Champions

The only new champion this season is Kojo's Benin champions, in a year that sees a lot of traditional power houses win their respective leagues.

Former Clubs

MC Breweries: Signs of decline at MC Breweries as they finish 4th, being overtaken by Mighty Barolle. In the LFA Cup they went to the Semi-Final, where they lost to LPRC Oilers.

Kamboi Eagles: Yet again mid-table mediocrity as they finish 9th.

Nô Pintcha da Brava: Disappointing season marked by narrow margins, lost the title due to 1 GD less than Juventude de Furnas, the same side that beat them in the Brava Cup final on penalties.

AFC Nhacra: Very average league campaign, finishing in 9th. They did however make up for that by winning the cup for the 3rd time in their history!

[corinthiano]

Guédiawaye Football Club

Guédiawaye Football Club, also knows as Les Crabes, is a club founded in 1993 from the city of Guédiawaye, which is essentially a coastal suburb of Dakar and has a population of just over 300,000 people. Since it was established it has been a decent Ligue 1 side, with eventual relegations to Ligue 2, which see them climb back to the top league quickly again. IRL they have one title in the Senegalese League Cup, which they won in 2014. They were also runners-up in Ligue 1 in 2017. In-Game they have mostly remained in Ligue 1, being relegated three times, but winning Ligue 2 the following season to come back up. They also won the League Cup a second time in 2025.

They have just been promoted back from Ligue 2 and were doing well to stay away from relegation. This saw their manager being lured away to ASAC Ndiambour who are in the relegation zone but are a bigger club. Quite lucky really as they are only one of three sides in the top flight not to have won the title - I was afraid I would have had to drop down a league here to get started!

Wikipedia tells me they play their games at the Stade Al Djigo, but FM tells me they play at the Stade Amadou Barry. Both are very close to one another so probably right-ish . The stadium has recently gone through an upgrade and even had artificial grass installed, but FM still has it down as grass. It is definitely the biggest and nicest stadium Kojoh has been too since his early days in Liberia and also the first time  since then he is close to the capital city of the country he is in.

Assistant XI

At first glance this tells me we have a relatively balanced squad, other than AP were a 17 year old is our best option.

Top Rated Players

Supposedly our star player and actually worth money, which is not something Kojoh is used to! Amazing Physicals but terrible finishing for someone that is supposed to lead the forward line for us.

This is definitely a step up from where we have been before, this guy is a very decent defender and most valuable player in the team.

Good experienced head in midfield for us.

Finances

Not great, but to be honest most clubs in Senegal have finances listed as Insecure and we have a decent wage budget compared to some of the other job adverts I have seen so I am not overly concerned at this point.

Initial Fixtures

The team has just come off a nice run in the League Cup, but lost an important game in the league. The gap to the relegation zone is only 2 points, so this season staying up will take preference over extending any cup runs. I like the format here in Senegal, straight simple league with just 26 games - nice and easy to get through!

Edited July 18, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

March 2033

We lose the first game in charge but I was happy with the performance, we were holding on to a draw until a red card midway through the second half forced us to sit back further and Génération Foot were just too strong for us. We easily dispatch a second tier side in the Coupé de Senegal to meet the boards minimum requirement of reaching the second round.

Transfers

We are extremely light in midfield and I am having to put in youngsters in the bench, and they are not even good ones. So I put in a couple of loan bids for some Gambian players that were available. The first one signed, he is not good, but miles better than what we have and at $0 wage contribution is a good back-up. We dont have any money or wage budget left so I dont expect us to do much more business.

Next Fixtures

A massive game to start the month as we play relegation rivals ASAC Ndiambour. The cups will not be a priority and I will rotate the thin squad as much as I can for those games.

[corinthiano]

April 2033

A big win against ASAC Ndiambour at the start of the month left me feeling overconfident that we would stay up, so I did not rotate the team as much as I should for the cup. It does now mean that we are in the Quart Finals of the Coupe de Senegal, but two heavy losses in the league have left us hanging on by a thread. At least we have a game in hand over ASAC Ndiambour.

Transfers

The other Gambian came in as well as another Senegalese midfield back-up option. Not much else we could do without wage budget.

Next Fixtures

Crunch time in the league now. I will definitely play a weakened side in the cup as priority shifts 100% to survival.

[corinthiano]

May 2033

In the end safety was comfortably achieved, we even pipped Dakar Sacré-Coeur by beating them in the last day. It was not looking that comfortable earlier in the month though, when AS Pikine were 2-0 up in the first 15 minutes and ASAC Ndiambour were winning, temporarily putting us in the relegation zone. We did amazing to mount a second half comeback and ASAC Ndiambour conceded an equalizer, stretching our lead to six point against them. This meant that they were never really able to close the gap on us and we were safe despite a couple of defeats after that.

At the other end of the table, some sympathy for Génération Foot, who were 2 points ahead of Diambars FC with one game to go, with a home game against them deciding the title. They were two-nil up at half time, but had two players sent off early in the second half and then went on to concede three goals, the last one in the 86th minute, to hand the title to Diambars FC.

[corinthiano]

2032/33 Season Review

Joining as late as we did it was all about survival and I am glad we got to stay in Ligue 1. I like the fact there are a couple of cup competitions in Senegal, might be a nice distraction when we are more comfortable in the league.

Squad by Appearances

I dont think I made too many changes from who was playing regularly and the core of the team was actually pretty decent.

Top Performers

Ran the show for us with some crucial goals, despite his poor finishing. Would like a striker with better finishing but might not find anything better than him.

Makes Correa look like a world class finisher, but he was well suited to the DLF role.

Decent in the Mezzala role.

Finances

Not looking good, the only consolation is that it seems to be common amongst most clubs in Seengal.

Progress

 

[corinthiano]

2032/33 West African Review

CAF Champions League

5 West African teams in the group stage with most of them impressing. The only side that did not make it to the Quarter Finals was Horoya AC, who got pipped by unfancied Yeelen Olympique.

The West African dream performance continued in the Quarter Finals, with only Yeelen Olympique being defeated by Sundowns, but with Hearts of Oak, Asante Kotoko and Enyimba Aba making it 3 West African semi-finalists out of 4. As fate would have it we had an all Ghanaian final, with Asante Kotoko edging it in on penalties for the first West African CL of the save and 3rd ever win for the team from Kumasi, who won for the first time in 50 years!

CAF Confederation Cup

We also had plenty of teams in the Group Stage, with 6 West Africans making it, most of them also went through to the quarters, other than CI Kamsar from Guinea.

The performance in the knockouts was not as strong as in the CL, with Stade Malien and WAFA SC losing out to North African opposition. We had an all-West African final which Accra Lions won, but they just lost out to Pyramids on penalties, who won their second ever Confederation Cup.

West African League Rankings

Not a great deal of movement as Ghana maintains top spot in the reguon. The Nigerian league overtook Guinea and Togo ovdertook Ivory Coast, other than those there was no real movement between West African Leagues.

League Champions

No new winners this year, as well as not many dominating record holders, with only Enyimba Aba, Horoya AC, ASKO, ASEC Mimosas extending their record lead in league titles.

Former Clubs

MC Breweries: Another disappointing 4th place as Mighty Barolle finish ahead of them again. The only consolation was winning their 6th LFA Cup title.

Kamboi Eagles: Mid-Table mediocracy again, this time a bit higher at 8th place.

Nô Pintcha da Braava: Won the Liga Brava but were knocked out in the group stage by eventual winners Sporting da Praia. The Taça da Brava was a disappointment as they were knocked out in the Semis by Benfica da Brava.

AFC Nhacra: A very decent performance this year as they finish 3rd, The performance in the cup was unspectacular.

Ayéma FC: 5th place in the Championship Group which is OK.

 

Edited July 23, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

2033/34 Season Preview

The media thinks we will be in a relegation fight again, but a lot stronger than the recently promoted sides. I am hoping we can achieve a mid-table finish, but that might be a push.

Transfers

In

Out

Quite a lot of movement as expected. On the outgoing front we managed to make some money which was nice. Sène was a fringe player so good to get a fee for him. N'Diaye was our captain but kicked up a fuss when I sold youngster Bacary Diack, who although promising was a winger so wasnt going to get used. His unhappiness unsettled the whole squad so I had to sell him. Luckily I had a decent replacement lined up on a free.

On the incoming front we signed a lot of first teamers but also some good back-up players. I tried to sign young where I could as that is one of the boards preferences. Players that make the first team are:

Decent GK but might already be replaced by a promising 18 year-old I found.

Available on a free with plenty of potential, will be our BPD.

The N'Diaye replacement, glad he was available on a free as he is not really a step down.

Another decent young player, will be our DLP.

Not great physicals, but will hopefully still do well enough at Mezzala.

A better finisher than Corréa, so will have him playing as AF and shift Corréa to DLF.

Best XI

Agree with most of the side other than LB and CB - but happy with the balance now and we have better depth than last year.

Initial Fixtures

A couple of tricky away games to get our season rolling.

[corinthiano]

November 2033

Not the ideal start as those tricky fixtures prove too much for us. In both games we went ahead early on but just could not hold on to any point. Not great, but I am not majorly concerned at this point.

Transfers

In

Signed that young goalkeeper I mentioned.

Out

Trimming the squad now and we are at $31k in player sales this season.

Next Fixtures

Some winnable games here, hopefully we start picking up decent points in December.

[corinthiano]

December 2033

If I was not very worried before I certainly am very worried now. Other than one game we have been awful and losing quite heavily. The players have lost confidence in me, the board are not happy, things are not looking good...in theory I have until February to improve things but the media is already saying I face the sac if I dont get a good result in the next game.

Next Fixtures

4 games until the mid-season break, let's see if we last until then...

[corinthiano]

January 2034

I dont know how I am still in a job, Performances have improved but we are still getting beaten every game, it is 7 losses in a row now...

Next Fixtures

We are getting close to the timeline the board expected improvements, I dont see us lasting longer than February unless we win these games.

[Jimbokav1971]

It's weird for me to be interested in a thread that isn't focused on Youth Development but I'm absolutely loving your Geography/History sections at the beginning of each new Nation. 

[corinthiano]

There we go, another two losses and the board finally lost their patience. Never really had the backing of the players which is what ultimately cost me. May have to drop down to the second tier to try and rebuild my reputation.

[corinthiano]

38 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

It's weird for me to be interested in a thread that isn't focused on Youth Development but I'm absolutely loving your Geography/History sections at the beginning of each new Nation. 

Thank you, appreciate the kind words! It is part of what I enjoy in this save, learning a bit about the countries I venture to, including how football is structured there. May be some time before the next country update though as it looks like Senegal will be a long stay!

[Number seven]

Tough luck, but you will bounce back.