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

[corinthiano]

West Africa is made up by the 15 (or16) westernmost countries in Africa, with a total area of 5,114,162km2 and population of over 349 million. It was home to large empires such as the Gao and Mali empires before colonization by the French, English and Portuguese. In 1957 the first West African country declared independence and the list was completed in 1974.

The climate is heavily influenced by the Sahara to the north of its semi-arid region and the more tropical climate at Atlantic coast to the South. Whilst the official language in most of these countries is French, English or Portuguese, there are thousands of local languages originating from the local tribes.

All 15 countries are part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), established in 1975. The large trade bloc provides not only economic and trading agreements, but also political and security ones.

The United Nations also includes Mauritania as part of West Africa, but as they are culturally more predominantly Arab and left ECOWAS in 1999 I decided to not include them in the save. You could also call this the ECOWAS challenge then 

Why West Africa?

West Africa is a region that I personally know part of, having been to Guinea, Liberia, Ghana and Togo for work, which included living in Ghana for 3 years. I really enjoyed my time in Ghana and followed football when I lived there, which was passionately supported by the people despite the chaotic organization. I have wanted to do a West Africa save since I saw @DaveTheEditor's Around the Globe database but thought I would not have the stamina to do it right after a long Brazil save. After that was cut short though and realizing that the 15 countries run better on my laptop than the massive Brazil file I decided to have a go.

The Challenge

Similar to my State Challenge the idea here is to win the national title of the 15 countries in West Africa. Here however I will strictly follow the rule of only doing it with clubs that have never won the national title before. I did enjoy hopping around in Brazil but always enjoyed it more when I spent more than just 6 months at a club. This means this save will be long, but I am OK with that considering the variety of leagues included.

Just like the Brazil State challenge there will be an order to how I will attempt this, beginning with the lowest reputation league until the highest reputation league. This will be dynamic, which means that if a reputation in a league increases and surpasses another they will swap order in the save. I will have all 15 countries loaded at once so will not have to add/remove countries. One exception is that Ghana will always be the last country in the save, it is the spiritual home of the save and I may also attempt to win the Champions League with a club from the country if I still have the stamina for it.

The Manager

Kojo Danquah is a 20 year old Ghanaian bron in Yendi with no badges or experience. The name was inspired by two things.

1. In Ghana people have a name given to them depending on the day of the week they are born. Kojo is one of the variants for those born on a Monday.
2. Danquah is a second name in Ghana from Akan origin meaning "Everlasting". Since Kojo will be very old by the end of this save I thought the name was appropriate 

The Beginning

The LFA-Cellcom First Division League in Liberia is ranked 69th out of 83 leagues in Africa, sandwiched between the Gambian Second Division and the D1 in Mauritania. Very excited to start in the first country I visited in West Africa! I will go a little bit into Liberia and football there before we attempt to join our first club.

Edited May 10, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

Chapter 1 - Liberia

Liberia is a country in West Africa bordered by Sierra Leone and Guinea to the North and Ivory Coast to the East. The official language of the country is English but there are over 20 local languages spoken. There are around 5 million inhabitants in Liberia with the capital Monrovia the largest city with just over 1 million inhabitants. Monrovia is the only large city in the country with the next biggest city being Gbarnga with 56 thousand inhabitants.

Unlike other West African countries Liberia was not colonized by European countries. Instead it began as a project in the 19th century by the American Colonization Society, which believed black people would have a better chance at prosperity in Africa than in the US. Between 1822 and 1861 just under 20 thousand people relocated from the US and Caribbean to Liberia. An Americo-Liberian culture quickly developed and independence was declared in 1847, which was only recognized by the US 15 years later. Liberia is therefore the first African country to have claimed independence and oldest modern republic in Africa.

Americo-Liberians did not integrate well with the local tribes and held disproportionate power and control for over a century. This resulted in a military coup in 1980 in which the then president was killed, and began two decades of instability in the country. Two Civilian Wars followed, killing 250 thousand people and shrinking the size of the population by 8%. A peace agreement was signed in 2003 which led to democratic elections ever since. The current president is George Weah, former World Player of the Year and Milan and PSG striker.

Liberia is mostly covered by tropical rainforests which cover the rolling hills all the way across the north of the country, where the highest point of the country Mount Wuteve is at 1,440 meters.

The civil war left Liberias economy in disarray and despite growth in the last 20 years it has been hindered by poor infrastructure, a small domestic market and little trade agreements with other countries. Rubber and Timber are the countries biggest exports, with mining being explored since the end of the civil war.

Although tourism in Liberia is very unexplored, the country does have beautiful and is a great destination for surfing, with some hard core surfers travelling from all over the world to surf in Robertsport.

Football in Liberia

There has not been a lot of footballing success in Liberia outside of George Weah, with the national team starting to compete in qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations in 1967 but only making the Finals in 1996 and 2002, failing to get past the group stage both times.

A national league was first created in Liberia in 1956, although little is know about the competition until 1963, when Invincible Eleven won the title. They are the most succesful club in Liberia with 13 league titles alongside Mighty Barolle. In the history of the Liberian First League there has only been one winner outside of the capital Monrovia, when Nimba United won the title in 2015. More recently LPRC Oilers and LISCR have been the most dominant sides along the now defunct Barrack Young Controllers.

Both of these alongside Mighty Barolle are the highest reputation clubs in the country and the only three that start the save with a manager. This give Kojo a clean slate and an opportunity to get a job at a better side in Liberia from the off, which he will gladly take in the beginning of the journey.

Edited May 21, 2022 by corinthiano

[maxtothemax]

great idea! Saves in Africa are always fun to follow

[corinthiano]

Monrovia Club Breweries

Monrovia Club Breweries is a Liberian club from the capital city of Monrovia. They were founded in 1990 as the football club representing Monrovia Breweries, the largest beer producers in Liberia, which are owned by the Diageo group. I have had their signature Club Beer so nice to have a link to the club .

There is not much information on the club other than them finishing third place in the top flight three times, most recently in 2017. They have also won the Liberian FA Cup on two occasions, in 2017 and 2020. They also seem to have beaten JS Kabylie from Algeria in the Confederations Cup 3-0 at home once, but were beaten 4-0 in the return leg.

They play their games at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia, a 25,000 seater stadium that I presume is government owned as quite a few of the larger Monrovia clubs play there, including bug boy LISCR and LPRC Oilers.

Strongest XI

The squad is very unbalanced with a few standout players mixed in with a lot of very average ones. It is clear strengthening the midfield will be a top priority.

Top Rated Players

Is in the Media's First XI for the League and certainly looks like a solid player for this level that still has a few good years ahead of him.

Also in the Media's First XI - great technical skills but is getting on a bit.

Our other Striker and another oldie, our strike partnership will be a combined 71 years old!

Finances

Losses were wiped out with the $84k sponsorship we have, which is the 4th highest in the league. We have a bit of wage budget left to strengthen the squad but not much.

Initial Fixtures

We have just over a month before our league campaign begins, which gives us a decent amount if time to see if we can improve the squad and for the players to get somewhat familiar with my formation. We are predicted to be 3rd by the league so I would like to finish at least the best of the rest as the top two sides look to be a lot better than us.

I also though it might be good to show the tactic I will use for this save, it is the same 4-1-2-1-2 I used in the Brazil States save, that plays a patient passing game and has served me very well. I do also have a tactic to close out games but it essentially just changes some of the more adventurous roles and gets us pressing less.

I'll report back at the end of November with hopefully some sort of initial success 

[corinthiano]

November 2021

The gulf in quality in the Liberian top flight is huge. You have a handful of Professional clubs, a couple of Semi-Professional ones and some Amateurs all in the same league. No surprise that the games against the amateurs were easy as we are professional ourselves. Against LISCR though it was clear there is a gap between us and the top two sides as they dominated us and 3-1 was flattering on our side.

Transfers

The registration window closed at the end of October and it was not enough time for us to bring a lot of players in. Massaquoi Boimah the only signing but a valuable addition in midfield.

Next Fixtures

December is a busy month with some good challenges against Mighty Barrolle, Invincible Eleven, Nimba United and Watanga, who are all professional sides. Think it will be telling as to how well we will do in the league this year.

[corinthiano]

December 2021

A very good month other than the draw against Sandi FC, where we absolutely dominated but just could not find a way through. At the moment it is us LPRC Oilers and LISCR fighting for the title and I dont see anyone else challenging. The only concern I have is that some of our crucial players do not want to renew their contracts, which will put us in a spot of bother next season.

Next Fixtures

A massive game against LPRC Oilers before a mid-season break. The game will be crucial to determine our chances to win the title.

[corinthiano]

January/February

January was a poor month that put a serious dent in our title challenge, it is difficult seeing LISCR and LPRC Oilers dropping too many points and I dont think we can beat them yet. February was the proper mid-season break and also the mid-season transfer window, which was quite busy. 

Transfers

7 players in and 3 out. I may be in a bit of trouble with the board as two outgoing transfers fell through on deadline day and we are now over the wage budget. We did manage to strengthen the team quite well though. We also signed a few players for the summer already to replace some of our stars that are refusing to sign contracts. My feeling is this will be a very different side next season, hopefully for the better.

Squad player for now but looks promising.

Experienced Ghanaian DLP, lets me play Koon further up the field.

Solid, if unspectacular option in midfield

Another Ghanaian brought in anticipation of one of our centre backs leaving in the summer.

Completes the Ghanaian trio, very old but much better than having a 17 year old with silver stars.

Next Fixtures

If we have any hope of winning the title we have to beat LISCR in our next game. We also travel so second division side Muscat in the Last 16 of the Liberian FA Cup, which the board expects us to reach the final.

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

March 2022

We continue to struggle in the league and now have competition for 3rd place, which is as high as we will finish. The game against LISCR was always going to be a tough one but losing to Nimba Kwado was particularly disappointing.

The FA Cup has been a nice distraction as we beat second tier side Muscat comfortably and got very lucky in the Quarter Final draw by getting another second tier side in Junior Professionals whilst LISCR and LPRC Oilers were drawn against each other. The Quarters are played over two legs, we should have won the away tie by more but taking a win to the home leg is not bad.

Improvements

Got my first improvement approved by the board, they didnt agree to improve youth recruitment though.

Next Fixtures

We are getting toward the business end of the season and I am hoping we can pick up our early season form again and finish strongly as well get through the Semi Finals of the FA Cup.

[vara]

i like this! well done on your progress so far. the obscurity in the project is very interesting!

good luck!

[corinthiano]

7 hours ago, vara said:

i like this! well done on your progress so far. the obscurity in the project is very interesting!

good luck!

Thanks! Yes, part of the fun will be playing in countries I have very little knowledge of!

[corinthiano]

April 2022

We are back in form in what was a good month. We are still fighting with Watanga for fourth place as LISCR and LPRC Oilers are out of reach. In the FA Cup we got lucky again as we were drawn against Mighty Blue Angels in the Semi Final, with LPRC Oilers playing Invincible Eleven in the other Semi-Final. The home leg win puts us pretty much in the final, which is great to get to in the first year at the club.

Next Fixtures

We finish the league with a couple of very difficult fixtures. Third place might be defined on the last day against Watanga so its a good thing we can rest players in the FA Cup two days before that.

[corinthiano]

May 2022

A great month as we secure third place and win the first trophy in Kojo's career. LPRC Oilers edged us out in the league game in what was an even game but they could not handle us in the first 30 minutes of the LFA Cup Final and we made the most of it. They got one back in the second half but never really threatened to get close. A huge win as it not only gives us a trophy but also gets us into the CAF Confederation Cup next season!

 

 

Edited May 16, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

2021/22 Season Review

Awards

Squad by Appearances

Best Eleven

A great first season in charge where we met expectations in the league and got a bonus LFA Cup to end the season in style. We are still a way away from the top two teams, especially LISCR who have a much stronger squad than the rest of the league. Our team had some very good players like Dennis Teah and Rufus Nyanfore who made it into the league's team of the season, but it was very unbalanced and lacked depth, which exposed us at times.

Top Performers

Our top scorer and by far best player, at 37 I am not sure if I want to renew his contract, but there just isn't a lot of players that have his quality in the league so it may be worth having him around for one more season.

Our other oldie up front was also superb, with not as many goals as Nyanfore but expected as he was playing as DLF. I have already renewed his contract so he will be with us next season.

Was just solid and reliable this year and helped us play from the back very effectively. Just cant get him to sign a new contract so it may be a big loss for next season.

Finances

This is a nice change from Brazil. Despite the lower figures comparably we are not leaking money, quite the contrary we made a $150k profit last season which bodes well for the future. We are way over budget but with a lot of players expected to leave over the summer and the promise by the board of a higher wage budget I am not too concerned.

Progress

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

2021/22 West Africa Review

CAF Champions League

It was a disappointing season for West African teams as none of them managed to qualify for the Group Stages, with a handful of teams falling at the last hurdle to get there. Horoya AC of Guinea lost to Algeria's ES Setif, AS SONIDEP of Niger lost to Egypt's Al Ahly, ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast lost to Tunisia's ES Tunis, Salitas FC of Burkina Faso lost to Morocco's Raja Casablanca. These were all respectable losses but the biggest shock came as Nigeria's Enyimba Aba lost to unfancied Djibouti side AS Arta.

The Final of the Champions League was an all South Africa affair, as Sundowns beat Kaizer Chiefs on penalties to win their second ever title.

CAF Confederations Cup

With a lot of teams losing in the CAF Champions League and dropping to the CAF Confederations Cup there was a decent presence in the Group Stage, with 5 teams from the region represented. Hearts of Oak and Salitas FC managed to get through their groups, but Casa Sports, Horoya AC and Enyimba Aba bid farewell at this stage.

At the knockout stage, overachievers Salitas FC could not get past eventual winners CS Sfax, who also knocked out Hearts of Oak.

West African League Rankings

I am not sure when this resets, but no movements in the leagues, with the Nigerian League still the highest ranked in the region and 13th most reputable in the Continent and the Liberian league the lowest and 69th in the continent.

League Champions

We have first time champions in Burkina Faso, Togo and Cape Verde, making 3 clubs ineligible to Kojo going forward. There are a lot of clubs who have not won before finishing close to first place so that list is bound to grow over time. The furthest seems to be in The Gambia where Samger finished 9th. Interestingly in only 2 of the 15 countries the record champions won the title, with Enyimba Aba and Horoya AC extending the records.

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

September 2022

Our league season only starts in November but our Confederations Cup campaign has already started and ended. We got very unlucky in the draw, having to face a very strong ASEC Mimosas side. I thought we did very well in both games, which were even but where their superior quality meant they converted their chances. Now the focus is on continuing to build the squad for the league season.

 

[corinthiano]

2022/23 Season Preview

There was a lot of transfer activity this summer and we are now second favorites for the title according to the media. Our board has also raised expectations to a top 3 finish, which is fair and is what I expect too. There is still a gap to LISCR which can be seen in the odds and the fact that 7 of the Media Dream Eleven are their players. We have one player in exciting new signing Bismark Duah, which I will showcase in a bit.

Transfers

A massive 13 players in as we get a $5k p/m raise in wage budget and release a bunch of players in the summer. It looks like I purposefully raided LISCR but I promise it was not intentional  . It goes to show how strong their squad is though that they still have the best players around and could afford a bunch of good talent to move to their rivals. Time will tell if it was a good move. We have not necessarily improved the quality of the first XI by much, but we do have a much better squad that will help us navigate through the season. I will highlight the signings that will feature more in the first XI.

Good young versatile defender, not excellent at RB but better than what we had and what was available.

Another good young defender from LISCR, will replace Festu Blapoh who we lost to LPRC Oilers.

Probably our best signing. Didnt think I would be able to find someone anywhere near Dennis Teah, but then to find someone at this level 11 years younger was amazing business. Only downside is that he could be injury prone...

We struggled with quality down the left last season and this young Ghanaian looks like he could well do the trick. Best left-back in the league.

I like him for his versatility and he is another decent young player.

I regret this one. Yes, he will probably start for us but way too old and I could have used the foreign spot in a better way.

LISCR let me have this guy on loan with no wage contribution - thank you very much!

Assistant Best XI

Dont necessarily agree with him. Koon and Bility can drop back to the DLP role and give us better options in center mid and Nyanfore renewed his contract and is still a better option than Karly up front, although it is good to have a strong young option up front on the bench, the back-up strikers last season were terrible.

Initial Fixtures

A light first month fixture wise but we start the league with tricky away legs before hosting recently relegated Sandi FC in the LFA Cup.

 

 

[corinthiano]

November 2022

Great start to the season as we comfortably get through two tricky league fixtures and then get through to the last 16 of the LFA Cup, where we will play Mighty Barrolle. LISCR started the season with two 6-0s, which shows we will have to be perfect this season to stand any chance of competing against them.

Next Fixtures

A busy December but all winnable fixtures. We will need to pick up 3 points in all these games to keep up with LISCR.

[corinthiano]

December 2022

What a great month as we beat everyone comfortably and even hold a goal difference advantage over LISCR due to the 9-0 hiding we gave Heaven Eleven, which was a league record for biggest win and most goals in a match. And turns out my assistant was right as Mark Karly has excelled and is the league's top scorer with 9 goals.

Next Fixtures

Only two games but they will be crucial to determine how well we do this season. LPRC Oilers have not had a great season so far but are still a strong team. At LISCR the aim is just not getting beaten.

[corinthiano]

January 2023

Another great month and we are officially in the title race. We comfortably beat LPRC Oilers before putting in a gritty performance against LISCR, going behind early in the second half by conceding a soft penalty before rallying back with a tired squad to get an equalizer with 15 minutes to go. To make things better LISCR dropped points against Watanga to open up our lead to 2 points.

Next Fixtures

We have to make the most of our advantage and keep winning here, the away game against Watanga will be tricky considering they caused concerns to LISCR.

[corinthiano]

February 2023

Another perfect month and whilst we beat Watanga comfortably they went and earned another draw against LISCR leaving us with a nice 4 point cushion.

Transfers

In

Out

The Winter Transfer Window was somewhat busy as we moved on some of the unhappy players and added some more quality to the squad. We raided LISCR yet again for two back-up players in center back Sampson Dweh and left back Prince Nagbo. In midfield Junior Barshall and Massaquoi Boimah were just not featuring in the team and left, which made room for versatile Maliki Kromah.

The biggest transfer was Sylvanus Nimely, who played in Europe for a number of years, primarily in Russia for Spartak's second team and has now returned to be our main striker. This was quite convenient as Amadiah Kawah never really made an impression since joining in the summer so I happily moved him on to LPRC Oilers.

Next Fixtures

We start getting busier in March with 4 league fixtures and the LFA Cup Last 16. These are all winnable games though so hopefully we can continue the good form.

[corinthiano]

March 2023

Another 100% month although we are not scoring as much as in previous months. Nevertheless our lead to LISCR continues at 4 points with 7 games to go. LISCR also suffered a shock defeat to Heave Eleven in the last 16 of the LFA Cup which gives us a better chance of retaining the title.

We did play Watanga in the first leg of the Quarters with 8 players away on international U23 duty and had to play our third choice left-back at centre back, so I was glad to come out with a goal advantage to take to the second leg.

Next Fixtures

April will be the true test for the title as we play LPRC Oilers away and LISCR at home at the end of the month. 4 points out of these two games would take us very far in terms of winning the title.

[corinthiano]

April 2023

Yet another great month as we continue our march to the title. We easily dispatched Ganta Almighty before a rollercoaster game against LPRC Oilers which saw the sides exchange leads three times. We did the job against NPA Anchors and squeezed through to the LFA Cup Semi Final before the all important game against LISCR. That was a bit of anti-climatic game as both sides played a drab affair which we won courtesy of a dubious penalty.

The title is now ours to lose as we need 3 points from our last 3 games to guarantee it.

Next Fixtures

We have 4 players out for the Nimba FC game as they were called up to the Liberia B squad, which is random and a bit annoying. We should hopefully still be able to win this game or either against Mighty Barrolle or Invincible Eleven.

Edited May 20, 2022 by corinthiano

[theBlackPrince]

Look to be on a roll and heading for the title!! Can you go undefeated also which would be impressive.

[corinthiano]

7 hours ago, theBlackPrince said:

Look to be on a roll and heading for the title!! Can you go undefeated also which would be impressive.

Yes, I guess I underestimated the impact our signings and a stronger squad would have, but we have just been terrific even when we had to heavily rotate the team.

Agree it would be awesome to end the season unbeaten, if we win the LFA Cup again and make it a double it would be a great way to end my spell at the club

 

[corinthiano]

May 2023

Another perfect month and we finish off the season in style by emphatically winning the LFA Cup. It was a tight game up until the end of the first half when we scored in stoppage time and after that we cruised to a very comfortable win and secured the double!

[corinthiano]

2022/23 Season Review

Awards

Squad by Appearances

Best Eleven

An amazing season where after our two defeats in the Confederations Cup we just did not look back or stop winning, with 27 wins and just 2 draws over the entire season. The depth of the squad made a huge difference and differently from last season our main players were young and at a peak of their physical abilities. We dominated the league's team of the season but surprisingly didnt win the Player or Young Player awards, which I thought was a bit harsh.

Top Performers

Steal of the season, signed from LISCR with no wage contribution and making 25 goal contributions in 23 games. His contract is up and as a final gesture to the club I offered him a contract, hopefully he signs to keep his good work at the club.

A powerful weapon down the left, another great young signing. He is attracting interest from his homeland and I have a feeling it will be tough for the club to hang on to him.

Did the business up front for us, whilst not the best technical player he was pretty ruthless up front and did score when it mattered.

Finances

Not as much of a profit as last season but still a decent financial performance which allows the club to further increase the wage budget next season.

Progress

And so after almost 2 years and 60 games in charge our time in Liberia comes to an end. I really enjoyed my time here and do think I got lucky with the club I got seeing as they had good finances that allowed to sign quality players. I have a feeling that I will not have the same type of luck in my next destination - Sierra Leone.

Edited May 21, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

Chapter 2 - Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone, also informally known as Salone, is a country in West Africa bordered by Liberia in the South East and Guinea around the North of the country. English is the official language of the country, but Krio is the most widely spoken language with 97% of the people speaking it. There are about 18 ethnic groups in Sierra Leone, with the Temne and Mende peoples the most influential ones. There are approximately just over 8 million inhabitants in Sierra Leone, with around 850 thousand in the capital Freetown. The only other cities with more than 100 thousand inhabitants are Bo and Kenema, both located in the southern inland of the country.

Sierra Leone was colonized by the British, from whom they gained independence in 1961. There was a lot of political turmoil in the years after independence which ultimately led to a devastating civil war in 1991, which lasted 11 years. There were a lot of attempts to reinstate a multi party political system during the civil war and the Elections before Peace vs. Peace before Elections topic was a hot debate in the country, with the first prevailing with elections in 1996, 6 years before the eventuall end of the civil war. Since 2002 there have been smooth transitions in power in a multi-party system.

The economy of the country suffered a lot due to the civil war and recovery efforts have been hampered by widespread corruption in the country. Agirculture accounts for around 58% of the country's GDP. Sierra Leone is rich in minerals, especially diamonds, but has not effectively controlled exploitation of those. Sierra Leone is known for the Blood Diamonds that were mined and sold during the civil war to diamond conglomerates. Tourism is very much an unexplored sector in the country, although it does have beautiful beaches.

Football in Sierra Leone

Football is the most popular sport in Sierra Leone and the sport is governed by the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), which was formed in 1960. The National team is known as the Leone Stars and managed to qualify twice for the Africa Cup of Nations in 1994 and 1996. In both occasions they failed to get out of the group stages, but in 1996 they did beat Burkina Faso to pick up their first and only ever win in the tournament.

The Sierra Leone National Premier League was founded in 1967, although it didnt really take place consistently since the 1980s, with another huge gap in the 2010s due to the Ebola outbreak. The most successful teams are from the capital Freetown, with the only team outside of the capital to be champions being Diamond Stars from Koidu. East End Lions and Mighty Blackpool are the most successful clubs in the country, although Kallon, owned and managed by Sierra Leone legend Mohamed Kallon are currently a force to be reckoned with and have won the last title.

In terms of reputation it does seem to be a pretty even field, but what becomes important here is the professional vs. semi-professional status. The Freetown City job is eligible and available right now but only has a $200p/m wage budget which tells me we are not going to be competitive. The two Professional sides not to have won a league title before are Johansen and Bo Rangers, so I will try to see if one of those jobs becomes available and only got for a semi-professional side if things get desperate.

 

 

 

[corinthiano]

2022/23 West Africa Review

CAF Champions League

This time there was representation from West Africa in the Group Stage, with Nigeria's Enyimba Aba and Mali's Réal Bamako making it. They were both drawn in the same group and unfortunately went out together as they were no match for the much stronger Al-Ahly and Cape Town City. Zamalek breat Amazulu in the FInal to win their 6th title.

CAF Confederations Cup

Representation here was a lot lighter this year with only Stade Malien and Horoya AC making the group stage. Stade Malien did well to keep pace with Pyramids in their group and knock out a strong ES Sahel side to make it to the Quarter Finals. Horoya AC on the other hand will be disappointed to have finished behind UCC from Uganda.

Stade Malien impressed and went all the way to the final, beating last years winner CS Sfax on the way there.

West African League Rankings

These have not moved again, which is a bit annoying but not game breaking as continental success is not the focus here.

League Champions

Other than Kojo Danquah's MC Breweries we only have one other first time winner in Abia Warriors of Nigeria, but there were plenty of close calls in Ivory Coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Guinea-Bissua were clubs that never won it before finished as runners-up. It was also a season for the big clubs as Asante Kotoko, ASEC Mimosas, Horoya AC, Stade Malien and ASFA-Yennenga all extend their record of most successful club in their countries.

[corinthiano]

Kamboi Eagles

Kamboi Eagles is a tream from Kenema, Sierra Leone's third largest city and about the same distance from Monrovia in Liberia than Sierra Leone's capital Freetown. They were founded in 1956 and finished runners-up in the Sierra Leone National Premier League once in  1981, as well as finishing third on a few occasions, most recently in 2019. They were relegated from the top flight in the 2021/22 season and are now back up. They have won the Sierra Leone FA Cup twice, most recently in 2014. Paul Kpaka started his career at the club and would become one of the best players in the country's history, having a successful career in Belgian football. Other famous Sierra Leonian players are from the city of Kenema, including Mohamed Kallon and Kei Kamara.

They play their games at the Kenema Town Field, which FM says is Grass but in reality it is the only ground in Sierra Leone with artificial turf, which was installed as part of a FIFA Development Project. There are not a lot of pictures from the Stadium, but is essentially a field with one small stand on one of the sides and houses surrouding the rest of it.

Strongest XI

We have 13 players, 2 out of which are leaving the club in the next fortnight. We will need to do a lot in the next month to have enough bodies on the field.

Top Rated Players

Very good, very young. Lets hope we can hang on to him as half the league is interested in his services.

Another decent midfielder

Another very decent young player wanted by a lot of clubs.

Finances

This is where it gets weird. The club is loaded and just turned professional, offered me a huge transfer budget but only let me spend $400p/m on wages and wont increase it. Not ideal when I see a lot of players on $600p/m at a minimum. Hopefully something I can get them to flex on as time progresses.

Initial Fixtures

The season starts in just under 2 months so we have some time to sort out a squad. It will be a busy start with 2 games a week so some depth to the squad would also be useful. The board wants me to avoid relegation so that is the main focus before we start building something.

 

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

2023/24 Season Preview

We signed a lot of players which saw us go from relegation favorites to mid-table candidates according to the media. FC Kallon are still favorites despite Mighty Blackpool winning the title last season. None of our players are in the Media XI, but there are some exciting ones we got in.

Transfers

With only 11 players on the books we did have to go out and get a lot of players. Despite the board only giving me a $400p/m wage budget no player wanted to be on non-contract terms and did not have the option to offer less than $600p/m for a player. So I decided to ignore the wage budget in the hope this will autocorrect itself seeing as the club is professional now and has plenty of money. I will show the players I expect to be in the first XI.

Great young goalkeeper that is part of the national U-20 set-up.

Good young right back.

Signed recently as he was released from Ports Authority, a relief as we were very light at centre back.

Another young Sierra Leonean, best LB I could find.

DLP is our weak spot with Mohamed the best player I could find.

Another decent young Sierra Leonean.

Very happy with this signing, as he and the next two up front are miles ahead of the rest of the squad.

Another very strong import, this time from Guine-Bissau.

Bought him in recently and will make an all Bissau-Guinean frontline.

Best XI

Not sure I agree with my assistant here but what is clear is that we have a few standout players in an unbalanced squad, which is OK for now.

Initial Fixtures

Showed this before but now we are about to kick-off with a brand new team!

 

[corinthiano]

December 2023

Ok, so it seems the level in Sierra Leone is pretty poor as the bunch of teenagers we signed have gone through the first 6 games of the season with a 100% record. Now most of the teams we played are in the bottom half of the table so we will probably face much sterner challenges and Mighty Blackpool seem to be on a roll too, but it certainly is a very encouraging start when the squad is still far from ideal.

Transfers

We did add one more player this month as I could not pass up on Hassan Samura from East End Lions. He is just a lot better than what we have at the club. The transfer window closes at the end of January for the rest of the season and I will only sign this kind of player until then, they need to significantly improve our team for it to be worth it as I still dont know how the board will react to me ignoring their wage budget

Next Fixtures

January is a lot lighter as we seem to go into some sort of mid-season break between mid January and mid February. We do have our first big test coming up before that though as Kallon come to Kenema in what will be a good indication of where we truly are vs. the best teams in the country.

[corinthiano]

January 2024

We maintain our 100% record with a thumping of East End Tigers and a solid 1-0 over Kallon, who had beaten Mighty Blackpool a week earlier. We are now 5 points ahead of the other surprise package Wusum Stars, who also beat Mighty Blackpool. We are only 8 games in but I think we could well be involved in a title challenge already.

Transfers

Only one more transfer before the window closed. My scouts raved about him but he is nowhere near as good as they claimed, but still good enough to start for us as BBM.

Next Fixtures

A big month if we want to confirm our title ambitions, if we get positive results against Mighty Blackpool and Wusum Stars then I would definitely put us in the mix for the SLPL.

[corinthiano]

February 2024

The loss against Mighty Blackpool really hurts, not only because it was at home and has them breathing down our necks, but because it was heavily influenced by an injury to our goalkeeper, who is going to be out for most of the rest of the campaign. His back-up is not great and the game looked to be heading to a tight 1-0 for us when he fumbled a tame free kick into his own net...from then the opposition gained momentum and turned the game around.

On a more positive note we managed to get two wins in the following two games, despite quite a few niggling injuries to the squad. I get concerned with the depth we have to challenge for the title, but I need to be realistic and for a promoted side to have won 10 out of 11 games is a very good achievement so far.

Next Fixtures

The month starts with what should be an easy game against FC Lion Pride, but then we play 5th, 7th and 8th in what could be tricky fixtures. Aim is to try to finish the month ahead of Might Blackpool.

Edited May 25, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

March 2024

Another good month and at the halfway stage we are still top of the table, 3 points ahead Mighty Blackpool. We missed the chance to go 5 points clear as Freetown City equalized from a direct free kick on the 89th minute, but I was expecting us to drop points in one of the games this month so that's OK.

Next Fixtures

We go into another weird break where some teams play each other sporadically through April and we get over a month of break. I have scheduled friendlies to keep us in good condition.

 

[corinthiano]

April 2024

Another straightforward win in this weird month where Mighty Blackpool played 3 times more than us. They are now in the lead but did drop points, we'll have to play catch up and ensure we dont slip up.

Next Fixtures

Busy month with some tricky fixtures, the ideal scenario would be to end the month ahead of Mighty Blackpool again.

[corinthiano]

May 2024

May was overall another strong month as we seem to be edging most teams we play. We did however end the month on a sour note with an uncharacteristically toothless display against East End TIgers. In addition to that Midana Pina sustained an injury which will see him out of crucial games in June and João Có has signaled that he wants to leave the club at the end of the season.

That being said Mighty Balckpool also dropped points and if we win our games in hand we would be 9 points ahead of them and 8 ahead of Kallon, so the title is still very much in our own hands.

Next Fixtures

This is the month that probably decides our fate in the title race. We travel to our two biggest rivals where the focus will be to avoid defeat, anything more than that would be a huge bonus.

[corinthiano]

June 2024

Another great month where we did what we had to do, avoided defeat to both Kallon and Mighty Blackpool, and with Mighty Blackpool dropping more points the title is now in our hands as we just need 7 points in the last 4 games. It almost looked like the challenge was going to be harder as Mighty Blackpool scored early and frustrated us throughout the game, but Hassan Samura scored with an absolute belter of a volley from just outside the area to rescue a draw for us 5 minutes from time.

Next Fixtures

Oops deleted by mistake...

The last 4 games of the season and they are not easy by any means with the last 3 sides all in the top half. Focus is on getting those 7 points!

 

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

July 2024

So it turned out we only needed 6 points as the league sorting rules are by head to head record and we had the lead over Kallon. This meant that we won the title with two games to go with a tight win over Bo Rangers, who pushed us all the way. We then nursed a hangover with a pretty average performance against Freetown City before wrapping up our campaign with a win and a 3 point lead over Kallon, who overtook Mighty Blackpool at the end.

 

[corinthiano]

2023/24 Season Review

Awards

Squad by Appearances

Still somewhat surprised how we managed to build a team full of teenagers and win the SNPL at first try. Probably says a lot about the level in Sierra Leone that we were able to do it. The foreign additions were crucial as they were clearly a few levels above the rest of the league. Hassan Samura was a crucial signing as good left backs always excel in my formation and he did exactly dad, getting deserved recognition by being voted best player in the league. We had a pretty established side and bar injuries we played the same guys, so there was not too much rotation here.

Top Performers

Best player in the league with a very decent 13 assists, also scoring a cracking and very important goal against Mighty Balckpool.

Clearly very good for this level despite looking pretty average. He wants to evaluate his options at the end of his contract and if he leaves he will leave a huge gap behind.

The best player at the club when I joined, contributed with a lot of goals considering he played primarily as a Mezzala.

Finances

This is where I kinda gamed this a little, burning through the clubs cash. I didnt have that much choice as we had no wage budget but every player wanted to get at least $600p/m so we had to pay them. This won't last so I can see the club struggling in a couple of years time.

Progress

So after a short stint at Kamboi Eagles we have completed country number 2. I have to say that I did not enjoy Sierra Leone as much as Liberia as the league felt a little bugged with the weird scheduling, contracts expiring a fortnight before league start and the odd wage budget, plus the fact there was no cup competition. Up next we go into a country I was looking forward to managed in, Cape Verde!

[corinthiano]

Chapter 3 - Cape Verde

Cape Verde, or Cabo Verde, is an island country located in the Atlantic Ocean, 600km from the most western point in Africa, Cape-Vert, a peninsula in Senegal. Portuguese is the official language of the country, alongside the recognized national language, the Cape Verdean creole. The country's populations is just over 480 thousand, with almost 130 thousand of those living in the capital Praia. There are only 3 other cities in Cape Verde with more than 10 thousand people, Mindelo (70k), Santa Maria (24k) and Assomada (12k).

The archipelago was uninhabited until the 15th century, when Portuguese explorers discovered and colonized the islands. Due to its convenient location in the Atlantic it became an important stopover in the slave trade, which meant the country prospered economically. With the abolition of slavery the country's economy declined in the 19th century before recovering to become an important stopover in shipping routes. In 1951 it became an overseas department of Portugal, until it gained independence in 1975.

Cape Verde is often recognized as a positive example of an African country that has prospered despite a lack of natural resources, with the country ranking highly in a lot of humanity and quality of living indexes in Africa. The economy is service oriented, with commerce, transport and public services accounting for 70% of GDP. The government has also invested a lot in tourism and the islands are a popular holiday destination.

Football in Cape Verde

Football is the most popular sport in Cape Verde and was introduced in the country in the 1910s. The national teram has qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations 3 times, reaching the last 8 in their first appearance in 2013. In-game Cape Verde also qualified for the 2023 tournament and reached the last 16.

The first all-island championships began in the 50s, but the official national championship only started after indpendence in 1976. Club Sportivo Mindelense is the oldest and most succesful club in Cape Verde, having won the Cape Verde Championship 13 times. The championship has an interesting format where there are 11 island competitions, with the winner in each plus and additional side qualify for the Cape Verdean Championship, which has a group stage and then knockouts. Travadores have won the two editions of the tournament in-game and are in the final against Académica do Mindelo this year. (The league history page does not work well due to the format).

In terms of the clubs, all of them are semi-professional in what seems to be a pretty even playing field. My feeling is that any club I pick could be built up relatively quickly and with a bunch of jobs open at the moment (lower in the list) I could be in with a job sooner rather than later.

[corinthiano]

2023/24 West Africa Review

CAF Champions League

There was decent West African presence in the Group Stage this year, with Abia Warriors, Horoya AC and Stade Malien all making it. Horoya and Stade Malien were outclassed but Abia Warriors almost managed to pip SuperSport Utd to a Quarter Final place. Al-Ahly continued the Egyptian domination by beating ES Sahel in the final.

CAF Confederation Cup

5 teams made the group stages here, with Group B having 3 of them. It was teams from this group however that made the quarter finals, with Asante Kotoko dominating the group, followed by Akwa Utd. ASEC Mimosas finished last in a tough group and Djoliba just could not compete with Sundowns and Club Africain.

Raja Casablanca proved to be the downfall of both Akwa Utd and Asante Kotoko, but they were not strong enough to overcome Amazulu from South Africa in the final.

West African League Rankings

We have movement! Nigeria and Ghana are still top two in West Africa but move down in the rankings with Guinea now close to them and overtaking Ivory Coast in the process. The only other movement was the Senegalese Ligue 1 being overtaken by the Togo Premiere Division.

League Champions

A lot of new champions alongside Kojo's Kamboi Eagles, with clubs in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau all winning titles for the first time. Only Horoya AC and Stade Malien extended their record of the country's biggest winner.

Edited May 28, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

Clube Desportivo Nô Pintcha da Brava

Clube Desportivo Nô Pintch da Brava are a club from Nova Sintra in the Brava Island of Cape Verde. They are the most succesful club of the Brava Island, having won 13 island competitions, but have never won the Cape Verde competition. Their last island title win came back in 2006 so they have gone some time without success. Not much more information is found on them other than they were founded a few months before Cape Verde became independent.

They play their games at the Estádio Aquiles de Oliveira, which has to have the best location of the save so far. It is a small stadium with only 1.000 seating capacity.

Finances

They have decent money for a Semi-Pro outfit

Next Fixtures

With no staff and a limited squad there is plenty of work ahead to get the club in shape for the next season. Luckily that is only in 4-5 months times, so there is plenty of time!

Edited May 27, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

2024/25 Season Preview

The media have us down as favorites in the Liga Brava, probably because of our defensive signings which are considered the best players in the league. The winner of the Liga Brava would then qualify for the Cape Verdean Championship. I have found out that the Brava Island is the smallest island in Cape Verde with just shy of sic thousand inhabitants and no team from the island has ever won the Cape Verdean Championship which is a nice added incentive.

Transfers

This is the first time in a while I managed a semi-professional club and boy is it hectic with your players being offered contracts right, left and centre. We managed to hold on to most players though other than Edson Delgado and José Silva, for whom I managed to find decent contracts. I also have now learned that a $300pm and $500pm wage budget make a lot of difference at this level, which I wish I knew before applying for clubs . As a result I released a bunch of players to keep within budget.

Best XI

Top Rated Players

Managed to convince him to join our club and he looks to be great for this level.

Signed him just before the start of the season and a big improvement in goal for us.

Big gap in quality from our top two players but he is a nice youth prospect that is considered the best left back in the league already.

Initial Fixtures

We actually start the season with the Island~s cup competition where each team plays each other once in a league phase before the top 4 go into the Semi FInals. We start away against the winners of last years Liga Brava, so will be a good test to see how the team is set up.

[corinthiano]

November/December 2024

Good start in the cup as we easily dispatch Juventude da Furna and Académica da Brava. We had a player sent off in the 25th minute against Benfica da Brava and that impacted any chances we had of a win. Looking good to qualify for the semi finals.

Transfers

We lost our AP José Evora, but as he was on a high appearance fee we were able to bring in quite a few players and I feel the squad is stronger a result. Now that the transfer window is closed we should hopefully have a stable team. Here are the signings I made that go into the first team.

Next Fixtures

In January we wrap up the Brava Cup and start our Liga Brava campaign. A win in the cup would be a nice preparation and confidence booster for our league campaign.

[corinthiano]

January 2025

Taça da Brava

Liga Brava

Another good month for us as we remain undefeated. I thought our campaign in the Taça Brava would end this month but it seems like the last group game will be in March. We have however comfortably qualified in first and can rest players if needed.

In the Liga Brava we started with an away draw to last years champion. It could have been a win as we went ahead late in the game but a clumsy challenge gave them a penalty to equalize. Against Académica da Brava we were solid and able to see out a positive result. As a reminder we need to be the Brava champions to qualify for the Cape Verde Championship so we need to maintain our current form to do that.

Next Fixtures

We have beaten most of these teams before so I expect us to keep up our good form and hopefully still be at the top of the table come the end of the month.

[corinthiano]

February 2025

The month was going well until the last game when were the better team but failed to make our chances count and had a player sent off, losing the first game in Cape Verde and allowing Académica da Brava to leapfrog us into first place at the halfway stage.

Personal Landmarks

Transfers

The transfer window opened at the end of the month and one player for which we had a transfer arranged came in. Carlos Monteiro is a versatile player that we can use in defence or midfield but I think I will be using him as our starting DLP at first.

Next Fixtures

We have a chance of revenge against Coroa da Brava straight away and end the month with a crucial game at Académica da Brava. In between that we finish the Group Stage of the Taça da Brava, as well as the Knockout Stages according to the schedule.

Edited June 7, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

March 2025

Liga Brava

Taça Brava

A brilliant month in which we took charge of the Liga Brava title race and won the first piece of silverware under Kojo's management. Truth be told we were solid but unspectacular in all games other than the Semi Final of the Taça Brava against Coroa da Brava. We scraped through most games, being resilient enough to see them off.

Transfers

In

Out

In comparison to results our transfer activity was not great as the mid-season window has shut. We disappointingly lost our starting AP who is young and was developing really nicely to a team that is performing really poorly...the players we brought in are not great but do improve our first XI. We have talked about Carlos Monteiro before, Kevy and Cláudio Barros come in as starting full backs on both sides, the RB position was a particular weakness so I am pleased to get some sort of improvement.

Next Fixtures

Next month we wrap-up the League campaign with three very winnable games to hopefully seal the title. Similarly to the league, the winner of each island cup gets to play in the Taça Nacional de Cabo Verde. The draw for that was made already and we will pay GD São Lourenço in the first round. Will be interesting to see how we match up against teams from other islands.

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

April 2025

We finish the Liga Brava campaign with more solid performances and win the title with a comfortable 6 point margin as Académica da Brava somewhat collapse at the end. I was also please to have emphatically won our first game against a team outside of the Brava island, although they are lower in rep than us so maybe not that surprising.

Next Fixtures

We only have one game scheduled in May, but it is a huge one as we play the side that has dominated Cape Verde football in the last couple of seasons, winning the last three Cape Verde Championships and last two Cape Verde National Cups. Will be really interesting to see how we do against them. If we do progress we will play one or two more games in May, otherwise we only play again in the Group Stage of the Cape Verdean Championship in June.

[corinthiano]

May 2025

We were well beaten by Travadores but it was an encouraging match. We were not outplayed, they just had more quality to finish the chances they had and the scoreline was a bit harsh on us. This shows there is still work to do for us to compete at the top.

Cape Verdean Competition

We were drawn in a tough group as expected at this stage. Sporting da Praia are the second biggest club on reputation and are 10 times winner of the competition, with Académico do Porto Novo also being more reputable than us. There are no real expectations at this stage, getting some wins and being competitive is the main aim.

Other News

Out of the blue the chairman decided he wanted to step down and a Supporters trust was quick to step in. Disappointingly no investment at the club, there were also no changes to the club vision so lets wait and see how the new board are like.

Next Fixtures

June sees us start our campaign in the Cape Verdean Competition and I am eager to see how we perform.

Edited June 8, 2022 by corinthiano

[corinthiano]

June 2025

I was surprised at how competitive we were and that we could have actually finished the first three games with 9 points. We were leading Sporting da Praia until they equalized in the 90th minute and were generally better than them. Against Santana de Morrinho we were by far the better side but didnt manage to get the second goal. Académica do Porto Novo have been terrible and we pounded on their misery with a terrific performance that helps us with goal difference.

Another surprise has been how Travadores could miss out on a 4th title in a row as they currently sit second of their group. The way qualification works here is that top in each groups goes through along with the best 2nd placed team, which at the moment is us. So if we can continue getting good results we may sneak into the Semi-FInals even if we finish behind Sporting da Praia.

Next Fixtures

We end the Group Stage campaign in July and with two away games we certainly are up against it. Overall I am already happy with how the campaign went so getting through to the Semi-Finals would be a bonus.