The FM23 Youth Academy Challenge

[thomas_e]

Regarding the lack of development of technical attributes that is just the price we pay when playing a Beta version of the game in my opinion. Great that it got figured out early, and completing this challenge is not down to 1-3 seasons of slow development in the lower leagues.  

[XaW]

Just now, thomas_e said:

Regarding the lack of development of technical attributes that is just the price we pay when playing a Beta version of the game in my opinion. Great that it got figured out early, and completing this challenge is not down to 1-3 seasons of slow development in the lower leagues.  

Yeah, exactly my thoughts as well. The beta is for bugs, if things work great then that's really a positive surprise. And I don't think it's that much of an issue the early years of this challenge either.

[Makoto Nakamura]

2025/26 End of Season Review

After not winning in 19 matches we ended up surviving by eight points, absolute madness. I'd like for next season to be a bit less stressful! 

Overall Best XI

2025/26 Best XI

Geoff McKinty

Tiarnan McAuley - Gary Caulfield (YP2i) - Andy Dunn (YP1k) - Gareth Huxley (YP2e)

Mark Shannon - Peter Morrow (YP1l)

Macauley Joynes (YP1g)                                                         Brian Boyd (YP2a)

 

Andrew Caulfield (YP1j) - Chris Caulfield (YP1i)

Trophy Watch:

Top 10's:

 

[fries]

1 hour ago, thomas_e said:

Really impressive first season @fries, in every aspect! 

Thanks! South Shields has it advantages with a very good squad, good facilities, and a full time professional setup.

However, the season was actually quite stressful. The good squad entails high expectations, and I was very close to getting fired 4 times. I could really feel my seat getting hotter, but I liked how the board invited me to discuss the future instead of just firing me straight away.

The real problems, however, will begin from season 3. After season 2 I will very likely only have two defenders back in the squad, my two fullbacks. So far I have had no useful defenders from the youth intake.

[thomas_e]

19 minutes ago, fries said:

Thanks! South Shields has it advantages with a very good squad, good facilities, and a full time professional setup.

However, the season was actually quite stressful. The good squad entails high expectations, and I was very close to getting fired 4 times. I could really feel my seat getting hotter, but I liked how the board invited me to discuss the future instead of just firing me straight away.

The real problems, however, will begin from season 3. After season 2 I will very likely only have two defenders back in the squad, my two fullbacks. So far I have had no useful defenders from the youth intake.

I know the feeling. I completed the challenge with South Shields back on FM20 and even though there are some advantages in the beginning the usual problems come around after a few seasons just as with every other team. 

Looking forward to seeing how you do in the second season! My bet is on back-to-back promotions! 

[libbyshuss]

2025/26 (Season 3)

Championnat national

Season Summary

Really bizarre season! we started brilliantly, with one defeat in the first 10 to go 3 3rd, one point of top spot. A promotion challenge looked on the cards! only we then went on an 11 game winless run to send us further and further down towards the relegation spots. 

But then we won. And won again. And again and again and again! In those last 13 games of the season we won 11, drew 1 and lost 1! It was a little too late though and we just missed out on the third place play-off spot but it does show this team is good enough to get promoted. 

Cup - finally! a cup run! all the way to the tenth round, but sadly no money-spinning ties. 

Players

Stephane Sorin 24B - still the star of the show. 7 goals and 11 assists from 28 starts at AMC this season. He signed a new contract but insisted we improve the training facilities, which i'd love too. only the board won't let me so we'll see what happens there.....

Alexandre Labousse 24A - another great season on the right wing. 11 goals, 12 assists, 27 starts, not bad. 

These two are key for a promotion push, but also key for financial stability ./

 

Youth

So after that brilliant first season intake, and disappointing second season intake, surely I should be in for a great intake this season? Well, the preview was encouraging...

3 grade As and a 5 star intake promised looked good!

But the actual intake wasn't quite so exciting....

The only plus point was Diop having a fairly professional personality. They're worth their weight in gold at this level and as good a sign as any that he'll make it as at least a good squad player.

Finances and Upgrades

Still a total disaster. We just lose soooo much money there's no hope in hell the board will give us any upgrades. I sold one of our best youth prospects for 120k plus 50% to Auxerre in the hope it will pay off relatively soon. Realistically I need to be doing that once a season if I want to get the money I need to spend on improvements.

At the end of the season the board announced this:-

So now I have to pay off a £3m loan as well! 

I know it will pay off in the long run but I'm still a bit annoyed the game wouldn't let me play at Boulogne's perfectly fine stadium they already have in Boulogne in real life! It holds 10k, it's fine! But no, they start without a stadium for some reason.

It's gonna be a long long slog I think here but that just makes the pay off all the sweeter! if it comes, that is.....

 

Career

 

 

[robinac30]

So we got to the end of the first season, had a pretty decent intake too - which fills a lot of gaps for the difficult second season...

Two main highlights being Jake Clark and Michalis Mitroglou.  They've both gone straight into the first team...

Finished mid-table, in a pretty respectable spot - although I feared the worse when we had 8 games without a win, but luckily we then had a decent few games.

 

Onwards into Season 2...

[WhiteCat33]

4 hours ago, glennuk said:

Has anyone noticed any weird Youth Player progression yet? Been seeing some tweets from popular youtubers and generic FM accounts saying it is really messed up. Just wondering if anyone has noticed and if that has put them off this challenge for the time being?

The tweets and stuff I have seen is very generic with little to no actual evidence, so came to the place I thought would have the most knowledge

i posted in my last season update how my players are faring if you want a 1 season look. TL;DR - yes, technical skill isn't improving that much. Elite prospects getting 1st team play are still improving substantially including technicals, but everyone else seems to be losing technical ability. I'm not sure though how different this is from last year, and remember I'm still part-time in VNN so spotty development is expected. Additionally, I feel like my older players are degrading more quickly especially physicals but that might just be me being frustrated with my strikers losing 2-3 pace, agility & acceleration in just 2 seasons.

[Braumiller]

Excellent updates so far all!

[Makoto Nakamura]

2026/27 Youth Preview

Another load of A's but will they be any good? Two of last seasons intake are now first team regulars.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Good news!

[JLAB]

Yep. Saw that and was excited by how quickly they've addressed it.

[WhiteCat33]

I agree, I assumed it would take the majority of the beta to get sorted

[CardiffDragon]

Bit gutted but i am not getting any games for my U19 side ( my only reserve side) i have reported it but reluctant to keep on at the moment until this is fixed. So i will have to pick another counrty and start again i think.

Is there a list of (available) countries that have not been completed yet at all?

[XaW]

ALL A'S! At least according to Phil Jagielka!

[OlivierL]

24 minutes ago, XaW said:

ALL A'S! At least according to Phil Jagielka!

Big Phil at Berchem ! nice 

[XaW]

1 minute ago, OlivierL said:

Big Phil at Berchem ! nice 

He was the best one I could find and a Model Citizen, so very happy with him.

[Braumiller]

52 minutes ago, CardiffDragon said:

Bit gutted but i am not getting any games for my U19 side ( my only reserve side) i have reported it but reluctant to keep on at the moment until this is fixed. So i will have to pick another counrty and start again i think.

Is there a list of (available) countries that have not been completed yet at all?

List here for you.  Note, this only goes back so far.  Some leagues were completed prior, but that is some time ago now

 

[Winski]

1 hour ago, CardiffDragon said:

Is there a list of (available) countries that have not been completed yet at all?

I made this overview of Europe the other day. The white countries are not completed yet.

Edited October 25, 2022 by Winski

[XaW]

Just now, Winski said:

I made this overview of Europe the other day. The white countries are not completed yet.

I might go for Denmark this year, as I hope they have fixed the "poaching players under contract"-bug! Excellent map though!

[OlivierL]

Maybe an option to add the map and my post about nations not completed in one of the openingspost (as a spoiler) ? yesterday i couldn't find my own post

 

[XaW]

1 minute ago, OlivierL said:

Maybe an option to add the map and my post about nations not completed in one of the openingspost (as a spoiler) ? yesterday i couldn't find my own post

 

@darren1983

[darren1983]

16 minutes ago, XaW said:

@darren1983

Yes, thank you, I saw the great posts by @OlivierLwhen I was on the train going to football on Sunday but then Brentford being rubbish plus loads of train delays meant I'd forgot about it all by time I got home  

Will add them now and if Olivier wants to keep track and update it at any point I'll add the updated ones as well. 

Edited October 25, 2022 by darren1983

[Braumiller]

I'm going Sweden again this year for old times sake.  And I'll petition @darren1983 to have Sweden and Belgium coloured in green :P

Edited October 25, 2022 by Braumiller

[darren1983]

7 minutes ago, Braumiller said:

I'm going Sweden again this year for old times sake.  And I'll petition @darren1983 to have Sweden and Belgium coloured in green :P

I still maintain it was your spell in Sweden going strikerless that got me hooked on this way of playing so I may add them for you  

[The7Striker]

Nice options to try out....

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by The7Striker

[darren1983]

Have updated the OP with the great work from Winksi and Olivier 

[darren1983]

Been thinking over last few days while messing about and I think my main save this year will be back here, see if I can make myself try somewhere other than England as think I've done that to death. Thinking Denmark tbh.

[darren1983]

Any "fallen giants" that are available this year does any one know? Like a few years back in Italy there was Parma and more recently Bari and Palermo, any former league winners from elsewhere that have fallen on hard times or something? 

[OlivierL]

14 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

Any "fallen giants" that are available this year does any one know? Like a few years back in Italy there was Parma and more recently Bari and Palermo, any former league winners from elsewhere that have fallen on hard times or something? 

Liverno and Catania are in Serie D / Italy

[Neo_Geo]

Got to admit I’m not feeling England, maybe it’s just the sheer number of games and leagues to get up or just the fact I wanted to sort out the real world mess with Rangers (my team) as I have that save going just now.

Also, struggling to find enough time to really get stuck into a save.

I shall return with a new save once I can find one that will stick.

[Nottingham Forest]

Season 2

2024-25 Season

Vanarama National League North

Season Summary

The start of the season saw me change to something resembling a 3-5-2 except we had a DM instead. 5 games of that with 4 draws saw me revert to a 4-3-3 with a DM and wingers. Inconsistent form was the choice as we never really troubled the play-offs or the dropzone. After Christmas I started to get concerned. Tiredness was kicking in(only used 16 players or so all season) and aside from a reasonable spell in February we were slowly being sucked into the relegation fight. Despite losing to sides below and around us, somehow Southport and Lowestoft before them were garbage at the end as well. Although a 1-0 win through a Harvey Grice wonder strike secured our safety.

In the cups we didn't get far in the FA Trophy(2nd Round). However, in the FA Cup we managed to take divisional rivals and promotion chasers Chorley to a replay at home despite being down to 10 men in the first leg. Only to have Chorley win the game with 8 minutes to go and stop us meeting Rochdale away in the 2nd round. We did get £35k for the replay being on TV. Although come the end of the season we're still over £255k in the red which has been helped by a few investments from the board.

Tyreace Palmer and Harvey Grice were once again the standout players. Palmer actually is out of contract but no one as of yet has offered him a contract and his goals were crucial to us staying up.

Youth Intake

Lots of 'As' but in truth a poor intake. I do move to a fairly professional HoYD but so far it hasn't paid off. Possibly a few who may help pad the squad out.

Youth Player Development

Have to say I'm impressed with Rob Dale YP1a's progression even if there maybe some over inflation in areas.

 

 

[thomas_e]

Energie Cottbus

Season Summary 2023 - 2024

Comfortable first season promotion! 

 

I have played this challenge in Germany twice before and I decided to return for my first FM23 Youth Academy Challenge. Not only that, i returned to Energie Cottbus, a team I completed the challenge with on FM20. A couple of the players are still there actually. 

I reloaded a couple of times before deciding on a team, and even though Cottbus weren't the strongest side on paper I really liked the squad (except for some of the contract lengths). 

A really good first season and we won the 3rd Bundesliga comfortably, 13 points ahead of 1860 Munchen. Already from the start of the season we looked really good and I was happy with the tactics that I decided to use. I spent a long time in pre season working on tactics and set pieces, so a great feeling that it paid off. 

Hopefully we can do okay in the 2nd Bundesliga. We have quite a few contracts expiring in the next 12 months so a relegation would not be great to say the least. I got a couple of upgrades this season, both in terms of junior coaches/recruitment as well as youth facilities. Upgrading the youth facilities put the club very much in the red, so hopefully we will get a bump in sponsorship income next season! 

A pretty mediocre youth intake, lets hope for a great one next year! 

 

Season Summary

      

 

Key Players

      

 

Key Talents

      

 

[Ralph96]

I've been reading along for the last few years and now decided that it is finally time to try start it myself. I'm open to suggestions on how to improve my type of season summary. Years ago I had a very fun Save in Norway and therefore I want to give it a go there. Get ready to meet the new Manager of:

The reset Date seems to be the 14th January and since the lowest available league in the game is not playable, it is possible to see and influence which teams get promoted by reloading until the one you want gets promoted. Manager Profile below:

 

I chose Floya because they have very good facilities to begin with and very good youth recruitment:

My squad is not very big and there is no natural striker available

Media prediction also looks like it is going to be a tough season

But the preview of my first intake looks very promising

,

If there is anything else you need, then please let me know and of course good luck to everyone attempting this challenge.

[15charactersmax]

 

 

SC MIRANDELA
PORTUGAL

 

I'll throw my hat in the ring with an attempt in Portugal. I think there was something stupid like 23 eligible teams to manage so between the ones expected to get promoted and the no hopers, this lot seemed like a good balance. With odds of 700-1 in a league with 5 relegation places we're in for a tough season to say the least! Reset date is the same.
 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by 15charactersmax

[SuperRedditch]

Been toying with a few save ideas for FM23, but I enjoyed the Youth Challenge so much last year even though I never managed to actually win the Champion's League. So, here I am again, this time

 

 

it's personal.

 

Profile

[Neo_Geo]

Sod it, signing players is so overrated

I’m going to take my chances with FC Chiasso, I had bought into the Swiss league and this club so I’m going to give it a go and if for whatever reason they can’t be promoted (if I get that far) then so be it……

 

Fun fact, Chiasso actually played in the Italian league between 1914 and 1923 and were recently managed by gianluca zambrotta. Hoping with the position of Chiasso being right on the Swiss / Italian border that I might get a healthy number of Italian intakes.

Now to just try and get enough time on the game!

[hubwub]

I wanted to start a game in Mexico and ended up taking over a team that had so many players arriving at the beginning of the transfer season.

 

 

I might just go back to a month before and see if a different team will get promoted. The club is Tecos.

[fries]

6 hours ago, Ralph96 said:

I've been reading along for the last few years and now decided that it is finally time to try start it myself. I'm open to suggestions on how to improve my type of season summary.

Welcome! A suggestion from me is to change the in-game language to English when you take screenshots. It makes it easier to follow for people like me who only speak a little German.

[hubwub]

Mexico Reset Date is June 10. To get different teams to be promoted, May 22.

Finally got a team to play that had no transfers, bless!

[Ralph96]

vor 55 Minuten schrieb fries:

Welcome! A suggestion from me is to change the in-game language to English when you take screenshots. It makes it easier to follow for people like me who only speak a little German.

Thx is appreciated will do from now on

[DazRTaylor]

End of Season Review

Season 2023/24

The Spartans

Season Summary

An excellent campaign in the league as we romped home to secure promotion to the third tier.  We were bang average in the cups, however.

Season Details

League Table - Winning the league by eleven points is very pleasing not to mention surprising.

League Fixtures 1 & 2 - Consistency was the key as we won game after game and ground our opponents down.

Scottish Cup - A third round defeat at home to Championship outfit Hamiton Academical ended our interest in the cup this season.

Premier Sports Cup - Two penalty shoot out wins and two defeats is the make up of our run in this cup as we finished fourth in our group and went out at this stage.

SPFL Trust Trophy - We played dreadfully at home to fellow fourth tier side Dumbarton in the second round, who won a narrow game.

Friendlies - By winning four of our six games, we enjoyed a fruitful pre season campaign.

Squad - We have some good players but lack a lot of depth.

Squad Dynamics - It is rather lovely.

Transfers In - None.

Transfers Out - Two permanent departures and three youngsters out on loan.  We did receive a nominal fee for one of the player sales.

Youth Candidates - Central defender Craig Bain YP24B2 is the best prospect out of a good intake.

Finances - We made a profit this season as our bank balance grew quite a bit.

Key Players

Blair Henderson - Our striker scored a phenomenal 39 goals in his 41 appearances.  Quite simply, he is incredible.

Kevin Waugh - One half of our central defensive partnership, the centre half had a stellar season.

Chris Inglis - The other half of our centre back partnership, he was equally as good.

Cammy Russell - Double digits for both assists and goals represents a good campaign for the right winger or striker.

Rhys Armstrong - On paper our best player, he unfortunately suffered damaged cruiciate ligaments in April and will be out for most of the following season.

Next Season

Survival.  Anything else is a bonus.

Personal Coaching Data

Season     Reputation            Qualifications     Att   Def   Fit   GkD   GkH   GkS   Tac   Tec   Men   WWY   Ada   Det   PlK   YoK   LoD   MaM   Mot
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At start   Minimal   (0.25*)     None                 1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     1     4     1     1     1     4     1     1     1
2023/24    Minimal = (1.50*) ↑   National B ↑↑        5 ↑   6 ↑   1 =   1 =   1 =   1 =   5 ↑   6 ↑   5 ↑   4 =   1 =   4 ↑   4 ↑   5 ↑   8 ↑   6 ↑   5 ↑

Club Facilities

Season     Training Facilities  Youth Facilities  Corporate Facilities  Junior Coaching  Youth Recruitment  Club Reputation
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At Start   Adequate             Adequate          Adequate              Good             Average            Regional   (1.50*)
2023/24    Adequate =           Adequate =        Adequate =            Excellent ↑      Adequate ↑         Regional = (1.50*) =

Season Record

Season     Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24      44        26        7       11          93              61                 +32              59.09%

Overall Career Record

After Season   Played     Won     Drawn     Lost     Goals For     Goals Against     Goal Difference     Win Percentage     Time At Club
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24          44        26        7       11          93              61                 +32              59.09%             321 days

Transfer Sale Record

Date               Player                    Position               Club Sold To                 Country                   Transfer Fee
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
27 June 2023       Jamie Penker              Striker                Forfar Athletic              Scotland                        £1,500

Trophy Haul

Season     Competition Won
--------------------------
2023/24    cinch League 2.

Trophy Cabinet

League Titles
-------------
1 x cinch League 2 (2023/24)

Cup Competition Victories
-------------------------

Career Overview

Season     Champions League    Europa League    Europa Conference League             League                             Position     Scottish Cup          Premier Sports Cup        Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24           N/a               N/a                    N/a                       Scottish League Two                   1st       Third Round           Group Stage               Promoted as champions.  SPFL Trust Trophy second round.

Record Number of Appearances (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Appearances
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    Craig Bain YP24B2                         4

Record Goal Scorer (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                          Cumulative Number of Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    Craig Bain YP24B2                             1

Record Number of Assists (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                        Cumulative Number of Assists
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    Craig Bain YP24B2                           1

Record Number of Clean Sheets (Players From The Academy Only)

Season     Player                    Cumulative Number of Clean Sheets
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    No one                                     0

 

 

 

 

 

[Vipertitan]

just to let every one know Finland re start date is 17 December  ,IF Gnistan is my new club this year challenge 

[thomas_e]

4 hours ago, hubwub said:

Mexico Reset Date is June 10. To get different teams to be promoted, May 22.

Finally got a team to play that had no transfers, bless!

Maybe there have been changes I dont know about, but I dont think it's possible to get promoted to the top division in Mexico for quite a few years? Maybe even 5-6 years, as relegation from the top flight got suspended a couple of years ago. 

Just double check so you know a promotion is possible! 

[Sn00gle]

Guess its time to buy 2023 :)

[Bartrcm]

Racing Mechelen - 1ste Nationale - Season 2024-2025

Predicted: 18th

Final position: 13th

 

We had a similar season as the last one. We picked up 2 more points and finshed 1 plave higher. 5 players of last year intake have made their debuts, and 3 of them are now in the starting 11.

 

Games 1

Games 2

Cup: Again eliminated in the 5th round, and now by @XaW his team Berchem. This win of Berchem was only 1 of their 3 wins in the whole season, and we will meet them again next season in the 3th division.

 

Transfers: None

 

Youth intake: Again we had an excellent preview (1, 2), but the actual intake (1, 2) was not as good as expected. All tagged players were signed.

Hakim Dahmane (YP2a): AML

Damiano Casula (YP2b): AMR

Klaus Hermans (YP2c): DL

Said Roose (YP2d): DM,, but will be retrained as DC

Sam Lebrun (YP2e): AML

 

Finances: Terrible!!! We lost another €2M this season, and our balance is now €3.5M in red. No investments of the club, so I'm waiting to get into administration.

 

In this save we have 1 tycoon takeover and 1 first division team that went into administration.

[Winski]

Youth intake preview season 2023

Look at this! What a preview I know that my squad is full of terrible players, but still.

And just a small update of our season so far: we are doing well. We played only 10 games, but won already 5 of them. So yeah, it's a good start! I don't expect a promotion this year, because our squad is lacking depth at some positions. I only have just one striker, for example. So I made two tactics: my favorite 4-3-2-1 and a strikerless 4-3-3-0 and I switch between both tactics during the season.

[Muttley84]

So here goes nothing -  still playing on FMT 21 and manager Johann Heinrich joins the newly promoted club Yverdon in the Swiss second division. Let the struggles begin again!

[Big Marv]

19 hours ago, darren1983 said:

Yes, thank you, I saw the great posts by @OlivierLwhen I was on the train going to football on Sunday but then Brentford being rubbish plus loads of train delays meant I'd forgot about it all by time I got home  

Will add them now and if Olivier wants to keep track and update it at any point I'll add the updated ones as well. 

A fellow bees fan?

[Habituz]

Karşıyaka Spor Kulübü

Going to try Turkey for first try this year since its one of the countries it hasn't been done in yet.

Two loans were already there and i could terminated their loan straight away so I did.