The FM23 Youth Academy Challenge

[Daddy]

20 hours ago, Daddy said:

We ride again. Somewhat decent starting facilities and not a completely barren squad. I wanted a team I hadn't seen used and these guys looked interesting. My biggest concern is just one keeper on the squad, so hopefully I avoid long term injuries.

Low expectations. We'll see what comes.

I took the color scheme from the DB Editor, grabbed their actual kit sponsor, and made some decent looking kits I think (compared the last few attempts I've done)

Another one down. Didn't take the screenshot but one win in the first 20 will do that to you. I'm going to try Hornchurch again, the only team in England I had success with (got promoted to National League, which was a mistake as we got rocked and I got fired. Right now I just need to see if I can win here.

[Daddy]

ok, sorry for the weekend spam, but we go again and at Hornchurch again.

Last time I played with them a few months ago we got promoted and got stomped in National League and I was fired. Expectations are high based on media and club. I don't remember the tactics I used as I've tried a bunch the last couple weeks, so hopefully I figure it out again.

[LazyBandit]

FC Wacker Innsbruck Season 2 (2024/25)

Squad

Our squad for this season remains mostly the same as last year's. We unfortunately had our 2 best players refuse to sign new contracts at the end of last season, so we entered this year a little bit weaker than I would've liked.

League Table

I had a feeling that the 2nd division would prove to be a challenge, and that was very true. 5 teams get relegated from this league, so survival is going to be the main goal for a few seasons. On a positive note 5 of the 16 teams were B teams from top division clubs, and they can't be promoted, which means it was really only an 11 team league. We struggled to really get any tactic to stick, as our results would vary from game to game. We beat WSG Tirol at home 2-0, and then lost to FAC Wien 4-1 at home, using the same tactic. Finding a plan that I feel confident sticking with is a main priority.

Intake

Another very solid intake with lots of potential, but more negative personalities than I would like.

We added Belgium and Poland in this year's intake.

Countries: 6/227 (2.64%)

Season Review

This season went about as I expected it would. For at least the next couple of season the plan is to survive and continue building up the clubs finances and facilities. The board agreed after the season to improve our training facilities. They also finally allowed me to take a coaching course, so hopefully I can continue building up my profile as well.

 

[Neo_Geo]

Good luck @Daddy, admire the perseverance although if I get the boot for Enfield I can see me jumping straight back in 

Incidentally I just beat Hornchurch in the FA Cup qualifiers in my current season with them not being in the vanarama south but it was a tough match.

[Daddy]

7 minutes ago, Neo_Geo said:

Good luck @Daddy, admire the perseverance although if I get the boot for Enfield I can see me jumping straight back in 

Incidentally I just beat Hornchurch in the FA Cup qualifiers in my current season with them not being in the vanarama south but it was a tough match.

Thanks. I've already won more with Hornchurch than the last two teams lol. Hopefully this is the run. 

[DazRTaylor]

16 hours ago, Brentmeister said:

@DazRTaylorHow did you get Macclesfield to come up? I've simmed 4 years into the future and reloaded several times but can't seem to get any different/interesting teams? I've been trying to get Hashtag United for hours!

Long winded but this is what you do.

Holiday for two seasons to 20 May 2024.  Check the division Macclesfield are in (Click on the club name and it is near the top).  Holiday until 24 June 2024 and check their division again.  If it is now one of the four divisions that make up the seventh tier, you can now holiday until 20 May 2025.  Save again.  Now holiday until 25 June 2025 and see if they have been promoted.  If not, reload and do again from 20 May 2025.

You holiday for two years because no matter how many times I reloaded, they never moved divisions after one year.

[fries]

Premier League

2038/39 (season 16)

Season Summary

A very great season. I manage to win the 7th position again on the last day of the season. We improved by 5 points from last season.

But more important we won the Europa League and thus qualified for the Champions League!

In the league phase of the Europe League, we won 7 games and draw one against OM. I mostly played my rotational players, reserves, and top youth prospects.

In the knockouts, I played more starters. I think that cost us a few points in the league.

We played 65 games throughout the season. We thus had to use plenty of players.

This season I had 3 players who scored around 20 goals, Owen, T. Walters, and Jensen.

Another forward, P. Walters, disappointed me and scored only 8 goals. I think his time as a regular starter is soon to be over. This makes me sad because he has been with me and scored since the first season in Vanarama North. So far he has played 609 first-team games and scored 240 goals. 609 appearances are the club record, and he is only 30 goals away from the goal-scoring club record.

I hope that Jensen will develop into a top player. I only think that Smith is a top player right now and I think a few more will be necessary to complete the challenge.

An honorable mention is Howourth. In the winter break, he came back from a year's loan in China, where he developed from 2 stars into a regular starter and 3 stars.

I have another player in Hoskins out on loan, who will come back after two years in La Liga this summer. I think he will be an important starter next season. I actually planned for him to be a starter this season too as I was not aware that he was on a two-year loan deal that couldn't be canceled.

I only had 1 player, Jensen, on the NXGN list, but he also won the award. But both Jensen and other players won other awards.

Jensen also won the European Golden Boy award.

Owen won the Players' Young Player of the Year award.

I had four players on the Europe League team of the season. Including Jensen, Howourth, and my two reserve D(C)s, Grimes and N'Guessan.

And lastly, Jensen won the Young player of the season in the Europe League.

The youth intake preview looked very promising. 5 stars. And great ratings in a lot of positions.

But I was a bit disappointed with the intake. It looks like the worst intake in a couple of years. Only 1 elite talent, but 7 top talents. Hopefully, a few will make it to the first team.

No transfers of significance this season.

Finances and Upgrades

I finally had the option to ask the board for an upgrade of the youth facilities this season. They fortunately agreed. I now have superb youth facilities.

Next season
Next season, will be tough. I don't think we can rotate as much in the Champions League as I could in the Europe League. But hopefully, the Champions League will help develop some of my most promising younger players.

[Brentmeister]

5 hours ago, DazRTaylor said:

Long winded but this is what you do.

Holiday for two seasons to 20 May 2024.  Check the division Macclesfield are in (Click on the club name and it is near the top).  Holiday until 24 June 2024 and check their division again.  If it is now one of the four divisions that make up the seventh tier, you can now holiday until 20 May 2025.  Save again.  Now holiday until 25 June 2025 and see if they have been promoted.  If not, reload and do again from 20 May 2025.

You holiday for two years because no matter how many times I reloaded, they never moved divisions after one year.

Thanks Daz, i'll give it a go

[Neo_Geo]

What a difference getting Jon Beale in as HoYD has made.

I really need a good intake this year as the quality in depth is just not there at the moment.

 

[CameronFM]

Szolnoki MÁV FC

Season 2025/26

League | Cup | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Yet another season of ups and downs, a poor run of form either side of Christmas saw us have a mountain to climb for a last minute promotion claim, but in the end we have to settle for an identical 5th placed finish compared to last year. Some tactical tweaks required over the summer to try and take us to the next level, but I think we are finally on the right path.

Youth Intake 2026

 

An improved intake preview compared to 2025's, but not a great deal of talent standing out. Some exciting players are around the squad, and made their senior appearances before the season was out, but still a lot of work to be done.

Spoiler

Szilárd Pataki arrives and we are now well covered in the goalkeeping department. A promising player to come through that needs that push in the right direction.

József Vincze is the star graduate of the year, and the one I am the most excited about. Will be training to be an Advanced Forward, the young Hungarian certainly has the potential to kick on despite his young age.

Poor determination for Armaan Koppermann, but I like the look of his end product potential. Hopefully a bit of mentoring will get him in the right place sooner rather than later.

Compared to József, Ján Belan is not quite as well-rounded, but will certainly be an option around the club over the coming years.

Another CB just short of 6 feet, but another one for the future. Some of the defending technicals need a bit of working on but partner him with a towering CB and he should feel at home. 

Ádrian Schimmer (Elite Talent from 2024) continued to appear the most this season after securing his position last season, and whilst his numbers have improved, he still has some work to do to match Lakatos.

2025 duo Balász Garancsi & András Halmosi both exceded expectations with the consistency of performances, and have secured their starting berth in my plans going forward.

Sadly, Ádám Pintér is not hitting the levels expected, but is finding it tough to dislodge Lakatos.

Edited January 19, 2023 by CameronFM
Colouring blended with background

[XaW]

XaW - Follo Fotballklubb - Season 2023 (Season 1) - PostNord-ligaen Avdeling 2

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Home sweet home! This season was really an almost-season. We _almost_ could compete with Start for the title, and we _almost_ could beat Lyn in the playoff, but neither came through. So we stay here for another season, and I don't really mind. Start, who surprisingly got relegated the first season, are way too big of a club for this level, so now that they are out, we should have a good chance next season. It also didn't help that the board sold two of the best players at the club during the summer for pocket change, but we will cope.

I managed to get a single improvement to the club approved before we ran out of money at least.

Norgesmesterskapet: We beat Stokke before we lost to Sandefjord in the 2nd round.

2nd Team:

Only played friendlies this season.

U19 Team:

They finished 2nd in the Norwegian U19 Oslo 1 division and almost made it to the playoff for the national U19 league.

U19 Cup: They beat Nybergsund IL-Trysil and Ørn-Horten before losing to Lillestrøm in the 3rd round.

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

None

Player statistics:

Most apps for the clubs

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Apps
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
James Eikum 23b		Norway		<N/A>		3
Ole-Arthur Gjerstrøm 23g Norway		<N/A>		3
Eric Sachdev 23h	Norway		USA		2
Ola Nikolai Brauti 23c	Norway		<N/A>		1

Most goals for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Goals
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
None yet

Most assists for the club

Name			Nation		2nd Nation	Assists
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ole-Arthur Gjerstrøm 23g Norway		<N/A>		1

Supporters:

Summary:

[Winski]

Well, that was a very short spell at BKV Elore in Hungary. Got sacked after 20 games, lost almost everything. We promoted too fast

Looking for a new adventure, but not sure where yet.

 

[lukamagic]

I know it's very late right now, but I'm gonna start in Portugal. My first attempt!

[lukamagic]

Portugal and Louletano! Btw, I'm using FM23 Touch(Apple Arcade)

[The7Striker]

1 hora atrás, Winski disse:

Well, that was a very short spell at BKV Elore in Hungary. Got sacked after 20 games, lost almost everything. We promoted too fast

Looking for a new adventure, but not sure where yet.

 

Thats harsh 

 

[JLAB]

Motor Lublin - Season 10 - Preview

Heading into the new season I had concerns for ourselves. We're now expected to finish around mid-table and feel like a side that our board will expect us to be doing well.

Our best defender Marek Sawicki is attracting a lot of interest from around Europe. I will try my best to keep hold of him, but I don't think I can trust my board not to do anything stupid with any potential offers. I've already lost some players due to the board accepting bids over my head in the past.

Jaros is our 2nd best player and Sawicki's CB partner. While he is extremely inconsistent, I know that he can do well on his day.

The last player that is considered a top-3 player in the team, Korolczuk has become our best CM despite having a Balanced personality. I know that he will be a superstar for us in the future.

If you want to see more of our players, I've linked the video where I go over the squad down below. 

JLAB's YAC with Motor Lublin Part 29

[ludak]

 

OOOhh boys, is it time?

[Neo_Geo]

2 minutes ago, ludak said:

 

OOOhh boys, is it time?

Man Utd again?! 

Good luck

[The7Striker]

4 minutos atrás, ludak disse:

 

OOOhh boys, is it time?

Its payback time 

[the_hdk]

Polonia Warszawa - The Black Shirts

Season 30/31

Players / Transfers

Third championship in the row. For long time it didn't look like it as ware 2nd/3rd till 20th league game. But both Widzew and Legia tanked and even got passed by Cracovia. Alot of changes this season so that explains difficult start. First of all we got new owners. The french dude sold the club for 60mln. Hence also new kits!. With witcher makers CD PROJECT as main sponsor now.

Than we lost two strikers and our main star. KOWALCZYK his min fee was matched and I was not so unhappy about as his replacement was ready. But CHOJCZAK was a difficult decition. Keep him a season or let him go? He really did not want to extend. With 7 caps and a goal for Poland our only polish international left for only 5 mln to Hoffenheim. Further in the back JAROSZ is 34 and got replaced by WYROBA. Two new attackers are NANA our Nigerian (who made his debut for Nigeria) and SKOCZYLAS. GORECKI also became our new midfielder after KOZIEL decided to hate my guts (I didn't want to pay him halve a mil a year).

ARSENAL finally wo the CL. WC went to Spain. And HAALAND got his 4th Ballon d'Or. We also finally wona  cup...the SuperCup...on penalties. We had a great run in CL and lucky schedule. In knock out playoffs we played NANTES. In Round16 we got destroyed by PSG. We played a bit above what we can...and I doubt we can get to level of QF in CL anytime soon.

takeover.

Two biggest sales.

 

And our new owners decide to build a new stadium!

 

Class of BERESZYNSKI '31. A GREAT one!...look at that talent. We also got a Montenegro dude.

MASLANKA needs to be retrained. Either LB or MC. Decent determination and work rate.

MICHALSKI is the biggest talent I think. Best personality. Great determination and could be either midfielde ror striker.

[lukamagic]

LOULETANO FC

Season 1

https://imgur.com/EwALvLa

Finished 5th in PT Championship Group D. DIdn't qualify for the promotion playoffs sadly, but it's an alright start for us.

Youth intake of 2023-24 was decent, with the best talent being Oliviera

 

https://imgur.com/s4ckzCR

Squad is also pretty good, aiming for promotion next season!

 

https://imgur.com/YIfV69B

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, lukamagic said:

LOULETANO FC

Season 1

https://imgur.com/EwALvLa

Finished 5th in PT Championship Group D. DIdn't qualify for the promotion playoffs sadly, but it's an alright start for us.

Youth intake of 2023-24 was decent, with the best talent being Oliviera

 

https://imgur.com/s4ckzCR

Squad is also pretty good, aiming for promotion next season!

 

https://imgur.com/YIfV69B

Good first season. Don't forget to post your transfers each season though, to show you don't have bought or loaned in any players.

[lukamagic]

12 minutes ago, XaW said:

Good first season. Don't forget to post your transfers each season though, to show you don't have bought or loaned in any players.

Oh sorry, forgot about that. 

[Weed07]

Crewe United - Season Two 24/25

Championship

Season Summary

We won the league last season easily and at the start of this season although we were in a higher division I fancied our chances of back to back promotions even though the season preview predicted us to finish bottom of the league.

I had kept all players from last season and gave them all part time contracts and I decided to use my best 3 youth intake players in the starting 11 with a few more bulking out the squad. We started the season with 4 wins with my new youth striker scoring in each of them as last seasons form continued. We weren't quite as consistent this season as last and went on a mixed run of games but no team around us were much better and for the whole season we battled with Annagh United for 1st never dropping below second and after a run of being second mid season we went back top and stayed there and in the end we won the league by 8 points to get our second promotion in 2 seasons. It was as I expected, I've managed in these leagues on previous saves and the bottom leagues are relatively easy to win. We done nothing of note in the cups as I played back up players to concentrate on promotion.

The league table:

Spoiler

 

I kept the same tactic as last season playing a direct counter attacking style and it worked again, with the poor quality of players in these leagues lumping it forward seems to be the way to go.

Our best 11 consisted of 3 youth players from the first intake, a right winger, a centre back and a striker all turning into key players for us.

Our starting line up:

Spoiler

Our youth preview was another good one, however there was again no defensive midfielders predicted:

Spoiler

Our actual intake was better than I expected with one coming through with 5 star ability, only the second time thats ever happened in any FM save I've done, of course the stars are relative to the team but this player looks amazing:

Spoiler

The overall intake:

Royston McCallum - The best player, I don't think we will be able to keep hold of him for long before big clubs offers too much my board won't be able to refuse, he will be my No1 keeper and went into the squad straight away:

Tom Cockerill - The second best youth intake player, he will probably start on the bench next season as i'll give the strikers that got us promoted a chance first but he could develop into a first team player:

The rest of the players I'll see how they develop and some might make the first team but none of the others stand out at the moment.

Overall I was very happy with the intake, 2 players that will improve the first team squad and the best one will be a massive boost to the team.

The board also agreed to upgrade junior coaching twice and youth recruitment twice which will help bring better intakes through and the board paid for me to twice complete coaching badges so a good season off the pitch too. Also at the end of the season the board announced they would be increasing the stadium capacity by 500 to 2000.

Club info:

Spoiler

Manager Stats:

Spoiler

Some spreadsheet data:

Spoiler

Club:

Season:

Manager:

Next season I don't know what to expect as I'm not sure how big the step up will be, I know there will be 3 or 4 top quality teams in the division but I don't know if the rest will be that much better than those in the division we just won, the aim will be to survive relegation and bed more youth players into the first team and I will probably ignore the cups again and prioritise the league.

Edited January 17, 2023 by Weed07

[XaW]

1 minute ago, lukamagic said:

Oh sorry, forgot about that. 

It's the transfer history you need to post. Like this:

[lukamagic]

7 minutes ago, XaW said:

It's the transfer history you need to post. Like this:

Oh okay

[ludak]

 

Oh man, what a ride this save has been. I haven't had this much fun playing FM for quite some time. 

 

The Invincibles! A great season in the league behind us, the best one so far.

 

The cup win for the fourth double in a row!

Right from the start I was sure we could go far if injuries don't stop us. And so it was. One loss, to Monaco at home in the league phase was the sign that I needed that this is it. WE made it, we are a European power now, and it's just a matter of time. Luckily it was on the first try!

 

I was the better team in every single game played. Two loses against Napoli and Leeds were just FM doing FM things. Destroying Liverpool was my favorite part of this season, as they won it last year and Alfred Schreuder had some thigs to say about us both before and after the game. 

 

The final game was great on our side, they scored a great goal from a team effort that left their striker alone 3m in front of the goal, and at that point I got scared, but, Durakovic asisted and had a penalty on him which was enough to crow us champions of Europe!

 

The players that made all the difference when it was important, and without them we would still be happy to finish in the top 24 in the league phase.

 

It certainly helped that I had more quality players in rotation for the first team, which made it easy for us to win the league without players getting too tired to play games in the CL.

 

I don't know what else to say. Club World Championship is coming up, so I may also play that before starting a new save. 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

The board sold him.

 

 

 

[Daddy]

congrats @ludak

[XaW]

7 minutes ago, lukamagic said:

Oh okay

That's the one. 

[XaW]

Nice one, @ludak! Congrats! 

[The7Striker]

Congrats @ludak

[fries]

Congrats @ludak!

I would love to see a handful of your best players! Ristic looks great!

[the_hdk]

congrats @ludak

great achievement. Another Country off teh board in Serbia.

[JLAB]

So that now makes it 13 countries out of the 40 playable countries that the challenge has not been completed in now.

[Winski]

Congrats, @ludak!! Well done, you are the first one in Serbia

[Winski]

@darren1983

Un updated map of completed countries in Europe

[officiallydeej]

57 minutes ago, JLAB said:

So that now makes it 13 countries out of the 40 playable countries that the challenge has not been completed in now.

This makes me want to stop playing in Portugal and take on one of the outstanding countries.. argh decisions.

 

Congratulations @ludak

Edited January 17, 2023 by officiallydeej

[Libertine13]

 

I've been desperately trying to get a save to stick, they've either seen me sacked within the first two seasons (Serbia, Switzerland, England, Denmark) or I just or they just feel like a complete slog (FC United), a save which I might end up going back to. So many hours put into the game this year and nothing to show for it so far, probably haven't even had a proper chance to get to grips with what even works properly yet lol. Hopefully this is the one for me though... I'm a couple seasons in but I've kept screenshots for updates...

 

Manager Profile;

Spoiler

Supporters Profile Day 1;

Spoiler

Facilities;

Spoiler

 

[libbyshuss]

Season Summary

Feels like we're finally making progress! it was only a fifth placed finish but we were top 4 for the entire season until the second to last game. To come so close is frutrating but it's still a young team and I feel like the only way is up still!

Europa League was fun - the second leg of the Semi saw us knackered out with a patched up team on the field. Our first XI is great but squad depth is not

Players

So why the improvement? I put it down to one man (well, 17 year old boy really)

Giovanni Moscardelli 51A

he is gonna be an absolute star! I figured I'd give him a few games and started him on the left wing. He was brilliant. He also filled in up front when Lippi 40K was injured and was brilliant there as well. Eventually that'll be his main position. 

So, 17 years old and with an insane valuation and season stats of 46 games 27 goals and 19 assissts. Mostly from left wing. He is gonna be nuts in a few years! While he's around I can't give up on this save!

Wonderkids

So.... do I have any?

Moscardelli has to be one, but Rosati 49C took me by surprise. I am so low on decent keepers I stuck him in the first team but he's still only a 2.5 star potential Serie B keeper. Maybe the coaches got this wrong?

Oh, and I won Goldenboy this season! I assumed it was Moscardelli but no!

really odd! He's only a 3 star potential but can play a variety of positions so gets a lot of game time, despite not being in my first choice XI. He did well enough to win golden boy, which really took me by surprise!

Finances and Upgrades

Be nice if i had the option board! Only Juve are ahead of me with a state of the art youth facility so the board need to start putting their hands in their pockets!

Career

I want to see how good Moscardelli can get! I have a feeling it's gonna be special

 

 

[Neo_Geo]

2 hours ago, Winski said:

@darren1983

Un updated map of completed countries in Europe

God damn you @Winski, posting this just makes me want to shelve my England save to attempt to fill in one of the blanks!

[Neo_Geo]

Congrats @ludak really great job and glad you enjoyed the save as much as you did.

felt like it was building up to the CL win and there it is

[Daddy]

2023/24 Midseason Review:

Finally got a save rolling. Started off pretty well, but then just started sliding. Some PTSD kicked in as I was getting threatening inbox items, but things stated to stabilize and are now starting to rebound in form. Very thin squad so any major injuries could throw a wrench into things, but I expect to meet expectations with a top half finish.

Intake Preview:

Biggest areas of need are Centerback and Keeper, so it's good to see highly rated prospects. 

[XaW]

58 minutes ago, Neo_Geo said:

God damn you @Winski, posting this just makes me want to shelve my England save to attempt to fill in one of the blanks!

This is painful, I'm in hte same boat. And since I'm only a season into the save with Follo! Decisions, decisions....

[The7Striker]

 

The Manager:

Spoiler

After reading  @WhiteCat33 and @JAwtunesjourney in the last FM, I decided to try something new. Welcome to Slovenia, more precisely NK Tolmin.

With a 10 man squad, it wont be easy, but 
 

[Neo_Geo]

6 minutes ago, The7Striker said:

 

The Manager:

  Reveal hidden contents

After reading  @WhiteCat33 and @JAwtunesjourney in the last FM, I decided to try something new. Welcome to Slovenia, more precisely NK Tolmin.

With a 10 man squad, it wont be easy, but 
 

What a stunning setting for the stadium 

Good luck!

[Pedrike2021]

Congrats, @ludak

[grff]

Royale Union Tubize-Braine: 2046/47 Season Review

Six in a row as we contiue to dominate on the domestic front. Meanwhile our Champion's League campaign ended at the Quarter-final stage again as we were squeezed out by Arsenal 2-1 on agg.

Player stats show another amazing season for Gerard Odru. He has won the European Golden Boot in 4 of the last 5 seasons.

Our youth intake was terrible as we only took on 1 player.

Transfers

Season history...

[The7Striker]

25 minutos atrás, Neo_Geo disse:

What a stunning setting for the stadium 

Good luck!

It is. Thanks 

Tolmin is 

 

Edited January 17, 2023 by The7Striker

[Neo_Geo]

1 hour ago, The7Striker said:

It is. Thanks 

Tolmin is 

 

Can see Man City rolling up there one day hoping to avoid a thrashing 

[officiallydeej]

I don't usually share these until my season update but..

 

 

Nine 5* players in our intake as a top tier Portuguese side! I have definitely been rewarded for my relentless hounding of Mr President to loosen the infrastructure purse strings.