[FM23] Athletic Club (Bilbao) - Aupa Athletic!

[steviemay17]

11 hours ago, Doyce7 said:

What formation are you playing?

This is the usual basic shape, however I think I invite most of my own problems by tinkering way too much, I'm unbeaten at home but away from home is a completely different story, it's like the players forget how to put two passes together and get caught on the ball leaving me wide open at the back so I tried to find a way to make us more compact and hit on the counter.

I usually mix it up depending on the opposition, if they sit with a back four and two DM's in front we go after the flanks and the cm/s becomes a mezzala, if there's room through the middle then it's a cm/a when at home or an s when away and I've started to see some success with it. Also going with a lower tempo away from home to try and combat the defenders just humping long balls to noone the entire time, they seem to misplace ever pass and lose 50% of the aerial duels which often leaves them all on 6.4 or lower.

I think my biggest issue is I pay too much attention to the demands to play high tempo and direct, while I've also built too much around trying to cover up weaknesses than playing to strengths so I'm not sure what my philosophy really is, it's the thing I struggle most on the game is to get a cohesive unit, I refuse to just go with the preset geggenpress because there's limited joy in that.

Should also note that Simon and Villalibre are usually playing in the SWK and PFA roles but are coming back from injuries.

[Doyce7]

1 hour ago, steviemay17 said:

This is the usual basic shape, however I think I invite most of my own problems by tinkering way too much, I'm unbeaten at home but away from home is a completely different story, it's like the players forget how to put two passes together and get caught on the ball leaving me wide open at the back so I tried to find a way to make us more compact and hit on the counter.

I usually mix it up depending on the opposition, if they sit with a back four and two DM's in front we go after the flanks and the cm/s becomes a mezzala, if there's room through the middle then it's a cm/a when at home or an s when away and I've started to see some success with it. Also going with a lower tempo away from home to try and combat the defenders just humping long balls to noone the entire time, they seem to misplace ever pass and lose 50% of the aerial duels which often leaves them all on 6.4 or lower.

I think my biggest issue is I pay too much attention to the demands to play high tempo and direct, while I've also built too much around trying to cover up weaknesses than playing to strengths so I'm not sure what my philosophy really is, it's the thing I struggle most on the game is to get a cohesive unit, I refuse to just go with the preset geggenpress because there's limited joy in that.

Should also note that Simon and Villalibre are usually playing in the SWK and PFA roles but are coming back from injuries.

Admittedly, this is basically just a toned down Gegenpress, but this is the setup I have ran with from day 1 and haven't really changed much of anything. I try to funnel teams inside toward Vencedor and I play him as DM(s) so that he can kind of roam around and help where ever on the pitch he is needed. I haven't had a ton of success with DLP's in any of my saves this year but that may just be me. I just went back and looked, I gave up 41 goals in season one and have an average of 36 GA per season in the first 6 years of my save. I do sometimes switch around the mentality of the WBs and IF/IW, if I feel like we can have more joy I'll make the IW(A) drop RB to WB(s) and the IF(s) with LB WB(a) but that doesn't really change what I want ot get out of the tactic, which is goals. I score a whopping 86 goals per season, 90 over the last 4 seasons, and 100 last year.

I will say the one thing about your tactic that doesn't make a ton of sense to me, you have it set to focus play down each wing but you have an IF/FB on the left. I feel like the FB wouldn't be high enough nor the IF wide enough to do this, I could be wrong. I personally don't feel like focusing play down the wings without actual wingers is redundant but I have also never tried it. 

You may also just be getting stretched too much with the high press but standard line

[steviemay17]

11 minutes ago, Doyce7 said:

Admittedly, this is basically just a toned down Gegenpress, but this is the setup I have ran with from day 1 and haven't really changed much of anything. I try to funnel teams inside toward Vencedor and I play him as DM(s) so that he can kind of roam around and help where ever on the pitch he is needed. I haven't had a ton of success with DLP's in any of my saves this year but that may just be me. I just went back and looked, I gave up 41 goals in season one and have an average of 36 GA per season in the first 6 years of my save. I do sometimes switch around the mentality of the WBs and IF/IW, if I feel like we can have more joy I'll make the IW(A) drop RB to WB(s) and the IF(s) with LB WB(a) but that doesn't really change what I want ot get out of the tactic, which is goals. I score a whopping 86 goals per season, 90 over the last 4 seasons, and 100 last year.

I will say the one thing about your tactic that doesn't make a ton of sense to me, you have it set to focus play down each wing but you have an IF/FB on the left. I feel like the FB wouldn't be high enough nor the IF wide enough to do this, I could be wrong. I personally don't feel like focusing play down the wings without actual wingers is redundant but I have also never tried it. 

You may also just be getting stretched too much with the high press but standard line

Your last point does actually make a lot of sense, I think I've just kept trying to change things to see if anything clicks but I've then lost sight of what I'm trying to do. I do find a lot of the time the back four is very, very isolated from the midfield, there's plenty of protection with the DLP but also a massive gap and the opposition has all the time in the world to keep the ball and pick up all the loose balls 30 yards from goal or so. Will try to be brave with a higher line to be slightly more compact and see if that fixes one of the bigger issues I'm having.

[steviemay17]

Also just a general question for people doing this save - How do we all feel about buying non-basque players who are 16 or younger? I can't really decide if it's against the spirit of the save or not

[Doyce7]

19 minutes ago, steviemay17 said:

Also just a general question for people doing this save - How do we all feel about buying non-basque players who are 16 or younger? I can't really decide if it's against the spirit of the save or not

I don't have a hard rule on it. I don't avoid signing them but I don't seek them out either. If one pops up on the scouting report then I roleplay in my head that they found a grandparent with Basque ties or something. I maybe sign 1 a season or every other season

[dothestrand]

1 hour ago, steviemay17 said:

Also just a general question for people doing this save - How do we all feel about buying non-basque players who are 16 or younger? I can't really decide if it's against the spirit of the save or not

I don't do it myself. Within a few years the pool of Basque talent is usually good enough to compete. The game does factor in players not born in the Basque country but have Basque second nationality e.g. it may presume they moved there as kids. 

[bowieinspace]

4 hours ago, steviemay17 said:

Also just a general question for people doing this save - How do we all feel about buying non-basque players who are 16 or younger? I can't really decide if it's against the spirit of the save or not

Personally I completely avoid it, for a couple of reasons.

1) I don’t think it’s very true to life so from a realism perspective I prefer not to

2) difficulty - the basque player pool is pretty decent anyway and it means you have to work a bit more with what you have. It provides a few more ups and downs within the save and makes the successes a touch more satisfying. 

It’s great that people can play it however they like though and I can see both sides of the coin, I’d certainly never criticise someone for doing it the way they prefer. I’ve played FM since the championship manager days for hundreds of hours a year, so my perspective on what makes the game enjoyable is obviously going to be different to people who are newer to the game. Its just nice to see people here enjoying the save

[MattyC78]

45 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:

Personally I completely avoid it, for a couple of reasons.

1) I don’t think it’s very true to life so from a realism perspective I prefer not to

2) difficulty - the basque player pool is pretty decent anyway and it means you have to work a bit more with what you have. It provides a few more ups and downs within the save and makes the successes a touch more satisfying. 

It’s great that people can play it however they like though and I can see both sides of the coin, I’d certainly never criticise someone for doing it the way they prefer. I’ve played FM since the championship manager days for hundreds of hours a year, so my perspective on what makes the game enjoyable is obviously going to be different to people who are newer to the game. Its just nice to see people here enjoying the save

Hi steviemay17.  I agree with bowieinspace.  I never regret not going for non Basque players even if it is hard to not be able to find a type of player you desperately need such as goalkeeper, captain or corner taker but that is part of the challenge.  I do buy Basque players but usually as I get later in the save I regret doing this and wish I had a fully homegrown team.

Whatever approach that means that you enjoy your Athletic save is the correct one.

[bowieinspace]

2030/31 Season Review - Invincibles!

 

Not me though, I came second with 99 points!

La Liga - 2nd, 99 points (1 point behind the invincible Real Madrid)
Copa Del Rey - Winners
Supercopa - Lost in final to Real Madrid
Champions League - Lost in Quarter Final to Chelsea

Well well well, I've not seen an invincible season for a little while - I've had quite a few seasons in the last couple Fm's with one loss but haven't quite managed it, and here we are looking at a Real Madrid team who did it and beat me by a single point! Fair play to them haha. I lost to defending champions Chelsea in the Champions Lague quarter finals which was a bit of a shame, they deserved it though. We did win the Copa Del Rey though and beat Real Madrid 6-1 in the semi final second leg

 

Transfer/Squad Building

No major ins or outs this year, just a lot of loan dealings. We have Mikel Jauregi on loan in La Liga which will be great for his development and he looks set to replace Unai Simon longer term. Next up with have Oscar Jimenez on loan at Tenerife in the Segunda - he's suddenely started showing some development while there at the second half of last season, so I've extended it with the hope I can recall him in January after more improvement and potentially get him playing on loan somewhere in La Liga. Stephane Chevalier has gone on loan back to France....this guy is like my in game Nemesis - I've wasted so much money on him. Alas he has shown zero improvement this year and goes on loan to Ligue 1 in a last ditch effort to salvage some value from him. Mikel Goni has gone on loan to bayer Leverkusen - he's a perfectly acceptable CB so may well be useful for us in the future, albeit he's not someone I see as a long term first 11 player.

We do have a few good youngsters in the pipeline I may be ready to show off next season including a new CB who might be handy! Woo! The only new addition to the squad this year is Endika Etxabe who comes in to back up Inaki Lacruz at left back - this has been made possible because Aitor Villar has been shifted across to CB - we're so desperate for CB's I am using a left back there with 7 jumping reach haha. We do also have David Imaz as third choice keeper but I'm not going to post a screenshot he's very meh.

Goikoetxea was perhaps the highlight of the season player wise as he is coming on really well and looks likely to be our go to CF for many years. Lacruz has come on A LOT and is now a top top left back, and Castro is heading the same way too just a year or so behind. Rubio is currently in a huff because I wouldn't let him go to Liverpool and the squad had a bit of a whinge about that as well, so that's a thing for me to deal with!

GK - Simon, Ayeza, Imaz
RB - Larrea, Barrenetxea
LB - Lacruz, Etxabe
CB - Vivian, Guillamon, Villar, Lozano
DM - Vencedor, Castro
CM - Gallego, Sancet, Aimar, Garai
RW - Nico Williams, Rubio
LW - Pascual, Aguirre
CF - Javi, Goikoetxea

 

[MattyC78]

The update for January 2028 saw a few players depart.  David Garcia and Julen Jon Guerrero both wanted more football than we could offer so they departed for Ponferrada and Hoffenheim respectively.  Guerrero really had failed to develop as much as I’d have liked and he was being overtaken by a couple of the newgens so I decided to cash in and accept the meagre £3 million profit.  Iker Muniain sadly also departed as he wanted a new challenge so he went to Sporting in Portugal. I didn’t really want to get rid of him or Garcia but both were unhappy and impacting the rest of the squad.

January has also seen us win our first trophy of the season in spectacular circumstances.  We were three nil down at half time.  We switched to a 4-2-3-1 at half-time and Jon Karrikaburu to led us to a five-four victory with five second half goals as both teams considerably exceeded their xG.

[southside_hitmen]

Hi all, first ever post on the SI forum here, but I've followed these threads since at least FM20 and they always help guide my saves.  I've absolutely adored the detail everyone has put in to make playing as Athletic as fun as possible, thanks to everyone who contributes to these!

I wanted to share some research I have done into Basque/affiliate teams in the game to hopefully help everyone as well, hope this helps!

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Affiliates, Rival Affiliates, and other Basque clubs with Athletic

One thing I haven't seen touched on much yet in this/previous threads is how to deal with your own and rivals affiliates playing as Athletic.  I'm a serial organizer, so I spent the past week or so going through the editor (FM22) with a fine tooth comb for any club that is linked to Athletic, their rivals, or any non-affiliated Basque clubs.

At game start, I follow and create a note for each of these clubs listed below with my manager.   It takes a little time at game start to get all the clubs listed below followed and noted, but it makes things soooo much easier long-term.  I've noticed the Notebook seems to be a criminally underutilized feature in FM, but I use it so that I can be kept aware of a few things:

• Follow a club so I can see if they gain promotion (especially to a playable league)
• Adding a note for each club allows me to see which clubs (note icon) are Basque on the Youth Intake lists for easier scouting
• Adding notes allow me to see which clubs are Basque (note icon) on the fixture/game scouting screen (I always have at least one scout dedicated to just churning through Basque vs. Basque games so I can see as many players as possible)
• You can categorize your notes and filter off of them in the notebook, so you can quickly filter by all Basque clubs if you want to get team reports on all Basque teams, the 5 French Basque teams, all of Sociedad's affiliates, or whatever for categories

I usually roll with the following categories, but feel free to use whatever works for you

This means my notebook might look a little something like this, which allows me to quickly filter and pull up whatever I need to club wise.  This means I don't have to reference wikipedia (the list of Basque clubs isn't comprehensive anyway there - more to come on that) or something out of game or try to copy/paste, which helps me blow through scouting much faster

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Athletic Club Affiliates

Next up, affiliates!  And, oh boy, do you have a bunch (42!) at game start.  Most of these are standard 1st buy option deals.  You can try and get more throughout your save if you like, but the starting batch should be more than good enough.

Keep an eye on the domestic affiliates especially, as if they get promoted to playable or higher leagues they can become a valid loan destination for your players.  Also, a general reminder you probably don't want to loan anyone to a club in a non-playable league as they won't get game time obviously.  The default DB goes down to the 4th tier of Spanish football (Segunda division) as a playable league, so make sure load up as many as your PC can handle.

You also have 2 non-loan U19-only affiliates (Antiguoko and Danok Bat) that you can scoop up U19's from, that also play in the same league as your U19 team.  Those games are always a good opportunity for you or your scouts to watch in person, as you can see how your younger players are progressing while getting some scouting in (this is actually true for any U19 league game Athletic plays, as the entire U19 league is Basque teams!).

As far as international affiliates, you have 3 at game start.  Each them offer a little something different for you:

• Aviron Bayonnais (France) - You can get an academy link here on Day 1 giving you access to FRENCH BASQUE YOUTH INTAKE players coming directly into Lezama.  Bonus points here, as the club is in French Basque country and will naturally produce some French Basque players for their own academy that you own 1st Buy Option over given your link.  They are 1 tier below a playable league in France (which you should also load up) so if they make the jump up in your save you can get a lot more French Basque players coming through.  Once they do make the jump, try and use your loan agreement with them to pump them up the French pyramid as you may be able to setup a commercial link long term
• Altinordu (Turkey) - Keep an eye on this club, if they gain promotion to the Turkish Super League you can setup a commercial link with them to increase your profits (they won't do this while still in the 2nd tier).  I usually load up the top 2 Turkish leagues as playable because of this.  You can also get an academy link on Day 1 if your prefer, which will give you some Turkish-Basque youth intake players if that's your style (I keep it to Spanish/French myself)
• Athletic Club Bastia (Italy) - Can get an academy link Day 1 here as well.  Buried deep in the 6th tier of Italian football there isn't a ton of hope for a commercial or loan link here.  Same deal on Italian-Basque players if you want it

Try and be opportunistic with any other international affiliates you may find during your game, as the end goal with each could lead to a commercial link, scouting knowledge, or academy players coming into Lezama.

Finally, here is a list of all Athletic Club affiliates, including the tier/division they play in and the type of link.  I go through and update my list in game after each season if teams move up/down

List of all Athletic Club Affiliates (click spoiler to see)

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
1	La Liga	Athletic Club	Senior	Athletic Bilbao
2	La Liga 2	Athletic Club	Loan	Burgos	Non-Basque
3	Primera	Athletic Club	B Team	Bilbao Athletic
3	Primera	Athletic Club	Loan	Numancia	Non-Basque
3	Primera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Amorebieta
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Arenas Club de Getxo
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Gernika Club
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Sestao River Club
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Tudelano	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Barakaldo CF
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Padura
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Aurrerá Ondarroa
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	C Team	CD Basconia
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Club Portugalete
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Oberena	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Pamplona
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	Loan	SCD Durango
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Leioa
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Oyonesa
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Txantrea
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Urduliz F.T.
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Bermeo FT
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Uritarra
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Getxo
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Laudio
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Santurtzi
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	JD Somorrostro
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Santutxu FC
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Balmaseda FC
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Indautxu
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD San Pedro
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Sodupe UC
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Urgatzi K.K.
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Zalla UC
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Zamudio SD
7	Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Amorebieta B	Amorebieta B
7	Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Gernika B	Gernika B
7	Regional	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Retuerto Sport
7	Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Sestao B	Sestao B
7	Regional	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Union Sport San Vicente
F2	TFF 1. Lig	Athletic Club	Mutual	Altinordu	Turkey - Can get Academy link (which gives 1st option)
F5	National 3	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Aviron Bayonnais	French Basque - Can get Academy link (FRENCH BASQUE PLAYERS!)
F6	Promoz. Umbria B	Athletic Club	Mutual	Athletic Club Bastia	Italy - Can get Academy link (which gives 1st option)
U1	U19 D1	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Antiguoko
U1	U19 D1	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Danok Bat CF

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All Basque Clubs

So "scour the Basque clubs" you say?  Ok, but which clubs are... Basque?  I actually never knew the answer to this myself, so after a week of wikipedia, learning entirely too much about Spanish geography, and the FM22 editor here is a list of every club in the autonomous Basque region and the historical Basque territories (basically Navarre and a corner of SW France).

List of every Basque Club in FM23

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
1	La Liga	Athletic Club	Senior	Athletic Bilbao
1	La Liga	Osasuna	Senior	Osasuna
1	La Liga	Real Sociedad	Senior	Real Sociedad
2	La Liga 2	Alaves	Senior	Alavés
2	La Liga 2	Eibar	Senior	SD Eibar
3	Primera	Athletic Club	B Team	Bilbao Athletic
3	Primera	Osasuna	B Team	Osasuna Promesas
3	Primera	Real Sociedad	B Team	Real Sociedad B
3	Primera	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Real Unión
3	Primera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Amorebieta
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	A. Cirbonero
4	Segunda	Real Zaragoza	1st Opt	AD San Juan
4	Segunda	Alaves	B Team	Alavés B
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Arenas Club de Getxo
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Gernika Club
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Izarra
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Mutilvera
4	Segunda	Real Sociedad	C Team	Real Sociedad C
4	Segunda	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	SD Beasain
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Sestao River Club
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Tudelano	Athletic Club and Osasuna
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Tudelano	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Ardoi
5	Tercera			Avance Ezcabarte
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Azkoyen
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Barakaldo CF
5	Tercera			Beti Onak
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Burladés
5	Tercera			Cantolagua
5	Tercera			CD Anaitasuna
5	Tercera	Alaves	1st Opt	CD Aurrerá de Vitoria
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Aurrerá Ondarroa
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	C Team	CD Basconia
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	CD Lagun Onak
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Padura
5	Tercera	Eibar	B Team	CD Vitoria
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Club Portugalete
5	Tercera	Alaves	Loan	Club San Ignacio
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Cortes
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Egüés
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Huarte
5	Tercera			Lagunak
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Oberena	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Oberena	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Pamplona
5	Tercera	Real Sociedad	Loan	Pasaia KE
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Peña Sport
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	Loan	SCD Durango
5	Tercera			SD Deusto
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Leioa
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Oyonesa
5	Tercera	Osasuna	C Team	Subiza
5	Tercera			Touring KE
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Txantrea
5	Tercera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Urduliz F.T.
6	Div Honor	Alaves	C Team	Alavés C
6	Div Honor			Amurrio Club
6	1a Aut. Navarre			Aoiz
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Artajonés
6	Div Honor			Bergara K.E.
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Bermeo FT
6	Div Honor			Beti Gazte K.J.K.E.
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Real Sociedad	Mutual	Beti Kozcor	Osasuna and Sociedad
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	Mutual	Beti Kozcor	Osasuna and Sociedad
6	Div Honor			CD Ariznabarra
6	Div Honor			CD Elgoibar
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Getxo
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Laudio
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Santurtzi
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	CD Uritarra
6	Div Honor			CD Vasconia
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Corellano
6	Div Honor			Dinamo San Juan
6	Div Honor	Eibar	C Team	Eibar C
6	1a Aut. Navarre			Garés
6	Div Honor	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Hernani
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Idoya
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Iruña
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	JD Somorrostro
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Lourdes
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Mendi
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Murchante
6	Div Honor			Oiartzun KE
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Peña Azagresa
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	River Ega
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Santutxu FC
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Balmaseda FC
6	Div Honor			SD Erandio Club
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Indautxu
6	Div Honor			SD Salvatierra
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD San Pedro
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Sodupe UC
6	Div Honor	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Tolosa CF
6	Div Honor			UD Aretxabaleta
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Urgatzi K.K.
6	Div Honor			Urola
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	Mutual	Valtierrano
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Zalla UC
6	Div Honor	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Zamudio SD
6	Div Honor			Zarautz KE
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Zarramonza
7	Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Amigó
7	Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Amorebieta B	Amorebieta B
7	Regional	Real Sociedad	B Team	Beasain B	Beasain B
7	Regional			CD Avance
7	Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Gatze Berriak
7	Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Gernika B	Gernika B
7	Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Ilumberri
7	Regional	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Ordizia KE
7	Regional	Real Sociedad	B Team	Real Irún B	Real Union B
7	Regional	Athletic Club	1st Opt	SD Retuerto Sport
7	Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Sestao B	Sestao B
7	Regional	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Union Sport San Vicente
7	Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Urroztarra
U1	U19 D1	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Antiguoko
U1	U19 D1	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Danok Bat CF
U2	U19 D2	Alaves	1st Opt	Betoño
F5	National 3	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Aviron Bayonnais	French Basque - Can get Academy link (FRENCH BASQUE PLAYERS!)
F5	National 3	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Genets Anglet	French Basque
F6	R1 - Nelle Aquitane			Arin Luzien	French Basque
F6	R1 - Nelle Aquitane			Bayonne Croisés	French Basque
F7	Regional			JA Biarritz	French Basque

 

---------------------------------------------

Rivals and Other Basque Clubs

No save preparation would be complete without also diving in on your Basque rivals affiliate structure so you can hopefully snipe a few players from their affiliate teams.   I note/follow these teams as well for all the reasons listed above, but especially for Youth Intake days.

Every single club below is Basque and generates Basque regens unless otherwise noted

List of Real Sociedad Affiliates
* Note another French Basque club here (Genets Anglet) and they actually share an affiliate with Osasuna (Beti Kozcur)

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
1	La Liga	Real Sociedad	Senior	Real Sociedad
3	Primera	Real Sociedad	B Team	Real Sociedad B
3	Primera	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Real Unión
4	Segunda	Real Sociedad	C Team	Real Sociedad C
4	Segunda	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	SD Beasain
5	Tercera	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Berceo	Non-Basque
5	Tercera	Real Sociedad	Loan	Pasaia KE
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Real Sociedad	Mutual	Beti Kozcor	Osasuna and Sociedad
6	Div Honor	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Hernani
6	Pref Las Palmas	Real Sociedad	Scouting	Maspalomas	Non-Basque
6	Div Honor	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Tolosa CF
7	Regional	Real Sociedad	B Team	Beasain B	Beasain B
7	Regional	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Ordizia KE
7	Regional	Real Sociedad	B Team	Real Irún B	Real Union B
F2	Superettan	Real Sociedad	Merch	Örgryte IS	Sweden
F5	National 3	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Genets Anglet	French Basque
U2	U19 D2	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Valvanera	Non-Basque

 

List of Osasuna Affiliates
* Lots of cross-affiliations here, including 2 with Athletic

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
1	La Liga	Osasuna	Senior	Osasuna
3	Primera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Calahorra	Non-Basque
3	Primera	Osasuna	B Team	Osasuna Promesas
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	A. Cirbonero
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Izarra
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Mutilvera
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Tudelano	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera	Osasuna	Mutual	Agoncillo	Non-Basque
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Ardoi
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Azkoyen
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Burladés
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	CD Lagun Onak
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Cortes
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Egüés
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Huarte
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Oberena	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera	Osasuna	1st Opt	Peña Sport
5	Tercera	Osasuna	C Team	Subiza
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Artajonés
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	Mutual	Beti Kozcor	Osasuna and Sociedad
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Corellano
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Idoya
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Iruña
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Lourdes
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Mendi
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Murchante
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Peña Azagresa
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	River Ega
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	Mutual	Valtierrano
6	1a Aut. Navarre	Osasuna	1st Opt	Zarramonza
7	Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Amigó
7	Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Gatze Berriak
7	Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Ilumberri
7	Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Urroztarra

 

List of Alaves Affiliates

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
2	La Liga 2	Alaves	Senior	Alavés
4	Segunda	Alaves	B Team	Alavés B
5	Tercera	Alaves	1st Opt	CD Aurrerá de Vitoria
5	Tercera	Alaves	Loan	Club San Ignacio
6	Div Honor	Alaves	C Team	Alavés C
F1	HT Prva Liga	Alaves	1st Opt	Istra 1961	Austria
U2	U19 D2	Alaves	1st Opt	Betoño

 

List of Eibar Affiliates

 

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
2	La Liga 2	Eibar	Senior	SD Eibar
5	Tercera	Eibar	B Team	CD Vitoria
6	Div Honor	Eibar	C Team	Eibar C

 

List of Non-Affiliated Basque Clubs
* Includes 3 French Basque clubs

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
4	Segunda	Real Zaragoza	1st Opt	AD San Juan
5	Tercera			Avance Ezcabarte
5	Tercera			Beti Onak
5	Tercera			Cantolagua
5	Tercera			CD Anaitasuna
5	Tercera			Lagunak
5	Tercera			SD Deusto
5	Tercera			Touring KE
6	Div Honor			Amurrio Club
6	1a Aut. Navarre			Aoiz
6	Div Honor			Bergara K.E.
6	Div Honor			Beti Gazte K.J.K.E.
6	Div Honor			CD Ariznabarra
6	Div Honor			CD Elgoibar
6	Div Honor			CD Vasconia
6	Div Honor			Dinamo San Juan
6	1a Aut. Navarre			Garés
6	Div Honor			Oiartzun KE
6	Div Honor			SD Erandio Club
6	Div Honor			SD Salvatierra
6	Div Honor			UD Aretxabaleta
6	Div Honor			Urola
6	Div Honor			Zarautz KE
7	Regional			CD Avance
F6	R1 - Nelle Aquitane			Arin Luzien	French Basque
F6	R1 - Nelle Aquitane			Bayonne Croisés	French Basque
F7	Regional			JA Biarritz	French Basque

---------------------------------------------

Closing Thoughts

And finally, the longest first post in SI forum history is complete!  Hope you can use some of the info to your advantage and maybe picked up a trick or two along the way.

If I missed any Basque clubs that you are aware of, please let me know!

Thanks again to everyone who contributes to this thread each year, it is always my favorite one to watch.

Aupa Athletic!

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by southside_hitmen

[bowieinspace]

@southside_hitmen welcome! Great first post  I’ll get a link to this post on the front page within the development section so people can find it, we can aim to include the content itself on those initial posts next year (with credit of course) if you’re keen to add to the guides. 

I agree the notebook is under utilised. I’ve never used it for affiliates but I do set player notes so I can track developments in consistency and big match comfort as players develop - it gives that little symbol next to their name which helps me remember without going into their individual reports

[Doyce7]

yep, it's January

[southside_hitmen]

2 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

@southside_hitmen welcome! Great first post  I’ll get a link to this post on the front page within the development section so people can find it, we can aim to include the content itself on those initial posts next year (with credit of course) if you’re keen to add to the guides. 

I agree the notebook is under utilised. I’ve never used it for affiliates but I do set player notes so I can track developments in consistency and big match comfort as players develop - it gives that little symbol next to their name which helps me remember without going into their individual reports

Thanks! That would be awesome to link to the first post.

re:notebook. That’s a great use too! I love being able to see which teams are Basque anywhere instead of having to try to remember all 125+ of them.  Youth intakes, setting up friendlies for Basconia, scouting all just become so much easier.

With Athletic, you want to master this tiny little universe of clubs so having that extra reminder there makes a big difference long term.

A quick example of how I would use it would be at the start of the season filtering by a category (say, all Basque clubs) and grabbing team reports to get a baseline on most of the basque players. Then I can send a scout to a game against another Basque team since it’s noted in the scouting game selection UI, etc… and obviously, youth intake days it’s great because I don’t have to ask myself if a club is Basque or click through every one to find out.

It’s just see note, click link, easy. Lol

Edited December 24, 2022 by southside_hitmen

[bowieinspace]

5 hours ago, southside_hitmen said:

Thanks! That would be awesome to link to the first post.

re:notebook. That’s a great use too! I love being able to see which teams are Basque anywhere instead of having to try to remember all 125+ of them.  Youth intakes, setting up friendlies for Basconia, scouting all just become so much easier.

With Athletic, you want to master this tiny little universe of clubs so having that extra reminder there makes a big difference long term.

A quick example of how I would use it would be at the start of the season filtering by a category (say, all Basque clubs) and grabbing team reports to get a baseline on most of the basque players. Then I can send a scout to a game against another Basque team since it’s noted in the scouting game selection UI, etc… and obviously, youth intake days it’s great because I don’t have to ask myself if a club is Basque or click through every one to find out.

It’s just see note, click link, easy. Lol

Always happy to get great contributions up there - the content in those posts has come from the community here over the years, sometimes I coordinate it and in recent years @dothestrandhas done it as well depending on time allowing, so any great bits like this that are handy resources are always welcome. 

Great to have you on the thread and hopefully look forward to hearing a bit about your save too

[dothestrand]

13 hours ago, Doyce7 said:

yep, it's January

And how many of those are pointless lowball offers? It's incredibly rare that any players ever receive release clause offers or anywhere near. 

[Doyce7]

2 hours ago, dothestrand said:

And how many of those are pointless lowball offers? It's incredibly rare that any players ever receive release clause offers or anywhere near. 

All loan offers for 16/17 year olds with fringe player playing time. I finally just listed every player in the club to unavailable for loan. The highest individual day was actually 23 but I didn't screenshot that

Edited December 24, 2022 by Doyce7

[Doyce7]

2028/29 Season

Back to Back Champions

5 fewer points this time around but it is enough to get the job done. Another 100 goal season, this team has become a goal scoring juggernaut! Lander Beitia leads the way with 20, but Unai Vallejo got 17 of his own. We were very deadly from set pieces this year, Aritz Losa and Hugo Guillamon chipped in with 7 and 6 goals respectively from corners and free kicks. 

Great as the league campaign was, the cup competitions were, less than. To start off with the Champions League, this is the harshest draw I have gotten in any save I have had in FM23. Normally I would say I get 3 games I look at as almost sure wins, this year I had 2. The other winnable games were Porto away, not easy, and Monaco at home, they Endrick and a few other fm23 wonderkids fully formed, again not easy. We managed to scrap through to the knockouts though.

In the knockouts, we drew PSG, just about the hardest draw we could have gotten. And then Hugo Guillamon decided to get himself sent off in the first half of the first leg, with us up 1-0. As you can imagine, things went poorly from there. This is now the second straight year that our UCL run comes to an end after a first leg sending off, last season we had 2 men sent off in the first leg of the round of 16, against Monaco. We haven't been able to recapture that form that took us to the final a few years ago. Maybe next year!

I don't want to talk about it. 

Standouts and Future Plans 

As stated before, Lander Beitia truly became a star this season with 21 goals and 12 assists in all comps, Unai Vellejo became the full time starter at the front with 26 total goals. Aritz Losa stepped up even more and actually started more games than Dani Vivian. 

What I am most proud of this season is that I rotated more than I ever have. 24 players played at least 20 games in all comps this season, pretty sure that is a record for me.

On the downwards of the curve however, Inaki Williams at 34, has really started to crater. It pains me because I absolutely love him, I would like to keep him for the last couple of years he has and play him some, until he retires. That just isn't realistic, he has started to complain that he doesn't play enough and he's ready to move on, I won't stand in his way. If anybody wants him I will just let him go, fee or no fee, he's earned that. The injury that he suffered, two years ago now, was just never truly recovered from.

There are two other players who may be on their way out.

Jon Moncayola at 31 now and he is still a very good player. I am not sure if I actually do want him to move on but he played far less this season than he has previously. He was my first signing when I arrived at the club 7 years ago and has made 189 league appearances while not really ever being first choice. We have younger guys that stepped up this season, Mario and Miguel Angel Losa this year, and a few more that are going to be ready in a year or 2. I think it is probably time to cash in on him

The one that I think may actually hurt the most to type is, Asier Villalibre. My man has scored 129 goals in 187 games since I took over, he's finished top 3 in goals for LaLiga 4 times, player of the season for Bilbao 3 times. But, over the last 2 seasons he has played just 35 league games and this season only started 6. The last 2 years he has gotten injury after injury, never a bad one but it always felt like as soon as he got back to full fitness he would get something new crop up. His ave rating THIS SEASON was still 7.44, so it's not like he's falling off when he plays but he is now the back up and I don't think that will be enough for him. He'll also be 32 early next season and with how many injuries he has had, it's just a matter of time before he goes the way of Inaki. 

You know how I am talking about moving on from a few older players... um... Aymeric Laporte is here lol. He was going to be out of contract at the end of the season so I put in a pre-contract and he accepted. Liverpool had came in for Guillamon and he got really upset that I turned them down, so I agreed to accept 65M if they offered that. Just in case Liverpool did offer that I decided to buy Laporte early for 4.4M. He's uh, still really really good.

As for any other potential incomings, there is a 6'6" French/Basque striker who scored 21 goals in the Bundesliga at Furth who could be had for around 14M, eyeing him as a Villalibre replacement. There's an either footed FB at Osasuna with unbelievable physicals with 17M release clause that I may trigger and lastly a GK French/Basque GK at Sociedad that looks better than any of my future Simon replacements, if I can convince him to come. This will be a busy summer, possibly the busiest I have had.

Can we win 3 straight? Nobody has since Barcelona almost 20 in game years ago. Speaking of Barcelona, they finished 6th this year and have not finished top 3 in 4 years now, since they won the title in 24/25.

 

Anyway, that's it for now

Edited December 24, 2022 by Doyce7

[Doyce7]

Summer 2029

Well the new season is here. It was a busy summer for sure. With tears in my eyes...

Out: Inaki Williams to FC Kobenhavn for 325k, Asier Villalibre to Gijon for 6M, Jon Moncayola to Sevilla for 25M. Javi Lopez and Aimar Penalver(GK) also left the club this summer for free and 125k respectfully.

While I hated to do it, Inaki and Asier wanted to go somewhere they could play more often and I can't hold them here. Moncayola became expendable last season when he got hurt and other players stepped up, Sevilla came in for 25M and that was too good to turn down.

In: 21yo FB Alvaro Barandiaran from Osasuna for 17M, this guy is a beast physically. Been keeping an eye on him for years but now with Odriozola getting a bit older and Lopez leaving the club, it was time to bring him in. 22yo French striker Jorge Hernandez from Furth for 19M. As I said in my previous post, he is 6'6" with 17 jumping reach and 15 heading, physicals are not great but they aren't bad either. He also scored 21 goals in the Bundesliga, which led that league last season. He will not start most matches but he should be good for a few goals this season. Last one, for now at least, Roberto Alonso returns to the club after a year away in England playing for Manchester United and Watford. In the end he was sold for 10.5M after a sell on clause was sold in January and comes back for 20M. He is on a much higher wage than I would like because United jacked up his expectations but he has now come home. 

Don't sign 34/35 year olds folks. Man this sucks. He had never even had a majorish injury until now. 

Here's what the team looks like heading into the 29/30 season after the Laporte injury. Again white is class of 23, green is 24 and red is 25

There are a couple of guys that I think will spend most of the season in the B team but may get a look in with the main squad

First up, Laportes replacement, at least registration wise. I was thinking for a while that the class of 24 may never have a player even make an appearance for the club. Arzalluz is one of only 2 players from that group still at the club, the other is a GK that likely won't make it.

The other 2 players pictured below are from the class of 27 and look very promising. Both could play a role this season. 

[Doyce7]

Now that is how you open a season

[bowieinspace]

Friendship ended with Javi, Ignacio Goikoetxea is my new best friend 

[dothestrand]

In my game only ONE player in the whole world has technique 20. It's not Mbappe, Alexander-Arnold, Havertz, Pedri, etc but a regen of ours who's now in the first team squad (and will be better than Sancet soon).

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by dothestrand

[bowieinspace]

26 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

In my game only ONE player in the whole world has technique 20. It's not Mbappe, Alexander-Arnold, Havertz, Pedri, etc but a regen of ours who's now in the first team squad (and will be better than Sancet soon).

 

Wow super cool player!

[dothestrand]

20 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:

Wow super cool player!

He started with us three years ago with technique 16 but as it crept up to 18, I was determined to get it to 20!

He's really developed nicely in technical, mental and physical attributes. Going to be a club legend potentially. 

[sgevolker]

Hi Guys,

I've got my first youth intake (a good one ) but Ossasuna, Einabr and Alaves doesn't have any Newgens. Only San Sebastian. Why? 

[dothestrand]

11 minutes ago, sgevolker said:

Hi Guys,

I've got my first youth intake (a good one ) but Ossasuna, Einabr and Alaves doesn't have any Newgens. Only San Sebastian. Why? 

Their intakes come in shortly after yours. So if you're looking immediately as your intake arrives, then just give it a couple of weeks. Athletic Club and Real Sociedad always get their intakes ahead of the other Basque clubs.

[sgevolker]

vor 18 Minuten schrieb dothestrand:

Their intakes come in shortly after yours. So if you're looking immediately as your intake arrives, then just give it a couple of weeks. Athletic Club and Real Sociedad always get their intakes ahead of the other Basque clubs.

Thanks 

[bowieinspace]

7 hours ago, sgevolker said:

Thanks 

Yeah the date used to be a fixed day where they all came at the same time but I think now it’s like a week period and it could be any day in that period, so just keep checking back. 

the only other thing that can impact this is database is - I’m pretty sure in the past I’ve had small databases where ai clubs would get very few or no newgens some years

[bowieinspace]

Real Madrid are insane on my save. I am on 75 points after 27 games, so that’s 24 wins and 3 draws and I still might not win the league 

[bowieinspace]

Real Madrid have now not lost a league game since January 2030, and we just finished the 31/32 season - they only lost one game in the 29/30 season, so have now lost 1 game in the last 3 years in the league.

They've only won the league once in those 3 seasons 

[bowieinspace]

2031/32 Season Review - Real Madrid Undefeated Again

 

2.5 years without a loss in the league now for Real Madrid and they finished on 100 points.... but it WAS NOT ENOUGH! They didn't even take it to the final day as we romped home with 106 points, 124 goals scored, 23 goals conceded... 34 wins, 4 draws, 0 losses. We broke the La Liga record for most points, most goals scored. Real Madrid also broke a record...most points in a season without winning the title...lol.

La Liga - 1st, 106 points
Copa Del Rey - Lost in final to Real Madrid
Champions League - Lost in semi final to Paris Saint Germain on penalties
Supercopa - Winners

So Real Madrid did get a win against us in the Copa Del Rey final so it wasn't a total domination this season - we conceded two goals in the final to lose 2-1, one was a ball over the back line which Guillamon basically tripped over when under minimal pressure gifting them a free 1 on 1, and the other was a clearance that could easily have been played sideways and out for a throw, but instead went forwards straight at their attacker and it bounced off him and in. I hate this match engine sometimes. In the Champions League we lost a very tight semi final on penalities to PSG - no major complaints just one of those unfortunate ones which could have gone either way. Prior to that we had beaten Chelsea and Liverpool in the knockouts so we had no easy ties after cruising through the league phase. 

 

Transfers/Squad Building

No major news on this front, however we're approaching a key point of transition across the team really because Guillamon, Vivian, Aimar, Sancet and Vencedor are all 31-32 years old, Simon is 34, Nico Williams is 29 and Barrenetxea is 30. What's quite telling is that after Nico Williams at 29, the next oldest player is Mikel Gallego at 25... so the whole generation of young Basque players who were present at the start of the game basically came to nothing, so I have a weird age gap in the team and we're on the verge of transitioning away from that whole group of existing players. Because the young basque youth players in the game basically came to nothing, the depth in the team is completely dependent on newgens - particularly problematic at CB where there is basically no good players. Once Guillamon and Vivian are moved on we are going to be scraping by a bit to be honest. We do have a few solid options coming through but it's hard to know if they'll be that good - if I had to guess they may be good La Liga players but not elite players.

Mikel Jauregi had an exceptional loan spell at Cartegena and is now a legitimate challenge to Simon for first choice keeper. I am trying to decide whether to build him into the team this year or loan him out again and replace Simon next year. Otherwise, we saw good improvement from all of our young players basically. Iker Castro came on a lot this year and Goikoetxea up front had a wonderful season as well - he's my preferred choice over Javi now which has caused some harmony issues with Javi. 

GK - Simon, Jauregi, Imaz
RB - Larrea, Barrenetxea
LB - Lacruz, Etxabe
CB - Vivian, Gulllamon, Lozano, Villar
DM - Castro, Vencedor
CM - Gallego, Sancet, Aimar, Garai
RW - Nico Williams, Rubio
LW - Pascual, Aguirre
CF - Goikoetxea, Javi

 

 

[JoOSTAR]

8 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

2031/32 Season Review - Real Madrid Undefeated Again

 

2.5 years without a loss in the league now for Real Madrid and they finished on 100 points.... but it WAS NOT ENOUGH! They didn't even take it to the final day as we romped home with 106 points, 124 goals scored, 23 goals conceded... 34 wins, 4 draws, 0 losses. We broke the La Liga record for most points, most goals scored. Real Madrid also broke a record...most points in a season without winning the title...lol.

La Liga - 1st, 106 points
Copa Del Rey - Lost in final to Real Madrid
Champions League - Lost in semi final to Paris Saint Germain on penalties
Supercopa - Winners

So Real Madrid did get a win against us in the Copa Del Rey final so it wasn't a total domination this season - we conceded two goals in the final to lose 2-1, one was a ball over the back line which Guillamon basically tripped over when under minimal pressure gifting them a free 1 on 1, and the other was a clearance that could easily have been played sideways and out for a throw, but instead went forwards straight at their attacker and it bounced off him and in. I hate this match engine sometimes. In the Champions League we lost a very tight semi final on penalities to PSG - no major complaints just one of those unfortunate ones which could have gone either way. Prior to that we had beaten Chelsea and Liverpool in the knockouts so we had no easy ties after cruising through the league phase. 

 

Transfers/Squad Building

No major news on this front, however we're approaching a key point of transition across the team really because Guillamon, Vivian, Aimar, Sancet and Vencedor are all 31-32 years old, Simon is 34, Nico Williams is 29 and Barrenetxea is 30. What's quite telling is that after Nico Williams at 29, the next oldest player is Mikel Gallego at 25... so the whole generation of young Basque players who were present at the start of the game basically came to nothing, so I have a weird age gap in the team and we're on the verge of transitioning away from that whole group of existing players. Because the young basque youth players in the game basically came to nothing, the depth in the team is completely dependent on newgens - particularly problematic at CB where there is basically no good players. Once Guillamon and Vivian are moved on we are going to be scraping by a bit to be honest. We do have a few solid options coming through but it's hard to know if they'll be that good - if I had to guess they may be good La Liga players but not elite players.

Mikel Jauregi had an exceptional loan spell at Cartegena and is now a legitimate challenge to Simon for first choice keeper. I am trying to decide whether to build him into the team this year or loan him out again and replace Simon next year. Otherwise, we saw good improvement from all of our young players basically. Iker Castro came on a lot this year and Goikoetxea up front had a wonderful season as well - he's my preferred choice over Javi now which has caused some harmony issues with Javi. 

GK - Simon, Jauregi, Imaz
RB - Larrea, Barrenetxea
LB - Lacruz, Etxabe
CB - Vivian, Gulllamon, Lozano, Villar
DM - Castro, Vencedor
CM - Gallego, Sancet, Aimar, Garai
RW - Nico Williams, Rubio
LW - Pascual, Aguirre
CF - Goikoetxea, Javi

 

 

Great season man!

 

Is it possible to share your savegame? I would love to see your tactic and decisions throughout time etc.

[bowieinspace]

3 hours ago, JoOSTAR said:

Great season man!

 

Is it possible to share your savegame? I would love to see your tactic and decisions throughout time etc.

Sure:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CQAw1EOsi_2NohwHQH3qaqU8o2zQPhsQ/view?usp=sharing

This is my most recent file, anyone is welcome to have a snoop around my gameworld. Check out the german full back at Real Madrid who is really cool (weisner I think) - amazing newgen FB, as well as the three newgens that Man City have as their AMC, AMR and AML right now...scary.

In terms of Athletic you'll see my CB issues become apparent, I'm in the process of signing a guy from Cartegena who looks like he could be a good rotation up for us, he's going back there on loan for a year before joining us to coincide with Vivian and Guillamon ageing.

Tactics wise I've not tweaked much long term, a couple minor role tweaks but we've largely kept the same system/philosophy. We have our primary 4-3-3 which we start games with, and an alternative 4-3-3 with a few role tweaks that we switch to if we are struggling to play through a high press. We have a 4-4-2 as well but never use it to be honest. We mainly just tweak our 4-3-3...the usual changes that I make are:

1) Removing pass into space vs low blocks
2) Switching to alternative 4-3-3 against aggressive high press (roaming playmaker becomes an AP(S) sometimes). The mezzala sits super high when playing out, so that can leave the DM and BBM with a lot of work to do sometimes. If we are getting robbed in our own third by a high press we switch the roles slightly to give us an extra man when playing out from the back.

The tactical system is based on a couple key elements...

1) Play out from the back, draw them on to us and then play fast and direct once they come up the pitch to exploit the space. If this fast break doesn't work out we work the ball into the box and take our time to try to break them down. If Javi is on the pitch we often remove the work ball into box instruction and mix up the crosses to utilise his aerial threat.
2) Defensively we sit fairly high and try to force a pressing trap in the central midfield area to then open up good counter attack opportunities from there. We aren't good aerially at the back so we try to avoid getting hammered by lots of crosses.

[dothestrand]

@bowieinspace I had a look at your saved game and you've some excellent regens. Your LB is some player! I'm a few seasons back and will have your issues too. Fortunately we have a good GK we signed from Real Sociedad and a homegrown wonderkid CB, plus a few more defensively minded players who could be good squad options. With the intakes now I'm forcing anyone with any half decent defensive attributes to retrain as a defender. Likewise any winger who looks like they could play up top. 

[bowieinspace]

12 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

@bowieinspace I had a look at your saved game and you've some excellent regens. Your LB is some player! I'm a few seasons back and will have your issues too. Fortunately we have a good GK we signed from Real Sociedad and a homegrown wonderkid CB, plus a few more defensively minded players who could be good squad options. With the intakes now I'm forcing anyone with any half decent defensive attributes to retrain as a defender. Likewise any winger who looks like they could play up top. 

Yeah Lacruz is immense, as well as Gallego…I’d say certainly my best two newgens, with Iker Castro a close third.

[bowieinspace]

Oihan Sancet has a ruptured ACL - 9 months out at 32-33 years old  Think that’ll be it for him unfortunately.

[bowieinspace]

January 2033 Update

 

A very successful first half of the season and we are in to January with plenty to play for still. Unfortunately a few negatives hang over us... firstly Oihan Sancet ruptured his ACL and that was 6-9 months - at 33 years old this is likely it for him, Alvaro Ojeda has stepped into his spot in the first team and looks excellent, I can't see Sancet regaining his place in the team and he will be allowed to leave in the summer unless he wants to do the final year of his contract and retire at Athletic, which I'd be more than happy for him to do.

 

Aside from this, we've bene bombarbed by unsettling transfer offers:

Mikel Gallego - Unsettled by Spurs and currently unhappy
Alain Rubio - Unsettled by Chelsea and currently unhappy - this has happened nearly every window with him in the last couple years and every time he goes out on the booze and misses matches haha, absolute wildcard he is. Such a good player though.
Iker Castro - Unsettled by Chelsea and currently unhappy
Mikel Jauregi - Unsettled by Real Madrid and currently unhappy
Aitor Aguirre - Unsettled by Chelsea and currently unhappy

Bit of a nightmare to deal with 5 unhappy players mid season. Chelsea just being dicks.

Real Madrid's unbeaten run came to an end early in the season, losing away to Real Sociedad - they had a man sent off after a few mins and lost to a last minute penalty. Their run stretched 97 league games which is absolutely incredible - the fact we managed to steal the last title off them when they got 100 points and were unbeaten is pretty funny really. We are currently on an unbeaten league run of 64 games but getting to 97 would be an unreal feat.
 

Edited December 31, 2022 by bowieinspace

[MattyC78]

6 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

January 2033 Update

 

A very successful first half of the season and we are in to January with plenty to play for still. Unfortunately a few negatives hang over us... firstly Oihan Sancet ruptured his ACL and that was 6-9 months - at 33 years old this is likely it for him, Alvaro Ojeda has stepped into his spot in the first team and looks excellent, I can't see Sancet regaining his place in the team and he will be allowed to leave in the summer unless he wants to do the final year of his contract and retire at Athletic, which I'd be more than happy for him to do.

 

Aside from this, we've bene bombarbed by unsettling transfer offers:

Mikel Gallego - Unsettled by Spurs and currently unhappy
Alain Rubio - Unsettled by Chelsea and currently unhappy - this has happened nearly every window with him in the last couple years and every time he goes out on the booze and misses matches haha, absolute wildcard he is. Such a good player though.
Iker Castro - Unsettled by Chelsea and currently unhappy
Mikel Jauregi - Unsettled by Real Madrid and currently unhappy
Aitor Aguirre - Unsettled by Chelsea and currently unhappy

Bit of a nightmare to deal with 5 unhappy players mid season. Chelsea just being dicks.

Real Madrid's unbeaten run came to an end early in the season, losing away to Real Sociedad - they had a man sent off after a few mins and lost to a last minute penalty. Their run stretched 97 league games which is absolutely incredible - the fact we managed to steal the last title off them when they got 100 points and were unbeaten is pretty funny really. We are currently on an unbeaten league run of 64 games but getting to 97 would be an unreal feat.
 

It's always sad to lose long standing players but it is nice to see the next generation coming through.

I've had issues with unhappy players in the past and I've had to let a couple of them go.  It is hard because I'm sure I could persuade them to stay if I was able to have a proper conversation with them.  We are winning trophies and competing in Europe and we can match the money they are being offered elsewhere.  We have a good reputation but that doesn't stop the offers coming and unsettling them.  Players seem to be more inclined to move on this year and with more considering their options at the end of their contracts, earlier.  This probably reflects most players across football but not necessarily the situation at Athletic.  Hopefully those that move on will develop elsewhere and come back again ready to contribute to our future success. 

[dothestrand]

Many of my players, across all squads, are in constant demand by so called bigger clubs across Europe and often get unsettled. Sometimes I let them go, particularly if I don't think they will make it here or there even and am happy stiffing the other club for the money. A couple of times you lose a player on a release clause fee - that happened this season with a C team defender. Again, I can't see him doing the business at San Mames so I'll take the money but he'll cost a crazy amount to bring him back. I usually find players are more antsy during transfer windows and won't back down during those. But once they close they usually change their minds about wanting to leave. 

[bowieinspace]

10 hours ago, MattyC78 said:

It's always sad to lose long standing players but it is nice to see the next generation coming through.

I've had issues with unhappy players in the past and I've had to let a couple of them go.  It is hard because I'm sure I could persuade them to stay if I was able to have a proper conversation with them.  We are winning trophies and competing in Europe and we can match the money they are being offered elsewhere.  We have a good reputation but that doesn't stop the offers coming and unsettling them.  Players seem to be more inclined to move on this year and with more considering their options at the end of their contracts, earlier.  This probably reflects most players across football but not necessarily the situation at Athletic.  Hopefully those that move on will develop elsewhere and come back again ready to contribute to our future success. 

I think the biggest issue really is the illogical and annoying interaction options. Like for example my players were generally annoyed because they wanted to go to X team as they felt they had no chance of winning the champions league with us…like we lost in the semi final on penalties last season, reach the latter stages each year and won it 5 or 6 years ago, as well as having knocked the team you want to go to out last season…but then they are happy for me to promise they will make at least the ‘latter stages’ and that will be enough for them to want to stay…that’s only the quarter finals, which we have consistently reached for about 8 or 9 years. 

The other one that I get is the ‘leave to be a more important player’ one, when they are clearly going to be an obscure squad player at that other team. 

Just an annoying slightly flawed system, which when half of your first 11 get unsettled within a few days is quite annoying. I’m into March now and 3 key starters are still unhappy as the clubs are interested still, and looks like I’ll have to deal with that through until the early parts of next season. These guys are irreplaceable sadly.

[bowieinspace]

13 hours ago, dothestrand said:

Many of my players, across all squads, are in constant demand by so called bigger clubs across Europe and often get unsettled. Sometimes I let them go, particularly if I don't think they will make it here or there even and am happy stiffing the other club for the money. A couple of times you lose a player on a release clause fee - that happened this season with a C team defender. Again, I can't see him doing the business at San Mames so I'll take the money but he'll cost a crazy amount to bring him back. I usually find players are more antsy during transfer windows and won't back down during those. But once they close they usually change their minds about wanting to leave. 

Yeah it is linked to when the unsettling club drops their interest…in my case Gallego and Castro look unlikely to have the interest in them dropped by the other club as they are keen to keep trying in the summer it seems

[MWE]

Ive just finished my first season with Bilbao after getting FM for xmas.

Wasn't the best of seasons missing out on europe by a couple of points

 

 

 

[MattyC78]

We have now finished the 2027/28 season.  We added to the Super Cup with another League title finishing ten points clear of Real.

 

We went out at the quarter final stage of the Copa Del Rey (to Real) and the Champions League (to AC Milan). 

Jon Karrikaburu had a fine season with 39 goals in the league and 58 goals in 47 games across all competitions.  He is most certainly my first choice centre forward now.

Asier Blanco and Alvaro Pascual were unlucky not to be part of the team of the year.  They are both developing nicely and we are spoilt for attacking midfielder and winger options.  

Edited January 1, 2023 by MattyC78

[dothestrand]

Season 28-29: Back to Back title success

La Liga: Champions, 96 points (+2 from last season)

Champions League: Quarter Finals (lost to Real Madrid)

Super Cup: Final (lost to Real Madrid)

Spanish Cup: Quarter Finals (lost to Barcelona)

Squad Performance

To show that last season wasn't a fluke, we brought the title back to San Mames, with more points and wins than the previous year. We were in a tussle with Barcelona across the season and things were neck and neck by around week 30 (with Barcelona having the better head to head). We won 7 of our last 8 games (losing at Atletico Madrid), whilst Barcelona wobbled, losing at Real Sociedad (thanks, neighbours!) and Valencia, whilst dropping home points to Villareal and Almeria (who were the season's dark horses!). I was surprised it was so comfortable in the end. Real Madrid continue to struggle, which is nice to see. 

We performed better in the Champions League than past seasons, finishing in the top eight of the group stage for the first time. We then defeated Nice in the last sixteen in extra time of the second leg, and we were optimistic in our QF against Real Madrid after an undeserved away draw. We then bottled it at home, losing 0-2. Madrid had the wood over us that season in the cups, beating us in the Super Cup final. When we were unfortunate to draw Barcelona at an early-ish stage in the Spanish Cups, the board and a few players were miffed at the prospect of no silverware. La Liga should be more than enough compensation.

Strong performances again across the first team, with the regular starting XI averaging 7.0 besides Zubimendi. But many of the other first team squad averaged over 7.0 too - Nunez, Nico Williams, Yoldi (our regen CM), Aimar, and Aritz Gil (a regen DM). Dani Vivian was the worst performer of my defence, which doesn't bode well given he's captain. 

Ander Ibanez is a 21yo homegrown striker who's spent a couple of seasons on loan but has now plugged the Griezmann shaped hole in the side. We're more optimistic in the STC position than we've been for a while as we've got some good-looking regens now.

Transfers and Youth Intake

Only one big purchase this season - bringing Aymeric Laporte back to the club. 34m is a lot for a 34yo but he shows little sign of decline and we'll get two good seasons from him. He'll hopefully be a good influence on the younger players too. Otherwise, it was a case of picking up Basque regens with decent potential. A promising GK at Villareal and a bargain of a RB at Pamplona (the non-Osasuna club!) are the main standouts - others tend to be inexpensive punts from smaller Basque clubs, so I'm fine if only the odd player comes off. 

No real outgoings, just a series of loans of our younger players across the top two divisions, which has really accelerated their development.  

We were promised a golden generation with the intake with 4-5 positions suggesting A grades. OK, it wasn't quite that good and nobody is within first team range for a few seasons at least, but we had a few decent strikers and defenders come through. We'll watch how they develop, but I'm not expecting fireworks.

Looking Ahead

We let Yeray, Munoz and Odriozola leave last season, but we still have an ageing backline. Laporte is 34, Nunez and Le Normand are 32, and Vivian is 29, but I'd only want to lose one of these at most this Summer. The first three are out of contract next Summer and I may just let them see their contracts out. 

The other position we need to think about this Summer is the AML/AMR positions. Armendariz and Ojeda, who were highlighted as wonderkids in the last season's update did well enough on loan at Vallecano (midtable in La Liga) to suggest they could contribute to the first team. We also have three wingers out on loan who are now wonderkids. A crazy embarrassment of riches for two positions we're already well stocked in. This means Aimar Vicandi, Aimar Oroz and Dani Rodriguez may be vulnerable. The last two are out of contract next Summer so I'll need to decide on their futures sooner rather than later.

It's unlikely we'll do much transfer business. We've got some players from the 2029 intake coming in already. That amazing young CM at Alaves keeps rejecting me. I'm hoping they get relegated to force him to rethink.

Having matched the back to back titles of the early 80s Athletic Club squad under Javier Clemente, we're looking to go one further and make it a hat trick. A cup win and more progress in the Champions League would be nice!

Edited January 1, 2023 by dothestrand

[bowieinspace]

Bit of frustration in my save with scheduling issues...I reached the Copa Del Rey final and Champions League semis, and that's left me with this schedule

Tuesday - CL Semi leg 1
Thurs - League title key game vs Real Madrid
Sat - Derby vs Real Sociedad
Mon - League vs Almeria
Wed - CL Semi leg 2

What the....
 

[Doyce7]

2029-30 season

It's a three-peat 

We came into the season back to back winners and managed to complete the hattrick! It was however a slight step back in points from the previous two seasons, 97 and 92. For much of the season it seemed we were not destined to pull off the three-peat, we were in 4th on February 17th but then we went on a run that saw 10 wins 1 draw and 1 defeat in the final 12 matches to win it. 

Cups and Europe

As great as it is to win the league again, and it is great, the other competitions did not go to plan. The Copa Del Rey saw us exit in the 4th round, in extra time, with a 1-0 defeat to Villarreal. Very very disappointing, after winning the cup back in 27/28 we have now gone out in the 3rd and 4th rounds these last two years. We will need to change up how we approach this competition next season and start a few more regulars in the early rounds. 

For the Champions League, this competition has been nothing but pain. We made a run to the final in 26/27, losing to Bayern Munich 3-1. Since then we have been knocked out at the first knockout round we played in, Monaco in the R16 in 27/28, PSG in the first knockout round in 28/29, both had an excuse in that we had a red card in the first leg of both matchups. This season we drew Newcastle in the R16, after finishing the league phase joint top with Bayern and Liverpool. A pair of 1-0 defeats sees us out of the competition, we were awful in the away leg and were lucky to only lose by the one goal, the second leg Newcastle punched us in the 18th with a goal and we had 2 goals disallowed in the game, Newcastle had a man sent off in the 65th but we just could not muster a goal, much less two. I am not sure what happens when we get on this stage but knockout football has been a terrible experience for the us the last 2 years. 

Team of the season

Gorka Aizpurua became an absolute star this season, 36 total goals this season, leading LaLiga with 29. He won the Young Player of the Season, and was second in Player of the Season, behind Beitia. Roberto Alonso, in his return from Manchester, became the starting Mez this season with Sancet moving over to B2B, and was great. 

We did continue to move on from some of the older players this season. January saw the departures of Aihen Munoz and Alvaro Ordiozola, to Udinese for 1.9M and Salzburg for 15M respectively. We are now down to 10 players that are not newgens and 5 that start the game at the club. A couple of these players will be moving on in the summer. Aymeric Laporte was a mistake, he has been injured more than healthy and he still has some value. Mikel Merino will be 34 at the start of next season and has not been happy that his playing time is starting to decrease. He is still the best B2B at the club but I have a few up and coming players who need to be integrated. Julen Jon Guerrero has been a useful backup for the club the last 5 years but saw the field only 12 times this season, all off the bench, at 26, it's time to let him leave and try to find playing time at Segunda level or abroad. 

One thing I am very excited about is this years youth intake. This could be the best one yet. 

Luis Gil is the crown jewel, being a CB. Vivian and Guillamon are both 30 now so hopefully Gil will be ready to step up by the time they really fall off in 5 years or so. He obviously has some growing to do in the physicals but he's only 16 but being 6'3" with already 14 jumping reach and already a competent passer, I expect big things.

 

ETA - I finally became a club legend! Asier Villalibre and Lander Beitia are considered icons. Nico, Inaki, Muniain, Sancet and Vivian are all favoured personnel. I wish the game was able to combine pre and post save. Muniain should absolutely be considered a legend and Inaki could be as well. Heck Villalibre scored 138 goals for the club over 266 appearances. 

Edited January 2, 2023 by Doyce7

[Doyce7]

On 28/12/2022 at 14:48, bowieinspace said:

Sure:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CQAw1EOsi_2NohwHQH3qaqU8o2zQPhsQ/view?usp=sharing

This is my most recent file, anyone is welcome to have a snoop around my gameworld. Check out the german full back at Real Madrid who is really cool (weisner I think) - amazing newgen FB, as well as the three newgens that Man City have as their AMC, AMR and AML right now...scary.

In terms of Athletic you'll see my CB issues become apparent, I'm in the process of signing a guy from Cartegena who looks like he could be a good rotation up for us, he's going back there on loan for a year before joining us to coincide with Vivian and Guillamon ageing.

Tactics wise I've not tweaked much long term, a couple minor role tweaks but we've largely kept the same system/philosophy. We have our primary 4-3-3 which we start games with, and an alternative 4-3-3 with a few role tweaks that we switch to if we are struggling to play through a high press. We have a 4-4-2 as well but never use it to be honest. We mainly just tweak our 4-3-3...the usual changes that I make are:

1) Removing pass into space vs low blocks
2) Switching to alternative 4-3-3 against aggressive high press (roaming playmaker becomes an AP(S) sometimes). The mezzala sits super high when playing out, so that can leave the DM and BBM with a lot of work to do sometimes. If we are getting robbed in our own third by a high press we switch the roles slightly to give us an extra man when playing out from the back.

The tactical system is based on a couple key elements...

1) Play out from the back, draw them on to us and then play fast and direct once they come up the pitch to exploit the space. If this fast break doesn't work out we work the ball into the box and take our time to try to break them down. If Javi is on the pitch we often remove the work ball into box instruction and mix up the crosses to utilise his aerial threat.
2) Defensively we sit fairly high and try to force a pressing trap in the central midfield area to then open up good counter attack opportunities from there. We aren't good aerially at the back so we try to avoid getting hammered by lots of crosses.

Because I opened your save file, I am now chasing you in the Spanish Hall of Fame lol 

[Doyce7]

The World Cup is happening this summer and 9! Bilbao players will be going for Spain, including Beritia and Aizpurua 

[bowieinspace]

23 minutes ago, Doyce7 said:

Because I opened your save file, I am now chasing you in the Spanish Hall of Fame lol 

Haha that’s hilarious! Had no idea that happened.

Seeing as I’m in your hall of fame can you gift me Luis Gil? 

[bowieinspace]

2032/33 Season Review - The End of an Era

 

This season we have said goodbye to some legendary faces due to age, and we had a lovely old time in their final season.

La Liga - Winners, 96 points
Copa Del Rey - Winners, beat Real Madrid in final
Supercopa - Lost in SF to Barcelona
Champions League - Winners!
UEFA Super Cup (August 2023 - current season) - Winners!
Club World Cup - Winners!

An unbelievable way to wave goodbye to Unai Vencedor, Oihan Sancet, Hugo Guillamon, Dani Vivian and Unai Simon (albeit the latter two will stick around for one more year). We handled everything thrown at us this year, and the quality of our squad came into it's own with some ridiculous late season fixture congestion. We now move into something of a new era with the core of the old guard moving on. Our fixture congestion was very problematic, basically playing every 2 days for a 8 or 9 day period (Tues, Thurs, Sat, Mon, Wed). We prioritised our Champions League semi final during that period, played the strongest team we could against PSG and then relied on our other players for the easier games. It worked out well - we lost vs Real Madrid but were otherwise successful at navigating that period.

Highlight of the league season was winning 19-0 aggregate across our two games vs Deportivo La Coruna....lol.

Champions League overview: We ripped through the league phase and comfortably finished top 8 to secure our spot in the last 16, where we would meet Napoli. Napoli had been a real tough opponent for many years, but their star is waning somewhat now and we comfortably dispatched them 3-0 away in the first leg - we rotated in the second leg and had a wonderfully entertaining 4-4 draw, to go through 7-3 on aggregate. We then had a quarter final tie against rivals Real Madrid. We were unfortunate to lose the first leg at the Bernabeu 2-1, having had the better of the game, however we weren't to be denied to San Mames in a 3-0 destruction to go through 4-2 on aggregate - two goals from forward Javi off the bench saw us home. In the semi final we drew last years opponents at the same stage, PSG. Having lost on penalities last year we had a point to prove this time around, and prove it we certainly did - we beat them 4-1 at San Mames in the first leg, and then went away to Parc Des Princes and took a 3-2 win their as well having been 1-2 behind, this time it was Ignacio Goikoetxea's turn to get in the goals. 

Our final was against AC Milan who had an insane comeback against Man City in their semi final. I was pretty pleased about this because City are very very good, while AC Milan I felt we were definitely favourites. So it proved - we took an early lead courtesy of Nico Williams, and then Mikel Gallego showed his star quality with 2 goals, sealing a 3-0 win and our second Champions League title. We've now reached the final 3 times and have been lucky enough to win it twice.

We then went into the Club World Cup in an effort to be National, European and World Champions. This is a trophy I'm not sure I've ever won on this game because it's always felt like a farce, but we actually managed to keep our squad healthy this time around. We beat out Kaizer Chiefs and Palmeiras in the group phase (albeit a 0-0 draw with Palmeiras saw us only progress on goal difference), and we then beat Bayern Munich 3-2 in the quarter final (rather fortunately as they were the better side), then a 3-0 win against Spurs in the semi final setting up a final against PSG. We comfortably outplayed them against as we did in the Champions League, however this ended up being a bit tougher. We went 1-0 down and had to claw our way back into it. A Javi equaliser in the 94th minute sent the fans (e.g. me) wild, while my wife looked slightly confused and concerned. Javi then struck again in extra time to take a 2-1 win. The combination of Goikeotxea (pacy, on the shoulder type striker) and Javi (big unit, well rounded striker) is absolutely fantastic as we can adjust our style to suit our opponents on the fly. 

 

Career Honours

It seems like a good time at the end of this era to overview my honours to this point:
La Liga Winners - 2027, 2028, 2030, 2032, 2033
Copa Del Rey Winners - 2026, 2028, 2031, 2033
Supercopa Winners - 2028, 2032
Champions League Winners - 2026, 2033
Uefa Super Cup Winners - 2026, 2033

Spanish League Manager of the Year - 7 times

In other news - Nico Williams over the last 12 months or so has won basically every individual award, winning the Ballon D'or and FIFA mens best player, coming second in the Goal50. We have also seen Ignacio Goikoetxea win the nxgn award.


Squad Building/Transfers

A big summer for us with a significant shift from old to new. Unai Vencedor (32), Oihan Sancet (33) and Hugo Guillamon (33) have all moved on after wanting new challenges. Our squad felt quite deep with young players coming through, so while I was open to keeping these guys for another year, in the end I was actually happy to have them request new challenges because I wanted to make room for younger players. Dani Vivian (34) has one year left and will stick around, as will Unai Simon who is still our best keeper. We have welcomed Jorge Santisteban, a 24 year old centre back from Cartagena who originally came through at Osasuna - he's not as good as Vivian/Guillamon, but a great option for us in the coming years. His first appearance came off the bench for an underperforming Dani Vivian in the Super Cup and he was exceptional.... I now plan to use him and Lozano as the first choice pair with Vivian available as back up - finally our defence has some aerial ability. We also welcome a couple of youngsters I am really excited about - Jesus Arrizabalaga (who I hope to be the future of our central midfield in a BBM role) and Arkaitz Martinez. Martinez is a young CB who comes in as a back up option who will get plenty of minutes this season - I hope he will become first choice before long. 

In the 2032/33 season the whole team was fantastic, but I have to give some praise to Alvaro Ojeda who has become an important midfielder for us - he started as a young player looking for experience, but became key when Oihan Sancet ruptured his ACL as the first option off our bench - his contributes were excellent and he has completely displaced Alain Garai. I now have Garai up for sale as I can't find a place for him - Aimar is 31 now but has a couple of years left in him, and Oscar Jimenez is improving well (I am trying to find a loan for him this year). Endika Etxabe is a natural so I've shifted him their to rotate with/cover Castro, meaning Villar can shift back to LB and we can make room for Martinez to come in. I have another young CB who looks capable and should replace Vivian next season - he will play for the B team this year.

 

GK - Simon, Jauregi, Westerveld 
RB - Larrea, Barrenetxea
LB - Lacruz, Villar
CB - Lozano, Santisteban, Vivan, Martinez - N.b. it says he's a FB on the screenshot above but he's a CB for sure.
DM - Castro, Etxabe
CM (BBM) - Aimar, Arrizabalaga
CM (Mez) - Gallego, Ojeda, Garai
RW - Nico Williams, Rubio
LW - Pascual, Aguirre
CF - Goiketxea, Javi