[FM23.4] internationals (COSAFA/CECAFA, Gold Cup fix, CNL new format)

[themodelcitizen]

As usual, my goal is to replicate the IRL format down to kick-off times and stadia. If you spot anything that looks off let me know.

South Africa almost always host the COSAFA Cup here, rotating between different cities. Main download also includes:

• CECAFA Cup
• Indian Ocean Island Games and African Games
• WAFU Nations Cup
• COSAFA U-20 Cup and CECAFA U-20 Cup
• ...and more

DOWNLOAD (backup) | LOGOS
Challenge thread

Copa América/Gold Cup/CNL fix (details) (backup)
Baltic Cup and more (details) (backup)

Arab cups (backup) | Arab youth cups (backup) | SAFF (backup) | WAFF (backup)
TMC Megapack

Please upvote here and rate on Steam if you are enjoying the databases (or not!)

For int'l jobs to be available, at game start load (for example, for the COSAFA and CECAFA cups) international players from Southern and Eastern Africa (and Maldives and Sudan), and for the WAFU 'B' teams you can consider adding players from top clubs or higher in West Africa.

Screenshots: (click on Reveal hidden contents)

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More FM23:

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Edited September 9, 2023 by themodelcitizen

[themodelcitizen]

I noticed that the game has the AFCON in summer 2023 (IRL it's been moved to January 2024) and then moves back to January. edit: either they fixed this in 23.2 or I was mistaken, it's in the summer from 2025 onward as well

Edited December 5, 2022 by themodelcitizen

[themodelcitizen]

Updated OP with CECAFA Cup added, working on the U20 versions now. Make sure to load "all international players" from southern and eastern Africa.

I'll try and finish the remaining regional comps in Asia and Europe with the same level of detail and harmonized with the game's international calendar.

More screenshots:

Spoiler

Edited December 4, 2022 by themodelcitizen

[cameosis]

awesome sauce! maybe someday in the future include all the regional tournaments on the continent. the african section of football manager definitely needs a huge expansion/upgrade. cheers and thanks for this.

[themodelcitizen]

1 hour ago, cameosis said:

awesome sauce! maybe someday in the future include all the regional tournaments on the continent. the african section of football manager definitely needs a huge expansion/upgrade. cheers and thanks for this.

Just finished WAFU Nations (for West African 'B' teams) and the Indian Ocean Games. That's it for senior age tourneys, next up will be the African Games and the various U20s (easy enough).

Asia has a few missing as well, and the ABCS and Baltic Cups are still being played despite Nations Leagues taking over, those will come soon.

It will be nice to have international distractions to do a Hervé Renard-style journeyman career in between club jobs

[themodelcitizen]

Finally got COSAFA how I wanted - i.e., 3 straight years in S. Africa (different cities), and then a strong chance of being hosted by another COSAFA country every 4 years (played at stadium_0 and stadium_1 in those cases).

Also scrapped the years off when I realized the game has summer AFCONs as the norm - I just moved the CECAFA and COSAFA by a couple of weeks to accommodate them (plenty realistic, they move all around the calendar).

IRL, I'm not convinced we'll ever actually see a summer AFCON, despite it supposedly happening from 2025 - unless it's in South Africa again.

Similar to the 3-team World Cup groups in 2026 and the expanded Club World Cup, I understand why SI has programmed them, but it would be nice to switch them off given recent discussions about the global calendar

[themodelcitizen]

Fixed a glitch with some international comps where the squad deadline needs to occur 3+ days before the comp or you get stuck picking numbers (unless you holidayed past it). I think it was affecting the CECAFA Cup and Indian Ocean Island Games. Works perfectly now

[themodelcitizen]

Francophone Games added. It's a U20s event and the next is in summer 2023, then the 4-year cycle starts again in 2025 as planned. Same format as the last pre-Covid one in 2017

[themodelcitizen]

Baltic Cup (backup link)

https://news.err.ee/1608683296/estonian-men-s-football-team-looking-to-finish-year-by-retaining-baltic-cup

Spoiler

Includes U-21 and U-19 Baltic Cups

[themodelcitizen]

Padded out the Baltic Cup file with some missing international tournaments:

• ABCS Tournament
• Central American and Caribbean Games
• South American Games
• Southeast Asian Games
• AFF U-19 Championship
• South Asian Games
• SAFF U-19 Championship
• CAFA U-19 Championship

Trying to activate all of the international tournaments that aren't just friendly cups, and are still being played at U-19 level or above. If you spot anything missing between these and my Arab Cup and Islamic Games files let me know and we can put it in. I'll wait until the final official update before cleaning up stuff like the Gold Cup and the WAFF Championship

[themodelcitizen]

More screenshots (also using my competition names fix and other files):

Spoiler

[themodelcitizen]

Added to the Baltic Cup file:

• Merdeka (friendly comp)
• King's Cup (friendly comp)

Like the Baltic Cup, these are set as "friendly comps" except they add histories.

Both were recently restarted, I'm not sure either will be truly annual so I've made them biannual for now, easier to fit in the calendar for all the possible invitees anyway.

[themodelcitizen]

This one fixes the SAFF tournament (already in the game). Removes Afghanistan as they're in CAFA now.

Also moves the 2023 tournament up a couple of weeks to the correct date, and sets India as host (as planned). Sri Lanka are suspended so they don't play this year.

SI haven't moved the Asian Cup to January 2024 yet (just announced) - likely too many knock-on effects on other tournaments to deal with - so they got around the clash by having India miss the SAFF Cup. This doesn't work here as they're hosting, so I've sent the 'B' team to SAFF instead.

Edited March 7, 2023 by themodelcitizen

[anitamui]

How to qualify for Merdeka?

[themodelcitizen]

It's random. Malaysia plus three invitees.

First year is the rumoured teams for 2023, then its more teams outside the top 90 or 100 world rankings (selected from different regions like the Caribbean, Central Asia, etc). King's Cup follows a similar format. Should be realistic

Edited March 6, 2023 by themodelcitizen

[themodelcitizen]

Some quick checks on the final (?) official update without any of my files, doesn't look like they touched any international stuff.

Gold Cup playoff qualifying still broken despite being raised with each update, I might be tempted to try and fix this, along with stadium selection for CONCACAF tournaments.

Asian Cup still hasn't been moved to January next year, can hardly blame them as this is a one-off and would require adjusting everything else. Likely won't touch it for the same reason.

WAFF still happening in the summer with 9 teams who played in an older edition, no rapprochement with Qatar like IRL. My WAFF file just cancels it to recognize the indefinite postponement (plenty going on with Gulf Cup, Arab Cup etc).

[themodelcitizen]

COSAFA Cup file updated with the biannual U20 cups for the remaining African subconfederations, UNAF, UNIFFAC, and WAFU Zone A and B, starting in 2022. The dates for Zone B are moved from the May window to December (like the second-last version) to avoid clashes.

These don't double as AFCON U20 qualifying like IRL, but are played anyway. In the game, AFCON U20 qualifying is still played in an older 2-legged format on top of these, likely too much work to edit.

I think this also means every subconfederation in Africa and Asia is now represented with at least one competition.

[themodelcitizen]

On 05/03/2023 at 22:37, themodelcitizen said:

This one fixes the SAFF tournament (already in the game). Removes Afghanistan as they're in CAFA now.

Also moves the 2023 tournament up a couple of weeks to the correct date, and sets India as host (as planned). Sri Lanka are suspended so they don't play this year.

SI haven't moved the Asian Cup to January 2024 yet (just announced) - likely too many knock-on effects on other tournaments to deal with - so they got around the clash by having India miss the SAFF Cup. This doesn't work here as they're hosting, so I've sent the 'B' team to SAFF instead.

The SAFF file has been updated with Kuwait and Lebanon guesting the 2023 version to make 8 teams, as is the case with the ongoing tournament in real life. Like with India (and everyone else), if they qualify for the Asian Cup (which SI haven't moved to January 2024, so it overlaps with the SAFF Cup in-game), then their 'B' team will participate instead. Games are also in the correct stadium now.

If anyone sees any other tournaments that needs updating as they come to pass IRL, let me know.

[Shrew82]

On 04/04/2023 at 20:26, themodelcitizen said:

Some quick checks on the final (?) official update without any of my files, doesn't look like they touched any international stuff.

Gold Cup playoff qualifying still broken despite being raised with each update, I might be tempted to try and fix this, along with stadium selection for CONCACAF tournaments.

Asian Cup still hasn't been moved to January next year, can hardly blame them as this is a one-off and would require adjusting everything else. Likely won't touch it for the same reason.

WAFF still happening in the summer with 9 teams who played in an older edition, no rapprochement with Qatar like IRL. My WAFF file just cancels it to recognize the indefinite postponement (plenty going on with Gulf Cup, Arab Cup etc).

Hi, i'm interested to find out if you managed to fix the gold cup issues?  It's proving quite a stubborn thing to sort it!

[themodelcitizen]

I couldn't get any of my changes to show up when I was trying to mess with the Gold Cup, might have another go at some point this summer

EDIT: Have added Pan Arab Games to the Arab U20 Cup file now that they're taking place again

Edited June 29, 2023 by themodelcitizen

[Shrew82]

22 hours ago, themodelcitizen said:

I couldn't get any of my changes to show up when I was trying to mess with the Gold Cup, might have another go at some point this summer

EDIT: Have added Pan Arab Games to the Arab U20 Cup file now that they're taking place again

It's a right mess of a file isn't it!  If i ever manage to fix it, i'll let you know!

Edited June 29, 2023 by Shrew82

[themodelcitizen]

The WAFF U23 was indeed played again in Iraq this month, slipped past me until now. I've updated the Arab Cup/Gulf Cup file to reflect that, and it's annual now instead of biannual. No time to test right now but will double check later to make sure it's working as intended.

There's plenty of room on the calendar, especially with the senior WAFF tournament cancelled using my WAFF file above. The U23 teams don't get up to much otherwise, even though it's currently clashing with the senior Asian Cup in 2023 only (incorrectly scheduled in-game) and the U-21 Pan Arab Games (doesn't seem to be an issue for WAFF in real life either).

[Shrew82]

I have tested a fix up to 2027 for the CONCACAF Gold Cup... i worked on it ages ago to no avail, but I've made a few changes today and it looks like I've got it to work as it should.  I'm going to run a test overnight to make sure that it is working properly and if it does, I'm going to stick it on steam.

Edited June 30, 2023 by Shrew82

[themodelcitizen]

5 hours ago, Shrew82 said:

I have tested a fix up to 2027 for the CONCACAF Gold Cup... i worked on it ages ago to no avail, but I've made a few changes today and it looks like I've got it to work as it should.  I'm going to run a test overnight to make sure that it is working properly and if it does, I'm going to stick it on steam.

That's brilliant, what did you notice as making it work? I think the whole fixed/flexible rules thing threw me off earlier, as soon as I'd change that the whole thing would just disappear

[Shrew82]

The first thing i did (ages ago) was change the format of the playoffs so that 4 teams qualify rather than just 3.  I then moved the dates around so that the GC setup after the playoff was arranged, which didn't work.  I've tinkered about with it, and I've changed the way the GC picked the qualifying teams, so that it only looked at Nations League and Playoff and not the registered teams.  I also noticed that in "other stage rules" an option was selected to make teams from stage 1 of GC qualify for the next GC... that was wrong.  Since i've done that it appears to work fine and i have great pleasure in sharing the steam link with you below.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2996674702

Please note that the file also includes a World Cup Fix (12 groups of 4 instead of 16 groups of 3!) although i'm still trying to work out how to replicate the normal tournament style (Winner of Group A plays Runner Up of Group B, etc) so if you have any ideas on this i'd be grateful.

[themodelcitizen]

You can do that with cup tie mappings and "fixed draw", but the best third place teams in there will throw it off. You could seed by position in previous stage and do a seeded draw, at least group winners would avoid each other in that case

[themodelcitizen]

Updating a bunch of tournaments that have actually happened this summer to reflect correct dates, teams, etc, as much as possible without clashing with hard-coded competition dates in the game.

COSAFA Cup is 12 teams this year before returning to the traditional 14-team format (with losers' bracket/"Plate" competition) from the next edition

[themodelcitizen]

Getting the Copa América to act how I want as well, i.e. hosted in the US in 2024 with the North American qualifiers coming from Nations League. Will post a new version tonight.

Top 4 North American teams (Nations League semifinalists) go straight into the Copa América, and next best 4 (Nations League group runners-up in the game, quarterfinal losers in real life) play off in March at a neutral site for the last 2 spots. Yes, this format does mean Mexico or even the US could miss out - just like in IRL.

If we fix the Nations League to reflect the new format, this will still work, the playoff will just draw the 5th to 8th ranked teams in Nations League however it finishes.

[themodelcitizen]

OK @WatsonFM finally updated the Copa América file to include qualifying from the CONCACAF Nations League, and fixed the Gold Cup playoff issue while I was at it.

Gold Cup qualifying functions like real life but with an extra spot this year, as Qatar are busy with the Asian Cup (SI haven't moved it to January like IRL). Have tested a few editions ahead but let me know if anyone spots anything off. Thanks to @Shrew82 as I poked around your file while working through some kinks.

Qualifying doesn't finish until a week before the tournament, so we can't draw the groups until quite late. Might work on making the playoff a stage within the tournament itself, although that issue will remain. I can also work on adding Nations Leagues (the game only has two per 4-year cycle) and changing to the new format.

Edited July 14, 2023 by themodelcitizen

[Shrew82]

@themodelcitizen Good work with the file.  I have added my World Cup Fix to this file (obviously not published) and this works ok together.  I was just wondering if you were still looking at the new Nations League format?  I think i'm going to leave it alone to be honest as getting the playoff to work was challenging enough without messing about with a different competition.

The way that SI have portrayed the North American structure is poor really.  Hopefully they will improve on this in the coming years,

Thanks for your efforts with these files

[themodelcitizen]

Yeah, just brainstorming a slight adjustment to the Gold Cup qualifying structure to go with it. League C normally sends 4 group winners to Gold Cup qualifying, but it's down to 3 groups with the re-alignment (even if we add Saint Pierre), and I couldn't get it to send best runner-up instead. So, just need to fill that final spot or re-jig the playoffs a bit, which shouldn't be a problem

EDIT: Slight tweak to the COSAFA Cup file to fix instances where a country's U20 team would occasionally play in both the Arab U-20 Cup and the Francophone Games at the same time

Edited July 19, 2023 by themodelcitizen

[themodelcitizen]

Just added the senior CAFA Nations Cup to the Baltic Cup file.

Oman were randomly invited this year, guessing because Uzbekistan had two stadiums ready for their co-hosting job and needed a 4-team group. It's an even 6 teams from 2027, but every other tournament from 2025 they're joined by Russia and another invited team from the list of rumoured teams that didn't make it this year.

edit: Ah sorry just re-download it if you were one of the folks who grabbed it off Mediafire, Oman weren't sending their backup U23s even though they were in the Asian Cup and were winning CAFA every time as a result

Edited August 14, 2023 by themodelcitizen

[themodelcitizen]

Check it out @Shrew82, I think I got the new CONCACAF Nations League format down. This took ages and there's a LOT of moving parts as you know from looking at the Nations League rules in the editor. Just getting the pro/rel working was one thing, then trying to approximate League A's bizarre schedule starting in 2023 as best I could was another.

The top 4 teams (by ranking) go straight to the quarterfinals. This opens up a few more big-money friendly dates for the likes of US and Mexico like IRL. The group stage teams play-in using a weird Swiss system against mostly similar opposition.

In the unlikely event one of the top 4 teams by world ranking was relegated to League B the cycle before, I think an extra team might be bumped down on reputation instead (with cascading effect down the tiers), haven't seen that in testing.

Copa América link in the OP will be updated in a few hours

[anitamui]

10 小时前, themodelcitizen说:

Check it out @Shrew82, I think I got the new CONCACAF Nations League format down. This took ages and there's a LOT of moving parts as you know from looking at the Nations League rules in the editor. Just getting the pro/rel working was one thing, then trying to approximate League A's bizarre schedule starting in 2023 as best I could was another.

The top 4 teams (by ranking) go straight to the quarterfinals. This opens up a few more big-money friendly dates for the likes of US and Mexico like IRL. The group stage teams play-in using a weird Swiss system against mostly similar opposition.

In the unlikely event one of the top 4 teams by world ranking was relegated to League B the cycle before, I think an extra team might be bumped down on reputation instead (with cascading effect down the tiers), haven't seen that in testing.

Copa América link in the OP will be updated in a few hours

Panama got left out for the Nations League Starting from season 2

[themodelcitizen]

10 hours ago, anitamui said:

Panama got left out for the Nations League Starting from season 2

Yeah there are some weird glitches I need to work through, noticed last night while testing. Might revert to the last version of the file for a bit until I work it out

EDIT: had to fix a couple things, looking good now. Thanks for the testing, let me know if anything looks off

Edited July 31, 2023 by themodelcitizen

[themodelcitizen]

New WAFF Championship file up in the first post, recognizes the plan to squeeze it in on non-FIFA dates in July/August 2024, and quadrennial from there due to limited space on the calendar.

Also cleaned up some of the other regional tournaments, the CAFA Championship in the Baltic Cup file is a great complement to my Iran Pro League

[Cheez3y]

@themodelcitizen

No way you fixed the broken CONCACAF region.

Thank you so much!

[themodelcitizen]

Enjoy it! Haha, I think I might retire after FM23, been a lot of fun fixing SI's mistakes and expanding the international football world this year but I should probably focus on real life in the next one 

[omarsorto6]

8 hours ago, themodelcitizen said:

Enjoy it! Haha, I think I might retire after FM23, been a lot of fun fixing SI's mistakes and expanding the international football world this year but I should probably focus on real life in the next one 

Thank you for all the fun files my friend 

[themodelcitizen]

Updating some of the international files including Copa América, which has the IRL format in 2024 and goes back to 12 teams from 2028 now.

The "guest" spots are then taken by the Nations League winner, and one of the old traditional invitees like Japan - although if an Asian or African team is hosting the World Cup 2 years later, they'll take that spot (a la Qatar 2019/2021). Same goes if the European WC host somehow doesn't make the Euros and needs competitive matches.

Russia get games as an occasional invitee in the CAFA Nations Cup and SAFF youth tournament here, which occasionally include a realistic invited team to spice things up.

[themodelcitizen]

Finally getting the Gold Cup to draw not-so-late, and look like this with the playoff winners not being known yet:

Spoiler

Team mappings ftw. Will upload the new one shortly.

Check my megapack thread for more CONCACAF/CONMEBOL stuff...

Edited September 23, 2023 by themodelcitizen

[themodelcitizen]

Copa América set to draw the groups in December IRL, before the playoff winners are known:

So I've updated it to act like the Gold Cup in the screenshot above, i.e. do the draw and show the groups but with a reserved spot for the playoff winners (until they're known)

[themodelcitizen]

Love having these comps in the background, but just lost one of my players to a 4+ month layoff with a broken ankle sustained for Comoros in the Indian Ocean Island Games. Which occur on non-FIFA dates. FFS... looks like FM24 will address this, in the meantime I might make them "friendly comps" that add history and see what kind of changes it results in (like turning down call-ups as a club manager)