FC Ruggell - The Great Liechtenstein Challenge

[Branst23]

FC Ruggell - The Great Liechtenstein Challenge

The Challenge Background

For those who don't know, getting a Liechtensteiner club to win the Champions League is insanely difficult. No matter how much you change the coefficient, you only get one spot in the Europa Conference League, meaning you need to win the Europa Conference League in one season, then the Europa League in the next season, and then finally the Champions League. One slip up and it's back to square one. This is because Liechtenstein does not have a national league, just a cup. All Liechtensteiner teams compete in the Swiss league.

Can we conquer Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Europe and the World?!

The Club

FC Ruggell is a Liechtensteiner amateur football team that plays in Liechtenstein. It is one of the seven official teams in the nation. They play in the Swiss Football League in 3. Liga, which is the seventh tier. The team annually competes in the Liechtensteiner Cup. The club has never won the tournament but has reached the final an impressive 7 times.

Liechtenstein's football grounds are known for their outstanding scenery and FC Ruggell's ground at Freizeitpark Widau is no different! Bucket list item!

International Management

From the off, I will be taking over the Liechtenstein nation team as I attempt to upset the odds and qualify for a major tournament! The national team play at Rheinpark Stadion which is also FC Vaduz's stadium. Hopefully we can use some of our international power to help with the home grown elements of European football!

Notable Mentions and What’s Next!

@dcu4life for their crazy FM20 journey which can be found here.

@JBZ for the creation of the database which can be found here.

I plan on writing a season review for both club and international progress as well as using the next few posts so it is easy to see a high-level summary of progress.

Hopp Ruggell!

 

[Branst23]

Season By Season Summary (FC Ruggell)

2022/23 - Season 1 - 1st in 3. Liga (tier 7) only losing one league game all season and got knocked out in the Liechtenstein Cup Quarter Finals.

2023/24 - Season 2 - 1st in 2. Liga (tier 6), unbeaten season and more importantly we won our first Liechtenstein Cup, beating Vaduz on our way!

2024/25 - Season 3 - 1st in 2. Liga Interregional Gruppe 4 (tier 4), back to back unbeaten seasons, won the Liechtenstein Cup for 2nd time in 2 years. First time in Europa Conference League with we got knocked out in League Path 2nd Qualifying round

2025/26 - Season 4 - 1. Liga Classic Gruppe 3 winner, but heart break in the playoff semi final, losing with a far superior XG. Secured our 3rd Liechtenstein Cup in a row.  In Europa Conference League we managed to get to the League Path 3rd Qualifying round

2026/27 - Season 5 - 1. Liga Classic Gruppe 3 winner and playoff winner! Promotion finally after bottling it last season! Winning a dramatic Liechtenstein Cup due to a red card. Europa Conference League League Path 3rd Qualifying round. 

2027/28 - Season 6 - Promotion League Winner only losing two games in the season! Liechtenstein Cup winner. Europa Conference League League Path 2nd Qualifying round. Finances well into the red!

2028/29 - Season 7 - Challenge League Winner! Liechtenstein Cup winner! Europa Conference League Quarter Finalist. Turned professional, upgraded stadium to 3,300 capacity, training and youth facilities upgraded. Nearly £2m bank! What a season!

2029/30 - Season 8 - Survived in Raiffeisen Super League! Liechtenstein Cup Winner. Europa Conference League qualifying 4th round! Huge season to boost rep and be able to build on promoted squad with wage budget increasing!

2030/31 - Season 9 - 7th in Raiffeisen Super League! Liechtenstein Cup Winner. Europa League qualifying knocked out, Europa Conference League Quarter Finalist. Huge progress in Liechtenstein football due to the co-efficient rise!

2031/32 - Season 10 - 2nd in Super League! Liechtenstein Cup Winner. Europa League qualifying knocked out, Europa Conference League Semi-Finalist. First time heading into season 11 with a transfer budget!

Edited February 12, 2023 by Branst23

[Branst23]

Season By Season Summary (Liechtenstein National Team)

2022 - Nations League D Group 1 - 4th. Lost all 3 games since taking charge against Latvia, Andorra, Moldova. World Ranking 202.

2023 - Euro Qualifiers - 6th. Only winning 1 game against Azerbaijan. Really tough group with the other teams including Czech Republic, Albania, Ukraine and Lithuania. World Ranking 204. 

2024 - Nations League D Group 1 - 3rd. Picking up 2 wins against San Marino, losing both games against Moldova and Cyprus. World Ranking 198.

2025 - World Cup qualifiers - 6th. No wins in a tough group. World Ranking 199.

2026 - Nations League D Group 1 - 2nd. Double over San Marino, unable to beat Moldova. World Ranking 189.

2027 - Euro Qualifiers  - 6th. No wins and only managed to score 1 goal all campaign. World Ranking 194. 

2028 - Nations League D Group 1 - 2nd. Managed to beat Armenia and Gibraltar once but couldn't top the group. Wins in friendlies mean we rose up the rankings. World Ranking 179. 

2029 - World Cup Qualifiers - 5th. We managed to beat and draw against Faroe Islands and also take a point off Montenegro to finish 2nd bottom. World Ranking 176.

2030 - National League - 3rd. Bottom of group, regression with some key players retiring from international football. World Ranking 177.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Branst23

[Branst23]

2022 - Liechtenstein National Team

As we expected the national team would be a slow build and a struggle. We joined Nations League D group 1 with 1 points. Unfortunately we weren't able to win any of the games I managed since taking over and finished bottom of the group.

Felt hard done by these set of results as we lost all 3 by 1 goal and in the Moldova and Andorra games had better XG! 

All aboard the international struggle bus....

 

[Branst23]

2022/23 Season 1 - FC Ruggell

League Campaign

A near perfect league season, only losing 1 game to fellow Liechtenstein team Shaan. Really pleasing to see the volume of goals we managed to score, 88 goals in 22 league games!

Liechtenstein Cup

Disappointing cup run by being knocked out by Eschen/Mauren in the Quarter Final. Frustrating given doing the double over them in the league! Vaduz went on to win the cup!

Standout Player of the Season

Hajdari managed to net an impressive 35 league goals in 19 appearances! His finishing of 15 at this level just sets him apart from anyone else. I will be lucky to keep as other teams are already sniffing about for his talents!

Tactics

The tactics we are using as a team and national side are the same, trying to make a pathway for future Liechtenstein players to go between easily. Inspired by Kieran McKenna's Ipswich side, who at the start of the season where switching between 5-2-3 and 4-2-3-1, I have created a fluid formation which aims to overload the wide areas before working it in to the middle and also abusing crosses into the box.

Looking Forward

Great start with FC Ruggell, next season we will be in tier 6 and I would also like to challenge deeper in the cup. If we are able to get a Cup win and get into the European Conference League this will enable a bit reputation boost and set our finances up for the future! Some progress has already been made...

Spoiler

We move!

[Branst23]

2023 - Liechtenstein National Team

Tough EURO qualifiers group, only managing to pick up a win against Azerbaijan at home! We were unlucky against Ukraine who scored a 90th minute winner in the September game.

World Ranking dropped to 204, particularly unlucky as we haven't had a chance to play any friendlies against similar reputation national teams.

[Branst23]

2023/24 Season 2 - FC Ruggell

League Campaign

An unbeaten season in the league! Got a bit tense at the end with Triesen only being 3 points behind me heading into the last 3 games but we held our nerve!

We also managed cap the season off in style by winning the 2. Liga final which is held between the winner of each league at this level in the pyramid.

Liechtenstein Cup

I can't quite believe it as a tier 6 side, we have won the Liechtenstein Cup which means next season we will be in the Europa Conference League! We managed to beat Vaduz at home 3-0 and then edge Eschen/Mauren who are above us in the Swiss league pyramid in the final! This is what dreams are made of!

Standout Player of the Season

Brack was our best player who scored 23 goals in 14 appearance before Koniz came in and offered him a contract he couldn't refuse! The loss of the player half way through the season didn't really impact us as we managed to sign a number of free agents to bolster the attacking elements of the side!

Ruggell are going on a European tour (it might be a short one but it's progress!)

[Branst23]

2024 - Liechtenstein National Team

An attempt to boost our rankings by playing lower teams in friendlies, managed to win 3 out of the 4 with some comfortable performances.

The Nations League handed us the harder of the two groups at D level, Cyprus and Moldova did the double over us, with lowly San Marino unable to pick up any points in the group as we picked up 2 wins overall.

World Ranking currently at 198. No amazing newgens yet... Fingers crossed!

[TheNayr]

I was thinking of doing this. But now I can just live through you, awesome stuff. Let's go mental in Europe....for one round, I'm guessing!

[Branst23]

22 minutes ago, TheNayr said:

I was thinking of doing this. But now I can just live through you, awesome stuff. Let's go mental in Europe....for one round, I'm guessing!

Thanks, think I'm crazy but I'm so invested! I can't wait to get up the leagues and be in the top tier where I can sign young players with high potential! 

 

All will be revealed at the end of the season about the first ECL journey 😂 

 

Hopp Ruggell 

[Branst23]

2024/5 Season 3 - FC Ruggell

League Campaign

Second unbeaten season in the league in a row. Really happy to see the tactic we started with is still causing the AI teams difficulty. We are still on the merry go round with players due to only managing to try players down on non-contract deals! Six first team players left during the season with little notice!

Liechtenstein Cup

Back to back Liechtenstein Cups including a very nervous semi final where we managed to get over the line against Vaduz. We continue to build and I believe our lower reputation means that Vaduz don't know how good we really are!

Europa Conference League

Our first taste of European football and as a fifth tier side, we managed to get through one round before getting knocked out by Mura in the League Path Second Qualifying stage. The best thing about being in Europe is the massive financial benefits it provides!

Club State and Finances

The influence of European football means our balance is extremely healthy as we head in to the 4th season and 4th tier! Winning the Liechtenstein Cup will mean we enter the competition again next season and should get similar rewards. The finances have allowed me to upgrade our Youth Recruitment and Youth Coaching to Excellent and Above Average respectively! We also now sit 303rd in the European team rankings!

Standout Player of the Season

No real stand out player this season but I will show one of our youth intake players who came through and also is a Liechtensteiner which helps with the national side as well!

Hopefully this is the first of many Liechtenstein high potential players we can produce!

Hopefully we can make European football a yearly thing going forward!

[Branst23]

2025 - Liechtenstein National Team

An unsuccessful World Cup qualifying campaign resulted in no wins. We came 2 minutes away from beating Greece at home which was a sucker a punch. Newgens are making there way through to under 20s level so I'm sure it won't be long until we start seeing some in the main team.

World Ranking currently at 199. Little progress on the national front at the moment.

Edited January 15, 2023 by Branst23

[Branst23]

2025/26 Season 4 - FC Ruggell

League Campaign

Won the league comfortably but heart break in the playoffs meant that we will be staying in the 4th tier for another season! Particularly annoying as in the 2nd leg of the Semi Final the stats do all the talking.  Didn't take our chances and hit the woodwork 3 times! Unbelievably harsh way to end the campaign. We didn't have a settled squad throughout the year and the first time that in the league we have had to at least 6 home grown at nation in the playing 11 at all times. This meant continual trialling of the best swiss players to build the squad around. Overall, I felt we had done enough to go up but it might work in our favour if we can tie down some good home grown players at this point.  

Liechtenstein Cup

Three in a row. We never really looked troubled as we got a favourable draw, only challenge being Vaduz in the final. European football secured for next season!

Europa Conference League

Another great run in Europe, at one point I was getting scared of fixture congestion if we were going to make the group phase! More money in the bank and there definitely is something special about these European nights!

Standout Player of the Season

Potentially not the player of the season, but wanted to show the quality of the player we are now able to attract! All the squad is made up of players from free agents and then signed on to non-contract deals! Meaning they can leave at any point!

European nights, distracting from the league? First hiccup of the save...

Edited January 16, 2023 by Branst23

[DavidBeckham]

Congrats on the cup win and securing European football! 

[Branst23]

2026 - Liechtenstein National Team

A series of friendlies through out the year which majority went to plan apart from a real test against Kazakhstan and Canada where we didn't pick up the W!

The Nations League came around and we did what what we have done before, pick up 2 wins against San Marino and then fail to beat Moldova! Deja Vu!

World Ranking boosted to 189. Moving on up... slowly!

[Branst23]

2026/27 Season 5 - FC Ruggell

League Campaign

Huge season, winning the league with great comfort and then we headed in to the mystery of playoff football which we bottled last season. Luckily, we didn't continue that and managed to win comfortably after a little scare against Sion U21 in the semi first leg! Potentially the hardest league to get out of as the divisions above us have automatic promotion places!

Liechtenstein Cup

Oh my, what a final! The toughest final we have had so far but we managed to get through win it... just! The red card made us very nervous but super sub Pepple managed to snatch it before it went to the lottery of penalties! Vital for our future as qualification for ECL brings in so much money and this will be important as we tie players down to semi-pro contracts rather than non-contracts we have at the moment!

Europa Conference League

We managed to get through one round of the qualification rounds before being knocked out to a strong Aktobe team! We didn't manage to progress to the same round as last season but this did bring through around £500k!

Standout Player of the Season

Easily player of the season! 31 goals in 24 appearances! What a player and if we are able to tie him down it would be huge moving forward!

We lost one of our strikers due to a higher reputation club offering wages but it does show the level of value in the club when he was worth 130k! His profile can be seen below!

Spoiler

I am keen to see when we are able to offer proper structured semi-pro contracts as this is still meaning I randomly lose key players throughout the season!

Playoff lottery completed!

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Branst23

[Branst23]

2027 - Liechtenstein National Team

Don't feel like there is much to add but a typical Liechtenstein qualifying campaign! 

1 goal all Euro Qualifiers against a strong group! No newgens yet to break through into the side.

World Ranking is now 194!

[Branst23]

2027/28 Season 6 - FC Ruggell

League Campaign

Another promotion, champions again! I believe the extra season in the tier below helped us as we managed to pick up a lot of players that are home grown and are of promotion league quality! 2 losses all campaign and scoring 95 in 34 games! We move next season to  tier 2 (Brack.ch Challenge League).

Liechtenstein Cup

A less dramatic Liechtenstein Cup for us as we managed to topple Vaduz in the semi final, before beating Eschen/Mauren comfortably.

Europa Conference League

Since playing regularly in the ECL, we haven't got further than the 3rd qualifying round and we drew a 'bigger' side early on! I wasn't too fussed due to the league campaign being so important but it would be nice to go on a proper run to the group stage due to the finances taking a hit! The increase in wages has led to being in the red! 

Standout Player of the Season

Probably not the standout player of the season but the estimated price of Hajdari shows the quality we can attract! He already wants a new contract and we do not have the budget to provide him with one! Albian might have to be sold!

Bonus Update

Spreadsheet tracker for those of you who are interest in the facilities and finances as we have progressed!

Tier 2 here we come!

[Branst23]

2028 - Liechtenstein National Team

Closer than we have ever got before! Unlucky against Gibraltar at home meant that we didn't finish joint top!

Newgen Focus

The newgens are coming through. Sneak peak at the sort of talent which has broken on to the main team!

Good set of friendlies meant that we have risen to World Ranking 179!

[Branst23]

2028/29 Season 7 - FC Ruggell

A longer update than normal but my word it's worth staying for the journey...

League Campaign

It only took 1 season in the Challenge League (tier 2) to win it! Amazing progress as this means we have claimed the pyramid with only one season where we didn't go up to the next tier immediately! Probably my best achievement on recent FM's. It was extremely nervous at the end with Aarau pushing us right until the 2nd last game against Vaduz! We managed to win away from home 2-0 and win the league. It's confirmed... WE ARE THE BEST TEAM IN LIECHTENSTEIN.

Liechtenstein Cup

It was quite a nervous semi-final vs Vaduz as we needed extra-time to beat them, the fixture congestion had massively affected the team at this point. We survived and in a great turn of events had to play our 2nd team in the final, meaning we had already guaranteed ECL next season before playing the fixture! 

Europa Conference League

I really don't know how to describe this ECL run other than outstanding! As a 2nd tier side, we managed to get through the qualifiers, through the league stage and all the way to the Quarter Finals before getting knocked-out! We finished 17th in the league stage which got us to the playoff round against Randers FC. The scenes at these away days I would love to experience! The ride of emotions on the way, something FM manages to provide so well as a game! Little FC Ruggell in ECL Quarter Final against a Rennes striker who is worth of £100m! We didn't stand a chance but amazing progress and it massively helped the finances out!

Club Overview Update

The dramatic rise has led to some big changes across both the club and infrastructure at FC Ruggell.

Firstly. we turned professional at the end of the season...

The stadium also got upgraded from 500 to 3300 capacity.

We started to sell players for big profit, especially when we knew they had 1 year left on their contract and could cash in (even using the loan back option to keep the high standard of players for the remainder of the season).

These transfer fees plus the ECL journey led to the balance being way above the red. 

More upgrades to the training and youth facilities could happen.

And youth intakes are starting to improve which will help out of National team in the future! Ruggell 2 and U18s are now in leagues and we will be using both of them to support the national side going forward!

 

Standout Player of the Season

Reis was amazing this season, picking up over 22 assists, 10 goals in 36 games! I am not sure if we are able to keep him after next season as he will be out of contract and we now have the big switch of semi-pro to professional contracts! He is so much more valuable to the club than his current estimated transfer fee!

If you have stayed and read through the latest update - thank you, your support means a lot!

We continue as we try to dominate Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Europe!

[deltablue]

That's a great conference league run.

[phnompenhandy]

If you've seen my threads, you'll know how I do love a super-duper crazy hard challenge, and I reckon you've created one here. Having persisted for a good few years, it looks to me your newgens coming through will start to bring you significant progress. Good luck with the career!

[Branst23]

2 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

If you've seen my threads, you'll know how I do love a super-duper crazy hard challenge, and I reckon you've created one here. Having persisted for a good few years, it looks to me your newgens coming through will start to bring you significant progress. Good luck with the career!

I think this is one of the hardest challenge on FM, especially if you're trying to win the Champions League! 

Thank you, I think the biggest achievement is how many times I managed to beat Vaduz in the cup which allowed for ECL football. The money and reputation boost has been critical and probably accelerated me around 4-5 seasons ahead of where I could have been! Using my 2nd team for developing Lietch players is going to be a fun side plot as it allows them to have game time which they wouldn't normally have!

Hopp Ruggell! 

[Branst23]

2029 - Liechtenstein National Team

World Cup qualifying year, managed to compete in a number of games including taking points of Montenegro and stay unbeaten against Faroe Islands.

No major newgens taking the nation by storm. We hope for more good youth intakes to bolster the national side! We are currently World Ranking 176.

[AM23]

Quite the ECL run that is! Will be fun to see your results against the best Swiss teams.

Are you getting a lot of regens with Liechtenstein as their nationality? I would suspect that improving facilities could lead to more Swiss youngsters coming through the ranks. Well, let's hope for some Liechtensteinian (yes, I had to google that word ) wonderkids coming through.

[Branst23]

28 minutes ago, AM23 said:

Quite the ECL run that is! Will be fun to see your results against the best Swiss teams.

Are you getting a lot of regens with Liechtenstein as their nationality? I would suspect that improving facilities could lead to more Swiss youngsters coming through the ranks. Well, let's hope for some Liechtensteinian (yes, I had to google that word ) wonderkids coming through.

Thanks, it was a heck of a run! I feel like lower rep teams shock big teams in that case, happened a number of times to me and when going up the leagues it almost get harder! 

 

Yes, I have started to get a mix of nationalities come through which is great for the club but not for the national side! Vaduz and the other clubs have started producing some good ones in recent years. A side idea I had was try to get Ruggell 2 up the leagues and also loan players to the Liechtenstein clubs to get them up the leagues so they can improve their facilities!

Cheers for the support.

[Branst23]

2029/30 Season 8 - FC Ruggell

League Campaign

Before league split

Relegation Stage

The stress of being near the relegation zone all season had me a bit worried at times! We managed to pull away at the end of the season but at the start of the season without a win in 6 games and no wage bill left to make transfers, I was fearing the worst! A massive step up in quality of the teams! We managed to survive and I honestly think this will be the hardest season in the save. Going into next year we will have more wages and can build on the squad we already have got! PHEW!

Liechtenstein Cup

Looking forward to being able to play the reserves in this cup in the future! 7th cup in a row!

Europa Conference League

I had mentally prepared for this as we didn't get past the qualifying stages. I wasn't too disappointed as it meant that we could focus on the league fully and not worry about fixture congestion!

Standout Player of the Season

No outstanding players based on season performance but we did manage to snag a few decent free agents! It's a massive boost and hopefully means we can start selling for higher figures as our rep has increased,

Building season after survival! Here we go!

[Branst23]

Huge Save Update

Currently in the middle of playing season 9 and going through the qualification aspects of Europe, then I noticed something...

The Liechtenstein Cup winners now qualify for Europa League rather than Europa Conference league! I have never seen this change in a Liechtenstein save before. I believe this might be because we have won the cup so often and done so well in Europa leading to the Cup reputation increasing!

Has anyone seen this before?

@JBZ as creator of the database, have you ever seen this?

 

I am very excited as this will massively help us with the increase in likelihood of qualifying for ECL through not getting through the EL qualifications - as you drop down! Wow!

Edited February 2, 2023 by Branst23

[ITFC_Blue]

1 hour ago, Branst23 said:

Huge Save Update

Currently in the middle of playing season 9 and going through the qualification aspects of Europe, then I noticed something...

The Liechtenstein Cup winners now qualify for Europa League rather than Europa Conference league! I have never seen this change in a Liechtenstein before. I believe this might be because we have won the cup so often and done so well in Europa leading to the Cup reputation increasing!

Has anyone seen this before?

@JBZ as creator of the database, have you ever seen this?

 

I am very excited as this will massively help us with the increase in likelihood of qualifying for ECL through not getting through the EL qualifications - as you drop down! Wow!

That's great stuff. I'm currently in season 5 with FC Vaduz, and still haven't got to that point (have won the Cup every year so far). Just finished in 3rd, little bit disappointed as when the League split, I was top but lost 3 games in a row (YB twice and Basel) so that put paid to that. 

[Branst23]

5 minutes ago, ITFC_Blue said:

That's great stuff. I'm currently in season 5 with FC Vaduz, and still haven't got to that point (have won the Cup every year so far). Just finished in 3rd, little bit disappointed as when the League split, I was top but lost 3 games in a row (YB twice and Basel) so that put paid to that. 

Great stuff! Keep going, I feel like it's one of the most rewarding FM saves! Keep scouting free agents and contracts that expire, great way to pick up free players and sell on for more money!

Also... UPPA TOWEN!

[ITFC_Blue]

1 hour ago, Branst23 said:

Great stuff! Keep going, I feel like it's one of the most rewarding FM saves! Keep scouting free agents and contracts that expire, great way to pick up free players and sell on for more money!

Also... UPPA TOWEN!

Yes, I have utilised the free market well, however I was lucky I sold a player who I signed for free - Henrique Perreira - to Sporting Lisbon for £16.5m. The finances have been great so I have been able to invest in the squad really well (my transfer budget for this season was £12m, however I've set myself a limit of £2m for each transfer, as I want the save to be realistic still). I still have £9m in the budget, although I was able to sell another £3m worth of players!

 

Ha, Town fan yourself?! 

[Branst23]

22 minutes ago, ITFC_Blue said:

Yes, I have utilised the free market well, however I was lucky I sold a player who I signed for free - Henrique Perreira - to Sporting Lisbon for £16.5m. The finances have been great so I have been able to invest in the squad really well (my transfer budget for this season was £12m, however I've set myself a limit of £2m for each transfer, as I want the save to be realistic still). I still have £9m in the budget, although I was able to sell another £3m worth of players!

 

Ha, Town fan yourself?! 

Yes that's a good idea! Especially if you don't have a run in Europe you will need the finances to support the day to day running of the club!

Yes I am! Blue army!

[JBZ]

12 hours ago, Branst23 said:

Huge Save Update

Currently in the middle of playing season 9 and going through the qualification aspects of Europe, then I noticed something...

The Liechtenstein Cup winners now qualify for Europa League rather than Europa Conference league! I have never seen this change in a Liechtenstein save before. I believe this might be because we have won the cup so often and done so well in Europa leading to the Cup reputation increasing!

Has anyone seen this before?

@JBZ as creator of the database, have you ever seen this?

 

I am very excited as this will massively help us with the increase in likelihood of qualifying for ECL through not getting through the EL qualifications - as you drop down! Wow!

 

That's interesting- no, I haven't seen it in the past but I don't think I played a save long enough to get the co-efficient up enough since about FM20.

 Must be the co-efficient though, Top 32 countries are supposed to get at least one side in the Europa League and I always thought if Liechtenstein get high enough they should enter that rather than the Conference League, but didn't happen in the past for some reason. 

Something to aim for in my own Triesen save!

Edited February 2, 2023 by JBZ

[Branst23]

10 hours ago, JBZ said:

 

That's interesting- no, I haven't seen it in the past but I don't think I played a save long enough to get the co-efficient up enough since about FM20.

 Must be the co-efficient though, Top 32 countries are supposed to get at least one side in the Europa League and I always thought if Liechtenstein get high enough they should enter that rather than the Conference League, but didn't happen in the past for some reason. 

Something to aim for in my own Triesen save!

Great! I don't think their is a way of checking the co-efficient though as the competition doesn't appear in the rankings unless you know differently? 

Will my European ranking as Ruggell effect the competition coeff?

Good luck in your own save. How far are you into it? 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Branst23

[Branst23]

2030 - Liechtenstein National Team

A disappointing Nations league campaign as we suffered after some players retired from international football, leaving us with gaps in the first team. A slight regression in the quality of the squad compared to previous years.

Some last minutes winners and equalisers went against us also! World Ranking 177.

Best player and future captain below:

Newgens where are you?!

 

[JBZ]

9 hours ago, Branst23 said:

Great! I don't think their is a way of checking the co-efficient though as the competition doesn't appear in the rankings unless you know differently? 

Will my European ranking as Ruggell effect the competition coeff?

Good luck in your own save. How far are you into it? 

Yeah there is,click on the globe, then Europe and you can see both the nation club coefficients and the qualification places.

It will be how many points the nation gets that drives the number of qualification places, though as that has been you the last five seasons it will effectively be Ruggell's performance driving it.

You can also check the club coefficients under Europe>Clubs, which look like are used for seedings and share of revenue.

 

In Oct 2026 in my own save in 2 Liga, took me three years to get out the OFV1

(Though was unlucky. First season I scored 105 goals in 26 games and only dropped 10 points, but unfortunately Ruggell only dropped 6. Next season finished joint top with better goal difference but lost out on disciplinary record. Finally went up last year unbeaten 18 points clear)

Been poor in the Liechtenstein Cup though, haven't got past the quarters yet, hopefully have a run this year, got a QF home game with league above Eschen/Mauren coming up.

Enjoying the challenge though

And always interesting to see others doing the same.

 

[Branst23]

2 hours ago, JBZ said:

Yeah there is,click on the globe, then Europe and you can see both the nation club coefficients and the qualification places.

It will be how many points the nation gets that drives the number of qualification places, though as that has been you the last five seasons it will effectively be Ruggell's performance driving it.

You can also check the club coefficients under Europe>Clubs, which look like are used for seedings and share of revenue.

 

In Oct 2026 in my own save in 2 Liga, took me three years to get out the OFV1

(Though was unlucky. First season I scored 105 goals in 26 games and only dropped 10 points, but unfortunately Ruggell only dropped 6. Next season finished joint top with better goal difference but lost out on disciplinary record. Finally went up last year unbeaten 18 points clear)

Been poor in the Liechtenstein Cup though, haven't got past the quarters yet, hopefully have a run this year, got a QF home game with league above Eschen/Mauren coming up.

Enjoying the challenge though

And always interesting to see others doing the same.

 

Brilliant, can't wait to check on this in the future! 

[Colonel_Buendia]

On 02/02/2023 at 08:21, ITFC_Blue said:

however I've set myself a limit of £2m for each transfer, as I want the save to be realistic still

Admirable commitment to sustaining the difficulty. Really cool challenge overall. Best of luck winning the Super League in the next few seasons!

The upcoming overhaul to the UEFA competition formats that was announced last year also included some changes to how the club/nation coefficients work, which I think have been implemented in FM 23.

This article covers some of the details: https://theathletic.com/3334649/2022/05/27/uefa-coefficients-champions-league-pots-qualification/

Hadn't considered the implications for clubs that play in the domestic league of a foreign country! 

 

[Branst23]

9 hours ago, Colonel_Buendia said:

Admirable commitment to sustaining the difficulty. Really cool challenge overall. Best of luck winning the Super League in the next few seasons!

The upcoming overhaul to the UEFA competition formats that was announced last year also included some changes to how the club/nation coefficients work, which I think have been implemented in FM 23.

This article covers some of the details: https://theathletic.com/3334649/2022/05/27/uefa-coefficients-champions-league-pots-qualification/

Hadn't considered the implications for clubs that play in the domestic league of a foreign country! 

 

Brilliant, thanks for the information! It definitely has added an extra dynamic to the save! Need to keep doing well in Europe to bring in the finances and keep the coefficient high. At this point doing well in Europe is almost more important than the league!

[LazgoNNO2000]

3 hours ago, Branst23 said:

Brilliant, thanks for the information! It definitely has added an extra dynamic to the save! Need to keep doing well in Europe to bring in the finances and keep the coefficient high. At this point doing well in Europe is almost more important than the league!

i wish UEFA have an better alternative format in 2024 instead of league format

[Branst23]

1 minute ago, LazgoNNO2000 said:

i wish UEFA have an better alternative format in 2024 instead of league format

For me in this save, I really don't mind it. It allows for more games and the opportunity for lower rep teams to get a more money! It is luck of the draw in the league phase though! It has helped us on this save!

Yet to see how it will actually work in real life though admittedly! 

[LazgoNNO2000]

1 minute ago, Branst23 said:

For me in this save, I really don't mind it. It allows for more games and the opportunity for lower rep teams to get a more money! It is luck of the draw in the league phase though! It has helped us on this save!

Yet to see how it will actually work in real life though admittedly! 

if i was UEFA President i would added another european competiton for some Opportunity to Lower Teams and Having EL 48 teams and probaly ECL been similar to UEFA Cup in 2001-2004 format

[Branst23]

2030/31 Season 9 - FC Ruggell

League Campaign

Before league split

Relegation Stage

A progressive year as we managed to avoid relegation after 1 game in the Super League Relegation Group. Less squeaky bum time this year! We started to dominate some of the weaker sides in the division. Next year we will push to break into the promotion phase of the league! Young Boys are still destroying the league. They have won 12 out of the last 13 league campaigns! Some of their players are worth over £20m! 

Liechtenstein Cup

A thumping win against Vaduz in the final proves how far we have come! Nice comparison as we are move up the top tier.

European Football

The biggest change in Liechtenstein football for sure. The winner of the Liechtenstein Cup qualifies for the Europa League, due to the rise up the co-efficient rankings! Although, we didn't get through to the Europa League proper, it did make for an easier route to the Europa Conference League.

Another cracking run in the ECL, I was extremely impressed how we qualified from the league phase, only losing 1 game which led to getting past the Playoff round. Newcastle were too strong but we did put in a good performance at home! A lot of money generated through this run, keeps us in the positive and allows us to upgrade training and youth facilities. In next few years, I believe we will stop upgrading the facilities and start having to spend transfer fees to upgrade our squad.

Standout Player of the Season

The best player in our squad and he also is Swiss. Ignore the transfer value, I have changed this to stop the low bids coming in!

Striker who has scored 16 goals in this league campaign! He is growing and improving!

On FM, I have noticed a lack of full/wing backs with high attributes in crossing, dribbling and tackling. The best we could do this league campaign was re-train a DM to cover our WBL position.

 

A progressive season, lets keep building as we enter season 10!

[Branst23]

2031 - Liechtenstein National Team

Euro Qualifiers led to two wins against Azerbaijan, which meant we got knocked out but passed expectation, beating a higher ranked team twice! The struggle bus continues!

World Ranking up to 172.

No decent players coming through the Liechtenstein youth intakes at the moment! So I will show you an Irish forward we came up against...

Youth Intakes... where are you?! Let's be 'avin you!

[ITFC_Blue]

On 04/02/2023 at 22:53, Colonel_Buendia said:

Admirable commitment to sustaining the difficulty. Really cool challenge overall. Best of luck winning the Super League in the next few seasons!

The upcoming overhaul to the UEFA competition formats that was announced last year also included some changes to how the club/nation coefficients work, which I think have been implemented in FM 23.

This article covers some of the details: https://theathletic.com/3334649/2022/05/27/uefa-coefficients-champions-league-pots-qualification/

Hadn't considered the implications for clubs that play in the domestic league of a foreign country! 

 

Thanks, admittedly I did break that to sign a keeper for £2.4m, the opportunity was too good to turn down. He's that unreal, he helped on my way to finally winning the Super League, however it hasn't gone on our records (presume because we are a guest club) and Basel went down as Champions.

Also, further to my last messages, we did also make the Champions League, with the finances being unreal for the club.

[Branst23]

2031/32 Season 10 - FC Ruggell

Larger update marking 10 years of the save incoming...

League Campaign

A huge step forward as we completely avoided the relegation scrap and lead the league going into the 2nd half of the season. Fixture congestion caught up with us slightly but we can not complain one bit. A huge step forward! One more position to gain in future seasons to be on the top of Swiss Football.

Liechtenstein Cup

No real need to get excited here... Another Liechtenstein Cup win!

European Football

Knocked out of the Europa League in the opening qualifying rounds which led to our most impressive Europa League run so far. Getting to the semi final's is a huge achievement. Our most impressive scalps along the way increase the come back away at Braga in the Round of 16 and then beating Saint-Etienne in both leagues in the Quarter Finals! We keep the Liechtenstein Co-efficient rising, who knows where we could end up!

10 Year Update - The Team

Goalkeeper

 

WBL

Centre Backs

WBR

Centre Mids

Inside Forward/Inside Winger

Striker

10 Year Update - The Club

Our facilities are the best in Switzerland pretty much, we have improved them to the point where I am now trying not to upgrade them in coming years so that we can improve our finances and start being able to buy players with money - rather than hunting expiring contracts and free agents! A turning point in the save is next years budget...

10 Year Update - The Manager

Broke the 500 games managed in our 10th year with the club, no sign of stopping just yet!

10 Seasons in the bag - We keep moving!

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Branst23