[FM23+] Little Britain in the sun

[OlivierL]

This should become my second major save in Gibraltar. After my save at FM21 with St Joseph's F.C. (Played seven seasons and it ended with the construction of my own stadium).Now it is time to start a new adventure in little Britain in the sun. I plan to carry on this save to FM24.

 

I went to visit gibraltar with my son a few weeks ago and, among other things, saw Gibraltar's national stadium (Victoria stadium) along with quite a few sightseeings on the rock (I will occasionally use my own photos in this topic). This only strengthened my love for gibraltar and my intention to achieve something here. I plan to watch a few more games there in the near future in the European qualifiers and competition.

Spoiler

Gibraltar (/dʒɪˈbrɔːltər/ jih-BRAWL-tər, Spanish: [xiβɾalˈtaɾ]) is a British Overseas Territory and city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.[a] It has an area of 6.7 km2 (2.6 sq mi) and is bordered to the north by Spain. The landscape is dominated by the Rock of Gibraltar, at the foot of which is a densely populated town area, home to some 32,688 people (2022 estimate), primarily Gibraltarians.

In 1704, Anglo-Dutch forces captured Gibraltar from Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession. The territory was ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It became an important base for the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars and World War II, as it controlled the narrow entrance and exit to the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar, which is only 14.3 km (8.9 mi) wide. This choke point remains strategically important, with half the world's seaborne trade passing through it.Gibraltar's economy is based largely on tourism, online gambling, financial services, and bunkering. With one of the world's lowest unemployment rates, the largest part of the labor force are resident in Spain and/or non-Gibraltarians, especially in the private sector.

The sovereignty of Gibraltar is a point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations, as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum, and for shared sovereignty in a 2002 referendum. Nevertheless, Gibraltar maintains close economic and cultural links with Spain, with many Gibraltarians speaking Spanish as well as a local dialect known as Llanito.

Since Brexit, Gibraltar is not a member of the European Union but negotiations are underway to have it participate in the Schengen Agreement to facilitate border movements between Gibraltar and Spain.[19] As of March 2023, talks seem deadlocked.

Gibraltar is a fast short league where you can quickly focus on European qualifications. In the long term, my intention is to become national coach of Gibraltar to achieve certain goals there as well. And I will of course do everything I can to grow other clubs (by buying players from them, with or without sell-through add-ons).

  Rules

This is a build a small nation save with one important rule. Only players of Gibraltar nationality (second nationality is also allowed) may be bought/hired in combination with our own academy graduates. I hope that in time good British players will get gibraltarian passports (transfers from other gibraltar clubs) so I can strengthen the league and national team.  There is a possibility that at some point, I will do other transfers after all, and buy british players myself with the intention of having them play for gibralter over time. But if and when is not clear. 

  History Gibraltarian Football

The Victoria Stadium is located next to the airport.

Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory located on the South of the Iberian Peninsula, is rarely spoken about in the footballing world. With a population of 34,000 contained within 6.7km2, you might not have expected the Rock to have a formal competitive football league.

But with the qualifying stages of the Champions League and Europa League becoming home to many Gibraltarian clubs, and also with plenty of exciting young players representing Gibraltar, it might time we paid more attention to football in Gibraltar.

The Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) was started in 1895 as football began to popularise across the globe during the 19th Century. In 1907, the GFA started the Gibraltar Football League, with the only competition existing before that being the Merchant’s Cup. The league began with eight teams, later expanding to two divisions.

There are currently three domestic senior men’s tournaments in Gibraltar. Since being reformed at the start of the 2019/20 season, there has only been one senior tier in Gibraltar, known as The Gibraltar National League.

Although the reforming of the league came at the unfortunate expense of dissolving a number of clubs, it now makes sense that all football Gibraltar is united in one league. 11 teams competed in the 2021/22 season, with each team facing each other once before the league splitting in half.

Spoiler

The top half, the Championship Group, compete for the title and a place in the qualifying stages of the Champions League or Europa League, with each of them playing each other twice. The bottom half, the Challenge Group, compete for the Challenge trophy which gives them a bye into the next round of the Rock Cup.

The Rock Cup is Gibraltar’s domestic cup, similar to many other association cup knock-out competitions but with only four rounds.

The final tournament is the Pepe Reyes Cup, contested between the winner of the National League and the Rock Cup.

Gibraltar also run a league for the reserve teams (Intermediate league) of all the sides in the National League. There is also a Women’s league and cup, from which teams can qualify for the Women’s Champions League.

Edited August 7, 2023 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

Europa FC - Gibraltar - Intro

Database| Manager| Profile Club | Club Vision | Facilities | Finances

Europa FC is a professional football club from Gibraltar, that competes in the Gibraltar National League. As with all other clubs in the territory, Europa FC currently shares the Victoria Stadium on Winston Churchill Avenue. Europa FC is also called " the green machine ". The club also operates a women's team which competes in the Gibraltar Women's Football League. The club was founded in 1925 and won the league eight times.  This makes it the fourth most successful team in gibraltar. Lincoln became champions 24 times, Prince of Wales FC (bankrupt) won 19 times, Glacis Utd 17 times.

Europa FC has been Lincoln's biggest challenger for years and it aims to become Gibraltar's biggest club. Whereas Lincoln Red Imps is mainly made up of Gibraltarians, Europa is a club where almost only foreigners play. They have to, as Lincoln has all of Gibraltar's top players under contract.  So this will have to change in the near future.

Facilities

Victoria Stadium (2226 seats) is a multi-purpose stadium in Gibraltar. It is currently used mostly for football matches, but also hosts the annual Gibraltar Music Festival. It is located close to Gibraltar Airport just off Winston Churchill Avenue. It was named after the wife of Gibraltarian philanthropist John Mackintosh.

Despite initial plans to replace the stadium in the 2010s, the Gibraltar Football Association purchased the stadium from the Government of Gibraltar in April 2017 in order to improve and renovate it. The plans to build a new stadium are still ongoing.

All clubs in the Gibraltar Football League play their matches at Victoria Stadium. As such it is also used to host the final of the Rock Cup. Prior to membership of FIFA, it has been used as the Gibraltar national football team's home ground for unofficial internationals.  Following the Gibraltar Football Association's admittance as a full member of UEFA in May 2013, UEFA vetoed Gibraltar using Victoria Stadium as their home ground as it did not meet UEFA standards and as the Government of Gibraltar owned it. which meant that the Gibraltar national football team was obliged to play their "home" matches in UEFA and FIFA qualifying tournaments at Estádio Algarve in Faro, Portugal however they were permitted to play friendly matches there.

Squad

Not a single Gibraltarian in the senior squad comes from our own academy. A lot of work to do to improve that.  I plan to keep the best non-GIBs as long as possible and use them to allow us to grow. In the long run, of course, there will be no more players in the senior squad without Gibraltarees passports.

First season for Sánchez in Gibraltar. He graduated from Sevilla's youth academy but always played at the lower level. A goal-scoring machine for several seasons at that level.

Fourth season for Willy at Europa FC. He should provide the creativity .

Hernandez is our best Gibraltar player in the squad. He comes from rival Lincoln and will have a very important role in the growth of our squad.

Jayce Olivero is the captain right now at Europa FC and is a certainty at the back.

I am reunited with the top talent from my St Joseph's save, Dylan Borge. He banged them in with his eyes closed and hopefully he can repeat this for Europa FC.

Edited August 10, 2023 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

Football clubs - Tracker - 4/7/22

It is clear which club is dominant in Gibraltar. I will update this every five seasons to see how the teams evolve in gibraltar.

Edited August 3, 2023 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

Club and Nation Objectives

Spoiler

 

Player Objectives

Spoiler

National coach Objectives

Spoiler

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by OlivierL

[Perre8]

goodluck! i will be following this topic!

 

[OlivierL]

I have obviously certain objectives.  As club coach and national coach. To grow the club, the country and individually players from Gibraltar(or academy). 

 

Spoiler

https://gyazo.com/87b037db4f3d54a83a3c256ab730c297

Certain objectives are split into three phases. I do not define the date of each phase but as soon as I reach the first objective I will mark it on the list and we will work towards the next one.

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

I won't try to manager Gibraltar in the first 5/6 seasons, afterwards this is for sure an objective so i can have some more influence.

Edited September 4, 2023 by OlivierL

[Perre8]

nice and clear goals set, start banging them seasons!

[OlivierL]

Gibraltar Football League - Homegrown rules

 

I have 8 players that trained in Gibraltar already so this shouldn't be an issue. Most of the above could be first team players.

Edited August 3, 2023 by OlivierL

[Jogo Bonito]

Good luck with this. The company I work for in Malta has an office in Gibraltar. You should have picked the Maltese BOV Premier League instead 

[Skywalk3r83]

Good luck!

[AlfieLucas]

Goodluck with this. Will enjoy reading it.

[OlivierL]

Hoyd change 22/23

I won't post about every staff change but this one is really important.

I sacked my current HOYD (he won't talk about a different role at the club) because i found below HOYD.

Good personalty, high JPA and JPP.  A great option for my first season.

Edited August 3, 2023 by OlivierL

[Cheez3y]

Loved your save with St. Joseph. 

Will follow.

[OlivierL]

22 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Good luck with this. The company I work for in Malta has an office in Gibraltar. You should have picked the Maltese BOV Premier League instead 

 

23 hours ago, Perre8 said:

nice and clear goals set, start banging them seasons!

 

8 hours ago, Skywalk3r83 said:

Good luck!

 

6 hours ago, AlfieLucas said:

Goodluck with this. Will enjoy reading it.

 

1 hour ago, Cheez3y said:

Loved your save with St. Joseph. 

Will follow.

Thanks everybody . @Cheez3y i loved that save but stopped too early. Same concept but with an opening to start buying british players in the future (not sure if i will do that);

Started again because of my visit to Gibraltar and because of the topic from @Sheriff7 with Lincoln and the great blog from @TheLutterworthFox .

[Sheriff7]

Finally someone who can make it in Gibraltar. Keep an eye to Ant. Hernandez and Olivero i loved them in my save. Try to sign legendary Liam Walker if you can. Of course i will follow this.

[Swaban]

good luck mate, I love a Gibraltarian save so will definitely be following this!

[OlivierL]

July 2022

Started very good in our Europa Conference League first QF with a win against Bosnia & Herzegovina's Borac . They were much stronger and we had some luck! We gained good money with this first win. In the second round ECL we lost against MFK Ružomberok from Slovakia. They were strong but we managed to get a 0-3 lead in the second leg. They managed to score three times and we are out.

 

Transfers

This are our first transfers in.

Kelvin Morgan is joining us for only 6.25k. he will be one of or two main strikers this season.

Erin Barnett is another payable gibraltarian with already some international experience.

Young prospects like Nicholas Pozo or Carlos Richards or Jaiden Bartolo are not interested in a transfer at the moment.

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

August 2022

Transfers

Signed one more player. Had four players on trial but familiar face (previous save in gibraltar) Shaun De Los Santos may remain as backup midfielder.

Staff changes

Signed Pablo Rotchen as assistent manager. 

International

No new names. i will post the profile page of every academy player that receives his first call-up.

Edited August 3, 2023 by OlivierL

[Perre8]

Good transfers already! Unfortunate not to proceed in the ECL. For Gibraltar standards good money earned i think. 

[OlivierL]

September 2022

We lost our first important domestic game against rivals Lincoln after penalties. We missed our fifth and only penalty.

First Eleven

Already 7 player from Gibraltar in our first eleven. Average age of 26.5 and the average attributes from our first eleven is 46.41.

One of my sheets to get a clear image of the CA of the player(s).

Tactic

I'm using the same tactic as on FM22 and FM23. A 2 striker high pressing tactic.

International

5 players called-up for the senior squad of Gibraltar.

Facilities

We received our first upgrades very fast, thank you board.

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by OlivierL

[Sheriff7]

Morgan was my back up Forward in national team (behind Tj De Bar. De Los Santos is a good back up midfield indeed. Great result against Borac. Also you mention a bug in Gibraltar league in past if i remember correct. What was that?

[OlivierL]

October 2022

Perfect start with a really impressive win over Lincoln.

Edited August 4, 2023 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

Gibraltar National team production - 2022

No contribution from Europa fc yet.

[OlivierL]

10 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Morgan was my back up Forward in national team (behind Tj De Bar. De Los Santos is a good back up midfield indeed. Great result against Borac. Also you mention a bug in Gibraltar league in past if i remember correct. What was that?

yes at FM21 (and i think FM20 or 22) the winner of the 'playoff' group with the number 7 - 11 involved gets the same prize money as the champions. and also a lot of brexit issues and no team was registering anybody. With the database from @DaveTheEditor everything seems to go very good.

[OlivierL]

Players developed and active in Gibraltar Football League - 2022

3 produced talents in the GFL is a good start.

[OlivierL]

November 2022

27 out of 27 is more than i expected. i hope we can continue like this and it will be important to win one more time from Lincoln in the champions playoffs.

Transfers

Signed a regen DC from Gibraltar, no information about his homegrown club. Brandon Stead is getting a chance to improve and is my first youth signing (U19). I'll tag those players with 'YT' label and give them a real face.

He received a first call-up for U18 Gibraltar.

Edited August 4, 2023 by OlivierL

[Rikulec]

Interesting start, best of luck mate.

[OlivierL]

Youth intake preview - Class 2023

Long time since I have seen such a negative forecast but I shouldn't have expected anything else. My current squad is quite strong for Gibraltar and the youth intakes in gibraltar will be weak to average for the next 10,20 years and so much below the standard of my senior players.

[OlivierL]

December 2022

Only one game this month and the players are on a winter break for one month.

Man 62 qualified for the champions playoffs with only 11 points. The only competition we seem to have is Lincoln , as expected.

I'm going to try and sign some of the above players. Most of them are not interested in talking with us.

Britto will join us on free from big rivals Lincoln. He is a first team player. He was also a very important player in my St Joseph's save on FM21.

 

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

January 2022

We start with a win in the champions playoffs.

Transfers

Jay Key has a lot of potential. 

 

[OlivierL]

February 2022

First points dropped at Magpies. Afterwards we could not win against Lincoln but we played the entire second half with ten.

 

[OlivierL]

Youth intake preview

Happy with our first intake. Average 34.06 (very low) but two guys have +40 average attributes rating so that is something good. Below you can find my calculation tool(spoiler).

Spoiler

Best of class 2023

 

Malbon 23 is the best prospect, i like his personality en flair/technique/first touch. Newton 23 could be a fullback option in the future and Rowe 23 is a tall central defender with a good personality. Of course, after every intake, I have to check what has appeared in gibralter at the other teams. Hopefully I can poach a good player here and there.

[OlivierL]

March 2022

With a draw again St Joseph's and a perfect run from Lincoln, anything can happen. Next game is Lincoln away.

 

International

Vinet receives his first senior call-up. 

[Sheriff7]

Lincoln at the first 1-2 years will be very competitive. After that you should win league title easily.  Good luck!

[Deisler26]

Easy to start, hard to finish. Good luck!

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, Sheriff7 said:

Lincoln at the first 1-2 years will be very competitive. After that you should win league title easily.  Good luck!

Yes after a few seasons we should be stronger as lincoln but I still think they can take over again afterwards if the level of players from gibraltar does not rise.  Once the real players from my current squad start quitting, our level will also drop. I am only allowed to buy players with Gibraltarian passports and they are allowed to buy spanish and english etc. i hope they do that so the level of the league goes up. I will also help them out by buying players from them for a solid price (as soon as I have enough cash myself).

[OlivierL]

League Fixtures| League Player Stats | Competitions

Gibraltar Football League

We won it after after a second with at Lincoln. Almost a perfect season. We won it for the 9th time in our history.

Rock Cup

We won it after the big Antonio Sánchez show.

Pepe Reyes Cup

We lost this after penalties against Lincoln.

Europe

Survived one round and received +-900k prize money. 

U23 Intermediate League

Narrowly but our U23 just miss out on the tittle

Squad

First XI| Overall best XI | Academy Accolades | Transfers | Loaned Players | Youth Intake - Class 2023

Kelvin Morgan had a great first season for us and he was very important up front together with Antonio Sánchez

Awards

Cipri and Willy assisted 21 times together from the wings and scored 26 goals.

Club Finances & Upgrades

Profile Club| Finances| Facilities| Affiliated Clubs

Next Season

I am very happy with the domestic double. Making money again next season through the European qualifiers and getting close to a European group stage is the main goal. Of course, we will also continue to grow and steal a player from another team here and there.

Edited August 20, 2023 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

Gibraltar Watch

Senior Squad | U21 | U19 | U18

8 x senior players - 4 x U21 players - 3 x U19 players - 1 x U18 player from Europa FC

Relegated in Nations League and started with two defeats in the Euro QF.

Most valued player.

No changes

Edited August 8, 2023 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

Wonderkid from Gibraltar ?

I was checking some intakes at major clubs and saw a great player at Liverpool that was born in.. Gibraltar !

Fitzpatrick will never play in Gibraltar (unless at the age of 45) and he will probably choose England as well. 

[OlivierL]

Youth Facilities upgrade

After the season review i asked for a youth facilities upgrade and they accepted it.

[Cheez3y]

2 hours ago, OlivierL said:

Wonderkid from Gibraltar ?

I was checking some intakes at major clubs and saw a great player at Liverpool that was born in.. Gibraltar !

Fitzpatrick will never play in Gibraltar (unless at the age of 45) and he will probably choose England as well. 

And what ever you will do with the GIB national team, he will always refuse to switch.

Even if you win 2 World Cups, be top the world rankings and got the most rep.

[OlivierL]

Getting ready for the second season but i found a podcast and youtube episode of the life of our and Gibraltar's captain Jayce Olivero. Olivero was also very important in my FM21 save playing for me at St Joseph's.

 

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thefitznesspodcast/episodes/Playing-International-Football-wJayce-Olivero---Ep--7-e1j9106

Quote

 This film follows Jayce as he transitions from university student to international footballer, capturing Gibraltar’s amazing UNL campaign along the way.

 

[OlivierL]

Gibraltar Depth 23-24

I will show you the options i have in my squad for every position and what the best options are in Gibraltar . The best senior player and best prospect.

GK:

Banda is our number one at Europa FC.

Lopez is our hot prospect and backup goalkeeper. 

Tom King is born in Plymouth, available for Wales but his second nationality is Gibraltar. He never played for Gibraltar but he is on my shortlist.  He seems to be the best Gib goalkeeper in the database.

Tommy Banks has the highest PA according to my scouts (don't know why the report is gone?) . He was in the first intake at Lincoln and is not interested to join us (yet). This won't be easy in the future because of our rivalry

[OlivierL]

Full-back Left

Olivero is our main option for the DL position and our captain.

Britto is a Lincoln player but he will join us for free . He will be our best prospect and is the biggest DL prospect from Gibraltar.

Chipolina is a Gib legend but he is not on my shortlist anymore because of his age. Respect!

Rush is playing for Burton and is a hot prospect.

Full-back Right

Barnett is our first choice DR. We don't have a DR prospect yet in our squad(s).

Ronan is the best DR option in Gibraltar, he is on my shortlist . No real young prospects (beside him) in Gibraltar yet.

Edited August 10, 2023 by OlivierL

[OlivierL]

Central Defender

Jolley is our best option for the DC spot. he is also capable of playing at the DR position. 

Yeo is a DC prospect, we will keep an eye on his development at the U23 squad.

Annesley born in Londen, from Barnet/Chelsea and was at Blackburn for 5 seasons. He is playing for Dundalk( Ireland) at the moment and is our number one target for the DC spot.

Carrington is one of the best DC prospects in the game.

[Sheriff7]

Good luck in your try to sign Annesley. In my save I couldn't sign him for many years (he didn't wanted even to talk with us). 

[OlivierL]

Central Midfielder - Defensive

A. Hernandez is our best defensive minded midfielder. We don't have any young prospect yet for this position.

Yahaya is the best GIB DMC in the database, started in holland at Twente before joining Europa FC . In 19/20 he joined Lincoln and he is still best option in the midfield.

Pozo is the Best DMC/MC prospect in Gibraltar , playing at Cádiz C.F. He is one of my main targets. In real life also playing for the senior Gibraltar team.

Central Midfielder - Box to box 

The second Hernandez in my squad and he plays together with his brother in the central midfield.

Rafie Emrani joined us for 21K from Spanish Linense . He will get his chance in the pre-season.

Another legend from Gibraltar ! Walker is playing for Lincoln and played a few seasons for Europa FC in the past. He is not on my shortlist because of the age but i would be tempted if i could sign him for only one season.

Fitzpatrick is a potential wonderkid from the Liverpool academy. He will never play in and for Gibraltar but at the moment he is connected to the rock !

[OlivierL]

4 minutes ago, Sheriff7 said:

Good luck in your try to sign Annesley. In my save I couldn't sign him for many years (he didn't wanted even to talk with us). 

I was able to sign him on FM21 (St Joseph's) in my third season from blackburn. Really would love to work with him again , just to please @Jimbokav1971

[OlivierL]

Inside Forwards / Wingers

Vinet is our best GIB winger and is in the Gibraltar first team, not capped yet. I could have picked Anthony Hernandez but he has a central role.

Caushaj is not available yet for Gibraltar yet , he is born in Albania.  But i think he will ready to play for Gibraltar in one year. I'm planning on using him (he wants to be loaned out).

Not many options in the gibraltar squad but De Barr, playing for Wycombe (league one) is the best option for the winger position.

Richards is a big talent but i doubt he will come and play in and for Gibraltar. Currently in the U21 at Derby

[OlivierL]

Forward

After De Barr he is the best striker in Gibraltar. Morgan had a great first season with 18 goals in 25 games.

Borge is one of my favourite young GIB players, at the moment he is my backup striker.

Bartolo was the biggest prospect that was not in our squad but i signed him for free from Man 62 at the end of the first season.