The FM24 Youth Academy Challenge

[Anners]

On 17/12/2023 at 01:09, Anners said:

Previous Post:

2050/51 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

Heheheh. That can join my list of "lowest points totals" I've got in this save! I felt like I was gettinc loser, but that came out of absolutely nowhere. It's shocking what having a good goalkeeper can do to a team - especially as I've got a lot of the other pieces! We stumbled over the line a bit, but thanks to almost everyone else having an absolute shocker we managed to bring it home. We actually battled with Dundee United most of the season at the top and I think this is the first season that Rangers & Celtic have finished outside the top 6. The changing of the guard is almost complete!

I actually thought when I'd win the league I'd have more to say - but it's actually felt quite underwhelming in a way. I've said in the past couple of updates that this league can get absolutely wild, especially with the example of St Johnstone finishing 2nd and getting relegated. Like I don't think I've seen this before - this is the preview for next year:

I think I'm equally as likely to get another title than I am to get relegated at this point!

Youth Intake:

Couple of very good prospects - including another keeper! Porteous can actually develop decently and if Pick eventually leaves (he is unhappy but I have got him on a long contract), he should have an adequate replacement this time. This is genuinely the first end of season where the only players that have left the club, I've actually been happy with. I doubt we'll make any headway in the Champions League, but it's bloody good to be there!

Other News:

I mentioned Thomas Scott getting interest, well he has gone from Blackburn to Real Madrid. His value was hovering around £80-100m at times, but sadly came down at the end of the season. He actually handed in a transfer request, so only went for £48m to Real Madrid. Does mean we get a very very nice £24m fee for him - add to the prize money and Champions League money next year and we're looking extremely healthy:

Attributes here for him, if anyone is curious.

I've not put my updated money at the round up below, but I'm just into September whilst writing this (I got a bit excited...) and we're sat at a very healthy £27m bank balance, with facility upgrades coming. If we're not close to the top, we will be at the end of next season.

This might sound a bit stupid, but even though we've won the league I wouldn't put us as a top team yet. We're maybe a year or two away from that, but we're certainly a team who should be challenging for European spots at the very least now.

Full History:

  Reveal hidden contents

Last 5 Years:

Previous Post:

2051/52 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

Now, you might see this and think "that's about where he said he thought the team was". Which is true. However, after 13 games, we were neck and neck with Celtic with 29 points gained. In the followed 25 we only gained 23 points. I'M STILL STUCK IN THE HALF SEASON SYNDROME SEND HELP.

Although I do have 2 quite hilarious screenshots:

The run I had at the end of last season that went a few games into this. And then...

We went 18 games without winning. I don't even know what happened.

The fact I've got European football shows how poor the league was, although that probably is a good sign for me going forward! Also, thanks @WhiteCat33. You wanted Celtic relegated and they seemed to take that very personally!

Europe:

I didn't expect too much from my first UCL campaign, but a win would've been nice at least!

Youth Intake:

This could be a very juicy intake if those wingers and striker turn out to be somewhat decent. 5 star potential is obviously a lot better now, so hopefully we can start getting a replacement for Frimpong ready and take that next step with a couple of wonderkids.

Facilities:

We're finally up to State of the Art training facilities, with Youth Facilities not too far behind. We've got the best staff in the league, the best training facilities and already the best youth structure.

Full History:

Spoiler

Last 5 Years:

[WhiteCat33]

@Anners Happy to help  I almost got Rangers though, literally 3 points off the relegation playoff! Hope St johnstone make some massive transfers in the summer now that they survived the season. How many seasons do you think till they top the league wagebill and transfer expenditure?

Did your losing streak coincide with the start of European matches, cause first year in the CL getting hammered every week would explain things.

What a tasty intake with 2 Professional Attackers with almost maxed out PA! I'd have to think at least one will pan out for you at this point in the save, probably both for at least squad-level players. Any Player screenshots to share?

[BustaRaymes]

4 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

it would be an amazing achievement though!

how are you finding the speed of seasons/games? When i tried a tier 10 save it clogged my machine up so much it took hours to generate any results!

It's not too bad. I find it helps to turn off the lowest leagues when climbing the ladder, as I feel like the calculating slows down after some years too. I don't really need level 10 to be playable when I'm 2 levels above that. At first I thought it would impact loanees when a league is not fully visible but it doesn't seem to matter too much.

Main thing is though, I play when working from home or (during the weekends) while watching a movie or show. I holiday between most games - unless there's stuff like the final few games, transfers or a takeover happening. Whenever I want to take a short break from what I'm doing, I play the next game. Apart from the usual unhappy fringe player whose issues I don't address when he wants me to, it creates little trouble to holiday those days.

[karax268]

Çankaya FK 2028/2029 Season Review

On the field

Fixtures prt 1  | Fixtures prt 2

Same points as last season and one place lower, yet a much more comfortable league campaign. We had a better start to the season and kept enough form to stay well clear off the drop zone. There is a significant gap in quality between us and even midtable teams. there was a stretch of ten games in the middle of the season I knew we would be lucky to get draws. Indeed we managed 1 draw and 9 losses. We were truly powerless in those games. Th grind to the top is going to take a while I'm afraid.

 

In the cup we went out against second tier Gaziantep FK Who we'll see again next year in the Super Lig.

 

Squad

Best player of the year: Onur Küçük 

The GK has been a part of the team since the beginning and this is his time in the limelight. The fact our GK has the highest rating in the team while we had 23 losses says a lot about the quality of the team I think. I dread the moment he either retires or declines. No prospect comes close yet to him. I'm can confidently say without Onur we would have been relegated easily.

Top scorer: Talha Aydemir

back as topscorer for us. A massive 6 goals for the campaign. He missed some time due to injury. When He was fit he was reliable though. He lacked consistent players around him.

Young player of the season: Saim Taşlı 27e

The young winger had a breakout year and developed well. 

 

Youth intake

Good potentials but unfortunately my best prospects are both unambitious.

Best of the lot is Yamaç Şahin 29a

 

I just need you to develop some quickness Yamaç. That is all I ask. maybe some composure..

 

Board

Finances | Transfers

We sold our first player for big money. Bartu Büyükgök 26b left for Porto for 1.5M. He was definitely worth more, But that was the release clause.

It did mean we ended the season with a slight profit. Youth costs have been high this season. more than half our expanses this season have been for the youth setup. This means that for the first time this save I have not asked for improvements in youth recruitment and coaching. I did ask for better training and youth facilities but the board would still not fund it.

I did complete my Pro License Badge

Next Season

Hopefully we can improve a little bit. But the comparison screen and the prediction are not giving me much confidence. 

 

 

 

[Daddy]

2031/32 Season Review - Belgian Third Tier - Season 8

I was hoping to do a bit better, but we had a few injuries at key positions and that was a bit too much to turn those draws into wins and one goal losses into draws. 

Another intake with an incredible player, and you may notice by the screenshot he's already on another team. For the second year in a row, I got a player in a position of need and I got four matches out of them. I negotiated a 50% profit clause, and as seen by the value above that could be pretty profitable. Speaking of clauses...Christmas came early:

I wish I could have held on to this for a while longer, but the club debt situation was getting too bad. Also, I wanted to go professional again. Got a few upgrades, but not the super expensive facilities yet. We lose a little over $1M each season and going professional will make that even more so I want a few years before the club gets risk of going back semi-pro. I didn't realize it would take a whole year to activate so I'm sadly losing a couple of players I was hoping a full-time contract would settle down and get a push at promotion over the next couple of seasons. Regardless, it's nice to not be broke.

2032/33 Season Preview:

Probably another year of treading water. 

[Riebow]

Olot UE Season Review (26/27)

League:

A tale of two seasons. we reverted to being dead average for the first couple of months. We won enough games to never be in any jeopardy, but I already acquiesced for a season in midtable mediocrity. I started tinkering with some new tactics, trying to get a 2 striker system going and it suddenly just clicked. In the 2nd half of the season we became an absolute juggernaut. We were 12th in February and were able to snag the last play-off spot on the last day of the season. Would we lift our good form to an unexpected promotion?

Spoiler

Playoffs

We were drawn to Fuenlabrada from the B league. We stole a 1-1 draw in the first leg and absolutely hammered them at home, winning 4-0. For a spot in the Segunda Division, we would play Tarragona from our own division. We actually already beat them during the regular season, and to be honest, I was feeling very confident we would get the job done.

Spoiler

Alas, hybris struck. We were second best in both games and Tarragona deservedly went up.

Spoiler

Youth Intake:

The preview looked promising...

Spoiler

 

The actual intake... Yikes! No elite talents and very little in current ability. I guess this is the result of not being able to improve any of our facilities. It really puts more pressure on the youngsters already there.

Spoiler

Transfers

One huge transfer. We say goodbye to our star player and all time goalscorer: Momodou Janneh. I really didn't want to sell this guy, but A. we are absolutely broke and B. He didn't want to sign a new deal. I was hoping for at least 500k, but again there is no money in Spain. In the end I have to be happy with 215K and a small sell-on clause of 20%

 

Spoiler

Downgrades

As if things couldn't get any worse, our board decided to revert to semi-professional status. I'm absolutely gutted. The finances in the lower tiers of Spain don't make sense. It's really too bad, because I'm really enjoying this save.

Next season

Next season I will have a part-time team with players on full-time contracts, so the finances will continue to detoriate and they will only train twice a week. I'll give it a try, but I'm afraid this save is DOA :-(

[The7Striker]

Kids Tâmpa Brasov 2024/2025

Finances  Facilities  Transfers  Squad I Squad II

 

Liga II Casa Pariurilor

Relegation Group

It was a fairly quiet season, we started picking up points early on and escaping the most problematic places in the table, finishing 8th in the regular phase.
In January, one of our best players (who already wanted to leave) left for 425k +40% of the next transfer, not a bad deal even though we were still in the red.
In the relegation phase, we finished with 5 wins and only 1 defeat, coming 1st in the group.
The board allowed me to get my National C licence and it was the only upgrade I got this season.

 

Cupa Românei -  We entered the competition very early and with it some squad rotation. It didn't go well and we were knocked out by a League III team in the First Stage Second Round.

Under 19 - They didn't take part in any league.

 

Youth Intake

We're in dire need of quality centre-backs, but this intake didn't have much of that.
However, we had four talented players, even if their personalities weren't the best.
Biró will definitely get some minutes on the left side of defence, while Andrei will be on the striker role.

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by The7Striker

[Anners]

5 hours ago, WhiteCat33 said:

@Anners Happy to help  I almost got Rangers though, literally 3 points off the relegation playoff! Hope St johnstone make some massive transfers in the summer now that they survived the season. How many seasons do you think till they top the league wagebill and transfer expenditure?

Did your losing streak coincide with the start of European matches, cause first year in the CL getting hammered every week would explain things.

What a tasty intake with 2 Professional Attackers with almost maxed out PA! I'd have to think at least one will pan out for you at this point in the save, probably both for at least squad-level players. Any Player screenshots to share?

They're actually 2nd in wage bill already - they just only performed that one season it looks like. They don't seem to have any particularly great players, just seem to be overpaying really.

I'd actually played 3 already - I thought I'd struggle before I did but I lost 2-0 to Hearts and then just completely imploded! I wasn't getting hammered either, was fairly close games.

Huber and Cook here. Look decent prospects! Currid and Barr also, just because it was a fairly decent intake.

I still have 3 more years left of Kieran Pick at the moment too, trying my best to keep ahold but has a £20.5m minimum fee clause to UCL clubs:

[XaW]

I hate mandatory release clause with a passion!

They took him for £245k and no clauses...

[WhiteCat33]

18 minutes ago, Anners said:

They're actually 2nd in wage bill already - they just only performed that one season it looks like. They don't seem to have any particularly great players, just seem to be overpaying really.

I'd actually played 3 already - I thought I'd struggle before I did but I lost 2-0 to Hearts and then just completely imploded! I wasn't getting hammered either, was fairly close games.

Huber and Cook here. Look decent prospects! Currid and Barr also, just because it was a fairly decent intake.

I still have 3 more years left of Kieran Pick at the moment too, trying my best to keep ahold but has a £20.5m minimum fee clause to UCL clubs:

What a great GK at only 20! The way I've held onto all my players is the DoF trick to drop the fee release clauses when I renegotiate contracts. Sure, I overpay all my players significantly, but in Barbados you don't get surplus talent that's for sure. At least you were able to get him up to 20M so you won't get totally robbed like @XaW - Porto stole that playmaker.

What an attacking generation to look forward to as well. 

[glennuk]

Rein Meer AKA ReinBerg - Season 5 - Japan J3 League - End of Year Review

League

Some progress again, while it isn't in the playoffs we have improved over last season. Our end of season form was a bit disappointing as turning one of those losses (in the last two games) into a win and we would have snuck into the playoffs. We also had the frustrating dip in the middle of the season, not sure what went wrong, as it wasn't obvious injuries or anything obvious.

Squad

I mentioned in the mid year review that we have started to integrate some of the youth academy players and they have settled in pretty well. Mitsuki Kojima (YP04A) has established himself as our strongest Centre Back already at the young age of 16. Kazutoshi Sasaki (YP04G) was a nice surprise as my best winger this season, chipping in with a few goals and was the assist leader in the team. Tatsuya Tanaka (YP04B) has been very strong in the later half of the season and has become my starting Deep Laying Playmaker. Those 3 in particular have been regulars and have performed to a pretty good standard overall. So my 'Golden Generation' has definitely been a big boon to the team, AND they can only get better!

Finances

Still pretty comfortable on the finances side, partly as my board still keep rejecting any request I make to improve Youth Recruitment or Junior Coaching.

Other News

We did not ask for this, but we got a senior affiliate in Kawasaki Frontale. The annual fee will be nice and the friendly could be interesting in terms of generating some gate receipts. Hopefully they don't send us any loans, as if they do they will have to get cancelled or go in the reserves.

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by glennuk

[michiganhugefan]

 

Undy Athletic Season 2 2026

Transfers||Finances

A little bit of an extended break as work tried kicking my ass, but we're back for another season in Wales.

JD Cymru South

Spoiler

We only went and won the league. Now last year I decided to run a very offensive formation since we had 3 Strikers who were probably 3 of our 4 best players. And starting this season I decided I wanted to give our best tagged prospect from 2025 a place in the team and having released our Natural Defensive Midfielder in the offseason, I moved the DM to an AMC and slotted in our youth prospect to play directly behind our 3 strikers. The goal haul from our Strikers alone was more than every team but Penybont (66 goals). Now the surprising thing to me was that we had a middle of the road defense, which I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. Penybont fought us every step of the way, they were the defending Welsh Cup champions and made the finale again this year, but on the last day of the season we both won and thus we secured a spot in the Welsh Premiership next season. More to discuss in the Awards Section.

Welsh Cup

Spoiler

A nice successful campaign, and good for our finances too, as we went all the way to the Quarter Final. Drawing TNS here was particularly painful as they were the Last Welsh Premier team left. We even went up 1-0 on them, but alas quality wins out and we were bounced.

Nathaniel MG Cup

Spoiler

Made it to the 3rd round before being bounced by a Premier team

Tier 2 League Cup

Spoiler

Made it all the way to the final before bowing out, would've enjoyed the trophy but a good run regardless.

Awards

Spoiler

Somehow a different striker won Player of the Season. I'll have more on these players in the overall 11, but note that Sion Owen 25l made the league team of the season for later. I think the fact my defenders made the Team of the Season is wild since we weren't that good at defense, and it's not like my defenders contributed that much on offense.

Best 11

Spoiler

 

Starters

Harry Benjamin - Giancarlo Gabbiadini - Ryan Hudson

Steve Owen 25a

Tommy Larsen 24b - Adam Matthews 24a

Kieran Miller - Kane Jellyman - Steffan Jenkins - Sion Owen 25l

Mike Jones

Bench

Tinsley - Harvey 25i - Hogan 25b - Hughes 25c - Lloyd 25f - Jeffreys 25g - Mendy 25h

Gareth Cullimore Retired after last season, Chris Parry spent the year at Llanuwchllyn in the lower leagues before retiring at the end of this season and is now an unemployed General Manager, James Gidney retired after failing to find a club this season and is an unemployed Assistant Coach, Gareth Jones-Evans spent the year at Penrhiwceiber Rangers in the lower leagues before retiring at the end of the season and is now an unemployed Coach.

Tagged Player Updates

Spoiler

Still probably our best player, had another great season, seems to only score absurd pretty long shots, but is effective at it, hopefully he can handle the transition to the Premiership well next season.

Really disappointed with his season, just not really contributing on a level I would like him to. I think we might look at trying to make Adam Matthews the more attacking central mid and putting a Ball Winner behind him next season and put Tommy Larsen more into the AMC rotation, so he'll probably end up playing less next season.

Spent the season mostly in the U19s, except for one 3 minute appearance off the bench, for now just a developmental piece.

A real mixed bag this season, struggled mightily to score goals while playing an attacking position, but also was the top assister on the team and contributed well in his first season even if the goals were lacking.

With Kieran Miller at DL and no good DR at the club (due to me accidentally promising Jellyman DC and Central Defender role before the season, oops), I was retraining Hogan to take over the DR spot. However due to the emergence of another defender this season he mostly play important minutes as a sub off the bench.

Our 4th choice striker, he didn't play that much because our strikers don't really get that fatigued in their roles and they're also pretty good, bagged a couple of goals this season.

Got a scant amount of playing time this season, I preferred Hughes over him as 4th Striker and while he was on the bench most games rarely came on.

I'm trying to retrain him to Central Mid but for now he's not ready to contribute to my team as it currently exists.

I retrained him to be a CM and it took, as well as being able to play striker. Most of his game time this year was putting him on late to try to get that experience but he's now solidly on my bench because of his verstility.

Backup/Cup Keeper, took us to the Tier 2 League Cup final and performed well in that competition, only one appearance in the league, looked good in the appearances he made.

Made appearances off the bench when we wanted to go more defensive in the midfield, but Tinsley wasn't available.

As our 3rd CB filled in when one of the other 2 was suspended and did sub duty when one of them would get tired.

Neither played meaningful minutes this season

The biggest surprise of our season without a doubt. He started playing because we had literally no one else at the position who we could play without breaking a promise. He finished off having improved a lot and made the league team of the season. Going forward is he our number 1 RB with a bullet, maybe, obviously he's earned the shot at continuing to be our DR, but he is quite slow and I think our funnel to the middle tactic means there wasn't as much pressure on him last year. One to keep an eye on but could easily fall back into the youth team quickly next season.

All did not play this season.

Youth Intake 2026

Spoiler

Solid Intake, not in love with two of my best players being at DL which is already one of my positions with most depth, but definitely some nice prospects here.

Definitely a defense oriented intake which I am happy about

Instantly will press Miller for top DL position, with a decent personality, could use more quickness for sure. May retrain to the right side.

Another DL, definitely more of a depth option, much smaller than my other Fullbacks hopefully grows a bit.

Nice to have one instantly come in able to play on both sides, may be the leg up he needs to make the back end of the bench and good personality.

With Tommy Larsen under scrutiny, may end up in a Ball Winner role in the first team, could come down to him and Mendy (and Tinsley if he stays around next year) for the position if I make that change.

Another good versatility pick in defense, can play right and center and DM.

Hopefully grows a few more inches and I might try to train him to play farther up the pitch for now.

Seems that g stands for gk here, probably gonna be youth team keeper this year.

Nothing too stand out here, midfield is fairly crowded so nothing expected from him anytime soon.

If he develops quickly could provide good support in AMC where we have a lack of depth.

Another short DC, but this one has worse stats and is unambitious, we'll try to mentor it out of him I guess.

Our best striker from this intake, which isn't a great reflection of the intake, 14 finishing ain't too bad. Everything else, well, we can work on it.

We haven't been playing wide football so no space for him currently, may work him into the middle since he is already competent there

Another Wide Player we may not have use for currently with bad attributes

Math? No thank you. Another wide player

More wide players, although his physicals are actually decent for his age, hate the personality

Another striker, but he's casual and that's worrying.

[XaW]

10 hours ago, WhiteCat33 said:

What a great GK at only 20! The way I've held onto all my players is the DoF trick to drop the fee release clauses when I renegotiate contracts. Sure, I overpay all my players significantly, but in Barbados you don't get surplus talent that's for sure. At least you were able to get him up to 20M so you won't get totally robbed like @XaW - Porto stole that playmaker.

What an attacking generation to look forward to as well. 

Yeah, he was amazing for us, last season he had 18 assists from central midfield... Luckily, central midfield is not the position I struggle to fill out the numbers, but he was probably the best one.

[Anners]

He's with us for the rest of the season (I'm in the January transfer window), but considering his minimum fee clause to UCL clubs, I wanted to make sure there's an opportunity of another windfall in a few years.

He'll join fellow Tranent product Thomas Scott at Real Madrid, who is looking quite... scary. If another one of my guys ends up at Real Madrid, then I might just change our name to Real Tranent at this point.

[CJ'43]

Kavala Football Club / Αθλητικός Όμιλος Καβάλα

Season 7 - 2030/31

Schedule / Squad / Transfers / Finances / Manager

 

Season Summary: unlike last season, this time we struggled during the first half, lingering around relegation spots for a while. Our first win came only after 10 matches; however, we managed to secure victories in 5 of our last 8 games. With that, we entered the relegation phase with a comfortable advantage, losing only one match in the second part of the season and finishing once again safe from relegation.

Stefanos Karypidis 29c was our most consistent player and Ilias Manafis 27e was our top goalscorer with 12 goals, in a season where our all-time top goalscorer Gekas was released.

We've been putting around 10 to 14 players in every call up for the internacional youth teams. Kabiotis 29a and Pindonis 28f were both called up to represent Greece in the U21 European Championship this summer.

For the first time we managed to sell a player for a 1 million+ €. Tasos Laspatzis 28c left the club to join AEK for around 1.8 million euros, with a 30% of the profit from the next sale.

 

Youth intake: as one of the best youth academies in Greece, we produced once again a great youth intake, with the most interesting prospects being Vangelis Danidis 31a, Vasilis Soumoulidis 31b, Alexandros Konstantinidis 31c, Alexandros Donis 31d and Nikos Kavalieris 31e.

Team history:

Manager history:

[Colossus]

Sociedad Deportiva Leioa

2035/2036

 

Season Review

Competitions | League Table | Transfers | Schedule Part 1 | Schedule Part 2 | Schedule Part 3

Another amazing season. For a while we actually were on top of La Liga, but our lack of depth compared with other teams, especially Barcelona, costed us at the end. Not a bad run in the Champions League as well, getting to the Quarter Finals on our 1st season is outstanding. In terrible news, for the 1st team in their history, Athletic will not be playing top tier football.

 

Team Stats

Team at the Start of the Season | Team at the End of the Season

Team Stats

A much, much better season offensively from the lads, and Vallejo has become a star for us with a ridiculous return of 52 goal contributions.

 

Team of the Season:

GK – Oier Ruiz

RB – Inaki Eguaras

CB – Lucas Leguizamon

CB – Aritz Melendez

LB – Iker Celihueta

CDM – Aimar Galan

CM – Gorka Pascual

CM – Alex Goikoetxea

RW – Jesus Vallejo

LW – Aitor Marco

ST – Ander Martin

S1 – Koldo Garai

S2 – Jon Sanchez

S3 – Diego Lacruz

S4 – Javier Munoz

S5 – Endika Herrero

S6 – Jean-Luc Gerard

S7 – Gaizka Alonso

We are going to have to do some shuffling, especially on defense. Our starting defense is pretty solid, and Diego Lacruz is a very capable backup, but the rest of the defense is by far our weakest point.

 

Youth Intake

Only rated as "Good" this time, but I can see Imanol Ruiz featuring heavily next year on the main team, he certainly has the athletic ability to do so

Rest of the Players:

RB / CB / LB – Pablo Arrizabalaga

CB / CDM / CM – David Martin

LB / LW – Aitor Barreto

LM / RM – Jokin Diaz

CM / CAM / ST – Borja Ormaetxea

CAM / CM / RW / ST – Gaizka Martinez

RW / CAM / ST – Eneko Alonso

ST / CAM / RW – Jose Etxebarria

ST / RW / LW – Mikel Alonso

 

Other Stuff

Yearly Progression

 

Manager Attribute Progression

 

Youth Player Stats

Gora Leioa!

[Ron_Swanson]

[FM23] Reymersholms IK - season 18 - 2040

Dennis Bengtsson can be useful for first team, but central midfield is already packed so I need to figure out how pack them all up. Also two DC's with a potential, I hope that they'll develop

Fantastic start, but later on mostly losses which was expected. We ended at 10th place with 40 points so very solid outcome. We were also competitive in cups group stage which shows that there's some quality in our team. Eddie Nelen with another great scoring effort, he's now over 200 goals for club and still counting. One really bad news, Zeki Erol - my wonderkid was complaining whole season. He wanted to test his options at the end of contract, I convinced him to change his mind twice but he won't sign new contract until the squad gets a lot stronger and that is not going to happen now. I decided to sell him send an offer with locked 50% of next transfer clause + a friendly and IFK Goteborg agreed. After he moved to new club his value went even higher than I thought, nearly 10m. 

"Are you winning son?" David was still a started for Torns IF but he again wants to move to bigger club , demanded a transfer and eventualy left

[Anners]

Previous Post:

On 18/12/2023 at 15:13, Anners said:

Previous Post:

2051/52 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

Now, you might see this and think "that's about where he said he thought the team was". Which is true. However, after 13 games, we were neck and neck with Celtic with 29 points gained. In the followed 25 we only gained 23 points. I'M STILL STUCK IN THE HALF SEASON SYNDROME SEND HELP.

Although I do have 2 quite hilarious screenshots:

The run I had at the end of last season that went a few games into this. And then...

We went 18 games without winning. I don't even know what happened.

The fact I've got European football shows how poor the league was, although that probably is a good sign for me going forward! Also, thanks @WhiteCat33. You wanted Celtic relegated and they seemed to take that very personally!

Europe:

I didn't expect too much from my first UCL campaign, but a win would've been nice at least!

Youth Intake:

This could be a very juicy intake if those wingers and striker turn out to be somewhat decent. 5 star potential is obviously a lot better now, so hopefully we can start getting a replacement for Frimpong ready and take that next step with a couple of wonderkids.

Facilities:

We're finally up to State of the Art training facilities, with Youth Facilities not too far behind. We've got the best staff in the league, the best training facilities and already the best youth structure.

Full History:

  Reveal hidden contents

Last 5 Years:

2052/53 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

Solid third position, but as you can see the form ended a bit poorly. Although there was a reason for that! Quite a standard season - though we struggled at the start and at the end, 60 points is a decent return on our usual output on a season.

Europe:

Due to the 5th placed finish last year, we got into the Europa Conference League. We were getting a bit of help throughout the draw, when we had former Tranent man Lennon Walker doing a couple of draws:

We were clearly phoning in some favours in Europe this year. So how did it actually end?

This will have to do instead of the "Tranent wins the Europa Conference League" as I was a bit too excited apparently!

A fairly simple run here - although I didn't expect to get past Leicester (who in fairness actually finished 16th in the Premier League, so was a decent time to face them!). 

Final here:

Spoiler

A name that I'd not actually mentioned much - Frank Bell - had the game of his life. Opening the scoring and then adding a 2nd through a 30 yard free kick. He's actually improved immensely over this season, though I think with moving Robertson back to DM (as you can see in the screenshot above in the spoiler), it's meant Bell's got more and more game time over the past couple of years and forms a nice little trio in midfield with Cairns and Robertson.

Youth Intake:

A couple of good prospects in Rice and Jukes here - with a central defender quite badly needed we've actually ended up with 2! We're actually looking quite good for prospects in maybe 3 or 4 seasons, so I'll expect a bit of a muted next couple of years possibly.

Facilities:

We have a new stadium built! I'll give the page here for an update as it clears a lot of things up:

Full History:

Spoiler

Last 5 Years:

[libbyshuss]

France - FC Fleury '91

2027/28 (season 4)

League: Ligue 2

Predicted: 18th

Actual: 16th

After a draw and a win in our first two games I was cautiously optimistic that we could upset the odds and stay up. But although we kept playing well, we just couldn't get enough victories. But by mid-January, after a 2-1 win against against Bastia we were sat 13th and looking pretty good. 12 games and no victories later we were rock bottom. 2 wins out of the last 3 games lifted us off the bottom, but not high enough to get us out of trouble, and we finished 16th in the relegation play-off spot.

The relegation play off saw us playing QRM - and a poor first leg saw us relegated.

 

Players

Player of the Season: Florent Esor 25A - Made the step up to Ligue 2 with ease. He is now easily our best player and played half the season at centre midfield, but it's at AM where he really excels. He wants to leave and I've had to agree to sell him should we get an offer for £1.1m. I suspect someone will get a bargain!

Top Scorer: Florent Esor 25A - top scorer from midfield again, highlighting just how paltry our options up front are. He's a full international for Martinique now!

Top Assists: Loup Hervier - One of my decent legacy players. He was a pretty good full back but since I moved him into midfield he's been a revelation. At 28 he's also going to be hugle important as our team gets younger and younger

 

Youth

Not a good preview to be honest, and the intake wasn't great either. But it was pretty good for average, and makes me a little excited about what a 5 star intake might give me!

I'm always happy to see an elite talent!

 

Career

Can we get back up? I have no idea to be honest! It's been a crazy first 4 seasons though - it's definitely not been boring!

[XaW]

XaW - Ubuntu Cape Town FC - Season 2029/30 (Season 6) - DSTV Premiership

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Ok, first things first, in the last season review I wrote we were going to the Confederate Cup this season. Turns out I was wrong, since Mamelodi Sundowns won the CL again and made sure we got the extra spot, so thanks, I guess. And we thanked them by taking another league title, as well as a cup. Unfortunately, it wasn't Champions League, as we once again got Mamelodi Sundowns in the group stage, and they are becoming a real bogey team for us. Oh, we can beat them, but only in more or less inconsequential matches, when it gets to the key ones we lose every single one. And the youth intakes have gotten worse and worse the last few years, even as I've improved the facilities and maxed out the youth coaching and recruitment. When big European teams are sniffing around the squad, that's not a promising sign. We are going to need some better intakes soon, or we are in trouble.

My top 3 pick of players this season are:

1. Samuel Khumalo 25g - Played partially as striker this season when David Xulu 26f got a longer injury, and did well both there as well as on the wing otherwise.
2. David Xulu 26f - A massive season, and he was even out 3 months injured! Scores for fun.
3. Michael Sibeko 26c - 14 goals and 20 assists from central midfield, need I say more?

Nedbank Cup: We beat Polokwane City and Mamelodi Sundowns before we lost to Orlando Pirates in the quarter final.
Telkom Knockout - We beat Cape Town Spurs, Sekhukhune Utd, Swallows, and Golden Arrows to claim the trophy!


MTN 8 - We lost to Orlando Pirates in the quarter final.

Champions League: We beat Rayon Sport of Rwanda and Vegetarianos of Equatorial Guinea to reach the group stage. There we drew Mamelodi Sundowns (of course), Stade Malien of Mali, and Club Africain of Tunisia. We beat State Malien in both games, drew once and lost once to Club Africain and lost both to Mamelodi Sundowns to finish 3rd in the group and get knocked out.

I got some improvements accepted this season.

Around the world

U21s:

They finished 6th in the Diski Challenge this season and qualified for next seasons Diski Shield.

After qualifying last season they entered the Diski Shield where they beat Kaizer Chiefs, Maritzburg United, and Golden Arrows to win it!

U19s:

They won the South African Under 19s Group 2 this season!

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

DSTV Premiership - 2 (2027/28, 2029/30)
GladAfrica Championship - 1 (2025/26)

Nedbank Cup - 1 (2028/29)
Telkom Knockout - 1 (2027/28)

(U21) - Diski Shield - 1 (2029/30)

(U19) - South African Under 19s Group 2 - 1 (2029/30)

Player statistics:

Most apps for the clubs

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Apps
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Siphamandla Pillay 25e		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	175
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	138
Valentino Serfontein 26b	South Africa	<N/A>		2026-2030	126
Luyolo Sibiya 26e		South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	126
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	120

Most goals for the club

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Xulu 26f			South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	80
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	48
Teboho Dlamini 25b		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-2029	33
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	26
Valentino Serfontein 26b	South Africa	<N/A>		2026-2030	25

Most assists for the club

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Assists
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Valentino Serfontein 26b	South Africa	<N/A>		2026-2030	39
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	38
Thabo Makhanya 26a		South Africa	<N/A>		2026-2029	33
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	32
Teboho Dlamini 25b		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-2029	27

Supporters:

Summary:

[Jimbokav1971]

Hey lads. When was the last time any of you saw Newgen brothers come through intakes?

I know it used to be in the game and I know Youth Only saves are more likely to see it. Anything in recent issues of the game? 

[JWN17]

Hello - is Colombia a possible nation to use? Would anyone know the reset date if so? Thanks.

[The7Striker]

4 horas atrás, JWN17 disse:

Hello - is Colombia a possible nation to use? Would anyone know the reset date if so? Thanks.

Not possible, as there is no relegation from the second tier.

@XaW The rule still stands, right?

[XaW]

21 minutes ago, The7Striker said:

Not possible, as there is no relegation from the second tier.

@XaW The rule still stands, right?

Yea, if there are no relegation the league is not eligible for this challenge.

[fries]

11 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Hey lads. When was the last time any of you saw Newgen brothers come through intakes?

I know it used to be in the game and I know Youth Only saves are more likely to see it. Anything in recent issues of the game? 

I have two brothers on my team. They are somehow both called Kadeem Jamerson. I don't know what the parents were thinking? The oldest brother has a great potential while the younger is quite poor.

In FM23 I actually had a father and son on my team. The father was a great club legend who was with me and scored goals from the National League North up to the Champions League. 1 or 2 seasons before his retirement his son came through my youth intake. However, the son was sadly quite poor too. The only first team minutes the son played was when I substituted both the son and the father on the pitch in the last league game before the father's retirement.

Edited December 20, 2023 by fries

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, fries said:

I have two brothers on my team. They are somehow both called Kadeem Jamerson. I don't know what the parents were thinking? The oldest brother has a great potential while the younger is quite poor.

In FM23 I actually had a father and son on my team. The father was a great club legend who was with me and scored goals from the National League North up to the Champions League. 1 or 2 seasons before his retirement his son came through my youth intake. However, the son was sadly quite poor too. The only first team minutes the son played was when I substituted both the son and the father on the pitch in the last league game before the father's retirement.

That's brilliant stuff. 

[WhiteCat33]

FM23 Barbados YAC: Road View FC

2064 Season 42 – BFA Digicel Premier League

Spoiler

Youth Academy Challenge FM23 Thread:

Start Post | Season 1 |Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6 |Season 7 | Season 8 | Season 9 | Season 10 |Season 11 |Season 12 | Season 13 |Season 14 | Season 15 | Season 16 |Season 17 | Season 18 |

Youth Academy Challenge FM24 Thread:

Season 19 |Season 20 |Season 21| 2043 Takeover |Season 22 |Carrillo Post |Season 23 |Season 24|Season 25 | Season 26 |Season 27|Season 28 |Season 29 | Season 30 |Season 31 | Lloyd-31a | Lloyd 31b ; 31C | Season 32 | 32b-Footedness |Season 33|NxGN 2055 |Season 34|Season 35 |Season 36|2059 NACL Final | Season 37 |Season 38|Season 39|Season 40 |Season 41

Statistics Posts:

CA Calculator 1 | CA Calculator 2 |CA Calculator v5 Download |Mentoring Post |CA Calculator v6 Download |Position CA |

 

League Performance: CHAMPION

 We returned to dominating the league this year. You can see with GD that BDFSP are becoming a viable threat...

Cup Performance: RUNNER UP

 That viable threat really showed up in the Cup Final when our defense did not:

Spoiler

Wow, what a disaster in the Cup final. Our GK Atkins had one of his big-match meltdowns that his partial dislike big matches seems to create every few years. He failed to save a single shot in the first half so their first 5 shots on target all went in. While maybe 1 or 2 were reasonable misses he literally bobbled 2 parries that went into the goal. In the second half we got a couple goals, but weren’t able to overscore like the absurdity their strikers put out. I think the era of the 3-4-3 wide is over as our weakest development position are the AM Wide players. Next season will have a new formation.

I’ll be very interested to see what BDFSP do with their winnings as they already had a very healthy bank balance that is now supercharged with the 10M prize money.

North American Champions League:

Caribbean Zone:

With our increased reputation combined with success in the NACL it seems BDFSP is beginning to get some inclusions into the NACL. This gives me hope we will get the 2nd slot when the cup defeat drops us out in 2 seasons time. We didn't have any trouble in the league zone as we got the easier group for sure.

Caribbean Playoff:

New-Club got a Tycoon takeover in 2053 and he still is fully invested in the club topping up their bank balance to over 20 Million each season. His patience has been rewarded as they are now completely dominant in Martinique and have put together a squad that is at least as good as ours now, possibly better.

Spoiler

We under-scored in the home first leg and are feeling the pressure in Martinique with them finding a 40’ equalizer after putting us under constant pressure. I make a rare switch to a 4-3-3 to better mark up with their CAM with a midfield 3 and in the 55’ we find the equalizer with a quick break that finds our AMR making the run behind unmarked and he finishes! Things almost get better for us in the 59’ but VAR overturns the refs penalty decision. I swapped strikers for my young Englishman and he rewards me in the 80’ playing a perfect combination to Stoute so our AMR gets a rare brace. They turn up the pressure and find a 2^nd goal in the 87’, so we just have a 1 goal lead and the away goal advantage. They will need 2 more to advance over us. We hold it there drawing 2-2 in Martinique to advance! Very exciting to have a non-Jamaican challenge for once.

Caribbean matches:

NACL 2nd Round

2^nd Round Away vs Marathon – Honduras!

Spoiler

This is our first time against a Honduran opposition, which is fun. We started with some unlucky offsides to call back two great goal chances (one formally disallowed). It was a fairly even first half that saw both team have reasonable chances and it ended 0-0 which is honestly okay. Halftime talk goes well enough and we make a small alteration at AML and it’s a lot of back and forth until the 79’ when our new young star Jackson finishes a perfect layup. We win 1-0 and now get to host them with a lead.

2^nd Round 2^nd Leg Home vs marathon – Barbados

Spoiler

Only changed the AML who performed poorly, otherwise the same rested lineup. We played well to start and got ourselves another goal in the 39 off a broken corner play with again our new #9 Jackson doing a fantastic job finishing it. He unfortunately got a knock part way through so I pulled him as we had a 2 goal cushion. In the 80’ they started pushing and in the 82’ scored a direct FK that got me a little worried. Thankfully my trusty striker Clark had my back and got us a 94’ goal to put it to bed.

NACL Quarter Final

 The kind draws ended quickly as we got the big bad Monterrey in the Quarter Final. 

1st Leg: Home Match

Spoiler

Monterrey play a 4-2-3-1 so I’m opting for a 5-2-2 even though we are at home. I have the players I can adjust this back to our 3-4-3 or a more defensive variant 5-2-3 if needed. Unfortunately Clark got a knock in the midweek game so I have to go with my 3^rd choice striker in the lineup.

Not even 5 minutes in they chop down our striker Jackson who picks up a knock, but is willing to continue. First half is going well and I keep making adjustments. It seems they are playing through the middle so even with just WBs we switch to a wing play. Our best chance came in the 42’ when our WRB beat his man and then hit an early ball over the top which our strikers got onto and forced their keeper to make a big save to keep the game level. That save resulted in a string of 3 corners where we continued to force the GK to tip the ball wide, but we couldn’t break through unfortunately and the halftime whistle came.

Second half: unfortunately Jackson’s injury increased and I was forced to pull him, which due to the subs I’d already made required us to make a formation change of a 3-4-2-1 with 2 AMC. We are down to our 4^th choice striker so hopefully the CAMs can do some of the heavy lifting. We save a corner off the goal-line in the 82’ and a breakaway in the 88’ with their new wingers being very problematic for our tired defense. In the end it is a 0-0 draw where we put up a good defensive performance to keep the clean sheet. Hopefully our strikers recover this week and are fit to give us an offensive threat in Mexico, but I'm not optimistic.

2nd Leg: Away Match

Spoiler

I use the same 5-3-2 that worked defensively in Barbados, just able to bring back both good strikers but sub in a young untested CM for Vickers (our 3rd CM) who got injured in the week between matches even being rested most of the days.

Early they put us under pressure, but we weathered it and produced a couple good counter attack chances. For a game in Mexico we are holding our own better than usual and I think this formation is a good counter to the 4-2-3-1 they are running. In the 32’ we have a fantastic opportunity when a good buildup through the middle finds Jackson 1 v 1 with the GK. Unfortunately, he can’t find a way to beat him and we earn a corner. 40’ though the breakthrough happens they beat my backup CM down the right side and the cross finds their striker who was just onside.

I’m forced to open the game up and we switch to a 4-2-3-1. It wasn’t super effective as we couldn’t hold possession but when we did push hard at the end we got a couple decent chances. Sadly, all were either saved or went over the bar as they managed the game and we had a deserved 1-0 defeat. No striker magic this season.

 NACL Tournament Tree:

 And unsurprisingly guess who went all the way to win?

Spoiler

NACL Records:

Spoiler

Squad:

CA Player List:

Spoiler

Excel Graphs:

Spoiler

Squad is bloated right now with loan players as you can see it has steadily increased the past few years. You can see they are not particularly desirable Professional/Ambitious players.

Mostly Balanced  & Unambitious so most will be cut soon. We still have a big gap between our star GK & WBL and the rest of the first team. You can see though that we finally have young talent again improving in the top 5 as the #4 & 5 CA are rising up towards 100.

Still a lot of work to do here...

CA By Position:

Spoiler

With the development of Jackson we finally have a star striker again!

Transfers:

 This summer will be a big outflow of 25+ squad players who have been part of the loan army. I wanted to hold off selling them to not strengthen opponents, but I think we are ready now to not just loan 20+ players a season and kick-out the ones we haven't used for a few years. Not much has happened yet as the transfer window just oppened.

Spoiler

Best XI:

FM Screenshots:

 

Excel Tables:

Spoiler

Head Coach:

 

Club Improvements:

 None, board are jerks!

Youth Academy:

HOYD:

Same

Youth Intake Preview:

Youth Intake: 

Two solid prospects which will strengthen the back of the formation. Personalities are relatively decent. Lots of Fickle this year with very good Determination.

Top 3 Players:

Spoiler

 

By CA

2*

Jefery Grant: I just said how poor my wingers were and look at this I got a max potential winger with awesome pace! Question is do I drop him back or push him forward. We have a lot of depth at WBR, but none of it is that high of quality.

1.5 CA

Rashad Grant has no potential, but is resolute and again a quick winger.

Akeene Greaves: bad personality, but adds to our CAM depth and also can fill in as a backup striker if he develops significantly.

Marquez: High potential CB prospect is always welcome. Will for sure be developing in the youth squad.

Steele: another GK who will never make the first team for us. At least I can say we will be developing all the GKs for the other Barbadian clubs who then can save a foreign slot.

Excel Tables:

Spoiler

A nice rise in Professionalism and in Determination this year compared to others. All the Fickle personalities means Ambition is still in the lead on most graphs. Is interesting to see how its lower on the >10 though as there seem to be a lot of low double digit professional players.

Like personality Hiddens you can see Determination was good this year. Depth of intake is about at the standard 'good' intake we've been seeing recently.

Fickle personality is significantly on the rise right now at the club.

Poached Player:

Another poached GK, though its been a while. The last poached player is 31 now and a GK in the championship in england.

Barbados National Team:

2063

Nations League B was a walk in the park for Barbados who swept the group to get promoted back up to the top tier.

2064

This year is all friendlies until the late fall when the World Cup Qualifier Preliminary Matches begin. Bahamas as a first opponent is a nice warmup. Hopefully the good form for the national team will carry them through to a WCQ group stage!

Road View Internationals:

Barbados Main:

Spoiler

Barbados Youth:

Spoiler

England Youth:

Our young star striker Rhys Jackson has unsurprisingly accepted England U20 callups and has been actually playing in the few matches he's gotten the opportunity to this year. He is developing very well for us and is very much the answer the club has been looking for after the retirement of our legendary Pressing Forwards. Compared to those players he is already smarter with the benefit of being almost fully Either Footed. His weakness in comparison is physicality and speed, though he is improving on that front every month. I have him on a 4+1 deal right now w/o a release clause, so he's safe for a few years. Hopefully, he will keep agreeing to deals like this as we have essentially unlimited wage budget to keep him well compensated for remaining in Barbados.

Spoiler

Summary

Only the Cup defeat stings and signals to me Barbados has evolved into the final stage of the small-nation development where the legacy clubs in the nation finally have built up the reputation and money to become continentally competitive. In the next few seasons we should see clubs other than BDFSP finally upgrade their facilities now that they have reasonable stadiums that generate gate receipts. 

 Tactical Switch:

Spoiler

If I look at the depth in the squad right now we have more promising CAMs than we do wide AMs as well as with our 2 star strikers now I want a formation that puts them both into the first XI. Part of the club DNA I've developed here is a 3 at the back formation, and with our current crop of CDs we truly do have the depth for 3 CDs without any issues. Then considering 2 of our top 5 best players are our two WBs I think they are smart enough to play the CWB role, so we will see how they perform.

The biggest skill weakness of our squad is Dribbling with literally none of my players having over 10 in the attribute, so that is the reason for "Dribbles Less" to promote a quick passing counter game. With 3 central atatckers I hope they can put some early buildup pressure on their CBs & DMs to force early turnovers. The club has always used Pressing Forwards so the players are developed towards that end already. For more defensive games in Mexico I can flip the CAM into the holding DM bumping the VOL into CM-MEZ like I showed above against Monterrey and drop down the intensity to be more sound defensively. We will see how this works for us. Summer preseason & early NACL rounds have been promissing.

Edited December 20, 2023 by WhiteCat33

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

On 18/11/2023 at 20:41, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

                   

Haringey Borough - Review Season 6

This was the year everything clicked! The lineup was the same, but an extra year of gelling (and finally some green links between players) took our performances up a notch. We had a great midseason run and finished 5th in the league. We won the first round of the playoffs but lost in the semi finals to Wealdstone. It was a tight game and the 3-0 scoreline flattered them. We scored the 4th most goals in the league with 100 and we're a midtable defense with 78 conceded. Surprisingly our average attendance was 8th best at 905. We never used to have good attendance, but being established in the league helped I guess, as does being in the center of London. Next year we'll aim for another promotion push, but we managed to get another year older and I don't mind have more time in the VNS to build our club.

 

Our midseason form coincided with 2 amazing cup runs. We spent about 500k on training facility upgrades, but made most of it back with cup runs. We managed to draw at home to L1 Wrexham in the FA Cup first round, and followed it up with a narrow 1-0 loss on the road that gave us a ton of money. We we're unlucky to draw the first game to be honest and should have advanced then and there. They scored an injury time goal to tie and we had 2.08 xG. Then the FA Trophy run was even better. We beat 4 VNL sides on our way to the final, which was against a Farnborough side that finished 14th in our division. A lucky draw that we couldn't do enough to make count as we lost on penalties after tying the game up in the 118th minute after sending everyone forward in an all-out attack. We were the better team so it was a tough loss to take when we had made it so close. Ultimately, we won 3 shootouts to make it that far and couldn't win the 4th.

 

Top 3 performers:

  Reveal hidden contents

Spent a ton on training facility upgrades, but still looking healthy. Our wage budget is still low, but we can't afford any more youth recruitment upgrades until we get promoted or else the club will hemorrhage money.

Got 1.2k to let Smith 02a leave a month early.

It's been nearly a month, but I'm back playing the save again. Will start updating again this week

[XaW]

I think I'm finally about to say challenge completed. Why can I say this in advance? Well, the CL in Africa is two-legged, final included! And... well....

If I throw this away in the away leg, I'll retire from FM.

[XaW]

 

XaW - Ubuntu Cape Town FC - Season 2030/31 (Season 7) - DSTV Premiership

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Well, there it is! Finally a challenge complete for me! As soon as I got group that didn't include Mamelodi Sundowns, we got past it and won the whole damn thing! The final turned out to be quite the anti-climax as it's two-legged for some reason, and with 7-0 from the first, the away leg was a formality. And we also won the league to add a 3rd league title to our name, but I don't have a celebrations screenshot since we won it when Orlando Pirates lost while we played a continental match. All in all, I've had great fun in South Africa, and I actually really like the league. 3 domestic cups every season is a bit over the top, but other than that, some fun teams, players with fun names, and just a good time. @darren1983 you can finally add me to the list again!  

My top 3 pick of players this season are:

1. Michael Sibeko 26c - An amazing season in central midfield. 25 goals from there is Lampardesque!
2. Sheldon Marumo 27f - Excellent out wide for us this season. Scores almost always important goals too.
3. David Xulu 26f - My personal favourite player this whole save. Just scores and scores and scores. Made the striker position a very easy choice for me from early on.

Nedbank Cup: We beat Baroka and Royal Eagles before we lost to Kaizer Chiefs in the quarter final.
Telkom Knockout - We lost to Swallows in the 1st round.
MTN 8 - We beat Sekhukhune Utd before we lost to Golden Arrows in the semi final.

Champions League: We beat Manonyane of Lesotho and Rayon Sports of Rwanda to reach the group stage. There we got Medeama of Ghana, Al-Hilal Omdurman of Sudan, and Al-Ahly of Egypt. We won all matches, except one loss away to Al-Ahly and thus finished top of the group. Then we beat ES Tunis of Tunisia and fellow South Africans Orlando Pirates to reach the final. There we crushed Moroccan side Raja Casablanca at home and controlled the away leg to be crowned champions!

Around the world

U21s:

They finished 7th in the Diski Challenge this season.

Diski Shield: The lost to Mamelodi Sundowns in the quarter final.

U19s:

They won the South African Under 19s Group 2 again!

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

DSTV Premiership - 3 (2027/28, 2029/30, 2030/31)
GladAfrica Championship - 1 (2025/26)

CAF Champions League - 1 (2030/31)

Nedbank Cup - 1 (2028/29)
Telkom Knockout - 1 (2027/28)

(U21) - Diski Shield - 1 (2029/30)

(U19) - South African Under 19s Group 2 - 2 (2029/30, 2030/31)

Player statistics:

Most apps for the clubs

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Apps
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Siphamandla Pillay 25e		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	224
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	183
David Xulu 26f			South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	161
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	159
Tsepo Ngubane 25h		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	158

Most goals for the club

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Xulu 26f			South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	116
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	61
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	51
Sheldon Marumo 27f		South Africa	<N/A>		2027-Present	40
Teboho Dlamini 25b		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-2029	33

Most assists for the club

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Assists
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	51
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	45
Valentino Serfontein 26b	South Africa	<N/A>		2026-2030	39
Vusi Dhlamini 27c		South Africa	<N/A>		2027-Present	37
Thabo Makhanya 26a		South Africa	<N/A>		2026-2029	33

Supporters:

Summary:

[WhiteCat33]

Congrats @XaW 👏 amazing what a difference it makes when you don't get matched with your bogey team!

[mo_ments]

I've been lurking since this thread started but officially making my first post to say congrats! That's an amazing achievement @XaW

[Winski]

Finally you are on the list again, @XaW! Congrats!!

[darren1983]

27 minutes ago, XaW said:

 

XaW - Ubuntu Cape Town FC - Season 2030/31 (Season 7) - DSTV Premiership

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Well, there it is! Finally a challenge complete for me! As soon as I got group that didn't include Mamelodi Sundowns, we got past it and won the whole damn thing! The final turned out to be quite the anti-climax as it's two-legged for some reason, and with 7-0 from the first, the away leg was a formality. And we also won the league to add a 3rd league title to our name, but I don't have a celebrations screenshot since we won it when Orlando Pirates lost while we played a continental match. All in all, I've had great fun in South Africa, and I actually really like the league. 3 domestic cups every season is a bit over the top, but other than that, some fun teams, players with fun names, and just a good time. @darren1983 you can finally add me to the list again!  

My top 3 pick of players this season are:

1. Michael Sibeko 26c - An amazing season in central midfield. 25 goals from there is Lampardesque!
2. Sheldon Marumo 27f - Excellent out wide for us this season. Scores almost always important goals too.
3. David Xulu 26f - My personal favourite player this whole save. Just scores and scores and scores. Made the striker position a very easy choice for me from early on.

Nedbank Cup: We beat Baroka and Royal Eagles before we lost to Kaizer Chiefs in the quarter final.
Telkom Knockout - We lost to Swallows in the 1st round.
MTN 8 - We beat Sekhukhune Utd before we lost to Golden Arrows in the semi final.

Champions League: We beat Manonyane of Lesotho and Rayon Sports of Rwanda to reach the group stage. There we got Medeama of Ghana, Al-Hilal Omdurman of Sudan, and Al-Ahly of Egypt. We won all matches, except one loss away to Al-Ahly and thus finished top of the group. Then we beat ES Tunis of Tunisia and fellow South Africans Orlando Pirates to reach the final. There we crushed Moroccan side Raja Casablanca at home and controlled the away leg to be crowned champions!

Around the world

U21s:

They finished 7th in the Diski Challenge this season.

Diski Shield: The lost to Mamelodi Sundowns in the quarter final.

U19s:

They won the South African Under 19s Group 2 again!

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

DSTV Premiership - 3 (2027/28, 2029/30, 2030/31)
GladAfrica Championship - 1 (2025/26)

CAF Champions League - 1 (2030/31)

Nedbank Cup - 1 (2028/29)
Telkom Knockout - 1 (2027/28)

(U21) - Diski Shield - 1 (2029/30)

(U19) - South African Under 19s Group 2 - 2 (2029/30, 2030/31)

Player statistics:

Most apps for the clubs

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Apps
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Siphamandla Pillay 25e		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	224
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	183
David Xulu 26f			South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	161
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	159
Tsepo Ngubane 25h		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	158

Most goals for the club

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Xulu 26f			South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	116
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	61
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	51
Sheldon Marumo 27f		South Africa	<N/A>		2027-Present	40
Teboho Dlamini 25b		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-2029	33

Most assists for the club

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Assists
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	51
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	45
Valentino Serfontein 26b	South Africa	<N/A>		2026-2030	39
Vusi Dhlamini 27c		South Africa	<N/A>		2027-Present	37
Thabo Makhanya 26a		South Africa	<N/A>		2026-2029	33

Supporters:

Summary:

Congrats but I'm not gonna update the HoF just yet just to keep you waiting

Nah Have updated, well done. Fastest completion of FM24 so far  

[Daddy]

congrats @XaW

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Good job @XaW !!!

Now what's the next place on the list...

[Gundo]

Congrats, @XaW – super impressive to do it so quick! Where next?  

[XaW]

Thanks guys! Finally on the board again!

I can actually really recommend South Africa as a place to try this challenge. There are a few things that annoyed me, especially the fixtures at times, with a lot of players at various youth national teams playing at the same time as the Champions League matches as one example. Seems quite messy, but it is a fun challenge too.

As for where to go next, I have a country and team in mind, and I'm holidaying as we speak to see if I can get them to pop up. No surprise, I'm heading back to Europe.

[Gundo]

Ok, I'm back for a second attempt – I hope this time I can avoid relegation and build something long-lasting. 

Manager profile

 

 

[Gonner]

Congrats @XaW, you made it so quick that I still have not fully grasped the cup systems in South Africa

[JWN17]

On 20/12/2023 at 02:44, XaW said:

Yea, if there are no relegation the league is not eligible for this challenge.

Thanks, everyone. Went with Brazil instead. Think I set it up correctly. 

 

Edited February 1 by JWN17

[XaW]

1 minute ago, Gonner said:

Congrats @XaW, you made it so quick that I still have not fully grasped the cup systems in South Africa

Thanks! Went fast than I had expected too!

MTN8 - A knockout cup with the top 8 teams in the top tier last season.
Nedbank Cup - South African FA Cup
Telkom Knockout - Sort of like a League Cup, but only for teams from the top tier

[reggaeboy81]

currently simming a couple of seasons in england to see if i get anyone new to start with

[BustaRaymes]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

 

XaW - Ubuntu Cape Town FC - Season 2030/31 (Season 7) - DSTV Premiership

Squad | Transfers | Finances

Well, there it is! Finally a challenge complete for me! As soon as I got group that didn't include Mamelodi Sundowns, we got past it and won the whole damn thing! The final turned out to be quite the anti-climax as it's two-legged for some reason, and with 7-0 from the first, the away leg was a formality. And we also won the league to add a 3rd league title to our name, but I don't have a celebrations screenshot since we won it when Orlando Pirates lost while we played a continental match. All in all, I've had great fun in South Africa, and I actually really like the league. 3 domestic cups every season is a bit over the top, but other than that, some fun teams, players with fun names, and just a good time. @darren1983 you can finally add me to the list again!  

My top 3 pick of players this season are:

1. Michael Sibeko 26c - An amazing season in central midfield. 25 goals from there is Lampardesque!
2. Sheldon Marumo 27f - Excellent out wide for us this season. Scores almost always important goals too.
3. David Xulu 26f - My personal favourite player this whole save. Just scores and scores and scores. Made the striker position a very easy choice for me from early on.

Nedbank Cup: We beat Baroka and Royal Eagles before we lost to Kaizer Chiefs in the quarter final.
Telkom Knockout - We lost to Swallows in the 1st round.
MTN 8 - We beat Sekhukhune Utd before we lost to Golden Arrows in the semi final.

Champions League: We beat Manonyane of Lesotho and Rayon Sports of Rwanda to reach the group stage. There we got Medeama of Ghana, Al-Hilal Omdurman of Sudan, and Al-Ahly of Egypt. We won all matches, except one loss away to Al-Ahly and thus finished top of the group. Then we beat ES Tunis of Tunisia and fellow South Africans Orlando Pirates to reach the final. There we crushed Moroccan side Raja Casablanca at home and controlled the away leg to be crowned champions!

Around the world

U21s:

They finished 7th in the Diski Challenge this season.

Diski Shield: The lost to Mamelodi Sundowns in the quarter final.

U19s:

They won the South African Under 19s Group 2 again!

Youth intake:

Trophy cabinet

DSTV Premiership - 3 (2027/28, 2029/30, 2030/31)
GladAfrica Championship - 1 (2025/26)

CAF Champions League - 1 (2030/31)

Nedbank Cup - 1 (2028/29)
Telkom Knockout - 1 (2027/28)

(U21) - Diski Shield - 1 (2029/30)

(U19) - South African Under 19s Group 2 - 2 (2029/30, 2030/31)

Player statistics:

Most apps for the clubs

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Apps
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Siphamandla Pillay 25e		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	224
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	183
David Xulu 26f			South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	161
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	159
Tsepo Ngubane 25h		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	158

Most goals for the club

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Goals
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Xulu 26f			South Africa	<N/A>		2026-Present	116
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	61
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	51
Sheldon Marumo 27f		South Africa	<N/A>		2027-Present	40
Teboho Dlamini 25b		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-2029	33

Most assists for the club

Name				Nation		2nd Nation	Time at club	Assists
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Samuel Khumalo 25g		South Africa	<N/A>		2025-Present	51
Michael Sibeko 26c		South Africa	Scotland	2026-Present	45
Valentino Serfontein 26b	South Africa	<N/A>		2026-2030	39
Vusi Dhlamini 27c		South Africa	<N/A>		2027-Present	37
Thabo Makhanya 26a		South Africa	<N/A>		2026-2029	33

Supporters:

Summary:

Well done, congrats on the completion! Pretty quick as well!

[BustaRaymes]

Smethwick Rangers 2032/33

Midland Football League Premier Division

Well that was unexpected! We bounced straight back up, despite being predicted 16th. We went on a great run early on, not losing for three months straight. Went top in January and never got in any real trouble.

It does make me unsure if we can compete a level higher, this may be way too early.

 

Squad

After the departure of captain Ayoola, we had to improvise at the back. Evans became the new RB, Ware moved to LB and Humphreys had his first full season as a starter.

Cian Evans is a really mediocre player but his physicals make up for that. He provided 5 goals and 9 assists, which is a lot even for a good full back!

Myers had a breakout season as well. Started the season on the bench but his good crossing ability is a perfect fit for our tactic with a Pressing Forward and Wide Targetman up front for him to cross onto.

I've rarely played a Wide Targetman but Wigley has been excellent. The man is 201cm, which I love even without looking at his attributes, and he delivered tremendously with 18 goals and 9 assists.

Feeney equalled his record tally of 42, showing that he's not even close to retiring yet.

 

Transfers

Nelson was a decent prospect but the fit he threw after being unreasonable in the first place, led to him being offloaded to restore the peace.

Ayoola was our captain and still a good defender, but he decided it was time to move on. Out of contract, he chose to leave.

 

Youth intake

Same ol' same ol'. Low CA and little information about who are the better prospects. A few strikers is what we need though.

Another PF in Monaghan, but at least he has a lot of pace. Rainey is better as a striker and with some finishing / composure training he could fill Feeneys boots some day.

Not sure what to expect from Baldvinsson just yet, but we don't really have a lot of ball-winners so he could be useful soon.

A decent goalkeeper in Wood. We already have 6 of them -_-

[thomas_e]

Energie Cottbus

Season Summary 2037 - 2038

Champions league winners! 

CHALLENGE COMPLETED

 

Last year we got knocked out in the round of 16 in the Champions League and honestly I though we were far away from winning the title. We do have some really, really good talents in the U19's so I thought we had to play the long game to get that extra 2-3% of world class quality, but we won it this year, very surprisingly. 

We progressed from the group stage with a 6th place finish, a record for us, but we also had a pretty easy league phase with some pretty weak opposition. This gave us a seeded spot for the knock out stages and we faced RB Leipzig in the round of 16. A 0-0 draw away in the first leg gave us a good foundation for the return leg. We didn't dissapoint and won comfortable 4-1 at home. In the next stage we faced PSG and we played two of the best games that I've had on the save. We won 3-1 at home in the first stage, with goals in the 80th and 86th minute, a huge finish to the game for us. The return leg in Paris was always going to be tough, but we started the away game like a dream. We scored twice in the first 24 minutes, mindblowing stuff! PSG fought back with two goals of their own, but we finished 5-3 on aggregate. 

In the semi final we faced Villareal, a team that were consistently top 3 in La Liga over the last few years. We lost 1-0 in Spain in the first game, but played a great return leg at home, scoring three times in the second half, securing a 3-1 win. 

It was another Spanish team facing us in the final, Atletico Madrid, who beat Man Utd in the semi-finals. It was a pretty boring game, and in total I think the game had 3-4 big chances. Only one of them was ours, but we made it count. Marco Stumpf, our captain and club hero, scored an easy finish after a brilliant counter attack. We parked the bus for the last 20 minutes, and with that result completed the challenge!! 

There are two things that makes me a little bit sad after the challenge is over. The first is silly; I really wanted to continue because I think we have the potential for a true legendary team with our U19 talent! The second is more serious and really bothers me. The AI is awful and broken is the only word for it. They dont rotate and they dont rest players. I have attached a screenshot below, which I took in the 42nd minute of our return leg against Villareal. They had a home game against Sevilla three days before our second leg (four days after the first leg). The game meant nothing as Villareal had basically finished 3rd in La Liga by this stage. They played with their best players and clearly didn't rest them after the game. This gives me a bittersweet feeling, because we basically won the game by default due to a broken AI. I load many leagues as the save goes on as I think its even more unfair not to do that, as teams from non-playable leagues dont build squads at all and rarely achieve full match-fitness. So either way, it doesnt work. Sad!!!! 

This was my third completion of this challenge with Energie Cottbus, I really love this club!

We almost won our third Bundesliga title, but missed out by two points to Dortmund. 

Now, lets find another team for a new go at the challenge! 

@darren1983

 

Season Summary

          

 

Key Players

          

 

Key Talents

          

 

[Gonner]

What a day for completions ! Congrats @thomas_e !

[thomas_e]

Congrats @XaW!! 

 

[darren1983]

Congrats @thomas_e once again 

[darren1983]

You people have got me tempted to return once again....