The Vegetarian Lions

[ToMexico!!]

 

Equatorial Guinea

My next African adventure takes me to the country of Equatorial Guinea which is on the West Coast of Central Africa. Formerly known as Spanish Guinea, post-independence it was renamed Equatorial Guinea due to its location on the equator and in the African region of Guinea. 

Equatorial Guinea consists of two parts, an insular and a mainland region. The insular region consists of the islands of Bioko (formerly Fernando Pó) in the Gulf of Guinea and Annobón, a small volcanic island that is the only part of the country south of the equator. Bioko Island is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea and is the site of the country's capital, Malabo. 

The mainland region, Río Muni, is bordered by Cameroon on the north and Gabon on the south and east. It is the location of Bata, Equatorial Guinea's largest city, and Ciudad de la Paz, the country's planned future capital.

Leones Vegetarianos FC

Leones Vegetarianos Fútbol Club is an Equatorial Guinean football club based in the city of Malabo. It currently plays in Equatoguinean first division. The club was founded as Vegetarianos CF by the Spaniard Juan Manuel Rojas, a vegetarian man from Granada who arrived in Equatorial Guinea in 2001 and years later went to India, where he staged a hunger strike.

Vegetarianos play their home games at the Nuevo Estadio de Malabo which is a 15,250 all-seater stadium, it is also home to the national side and four other fellow Liga Nacional de Futbol-Region Insular teams. 

The club possesses Below-average training and youth facilities along with average coaching and youth recruitment. They have won the league twice before in 2017 and 2018, whilst they won the Equatoguinean Cup in 2014. 

We start with just £25 in the bank with no debt or loans. We have no transfer budget and just £27 left in the wage budget, which we are currently spending £3398 per week. 

Whilst I have chosen one of the best clubs in Eq. Guinea, they have just one foreign player in their team which prompted me to take over as them rather than Futuro Kings or Akonangui who have more foreign players than not. The league has rules that a maximum of 10 foreign players can be registered. 

The squad is a little unbalanced with just five defenders and a lot of attacking options. Our best players are Diosdado Mbele Mangue, Joaquin Obama Edu and Jose Angel Efa Nchama. 

The board are very relaxed with their expectations of just an attempt to avoid relegation from the league and be competitive in the cup. 

Save Game

We have Equatorial Guinea loaded down to tier two as fully playable with Spain Playable down to Federation Second Division with two more tiers below as view-only and all three out-of-the-box tiers of Brazil as view-only. 

I've been able to create this save by initially creating the save on FM23 and then opening it on FM24. Hopefully, no problems occur or I'll start again once the relevant files have been made for FM24. 

Aims for the Save

Simply to grow Vegetarianos as a club to become a domestic powerhouse and a club that can compete on a continental level with the ultimate goal of winning the African Champions League.

• Win the League on a regular basis (along with the Equatoguinean Cup)
• Compete in Continental Competition (both Confederation Cup and African Champions League)
• Become self-sustaining via player development and player sales
• Have a State-of-the-art youth setup, producing Senior national team players on a regular basis
• Invest in bringing Equatorial Guinean players home from abroad to help grow the club and country
• Equatorial Guinea win the AFCoN
• Equatorial Guinea qualify for the World Cup

 

[ToMexico!!]

League Setup & Key Rules

This league file has two tiers; Liga Nacional de Futbol and Segunda Division. Each tier is split into two leagues; Region Insular and Region Continental which are related to the island and mainland. In the Segunda Division, each region has two groups. 

Liga Nacional

• Each team plays each other four times (28 games)
• The top 3 go into Champions Play-Off
• They play each other once (5 games) and the team top wins the league and qualifies for the Champions League Preliminary Round
• The bottom two teams are relegated
• Maximum of 10 foreign players. 

Segunda Division

• Teams play each other four times (28 games)
• The top two are promoted to the top tier
• Maximum of 8 foreign players

Qualification Places

We're 35th in the rankings with one place in each of the AFC and ACC. 

[phnompenhandy]

Very interesting choice here. Weird how the "insular" part of the country is in the ocean!

Why have you chosen to load Brazilian and Spanish leagues? Is there a historical connection where EG clubs get their foreign players from those nations? I can see it was formerly colonised by Spain, but Brazil was Portuguese, so what's the link?

[ToMexico!!]

53 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Very interesting choice here. Weird how the "insular" part of the country is in the ocean!

Why have you chosen to load Brazilian and Spanish leagues? Is there a historical connection where EG clubs get their foreign players from those nations? I can see it was formerly colonised by Spain, but Brazil was Portuguese, so what's the link?

Thanks, I'm slowly going to smaller and smaller nations in Africa. 

Yes Eq. Guinea used to be a Spanish colony, when I did some tests on FM23 when creating the save file, there were a number of players with Brazilian second nationality and some EQ players playing in Brazil albeit in the lower leagues. In truth, I could have loaded Italy, France and Germany too but from past experience with these types of saves having too many leagues loaded really slows the game down when you reach the 2050's / 2060's. 

 

Spanish-based players dominate the national setup in the senior squad. A U20 side hasn't been selected yet but briefly looking at Spanish clubs there are a few Eq. Guinea players in youth teams. 

 

[ToMexico!!]

Reputation - Dec 2021

[phnompenhandy]

1 hour ago, ToMexico!! said:

Yes Eq. Guinea used to be a Spanish colony, when I did some tests on FM23 when creating the save file, there were a number of players with Brazilian second nationality and some EQ players playing in Brazil albeit in the lower leagues. In truth, I could have loaded Italy, France and Germany too but from past experience with these types of saves having too many leagues loaded really slows the game down when you reach the 2050's / 2060's. 

Makes perfect sense. To my mind, there's no point slowing down your save with extra leagues at this point. IF you get 30 years in, you can always add some relevant top leagues and take out the lower Brazilian ones.

Anyway, looks a brilliant save, right up my tree. Best of luck with it. I've also got a thread on a save I created in FM23 and ported over.

[ToMexico!!]

4 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Makes perfect sense. To my mind, there's no point slowing down your save with extra leagues at this point. IF you get 30 years in, you can always add some relevant top leagues and take out the lower Brazilian ones.

Anyway, looks a brilliant save, right up my tree. Best of luck with it. I've also got a thread on a save I created in FM23 and ported over.

Thanks @phnompenhandy so far so good with the port over. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2022

Just two players joined the club in the pre-season transfer window, both on loan due to the lack of funds and available wage budget. Both require no fee or wages to move which is an added bonus. 

We line up in a 4-3-3 formation with a defensive midfielder and two inside forwards. A pretty straightforward tactic as things stand, we've previously used formations with just two defenders and regista's/segundo volantes, etc but we're not at that stage yet. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Yes !!!!

Another @ToMexico!! African career thread. 

I always enjoy these. 

I will be checking in on your progress. Good luck buddy.

Any plans to manage the national team of Eq.Guinea?

[Cheez3y]

Nice Equatorial Guinea!

Will follow like always. 

[ToMexico!!]

3 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yes !!!!

Another @ToMexico!! African career thread. 

I always enjoy these. 

I will be checking in on your progress. Good luck buddy.

Any plans to manage the national team of Eq.Guinea?

Thanks @Ronaldo Beckham 

There's always a glimmer of international management but sometimes it never becomes an option, like in Gambia, I was never offered the opportunity. 

2 minutes ago, Cheez3y said:

Nice Equatorial Guinea!

Will follow like always. 

Thanks @Cheez3y 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

4 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Thanks @Ronaldo Beckham 

There's always a glimmer of international management but sometimes it never becomes an option, like in Gambia, I was never offered the opportunity. 

Thanks @Cheez3y 

Would you never want to start the save as a dual team and national team manager save?

[ToMexico!!]

February 2022

The first quarter of the season completed and its going well so far. 

We're unbeaten after seven games, dropping points in just one game. We had to rotate our strikeforce at the beginning of the season but players came back and we settled into a first-choice XI which culminated in a 4-1 win over league favourites Cano Sport and then an 8-1 demolishing of Deportivo Unidad with Nsi and Nchama both netting hat-tricks. 

We're the only unbeaten team remaining in the division. 

[ToMexico!!]

3 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Would you never want to start the save as a dual team and national team manager save?

Probably not. I've never really been inspired by international management but once we're settled in a dominant phase then it could become an option. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, ToMexico!! said:

Probably not. I've never really been inspired by international management but once we're settled in a dominant phase then it could become an option. 

Ok that is fair enough buddy.

 

[ToMexico!!]

April 2022

We reach April still unbeaten in the next quarter of league games. Our goal-scoring form continued by scoring six against Sony Ela Nguema and Deportivo Ebenezer in the league, whilst scoring five against Atletico Semu in the league and against Akamayong in the second round of the Equatoguinean Cup. 

We ended the month with a poor score draw against Deportivo Unidad, the team we had previously put eight past in our meeting in the league. 

11 points clear of Cano Sport in second. 

[ToMexico!!]

May 2022

An uninspiring intake on the way.

[phnompenhandy]

6 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

An uninspiring intake on the way

Looks like you don't need 'em.

Are you semi-pro? What contracts can you give, and are any players demanding too much or look like getting poached?

[ToMexico!!]

12 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Looks like you don't need 'em.

Are you semi-pro? What contracts can you give, and are any players demanding too much or look like getting poached?

We're actually professional, so full-time contracts. Most of the first team's contracts are set to expire at the end of this season but renewals are going to be a pain, I've tested the waters and most want wage increases. So I'm going to have to be fairly picky in who I give new deals to and then utilise the youth players to fill in the gaps. 

We're also bleeding money, currently -£48k balance. 

[ToMexico!!]

May 2022

A really good month of April but May has been anything but good. Yes, we won 9-0 over The Panther but we drew twice and lost once, seeing our unbeaten run end after 19 games. 

We're still top but our lead has been reduced to seven points. 

[sherwinriga]

I'm surprised that you're going to have a save in one of the smallest African nations in Equatorial Guinea! I can't wait to see your progress with your journey out there to ensure that I'll be more thrilled to see your team being a dominant force in Africa in the future to come!

I'll be following this one because this one will be so much fun!

[ToMexico!!]

58 minutes ago, sherwinriga said:

I'm surprised that you're going to have a save in one of the smallest African nations in Equatorial Guinea! I can't wait to see your progress with your journey out there to ensure that I'll be more thrilled to see your team being a dominant force in Africa in the future to come!

I'll be following this one because this one will be so much fun!

Thanks @sherwinriga its a tough challenge to compete in the continental competitions for sure. Domestically I doubt it will take long to dominate. 

Thanks for following! 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2022

Another loss this time to Real Teka, around that game, we've been pretty imperious in the league. We reached the semi-finals of the Equatoguinean Cup before losing out to Futuro Kings after extra time. That was the first team we played one of the other big teams in the Eq. Guinea pyramid. 

We top the table to qualify for the Champions Play-Off. 

A nice little windfall to help with the finances. 

[ToMexico!!]

August 2022

A pretty poor intake with just one top talent in Manuel Kouoh. He'll likely get some game time next season due to the fact he can cross and has some work rate. 

A couple of Brazilian second nationalities amongst all the Spanish.

[ToMexico!!]

2022 Season Review

A really poor-looking Champions Play-off, losing early in the five-game group stage was a kiss of death for us. We didn't deserve anything once we lost to fellow Insular side Cano Sport. 

We actually finished in 2nd despite losing twice. 

 

Most Minutes - Diosdado Mbele Mangue (3360) - an ever-present for the club this season, the 25-year-old centre-back has signed a new one-year deal plus an optional year. 

Most Goals - Jose Angel Efa Nchama (26) - outscored his xG by 7 goals, a goal every 85 minutes. 

Most Assists - Juan Nsi (16) - also scored 19 times for the club from the left-wing but I don't expect him to be here next season as he is looking at his options. 

Average Rating - Viera Doualla (7.82) - the veteran midfielder was the cream of the crop in the early season before fitness became an issue, he scored 20 goals and made 10 assists. 

U21 POTY - Bartolome Mesa Nchama - the teenager scored 14 goals and made 12 assists as a right winger in 1969 minutes on the pitch. 

 

 

We hardly made any money this season, gate receipts are very low due to tickets being so cheap, hopefully, the dynamic ticket pricing will kick in a bump them up slightly to help. 

[ToMexico!!]

Transfers - Jan 2023

We got our business done early with just three players joining. Juan Obama spent last season on loan with us, we secured the signature of the now 33-year-old on a free transfer. The other two players to join are both on loan. Arthmael Kouma joins from Bamboutos, a Cameroonian national who will play at right-back this season. Marvin Anieboh is the other loanee, arriving from Spanish side Montijo, he will slot in beside Kouma at RCB. 

[ToMexico!!]

February 2023

I'll do updates monthly this season, they've split quite nicely through the seasons' calendar. 

Wow. Have we broken the league already? I felt that the squad was weaker than last season but maybe because we are more familiar with the formation, tactics and playing style we've got into the groove quicker. 

Anyway, a few stats for this month. Six games, six wins, 42 goals from 184 shots at 30.67 shots per game. 29.9 xG amassed so we're +17 against that metric. 

Unsurprisingly, we're top and the only unbeaten team in the division. Cano Sport who finished 2nd last season, are second bottom. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2023

I must have missed the initial inbox item. As long as whoever it is comes in and sorts the finances then I'm happy. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2023

Another busy month with six league games and a cup game thrown in too. Our winning streak continues and have some big wins in there too, Deportivo Unidad concede another eight goals to us. Goalscoring has slowed a little in recent weeks, I think due to how thick and fast the games have been coming, standards are slipping slightly. 

12 wins from 12 as we sit 14 clear of second-placed Hermandad. 

[ToMexico!!]

April 2023

Another seven-game month and unfortunately it included our first dropped points of the season with a loss to Cano Sport and a poor draw against a much improved Deportivo Unidad. We were a much-improved team ourselves in the back half of the month with wins over Hermandad, Teka and Semu. 

We already at 100 goals scored in 19 games so far this season, we have another nine league games to play. 

[ToMexico!!]

May 2023

[ToMexico!!]

May 2023

An unbeaten month that includes two draws. 

Play-offs confirmed. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2023

A much quieter month with just three league games plus a seven-goal thriller over Futuro Kings in the Equatoguinean Cup quarter-finals. 

The play-off teams are decided. 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2023

Two wins to end the season.

22 points clear, 127 goals scored, +105 GD. 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2023

We face Burundi side Aigle Noir in our first continental appearance in the save. 

 

[ToMexico!!]

August 2023

Not a great intake but better than last season. Ben Montero is the best from the intake.

 

[ToMexico!!]

2023 Season Review

I feel a bit aggrieved this month, can you tell when we lost six first-team players to the African Championship of Nations (CHAN) qualifying? 

We opened the month with a solid 3-0 win over Atletico Semu in the cup, we're through to our first Equatoguinean Cup final. It was also Liga Nacional Champions Play-off time, with two solid victories over Akonangui and Sony Ela Nguema when we were at full strength. Then we traveled to the mainland to face Futuro Kings, we'd already beaten them in the cup but we were without our 42-goal striker, winger, both central midfielders and two defenders. We didn't recover from the loss, only drawing with both Deportivo Mongomo and then Cano Sport. Akonangui crowned Champions with a game spare. 

We welcomed back the "B" internationals as we returned to full strength for the cup final. A comfortable 3-0 home neutral victory sees us win our first competition of the save thanks to goals from Montero, Efa Nchama and Mesa Nchama. We were rewarded with £43k in prize money which helped the finances massively. 

League Recap

We topped the Region Insular by a whopping 22 points having scored 127 goals and finishing with a goal difference of +105. Despite a good start in the Champions Play-Off we slipped-up and finished 2nd behind Akonangui who's only loss was against us. 

We won our first Equatoguinean Cup, as we beat Deportivo Niefang, San Pablo de Nsork, Sony Ela Nguema, Futuro Kings and Atletico Semu en route to the final against Deportivo Mongomo. 

Top Scorer - Jose Angel Efa Nchama (45) - +17 goals on his 28.1xG accrued. Those 45 goals came from 35 appearances at a goal every 70 minutes. 

Most Assists - Rafael Nsogo (25) - with an xA of just 12, Rafael doubled that from an unfamiliar position of CM as the advanced playmaker. He also contributed 16 goals. 

Average Rating - Joaquin Obama Edu (8.17) - Joaquin excelled in a deeper role as the Mezzala, he scored 20 goals and made 16 assists in just 2368 minutes played. 

U21 POTS - Bartoleme Mesa Nchama - the 19-year-old outscored and out-assisted both his xG and xA with 25 goal contributions from the right wing. 

We received £43k from winning the Region Insular, another £20k from winning the semi-final of the EQ Cup and then another £43k for winning the competition. Hopefully, this can allow the wage budget to be increased enough to bring in one or two more quality players to add some depth to the squad. 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2023

Our first foray into continental competition against Burundi side Aigle Noir. A complete demolition job with a convincing 11-1 aggregate win. Juan Nsi with a hat-trick in the first leg and Jose Angel Efa Nchama with one in the second leg. 

We face Ghanaian side Hearts of Oak in the First Round. 

[ToMexico!!]

October 2023

To have scored twice against Hearts of Oak is an achievement in its own right. 

We got no prize money for advancing to the First Round and nothing for being knocked out which is a shame. We did however receive £56k in gate receipts from the away leg in Ghana which again, helps massively and puts us into the black. 

Unfortunately, we've run into the old "I'm going to consider my options at the end of the season" problem. Three of our best players; Dougan, Nchama (striker one) and Edu all want to "consider their options" at the end of their current deals (which luckily are at the end of next season). 

So this season we really need to try and win the Champions Play-Off if we enter it to try and tempt those players to stay if we can. 

[ToMexico!!]

February 2024

Despite our financial difficulties I had to strengthen the squad. Kokou Alibo was the first to arrive, the Togolese national had been released by his previous club but I felt it was necessary to bring him in as the first choice on the left-hand side. He scored on his debut then got injured so we're yet to see much of him. 

The first of two loans arrived, Anvene is aging left back but most importantly no expenditure for him to join for the season and the other was Ondo a 3rd choice goalkeeper as we're still susceptible to the injury crisis in that position. 

The other two players to join were also both free transfers. Emmanuel Mbomio returns to his roots having come through at Athletico Madrid in 2019, a cheap right back with some potential to grow. The other player was Dieugrace Bothe, who had been released by Coton Sport in Cameroon. Again we haven't seen much of his as he's been injured. 

I tried to alleviate some of the pressure on the wage bill but was only able to get rid of one of the 12 youth players I offered out to clubs. 

Edited November 8, 2023 by ToMexico!!

[ToMexico!!]

February 2024

Another decent start to life in the Region Insular. Undefeated, no points dropped and a healthy goal difference already. 

This is the state of the unhappiness of the first-choice XI at the moment; two leaving on a free transfer, one considering his options, two are unhappy with the lack of depth and three supporting them. We're in a dire state so far this season but the results keep coming and as long as the results keep coming we have a chance of keeping more of the better players in at the club at the end of the season. 

Top by two points with triple the goal difference to 2nd place. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2024

A busy month with seven games. I'd call the month pretty steady except for the anomaly of the 11-2 win over Hermandad. Disappointing to draw against Cano Sport, especially at home but we're still unbeaten as our run stretches to 24 games I think it is. 

12 points clear of Sony. Hermandad having a shocker this season. 

Two more players join despite the financial woes we face with the wage bill. We strengthen both central defence and central midfield. I also managed to bin off three players to other teams which mean we reduced the wage expenditure from around £430 over budget to around £260 p/w over budget. 

[ToMexico!!]

April 2024

A clean sweep of wins this month. We opened the month with a nine-goal thriller as we were 5-0 up against Sony Ela Nguema. Then the rest of the month we didn't concede another goal in the league. Another 5-4 in the month as we beat Real Rebola in the cup. 

15 points clear, dominant in the region league I hope we can take this into the Play-Offs when they come around. 

Edited November 8, 2023 by ToMexico!!

[ToMexico!!]

May 2024

Not expecting much here. 

[ToMexico!!]

May 2024

We suffered our first loss of the season, although it was a close 3-2 game. That was a bit of a wake-up call for the team and we stuck 10 combined goals past Deportivo Unidad and Hermandad. 

The gap is down to 17 points due to Sony beating us. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2024

A quiet month with just three games and three wins.

22 points ahead with four games remaining. 

 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2024

A strong end to the regular season in the Region Insular. We also reached our second successive Equatoguinean Cup final having defeated Deportivo Niefang 3-0 in the semi-final. 

Sony Ela Nguema and Deportivo Unidad join us in the Champions Play-Off. 

[ToMexico!!]

July 2024

We've been drawn against Munuki FC in the ACC Preliminaries. Munuki FC are from South Sudan. 

[ToMexico!!]

August 2024

I'm not inspired by anyone here. We're going to be extremely selective of who we sign due to the wage expenditure. 

[ToMexico!!]

2024 Season Review

Having won the Region Insular by 24 points with just one draw and one defeat in our 28 league games we were confident going into the Champions Play-Off. There was one surprise omission from the other five teams and that was Futuro Kings, they finished in 5th place in the Region Continental. 

We blitzed the league with five wins from five. We were lucky in that we played the best teams from the group all at home and had another advantage of having three home games. 

Our first Champions Play-Off win of the save, hopefully, the first of many too. Annoyingly, we didn't receive any prize money for winning the overall competition. 

We had the opportunity to make it a first league and cup double as we faced Deportivo Unidad in the Equatoguinean Cup final. 

A classic match was played out at the national stadium, whereby we prevailed to a 3-2 win in a game that could have gone either way. We were 3-1 up at half time but we struggled for possession but had taken our chances. A nervy last few minutes after Unidad scored a second from the spot but we held on to win. 

We entered the African Confederations Cup once the domestic competitions had ended. We faced South Sudanese side Munuki FC in the Preliminary Round. 

A comfortable two-legged aggregate win over Munuki, sets up a tie against Future, who are from Egypt. 

Before the matches we were met with a problem, contracts were ending and the four players who wanted to leave at the end of their contracts left. Our best CM, DM, RW and a CB were all gone. 

I'm happy with that, two 3-2 losses to see us bow out 6-4 on aggregate. 

Top Goalscorer - Jose Angel Efa Nchama (35) - another top-scoring season for Jose, the 22-year-old played 3300 minutes across 37(4) appearances for us this season. Accumulating 21.66 xG he managed to outscore that by 14 goals. He also contributed 13 assists. 

Most Assists - Bartolome Mesa Nchama (23) - no longer with the club but Bartolome made 23 assists for us last season, he's yet to find a new club which makes his decision to leave a Champion's Play-Off winning side even more baffling. 

Average Rating - Kokou Alibo (7.82) - Kokou has quietly gone about his business this season but despite the Nchama's grabbing the goal contribution headlines, he scored 26 goals and made 17 assists from the left wing. 

U21 POTS - Emmanuel Mbomio - his first season with us at RB having left Athletico Madrid the season before. 42(1) appearances, second most minutes, six goals and eight assists for the 19-year-old. 

We just received £125k from gate receipts of the second leg against Future in Egypt. That alone was worth the loss. We also received £43k from winning the league and around £75k overall for winning the Equatoguinean Cup.