FM24: German leagues - Bundesliga and beyond

[Fraser]

 

 

I couldn't see a Germany thread and I usually run at least one save in Germany for every FM release.

THE CONTENDERS:

FC Bayern will be strong favourites after winning on the final day last season and smashing their transfer record to bring in Harry Kane.  Their main competitors, and the favourites for the Champions League places, will be Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverksuen and RB Leipzig.

For Dortmund the main question is how they recover from throwing away the title last year.  At Leverkusen, Xabi Alonso has his team playing exciting and winning football while in Leipzig the ‘RosenBallsport’ machine keeps rolling.  They’ll press all day long but the question is how well the new players compensate for losing Gvardiol, Szoboszlai and Nkunku to the Premier League.

EUROPEAN DREAMS:

There are a number of teams around the same level, a bit below the previously mentioned 4 teams, and a good season for them could mean a European places.

Wolfsburg have invested again but with Lukas Nmecha out long term, a lot rides of Jonas Wind’s ability to score goals. At Union it’s a Champions League season for Berlin’s only top-flight club, who have made some ambitious signings. Over in Frankfurt it could be said that last season seemed like maybe the end of a cycle for Eintracht.  They have made some clever moves in the market, which should help them continue to challenge for European places.

Borussia Monchengladbach are another team seeking to find an identity. Some big players have left recently, and for little or no transfer fee – though Manu Kone remains for now, in a strong midfield unit.  Hoffenheim have talent in the team, and the age profile of a lot of players means they should be at their peak.  But where are the goals going to come from?

Stuttgart might be an unusual pick as European contenders but there is the nucleus of a good team.  Guirassy is banging in the goals and there is plenty of support from midfield and some solid centre backs too.

AIMING FOR THE TOP HALF:

Freiburg may even be more likely challengers for Europe than some of the teams above.  There is a strong spine to their team, and plenty of creativity.  Werder Bremen bringing in Naby Keita on a free might be the surprise signing of the summer.  He can still be a difference maker but can he stay fit?  I wouldn’t expect a relegation battle for Werder but they are unlikely to trouble the top teams.

Koln’s squad seems a little weak, and I’m not sure how well equipped the first team is to compete.  Good home form is the key to staying out of the relegation picture for them.  Mainz, like Freiburg, could be equipped to challenge for the European spaces.  The injured Burkardt is a miss and is unlikely to see much action before the winter break but I’d have them in my top half predictions.

FIGHTING TO STAY UP:

Augsburg should be too strong to be pulled into the relegation mix.  I expect Demirovic to score goals and there’s enough quality that I’d say they are more likely to end up in 9^th or 10^th than 16^th (or worse).  Bochum might just survive by virtue of there being two worse teams.  They certainly have not overspent.  They did well enough last year. Home form is key to staying up again.

Heidenheim are the reigning Bundesliga2 champions.  Promoted teams can sometimes use the momentum of coming up to get off to a good start but I just don’t see the quality in this group of players. The best hope is that someone hits a goalscoring streak and that one of the other teams has a bad season.  Darmstadt are the other promoted team.  Very similar to Heidenheim in that their chances appear slim and might hinge on getting a good start.  If I was in charge then I’d probably be gambling on Vilhelmsson to play at ST. The youngster might be a surprise package and, even if they go down, a good season from him might add a few million on to his transfer fee.

 

AN ALTERNATIVE ELEVEN (PLUS 3 SUBS) – no Bayern, Dortmund, Leverkusen or Leipzig players, and only 1 player per team.

GK – Casteels (Wolfsburg); DR – Scally (Gladbach), right DC –Kabak, (Hoffenheim), left DC – Uduokhai (Augsburg), DL – Gosens (Union); DM/MC – Ljubicic (Koln), MC – Keita (Werder); AMR – Knauff (Eintracht), AMC – Doan (Freiburg).; AML – Fuhrich (Stuttgart); ST – Burkardt (Mainz),

SUBS: Def: Gimber (Heidenheim), Mid: Stoger (Bochum), Att: Vilhelmsson (Darmstadt)

 

To fit everyone in I took out players including Ginter, Pacho, Barreiro Martins, Skov and Guirassy – so there is plenty of quality in the league.

Budgets and expectations are:

[Fraser]

 

 

BUNDESLIGA2 PREVIEW:

There are some giant clubs down in the second tier, and they make up the promotion favourites.  Hertha dropped last year after some poor seasons, Schalke were in the Bundesliga2 a couple of seasons ago but went up and came back down again and HSV (or Hamburg) have been down in the division for a while. 

Hannover, Dusseldorf, Nurnberg and St. Pauli are all big clubs that could all stake a claim in the promotion picture, and should at least be aiming to put pressure on the 3 favourites.

Karlruhe, Paderborn, Greuther Furth and Kaiserslautern all have had stints in the top flight (some more recent than others) and will be looking for a return, but probably need to invest well and hope for some luck.  Anything more than mid-table in the first season would be a big overachievement.

Braunschweig, Hansa Rostock and Magdeburg are expected to be nearer the bottom than the top.  Magdeburg have the distinction of being the only team from the former East Germany to win a European trophy.

Osnabruck, Elversberg and Wehen Wiesbaden are the newly promoted teams and are expected to have to fight for the 3^rd bottom spot, and a playoff against the 3^rd best team in the 3.Liga.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

There are a mix of ageing Bundesliga stalwarts, solid players and promising youngsters plying their trade in the Bundesliga2.

I must admit I was also very surprised to see Michael Cuisance on loan at Osnabruck. Still only 24 and with a decent pedigree, he could be one to look out for.

Other names worth mentioning include goalkeepers Zieler (Hannover) and Heuer-Fernandes (HSV), defenders Marton Dardai (Hertha) and Halstenberg (Hannover), midfielders Flick (Nurnberg), Reis (HSV) and Appelkamp (Dusseldorf) and forwards Reese (Hertha), Johannes Eggestein (St. Pauli) and Terrode (Schalke).

Of the ‘old-timers’ it’s good to see Lars Stindl at Karslruhe, Max Kruse at Paderborn, Anthony Ujah at Braunschweig and Lewis Holtby at Kiel (I can’t believe Holtby is only 33, seems like he has been around forever!!)

Budgets and expectations are:

3.LIGA - A BRIEF OVERVIEW:

Another fun division.  The likes of 1860 Munich and Dynamo Dresden are big clubs down there.  Arminia Bielefeld and Ingolstadt both have relatively recent top flight seasons and have fallen down to this level.  There is a chance for some of the more regional teams to come up and have an impact, as the 4th tier Oberliga produces 4 promoted teams from different regions every season.  You sometimes also get the ‘B’ teams of some of the Bundesliga clubs too, as with Dortmund II and Freiburg II this season.

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by Fraser
Adding information about leagues

[Shep1920]

Hi there as anyone looked at a Schalke 04 save in game they have some good wonderkids plus there are in massive debt, plus in real life there are in a bad way ?

[tyro]

First, nice thread and thank you for putting it up for all those who play in the Bundesliga.

With respect to Schalke. I played with them last year and they have huge debt and for the squad you can see that there is no clear concept as there were several managers and even in FM you can see that no style really fits. So it is a great team to rebuild and bring back top. 

I for myself, after playing with Manchester United in the beta selected RB Leipzig as a first (I usually stayed away from them but it has been a while now and maybe I can get them the first title and since I have never played with them it is an interesting change. 

 

[MarvBAFC]

3 hours ago, tyro said:

First, nice thread and thank you for putting it up for all those who play in the Bundesliga.

With respect to Schalke. I played with them last year and they have huge debt and for the squad you can see that there is no clear concept as there were several managers and even in FM you can see that no style really fits. So it is a great team to rebuild and bring back top. 

I for myself, after playing with Manchester United in the beta selected RB Leipzig as a first (I usually stayed away from them but it has been a while now and maybe I can get them the first title and since I have never played with them it is an interesting change. 

 

Leipzig are an extremely interesting save, as is the whole Red Bull football family. Been thinking of doing a sort of Red Bull challenge myself to bring them all to the top, but currently too busy with my Austria Wien save. 

[tyro]

It has been very interesting actually. They are run quite efficiently with a concept in place.

Austria is also interesting to play in with their league rules that are a bit different than the usual point system only.

Good luck.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

Nice introductory posts @Fraser thanks for your efforts.

VfB Stuttgart are the biggest attraction for me and I enjoyed several (good) seasons with them on FM23, I will surely go back to them at some point as they're playing well and having a positive season so far. But I wanted to try another team first, and after not gaining much enthusiasm through BETA saves in England, I'm now shuffling through some European ideas. That might well end up with a German side - especially if they still have the player face image coming up when a goal is announced in our games.

 

 

[Jogo Bonito]

22 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

VfB Stuttgart are the biggest attraction for me and I enjoyed several (good) seasons with them on FM23, I will surely go back to them at some point as they're playing well and having a positive season so far. But I wanted to try another team first, and after not gaining much enthusiasm through BETA saves in England, I'm now shuffling through some European ideas. That might well end up with a German side - especially if they still have the player face image coming up when a goal is announced in our games.

Well my curiosity made me test this out, and they do still have that player face pop up when they score a goal. Is this feature unique to Germany, and is it only for the top Bundesliga? I don't think it comes up in DFB Pokal games, and maybe other leagues don't have any other USP but extras like this make the game feel a little special. Well done to those who thought of including this.

[Shep1920]

I'm really into German save but are really stuck who to manage I'm decided between Hannover, Dusseldorf, Nurnberg or even 1860,Ingolstadt any help would be great on deciding.

[Hoofenballen]

Im currently managing Bayern Munich as a bit of an ego massaging project to be honest.

 

Their squad seems so SLOW, its weird. You have pace out wide but up front and in centre midfield, no pace at all

 

 

[Mato]

7 hours ago, Shep1920 said:

I'm really into German save but are really stuck who to manage I'm decided between Hannover, Dusseldorf, Nurnberg or even 1860,Ingolstadt any help would be great on deciding.

Fortuna

[Pavi]

23 hours ago, Shep1920 said:

I'm really into German save but are really stuck who to manage I'm decided between Hannover, Dusseldorf, Nurnberg or even 1860,Ingolstadt any help would be great on deciding.

I would say Hannover. Have an interesting squad that should allow you to aim for promotion in the first season. Alternatively, I’d do Nurnberg.

[DavutOzkan]

I think I am going to try and manage Koln soon because of their transfer ban. Want to get real results as well to get them in a relegation fight. There are downloads for real results right? Preliminary googling has given me real fixtures (not an issue in Germany) but would that give me real results too? And how would I go about making it work in game? Custom start date? 

[Gilberto Silva]

Booted up a Union Berlin save with aims to get them regularly qualifying for Europe. Decided to adopt a similar strategy in terms of transfer and tactics.

Recruitment will focus on players from the lower levels of the German pyramid whilst looking to unearth some players from the surrounding regions (Austria, Switzerland). 

Tactics-wise, I’m keeping with the 3-5-2 they seem to pivot toward in real-life. Want to keep compact and solid at the back and mainly create chances on the counter. This leads me to utilising the defensive and cautious mentalities for the first time in a long-term save. Hopefully I can defy the odds and keep Union in the top-half of the table on a limited budget. 

I also plan to integrate some of the academy players throughout the save, to start with the facilities are not great, but there are a couple of youngsters I feel can add depth to the squad in the second season. Will also help with European squad registration (if I succeed) as to start off with, there isn’t many homegrown talent at the club. 

My aim for the Champion’s League campaign is to try and sneak a third place finish in the group stage and give the Europa League a real go.

Edited February 9 by Gilberto Silva

[gggfunk]

Has anybody here already finished first season playing in Bundesliga starting after the winter update? I ask because I just finished first season with Wolfsburg and my game crashed on June 18th 2024. Holidaying doesn't help as it crashes anyway. I don't use any custom leagues etc and I'm wondering if it's not a bug? I want to start another Bundesliga save but I'm worried if it will happen again...

[Firehouse]

I've finished first season, started the save after the last update. No problems at all (well, for now ). I'm in middle of August.

Haven't played in BuLi for a while, every club seems to have some nice players in their squads.

[Vladis]

Started save with Freiburg few days before it was announced that Christian Streich will retire at the end of the season after 29 years at the club and more than 12 years of managing main team. So, good time for the start.

 

SC Freiburg is pretty unique team in modern football. This video explains why. I want to translate some core principles into this save such as loyalty, consistent development, youth focus.

Board and supporters also expect brave high-tempo pressing football from us. And my goal is to find balance between this model and more possession oriented stable tactic. I think I`ve found this balance in 3-4-2-1 formation (or 5-2-2-1). I absolutely love how we are sound defensively with extremal limiting of space and time for our opponents in our own half. In creating quality chances and scoring we still have room for development though.

Season 2023-2024

Results

  Bundesliga

We are best of the rests and it`s very good result for the first season. Gap between us and 6th place is pleasing.

  UEFA Europa League

Quarter-Final is a success of course. We know how Borussia plays but the quality of players was decisive in this battle.

  DFB-Pokal

Dortmund…again.

 

Transfers

Whole January we were under attack by Saudi clubs with offers for our key players. As a result, we lost Doan (good price tbh), kept Lienhart, rejecting 70M+ offer, also kept Sallai and Kyereh but made them unhappy (luckily for the short time) and as result they requested to prevent any discussions about new contract at least until the date of expire (30/6/25).

Just one player was signed - Marco John. We needed young and offensive minded wing-back in company to our experienced Gunter. And Marco seems like the player we were looked for. Good personality, big potential. My only concerns are susceptibility to injuries and average speed (but it could be improved through the training).

 

Squad and season stats (click to enlarge)

 

I like the balance we have in the team. Some very handy talents like Atubolu, Schmidt, Sidillia, Rohl etc. alongside with experienced Hofler, Gunter, Grifo, Ginter, Holer who are also team leaders at the moment.

I`m more than satisfied with season performance of all the lines except attacking trio. Goalscoring was the problem but maybe it`s more to the tactic flaws. I think I was too focused on supporting functions of our number 9. Anyway, Gregoritsch was the most clinical with 12 goals in all competitions.

 

Youth Department

Freiburg II

 

U19

Awesome performance from our youth teams. Important note that they use identical tactical system as the senior team. 

Youth Intake (click to enlarge)

Jason White | So Tanaka | Amer Serdarevic | Jeff Stewart | Kevin Ridl | Pascal Schuhmacher | Nassim Hermach

Great intake. Hopefully 2-3 players from this list could become star players in the future.  

 

Next season

Main goal is to keep all our leaders in this summer. And hopefully with few good additions to the squad we could challenge for UCL spot. In Europe we will try to progress too. 

Edited April 2 by Vladis

[Vladis]

----------------------

 FREIBURG SC | SEASON 2024-2025

 

  BUNDESLIGA

Full table | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2

I could find a lot of parallels with Xabi Alonso`s Bayer in our Bundesliga campaign. Main ones are the first title in club history, similar tactical philosophy and 3-4-2-1 formation. Though in terms of attacking play we were not so impressive like Leverkusen this season IRL. A lot of tight 1-0 wins, 0-0 and 1-1 draws. However, we still finished in the top 5 for goals scored. Anyway, result is great. We are no longer a "small" club, and we must realize that next season will be much more difficult for us because we will be treated as one of the leaders.

  UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

I expected better performance in Europe, but we have what we have. Hopefully this experience will help us in UCL campaign next season.

  DFB-POKAL

We were not so lucky with the draw. Our quarter-final vs Bayern ended with one of the longest penalty series in my experience and unfortunately, we lost it.

----------------------

 TRANSFERS | SQUAD | YOUTHS

Transfers

We made few additions to the squad in the summer. Assan Ouédraogo is the most expensive purchase in Freiburg history and not so typical signing for the club who focus on producing own talents and searching for bargains. But I just couldn`t go from opportunity to sign such gem who could become star player in few years. Felix Uduokhai from relegated Augsburg added some quality depth to our defense. Also, we returned to the club Janik Haberer who previously spent 6 years in Freiburg before moving to Union Berlin. Nadiem Amiri is a real bargain deal. We got him for free from Bayer. Two players were given a chance in the first team after good loan spells: Keven Schlotterbeck (Bochum), Hugo Siquet (Cercle Brugge), Junior Adamu (Las Palmas). And also, some youngsters were signed for the second team.

Sallai and Kyereh didn`t see future in Freiburg and I let them find a new club. Selling Kübler is my decision. Makengo, Röhl, Weißhaupt and Baur (in January) were sent on loan to gain more match practice.

Squad click to enlarge

Season Stats

I`m absolutely satisfied with all our defense and may could single out only our GK Atubolu whose performance was outstanding. Lucas Höler spent his best season so far with 18 goals in all competitions. Young Adamu progressed really well but he is still lacking in stability. Ouédraogo debuted in Bundesliga with a decent performance. His potential is enormous.

Club Vertical

Our “system” works. Another great season from 2nd team. And decent performance from juniors after promotion to the top youth league.

Youth Intake

Holguin is presented like the main talent in this intake but with unambitious personality I have some doubts about his future. Saier seems like a good shadow striker or deep-lying forward in the future.

Matsuda is another prospect with low determination that could slow down his development. Ngwem and Pawlik are decent ones. 

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 NEXT SEASON

Maintaining the level is key task alongside with further development of talented squad.