80's Style European Competitions FM24

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

Here is my 80s Style European Competitions database for this year's iteration of FM. I have released this over the last few years, and for those of us old enough to remember, this was an era where it was knockout football all the way. Here is the link to the FM23 version. This year I have reworked the stadium hosting from the way I had it before. This means you will no longer see Murrayfield hosting (although it has hosted football, for me it will always be a rugby venue), and small stadium hosts are now a thing of the past. The bigger grounds will host the EC finals with lower capacity grounds being available for the ECWC and the Super Cup.

The competitions in order of importance are as follows....

European Cup: 54 team tournament. League Champions only plus the holders of the competition from the previous year. If the holders are also their nation's champions then an extra nation is invited to take part.

European Cup Winners' Cup: 54 team tournament again. Domestic FA Cup winners take part. In the event that a team has done a league and cup double, then the runner-up takes their place. Holders from the year before are invited back if not in the EC. 

UEFA Cup: 112 team tournament, with a 2 legged final. A nation can have between 2 and 4 representatives depending on the ranking of the nation. Qualifying teams are based on league positions, and in England and Scotland, the League Cup winners qualify as they used to back in the day. The holders are also invited back if not already partaking in European competition.

European Super Cup: The winners of the EC play the winners of the ECWC in August.

NOTES

• All matches are played over 2 legs, with the away goals rule included. The exception to this is the finals in the EC, ECWC, and the Super Cup.
• I have made a Welsh Cup file available to download for use with this mod. This file makes 5 English based Welsh teams available to play in the Welsh Cup (Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County, Merthyr Town, and Wrexham). This used to happen in the 80s, and was open to a few more border teams than I have entered here. Each year didn't necessarily have the same border teams playing. What makes this interesting is this type of thing becomes possible, where Third Division Newport County made it to the quarter-finals of the ECWC!
• The squad selection rules have been amended to match the current European continental squad selection rules. (added 29th Dec)
• Financial Fair Play now included to match the current rules. (added 29th Dec) 
• Liechtenstein get a representative in the ECWC, as despite no domestic league, they do have a domestic cup.
• Russia and Belarus are included. I'm not making a political statement here, I just prefer to see the teams competing. It's still a game after all!
• I added club coefficient points for drawing and winning matches in the fm23 version. This is based on how it was in the 80s. I cannot get the coefficients page to show in the game as I had to keep the rules as fixed, and they only show in flexible rules. I believed dynamic league reputations were linked to what countries received the top seedings. However those findings were with fm23, and fm24 looks to be static. I don't know if the coefficient points do anything at all!
• The Club World Championship works in the game, but I have haven't got my head round how teams are picked. I have paid no attention to it as I use my own Club World Cup file. It will work with other files as well. The winners of the EC are instructed to qualify for it.
• Some European leagues have European playoffs at the end of their season. These are rendered useless now as the UEFA Cup takes the league placings for the qualifiers. Belgium and Romania spring to mind. If the league splits into a Championship group the final placings in this mini league is what counts.
• You will notice at the end of the season that the league champions have a 'C' next to them in the final league table. There's no visible information from the league table screen to say who has qualified for what. This is not a bug. It is because I did away with the Europe > Continent > Teams tab in the editor. You can find out who has qualified for what by clicking the team overview and then competition to see what they're involved in in the new season.
• Please use the Dutch file attached along with this file if you want the Dutch FA Cup to work. This just removes any link to the now defunct Europa Conference League.
• Place the files in the 'editor data' folder, and tick them when you start a new career game.

The gratuity credits go out to all the regulars that frequent the Editor hideout, and have chipped in when I've come up against a dead end. @Carlito85 for the original inspiration gained from your old files, @irish kopite for your great efforts last year, and @Roy Race 9 for getting me over the squad selection hurdle due to a buggy editor. 

Enjoy!

Dutch file for 'Appy's 80s style European Comps (FM24) v2.fmf 80s Welsh Cup.fmf

 

80s style European Competitions (FM24) 24.2.1.4.fmf

Edited December 29, 2023 by \'Appy \'Ammer
replaced with version to remove euro/sam club challenge. added new file

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

Here are some piccies...

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by \'Appy \'Ammer

[oche balboa]

Excellent work mate.

[MichaelNevo]

I love it! This will go well with my legends database once I complete it

I'll add a link on my thread to this in case people want to use your mod.

[MichaelNevo]

I simmed through with my legends, works perfectly from what I can tell. I've now added it to my official post at the bottom.

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

1 hour ago, MichaelNevo said:

I simmed through with my legends, works perfectly from what I can tell. I've now added it to my official post at the bottom.

I'm pleased it's compatible. Thanks for the plug 👍

[Rob 396]

Haha, I remember the confusion of the Dutch File from a few editions ago ..

Excellent work as always

[Rob 396]

Crazy idea .. but wondered if it would be possible for an alternative file, where the UEFA Super Cup is a 3-way group between the winners of the 3x main European competitions?

I know it's not accurate, but thought it might be a cool fantasy twist on it

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

Yes @Rob 396 that is a crazy idea. So crazy you could be working for UEFA 😉. 

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

I did not know about this tournament: 

It matches up the Europa League winners with the Sudamerica winners in a one off final. Not happy about that as it spits in the face of the Cup Winners Cup. I have made it extinct and it is now in the opening post. 

Edited December 17, 2023 by \'Appy \'Ammer

[NineCloudNine]

Wonderful, thank you! 

Ha! Just noticed you've included the old-skool 6 foreign player / 4 in team rule! I entirely endorse this, but that's not the way footbal is any more and it's causing too much chaos so I've edited the file for myself to take that restriction out.

Edited December 20, 2023 by NineCloudNine

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

Yeah I've debated with that one but I haven't got round to testing properly on full detail. Can I ask what sort of chaos you're getting? Teams putting out youngsters? Over time it would be nice if the AI squad management and transfer policy would shift towards a focus on European rules. However even if I change rules in every league around Europe I would wager the AI teams would just harbour players anyway, therefore defeating the purpose. Do you play using absolutely no restrictions? Do you think increasing the quota would make it more playable? I am interested in opinions. 

[anitamui]

在 2023/12/15 在 AM7点01分, \'Appy \'Ammer说:

cannot get the coefficients page to show in the game as I had to keep the rules as fixed, and they only show in flexible rules

Do you have proof that they will show coefficients in Flexible rules?

how do I do it?

[NineCloudNine]

1 hour ago, \'Appy \'Ammer said:

Can I ask what sort of chaos you're getting?

Chaos is slightly melodramatic way to put it. Teams can't play their best 11s, which undermines the competition. The game doesn't 'know' why I suddenly dropped some regulars so I was asked questions by the press and the team were grumpy. The uneven way that nationality is awarded also means some teams are inconvenienced more than others - for example in FM24 it seems that foreign players in England who were 'settled' in FM23 have now been given English nationality (De Bruyne, Salah, Van Dijk for example). With your file I can't see any major stars having been being left out so the AI managers seem to be picking their best 4/6 foreign players then filling out the team in CA order.

I created nationality restrictions for leagues in the past and the game just doesn't know how to handle it. AI managers still buy foreign players, then leave them out of league squads all year. Or AI teams ignored the squad restrictions entirely for reasons I never worked out. I assume that the manager AI must be programmed to handle restrictions because some leagues have them, but it didn't work well in La Liga or English Premier League.

I do use custom squad rules in my saves but they are for greater numbers of homegrown players rather than foreign players. That does lead to more young players getting games, though I don't tend to play saves for long enough to see a very long term (eg 10 years plus) effect. For your file have just removed the restrictions so teams use whoever they want from their squads.

Edited December 20, 2023 by NineCloudNine

[Curtains-2720]

2 hours ago, \'Appy \'Ammer said:

Yeah I've debated with that one but I haven't got round to testing properly on full detail. Can I ask what sort of chaos you're getting? Teams putting out youngsters? Over time it would be nice if the AI squad management and transfer policy would shift towards a focus on European rules. However even if I change rules in every league around Europe I would wager the AI teams would just harbour players anyway, therefore defeating the purpose. Do you play using absolutely no restrictions? Do you think increasing the quota would make it more playable? I am interested in opinions. 

I have removed the restriction myself too. I think AI would just put national youngsters from youth teams to comply with the rules, undermining the competitivity of the competition. I don't think the AI will adapt their transfer policy and squad management according to the restriction rules of the European cups.

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

6 hours ago, anitamui said:

Do you have proof that they will show coefficients in Flexible rules?

how do I do it?

The coefficients don't show in the game. Whenever you create a Continental db that seems to be break down, always has done. In FM23 I believed I got it working by looking at the club league reputations in the competitions tab in the Europe screen. By counting the top 16 nations that would then be used as the nations that qualified straight into the First round. I had it set to change every 5 years. I used this screen to set the sorting rules. As for having it show, I just haven't managed that. I also have added in coefficient points but I really don't know if it does anything in the background.

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

On 20/12/2023 at 13:42, NineCloudNine said:

I created nationality restrictions for leagues in the past and the game just doesn't know how to handle it. AI managers still buy foreign players, then leave them out of league squads all year.

 

On 20/12/2023 at 13:54, Curtains-2720 said:

I think AI would just put national youngsters from youth teams to comply with the rules, undermining the competitivity of the competition. I don't think the AI will adapt their transfer policy and squad management according to the restriction rules of the European cups.

Thanks for the feedback guys, really much appreciated. I will change the squad rules to bring in line with the current Champions League rules. I didn't think the AI would alter how it handles squads. You've both saved me a lot of testing 

[DBSaga]

I have a question, and I may just be thick and not understand, but do the league reputations change? I ran a quick simulation of a couple seasons and there were no changes in any leagues' reputation, is this a bug or am I missing something?

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

31 minutes ago, DBSaga said:

I have a question, and I may just be thick and not understand, but do the league reputations change? I ran a quick simulation of a couple seasons and there were no changes in any leagues' reputation, is this a bug or am I missing something?

No you're not being thick . When I tested the file last year I did see some movement of league rep, but this year, like yourself, the leagues have not been changing. I don't know if it's a bug or the fact that I am using fixed rules means it will not work in this version. Flexible rules sends the file crazy and it all goes pear shaped. It is frustrating because in theory if you develop a nation and improve the league you ought to see movement.

[HugoManager14]

15 minutos atrás, \'Appy \'Ammer disse:

No you're not being thick . When I tested the file last year I did see some movement of league rep, but this year, like yourself, the leagues have not been changing. I don't know if it's a bug or the fact that I am using fixed rules means it will not work in this version. Flexible rules sends the file crazy and it all goes pear shaped. It is frustrating because in theory if you develop a nation and improve the league you ought to see movement.

anyways did you see the news about european super league

and how did you react on that one

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

Slams hands on table. I'm falling out of love with the modern game. I'm getting old and grumpy 

[ianvou]

54 minutes ago, \'Appy \'Ammer said:

Slams hands on table. I'm falling out of love with the modern game. I'm getting old and grumpy 

Same here! It would be nice if UEFA can bring back the old competitions as a reply to USL, but it's unlikely of course....I'm just too romantic 😞

[palmamiguel92]

<3 love it, here we go again! 

I'll be working on a file to bring players back to their homegrown teams (players from outside of Europe i will put them at their first european club), i guess it could be a fun mesh to go along an old style european competitions 

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

11 hours ago, palmamiguel92 said:

I'll be working on a file to bring players back to their homegrown teams (players from outside of Europe i will put them at their first european club), i guess it could be a fun mesh to go along an old style european competitions 

I'd be interested to know how the AI maintains squad balance with your file after reading a couple of the comments above.

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

I have added a new updated 80s file to the opening post. I have amended the squad selection rules to accommodate today's squads builds. I have also added FFP to match what it is currently. I did multiple tests with FFP but not one club failed it. So I hope it works ok. As usual let me know of any issues. Thanks, enjoy, and Happy New Year!

[NineCloudNine]

The update seems to have broken the UEFA Cup, which has reverted to the Europa League when this file is active. Champions Cup and Cup-Winners Cup seem still to work.

I actually started an edit to this file which amended the histories. My plan was to award Champions Cup wins to the highest placed team in that year’s Champions League and UEFA Cup wins to the highest placed non-Champions. The former I think worked well as an alternative history, but the latter was a little too artificial.

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

On 05/03/2024 at 11:58, NineCloudNine said:

The update seems to have broken the UEFA Cup, which has reverted to the Europa League when this file is active. Champions Cup and Cup-Winners Cup seem still to work.

Hello mate, since I released that last version I've moved on to creating a newer version. It's a total rebuild so I don't know what 24.3 has done to inner workings of that file. I would have published my new one, but the last update hasn't fixed logged bugs, and  has caused some issues which I'm trying to work through, particularly with squad registrations. Once I get that sorted I'll release it. 

The good news is the file will have dynamic movement each year of countries and their seeding in all 3 competitions. Add other files I've been working on to it, and Russia and Belarus will be fully implemented into the game, playing home fixtures at home, and participating in all national competitions with world rankings working. 

 

Edited March 6 by \'Appy \'Ammer

[NineCloudNine]

17 minutes ago, \&#x27;Appy \&#x27;Ammer said:

Hello mate, since I released that last version I've moved on to creating a newer version. It's a total rebuild so I don't know what 24.3 has done to inner workings of that file. I would have published my new one, but the last update hasn't fixed logged bugs, and  has caused some issues which I'm trying to work through, particularly with squad registrations. Once I get that sorted I'll release it. 

The good news is the file will have dynamic movement each year of countries and their seeding in all 3 competitions. Add other files I've been working on to it, and Russia and Belarus will be fully implemented into the game, playing home fixtures at home, and participating in all national competitions with world rankings working. 

 

Thanks! I look forward to playing the new version when it’s ready.

 

[Curtains-2720]

 

4 hours ago, NineCloudNine said:

Thanks! I look forward to playing the new version when it’s ready.

 

Me too 

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

Just a quick update to anyone interested. I had been having trouble with not being able to confirm squad registrations for Europe, but I seem to have cracked it and after some minor testing tonight, it appears to be working. An overnight holiday save is underway so I can test further, and provided I am satisfied with what I see, I aim to release this new version over the weekend. 

[Curtains-2720]

11 hours ago, \&#x27;Appy \&#x27;Ammer said:

Just a quick update to anyone interested. I had been having trouble with not being able to confirm squad registrations for Europe, but I seem to have cracked it and after some minor testing tonight, it appears to be working. An overnight holiday save is underway so I can test further, and provided I am satisfied with what I see, I aim to release this new version over the weekend. 

[Curtains-2720]

On 09/03/2024 at 00:37, \&#x27;Appy \&#x27;Ammer said:

Just a quick update to anyone interested. I had been having trouble with not being able to confirm squad registrations for Europe, but I seem to have cracked it and after some minor testing tonight, it appears to be working. An overnight holiday save is underway so I can test further, and provided I am satisfied with what I see, I aim to release this new version over the weekend. 

Today? 

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

3 hours ago, Curtains-2720 said:

Today? 

I'm not happy with squad selection rules still. Editor has thrown me one more puzzle to solve. I'm on the case...

 

[Curtains-2720]

On 10/03/2024 at 13:27, \&#x27;Appy \&#x27;Ammer said:

I'm not happy with squad selection rules still. Editor has thrown me one more puzzle to solve. I'm on the case...

 

Silly editor! Patiently waiting... 😊

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

Yeah I had no joy solving things yesterday. I made progress then was knocked back by something else. Unfortunately life is getting in the way of editing time at the minute!

[Curtains-2720]

Any updates?😁

[\'Appy \'Ammer]

24.3 version now ready to download