(FM24) Glory Hunter

[Ozza1996]

Ladies and gentlemen, one and all, it's got to that time of year. I've played my initial FM24 saves and now I've worked the game out, I'm going to play out my Glory Hunter for Football Manager 2024. It's one of the most ultimate challenges in the Football Manager community and this would be my first year actually completing it. If you know what it's all about, then you won't need an explanation. But just in case you're brand new, whether this is your first game or not, or if you're coming back to the franchise after many years away, this is how this particular challenge works. 

The Rules: In Europe, there are a group of leagues known as the top 5 major leagues. They are the top leagues of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain (Premier League, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A, and La Liga). In those countries lie 6 domestic cups as well. England is the outlier with two, being the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. Most people don't play the Glory Hunter with the Carabao Cup, but I will be to complete this challenge. The other cups are the Coupe de France, DFB-Pokal, Coppa Italia and the Copa Del Rey. As well as winning those, I must also win the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and the UEFA Europa Conference League. 

There is also an international side to this challenge for it to be completed. I must manage a nation to the Euro title, and last but by no means least, the FIFA World Cup. It's not going to be an easy challenge, despite the fact I'll be managing some amazing clubs. I have to beat the other top clubs, and also don't forget, I have to win the smaller European trophies, which means a journey to the teams that ended 7th in their respective leagues. The other side to this challenge? All these trophies must be won in 20 seasons. It won't be easy, but it will be fun and I hope you enjoy the journey with me. For now though, shall we find out who we're managing?

Deciding my Team: I have decided to pick from 8 different clubs from across Europe. I have placed all these clubs into a wheel, and the wheel will knock them out one by one until we know which team we will be heading to in our first season. Don't forget the aim is to win trophies, so for me, all these are capable of winning some form of title in the first season. Let's look at our potential candidates.

All these sides have hit some hard times recently. It's now time to spin the wheel, and in the click of my fingers, we will see which club we are managing. I've decided not to put on the team badges because I'm not that bothered. If you don't like it, then that's a you thing. 

We have a team!!!!!!!!! Here we go, below you will see the team the wheel has picked. This club are one-time Champions League winners, with a lot of trophies in their home country. They did have Paul Lambert in their Champions League winning team, but in more recent years, there's been one other team dominating the trophies in their country. Did you guess who it was before you scrolled down? If so, well done. If not, well wait no longer.

Yes, we are starting our brand new save at Signal Iduna Park, as we try to please the yellow wall, and take Borussia Dortmund back to the top of the Bundesliga. With a Bayern Munich side that stole the title in the very last match of last season, we are going to be wanting to have a shot at claiming back the crown that this club hasn't had since 2012. 

It looks like we only have a modest transfer budget of £8,000,000. But we do also have the chance to sell and buy at this level, but I will only do realistic buys and I never use the player search screen. At the start of the next update, we will go through everything properly financially. I'd also love to know if 11 runners-up slots in the Bundesliga is the most for that particular league. 

4-3-3 has been my go-to tactic in FM24 to begin a save, and it's always good to see in the preview screens that our squad can potentially play it. We've still got the lynchpins in the team of Mats Hummels, Julian Brandt (Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! If you know, you know), and Marco Reus. Sebastian Haller also leads the line. Emre Can being in this time gives me that anchor that I need to break up the defence and the midfield, he will get himself a few assists this season. I'd love Jude Bellingham to still have been at Borussia Dortmund for the purposes of this save but that's ok. We have to deal with it. 

I don't see us being at Borussia Dortmund for more than a couple of years and that is when they want the Bundesliga title by. I think we can win it by the end of the 2 years. The Champions League would be a major bonus but we will wait and see what will happen with that. In the first year, it's all about who we can get in the group and hopefully, UEFA are generous to us. Attacking football is definitely the way forward to play proper football, and I'm very much the kind of manager to score one more goal than you basically. Signing German players seems to be the way forward in the Bundesliga anyway so that's no surprise for me. And then, finally make sure the players we sign are sold for a profit. I don't know about you, but I will be playing just for the next couple of years, I can't be here for any longer than that. If we sign really big players, then that'll be the one I'm afraid. 

The fans are very much the same as the board, wanting us to be right up there, and obviously battering Schalke as well. 

That is your brief introduction into this challenge, the beginning of 20 seasons of hope and dreams hopefully coming true. Thank you for enjoying the first part of my Glory Hunter save. I am planning a second part later today, as we begin our title push in the Bundesliga and hopefully today, we reach the end of the transfer window. That'll be out either this evening or tomorrow morning. Until then, best of luck in your saves, and if you're attempting this challenge, let me know who you're starting with. Until then, goodbye. 

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - Pre-Season Update

Hello and welcome back to your first update of this save, the first one with any significant movement in it. Today we are going to go through our first transfer window, and our first few games as the manager of Borussia Dortmund. We have aims and ambitions for this season, especially when it comes to fighting for the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich. We have to prepare for a long season. First of all, we are going to go through where we are predicted to finish, and what we've got to spend this Summer. 

This season, we are expected to finish in the same position as the club did in real life last season of 2nd, with Bayern Munich being quite comfortably the favourites to retain their crown for the 12th consecutive season. The entire League Strongest XI is nearly full to bursting with Bayern Munich talent, the one player from us being our goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel, the 25-year-old from Switzerland. In a moment we will go through our top 5 players at the start of the game, with their attributes, and then take another look at our strongest XI.

It's a very healthy overall balance with over £53,000,000 in the club itself, with over £8,000,000 in transfer budget available. My thinking will be looking at particular players we may not need for the future, and we need players who will be strong enough to carry us over the line this season. We've still got just over £100,000 a week to be able to spend on new contracts which may be a good idea for us at some point.

Borussia Dortmund Top 5 Players According to Football Manager Star Ratings

Gregor Kobel - Goalkeeper - 25 years old - Switzerland'

He is the best goalkeeper in the league according to the season preview screen. All we need is a goalkeeper that can stop the ball from flying past him and with reflexes of 17, one on ones being 16, and many greens and yellows across the board, he can just about do anything. What I do like as well is a goalkeeper who can play out from the back, and with passing of 13, I believe he is the man who can keep us safe between the sticks. 

Nico Schlotterbeck - Centre Back/Left Back - 23 years old - Germany

Our second best player according to my management team is Nico Schlotterbeck, and he's someone who can attempt to keep us solid at the back. I do like a team that gets stuck in and his tackling stats make for good reading. He's going to be strong going into the headers with his jumping reach of 16. His determination and work rate is going to be a help to the team as well as we attempt to mount a challenge at the top. 

Julian Brandt - Centre Midfield - 27 years old - Germany

Julian Brandt! JAAAAAAAAAAAA! That's the last I'm going to mention it unless he scores a worldie. But his stats definitely look strong for one of our veterans of our team - seriously. His passing and technique are the first things I noticed looking at this. He obviously likes to show off in terms of flair, and his vision will lead to great chances created for the team. Hopefully he can be what we're looking for when it comes to setting up the chances, and maybe finishing a few off himself. 

Niklas Sule - Centre Defender - 27 years old - Germany

The good thing to see with Sule's stats are that he's at his prime when it comes to his physicals. 17 in balance and jumping reach, a 16 for pace and 18 for strength. He's another one who can keep us solid at the back, and get a few goals from set pieces. 

Marco Reus - Centre-Midfield - 34 years old - Germany

I've got a feeling this could be one of his last seasons when it comes to actually playing for the Black and Yellow here in Germany. But he's still got the ability to be in the top five players at the club. He needs little introduction to any football fans. Hopefully he can still unlock a defence. 

Strongest XI

This is our strongest XI with the formation I believe I will use the most. Although all that could change before we start the new season.

First injury of the save and one that I do find annoying, especially when in our pre-season tour of Austria, we'll be going all out to get a few goals past our opposition. Karim Adeyemi is set to miss the start of the season after picking up a hamstring strain during a friendly for the second team.

Just to let you know, I have started attempting to sign players by this point. He will become a squad player with the promise he will be a regular starter by his second season, should he join the club. He's someone my scouts wanted to go for straight away so hopefully we will get this through.

Wednesday 26th July 2023: SVG Reichenau 1-5 Borussia Dortmund (Friendly)

I mean, if we hadn't scored a few goals in this game, I would have been worried. An easy 5-1 win against Austrian lower-league opposition with 5 different goalscorers. It all started off with a beautiful Sabitzer free-kick and Moukoko volleying home a second. Further goals from Malen, Nmecha and Julian Brandt made sure we weren't left red-faced, even as Hubmann got one back for the underdogs. A strong start to pre-season. 

Friday 28th July 2023: SK Vorwarts Steyr 1-5 Borussia Dortmund (Friendly)

The Austrian pre-season tour continued with another dominant display against lower-league opponents. My top performers in this one were Marco Reus for being involved in a couple of the goals, and a run out for the youngster Paris Brunner, who came up from the youth teams to be involved in this one, and was rightly named player of the match. Geovanni Reyna scored a screamer from distance to make it 2-0 in this game, and Mats Hummels got onto the end of a corner for 3-0. Brunner rifled home for 4, and Fullkrug tapped in a simple cross for 5-1. Their goal came from a lapse of concentration in our defence, which although we've won these comfortably, I wanna just be more assertive at the back before the season starts. But again, no complaints from me, everyone is getting game time and goals.

Unfortunately, the weekend after our second win of pre-season, this report came in after Mats Hummels suffered a twisted knee in training. Thankfully he's only out for just over a week and he will be back before we play our DFB-Pokal First Round tie. I don't yet know who that will be against but it's normally a very simple tie.

Almost as if I knew the first round draw was coming up isn't it? We've got a tie away at VfL Osnabruck of the 2. Bundesliga. It should be a fairly simple passage through as they're predicted to be 16th in the second tier but surprises do always happen. Look at Saarbrucken in real life in this competition. We've got to go into this game professionally.

New Signing - Filipe Relvas - Defender (Left, Centre) - 23 years old - Portugal

Our first signing as Borussia Dortmund manager. Definitely not a fanfare signing but he will do a job when he's coming on during a game at the back. Filipe Relvas has come from Portimonense, he's 23 years old. His work rate and heading are to be admired, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to make him available for the second team right now. But he's definitely in my plans as a sub. 

Monday 31st July 2023: Siegen 2-3 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly)

It wasn't our best performance, especially at the back, but 3 from 3 in pre-season is never a bad thing. My worry again is our defence, 2 goals conceded against a team who's league isn't in the game when we came home to Germany. We were 1-0 down at half time, Pistor giving the underdogs the lead. We did turn it around with 3 unanswered goals, Reyna, Haller and Malen scoring decent strikes to secure the win. Filipzik got a goal back for Siegen but we managed to hold on for an almost embarrassing result. 

Wednesday 2nd August 2023: Borussia Dortmund 2-2 Borussia Dortmund Second XI (Pre-Season Friendly)

Our first failure to win came at a few costs although you will see what I mean in just a moment. A 2-2 draw against our own second XI should mean I'm happier because it means our lads are all good at the football club, but I got disappointed after I took most of my first team off early on during the game. Fullkrug scored a double before being taken off, and then our defence fell asleep again, with 2 goals from Konig earning the reserves a great result. But more news was to come and it would be bad.

Yousouffa Moukoko was due to have started coming off the bench, and then starting against easier clubs to beat, but the fact is he is now out for the next couple of months after picking up sprained knee ligaments, which has put my plans into tatters when it comes to using him. 

And yet more injuries. Franz Pfanne is going to be out with a groin strain and he will be out for 3-4 weeks. I'm not overly involved with training, leaving the coaches to do what they do, but if you have any serious experience with training and injuries, I'll throw it out there. What would you do to slow the injuries down? I'm actually going to be decimated at this rate, and we can't win a title with everyone picking up injuries. 

Saturday 5th August 2023: Bologna 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly)

Our first friendly which I thought might cause us problem definitely did, but we picked up a huge result away at Serie A side Bologna. We gave away a penalty in the first half which van Hooijdonk scored to give the home side the lead. A Sabitzer shot from 25 yards out proved too hot to handle for their goalkeeper and he spilled it over the line for 1-1. We then scored a winner late on, as a Ryerson cross from the right found Brandt running in and he volleyed into the roof of the net to salvage a wonderful win which showed this team has character.

I was going to include my final pre-season friendly in this update but I've actually ran out of allowed space in this particular update for screenshots so our final update for the day will be coming up next. It wasn't planned so I will see you in a minute.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - August Update

Hello and welcome to part 3 of this Glory Hunter save and without further ado, we do carry on with what should have been in the last update. Let's go!!!!

Tuesday 8th August 2023: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Fiorentina (Pre-Season Friendly)

Our final pre-season game was against Italian giants Fiorentina, and we took them to the cleaners in this match with a solid 2-0 win using that 4-3-3 I threatened I'd use and the one that I used away in Bologna. Giovanni Reyna and Marcel Sabitzer both got on the scoresheet as we made defending and taking our chances look very simple. Reyna got his customary belter, this time it was a volley from just inside the area. Get a few of them in the league, and goal of the season is ours. 

Transfer Bid

I have decided to make a bid for Luka Sucic from Austrian champions Red Bull Salzburg. The scouts sent me his report and they reckon he could be someone Dortmund could use in the future. He could also be someone for my benefit because if he becomes absolute mega, he could be someone I use at any one of my future clubs. Let's see if he will come in and then we can see what he's all about.

Saturday 12th August 2023: VfL Osnabruck 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (aet; Borussia Dortmund win 5-4 on penalties) (DFB-Pokal First Round)

I'm angry! Angry beyond belief we were taken that close by a second tier side who have lost their first two league matches. On the other hand, Osnabruck were incredible defensively, and took us to penalties after grabbing an early equaliser to our opener, which was well worked by us. A short free-kick by Marco Reus found Paris Brunner on the edge of the box, and a shot from the edge of the D found the post before rolling in for 1-0. They equalised with a cross from the right finding Conteh unmarked and making it 1-1. No matter how much we tried to break them down, it just wasn't happening until we found the net from a corner in the 120th minute. It was ruled out for something, FM didn't tell me. I thought the shootout was lost when Haller missed the first, but two important saves by Lotka meant Brandt could confirm our place in the Second Round. We got lucky though!

Sucic Deal Off: Unfortunately Luka Sucic has said no to joining us as he has just signed a new contract with Red Bull Salzburg.

Karim Adeyemi is back in full training which is great to see. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do now he's got a new lease of life in him. 

DFB-Pokal Second Round Draw

It's another 2. Bundesliga side in the second round of the DFB-Pokal. This time Holstein Kiel will provide the challenge. They've obviously started the season well, being in 6th in their league. Hopefully it should be far more straightforward. But that will be for the November update after Christmas. Now, we enter the league. Werder Bremen beat Bayern Munich on night one. So let's see what we can do and see if we can go a win clear of the Bavarian side.

Saturday 19th August 2023: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 FC Koln (Bundesliga)

The most annoying opening day ever! We should have scored chance after chance after chance but we couldn't break their defence down again. We had the trouble against Osnabruck, but we got through it. The defence had the best game ever, but the strikers need to get firing. Not much more to say here unfortunately. 0-0 draw. Things can only get better.

Injuries are hard, they're hard to take. When it effectively rules out Felix Nmecha for the majority of the season, that hurts. I cannot believe our lack of luck with injuries. He played a number of games in the last update in the pre-season matches. Hopefully he will be half decent when he comes back but I'm not entirely sure. 

Saturday 26th August 2023: VfL Bochum 2-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga)

Can I stop drawing in normal time please? Especially after taking a 2-0 lead in this match, I genuinely thought we were gonna be ok when it came to holding on to this lead, especially how decent we were at the back last weekend. An opening goal from Sabitzer after storming into the area, followed by a penalty from Haller made it 2-0 fairly quickly. Second half, we just fell apart. Goals from Schlotterbeck and Ordets gave Bochum a fighting chance of potentially even snatching a win. We missed a guilt-edged chance right at the end but it went narrowly over and that was that. I said in pre-season I was worried we'd fall asleep at the back. So despite having what looked like a straightforward 6 points, we only have the 2. 2-2 at full time.

For the final time, there is a UEFA Champions League Group Stage draw. We can definitely nab at least 2nd place in this group. I reckon it'll be us behind Barcelona, Newcastle third and Shakhtar 4th but it will be a tight group. It's not easy in the slightest.

This is the league table at the end of August 2023. Mainz and Werder Bremen have had 100% starts at the top of the league with FC Koln, RB Leipzig, Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen also unbeaten on 4 points. The newly promoted pair, Heidenheim and Darmstadt, have both started life in the top flight poorly with 0 points for either as well as Borussia Monchengladbach at the bottom of the league. We're still unbeaten at least, but we currently sit in 13th. I'm sure it'll all turn around soon, but it's been a poor start really. 

We have made it to the end of the month. Thank you for being interested at least. And tell me who you think I should sign on deadline day. I will be back tomorrow with transfer deadline day (despite the fact I've only bought one player). Thank you for joining and I'll see you soon.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - September Update

I'm getting really excited for this save despite the way it's started. We are back for the September update of this year's Glory Hunter in Season 1. August could have gone better. We haven't lost yet, but a lucky penalty shootout win away at Osnabruck of the 2. Bundesliga got me worried. That was followed by two draws to kick start our league season, especially in the final game when we were actually 2-0 up away at Bochum. We should have held on for that win. Ultimately, I can't believe these lads threw that away. But onwards and upwards, we need to get our season properly going now. We have the chance to rubber stamp ourselves on this year's German title race, plus get to make a mark in the Champions League. But before all of that, I'm going to endure transfer deadline day. I will let you know if anything major happens.

New Signing: Emil Breivik - DM, CM/RB - 23 years old - Norway

This is our first signing of Deadline Day. Nothing too much, someone who will definitely only be a squad player. We spent £2.8 million on him with the option of a further million to Molde. You may be confused but if worked out correctly, this could be one of the players who the club sell on for a profit if he plays his cards right. He has already played in the Champions League this year as well, so is experienced at the top level. I doubt I'll use him too much this season though. 

And the Window Slams Shut!!!!

Not a very busy transfer window makes it quite boring if you're viewing from afar, but we didn't have bags and bags of money. We've bought two decent squad players, and apart from injuries, we've lost no huge players either which I'm very pleased about. Arsenal did go in for a deal for Mats Hummels last minute but fortunately, he wanted to stay so we survived that. I'm not complaining. All in all, I'm a very content manager. It is also match day in the Bundesliga for us, where we face a home match to newly-promoted Heidenheim, who are suffering in their first season ever in the Bundesliga.

Friday 1st September 2023: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Heidenheim (Bundesliga)

For the first time this season, after the 70th minute, I was putting my feet up after a very comfortable 4-0 win over Heidenheim who stay rooted to the bottom of the table. Wolf opened the scoring by slotting the ball home with his left foot from the corner of the area. Malen scored the scrappiest goal to give us a second. Goals from Brandt and Fullkrug from the spot, ensured that we showed what we really can do when we put our minds to it. To say I was buzzing when we got the third without struggling is an understatement. 4 goals, three points and a clean sheet is just what the doctor ordered. Now into the international break. Unless something big happens with injuries, I'll see you for the next game.

Saturday 16th September 2023: Freiburg 3-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga)

As you can see from the stats, Freiburg were on fire in the first half and we were absolutely nowhere near it for my first loss as manager of Borussia Dortmund. Unfortunately, I felt all 3 of the goals were soft, especially when Haller played a defence-splitting pass through our defence. I'm afraid Haller has been nowhere near the level I thought he could be at this season, and he could be one of the first to leave the club in January. The second goal was just Kobel saving the ball and putting it in the wrong place at the wrong time for Holer to nod it home. Holer grabbed a third from a lack of concentration in our defence. We definitely fell apart and am thinking of not using this tactic in the near future as it doesn't work for us. A 3-0 hammering may be just what we needed.

Tuesday 19th September 2023: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Shakhtar Donetsk (UEFA Champions League Group B)

It wasn't a very special start to the Champions League this season. I won't say we were bad enough to lose, but we weren't good enough to beat the Ukrainian champions in our first Group B match. I decided to move to a diamond after that heavy defeat, and it seemed to work well from the start, scoring a goal inside a minute, albeit it was about half a yard offside. A Marco Reus free kick found Hummels at the far post to take us off the mark. Another set piece goal let Shakhtar equalise in this one and after that we were both cancelling each other out. With it being a 2-2 draw between Newcastle and Barcelona, we all have a point each. Could be tight this season.

Saturday 23rd September 2023: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Wolfsburg (Bundesliga)

Our second win of the season, and our second home win of the season came in a hard fought win over Wolfsburg, and has restored my faith in changing to the diamond. Schlotterbeck got his first goal of the season, as did Geovanni Reyna as we moved up the table to the cusp of the Champions League places. I must admit, I started to get nervous when Zesiger got one back for Wolfsburg, but the defence stayed on top, despite Wolfsburg continually attacking us all game, and we took the win which was desperately needed after last week's thrashing at Freiburg.

Injury: It has been a quiet month in terms of injuries but Marius Wolf will be out for about a month after picking up a hamstring strain. He has been an unsung hero at right-back and will be a loss to the team but hopefully we can power on.

Injury: Another injury in our back line unfortunately. Filipe Relvas has had a couple of appearances this season and has been quite effective. I do like the fact he was brought to my attention. Unfortunately, he will be out for up to 5 weeks with damaged knee cartilage. Sounds quite painful tbh after what I've been through in real life but hopefully he comes back in the same vein of form.

Friday 29th September 2023: Hoffenheim 2-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga)

That was honestly the worst defensive performance of the season. Despite what the stats say, we went 2-0 up, I took a chance by playing Lotka in goal for example and it backfired. It was going far, far too well in the first half as Haller and Hummels scored goals in the first 33 minutes which gave us a really strong lead despite Hoffenheim being all over us. Unfortunately Beier got one back before half time for Hoffenheim with the sloppiest back pass I've ever seen. And then sloppy, stupid passing again allowed Kramaric to feed in Kaderabek which earned Hoffenheim a point and a point they probably deserved, but none of these players are getting rests from training as they were that awful at the back.

League Table Update: As we hit the end of September, RB Leipzig have a 1 point lead at the top, with Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen making the title race more interesting at the moment. We're currently 4 points off the top 4, which we have ruined with shocking defending, giving away simple goals, and picking up far too many draws. This has to change. At the bottom, Borrusia Monchengladbach have been awful with only 1 point from their opening 6 games, with the promoted duo just above them, albeit Heidenheim picked up their first win of the season at home to Werder Bremen. 

Champions League Update: Only been one game so far in the group stage in the Champions League, but currently it's 1 point apiece. Never good to be bottom of the group, but definitely not the worst position to be in when everyone is doing the same at the moment.

Join me next time: Yes, next time we do return immediately to Champions League football. We've got Barcelona to kick things off in the month of October. When that will be I'm not sure as obviously we all have family stuff to do over Christmas. It may even be after Boxing Day, potentially closer to the start of the New Year. Thank you for the support, and let me know what I'm doing wrong defensively. Am I not training them enough? Am I switching tactics too often? Let me know below, and I will see you soon as we aim to win every big trophy across Europe, in 20 seasons.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - October

Hello and welcome to your latest monthly update of the Glory Hunter save, the save where we have to win it all across Europe for both club and country. Before I left the save to celebrate the Christmas weekend, things weren't feeling quite right. Sure, we've only lost once all season, picked up a point in the Champions League and managed to make the second round of the Cup, but apart from the one game against Heidenheim, we really haven't looked convincing. Hopefully a couple of days of my laptop getting the rest it needs generates brand new results. We start this month playing our second Champions League tie this season, and this time, we face a team that have a history of success in this competition, most of which comes with a player who for me, is the greatest of all time. 

Wednesday 4th October 2023: Barcelona 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League Group B)

Could this prove to be that result we needed to help us move forward as a team and start turning those draws into wins because this was incredible? The defence were on top of their game, Mats Hummels really making a difference in this one and being man of the match. Barcelona kept on huffing and puffing and really couldn't break us down. Karim Adeyemi made his first start of the season after being out with injuries and illness. His corner found Hummels at the far post for 1-0. De Jong fed Pedri to allow the Spanish league leaders to equalise. I'd have been happy with that, but an Adeyemi shot was saved and fell to the feet of Julian Brandt, who fired into an empty net, and that is a result that puts us top of the group, ahead on goals scored of Newcastle United, who won at Shakhtar. Huge win! Come on!

Injury News: We don't get away with injuries ever. It's got to the point I'm not even showing all the little 1-2 days injuries and I'm still getting at least one per update. Unfortunately, our match winner in Barcelona has a torn abdominal muscle and will be out until just before the mid-season break. Julian Brandt has made a slow start to the season, but he hasn't been bad at all recently, and I just wanted him to improve as the season went on. For now, we will have to make do without him. 

Saturday 7th October 2023: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Union Berlin (Bundesliga)

Yet another league game where we only have ourselves to blame. We absolutely played Union Berlin off the park, could have scored 4 or 5, and again we've only come away with a point after a 91st minute equaliser. Thomas Meunier played one of the best balls I've seen on FM24, thumping a curling ball forward which Malen only had to chest down and fire past the keeper for 1-0. It looked like that would be enough to hold on, and surely the worst couldn't happen again... could it? Well, unfortunately, the ball was left well alone and Aaronson had the freedom of Dortmund to fire home at the far post from a right wing cross. This is really not how we wanted to enter the international break.

New Contract: We've managed to agree a new deal with Marius Wolf, keeping him at Dortmund until the end of the 2025-26 season, as we aim to keep as many of this team together while we go for those major honours. 

Injury News: Just after Marius Wolf has come back from his injury, in goes another man into the treatment room, where Niclas Fullkrug will spend the next 5 weeks following a twisted ankle. 

Friday 20th October 2023: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Werder Bremen (Bundesliga)

Our third league draw in a row came after I was forced to change our tactic after 9 minutes due to a stupid red card by Salih Ozcan going through a Bremen midfielder. Kobel wasn't tested all that much but this surely made the away side the favourites. We did put the ball in the net fairly late on, but Moukoko was denied his first of the season by the offside flag. A draw I had to take, but still only one league defeat all season. I'm still in favour with the board at the moment, but how long will they keep their cool with us being outside the top 4?

Wednesday 25th October 2023: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Newcastle United (UEFA Champions League Group B)

I must admit, this was a very boring match. You can say tight and tense, but neither side really seemed set to attempt to win it, probably too worried to lose their top two place in the group. There was only one highlight I viewed, and literally I don't know what made it a key highlight. Newcastle are going well in the Premier League, but they showed nothing but cagey football all night. That being said, both us and Newcastle complete the top two in Group B, with Barcelona a further point behind. This could be an interesting end to the group.

Sunday 29th October 2023: Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga)

A sobering defeat today as we drop into the bottom half and Eintracht Frankfurt will end the month in second place in the table. Goals from Marmoush, Max, Koch and Ngankam meant that we left Frankfurt seriously licking our wounds and left me seriously wondering if I have what it takes to make this team any good. Kobel was awful, I actually took him off for damage limitation. I do feel like my job could be on the line here and I'll have to do something quickly.

Bundesliga Table Update: RB Leipzig are still the surprise league leaders heading into November, as they remain the only unbeaten side after 9 matches. Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich are the closest challengers on 18 points, with Freiburg in that final Champions League spot at the moment. Bayer Leverkusen are making things interesting for that top 4 spot on 16 points, with another 4 points separating Mainz in 6th, and Union Berlin in 14th. At the bottom, Borussia Monchengladbach are in serious danger of being cut adrift. They're already 5 points adrift of 17th placed Darmstadt, and 6 adrift of both Heidenheim and Bochum.

UEFA Champions League Group Update: We lead the group ahead of Newcastle United because of the alphabet half way through. Both teams have 5 points, with our only win being a memorable night in Barcelona. They're currently in third, a point behind the top 2. Shakhtar Donetsk are quickly being cut out of the race to be in Europe after Christmas.

Final Word: If this continues, may we have to think about resigning? About attempting to move somewhere else? I'm determined to stick things out. We're really not a bad team. But now is the time to really knuckle down, for my players to learn the offside rule, and to assert ourselves on teams. Our second game of November is Der Klassiker against Bayern and it would be a dream if we could secure something in that. Also next month, it could be an idea to see if any decent European nations are missing out on the Euros, and putting the feelers out there for future international management. With that, I'd love to eventually manage my home nation of England. But first things first, we must start actually winning with this club who should be doing much better than this. Shooting training is a must with 3 matches without scoring. Can we achieve the dream? Let's wait and see. I'll see you next time, as we continue a potential run into Glory Hunter territory.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - November

Hello and welcome to the latest update of this Football Manager 2024 journey, as we try to achieve the ultimate goal by winning all of Europe's top 5 domestic leagues, their cups, the three major European trophies, and the two big international honours of the Euros and the World Cup. We go into this month having failed to score in each of our last 3 games across all competitions, which culminated in a thumping 4-0 defeat away at Eintracht Frankfurt. The board are surely to talk to me soon as we slipped into the bottom half of the table. But our first game of this update will be the second round tie in the DFB-Pokal at home to 2. Bundesliga side Holstein Kiel. 

Wednesday 1st November 2023: Borussia Dortmund 4-2 Holstein Kiel (DFB-Pokal Second Round)

We started this month very convincingly against lower league opposition, defeating Holstein Kiel 4-2 despite the 2. Bundesliga side absolutely going for it in the second half. We were 3-0 up by the 13th minute, with early goals from Salih Ozcan, Yousouffa Moukoko, and Geovanni Reyna effectively ensuring our passage to the Third Round early on. We were pegged back a little in the second half, as both Johansson and Skrzybski scoring from Rothe crosses down the left hand side. Schlotterbeck scored a goal from an Aning corner to ensure our spot without any real sweats in this game. Time to see who we will face in the next round. 

DFB-Pokal Third Round Draw: A tough test is on the cards as we enter the third round of the DFB-Pokal as we travel away to Bayer Leverkusen, who have been decent in the league this season without being spectacular. That game will be featured in the December update.

Saturday 4th November 2023: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Bayern Munich (Bundesliga)

We needed this win! Oh boy, did we need it! Before the start of the Bayern Munich match, we had dropped to 13th after the results of earlier on Saturday, and I felt as if I needed to switch something up. I decided to go back to the 4-3-3 as it was clear the diamond maybe needed some work. What a decision! Neuer got injured early on which was a bitter blow for Bayern, and we took advantage. An Adeyemi cross from the left was put through his own goal by Kim Min-Jae. Sebastian Haller made it 2-0 from a Marco Reus corner he got his head on. And Adeyemi completed a strong performance after Alphonso Davies was sent off in the first half. The away side ended with 9 men after Sane was injured after using all their subs. All in all, a strong performance, the fans are happy. 

Tuesday 7th November 2023: Newcastle United 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League Group B)

Our first defeat in the Champions League this season came in the North East of England, as we were dominated by a strong Newcastle United side 2-0. The combination of Almiron to Isak worked twice and it felt tough to take, especially as I was sure the second goal was slightly offside. This result leaves Newcastle top of the group with two matchdays to go, and us in second, only ahead of Barcelona on the head to head record after our win in Catalonia earlier this season. 

Saturday 11th November 2023: Stuttgart 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) A game in which we deserved the win but probably deserved more goals. We were unable to hit the target on a few occasions but the only goal came from the penalty spot as Emre Can sent the keeper the wrong way for his first goal of the season. As entertaining as some of my games have been, these are the ones I prefer. Nice, simple and it moves us just a point off Champions League qualification. Could this be more defensively stable? We'll wait and see after the international break.

Injury News: You can never be without an injury during the international break, and unfortunately it's happened to our Norwegian international, Julian Ryerson, who will be out for 4 weeks after twisting his ankle in training. It'd almost make it easier if he had done it during an international match but the fact that both his games had been and gone, and then he decides to get injured. Still we have to crack on.

Sunday 26th November 2023: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Borussia Monchengladbach (Bundesliga) We took on the team at the very bottom of the table in Monchengladbach in this rivalry match, and played them off the park winning 3-0. A smashing pass from Reus found Reyna on the left and he fired into the top right corner for 1-0. A shocking defensive mistake at the back meant the ball ended up with Reus again and he scored his first of the season. Malen secured the three points, and we barely broke sweat again. No goals conceded since changing to 4-2-3-1 just yet, and a huge win which leaves us only 6 points off RB Leipzig.

Wednesday 29th November 2023: Shakhtar Donetsk 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League Group B) We managed to win our second away game in this group as we travelled to play against Shakhtar Donetsk. If Shakhtar lost, they would be out of the Champions League so they were defending with all their might and in the first half, there were literally no chances as the Ukrainians neutralised the game. The winning goal came from a short corner routine that fell back to Reyna, who cut into the area, and fired into the top corner for 1-0, and to really give us hope heading into our final game at home to Barcelona. Barcelona managed to beat Newcastle 4-0 at home, so when we look at the table in a moment, be prepared for how tight the group is.

Bundesliga Table Update: As we head into the Christmas period, RB Leipzig still retain the lead at the top of the table, by two points ahead of champions Bayern Munich, the team from the east still unbeaten. Bayer Leverkusen and Freiburg complete the top 4 both on 23 points, a point clear of Eintracht Frankfurt and two clear of Borussia Dortmund after 12 games. Borussia Monchengladbach did pick up their first win this month, but are now 7 points adrift of the relegation play off spot. Heidenheim are starting to find their feet, as they are also 5 points clear of Darmstadt. 

UEFA Champions League Group Update: Three into two doesn't go, which means that one of Newcastle United, Barcelona or Borussia Dortmund will miss out on a last 16 spot. Our final game is at Signal Iduna Park, which we haven't won at yet in the group, drawing both games there, where we have to beat Barcelona on the final day to stand a chance of progressing to the second round. Newcastle United will probably end top as they face Shakhtar on the final day. I will take you through the nailbiting final day on the next update.

Final Word: A really strong month all in all, no draws and 5 wins out of 6, our only defeat coming to Newcastle in the Champions League. I'm looking forward to that final game already. We've already secured 3 clean sheets in a row since changing for the first time this season to the 4-2-3-1, which works in both attacking and balanced mentalities as well. The Bundesliga title race seems wide open this season. Bayern Munich are not having it all their own way, and the way we dismantled them in front of the Yellow Wall buys me more time at the football club. Unbeaten in the league makes me proudest of all as that is the bread and butter obviously. As we head to December, we will start with our third round match in the DFB-Pokal where hopefully we can make the latter stages, but Bayer Leverkusen will be a tough test. It will be another vital month, and I hope you stick around to see how it goes.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - December

IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!! Welcome to the December update and we had a great month to lead us up to this point. Our only defeat all month was a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle in the Champions League. We were 100% in the league and in the cup, we managed to get through to the third round which is where we will start today. When it comes to international jobs, the qualifiers are over and I have been looking for teams that didn't qualify, but it does feel like every team that's half decent in the continent has made it to the tournament. I will wait to the end of the Euros just to see if any decent jobs turn up. Hopefully, England could have a terrible tournament and I save them from Southgate. As for now, let's crack on with the most wonderful time of the year.

Wednesday 6th December 2023: Bayer Leverkusen 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (DFB-Pokal Third Round) In our toughest game of the cup run so far, we have qualified for our first Quarter Final in this save. The only goal came from a corner that Leverkusen failed to clear away, it fell to Bensebaini who played it down the line to Adeyemi. He ran into the area from the right, and fired through the keeper to the left hand side of the goal. We had chances without really scaring them, and Kobel was incredible with some of his saves which were more like goals than anything else. I'm just glad there was no extra time in this one. We go into the last 8.

DFB-Pokal Quarter Final Draw: We will travel to Heidenheim in the DFB-Pokal Quarter Final. They've been improving quite a lot so could be a potential banana skin. I'm fairly confident we can go through though.

Saturday 9th December 2023: Borussia Dortmund 2-5 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) We took on the league leaders and Kobel had an absolute nightmare in goal, as we shipped 5 to RB Leipzig. It was a lively match and Benjamin Sesko scored either side of a Sebastian Haller equaliser. In the second half, Simons, Poulsen and a terrible attempted save from Olmo, whose shot went straight through Kobel put us to the sword. The good news for our youth setup is Bynoe-Gittens got his first goal of the season after he came on during the second half. We also lost Malen through injury in the 28th minute. We'll find out together what's up with him. But I really think we've played the best team in the league at the moment.

Donyell Malen Injury Update: It turns out he twisted his ankle during the day, and he will be out for the next 3 weeks. 

Tuesday 12th December 2023: Borussia Dortmund 0-3 Barcelona (UEFA Champions League Group B) Our first run in the Champions League as a manager has ended with dropping into the Europa League following another three-goal home defeat this week, this time to Barcelona. A draw would have been enough as Newcastle thrashed Shakhtar 6-1, but our hopes were dashed with a poor defensive performance. De Jong scored a sickener before half time, before Lewandowski and Joao Felix sealed the deal in the second half to send us to Europe's secondary tournament, and see Barcelona and Newcastle go through as the top two. The final table will be beneath.

UEFA Champions League Group B Final Table: It was a very tight group, but we definitely let ourselves down. We have to perform better in the Europa League.

Friday 15th December 2023: Augsburg 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We got back to winning ways as we defeated Augsburg 2-0 away from home. Two set piece goals were the way forward in this one. Sebastian Haller scored the first in the first five minutes from the penalty spot. A well-worked free kick in the second half from Sabitzer provided the second as he chipped over the wall to find Adeyemi who chested down and fired into the inside of the post for 2-0. For now, it leaves us 7th.

UEFA Europa League Play-Off Round Draw: As we got knocked out of our Champions League group in third place, it does at least mean we have the chance to go for our first Europa League campaign of the save. There were 4 German clubs in the draw, including Bayern Munich dropping down from the Champions League as well. We were drawn out for a tie with Greek side Olympiakos. The tie will be played in February, and hopefully we can make a mark after failure in the big trophy.

Wednesday 20th December 2023: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Mainz (Bundesliga) The final week of the first half of the season involves two big matches, both against teams that are fighting for European football. The first match was at home to Mainz, and we managed to get a simple 2-0 win against them, helped by Onisiwo destroying Reus in a challenge from behind. Emil Breivik showed his importance to the team by scoring both of our goals. A pass from Reus through to Breivik allowed the latter to open the scoring. Then a great free-kick routine fell to Breivik who slid in off the near post to seal all three points. It leaves us right in the mix for the Champions League spots.

Saturday 23rd December 2023: Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Our final game of the first half of the season was another clean sheet away at Bayer Leverkusen, this time being a 0-0 draw. We defended really well, I wouldn't say it was backs against the wall as we were unlucky not to win as we had stuck the ball in the net, but it does mean we head into the league after the Winter break, only one point outside the Champions League places, on 27 points with several other teams. 

Bundesliga Table (Winter Break): We head into the Winter break with RB Leipzig holding the lead with 35 points, 3 points clear of second placed Eintracht Frankfurt. The race for the top four is on as the difference in points between 3rd and 8th is only one point. Bayern Munich are spectacularly underperforming alongside us as they sit 6th, in an attempt to defend their title. At the bottom, Borussia Monchengladbach sit bottom on 7 points, but they are unbeaten in 2 with both being draws as they try to find a way of staying in the top flight. Both Heidenheim and Darmstadt are level on 13 points, with Werder Bremen just 3 points ahead of them on 16 points. 

Final Word: We've reached the end of 2023 in game and so far, so dodgy for our season. The players have gone for their Christmas breaks and now we are prepared to attack the top 4. There is also a trophy we didn't really want to be playing for left, but we are in the Europa League and it must be treated with respect. Personally I'm looking forward to managing in it and seeing how far we can get though it won't be straight forward. I will see you for the January update.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - January

Happy New Year in game, and welcome to 2024 in Football Manager 2024. It's our first season of the Glory Hunter and our first season at Borussia Dortmund. The Winter transfer window will open up this month so we can potentially make some new signings. We haven't got the biggest pot at the moment though, so please don't be expecting too much. We do have what should be a favourable month to kick the new year off, as we start the second half of the season away at Darmstadt, but that's not until the 13th January. We also have our DFB-Pokal Quarter Final away at Heidenheim in a bid to try and achieve our first trophy this season. That one does seem to be the one we will have to win to be successful on that front. At the start of the season, I wanted a title, but RB Leipzig are gonna run away with it I think. Top four should be our aim. Let's get into it, and see what we've got going on.

Financial Update: So this is what we have to work with for the transfer window. Unfortunately, we will probably have to sell to buy, but we have a couple of players on the transfer list we could get some decent money for. I will show that in a second. We haven't got an awful lot of wage budget and we only have just shy of £2,000,000 in the transfer kitty. Other than that, we've been brilliant with our money and budgets for the entire season and we seem to be passing FFP regulations quickly and easily. It turns out I can't find my transfer listed players in a simple list. I will let you know if any go though.

Contract Extension: It's great to see our new club captain extend his contract for another year as he heads closer to retirement. Marco Reus will stay until the end of next season as he aims to win a title before he retires. He was one of those I was worried would want to leave but he's happy and loves the club so I'm very happy with that. It's always important to retain your team leaders.

Schlotterbeck Sold to Real Madrid: Nico Schlotterbeck is the first player we've decided to sell to make sure we have the funds for this transfer window. When Real Madrid come in, it's normally a good offer, and I felt £55,000,000 was a good sale for a player of his calibre. He'll be getting Champions League football, battling at the top of La Liga, and obviously we can't always promise him that game time which is crucial especially with the Euros this Summer. He's been strong at the back so good luck to him.

Moukoko to Freiburg (Loan): Youssoufa Moukoko hasn't really had a look in so far this season, as he's behind Adeyemi and Haller in the pecking order so I've sent him out on loan to Freiburg until the end of the season. He will be playing for a team we're challenging for top 4, but they can virtually guarantee him game time, which I can't.

Pfanne to Karlsruhe at End of Season: One player we barely ever used, will be dropping down to Karlsruhe in the Summer. Franz Pfanne doesn't really have what other players in his position have got so I'm not too disappointed to be taking him off the books. 

Ryan Sessegnon Signed from Tottenham: Our first signing of this transfer window is Ryan Sessegnon from Tottenham Hotspur. The Englishman will join us from the end of his contract in North London, and he is a player I'm genuinely excited about in real life, so I'm happy to add him to the team. 

Mats Hummels Leaving for Newcastle United: Mats Hummels handed in a transfer request earlier this season for a new challenge, and that challenge will start at the beginning of next season, as he travels to Newcastle United. That's a good signing for them, and someone who can give them the experience they need to progress further into European competition.

Illnesses At the Club: This is really not what I needed after setting my squad up for the Darmstadt game. Both Julian Ryerson and Julian Brandt have picked up the flu and a virus respectively which is not what we needed as we return to competitive action this month. What you will notice is that Felix Nmecha will be back in the next couple of months after that horrific injury at the start of the season which is great to see. 

Saturday 13th January 2024: Darmstadt 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) It was important that we didn't start throwing stupid points away, but Darmstadt were solid defensively and kept us at 0-0 for well over an hour. In the end, our opening goal after 67 minutes actually came from a Darmstadt chance at the other end which we intercepted. Reyna then ran from his own half with the ball before playing a beautiful slide-rule pass through to Fullkrug who came off the bench early on, and he fired into the bottom corner for 1-0. It was sealed in injury time as a Reyna shot was headed home by Fullkrug for his second of the game. With both Haller and Bensebaini at the AFCON, this is the chance for the other players to make their mark and to see what they can do before they get back. A great three points against a team fighting to stay up. The injuries for Reus and Adeyemi in this game is nothing to write home about, no longer than a week for either of them.

Mateu Morey to Malaga on Loan: Mateu Morey is a player we don't play at all really, so he's gone to Spanish third tier side Malaga on loan until the end of the season. Maybe he can be used more next season as back up, but it's time to see how he does at Malaga.

New Young Signing: Now this lad has some potential. His name is Laurin Ulrich, he is 18 years old, and we signed him from Stuttgart where he has already made some league appearances this season. He is rated really highly in game, and the club are delighted to have him on the books. He's a very skillful young player, and he does the basics well as well. I'm interested to give him some chances this season, and see if he is as good as Stuttgart say he is. One for the future.

Saturday 20th January 2024: FC Koln 2-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) If you can't win, don't lose. That's the rule. Fullkrug is really taking his chance, we brought him on in the last game and he scored a brace. I decided to start him this time, and he's done it again. He gave us the lead inside 24 minutes in our first attack of the game to make it 1-0. FC Koln turned it around in the second half with goals from Selke and Thielmann to make it 2-1. With them taking the lead in the 87th minute, I really thought it was over. But when you've got a forward like Fullkrug, there is no need to accept defeat. A ball from Reyna found Fullkrug in the middle of the box and he fired home for 2-2. Great result.

Gregor Kobel Injured: Sometimes this game loves to punish you, it wants to make it harder for you. When your number one goalkeeper is going to be out for 6 weeks due to a lower back stress fracture, it's like Miles has just given you a kick to the nuts personally. I want Kobel to come back in the same vein of form he has been in recently. A lot of clean sheets, we're gonna need him back for the run in without a doubt.

Thomas Meunier to Ferencvarosi TC: Thomas Meunier has gone out on loan to Ferencvarosi TC in Hungary until the end of the season, purely because he wasn't getting any playing time, nowhere near as good as he used to be, so this could be a decent level for him.

Saturday 27th January 2024: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Bochum (Bundesliga) We broke into the top 4 in our final game in the league for this month, as we defeated a mid-table Bochum side 2-0. We took the lead in first half stoppage time when Malen countered down the right and found Fullkrug in the middle, who slotted home his fifth goal in 3 matches to become what I think is the most in form striker in the league at the moment. It was 2-0 with a wonderful free-kick from Marco Reus, easily 30 yards out and he slammed it into the top left hand corner to take all 3 points. Probably my best goal my team has scored in FM24 this year in all my saves.

 

Warmed Omari in from Rennes: Our first signing of transfer deadline day is French U21 international defender Warmed Omari, who spent 8 years at Rennes. He has more recently become a starter for them and has played in the Europa League which is great to see. He definitely has a great future and many people at the club seem to agree as well. He will be good to have in the squad for Europe. 

Jakub Kiwior from Arsenal: Our second signing of deadline day is Jakub Kiwior from Arsenal, the Polish international who also plays at centre back. These signings do have replacing Mats Hummels in mind and just next season in general. I feel like Kiwior is another who could step up and we will be trialling it this season. I paid £26.5 million for him with add ons later so hopefully he proves me right.

Filip Bundgaard from Randers: We have a new Danish centre-forward who has joined the U19s for just over £3 million. He is an U21 international for Denmark but has been struggling for his home town team. It will be interesting to see how he progresses.

Wednesday 31st January 2024: Heidenheim 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (DFB-Pokal Quarter Final) Not the best defeat, especially in a challenge like this. It basically means we must stay in Germany for another season but I was always planning for that anyway. I decided to start two of my new signings, and one of them got a goal on his debut. It was Bundgaard, the Danish youngster. He tapped in an Adeyemi cross on the line for 1-0. Heidenheim came back at us and really punished us on the counter attack. First of all, it was Kleindienst who found the equaliser from a breakaway. And then Gimber slotted home with 6 minutes of the 90 left. Then the second scorer was sent off in the 92nd minute which gave us a glimmer of hope. That glimmer of hope turned into a cauldron of hope as we got a penalty to take it to extra time. For the first time this season, Emre Can fired it wide of the post to knock us out in the quarter final stage.

Bundesliga Table Update: At the end of January, RB Leipzig's lead has been cut to 2 points. They're still top on 40 with only one defeat, but Eintracht Frankfurt are making a fight for the title on 38 points. Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund round out the top 4, with Freiburg, Bayern Munich and three teams on 30 points all chasing down European spots for next season. The relegation battle has got tighter with Borussia Monchengladbach winning twice this month to close the gap to the teams above them to a point, them now being on 13, and Darmstadt and Heidenheim on 14 points. The gap to 15th has grown to 5 points with Werder Bremen pulling away from relegation danger.

Final Word: I would say in terms of improving in the league, and in the transfer window we had a good month. First of all, seeing our name in the top 4 after a while is really amazing to see. I do want to be chasing down for positions higher in the table. Who knows what can happen with still 15 matches in the league to go? My only disappointment was the quarter final exit in the DFB-Pokal. It was definitely a trophy I wanted to win and we couldn't quite do it. I need to learn to stop underestimating teams and next season, I'll go all guns blazing. In Germany, it's just league matches all the way, but next month, we play our first Europa League match of our career, the two legged knockout playoff against Olympiakos of Greece. If you wanna know how we'll do in that, come back next time. Thanks for reading. See you soon.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - February

Hello and welcome to February in Season 1 of the Glory Hunter Challenge and it has been that recently: a challenge. We're doing ok in the league now, I've managed to stop that from going wrong more recently. But then we've been knocked out of the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League, albeit we have dropped into the UEFA Europa League which we have to win anyway as part of this challenge. When we get to the end of this first season, I will be staying at Dortmund assuming everything stays the same now. But I will be looking for an international job after the Euros as I want to get on that almost immediately. We go into the first game of February against the same opposition we've just played. Hopefully we get a better result this time. 

Saturday 3rd February 2024: Heidenheim 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We went back to the scene of the crime in the last match, and this time came out on top by the odd goal in three. We took the lead after 4 minutes, Wolf had the ball down the right after a passing move and slid it into the box, Fullkrug converting at the near post. A free kick from Bundgaard gave us a 2-0 lead, he found Bensebaini, this time at the far post and he headed home. Late on, a lame pass by Wolf found Kleindienst, who scored the winner against us in midweek, and he hit a first time shot from way outside the area into the bottom corner for 2-1. We held on, and the momentum in the league continues.

Julian Brandt: You've got to love the players that extend their contracts by a long time. I've managed to confirm a brand new contract for Julian Brandt, who will stay at the club in theory for at least another 4 years. 

Sunday 11th February 2024: Borussia Dortmund 5-0 Freiburg (Bundesliga) In a match where at the start of the weekend it was 4th vs 5th, we completely obliterated Freiburg 5-0 as we moved up to third in the Bundesliga table. A run down the left from Malen, played it across to Fullkrug, who found Reyna in the box. He completed a neat turn and fired home for 1-0. 2-0 came after the keeper made an absolute howler from a Bensebaini cross, Reyna played it across to Reus who tapped into an empty net. We killed the game in the last 15 minutes. A Reus pass into the box from the left was deflected into the path of Can running into the box to spank home for 3-0. A ball into the box found Fullkrug for 4-0, as he hit the post first before tapping into an empty net. The final goal came from a Reus corner from the left, which got to the head of Sule at the far post to complete the rout. Our biggest win of the season by far, and now we drop into the Europa League with all the momentum in the world. 

Thursday 15th February 2024: Borussia Dortmund 2-4 Olympiakos (UEFA Europa League Knockout Playoff Round First Leg) I almost can't believe what I've just witnessed. This game knows how to chew you up, screw with you and then spit you out. Our opening goal came from a terrible back pass that Malen jumped on to, rounded the keeper, and slotted home for 1-0. I thought it would be a sign of things to come as we had dominated the whole half, but then Olympiakos equalised against the run of play. A Fortounis free-kick found Freire unmarked at the back post for 1-1. They then took the lead 4 minutes later, a loose ball was won by Guruzeta, who played it back to the edge of the box, and Solbakken fired home from the edge of the box. The equaliser came from the right when Wolf slid the ball into the box for Haller who lifted over the keeper for 2-2. The reason we lost were two handballs in the box from Kiwior. Gustavo Scarpa slotted home both penalties, which means we need to win by 3 in Greece to go through.

Sunday 18th February 2024: Wolfsburg 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) It's mad to think this was only our fourth defeat in the Bundesliga this season. A passing move found Geovanni Reyna on the left and he took it out wide left before lifting it over the keeper to go 1-0 up. But again we threw the game away. The lead lasted only 2 minutes before Alvarado got his first of two goals this match. A corner was worked to the edge of the box before he fired home off the post to give them the equaliser. A deep cross from Kaminski found Alvarado in the six yard box to make it 2-1 just before half time. And that is how it remained despite us scoring a goal what I thought was clearly onside, even after they ruled it out. But we drop to fourth in the table.

Thursday 22nd February 2024: Olympiakos 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Olympiakos win 5-3 on aggregate) (UEFA Europa League Knockout Playoff Round Second Leg) We are officially out of Europe after another dominant performance where we could and should have scored about 10 but we ended up drawing 1-1, against ten men, and it does mean that we have virtually no chance of winning anything in this first season, which does feel like a season wasted. Marco Reus broke through to give us the lead after an hour to give us a little chance of getting back into it, but Daniel Podence levelled it all up to knock us out and really frustrate me and work out what we need to do to better our chances next season in knockout competition. The other option could be if Bayern want a new manager after their appalling season.

Sunday 25th February 2024: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Hoffenheim (Bundesliga) You can say what you want about chopping and changing and everything, but when you dominate and you can't score, it's just not happening. A goalless draw at home to Hoffenheim is not exactly what the doctor ordered and it could see us drop out of the top four by the end of the month. It'll be worth having a look at that table shortly to see what we need to do to keep hold of that fourth spot. Luckily for us, we have no other competitions to contend with now, which for the challenge isn't great, but for the good of our fitness, it's the best thing that could have happened. 

Bundesliga Table Update: With eleven games to go for the rest of the season, RB Leipzig still retain that two point lead at the top, sat there with 50 points. Eintracht Frankfurt are keeping up their chance of winning just their second title, and their first one since 1959. RB Leipzig have never won it. Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen are holding on to their Champions League spots on 41 points each. It's still tight in the places behind them, with Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich, Mainz, Freiburg and Hoffenheim all harbouring hopes of European football next season. At the bottom, Borussia Monchengladbach lost all their matches and sit on 13 points, after their resurgence massively slowed down. The bottom three do seem now to be cut adrift, with Heidenheim second bottom on 15, and Darmstadt in the playoff place on 17 points. 

Final Word: I've not had a more indifferent month so far in this save. Two wins, two defeats and two draws in that order. I'm still aiming to be fighting for our Champions League spot, and now we're out of Europe, we can just focus on qualifying for Europe next season while the others have other interests. Also, am I waiting for the Bayern job to become available? Do I apply for it before we get into season two, just to win the Germany leg? These are things I've got to work out. I hope you've enjoyed it and I'll see you as we run in until the end of the season.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - March

Welcome to March 2024, and we are heading towards the end of the season. I would say it's going to be an interesting end to the season, but all we are doing is challenging for top 4 in the Bundesliga. We are out of the DFB-Pokal and the Europa League so I'm hoping that we can actually gain some momentum on everyone who still have to play in all the other competitions. We start against Union Berlin away from home this month, in the hope we can consolidate top four in at least the first two games of this month before we play Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich. 

Sunday 3rd March 2024: Union Berlin 1-4 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Our first game of March was an absolute hammering of Union Berlin, thrashing them 4-1. Their manager was sacked straight after this game, I do hate it when a manager is sacked but hey ho! That's the world we are all in. Two corners produced two goals in the first half. First of all, after a bit of head tennis in the box, Giovanni Reyna turned it home for 1-0. 5 minutes later, Sule got his head onto a Reus corner for 2-0. Emre Can made it 3-0 from the penalty spot, before Becker pulled one back for Union Berlin with 16 minutes to go. Sabitzer then scored from 30 yards out into the top corner to round off the thumping victory. 

Saturday 9th March 2024: Werder Bremen 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Two wins from two in those first games is what I asked for before we go into the final games of this month, and we managed it with a 2-0 win away at Werder Bremen. A Breivik through ball found it's way into Adeyemi, who went through on goal and chipped the keeper to open the scoring for us. It then became 2-0 from our traditional corner routines, as a Brandt corner found Hummels' head and he doubled the advantage. A great win away from home. This is what we needed. 

Youth Intake: We got a five-star intake which is great to see and these are the top two talents from it supposedly. The first one is a German left winger, Benedict Bothe. His determination is his highest attribute, and also sticking out is his passing, technique and virtually all of his physicals which is what I like to see. The second elite talent is Austrian forward Nicolas Steinbauer, who's bravery is in the green already. His finishing is already in the yellow which is what I like to see already at 15. When you're yellow across the board as a youngster, it's great to see. Let's see if they come back in the second decade of the save. 

Saturday 16th March 2024: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Eintracht Frankfurt (Bundesliga) We were the king of dead-ball situations in this match as both our goals came from corner kicks from the left, as we won this top of the table clash and, I think, got us into a sort of title race now sitting 6 points off RB Leipzig with 8 matches to go. A Reyna corner found the head of Sule at the near post for the centre-back's third goal of the season and to give us the lead midway through the first half. We secured the win with 7 minutes to go. Frankfurt failed to clear the corner effectively, and it fell to Malen, who volleyed into the bottom corner for a cool finish, and for us to be more relaxed at the end. It's a win that takes us 1 point behind our opponents.

Papadopoulos to Nurnberg: Now, I've been having trouble with this guy. He's been off the transfer list and on it. He wanted a new contract. I offered it. He declined it despite so many negotiations going on. He accused me of not offering him one. He's now going to Nurnberg next season. If you need to get rid of anyone, get rid of the troublemakers. 

Sabitzer Injured: This is not what we needed. I'm looking forward to being an international manager in some aspects, but I don't get the meaningless friendlies in years of a tournament. Especially when your first team starts getting injured. Marcel Sabitzer is out injured until next month. 

Saturday 30th March 2024: Bayern Munich 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) That title battle lasted for one week. Bayern Munich dominated the entire first half to beat us 2-0 at the Allianz Arena to make sure we're definitely only going to be a top 4 team. A cross from the left by Leroy Sane found Harry Kane in the middle of the 6-yard box and he slotted home for 1-0. Then an unfortunate Mats Hummels deflection from a cross from the right made sure Bayern took all 3 points for 2-0. We had a couple of chances in the second half to get back into it but we weren't quite lucky enough. Karim Adeyemi picked up an injury in this game as well, that could leave him out for the run in. Let's have a look at it.

Karim Adeyemi injured: He'll be out for April at least as we try to consolidate that top 4 spot. For some reason, our players are getting injured while sprinting. I wonder, if it's the tactic or the training, or just a genuine problem with each individual player. I am going to miss his teamwork for the next month. 

NXGN Awards 2024: Three of our players got into the top 50 which is always a good sign for the club. Evan Ferguson won it for Brighton, he might be worth taking a look at as should a lot of the players be. But with Duranville being in 6th, maybe I use him in the team at some point to see what he's all about. Moukoko and my new signing Bundgaard also got into the top 50.

Bundesliga Table Update: As we reach the end of March, with 7 games of the season to go, RB Leipzig are propelling themselves towards their first ever league title, leading on 59 points, 5 points clear of second-placed Eintracht Frankfurt. Both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are sat on 50 points, and both look like they are the frontrunners to take the Champions League spots. Hoffenheim are closest positioned to rob a top 4 place from the big two traditionally in Germany. The other European positions have Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg in them, but anyone in the top half including Freiburg and Mainz could realistically get Europe as well. At the bottom, the automatic relegation spots are filled by the two that came up last season, in Darmstadt and Heidenheim. Gladbach have been better, and are now sat in 16th place on 22 points, 4 points clear of the automatic drop.

Final Word: Results wise, we had a good month, winning 3 games before losing Der Klassiker in the Allianz Arena. Sat in third, unless we severely mess up, we should be favourites to hold out for a top 4 place in the run in. It's also worth a look at Bayern Munich, although they are rivals because I don't think their manager sticks around if they don't miraculously win the title from here. Although this is Germany, so you never know. We start next month against Stuttgart and Borussia Monchengladbach, two games we need to win to keep our heads above water in the top 4. Join us next time for that. The aim is to try and end the season before the start of 2024, so we start the new year in a new season. Which means you get two uploads over the next 24 hours. Enjoy the rest of your day, and I'll see you for the run in.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - April

Hello everyone, I am back as we head towards the end of season 1 in this year's Glory Hunter challenge. Borussia Dortmund finally seem somewhat stable as we sit in the top 4 of the Bundesliga table, and if you told me we'd be ahead of Bayern Munich by this point, I'd have been delighted. But now, we have to finally make the top 4 ours, and not have to sweat too much when it comes to May. Let's take a look at today's fixtures. 

April Fixtures: We begin things this month with a game at home to mid-table Stuttgart, a game we should be going for three points in. Then we travel to Borussia Monchengladbach, a team in resurgence after winning 3 in 4 in March in their bid to stay up, so we have to be careful away from home. Bayer Leverkusen are wanting a European spot, and still have an outside chance of getting into the Champions League, so we will want to beat them just for peace of mind. And finally, we will face an away game at RB Leipzig, the team who by this point, may be Champions-Elect. Some huge games coming up.

Niclas Fullkrug Injured: Another injury in the squad, and another injury we didn't need. Niclas Fullkrug has been incredible when we've needed him. Although it hasn't been often, it's been enough to have an impact, especially when Haller was at the AFCON. He'll be out with a hamstring strain for a few weeks. 

Saturday 6th April 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Stuttgart (Bundesliga) We managed to get our first win of April quite convincingly, going back to a positive formation with the 4-2-4, as we beat Stuttgart 3-1. Ryerson set up the first goal, for Marius Wolf to take it round the defence, down the right, into the area for Reus to meet it at the far post for a tap in. It was 2-0 just 10 minutes later, the ball cleared as far as Can, who played the ball through the middle finding Haller, who found the corner for his first league goal since his winner in the AFCON final. A cross from the right from a deep position fell perfectly on the right foot of Guirassy who volleyed it home, something you can't defend when he hits it sweetly like that. Julian Brandt made it more comfortable with 20 minutes to go. A corner failed to be cleared by Stuttgart, and Brandt wrapped his foot around it on the half volley for a sweet strike. It keeps us above Bayern after this weekend.

Saturday 13th April 2024: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I did say that Gladbach were getting better and although we took the lead, we only got away with a point. Reyna ran down the right side, and swung the ball in towards the far post, where Julian Brandt met the header to give us the lead after 16 minutes. They equalised just after the half hour mark. A diagonal ball from the left found Honorat on the right wing, he crossed it first time and Jordan slid in at the far post for 1-1. We did put the ball in the net in the 95th minute, but Reyna was a country mile offside. We'd better hope Bayern drop points on Sunday.

Coefficient Ranking: Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Germany will get that fifth Champions League spot, which means it's top 4 or nothing.

Sunday 21st April 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Bayer Leverkusen (Bundesliga) Another important win today that put us back into 3rd following Bayern Munich's draw away at Union Berlin. A passing move at the back fell to Sabitzer. He lifted the ball over the top and Haller went for the first time finish which found the bottom corner for 1-0. It was 2-0 after 33 minutes. This time, Reus won the ball back before Bayer could start an attack, played it square left to Malen, who found Brandt, who found a still running Reus who slid it under the keeper for 2-0. In the second half, Leverkusen got a goal back. Jeremie Frimpong had the ball on the right, ran inside and his slightly deflected effort beat Kobel for 2-1. But we secured the victory with 7 minutes to go. Again, a nice passing move found Malen running through the middle, and he fired through the keeper for 3-1.

Injury for Bundgaard: Our Danish youngster misses the next 3 weeks due to him showing off in the gym, and trying to lift weights that were too much for him. It does mean he will be out while we end the season, and although he hasn't featured a lot, it's been nice to have him available, and I could have used him for more experience when we get into May for some kinder fixtures to finish our first season.

Saturday 27th April 2024: RB Leipzig 3-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I did say last time we played RB Leipzig, we've just been thumped by the champions of Germany, and the same happened in this game. We didn't need to shoot ourselves in the foot though so many times. We tried to play it out from the back a couple of times in the first half, and both times, RB Leipzig returned the ball to sender as quickly as we got rid of it. The first goal had a horrible bit of keeping as well, as Sesko hit a tame shot from the edge of the area and it went straight through Kobel's gloves for 1-0. A ball over the top from Olmo found Sesko on the left hand side of the area and he fired home from a narrow angle for 2-0. The final goal came from a corner we failed to clear, Carvalho headed down for Raum, and he steered home from the edge of the box for 3-0 with 8 minutes to go. Also, you'll notice the injury for the departing Hummels. Let's have a look. Has he played his last game for the club?

Mats Hummels Injury: The answer is, yes that was his final game. He got a groin strain while tackling and so he doesn't get a hero's send off. He will leave to Newcastle United at the end of June. 

April Results: In what was a semi-decent month, we won both our home games, but the failure to win either one of our away games means this has happened to the table.

Bundesliga Table Update: 4 points will seal RB Leipzig's first ever Bundesliga title, and they should be able to secure it next month. Eintracht Frankfurt still have a slight chance of winning it, with Bayern Munich and Hoffenheim now completing the Champions League spots. We sit 5th, just two points off the top 4. Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg fill the other European places, but Freiburg aren't far behind. At the bottom, Darmstadt have returned from whence they came as they have been relegated to the 2. Bundesliga. Borussia Monchengladbach have dropped into the bottom 2 now, as Heidenheim had a brilliant month, and are actually level on points with Werder Bremen, who have been dragged into this relegation battle after a poor run of form. 

Final Word: I didn't think we had as terrible a month as we clearly have, but we are now in severe danger of missing out on Champions League football. Hoffenheim have come into it and could take it away from us. We just need to keep our cool and hopefully we have the performances that prove we belong back in the Champions League. I'm not entirely sure what to expect should we miss out on Champions League because we've not had the best year when it's coming to hitting our targets. It's all about the game and how you play it I suppose. May could be make or break in this first season. See you next time. 

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2023-24 Season - May

Hello and welcome to May at the end of our first season in the Glory Hunter Challenge and our first season in charge of Borussia Dortmund as we try and qualify for the UEFA Champions League. It hasn't been the best season for us, being knocked out of the DFB-Pokal in the quarter finals, knocked out of the groups in the Champions League and beaten straight away in the Europa League but now we have the chance to end this season on a high. If we win every game, we will qualify for next season's elite tier of European football. This will also be the first year with the league phase rather than the group stage, so there's every chance we could get a nice fixture list. But, I don't want to look ahead too much. Let's have a look at this month's fixtures. 

May Fixtures: Let's do this then. We start with what should be a decent game against Augsburg, a game we should be targeting for maximum points. Then we travel to Europe-chasing Mainz, who need results to go their way to at least be in the Conference League. And then finally, we will be at home against already-relegated Darmstadt, who could be out to try and cause an upset, seeing as they are playing without pressure. 

Fullkrug Injured: An injury to Niclas Fullkrug threatens to hurt the end to our season. After turning sharply in training, he suffered a twisted ankle and will miss the remainder of our season. I was hoping he could be the man that we needed to make life a little more bearable. as we struggle to end in that top 4. 

Friday 3rd May 2024: Borussia Dortmund 5-1 Augsburg (Bundesliga) Four goals in 21 minutes, including a hat-trick for Donyell Malen, meant that we started the Bundesliga weekend with a 5-1 hammering of sorry Augsburg. Malen finished off some simple chances from good balls in the first and sixth minutes. A Reyna cross into the box found Haller for number three. Haller then turned provider for Malen to complete his hat-trick after 21 minutes. Rexhbecaj found a neat little ball into Vargas, who ran past 2 defenders, and fired from close range into the top corner for their consolation. But Adeyemi left the best goal until last. He picked the ball up 30 yards out, took a touch and then fired into the top corner to leave their keeper no chance. A great start to the month for us. Is it a sign of more to come?

Saturday 11th May 2024: Mainz 1-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) A game in which I thought the diamond might work, seemed to backfire especially given we had the better chances, as Mainz helped their European push with a 1-0 win over us. Barkok got the winner after 15 minutes, finishing a nice passing move our defence got nowhere near. It annoyed me as I felt we had the better chances, we could have finished them off on another day, and also Bayern and Hoffenheim won their games this weekend, which puts us onto the back foot. 

Karim Adeyemi Injured: Karim Adeyemi has reached the end of his season for us, as he has pulled ankle ligaments after our last defeat. I hope he returns stronger for next season, especially with our new look team. But we have to power on. It's time to look at those final day fixtures. And I'm sure you'll be looking for a certain one. 

Final Day Fixtures: That's right. The final day of the season includes Hoffenheim taking on Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich are already confirmed in third place, and that means we need to win with Hoffenheim failing to beat the Bavarian giants. That is the only way we qualify for the Champions League. Will the record champions do us a favour? Or will they ruin our plans for a second consecutive year including last season in real life?

Saturday 18th May 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Darmstadt (Bundesliga) We did our bit of the bargain with a convincing 3-0 win over already-relegated Darmstadt! Sebastian Haller scored two decent balls from Reus and Brandt for both goals. Marius Wolf finished it off in style by cutting in from the right and banging it past the keeper for all 3 points. But would those three points be enough? Or is my job in jeopardy? Here are the results followed by the final table of the 2023-24 Bundesliga season. 

Final Day Results: Hoffenheim could only draw 0-0 at home to Bayern Munich. Which means......!!!!

WE'RE IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!!!!!!!! I don't know how we've managed it, we've been awful for a lot of the season, but this is the final Bundesliga table. RB Leipzig win their first ever top flight title by 8 points from Eintracht Frankfurt. Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund (on the final day) have both confirmed their top 4 spots this season. Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen will play in the Europa League, and Mainz get the Conference League spot. Darmstadt and Borussia Monchengladbach both got relegated, Gladbach going down on the final day, and not the relegation I was expecting. Heidenheim will play in the relegation/promotion play off this season.

Budgets for Next Season: I was hoping for a little more transfer budget, but you can only work with what you've got. We have nearly £25,000,000 in the transfer budget, and then nearly £3,000,000 a week in Wages to spend as well. We will take a look in the Summer transfer window and see what we've got to work with properly. 

2. Bundesliga Final Table: Hamburg have been promoted up to the top flight after winning the title by four points. Schalke narrowly got promoted on the final day, after their draw meant they were a little worried about Fortuna Dusseldorf. In fact, it means the latter team face Heidenheim in the play off. 

Supporter Profile for Next Season: This is what the fans are after for next season. More of the same, but as Schalke got promoted up to the top flight this season, and they are one of our rivals, they want us to finish above them. I also love the fact we have another 2 million fans on social media. 

Board Vision: They've given me the target of making the top four again next season, and they also want us to make it out of the league phase into the knockout rounds next season in the Champions League. We need to start signing domestic players, and we will see where we are when it comes to it next season. 

Paris Brunner New Contract: A player I'm hoping to try out in the DFB-Pokal next season is Paris Brunner, and we've extended his contract until 2028. He made five appearances for the B team this season, scoring 1 goal. He also scored a goal in the Cup this season, in our first competitive match as manager. He could be a player we come back for later in the save as well. 

Youth Facilities Work: If you want to succeed in German football, in my opinion, youth is the way forward. The Germans built an amazing young team at the end of the 2000s, which went on to win the World Cup in 2014. I want to be sure that Borussia Dortmund will carry it on. 

Promotion Playoff Result: Heidenheim played Fortuna Dusseldorf for the final Bundesliga spot next season, and it was the team that spent the season in the 2. Bundesliga this season that will take part. Fortuna Dusseldorf scored two second half goals in the second leg to become an opponent for next season.

Zero Injuries: I don't normally post when they get back to training but this caught my eye. No injuries whatsoever at the football club now Karim Adeyemi has healed from his latest one. Definitely something to make me happy as I go into the Summer. 

Final Word of the Season: This brings us to the end of our first season in this challenge, and although no trophies have been won in our first season, I would like to think we can challenge for more in season 2. We were unfortunate in some aspects. I may have been naive in others. Maybe when it comes to cups, I don't need to use as many reserve players as what I did this season. It'll be for me to work out before we go into season 2. But thank you for the support for Season 1, my next update will be done over the next 24 hours, and I hope you've enjoyed the content. I'll see you for Season 2.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - Pre-Season for Season 2 - June 2024

Hi guys, I thought I'd include June 2024 as there is a lot that goes on this month. Obviously the Euros are under way this time around, and the fixtures will come out this month. This could be the longest update so far, or the shortest as well depending on signings. We do have some new players coming in during July as you know, including signings from the Premier League but let's give this month the update it deserves, and when anything happens, I'll let you know. 

New Contract: First new contract of the Summer excluding staff (I've practically kept all but one of them), Bjarne Pudel is a 23-year-old German centre-back, who looks like he could potentially benefit from loans, but don't forget that there can be such a thing as late developers on this game now that we never had before so it'll be interesting to see how he goes. Only got yellows across the board though.

Injury for Haller: Well, that no injuries at the club lasted 2 weeks at least. Unfortunately, Sebastian Haller has pulled up with a hamstring strain for Ivory Coast, but he may be back just in time for pre-season training. At least I hope he is. He was our top scorer last season, and hopefully he can get a few more this season coming up.

Giovanni Reyna Stays: A certain American winger is not going anywhere. A huge member of this wonderful squad is staying at the football club in Giovanni Reyna and I, for one, am absolutely buzzing. He was top assist maker last season for us, he was one of the main focal points as we remained a Champions League club for next season. The main aim of keeping these players around is to make sure we can challenge RB Leipzig again at the top. I would say we can close that gap.

European Rankings: I always find looking at these rather interesting, basically so you know how well you're looking when it comes to you and others in Europe. It's never good to see your league drop down though. The Bundesliga drops to 4th place in Europe, with Serie A actually climbing above us. Inter made the Champions League semi-finals, and AC Milan won the Europa League final against Liverpool. We drop a few places in the club co-efficient but that's hardly a shock really after this season. The two nations to get the extra Champions League spot were England with Chelsea, and Italy with Inter.

Bundesliga Fixtures: The new Bundesliga fixtures for the new season have been announced. And we start against our fiercest local rivals, newly-promoted Schalke, who return to the top flight after a year away. Our first away game is against Wolfsburg. We then end August with a home game against the new league champions, RB Leipzig, and hopefully it'll be a better showing against them this season. We then travel to a team that majorly underperformed last season in Union Berlin. We end September with a home game against Freiburg and an away match with Stuttgart.

Julien Duranville New Contract: I'm not sure if you guys know, but Duranville has played a couple of first team games, with three league appearances last season, including 1 start, and a game in the DFB-Pokal as well. He'll definitely be one to keep an eye on in the future. 

Final Word: Yeah, so I didn't realise that the transfer window in Germany opens on 1st July. But we have found out our opponents in the order we will face them this season. Schalke first day! If we win that, and we should, that could be the tonic for the Yellow Wall this season. Next month, we will find out our DFB-Pokal First Round opponents, and also see what we can do in terms of transfers. We do have some new signings tomorrow! Wait and see who they are when they arrive. See you then!

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - July

Hello and welcome to Season 2 of the Glory Hunter save. I know I've been away for a couple of days but I've been working, and had loads of different things to do. But here we are, we're going to go through pre-season in this update, we also have the transfer window open in Germany and across Europe, as well as introducing some new players to the club off the bat. I'm also going to be looking at some international jobs across Europe as the Euros end this month, and I will be applying for them if certain decent ones crop up, ahead of the new Nations League and World Cup campaigns. As you know, part of the challenge is to win the Euros and the World Cup.

Pre-Season Fixtures: Obviously there's not any competitive matches this month, but we do play 4 pre-season matches that I will expect us to win and for me, we should be winning all of them. Arminia Bielefeld ended 6th in the 3. Liga last season, Paderborn were 6th in the 2. Bundesliga, and both Oberhausen and Lotte play in the non-playable leagues so we should be aiming for four wins from four in those matches. 

New Signings: We have a whole host of players joining the team on the 1st July 2024, and as we are now there, let's meet the players who we spent parts of last season sorting deals for and sending them contracts. We start off with one for the future. 

Daniel Lloyd: Daniel Lloyd is an American centre-back who will be spending his season with the U19s, but I am also a person to bring these guys in for the occasional appearance, and I can almost guarantee he will be used in the pre-season friendlies. His work rate and teamwork are both at 15, which is great for such a young player, and he is sure to develop these in the future. His jumping reach is also at the same level. Decision making is also high for an 18-year-old. 

Ryan Sessegnon: My best signing I made for the start of this season was 24-year-old English left-back Ryan Sessegnon. We signed him from Tottenham Hotspur as you will remember, and we got him for a free at the end of his contract, where he is earning £67,000 a week. He's obviously the latest in a crop of English talent that will attempt to make it in Germany as he's done OK for Tottenham, but last season, he did only make 4 appearances at an average of 6.75. He has played in the Bundesliga in the past, playing for our top 4 rivals from last season, Hoffenheim, so he does have what it takes to play over here. Can he make an impact down that left side?

Players Leaving: We do have a number of players that have left the club on 1st July as well, I think the main one being Mats Hummels, who was causing trouble for me at one point last season, so it was time for him to depart. He's going to Newcastle United in the Premier League. We also had Danylo Krevsun going to Hamburg, Franz Pfanne has gone to Karlsruhe, which is more his level for me. Antonios Papadopoulos goes to Nurnberg. A couple of those played for me in a number of games last season. I do thank them all for their service. 

New Affiliate Club: We have agreed a new deal with Sandhausen to be our new affiliate club. They have just been promoted up from the 3. Liga to the 2. Bundesliga, and it's definitely an opportunity for our younger players to play decent level football. A good choice. 

Karim Adeyemi New Contract: Karim Adeyemi had a horrible season last season when it comes to injuries, as did a lot of the team last season. But he's an absolute cracker of a player, and I'm buzzing we've managed to keep him around as I'm sure a lot of the Dortmund supporters will be this season. They get to keep him for five years, with a release clause of £91,000,000. Hopefully this will be the year he comes alive in this new look team, and fire us to a better season than last season. We saw last season that Bayern can be beaten, but it will be tougher this time around, and we need players like him to keep us firing. I think we've got the makings of a good squad this year.

Saturday 13th July 2024: Arminia Bielefeld 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) Our first pre-season friendly was quite a dull game, with us only getting a 1-1 draw against third-tier Arminia Bielefeld. They actually took the lead as new signing Sessegnon gave away a penalty, which Oppie converted despite Kobel getting something on it. It was straight at him but far too powerful. Our corner routines worked again in this game though, as Adeyemi took it from the right and Haller found the header at the far post for 1-1. Both teams had a couple of chances afterwards, but this is what friendlies are for. As we now have the system, we want to be tighter at the back this season, and use the wing-backs effectively. Hopefully, this could be the way forward. 

Ramy Bensebaini New Deal: He came to me earlier this month for a brand new contract, and he's always been solid without being spectacular so I was more than happy to do it. He is staying for another 4 years, on £99,000 a week. I'm more than happy to keep him around cause we're going to need to rebuild this defence now we haven't got Hummels. He could really make that centre-back/left-back position his own this season. 

Prince Aning Out on Loan: We've got a real special talent in Prince Aning, and the 20-year-old full back is going to Hertha Berlin for the season on loan. There's a chance they'll be in a promotion push from the 2. Bundesliga and I hope he will feel better for that this season.

Kjell Watjen to Holstein Kiel: Another one of our youth players has actually dropped down to play potential first team football with second tier Holstein Kiel, who we played last season in the DFB-Pokal. I believe this team are on the way up after the last few seasons and here's hoping he can become the better player he knows he can be. 

Wednesday 17th July 2024: Paderborn 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) There were absolutely no highlights in the first half but we did manage to nick a 1-0 win from another dire game really, but if we can win the dire games, it may mean we throw away less leads this season. A mistake at the back from the second-tier side gave Moukoko the chance to finish off a one-on-one, and he absolutely did. He fired it home to give us the narrow win. 

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens to Almeria: I did try to bring Bynoe-Gittens in for the last pre-season friendly but this is what was going on. He's going to Spanish La Liga side Almeria on loan for the season. He's such an exciting talent and I'm sure he will only go on and develop even further for a team further down the table in their country.

Saturday 20th July 2024: Rot-Weiss Oberhausen 1-0 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) Our first defeat of pre-season will see us say goodbye to this formation as it's not exciting, it's not working, and we've only got one win from three this pre-season. We had several chances to score against our lower league opposition, but unfortunately, a cross from Kleinsorge in the second half went through our backline, with a slight deflection, which left a completely unmarked Marz at the back post to give the shock win to Oberhausen. If you're gonna lose to these teams, do it in pre-season. 

Caleb Okoli from Atalanta: Our third signing for the new season, and our first of this window, Caleb Okoli, the Italian centre-back, has joined from Atalanta. He spent last season on loan at Frosinone and was clearly surplus to requirements over in Italy. He only cost £7,500,000 which could rise to £10,000,000, but I'm very pleased with this acquisition and it could prove to be a bargain. He definitely appears to be the towering centre-back we need at 6'2". His heading, marking and tackling are in the high yellows, and he's got green scores when it comes to his physicals as well. He does look like he could be a regular starter this season, and potentially the filler we need to move on from Hummels moving to England. 

First Injury of the Season! An abdominal strain has put paid to Emre Can for the next 4 weeks. It messes up his training schedule before we start the season. At least it's just the one real one for now, but hopefully it gets nothing like last season.

Saturday 27th July 2024: Lotte 0-4 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) We picked up our second win of pre-season by bringing back the 4-2-4 Gegenpress, and we were angry and on fire as we beat Lotte 4-0. Moukoko converted a Breivik cross from the right for 1-0. It was 2-0 when Steinbauer, who has come up from the Under-19s, set himself and struck from 25 yards out a screamer into the top right hand corner, beating the keeper all ends up. Moukoko then made it 3-0 not long after the break with a great goal from out wide left which struck the post before going in. Relvas finished off the game with a nice header from a recycled free-kick. This is the flexing of the muscles we needed to end the month. Unfortunately, there was an injury picked up.

Duranville Injured: Unfortunately Julien Duranville went down with a calf strain which leaves him out for up to 4 weeks.

Donyell Malen Injury: I'm not highlighting this because of the length of time he's out, because he's only out for a week. But how does a professional footballer get injured kicking the ball? Answers on a postcard please. Malen has pulled his groin and is out for a week.

Pre-Season Results: So we reach the end of July, and these were the results of our second pre-season in charge. The first three matches had the flat back 7, which clearly doesn't work. In the fourth game, I let the attack go for it, and they thanked me with 4 goals against Lotte.

Transfer Window So Far: We needed the left-back and to shore up the defence, and I would say we've done it so far. Getting Ryan Sessegnon in on a free from Spurs really provides me with what we needed at left-back and I think he will play quite well. Caleb Okoli coming in from Atalanta is another young player that will start a number of games when it comes to the league and cup. He really could be vital and I think, a nice bit of work so far. When it comes to outs, OK so we haven't made an awful lot of money, but these were really the dead wood, obviously apart from Hummels.

Final Word: That brings us to the end of July. We've played some good football, tight at the back, we have the Gegenpress back as well, which I'm looking forward to. The season obviously starts in August, and don't forget, that first game is against Schalke, which the fans will be desperate for a win. That will come after we've played our first round game in the DFB-Pokal which I've just realised I forgot to show after the draw. We will see it tomorrow. Until then, I hope you're enjoying this so far, and I'll see you soon when the season begins.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - August

Ladies and gentlemen, happy new season and welcome to the official 2024-25 season beginning today for our Borussia Dortmund side in the Glory Hunter challenge. This team is coming together nicely, we're making the right signings, it's just all about finding the right way to play with them. We've got our final friendly coming up shortly, at home to Juventus. Let's take a look at the rest of our fixtures for this month.

August Fixtures: So here are the fixtures for the first competitive month of the season. Last month, we agreed a final pre-season friendly, which will be at home to Italian giants Juventus, who we could face in the Champions League this season. We start our DFB-Pokal journey this season away at fourth-tier side VfB Auerbach, and a game which I hope we can flex the muscles a little, before we start our league season at home to local rivals, newly-promoted Schalke 04. We then travel to Wolfsburg, before our final game of this month is a big test, at home to RB Leipzig, now managed by Julian Nagelsmann.

Saturday 3rd August 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Juventus (Pre-Season Friendly) It's always good when you play a big team in pre-season to at least get a draw and that's what we did. But we did have two penalties in the process and could have won it by half time. Our first penalty, I didn't think was a penalty, but Reyna put the ball down. He stepped up and had it saved to the goalkeeper's left, it bounced off the post and fortunately fell back to him and he fired it in on the volley for 1-0. We got another penalty a few minutes later. Moukoko stepped up this time, and again their keeper makes a diving save this time to his right, and it went out for a corner to keep it at 1-0. Juventus equalised just before half time. A great passing move finished with Miretti finding Vlahovic on the edge of the box, and he smashed it first time for a perfect finish into the top left corner for 1-1. Both teams had a couple of chances in the second half, but all in all, I'm quite happy with this performance.

Nico Adamczyk Injured: It's sad when a young player gets a serious injury like this one, but here's hoping the young Polish defender, Nico Adamczyk, can come back stronger. He's torn his hamstring and is out for 2-3 months.

Saturday 10th August 2024: Auerbach 1-3 Borussia Dortmund (DFB-Pokal First Round) Our first competitive match of the season was fairly straightforward, with a 3-1 win away at fourth-tier Auerbach, although we really should have scored at least 3 or 4 more. We did put the ball in the net twice before we actually scored, with Bundgaard and Sessegnon missing out on opening their accounts this season. Reyna floated a free-kick into the area for the first goal, with Relvas using his neck muscles to power past the keeper, and get his first goal for the club amazingly. It was 2-0 after 58 minutes, Reyna running down the right, finding Bundgaard about 2 yards out and being able to tap in. Auerbach did get a goal back, a throw in was worked down the right to Salin, who crossed it in and found Tarhan in the middle of the goal to tap in for 2-1. But our third goal was a carbon copy of our second. Reyna down the right, but this time it was Moukoko in the middle for the tap in to put us into the second round.

Abdoulaye Kamara to Hoffenheim: I've not really used this young man, I put the feelers out there, and Hoffenheim came in for him for £2,300,000. He may get football there, as they ended in a similar position last season. I'd like to see him do well, definitely.

Flavius Daniliuc Signing: We've decided to go into the market for a right-back and I signed Flavius Daniliuc from Salernitana for £4,200,000. I previously had him on a save in FM23 with Newcastle United and he was quality, could run down the wing like a bomb, so I thought I'd go back in for him when he came up. He's quite quick, strong with his passsing, tackling and technique. Decent first touch as well. We're definitely sorting out this defensive line though as I don't want to be caught out again this season. 

Sunday 18th August 2024: Borussia Dortmund 4-1 Schalke 04 (Bundesliga) Our first game of the league season was the massive derby at home to Schalke, who were promoted from the 2. Bundesliga last season, and we made them realise it would be a baptism of fire as they returned back to the top flight. We dominated from the off and thrashed them 4-1. After Schalke attempted to clear the ball, Bensebaini nodded down to Reyna, who cut inside to the middle of the area and poked it into the bottom corner for 1-0. We went 2-0 up before half time. A play from the back led to a ball over the top by Can to Moukoko, who took two touches to take it down and slide it into the corner. He doubled his tally and gave us our third after 53 minutes, following a really good build up play which resulted in Brandt releasing him again one-on-one. He slotted in at the near post. Our only blot on the touch paper today was an unfortunate own goal. A tame cross deflected off Okoli, making his league debut for the club. We secured the three points in the 91st minute. Play down the right meant the ball was laid off to Sule, who played it into the middle. Rothe took a giant touch which rolled into the area, but he caught up with it and fired home to complete the thrashing.

Team of the Week Matchweek 1: From now on, I'm going to be praising all of my team's achievements, even if it means this takes longer to make, because although we won nothing last season, we had some incredible performances. Giovanni Reyna is the first of our players in the team of the week this season.

Marcel Lotka New Contract: I have decided to give Marcel Lotka a brand new contract at the football club, to keep him here for the next 4 years. If you need a back up goalkeeper in your saves, get someone like this, or get this guy. He's brilliant when he steps in. He's nowhere near as good as Kobel, but he could be decent for a mid-table Premier League club. He will help us when we need him, and that's good enough for me.

Marco Reus Injury News: Marco Reus is now out for the next 2 weeks with a pulled hamstring and will miss the match against the champions the weekend after this one. Just to let you know, his contract extension will be achieved if he plays at least 15 league matches this season. He's gonna miss the next two.

Julien Duranville to Strasbourg: He recently came back from injury, and he will go to Strasbourg on loan until the end of the season for vital first team football. He didn't disappoint last season, but obviously there's no place in the team at the moment. Hopefully when he comes back, he'll be ready to make more of an impact. 

Saturday 24th August 2024: Wolfsburg 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) There wasn't really too much to say about this match other than this. A point away from home and a clean sheet is not a bad result at any point in the season. Wolfsburg are a tough team to play and it's a tough place to go, and although our best shot was only a Ryan Sessegnon speculative effort, the defence was on it today. Last season, we may have lost this game. But, we take the point.

DFB-Pokal Second Round Draw: I nearly forgot about the DFB-Pokal second round draw we were given, and it could be tough to win this competition this season. We're gonna have to give it our best shot when we face Bayern Munich away from home in late October.

Donyell Malen New Contract: The latest player to extend his stay for another 4 years is Donyell Malen, who like Lotka earlier, comes into the team and performs every time. Glad we've kept him for now. 

UEFA Champions League Fixtures Revealed: Our fixtures have been drawn for the first ever league phase of the UEFA Champions League. In case you're not sure of what's coming, there are now 36 teams in the Champions League, and we will face 8 of them in the league phase; two from each pot, 4 at home, 4 away. We begin at home to Juventus, who we faced in pre-season. We then travel to PSG away, before a double header at home against Rangers and Genk. We then travel to face Napoli, before a home tie against 6-time champions Liverpool. We then go away against Shakhtar Donetsk before our final game in Greece away at Olympiakos. 

Felix Nmecha Injured: Another week, another injury to another player. Felix Nmecha has pulled knee ligaments after turning sharply in training. He will be out for the next 3 weeks at most. 

Saturday 31st August 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-1 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) 2 wins from 2 home games, and this one came against the defending champions RB Leipzig. A ball from the left to the right found Reyna, he laid it off to Sabitzer whose shot was blocked, but only as far as Reyna who fired home the rebound for 1-0. Haller carried the ball forward from the centre circle before playing it out left to Reyna. He ran it to the byline, played it across goal, where Haller had completed the run and tapped in on the line for 2-0. A Dani Olmo corner found Dragusin at the far post who headed home for 2-1, and give them a lifeline. They did put the ball in the net again, but Timo Werner was offside when he went for his header. We secured the winner in the 92nd minute. Adeyemi's corner from the right found Haller at the far post and he powered a header home for 3-1. 7 points from 3 games is a great start, and only Bayern Munich have started better.

August Results: So, the summary of our August looks like this. We completed pre-season with a well played 1-1 draw against Juventus. We then climbed over a potential banana skin in the DFB-Pokal First Round beating fourth-tier Auerbach 3-1. We then killed Schalke in our derby 4-1 on their first game back in the top flight. We then drew 0-0 away at Wolfsburg, before finishing the month just now, convincingly beating RB Leipzig 3-1. 

Bundesliga Table Update: First monthly table update of the season, and Bayern Munich lead the way on goal difference ahead of Borussia Dortmund and Hoffenheim, all 3 on 7 points from their first three. Bayer Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt and Schalke are all tied on 6 points, but Eintracht Frankfurt can take the lead when they win their game later in the weekend. At the bottom, it's another promoted team that are struggling, with Hamburg bottom after losing each of their games 1-0. Union Berlin and Bochum both have 1 point so far, with Wolfsburg on 2. But it's early days.

Final Word: We've had a really strong start to the season this month, getting really good results, especially in the derby and against the defending champions. If we can be better defensively, I can see us battling for the title. It may be early days, but the early indications are strong for a good season. It's always good to find out who will be your opponents in the Champions League, and I can't wait to get into them. They'll start next time. We've managed to secure new contracts for several decent players, and our back line appears to be in tip-top condition, and that was the plan at the start of the window. Next time, we'll just look to continue it. We start next month against Union Berlin, so another chance to get some decent points. Until then, thanks for keeping up to date with this, and I'll see you again soon.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - September

Hello and welcome to September in Season 2 of my Glory Hunter save, and for once, we've started a season unbeaten. Albeit, it's only been 3 games but unbeaten nonetheless. We may begin the month in third place as Eintracht Frankfurt have to play their third game, and then we've got a two week break due to the Nations League starting. I did apply for several international jobs, but unfortunately, we're obviously not big enough to be considered for those jobs yet. Before we go into this month properly, it is Transfer Deadline Day around the corner. Will we add to our few signings so far, or have we got the team we need? We also have to submit our Champions League squad for the league phase as well. But before we do that, these are our fixtures coming up in September.

September Fixtures: We begin our September fixtures away at slow starting Union Berlin, who are currently in 17th. We then have our first game in the new League Phase of the UEFA Champions League, as we face Juventus, who we did draw 1-1 in pre-season just last month. Then we have a home match against Freiburg, followed by a match against Stuttgart away from home. All in the league are winnable, and we should be able to do something against Juventus as well.

Raul Konig out on Loan: Raul Konig played for us in one match last season when we had the injury crisis, which is why his loan is being documented here. He's gone out to French Ligue 2 side, Quevilly-Rouen. Let's hope he can get a few goals for them shall we?

Joris Chotard from Montpellier: I've decided to sign Joris Chotard from Montpellier for £21,500,000, and I think I've done some shrewd business here. He's going to be someone we can add to our holding midfield department which is great for the formations we use in our matches. His teamwork and work rate are in the green on 16 each. He's definitely stronger at the ball winning side of things, but I'm sure he can also distribute the ball from that pocket in a triangle expertly as well. He's become a well-established member of the team for Montpellier, and I'm excited to have him in the squad.

Team of the Week Matchweek 3: Giovanni Reyna has done it again. He's probably our top performer so far this season, and for the second time this season, he will be in the team of the week.

Julian Ryerson New Contract: Julian Ryerson is going to be staying for another 5 years, as the 26-year-old full-back is staying until 2029, on £58,000 a week. He's very much a staple in the team now, and he needed something to reflect it. So here it is.

Saturday 14th September 2024: Union Berlin 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Well, this was unacceptable and made me think that we haven't turned that much of a corner after last season because we were god awful. It's not even that Union Berlin were good. We were just terrible. The first goal came because we just couldn't close down for some reason. Tousart played it to the left, and with the freedom of Berlin, Gosens fired into the top corner for 1-0. The second goal came from a corner. Trimmel played in to the near post, and Leite got his head to it to double the advantage for the team. We must improve! Simple as that.

Gregor Kobel Out Again!!!!!!! This is just what we needed before we play a big Champions League tie as we try and avoid defeat. Thank you Miles, cheers mate! He had a poor game on Saturday anyway, maybe it's time to see what the reserve keeper can do. I just didn't want him to play in this next game. How are so many players picking up so many injuries?

Tuesday 17th September 2024: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Juventus (UEFA Champions League League Phase) We started our Champions League journey with a really tight game against Juventus, in which we won by the odd goal in 3. Marius Wolf played a one-two with Sabitzer down the right. He then continued his run to the by-line, and played it across for Haller to steam in at the near post and fire home from point blank range. It was 1-1 with 7 minutes remaining. Sanches' pass was lucky to get through to Vlahovic after a challenge by one of our defenders, but Vlahovic kept going and slotted it home just inside the box for 1-1. We won it just 2 minutes later after the awarding of a penalty. Haller stepped up and rifled it down the middle to make sure we got the perfect start to our Champions League journey.

Saturday 21st September 2024: Borussia Dortmund 5-0 Freiburg (Bundesliga) Our 100% home record continued with an impressive 5-0 win at home to Freiburg. Within the first 20 minutes, three of our backline had already had a goal. Bensebaini converted from the penalty spot after 4 minutes. Marco Reus delivered a corner that fell perfectly on the head of Sule for 2-0. After 19 minutes, Bundgaard played a free-kick into the area and Kiwior made use of his neck muscles for an amazing 3-0 lead after 20 minutes. It was 4-0 around 10 minutes later, when a beautiful passing move found it's way through to Moukoko, who was unmarked and he managed to fire it into the right hand corner. Bundgaard got a well-deserved goal right at the end. Sabitzer played it wide right to Reus, who played the ball over the top to Bundgaard, and he did the rest, hitting the bar as it dropped in. 5 different scorers, clean sheet, 3 points.

Team of the Week Matchweek 5: A high so far for this season, as Sule, Kiwior and Reus made the Bundesliga Team of the Week.

Saturday 28th September 2024: Stuttgart 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) Very, very little to say about this match. Both teams had chances but they didn't really develop into vital chances and both teams seemed happy with a 0-0 draw unfortunately. It does mean we've only lost one game so far, but we haven't scored a single goal away from home yet, drawing 0-0 twice.

September Results: So, our September was very much mixed. We lost 2-0 away at Union Berlin, a game I really feel we should have performed better in. But then, we played two back to back home games with two wins, the first one in the Champions League, stealing a 2-1 win against Juventus. And then, we absolutely dominated Freiburg in a 5-0 win. A 0-0 draw away at Stuttgart means the table looks a little like this. 

Bundesliga Table Update: Eintracht Frankfurt lead the way by a point on 15, followed by Bayern Munich who are the only unbeaten team left. Hoffenheim sit third with Borussia Dortmund in 4th on 11. RB Leipzig are starting to gain traction in 5th, followed by Bayer Leverkusen and Freiburg, only behind them on goal difference. At the bottom, Hamburg are having a torrid time returning to the Bundesliga with only 1 point from 7 matches. Fortuna Dusseldorf are level on points with Werder Bremen, and FC Koln, who are all on 4 points so far.

UEFA Champions League Update: Not much to see here, there's only been one game week. But we are currently in 12th place after our opening win over Juventus.

Final Word: I'm a little bit annoyed about the away form. Something's not going right with something that has worked at home this season. That's for me to work out in the coming days. But we are in the top 4 in the Bundesliga, we've won our first game in the Champions League. There's a positive atmosphere around the football club at the moment, and the board like me. It just remains to see what we can do next. We're winning all our home games, which we will need for a title challenge. But the away form must improve, that's the first and foremost. To see if it does, join me next time. I'll see you then.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - October

Welcome back to the journey where we try and become the best manager we possibly can be, by winning all the big trophies on the continent of Europe. In our first season, we started with Borussia Dortmund, and we're still there. I get the feeling this season has started fairly well. We only have one defeat from 6 in the league, we've won our only game in the Champions League so far. Now it's time to get going when it comes to scoring goals away from home. Our only win away from home was in the first round of the DFB-Pokal against a fourth-tier side, and if we want to be anywhere near the top, the away form must improve. Even a goal could get us kicked off. Now, let's have a look at this month's fixtures. The league looks ok. But look at our games in other competitions. 

October Fixtures: We start this month in the French capital, taking on French champions Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc de Princes. Our game the following weekend is at home to Mainz, where we are still unbeaten all season. Our first away win should, SHOULD, come away at bottom placed side Hamburg, followed by a home game against Rangers in the Champions League. Following that is a game at home to Augsburg, and finally, it's the first Der Klassiker of the season, away at Bayern Munich in the second round of the DFB-Pokal, where a giant will be knocked out early on. 

Wednesday 2nd October 2024: Paris Saint-Germain 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League League Phase) Alright, I was complaining about the 0-0 draws in the league away from home, but this is a good point in the Champions League. Paris is always a tough place to go to, so to escape with a 0-0 draw is a quality result. PSG had several chances in the last few minutes to win and we also hit the bar. For me, Kobel was my man of the match but the whole defence played their part and we escape with a valuable point that leaves us unbeaten.

Sunday 6th October 2024: Borussia Dortmund 5-1 Mainz (Bundesliga) It was the Sebastian Haller show in this game, as his 4-goal haul led us to a 5-1 win at home against Mainz. We have also scored 10 goals in two consecutive home league games. Haller opened his account this evening from the penalty spot. Wolf lofted a ball over to Haller who had the freedom of Dortmund, and he fired in off the near post for 2-0. Haller rose like a salmon for the third goal, and his hat-trick. A short throw in from Bensebaini was played back to him by Brandt. He swung the ball into the box, and Haller rose at the back post to connect with the header for 3-0. We scored our fourth after 36 minutes, and this time, it was an unfortunate own goal from Stefan Bell for 4-0. Haller got his 4th after half time. A Julian Brandt corner found him at the far post, for his second headed goal of the afternoon. Mainz got a goal back with two minutes to go. A throw in was played back to Krauss, who played the ball in towards Weiper, who slotted it under Kobel for 5-1. We climb to third, only three points off the top.

Team of the Week Matchweek 7: We have three players in the team of the week for match week 7, which isn't a surprise as we killed Mainz. This week, it's a big congratulations to Marius Wolf, Julian Brandt and Sebastian Haller. 

Friday 18th October 2024: Hamburg 1-4 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I thought this might be the case before the game, but we won for the first time away from home this season away at bottom side Hamburg, who are facing a tough season back in the top flight. Julian Brandt had a free-kick on the right which found an unmarked Okoli, who nodded home his first goal for the club since arriving from Atalanta. Emre Can then had a brain fart as he tried to pass back to Kobel, but Glatzel ran onto it, one-on-one with the keeper, and the bottom club were level. Julian Brandt was involved in the second goal after half time, he played it short to Can, who crossed it in for Fullkrug and he scored only his second goal of the season, although I haven't given him a lot of chances. He certainly took one there though. It was 3-1 just 6 minutes later. A deep cross from Wolf found Brandt volleying in at the far post, and he got his well-deserved goal. He made it 4-1 with three minutes to go, Brandt starting the move again, playing it to Adeyemi who ran it to the area. He laid it off to Brandt running on the outside and he smacked it into the roof of the net. For one night at least, we go to the top of the table. 

Team of the Week: 22nd October 2024: Two players are in the team of the week this time around, as Marius Wolf and Julian Brandt have been our star performers according to the Bundesliga this week.

Tuesday 22nd October 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-2 Rangers (UEFA Champions League League Phase) We picked up our second win of the league phase on my birthday in game, as we nearly threw away a three-goal lead against Rangers of Scotland, but three points is three points. Quick, short passing set up the first goal, with Haller playing the ball to the right to Malen, who ran inside and got the first goal after 15 minutes. A stunning volley gave us a 2-0 lead, when a lofted ball from Julian Brandt from the left found Sabitzer who struck it first time through the ball. Malen returned the favour to Haller from earlier, finding the onrushing forward with a dinked ball from the right side of the area near the by-line, Haller with a storming header for 3-0. A ball from the right from Tavernier found Messias at the far post, and the keeper couldn't quite get near it, leaving Messias with virtually an open goal with the header. It was 3-2 just a minute later, when Rangers couldn't quite steer the ball towards goal, with several shots being blocked, and Cifuentes eventually fired home for 3-2. We held on, and we move into the automatic qualification places in the league phase.

Emil Breivik Injured: Emil Breivik has pulled his calf muscle unfortunately after sprinting in a game for the second team. He'll be out for at least the next 2-3 weeks, and hopefully, he will be ready to make the step back into the first team.

Friday 25th October 2024: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Augsburg (Bundesliga) We returned to the top of the Bundesliga at the start of this game weekend, as we defeated Augsburg 3-0. It could have been more, as Sebastian Haller had his 9th minute penalty saved. He made amends for that in the 20th minute. A looping cross from Adeyemi on the left landed on the head of Haller in the centre of the box for him to score his 10th goal of the season so far. Adeyemi turned scorer 14 minutes later. A passing move found Adeyemi, who hit a tame effort first, but then hit an effort with a nice bit of curl into the bottom right hand corner for 2-0. We made it 3-0, when a Brandt corner hit the first defender. Sule returned it to the corner taker, who ran into the area himself, cutting inside, and then firing the ball through the keeper who found it too tough to handle for 3-0. 

Team of the Week 29th October 2024: Niclas Sule makes the team of the week at centre-back.

Tuesday 29th October 2024: Bayern Munich 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (after extra time) (DFB-Pokal Second Round) We were doing OK in this game. We literally kept a clean sheet in the 90 minutes of the match. We just couldn't find a counter-attack to nick the game. That's fine. We chucked it away in the first few seconds of extra time. A ball forward by Bayern, which was heading towards Wolf. You've got two decisions you can go for. Head it back to the keeper, or head it towards England's top international scorer ever? What one would you do? Yep, in came an onrushing Harry Kane to the terrible header, and I felt like a turkey who had Bernard Matthews grinning at him. It was 2-0 in the second half of extra time. A throw in went back to De Ligt, who played a defence splitting ball through to Diaby, who fired into the bottom corner, which means we will have to go another year to try and win the cup here. 

October Results: Our final results across October, and to be fair, it's been a pretty decent month, with 3 wins from 3 in the league and we're still unbeaten in the Champions League, including a strong showing away at PSG, which we could have nicked as well. Even in the DFB-Pokal, even though we're out, if we could have broken forward in the 90 minutes, we probably could have taken that as well. I can't be mad with the team this month, they've been better than they have been in my time at the club. 

Bundesliga Table Update: After last season's weird season, it's business as usual, with Bayern Munich leading the way after 9 games, still unbeaten. They have a 3 point lead ahead of us and Hoffenheim, but we are the biggest scorers in the league which shows just how much Haller has improved as a player this season. Eintracht Frankfurt have fallen off this month, but still in the top 4 on 16 points. Freiburg are sat on 15 points in 5th, and Bayer Leverkusen are 6th currently. Sat behind them are Bochum and Union Berlin on goal difference. At the bottom, Fortuna Dusseldorf have slipped to rock bottom on 4 points, as Hamburg won their first game at the tenth attempt this season. FC Koln are a point ahead of them in 16th, but then there's a massive 5 point gap to safety, including the champions RB Leipzig after a horrendous start.

UEFA Champions League Update: As we know, the top 8 will qualify for the last 16 automatically and as it stands, we are in it in 8th place, after an unbeaten start. In fact, the whole top 9 are still unbeaten, with Celtic in 9th on goals scored. Inter and Chelsea lead the way at the top.

Final Word: I've been really impressed this month. We're in a title race at the moment, challenging Bayern at the top of the Bundesliga. We've only lost 1 game so far in the league, and 2 in all competitions. We're not going to win the DFB-Pokal this season, and if we don't win it next season, I will go further afield and then come back to Germany later on in the save, as we will have to get moving in the next couple of years. It could even be an idea we move on at the end of this season, and then come back to Germany towards the end. But for now, I'm probably going to go towards the end of my contract next season, and hope we have a strong season this time around. But we really have to win the league this season in my opinion. Let's wait and see. I'll see you in November, when we do play against Bayern at home in the league. Last season, we thrashed them 3-0. But they're much better now, with a decent manager. I'll see you then.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - November

Welcome to November of our second season at Borussia Dortmund, where we are currently second in the table, having only lost 1 game in the league. Unfortunately our last game was a 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich in the DFB-Pokal Second Round, but could that help us at least focus on the league and Europe and maybe we suffer less injuries? Let's wait and see. We do have a mix of games we should be winning and Bayern Munich this month. We also have some massive Champions League matches coming up, if we are wanting to stay in the top 8 in the league phase. We have both Genk and Napoli in Champions League ties this month. Let's take a look at all our other games. 

November Fixtures: As we get into the middle third of the season, we take on last season's Bundesliga runners-up, Eintracht Frankfurt, away from home in a big game at the top. They've been less good this season and are clinging onto a top 4 spot right now. Then we take on Belgian side, Genk at home in the Champions League. We then have a home game against relegation-threatened Fortuna Dusseldorf as they try and settle into the Bundesliga, but they're finding it extremely tough at the bottom. After the international break, we travel to Bochum, who are having a decent start to the season. Then we travel to Italian side, Napoli in our second European match of the month. And then, assuming we do well, which we may not, we are at home to Bayern Munich in a big title tussle. 

Saturday 2nd November 2024: Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I did say this would be a tough game as they ended second last season, but with Bayern Munich losing before the start of this season, we've just blown a massive chance to go top and set the authority at the top of the Bundesliga, with a terrible performance away from home. The first goal was a corner where the defence didn't look like they'd ever played together before. A corner bobbled around in the box, we couldn't clear it, and a shot comes in which Brandt deflected into his own net for 1-0. A Mario Gotze corner was cleared back out to him, which he played to the edge of the box, with no defenders either closing him or the striker down. Marmoush hit it first time and hit the bar and went in for 2-0. Gotze got the third goal himself. Play down the right found Gotze in the box, with again no one near him, and he fired into the roof of the net for 3-0. So frustrated, we could have gone top.

Joris Chotard Injured: We've gone a little while since a serious injury, I suppose, but how in god's name does a professional footballer get a broken jaw in training? Joris Chotard has been sent to a specialist so he can get it sorted out properly, but he's out until we hit the Christmas period unfortunately.

Tuesday 5th November 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Genk (UEFA Champions League League Phase) They always say, it doesn't matter how many you win by, as long as you do. But we very nearly didn't win this game. It took an absolute cracker of an 89th minute effort to beat the Belgian champions, who were incredible defensively. We hit the post twice before we actually did score. Our goal came from a short corner to the edge of the box for Moukoko who I thought was going to hit it first. But he passed it across the D to Adeyemi, who took a touch and fired it into the bottom corner from 20 yards out. A great goal, a good win and we are now joint top of the Champions League League Phase.

Saturday 9th November 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Fortuna Dusseldorf (Bundesliga) Another game where we missed so many chances in this one, including a goal ruled out for offside, but we did continue our 100% record at home, by defeating lowly Fortuna Dusseldorf 1-0. It was a corner that broke their defence. Giovanni Reyna took one of his famous near post corners, and he found the head of Sebastian Haller, who nodded in the near post, leaving the keeper no chance. Haller has had an unbelievable season so far. 

Niclas Fullkrug is made of Glass: And that headline is correct. He's either made of glass or poppadoms as he has pulled his knee ligaments. He's not been involved as much this season as Haller mainly because Haller has been on fire. But you have to be fit to get into the team and he's not fit a lot of the time. I hope he's back soon.

Saturday 23rd November 2024: Bochum 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) It seems to be at the moment, that we are unspectacular but winning, and that's what you need to potentially stay in a title race. If anything, I'm keeping Bayern Munich there where I need them, within reach. Two goals in the second half gave us our second away league win of the season. We were fortunate with the opener, in that the pass was poor from Julian Brandt. But a lapse in defensive concentration allowed Marco Reus to latch onto it, and finish coolly past the keeper. For the second, a corner was cleared but only as far as Moukoko. He played the ball in deep towards the back post where Marius Wolf was to double our advantage to 2-0. We played the game out for a great three points.

Tuesday 26th November 2024: Napoli 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League League Path) We are still unbeaten in the Champions League, just about, as we take away a 1-1 draw from Napoli. The Italians took the lead with 18 minutes to go, when a free kick from near the half-way line turned into a pass into Osimhen, who in turn found Elmas running into the area, and he ran with the ball before hitting a powerful shot into the left hand corner for 1-0. We got a lucky penalty with 10 minutes to go when Haller was pushed, and he stepped up and brushed himself down to level the scores nicely into the bottom corner. Still a good result, and still no defeats in the Champions League.

Youssoufa Moukoko Injured: It's started again, it's started AGAIN! Borussia Dortmund Injury Crisis, it's started again! Alright, maybe not quite a crisis yet, but Moukoko is going to be out for about a month after turning sharply and knackering his ankle! (I'm trying to find new ways of saying got injured)

Saturday 30th November 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Bayern Munich (Bundesliga) A point is more than good enough against Bayern Munich, and we've still not lost at home to them with me in charge, but our dominance of the first half really should have led to victory. Bayern Munich's goal was given to them inside 4 minutes. A cross from the left was intercepted at the back, but Reus thought waiting for a bus was a good idea. Diaby tackled him, and Goretzka cut inside and gave Bayern a 1-0 lead. We equalised 7 minutes from half time. The corner came in from Rothe and Kiwior was there in the middle to nod home and make sure we got a share of the spoils. 

November Results: So a bumper load of results. Going back through them, we followed that DFB-Pokal exit with a 3-0 reverse at Eintracht Frankfurt, which if we'd won that game, we'd have gone top on goal difference. We had multiple chances for more goals against Genk and Fortuna Dusseldorf, but both games ended with a 1-0 victory. We then won for the second time away from home this season, beating Bochum 2-0. We then ended the month with two fairly impressive results, two 1-1 draws against Napoli and Bayern Munich.

Bundesliga Table Update: After most teams have played 13 games, it's Bayern Munich at the top of the league with 30 points. We're second just three points behind and worrying them a little bit I reckon. Eintracht Frankfurt are third on 23, with Hoffenheim a further point back in 4th, but they have a game in hand for later in the weekend. RB Leipzig are having a resurgence, now being in 5th on 20 points, followed by Stuttgart on 19, and 4 teams are tied on 18 points. In fact, there's only 5 points between RB Leipzig in 5th, and Mainz in 15th. At the bottom, Hamburg are struggling along with 6 points, with Fortuna Dusseldorf also in the automatic relegation spots on 8. FC Koln are in the play off place on 11 points.

UEFA Champions League Update: Inter, Real Madrid and Fenerbahce all have 13 points at the top of the League Phase, with one more matchday in 2024. Milan are a further point behind on 12 points. The rest of the top eight are made up of Chelsea, us, Porto and Newcastle United. Celtic are still only just outside the top 8. At the moment, both RB Leipzig in 25th and Bayern Munich in 27th would miss out on knockout football after January.

Final Word: We still have a fighting chance in the remaining two competitions we're competing in heading to December. We're currently second in the Bundesliga, and still in the top 8 of the Champions League, which makes me think, we're not quite perfect, but we're getting somewhere with this squad. But having not won a Bundesliga for what will be 13 years in 2025, will the boys have what it takes to get this club over the line, or even keep us in the title hunt? When it comes to the Champions League, can we get at least a quarter-final? If we end top 8, that's what I'll be aiming for, knowing we don't have the stress of an extra knock-out match. And also, we are hurtling towards the transfer window at top speed. What do we need? Who should I be looking at? I'll be working it out in December. Thank you for the support I've received recently. And I've personally had some good praise from three wonderful YouTubers in FM GNG, Load FM! and FM RUSS. They've all got some brilliant stuff going on at the moment, so give them some love as well. I will see you for the next update, where we go through the Christmas period.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - December

Christmas Time comes but once a year, and it's Yuletide in Germany as we head towards Christmas and the Winter break in 4 games time. We do currently sit in second and we face a team first up, who are battling for a top four place, but if we were to get a result against them, it would probably knock them out of the title race. We need someone this month to do us a favour against Bayern Munich who are currently tough to get rid of at the top of the table, even after drawing against them at home. We have 4 games this month, so let's take a look at our Christmas fixtures.

December Fixtures: We play Hoffenheim away from home as they battle to be in the top 4 this season. Don't forget last season, we managed to escape them on the final day as we beat Darmstadt and they failed to win against Bayern Munich as we ended in the top 4. We then have a home match in the Champions League against Liverpool, as we attempt to keep our unbeaten home record in all competitions, and aim to keep our unbeaten European record this year alive. We then play at home against Bayer Leverkusen, and finally we will travel to Werder Bremen to end 2024.

Team of the Week 3rd December 2024: We start the month with a new player in the team of the week, Kiwior is in this one after his cracking performance against Bayern Munich, as we held on for a precious point.

Youth Intake Preview: We have A's in 4 of the positions that will be coming in. Goalkeepers, Centre-Backs, Defensive Midfielders and Attacking Midfielders could look quite good for us. For two seasons in a row, we will be getting a 5 star intake it looks like. 

Saturday 7th December 2024: Hoffenheim 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We started December with a strong away performance against Hoffenheim, defeating the team we denied Champions League football 2-0. The ball was played across field in short passes from Adeyemi, to Sabitzer, to Chotard and finally through to Malen cutting in from the right. Through on goal, it was the coolest finish to give us an important lead because they were starting to put us under the cosh. It was 2-0, with 2 minutes to go. Reus played a short free-kick to the edge of the D. Wolf picked up, turned and shot from the edge of the area to finish the game off. 

Team of the Week 10th December 2024: This week, it's a huge congratulations to Marius Wolf and Chotard for making the team of the week.

Tuesday 10th December 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-4 Liverpool (UEFA Champions League League Phase) Our unbeaten run in the Champions League and at home was brutally beaten out of us by a Liverpool side determined to make a point. Diogo Jota set up the first goal by taking on Ryerson down the left. Ryerson did his best to win the ball, but Jota advanced and found Curtis Jones in space in the area, and scored his first goal of the season with a low first time finish for 1-0. It was 2-0 on 40 minutes, Jones picking up the ball further back, passing on to Salah, who played a perfect through ball to Nunez, who rifled home to double the Reds' advantage. We got one back just before half time. Konate dallied on the ball at the back, and Fullkrug went to chase after him, stealing the ball, being on his own, and firing into the top corner. That was as good as it got for us, as Liverpool didn't stop after half time. Diogo Jota provided a low cross into the box, which was only cleared as far as an onrushing Jones, who got his second goal of the game, sliding it home for 3-1. Mazraoui and Mac Allister combined to set Darwin Nunez through to give Liverpool a 4-1 lead, firing through Kobel's legs. Our first defeat in this competition means we're now really fighting for a top 8 spot.

Sunday 15th December 2024: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Bayer Leverkusen (Bundesliga) A game in which we were completely dominant ends up in a 1-0 win, which keeps us chasing down Bayern Munich at the top of the table. The winner came from a passing move which started in our own half, and resulted in Haller finding Adeyemi peeling away from the defence, and going through one-on-one which he finished with aplomb to give us the three points. We had several other chances but struggled to hit the target. Unfortunately, Bayer Leverkusen didn't really make a game of it. 1-0 was always going to be enough.

Team of the Week 17th December 2024: Both Joris Chotard and Karim Adeyemi make the Bundesliga Team of the Week, and Adeyemi gets player of the week for his performance against Bayer Leverkusen.

Saturday 21st December 2024: Werder Bremen 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I'm not best pleased with this result, we had the chances to win the game, plus a goal being ruled out for offside at the start of the match. Some simple build up from Werder Bremen allowed Stage to complete a one-two with Deman, which allowed the former to run into the area and fire in at the near post to give Bremen an first half lead. We took until the 90th minute to equalise, almost a carbon copy of their goal for the equaliser, this time from the left, and Sabitzer rolled it through to Adeyemi who fired home to steal a point.

USA Young Player of the Year: Always great when one of your youngsters gets a big award like this. Well done to Giovanni Reyna, he certainly doesn't disappoint for us. 

December Results: Here are the results from this month altogether. We won that game away at Hoffenheim 2-0. Our only defeat came as Liverpool gave us a footballing lesson in the Champions League 4-1. We got a dominant 1-0 win at home to Bayer Leverkusen. Our last game before the Winter break was that disappointing 1-1 draw away at Werder Bremen. We have lost a little bit of ground in the title race. Here's the table.

Bundesliga Table Update: As we enter 2025, Bayern Munich have a five point cushion at the top with us being in second on 34 points. Eintracht Frankfurt are third on 30 points, and a further four points back are both RB Leipzig and Stuttgart fighting neck and neck for that Champions League spot. Bochum, Hoffenheim and Bayer Leverkusen are all within 2 points of the top 4. At the bottom, Hamburg have it all to do on 7 points from 16 games. Fortuna Dusseldorf sit second bottom, 5 points from safety. Three points above them are FC Koln who, most recently, have close that gap between them and safety.

UEFA Champions League Update: 11 teams have qualified for at least a knockout playoff place, including the likes of Inter Milan, Fenerbahce and Chelsea. Of the German clubs, we're 11th, Eintracht Frankfurt sit in 17th, with RB Leipzig in 26th and Bayern Munich in 29th.

Final Word: It could have been a worse month, but that draw away at Werder Bremen took it out of me unfortunately. The players weren't up for it, although there wasn't anything new going on. We're gonna really have to hope Bayern Munich have a bad day or two some time soon. It's going wrong in the Champions League for them, so we've got to hope we can keep winning. But nearly half way through the season, it's been a top season. Second in the table, only two defeats, going great guns in the Champions League. I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of this season goes. That's it for this update. Hope you enjoyed it, and I'll be back soon for the January update.

Edited January 7 by Ozza1996
There was a photo put in where I didn't want it after I completed the update. Has also happened a couple of times.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - January

It's a brand new year in this FM save and the chance for us to try and make a strong start to the second half of our second season. We ended December with a 1-1 draw against Werder Bremen, which on the face of it is not a bad result, but when we've got for me, three seasons to try and win all these trophies, and we're already out of one, it's really a massive setback Bayern Munich opening up a 5-point lead at the top. This second half of the season, we can't drop many points at all. We need to use the Champions League as a confidence booster for the rest of the season as well, whether it's winning matches convincingly, or losing narrowly. Let's take a look at our month to begin 2025. We're currently on a training camp in Spain, and our month starts with a mid-season friendly.

January Fixtures: There are very few home comforts this month, as we face one home game in the Bundesliga. We face Real Mallorca from the Spanish Second Division in a bid to get the goals flowing in the team that little bit more. We return to the Bundesliga as we face FC Koln who are struggling at the bottom of the table, sitting in the relegation playoff place. We then face a home game to Wolfsburg, in which we need to make the most of it as I said, this is our sole home game this month. We face three away matches in a row to end the month, and two are in the Champions League. We start with an away game against Shakhtar Donetsk. What I find hilarious about this game is that away games against Ukrainian teams, are being played in Ukraine at the moment. I find it quite comical if they're trying to be realistic but we carry on. We then face Schalke in the big local derby away from home, before the month finishes with a trip to Greece to face Olympiakos. 

Niclas Fullkrug gets no luck: The striker is out for two weeks because it's flu season, not what we needed, when we've got fixtures building up.

Saturday 4th January 2025: Real Mallorca 3-1 Borussia Dortmund (Mid-Season Friendly) Thank god this was only a friendly. Real Mallorca weren't any good, we were god-damn awful. Lotka had a shocker in goal and has made me think twice about playing him at all. A throw-in from the left by Lato was played between him and Morlanes, who after a one-two between the initial two, rolled it through to Luna, who's tame effort slipped through Lotka's grasp and bounced into the net. Another goalkeeping howler made it 2-0. Pablo played the ball to Morlanes, who played it further back to Van der Heyden. He played it over the defence, and Pablo scooped a header over the keeper. Oh sorry, no keeper in goal. He had decided to run out and fly into the air and not go anywhere near the ball for 2-0. 3-0 came when Luna received the ball on the edge of the box, with no one closing him down, which allowed him to play a little ball through to Prats, who turned it home to make sure we were ultimately embarrassed in this one. We made it 3-1 from the penalty spot through Emre Can, but this was abysmal. Lots of players have lost their place in their team today.

Johan Bakayoko from PSV Eindhoven: Our first signing this January is Belgian international winger, Johan Bakayoko, coming in from PSV Eindhoven. He joins a group which has a good list of attacking wingers in this team, and we paid £7,750,000 for him. He's very pacy and would lose wing-backs in a flash, which is good for what we need at the moment. His dribbling and passing is very strong as well, so he should be decent at putting strikers through. He may even cut inside to create those chances which is good to see. He only had 4 starts for PSV this season, so hopefully we can use him to his full potential and be able to see what he's all about. Any service to our strikers, is a step closer to hitting our targets. 

Gregor Kobel Injured: And I now wish I'd spent that money on a new back up goalkeeper because, as it stands, we're going to have to play Lotka in goal for the next few matches, as Gregor Kobel twisted his ankle in training. We have 4 weeks of hell coming up guys.

Julien Duranville Back From Loan: I've decided to bring Duranville back from being on loan at Strasbourg, as he could be useful just to be included in the squad. If things change in the next few days and weeks, he may go back out on loan, but at the moment, we need more variety in this team to keep teams guessing.

Sunday 12th January 2025: FC Koln 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) A game in which we were good, but we were left frustrated after a 0-0 draw with 16th place FC Koln, which means we now drop 7 points back in the title race, and our chances of winning anything this season are being blown away now. It's like they can't take the pressure of being favourites to win games and that's more annoying than anything. We need an amazing rest of the season to have a chance of winning anything now.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens Returns: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens has been recalled from Almeria following his loan, in the hope he can be a really good squad player for the rest of this season. We do have some winnable Champions League matches coming up, so they could be important to our chances of doing well this season.

Julien Duranville goes back to Strasbourg: He had made it clear to me in recent days that he'd enjoyed his time at Strasbourg and preferred to go back to continue his development, so I'm not going to deny him that, if he's enjoying the first team football we may not be able to give him.

Filip Rejczyk from Legia Warsaw: We have signed a young Polish U21 international central midfielder to develop for the club. He's got several yellows across the board and made several first team appearances for Legia Warsaw, so he is definitely promising and could improve even while I'm still here. 

Filip Bundgaard to Getafe on Loan: Filip Bundgaard hasn't been getting as many minutes as last season, so he's going to go to Spain to play for Getafe until the end of the season. I will be keeping tabs on what he does, and hopefully he can play his part in helping them stay in La Liga. He's a really promising talent.

Niclas Fullkrug needs to Retire: Niclas Fullkrug has got injured again. It's a shame as he could make a difference for us in the first team, never mind in the second team. While playing a third-tier match for the second team, he did his hip in after he was sprinting for the ball, and is now out for 3 months. 

Saturday 18th January 2025: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Wolfsburg (Bundesliga) I put Bakayoko into the team for his debut, and I'm just left here wondering why he didn't play more from the start in the Eredivisie because it's hard to find a player who had a better debut in FM than what he had. He was instrumental in setting up the first goal, playing it forward to Moukoko, who played a dink ball to the far post, and Reyna ran in from the right to meet with the header, which went in off the post. A minute later, the second goal came from Marius Wolf making an unmarked run down the right. The cross came in and this time, Haller got his head to it and it looped over the keeper for 2-0. Wolfsburg spent too much time playing keep-ball at the back for goal number 3. Haller took advantage by tackling the ball in the direction of Moukoko, and from just outside the box, went for a beautiful lob over the keeper into the corner to make it 3-0. Reyna, who got the scoring going, finished it with 15 minutes to go. Malen played a diagonal ball to the left which Bakayoko got to. He brought the ball down, swung the ball into the far post, and Reyna was there with the header again. Three points, 4 goals, what a signing Bakayoko could prove to be.

Team of the Week 21st January 2025: Giovanni Reyna got two goals against Wolfsburg, and thoroughly deserves his place in the team of the week for this week. Annoying to see Harry Kane up there, but he got 4 goals in their game this week.

Wednesday 22nd January 2025: Shakhtar Donetsk 0-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We confirmed our place in at least the knockout playoff round of the Champions League, by defeating Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0. A Bensebaini free-kick was failed to be cleared by Shakhtar. Nmecha got the ball on the left, played it back to Adeyemi, and a deflected effort from him ended up in the net to claim his 10th goal of the season. We doubled the advantage just after the hour. A lovely passing move from the halfway line resulted in Sabitzer slide ruling it through to Haller, and he smacked it into the near post, which went into the net to make sure we will be playing Champions League football later this season.

Tom Rothe New Contract: One of the best talents at this football club, Tom Rothe gets a new and improved contract now he's getting game time in the first team, now being paid £25,000 and staying until the Summer of 2029.

Bakayoko Injured: It's not a big injury as he's out for a week, but I'm a little bit gutted as he had a great debut. At least we have the debut to remember for now, and hopefully he'll be back to show some more.

Saturday 25th January 2025: Schalke 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We completed the double over our most local rivals, as we came from behind in the second half to win a tight match 2-1. The first half was full of sloppy defensive mistakes by us, and we were punished just 6 minutes from half time. Alario made the run down the right, we got a tackle in but it sloppily went straight to Seguin, who played it through to Leonardo Bittencourt, and he lifted it over Kobel to give the relegation strugglers the lead. We equalised just after half time, Brandt playing a huge diagonal over the top to the right for Reyna, who took one big touch into the box, and fired it along the ground to level up for 1-1 into the bottom left corner. We won it with 13 minutes remaining. Reyna won the ball back on the right, and found Adeyemi on the left. He took off on an amazing run, beating three men, through one on one and fired it home into the opposite corner across the keeper, to secure a massive victory. 

Team of the Week 28th January 2025: Both our wingers got into the team of the week this week, with both Karim Adeyemi and Giovanni Reyna being the men that won away at Schalke. They truly deserve it.

Tuesday 28th January 2025: Olympiakos 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We may have confirmed our place in the Champions League Last 16 after we picked up a final 1-0 win away at Olympiakos, Malen being the man to give us the best chance of automatically qualifying. A throw-in from Ryerson meant a couple of passes exchanged between him and Nmecha, before the latter played it through to Malen, who turned his defender and he fired along the floor into the bottom corner to give us the three points away in Greece. Olympiakos are out.

Bensebaini Out for Two Weeks: Ramy Bensebaini got tackled in the game away at Olympiakos and will be out for just two weeks after pulling ankle ligaments. At least it's not a long one, but hopefully it doesn't come back.

Final UEFA Champions League Table: We've qualified for the last 16!!!!!!! We join Inter, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Fenerbahce, Liverpool, Manchester City and PSG in the last 16, and don't have to face an extra round. RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt have to play a knockout playoff round, while Bayern Munich are out of Europe completely.

Laurin Ulrich to Red Bull Salzburg on Loan: A player I do want to make it work with eventually, Laurin Ulrich is moving to Red Bull Salzburg on loan until the end of the season, in the hope he can pick up experience at the top of the table. There's no reason that he shouldn't be part of a team fighting for a title, and I think if we were to be fighting next season, he could be in the squad to try his hardest at helping us crawl over the line next year.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens goes to Wolfsburg: My aim with Jamie Bynoe-Gittens was to keep him in the Bundesliga for his next loan move, and I've managed it, with Wolfsburg having him until the end of the season. I'll be keeping an eye on how he does while still playing in this league. 

Arne Engels From Augsburg: Potentially our final signing for the window, we've bought Arne Engels, the Belgian U21 international, in from Augsburg. He learnt his trade at Club NXT in Belgium, before moving to the Bundesliga 3 years ago. He's been a constant in the Augsburg team this season, and he is a ready made midfielder, hoping he continues his decent form in the league this season. He's a really good corner taker and passer, and he will be really good to make chances for our forwards. I'm looking forward to fitting him in the team.

Emil Breivik to FC Copenhagen: Emil Breivik has had his moments in a Dortmund shirt, but more recently hasn't been able to find his place in the team. He is going back to the Nordic countries and he will be playing on loan at FC Copenhagen, until the end of the season.

January Results: We started the month really slowly, losing that friendly I expected us to really go for, and then only drawing 0-0 with FC Koln despite having many chances to win, and really destroying the chance for a title. We would end the month with 4 wins in a row, 3 of them being away from home, and 3 of them being clean sheets too. We started with a comprehensive 4-0 win at home to Wolfsburg which really started a superb run. We then won away in the Champions League at Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0. A comeback 2-1 win over Schalke really made me believe in this team. And our final game of the month was a 1-0 win over Olympiakos, a game that meant we qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League automatically.

Bundesliga Table Update: Bayern Munich have won all their games this month, extending their lead to 7 points over us, but we're very secure in the top four at least, and should only be trying to look up. Eintracht Frankfurt are in the box seat in third in the push for the top four. Bayer Leverkusen are 2 points clear of surprise challengers Bochum, a team that were favourites to be relegated. Freiburg are also up there, but with a much worse goal difference. At the bottom, Hamburg have improved, but are still only on 13 points, 6 adrift of safety, 5 adrift of the playoff spot. Fortuna Dusseldorf are a point ahead of them, and FC Koln are still in that relegation playoff place despite having a decent month. They are now only 1 point off Wolfsburg.

Final Word: The team have had a decent month results wise, we didn't lose a competitive game at least and won the final 4 matches, including three on the spin away from home. We're through to the last 16 of the Champions League, which after last year's performance in this competition, we have been incredible to get into the top eight. The fact is Bayern Munich are out, which means that they will have the edge for the rest of the season domestically, but we are definitely not out of this, and it's still going to be a long season for us both. I'll see you for the February update, and we may also see who we get in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Edited January 7 by Ozza1996

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - February

Hello and welcome to February 2025, and it is going to be a fairly quiet one this month, as we have qualified straight through to the Round of 16 in the Champions League, so this month is all about making sure we can return to the Bundesliga title race, and actually challenge Bayern Munich this season. Bayern Munich don't have to worry about Europe either this month. But that's because they are out of it. Yes, seriously. Stop sniggering at the back. Anyway, we carry on and here are the four matches that we play this month. I realise that on my previous entries that there have been random screenshots from that month appearing. I'm trying to make sure that's not a problem from now on.

February Fixtures: We have some interesting games coming up this month. All our opponents sit in the top 10 of the Bundesliga, but not near the top 4 at the moment, so a chance we can pick some decent points up this month. We begin at last season's champions, RB Leipzig, who have been struggling this season, but do now stand a chance of qualifying for some form of Europe. We're then at home to Union Berlin, who was our first defeat earlier on in the season, so time to get revenge for that one. We then travel to Freiburg, before ending the month at home to Stuttgart. These are games we can win, but we need to make sure we're up for the challenge. 

Saturday 1st February 2025: RB Leipzig 1-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) For me, that's it. The title race is over. Bayern Munich only managed a draw away at Stuttgart today but we failed where we really should have been going for the jugular. Losing was not an option in this match and somehow we've managed it. The team didn't play. The team couldn't put meaningful passes or chances together and we've lost it without even trying. The goal wasn't even a good, worked out goal. Kobel gave it to Sule, who played a beautiful ball to Seiwald. He played it forward to Sesko, who despite some hesitation, fired home into the top corner for 1-0. Absolutely gutted. That's not even the phrase to use. 

Julian Brandt Injured: He's only out for a week or so, while he recovers from a pulled groin he instigated while tackling in the last game.

Saturday 8th February 2025: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Union Berlin (Bundesliga) We got back to winning ways with this dominating performance at home to Union Berlin. Moukoko took the ball down the left for the first goal, playing it back to Bakayoko, who then played Reyna in from the right, and he fired at goal with the keeper getting a hand to it, but it was too powerful to keep out. The second goal came from a free-kick on the left, which Sabitzer played into the far post, where he found Kiwior to tap in a header for 2-0. 

Team of the Week 11th February 2025: A really strong defensive performances coupled with decent forward play means that Marius Wolf, Jakub Kiwior and Giovanni Reyna are in the Bundesliga team of the week.

Tom Rothe Injured: He's not played a lot, but he has played well when he has appeared, and so it is a tough injury to take, although he won't be out for long. Tom Rothe is a good young talent, and the fact he has a pulled hamstring and he won't be able to be on the bench at all, is a waste we can't use him or we don't have the option to use him at the moment. 

Felix Nmecha Injured: Another player that we don't use an awful lot, but again Felix Nmecha is a good talent to have around, and he will be playing a lot more in the future under my watch. I hate the pulled hamstrings at the moment.

Warmed Omari Injured: We've completed a hat-trick of injuries, and although Warmed Omari has only appeared once, he does occupy a really important role at the football club, and he's suffered a twisted ankle that will leave him out for another 4 weeks. 

Sunday 16th February 2025: Freiburg 2-1 Borussia Dortmun (Bundesliga) Not only did we lose, but so did Bayern Munich. This team is getting so frustrating to manage. They're a really good team that can't take chances and love bottling titles. It's getting ridiculous now. They got an early lead inside 3 minutes. Gunter crossed the ball into the area which Sule should have cleared, but decided to pass it straight to Gregoritsch, who struck home from close range for 1-0. We equalised with 12 minutes to go. Giovanni Reyna crossed the ball in from the right, which was partially cleared as far as Reus, who cut inside and fired into the far corner to level it up for 1-1. I thought we may punish Bayern for losing to Hamburg, but we conceded the winner just seconds later. We couldn't clear our lines, so Brobbey capitalised, and found Holer running through, who again fired home from close range. Our dreams have been crushed in a week Bayern failed to win. Fuming!

Friday 21st February 2025: Borussia Dortmund 5-1 Stuttgart (Bundesliga) 4 goals in 8 first half minutes ensured we picked up all 3 points with a thumping thrashing of Stuttgart. Sebastian Haller scored a 5 minute hat trick. A Wolf throw in resulted in Brandt running down the wing, near to the byline, finding Haller who fired home within 12 yards for 1-0. It was 2-0, 2 minutes later. Sabitzer played it out wide to Wolf, who found Haller running on the inside. Haller took the touch and slid it into the bottom corner. Reyna set up the third goal. A corner from the right found Haller with a header at the back post for 3-0. We made it 4-0 just three minutes later, Reyna's shot being saved poorly by their keeper, and this time Moukoko was there to fire in from point blank range. Atakan Karazor got the consolation for Stuttgart, his header being initially saved and cleared, and then when he got the ball back, he fired in from 18 yards out. The running down the right got us the final goal of the game. Marius Wolf played the low ball in from the right and Moukoko was there in the 6-yard box for 5-1.

Team of the Week 25th February 2025: Two players in the team of the week, I think it's criminal that Moukoko misses out I'm afraid. But Emre Can and Sebastian Haller with that quickfire hat-trick get into the team of the week.

Johan Bakayoko Injured: He's played two games, and had two really good decent matches. But he's getting an injury for every game he's played. This is his second injury since he's been at the club, and this one is a thigh strain picked up in training.

Marcel Sabitzer Injured: They don't happen once at a time do they? They do it constantly. At the same time. Marcel Sabitzer has had a decent if underwhelming season, and he's now injured for the next 4 weeks now he's picked up sprained ankle ligaments. Injured after turning sharply in training. 

UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Draw: We've been thrown up a difficult tie as you'd expect in the UEFA Champions League, playing Spanish La Liga giants in Atletico Madrid. The second leg will be played at home which I always believe gives us the slight advantage. But we do have a tough first leg at their place, and we must play that properly. Coming up now, we have our final game of the month as our first game of March was moved forward by 24 hours because of TV coverage. We have a game at Mainz. 

Friday 28th February 2025: Mainz 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We picked up two wins in a row for the first time in a month as we defeated Mainz 1-0 to reduce the gap to Bayern Munich to 3 points with a game in hand. Engels, finally making his debut, whipped a corner from the left into the area, and Nmecha, also back in the team for the first time since injury, nodded it home in the 6-yard box to give us some sort of a fighting chance now. We have to hope Bayern keep slipping up.

Bundesliga Table Update: Bayern Munich still lead the way but they had a terrible February by their standards, and after our win on the Friday night, we are only 3 points behind them on 50 points. Bayer Leverkusen lead the way in 3rd on 42 points for the Champions League spots, and Bochum are really having their best season ever, as they sit in 4th on 41. Eintracht Frankfurt are in 5th on 40 points, and Freiburg are 6th on 38 points, 3 points off the Champions League spots. RB Leipzig are going to have to hope that 7th will be enough for Europe at this rate. From what seemed like a relegation battle that may have been all but over, the bottom 3 are the three that came up last season but there's two points separating the bottom 4. Hamburg have 19, Fortuna Dusseldorf have 20 points, and Schalke and FC Koln are both tied on 21 points. Mainz aren't out of it on 23 points, and realistically both Augsburg and Werder Bremen may also be in danger of relegation this season.

Final Word: It's been a weird month because we had three chances to close the gap and I guess we have done, but it doesn't feel like it. I know I'm waiting for the Bayern game this weekend, but I don't know how to feel right now. Have we got a chance to win the league? Are we just here to keep 2nd warm? Do we have the chance to win the Champions League? I think we can beat Atletico Madrid. What happens next? It's a mystery. This season may not be a lost cause, and I can't wait to find out what's coming up in time for the back end of the season. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am right now, and we will see together in the coming months how our second season in Germany ends. I'll see you next time.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - March

For me, March has always been the beginning of the run-in to the end of the season, and this season is no different. Although Bayern Munich have a game in hand which they will probably win, we are only 3 points off the lead of the Bundesliga, and we have a big tie against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16. We have fixtures coming up, and some big ones at that. Let's take a look at this month's matches.

March Fixtures: We begin the month with the first leg of our Champions League tie away at Atletico Madrid, in which we will have to be on our A Game to get a result in Spain. Even a narrow defeat won't hurt in this one, as long as we remain competitive. We then take on bottom of the league Hamburg, but they have been unbelievable recently in their results. Then we have the second leg of our Champions League tie, this time at home. We will then travel to Augsburg in our final game before the international window, before returning refreshed and rejuvenated against Eintracht Frankfurt at home. 

Bayern got Ripped Apart!!!!! I don't normally show you Bayern's results, but when this came up, I realised you'd wonder where their goal difference went. They were smashed 6-0 the day after we beat Mainz, which means we've both played 24 matches, and we're only 3 points off them.

Ramy Bensebaini Injured: The muscle strains and groin strains are straining my patience at the moment. We've got an injury list that's five-strong. Ramy Bensebaini is out for 4 weeks, as he has suffered a groin strain in training, and will now definitely miss out on the Champions League last 16 tie. 

Tuesday 4th March 2025: Atletico Madrid 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League Round of 16 First Leg) I did say that if we got a narrow defeat, without being humiliated in this game, I'd be somewhat happy, and to be honest, I am. We took the lead after 25 minutes, where Reyna's corner was cleared only as far as himself, so he took it upon himself to run into the area, cut inside and fire a beautiful shot in off the far post to give us the lead. They equalised before half time. A ball over the top to Llorente, which he nodded down to Morata for the first time shot into the corner was the perfect tonic for them. They won it in the 67th minute. A one-two between Depay and Lemar led to the former squirming through the defence and slotting home to give the Spanish side the slight advantage. Not the worst result for us though.

Saturday 8th March 2025: Borussia Dortmund 6-0 Hamburg (Bundesliga) My biggest league victory as Borussia Dortmund manager, we humbled bottom-place Hamburg and hit them for six. It took a while to start it off, but Sebastian Haller duly obliged from the penalty spot for 1-0. 2 minutes later, Reus played a free-kick short from the right into Malen, who picked out Moukoko just outside the box on the edge of the area. He ran into the box unmarked, and left the keeper standing as he fired into the bottom right hand corner for 2-0. Another short free-kick, this time from the middle left, meant the last goalscorer Moukoko, got the ball on the right this time. He played the ball across the six-yard box and Malen rifled it home for 3-0 before half time. In the second half, Malen had another one ruled out for offside, before in the 69th minute, an Engels pass was played towards Moukoko, but taken away from him, but Haller hit it along the ground, 20 yards out, first time, inside the near post for 4-0. Engels scored his first goal for the club three minutes later. One of Brandt's free-kicks hit the post. The keeper wasn't quick enough, and Engels was quickest to react from 2 yards out for 5-0. Meffert was sent off for hacking down Moukoko in the 89th minute, but the action wasn't quite finished. Moukoko flicked a long ball on to Haller, who had the ball tackled off him by their defence, but they didn't know Moukoko was running in and met the ball beautifully, hitting it inside the box for an amazing 6-0 victory. Our goal difference is 12 better than Bayern after this game, and this is the confidence boost we need heading into the second leg of the tie with Atletico Madrid.

Marco Reus Injured: Marco Reus has been ruled out until the end of the season with a broken foot after being tackled in the last game, but I was going to update you about Marco Reus anyway because...

Reus is Retiring! Yes, at the age of 35, and with his injury now, that will be the last we see of Marco Reus as a player, who has decided to retire at the end of his contract. Can we make it the dream ending for him, and give him a Bundesliga winner's medal? I know he's played his last game, but the lads now must give him this dream end.

Youth Intake Day: As always in March, you get your youth intake day, and although we were promised an excellent youth intake, we will have to settle for just good youth intake I'm afraid. Coming up are the four lads, who are seen as Top Talents. I'll leave their attributes on the screen and apparently we have bright futures for Oliver Bradaric, Miguel Silva, Louceny Camara, and Nathaniel Fosu-Mensah.

Intake Top Talents: Some really good players here, not quite as good as last season's intake, but I'm sure we can make the most out of this lot, should they stay on at the club. Of course, when they actually get into the first team, I won't be here, but it's good to raise the talent nonetheless.

Team of the Week 11th March 2025: Gregor Kobel, Caleb Okoli, Salih Ozcan and of course, Yousouffa Moukoko make the team of the week, after a great all round team performance. It's also great to see Bynoe-Gittens is getting the chances at Wolfsburg, and in a way, is our fifth player to make the team of the week this week. 

Wednesday 12th March 2025: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Atletico Madrid (4-2 on aggregate) (UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg) I said, 2-1 down wouldn't be a bad result, and coming into this one on the back of a 6-0 home win, confidence was high and it showed, absolutely rollicking Atletico Madrid 3-0 to go through to the quarter-final. Adeyemi set up the opening goal really, his cross being headed by an Atletico defender, into the path of Haller, who continued his prolific season by heading home for 1-0. We had a second goal ruled out because Okoli got a touch on a fantastic strike by Engels, which was heading in without his intervention, so the Belgian has every right to feel aggrieved. We took the lead in the tie with 20 minutes to go. An Adeyemi run down the left for the second time broke Atletico Madrid, as he found Reyna at the far post to nod home for 2-0. It was 3-0 on the night and our quarter final spot confirmed in the very last minute. A Julian Brandt free kick hit the post and bounced to about 10 yards out to Reyna for his second goal of the night, and our passage into the last eight was complete for the first time in this save.

Saturday 15th March 2025: Augsburg 1-3 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) An action packed game away from home, and almost failing against a team with ten men, but we managed to pick up a much deserved win away at Augsburg by 3-1, but it could and should have been more. We actually missed a penalty after 3 minutes, Haller shooting it just wide of the top right corner. Haller would put it in the net 8 minutes later, but it was ruled out for offside. We would gain the man advantage after 28 minutes, when Vargas went through the back of Malen when only running down the line. We couldn't take advantage at first and fell behind after 57 minutes. Gumny ran the ball down the right, finding Monchu near the box, and he laid it off to Okugawa, who struck from just outside the box in the middle, and Kobel had no chance as Augsburg took the lead. We levelled just 3 minutes later. Donyell Malen, take a bow son! From 30 yards out, he struck an unstoppable free-kick into the top corner for 1-1. Our second goal came from a Reyna corner, as he found the head of Relvas at the far post, and he made it 2-1. Our final goal came from another penalty. This time, with Haller off the pitch, Emre Can stood up for it, and he made no mistake, sending the keeper the wrong way for 3-1. Bochum defeated Bayern Munich, so we now sit top of the league with the same games played on goal difference!

Felix Nmecha Injured: Felix Nmecha has picked up a sports hernia annoyingly, and he will be out for the next 5 weeks.

Team of the Week 18th March 2025: Two players make it into the team of the week after that comeback win over Augsburg, and both of these players scored in that victory. Felipe Relvas and Donyell Malen make 2 players for us in the team of the week.

UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Draw: For me, this is the toughest tie we could have got, but again, our second leg will be at home. We travel to 14-time Champions League winners, Real Madrid. The winner of this tie will face either Barcelona or Inter Milan in the semi-final. Listen, we've got to beat the best to be the best, and Real Madrid are the best. We'll wait and see what happens in the April update.

Saturday 29th March 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt (Bundesliga) An awful, awful attacking display and sloppy at the back allowed us to take our foot off the gas and lose to third placed Eintracht Frankfurt. Dina Ebimbe ran down the right for Frankfurt as he swung it into the box, and Kobel attempted to take it off the head of Marmoush, but it meant Kobel was nowhere to be seen, as he completely missed the ball, and Marmoush gave them the lead. Adeyemi had a goal ruled out for offside before we fell 2-0 down. A cleared ball from a cross fell to Ahmedhodzic, who played into Dina Ebimbe, who played the ball into the box for Gotze from the right who swung his foot and it went in for 2-0. We got a goal back late on, when Trapp made an almighty howler trying to roll to his defender, and Adeyemi was in there first time for 2-1, but I'm fuming with this performance, where we had the chance to go into April still top.

NXGN Borussia Dortmund Players: It's great to see players enter the NXGN rankings, and especially if they're yours. Duranville, on loan at Strasbourg, was 6th, and Rejczyk is 31st. The winner was Endrick at Real Madrid.

March Results: We started and ended the month with 2-1 defeats, but had a great run of form in between. We lost the first leg of the Champions League tie to Atletico Madrid 2-1. Then we absolutely demolished Hamburg 6-0, which gave us the confidence to beat Atletico 3-0 and go through 4-2 on aggregate. We then came back from 1-0 down to beat ten-man Augsburg 3-1. The annoyance was losing to Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 at home, when we really should have been better defensively, and a rare off game for Kobel. Here comes the table.

Bundesliga Table Update: This could be the best season in recent Bundesliga history since...last season. Bayern Munich have been awful in recent games, dropping from having an 8-point lead at one stage, to 1 point over us, and now we are officially fighting for the title. Eintracht Frankfurt's win gave them a slight chance I guess on 52 points. Bayer Leverkusen are 4th on 47, with Bochum just two points off the Champions League. Freiburg sit 6th on 44, and only 3 points off the top 4. Stuttgart are currently 7th, and in the final European spot. But everyone down to Hoffenheim has a chance of getting into at least the Conference League. At the bottom, it's going to the wire surely. Fortuna Dusseldorf are bottom on 21 points, with both Schalke and FC Koln a single point ahead on 22. Hamburg are outside the bottom 3 for the first time at the end of a month, and are up on 24 points. It's any 3 of those 4 in the bottom 3 for me. 

Final Word: This has been a crazy season. First, we may have been in the race. Then we definitely weren't. And now we are again, and ready to take it to Bayern as we end the season. We actually face them in April away from home, in a game that would surely be billed as a title decider. Are we getting our first title of the save here? We also have a big Champions League quarter final against Real Madrid. I don't think we will win the trophy this season, although how incredible would that be to achieve in just season 2 with Borussia Dortmund? I'm really enjoying this season, and I really hope you are too. I'll see you next time, as we aim to get the title now, and we aim to get into the last 4 of the Champions League.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - April

Welcome back to the save, and we have a tough run-in starting up. It's going to be interesting and exciting and a better position to be in at this stage of the season than what I thought we would be. We are fighting to win the club's first Bundesliga title in 13 years, being only a point off Bayern Munich at the top of the table. We have the biggest match of any season coming up this month away at the Allianz Arena. We also have a Champions League Quarter-Final, but we do have to attempt to get past the great Real Madrid, 14 time European Champions. This month will decide whether we have a chance of winning trophies, or whether we will have to give it our all in what will be the last year of our contract next season. I hope it's not the latter. Let's take a look at those all important fixtures.

April Fixtures: We start this month with a game at relegation-threatened Fortuna Dusseldorf. The relegation battle is as tight as anything this season, and everyone down there still has a chance of being a Bundesliga side next season. As funny as watching Schalke go down again would be, we have to win away in this game, but their fans are going to be well up for it. We then go to the Bernabeu for the first time in this save, in our first leg against Real Madrid. Bochum will then visit us, in their bid to qualify for the Champions League, before we face Real Madrid in the second leg. That weekend, we will face Bayern Munich in the title decider. And if we can get anything in Der Klassiker, we go into the final game of the month with so much hope against Hoffenheim.

Saturday 5th April 2025: Fortuna Dusseldorf 0-4 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We put pressure on Bayern Munich from the off this month, as we thrashed bottom of the table Fortuna Dusseldorf 4-0. An early loft over the keeper by Donyell Malen was ruled out for offside, but the opening goal would come just 10 minutes later. Haller had the ball in the right of midfield, but played it towards the centre for Kiwior. He played a through ball to Moukoko and a delightful chip into the right hand corner gave us a 1-0 lead. Giovanni Reyna turned into the flavour of the month, and netted a hat-trick in this game. The second goal was a nice passing move, Kiwior making his through ball a thing as he played it to Moukoko, but he took it quite wide, but found Reyna running into the 6-yard box behind him, and he swept home to double the advantage. In the second half, it got better. More play down the right allowed Wolf to run into a nice big area on the right wing, he slid it into the middle of the box, and again, Reyna swept home from 3 yards out for 3-0. The fourth came when Can got the ball from a clearance, he ran into the area on the left. He sent the ball into Reyna whose back was to the goal but fear not, he turned his man, and slotted into the corner to seal all three points.

Team of the Week 8th April 2025: We have four players in the team of the week, our joint highest. We have Marius Wolf, Felipe Relvas, Jakub Kiwior and Giovanni Reyna, and also we lead Bayern Munich 4-3 in this team of the week, which is always good to see.

Wednesday 9th April 2025: Real Madrid 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League Quarter Final First Leg) There's no easy games at this stage of the UEFA Champions League, and to come away from the Bernabeu, where we really should have been thrashed but I thought I'd try something new, with only a 1 goal defeat, again, like against Atletico Madrid, we stand a chance of going through in the second leg. Real Madrid got their first goal from attacking from the left, Ferland Mendy playing a ball into the box, which evaded Vincius Junior, but found Rodrygo, who put the ball into the far corner beyond our keeper for 1-0. Jude Bellingham had the chance to strike against his former club, but Kobel kept his shot out at the near post, but the deflection fell to Rudiger, who shot through a load of bodies into an empty net for 2-0. We improved after the break, and scored from our only shot of the game. Ryerson crossed the ball in from the right and Reyna made it 4 goals in 2 games this month, to give us a fighting chance of going through.

Karim Adeyemi Injury: Unfortunately Karim Adeyemi pulled his thigh in this game, so he will be out of the second leg, but he should be back for the Bayern Munich game. 

Johan Bakayoko Injury: I was going to start Bakayoko against Bochum to give him a bit more game time, but he's twisted his knee unfortunately, and it does mean that we have to play players we may have been resting ahead of the next week, which is annoying. Bochum will be tough opposition, but a doddle compared to our next games after this. 

Saturday 12th April 2025: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Bochum (Bundesliga) A second half masterclass from the team put the finishing touches to an all round dominant display, as we thrashed Bochum 4-0. We had plenty of shots in the first half, but couldn't quite turn the ball home, but we punished a team fairly local to us in the second half. Our first goal came from, of course, a corner from the right by Reyna, which Haller got his head to at the near post, and it went in off the far post for 1-0. Marius Wolf recycled the ball for the second from a clearance, playing it to Chotard in the centre, and finding a completely unmarked Reyna on the left side of the area. He cut inside, and fired a laser shot into the bottom right hand corner for 2-0. Sebastian Haller then scored the 150th league goal of his career from the penalty spot to open up a 3-goal lead. But Moukoko left the best for last. A Sabitzer free-kick from the right was cleared away at the far post. Moukoko flicked the ball up, and half-volleyed it into the goal, hitting the post on it's way in, to score what I think is our goal of the season. Words don't do it justice.

Julian Brandt Injured: Julian Brandt may miss the Bayern Munich game unfortunately, after picking up a twisted knee while sprinting today. Reyna picked up a smaller knock at the end of the game, but he should be OK to play against Real Madrid in mid-week.

Results From Sunday: We are literally top heading into next week's game against Bayern Munich after they were humiliated 4-0 at Bayer Leverkusen. It's the first time we've led on points with Borussia Dortmund, and a draw will keep us top heading into the final four games. What a result!

Team of the Week 15th April 2025: Our forward line took charge this week obviously, and that means that Giovanni Reyna and Sebastian Haller, got into the team of the week in the Bundesliga this time around.

Tuesday 15th April 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Real Madrid (2-3 on aggregate) (UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Second Leg) A valiant effort in this match, but a draw against Real Madrid was obviously not enough to see us through to the semi-final. In what was a drab first hour, both teams cancelled each other out in this game. Real Madrid drew first blood after 65 minutes in a moment that probably killed the tie. Bryan made a darting run through the middle which our defenders couldn't get hold of. He played it into Rodrygo in the D, who played it off to Dani Ceballos, and he thundered home to give the record holders the lead. We equalised with 8 minutes to go, when Real Madrid's defence couldn't clear a cross into the box from Sule, who had come up front to try and find a way back into the game. Haller's first header was tame but Courtois thumped it up into the air, which Haller pounced on and got the simple touch on the line to make it game back on. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and we exit the Champions League in the quarter-final. But we're definitely getting better.

Our First New Contract of the Save: We obviously won't be here for that long as we have all these trophies to try and win, although it does mean I'll probably have to resign when I'm ready to leave. But if we can make sure we win the DFB-Pokal in the next year, I'm sure I'll have some decent opportunities to win a lot of trophies with decent teams. That's assuming we can hold on to first place in the Bundesliga this season.

European Coefficient Race: Again, for the second season in a row, it looks like it'll be England and Italy getting the extra Champions League spot, as Germany currently sit in 4th place. We were the last German team in the Champions League, and no German side made any European semi-final.

Saturday 19th April 2025: Bayern Munich 1-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I said before the game, a draw here will do me. A boring 0-0 draw would do me, as I clearly didn't think we could win at the Allianz Arena. We've only gone and done it. Three mistakes in this game led to three goals, but Bayern Munich making one mistake more than us, meant a 91st minute winner, moves us 5 points clear with 4 games to go. Before half-time, both teams had chances but neither team managed to break through the defence, and we held on for 0-0 at half time. A lame pass from Kim Minjae after 64 minutes to Malen, allowed the Dutchman to slot home for 1-0 and silence the Allianz Arena. It was 1-1 after we failed playing out from the back, a Ryerson pass to Sule went to Harry Kane, and despite Kobel's best efforts to get near it, you're not stopping the England international from putting it into the bottom corner. I thought we'd have to settle for that, but fear not, the dreaded added time highlight happened. I was certain they'd win it as they had the ball. But they proceeded to shoot themselves in the foot. Laimer played the ball to De Ligt, who was tackled by Adeyemi, and he kept it cool and calm to fire into the bottom corner, and potentially kill Bayern Munich's dream stone dead. 5 points clear! Come on!!!

New Finances: This is our new finances for the new season that have been handed to us by the board, and we've nearly doubled it from last season. Over £51.5 million has been handed to us for the Summer, and over £3,000,000 a week for wage budget as well, so we could have some decent players coming this Summer to finish the job here in Germany in three seasons. 

Team of the Week 22nd April 2025: The man who may have won us our first league title of the save, and our first league title for 13 years as a club, Karim Adeyemi, stands pride of place up front in the team of the week.

Flavius Daniliuc Injured: Flavius Daniliuc hasn't played an awful lot since he joined the club, but he could have been one of those after we had the title confirmed, I could have played him a couple of times to confirm his medal. He's suffered a pulled hamstring unfortunately.

Salih Ozcan Injured: Salih Ozcan is now out for the rest of the season, after twisting his ankle in training, and this one sounds serious. He's had a decent season when he's appeared, and I hope he's back stronger for our final season with the club.

Saturday 26th April 2025: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Hoffenheim (Bundesliga) If we play our game, keep going and get positive results, we will be champions. We are five points in front. Technically speaking, we can lose one game, and not lose the lead. Hoffenheim took an early lead in this one. They had domination in the middle of the park, which resulted in Akpoguma playing a decent through ball to Beier, and unfortunately Kobel was beaten at his near post for 1-0. But, when you are becoming champions, you need to know how to get back into the game. And we do. And we did two minutes later. Sebastian Haller has been incredible this season, and he held the ball up and played it through to Adeyemi, one-on-one, and he sharply slotted it away into the bottom left hand corner for 1-1. We scored in the last minute of the first half what proved to be the winner. A short corner from Brandt to Reyna quickly turned into a one-two. Brandt slid it into the box, and there was Bensebaini with a rare goal and despite Hoffenheim coming back at us and nearly equalising in the second half, we did enough to hold on despite the stats. 

Ramy Bensebaini Injured: Ramy Bensebaini has ended his season in the most unfortunate and painful way possible. He obviously had a freak accident during training, and he's going to a specialist up until the next pre-season. It's an awful way for his season to finish, but he has been incredible and deserves his potential medal coming up.

Team of the Week 29th April 2025: Ramy Bensebaini and Julian Brandt had great games against Hoffenheim, and both end up in the Bundesliga Team of the Week. 

Jakub Kiwior New Contract: Jakub Kiwior will stay at the club until at least 2030. I signed him during my first season, and he has been incredible since signing him, and has been a part of a team who may be about to win the title. He deserves this new contract. All my players deserve everything after this season.

April Results: Our month started with a 4-0 away win at Fortuna Dusseldorf, which was semi expected. They are struggling at the bottom and we took our chances. We then lost the first leg away at Real Madrid 2-1 which was expected. Bochum were then tanked 4-0, which I assumed would be the same as last month, and give us the confidence to complete the comeback against Real Madrid. That didn't quite happen, but we went to the Allianz Arena, held our nerve, and won 2-1 against our title rivals Bayern Munich. We won our final game of the month, by coming back from 1-0 down to beat Hoffenheim 2-1. This was the most vital month of the save so far. Everything went right in the league. This is the table with 3 games to go.

Bundesliga Table Update: We are now 5 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with three games to go, as Bayern Munich's chances have gone up in smoke in second place. It's not over yet as we've seen this season. Eintracht Frankfurt are third on 59 points, and Freiburg sit 4th on 54 points. Bayer Leverkusen are breathing down Freiburg's necks just two points behind. RB Leipzig are really gearing up steam before the end of the season, and they still have a chance of qualifying for the Champions League on 50 points. Bochum's season has sort of withered a little bit, but if you'd offered them 7th at the start of the season, they'd have snapped your hand off. Union Berlin are trying to get that final European spot on 45 points. At the bottom, 1 point separates the bottom 3. The three teams being Schalke on 25 points at the bottom, and Fortuna Dusseldorf and FC Koln are both on 26 points. Hamburg are just above the play off spot on 28 points.

Final Word: Only one disappointment on the pitch. We're out of the Champions League, but we have many seasons left to win the European trophies. We are nearing our first league title of the save, and I aim to be done in Germany this time next year. The aim has to be winning the DFB-Pokal now. I would say if we don't, I'm going to leave Germany anyway despite the new contract, so next year will definitely be my last year, at least for now, in Germany and I'll dedicate a year or two at the end of the save to try and win it with a big team that will win it. For now, this season is my greatest achievement in a while. Bayern Munich will have wanted this title back, and it doesn't look like they're getting it. Just remain cool in May, and we will be German champions. Please return to see if we can do it. Thanks for following. I'll see you in May.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - May Part 1

There are three games of the season to go, and we are in the perfect position. A position I didn't think we'd be in just a couple of months ago. We lead Bayern Munich by 5 points at the top of the Bundesliga. Our final away game is next. We face two games at Signal Iduna Park, and we are at most two wins away from the title, and the club's first title since 2012. But Bayern Munich didn't win the league last season. That was RB Leipzig. Despite having had chances to run away with it, they've stalled at vital times this season. One more stall from them, and a win from us, would crown the Yellow Army as Champions. Whatever happens now, it will be tough for us not to win it. But we bottled it in real life a couple of seasons ago. Shall we have a look at those final fixtures of this season?

May Fixtures: Just the three games as we try and seal the title as soon as we possibly can. We start away at Bayer Leverkusen. Recently, they humiliated Bayern Munich but I think we are stronger than that. They are still looking for their Champions League spot next season, and will stop at nothing to make sure they can be at Europe's top table next season. We face a safe mid-table Werder Bremen at home which we should be getting a result from, and failing that, we face relegation threatened FC Koln on the final day, as they will bid to try and escape the drop completely, in a relegation battle that has seen no-one go down yet.

Johan Bakayoko Injury: That is now Johan Bakayoko out injured for the rest of the season. He has picked up sprained ankle ligaments in training, while sprinting. Hopefully he gets more of a chance to impress next season, as he's missed a lot of football he could have played in while he's been out injured. Fingers crossed he shows his full impact next year.

Saturday 3rd May 2025: Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) It may have been a draw, but with a five-point lead, and two home games remaining this season, we were able to afford a draw. It was a topsy-turvy game. We did take the lead with this narrow formation, as the crossing still works. Amazingly, it was centre-half Kiwior who provided the cross from the left, and Karim Adeyemi got his head on it at the far post. They equalised on the half hour mark, with a similar move, this time it was Frimpong to Orkun Kokcu in the middle and he fired a header past Kobel. They took the lead 5 minutes before half-time. A short corner from Hofmann went to the edge of the box for goalscorer, Orkun Kokcu. His shot was deflected but only in the path of Tah, who got a slight touch with his head on it, and Leverkusen were 2-1 up at half time. It would be the 82nd minute when we levelled the game up again. Bayer Leverkusen lost the ball too easily playing it out from the back. Giovanni Reyna won the ball back, who played it to Moukoko, who played a ball through for Sebastian Haller, and if you put Haller in the area with just the keeper facing him this season, he only does one thing. It was his 24th goal of the season.

Joris Chotard Injured: Joris Chotard is out for the final two games, but he's been one of the unsung heroes of the season. He's been very stable defensively and in that holding midfield role, I've been seriously impressed. Definitely a solid signing I made, I'll give myself credit for that as well as the scouts.

Sunday 11th May 2025: Borussia Dortmund 6-0 Werder Bremen (Bundesliga) We basically secured the title because of our goal difference with a thumping 6-0 win over Werder Bremen, who went down to ten men with twenty minutes to go. Ryerson set up the first goal with a cross from the right corner of the area, and Reyna leapt like a salmon at the far post for 1-0. An Adeyemi corner from the left felt Relvas with a free header for 2-0 before half time. It was one of those runs down the left wing for 3-0 before the hour mark, but this time Reyna spotted an onrushing Sabitzer, who took control of the ball, ran into the area and slotted past the keeper into the bottom right corner. Werder Bremen went down to ten men around ten minutes later, Ducksch with a horrific tackle (assault) from behind on Emre Can, and he deserves his red card. We got three quickfire goals in the final 9 minutes, including added on time. Wolf and Sule exchanged passes down the right wing, and a through ball for Malen, who took a first-time shot and the keeper was left watching it fly past him for 4-0. We made scoring look easy late on. Sule set up the 5th on his own. A through-ball from the middle to the right of the area, and Malen took another first time shot into the far corner for 5-0. A last minute ball into the box after a throw in, got a slight touch from Malen, who turned provider as Moukoko turned and shot to the bottom left again, which wrong-footed the goalkeeper. We win 6-0, and for us to lose the title, there would have to be a 23-goal swing in favour of Bayern Munich.

Team of the Week 13th May 2025: A magnificent seven have made the Bundesliga team of the week this week, which is great to see. At some point in some league, I aim to get the full XI. Gregor Kobel, Niklas Sule, Filipe Relvas, Marcel Sabitzer, Julian Ryerson, Donyell Malen and Giovanni Reyna are the contingent that dominate the Bundesliga Team of the Week.

Tom Rothe Contract Extension: Tom Rothe has been great at left-back when he's come in this season, and the wonderkid is now officially staying for another season, his contract now running until June 2030. 

Caleb Okoli New contract: It's always great when the players you buy the previous season, decide to stay on for longer just the following season. Caleb Okoli was a great signing, a lynchpin at the back when he's been there, and he's another player who will be staying until 2030. 

German Football of the Year: Sebastian Haller has come second in the Football of the Year, Harry Kane winning it, I think purely based on the assist, because otherwise, Sebastian Haller has a better average rating across the year. But you could say that about Jeremie Frimpong, who's had a 7.51.

Saturday 17th May 2025: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 FC Koln (Bundesliga) A Donyell Malen brace inside the opening 10 minutes gave us the confidence to finish the job off and become Bundesliga champions after thrashing FC Koln 4-0 on the final day. FC Koln tried to keep the ball early on as they attempted to stay out of the Relegation Playoff place, but the keeper made a horrendous mistake early on, straight to Malen, who from 25 yards out, finished into an empty goal to give us the dream start. Adeyemi set up the second, finding Malen again on the right side of the box, and he slid it past the keeper into the bottom left corner for 2-0. Emre Can got the third, giving the keeper no chance, putting it into the top left corner from the penalty spot. The fourth and final goal of the game and the final one of the season was an own goal. Salih Ozcan took a shot from outside the box which was going well wide, until Araujo stuck out a boot and put his keeper on the floor and put the ball in the net for 4-0. CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!

CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!! There we are, one trophy down, many, many more to go. But it is our first league title of the save, and we've got 18 seasons to win the other four. The aim is to stay one more season, purely to attempt to win the DFB-Pokal, and failing that, we'll either stay for a fourth season, or come back later in the save and win it then. But what an unbelievable day for the Dortmund fans, our first league title in 13 years.

Supporter Profile Update: We have a further 3 million fans going onto our social media which is great to see. The fans do now expect to win the Bundesliga next season. 

Board Update: As do the board, now we've got the first in over a decade for the club. But it's not going to be easy. 

Team of the Week 20th May 2025: The final team of the week this season includes Emre Can, Julian Brandt, and Donyell Malen. 10 goals in our final two home games gives me some hope for next season if we can keep the lads, and play with the same intensity.

Season Review 2024-25: That is Borussia Dortmund's Season Review for this season after what was an insane season. Pipping Bayern Munich to the title, Champions League quarter-finalists, so much to be proud of this season. I will bring up the results and the final tables in a moment for both the Bundesliga, and we will also see who is joining us in Season 3.

Top Scorers: Sebastian Haller ended third in the race for the golden boot, with it being won by Benjamin Sesko for RB Leipzig.

Highest Average Ratings: Four of our players got into the top 6 in what was an incredible team effort. Yousouffa Moukoko ended top with 7.57, Sebastian Haller was 3rd, Marius Wolf 4th, and finally Giovanni Reyna in 6th.

Golden Glove: Gregor Kobel came in third place in the race for the Golden Glove with 12 clean sheets. Manuel Neuer of Bayern Munich and Manuel Riemann of Bochum were tied top on 14.

 

 

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - May Part 2

 

Sebastian Haller Awards: Sebastian Haller has had the most unbelievable season for us, and he has won the African Football of the Year, beaten Victor Osimhen to the African Striker of the Year, and got into the African Team of the Year. Absolutely buzzing for him.

Competition Awards: I think we've had a great season, and so does everyone else. I will quickly run through them. First of all, Sebastian Haller came second in the Players' Player of the Year Award, missing out to Jeremie Frimpong of Bayer Leverkusen. We know Haller was third in the goalscoring charts anyway but it's great to see. Joris Chotard was voted the best newcomer to the German league, but Caleb Okoli was also a close second which I'm proud of, and meant our transfer activity was basically the best in the league. I won the Players' Manager of the Year award, which is great recognition from players from across the league. In both the Team of the Year and the Players' Team of the Year, we had Kobel in goal, Kiwior at centre-half and Reyna on the left wing. All in all, a great year to be recognised for our achievements.

This is Pretty Cool: This is the first time I've won a top flight title in this year's FM24, and this is great to see, showing off all the main stats for this season and how well we've done. 

Bundesliga Final Standings: So for the first time in 13 years, and just the 9th time in the club's history, Borussia Dortmund have won the Bundesliga, winning it on the final day ahead of Bayern Munich, who have sacked Mauricio Sarri after one season. Eintracht Frankfurt ended third on 63 points, and Freiburg got the final Champions League spot after all on 61. Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig will have to settle for the UEFA Europa League next season, while Bochum take 7th and a place in the Europa Conference League. Schalke and Fortuna Dusseldorf return to the 2. Bundesliga after 1 season each back in the top flight, and FC Koln lost the relegation playoff to Greuther Furth, so they will be replaced for next season. 

2. Bundesliga Promoted Teams: Alongside Greuther Furth winning the play-offs, Hertha Berlin return to the top flight, as do Borussia Monchengladbach after a year away.

UEFA Champions League: Chelsea have become European champions for the third time in their history, coming back from behind to beat Inter Milan 2-1 in the Champions League final in Munich. A huge shout out to Fenerbahce this season, who got to the semi-final, but lost to Chelsea 7-1 on aggregate at that stage. 

DFB-Pokal: Bayern Munich didn't go trophyless this season, thrashing Mainz 4-0 in the DFB-Pokal final.

May Results: The season ended in a dream scenario for us. Like I said, we could afford dropping points in one game, and after drawing Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 away from home, I didn't feel like we'd lose the title. Scoring 10 goals in our last 2 games helped, and with the performances of Donyell Malen in the last 2 games, it made sure that we won the title quite comfortably in the end, with the goal difference acting like an extra point. 

Final Word: We have reached the end of the 2024-25 season, and it was a season in which I came into my own as a manager, winning my first league title by three points and nearly now completing Germany, and finishing off our first country seems not so far away. I think if we can keep the systems working, keep the formations on it, and make sure every player has it drilled into them, there's no reason we can't win the DFB-Pokal this time around. I've got to say a massive thank you to all my players for doing their bit, and now we have a well-earned break, and I will do a June update, because of the fixtures, but our transfer window doesn't open until July so it won't be a long one. Next time the season returns, we will be the champions, and be there to be shot at. Thank you for the support I've received, and let's take a look at what we can do over the Summer.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2024-25 Season - June

Hello and welcome to pre-season ahead of the new 2025-26 season, and we go into this one as the new Bundesliga Champions, Champions League Quarter-Finalists, and a season where I believe this should be my last one as I think I have my tactics to a tee. I aim to win the DFB-Pokal this season, and then we will start looking for brand new teams across Europe as I'm very wary that we could run out of time if I stay at one club too long. I think three seasons at the first club is absolutely acceptable. Plus after next season, I will start looking again at international jobs, as my reputation is now at 3.5 stars and I should be getting taken on if it grows across the next season. 

Youssoufa Moukoko New Contract: I gave him it as he's a fantastic wonderkid and really helped in our run to the title last season, scoring 11 goals in the Bundesliga and 12 across all competitions, with 7 assists in all competitions as well. We've made his minimum release clause a little higher than what it was to £92,000,000 and giving him £70,000 a week is worthy of his performance as an impact player. He will be more of a regular player next season and I can't wait for him to flex his muscles more.

Gustav Aabro New Contract: As there won't be much coverage of much else, I will take you through new contracts whether it's first team or otherwise. This is 18-year-old Danish keeper Gustav Aabro who spent the season at Sandhausen. He won't be anywhere near the first team anytime soon, and we will probably send him back there as they are an affiliate club. 

Raul Konig New Contract: Now this guy is more exciting and we've given him a new contract until 2029. I did use him in the first team once but he spent a season at Quevilly-Rouen just to see what he could do in Ligue 2. For his position, he's had an ok season, scoring 9 goals and assisting 7. Again, he probably will go back out next season, or we'll leave him playing 3. Liga football with the second team. 

Franz Roggow New Contract: We've given one of those reserve team members a new contract. He doesn't appear to be anything that special, but he didn't have the worst season in the 3. Liga this season. He will stay for two years, probably more involved at that level.

Marius Wolf New Contract: Here's one player who needs no introduction. Marius Wolf has signed a new 2-year contract after our title win last season, with a wage of £58,000. With an average rating last season of 7.37 in all competitions, he was one of our outstanding performers, always running down the right wing and swinging the ball in for a header on a regular occurrence. He deserves to stay on. 

Emre Can New Contract: Another title winner gets a new contract, with Emre Can signing a two-year contract also. He is going to be on £92,000 a week. He wasn't the most effective player with an average rating of 6.90, but I can't say we had a bad player this season. Everyone deserves a new contract really.

Ramy Bensebaini Frustration: I received the top one immediately as we went on to the next day, and we received the bottom one as we finished it. Got to love the game's logic sometimes. He may be out up until the start of the season now unfortunately. 

Commercial Summary for the end of 2024-25: Our updated commercial summary for the last season just completed. We've had our best season in a very long time after winning the Bundesliga. Competition Prize Money went up to £156,000,000 last season. The shirt sales aren't that surprising, with Marco Reus's name being bought more than any other.

Felix Irorere New Contract: We've given one of the second team's decent players a new contract, which is probably just where he belongs unfortunately. I've given him a new two-year contract, but may be nowhere near the first team.

Caleb Okoli New Contract: I managed to get Caleb Okoli to put pen to paper on a new contract until 2030, at £39,000 a week just to deter some interest we were getting for him as he's a good squad player. He got a 7.01 for an average rating for last season. It was his first season at the club, and he made an impression which I'm glad I was proved right for at least.

Bundesliga Remain In 4th: The top 5 in Europe remain the same with England leading, followed by La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1. The Turkish League climbs above Scotland into the top 10 leagues.

Club Rankings: We've moved up one spot in the European Club Rankings, as we go up to 17th place after winning the title in Germany. Manchester City are still classed as the best team in Europe. 

Extra Champions League Spots: For the second season in a row, England and Italy both get the extra Champions League spot with both Portugal and Germany missing out. Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus get in through the back door.

Oliver Bradaric Pre-Contract Deal: We have a decent young goalkeeper on our books. At only 15, Oliver Bradaric is 16 for punching, 14 for Reflexes and Positioning and Yellows elsewhere on the board. He's 6 foot 2 and can still grow obviously. He's played well in recent matches so hopefully, he can progress into a decent goalkeeper on this save.

DFL-Supercup Match Confirmed: As German Champions, we obviously must play the team that won the cup, and it will be a home game against Bayern Munich to kick things off this season, and hopefully we can assert our authority once again, as we did when we took them on before the end of the season. It will be the first chance to win a piece of silverware not on the list, but can definitely give us a level of confidence.

Bundesliga Fixtures Announced: We will start our season in the league away at Hoffenheim this time around, before a home game against Stuttgart starts off our home league campaign this season. We then travel to Eintracht Frankfurt before the international break, before we come back from it with a great meeting against Bayern Munich at home. Union Berlin will be up next before we finish September in the league against Freiburg at home. With the added fixture against Bayern Munich in the Supercup, and a DFB-Pokal fixture to fit in, along with the Champions League, it'll be a slightly busier start to the season. Bring it on!

Bundesliga Preview: At the start of pre-season, Bayern Munich are favourites to take their first title in 3 years, but we are second favourites at 5-1 to retain the league. At the bottom, newly-promoted Greuther Furth and European bound Bochum are favourites to be automatically relegated, with Hertha Berlin just ahead of them. The strongest XI in the league features two Dortmund players at the moment. Gregor Kobel is apparently the best goalkeeper in the league, with Neuer possibly on the way out soon, and Giovanni Reyna also makes the Dream XI before any transfers are done. 

Gregor Kobel to Chelsea: The first player out this Summer, and as much as I didn't want him to leave, he wanted to go and get a new challenge in England. Gregor Kobel, our fantastic goalkeeper, has gone to Chelsea for £69,000,000, in a deal that could rise to £84,000,000. In a season where we went on to win the title, he was THE man in our goal, keeping 12 clean sheets in the Bundesliga, and genuinely not letting us down a lot at all. He will be tough to replace, but we will try our best when it comes to finding a new first choice. I don't think Lotka has warranted being the first choice goalkeeper, so when July 1st hits, I'll be straight on it. But a round of applause for Gregor Kobel, a well deserved move in the prime of his career, and we now have to move on as a club. I'm not complaining about the fee.

Tiago Estevao New Contract: Tiago Estevao is one of our young players who may not make it to be honest. He's obviously got the determination, but I'm going to assume he uses it in the wrong way as he hasn't developed much more than just being a second team regular. But it's always important to keep these players around at your club so you do have the numbers and the development being used properly. 

Moses Otuali New Contract: Another player that may not be much better than the second team, and he isn't that great in the second team either, but he's good when it comes to his heading, technique, and he's a good dribbler, finisher and strong with his first touch. I hope he can improve but we will wait and see.

Marco Reus Retires a Champion: Marco Reus has retired at 36, after a strong end to his career at Borussia Dortmund. Across his career, he has scored 162 goals in 449 appearances. He must be one of our legends of all time, and the fact in his final season, he won his first Bundesliga medal, I'm absolutely buzzing for him. Hopefully he goes on to have a successful coaching career, and one day he could come back to us. But Marco, enjoy your retirement, and thank you.

Emil Breivik Moves to FC Copenhagen: I signed him in the first season, but he did lose his place in the team last season, so we sent him out on loan, and FC Copenhagen met his release clause, of £11.27 million. We made just under £9,000,000 on him so that's one of our objectives finally being met. Playing for us, he made 35 appearances for the first team, scoring 2 goals and making 4 assists, with an average rating over two seasons of 6.93, having a great season in the league first time round. It didn't work last season, and I hope he can improve in Denmark.

Serhat Salman Pre-Contract Agreement: We've sorted out the future at the club for another 15 year old, he is Serhat Salman, and he is a player who our coaches are excited for. I will say that for a striker from a top academy, he doesn't really excite me too much just yet. 

Final Word: It's always great to get through the June stage of the pre-season, where we find out who we play in the Bundesliga in what order for the upcoming season, and where we find out what we need to replace and buy for the upcoming season. A month where we said goodbye to two of our great performers last season, Gregor Kobel to Chelsea, and Marco Reus retiring, and we wish them luck in their future endeavours. The first thing to do is to get a new goalkeeper so my scouts are on that straightaway. Let's see what happens next month, and I hope you will join me for that. Thank you for enjoying the latest update, and I will see you soon.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - July

Happy new season, and happy new transfer window as well, as we have to respond to life after both Kobel and Reus this month, and we also have to improve our squad to compete in everything as we enter what will probably be my final season with Borussia Dortmund, and where do we go from here? We have to try and win the DFB-Pokal this time around, otherwise we will have some decisions for the save to make. We have to be in for a brand new number one goalkeeper, to see if we can replace Kobel that way. Let's have a look at our July schedule, and at the minute, it's only a short one, but it's for a reason. 

July Fixtures: I know the fixtures so far are very late into the month, but there is a reason for this. I had started to arrange pre-season friendlies for our training camp coming up in Japan, but I hadn't thought that Japan would still be in their season, so it didn't really work. We will face 3rd tier Arminia Bielefeld, like we did last season during pre-season, and a home friendly against FC Porto, at Signal Iduna Park to end the month. Otherwise we will sort out our squad for this season, and see what we can do. 

Laurin Ulrich to FC Liefering: One of our more exciting talents has left the club at the age of 20, getting the first team action that he has been craving. I'm sure he will become a stronger player and good luck to him. He drops to the Austrian second tier. 

Louceny Camara Pre-Contract Agreement: A young player called Louceny Camara is the latest player to sign a pre-contract agreement, which will keep him at the club until the end of the 2027-28 season. He doesn't look great at the moment, but he is a young centre-half with great tackling, and solid bravery. But I will say again, he is only 16 years old so let's see if that lasts if he picks up injuries.

Felix Nmecha to Aston Villa: Our second actual sale of this transfer window is Felix Nmecha moving to the Premier League to go and play for Aston Villa, after not much success in getting into the first team at Borussia Dortmund. He only made 9 appearances under my guidance, scoring 1 goal. It's only because we had players ahead of him and he was purely that unlucky to be in that strong a squad. He will play in the Europa League this season for Aston Villa, and the chance for him to win a European trophy. They paid us £26,000,000 which puts our budgets even further up this season. 

New Record Set: £106,000,000 is the club's biggest fee made across one transfer window. We're only in July.

Noah Atubolu from Freiburg: I think I've just signed our new number one. German U21 international Noah Atubolu has arrived from Freiburg, who ended up qualifying for the Champions League ahead of this season. It's a good start to see the 16 on his reflexes, and there are 15s across the board as well, when it comes to one-on-ones, aerial reach, rushing out. I've just noticed the 16 for Determination which is great to see. He definitely looks a solid keeper to buy and take that number one jersey, and his stats from last season backs it up with a total of 12 clean sheets in all competitions. He averaged a complete 7.00 in the Bundesliga as well, making him one of the top young goalkeepers at this level. I'm very excited to be using him this season. 

Mario De Luis from Real Madrid: We've also signed a new back-up keeper, potentially moving Lotka down the pecking order. He looks semi-decent, and has spent most of this save in the Castilla team at the Spanish giants. He will most likely be spending the season on the bench, but he's great and ready to come into the team should he need to. His highest rating is a 15, all for aerial reach, kicking, and reflexes which is great for a goalkeeper. 

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens to Wolfsburg on Loan: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens will be spending his season in the Bundesliga this time around, picking up the experience in this league at Wolfsburg. This'll be the season that'll probably decide if he can play at this level, despite his wonderkid rating.

Sebastian Haller New Contract: We've kept our top goalscorer from last season on the books for this season and the next one as well. He now earns £115,000 a week, which at the start of last season, I was worried I wouldn't want him at the club. He absolutely is one of my top players at the club now, and deserves this brand new contract. He was unreal last season.

Leonardo Garcia Posadas remains at KSC Lokeren-Temse: This was a player who played for Honduras at the recent Gold Cup, so his form at his club on loan has obviously impressed international quarters. He's not good enough for our squad at the moment, so why break up the partnership with his loan club? Leonardo Garcia Posadas stays in Belgium for another season.

Jonathan Timmins Pre-Contract Agreement: We have a great young prospect who played for the Australia U20 team at the FIFA U20 World Cup. Jonathan Timmins is only 16 years old, yet he seems like an absolute grafter in midfield. His dribbling is amazing for a player his age. His teamwork is one of the best probably at the club, never mind just for the Under-19s. He seems unreal, and if Australia are picking him at that high a level already, if they believe in him, we're going to give him a contract when he turns 17. He will stay until 2028.

Julien Duranville Contract Extension: One of our wonderkids has had his contract extended to stay until 2029, which could promote him to the first team proper at some point. Look at his estimated value already at 19. This kid can play.

Daniel Lloyd to FCV Denker on Loan: Our young American centre-back, who played in the U20 World Cup earlier this year, goes to FCV Denker on loan, in the Belgian second tier, for the entire season.

Prince Aning to Darmstadt on Loan: Another one of our quality youngsters, Prince Aning, is going to drop into the 2. Bundesliga to play for Darmstadt this season, to pick up more first team football, before the next manager after me potentially takes a chance on him as he is that good. 

Dustin Ploger to Augsburg: This time, we've sold one of our young players, after what was quite the battle between several Bundesliga sides for their U19 teams. Dustin Ploger has chosen to go to Augsburg to continue his development, and I wish him the best of luck.

Niclas Fullkrug Injured: I'm used to writing this headline now. Niclas Fullkrug spent so much time outside the team last season suffering from serious injury, and now he's out potentially until October with torn knee ligaments. He has gone off to see a specialist, but I can't imagine him being the impact player he was in my first season here again. 

Julien Duranville New Contract: Julien Duranville, a player who was out on loan last season at Strasbourg, but he does seem absolutely ace, and could be important to us this season, has signed a new contract, and is now contracted until 2030, and will become an important player for us after a strong season in France last season. He will earn £51,000 a week. Now can he repay my faith in him?

Giovanni Reyna Injured: Duranville could become more important now in that forward line, as Giovanni Reyna has picked up a twisted knee during the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and will unfortunately miss the start of the season, but should be back around the middle of next month.

Cameron Archer from Sheffield United: You might wonder if I'm going mad. A player that has only really shown his worth in the Sky Bet Championship in England? Signing for the German Champions? Well yes, I agree this could be a rather risky signing. But I think with Fullkrug's injury, and the fact that Cameron Archer has got that finishing stat of 17, I think he will be a quality player to bring off the bench in some games this season, and could appear against the weaker teams in the Bundesliga. Cameron Archer, the latest English player at Borussia Dortmund.

Saturday 26th July 2025: Arminia Bielefeld 1-5 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) We started our delayed pre-season with a thrashing of third-tier Arminia Bielefeld, winning 5-1. It looks like wing play this season, like last season, will be the way to break down teams as we created a lot of chances and scored most of our goals from the side lines. Bakayoko received the ball down the left, and then played a through ball through their defence, where Moukoko ran into the area to meet it, and fired into the bottom right corner for 1-0. We got our second from a corner. A short corner played inbetween Engels and Bakayoko, allowed the former to make a run while Bakayoko held it up, he passed it around the corner, Engels then played a short pass in the area to Rothe, who swept it home into the bottom right corner for 2-0. Duranville got on the scoresheet five minutes later, running in from the right after a through ball by Engels, one-on-one with the keeper, and he steered it into the bottom left corner for 3-0. Arminia Bielefeld actually got a decent goal back. Smajlovic started and ended the move with a run from the left, as Belkahia found him running in, and he fired into the top right corner to make it 3-1. We didn't score again until the 80th minute, when we got a penalty from a mistake by their keeper, and Emre Can sent him the wrong way to get our fourth. Chotard, who came on in the second half, played the ball from the right to the middle of the park to Sule, who found Moukoko in the box, who held it up for Bakayoko to fire it home just inside the box. Five goals, five different scorers, 5-1. Great start to pre-season.

DFB-Pokal First Round Draw: Our first round tie in the DFB-Pokal this season has been confirmed, and we will play our affiliate club, third-tier Sandhausen, on the Wednesday after the DFL-Supercup. It should be a game that shouldn't cause too much trouble, but it would just be my luck if any former player, or a player on loan there, scores the winner to knock us out. But I'm expecting a win in this tie.

Raul Konig to Huddersfield Town on Loan: We've sent Raul Konig to the Championship this season, to try and get some goals scored for Huddersfield Town, where he will get the starting places, in a proper competitive league. I'm looking forward to checking his reports.

Wednesday 30th July 2025: Borussia Dortmund 2-0 FC Porto (Pre-Season Friendly) The champions of Germany and Portugal took each other on in this pre-season friendly, and Julien Duranville got both goals to separate both teams in this one, as we won 2-0, fairly comfortably. Sessegnon played his part in the first goal. He won the ball in the final third, played the ball back to Rothe, who via Salih Ozcan, the ball made it's way to Duranville, who turned his defender inside out, before firing home a deflected shot which wrong-footed the keeper to make it 1-0 in the first half. We scored after 69 minutes to round off this comfortable game. Sabitzer played a short free-kick to Duranville, who found Rothe in space down the right. He gave it back to Duranville in the middle of the box, who shot first time and it was deflected in again for 2-0. 

July Results: Two very simple pre-season friendly wins then in the summary, thrashing Arminia Bielefeld 5-1 away from home, and then beating Portuguese champions Porto 2-0 quite comfortably as well. 

July Transfers in and out: When it comes to transfers, we've obviously lost Kobel, Breivik and Nmecha through transfers to Chelsea, Copenhagen and Aston Villa respectively, and we've gained £108,000,000 through them. We've signed a new number one in Noah Atubolu who we've yet to see in action in pre-season, but he will probably come out to play at some point against Bologna in our final friendly. Mario De Luis as a back up option in goal was signed on the same day for free. And then we signed Cameron Archer from Sheffield United for an initial £16,500,000 to help us should we need him as well. Gaining well over £60,000,000 in transfer funds is definitely a good move.

Final Word: As we can see, I think it's been a fairly decent month building up for the start of the season, and in terms of signings, I'm trying to get more in as we speak. They will become apparent in August. We have one more pre-season friendly remaining as we play Bologna away from home, before we play in the DFL-Supercup against Bayern Munich the following weekend at home. I'm looking forward to just getting started and I hope you guys stick around to watch how the opening month goes down.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - August

Here we are, August 2025, and a brand new season, and a season where we will probably have everyone wanting to get us being champions. We have a new goalkeeper, we have a new back-up goalkeeper, but now we have to do without Marco Reus in the middle galvanising the team and pulling us forward. Where do we go from here? We must take the DFB-Pokal more seriously, and that's where some of the signings and the try-outs in pre-season have come from. Julien Duranville has definitely put himself forward into contention after scoring 3 goals in 2 pre-season games, which normally wouldn't count for a lot, but considering one of those games was against Porto, and he got two goals in that particular game, so it definitely brought my attention to him that little bit more. 

August Fixtures: We have six fixtures to kick off 2025-26, with 5 matches being competitive. We start away in Italy, against Bologna in our final pre-season friendly, and try and continue our 100% pre-season record. We then face the DFB-Pokal winners, Bayern Munich, in the traditional curtain-raiser between the League Champions and the Cup Winners, and yes, I will milk it every time. We then travel to Sandhausen of the third-tier, our affiliate club, but it doesn't matter who you have to play in the Cup, you must beat every single one. In our fourth game of the month, we finally begin our Bundesliga title defence away at Hoffenheim, before carrying on against Stuttgart, and finally, we finish at Eintracht Frankfurt, in what definitely could be a tough start to the season. 

Alexandre Penetra from AZ Alkmaar: We have a brand new starting right-back to kick this month off, as Alexandre Penetra signs from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar for £39.5 million, on a 5 year contract until the end of the 2029-30 season. He's better off playing in the full-back role in this team which is fine by me. He actually won the Eredivisie title with AZ Alkmaar just two seasons ago, a shock title win which took the Netherlands by storm. He's also got 2 caps for Portugal, where he started his career, coming from the Benfica academy. He's a strong leader, with both leadership and concentration up at 16. He can also play centre-back and will win balls in the box. His crossing is strong, and his acceleration, agility and just his physicals just in general are pretty good. I'm looking forward to putting him in the team.

Saturday 2nd August 2025: Bologna 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (Pre-Season Friendly) A game that really only had the goals and not much else, despite our efforts on goal, ended up in a 2-1 away defeat in Bologna in our final pre-season match. Gulliksen and Ferguson exchanged passes, which led to the former running into the area. He hit the shot, but Lotka saved it, but unfortunately, Karlsson was lurking and popped it into an open goal. A Tom Rothe corner from the right found Filipe Relvas in the box in the 90th minute, and his header made it 1-1. Unfortunately, we didn't come out of pre-season unbeaten. Gulliksen set up the winner in the 92nd minute. An initial cross from the right was blocked, but he then rolled it along the floor into the box, picking up Duelund. He took a touch and swivelled it into the top corner to win the game 2-1.

Two Injuries: A couple of injuries to update you with. Soumaila Coulibaly, who still hasn't played for me in three seasons, I noticed, is out for about two weeks with a pulled abdominal muscle. Our other injury is Mario De Luis being out for up to 4 weeks, although not our number 1 goalkeeper, I did plan on making him my number 2, which means Lotka will be on the bench for the next few weeks. 

CONCACAF Gold Cup Team of the Tournament: So obviously there was some sort of glitch, but for some reason, despite Giovanni Reyna having that injury that would have kept him out for the start of the season, and should have brought him home from this tournament, he still played in every game for USA, with the team making the final, but losing to Jamaica 2-1 in extra time. Giovanni Reyna made it into the team of the tournament, and hopefully will be on it when he comes back. 

Ryan Sessegnon on loan to Clermont Foot: I did sign him last season from Tottenham on a free, but he hasn't been good enough really to play for us regularly, and I decided he should be sent out on loan to keep him going. Clermont from France came in with the offer, and he will be playing there until the end of the season. 

Saturday 9th August 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-3 Bayern Munich (DFL-Supercup) Our first competitive game, and it's clear we need to improve in defence after this result. We actually played really well... for the first five minutes. Tom Rothe set up the first goal of the game with a corner from the right, Sule rising up quickest to get the club's first goal of the season. Chotard gave Bayern Munich their equaliser, his pass back to Atubolu was short and Mathys Tel got his first of the game, by dinking the ball over our new keeper for 1-1. Bayern Munich took the lead just 6 minutes later. The ball was only cleared as far as Goretzka. He played the ball forward to Diaby, who ran through past the defence on the right, despite our best efforts, and he fired through the keeper's legs for 2-1. Diaby played a long ball from the right through to the middle of the area, and again Tel ran through with his man losing him, and he fired home effortlessly, to give Bayern a 3-1 lead at our place. That's how it finished, and it's clear we've got more to worry about than what we thought we did.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens is recalled: He could be important for the team going forward now, with his appearances for Wolfsburg helping him out at this level, so I'm going to see if he's ready for the first team squad, and see if he can do anything for the team as we look to defend our title and win everything we enter. 

Julian Rijkhoff to Mainz 05: One of our young strikers has gone to a fellow Bundesliga side in Mainz 05, and he should be able to get minutes there. It's literally just a case with most of these transfers and loans that they won't be playing for us in the first team, so I send them off/out to get first team football. Good luck to Julian.

Wednesday 13th August 2025: Sandhausen 0-4 Borussia Dortmund (DFB-Pokal First Round) An injury to Sandhausen's goalkeeper must have stumped their confidence as we went on to score four unanswered goals in the second half, to complete a comprehensive victory, which sends us through to the second round. The first two goals were carbon copies of each other. Two passing moves of many passes just inside the Sandhausen half, both times found Duranville on the left, who slid it across both times, and on both those occasions, Steinbauer, a wonderful U19 striker, tapped it home into the bottom right hand corner for both 1-0 and 2-0. Bynoe-Gittens set up the third goal, running down the right, and keeping hold of the ball, until he found the head of Steinbauer and he nodded home to complete a hat-trick on his first team debut. Tom Rothe set up the fourth from a corner from the right, and at the near post was Filipe Relvas, who sealed the passage through to the second round. 

Almugera Kabar to Dordrecht on Loan: Another player classed as a decent young prospect, Almugera Kabar, is going out on loan to Dordrecht of the Netherlands for the rest of the season.

Gustav Aabro to Sandhausen on Loan: I believe this is the first time we've sent someone to Sandhausen this season. Gustav Aabro is another decent young goalkeeper, but with two young goalkeepers already in our squad that have just joined the club, we might be ok for a few years now.

DFB-Pokal Second Round Draw: And just when you thought we'd seen the back of this rivalry. Our second round match will be a tie away to local rivals, but now second-tier team, Schalke 04. I'll be looking forward to this match.

Season Preview: So, the day has come where the season is about to get under way. But let's take a look and see where the media now think the teams will end. It's still Bayern Munich who are favourites to win the title for the first time since the 2022-23 season. We're expected to be in second place this season, but we were meant to be there last season and look what happened. RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen are favourites to get the two other Champions League spots, with Eintracht Frankfurt and Wolfsburg expected to make the Europa League spots, and Freiburg are predicted in 7th. Greuther Furth and Hertha Berlin are now the two favourites to get automatically relegated, and for the second season in a row, Bochum are down there, but again, as I said in the June update, look what happened last season.

Sunday 17th August 2025: Hoffenheim 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We started our title defence with a hard fought defensive performance at Hoffenheim, and we held on for a much earned win away from home against a really tough team to beat. It was a neat passing move starting with Adeyemi, who played it to his right to Julian Brandt, and Giovanni Reyna was set free inside the area, and he slotted home into the left hand corner for 1-0. That was after 11 minutes and for the rest of the game, Atubolu earned his stripes as he made some top saves to keep us in the lead. We got away with a potential Hoffenheim equaliser, but Beier was miles offside for the goal. We held on, and we get the opening day 3 points.

A Couple off to Sandhausen: Two youngsters are going to ply their trade in the 3rd tier this season at our affiliate club, with both Nick Cherny and Charles Herrmann going to Sandhausen for the rest of the season.

Soheil Lobe to Sandhausen on Loan: Another promising player is off to Sandhausen, Soheil Lobe going to the third-tier side.

Fourth Player to Sandhausen: It's like they're going to have an entire team there at this rate, Tyler Meiser going out on loan to Sandhausen for the rest of the season. 

Arne Engels Injured: Little bit gutted about this one. I do allow my players to play in reserve matches if they need the fitness, and Arne Engels has picked up a torn hamstring, which will leave him out for 2 months after sprinting during one of these games. That's the risk footballers take, but a little bit gutted it's happened to a player I'm giving more of a chance this season.

Salih Ozcan to Galatasaray: Salih Ozcan put in a transfer request with it looking like he wanted a return to Turkey as both Galatasaray and Fenerbahce came in for the Turkish international. In the end, it was Galatasaray taking him after paying £11,500,000 for his services. He will be missed but he goes back home with a Bundesliga title medal so hopefully he can build on that in the Turkish Super League.

Saturday 23rd August 2025: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Stuttgart (Bundesliga) Our first home game of the Bundesliga season sends us back on top of the league for now, as we thrashed Stuttgart 4-0 at Signal Iduna Park. Tom Rothe's delivery from the corner on the right was perfect again as he found Niclas Sule at the back post to get us on the mark in this game. Joris Chotard got his first goal for the club, after a move from the left led to Kiwior playing it in to Chotard, who turned, and shot low from the edge of the box for 2-0. Sebastian Haller opened his account for the season from the penalty spot, sending the keeper the wrong way as he powered into the top left corner. The final goal was a thing of beauty. Malen ran down the right but had nowhere to go, so played it back to Chotard. He saw Emre Can in the box, so lifted it up and Can caught it sweetly, first time, on the right foot volley as we took all three points in our first home league match of the season.

Julien Duranville to Marseille on Loan: He was great in pre-season and it seemed like I was going to use him in the first team this season. But I looked back through my squad, and I really couldn't guarantee anything this season. I've sent him across to Ligue 1 though this time, so as not to humiliate us should we play him, and he will play for the French giants until the end of the season.

Cristian Medina from Boca Juniors: For the first time in this save, we have signed someone from Argentina, and more specifically Boca Juniors. Cristian Medina is a 23-year-old centre midfielder, who can play as a playmaker of some form basically which is good to see. His vision is quality at a 16, and his physicals are strong with 16s for agility, natural fitness, and stamina. He's got the long shots going for him, his first touch is at a 14 as well to name but a few. He could definitely fill a hole in midfield, but saying that, we've got a lot of strong midfielders at the football club. But it gives me a good headache at least.

Nicolas Steinbauer to WSG Tirol: He scored that great hat-trick on his professional debut for Borussia Dortmund, so obviously can score when he needs to. I've sent him out to WSG Tirol in Austria on loan until the end of the season, where he will try and score loads of goals in the Austrian Bundesliga.

Bundesliga Team of the Week: 26th August 2025: We have players in the team of the week for the first time this season, with Atubolu, Sule, Chotard and Kiwior getting into it this week after being our best performers in that handsome 4-0 win against Stuttgart.

UEFA Champions League League Phase Fixtures: I'm not being funny, that is a horrible set of fixtures in the Champions League. I know we're Champions of Germany, but you're literally meant to get easier teams aren't you? Or was I just dreaming? We start at home to Monaco which looks quite winnable compared to what we've got coming up. We have a double header in England, as we travel to both Liverpool and Arsenal back to back. We then face three games at home, as we kick off that run against Celtic, and then both Milan clubs are coming to Signal Iduna Park, as we face AC Milan first, and then finalists from last season, Inter Milan will come to Germany. We will then travel to San Sebastian to face Real Sociedad, and we finish things off against Shakhtar Donetsk away.

Saturday 30th August 2025: Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) I did sort of say this would be the toughest of our opening three games this season, but it is always disappointing to lose a game with few highlights and few chances for both teams. It was a free-kick that undid us in the end. Guerreiro played the free-kick, and he very much floated it (it stayed in the air for eternity) but as the ball came down, Ahmedhodzic looped the ball over Atubolu with his head and that would end up winning the game for Frankfurt. Our first defeat of the season, and something we will have to get over quick.

August Results: So we started this month with a 2-1 friendly defeat away at Bologna, before losing the Super Cup 3-1 to Bayern Munich after going 1-0 up. We just couldn't deal with Mathys Tel that day. We followed that up by comfortably getting through our DFB-Pokal First Round tie 4-0 against Sandhausen. Then, we started our Bundesliga title defence with back-to-back wins, starting with a 1-0 win at Hoffenheim, and a 4-0 home win over Stuttgart. We lost our final game of the month 1-0 to Eintracht Frankfurt. Here's the early table.

Bundesliga Table Update: And in fact, it is Eintracht Frankfurt that have won their first three matches of the season, and are the only team to as well. Both Augsburg and Bayer Leverkusen are unbeaten and both sit on 7 points. We lead a trio of teams early on with 6 points, alongside Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg, but ahead on goal difference. Greuther Furth are not enjoying their first season back at the top level so far, having lost their opening three. Borussia Monchengladbach are struggling as well, with 1 point from three matches, and already conceding 12 goals in the process. Both RB Leipzig and Union Berlin have 2 points.

Final Word: That's it for the month of August then, and on the pitch, we've had a mixed start. Bayern Munich drew first blood against us, but we've made a reasonable start to the league season, and also made light work of the DFB-Pokal First Round. We must win that tournament to complete the German leg of the save. I'm happy with the signings we've made and it may be the end of my purchases, but we do have deadline day on the next update, coming out tomorrow, so never say never. Salih Ozcan leaving was a blow for us, but there was no point in trying to keep him around as he was causing trouble. But I would say, we've had a good Summer. When we come back, we have Bayern Munich in the league, and we also begin those tricky looking Champions League matches. I don't think we'll be top eight this season, but as long as we get at least 24th this time, it'll do me. See if we can do it this season. Thank you for the support. I'll see you next time.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - September

Welcome to September 2025, and we will jump straight in with Transfer Deadline Day. This window has been decent, we didn't really need to change too much in terms of personnel. We had to get a new goalkeeper, which we ended up getting a very good guy in Atubolu, and a decent second choice goalkeeper, but he is yet to make his debut. This month, we begin our very difficult Champions League run at home to Monaco, in a league phase where we must win all of our home games. We also have Der Klassiker after losing our first league match of the season, a game where we need to get revenge for the defeat at home in the Supercup, and also we must take full advantage of a slight tweak in the system which I'm using for the Bayern game in a 4-2-3-1. We will see how that works out. But here are the fixtures for this month.

September Fixtures: There's only four matches this month coming up, but don't forget that at the start of this month, we have an international break for the World Cup qualifiers. We start the month on the 13th, like I said, at home against Bayern Munich in Der Klassiker, the first league meeting this season, and a game where we need to push on and put the Eintracht Frankfurt defeat behind us. Monaco then visit Signal Iduna Park in our first Champions League match of the season, and can we progress to the quarter finals again, or even further? We then travel to Union Berlin, before finishing the month at home to Freiburg.

Flavius Daniliuc to Celta Vigo on Loan: Flavius Daniliuc only arrived last season, but he's only played 3 games for the team, and he's not going to get into it any time soon, because he's tenth on the list of centre-backs at the team to fit into the squad. At least at Celta Vigo, he can play top flight European football, and get some decent game time for the first time since leaving Roma. I hope I use him later on in FM24, because he was great in my Newcastle team in FM23, trying to get them to the top, especially in my early years. But he doesn't fit in the team for now, so he's off to Spain.

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens New Contract: I do like Jamie Bynoe-Gittens as a concept in this football club, and he will rise up the ranks soon enough. I've seen no reason to doubt him and you never know what could happen with these players. I think it was only safe to give the young Englishman a new 5-year deal, worth £49,500 a week, with him staying until the end of the 2029-30 season. He seems to be happy enough with the promise of just being a squad player for now, so we'll keep it that way. But he will not be spending the rest of the season with us. 

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens to Valencia on Loan: As well as signing the new contract, he is going back out on loan to get some more first team football, playing in La Liga for Valencia. I will be keeping up to date with how he does for the team, and should it go well, I've put it in that he can be recalled should I need him. 

Warmed Omari to Freiburg on Loan with the potential to move: We've also sent Warmed Omari out on loan to fellow Bundesliga side, Freiburg. As a 25-year-old centre-back not getting into the team, we're not using him regularly and I'm quite happy that he has this potential move on the cards. With the potential future fee, overall we will make a profit having paid £9 million for him. We'll be getting £6.75 million straight off the bat, with two instalments of £9 million for one a year over two years. 

Transfers In Summary: Now the transfer window has reached the end, here are a full round-up of our signings ahead of this new season. We brought in two goalkeepers to make that not so much a problem now, in Noah Atubolu as our number one, and Mario De Luis as your typical bench warmer. Cameron Archer came in as an impact sub from Sheffield United for £16.5 million. Alexandre Penetra came in as our new right-back for just shy of £40 million, and finally we signed a new central midfielder from Boca Juniors, Cristian Medina coming in for £8.75 million. All in all, we spent a total of £90 million sorting out our team.

Transfers Out Summary: So many players left the club this Summer, either on loan or permanently, and most of that was the dead wood that probably won't see the team this season. Overall, we said goodbye to three members of the team that won the title last season, to opportunities elsewhere in Europe. Gregor Kobel moved to Chelsea for £69 million, Felix Nmecha left for Aston Villa, and Salih Ozcan went back to his homeland to play for Galatasaray. When it comes to loans, Flavius Daniliuc, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Julien Duranville and so many more have gone to play top-flight football across Europe, some of them even in European competition to take in the experience for their future at the football club. 

Marcel Lotka goes to Braga on Loan: Marcel Lotka has secured himself a loan move now he's gone down the pecking order at the football club, and he has gone to join Braga with an option to buy him at the end of the loan. He looks like he will be an important player for them, possibly their number one in their Liga NOS campaign. Good luck to him, he's not a bad keeper, but was nowhere near being a number one for this team unfortunately.

Oliwer Blaszczyk to Darmstadt: One of our youth team centre-backs is off to Darmstadt for £75,000, as he drops down a level to try and make it into the first team there in the near future. 2. Bundesliga seems like his level looking back over his report. 

Donyell Malen New Contract: Donyell Malen has had his contract extended through until 2030, picking up £99,000 a week, and I'm happy we've been able to retain him. In my first two seasons in charge, he had the same numbers with 8 goals and 2 assists, and it was his goals towards the end of last season that confirmed we would finish ahead of Bayern Munich at the top of the tree, especially with 5 goals in 3 games in the final month of the season. He is a match winner, a goalscorer and a team player, and he's the kind of influence we need around the club for this season and beyond. 

Cristian Medina Injury: Cristian Medina has got injured on international duty for Argentina, before he's even had the chance to play a match for us, in their World Cup qualifier against Venezuela. He will be out with sprained knee ligaments for the next 6-7 weeks. 

First Milestone: We've reached our 100th game of this save as Borussia Dortmund manager. In 100 games, we've been Champions League quarter-finalists, Bundesliga Champions, and we seem to be more attacking than ever before more often than not. I'm proud of the achievements thus far.

Saturday 13th September 2025: Borussia Dortmund 0-2 Bayern Munich (Bundesliga) Our first home defeat of the season, and Bayern Munich have bragging rights again in this rivalry, as last season now appears to be an overachievement, and Bayern Munich are wanting to win the title for the first time in what for them is a barren spell. An extended spell of possession after half time, resulted in us giving the ball away which turned into Bayern Munich keeping the ball. Harry Kane had the ball through to Leon Goretzka, who in turn found Diaby and he managed to poke the ball past Atubolu to give them the lead. They then went 2-0. A Diaby ball in the box was cleared away only as far as Laimer on the edge of the box, outside the D, and he hit it first time into the bottom right hand corner. Two defeats in a row. I don't think we're going to be in a title race this season, but as the board have changed their expectations to Champions League qualification, we aim for that instead.

Tom Rothe New Contract: Tom Rothe has signed a new contract, that keeps him at the club until at least 2030, with the option of another year. His wages have gone up to £36,000 a week and he's a squad player in his contract, but his corner taking has been unreal when he has been playing. He's great when it comes to set pieces, bombing up and down the wing. He's only 20 years old. I'm super happy he's decided to stay on. 

Tuesday 16th September 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Monaco (UEFA Champions League League Phase) We threw this game away, conceding a goal 6 minutes from time, as we were only able to settle for a point in our first Champions League match this season. Tom Rothe took a corner from the right, inswinging towards Relvas, whose initial header was saved, but he got his foot on the ball just and diverted it towards goal to give us the lead. Caio Henrique's initial corner for Monaco hit the first man ahead of the equaliser, but was only cleared as far as Minamino, who gave it back to the corner taker in the area, he took a touch and fired into the top corner to give the Ligue 1 side a precious point.

Caleb Okoli Injured: Caleb Okoli has made 2 appearances this season, but he's not going to be playing in the next few weeks, as he's twisted his ankle turning sharply in training, which is horrid for him. Hopefully, he can recover from it fairly soon.

Saturday 20th September 2025: Union Berlin 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We've lost for the third league game in a row, which brings a lot of doubt into some of the players in this team. How can we go to this bad in just a few months? I knew I probably should have gone while my stock was as high as it was. Union Berlin took the lead from a corner, Schafer's corner finding Doekhi at the near post for his first goal of the season. Sebastian Haller was given an equaliser just before half-time, a Khedira back-pass was far too short, and Haller slotted it into the corner for 1-1. They found the winner on the hour mark. We cleared the first ball away but only as far as their midfield. Gosens had the ball on the left wing, before he crossed it in for Leweling at the back post, whose header hit the post and took an age to spin over the line for 2-1. I've not gone a month without winning a game yet in this save, I'm very worried about our poor form.

Tom Rothe Injured: Tom Rothe got injured during this game, as he twisted his ankle while sprinting and is out for around the next month. Not happy at the moment at all.

Saturday 27th September 2025: Borussia Dortmund 0-0 Freiburg (Bundesliga) September has been a dire month, the worst month in my time in charge of Borussia Dortmund, as we drew 0-0 against Freiburg. There were two highlights for this game, and that was it, although we had the chance in both. Only a boring 0-0 draw to cap an awful month on the pitch.

September Results: How quickly football can do you dirty. Just months ago, we were Bundesliga champions. This month, we've forgotten how to win. We lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich in the first game of the month, and we didn't know how badly this could go, it just got worse. We then drew 1-1 against Monaco in the Champions League, which wasn't a bad result. But then we lost 2-1 away to Union Berlin, before picking up a dud 0-0 draw against Freiburg.

Bundesliga Table Update: Eintracht Frankfurt lead the way after 6 matches, sitting on 15 points. Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg are only two points behind them, with Augsburg sat in fourth on 12 points. Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen both have 10 points apiece, with RB Leipzig sat in 7th on 9 points. At the bottom, Borussia Monchengladbach are already starting to fall adrift on 1 point. Hertha Berlin are 2nd bottom on 4 points, and both Greuther Furth and Union Berlin have 5 points, with Freiburg on 6 points.

Champions League Update: We are currently sat in 24th place, but we have only played 1 game, which we managed to draw against Monaco.

Final Word: It's been tough, so tough and it could be a thing to jump before I'm pushed to be honest. In the next few months, it may cross my mind to look through the other leagues and see if there are any big teams struggling, because I don't see us winning anything this season at this rate, and I never want to waste a season. If things don't improve in the next month, it will be a case in point of having that look. If you don't think I should, and that I should stick this season out, let me know, but this is a worse start than ever before. I hope you enjoyed my suffering, and I will be back next time. 

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - October

I'm still recovering from the roughest month I've had in a Football Manager career mode, and I've managed teams that have been in relegation battles. It's season 3, and we are really struggling in mid-table, and at a club like this, we've got to be aiming for Champions League football. I do want this to be my final season at Borussia Dortmund, but I don't want it to be through a sacking. Where do we go from here? How can we improve? We have a run of Champions League games coming up with some nicer Bundesliga matches, but I'm almost not looking forward to my next game, which will be played almost immediately. Let's take a look at those fixtures. 

October Fixtures: We have 6 games coming up this month, with five being away from home. We travel to Liverpool in the Champions League first of all, on a big night at Anfield, where we're going to try and keep the score respectable. Our first Bundesliga game of the month is away at Hertha Berlin, as we need to pick up maximum points this month in the league. We face a home game against Augsburg straight after the international break, followed by a trip to the Emirates that midweek. We then go to Borussia Monchengladbach, before finishing off with a DFB-Pokal Second Round fixture against Schalke. 

Wednesday 1st October 2025: Liverpool 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League League Phase) Our first defeat of the Champions League League Phase came in our second matchday, as two goals from Konate gave Liverpool a 2-0 win in this one. Both goals came from set pieces. Szoboszlai set them both up, the first one striking a free-kick from the right into the left side of the box. Konate rose highest, and it looped over Atubolu, and it gave the 6-time European Champions a first half lead. With just over 20 minutes to go, an outswinging corner from the Hungarian, found Konate at the near post this time. Same corner of the net, same result. It means we've come away from a slow start, and we drop outside the qualification spots. 

Saturday 4th October 2025: Hertha Berlin 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We picked up a 1-1 draw away from home against Hertha Berlin in this game, coming back from a 1-0 deficit, by scoring a goal of the season contender with Giovanni Reyna. Dardai made a run down the left with Reese in attendance near him for the first. He played it into Reese, who crossed it into the box from near the byline. It evaded Dardai, but Azmoun was there to fire home into the roof of the net for 1-0. We equalised with an absolutely unbelievable goal from near enough 40 yards out. Moukoko played it short to Reyna in the middle of the park. He went on a small run, shifted it on to his right foot, spotted the keeper off his line, and then hit a 40 yard thunderbolt to level the game up for us, just his second of the season. It's not a win, but we avoided defeat at least.

Bundesliga Team of The Week: 7th October 2025 Giovanni Reyna's unbelievable goal means he's got a very much well deserved team of the week place for this week, and our first appearance in the team since the 4-0 win over Stuttgart. That feels a long time ago.

Samuel Bamba New Contract: Seen as an exciting young prospect, DR Congolese midfielder Samuel Bamba has signed a brand new four-year contract on £15,500 a week. I would say he's got slightly above average rating when it comes to his attributes, with his agility being his highest rated at 15. Flair and decisions are also good numbers for him, but if he can slightly improve on his passing, crossing, and his first touch, it would move him up the order in his position.

Saturday 18th October 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Augsburg (Bundesliga) Our 100% record against Augsburg continues, as we defeated the third-placed side 1-0 thanks to a horrific mistake from their keeper. Cameron Archer played his first game for the club, but he didn't make much impact. The only goal was a major mistake by their goalkeeper as Augsburg passed it around at the back, but he gave it straight to Donyell Malen who was 25 yards from goal. With no-one guarding the net, it gave him the easiest finish possible, as we took three points for the first time since August. We climb into 7th place.

Marius Wolf Injured: Marius Wolf picked up an injury during this game. It was only a pulled thigh, but he is now at least the only injury we've got at the club. He'll be out for just over a week.

Tuesday 21st October 2025: Arsenal 2-1 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League League Phase) We had our second successive Champions League defeat in England as we lost 2-1 to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. We couldn't get near Arsenal for most of the game. Every time we got the ball, they would bully us off it, which isn't good enough. The first goal came from Arsenal being patient, and organised. The ball came to Martinelli in the box, who had Nketiah to the right of him. He found him and Nketiah steered it home into the bottom left hand corner. Declan Rice basically set up the second goal, as he played it into Odegaard, with a fantastic reverse pass through to Martintelli. He had eyes for goal, and thumped it home for 2-0. We got a consolation with just under 15 minutes to go. A simple ball from the left from Ryerson found Malen at the far post, running in, jumping highest, and nodding it home for 2-1. But unfortunately, it wasn't to be enough.

Saturday 25th October 2025: Borussia Monchengladbach 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) This was an annoying game as we could only get a 1-1 draw away at Borussia Monchengladbach. Sebastian Haller saw his penalty turned past the post in the first half as his recent drought goes on. The home side took the lead just before the hour mark in this one. Honorat picked up the ball down the right and ran past a couple of men, before his opportunity to cross, where in the middle, it was met in the 6-yard box by Cvancara and Borussia Monchengladbach took the lead. We equalised in the 92nd minute, when Fleck, who I promoted from the Under 19s for this game, played the ball through to Moukoko. He hit the bar, but in came Julian Brandt to fire home on the rebound on the volley for 1-1. Another poor result. We need to batter Schalke in the week.

Bundesliga Team of the Week 28th October 2025: Julian Brandt saved our skin away at Borussia Monchengladbach, so he gets in the team of the week.

Tuesday 28th October 2025: Schalke 04 1-3 Borussia Dortmund (DFB-Pokal Second Round) We went away to Schalke and won our local derby 3-1 to progress to the Third Round of the DFB-Pokal, the final tournament we need to win in Germany. Kiwior and Rothe exchanged passes down the left, leaving Rothe to whip it into the box, and Malen nodded it home to give us the early advantage. We made it 2-0 on 27 minutes, a Rothe corner from the right was nodded high into the air and played back by Relvas, back to Malen on the edge of the box, and he fired home, near the D for 2-0. Schalke got a consolation on 54 minutes. Sessa's ball through was deflected through to Yan Couto, who slid the ball into the bottom right corner for 2-1. We finished the game off as the game approached 90 minutes. Rothe's low ball in hit the defender, but a poor first touch allowed Haller to pounce and volley it in from close range for 3-1. Bayern Munich have been knocked out as well, so if we're going to win this competition so I can get out of Germany, it's got to be this year.

October Results: We started October with a 2-0 loss to Liverpool in the Champions League, followed by a 1-1 draw away at Hertha Berlin in the league. A 1-0 win over Augsburg was a good result for our only home match of the month. We lost 2-1 to Arsenal at the Emirates, followed by a 1-1 draw away at Borussia Monchengladbach. But we ended the month with a fantastic, bruising 3-1 win over Schalke in the local derby.

Bundesliga Table Update: Eintracht Frankfurt still hold the lead with 20 points from 9 matches this season. Bayern Munich are chasing them down on 19 points. In third are Augsburg with 18 points, followed by Wolfsburg sat in fourth on 17 points. RB Leipzig are only a point off them in 5th place, and then there's a three-way tie for 14 points, with Bayer Leverkusen, Mainz and Hamburg separated by goal difference. Borussia Monchengladbach sit bottom on 3 points, with both Berlin sides just ahead of them. Union have 6 points, and Hertha are in the relegation playoff spot on 8 points, behind on goal difference, Bochum and Greuther Furth. 

UEFA Champions League Update: We currently sit 28th in the Champions League at the moment, but with 5 matches to improve, and Celtic coming next, there is the opportunity for us to move up the table. The big 8 consist of Manchester City, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester United, Red Bull Salzburg, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain. 

Final Word: We're showing little signs of improvement at the moment, with a little unbeaten run in the Bundesliga. Our Champions League form needs to improve, but with two home games in there next month, there's the chance we can start moving up the table. That needs to happen when it comes to the league as well, at least get into the top four. I think we can win the Cup now, especially with some big sides being knocked out, in Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig. Eintracht Frankfurt are still in, but I'd like to see us get another decent draw in the third round before we get another challenging team. I hope you've enjoyed it, and hopefully we can improve enough to recover our season.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - November

Welcome to November 2025, in the Glory Hunter Challenge Season 3. The last time you saw us, the only games we lost were both our Champions League matches against both Liverpool and Arsenal, we went unbeaten in the league albeit with 2 draws from those 3 matches, and we managed to dispatch of Schalke in the DFB-Pokal Second Round, while some of our top domestic rivals were knocked out. Let's have a look at the fixtures of this month, starting off with one of those bigger teams that were knocked out this midweek, followed by a winnable Champions League match we must take advantage of. 

November Fixtures: We have a complete opposite of last month, where we face 5 home matches out of the 6 altogether we play in November. We start things off with a home game against RB Leipzig, a game we must win to stand any chance of potentially making the Champions League next season at this early stage. That is followed up by the visit of Scottish champions Celtic, a game we have to win to make sure we qualify through the league phase of this year's Champions League. Our final game before the international break is away at Wolfsburg, before we face Greuther Furth for the first time in this save. A home game against 7-time Champions of Europe, AC Milan, is another game we need to take advantage of. Before we end November with the visit to Signal Iduna Park of Werder Bremen, a game we surely have to win.

DFB-Pokal Third Round Draw: We have another home game to kick off December with, which will come later this week, as we face a home tie against 2. Bundesliga side, FC Koln, a team we're used to playing in league action, but they were relegated from the top flight last season. It'll be a game we ought to win, but will it be that straightforward?

Saturday 1st November 2025: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) Our dominance in this game was obvious in the second half, as three fairly simple goals won us the game 3-0 against RB Leipzig. A passing move started with Atubolu for the first goal, and ended up with Giovanni Reyna, running with the ball down the right, finding the space to cross into the box and on the head of Karim Adeyemi at the far post, who had a simple header for 1-0. Adeyemi then turned provider from his corner on the right, and Sebastian Haller needed the neck muscles to head over the keeper and into the corner for 2-0. Timo Werner put the ball in the net late on, but it was ruled out for offside. The third stemmed from a Bensebaini throw in on the left. He then eventually found Wolf on the byline in the box, saw Sabitzer running in, rolled it virtually along the goal line, and Sabitzer will never have an easier finish from a yard out. A huge 3 points, and all of a sudden, we have a massive boost up the table. 

Bundesliga Team of the Week: 4th November 2025 Karim Adeyemi got a goal and an assist against RB Leipzig, and that will easily slot him into the team of the week this time around. 

Tuesday 4th November 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Celtic (UEFA Champions League League Path) We picked up a messy 1-0 win against Celtic to pick up our first win in the Champions League this season. It wasn't the best of games and there weren't that many chances in the first half, before we were given a penalty shortly before half time. Sebastian Haller took the ball, and fired into the top right corner to pick up his 5th goal of the season, a goal which would see off the Scottish side. We did hit the post in the second half, but that was the closest we came to a second. An important result, and the confidence is booming after 3 wins in a row. 

Saturday 8th November 2025: Wolfsburg 1-1 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We had the chances early on in this game, but it only ended up as a 1-1 draw which we really should have won to close the gap on the top four. They scored with a free-kick we just couldn't clear. It ended up with Zesiger running into the right hand side of the area, spotting Nmecha in the middle of the box, and he tapped home unmarked basically for 1-0. The equaliser was a major mistake from their keeper. Engels played an incredible ball over the top, which Moukoko picked up with a great chance, went round the keeper 25 yards out, and slotted the ball into the empty net for 1-1. It leaves us 5 points off the top four heading into the international break.

Niclas Fullkrug Injured: Niclas Fullkrug, despite not playing much in the first team, has got injured again after picking up a damaged shoulder from probably showing off in the gym, and he will be out for 3 weeks.

Saturday 22nd November 2025: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Greuther Furth (Bundesliga) This game was relatively straightforward, as we beat relegation-threatened Greuther Furth 3-0. For the first goal, Haller had the ball in the middle of the attacking half. Finding Moukoko on the left, he found new signing Cristian Medina in the middle of the box and he swept home into the bottom left corner for his first goal for the club. Sebastian Haller converted a penalty for 2-0, to make the game safe. For the final goal, there was a game of pinball in the box, Kiwior going for a shot just outside the area. That's blocked, only as far as Moukoko on the left, who's cross box ball is saved by the keeper, but it leaves Medina a simple tap in for 3-0. 

Bundesliga Team of the Week: 25th November 2025 Cristian Medina goes into the team of the week for the first time, with his two goals putting him in the central attacking midfield position in the team.

Wednesday 26th November 2025: Borussia Dortmund 1-0 AC Milan (UEFA Champions League League Phase) Against the run of play in this whole game, we overcame a good AC Milan side 1-0 at home. Karim Adeyemi was instrumental in the move that won us the match. He played a one-two with Joris Chotard, ran into the area from the left, ran towards the D before playing it forward to Julian Brandt. He turned past the defender, dropped his shoulder, and rolled it into the bottom right corner to win the game for us as we managed to hold on, and continue our hopes for a Champions League knockout place.

Filip Bundgaard New Contract: He's not currently at the football club, but Filip Bundgaard now has a brand new contract, keeping him around until 2029. He will stay as a breakthrough prospect which I'm looking forward to seeing how he does. I want him to grow as a footballer, if anything so I can take him further down the line. 

Saturday 29th November 2025: Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Werder Bremen (Bundesliga) We took another win and that means we've won all our games this month as we climbed into the top 4 immediately after this game, defeating mid-table Werder Bremen 3-0. The first goal came from a corner that Bremen failed to clear, falling to Engels 4 yards out with the keeper nowhere to be seen. He turned and shot high into the roof of the net to give us the lead just before half time. We got the second goal after 52 minutes. Sabitzer found Moukoko on the right side of the area. He ran through, and fired home into the top left corner to make it 2-0. We finished it off after 66 minutes. A Sabitzer free-kick set up that third goal, with a Moukoko header hitting the bar, before falling back out to him perfectly, and he was able to rifle home for 3-0. 

November Results: This was my best month for a long time as we got motoring in our home matches, keeping 5 clean sheets in 5 home games. We started off with a thumping 3-0 win over RB Leipzig, before getting a 1-0 win over Celtic in the Champions League. We followed that up with a 1-1 draw away at Wolfsburg, with the only goal we've conceded all month. Greuther Furth were our next opponents, and we got a convincing 3-0 win over them, to give us the confidence to go and beat AC Milan 1-0 in the Champions League. We rounded off the month by beating Werder Bremen 3-0. A really strong month on the pitch. Let's look at those tables, starting with the Bundesliga.

Bundesliga Table Update: Eintracht Frankfurt still lead the way, and have now moved onto 29 points, 5 points clear of the next best team, Augsburg, who sit on 24 points. Mainz have had a resurgence in form and sit 3rd on 23 points, ahead on goals scored of Bayern Munich also on 23. We've also had a massive resurgence recently, and we sit in fifth on 22 points, ahead on goal difference of RB Leipzig and one point clear of Wolfsburg in 7th on 21 points, but it's so tight at the moment, with Hoffenheim breathing down their necks. At the bottom, Borussia Monchengladbach are already cut adrift on 3 points, 7 points away from Greuther Furth who are second bottom on 10 points. Union Berlin currently occupy the relegation playoff place, with local rivals Hertha a point clear of them.

UEFA Champions League Update: We're back on track in the Champions League, currently sitting in 15th after two 1-0 wins this month moving us up into at least a playoff place. Chelsea and Barcelona have at least confirmed a playoff place with 5 wins out of 5 so far in the league phase, and both sit at the top on 15 points. 

Final Word: What a great month that was. 5 home wins, 5 home clean sheets. OK, so we didn't win our only away game of the month, but we still got a point from that. Progress in the league as we knock on the door of the Champions League spots again. And progress in the Champions League itself as we may just have saved our European season. Not much else to go on. I will take this moment to say I won't be around on this save for a couple of days as me and my wife have family things to see to but I will be back on Wednesday to see if we can go into the winter break with progress in the DFB-Pokal and get results in everything else. Thanks for the support. I'll see you next time. 

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Borussia Dortmund - 2025-26 Season - December

I am back after a day away in terms of being with my family, so let's do this. We are hurtling towards the Winter break, and we go into this month on the back of an unreal month, in which we were almost perfect with 5 wins from 6, our only failure to win being a draw against Wolfsburg. We actually start this month in the DFB-Pokal, and don't forget, that's the one we're really chasing this season. We've got to make sure we stay in that past New Year, make sure we're in the top four for the winter break, and last but by no means least, make sure we go into January, not sweating so much in the Champions League. Shall we see who we're playing?

December Fixtures: We start with a home tie against second-tier FC Koln in the DFB-Pokal Third Round, as we aim to really knuckle down our stance on this competition, and it's the only thing missing from my cabinet in Germany. Our first league match of the month is against mid-table Bayer Leverkusen, a team we've got a fairly decent record against in our time in charge of this great club. In the Champions League, we play Inter Milan, after just recently dispatching of their main rivals in our last game in this competition. We play Mainz, who are having a great first half to the season being in third. And then finally, we round things off away at Hamburg. 

Wednesday 3rd December 2025: Borussia Dortmund 0-1 FC Koln (DFB-Pokal Third Round) We are now out of the DFB-Pokal after losing 1-0 at home to second-tier FC Koln, which has led me to make a decision about my future within this save as I need to start winning more things. We did hit the bar three times in this one, we just couldn't finish our dinner today. Janitzek picked up the ball on the left hand side, he swung it into the box, and Luquinha was there in the middle with the header, to allow them to qualify for the next round. This does end our hopes of winning the DFB-Pokal this season, which does mean I've actually applied for a new job. It remains to see whether I get it. Here's what I've gone for. 

Aston Villa Job Application: Being a Coventry City fan in real life, it's absolute sacrilege to even attempt to go for the Villa job. They're in 16th in the Premier League after a dire start to the season, but they are currently in the Europa League, which with this club should be a winnable competition depending on who's in it, and they haven't yet started the FA Cup obviously, so although it would be sooner than I thought, we could be heading over to England. I'll let you know if we get the interview.

Saturday 6th December 2025: Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga) We probably had the best chance in this game, but unfortunately, we drew 0-0 away at Bayer Leverkusen, and there wasn't too much to write home about, despite some chances for both teams. We hit the bar again in this game, which leads me to think again we can't finish our dinner unfortunately. Something has to change for me. 

Youth Intake Preview: We do have an excellent intake apparently coming up, but don't forget, we had this last season, and I believe it only ended up being a good one. We will wait and see if indeed we are still here.

Filipe Relvas Injured: Our injury record is getting slightly better at least, but Filipe Relvas gets the first bad one for a little while. He's managed to pull abdominal muscles while turning sharply in a training session, and unfortunately for him, he will be out for about two weeks. 

Julian Ryerson in Norwegian Team of the Year: Julian Ryerson has been recognised for his good work in defence in 2025, as he makes the players' team of the year in his homeland of Norway. 

Wednesday 10th December 2025: Borussia Dortmund 0-1 Inter Milan (UEFA Champions League League Phase) We lost our second consecutive game at home in all competitions by a single goal to nil, this time we couldn't complete the Milanese double. The only goal came from a free-kick. Dimarco's free kick hit the bar but Marcus Thuram headed the ball into the far corner to give Inter a massive win for them, and a very disappointing defeat for us. 

Cameron Archer Injured: Cameron Archer has now got injured unfortunately. He's only made one appearance so far this season with only a 6.40 rating, and now he's pulled his hamstring and won't be available for two weeks. 

December Results: It's been a shorter than expected month at Borussia Dortmund, as we lost 1-0 to FC Koln in the DFB-Pokal Third Round, followed by a 0-0 draw with Bayer Leverkusen. We then lost 1-0 at home to Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League. There's a reason why I've done this. We are leaving Borussia Dortmund.

Aston Villa have approached me: Yes, we are moving to England, as we will become the new manager of Aston Villa on a 3-year deal, although I very much doubt we will be there that long. For me, this is a bit of a stop gap while we try and win the Europa League in this save. But, if I do get them to qualify for the Europa Conference League, we will participate in that to kill two birds with one stone. But it means we're saying goodbye to our first club. And what a ride it's been.

Borussia Dortmund Final Stats: We managed 118 games at Borussia Dortmund, and we won one League title, in the second season. We won 53% of our games which is a good record. Let's look at how we leave them.

Bundesliga Table As We Leave: As we finish our first spell in Germany, as we will have to come back later down the line, we do leave Borussia Dortmund in 7th after 14 games, on 23 points. I've taken this club as far as I can, and we won the Bundesliga, so to have that under my belt is incredible. Eintracht Frankfurt look like they're about to run away with it.

Final Word as Borussia Dortmund Manager: My first ever club in this save has been a success. In our first season, we ended in the top four and we qualified for the Champions League. In the second season, we won a dream Bundesliga title in just my second season as a manager, and then I'm obviously leaving them in a European qualifying spot. But more recently, it's not happening unfortunately, and I think I was starting to lose the players. I'm thanking the players for their efforts, they've been incredible. The fans love the club, and so do I. They do have a special place in my heart. But we are moving to the city of Birmingham, and to the Premier League for the first time as we try to win every trophy across Europe. I will take a look and see how I can do with them, as there are three domestic trophies in England. This could be a longer stay in the country, not necessarily at the club. I'll see you next time, when we move to Aston Villa.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - Introduction

Ladies and gentlemen, you will see I have changed the club name in my header for this save, and that's because in the last update, we left Germany and Borussia Dortmund after two and a half season following being knocked out by FC Koln in the DFB-Pokal. I looked across Europe for a new job. I was looking for a team who may be able to win a smaller European competition like the Europa League or the Conference League to get things started. I've found them. We're moving to England to manage the 1982 European Cup winners.

Welcome to Aston Villa: We have been confirmed the new Aston Villa manager on a 2 and a half year deal until the end of the 2027-28 season. They are the current Europa Conference League holders, and are currently playing in the UEFA Europa League. If we can win that this season, Aston Villa will have won the three main current European trophies, and I'll get my first in this save. 

Best XI: One thing to take straight away is that we have Tammy Abraham at the club, in front of Nmecha who we sold to Villa last season, so I'm looking forward to being reunited with him. With Ramsey and McGinn on the wings, we have some familiar faces from the first season. Martinez is still the number one at Villa, so I don't see how they're struggling in the league so much. Saying that, they are on a recent winning run, so we do have something to hold on to and run on with.

Board Expectations: Above are the board objectives in our first season and as we carry on at the club. They would like to do really well in both Europe and the FA Cup, and to finish mid-table in the Premier League. We will look at the Premier League table shortly, cause I think we could be able to do more than that. The club are currently 13th.

Supporter Expectations: The fans want us to play attacking, entertaining football, which I think they can be rightly expecting, and that's what I will be going for. West Brom are bottom of the Premier League I believe, and both Birmingham and Wolves are in the Championship, so we should be better than our rivals. I do find the objective to become an established Premier League team a strange one, as they won't have been relegated in this save, and will have been in the Premier League and doing rather well in it since 2019.

Youth Intake Preview: Aston Villa are well known for their youth academy, more recently players like Jack Grealish have come through it. We've apparently got a 5-star Youth Intake coming later in the season, with the best ones being central midfielders and strikers, so it's well worth having a look at them when they come through. 

Meet the Squad: I've sorted these in terms of star rating, because I would be here all day going through each individual member in the squad, and I do have work at 12pm in real life (This is being written at 9:40am). I'll show you the squad planner, and where we could be likely to improve.

Squad Planner: To be honest, I would say I'll try and get another one in to cover at left-back, but all-in-all, we have a really decent team. Martinez obviously has the place in goal over anyone else, and will be my number one. We have three old men at left-back, so maybe during the January transfer window, and in the Summer as well, we may sign someone younger who could run down the wings, send players on the overlap. Tammy Abraham is also a great first choice striker to have, with Ollie Watkins just behind him and Vincent Boniface. 

Premier League Table: Manchester City currently lead the way at the top on 36 points, with Liverpool and Newcastle United chasing them on 33 points apiece. Manchester United sit fourth on 31 points. There's a tight race for 5th I guess, with Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City all within a point of each other. The three teams at the bottom seem to be getting cut adrift already, as West Brom, Middlesbrough and Luton Town are all struggling on 4, 5 and 6 points respectively. 

Final Word: We have made it over to England and I'm looking forward to being part of the future of Aston Villa. I do apologise it's so short, but I thought I would give an update as to what is going on. I hope you enjoy the move, and the action will start in the next update released tomorrow. I'll see you then. 

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - December

Hello and welcome to the latest update. We haven't moved forwards any dates just yet, but our first game is coming up as Villa manager. As you know, we are currently sat in 13th place, but we're only 5 points off Europe with the places they've currently got, and we're only 6 points off 5th. I would say the top four may be out of reach, but we can certainly get back into Europe for next season. The other thing I can think that may be positive is if we weren't to get the Europa League this season, we could qualify for the Conference League and try and get the club's hands back on that for next season. But first things first, we must take a look and see who we have in our first few games, in the West Midlands. 

December Fixtures: So we have joined after the Ajax game, so far this month, we've beaten Nottingham Forest 3-1, won away at Brentford 2-0, and won 3-1 at home to Ajax in a result which has left Aston Villa in 4th in the Europa League League Phase. We have some tough matches coming up this month, as we start our tenure with a home game against third placed Newcastle United, followed by a trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal. We then go to Brighton, before the Christmas period features a game against West Ham on Boxing Day, followed by an away match at Bournemouth.

Sunday 14th December 2025: Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle United (Premier League) My first game as a manager in the Premier League and we had the lead for 67 minutes, but as Newcastle grew into this game, I just knew it wasn't going to be a first game win. The first goal for Villa under my management was from a corner, like so many were as manager of Borussia Dortmund. Douglas Luiz's corner was defended awfully by Newcastle, Lewis Miley seemingly nodding on to Ezri Konsa, who got my first goal back in England. Alexander Isak thought he'd equalised for Newcastle United but it was ruled out for offside. Unfortunately, that's where our good luck would dry up. Three minutes from time, Joe Willock found a reverse ball over his right shoulder to the left for Bruno Guimaraes to chest down, take a touch to cut inside, and his deflected effort deceived Martinez and made it 1-1.

Premier League Team of the Week 16th December 2025: The team of the week is graced by one of my players for the first time in the Premier League, as Ezri Konsa scored the only goal for us against Newcastle United. He gets into the team of the week for this one. 

Wednesday 17th December 2025: Arsenal 3-0 Aston Villa (Premier League) The Emirates is a very tough place to get a result and it showed here as we were outplayed by Arsenal 3-0. The game was killed stone dead in two first half minutes. An Arsenal play from the middle found it's way to Odegaard, who found a pinpoint pass through to an on-running Bakayo Saka on the right, and he fired in off the post cutting in for 1-0. A minute later, we gave the ball away stupidly, and Kai Havertz played it short to Martinelli running forward on the left, and he fired it in off the right hand post for 2-0, leaving Martinez no chance. The final goal was a first goal for the club from Lucas Paqueta, hit from 25 yards out along the floor, and Martinez couldn't get there. 3-0 was the full time result.

Saturday 20th December 2025: Brighton & Hove Albion 3-2 Aston Villa (Premier League) We lost our second game in our opening three games as Aston Villa manager, after we had an absolutely useless first half and lost 3-2 to Brighton. They were given a penalty for god knows what early on, and Joao Pedro fired home for 1-0. Their second goal came from a Christian Eriksen corner and he found Van Hecke rising at the near post for 2-0. They scored just after half time to really wrap the game up. Eriksen found Baleba, who saw Mitoma running through, untracked and unmarked, and he slotted into the bottom right hand corner for 3-0. Then Tammy Abraham started scoring. The first goal back came from a Mings cross into the box from the left, Bailey hit the post, and a Van Hecke clearance hit Abraham in the chest and it rebounded in for 3-1. We then made it 3-2 by scoring an absolute worldie. Tammy Abraham fired into the top left corner from 20 yards out and it was game on. A Jacob Ramsey equaliser was ruled out for offside though it really didn't look like it. We need to start picking results up though, so this decision doesn't backfire.

Friday 26th December 2025: Aston Villa 4-2 West Ham United (Premier League) Our first win in our fourth game as Aston Villa manager, as we overcame a West Ham United side who have just sacked David Moyes, 4-2. Tyrone Mings was racing down the left hand side for the first goal. As his cross was blocked, Saelemaekers played the ball into the middle of the box, and John McGinn's shot was heavily deflected past the keeper for 1-0. Saelemaekers got on the score sheet himself next, Mosquera's throw in was played to Kamara on the right, who lofted it to the back post, and the aforementioned Saelemaekers found the bottom corner from the head for 2-0. We passed West Ham to death as we hit the third goal. The final ball ending with John McGinn, moving slightly forward to Ollie Watkins, and he fired into the roof of the net for 3-0. Watkins turned provider in the 56th minute, his scoop ball over the top went to Saelemaekers on the left who ran inside and fired into the bottom right hand corner for number four. West Ham got back into the game somewhat after 63 minutes. A free-kick near the half way line from Alvarez found Bergwijn on the left, who took the ball down and fired into the corner for 4-1. It was 4-2 with an unfortunate Alex Moreno own goal from a Luis Suarez (not that one) volley.

Monday 29th December 2025: AFC Bournemouth 1-2 Aston Villa (Premier League) We picked up a vital three points away at Bournemouth, who are having a decent season sat in the top half. A goalless first half wasn't the perfect start to the game for either team, but it came alive in the second half. Leon Bailey swung a free-kick into the mixer which Mings got to. The first header was saved, but his second header found the back of the net, past the keeper for 1-0. A poor clearance from Bournemouth led to the second. Ramsey had it on the left and he swung it in low, where Victor Boniface met it on the volley and scored his fourth of the season for a 2-0 lead. Kerkez got one back for them with 9 minutes to go. Bournemouth started playing it in triangles before Kerkez received the ball 25 yards out, turned and shot across the ground into the bottom right hand corner to give them a chance. We held on though, and we've had a strong end to 2025.

Gabriel Moscardo Injured: Unfortunately, Gabriel Moscardo twisted his ankle during the Bournemouth game, and is out for around the next 4 weeks. 

Premier League Team of the Week 30th December 2025: The final team of the week of the calendar year sees John McGinn and Alexis Saelemaekers get into the team of the week, after a very impressive Christmas period.

North American XI 2025: Leon Bailey gets onto the left hand side of the North American team of the year.

Another Award: Omar Khedr has won the African Young Footballer of the Year, and it's great to see the youngsters get the awards as well.

December Results: So from when we've joined, our form has been inconsistent to say the least. We started off with that 1-1 draw against Newcastle United, before we fell to a crushing 3-0 defeat against Arsenal. We nearly secured a great comeback but fell short at Brighton, losing 3-2. We then took out that anger on West Ham, by beating them 4-2 after going 4-0 up early in the second half. And then, we picked up our first away win at the club, winning 2-1 away at Bournemouth.

Premier League Table Update: Manchester City still lead the way on 43 points, but Newcastle United are keeping up the pressure on 40. Liverpool are a further point behind in 3rd, and then it's tight for the final top four spot, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all on 38 points. Tottenham are in 7th on 37 points, only one point off the Champions League spots. Leicester are falling off in terms of the European spots. We're in 12th on 27 points. At the bottom, it's looking dire for the bottom 3. Both West Bromwich Albion and Luton Town are on 7 points, a full 10 points from safety. Middlesbrough are on 9, picking up their first win this month. Leeds look relatively safe at the moment.

Final Word: I believe we've found an attacking system that works, but it leaves us exposed at the back and that's something I'm going to need to work on. Picking up two wins over the Christmas weekend really helped our chances of hopefully hanging on to a European place should we fail to win the Europa League. Speaking of that, we go back into that next month. As for me, I've not appeared in that competition since Season 1, and that was an abysmal showing. Two years later, can I go for the title? We've got Manchester City in the FA Cup Third Round, so I'm almost sort of treating it as if we're already out. I don't see us getting anything at the Etihad. It's been a decent first few weeks at Aston Villa. I'll be back for the January update as we move into 2026.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - January

Welcome back to the save and it's now a brand new year as we welcome in 2026, and we have settled into the job here at Villa Park. We ended 2025 with 2 vital wins against both West Ham United and AFC Bournemouth, and left us within touching distance of the top half of the table. Can we extend that winning run to 3 or more in the league? We will find out very shortly as we do have a game being played on New Year's Day. We also start an FA Cup run at the weekend, and also we've got the UEFA Europa League continuing this month, as we try to confirm a top 8 place, and a place automatically in the Round of 16. Let's take a look at the fixtures as we open 2026.

January Fixtures: We start things off at the brand new Bramley-Moore Dock Stadium, as we play Everton, in what I believe is Villa's first match ever at this stadium. We then travel to Manchester City in the FA Cup, in what I'm sure won't be a cup run this season. But again, you never know. We then have two back-to-back home matches in the Premier League, against Manchester United, and then a must-win match against Leicester City if we're going to be anywhere near Europe, as Leicester are chasing those places down as well. We then play two games away from home in the Premier League to finish the month, against Bodo/Glimt and St Gallen.

Thursday 1st January 2026: Everton 2-3 Aston Villa (Premier League) We're gonna score one more than you! Well that's the way it feels anyway, as we won for the first time at Everton's new stadium, 3-2. Mosquera set the first goal up by sending a cross into the middle of the box. Jacob Ramsey headed the ball on, and found Tammy Abraham who managed to squeeze the ball under the keeper to give us a first-minute lead. Everton equalised after 12 minutes. A free kick on the left by Arthur Gudmundsson found Jarrad Branthwaite at the far post and he nodded it home for 1-1. We retook the lead after 19 minutes, when Kamara ran down the wing, his ball eventually found it's way to Douglas Luiz. His brilliant shot was deflected by Tammy Abraham, and it deceived the goalkeeper who put his weight the wrong side of the goal to make it 2-1. We doubled the advantage in the second half, with good football between Mosquera and Nmecha (who we have rejoined since selling him to Villa). Mosquera found McGinn, who in turn played it to Jacob Ramsey in the middle of the box, and his first time finish found the bottom corner, for a well-deserved goal for him. Everton got another one back with just 12 minutes remaining. Nakamura made a run down the left, beating three defenders as he ran to the byline and into the area, he played it across goal, and De Arrascaeta was there in the middle to give the Toffees some hope. But it wasn't to be, and we held on for our third win in a row. 

Sunday 4th January 2026: Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa (The Emirates FA Cup Third Round) This game was a sickener. We stayed in it until the very last minute, but unfortunately the league leaders nicked it at the Etihad, and Manchester City go through to the Fourth Round. We took the lead in the 6th minute. Leon Bailey swung in the corner from the left, and Diego Carlos got to the ball at the far post to nod home for 1-0. We held the lead for 22 minutes, before City equalised. Gvardiol threw the ball into play, had it played back to him, and he found the cross into Alvarez, who rose above everyone to nod home for 1-1. It looked like we were going to take them back to Villa Park, until Jeremy Doku found a running Jack Grealish on the left, and played a lofted ball through to him, one-on-one with Martinez, and he chipped it over him to grab the last minute winner, and send us packing from this competition.

Youri Tielemans Returns to the Club: Youri Tielemans was out on loan at Atletico Madrid and had only made 10 appearances for them. I decided he could be really good for the team at the moment, if we are pushing to make top four, and we ended his loan now for him to integrate back into the team.

Philippe Coutinho Retires: Philippe Coutinho has decided to announce his retirement at the end of the season, those dates look like after the World Cup in America. He hasn't played for the club this season, and was more recently in Qatar playing for Al-Duhail. He was one of the great players back in the day, but he will retire with a bit of a lull at the end of his career. 

Premier League Team of the Week: 6th January 2026 Both Mosquera and Tammy Abraham make the team of the week after a great performance away at Everton in the Premier League, a result which gives us so much momentum heading into the next stage of the Premier League season.

Marlon Blake from Minneapolis City: A young American forward has come to the club with a decent future. His natural fitness is at a 16, with his agility and his pace at a 15. His dribbling, finishing and technique also stands out at 14 which is great to see from a striker. They reckon he will be a decent Championship forward at the moment. 

Josh Feeney to QPR: Young centre-back Josh Feeney is moving to League One side, QPR until the end of the season, to get some decent first team football. He's been on loan at Plymouth and Coventry fairly recently, but will drop down a level from where he was playing for the London side. 

Tim Iroegbunam to Bristol City: Another young player going out on loan is 22-year-old midfielder, Tim Iroegbunam, as he has joined Bristol City, who currently ply their trade in Sky Bet Championship, and not only that, but they are currently in 7th place, and pushing for a play off place. I'd like to see Tim use this experience to try and be successful and get Bristol City over the line this season.

Saturday 10th January 2026: Aston Villa 2-0 Manchester United (Premier League) A very dull game went our way as the only thing that made this game interesting was the final ten minutes, as we defeated Manchester United 2-0. A Douglas Luiz free kick from the right with 10 minutes to go found Pau Torres at the far post, and the centre-half got his first goal of the season. We then doubled the advantage with about a minute to go of normal time, as United failed to clear a Douglas Luiz corner. Tammy Abraham shot into the ground, but it was deflected onto the head of Pau Torres who nodded it home to win the game at Villa Park. Our second Premier League win of the new year, and hopefully the form can continue as we face Leicester City next.

Rory Wilson to Leyton Orient: Our young Scottish striker, Rory Wilson, has agreed a loan deal with Leyton Orient of League One, as they fight their relegation battle. They say he will be a squad player, but for me, he should be expecting to start some games as he may be better than some of the strikers they've got. 

Premier League Team of the Week: 13th January 2026 Pau Torres put on a match winning performance against Manchester United, as he got 2 goals and kept Simeone's side out. 

Saturday 17th January 2026: Aston Villa 3-1 Leicester City (Premier League) Our third league win of the month came at home as West Midlands met East Midlands, with us defeating Leicester City 3-1. Poor play at the back from Leicester City allowed Tammy Abraham to intercept a back pass, and he put the ball into the corner from a narrow angle for 1-0. Leicester equalised in the 4th minute, as a ball over the top from Kristiansen found Soumare in the box, and he half-volleyed home to make it 1-1. Jacob Ramsey set up the second goal straight after half time. His first pass was blocked, but he tried again, and this time Abraham ran onto it, and he slotted into the bottom right corner to make it 2-1 to us. John McGinn sealed all three points just after the hour. An Alex Moreno free-kick was played straight to Kamara in the middle, who played it forward to McGinn. He cut inside, turned his man, ran into the area through the middle, and he slotted past the keeper to score an insane goal to make it 3-1.

Five Wins In A Row: This is always great to see, and our attacking power is really being shown off at the moment, as we have now won 5 consecutive games both sides of the New Year. It seems to be the team are saying we're gonna score one more than you, and it seems to be working.

Tammy Abraham Moves to Real Madrid: I tried to resist, but Abraham wasn't too happy I turned the first offer down. He has signed off with a flourish here at Aston Villa, as Real Madrid have paid £53,000,000 for the English forward, and we are going to take a look at our finances in a moment. This will mean Boniface and Watkins will probably be our forward two for now. Tammy deserves this move as he starts to hit his prime and he is a big loss for us. Hopefully we can bring someone decent in, and bring the squad together while they are left behind. 

Finances at the Club: Even after selling Tammy Abraham, we haven't got all the money in the world to get a decent replacement as I had to make an adjustment for the wage budget to not be in the red. We have £13,000,000 in the transfer budget, but our wage budget is now up to £2,800,000 after making a slight adjustment.

Ben Broggio to Harrogate Town: We've sent another player out on loan until the end of the season, with our promising winger Ben Broggio, heading to League Two side Harrogate Town on loan until the end of the season. 

Premier League Team of the Week: 20th January 2026 Tammy Abraham's final performance for us gets him into the team of the week after his performance and two goals against Leicester City. Thank you Tammy. 

Ewan Simpson to Swindon Town: Ewan Simpson will spend the rest of his season in the Vanarama National League, as he moves to Swindon Town on loan in the middle of an intriguing promotion battle back into the EFL.

Calum Moreland to Boreham Wood: Another youngster going off to the Vanarama National League, although at the moment, not a very exciting young player. Calum Moreland is going to Boreham Wood on loan until the end of the season.

Sofiane Diop Injured: Sofiane Diop hasn't played much for me off the bench, but he is impactful off it. Unfortunately, his upper leg has taken an impact of a more horrible kind as he leaves training with a gashed leg.

Thursday 22nd January 2026: Bodo/Glimt 1-4 Aston Villa (UEFA Europa League League Phase) My good start continues with a 4-1 win away at Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt. Bodo/Glimt's season starts in March, so obviously they didn't have a lot of match sharpness and that showed from as early as the 5th minute. Leon Bailey took the ball down the right wing for the first goal. He played it back to Ezri Konsa, who ran into the box, but was dispossessed. The ball rolled to Matty Cash, who took a touch, and hit the shot from inside the D and it hit the post and went in for 1-0. We doubled the advantage just 3 minutes later. Matty Cash started the move this time, playing it to Douglas Luiz, who played it on to Boniface. He turned his man from the middle, and managed to head out wide left. He played it back into the area, and in the middle to steer it home was Ollie Watkins, who slid it in for 2-0. Another passing move went from right to the middle. All resulting in Jacob Ramsey being found in the area, and he slotted it in for us to be 3-0 up inside 16 minutes. Bodo/Glimt got one back four minutes later. Bjorkan played a one-two from a throw-in, and when he played the cross from the left, up rose Ricardinho to power past the keeper, and to make it 3-1. The final goal was the perfect touch. Leon Bailey played a long scooped ball over the top of the defence, into Boniface who was in the box. He didn't need a second touch, as he slotted past the onrushing keeper first time, and we qualify for the Round of 16 with a game to spare.

Diego Carlos to Palmeiras in the Summer: Diego Carlos' contract runs out in the Summer, so Brazilian club Palmeiras have decided to sign him at the end of his contract. He's done his job so far this season since I've been here, and if he wants to go back to Brazil, I'm not going to deny him the move home. The other offer was from Flamengo, so he was always going back to Brazil. Let's enjoy the last few months with him in the team.

Thursday 29th January 2026: St Gallen 2-4 Aston Villa (UEFA Europa League League Phase) We completed our UEFA Europa League League Phase journey with a 4-2 win away at St Gallen of Switzerland, which left us second in the entire competition, and comfortably through to the last 16. St Gallen took a shock lead after 8 minutes. Witzig started the move down the left, playing a one-two with Okoroji, and he ran at the defence down the left, one-on-one with Martinez, and he slotted it into the far post for 1-0. We equalised 10 minutes later. Mings played the ball to Douglas Luiz, who played a nice tight pass ahead of him into Jacob Ramsey. Ramsey played it across the six-yard box and McGinn tucked it away at the right post for 1-1. We scored two goals in three minutes to take the game away from them. A Douglas Luiz corner from the right found Boniface at the near post, who headed straight at the keeper, but he couldn't keep it out and we made it 2-1. Two minutes later, McGinn sort of turned provider after a nice passing move found it's way to him, but he was barged off the ball. In came Mosquera from the right, and he slotted it into the far corner for 3-1. It was 3-2 after 50 minutes. Gortler played it wide right to von Moos, who played it back to him in the area. He took a touch to lose his man, and then fired past Martinez for 3-2. Mings and Ramsey then swapped passes before Ramsey hung a cross in the air from the left, and Leon Bailey found himself under it at the far post, to run out 4-2 winners and another strong forward performance.

Saud Abdulhamid to Marseille: Our Saudi right back, Saud Abdulhamid has just completed a loan with the option to buy to Marseille in Ligue 1, after I couldn't find a place for him in the squad really for the rest of the season so it just frees it up a little bit. He's going there on loan until the end of the season, with Marseille potentially paying £10,000,000 in the Summer to have him full time. 

Felix Nmecha to Anderlecht: We've moved Felix Nmecha on again in this career mode, he must think I hate him. But he goes to Anderlecht until the end of the season, and again, the Belgian giants have the option to buy him in the Summer for £13,250,000. I do rate him, he's a quality player. But like at Dortmund, I just don't find him good enough as it stands to have him in the side. 

January Results: Our first full month as Aston Villa manager, and it was very impressive from this team. We started the month winning 3-2 away at Everton, before travelling to Manchester City and taking an early lead, but ultimately losing 2-1 to City in the FA Cup. We played Manchester United a week later at home, and beat them 2-0 with two late goals. We then beat Leicester 3-1 at home, before our run of two consecutive Europa League away games began with a 4-1 win at Bodo/Glimt, and then a week later, we won 4-2 away at St Gallen.

Premier League Table Update: Liverpool have taken over the lead at the top of the Premier League on 54 points, a point clear of second-placed Manchester City. Both Newcastle and Arsenal have dropped off a little at the top, and they both sit on 45 points, with Manchester United and Chelsea both on 44 outside the top 4. Tottenham sit seventh on 40 points, although there are 5 teams within 4 points of them, in Brighton, Bournemouth, Leicester, Brentford and Aston Villa chasing down that final European spot. The bottom 3 are still cut adrift, with Luton on 8 points, West Brom on 10 and Middlesbrough on 12 points, with the Boro being 8 points adrift of safety.

UEFA Europa League Update: The top 8 teams to qualify for the last 16 are as follows: Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Bayer Leverkusen, Lazio, Benfica, Nice, Fiorentina and Ajax. Those teams will have to wait and see who they'll get in the last 16, as all teams from 9th to 24th will be drawn together in the next few days. Spare a thought for Mura, as they end bottom of the league phase after losing all 8 games.

Final Word: I've had a really good first full month at this club, and I never thought I'd say that as a Coventry City fan. Our only defeat was at the Etihad, which really is no disgrace, and we made it very easy for ourselves in the Europa League and the Premier League. The FA Cup will have to wait for next season. In terms of transfers done so far, we've not brought anyone major in, but Tammy Abraham moved to Real Madrid for over £50,000,000 but most of it has been brought in to sort out debts for the rest of the season. I don't think we will be bringing players in on deadline day, or first team players anyway, but we shall see. I will see you for the next update, as we find out who we will face in the last 16 of the Europa League, and we try and get closer to those European places in the Premier League. I hope you're enjoying it. Thank you for the support. I'll see you in February.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - February

Welcome back to the Glory Hunter Challenge. Keeping tabs on it, it is club 2, and season 3 of the save. We had a great January. We won 3 out of 3 in the Premier League, and we confirmed our last 16 place in the Europa League, which means we don't have to worry about any extra games this month. We were knocked out of the FA Cup, but I will add, it's no disgrace to lose to City. The aim is to do something special while in England, as we have three different titles to play for in this country. Whether it comes with Aston Villa or not remains to be seen. This month, two things happen off the bat. We have a game against Luton Town on February 1st to kick this month off, which we must be winning. Then on the back of that, we have Transfer Deadline Day, which obviously I'll play through, but nothing much is expected to happen. Let's take a look at this month's fixture list. 

February Fixtures: All our matches this month come from the Premier League, a good way of preserving a lot of our energy this month. We start off against rock-bottom Luton Town, who are seriously struggling after returning to the top flight after a year back in the Championship. We then face a big game in our bid to qualify for Europe through the league, as we head to Stamford Bridge and we take on 6th-placed Chelsea, also wanting a top four place this season. We then face 15th-placed Crystal Palace, who are probably safe from relegation already, and there will be nothing too much ambitious about them for the rest of the season. We finish the month with a trip to Elland Road, to play Leeds United, who despite their 17th spot at the moment, have a nice gap to the bottom three at the beginning of the month.

Hugo Alba from Barcelona: We have a new young striker, a good young Spanish striker who has come through the ranks at Barcelona. He's only 19 years old, but has played twice for the Barcelona first team which showed they had some faith in him. We've decided to bring him to Aston Villa, and for now he will play for the Under 21s. We only signed him for £140,000 which could rise by an extra £40,000 which if he works out for the club, could be a shrewd move, and provide him with a future in England. I'm excited about this player. 

Sunday 1st February 2026: Aston Villa 4-1 Luton Town (Premier League) Our winning run in the Premier League continues as we made it 6-in-a-row, thrashing Luton Town 4-1, in a game where Emiliano Martinez sustained a broken finger. The opening goal didn't arrive until the start of the second half. Boniface picked up the ball down the left, but was tackled as the ball rolled to Moreno. He played it into Saelemaekers on the left side of the box, who rolled it into the middle for Leon Bailey, and the Jamaican tucked it into the corner to make it 1-0. Luton equalised five minutes later. Doughty picked up the ball in the middle of our half, and just kept on running, round the defence, into the box and to the byline. He pulled it back for Strefezza, and the Brazilian had the easy job of tapping it in for 1-1. Leon Bailey in effect, set up the second goal. His corner from the left was only partially cleared to Kamara, who's initial header was saved by Kaminski, but he managed to volley from the tightest of angles to make it 2-1. Matty Cash received the ball on the right hand side, and found Ollie Watkins running into the box, who managed to put it into the left corner for 3-1. We finished it off completely in the 98th minute. Diop was on left corner duties this time. He swung it in, and it was cleared to Diego Carlos who headed back to Moreno, who produced the strangest header of the football, so much so, it looped over everyone, and nestled into the bottom corner for 4-1. Our goal difference is back to 0, and we are now in the top half. 

Emiliano Martinez Injured: Emiliano Martinez was able to continue the game as he said he felt ok, but unfortunately, he will now be out for up to 6 weeks after sustaining that broken finger against Luton Town. I just hope our second choice keeper is up for the challenge.

Trai-Varn Mulley to Wealdstone: One of our decent young prospects according to the coaching team, Trai-Varn Mulley is going to play for Wealdstone until the end of the season, and they see him as an important player for their side. They're currently 10th in the National League with the chance to go into the play-offs this season. He could be a good signing for the London-based outfit. 

Brodi Hughes to Grimsby Town: Another youngster who seems like he could make a difference for a team lower down the ladder, Brodi Hughes is going to League Two leaders Grimsby Town, to become most likely, their resident right-back for the rest of the season. It could be good for him to pick up a medal as long as Grimsby Town sustain their lead at the top of the fourth tier. 

Gabriel Moscardo to Borussia Dortmund: Our former club helping us out, while we help our former club out as well. Gabriel Moscardo has left Aston Villa, and will play for defending Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund. They've paid £28,000,000 for him as well, which helps out our finances out a treat as well, as we now have just over £35,000,000 to play with on Deadline Day, and potentially getting players sorted out for the Summer. He's been really strong for us, and I hope he enjoys it at Borussia Dortmund, like we did most of the time. 

Leo Saca from Barcelona: Leo Saca has joined the club from Barcelona. Another player we've taken from the Barcelona academy, who's decided he wants to come and live in Birmingham. He will turn out for the Under 21 side, and with him being a Moldovan full international, he has that quality that we need at the club. 

Iker Villar from Sevilla: Villar comes to Villa! OK, that was terrible, but this young striker doesn't seem to be. His composure and his off the ball rating at 20 years old is clear to see he's quality in tough matches. His dribbling, finishing and heading are also what you want for a striker of his age. His jumping reach isn't the best but I'm sure we can train him up on that. He's come in from Sevilla, where he has played a game for the first team. He also cost us £8,000,000 which may seem like a gamble, but again, we will watch how he progresses. 

Triston Rowe to Morecambe: Triston Rowe has gone to Morecambe on loan until the next transfer window. He's going to be a strong and important player at League Two level, and Morecambe are chasing a play-off place at the moment. 

Luka Lynch to Sutton United: Another young player from the lower age teams is off to League Two to get some experience in the first team. Sutton United have come in for Luka Lynch, a young central midfielder, and Sutton are placed precariously above the relegation places, so hopefully he can be the man to galvanise that team.

Leonidas Stergiou from St Gallen: A player that we played against only last week, Leonidas Stergiou impressed me at the back for St Gallen, so I thought I would sign him from the Swiss outfit for £11,000,000. He's got decent physical attributes for a centre-back. His mentals are strong as well. His tackling is at a 14, and his first touch, marking and heading are strong and can only get better. I'm looking forward to having him about in my squad.

Landry Farre from Barcelona: Another young defender who has come from the youth ranks at Barcelona, Landry Farre has come in for just £235,000. He's an exciting young talent, with loads of potential to improve as he develops further with us. His physicals and mentals are all respectable so far, and his technical attributes could be something we work on as well, with 11s and 12s across the board at the moment. 

Omar Khedr to Brest: Omar Khedr had people coming after him all over the place, and he's decided to move to Brest in France on loan until the end of the season. I'm not sure he'll get as many games as he could have done in the Championship, where there was also interest, but let's see how this helps his development. 

Lebo Mothiba to Vizela: The South African striker, Lebo Mothiba, is going out on loan to Vizela for the rest of the season. Unfortunately, he's not someone we need in the squad, but this could be the way forward for him to get a permanent transfer in the Summer, as Vizela have an option to buy, and they do have him as an important player.

Landry Farre to Hull City: He has just arrived at the club from Barcelona, and he won't be getting any first team football with us for the rest of the season, but he will spend his opening months in England, in the Championship at Hull City.

Players In: Just for clarification, these are all the players we got in during our first transfer window at the football club, including a new centre-back who will get a few games for the rest of the season in Leondias Stergiou from St Gallen. We also have brought in several players to be used in future Villa squads in seasons to come. 

Players Out: In return, here are the players we've sent away from the club. Three first team players who have had appearances this season, including Saud Abdulhamid, Felix Nmecha and Gabriel Moscardo leaving the club, the initial two on loan, and Moscardo off to Borussia Dortmund for £28,000,000.

Premier League Team of the Week: 3rd February 2026: Alex Moreno gets into the team of the week this time around, after his top performance against Luton Town, topping it off with a goal at the death.

Ezri Konsa New Contract: Ezri Konsa has signed a new four-year deal, keeping him at the football club until 2030. He scored my first goal as manager of Aston Villa in that match against Newcastle United, and he's definitely an important player in this team, he plays more often than not. He's worth £90,000 a week now, and I hope he goes on to prove that he deserves this contract. 

Saturday 7th February 2026: Chelsea 2-4 Aston Villa (Premier League) Our winning run in the Premier League continues as I stuck with the attacking formation against Chelsea, and managed to beat them 4-2. Mosquera helped open the scoring by taking the ball down the right and running into their half. He found Boniface who played a through ball through to John McGinn, who went one-on-one with Kobel, who used to play for my Borussia Dortmund side, and he curved it home around him for a 1-0 lead. They equalised through poor defensive decisions at the back for us. Ezri Konsa tried to play the ball back to Scherpen, who's deputising for Martinez while he's out, and Romelu Lukaku slotted home for an easy finish. We maintained our grip on the game as we approached half time. Douglas Luiz's ball for the second goal was intercepted at the back, but was rolled onto Jacob Ramsey, who fired it into the corner to give us a 2-1 lead. We doubled it before half-time. Douglas Luiz played a straightforward free-kick to McGinn, who was all on his own. He played it across goal, and Ezri Konsa ran in at the back post to tap home for 3-1. Chelsea got one back after 51 minutes. Paez ran down the left, before finding Joao Gomes in the box, who took a first time shot into the bottom right corner to give them hope. Despite the fact they kept going for that equaliser, we finished them off once and for all with 3 minutes to go of normal time. McGinn played the ball to Boniface and made a run, while Boniface found him with a ball over the top at the end of that run. He managed to slot it into the bottom corner to take home the victory and make it seven wins in a row in the league.

Premier League Team of the Week: 10th February 2026 Both John McGinn and Victor Boniface are in the team of the week after their great individual performances against Chelsea, a game which helped us to have a decent crack at European football.

Kjell Scherpen Injured: Kjell Scherpen, who replaced Emiliano Martinez after injury against Chelsea, is now out injured himself for up to two weeks after picking up a pulled thigh. Fortunately, he will be back sooner rather than later, but now it means that for a unprecedented occasion for me, my third choice goalkeeper, Filip Marschall, will play against Crystal Palace. 

Monday 16th February 2026: Aston Villa 3-1 Crystal Palace (Premier League) We made it eight Premier League victories in a row with a 3-1 defeat of Crystal Palace. A beautiful passing move from us allowed us to hurt Palace, all ending up with a scoop over the top from Ramsey to Ollie Watkins, who brought it down, and fired past Henderson for 1-0. Odsonne Edouard equalised from the penalty spot, sending Marschall the wrong way for 1-1. Douglas Luiz played the ball from the middle to the right towards Matty Cash, who held on to it for a second, but played it back to Douglas Luiz who tried the shot, saved by Henderson, but Ramsey was there to slot it away and give us the lead again for 2-1. We sealed the deal on 70 minutes, a floating ball from out left by Jacob Ramsey, found Ollie Watkins at the back post with the header and it went in off the post for 3-1. Ollie Watkins and Jacob Ramsey were incredible today, and we keep up the pressure on the top 7.

Premier League Team of the Week: 17th February 2026 And both of those players make the team of the week, after pulling apart Crystal Palace at home. What a result, what a team since I've taken over.

UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Draw: After obviously not having to play in the Europa League playoff round, we get a tie against Rangers in the Round of 16. The Scottish side overcame St Gallen 4-3 on aggregate, but now I see us cruising through this tie to be honest, unless the Scottish sides are now overpowered.

Saturday 21st February 2026: Leeds United 1-0 Aston Villa (Premier League) We were very much nowhere near our normal selves in this game, as we fell to a 1-0 defeat against lowly Leeds United. The only goal came from a cross from the left by Sinisterra and Retegui was virtually on the line when he nodded it in for the only goal of the game to send Elland Road into raptures. We had a couple of chances throughout the game, but we were very much away from our usual standards, and it's a dent in our push for Europe. Our first defeat in nine matches, 1-0 to Leeds at full time.

February Results: We had another good month with only one defeat again. We actually went on to get 8 league victories in a row before losing at the end of the month. We started the month by beating Luton Town 4-1, before humiliating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge 4-2. We followed that up with a 3-1 home win against Crystal Palace, before being humbled 1-0 away at Leeds United. Let's take a look at how that leaves us in the table. 

Premier League Table Update: Liverpool lead the way with 63 points, to Manchester City's 62 in what will be a fantastic title race. Arsenal aren't out of it either really, though they would need a miracle to get into the title race on 57 points. Newcastle United are in the final Champions League spot for now on 55 points. A further two points back are Manchester United, with Chelsea another two points back on 51 points, but are already in Europe next season after winning the Carabao Cup Final against Leicester City. Tottenham Hotspur have 50 points, with Brighton just behind them on 48. At the bottom of the table, Luton Town are on 9 points, and are dangerously close to breaking the Premier League record of 11 points unless they can improve. West Brom have 12 points, and Middlesbrough sit on 15, a massive 9 points behind Leeds United, who are closer to securing their survival. 

Final Word: Another good month on the pitch sits us in the top half, as we found out who we're playing in the Europa League as well. I aim to give Stergiou his debut at centre-back when we take on Middlesbrough in our next game, a match we must win to get over our previous defeat. We also face Tottenham next month away, but there's no reason we can't get a result after doing what we did to Chelsea. I'm confident we will end up in Europe next season, whether it's through the league, or by winning the Europa League. It's also in my plan to see which managers get sacked after the World Cup internationally, as we try to take our first job on that front. Thank you for sticking with me so far, and I'll see you for the March update.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - March

Hello and welcome back to Aston Villa, where we have had a decent start to 2026. We've played 10 matches in all competitions so far this calendar year, and we've won 8 of them, which is a turnaround from where the club was before I joined. This month, we have our Europa League Round of 16 tie in a battle of Britain against Rangers, and a big game coming up as we try to get some form of European football through the league. I can't have both, so for example, I can't win the Europa League this season with Villa, and then win the Conference League with them next season as if we did the first one this year, we'd be in next season's Champions League. Let's see how it all goes down, and then see what happens after that. Here are the fixtures for this month.

March Fixtures: Our matches this month kick off with the Monday night football against Middlesbrough at home, a match we really ought to win if we are to be taken seriously for Europe this season. Then it's a huge game in North London, as we take on Tottenham Hotspur in a European six-pointer (and yes, they're a thing). We then travel to Scotland for our European first leg against Rangers, before facing West Bromwich Albion at home in the Premier League. Finally, we will face Rangers at home in the second leg of that tie, before the final international break of the season.

Premier League Manager of the Month for February: I came third in manager of the month to be featured in the top three for the first time. I trailed behind Mikel Arteta in first, and Jurgen Klopp in second, not bad company to be around if you ask me.

Monday 2nd March 2026: Aston Villa 2-1 Middlesbrough (Premier League) We got back to winning ways this week, as we took a nice 3 points against relegation-threatened Middlesbrough. A Leon Bailey corner from the left found Pau Torres in the box, and his header from a couple of yards out gave us a 1-0 lead inside 17 minutes. Mosquera has the ball down the right after 68 minutes, and after a one-two with John McGinn, found a slide rule pass into the box for Watkins to sweep home and double our advantage. Middlesbrough got one back when McGree had the ball down the left. He swung it in, and Forss hit a superb left foot volley that Scherpen had no chance with for 2-1. We held on though, and went only a couple of points behind Tottenham.

Premier League Team of the Week: 3rd February 2026: Juan David Mosquera gets into the team of the week after his performance the night before against Middlesbrough, mainly getting that assist for Watkins to settle the score. 

Saturday 7th March 2026: Tottenham Hotspur 3-1 Aston Villa (Premier League) At the moment, it looks like we're going to have to win the Europa League to have a chance of being in Europe next season. We took the lead early on before losing 3-1 to Spurs. Leon Bailey intercepted a Tottenham clearance for our goal. He bombed it down the left flank before finding Watkins in the middle of the box, and he swept home past the keeper for 1-0. Tottenham equalised just after the half hour mark. Conor Gallagher found Schjelderup on the left, who played the ball inside the area towards Son, who held it up and passed it beyond Martinez for 1-1. Van de Ven had a corner for Tottenham in the 69th minute, which was cleared back towards him. He played it infield to Schjeldrup who ran into the area and his deflected pass across goal found Kulusevski at the far post to give the home side the lead. Van de Ven set up the third, with a ball in from the left which found Kulusevski leaping like a salmon for his second goal of the game and Tottenham's third. That damages any hopes of a higher finish in the Premier League than what was expected, and now we have to keep going against West Brom next week. But next, we turn our attentions to Europe. 

Ollie Watkins Injured: It just gets worse after that Tottenham game, as our main talisman, Ollie Watkins is going to be out injured for the next month or so with a twisted ankle picked up in training. It's not the most bruising end to the month, but we would have needed him to finish those games off I feel at this point. 

Thursday 12th March 2026: Rangers 1-5 Aston Villa (UEFA Europa League Round of 16 First Leg) We ripped Rangers apart at Ibrox after a slight scare before half time, as we swept aside the Scottish side 5-1. A corner opened up the scoring for us this evening, as one from the right was difficult for Rangers to deal with. We got into a game of head tennis, before Jacob Ramsey hit a volley from just inside the area into the right hand corner to give us the lead. Rangers got a corner themselves taken by Matondo, which again, we failed to clear. It fell to Matondo again, and Dujon Sterling hit it first time when given to him in the left hand corner for 1-1. We blew them apart after half time, by scoring again on the 54th minute. Leon Bailey ran down the right before playing a low cross into the box, which evaded everyone but Saelemaekers at the far post, and he tapped it home for 2-1. It was a third for us just moments later. Mings brought in a cross from the left which was cleared to the right for Mosquera, who swung it back into the box, and Connor Goldson virtually volleyed past his own keeper for 3-1. Ramsey had the ball on the left hand side, as Saelemaekers made his way into the box for the ball back, and he duly obliged when he did get the ball for 4-1, sweeping it into the right hand corner. Bailey had the ball again on the left hand side after a free kick was cleared. He found Ezri Konsa running through the middle of their half, and he took the ball, took a touch and scored a smashing goal from just outside the box which went straight through their sub keeper for 5-1. I think we can say we're through, but don' t think I'll be taking the second leg easily.

Youth Intake: Again, they said excellent for youth intake this season. Unfortunately, FM lies again haha. We have top talents for the Under 18s potentially, what I've decided to do is not cover the youth teams so much about signings and stuff as it's not that sort of save for me. But if they come into the first team, you will meet them. Bjorn Fridriksson, Jonathan Doona, Adam Pilkington and Aron Bridge-Wilkinson have been recognised as the best players from the youth intake. Will they be used in the future? We will find out in due course. 

Sunday 15th March 2026: Aston Villa 1-1 West Bromwich Albion (Premier League) Out of another game we dominated, we were only able to pick up a 1-1 draw against local rivals West Bromwich Albion. A Philippe Coutinho corner found Ezri Konsa at the far post to nod home for 1-0. We gave away a penalty with 8 minutes remaining, and Jed Wallace stepped up to equalise for the Baggies. Dropping two points here is not the one I'm afraid. The players need to learn how to score in the league again.

Premier League Team of the Week: 17th March 2026: Both Matty Cash and Ezri Konsa made their way into the team of the week this time around. Konsa scored our goal against West Brom, and Matty Cash was quite strong at the back against the Baggies. One thing that is ok to see, is Zach Steffen, the West Brom goalkeeper, in the team of the week, meaning he must have had a good game.

Thursday 19th March 2026: Aston Villa 3-1 Rangers (Aston Villa win 8-2 on aggregate) (UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Second Leg) We completed our Round of 16 tie against Rangers very convincingly, as we won 3-1 on the night, which resulted in an 8-2 aggregate scoreline. With it being over from the first leg, we came out all guns blazing in the second leg. We scored our first from a fantastic counter attack, a ball forward to Saelemaekers when he was in the area, he laid it off to Jacob Ramsey, who ran through and fired home for 1-0 on the night. Boniface sent the ball wide right to Matty Cash, who cut it back to Boniface and he fired home into the bottom left corner from just inside the area for 2-0. Boniface turned provider for 3-0. He ran into the area, ran round the sides of the defence, got to the byline, and cut it across for Saelemaekers who got a well deserved goal on the line for 3-0. It then turned quiet until Matty Cash picked up an injury, which we will check the severity of in a moment. Rangers got a consolation 4 minutes from time. Rabbi Matondo took a corner from the left, and Carrillo got to it at the far post for 3-1. We're through to the quarter finals of the Europa League. 

Matty Cash Injured: Matty Cash picked up a groin strain during the Rangers second leg and will be out of action for both Poland and Aston Villa for a month. Gutted for him, but we must carry on.

New Gate Receipts Record: Our Europa League quarter final match meant we got our highest gate receipts in game, beating a Leicester City FA Cup tie from earlier in the save game. We earned £825,000 from this match, which is great to see, it means more fans are turning up.

UEFA Europa League Quarter-Final Opponents: We have been drawn out against Fiorentina in the UEFA Europa League Quarter-Final, and the second leg will be at home which gives us that slight advantage at least. Let's take a look at who we would face if we get through, and we will then officially have a passage to the final. We will face either Newcastle United or Benfica in the semi-finals of the Europa League, which means there's no chance of an all-English final.

John McGinn New Contract: John McGinn has been fantastic so far in my time at the club, and his contract was due to run out this Summer, so we've signed the Scottish international on a brand new two-year contract which will last until the 2027-28 season. I'm very excited to see what he can do in the future.

NXGN winner and Aston Villa Player in top 50: Lamine Yamal won the NXGN award this season with his team mate Darvich in second and Duranville took third place, one of our former players at Borussia Dortmund. We did have a player in there, although currently out on loan, as Omar Khedr was 37th place.

March Results: So starting from the beginning of the month, we defeated Middlesbrough 2-1 at home in the Premier League, followed by a gutting 3-1 defeat away at Tottenham Hotspur. We won 5-1 at Rangers in the Europa League Round of 16 First Leg which virtually confirmed us as being through already. We then dropped points at home to local rivals West Bromwich Albion by giving a needless penalty in a 1-1 draw. Finally, we managed to beat Rangers 3-1 to confirm an 8-2 aggregate victory.

Premier League Table Update: Manchester City have taken the lead at the top of the Premier League table, now one point clear of Liverpool who are second on 67 points. Arsenal and Manchester United complete the top four, but Newcastle United are only outside the Champions League spots on goal difference. Chelsea sit on 55 points, and Tottenham are 6 points off the top four on 53 points. We currently sit in 9th place on 49 points. Luton Town are now a massive 16 points off safety on 9 points with 8 matches to go. West Brom and Middlesbrough look down as well, on 14 and 15 points respectively. 

Final Word: We got to the Europa League quarter finals, after thrashing Rangers in that battle of Britiain clash, but in the league we decided to crash and burn after only picking up 4 points from three matches, despite the fact we held the lead in all three, including against Tottenham Hotspur away. I would say our main hope this season is to be to try and win the Europa League to get back into Europe, unless the European places are enough to drop down to 9th, which does happen. Here's hoping we can have a good run to the end of the season, but next month we do face the top 2 in the Premier League which could dent a chance of a top half finish. Let's hope that doesn't happen. Until next time, I hope you've enjoyed this month. 

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - April

We're now at the point in the season where we know roughly where everyone is going to finish this season, with us annoyingly enough being in 9th place, only a few points off a confirmed European spot. We have a tough start to this month, facing the top two in the Premier League, and obviously we will have both legs of our Europa League Quarter Final match-up. We know we need to have a better month than last month in the league although it will be a tough ask. Let's take a look at those fixtures. 

April Fixtures: We start things off this month with an away game at league leaders Manchester City, who are on their way to winning their sixth consecutive Premier League title. Any way to try and make the league not a farmer's league would be much appreciated, but it will be tough to grab a victory at the Etihad unfortunately. We go to Florence after that for the first leg of our tie in the Europa League at Fiorentina, before following that up with a home match against second-placed Liverpool, so it doesn't get any easier. We then will have a rocking Villa Park for that second leg against Fiorentina, before ending the month with a Monday night match across the Midlands to Nottingham Forest, and a home game against Brentford as we attempt to get a winning end to the month. 

Saturday 4th April 2026: Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa (Premier League) After a similar match in the FA Cup Third Round, we lost in the very last stages of the match at the Etihad in another 2-1 defeat to the league leaders. Mosquera's throw in on the right was given back to him by Leon Bailey, but his pass into the box was poor, but so was the attempted clearance, as the players worked themselves into a passing move that ended with Boniface in the box, and he lashed into the top right corner to give us the lead. City equalised after 19 minutes, the poorest of passes and moves fell to Rodri in midfield, and his ball through the middle found Erling Haaland, who obviously fired home for 1-1. We lost the game in the 93rd minute. A Bernardo Silva run down the right ended up in a crossing position, and he played it across goal for Erling Haaland to fire home on the goal line, and cruelly steal a point away from us. Let's clear our minds, and hopefully go into the game with Fiorentina with some form of confidence for our performance.

Boubacar Kamara Injured: Boubacar Kamara will miss the first leg against Fiorentina, and maybe also the Liverpool game next weekend as he picked up a twisted knee away at Manchester City. I'm glad it's not too long out at least. 

Thursday 9th April 2026: Fiorentina 0-0 Aston Villa (UEFA Europa League Quarter Final First Leg) Fiorentina were the better team on the night, but a fantastic defensive performance means we come back to Villa Park next week with a 0-0 draw. Fiorentina hit the post twice in this one, and did find the net through Beltran, but it was ruled out for offside. We held on despite loads of pressure from the Italian side, and Leon Bailey nearly won it at the death, but their keeper produced a stunning save to keep the scores level. Winner takes all in the second leg then, as we aim to make a first European semi final of the save.

Sunday 12th April 2026: Aston Villa 3-2 Liverpool (Premier League) We came from behind to shock Liverpool here at Villa Park, beating the title challengers 3-2. A loose pass back from Diop found Darwin Nunez running through, rounding Martinez and rolling it home from the edge of the box for 1-0. To my surprise though, we equalised. Jacob Ramsey cleared the ball to the right to find McGinn on a counter attack, and he released Watkins who beat Liverpool's high line, and he didn't fluff the one-on-one, slotting it home to level the game up. Two minutes later, we took the lead. Ramsey again had the ball down the right, went to the byline where he played it back to Mosquera. His ball in the box found McGinn, who played it across to Diop and his deflected effort found the bottom right corner. McGinn effectively set up the third as well. He ran down the right, before playing it back to Douglas Luiz. I'm yet to make my mind up if it was a lofted pass or a shot, but Watkins got his head on it on the line for his second, and our third goal of the game. Mo Salah had a goal ruled out for offside, before Florian Wirtz got a late goal back for Liverpool. Darwin Nunez rolled it alongside him to Salah, who's deflected pass found Wirtz, and he fired it into the near post for 3-2. We held on though, and both McGinn and Watkins were incredible in this game.

Premier League Team of the Week: 14th April 2026: Personally, I would have included John McGinn in the team of the week, but Ollie Watkins deserves his place after picking up two goals against Liverpool.

Thursday 16th April 2026: Aston Villa 3-0 Fiorentina (Aston Villa win 3-0 on aggregate) (UEFA Europa League Quarter Final Second Leg) We booked our place in the UEFA Europa League Semi Final as we defeated Fiorentina 3-0 in the second leg. Ezri Konsa got the ball for Villa for the first, before playing it ahead of him to the right flank for Mosquera. He ran into the area, and his cross was saved, but the keeper's touch deflected onto Jacob Ramsey's shin and the ball rolled in to give us the lead for the first time in the tie. Pobega was sent off with a rash and dangerous foul from behind on Tyrone Mings, which made it almost impossible for the Italian side to get back into it. Diego Carlos had the ball in the middle of the Fiorentina half, before playing it out wide for Matty Cash. His cross was scrambled in the area, where Saelemaekers stuck out a leg to push it beyond the keeper, and to put the tie beyond all doubt for 2-0. Jacob Ramsey won a tackle in the middle for the final goal, and Ollie Watkins was just given clear space like he was against Liverpool, and for the second time in two games, he converted comfortably from that situation to move us into the semi final and make my first European semi final in game.

UEFA Europa League Semi Final Draw: Our last game of the month will now be the first leg of our Europa League semi final, where we will travel to the Estadio de Luz in Lisbon, to face Benfica in what will be a tough tie. 

Coefficient Rankings: We could take advantage of this if we don't win the Europa League this season, as England is top of the coefficient ranking for the third season in a row. Spain replace Italy in the top two this season. 

Filip Marschall Injured: Our back-up goalkeeper is now out with a twisted ankle and will miss most of the rest of the season, after turning sharply in training. He was fairly decent while Martinez was out, and here's hoping he'll be back soon enough to potentially run in goal should we need him.

Monday 20th April 2026: Nottingham Forest 1-1 Aston Villa (Premier League) We were only able to take a point away from the City Ground as we drew with Nottingham Forest 1-1 after being reduced to ten men towards the start of the second half. John McGinn played a ball into the box from the right at the start of the second half, but the keeper only parried it away as far as Kamara, who took a couple of touches to the left, and then struck it with his left foot into the top right corner, leaving their keeper grasping at thin air. John McGinn was sent off for a second yellow card, after I think handling the ball in the attacking penalty area. Unfortunately, we couldn't hold on until the end despite us having numerous chances to get the second. Their goal came from one of our corners which they managed to clear. Barcola ran down the left, got to the left flank near the area, played it into the box, and Awoniyi struck it home first time to level the game for Forest. Annoyed about the result and the red card, but we carry on.

Saturday 25th April 2026: Aston Villa 0-0 Brentford (Premier League) This was just a boring game. We did go attacking in this one, but Brentford went defensive and the only time the ball hit the net was when Ollie Watkins struck in the first half, but he was about two yards offside. Unfortunately nothing much happened, and we only took a point for this one. We're dropping points here and there now, we've got to see what happens after the Europa League for me. If we win it, do I get a bigger job?

Matty Cash Injured: Matty Cash has suffered a pulled groin during training unfortunately, which rules him out of the Semi Final First Leg away at Benfica, a vital player who we may have needed to get a result. We've got to hope the team aren't suffering so much as we head into this game.

Thursday 30th April 2026: Benfica 3-4 Aston Villa (UEFA Europa League Semi Final First Leg) There was an absolute goal fest in Lisbon this evening, as both sides forgot about defending as we won this game 4-3. We took the lead early on. They had a throw in at the back but basically tossed it away, as a clearance fell to Douglas Luiz, who found Watkins in the box. He turned and shot into the right hand corner to give us the lead inside 6 minutes. 12 minutes later, Jacob Ramsey went on a run towards the area, before laying it off to Douglas Luiz, who played it into John McGinn. He turned his man, and shot into the left hand corner this time for 2-0. After 26 minutes, Benfica took a foot hold in this game. Neymar took a corner from the left, and Silva nodded home at the near post for 2-1. In the second half, the goalscoring didn't let up. We restored the two goal gap a few minutes after the restart. Saelemaekers went on a run down the left, and he played it back to Diego Carlos who had run into the area, took a touch, and fired into the right side of the goal superbly to make it 3-1. Douglas Luiz played a free-kick from the right into Jacob Ramsey, who saw Ollie Watkins running towards the area, and he slid it into the bottom right hand corner to make it 4-1. Then Benfica had a resurgence in the last half an hour. Angelino's cross from the left found Musa in the middle of the box, and he rose highest to make it 4-2. Bah then had the ball on the right with 6 minutes to go, he played it across to Musa, who found Angelino unmarked on the left side of the box, and he fired it home for 4-3. Musa did put the ball in the net late on to try and equalise for Benfica, but it was ruled offside, and we held on despite the late onslaught. 

John McGinn Injured: Unfortunately, John McGinn picked up an injury during the game in Portugal, and will be out for a month, and miss the second leg and most of the run in this season after twisting his ankle while sprinting.

April Results: Here's a round up of this month's results then. We nearly took something from the Etihad after taking the lead there, but unfortunately ended up losing to an Erling Haaland brace, losing 2-1 away from home, but that was our only defeat of the month. We drew 0-0 with Fiorentina away from home in the Europa League Quarter Final. We then came back from behind against Liverpool to beat City's closest challengers 3-2 and pick up what should have been a massive league victory. We carried the form on into the next match with a 3-0 home win against Fiorentina to book our ticket to the semi final. Then followed a couple of annoying draws. We drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest away from home after being reduced to 10 men, and then we drew 0-0 at home to Brentford in what was a nothing match. But the best game of the month was undoubtedly that 4-3 victory away at Benfica, to bring us a step closer to the Europa League final in Glasgow.

Premier League Table Update: The gap at the top heading into the final month of the season is still one point, Manchester City on 77 to Liverpool's 76. Both Arsenal and Newcastle United are sitting on 71 points in those Champions League spots, with Manchester United only 3 points behind on 68 points. Chelsea sit sixth on 65 points, ahead of Tottenham on goal difference. We're 9th on 54 points. At the bottom, all three teams have gone down to the Championship, in what were the weakest three teams ever in Premier League football. Luton Town are on 10 points, Middlesbrough on 16 points, and West Brom on 17. The closest team to the drop zone, Leeds United, are a full 15 points above 18th. 

Final Word: Again, a bit of an indifferent month in the league season, as we have probably chucked away a decent chance of Europa League football through the league. We are one match away from the Europa League final, and you can see if we can do that in the next update as Benfica were properly coming back into it. When it comes to the Summer, it'll be a case of seeing if anyone comes in for us, maybe a bigger team perhaps, especially if we win the Europa League this season, as that will boost my profile up an unspeakable amount. Losing John McGinn for the last bit of the season is rather annoying, but he could be back for the Europa League final should we get there. It's been a dream European run though, and let's see what happens in May as we end the Premier League season, and see if we can get our first European trophy on the board. Thanks for joining me, and I'll see you next time.

[AlfieLucas]

Well done winning the league with Dortmund, and goodluck with Aston Villa. KUTGW!! And personally from my standpoint, far to many pictures for my liking. Friendlies, new contracts, those sort of things can be typed out. But that's just me, as some updates can take ages to get through. But either way, goodluck with Villa.

[Ozza1996]

4 hours ago, AlfieLucas said:

Well done winning the league with Dortmund, and goodluck with Aston Villa. KUTGW!! And personally from my standpoint, far to many pictures for my liking. Friendlies, new contracts, those sort of things can be typed out. But that's just me, as some updates can take ages to get through. But either way, goodluck with Villa.

I'm brand new to this so absolutely I will take this into account. I'm trying to iron out the problems before I start my own website for FM25, which I hope people will follow. Thank you for the feedback.

[AlfieLucas]

6 minutes ago, Ozza1996 said:

I'm brand new to this so absolutely I will take this into account. I'm trying to iron out the problems before I start my own website for FM25, which I hope people will follow. Thank you for the feedback.

Like i said, that's just my preference. But just do it how you best feel comfortable with. You can't please everyone, lol.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - Aston Villa - 2025-26 Season - May

Ladies and gentlemen, we have made it to the end of Season 3 in the Glory Hunter Challenge and we have one trophy still to play for this season in the UEFA Europa League. We lead Benfica 4-3 on aggregate after an enthralling first leg in which both sides didn't hold up and they weren't backwards in going forwards. The second leg will be already one of the most important matches in this save as we try to take this side through to a second European final in 2 seasons, after winning the Conference League last season. We also have to wrap up the Premier League season, and it will be interesting to see where we end up as the season reaches a conclusion.

May Fixtures: Our final matches of the season are almost an exact replica of my first few matches in this job. We travel to Newcastle United in the first of these matches, followed by our second leg of the Europa League semi final against Benfica, a match where we are leading 4-3 on aggregate, and this time, we will have home advantage. Brighton & Hove Albion is our next match after that, before we face West Ham United at the London Stadium. If we make the Europa League final, it will be the game between West Ham and Bournemouth, before we end up playing against Bournemouth on the final day of the season. 

Sunday 3rd May 2026: Newcastle United 2-0 Aston Villa (Premier League) Never revert to the three at the back after you're so used to playing four at the back. I learned that quickly in this game as we were nowhere near playing well in this one, and we lost 2-0 to Zinedine Zidane's Newcastle United. Chalobah had the ball in the middle of the park, before he found Brais Mendez on the right hand side of the box. His ball in found Alexander Isak and he nodded in at the near post for 1-0. Sandro Tonali was instrumental in the second goal, as we were put to the sword. His original corner went back to him, played a one-two with Isak, ran into the area, found Bruno Guimaraes on the edge of the box, and he fired in off the bar just outside the area for the second goal of the game. We're going back to four at the back after this one, which we just didn't show up in.

Thursday 7th May 2026: Aston Villa 3-3 Benfica (after extra time) (Aston Villa win 7-6 on aggregate) (UEFA Europa League Semi Final Second Leg) That one goal from the first leg that proved to be the difference in Lisbon, proved the difference here as we drew the game on the night, and won on aggregate 7-6 to set up a final date with RB Leipzig at Celtic Park. A Mings throw in to Kamara found Saelemaekers on the left side of the area. He turned and shot from 20 yards out into the top corner to give us the lead on the night. The equaliser came just before half time when David Neres played the ball into the box from the right, and Musa tapped in inside the six-yard box for 1-1. They then levelled the tie up on aggregate, Bah running down the right again, the ball being partially cleared to Neymar who slammed home inside the box to make it 2-1 to Benfica. We thought we'd won the tie on 78 minutes. Douglas Luiz's corner was headed home by Ezri Konsa at the near post for 2-2 on the night. But Benfica had different ideas, and took it to extra time. Neymar's corner found Silva at the far post to make it 3-2 to the Portuguese giants on the night, and making it 6-6 on aggregate. The final twist in this game came just before half time in extra time. Leon Bailey made a run down the right with the ball, running into the box, where he squared it to Diop, who from 8 yards out, slotted home into the corner, to give Aston Villa a second consecutive European final, and gave me my first in this save. 

UEFA Europa League Final: Confirmation that we will face a familiar foe in Glasgow on the 20th May, as we face RB Leipzig in the Europa League final, both teams looking for their first ever title in this competition.

Leo Saca Making his Debut! I've decided to change up the team as obviously we went through extra-time against Benfica and it would have taken a toll on all the men out there. We've got a home game against Brighton, and young Moldovan international, Leo Saca, who we signed from Barcelona, is due to make his debut against Brighton & Hove Albion. Let's see how he does.

Sunday 10th May 2026: Aston Villa 2-3 Brighton & Hove Albion (Premier League) Another defeat in the league makes it back to back this month after our second team mainly played this game, losing 3-2 at home to Brighton. After it ended 0-0 in the first half, we took the lead not long after half time. Philippe Coutinho set up the first goal, playing the ball through the defence, where Boniface beat the offside trap and fired into the top right corner for 1-0. Brighton scored a clever equaliser from a Christian Eriksen corner. He played the ball to the edge of the area where Joao Pedro was unmarked, and he fired home from the edge of the box to level it up. They took the lead just moments later, as Tete's cross was only partially cleared, Eriksen took it down, turned and shot into the top right corner to give the Seagulls the lead. We equalised with 20 minutes to go. Diop's ball from the left was played into Coutinho. His shot clattered into Ollie Watkins, and the ball bounced in off the latter to get us a fortunate equaliser. Brighton won it in the 79th minute. Julio Enciso ran with the ball down the right, and his ball into the box was saved by Scherpen, but it bounced in off Joao Pedro and they made it a double against us this season. 

Tyrone Mings has signed a new contract before we take on West Ham United this weekend, as he will stay for a further two years. 

Saturday 16th May 2026: West Ham United 3-0 Aston Villa (Premier League) This was an awful performance from start to finish, as West Ham United ripped us apart in the first 37 minutes, in our final game before the Europa League final. The first goal was an unfortunate own goal, as Jarrod Bowen's volley from the edge of the area, caught Ezri Konsa on the way through and the keeper was left stranded as it bounced off the bar and went in. Jarrod Bowen set up the second from a corner on the left, as Mavropanos rose highest for his first goal of the season. Samuel Edozie sent the ball out left to Zehnter, who's cross into the box was perfectly hit for Stamenic to run in and secure West Ham the three points before half time. We had our moments, hitting the post twice, but I'm worried ahead of Wednesday's Europa League final. We're going to be nowhere near RB Leipzig at this rate.

Wednesday 20th May 2026: RB Leipzig 0-0 Aston Villa (after extra time) (Aston Villa win 5-3 on penalties) (UEFA Europa League Final) We picked up our first piece of European silverware in this save as we have won the UEFA Europa League with Aston Villa, winning on penalties after a hard fought 0-0 draw with RB Leipzig. We worked the subs and the penalty takers to our advantage, and both teams had great chances to win the game in 120 minutes. Martinez saved Yuri Alberto's penalty after every penalty was perfect, before up stepped the nervous Leon Bailey. He didn't seem very nervous as he converted, which means Aston Villa complete the set, and I get my first European trophy of the save.

Finances for Transfer Window: After doing my job here, Aston Villa now have £64,000,000 in the transfer budget, and nearly £3,000,000 in wage budget. I don't like Aston Villa in real life, and this win may come back to bite me when I face them further down the line, but we absolutely deserved this. 

UEFA Europa League Player of the Season: A clean sweep of Aston Villa players in the player of the season for the Europa League. Jacob Ramsey won it with 6 goals and 6 assists in 13 matches, and he's joined by Alexis Saelemaekers in 2nd place, and Douglas Luiz in third place.

UEFA Europa League Team of the Season: 7 players make the Europa League team of the season as well, with Emiliano Martinez, Ezri Konsa, Juan David Mosquera, Douglas Luiz, Boubacar Kamara, Alexis Saelemaekers, and Jacob Ramsey making it for Aston Villa. We absolutely dominated it this season, and I couldn't be happier.

Sunday 24th May 2026: Aston Villa 3-1 AFC Bournemouth (Premier League) The final game of the season, and the final game for me as Aston Villa manager was a thumping 3-1 win over Bournemouth. Diop set up the first goal by bombing down the left and finding Boniface in the middle of the box for him to sweep home and to make it 1-0. Boniface scored the second with a thumping finish inside the box as he received the through ball from Tielemans perfectly, which left their keeper with no chance. Philippe Coutinho got his final goal before retirement as we made it 3-0. Mosquera, on the right, found Coutinho just outside the box, and he ran through the defence onto the left hand side of the box, before thumping it into the top corner at the near post to make it 3-0. In a game of great goals, Bournemouth got one right at the end. Kluivert, on the left side of the box, played it to the edge to Dasilva, and he played it across to Alex Scott, who took a touch into the area, and then fired it into the top right corner to get Bournemouth a consolation.

May Results: We had a poor month until right at the very end, when we got two wins in a row technically. We lost 2-0 to Newcastle United at the start of the month, before we managed to get through Benfica after a 3-3 draw after extra time, which led us to win 7-6 on aggregate. We lost at home to Brighton 3-2, before losing 3-0 to West Ham the week of the Europa League final. But what a game for us that was. We drew 0-0 after extra time against RB Leipzig, and then won the final on a penalty shoot out, scoring all our penalties to win the Europa League. In our last game as the manager of this club, we beat Bournemouth 3-1 at Villa Park. 

Premier League Final Table: Manchester City won their sixth Premier League title in a row, beating out Liverpool by 5 points. Arsenal and Newcastle United ended up in the top 4 after brilliant seasons for them both. Tottenham Hotspur also won the FA Cup this season, although it looks like they'll be in the Champions League next season anyway. Manchester United were 6th this season, and Chelsea ended up 7th this season. Brighton may still get European football when all is said and done. And Europa League champions Aston Villa ended 9th, and they will be in the Champions League next season. All three teams that came up last season went straight back down, as Luton Town, Middlesbrough and West Bromwich Albion had dismal seasons, and they return to the Championship. Wolverhampton Wanderers, Fulham and Southampton replace them for next season.

Final Word: First of all, what a crazy season that was as we won the Europa League after a pretty average season across Borussia Dortmund and Aston Villa. The plan now is that I've resigned as Aston Villa manager, and I'm looking for a team that are currently in the Europa Conference League ahead of next season. RB Leipzig and Lens are the two teams looking for managers who are definitely in that competition at the moment, though if I find out they've been promoted up, I will leave them alone. But the aim now is to win the Europa Conference League and to get an international job so I can start that as soon as I possibly can. I'm absolutely buzzing to have won the Europa League, and now we go again with someone new next season. Who will that be? You'll find out in the next update, as we move onto Season 4.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - New Team - 2025-26 Season - June

You join me this time as I look for a brand new club that I can take to Europa Conference League glory to try and get through this challenge. I'm hoping RB Leipzig will accept my application, and I will also apply for Lens. If we go to RB Leipzig, we can also complete Germany by potentially winning the DFB-Pokal which I have yet to win. There won't be too many updates on this one, as we shall fast forward before I get an interview. Let's see where we go to. 

Lens Interview: It's taken a little over two weeks, but our first interview is with the team that in game a couple of seasons ago, won the Ligue 1 title above PSG so they're a good side, but will be spending next season playing in the Conference League. Hopefully it's a good interview. You'll find out soon.

RB Leipzig Interview: And the one that I really want so I can actually complete Germany, RB Leipzig will be the ones I reckon I can pick the Cup up with. Let's see how this one goes. As it stands Lens have come in for me so I am definitely getting a job, but let's see if I can get the one I want. 

We're Back in Germany!!!!! That's right. A month after beating them in the UEFA Europa League final, we are the brand new manager of RB Leipzig as we attempt to go and get the DFB-Pokal, and the UEFA Europa Conference League. They took my Aston Villa team close and I'm absolutely buzzing to be given the chance to put RB Leipzig back into the Champions League spots, and get our name on a couple of trophies, especially the one that keeps evading me, the DFB-Pokal. I am expecting this to be my only season in charge of RB Leipzig, as I intend to win the Cup and the Conference League this season, just to make sure they're both done early on, and so we can go all out for the bigger clubs, the giants so to speak, so we can win every league that's left. The next job now will be to try and get an international job.

History: As you can see, during this save, RB Leipzig have won the Bundesliga, which was in our first season as Borussia Dortmund manager, they've twice won the DFB-Pokal in their history, and obviously narrowly missed out on the Europa League last season, losing out to Aston Villa on penalties at the end of last season.

Best XI: As we join the club, this is my strongest XI and my strongest formation is apparently a 4-2-3-1, a formation we used at Aston Villa. The players should be familiar to us, as we have obviously been in this league already. Benjamin Sesko will be the man that we lean on to make sure we get the goals going this season, Dani Olmo is the main playmaker to be setting up those chances and goals. I will show you the full squad planner as we get into the club, and we can then see where we need to possibly make upgrades. 

Board Expectation: The board want us to play attacking, high-press football, which I have been accustomed to at both the clubs I've managed so far. Signing players under the age of 23 for the first team is also something I've really succeeded on at both Villa and Dortmund. They want us to challenge for the UEFA Europa Conference League, which I think we should be aiming to win. They want us to make the later stages of the DFB-Pokal and finally, they want us to qualify for the Champions League through the Bundesliga. 

Supporter Expectations: They're very much the same when it comes to the type of football they want the team to play, which is that high-tempo, attacking style. They also want us to play possession football, and if you look back, we're very good at clocking up the possession stats, win, lose or draw. Making the most of set pieces is a good one as well, I'd like to see us score more corners than what we already have done previously, which sounds crazy but it's very much true. 

Financial Update: We start off with just over £10,000,000 in the transfer budget so I can assure you now, we may have to make some moves on the out side of things. We also have just over £2,500,000 in the weekly wage budget as well, but the one thing that could happen is we get more in the next few weeks as contracts end, and that is what's going to happen. There will obviously be some loans coming back, but let's wait and see what happens with that. 

Squad Planner: This is a look at the squad planner and this is how the control possession looks. For me, we're going for a 4-2-4 anyway, so for now, I hope Sesko and Openda can help each other out up top, but failing that, we're going to need to look at more strikers. I wouldn't say we're struggling in numbers anywhere really, and it'll be the case to see where we can improve, and how we can improve the side. Does anyone need selling? If someone does need selling, who do I get rid of? Let's wait and see.

Final Word: So that is my new team. We're back in the Bundesliga this season, with RB Leipzig, but this for me is my strongest case in winning the Europa Conference League. I'm not sure who's qualified from England, if anyone at all because no one did last season. I'm confident I can do something special this season with RB Leipzig. We maybe haven't got a completely household name side, and that may be something we work on. But I don't personally think they're a seventh place side from last season, and I think we can break back into the top 4, and potentially do something special in something. Thank you for the support, and join us in pre-season for season 4, as we attempt to do something incredible at RB Leipzig.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - RB Leipzig - 2026-27 Season - Pre-Season

Here we are then, our fourth pre-season in Germany, as we only spent half a season over in England to pick up the UEFA Europa League. Now I'm hoping the fans and the players have forgiven me this season, as I try and revive RB Leipzig after what was a dreadful season last season for the club. A couple of changes. I will announce new signings, but only when I know they will be first team players for the new season. I won't be providing full details of pre-season friendlies as well. Before the season starts, I will post the results and just give a brief account of what we did, like we do when we do the round-up at the end of every month. Here we go then. Season 4. Let's take a look at the season preview ahead of the new Bundesliga season. 

Season Preview: Bayern Munich won the title last season after a long barren spell, and they are the favourites obviously this season, at 4-9. Our former club, Borussia Dortmund are second favourites with us being third favourites for the title. Both the promoted clubs are actually expected to survive comfortably this season, with Schalke 04 being 15th, and FC Koln being 13th. The favourites to go down are Hertha Berlin, and Bochum automatically, with Hamburg favourites to be in the relegation play-off. We have two players in the dream XI which is great to see. Nicolas Seiwald is a tenacious defensive midfielder, which when you use that word, always sounds epic and hopefully he can be. And Dani Olmo is sat on the left hand side in that attacking position, but unfortunately, we haven't got the best striker. Apparently he's some joker from England called Henry Kane.... Oh sorry, Harry Kane.

Friendly Fixtures: Right, someone in my backroom team are having a laugh. They've obviously said that they want to go to England. They couldn't have given us a game we're guaranteed to win though could they? We face four Premier League teams starting against the team we lost the Europa League final to, Aston Villa. We also have friendlies at Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool. I'm looking forward to playing these and I'll provide the updates later on.

Xaver Schlager moves to Real Madrid: My first piece of business as RB Leipzig manager was to try and work out which first team players I could make some money on, just to boost up my transfer budget. Real Madrid had been circling around Austrian midfielder, Xaver Schlager, who's reaching the prime of his career, and had already spent four seasons at RB Leipzig, since moving from Wolfsburg in 2022. He had a strong season last season, averaging a 6.97 overall, with a 7.02 in the league. Real Madrid paid us £52,000,000 for him, with £30,000,000 of that going into our transfer budget. 

Willi Orban moves to Al-Qadsiah: Willi Orban has become the latest first team player to move on from RB Leipzig. I'm not the kind of person to move older players on all the time, like most other content creators, but I would say Willi Orban will be on the way down now after what has been a great career at RB Leipzig, as we do want to try and put a younger outlook on this squad. He's moved to his new club for £5,000,000, and he's been a wonderful servant to this football club.

New International Job: We have managed to grab the Spain job after the World Cup, as they got knocked out in the quarter-final by Colombia which wasn't deemed acceptable. I feel like out of the offers I was given, this is the one that I feel we can win the international tournaments with. It's a great international job to kick my international career off with, and we will take a proper look at the team when the international break comes about. But we've now got our foot in when it comes to international experience.

DFB-Pokal First Round Draw: Our first round tie in the DFB-Pokal this season should be a fairly easy task, against fifth-tier Eintracht Stadtallendorf. It's always difficult at a smaller stadium, but personally, we couldn't have hoped for a better start to the DFB-Pokal this season. 

Maarten Vandevoordt to Wolfsburg: I'm a little bit disappointed in the end this has happened, as I did try to keep Maarten around, purely for the fact I do now need to get a new number one goalkeeper. But he came from Genk in 2024, and properly had his first season last season in the league it looks like, as he only made 5 appearances in his first season. We've made over five times the amount on him than when the club bought him, earning us £24,000,000 from this sale, more than enough to buy a decent replacement for him.

Ardon Jashiri in from Marseille: My first signing as RB Leipzig manager for the first team is 23-year-old Swiss midfielder, Ardon Jashiri, who has joined for £16,500,000 from Marseille after one season with the French club. He had a fairly decent season in France last season, averaging just short of 7.00. His determination, balance and strength are his strongest attributes at 16. His stamina is at a 15, but he's got several at 14 including crossing, dribbling, first touch and passing, all the stuff you need for a central midfielder. He's definitely someone I'm delighted to have around the squad, and we'll see what he's made of in the league this season.

El Chadaille Bitshiabu to AZ Alkmaar: One player I was confused by when I arrived, El Chadaille Bitshiabu has left for AZ Alkmaar in Netherlands. He has played a handful of games for the first team, but I took a closer look at him and he struggled at Darmstadt on loan last season. It was better for us to sell up, and he's gone to AZ for £8,000,000.

Justin Diehl Injured: One player who will be in and around the first team squad this season, Justin Diehl is the first player out with a serious injury, as he's twisted his ankle while turning, and will be out for about a month. It does look like he's been a squad player in recent years, but he is still only young, and I could bring him off the bench in several games this season. I hope it's not too detrimental to him.

Elias Jelert Injured: Elias Jelert pulled his calf muscle in the pre-season match against Liverpool, which isn't great for him for the next 3 weeks, as Manchester City are keen on signing him and he's waiting for a work permit. Assuming that he's yet to have his medical with City, will that stop him from leaving immediately? We'll wait and see.

Elias Jelert to Manchester City: It turns out it doesn't effect him at all, and Elias Jelert has moved to Manchester City for £20,500,000. At only 23 years old, he could morph into a decent quality right-back, and he can also play at left-back. I'm quite happy to let him go to City for that money, and also he could be useful to me down the line as he matures as well. We never know.

UEFA Europa Conference League League Path Fourth Qualifying Round Draw: This is the only European competition where we would have to qualify for the tournament through the final qualifying round, and we will face a fairly straightforward tie against either HJK Helsinki or Slovan Bratislava.

New Contracts Through The Summer: Mohamed Simakan was the first player to sign a new contract under my watch, as he signed a brand new five-year contract, earning £215,000 a week. Ever since the save started, his average rating hasn't gone below a 7.00 every season, and has grown into a strong centre-back in the league, giving the best a run for their money, and he's only 26. A few days later, Nicolas Seiwald signed a new contract lasting until 2031. He will earn £115,000 a week, and like Simakan above, he has grown into a consistent performer since arriving from sister club Red Bull Salzburg in 2023. 

Friendly Results: Our first match of pre-season was a repeat of the Europa League final against Aston Villa, and this time, I was on the other side of the dugout. We took the lead through Lois Openda in the 55th minute, but Saelemaekers equalised 7 minutes from time, for it to be another stalemate between the two sides. I added another friendly to the schedule as we hosted Espanyol, and we thrashed them 4-1, including a fantastic hat-trick from Taylor Booth. Oscar Perea added a fourth, and Espanyol got one back in added time at the end of the game. We followed that up with a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal. All the goals came in the first half of this one, Arsenal taking the early lead through Gabriel Jesus, but we levelled up a minute later through Oscar Perea. The Gunners won the match through Jesus, but we put in a top performance, and no shame in this defeat. In our penultimate friendly, we came back twice to beat Everton 3-2. Onana and James Garner from the penalty spot, sandwiched by a goal from Dragusin made it 2-1 to the Premier League side at half time. But in the second half, Facundo Torres and Baumgartner managed to get us over the line. Our final friendly of the Summer was at Anfield, as we travelled to Liverpool to lose 3-1. Goals in the first half from Diogo Jota and Trincao put Liverpool in the ascendancy before half time. Brahim Diaz then scored an own goal seconds into the second half in this one. We got one back from a mazy run and a great finish by Christian Kouame, but that's not the result we wanted to end proceedings in the Summer.

Final Word: Pre-season is now officially over, and across the friendlies, we've had mixed results, and we've not had the most entertaining transfer window either. Ardon Jashiri is the only first team player we've brought in, but he does look like he will be a good fit in the squad. We've not lost players that will break the squad I suppose, obviously losing our first choice keeper wasn't great and we also lost Xaver Schlager to Real Madrid who I would have preferred to have kept around. But I'm not going to stop players from achieving their dreams. The start of the season will be shown tomorrow, as we attempt to win two trophies this season with RB Leipzig. Thank you for the support.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - RB Leipzig and Spain - 2026-27 Season - August

We are back for season 4 of this save, and this time we have two jobs!!!! The Spain job will become relevant as we get closer to September, but for now, we are back in the Bundesliga as a manager with our second club in Germany. RB Leipzig are probably the most hated club in Germany due to how they've risen up the leagues in real life, never mind now in game they have won the Bundesliga a couple of seasons ago. They made the Europa League final last season as we all know, and were a couple of penalty kicks away from being a Champions League club this season, and us not being interested. But, we do now have a Conference League to play for, which Napoli and Athletic Bilbao are both in. It will be tougher to win than what we may have thought, but we will have a look at this month's fixtures, without yet knowing who we will play in the Conference League qualifying round. 

August Fixtures: We begin our season away at Eintracht Stadtallendorf of the fifth-tier in the First Round of the DFB-Pokal, a match we really ought to win. Our first game back in the Bundesliga is away at Eintracht Frankfurt, a team I hate playing away from home. We then face our first leg in the Qualifying Round of the Conference League away from home, as we will face the winner of HJK Helsinki vs Slovan Bratislava. Then we're at home to newly-promoted FC Koln, followed by the second leg in Europe at home. Last but not least, we are away at the other promoted club, Schalke 04, in what is a reasonably nice start to the season.

New First Team Player: I've decided to use our DFB-Pokal First Round match to give a debut to someone who we bought from the Indiana Fire in America, Patrick Villegas makes his senior debut for RB Leipzig in this match. We're not expected to be tested so I thought I'd give him the chance. His greens are impressive, as he has 18 aggression, 17 for determination and 16 for leadership, teamwork and stamina. Good tackling and technique is what you need from a defender just starting out. His acceleration and pace are also acceptable as well. It'll be interesting to see how he does.

Saturday 8th August 2026: Eintracht Stadtallendorf 0-8 RB Leipzig (DFB-Pokal First Round) My first game in charge of RB Leipzig was as easy as I thought it would be, thrashing our fifth tier opposition 8-0 to book our place in the second round. We opened the scoring inside 8 minutes. Villegas had the ball in the left back position and lumped it clear for Openda to get onto on the left side of the area, and he lobbed it over the keeper to give us the early advantage. Openda then made it 2-0 from the penalty spot 10 minutes later. We made it 3-0 on the half hour. Perea played it to Booth in front of him, who found Holmgren Pedersen overlapping him on the right, and he played it into the six-yard box, for Openda to complete his hat trick after 30 minutes. Seiwald took a short corner to debutant Jashari, and they played it back and forth between each other, before Jashari played it left to Dani Olmo in the box, and he powered home at the keeper's near post for 4-0 before half time. The fifth was another passing play which found it's way to Olmo on the right side of the box, he squared it across the six yard box for Openda to grab his fourth. Stadtallendorf tried to clear the ball ahead of our sixth, but Villegas won a header finding Baumgartner, and he found Openda in the area, and he fired into the right hand corner for our sixth just after the hour. Seiwald had a corner from the right which the opposition failed to clear, and Baumgartner headed on to Openda, who completed his double hat-trick virtually on the line for 7-0. Dragusin had a goal ruled out for offside from a corner, but we would get our eighth through who else? Openda. Perea's long ball forward was misjudged by their keeper, the ball went past him, and Openda had the easiest tap in from 18 yards out for 8-0. Lois Openda wants to leave, but with scoring displays like that against lower teams, hopefully his happiness and confidence is up. 

Taylor Booth moves to Feyenoord: Taylor Booth has played his last match for RB Leipzig, the 25 year old American winger is moving to the Netherlands and to Feyenoord for £26,500,000. He's only spent one full season at the club after moving from PSG to RB Leipzig for £25,000,000 so we have made a little bit of profit on him. He only scored 5 goals and made 2 assists in 35 appearances, but 22 of those were off the bench. I thought with Feyenoord flirting around him, it'd be good for him to get that guaranteed first team football at the age he is, because with the talent we have, that wasn't necessarily going to happen. He was fantastic during pre-season though, and I wish him all the luck, and hoping this doesn't come back to bite me. 

UEFA Europa Conference League League Path Fourth Qualifying Round Draw: We now know who we will start our European campaign against this season, and we will face Finnish league leaders HJK Helsinki, with the first leg being away from home as we are the seeded team. We should be able to get through this tie fairly easily, and we should aim to start to prepare for life in the League Phase for this season. But, we can't get carried away. This team have already shown me they can be professional in simple games, and hopefully they can prove it again in this tie. The first leg will be after the first league match with Eintracht Frankfurt.

DFB-Pokal Second Round Draw: Our second round tie in the DFB-Pokal is an all Bundesliga clash as we travel to Freiburg in what is a repeat of the 2022 final, and hopefully, we can get a similar result to that final, as RB Leipzig won it back then. The game will be played at the end of October. 

Saturday 15th August 2026: Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) Our first game back in the Bundesliga was the same old story back at Eintracht Frankfurt, as we lost 2-1 in what was a dismal second half performance, after an inspiring performance in the first half. Guerreiro took a corner from the right inswinging for Frankfurt, and the good ball was rewarded with a decent header from Gila as he put the home side 1-0 up after 15 minutes. We equalised less than ten minutes later, Facundo Torres had the ball down the left by the byline, and he played it into the area where Timo Werner managed to flick it beyond the keeper for 1-1 and his first of the season. A poor defensive mistake allowed Frankfurt to score what would prove to be the winner. Zirkzee had the ball in the middle of the park, and Baldanzi managed to break the offside trap, going off like a steam engine ahead of the defence, and he slotted home to give Frankfurt the lead after 53 minutes. They had the chance to make it more comfortable late on, but Cordano saved the spot kick from Karabec in added time. A poor start to the Bundesliga, but now the chance to take a bit of a breather, and maybe try something new.

Thursday 20th August 2026: HJK Helsinki 1-4 RB Leipzig (UEFA Europa Conference League League Path Fourth Qualifying Round First Leg) We started our European season earlier than all the other German sides, as you have to actually go through qualifying in the Conference League to book your place in the League Phase, and we didn't waste time in this game, winning away at the Finnish leaders 4-1. Timo Werner opened the scoring from the penalty spot inside 6 minutes. From a Simakan throw-in, both he and Kouame played a couple of one-twos, before the latter made a run into the area from the right wing, advanced on goal, and fired the ball into the left hand corner for 2-0. Lois Openda picked up a serious looking injury before half time, which meant we had to bring Dani Olmo on, and he played a part in the third goal. His outswinging corner from the right, came off a HJK head, and Dragusin steered it home to give us a 3-0 lead, and breathing space. HJK got a goal back just 4 minutes later, Ollila had the ball on the left and swung it into the box, which Tanko brought down, and fired home past Cordano who had no chance for 3-1. We secured the first leg win once and for all in the 77th minute. Haidara had the ball down the right before playing forward to Seiwald in the area. He played a square ball into the box, and Dani Olmo fired home to pick up his second goal of the season, and ensure we come back to Germany with a handsome advantage.

Lois Openda Injured: Lois Openda is now out for up to 4 weeks, which could result in him staying at the club for now, after he injured it sprinting during the game. If he does stick around, I really hope this doesn't lead to him causing trouble in the squad. That'll be something I keep an eye on.

Oscar Perea to Werder Bremen on Loan: Obviously, I don't show off too many loans now as it is mainly to do with the youngsters, but I felt like I had to show this one as I want him to get match time in the Bundesliga, and unfortunately, Oscar Perea is a little way behind the others in his position, especially the way the wingers have started the season. He's going to Werder Bremen on loan, and they have also got an option to buy as well, in case he impresses them during the season. 

Julian Aude in from Red Bull Salzburg: The good thing about being part of a franchise when you're managing a team like RB Leipzig, is you can sign some decent youngsters like this from the other clubs. We've signed young Argentinian left-back Julian Aude from Red Bull Salzburg for £9,000,000. His determination is outstanding with a rating of 18. His agility is up at 16. He's also got a strong first touch at 15. He's got yellows across the board, he does seem to be a player with an even spread of attributes. Now it's time to see if we can ease him into the squad.

Kacper Tobiasz from PSG: Kacper Tobiasz could be about to become our new number 1 here at RB Leipzig, we've signed the young Polish stopper from PSG for an initial £5,500,000. He made 5 appearances in Ligue 1 last season for the French champions, but is a little down the pecking order in the French capital, Gianluigi Donnarumma will be their keeper for a little while. A player like this can't go unnoticed. Just look at his stats. First of all, he can play the ball from the back and is your typical sweeper keeper. His kicking and passing stand out when you look at him, and his tendency to rush out can be scary, but I believe he can stand up to opposition strikers and be effective in those situations. His jumping reach is in the green, and so is his work rate, which is an 18 in his stats. I'm buzzing with this new signing. 

Sunday 23rd August 2026: RB Leipzig 1-0 FC Koln (Bundesliga) We took our first win in the Bundesliga this season, a 1-0 home win against newly-promoted FC Koln. The only goal came on the stroke of half time, Raum received the ball back from Baumgartner from his throw in, before releasing Facundo Torres in the box from the left, and Torres slotted home across the goalkeeper to make it 1-0, and to take our first win at home this season. We didn't really look like throwing it away, and we do now have a way of making the 4-3-3 work at the moment.

Mario Wolf to make his debut: We've got another youth team player making the team today, as we have a 4-1 lead over HJK Helsinki and are very unlikely to lose it today. Mario Wolf is a young left back, who plays for the under 19s at the moment, but I've brought him up to the first team to try him out. He's strong with his tackling with a rating of 15. He's got a few 13s across the board as well. This is a good use of easier matches in European competition. As you don't have to register Under-21 players, you can use as many as you want, so if you have a problem with maybe home grown players or anything like that, you can use your youngsters to complete the team, or just to give them a chance.

Thursday 27th August 2026: RB Leipzig 3-3 HJK Helsinki (RB Leipzig win 7-4 on aggregate) (UEFA Europa Conference League League Path Fourth Qualifying Round Second Leg) We made it through despite a topsy turvy game in the second leg, where I think we just became complacent. They took the lead after 22 minutes, Keskinen's shot in hit Dragusin as it was going wide and that diverted it in for 1-0. We equalised a few minutes later. A neat, sharp passing move meant Olmo could play it right to Torres, who cut inside and fired into the top left corner for 1-1. We took the lead after half-time, as a Holmgren Pedersen cross from the right was met on the head by Timo Werner at the far post for 2-1. A goal kick for them led to Kodes winning the ball in the air, and Tanko got his head to the ball about 20 yards out, but Cordano was miles off his line and the ball went rolling in for 2-2. Timo Werner then put us back in front from the penalty spot, before they equalised with five minutes to go. Ollila's cross from the left was nodded in at the far post by Kouassivi-Benissan, and we were pegged back once again. We did put the ball in the net in the 93rd minute, but Werner was denied his hat trick by running offside in the build up. Either way, we're through, and we're now going to see who we're playing in the league phase. 

UEFA Europa Conference League League Phase Draw: So in the Europa Conference League, you play 6 matches rather than 8, so they're all done by Christmas which is great to see. Our hardest game in my opinion, comes first, travelling to Dinamo Zagreb, who are normally in the other two competitions. We then have a home game against Finnish side FC Haka. In November, we'll play Neftci Baku of Azerbaijan, and Spartak Trnava or Slovakia both away from home. And finally in December, we finish with two home matches, against Royal Antwerp of Belgium, and Samsunspor of Turkey.

Sunday 30th August 2026: Schalke 04 2-3 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) This game was unbelievable. We dominated the entire game, but 5 minutes of madness before half time left us 2-0 down to Schalke. Kevin Volland gave Schalke the lead after 37 minutes with his first goal for the club, putting us 1-0 down. As we had dominated the game up to this point, I thought we would have taken it in our stride and gone on to equalise. But to my surprise, the Gelsenkirchen based side went 2-0 up, five minutes later. Coulibaly ran the ball down the left hand side, sprinting to the byline, near the corner flag. He swung the ball into the area, and there was Pieringer at the back post to double the home side's advantage, and to put us in turmoil. Ouedraogo then got injured right at the start of the second half, which meant we brought Dani Olmo on later in the game. Thank the lord I did. Dani Olmo had a free-kick on the right wing, he swung it in and found Yuri Alberto at the far post, who nodded over the keeper to make it 2-1. We equalised just a minute later, Simakan ran down the right with Holmgren Pedersen on the underlap. He played it to him, and the right-back played the ball across the box, and it evaded everyone to fall to Kouame who fired home on the line to make it 2-2. We won the game with a minute of normal time to go. Timo Werner came on with 6 minutes to go, and received the ball on the halfway line from Olmo. He ran past 3 defenders, evading challenges until he ran into the area, and fired home into the top left hand corner to send our fans wild. What an important goal, and a great comeback this early in the season.

Assan Ouedraogo injured: As for Assan Ouedraogo, unfortunately he is out for 3-4 weeks after twisting his ankle during the game, but he's been a real smart player so far at this club, and I'm sure he will be back stronger and fitter.

Benjamin Sesko has signed a brand new contract, worth £135,000 a week for the next five years. He is currently out injured with a damaged achilles tendon, but he should be back for the middle of October, and I can't wait to start putting him in that side, for me he's probably better than Timo Werner and he's years younger as well. Being 23 years old, I'm hoping that he doesn't keep on getting injured and ruining his chances of a decent career.

August Results: We've scored in every game this month as we've made a fairly decent start to the season. We thumped Eintracht Stadtallendorf 8-0, the fifth tier side being nowhere near us in this game. Openda scored 7 goals in this one. We lost our first Bundesliga game of the season to Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1, where we just weren't good enough. I made the system slightly more attacking, and the following game, we thrashed HJK Helsinki 4-1 in the Conference League. We defeated FC Koln 1-0, but dominated the game throughout, and then we drew against HJK Helsinki 3-3, to put us into the league phase. In the final game this month, we came from 2-0 down to defeat Schalke 3-2 away from home.

Bundesliga Table Update: Our first look at the table this season, after the opening matches in August, and the champions Bayern Munich are the only team with a 100% record after three matches. Union Berlin sit second on 7 points, with Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig both starting really well, on 6 points apiece. There's a whole host of teams on 5 points, with Borussia Dortmund, Mainz, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt all having a win and 2 draws. At the bottom, Hamburg and Hoffenheim have both lost their opening 3 matches at the start of this season, with Hertha Berlin sat on 1 point, Schalke on 2, and Augsburg, Freiburg and Werder Bremen all on 3 points.

Final Word: It's been a satisfying start to the season in my time as RB Leipzig manager, 4th in the table after three games, not much oomph needed in the DFB-Pokal and we confirmed our place in the Conference League fairly easily as well. I can't complain with any results this month, apart from when we were 2-0 down to Schalke and I wondered what was going on, so I changed the personnel up slightly. I know we're not in it to win the Bundesliga, as we've already done it with Dortmund, but we've got to get that winning mentality going this season otherwise we could be in trouble. Our first games as an international manager comes up soon as we kick off our Nations League campaign. Obviously it's not very important, but if we can do well in a group of Germany, Poland and Scotland, I'll be buzzing. We've got to aim to get second at least in that one. That brings us to the end of August, I hope you're enjoying the save. I'll see you soon.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - RB Leipzig and Spain - 2026-27 Season - September

Welcome back to the Glory Hunter save, and we are in season 4 now, as we will head into our first international break this month, as we have to juggle managing both RB Leipzig and Spain. We start the month as we always start September, with transfer deadline day in Germany. We have a nice amount of money to kick things off on this day, as we currently have £32,000,000 in the transfer budget, and just under £3,000,000 a week on wage budget, and well over £500,000 to play with in that wage budget, so we definitely could make a couple of signings today, which I am looking forward to. If anything, it'll be just to bolster the squad. These are the fixtures heading into September with RB Leipzig. The Spain ones will be around when we go into the international break. 

RB Leipzig September Fixtures: We start this month with a home game against second-placed Union Berlin, who if we beat, we could climb into the top 2 at this early stage of the league season. We then have the return of Owen Coe to Signal Iduna Park as we play our old club, Borussia Dortmund, the team we made Bundesliga champions just two seasons ago. Our first Europa Conference League game in the proper competition is away in Croatia, as we take on Dinamo Zagreb, which I've already said is probably our toughest game out of the league phase. We end the month at home to Hertha Berlin, which we need to be aiming for three points from. 

Transfer Window Round-Up: It was a very quiet transfer deadline day, all of the players leaving are players that haven't appeared for me this season, or players that were in the Under 19 side. The biggest sales of the transfer window were Taylor Booth moving to Feyenoord, and Elias Jelert making the move to English Champions, Manchester City. We signed three players for decent money to be fair, Ardon Jashari, Julian Aude, and Kacper Tobiasz will all get decent playing time this season in the first team. I did almost forget to mention Xaver Schlager going to Real Madrid, and Maarten Vandevoordt going off to Wolfsburg over the Summer as well, but all in all, I'm happy with my squad, and let's see how we do as we move on. 

Christian Kouame to FC Porto: Christian Kouame has moved to Porto on transfer deadline day for £15,500,000. It was a last minute bid by the Portuguese giants, and I thought about it, but it is a good idea as when Benjamin Sesko comes back into the team, someone has to be dropped as Timo Werner will be in the team automatically alongside him, and that means one of the three that has started the season would have to sit out, and I'm sure he would be disappointed. Also, he's a nomadic striker so made a lot of moves, and it does seem like he doesn't stay at a club too long, but good luck to him this season.

Amadou Haidara Injured: I have a third player out with a twisted ankle which is rather concerning at the moment. This time it's Amadou Haidara who has been starting in that central midfield triangle, so it's not great for us. He would have started against Union Berlin this weekend, and he will now be out for 3-4 weeks. 

Friday 4th September 2026: RB Leipzig 3-0 Union Berlin (Bundesliga) Our first game this month was a flawless 3-0 win at home to Union Berlin, which for the time being puts us top of the table on goals scored. We circled the Union penalty area early on to try and find the first goal, and via Torres, Werner, Raum and Zalazar, Brahim Diaz picked up the ball on the right, cut inside and fired into the roof of the net to give us the lead after 10 minutes. It was a smart move for 2-0, Zalazar with a free kick just outside the box, played it to his right for Brahim Diaz to take a touch and fire under the keeper from the edge of the box to double the advantage. Brahim Diaz had a couple of chances to complete his hat trick before he actually did. Timo Werner took the ball down the left touchline, before he curled the ball into the box, and up jumped Brahim Diaz to nod it home and complete his hat trick, and a clinical win. Great result here.

Saturday 12th September 2026: Borussia Dortmund 0-1 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) Christoph Baumgartner celebrated his new 4-year contract at RB Leipzig by scoring the winner at my old stomping ground, as we beat Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park, by a goal in the 3rd minute before holding on for the rest of the game. Brahim Diaz took the ball down the right, he rolled it back to Holmgren Pedersen, and when he played it into the box from the corner of the area, Baumgartner hit it first time into the bottom left corner about 15 yards out, as we take home the win, and with Bayern Munich failing to win for the first time this season, we've now closed the gap at the top to one point off the champions. 4 wins in a row in the league now.

Thursday 17th September 2026: Dinamo Zagreb 1-2 RB Leipzig (UEFA Europa Conference League League Phase) Our first game in the Conference League provided us with our first win of the League Phase, as we came from behind against Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb. We had several chances to take the lead in the first half, including hitting the bar, but Dinamo Zagreb took the lead on a counter attack. They went straight through the team with direct forward passes, and Petkovic released Vidovic, and he was one-on-one with Tobiasz, and he hit it just outside the box into the roof of the net to give them the lead against the run of play. It took until the hour mark to level it up. Dani Olmo received the ball on the left after Baumgartner was dispossessed, and he played it into the six-yard box, where Yuri Alberto slid it under the keeper for 1-1. We went very attacking late on, and it resulted in picking up a late winner. Brahim Diaz went down the right and cut inside the box, where he played it across to Jashari, and he found Dani Olmo unmarked at the left hand post, and he slotted it home first time into the bottom right hand corner, and we take our first win in this competition.

Timo Werner Injured: Unfortunately, Timo Werner picked up a pulled hamstring during this game, and he's going to be out for the next 2 weeks after pulling up against Dinamo Zagreb unfortunately.

Sunday 20th September 2026: RB Leipzig 5-1 Hertha Berlin (Bundesliga) We concluded our club action this month with a massive 5-1 hammering of bottom club Hertha Berlin. We did lose two decent players during this game with both Zalazar and Facundo Torres being stricken through this game, and we'll see how bad it will be after this match update. Brahim Diaz received the ball on the right and played it into the area for Yuri Alberto, who fired the shot across the keeper into the bottom left hand corner to give us the lead. Facundo Torres doubled the advantage from the penalty spot to make it 2-0. Seiwald helped set up the third by rolling it forward to Dani Olmo, and he saw Yuri Alberto making a run into the box through the middle, and the latter fired into the net to make it game over before half time. Tabakovic started the move for Hertha's consolation, playing it to Koch, moving it on to Samassekou, and Tabakovic had continued his run through the middle, and connected with a lovely through ball, and he fired home for 3-1. We went up the other end and got our fourth straightaway. Facundo Torres' attempted cross from the left was deflected into his own goal by Jonjoe Kenny for 4-1. Schuldes, a 19 year old making his debut for the side at centre-back, played it through to Dani Olmo, and he found Brahim Diaz on the right. He cut inside the area, ran through on goal and slotted it across the keeper into the corner to put a cherry on top of the icing of the cake. 

Uruguayan Duo Injured: Both Facundo Torres and Rodrigo Zalazar picked up injuries in this match unfortunately and will be out for a period of time each. Torres pulled a calf muscle and will be out for the next 3 weeks, so he will be back just after the international break. As will Zalazar, as he picked up pulled ankle ligaments during the game as well, and he will be out for about 2 weeks while recovering.

Jamie Schuldes Debut: Jamie Schuldes made his debut against Hertha Berlin in our 5-1 win as he came on basically to see what it's like in the first team. He's quite a pacy youngster which is strange for a centre-back for me, but at least he can recover quite quickly when caught out of position. We'll see how good he becomes, but he has at least made his debut. 

RB Leipzig September Results: We had a perfect month, and a month of green is always great to see. We comfortably won 3-0 at home against Union Berlin, which really continued a run of form we didn't know was going to make us this strong. We picked up a win away at my former club, Borussia Dortmund, which is always a great result when you go back to your former team, and the team you made champions the first time around. We followed that up with a 2-1 win away at Dinamo Zagreb, coming from behind and scoring an 87th minute winner. Then finally, we thrashed Hertha Berlin 5-1, when we just played them off the park and made them look amateur. Here's the table.

Bundesliga Table Update: We've been here before guys and girls haven't we? RB Leipzig lead the way after 5 wins in a row following the first defeat of the season, and we're a point clear of Bayern Munich, who have dropped points in their last two matches. Eintracht Frankfurt are still unbeaten on 12 points in third, with FC Koln, Borussia Dortmund and Stuttgart on 11 points. Union Berlin sit seventh on 10. Hertha Berlin are bottom on 2 points, alongside Schalke, who are ahead of them on goal difference. Werder Bremen sit 3rd bottom on 3 points, with Hoffenheim just above them on 4 points. 

UEFA Europa Conference League Table Update: There's only been one game for everyone so far and we currently sit 9th, with Brighton top after a 6-0 win in their opening match.

Spain Squad: My first international squad as Spain manager ahead of this extended international break, of which in this update, I'll be covering the opening two matches against Scotland and Poland. We've gone without a recognised centre-forward although we do have the great wonderkid Lamine Yamal in the squad who I will stick up front in most games. We've also got the likes of Ferran Torres who can play that role. Let's go ahead and start our Nations League campaign. 

Saturday 26th September 2026: Spain 3-0 Scotland (UEFA Nations League A Group 2) And we started that Nations League campaign with a thumping 3-0 defeat of Scotland at home, as we aim to at least get into the final stage of this competition just to get the appetite going. Balde ran the ball down the left midway through the first half, going round the Scottish back line, he swung the ball in, and there was Ferran Torres at the far post to get our campaign off to a flyer. We doubled the advantage four minutes later. Ansu Fati won the ball from Billy Gilmour after he gave away possession, and he ran through the defence which parted like the Red Sea, he was one-on-one with the keeper and converted easily to make it 2-0. Rodri rounded off the victory, receiving the ball from Balde on the edge of the box, and hitting it home with a first time shot deflected by Billy Gilmour. All in all, a good debut in international football.

Tuesday 29th September 2026: Poland 1-0 Spain (UEFA Nations League A Group 2) Poland profited from our profligacy and poor checking down the line as we missed chance after chance, and then had two goals ruled out for offside as we lost to a Robert Lewandowski penalty in Poland. Both teams had goals ruled out for offside in the first 11 minutes, before Robert Lewandowski provided the killer blow after 20 minutes, firing the ball high into the middle of the net from the penalty spot. The first game I've lost all month for either club or country. It's a tournament the FA don't care about, but I care if I lose. I've changed up the narrow formation for the visit of Germany in the next few days. 

Spain September Results: So in our first two games as Spanish manager, we demolished Scotland 3-0 at home, and then lost a game we dominated against Poland 1-0.

UEFA Nations League A Group B Update: Those results put us third after two matches, with Germany beating both Poland and Scotland handsomely, but we are only behind Poland on the head to head record, and they've got Scotland next and to be honest, I reckon they could lose to them as I think they may be the only team capable in this group of losing to Scotland. 

Final Word: Starting with RB Leipzig, we've had a flawless month this month and find ourselves on top of the Bundesliga at this early stage after a five match winning run which is incredible at this early stage in the season. I think we've found a system that works at the moment, something that will allow us to score goals, and to score those goals at the right time as we saw in Europe, and what we've seen with getting those goals in the last minutes of games in general. With Spain, it may take a little bit of time, but obviously being in League A of the Nations League, we've been thrown right in with top ranked teams, and it won't be like that when we're qualifying for the Euros in the second half of the season. This is going to be a good indicator of how we do against the bigger nations in Europe when it does come to 2028, and to be honest, apart from not scoring against Poland, we weren't that far off. I'm quite pleased with both my teams this month, and we're going to take both these runs of form going forward, and seeing how we do in October. We'll return with the second two matches of this extended international break. I'll see you then.

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - RB Leipzig and Spain - 2026-27 Season - October

Welcome back to the Glory Hunter challenge, and we are going superbly well this season with RB Leipzig, sitting on top of the Bundesliga by a point ahead of Bayern Munich, but we are starting out with Spain this month, as the international break continues. I've never known such a long international break. I'm wondering with longer World Cups if it will be a thing of the future from 2026 onwards? I don't normally do international football, mainly because of the problems with no resting, and that is going to come into play unfortunately as we have two home games against Germany and Poland in the next two matches, only a few days apart. When we come back from the international break, I will show off the RB Leipzig fixtures coming up. It just helps me keep on top of everything. But for now, we've got two games as I said against both Germany and Poland at home, I'm changing the tactic for both of these games, and let's go into these Nations League matches.

Saturday 3rd October 2026: Spain 2-2 Germany (UEFA Nations League A Group 2) Another game we arguably should have won as we had the chances and the xG, but unfortunately again, we dropped points, but this time, we held the group leaders to a 2-2 draw. Ansu Fati helped set up the first goal, he plays it in the middle to Ferran Torres, and he held off challenges to find an onrushing Nico Williams on the right, unmarked, and he fired across the goalkeeper into the bottom left corner for 1-0. Germany equalised 9 minutes later, Joshua Kimmich chipped a free-kick over the wall and found Wirtz in the box, and he hit it first time on the left foot volley to level it up for 1-1. Nico Williams had a second goal ruled out for offside, before we did take the lead on the stroke of half time. Asensio brought the ball forward from the half way line, with Ferran Torres running through the middle ahead of him, and he fired home into the top right corner for 2-1. Germany equalised about 10 minutes after half time. Jamal Musiala played the ball out to the left, and when they couldn't find a route through that way, Henrichs played it back to an unmarked Musiala on the edge of the box, and he swept home first time into the corner to share the spoils in this battle of giants. 

Tuesday 6th October 2026: Spain 5-0 Poland (UEFA Nations League A Group 2) We secured our revenge against Poland, as we were massively on top, didn't allow them to have a shot, and thrashed them 5-0 as they went down to ten men. Gumny was sent off for a second bookable offence in the first half as he handballed in the area as it resulted in a second yellow card. Oyarzabal fired home the subsequent penalty. We then went more attacking as we vowed to punish Poland. A ball aimed towards the box led to a second goal, as Fati laid off to Oyarzabal, who ran into the area to connect home into the bottom right corner for 2-0. A scramble in the area led to the third as Fati hit the post, then Yamal hit the post, before a scramble and a toe by Pedri rolled the ball over the line for 3-0. Asensio ran the ball from the middle to the left side of the box, near the byline, and he cut back for Guerra to fire high into the net for 4-0. We rounded off the victory in stoppage time, Pedro Porro's narrow angle shot being parried onto the head of Guerra as he nodded into an empty net for 5-0. 

UEFA Nations League A Group 2 Update: Germany lead the way at the end of this international break with only 2 games to go, sitting top on 10 points, their only dropped points being against us. We sit second and 3 points behind them on 7 points. We've broken away from both Scotland and Poland, who both sit on 3 points, Scotland ahead of Poland on head to head as they won 2-1 at Hampden Park.

RB Leipzig October Fixtures: Heading back to club football, and we've got a busy month coming up with RB Leipzig, in the hope we can keep and extend our lead at some point, if someone does us a favour with Bayern Munich. We start at home to Freiburg who currently sit mid-table. A trip to Mainz follows, before we go to Stuttgart in 3 games we need to pick up 3 wins from. We then continue our European campaign at home to Finnish side, FC Haka, a game we ought to get a huge victory in, and we shouldn't need our first team for that one. We return from that European game with a home match against a decent Wolfsburg side. We then face Freiburg for the second time in the same month, this one being away from home in the DFB-Pokal, a competition we must win this season. We then finish the month away at Bochum.

Sunday 11th October 2026: RB Leipzig 4-0 Freiburg (Bundesliga) Timo Werner led the way for the team as he scored all four goals in an absolute thrashing of Freiburg. Dragusin took the ball on the halfway line and he lofted the ball down the right for Brahim Diaz, who crossed the ball into the area and Timo Werner fired home from close range to open the scoring. Dani Olmo played the perfect through ball for the second goal, Timo Werner meeting the ball effortlessly, and Werner fired home to be on a hat trick inside 12 minutes for 2-0. Timo Werner completed his hat-trick on 64 minutes, firing home a penalty, sending the keeper the wrong way, coolly and calmly into the bottom right hand corner. Torres set up the fourth, his ball coming in from the left across the byline, and Werner was able to sweep it home for his and the team's fourth goal in this game. It's allowed us to open a three point gap as Bayern Munich lost to FC Koln.

Cristoph Baumgartner Injured: Christoph Baumgartner has entered the physio's room just as it was emptying, as he has picked up a groin strain after jumping during training. It's less stressful as we did have 7 in there before the long international break, but he's been one of my regular starters this season, and he makes the team stronger. I really hope he comes back sooner rather than later. At the moment, it's for 3-4 weeks.

Wednesday 14th October 2026: Mainz 05 1-5 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) The goals were shared around a little bit, as we hit 5 away at Mainz, as Benjamin Sesko got his first goals since coming back from injury. It took us 20 minutes to open the scoring, Benjamin Sesko converting from the penalty spot. Mainz did equalise shortly before half time. Volpato played the ball out left to Bakker, who went for the cross across the six-yard box, and Widmer was there at the back post to tap it over the line for 1-1. In the second half, we took control of this match. Olmo played the ball to Openda who ran towards the penalty area with the ball, and saw Ouedraogo making the run into the area down the left, and he fired into the far corner to make it 2-1 to us. 2 minutes later, when Openda played the ball to Dani Olmo on the right, he ran into the area and played it across the six yard box to Benjamin Sesko who got his second of the game to make it 3-1. They were reduced to 10 men on 76 minutes when Bakker got a second yellow card, and it made the job harder for the home side. Raum took a short corner to Olmo, he found Ouedraogo on the left side of the box, and he played it across to Jashari, and he swept it into the bottom right corner for 4-1. And then finally, Sesko played the ball to an unmarked Openda on the right side of the box, and he slid it past the keeper for 5-1. We open up a six-point lead at the top.

Julian Aude Injury: Julian Aude twisted his ankle at one point during the game we've just played, and he will be out for the next 3-4 weeks, and I just hope it doesn't start stacking up. He was about to start playing more games as they became more congested, especially this month.

Saturday 17th October 2026: Stuttgart 1-1 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) We dropped points for the first time since the opening day of the season, as we could only manage a 1-1 draw away at Stuttgart. Timo Werner won a header from a long kick away and that moved onto Sesko. After a couple of one-twos between them both, Werner was in the perfect position, and he fired it in at the near post to give us the lead inside the first minute. Stuttgart equalised from a delivery from the left, Fuhrich whipping the ball into the box from a free kick, and Atakan Karazor nodded it in at the back post to make it 1-1. Both teams had further chances, and Stuttgart were denied two penalties by VAR from clear cut decent tackles. But in the end, it's not a defeat, and our unbeaten league run is now at 8 matches. 

Thursday 22nd October 2026: RB Leipzig 6-1 FC Haka (UEFA Europa Conference League League Phase) An 11-minute hat-trick for Timo Werner started us on the way to a 6-1 win over Finnish side, FC Haka. Brahim Diaz won the ball at the back in the build up to the first goal, and set off Facundo Torres down the left, and he kept on running with the ball, finding Timo Werner in the box, and he lashed home from 2 yards out for 1-0. Timo Werner then doubled the advantage two minutes later with a powerful penalty into the top right corner for 2-0. A defensive calamity for FC Haka made it 3-0, as they failed to clear Ouedraogo's through ball, one defender fired it against the other, and it bounced favourably for Werner and he fired home for his hat trick. Wolf's throw in came back to him from Jashari, and he whipped a cross into the box, finding Ouedraogo at the far post to make it 4-0 after 26 minutes. We got a fifth on the stroke of half time. Torres's cross was blocked, as was Dragusin's shot, and the ball bundled it's way through to Ouedraogo who only had to steer it over the line for 5-0, and a very comfortable lead at half time. Haka got their consolation 6 minutes into the second half. Whyte's corner was eventually cleared away back to him. He played a pass along the floor into the area for Friberg, who swivelled and shot into the bottom left corner for 5-1. The final goal was set up by Brahim Diaz on the right, and he played it into the six-yard box for Torres to lash home to make it 6-1. Two wins from two in Europe and a great thumping result.

Sunday 25th October 2026: RB Leipzig 2-0 Wolfsburg (Bundesliga) We picked up a routine 2-0 win over Wolfsburg as we moved on to 25 points after 10 games, only dropping 5 points so far this season. Raum received the ball from the middle on the left hand side, and he played it down the line for Facundo Torres to send a low cross into the box, and Benjamin Sesko fired home to give us the lead 6 minutes before half time. In the second half, Jashari received the ball in the middle, and found the run of Brahim Diaz from the right, one on one with the keeper, and he fired into the far corner to go 2-0 up and secure another three points, as we stamp our authority on the league. 

Wednesday 28th October 2026: Freiburg 1-3 RB Leipzig (DFB-Pokal Second Round) We booked our place in the third round of this year's DFB-Pokal, winning 3-1 away at fellow Bundesliga side Freiburg, in a game where in the second half, we just started to take it to them. We took the lead midway through the first half, a ball in the box from the right was cleared away to the left for Raum to swing a ball in and he found Sesko in the six-yard box to make it 1-0. Freiburg equalised in the 56th minute. A free kick forward from Gunter was played down the right to Amdouni, who swung it into the box for Gregoritsch to fire home from close range to make it 1-1. We took the game away from Freiburg in the last half an hour. Seiwald had the ball in the middle of the park, and played it forward to Dani Olmo, who found a running Lois Openda from the right, and he converted in the box to score his 8th goal in two games in this competition. Openda turned provider for the third, playing a low cross into Sesko who scored his second goal of the game with a half volley to finish off this game, and send us into the next round. 

DFB-Pokal Third Round Draw: We will play St. Pauli away in the third round of the DFB-Pokal, thankfully we managed to avoid the big guns left in the competition in Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, so we have chances to move forward in this competition thankfully.

RB Leipzig October Results: We've gone another month without losing at all, and it started with a 4-0 thrashing of Freiburg, and then a 5-1 away thrashing of Mainz 05. We then stuttered to only a 1-1 draw away at Stuttgart, before thrashing Finnish side, FC Haka 6-1 in the Europa Conference League. We defeated Wolfsburg 2-0, and then we rounded out the month with a 3-1 win away at Freiburg in the DFB-Pokal Second Round.

Bundesliga Table Update: This table looks nice and lovely. RB Leipzig have 25 points at this stage, 4 points clear of Eintracht Frankfurt, in second place, while Bayern Munich are third on 20 points. Union Berlin sit 4th on 19 points with a game in hand on everyone else around them, and both Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen sat on 18 points, just outside the Champions League positions. Stuttgart and FC Koln are just behind them, but neither of them are anywhere near their best form at the moment. Schalke sit bottom on 5 points, with Werder Bremen sat on 7 points, and Hertha Berlin and Bochum, who we play next, are currently sat on 8 points apiece. 

UEFA Europa Conference League Update: After everyone only playing one more game this month, 8 teams have maximum points from their opening 2 matches in Brighton & Hove Albion, FC Basel, RB Leipzig, Braga, FC Midtjylland, Neftci Baku, Charleroi and Aberdeen. There's still 4 matches to go though, and anything can change from this point onwards.

Final Word: Another unbeaten month in both club and international football, as in the Nations League, my Spanish team sit second, just three points off Germany, which means November will be a huge month to see if we can make it to the finals tournament. With RB Leipzig, we have now opened up a 4 point lead at the top of the Bundesliga, to try and secure the club's second league title in 4 seasons, and we are currently unscathed in the Conference League and in the DFB-Pokal as this becomes as close to a perfect season as possible. To say I've found something unexpected that works for this team is amazing. Hopefully in the next month, we can book our last 16 spot in the Conference League and try and extend the points gap in the Bundesliga. It's been a good start to the season, let's hope it continues. 

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter - RB Leipzig and Spain - 2026-27 Season - November

We have entered another month of high-stakes, highly competitive football as we take both RB Leipzig and Spain, and try to set some objectives for this month. I want to open up the gap at the top of the Bundesliga, before we head into a month where we have a match against Bayern Munich, a team that I think have the ability to close the gap on us. We also have two matches in the Conference League, and realising how many teams are in this competition, if we can at least confirm the minimum of a play off place, that'll make December and January relaxing in that competition at the very least. Don't forget, we don't have to win the Bundesliga this season as I have already done it in this save, but it would be a nice way to extend and make myself bigger for the teams around Europe who may be after Champions League titles. As for Spain, we have two away matches this month, including one against Germany. We should have beaten them at home, but in that one, it could be winner takes all, if we end up beating them away from home, we could make the semi-finals of the Nations League next Summer. Let's take a look at our club fixtures coming up.

RB Leipzig November Fixtures: We travel away to relegation playoff-threaten Bochum, as we aim to extend the gap at the top to a potential 7 points depending on how Union Berlin do in their next game. We travel to Azerbaijan in the first midweek to face Neftci Baku in the Europa Conference League. After that match, we face Werder Bremen at home who are struggling at the bottom of the Bundesliga, and could be in danger of relegation. After the international break, we have a big match away at defending Champions, Bayern Munich, who have had a difficult time of it this season so far, and currently find themselves in 3rd place, but five points off us. Our final game of the month is away at Slovakian side, Spartak Trnava, where we will try and confirm a play off place. I'm proud of how far this team has come this season. 

Spain November Fixtures: As I said, we have two games this international break coming up as we travel to Hampden Park to play Scotland, who are in danger of being relegated, and finally we face a game that could be winner takes all in terms of qualifying for the semi-finals, as we face Germany away.

Sunday 1st November 2026: Bochum 0-1 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) It wasn't a classic performance by us in this game unfortunately, but if you can get a result when not playing well, we saw that in our title winning season at Dortmund, that we can absolutely win a title with not the best performance. We defeated a charged up Bochum side 1-0, the only goal coming from a corner from the left by Raum, and Dragusin headed in at the near post, with the ball hitting the post before going in. It takes us 7 points clear now at the top of the Bundesliga, but everyone else has a game in hand. A good start to the month. After the game, Lois Openda, who was wanting to leave the club in the Summer, has signed a brand new 4-year contract, running until 2030. 

Spain Squad Announcement: I've only made one change from the last squad, Yeremy Pino of Manchester City replaces Marco Asensio of PSG.

Thursday 5th November 2026: Neftci Baku 0-3 RB Leipzig (UEFA Europa Conference League League Phase) We made it three wins from three in the League Phase in Europe this season, with a ruthless 3-0 victory away at Azeri side Neftci Baku. The first goal came from a passing move after a throw-in on the left, Jashari received the ball and found Openda with a lofted ball with him running in from the right, and with a first time volley, found the top left corner expertly to give us the lead. Jashari set up the second goal as well, his corner from the left finding Benjamin Sesko's header at the near post. Sesko was dispossessed in the final minute, but that found Raum on the left, and his cross was deflected into his own goal by Yuri, as we took a win that took on top of the league phase. 

Sunday 8th November 2026: RB Leipzig 0-0 Werder Bremen (Bundesliga) Our first blank of the season as we drew 0-0 at home to Werder Bremen who clear themselves of danger for now. We had the chances to win this match, but unfortunately they had all the answers at the back, which also means that they had chances to win the match as well. Their best chances came from corners, with headers saved by Tobiasz throughout the game. We move 6 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga, and we will take that lead into the final international break of the calendar year. We get through these matches, and we return with a big game against Bayern Munich.

Thursday 12th November 2026: Scotland 1-1 Spain (UEFA Nations League A Group 2) We were fortunate to grab a point against Scotland, we were not hitting the target for most of the match. But as Germany also drew 1-1 with Poland, it will be a winner takes all match in Germany as we try and qualify for the group stage. If we beat Germany, we will go through on a head to head record. Billy Gilmour took a free-kick which went too far through the box. Ryan Christie picked it up, played it back to McKenna, who fired home into the corner to give a well-organised Scotland the lead. We didn't get our equaliser until the 96th minute. Ferran Torres made a run down the left, turned his man inside out, swung the ball back into the box, and Lamine Yamal met it at the far post to level the game up and save us from being eliminated from qualifying. As for Scotland and Poland, they play a match where the loser drops into League B. 

Sunday 15th November 2026: Germany 3-0 Spain (UEFA Nations League A Group 2) We've been knocked out of the Nations League as I decided to really go for it by turning to 4-2-4 during the game, but it backfired as Germany thrashed us all over the pitch, and we have to get better against the bigger nations. Ter Stegen played the ball forward for the first goal, Werner nodded back to Musiala, who played a through ball to Adeyemi, who fired into the top right corner to give the Germans the early advantage. Timo Werner made a run down the left, and he sent in a cross towards Beier, and he nodded home at the far post for 2-0. Kimmich took a corner from the left for the final goal, and Rudiger won the header at the far post, and the ball went in off the post to confound our misery. 

Final Nations League Table: Germany have qualified for the semi finals unbeaten, and they ended 6 points clear of us in second place as we end on 8 points after a disappointing performance in the group. Scotland survived relegation on the final day after winning in Poland, and Poland drop into League B. We will return with Spanish news, when we find out who we're playing in the European Championship qualifying, later in this update.

Brahim Diaz Injured: One of our regulars, Brahim Diaz, will be out injured until after the Winter break as he has sprained knee ligaments and will be out of the team for 5-6 weeks after getting injured on international duty. We could have needed him to stay top heading into Christmas, despite the lead we currently have.

Saturday 21st November 2026: Bayern Munich 3-0 RB Leipzig (Bundesliga) Only our second defeat in 20 matches in charge in all competitions of RB Leipzig, and this was one I was sort of half expecting. We gave away a penalty early on in this game, but Tobiasz was up to the task of keeping it out, sending Mathys Tel's penalty wide for a corner. They took the lead after 9 minutes, Tobiasz punching a corner away only as far as the edge of the box. Sooner rather than later, the ball was back in the area, he saved Tel's shot at point blank range, but Musiala fired the ball into an empty net to give Bayern the lead. We held it at 1-0 until after half time, when they started to turn it up. Bayern Munich were keeping the ball around the centre circle, but then Goretzka played the ball down the right to Luiz Henrique, who ran into the box, and fired into the bottom left corner for 2-0. Mathys Tel ran the ball down the right for their third, the ball into the box finding Musiala's head perfectly, and he flew it into the top right hand corner to make it 3-0. We still hold a 3 point lead at the moment.

Thursday 26th November 2026: Spartak Trnava 1-4 RB Leipzig (UEFA Europa Conference League League Phase) We booked our place in at least the play offs, and continued our 100% record at the top of the League Phase, as we thrashed Slovakian side Spartak Trnava 4-1. We played the ball down the right before finding Benjamin Sesko. He got dispossessed but Openda was there to tap in inside the six-yard box and give us the early lead. They equalised in the 14th minute. Mustafa had the ball on the right hand side, but no one was really defending that side of the area, so he played the ball into Duris, and he ran through on goal and fired inside the near post for 1-1. In the second half, we penetrated the left hand side again, and the ball fell to Openda in the box. His shot was blocked, and Seiwald fired a deflected shot from the edge of the box, which wrongfooted the keeper and we retook the lead. Simakan made a run down the right on 64 minutes, before playing it across the edge of the box, and Sesko turned and shot from the edge of the box for 3-1. Sesko then semi turned provider as his ball down the right found Facundo Torres, he rolled it along the box and Openda tapped home to round the victory off and we won the game 4-1.

UEFA European Championship Qualifying Group Stage Draw: We have been drawn into Group D of the qualifying programme for UEFA Euro 2028, being held in Italy. We will face Hungary, Iceland, Moldova and Slovenia en route to the Euros, and we should be aiming to win the group fairly easily. Hungary would probably be up there with us. 

RB Leipzig November Results: We started our month with a well fought 1-0 away win over Bochum, before following that up with a convincing 3-0 away win at Neftci Baku in Europe. We then failed to score for the first time this season with a 0-0 draw against Werder Bremen, before following that one up after the international break with a 3-0 away defeat at Bayern Munich, making it our first defeat in 12 games. We finished off the month thrashing Spartak Trnava 4-1, although we didn't play in the final weekend of the month as everyone caught up. This is now the table.

Bundesliga Table Update: Both RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich are locked on 29 points, but we're leading on goal difference. A further two points back on 27 are Borussia Dortmund, as this now threatens to become a three horse race this season. Eintracht Frankfurt sit 4th on 23 points. The good thing now, is that we only face the rest of the current top 4 at home. Union Berlin are fifth on 22, with FC Koln and Bayer Leverkusen locked on 21 points. Stuttgart are challenging for Europe in 8th on 20 points. The relegation battle looks tasty at the moment, Hertha Berlin and Bochum both sit on 8 points, but Hertha have a game in hand. Schalke and Werder Bremen both have 9 points at the moment, but once again Werder Bremen have a game in hand coming up. 

UEFA Europa Conference League Update: With only two matches remaining of this league phase, three teams have already confirmed at least a play off place, with RB Leipzig, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Aberdeen at least into the knockout playoff round. The teams completing the top 8 at the moment are Napoli, Samsunspor, Rapid Wien, Basel and Charleroi fighting to hold onto their place in the last 16 places in the table. It's very tight for the teams wanting to qualify for the top 24, with Rheindorf Altach, Shamrock Rovers, Spartak Trnava and Rakow all level on 4 points at the moment. 

Final Word: It's been a weird month in this save. Yes RB Leipzig are still top of the table, and still playing well in general, but now I'm not feeling as comfortable and confident as I once did, now teams have played their games in hand. It's now got to mustn't lose territory if we're seriously going to hold off both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund this season. In terms of Europe, we picked up 6 points this month, and will be the top ranked team in the competition if we're to win our final two matches in December. As for Spain, it wasn't the best two matches, with a final minute equaliser in Scotland, and then a humbling in Germany, but we do at least have a very winnable group in qualifying, which will begin in March. Thank you for joining me for this one, and next time, we head towards the Christmas period with a lead to protect in two competitions. 

[Ozza1996]

Glory Hunter Update

Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure what has happened, but my laptop has decided to ditch the save for me which isn't good at all. Unfortunately, that does mean I will have to end the career mode here but I will be starting a brand new save from this afternoon, where I'm going to attempt something different and new, and hopefully you'll follow me onto that save. I do apologise for it, and maybe it means I'll start updating it onto the cloud as well haha. But I hope to see you on my brand new save.