The Grand Alphabet Tour [FM24]

marktonge · February 22

The Grand Alphabet Tour

Hello, and welcome to what will hopefully be a save that I can continue posting about for a long time to come. I've seen versions of this save attempted on differing forums and blogs out in the Football Manager Community, and thought it was about time that I attempted it myself. I'll post more about the challenge below, but firstly, thank you for taking the time to read this first bit.

I'd love for people to get involved, and comment along with their thoughts on where the save should take me, so please feel free to comment and like whatever takes your fancy.

About Myself
Hi there, I'm Mark, a little bit of a Football Manager addict and lover of all things non league football. I hail from the North West of England and have spent many a year playing FM for too many hours of the day. It's such an escape and I just love it. Having studied Film & Television at the University of Lincoln I thought that my path would lead to a career in that industry and by now I'd be a world famous movie producer. The fact that I'm here posting this, probably suggests that it did not work out like that.
What actually happened was that I went to work in Education, and work as part of the Access & Achievement team at a local high school. A job that gives me plenty of time to play Football Manager on the side once home from those pesky kids.

Football wise, I support Manchester United, and I am part of the committee of my boyhood club Northwich Victoria who I run the social media for. A fantastic fan run club who aim to bounce back up the leagues one day. A tall order, but one we're definitely looking at completing one day. I also support the Denver Broncos in the NFL and have recently made my way out to Denver to watch them live for the first time. I was featured on the Denver Broncos official socials for making that journey and spreading the love of Broncos Country worldwide.

The Challenge
The Grand Alphabet Challenge is a challenge that more than likely will never, ever be completed. BUT, I'll be giving it a bloody good effort. I'm using an extended database to make this challenge even harder, which probably makes me a little bit insane. Starting with the 'Letter A', I have to win the top league in each of the countries, before making my way to the 'Letter B' and so on, and so on. Quite simple rules wise, but a long old slog it will be.

I'll be posting season updates, and will have a post under hear with my career progression and completion on. I also have a spreadsheet that you can keep up to date with if that is your thing.
Spreadsheet - Click Here

Anyway, if you like the idea of this challenge, please support me on the way as it'll keep me motivated to keep going. If you have any questions, please let me know below.

Mark.

marktonge · February 22

Edited March 9 by marktonge

marktonge · February 22

Club #1 | CR Bèlouizdad | Algeria

I start this challenge in a randomly assigned country, which came out as Algeria, and what a dream scenario it has turned out to be. I haven't managed to load the entirety of the countries beginning with 'A' because of the database side, so I'll be looking to load the rest in when I've ticked off a couple of the current ones. Algeria would never have stood out to me originally but I'm delighted to kick things off there.

CR Bèlouizdad

It's time to tell you all about my first club in my career. Welcome to, Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. You'll find them based at the 20 August 1955 stadium which holds 15,000 spectators and looks to be a belter for the level of football we're at. [Pictured below]

The club has been playing in the top flight of Algerian football for a record 55 years, having played one solitary season in the second tier in the 1988/1999 season. In this time they have won the Ligue 1 Professionnel Mobilis on no less than 10 occasions, and have finished as runners up a further 4 times. One of these wins was the covid affected season when they were declared Champions as the league was halted.

The club go by a couple of nicknames: The Chababists, The Reds & The Belcourtois, and are famous for donning the famous white and red shirts.

The most noteable player to have played for the club is:
- Islam Slimani (Leicester City, Sporting Lisbon & Lyon)

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2023/2024 Season

As I took over at the end of the previous season, I had a mammoth wait before any pre-season friendlies were scheduled so I went about trying to implement a tactic and thin the massive squad out a little bit. I hate it when my squad overflows so I have to scroll to see everyone's stats.

My squad at the start was a bit like this:

Lots of talented players in there, but just too many to manage for my liking. As the favourites for the league title I knew I didn't have to do much to make improvements to the squad, but I did offer a contract to Leonel Wamba who was down to be released, despite being one of my most promising strikers. What a decision this turned out to be in the long run.

My tactic is a simple 4-2-2-2 formation, using 2 DMs, 2 Wingers and 2 strikers. It seems to work well in a Gegenpress so I was sticking with it here. I prefer playing 2 strikers as I like them to build a partnership and score plenty between them. Think, Yorke & Cole, Sheringham & Solskjaer, Henry & Wiltord!

Ligue 1 Professionnel Mobilis

The season soon came around, and off we went. I'll be filling you in on each competition I entered separately just to avoid confusion. We'll start with the league campaign as that's the one we want to tick off in order to deem Algeria completed. The league contains 16 teams. One wins the league, the next 3 go into the continental competitions and the bottom 4 go down into the league below. Each team plays each other twice so let's see how we did.

As you can see form the results above, we were the dominant team in the league. There is only 2 little red circles on the list meaning we only lost on two occasions. Both times were against MC Alger who have won the league title on 7 occasions since they were formed. They would be a thorn in our sides for most of the campaign to be honest.

September was a really good month for us as we kicked the campaign off with 2 wins from 2 games. They came against MC Oran & USM Alger. 6 goals scored and 0 conceded meant we were off to a flyer.

October was a busy month which saw us collect 13 points from a possible 15. 4 wins and 1 draw. That solitary draw was a 2-2 draw against CS Constantine, whilst the wins were against US Biskra, HB Chelghoum, Paradou AC & JS Kabylie. We were scoring for fun, with Lamin Jallow netting 6 times in the 5 games.

November saw our first defeat off the season, which I mentioned above. We followed that up with 2 back to back wins against MC El Bayadh & ASO Chlef. A solid month all thing considered, and nice to see us bounce back from our first defeat. Back to a winning run we go.

December was another good month, that saw us collect 3 more wins whilst drawing the other 2 games. Our wins all had loads of goals in them. A 5-1 victory over NC Magra, an 8-0 victory over JS Saoura and a 9-0 victory over ES Setif. Insane amounts of goals from all over the pitch as well. The draws were against USM Khenchela & MC Oran.

The new year came around, and only saw us play the one time before the Winter break. That game was a 0-0 draw with USM Alger. A boring game with no action to be honest. Not how we wanted to go into the break, but that's football.

February was quickly upon us and once again, we only played the one time. A 5-0 victory over US Souf with Leonel Wamba netting a hattrick. A solid performance and 3 more points.

March saw us pick up back to back wins against CS Constantine & US Biskra. The latter was a mammoth 9-2 victory with 4 from Wamba, and 2 from new signing Ghezala!

April was a busy month as we headed towards the latter end of the season. 4 game and 4 wins for the Reds as we continued our march to the league title. Those victories came against HB Chelghoum, NC Magra, JS Kayblie & MC El Bayadh. A perfect month.

May was our final busy month and one that could make or break our title challenge. 4 wins out of 5 on offer, whilst our second defeat of the season was scattered in there as well. The victories included a 6-1 win over USM Khenchela and a 4-2 win over ASO Chlef. The other teams we beat were Paradou AC & JS Saoura.

The final month of the season saw us draw the first game against ES Setif who we had previously demolished 9-0 earlier in the season. The final match of the season was a convincing 5-0 win over US Souf. A fantastic way to end things. Did we do enough though?

League Table

CHAMPIONS! WE HAD DONE IT!

It was comfortable in the end, and we had sewn the league title up with 2 games to go. A total of 74 points gave us a 6 point gap to runners-up MC Alger who had done everything they could to challenge us, including being the only team to beat us, not once, but twice.

23 WINS, 5 DRAWS, 1 DEFEAT.

I'm delighted to have lived up to the media's pre-season prediction and to have ticked off my first country at the first attempt. A lovely little start to the challenge.

Supercoupe d'Algerie

I'm guessing because of the success in the previous season that we had qualified for this one. It's a bit like the Charity Shield here in England. The league winners verses the domestic cup winners at the start of the season. A showpiece if anything, but it's always pleasing to win it in my eyes.

A 2-0 victory over JS Kabylie with goals from Leonel Wamba & Oussama Chita saw us comfortably lift the trophy! It was a game we dominanted from start to finish, so two goals either side of the break saw us ease to the trophy.

Coupe d'Algerie

The domestic cup here in Algeria is called the 'Coupe D'Algerie' and is open to every professional team in the Algerian football pyramid. We went into it as favourites, but could we live up to that billing? It wasn't going to be easy considering the amount of games we would have to play in order to win it.

An absolute hammering in the second round saw us win 15-0. I've never had a bigger result in FM so that was special to me. They must be a non-league side here in Algeria so no surprises with this one.

In the third round we overcame lower league side WA Boufarik 4-1, with Boutemene netting a hattrick along the way. A solid performance that saw us go into the next round. The fourth round was another convincing win in the form of a 4-2 victory over MC Oran.

In the fifth round we smashed MC El Eulma 6-0 as our run continued. It was nice to see the goals being spread around the squad as well.

The quarter-final saw us overcome our title rivals MC Alger 2-0 thanks to messers Wamba & Boutemene.

In the semi-final we narrowly overcame JS Saoura in a nail biter. It was a game we probably didn't deserve to win, but we all need that bit of luck eventually. A sole goal from Boutemene saw us head to the final.

The final was a one sided affair, and one that we won 3-0 in convincing style. Jallow netted the first, with Wamba hitting the other 2 goals.

TotalEnergies CAF Champions League

The continental competition here in Africa is the CAF Champions League and is one that I didn't expect us to be majorly competetive in. That may be because I don't really know too much about African football. How I was wrong.

We had to qualify through the Preliminary Rounds in order to reach the Group Stages. In this we beat Medeama SC from Ghana in a 7-1 aggregate victory. Easy as you like and it set up a big tie against ASEC Mimosas from Ivory Coast.

This tie was a spectacle as we went down 2-0 in the firt leg away from home. We really turned it on at home though as we overturned the 2-0 scoreline to win 3-0 and book our place in the Group Stages! Excellent turnaround and was the start of our amazing journey in this competition.

We were drawn in a group with
Saint George (Ethiopia)
Al-Merreikh Omduran (Sudan)
Sundowns (South Africa)

The groups saw us pick up 5 wins and a draw. The solitary draw came against Sundowns who were by far the second strongest team in the group and rightfully qualified beneath us as we topped our group in convincing fashion. Into the knockouts we go.

In the quarter-finals we faced former champions and holders Al-Ahly which is where I thought our journey would end. We were remarkable in the first leg which saw us dominate them and come away with a 3-0 lead going into the second leg. I couldn't quite believe what I was watching. In the return leg they turned it on and defeated us 3-1, but that lonely goal from Benayada in the 32nd minute was the difference in us going our and us going through to the semi-finals.

Orlando Pirates were our next opponents, and being one of the biggest names in African football, again I thought our journey was about to come to an end. It wasn't as we came away 2-1 winners in both legs. Islam Bakir the hero of both legs scoring two stunning goals to put us ahead. We had qualifed for the final!!

ES Tunis awaited us in the final which was stragenely enough a 2 legged affair. I don't like that, but I couldn't change it. We were away from home first and fell to a 4-2 defeat with goals from Oussama Chita & Mohamed Islam Belkhir making sure we were still in with a shot in the return leg. We made some changes going into the second leg and ran out 3-1 victors meaning we were headed to the dreaded penalty shootout.

Player Stats (End of Season)

What was really pleasing to see was the amount of players above that 7.00 magical average rating. 18 of them had this achievement having played a differing number of games. I'll go through the main stats below:

Top Goalscorer | Leonel Wamba | 35 goals (26 games, 10 subs)

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Top Assists | Houcine Benayada | 27 Assists (44 games, 4 subs)

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Top Average Rating | Zinedine Boutmene | 7.82 (45 games, 1 sub | 27 goals, 27 Assists)

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Round Up

So a casual Quadrouple to start the save off, and one that has really got me into it! I'm excited to move on and hit my second country to see what we can do.

Where will I head to though? All I know, is that it has to begin with the letter 'A'.

marktonge · February 23

Club #2 | FC Santa Coloma | Andorra

After resigning from my post in Algeria at RC Belouizdad, I set about trying to find the perfect job to move on to. A couple of decent jobs came up and went away just quickly without even shortlisting me for an interview. Then one job came up, and instantly attracted me to go for it. FC Santa Coloma of Andorra was that club. They interviewed me within the week, by the end of the week they had offered me the job as First Team Manager.

I'm pretty particular in jobs that I will apply for. You have to pick the right team in order to get the job done as quickly as possible. You'll learn more about the club and why I chose them below.

FC Santa Coloma

The club was founded in 1986 and quickly established themselves as the best team in the history of Andorran football. They are based in Santa Coloma which is 2km away from the capital city of Andorra la Vella. In their history they have won the league title on 13 occasions, and the domestic cup 10 times, meaning they are the most successful team in Andorra.

They also are the most successful Andorran side in European Competitions having made the Third Qualifying Round where they eventually fell to Dutch side AZ. They are also the only team to win a game and not concede in that game. No small feat for an Andorran side.

They play their football at the 'Estadi Communal Vella' which is the largest ground in Andorra. The club colours are Red and Black although they originally donned white and alternated that with blue and red.

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2024/2025 Season Review

Having taken over, I instantly went to the squad to see what I had to work with. There was about 7 players in that meeting. Crazy that I didn't have more, but I'm guessing a fair few hadn't had their contract renewed and had left the club meaning I had to get to work quickly to get some players in. I used my intensive knowledge of Andorran football to help me.

You'll be able to see the additions that I made to the squad in my post season player stats. Some came and left and left me in the lurch a little. I had 2 strikers for half a season who were poached by teams in the Spanish leagues so I can't blame them, but they were insane for me.

Supercoppa Andorrana

As the team won the league in their last season, we were in the Supercoppa Andorrana which gave me the chance to win a trophy early days and get the fans onside. We were up against Inter d'Escaldes and came away with a 1-0 victory thanks to Ivan Garrido netting early doors to give us the lead. A close game, but a trophy in the books.

Lliga Multisegur Assegurances

The league campaign here consists of one single stage of 10 teams playing each other three times throughout the season. 27 games to win the league and tick Andorra off. We went into the league campaign as media favourites which is not surprising considering their dominance over the years. Can I add my name to the legacy of FC Santa Coloma?

Well well well, what a start to the season we had. We casually went on a 12 match winning run to put us firmly in control of the league campaign. It's clear that we are the best team in Andorra right now, and we were looking for that to continue.

September got us up and running in the league, and saw us gain comfortable wins against Atletic Escaldes, CF Eperanca & Carroi. Miguel Ponce, one of the new strikers I had brought in was on fire, netting 7 times in those 3 games cementing him as my first choice striker until he eventually left me before the new year. A great start.

October came, and we continued our dominance securing wins against U.E Santa Coloma, Ordino & Mavlon FC Andorra. The first of these wins came against bitter rivals, and really put me as a favourite at the club considering I didn't take our foot of the gas and hammered them 4-2. The fans loved it.

November was up next, and we gained another 4 wins to add to our total and continue our perfect start. This time the wins came against At. America, Pas de las Casa, Inter d'Escaldes & CF Esperanca. Inter d'Escaldes are our biggest rivals for the league title so that was a crucial win.

December saw us lose our first games and also drop further points with a draw. We did gain 3 wins against Atletic Escaldes, Carroi, & Ordino. The 5-1 victory over Carroi was a fantastic performance and probably our best of the season so far. The goals were starting to be spread around now and we weren't just a two man team in Ponce & Garrido. Our defeat came at the hands of Pas de la Casa who are comfortably the third best team in Andorra. It was a great game but we narrowly came out on the wrong end of the 4-3 scoreline.

In the new year, my two strikers left me: Ponce & Garrido who both left for Spanish shores meaning I needed to promote some youngsters or sign a new striker or two. I went with the former and promoted some good prospects. We picked up 2 more wins with a 2-0 win against Mavlon FC Andorra and a 4-1 win against Atletic America. We did lose our second game of the season though, as we fell to Atletic Escaldes 1-0 away. We followed that with a 3-3 draw against Inter d'Escaldes so not a great end to the month.

February was soon upon us and we only had the one game, which saw us run out 5-1 winners over CF Esperanca and secure us 3 more points and our first win in 3 games.

March saw us gain 6 points from 9, winning 2 out of the 3 games. Our wins were against Carroi & U.E Santa Coloma which is always pleasing for the fans. 2-0 the scoreline this time in the derby. Our 3rd defeat on the season came at the hands of Ordino in a strange game that we hit the woodwork 4 times in. It wasn't our day obviously.

We then decided that we wanted to try and wrap up the title as soon as possible and went on a little 4 match unbeaten run to end the season. 3 wins out of 4 whilst the other was. a draw. The wins were against title challengers Pas de la Casa, Mavlon FC Andorra, Inter d'Escaldes and the draw game against At. America.

League Table

As you would've expected after that 12 match winning streak at the start of the season, we ended the campaign on top of the table and secured ourselves the league title!

CHAMPIONS OF ANDORRA!

We finished with 21 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats meaning we ended up with 66 points. A cool 10 points ahead of Inter d'Escaldes and 12 ahead of Pas de la Casa who ended up in 3rd. A fantastic campaign that sees us win our second league title in 2 years.

Copa Constitucio

The domestic cup campaign here in Andorra is called the Copa Constitucio, and as you probably would've predicted, we went into it as favourites, having last won the competition in 2022/2023. We just had to get past or avoid Inter d'Escaldes as they were the most recent winners.

In the second round we dispatched Atletic Escaldes thanks to a 2-0 win with goals coming from Titouan Richard & Alex Sanchez. A comfortable performance and an easy passage secured through to the Quarter-Final.

In this round we had to face a good outfit in Pas de la Casa but put in a performance of real quality. A 3-1 victory thanks to Pele, Christian Garcia & David Crespo. The big boys had both been knocked out leaving a supposedly easy passage to the trophy!

In the semi-finalss we had a close call against Carroi we were sitting pretty at the half way stage as we were leading 4-0 but they came surging back in the second half to pull it back to 4-3. A fantastic game for the neural but a nervy ending at the end left me nearly having a heart attack.

The final was against Ordino who didn't really pose us any problems. We were comfortable and dominant from start to finish and secured our third trophy of the season. A 5-2 victory with goals from youngster Evan Ancel, Moises Bazola, Christian Garcia and a brace from Alex Sanchez. As easy as you like.

Player Stats | End of Season

As you can see, I really fleshed the squad out and it looks a lot different from the squad I had come into at the start of the season. A fantastic job done by all but as usual I'll highlight the top performers below:

Top Goalscorer | Pele | 15 Goals in 31 Games

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Top Assists | Titouan Richard | 17 in 31 games

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Highest Average Rating | Evan Ancel | 7.32 in 15 games

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Round Up

I could not have wished for a better start to this save. 2 countries ticked off in 'A' already and only 2 seasons in. We also managed to complete a quadrouple and a treble in back to back years which is an insane feat. Things will get harder for sure a I won't always be able to head to the best team in each league. I'll have to build something eventually. For now though, it's bye to Andorra, and hello somewhere else beginning with A.

marktonge · February 24

Club #3 | Wiliete Sport Clube de Benguela | Angola

Welcome to Angola! An African country on the western coast, situated just above Namibia and nestled below the DR Congo. From google images it looks a lovely place but I've never been so I can't vouch for that. Anyway, a whole season has passed since I resigned from my role in Andorra. There was a distinct lack of jobs available and the ones I did want to go for turned me down straight away. That was until Wiliete SC de Benguela turned up to the party.

Don't get me wrong, I usually try and pick the best team available to me and tick the league off in the first season, but that wasn't happening this time, so I had to settle for this club, and it's turned out alright to be fair. They finished lower mid-half of the table last season, but were predicted to finish 6th this season so things to build upon for sure. I'm definitely the man for the job. Time for some more information about them.

Wiliete Sport Clube de Bengula

The team is based in Benguela which is nestled neatly on the Western side of the country, right on the coast. It looks stunning to be honest, and I've landed on my feet by getting this job. Time to find a lovely little seaview apartment for my time here so I can relax on the balcony with a beer.

Anyway, the club was only recently founded in 2018, and has made their way from the bottom to the top league in a matter of a few seasons and now play in the Girabola after a team was excluded from playing in it. Benguela took their place. A nice little bonus for their hard work.

They play their home games at the 'Estadio de Ombaka' which was used for the 2010 African Cup of Nations and has a capacity of 35,000 people. It's safe to say we won't be getting anywhere near capacity at our home games unfortunately. It's a beauty of a stadium though.

The team don the famous Green and White kit, and haven't won anything in their history but that's not for the lack of trying. I'll be aiming to win the team their first trophy to put in their new trophy room.

2026/2027 Season Review:

I forgot to take a photo of the squad before the season as I usually do, but you'll be able to see my team at the end of the season with their stats and how they performed. I hope that's alright with you all. The team play in the Girabola which is the top flight of Angolan football, and finished down in 11th last season. The board thought they underperformed and duly sack their manager which is where I come in.

The media have us predicted to finish in 6th which is a massive improvement from last season, but I'll be aiming higher than that of course. A top 3 finish would be ideal for me this season before we launch an attack on the title next season. A 2-3 season project I see this as.

Girabola Results:

Let's kick this off with the league format. One league campaign consisting of 28 games.15 teams in the league so we play each of the other teams twice throughout the season. Top spot wins the league title, whilst the bottom 2 go down into the league below.

We kicked things off in August with a solid 3-2 victory over Recreativo do Libolo and a draw with Progresso Sambizanga. A very good start to the season and promising signs that we can compete at the top end of the league.

We continued our unbeaten run throughout September where we won 2 and drew 2. Our wins came against Petro de Luanda & Interclube (another team I applied for the job at). Things work out for a reason eh. New striker Uche Sebastine netted twice in that win which was nice to see. 8 points added to the total this month.

In October, we saw our first defeat, at the hands of league favourites 1 de Agosto. We never stood a chance in this one and got our asses handed to us. Things to improve on for sure. We did secure 4 wins this month though. 3 of the 4 wins saw us score 4 goals and concede only twice. A lovely little run of results. Those wins were against ASK Drago, Escolinnha Isaac, Academica Lobito & Bravos do Marquis. We also had a little 1-1 draw at the end of the month against Sp. Cabinda.

November came around and saw us pick up two more wins, a 2-1 victory over CR Caala & a 3-0 win over Sagrada Esperanca. Two good results before we ended up losing to Interclube 2-0. A poor way to round out the month but a very good start to the league.

The end of the year was here, and we won 3 out of our 4 games in December. Neymar (Not that one), was starting to perform after joining the club in the summer, and helped us secure 3-2 victories over Recreativo de Libolo & a 1-0 win over Progresso Sambizanga. Our other win was a 2-1 victory over Benfica de Luanda. Our lone defeat in December came at the hands of Petro de Luanda.

As we rolled in 2027, results started dropping. We lost two this month against Desportivo Huila & 1 de Agosto again. We did however grab 2 more wins against ASK Drago & Escolinha Isaac. The latter was a fantastic 6-3 victory.

Our league campaign was drawing to a close in February, but saw us claim 7 points from a possible 12. A 4-0 win against Academica Lobito was followed by a 3-3 goal fest against Bravos do Marquis. A 2-0 defeat set us back in our hunt for a top placed finish but we rounded out the month with a 3-0 win over CR Caala.

We had one game in March which saw us beat Sagrada Esperanca 2-0 in front of nearly 6000 fans. A great final result, but where did it leave us in the league table?

League Table

Considering we finished well down in 11th last season, we have massively improved upon that! We are definitely headed in the right direction. A 4th placed finish sees us dramatically off top spot, but not far off the 2nd and 3rd places. I'll take that considering we were predicted to finish 6th this season.

Escolinha Isaac & ASK Dragao finished in the relegation zone and we won't be playing them next season. 1 de Agosto stormed to the league title and continue their dominance in Angolan football. We'll knock them off their perch if we can.

Taca de Angola

The domestic cup here is called the Taca de Angola, and we were out to perform well in this. The board wanted a latter round finish for us, and we fell short of their expectations unfortunately.

In the Second Round, we managed a fantastic 4-1 win over lower leage side Renascer do Estoril with 4 different scorers on the board. Onto the Third Round where we faced another lower league side Progresso da Lunda Sul. We spanked them 3-0 with new signing Galaxi getting on the scoresheet. A great win.

We fell to Sp. Cabinda in the Fourth Round, and our journey in the Taca de Angola this season ended in extra time. It was a tight game and could've gone either way. Unfortunately that is football, and we wouldn't change it would we?

Player Stats:

Top Goalscorer | Uche Sebastine | 17 in 31

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Top Assists | Neymar | 13 in 24

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Highest Average Rating | Neymar | 7.41 in 24

Next Up

We'll be staying at the club unless a very attractive offer from a guanteed league winner comes in. I want to topple 1 de Agosto and claim this Angolan title for ourselves. We're on the right path and I believe we can do it in the next 2 years or so.

See you at the end of 2027/2028.

Edited February 25 by marktonge

marktonge · February 25

Wiliete SC de Benguela | Angola | 2027/2028

Welcome back to Angola, the 3rd stop on our wonderful trip around the World. We're still focusing on countries beginning with A, and will be for a long time to come. I decided to stay at the club since there was literally nothing else on offer that interested me. I believe I had the makings of a good squad here at Benguela and I look forward to filling you all in on what happened this season.

CAF Confederations Cup

Due to our performances last season, we had snuck into the CAF Confederations Cup as a reward for finishing in 4th place. I have no idea how that worked, but I'll take it. Unfortunately we were drawn against one of the better teams in Africa: Cape Town City.

We played them at home in the first leg in front of a crowd of 508 which is shameful considering it's a continental competition. We were poor so I'm thankful that not many saw it. We ended up losing 2-0 and headed into the second leg with little to no confidence that we could turn it around.

The players were right, as we fell to a 1-0 defeat at their place and had to endure the plane journey home thinking about what could've been. Never mind, as success wasn't on the cards in this one.

Taca de Angola:

WOW, this looks like a sorry set of results so far, and that's exactly what it was at this point. I wanted to perform better than we did last season in this competition and maybe even have a run at winning it this year, but to be knocked out in the 3rd Round is shameful.

We managed to get through the 1st Round thanks to a lovely solo goal by Galaxi who curled one round the keeper from distance. Scraping through against a lower ranked Kabuscorp isn't exactly what we needed to show the fans that we mean business.

The 3rd Round was against another lower ranked side, this time against Kuando Kubango which is a fantastic name for any team to have. We were poor with our finishing, and couldn't hold on after Beny put us ahead from the spot. We ended up losing in extra time and bowing out of the competition earlier than we would've liked and expected.

Gibrola ZAP

So, without success in the other two competitions we entered this season it was back to the league to try and tick off another country in the 'A' list. It'll be a tough ask to knock 1 de Agosto off their perch. They certainly have a dominance over the rest of us and it's very frustrating. Results against them are massively important.

The start of the season came around pretty quickly, and we started pretty darn well as well. We were unbeaten in the first month with 3 wins and 1 draw. The draw came on the first matchday as we drew 1-1 with Bravos de Marquis, before then going on a 3 match winning run against Recreativo do Libolo, Sp. Cabinda & Academica Lobito. I think it's clear to see that Uche Sebastine is going to be key for us going forward this season, as he netted 5 times in the 4 game, including a 100th minute winner against Sp. Cabinda.

October was the busiest month I've had in my career to date. We had no less than 7 games, and came away with 15 out of 21 points on offer. 5 wins and 2 defeats. Our first defeat of the season came against Petro de Luenda. We followed that up with a run of 4 wins against Progresso Sambizanga, Interclube, Benfica du Luanda & CR Caala. We've been scoring goals and plenty of players have been chipping in with them so it's been a good start. Our first game against the enemy: 1 de Agosto was up, and we were absolutely spanked by them. A 4-1 defeat was not the performance we needed to have against them. First blood to them. We did bounce back with a win against newly promoted side AFA (ANG) with Lucoquessa & Sebastine with the goals. Another good month to back up the opening one.

Coming off a really busy month in October, it was nice to have a quieter November where we only played 2 games. Both ended up being wins, as we saw off Sp. Benguela in the cross city derby 3-1. Goals from Neymar, Vidal & Sebastine gave the fans exactly what they wanted in this one. We then managed to beat Desportivo Huila 2-0 with 2 more from Sebastine. A perfect month.

In December we managed to pick up another 12 points to add to our total with wins against Sagrada Esperanca, Recreativo do Libolo, Bravos di Marquis & Academica Lobito. What annoyed me is the fact that we didn't manage a clean sheet in any of them. It may be because my star CB tore is cruciate ligaments and is out for the season. He's 31 and may just call it quits on his career. Our one defeat this month came at home when we lost 4-3 to Sp. Cabinda.

The New Year supplied us with a poor month by our standards. One defeat, one draw and one win. The defeat was a surprising 2-1 loss against Progresso Sambizanga whilst we drew 0-0 against Petro de Luanda. We bounced back at the end of the month and produced a fantastic 4-2 victory over Interclube. The first month in which Sebastine didn't get on the scoresheet.

In February we were back with the good form which included a 3-1 win over Benfica du Luanda, a 2-0 win over CR Caala before losing the second game against 1 de Agosto. It was such an unlucky defeat as we lost it in the last seconds. We just needed to switch on for a couple more seconds, but that's football at the end of the day. A 4-3 defeat probably meant the title wasn't going our way. The month ended with back to back wins against AFA (ANG) & another derby win against Sp. Benguela.

We round the season off in March with 2 more victories against Desportivo Huila & Sagrada Esperance with 3-1 & 4-1 victories respectively. We were brilliant in both games and gave us a chance at the league title.

League Table

DAMN! We were so close this time as we finished in the runners-up spot! 4 points behind 1 de Agosto which means that if we had won our games against them, we would've been crowned Champions! I'm not here for should've, would've, could've's. Let's look at the positives here, we've climbed another 2 places from last season and increased our points from 56 to 65. That's continued progression and hopefully we can go 1 further next season.

Any other season, we'd have won the league! Literally any other season in the history of the Girabola ZAP. That's just our luck eh.

We say goodbye to Bravos do Marquis & AFA (ANG) as they make their way into the league below for next season.

Player Stats:

Top Goalscorer:
1. Uche Sebastine (28)
2. Neymar, Lamin Demba (9)
3. Adriano Lussivica (7)

Top Assists:
1. Neymar (14)
2. Lamin Demba (10)
3. Adriano Lussivica (9)

Highet Average Rating:
1. Uche Sebastine (7.80)
2. Neymar (7.25)
3. Lamin Demba (7.22)

It's been a fantastic season for the squad again, and I really think I'm building a title winning squad. A few more additions in the right areas will hopefully kick us onto that next step.

Next Update | End of 2028/2029 Season

marktonge · February 26

2028/2029 | Angola | Wiliete SC de Bengula

Welcome back in to Angola, the land of the Giant Sable (Antelope). We're still here in the wonderful city of Benguela, home of the mighty Wiliete SC de Benguela. I've been in charge here for the past 2 seasons and have improved year upon year, and I'm hoping that this year may be the one that we can topple the mighty 1 de Agosto from their perch at the summit of the Angolan footballing pyramid.

I set about this off-season with the aim to try and bring in more quality depth to the first team. I noticed that when player got injured last season, the replacements that came in weren't half as good. I had a cracking budget of around £100k to do some damage with as well, and a whopping £11k in the wage budget left to tempt some players in with. I'll list who came in below for you all to look at it.

Transfers IN:

Domingos Kandumba | ST | £7k | Sagrada Esperanca
Marco Almeida | DM | £37.5k | Benfica du Luanda
Ismael Barbitos |GK | £21.5k | Petro de Luanda
Christian Njalla | CB | £8.5k | 1 de Agosto
Kwame Appiah | AMC | £0 | Real Tamale *December Onwards*

This motly crew were a massive upgrade on what we had already on the bench, and most with the exception of Kandumba slotted straight into the first team. Keep an eye out for some of their names below to see how they performed throughout the season.

This left the squad looking abit stronger heading into the season. The squad is posted below.

Taca de Angola

I'll update you first with how we fared in the domestic cup, and how we failed miserably to live up to the standards and expectations placed upon us by the board and more importantly by the fans.

In the first round, we managed to draw Kabuscorp once again (just like last season). Once again we managed to beat them, but this time we dominated them from start to finsh. A 4-0 victory with the backups playing most of the game. A great way to start the cup campaign.

We unfortunately fell at the second hurdle for a second straight year. This time we lost to lower ranked side Baixa de Kassanje via the dreaded penalty shootout. We probably did enough to win the game in 90 minutes, but let our 2-0 lead slip towards the end of the game, and then lost via the lottery of the penalty shootout. Not to be again.

AFC Champions League

The CAF Champions League is a competition that had fond memories for me. I won it in my first season with CR Belouizdad from Algeria. A fantastic run we had, but could I replay it with Benguela? Probably not as we aren't of the same standard, but you never know eh?

We sailed through the preliminary phase with a 12-1 aggregate victory over Operarios from Sao Taome & Principe. They were no match for us, and Adriano Lussivicia netted a cool 5 goals in the second leg. A fantastic individual performance.

In the 1st Round, we eased past Asante Kokoto from Ghana after a. 5-3 aggregate victory. Uche Sebastine showed his quality on the big stage once again and earned us the overall victory. This meant we had qualified for the Group Stage where we would face:

Al-Merreikh Omdurman (Sudan)
Al-Ahly (Egypt)
Orlando Pirates (South Africa)

We performed pretty damn well in this tough group, earning fantastic wins against Al-Ahly and two against Al-Merreikh Omdurman. We played in front of some huge crowds but fell just short in the final game where we needed a win against Orlando Pirates, but could only manage a defeat. If we had won, we would've been going through in 2nd place in our group. Not to be, but a solid run for the Angolan outfit.

Girabola ZAP

Time for the league update, which is the key to this challenge. Could this be the year where we took the next step? It was going to be a difficult start as we were up against the holders first match.

August was a tricky opening month for us, and saw us face 2 of the top 3 favourites for the league title. We were ranked as 3rd most likely to win it, so 1 de Agosto & Petro de Luanda were the 1st and 2nd. Luckily for us, we caught the title holders on a bad day and managed to secure a 2-1 victory thanks to a 94th minute winner from Filipe Tchitungo the holding midfielder. One hell of a start to a league campaign.
We followed this up with a win over ASK Drago before losing two on the bounce against Petro de Luanda & Progresso Sambizanga. A poor couple of results to finish out August, but we'd done what we hadn't before. Beat 1 de Agosto.

In September, we continued our patchy form by winning 2, drawing 1 and losing 1. The two wins were decent, a 1-0 against Academica Lobito and a 2-0 against Desportivo Huila. Two solid wins, but a surprise loss to Interclube meant we had lost ground on those at the top.

October quickly came around, and saw us produce a top quality month of results. 5 wins out of 6 matches with the other being a draw. We managed to beat Sagrada Esperanca, Recreativo de Libolo, Academica Lobito, Desporitvo Lunda Sul, 1 de Agosto before drawing the Benguela derby 2-2 at the end of the month. Can I just note, that second win in a row against 1 de Agosto came courtesy of a 92nd minute winner from Manu, meaning we had beaten them twice with goals in injury time. You'd take that anyday of the week.

November was here, and we managed to win both of our games this month. A lovely little 3-0 victory over Sp. Cabinda thanks to goals from Lamin Demba, Ricardo Adao & Tombe. We followed that up with a 4-1 victory over CR Caala. Easy as you like and maximum points from the month.

December now, and fixtures started coming at us thick and fast. We played no less than 6 games this month, and had a healthy return of 13 points. Wins against ASK Drago, Desportivo Lunda Sul, Progresso Sambizanga & a rather important win over Interclube. Uche Sebastine was showing his class as per usual netting 7 times in the month, but scoring some important goals with that. We did lose a game, this time against Petro de Luanda meaning they gained ground on the title whilst we lost ground.

In the new year, we managed the perfect month just when we needed it most. 5 wins out of 5 and absolutely zero goals conceded. You can't ask for more as a manager and it came just at the right time. We saw off Sp Cabinda, Benfica de Luanda, Desportivo Huila, Recreativo do Libolo & Sagrada Esperanca. They are all games we should be winning, but we did them convincingly. Only one game to go now.

That game came in March, and saw us put in a fine display on the final day of the season. A 5-2 victory over CR Caala saw us gain a crucial 3 points meaning...

WE HAD WON THE LEGUE TITLE ON THE FINAL DAY! CHAMPIONS OF ANGOLA FINALLY!

What an achievement, and probably my favourite one of the career so far. We've built this team over a 3 year period and we've only gone and toppled 1 de Agosto from their perch and wrestled the trophy from them. It'll look lovely in our brand new trophy room at our place. We'll look after it for a while now I think.

Player Stats:

Top Goalscorer:
1. Uche Sebastine (25)
2. Adriano Lussivica, Manu (12)
3. Neymar (7)

Top Assists:
1. Neymar (16)
2. Kapick (13)
3. Manu (9)

Highest Average Rating (minimum 10 games)
1. Uche Sebastine (7.47)
2. Manu (7.34)
3. Pedro Agostinho (7.33)

Next Update:

It looks like we'll be moving on to the next country beginning with A, and I'm excited to figure out our next step! That's our 3rd country ticked off, and only 11 to go in this first stage! Progress is being made.

Thanks for reading!

marktonge · March 2

Club #4 | Ararat Yeravan | Armenia | 2029/2030

It was goodbye to Angola, and hello to a country I had no idea where it was on the map. Of course, I'd heard of the place, but I wouldn't have been able to place it on the map if I tried, so a little bit of a google later and I know the location of it.

Welcome to Armenia.

The landlocked country is nestled inbetween Turkey (West), Georgia (North), Azerbaijan (East) & Iran (South). A very mountainous region that is actually geographically part of West Asia, but counts as Eastern Europe. If you delve into Armenia more specifically, I'm based in it's capital city of Yerevan which is home to my new club: Ararat Yeravan. It seems like an absolutely beautiful country, and one where I'm sure I'll enjoy managing for a short period of time.

The club was founded in 1935, and plays in the Armenian Premier League. Since the disillusionment of the Soviet Union in 1991, the club has won the top flight on the one occasion in 1993. They have been runners-up in the league on four occasions, but haven't managed to get over the line again since that 1993 season.

The club go by the nickname 'The White Eagles' which is referenced on their lovely club badge which also features the name of the club in two different languages. Ararat play their home games in the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium which can hold up to 14,403 spectators at once. This is also the home of the Armenian National Team.

I'll now update you on how the season has gone for us as I round out the League Campaign, Armenian Cup & The European Conference League.

IDBank Premier League

Here in Armenia, the league is split into 2 stages. The first being the regular league phase where everyone plays everyone twice. After that, the top 6 break away into a Championship Group, and the rest play in a Relegation Group. The winner of the Championsip group goes on to win the league title and claim bragging rights! Simple as that really.

I'll round out the regular league phase first, and then move onto whatever group we get put into.

We started the season with back to back wins in August, the first being a 3-1 victory over Gandzasar, and the second being a fantastic 4-1 win over Noah. I had no idea who was good in the league apart from Urartu Ye (who are the league favourites.) A fantastic start to the season and we're on our way.

In September we played 5 games and alternated wins and defeats. It was tough to get any momentum but 3 wins out of 5 is a good thing to me. A 4-1 win over Alakshert got us underway before losing to those title favourites Urartu Ye in an entertaining game that ended 3-2. We followed that up with a win over Ararat-Armenia our cross city rivals. That one was for the fans for sure! A poor defeat followed against Pyunik but a solid 2-0 victory over FC Van ended the month.

A quiet October was up next where we won our only game against Shirak thanks to a lovely brace from Kassim Hadji. Can't complain with that one. A quiet but successful month.

November was a similar month in terms of only playing the one game. What a fantastic match for the neutral as the game against Lori ended with us sharing the points after a 4-4 draw. Unbelievable match in all honesty. Back and forth.

We were back to playing lots of games in December, as we racked up the maximum points on offer. 3 wins out of 3 was good enough for me. Back to back 2-1 wins against Gandzasar, Ararat-Armenia before smashing 4 past Noah. 9 points added to the total.

In the new year, we continued our winning streak and extended it to 5 games. A 3-0 win over Alakshert was followed up by a massive 2-0 win over title favourites Ulratu Ye. That one was huge for us moving forward and in our quest to give us the best shot at the title as possible.

We finally lost a game and it came in a 4-3 defeat to Pyunik. They are proving hard to get a good result against and could well be up there come the end of the season. We'd have to find a way to get a result against them. We did manage to get back on track and beat FC Van 2-0 with 2 early goals in the game.

The end of the regular season was a good one for us, as we beat Shirak & Lori back to back with 3-0 & 2-1 wins respectively. A great way to end the season and head into the...

CHAMPIONSHIP GROUP!

We had finished the regular phase at the top of the pile! 14 wins from 18 games left us with 43 points with Pyunik only a point behind us! The title favourites Ulrartu Ye finished in 3rd with cross town rivals Ararat-Armenia in 4th. Gandzasar & Shirak rounded out the Championship Group.

Next up, 2 more games against each of those teams in a bid to finish top of the pile and lift that trophy.

Championship Group Results:

As you can see we didn't lose a single game in the Championship Group! That seems incredible to me considering we were playing the best from the regular phase. We actually won 5 and drew 5.

What struck me, is that we were playing every 2 or 3 days so squad rotation was key, and also raised massive problems with fitness levels. A tough ask for any manager to get the right team to win every single game.

I won't bore you with a round up of each game as you can clearly see the results above but I'll whack the end of league table below:

It couldn't have been much closer, but those draws against the top sides turned out to be massively important in order to not lose ground on them!

We ended up in 1st place and have been crowned Champions of Armenia with a total of 63 points. A 3 point gap formed between ourselves and Pyunik and we held on to that gap to claim the title.

Armenian Cup

The Armenian Cup provided a nice little break from the intense league campaign that we were in, but it didn't last as long as I'd have liked. I was really aiming for the league and cup double but it wasn't to be.

We did get through the Second Round, after beating Gandzasar-2 with a 1-0 victory. Demiri netted the only goal in the 7th minute. In the Third Round we absolutely smashed Mika 5-0 thanks to a fantastic hattrick from Georgi Babaliev.

The Quarter-Final set us up with a huge derby game. In front of a masive 1,389 eager fans we were humbled and dealt a 3-0 defeat. It was a shocker of a performance and we were deservedly sent packing from the competition.

European Conference League:

Now I know what you're thinking, did you really think you were going to win the European Conference League with a side from Armenia. The answer to that would be a huge NO, and ur results show why this view was justified.

We did manage a fantastic set of wins against Zoria from the Ukraine, before getting our asses handed to us by Levski Sofia. Of course they are a much bigger side than us, but who cares really. I'll be back for this competition at some point later down the line.

Player Stats:

Top Goalscorer:
1. Kassim Hadji (15)
2. Arber Mehmetllari & Georgi Babaliev (10)
3. Michael Ruhs & Armen Mkrtchyan (8)

Top Assists:
1. Faya (17)
2. Antonio Hossi (12)
3. Irdo Bubeqi & Kassim Hadji (8)

Highest Average Rating:
1. Faya & Irdo Bubeqi (7.28)
2. Arber Mehmetllari (7.24)
3. Varazdat Mkhiyaryan & Antonio Hossi (7.18)

Next Update | A New Club

TerminalPortugal · March 2

Loving the journey so far. Best of luck for the long haul you have ahead of you!

marktonge · March 4

On 02/03/2024 at 12:42, TerminalPortugal said:

Loving the journey so far. Best of luck for the long haul you have ahead of you!

Appreciate the comment mate! Means a lot coming from someone attempting a challenge as difficult if not harder! Hope you'll check back in further on down the line!

marktonge · March 4

Club #5 | Antigua & Barbuda | Grenades | 2030/2031

We've left the landlocked country of Armenia, and jetted off to warmer shores of the Caribbean Island of Antigua and neighbouring Barbuda. It lies where the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans meet and are known for the reef lined beaches, rainforests and resorts! A popular holiday island, but for me this is no holiday. This is work, and I've got a job to do.

I've taken over at the league favourites and all round big club, Grenades.

The strangest concept for a team name and logo I've ever come across I think, but the opportunity was too good to pass up! Grenades are simply the best team in the Antiguan and Barbudan system! I'm delighted to be here and don't think I'll be here long if truth be told.

They were founded in 1990 and have only won the league once in their history, in 2022/2023. Grenades play their football in the Antiguan capital St Johns, and their home ground is the national stadium:
Antigua Recreation Ground which holds 9000 spectators. It also is the national Cricket ground and regularly hosts test matches.

In all honesty, I can't find out a lot about them, so that's your lot. I'm here for a short stay, but a fun stay!

2030/2031 Season

Grenades play in the ABFA Premier League (Antigua & Barbuda FA). This is a simple league format where the top side at the end of the campaign wins the title. The bottom two sides get relegated whilst the third bottom side enters a playoff to stay in the league. We also play in the FA Cup which takes place throughout the season.

ABFA Premier League

You can take a look at the results above and take a little guess at what happened in the league! We absolutely smashed it only losing the one game and drawing one other. We dropped a total of 5 points all season meaning we won 85 points throughout the season. Incredible scenes as we went on a 19 match winning run to end the season! I couldn't quite believe it, but I certainly wasn't complaining as I sat back, relaxed and sipped my pina colada!

We started things off with a lovely 2-1 win over Green City which was our only game in October! A solid start.

November had 4 games in it, and as you would've guessed, we won all 4. A 5-1 battering over Otto's Rangers before beating All Saints United 4-0 at home. We then had back to back away games which saw us win 3-1 against Bassa SC and 3-1 against Old Road.

December was here, and saw us play 8 games in the league. This was the month that we dropped all of our points in. It's crazy that in the 3 months afterwards we didn't drop a single point. We carried on our winning run with a 3-2 win over Liberta FC, a 2-0 win over Lion Hill and a 3-0 win over SAP FC. This is where the winning run ended though, as we put in a shocker of a performance against Hoppers and ultimately lost 1-0. It was frustrating as they are the second favourites for the title. We did get back to winning ways next game as we beat Empire F.C 4-1 in a thriller. I thought that was going to be it, back to a winning run, but a shock 1-1 draw with Potters Tiger stopped me in my tracks. Luckily that was to be it for the whole dropping points things. We rounded the month out with a 1-0 win over Bassa SC and a 1-0 win over Jennings.

2031 came around and saw us win all 8 games in January. An astounding feat of quality and fitness by the lads. Up first was a 2-0 win over Swetes FC before beating Wilikies 1-0. We dispatched Otto's Rangers 3-1 and followed this up with a 4-1 victory against Green City. Striker Tev Lawrence was just finding form and was about to become our key man. We beat Potter's Tigers 5-0 before beating Parham FC 4-1. Another two wins came at the end of the month as we saw off Old Road & Parham FC 1-0 & 3-0 respectively.

In February we won 6 out of 6. Another perfect month follows the first. SAP FC were our first victims as we beat them 3-0. A 6-2 redemption win over Hoppers was the highlight, as Tev Lawrence netted a hattrick. Empire F.C were beaten 3-0, before a 2-1 win over Liberta FC. We visited All Saints United next and came away with a 2-1 win. Finally this month we saw off Swetes FC in a 3-1 victory. 18 points from 18 and only a month to go.

The final month of the season was here and we continued our winning run. Jennings FC came and went away with a 3-0 loss. We then beat Lion Hill 3-1 before winning on the final day of the season against Willikies. (Such a strange name for a team).

League Table

As comfortable a league win as you'll ever see. We ended on 85 points and Hoppers who were runners up were a massive 18 points behind us. We could've played 6 games less and still won the league. Crazy, but we thoroughly deserved this title. The league says goodbye to Lion Hill & Liberta FC whilst Green City await their playoff fate.

FA Cup:

I'm not going to lie, I thought this was in the bag as the season was going on. We were dominating pretty much everyone, week in week out. We came stuck at the end of the season though and eventually were dumped out of the competition.

In the Second Round we beat Lion Hill in a 4-0 demolition. Tev Lawrence being the main man and scored twice in the first half. The Third Round was a 2-1 win against SAP FC but this wasn't a pretty win. We were pretty poor overall, but managed to squeeze out a win, but we held on at the end.

The Quarter-Finals was an easier affair, as we beat lower league side BlueJays. Once again, Lawrence smashed in a brace as we went on to win 4-0.

The Semi-Final was the most frustrating game ever. We were up against Otto's Rangers and should've scored at least 4. We did not however, and after equaliser in the last minute of extra time we paid the penalty and were dumped out of the competition on that stupid pot luck of a tradition. Hate it. Not happy.

Player Stats:

Top Goalscorer:
1. Tev Lawrence (30)
2. Ridel Stanislas & Tony Jacob (11)
3. Richard Pena (10)

Top Assists:
1. Richard Pena (14)
2. Tony Jacob (11)
3. Jacob Blackwood (7)

Highest Average Rating:
1. Tev Lawrence (7.55)
2. Richard Pena (7.37)
3. Tony Jacob (7.18)

marktonge · March 8

CLUB #6 | DOC'S UNITED | ANGUILLA | 2030/2031

Adios Antigua & Barbuda, and Hola Anguilla! It's only a short 44 minute hop over to the new island, and that's where I'll be calling my home for the next few months! Once again I've landed on my feet and secured a job at the best team in the league, who are comfortably expected to win the league this season. They've actually won the league for the past 2 years before this season so are dominating on a domestic level.

Doc's United play in the Anguillan Premier League and play at the same ground as everyone else in the league, meaning games are spread throughout the whole week. The stadium, Raymond Gordon Ernest Guishard Center which has a capacity of around 1100.

The club were founded in 2007, and are located on George Hill, southwest of the capital city of El Valle. They are an amateur team made up of players who have other careers on the side of the football team. I love that.

Presidents Cup

Before the league season starts in Anguilla, the Presidents Cup takes place. A group stage affair to start before heading into the knockout rounds. We were drawn in a Group alongside Uprising & West End Predators.

We started with a lovely little 2-1 win over Uprising where we went 2-0 up thanks to goals from Ian Fleming (not the author), and Roy Williams before conceding late and holding on. We secured top spot in the group by smashing West End Predators 4-0 thanks to a brace from Ruvin Rogers.

We had qualified for the Semi-Final where Roaring Lions (AIA) were waiting for us. A tightly contested game saw us edge it 1-0 with Ruvin Rogers netting the winner in the 38th minute. A close game that could've gone either way, but we were into the final.

Our Group Stage friends Uprising were our opponents, and an early goal from Ian Fleming put us ahead in front of a bumper crowd of 1552 fans. (I don't know how considering the stadium holds 1100). They equalised just before the half, but Roy Williams rose highest at a corner and headed home the winner in the 80th minute! A trophy in the early days of my tenure here!

Anguillan Premier League

The thing that I love about playing in these extended databases, are the lower countries that enable you to fly through seasons quickly. The Premier League consists of 9 teams, and each team plays each other once over the course of the season. There are no home and away games as technically everyone is at home each time. 8 games to get that title secured and in the bag.

Nearly the perfect season! We nearly went all season without losing or drawing, but one little pesky game against Roaring Lions put a halt to that!

You can see why were favourites for the title before the season, as we racked up some seriously impressive wins along the way.

We start in February, with 4 wins from 4. A 3-1 victory over Uprising before a 7-4 spectacle for the fans against Lymers. It was a fun game to manage in and the lead changed a number of times but goals from Ruvin Rogers (2), Ian Fleming (2), Andre Tesselaar, Andre Fleming & Terrace Brooks secured us all 3 points. We followed this up with a 4-0 win over Attackers (AIA) and a 3-0 win over Diamond (AIA). Two back to back clean sheets and plenty of goals scored. The perfect start.

March consisted of 3 games, and also held our only loss. An 86th minute penalty gave Roaring Lions the win in front of a big crowd. A gut wrenching way to lose a game but the perfect season obviously wasn't meant to be. We did bookend this defeat with plenty of goals in 2 wins! A 4-0 victory against ALHCS Spartans, before. a 7-0 thrashing against West End Predators, with Ian Fleming netting 4 goals in a magnificent performance.

We rounded the league season off with a 4-0 win over Eagle Claw in April, and that was that for the Anguillan Premier League. Did we end up winning it?

Of course we did, and by some margin considering we only play 8 games. A lovely gap of 5 points between ourselves and Diamond (AIA). We finished with 21 points from a possible 24 which is impressive. The league says goodbye to Lymers & Attackers (AIA) who both get relegated after only winning one game all season.

Another league ticked off, and another league & cup double to add to the resume.

Player Stats

Top Goalscorer:
1. Ian Fleming (15)
2. Roy Williams & Ruvin Rogers (6)
3. Miguel Rogers (5)

Top Assists:
1. Mustafa Ziahi (9)
2. Terrance Connor (7)
3. Andre Tesselaar (6)

Highest Average Rating:
1. Ruvin Rogers (8.08)
2. Terrance Connor (7.80)
3. Ian Fleming (7.64)

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