Armeniar

S1 – 2. Liga 14th / Slovnaft Cup 2nd Rnd Transfers Nothing, apart from one pre-agreed transfer. Squad Season summary As expected, a very tough first season. With only 12 players, we did not have a lot of room for experiments tactic-wise or subbing someone in to have an impact. This meant there was only one logical goal this season; avoid relegation at all cost. Especially before the winter break, with no league games from mid-November until March, we did a good job. No real relegation fear, ranked 9th in the league. However, the second half of the season was just terrible. More injuries, suspensions, but also just less quality in our game. To be honest, I was not too sure we would make it, but in the end we got 7 more points then the second last. A little bit of a miracle, knowing we lost 8 of our last 9 games (drawing the other one). Player of the Season Has to be our star player Buchel, who had a huge impact on our survival in the 2.Liga. Average rating of 7.00, providing 7 assists and scoring 2 goals. He is - by far - the best player in our squad and also delivered on the pitch. It is a shame next season will probably be his last at our club, since his contract expires then and he is not keen on singing a new one for now. Youth intake Say hello to our very first youth players! We desperately needed them to reinforce our small squad, so 14 out of the 16 youngsters signed a youth contract. Not too sure about their quality or potential as most of our current players are not that great to say the least. Right back Dubec is the most promising new guy, next to goalie Macho and defensive mid Gajdos. Let’s see how they all develop.

Introduction – 2. Liga (Slovakia, D2) Please welcome Mr. Balaban as the new manager of Inter Bratislava, a fallen giant in Slovakia. An earlier post here gave me inspiration to start with this club, let’s hope I can get through the first season with the limited squad. Manager profile: There was already one transfer pre-agreed, a Cameroonian striker from another lower league club. That being said, our star player Toth did not want to sign a new deal and left on a free. Meet the twelve-person squad:

S4 – Serie C (Italy, D3) Takeover We faced a little fight at ownership level, after two parties were willing to take over our club. No big chances however, the new Italian chairman pumped the "huge" amount of €8.000 into the club. Transfers As for players that did not come back to our club after summer, we first have Arlotti who joined Catania. He did not want a new deal, so it was now or never to make some cash out of him. Moreover, one of our Sammarinese internationals left us. Tosi had more and more trouble to catch up with the level, so we decided to let him go to a lower tier at Caldiero. Both of them were extremely valuable for our team the past three years. Lastly, we loaned out some youngsters. Amongst them Giannini, I felt both him and the national team could benefit from some first team experience which he’ll seek at Tamai (5th tier). Better news is that our Sammarinese twins stay at the club! Both Giacomo and Tommaso signed a permanent deal after their contract at Sassuolo expired. Furthermore, we added two other defender to our squad: firstly, left back Baroncioni did not get a contract renewal at Bologna and wants to try and break through here, while 18yo Berardelli was snooped from Ravenna on a free where he was a regular starter last season in the Serie D. Finally, we secured Boccia (SPAL) on a very cheap loan (€50 p/w) as a versatile forward to come off the bench. Squad Season summary Last year, we qualified for the promotion play offs but I felt like we were not ready yet then. Now, I felt like the squad was stronger and more flexible as well in terms of possible tactics. Our first game of the season gave us high hopes, as we humiliated Siena in their own ground (2-6). The tone was set and off we went. Apart from a terrible month of November, we had a very decent first half of the season. As I thought we could get even more out of the team, after the winter break we switched back our tactic to a 4-4-2, like in the first two seasons. This seemed to be an excellent move, we won our first game of 2026 with 5-0 at home and continued on this positive streak. With teams really packed together, play offs were a no-brainer but even 1st place looked plausible… Just before the final game of the season, the race for the championship in our league was still open. Result? We beat mid-table team Imolese at home with a smooth 2 goals difference, while our rivals Ancona and Piacenza “choked”: champions! On to the Serie B! We also took the Serie C Super Cup home after a win against Catania and drawing Citadella: Player of the Season has definitely been Nanni, as he was the top scorer of the league (17G). Our long serving captain Sabba also won us a lot of games (13G, 6A), same goes for Mamona (12G, 7A) and Berardi (9G, 7A). Youth intake Our junior coaching was improved. Decent intake, but again, maybe not in terms of this challenge. Only one Sammarinese player coming through, Cevioli. House rules S4 - National team Let’s be short about our remaining World Cup Qualifiers Group games. We lost ‘em all, scoring two goals and conceding 20: Two friendlies in March were supposed to try some new things out and especially, to try and get a positive feeling again. Against the Suriname of Becker, Klaiber and Haps we did not manage to score, but also didn’t allow them to score: 0-0. Cyprus on the other hand was too strong for us, 2-1 (goalscorer: Fabbri). Remarks: - New interesting prospect from Serie B side Ascoli: Flavio Cinque. I have a feeling he might jump straight into the starting XI next season. - Nations League draw for upcoming season:

I did start with them, just to avoid this issue They are ready to throw in a national holiday after winning a friendly, so I think it's very hard to get fired as national team manager.

S3 – Serie C (Italy, D3) Stadium, professional status and feeder clubs Our board ruled that we needed to move to another ground after our promotion to the third tier. We’ll be renting the San Marino Stadium, also home to our national team. Very content with this as it’s a lot better than our previous stadium, with the very limited capacity of 750 people. In addition, we became a professional club as from this season. Yay! We renewed most of our senior squad contracts to full time deals in June, because as from July we would fall under the absurdly strict financial regulations of the Italian Serie C (= minimum wage of €500 p/w). Every extra euro helps! Financially the Serie C does however also finally offer some certainty, even with little profits month per month. We might finally be able to do some improvements to our facilities after the season… Last but not least, I decided to terminate the links with our two feeder clubs Forli and Ravenna. They play in a lower tier, so it would not benefit us in any way. Very eager to find a new senior affiliate, up until now without luck though… Transfers Outgoing, two of our four Sammarinese loanies returned to their club. Pierini returned to Cesena, while Sassuolo was reluctant to re-loan twin brothers Benvenuti to us (even after playing >30 games for our club). At deadline day, Giancomo was finally allowed to return to us on loan. Tommaso only returned in January for the remainder of the season. Last but not least, Pari was given a one year contract at our club after his deal at Cesena expired. He was immediately sent to affiliate club SS Cosmos, in the hope he would get more game time there and develop. Ambrosini decided to retire, but will remain at Victor San Marino as an U20 coach. Additionally, four players were let go: Monaco, Pasquini and Mengucci didn’t get a new deal, while Farabegoli signed for Cannara in the fifth tier. Incoming, we searched for some local Italian players to reinforce our senior squad. Farinelli, born in Ravenna, was the first one to join us on a free from Corticella (Serie D). Furthermore, two young defenders Mancini and Diotallevi were welcomed at our club. However I was happy with these signings, we lacked some depth. Luckily, in October, our national team star Berardi signed a three-year contract. Very happy to have him around, I hope he can become a huge part of our project the following seasons. If everything goes well, I even aspire to keep him around until the end of his career. Mid december, Nanni followed his example. At the same time, the Italo Belgian Mamona (born in Pesaro) signed a deal. Previously, he was under contract at Cremonese in the Serie B. Three new attacking options that fill in the depth we were missing after the end of the summer! Squad Season summary While being viewed as one of the top candidates for relegation, I always believed we would have a solid season. Particularly helpful in that case is a good start, for which we got a little helping hand: in our first five games, we were awarded three penalties. Result? Four wins, three penalty goals by Sabba and a first place. Apart from a poor run in April, we kept performing and it quickly turned out like we were going to get a spot in the play offs for the Serie B. We did, finishing 7th. Play-off time! Promotion to the Serie B would’ve been rather unexpected and maybe a little too soon, but we couldn’t let this chance slip away. In our first game, we dominated Arezzo and won after a goal from our captain Sabba. This meant we proceeded to the second round, an away game against Ancona. Sadly enough, we had a real off day. We never really stood our ground and were already down 2 goals at half time. End result: 2-1 and another season in the Serie C! Also lost in the second round of the Coppa Italia Lega Pro, Juventus’ U23 side was just too strong (2-0). Kenan Yildiz completely destroyed us. Youth intake We were able to do our very first upgrades in terms of youth recruitment and junior coaching, so I hoped to see an impact in our youth intake. There was just one (very) good looking prospect: Italian attacker Lelli. However, not a single Sammarinese player that looks decent. Rather disappointing. House rules S3 – National Team Disastrous beginning of the season with our National Team. First of all, our two leading players, Nanni and Berardi could not find a new club in summer and had to be picked up by our club halfway through the season. Same goes for Cappichioni, also part of the starting XI. Moreover, we started with two 0-1 losses in our new Nations League group with Moldova, Liechtenstein and Belarus in September. If that was not enough yet, a week after we got some terrible news. Guidi (Cesena), by far our most promising youngster, withdrew from his National Team commitment. The fact he seeks a chance at Italy’s NT is just nonsense, as he already collected 11 caps for us… The next international break, it almost felt like our players were eager to show Guidi how stupid he had been. After losing in Moldova, we faced Liechtenstein at home without our top striker Nanni (suspended). This meant our youth prospect Terenzi had to play up front, with little to no experience (at that moment, 3 short subs at club level and one at international level). Things seemed to – finally – fall into place as we started really strong. A smart pass past the defence from Terenzi put Vannucci one-v-one against Büchel. Our #10 didn’t hesitate and opened the score, becoming the youngest ever goalscorer for both our country and the Nations League at 16 year and 105 days old! Only a few minutes later, the same Vannucci got tackled in the 16: penalty! Berardi took his responsibility, celebrating his transfer to Victor San Marino two days earlier. To top things off, Terenzi felt like an assist wasn’t enough in his first starting appearance: 3-0 at half time (also the final score), I couldn’t believe my eyes. What a game! It took a long time, but we end our winless streak of 143 games since 2004! Not entirely unexpected, we end last in our Nations League Group with only these three points: Next up: World Cup Qualifications! The group is rather interesting, I can see ourselves going through… All jokes aside, we did manage to grab a point in our second game. Malta was held to a draw after Berardi punished an early mistake by their defence. Results so far:

For those playing with Victor San Marino: I notice the amount of Sammarinese players in the intakes are really low (+- 3 at most), it even gets worse throughout the seasons. Is this just bad luck or a general thing? @G_D_K

S2 – Serie D Girone D (Italy, D4) Transfers Quite a few outgoing transfers to make room for others: Incoming, we welcomed some local free agents to our club in accordance with our transfer policy (see house rules below). Firstly, two players on loan last season were signed on a permanent deal: Gramellini (Cesena) and Marra (Ravenna). Moreover, we needed two new goalies, which we found in Sarini and Bizzini. Both were in the starting line-up of their previous teams, respectively fifth tier club Del Duca Grama and Serie D side Fano. Also centre back Sedioli (Forli), Manara (Forli) and Farabegoli (Cesena) joined us. The most promising transfer was the one of midfielder Maltoni (Bologna), without any doubt. He joined us on trial at first, and surprisingly enough was willing to sign a feasible deal (although he will still become top earner). As we aim to have at least six Sammarinese players in our senior squad and we only currently only had two (Tosi and 15 yo Giannini), we needed to do something on this front as well. Both to fulfil our transfer goals and to help the development some of our countries best youngsters, we chose to loan four Sammarinese teenagers (and internationals). Twin brothers Giancomo and Tommaso Benvenuti will leave their home Sassuolo for a year, while Pierini and Pari will make the move from the nearby city of Cesena. Squad Season summary Another banger of a season. Sabba kept his golden form from last season, reaching 26 goals and 10 assists this time, while Marra also stepped up his game netting 20 goals. Our transfers also really played out well. Manara proved to be a never ending danger for the opposition defences (av. 7.36; 23G + 16A), be it as a winger or a striker. Maltoni formed a great midfield duo with Lombardi and Sedioli on the other hand proved to be rock solid in defence. As from the very beginning, it looked like we were going to play a huge part in this competition. After 5 games, we took the lead in the Serie D Girone D and as from then we were almost unstoppable. Only losing 6 games throughout the season, we managed to secure promotion without too many concerns. In the Scudetto afterwards, we stranded in the group phase after two draws. Anyways… Serie C, here we come! Last but not least, we won the third competition we were part of this season; the Serie D Cup. After extra time, Franciacorta was sent home without the much desired trophy: Youth intake Seems to be a little better than last season, but still nothing special. More Sammarinese players in any case, luckily. Pacey striker Terenzi is deemed to be the most gifted one. Next to him, Della Valle, Mazza, Ricci and Italians Damiani and Buratti got a youth contract as well. House rules S2 – National Team We secured our first point ever under Antonini’s lead, and that even in an official fixture! Our first encounter of the season, a home game against Azerbaijan, ended 1-1. A great header from Nanni, perfectly assisted by sub Tomassini, erased a goal in the first half. It made me very happy, what a way to bounce back after the dramatic 12 goal loss against Denmark previous international break. That being said, we are still really struggling to find a suited tactic and starting eleven. Especially our midfield is just too weak for the moment. We couldn’t surprise anyone in our following official games. Furthermore, the four friendlies against rather weak sides were also pretty disappointing: Positive thing is that 18yo Erlocani, a winger at Folgore, scored his first international goal and looks like a decent addition to the squad. Meanwhile, however, our streak of 140 games without a win since 2004 continues… Maybe next season?

'Off topic': Yesterday, 40 and a half year old centre back Di Maio made his debut for the Sammarinese national team He started the procedure for naturalization 10 years ago, after marrying a Sammarinese citizen.

Update from my side: Sadly enough I had to start a new save. I forgot to load the Sammarinese league into my game, so there were hardly any regens coming in (apart from our club). Rookie mistake! I adapted both this post and the previous one. S1 - Eccellenza (Italy, D5) First season already wrapped up! Transfers No incoming transfers, and only just a few outgoing to reduce costs: Season summary I can be brief about this season. It was just a teaser for our team. It felt like we were way out of the other sides' league. We lost only one game, congrats to third placed Russi (1-3 loss at home): Special mention to our attacking four: Sabba, our top scorer with 38 goals, Marra (24 goals), Arlotti (19 assists) and Ambrosini (18 assists). Youth intake A rather mediocre first intake, hardly any Sammarinese guys coming through as well. The four most promising players got offered a youth contract: Giannini is the pick of the bunch. I’m hoping he can develop into a decent extra option for our national team. Also Bandecchi looks like he could become of use for our club, especially since he can play in a couple positions. House rules S1 - National Team Again, I can be brief about it. This time, for whole different reasons tho... In the Nations League, a red card in both games didn't quite help us. We do have some nice prospects for the future of the national team: Guidi (Cesena), Terenzi (Vis Pesaro) and Gobbi (Tre Penne). Hopefully they can impact our play in a few years...

Introduction - Victor San Marino Hi guys! Please welcome Mr. Antonini as the new manager of Victor San Marino and the national team. Manager profile: No transfers are allowed during the first window, so meet the team that will try to get us to the Serie D: House rules: Transfers: - Unlimited transfers of Sammarinese players with Sammarinese nationality, apart from this only Italians born in the near vicinity can be signed a contract (thus place of birth being in republic San Marino or Italian provinces Forlì-Cesena, Pesaro e Urbino, Ravenna and Rimini.); - Players from youth intake Victor San Marino or San Marino Academy can be signed, regardless of their nationality and/or place of birth; - There must be at least six Sammarinese players in the senior squad at all time; and - As from the Serie B, two non-European players of the same nation are allowed in the squad. Loans - Maximum 3 loans per season (as from next season). Players are eligible for a loan spell according to the same rules as for transfers set out above. These rules make the game even more challenging, but will personally also keep it more interesting to me throughout the years. It also guarantees that the squad will be Sammarinese for a considerable part, which is obviously in the benefit of this challenge. However, we’ll be able to use some extra quality provided through the limited options for loans and transfers. Additional: I used the Italian database by Tenshi to get the team playable in the 5th tier: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2926762639 Special thanks to @6499red for finding a solution to the players switching nationality. To me this was a very disturbing bug, which prevented me from playing this challenge before. Off we go!