SkiIIs

YEAR 2064 - THE CHALLENGE IS COMPLETE Since my last update failing with Portugal in the 2054 World Cup in the round of 16, we then went with France for the Euros and whilst we won the Nations League the year before, were knocked out in the second round by Italy 4 - 2 in what was a dismal effort. After France I decided to go with Spain again for the 2058 World Cup where we would ride our luck a little in the knock out stages to make the semi finals with only Norway, South Korea and Ireland left. I was licking my lips at the competition at that point, however we got spanked by Norway 5 - 1 in the semis after taking the lead in the first minute. I decided to stay with Spain for the Euros. A couple of late goals in the second round against Ireland and Quarters against Turkey but couldnt find one against Croatia as we were knocked out in the semis in penalties. Again decided to stay with Spain (by this time i was losing motivation to drill down and look into other nations) for the 2062 World Cup. Had quite the favourable run in the knockouts, beating Morocco, Turkey, Serbia before beating Belgium in the semi final 2 - 1 thanks to a 93rd minute winner. We then got England in the final with both teams locked at 1 - 1 after the 90 minutes. England took the lead in extra time but we managed to peg them back 4 minutes later and took the final to penalties. We were down 2 - 1 in pens but saved the next two and scored all ours to win the World Cup. Now only the Euros left. Obviously stayed with Spain given we were hosting the Euros. What a way to complete this challenge, in front of my adoring country that I have been managing for the last 10 years. The lead up to the tournament wasnt the best as we lost to Italy in a friendly 6 days before our first group game against Belgium. We beat Belgium, then drew with Wales then beat Scotland to top our group. Our reward for finishing first was to play Italy in the second round. Two goals in the 71st and 78th minute helped fight back and get through to the next round 2 - 1. Netherlands next in what was an insane game. Final score was 7 - 5 in extra time. It was 4 - 4 after 90 minutes and Netherlands scored first in extra time to make it 5 - 4, however we managed to score 3 times to get through. Our reward was a semi final against England, a rematch of the World Cup final. Penalties werent required this time as we beat them fair and square 2 - 0. In the Final, a somewhat favourable draw in Croatia. We took the lead in the 31st minute and they received a red card with 20 mins left in the game and I had thought we were cruising. I was wrong as 3 minutes later they equalised and took the game to extra time. We scored just before the extra time half time break (managed to score a few goals in extra time over my journey) to complete the challenge! I holidayed month later in hope that the Aston Villa job would pop up but funnily enough I (being the CPU) decided to take the Mexico job so have provided the below as evidence

Hey everyone - looking to start this challenge on for the first time on FM24. I know in previous iterations there was a map of countries that havent been completed in that version of FM. Wondering if there was an update for FM24 before i choose a country. Any other detail would be greatly appreciated as I dont think scrolling through 67 pages of fun is time spent well

the two that I didnt win in my FM23 attempt, being the Euro and World Cup

2054 World Cup - Portugal Might have to shorten these updates up as it could be a while before I add another tick to the challenge. World Cup prep was great, group of Nigeria, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia didnt pose any problems. Second round against Senegal again didnt pose any problems as the team were scoring for fun scoring 18 goals in the four games so far. Next up was Uruguay. In a game we dominated and should have clearly won, Uruguay twice came back from a goal down to take the game into extra time. They scored within 2 minutes of extra time and we equalised within two minutes of full time to take it in pens. In a repeat of the Spain exit in the Euros, we missed our first two pens and that was it. Ive resigned and will try the Euros next with France. Not enjoying this truth be told!

2052 Euros - Spain I decided to jump ship after the World Cup as i just thought that Netherlands didnt have the quality to win a tournament even though we did quite well. I decided to go with Spain instead of Portugal as England seem to take so long to make a decision and I didnt want to take the risk of not getting that job and not having anything going into the Euros. In qualifying, funnily enough we were paired with the Netherlands and my decision to jump was vindicated as we finished top of our group and Poland finished second meaning the Netherlands did not qualify. Our group in the Euros consisted of teams from the Balkans in Croatia, Greece and Bosnia which we won all three. Call out to the 8 - 3 win against Greece who still managed to finish second. We were given an absolute shocking draw in the second round i current holders Portugal and that is pretty much where my journey with Spain ended as we lost in pens after a dull 0 - 0 draw where we looked the more likely to score. So I resigned before they could sack me and ended up going with Portugal who lost in the final against Germany in extra time.

2050 World Cup - Netherlands My tenure with the Netherlands started real rough. We lost all six games in the UEFA Nations League against France, Turkey and Denmark x2. It quickly made me realise that the decision I made to go with this country might have been the wrong one. In qualifying for the World Cup, we finished second in our group with Switzerland finishing first, again, not the best showing. With a group of Spain, Cameroon and China we shouldnt really have had any issues getting our of that group but top spot was going to be a challenge. We ended up drawing with Spain and beating the other two to win top spot where we would meet Turkey in the next round. We had already lost twice to them in my short tenure with the Netherlands. Second Round Round of 16 (if applicable) Quarter Final (if applicable) Semi Final (if applicable) Final (if applicable)

Season 2049 - Velez In search of the elusive last domestic cup competition the Velez job popped in September which was towards the end of their season with them somewhat struggling in mid table but still in the Copa Argentina om the Quarters and scheduled against a non professional team. This gave a good opportunity for a quick snatch and grab and end my club coaching career. First couple of league games we lost 3 - 2 at home and then 4 - 1 away and with the transfer window closed shut, i quickly found out that this was not going to be a cake walk. Quarter Final Semi Final (if applicable) Final (if applicable)

Season 2048/49 - Manchester City I joined Man City with the aim of winning the World Club Cup at the end of this season so i only played through the transfer windows to ensure we were built and prepared as best as possible. The months in between were holidayed and so we ended up finishing 3rd in the league, lost to Man Utd in the semis of the FA Cup, knocked out in the fourth round to Bournamouth in the Carling Cup and lost to Man Utd again in the Europa Cup final. All that didnt matter of course but still not a great season truth be told. There were quite of few big clubs from Europe missing from this competition, no Real Madrid, no PSG, no AC Milan, only Tottenham from England and no Bayern Munich either. Surely there wouldnt be a better opportunity to win this tournament than now! In the World Club Cup group stager, we were given a favourable group with Zamalek, Colo Colo and Club America not posing a challenge as we breezed through with three heavy wins. In the second round, we were given a tough task against my former employees in Lyon. Second Round Quarter Final (if applicable) Semi Final (if applicable) Final (if applicable)

haha im also awaiting the wwe 2k24 release! Was fortunate enough to go to the Elimination Chamber in Perth on the weekend!

Season 2047/48 - Rangers It was all about nabbing one of the cups and completing that part of the challenge. Much to my surprise, Hibernian has recently become the powerhouse of Scottish football winning the past 4 league titles and were favourites for its again. In fact, neither Rangers nor Celtic had won the title in the past 6 years which is unheard of. The team wasnt great and we had no money so had to be creative with some loans from the big boys of the Premier League. The team that assembled was fine and good enough to challenge however we fell at the final hurdle to said Hibernian of the League Cup 4 - 0 in what was an embarrassing performance. The Scottish Cup didnt go any better as we failed to beat Hearts at home 2 - 1 in the quarter final who then went on to win it in what was a favourable draw after us. With the 2049 World Club Cup on after next season, I was more leaning towards getting a team for next season and having it prepared for that and so when the Man City job become available I jumped at it. I might holiday part of the year as I have nothing to play for and just hope we dont get sacked.

Next stop for the last domestic trophy is....

Season 2046/47 - Olympiakos In search for two domestic trophies, my first stop was Olympiakos who had won 15 out of the last 16 domestic league competitions and had also won the domestic cup competition last year. The team is a level or two above the rest in Greece so it was an easy decision. The fact that the Kypello Elladas has two legs up until the final sits really favourable with me as well. We walked the league and pretty much walked the domestic cup as well. Im still without an international job and will be clutching at straws in the hope one of the major European nations becomes available before the Euros next year.

2046 World Cup - Brazil Minimum expectation for this team was to make the final so nothing but a win here would be good enough for me. Heading into the tournament, we were undefeated since winning the Copa America, winning all games bar two draws against Argentina. Our warm up games were against Slovenie which we won 8 - 5 in a ridiculous match but then lost 2 - 1 to Turkey after that so signs were a little patchy for some reason. With a group consisting og Cameroon, Bosnia and South Korea there shouldnt be any issues finishing top and there wasnt as we wont all three games convincingly. Second round game was against Ghana. Second Round Round of 16 (if applicable) Quarter Final (if applicable) Semi Final (if applicable) Final (if applicable)

Season 2045/46 - Lyon The season started out with the bestest news possible. PSG had announced they were in financial troubles and that they would need to sell some players in order to keep afloat. Of course i took advantage of this and managed to get one of their central midfielders on loan and almost secured their best striker on loan. However, not to worry, as Barcelona ended up buying him outright. They ended up selling 234m pounds worth of players and only spent 21m of that on players coming in. This gave me great confidence coming into the season but that was quickly brought back to earth once we lost the first game against Lens, then again 3 games later to Marseille. We then built into the season winning and out of the next 19 games we won 18 and drew 1 which put us clear first by a fair margin. We ended up winning the league with 5 games to go. The fact we were doing so well in the league allowed me to play my better players in other comps and so we made the finals of both the Coupe de France and the Champions League. We ended up winning the Coupe de France but lost the Champions League in an all French final against Nice. Not that it matters as I've already won it for this challenge but i cant count the amount of times I've lost the European Champions League finals. Alas all league comps for the challenge are complete, I still have two domestic cups to win and the World Club Cup which the next one is in 3 years time so i will look to find a suitable club to win a domestic cup before carefully picking one of the giants to try win the that. The World Cup is on next with Brazil, let's hope i cant tick that one off as we are expected to make the final.

Season 2044/45 - Lyon After a successful season at Porto, I was really keen to complete the Big 5 in France and when the opportunity at Lyon arose, I took it with both hands. The team i took over just finished 4th, only 7 points away from champions PSG so I knew there would be enough talent to at least challenge. When I took over the squad, it was apparent that there were a couple of holes in the first XI, but they were also short of depth. So the first challenge was to bolster the squad numbers whilst also finding players good enough for the starting lineup. Funds were tight so I had to get imaginative and hence utilised loans where possible. The season started a little rocky losing the opener to Nice, then also losing back to back games 3 weeks later to Strasbourg and Bordeaux. Looking aback, this would be extremely costly as from there we were title challengers and with 6 games to go we hit first place with destiny in our own hands for once. We then immediately lost to Havre to throw it away. With 2 games to go we were 4 points away from PSG but had a game in hand knowing that PSG had to play Nice away in a game they were quite likely to lose points, in the end they lost that match. However we couldnt take advantage again as we lost the last two games. It felt like we were exhausted by seasons end as we also made the semis of the Champions League eventually losing out to Inter Milan. This was a fantastic effort to make it that far and one that helps us qualify for the World Club Cup after the seasons end which i still need to win. The season wasnt lost afterall, as we ended up winning the Coupe de France which means we can solely focus on the league next season. It was an up and down cup for us as we needed penalties against Nice away in our first outing (really tough draw to be in at that stage) but then faced Ligue 2 opposition in the next two rounds before knocking out giants PSG in the quarter final thanks to a red card just before half time (although we were leading at this point). Then rivals St Etienne in the semi leaving us with Legue 2 opposition in the final.

2044 Copa America - Brazil My first international tournament with Brazil, going into it as favourites and ranked number 1 team in the World. That didnt bode well for me for the last World Cup with Spain so fingers crossed we dont wear the heavy tag again. We were given a friendly group, as did the other giants of South American football. Venezuala, Paraguay and Jamaica were no match for us as we scored 18 and conceded 4 in three wins. Beating Paraguay 4 - 3 after copping a red card in the 6th minute. In the quarters we get USA who are ranked 12th in the world. Quarter Final Semi Final (if applicable) Final (if applicable)

Season 2043/44 - FC Porto This is going to sound really sour on my behalf but im sure others have felt this way after a reasonably successful season with a team that was expected success. The season started off losing the second game at home to Sporting then drawing a few games later at home to Braga whilst Sporting won their first 8 games so was already 5 points behind. We had also lost our first two champions league league games as well. From that point, it always felt like we were playing catch up for the entire season, never really being in control of our destiny. Mind you just before the January transfer period opened up, the board decided to strip me of the 50m pounds in transfer budget and 250k in wages available from me because of financial viability. I had raised those funds myself by selling decent depth players in the hunt of bringing in quality to bolster the squad, particularly in defence. In the return leg against Sporting, we had closed the gap to 2 points however we lost again to them making it a 5 point gap with 16 games to go. The sorting rules are head to head first so really it was a 6 point gap that we needed to close. To cut a long story short, we won the remaining 16 games to win the league but in all honesty it wasnt that easy. We brought in Joao Carlos on loan from Barca who I also loaned in at RB who is a 5 star AMC who helped us boss the midfield. Really not sure why Barca dont like him as he's also my star for the Brazil National team. In the Allianz Cup we lost to Benfica in penalties after leading 2 - 1 with only 1 minute of normal time left. That was really disheartening as Braga was awaiting the winner in the final as Benfica swept them away to be victors. In the Taca de Portugal however, we were not to be denied in the semis against Sporting over two legs as we drew 2 - 2 away then creamed them 4 - 1 at home with a L2 opposition awaiting us in the final. We did not let that opportunity go to waste as we won 8 - 0 do complete the double. The Champions League is something that we didnt focus on and much to my surprise we made it all the way to the final, knocking off the likes of Man Utd and Newcastle but only to lose to Lazio 3 - 1 after taking the lead early. All in all, the job i came for is done and we will move on after what can be said of a season I particularly didnt enjoy. No jobs in France have opened up again as every single manage is either secure or stable which is really weird. I still have a couple cups i need to catch up on so will see if there's an opportunity out there for a quick one in the mean time.

Enjoying your updates! Just curious on the playing naming symbols you're using and what do they reflect??

With only the French league required as part of the Big 5, i resigned from Real Madrid hoping that the PSG job would become available as part of the merry go round that usually happens. Unfortunately it didnt work and the only role that popped up in France was Nice, but for some reason I wasnt able to apply for it as they had already found their man really quickly. I still need 1 more league outside of the Big 5 and a few more cups so have taken the FC Porto job for now but will also keep an eye out if anything juicy in France pops up/

Season 2042/43 - Real Madrid I was given a warchest with Real and I knew if I could spend it wisely, it would be a short stay here as they had 5 - 6 world class players but also had some gaps that needed filling. The fun was buying players and none were better than Sergio my Spanish AM that I had in last year's World Cup who scored 26 goals and 17 assist from 35 league starts. That sort of performance, along with others helped me cruise towards the title wrapping it up with about 5 or 6 games to spare. Most of the dropped points came when it was fait a complis and I was instant resulting games. This title, breaking a run of 4 straight championships for Barca. The other competition of note is the Copa del Rey which we had an almighty battle getting through the easiest fixture on paper being that of Granada from LaLiga 2 in the third round. For all our dominance we could not get the win despite 35 shots and 4.69 xG vs 0.43. We even missed our first 3 pens but held our nerve in the end to win 4 - 3 in pens. We then romped through Levante and Espanyol to make the semis. We smashed Real Sociedad 6 - 2 at home in the first leg and rested our started in the away leg and almost cost us the chance to meet Barca in the final. In the final, at half time it was 2 - 2 with both times going ahead but being pegged back. We then were awared a penalty in dying minutes of the game which was scored by Sanchez to do the double. With this i have resigned hoping for a team a decent team in France to pop up, but there's nothing yet. I may go and win another league which is needed for the 10 for the challenge and wait for the right opening to come up.

Just a quick update that I have taken the job at Real Madrid (luckily they approached me as I was too busy playing the World Cup with Spain) and post a disappointing World Cup campaign with Spain, will try my luck with Brazil.

2042 World Cup - Spain My first meaningful tournament with Spain and we head into it ranked as the best nation in the world with the expectation we make it to Wembley Stadium on the last day. With a group consisting of Turkey, China and Ghana, we really shouldnt have any issued getting out of that group and we didnt, winning all three games. In the second round we face Qatar Second Round Round of 16 (if applicable) Quarter Final (if applicable) Semi Final (if applicable) Final (if applicable)

Season 2041/42 - RB Leipzip My third season with RB started off with the World Club Cup in which didnt really coincide with any major international tournament meaning we had a pretty close to full squad to play with. However, I wasnt really confident given we havent really come close to winning the league, nor have we managed to boss the big boys in the champions league either. My confidence levels were on point this time round as even though we won all our group games (we had Utrecht as the only team from Europe in our league) we were frustratingly knocked out of the second round by Palmeiras 2 - 0. I did rotate the squad a little with one eye on the next round but no excuses, the team I put out there should have won. Going into the season proper, I was a little nervous for another season of donuts given our poor showing in the World Club Cup but the season started off really strange with both Dortmund and Munich dropping a heap of points. Dortmund lost 2 of the first 3 (one to us) and Munich had 2 points after 4 games. So it didnt take us long to hit top spot and once we did, we did not relinquish it. Leverkusen kept up with us for a chunk of the season, but they dropped a couple of games and we didnt and thats all she wrote. It had been 10 long years since RB last won the league so it was nice to break that streak. We also won the DFB Pokal again and lost in pens against Tottenham in the Champions League final. So with that I have finally conquered Germany which in my opinion took longer than it should have with this team, but what is done is done. I've set this team up nicely now and they should go on and be competitive for a long while going forward. I will resign and hopefully start a merry go round and hopefully something big opens up in Spain or France. We also have the World Cup up next with Spain.

Season 2040/41 - RB Leipzig Second season in with RB with only the Bundesliga on my radar, i was pretty confident going into the season which was highlighted by the fact I didnt apply for the Bayern Munich job which became available right before the season. In hindsight I kind of regret that because the team just did not gel together at all. We started off really bad which I attempted to rectify with multiple tactical changes but just couldnt get this team of superstars to perform and control games. We finally made a late charge towards the end of the season but Dortmund were well and truly uncatchable and hence we finished second to them by 12 points. In a repeat of last season, we again won the DFB Pokal which is nothing more than a consolation prize. Really disappointing on how the season went. Mid way through i was exploring other opportunities and even contemplated resigning to start a chain reaction. I even had an interview with Marseille which i was offered the role but the reneged after two delays. Luckily I did as we have the Club World Cup after the season so will play that and stick out for one more season.

been quite lucky to date with the clubs ive joined... although i feel like its a bit of a struggle in Europe tho. Bit of a heads up im not going too well with RB in my second season