[How we're introducing women's football into Football Manager]

On 19/08/2021 at 11:43, Piperita said:

As a feature, it is a feature. Like the online features, either editor, or the "replace a team with whoever you want"-mode it is something that can safely be ignored if it isn't one's cup of tea or be something that is essentially the entire game for others. I don't know how much I'd play this mode outside a beta-save or two, as I am pretty much set in what my main save will be by now and most minor saves are tactical tinkering building up to my style of the year.

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What I hope for is at least some integration between the modes and that the match engine in both modes will grow from new variables.

Integration: I am from Wolfsburg which has a pretty successful women's team and a men's team that recently acquired the tradition of either playing for Europe or against relegation. This also affected how many and which kinds of fans attended the games of the women's club (a while back they played in the biggish older stadium and men's seasonal cards were valid for the women's games as well). This also resulted in some men's coaches using a "Let's watch the women perform" as an alternative to a mid-week training camp for teambuilding, seeing the colours triumph, and (at least officially) for some tactical/fighting lessons. [Our old Coach Kellermann also always was in the running of "replacement coach the fans want" ^^].

Growth: What Miles wrote about "more lobs against smaller keepers" and similar reactivity is something that this new mode can and must explore but is also something that could ultimately bring the men's ME to new heights. Right now it makes little difference to the opposition whether or not I plays brick walls in defense or fast sweepers. It matters little to them whether I use a 20/20 Jumping/Strength tower up front or a small sprinter. When the opposition gets more aware of their opponent's size, it would make a huge difference!

I hope something similar goes to the handling of star players or star teams -- In women's football, at least in some leagues, the difference between top and bottom is much larger and due to the shorter amount of new players making the cut and the common amateur or half-amateur status there is just a different meta-game. Some teams use and abuse the top players they have. Others have a close-knit team and know how to handle the opposition's teams. Some are just hopelessly outclassed and some can waltz through most teams in their leagues and need to be made aware of the one or two hard opponents and whoever awaits in Europe. Right now teams in FM seldomly focus upon obvious star players way above the rest and have a strong tendency to either wall themselves in or go all-out in attack whenever the slightest bit of difference in reputation is detected.

Thats another issue that needs to be adressed. How to make it worthwile to play any other team than Wolfsburg in Germany or FC Rosengård/Häcken in Sweden when they have players that under the current system would have a CA of around 150-170 and face teams from the lower half of the table that have players with a CA at best around 110. How do you succed as those teams?   Playing FC Rosengård in Sweden will be like coaching the national team of Italy and play friendlies with Togo and win with 22-0 or more

 

[How we're introducing women's football into Football Manager]

This will make me buy a FM again. I will enjoy the prospect of making a manager that like Stefan Rehn moved from the mens top division in Sweden to the womens to division or like Peter Gerhardsson that spent years building Häcken mens team to become a contender for the title and then got the job as the national team manager for the women and went to France in 2019 with a team that was not considered a contender and took the bronze and then came within a few meters to get the Olympic gold.

 

HOWEVER. If you are going to succeed in implementing the woman teams you  really need to remake the economic side. As of now it is geared towards the top divisions will millions in income, playing lower leagues with next to now income is hard. The women team have less cash and the salaries are much lower. FC Rosengård just sold a player to Everton and broke the record for the highest transfer sum recived in Sweden, around 200 000 Euros. 

 

I look forward to seeing the full game. 

In the 1990s i had womens teams, i played games on C64 and in the game Treble champions i changed every team to a team in the Swedish league and then changed every name i had on the squad to the sure names of the more famous players like Sundhage.