Koetzer

Livorno | Season 2032/33 | Serie C/B Our best season with leading on xG and a number of points that would be enough to win any other group… but who cares if we lose playoffs like this? Must win the division to avoid this lottery next time. Squad stats Rossini became our all-time leading goalscorer at the age of 22! Two new players stand out here – Formichi who replaced club veteran Sabattini in the first eleven and eventually finished the season with the highest average rating, and Viligiardi (he moved from U18 team to a backup striker role but what’s more important – became our first player in the national youth squad). Transfers – another previously A-rated prospect left us without any progress, and the biggest surprise was Roma signing a player without high potential even for Serie C level (is he related to someone of their board? ) Youth intake (preview) Stabile *33a | Catalano *33b Poor intake, I only offered contracts to 7 players out of 16. However two previous intakes proved their quality, winning U17 Serie C for the first team (previously we had a few final and semi-final defeats) and a supercup against Napoli (well that’s a real surprise). Our attendances are rising, and we finally managed to make some profit during the season!

Livorno | Season 2031/32 | Serie C/B A drop from the last season, only 5th place far away from leaders. Somehow we defeated Juventus reserves in playoffs (their squad is even stronger than Atalanta U23 which we faced last year), but this form didn’t last long. Coppa Serie C – saved the game on the last minutes, but lost in a shootout again. Squad stats Rossini improved his own goalscoring record, but Aziri was nowhere near last season’s form and Amelio didn’t play since November with ACL injury (though Adamo provided a good replacement for him). Conte and Gorlero became a starting pair of center-backs with another youngster Battochio playing ahead of them. Transfers Youth intake (preview) Pedaggi *32a | Renai *32b | Abagnale *32c | Leporatti *32d One more intake with mostly defensive players at its top. The debt is over a million now, I hope we’ll get promotion (or a good takeover) before being forced to sell leaders. Good news – we had our first full international, 16-year old defender Francini made his debut for San Marino (not sure if he ever plays for our first team though ).

Livorno | Season 2030/31 | Serie C/B We were floating around the same 6th position for most of the season, but found a great form in spring with eight wins and two draws in last ten games and weren't too far away from eventual champions! Well… Atalanta academy is much better than ours, some of their players already have Serie A experience so this tough result could be expected. Coppa Italia Decent debut in the real cup, we actually had more chances than a Serie B mid-table team but couldn’t finish. Coppa Serie С This time our backup squad was hopeless. Squad stats No new names in the first team, but Rossini and Aziri became as the league’s best goalscorer and assistant, improving their own records. Amelio and Biagini (quite a surprise) were selected as the best midfielder and goalkeeper in the division. Transfers – Conte and Gorlero had an impressive season on loan in Portugal and will join our first team, hopefully becoming a good replacement for Brenna and Schiaroli who are both over 30. Youth intake (preview) Rizza *31a | Burzagli *31b | Viligiardi *31c | Caforio *31d | Francini *31e | Sodini *31f | Pistolesi *31g A better intake in terms of personalities. Rizza can become a good midfielder, and we got three promising defenders (so far it’s our weakest line).

Livorno | Season 2029/30 | Serie C/B The best season for sure! Our form was just perfect at start (seven wins in a row!), of course it couldn’t last forever but anyway resulted in a solid playoff spot. To be honest I don’t understand how the rules work here. After an impressive comeback from 0-3 on aggregate we conceded on 97th minute and I was sure it ends our season as Pro Patria finished 5th in their group, but somehow we advanced as higher seed. We had more points in regular season though, maybe this counts? A much easier round against third placed team from another group. Great start at home and who knows how it could end if our best goalkeeper Biagini didn’t suffer an injury, we conceded six without him Coppa Serie С As usual, I didn’t pay attention to this cup and fielded a fully rotated squad, but this time it was enough to win the trophy! The final wasn’t easy despite Pro Sesto barely escaped relegation in their group, we only got advantage in the last 20 minutes when leading players came from the bench. I guess we should qualify for the real Italian cup with this win. Squad stats F.Rossini *26a – the new name in our best eleven, started the season as a backup for Rossetti but eventually became our best goalscorer. E.Aziri *27b – great season for our Albanian winger, 12 goals and 15 assists! D.Balduini *26с – once again he was wanted by higher division teams, but dropped his concerns and agreed for a new contract. A.Amelio *25b – another good season on the right wing, sadly missed the decisive playoff games with injury. Transfers – some more money from selling reserve players. Youth intake (preview) Sabba *30a | Zellini *30b | Ejike *30c | Fabbri *30d | De Vito *30e | Manecchi *30f | Montefusco *30g Our new HOYD Bakkenes (Congre was poached by Monza) started with this bunch of unambitious players.

Livorno | Season 2028/29 | Serie C/B Promising start, but poor form in the end almost knocked us from playoff spots and of course we had no chances there. At least that’s some progress. Coppa Serie С Lost again, but who actually cares? Squad stats Rossetti had his best season with 19 goals, but again couldn’t score in decisive games. Balduini was a real team leader in midfield and agreed to extend his contract despite interest from several Serie B teams. Aziri became a regular starter on the left wing and finished the season as one of the best assistants, Amelio had another good season on the right. Transfers – sold first players for real money (both weren’t good enough for the first team). Youth intake (preview) Lanzafame *29a | Porciani *29b | Formisano *29c | Formichi *29d | Fabbrizzi *29e | Antonini *29f | Berardi *29g Preview didn’t lie about a promising striker, though he’s unambitious and isn’t a real goalscorer that we need. Also we got a left-back from San Marino, guess he will be our first international Finances become a concern (minimum full-time wage of 500 euros is way too high, youngsters can be paid 150 but really promising ones usually don't agree), so probably we'll have to sell our leaders soon.

Livorno | Season 2027/28 | Serie C/B After seven games we were bottom with only two points, so I decided to change formation to 4-3-3 and promoted several youngsters to the first team. This change worked, and we were playoffs contenders until another bad run in spring. I hope that was the start of our real progress. Coppa Serie С It was actually the first game which we played with the new tactics, and a shootout loss was quite a good result for our backup players. Squad stats The main result of this season is two our academy graduates – Balduini and Amelio appearing as regular starters and several others becoming useful backups. Sabattini took the mezzala spot in 4-3-3 and performed well, leading the team in assists. Lack of a consistent goalscorer is our main concern so far, Rossetti scored 10 but only two of these goals came after October. Glad he agreed to sign a new contract anyway, as we don’t have a better striker yet. Transfers – normally you don’t release an A-rated prospect after just two years, but Pedaggi had several serious injuries (for more than a year combined) and hardly can develop into a first team player now. Youth intake (preview) Battocchio *28a | Kouamé *28b | Adamo *28c | Zellini *28d | Manzo *28e | Palmisano *28f | Del Coco *28g A good defensive midfielder and more wingers for our formation. And it's nice to see all unambitious players in the bottom part of the list Facilities need some upgrade, but we can’t afford such investments in this division yet.

Livorno | Season 2026/27 | Serie C/B Same place and even same amount of points as last season, keeping a safe position until youngsters are ready to boost us. Coppa Serie С Won the first game in three years. Squad stats Just like in our first season, Giordani finished as the best goalscorer and Bartolini had the highest rating. Both of them and our best assistant Curcio are well over 30, that's really concerning as well as the fact that our best scoring striker Henrique didn’t sign a new contract and leaves to Brazil. Transfers Youth intake (preview) Hyseni *27a | Aziri *27b | Maiolo *27c | Malotti *27d | Girotto *27e | Bertini *27f Two wingers lead this intake, so I guess we’ll change from our current narrow formation in a few seasons. Also we got first two players poached (they don’t look very promising anyway) and signed a new HOYD – model citizen Daniel Congre. First notable achievement for the academy - our U20 team won promotion to the third tier. Another recruitment upgrade.

Livorno | Season 2025/26 | Serie C/B This could be predicted, our 30+ leaders started to decline and youngsters aren’t ready to replace them yet. Our xG could lead us to a playoff spot anyway, and we stayed clear from the relegation battle, so everything’s going OK at this stage. Coppa Serie С Same as last season, just fielded a backup squad in this useless cup (the match attendance says a lot about its importance). Squad stats James Tenkorang – the biggest surprise of this season. I expected him to be a useful backup after returning from loan, instead he became our best goalscorer! Lorenzo Sabattini – our leading midfielder, unfortunately missed last two months with injury (probably we could finish in top 10 with him). Felipe Curcio – declined sharply in physical ability, but is still good at set pieces (Tenkorang scored quite a lot from his crosses). Andrea Fancelli – third in average rating and always among the best in training. Lorenzo Schiaroli – our best center-back whose future was a huge concern, but he agreed a new three-year contract with a month remaining. Transfers – offloaded two players without any potential and loaned out more promising ones. Youth intake (preview) Rossini *26a | Burzagli *26b | Balduini *26c | Conte *26d | Pardera *26e | Gorlero *26f We got promising players in all lines (except goalkeeper), with a pair of strikers being the highlight of this intake. Despite having negative balance for almost the whole season we managed to get the first academy upgrade!

Livorno | Season 2024/25 | Serie C/B A good debut season, we secured a solid mid-table place from the start and finished in the playoffs zone (a totally mad system here with six rounds, so hard to hope for promotion if you don't win the group). Coppa Serie С Only two highest tiers play in the real cup in Italy, no idea what we could get from this one. Squad stats Giordani was our best goalscorer and assistant, but surprisingly not the highest rated player – Bertolini seems to fit perfectly for a carrilero role. Two players are retiring after this season, Luci’s decision was expected at his age, but Cesarini certainly could be a useful player for at least a year. Transfers – these two players on loan will replace retiring veterans in the first team squad next season. Youth intake (preview) Pedaggi *25a | Amelio *25b | Barletta *25c | Kané *25d | Castelli *25e Good intake in stars, but only Amelio has decent physical attributes here.

Perfection.

Unione Sportiva Livorno 1915 Manager profile A club without major trophies, twice finished as runners-up before WWII and had a few good seasons in 2000s with Cristiano Lucarelli winning the Golden Boot and Marco Amelia earning a callup for the World Cup winning Italy squad. In the same year Livorno had its only European experience (thanks to several clubs above being involved in match fixing), losing to Espanyol in the round of 32. Then comes a typical Italian story – relegation, financial troubles, bankruptcy, restoration in the lower leagues and finally promotion back to Serie C. Best eleven: Rossetti – Cesarini Giordani Sabattini – Tanasa – Bartolini Curcio – Brenna – Schiaroli – Fancelli Biagini No decent wingers (except one with expiring loan), a few 30+ players who will need replacement soon, but a good pair of center-backs in their prime, young goalkeeper, right-back and Sabatini should be our starters for years. Other players who need mentioning are Andrea Luci (39-year-old club legend who remembers Livorno’s last season in Serie A) and two promising youngsters from the first intake – Malotti (he will get some chances in the first team as a backup AMC) and Metafonti (so far will play for U18). Starting setup is quite good for this level. P.S. Already started the season, and what a debut it was! A game against one of our rivals, just relegated from Serie B, and we won it with a captain's free kick in injury time!

I'm afraid that could be the end, or at least a break from this save. We are good enough to dominate the Norwegian league and qualify for UCL knockout stage, but then come real big clubs and smash us. I would like to go down to Europa League where we have a chance of a better run, but there's no such option with this new (totally not Superleague of course!) format. In addition, this career started in beta and carries on some of its annoying bugs like strange scheduling, random IDs and name changes (they are not critical, just adding more to overall drop in motivation).

July – December 2036 Transfers out Sold Lawal with profit for the second time, offloaded several reserves players who weren’t going to break into the first team and our long time captain Kjelsrud Vik who is 33 now and wanted a new challenge. Transfers in Manuel Castro – another Colombian player in our squad and the reason why Lawal wasn’t needed anymore. Diallo and Bruno were signed for the youth team so far. We are starting from the main stage in Champions League this time, so had quite a relaxed summer schedule. Perez missed several games while taking part in the Olympics, but our attack was still strong without him and defensive failure against Brann surely couldn’t be explained by this. And despite Bodø/Glimt becoming only a mid-table team this season (that 5-1 away win wasn’t expected anyway!), we have a real title race with Molde – they are only three points behind. European schedule is a bit easier than last season, we certainly need to get six points from Sparta and Dinamo at home. Easily advanced to the third straight cup final and started the European season with a good result in Italy, but couldn’t hold the lead in a more important game against Sparta. Before October we only failed to score once, and now hit this bad run in the worst time. Molde lost the next game to HamKam so we returned a three point advantage (with a much better goal difference), but getting only draws from two easiest games in Europe may end our season earlier. Molde dropped points once again, so this draw against HamKam (the game was scheduled within the international break and we missed nine players) was enough for the title! I also hoped to get points from Sevilla (they lost all four games before), but we were smashed from the start Good finish of the year, we won our second domestic double (despite getting a bit complacent after third goal) and made a late comeback in Lille which can potentially save our European season (though we need to play Atletico and Barcelona in January, while Man City and Arsenal are outside top 24 and most likely get more points from remaining games, so our chances are still low). Squad stats Perez repeated his goalscoring record from previous season, Kontos and Mosbron shared the lead in assists while competing for a place in first eleven (though their combined result is still less than Kontos alone a year ago), Jalil beat the club record in average rating (which was set by Svarups in third tier back in 2024!) and won the league MVP award. Cimpanu and Høyvik claimed different youngster awards, the latter also became our first player capped by Norway (a surprise actually, he’s mostly a backup and not the best local player in our squad, but I guess the nation lacks good defensive midfielders). The board finally agreed to upgrade youth facilities to the excellent level, and our academy entered the world's top 10 now!

January – June 2036 Transfers out Ramirez left us after six excellent seasons, I hope his replacement will be as good in goal. Transfers in Francisco Javier – our new starting goalkeeper with good stats in Spanish second division. A bit concerned about his physical ability, hopefully he adapts to the Nordic football quickly. Mateus Alcarcel – not that we needed another central midfielder, but this Colombian youngster with expiring contract was really good (and he played in the same club with our leading striker Perez). Jørgen Hellebust – promising striker for the youth team. Not the best personalities in this intake, but what a player – Håvard Møller could already be a starter for most Eliteserien teams! Rydland and Sekigawa (our Japanese affiliation seemed to work) also have a chance to develop. Our odds are almost equal with Bodø/Glimt now, I’m sure they won’t be as bad as last autumn and it’s going to be a tough battle. Fjærås came from the bench at half-time and scored twice to secure our playoff spot! No easy options among the seeded teams, and we got Liverpool. Our chances actually ended after 20 minutes of home game, when Jelsa got his second yellow card. Well… at least we scored three. We had a perfect home form, but only got one win from first five away games and let Molde (with Solskjær returned as their manager) take the top spot for a while. Bodø/Glimt’s poor form continued from the last season, could it be a start of their decline as a top team? No problems in the early cup stages, Møller had 2+1 on his debut, becoming our youngest ever goalscorer, and scored one more from a free kick in the next game. Our second foreign affiliate with an excellent youth setup.

July – December 2035 Transfers out Ivanovic was sold by board, Cisse wanted to leave with his contract expiring in a year, Radojcic and Al-Kaabi were replaced by better foreigners. Transfers in Hernani Machado – experienced defensive midfielder with two caps for Portugal. Simon Thulo – will be our first right-back choice. Mansour Al-Dawsari – young Saudi international who was wanted by PSG, but luckily they didn’t make a move for him. Mugur Cimpanu – replacement for Ivanovic and our most expensive transfer so far. A perfect month, we defeated our closest chasers Vålerenga while Bodø/Glimt faced serious problems (partly thanks to our players on loan) and the gap increased to ten points! Both games against Basel were hard, we conceded first but managed to get the needed results. Familiar opponents in Europe, though this time we had a bit of slump in the end of August and Rangers took the lead at home. However we gave them no chances in the return leg, starting from Perez goal on 16th second, and got even a harder schedule in the league stage. I’m actually pleased with this win exchange against Bodø/Glimt, we are still five points ahead in the league and have chance for a double with Fredrikstad in cup final! Champions League started against teams that we already faced last year, but with much better results – a home draw against Bayer and huge win in Rome! No easy games in October, but we won them all and can secure league title in the next match! Eight points were enough for playoffs last year, we have seven now but the remaining schedule is very hard (only real top teams except Rennes at home). Winning the game against bottom placed Åsane wasn’t a problem, so the title celebrations could already start on 5th minute! European fixtures became predictably harder, we only had a consolation goal from youngster Karisari this month. We had to play the cup final without three Africans on international duty (no idea why they play in December now) and Perez who wasn’t fully fit after injury, but center-back Jelsa scored his 11th goal after a corner and we won the double! Diego returned for the final game of the year and saved a point after a poor defensive performance in the first half. Hopefully eight points will be enough to qualify again (or we get something from Real or Milan). I knew that winning the title this season was real, but surely couldn’t predict a 15 points advantage! Bodø/Glimt had an awful finish and couldn’t even stay on second place, and Rosenborg relegated again after 3rd place last season. Squad stats Perez did what I expected from him with 31 goals, but the assists record from Kontos is even more remarkable. Our previous best result was 13, and he improved it more than twice, also claiming the Eliteserien best player award! The best youngster award went to Fjærås who shared playing time almost equally with Lawal, and they both actually played well. Jelsa had an impressive season with 11 goals and good defensive stats, and Ramirez set the new club record in clean sheets (sadly it’s his last season for us, he wants a new challenge and will likely get it somewhere in Saudi Arabia). The board is refusing to upgrade the youth facilities, but all other parts of our setup are at the highest level.

January – June 2035 Transfers out Benitez will turn 30 this year, had the highest wage in our team and wanted even more. Griffiths, despite becoming our best goalscorer, was very inconsistent during last season and we already found a better option. Transfers in Diego Perez – our new first choice in attack, scored 20+ goals in three straight seasons in Colombia. Stanley Lawal – brought back the player who helped us win promotion to Eliteserien, was sold for 6,25M (a club record then) and is still good enough to be a starter. Moses Mensah – the most promising youngster signed this winter. Worse intake than last year, still we got one midfielder with high potential and a player with very rare devoted personality (don’t remember seeing it before at all). Four our players against five Bodø/Glimt in the dream team, I guess we are close now. I thought one point in two games wouldn’t be enough, but other results helped us to qualify! Perez had a nice debut, scoring with his first shot on goal. After the first game was decided by a penalty, Benfica quickly overturned it at home and was closer to a bigger win, but Ramirez kept the score and Perez converted our only chance on the last minutes! We lost the shootout with the only save from Benfica keeper, anyway this was a good debut season. We had a strong league start and stayed on top even despite that defeat against Bodø/Glimt! Our goalscoring form is really impressive, we broke the club record with a 9-0 win over Haugesund (also none of our players scored four in a competitive game before Perez), still it’s not even halfway and everything can change. The cup schedule is quite easy so far, we’ll face second tier Arendal in quarter-final. Our youth team won the European trophy in their debut season! Glad to see that two best players – Fuglestad and Karisari came from our own academy. And it turns out that we almost knocked out the eventual champions! Benfica lost previous final to Man City, but finally broke the Guttmann’s curse in his native city. The new season will start for us in July against Basel. Our first foreign affiliate, another sign of the club progress.

July – December 2034 Transfers out It’s sad to lose a key player (especially a home-grown one) but the fee Al-Wahda offered for Tewelde was actually a record for any Norwegian club, and his new wage is almost ten times higher than of anyone in our team. Veteran Kitolano joins him at the Gulf, and Elliott moved to Austria. Transfers in Gregor Ivanovic – this Slovenian defender was in our shortlist for a couple of years, and finally we were able to sign him. Ole Thomas Mosbron – another decent winger from Viking, could get him for free after the season, but needed more depth after Tewelde sale. Yaro Sanusi – promising Nigerian striker, sent on loan so far. Also two players returned after loans – already mentioned left-back Mohammed and attacking midfielder Cisse. They both are counted as home-grown now, so Torsvik and Kjønø could be sold. A poor start as we lost to 14th placed team at home, but recovered quickly winning all other four league games, reached the cup semi-final (and will be clear favourites there against Bærum from third tier) and made a good start in Champions League! København equalized with their first shot on target, but we converted our big advantage into two late goals. A tough trip to Denmark, we were 0-2 behind when Høyvik was sent off on 70th minute. Then we scored a potentially winning goal in a counter, couldn’t keep this lead but managed to win the shootout! Two next rounds were much easier, we secured confident wins at home and qualified for the league stage! Hardly can see us getting more than six points from this schedule, but it will be a great experience. Speaking of the league, we’ve seen a perfect debut for Mosbron who scored stoppage time winners in his first two games for us against Bodø/Glimt and Molde! That also was our first ever win against reigning champions (in a game where we have no shots on target until 80th minute), and only two points separate us from the top spot now. The real Champions League debut could be successful after an equalizer from Griffiths, but a late penalty left us without points. Still we got our first win a week later in Denmark! The cup semi-final was easy, and we’ll try to take at least one trophy from Bodø/Glimt. A draw against Viking secured our second place, but actually ended the title race (there are only three points between us and B/G now, but their form and remaining schedule don’t give us many chances). We set the new attendance and income records against Real Madrid, and the game itself wasn’t too poor (if we don’t count first 12 minutes which we lost 0-3) No gifts from Bodø/Glimt, and they won eighth title in nine years now. However the highlight of November was our win at Old Trafford, we conceded an early goal but managed to score twice and held this result after half-time (incredible performance from Ramirez with 15 saves)! Sad ending of a very good season. Two defensive mistakes and no real chances in the cup final, after which we couldn’t score against Genk despite having a man advantage since 35th minute. Best goal difference and highest ever number of points for runners-up. Bodø/Glimt is clearly our Bayern/PSG, we’ll need a big improvement or more luck to kick them from the top. Staying in the top 24 will be hard (certainly need to defeat Inter or Milan), but it’s still better than was expected for a debut. Squad stats This was a great team effort, five players scored 10+ goals, two more finished with 9. New signings helped us a lot, Raksa and Akersvatne weren’t far away from our best goalscorer, and Jalil had the best average rating. Old leaders also kept their good form, Kontos had impressive 13+13 and Ramirez was solid in goal as always. Cleared the stadium loan, have the highest youth recruitment level and the last available training facilities upgrade now!

March – June 2034 A narrow loss in London left us some chances for the home game, we equalized on aggregate with a free kick from Benitez, but conceded twice in extra time. Can be proud of the effort anyway! One more transfer happened on a deadline day – left winger Fjærås joined us from Viking for 1.5M. We lacked squad depth on the wings a bit, and Anders was attracting interest from European top clubs so I preferred not to wait until summer. Meanwhile our left-back Mohammed was selected into the NXGN top 50 and already has 9 caps for Ghana. Tough start of the month, we certainly didn’t deserve defeat in Molde but conceded twice within a minute. Raksa scored his first goal against former team and looks like a really good addition to our squad so far. After a defeat from Rosenborg (surprising league leaders at the moment) we regained good form and won all the remaining games. Jalil and Fjærås also prove to be quality signings at this stage, Iraqi midfielder is actually our best goalscorer now! There should have been two league games in June, but they were postponed due to fixture clashes and international callups. So we defeated two lower league teams, repeating our best ever result in the cup. Tromsø will be our next opponents, maybe a cup challenge is finally possible this season? After a slow start we returned to the top three and can overtake Rosenborg with a postponed game, but Bodø/Glimt seems to break away already. København finished second in Denmark after four straight title wins, a tough team to beat but what else could we expect in Champions League? Six players at the World Cup - a big improvement from the last time, and I certainly didn’t expect Cuba to qualify! Our youngster Manso was a starter and eventually assisted for their only goal (in an opening game against hosts South Korea, finished 1-1)! They lost two other games 0-9 and 0-6, but nevermind Suriname and Saudi Arabia also failed to advance, letting our best full-backs return earlier. Mohammed had some minutes as a substitute, Griffiths and Ramirez spent all games on the bench but their teams will have at least one more match in playoffs.

Pre-season 2034 Transfers out All departures can be divided into two groups - former starters who are now replaced by better players and youngsters previously signed for free. Transfers in Adnan Abdul Jalil – set our new transfer record by activating his relegation clause. A good central midfielder with several impressive seasons in Eliteserien, and what’s important – he’s counted as home-grown. Bjørnar Høyvik – one more player from a relegated team, a promising defensive midfielder to replace Bakke in the squad (I actually wanted to sign another Haugesund player, 16 year old striker Flåte who already looks good for the first team, but he didn’t want to join us now). Jakkaphan Raksa – not that we needed another attacking midfielder, but he was available for free and still has some potential, so probably can be a useful signing. Alexander Akersvante – a new backup striker. Lassen and Ramstad were signed for the youth team so far. I think we just got the first real star from our academy! Robert Fuglestad has a potential to become a top level midfielder for us. We stayed in the top eight with two wins, but unfortunately got the worst available playoff draw – Tottenham will be very tough to beat. Finally recognized among the top teams!

August – December 2033 Transfers out We continued selling left wingers for good money (especially as Coulibaly only played twice for our first team and Vazquez was a U19 player) and got even more income from last year Zedadka’s transfer (he is now described as wonderkid but I doubt that a 33 million offer for him would be realistic). Carreras was our regular starter in previous seasons and played well, but now we have better midfielders and foreigner rules basically force backup players to be home-grown. Transfers in We signed an experienced defensive midfielder Kitolano (spent eight last seasons in Ajax and will help us with squad registration) and center-back Munthe-Kaas (replacement for Øren who wanted to leave and will be bought out after loan). A month of comebacks! Three of four league games were decided on last minutes, and the same happened in Europe. Braga had a 2-0 lead with two penalties, we scored an important late goal and destroyed them at home to face Midtjylland. Equalized twice in Denmark, once more at home and then another 89th minute goal pushed us to the group stage! The schedule is much tougher than in Conference League of course, but I hope at least reaching top 24 will be possible. We lost to Sogndal after conceding on first minute but won all other games, including Molde (very important three points in our second place battle) and incredible league stage start against Newcastle! Tewelde simply outclassed England international Livramento on his wing with a goal and two assists before half-time. I can accept a defeat against local version of PSG and stronger European rivals, but getting only two points from three other games was a poor result. We are still second with two points gap from Molde and Valerenga, though need to find better form immediately. Two wins over mid-table teams and Molde surprisingly drawing against bottom placed Lillestrøm secured our Champions League place for that next season! This also let us avoid a tough fixture congestion, fielding the strongest available squad in Europe and leaving the final domestic matchday to backups (still won it 3-0!) One more step to the title (though I hardly believe in overtaking Bodø/Glimt next season). Rosenborg returned to the top flight with 5th place and a cup win, that relegation didn’t affect them much. Two games remain in Europe – against Feyenoord (24th) and Sturm (9th), winning them both will guarantee us a top eight spot. Squad stats Jorge Ramirez – still good in goal. Alexander Jelsa – scored nine goals, not bad for a free center-back signing! Mohammed Al-Kaabi – productive in attack, solid enough in defense. Became a regular starter for Saudi Arabia and qualified for the World Cup. Stamatis Kontos – another player bought out after a loan spell, and he also proved that we made a right choice – 7 goals, 11 assists and best overall rating. Faniel Tewelde – 9+8 for only half a season, we were really lucky to sign him in summer! Lachlan Griffiths – became the team’s best goalscorer, but actually was very inconsistent during the season and isn't progressing at all so probably I will look for a better striker. We already maxed out junior coaching with that money and continue to improve facilities (14/12 and pending upgrades).

March – July 2033 Great result in Alkmaar, we weren’t so dominant but took our chances much better. Elliott had a goal on his debut and a good game overall. The return leg at home started not so well, AZ scored first and had another goal disallowed but we equalized shortly before half-time and confidently ended the game. We’ll face Monaco in quarter-final, they have Bitshiabu and Ben Seghir both valued higher than 100 million so most likely won’t give us many chances. A heartbreak ending in Europe, after 3-1 win in Monaco and scoring first at home we couldn’t keep this lead and lost with a 117th minute own goal. The league start was perfect though, five wins in five games (haven’t faced any big teams yet but this form is really encouraging). As it usually happens in FM, first defeat triggered others and we lost the top spot. We almost got an immediate revenge in the cup over Molde without several rested key players, but couldn’t keep a 4-2 lead and lost in shootout. Luckily there will be a break in June, a chance to fix morale in friendlies. The break was useful, we only lost one game in July (which could be predicted) and kept the second place. Our first summer transfer started to make difference immediately, Faniel Tewelde returned to Norway after several years on PSG bench and scored in four first games! Bodø/Glimt can prepare for another title celebration, but we can finish second and make a Champions League debut. Braga will be our first Europa League opponents, tough draw but they don’t look much stronger than AZ so probably we can go further (and anyway there will be a second chance in the Conference).

Pre-season 2033 Transfers out Sold Wassberg and Malme as we had too many attacking midfielders in the squad. Transfers in Harvey Elliott – doesn’t need extra introduction. He didn't became a starter in Liverpool and spent last two seasons in Qatar, but his experience should help us. Miroslav Radojičić – our record transfer so far, Serbian defensive midfielder to improve the starting eleven. Youth intake was worse than last season, left-back Wilford looks like the most promising player here. Finally earned a mid-table prediction, and for the first time our players were selected into league’s best eleven. AZ will be our opponents in the round of 16, looking at their squad I’d say that we got the strongest unseeded team there.

July – December 2032 Transfers out The board sold Zedadka for a good fee with future clauses and a free half-season loan, I decided not to protest it, finding a better option instead. Sad to lose Bjørgve who was born in Hammerfest and played his seventh season here after return, but it turned out that he’s not counted at home-grown for Europe so wasn't registered. Transfers in Time to spend! Well, only in terms of wages so far Mijail Benitez – his name is actually Oscar Perea, but this career became a bit bugged after I added Swedish and Danish leagues a few years ago and quite a lot players and staff changed their names randomly (I guess the origins of this bug are the same as newgens taking real players’ IDs in beta version). Anyway he becomes our starting winger (can play on both sides) and first choice for set pieces. Mohammed Al-Kaabi – young Saudi wing-back who can cover both sides and still has some potential to grow. Lachlan Griffiths – our new starting striker from Australia, already played 4 games for the national team. Ronald Solorzano – a backup winger from Costa Rica (won’t get much playing time this season as we still have Zedadka and Kontos on loan). All other players were signed for the future, the most promising of them are left winger Vazquez and Cuban center-back Manso (what’s interesting, they both came from the same Spanish youth club Perines). We regained good form quickly after a poor start and defeated Molde once again before making our continental debut. The home game ended 0-0 and we conceded first in Romania, but responded with three goals and will face Partizan next! What a month! We didn’t concede a single goal in the league, returned to the top spot (though nothing is set, fifth placed Stabæk is only four points behind now) and qualified to the group stage in Europe! The game in Belgrade was the hardest, but three goals in last 15 minutes gave us a good advantage before returning home, and Lech was simply smashed in the first half. More money to invest into facilities and quite a comfortable schedule to go further (no teams from the top leagues, except Stuttgart)! Only two competitive games in September, we sadly conceded twice from two shots in the league (still remained on top with one goal advantage over Bodø/Glimt) and made a confident main stage start in Finland. We lost to Bodø/Glimt (a controversial game for Carreras, he equalized shortly before half-time and was sent off early in second half) but they also weren’t perfect in other games, allowing us to stay on top with three games to go! However even European qualifying isn't secured yet with six first teams in six points, and we still have to play Stabæk and Sogndal. European campaign is much easier so far. Our title dreams ended with two goalless games, but at least we finished with a big win to get our first Eliteserien medals. 5th, 4th, now 3rd… title incoming in 2034? And thanks to Bodø/Glimt winning the cup we are going to Europa League next season! Our current European run still goes well, could have been 12 points if we converted at least one chance against Austria, but playoff place is already secured. Missed extra prize money with this last draw (while having almost 4 xG!), but qualified straight to second playoff round and have a chance to go further as all big league teams will also be seeded in top eight. Squad stats Jorge Ramirez – improved his discipline (not a single absence this year), finally stopped whining about leaving to bigger club and extended his contract until 2036! Isak Kjelsrud Vik and Aleksander Jelsa – the captain keeps good form, both in defense and goalscoring, and Jelsa was a bit of surprise. Brought as an emergency backup loan, he actually became the best of three other center-backs and earned a permanent deal. Djavan Sion and Jonas Torsvik – two left-backs had the best average ratings this season. Sion became the league’s best young player (this prize stays in Hammerfest for third straight season) and also extended his contract. Brian Carreras – our key central midfielder keeps improving his stats with every season. Still no caps for Paraguay (they have Liverpool and PSG players on his position), but better for us I guess. Fredrik Ardraa – already mentioned him in summer, but that was a really impressive season which hardly will be repeated (he scored 12 goals from less than 5 xG). Stamatis Kontos – started his loan spell slowly, but improved over the season and eventually made 10 assists. Stuttgart was ready to sell him for a fee we could easily afford (350k), so he stays here! Aune Heggebø – matched his best goalscoring result in probably his last season as a regular starter. Speaking of more awards, I was selected as the manager of the year and we scored the best goal again, this effort from Benitez/Perea was more impressive than just a simple free kick. Two big transfers and good results in Europe gave us a lot of money comparing to all that we had before. Our facilities are much better than a few seasons before (training and youth facilities are under more improvement at the moment).

March – June 2032 The schedule was tough, still we managed to start with a fully deserved win over Molde (had over 2 xG and should have been scored more than the only late penalty) and defeated Lillestrøm with Heggebø’s hat-trick. Brann took a revenge for that last season game which left them without European football, but it was a good month overall. Ramirez and Zedadka got injured for a month during the international break, but we won three games out of three with young Randby in goal, and when Ramirez returned… typical FM happened, knocking us from the top spot. Unlucky finish of the previous month and tough schedule resulted in a bad league run and repeating the last season cup failure against the same opponents, this time in a shootout. Luckily we could get finish the month with two narrow wins (backup left winger Ardraa is our best goalscorer so far)! Speaking of Sarpsborg and our former stars there – Lawal was injured and Matola missed the cross before the only goal. Extended our win streak to four games and caught Stabæk for the lead with three late goals! Ardraa kept up his great form and I feel a bit sorry for Zedadka who has to wait on the bench (though Ardraa can also play as AMC and scored from this position in the last game, so probably it can be a good decision). Leading on goal difference, though Molde and Bodø/Glimt can overtake us with a game in hand. Our first European opponent will be a Romanian team owned and managed by legendary Gheorghe Hagi (and Rivaldo is one of their directors).

Pre-season 2032 Transfers out So, Lawal wanted to join a bigger club… which just won promotion to the top tier. The deal itself is incredibly good for us, half of it was immediately invested into facilities expansion. Almost two more million came from selling backup defender Kvithyld, several reserve players and activating Matola clause (Sarpsborg now has our two former key players in their squad). Transfers in We could improve the squad more, but unfortunately again couldn’t afford best players’ wages. So only loaned winger Kontos from Stuttgart, signed two new center-backs (Øren and Jelsa) for the bench, rotation striker/AMC Kjønø (good skills for this value) and young Ghanaian left-back Mohammed. Academy upgrades finally paid off, this is surely our best ever intake. Not the best personalities, but goalkeeper Dørre, left winger Stokvik and midfielder Mortensen can develop into first team players. And we got the first player included into the NXGN list, Tarmamade joined us last summer and spends this season on loan in Portuguese second tier. Odds are still low, but we are not predicted bottom at least. He moved to PSG here, has almost no chances in their first team but obviously is a starter for Norway.