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The Elimination Challenge: Game Thread

Dees-Blake

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Dees-Blake

Dees-Blake

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The Elimination Challenge

How it Works:

The Elimination Challenge is based on a points system, and at the end of each elimination period the person with the lowest amount of points will be eliminated. This often creates a big battle down at the bottom with players desperate to avoid elimination. Players earn points for numerous different things - playing matches, of course, but international games, earning MOTM, winning awards and moving clubs as well as a few other things such as earning a place on a club's Best Eleven will all count. Obviously, the points are scaled by the quality of the league, using many different formulas.

So - every single player has the chance to become a world star - but it won't be easy! Keep in mind that if you choose to play for a non-EU country and your player decides to make a move to a EU country, it could take two years before your player turns 18 which could potentially put you out of the competition! I will be loading all leagues from each country that a player chooses as well as a few other big ones, but there is always the risk where a player stays unemployed on a future transfer which ends up with them being eliminated with no points. Playing regular matches is the most important thing!

Format and Elimination Periods:

Eliminations will take place every 6 months, initially. When there are just 10 competitors remaining, the eliminations will be pushed out to every 9 months. When there are only 5 players left, there will be two eliminations worth a year each and then with 3 competitors remaining, the final two eliminations will last for two years each. This means the competition will last for just over twenty years, making everyone 36 when the competition finishes.

Game Update: After the four players initially failed to find a club in the first year, all four of them were eliminated in July as opposed to what normally would have seen only two people eliminated in that period. This means that the competition will last for a year shorter, and so players will be only just over 35 when the competition ends.

Leagues Loaded:

Austria

Belarus

Belgium

Croatia

Czech Republic

Denmark

England

Finland

France

Germany

Greece

Holland

Hungary

Iceland

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Mexico

Northern Ireland

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Russia

Scotland

Serbia

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Turkey

U.S.A.

Wales

Competitors:

Matt Collard (GK, Sweden)

Luke Swinson (MC, England)

Cerneo Quam (MR, USA)

Jerome Hebert (D/MR, France)

Adam Kerr (ST, England)

Ricky Nakano (D/MC, England)

Benjani Creigo (MC/ST, England)

Faustino Perozo (ST, Spain)

Mikael Schøler (AMR, Denmark)

Ryan Dunn (AMR/ST, Wales)

Thomas Weir (ST, Scotland)

Will Richardson (DC/DM, Wales)

Matt Ferguson (DL, Scotland)

Uffe Johansson (DR, Sweden)

Fernié (ST, Spain)

Zvonimir Uljarevic (GK, Croatia)

Tom Vesters (AML/ST, Netherlands)

Alex Parker (ST, England)

Steveldinho (MR/L/C, Finland)

Sam Bellamy (MR/ST, Ireland)

Ryan Andrews (AMR/ST, Switzerland)

Ashley Salisbury (AML/ST, England)

Tomaldinho (MC, Belgium)

Ihsaan Ahmed (DL, Spain)

Ferhat Özkan (MC, Belgium)

Gelmiro Navarrete (AM/FC, Spain)

Joe Tompkins (ST, England)

Shaneimus Maximus (DC, Ireland)

Pim Park van der Bus (DC, Netherlands)

Chip Butty (ML, England)

Charles Beams (MR/AMR, England)

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Dees-Blake

Dees-Blake

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July 2009: Start of Game

---

And, so the Elimination Challenge begins after a couple of days of signup. 31 young players will be competing in this challenge - all with the same goal (unintentional pun). That goal is to become a world star of football, and to ultimately win the challenge by lasting the longest and consistently remaining outside of the elimination zone. However, for some unfortunate competitors, they won't get the chance to prove themselves as many will be eliminated at a young age. The early period is crucial - players must perform now, and signing a contract with a good club would definitely be a good start.

As there is no news as of yet to report, with the game world not even a day old, I will instead list some interested clubs.

---

Ihsaan Ahmed

Interested Clubs: Barcelona At., Wohlen, Celta B, Espanyol B, Mallorca B, Gavá, Roquetas, Sevilla Atlético

Ryan Andrews

Interested Clubs: Eschen/Mauren, Delémont, Solothurn, Wangen b. Olten, Etoile-Carouge, Meyrin, Stade Nyonnais, Schaffhausen, Bienne, Wohlen, Winterthur

Charles Beams

Interested Clubs: Athlone Town, Bohemians, Cork City, Derry City, Inverness CT, Ross County, St. Johnstone, Skive, Newport Co, Bournemouth, Carlisle, Colchester, Hartlepool, Huddersfield, GIF Sundsvall, Örebro

Sam Bellamy

Interested Clubs: Bohemians, Dundalk, Crusaders, St. Johnstone, Galway Utd, Exeter

Chip Butty

Interested Clubs: Bury, Colchester, Exeter, East Stirlingshire, Salisbury

Matt Collard

Interested Clubs: Gefle, Örgryte, Boden, Degerfors, Falkenberg, GIF Sundsvall, Brage, Landskrona, Assyriska

Benjani Creigo

Interested Clubs: Bohemians, Derry City, Brentford, Chelmsford, Cheltenham, St. Johnstone, GIF Sundsvall, Colchester, Leyton Orient, Rotherham, Yeovil

Ryan Dunn

Interested Clubs: Newport Co, Athlone Town, Cork City, Monaghan Utd, Bournemouth, Carlisle, Colchester, Huddersfield, Leyton Orient, Ross County, Derry City, Linfield

Matt Ferguson

Interested Clubs: Athlone Town, Galway Utd, St. Pat's Athletic, Bristol Rovers, Carlisle, Colchester, Hartlepool, Valur, Dundee, Newport Co, Cork City, Monaghan Utd, Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, Leyton Orient, Tranmere, Dunfermline

Fernié

Interested Clubs: Bilbao Ath., Barcelona At., Espanyol B, Sevilla Atlético, Castellón, Mallorca B

Jerome Hebert

Interested Clubs: UR Namur, Olympique Noisy-le-Sec, Qumiper Cornouaille FC, AS Cherbourg Football, Besançon RC, Rodez Aveyron Football, Sannois SG

Uffe Johansson

Interested Clubs: Notts Co, Brommapojkarna, Degerfors, Brage, Oddevold, Skellefteå, Öster, Assyriska, Ljungskile, Syrianska FC, Ängelholm, Jönköpings Södra

Adam Kerr

Interested Clubs: Aldershot, Cork City, Derry City, Galway Utd, Shamrock Rovers, Brighton, Viking, St. Johnstone

Shaneimus Maximus

Interested Clubs: Athlone Town, Gillingham, Dunfermline, Partick Thistle, Raith, Cork City, Galway Utd, Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, Sligo Rovers

Ricky Nakano

Interested Clubs: Bohemians, Colchester, Luton, Port Vale, Rotherham, Ayr, Brentford, Crawley, Dag & Red, Yeovil, GIF Sundsvall

Gelmiro Navarrete

Interested Clubs: Bilbao Ath., Atlético B, R. Madrid C, Compostela, Espanyol B

Ferhat Özkan

Interested Clubs: Spa, Wielsbeke, Sparta Petegem, Heppignies, Winkel Sport, Ternat, Ciney, Opwijk, Bertrix

Pim Park van der Bus

Interested Clubs: Haarlem, Papendrecht, DOVO, Hoek, Kozakken Boys, Ter Leede, Sparta Nijkerk, Harkemase Boys, vv Haaglandia, JVC, Barendrecht, EVV, Zwaluwen' 30

Alex Parker

Interested Clubs: Skive, Aldershot, Cork City, Derry City, Galway Utd, Brentford, Brighton, Viking, St. Johnstone, Shamrock Rovers

Faustino Perozo

Interested Clubs: Barcelona At., Bilbao Ath., Castellón, Espanyol B, Mallorca B, Villajoyosa, Sevilla Atlético

Cerneo Quam

Interested Clubs: None

Will Richardson

Interested Clubs: Newport Co, Athlone Town, Galway Utd, Shelbourne, Gillingham, Notts Co, Glentoran, Raith, MK Dons, Cork City, Derry City, Shamrock Rovers, Bournemouth, Exeter, Ross County

Ashley Salisbury

Interested Clubs: Athlone Town, Bohemians, Monaghan Utd, St. Pat's Athletic, Morton, Ross County, St. Johnstone, Newport Co, Cork City, Bournemouth, Colchester, Gillingham, Huddersfield, Oldham, Southend, Tranmere, MK Dons

Mikael Schøler

Interested Clubs: B 1908, Brønshøj, Frem, Holstebro, Næsby, Skive, Skjold, Kolding FC, FC Fyn

Steveldinho

Interested Clubs: Örebro

Luke Swinson

Interested Clubs: Bohemians, Galway Utd, Cheltenham, Colchester, Rotherham, Yeovil, Ayr, GIF Sundsvall, Brentford, Örebro

Tomaldinho

Interested Clubs: Spa, Sparta Petegem, Wielsbeke, VW Hamme, Heppignies

Joe Tompkins

Interested Clubs: Derry City, Galway Utd, Shamrock Rovers, St. Pat's Athletic, Swindon, Ayr, St. Johnstone, Aldershot, Cork City, Shelbourne, Brentford, Brighton

Zvonimir Uljarevic

Interested Clubs: Varteks, Vukovar '91, Medjimurje, Pomorac, Moslavina, Imotski, Lucko, Rudes, Vinogradar

Tom Vesters

Interested Clubs: Capelle, Lisse, Noordwijk, Quick Boys, Babberich, Barendrecht, HSC'21, Kozakken Boys, Ter Leede, vv Haaglandia, Hoogstraten, Papendrecht, Bennekom, DOVO, JFC, UDI '19, Venray, OJC Rosmalen, DESK, SDCP

Thomas Weir

Interested Clubs: Galway Utd, Chelmsford, Stockport, Valur, Dunfermline, Cork City, Derry City, Shamrock Rovers, St. Johnstone, AIK

---

Most Clubs Interested

Player               Clubs

Tom Vesters           20
Matt Ferguson         18
Ashley Salisbury      17
Charles Beams         16
Will Richardson       15

---

Least Clubs Interested

Player               Clubs 

Cerneo Quam            0
Steveldinho            1
Chip Butty             5
Gelmiro Navarrete      5
Tomaldinho             5

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Dees-Blake

Dees-Blake

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Just curious. What kind of rig do you have since you can load (and play) that many leagues?

It's not particularly fast holidaying, but definitely manageable for me. Wouldn't bother me if I was just playing normally. I have an AMD quad core processor with 4 CPUs and around ~3.4GHz. 4GB of RAM. ;)

The next update will take place in January, and could see our first ever competitor eliminated. It's going to be a hugely interesting six months with the giant tussle of finding a club of course. Nobody wants to be unemployed come January! It's going to be hectic.

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Ihsaan

Ihsaan

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Looks like I'll be signed up by one of a host of 'B' teams. Having not played a challenge like this before, I'm not sure if that's a good thing (because I'd then be promoted to the main team). Ah well, at least I don't have 0 clubs interested in me!

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Dees-Blake

Dees-Blake

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January 2010

---

We are six months into the game, and it is time for our first elimination. The person with the lowest amount of points out of all thirty-one competitors will be sent home.

And that person is...

...

Nobody.

The incompetence of four players has ensured the scores are locked at January. In the helter-skelter for clubs, almost everyone managed to find a suitable place - with the exception of an unlucky four people. These people are Ryan Andrews, Pim Park van der Bus, Cerneo Quam and Tomaldinho. They have all finished on zero points after six months, which leaves a four-way tie. I have decided not to eliminate all four players - that would be fairly harsh, as well as it would ensure the competition ended a couple of years prematurely, and so instead the next elimination will take place on the 1st of April.

Meanwhile, let's take a review at the first six months, as the players found their feet.

The biggest signing was probably Sevilla's Faustino Perozo. The young Spaniard impressed Sevilla Atlético, and from there he was moved up into the senior squad. Almost instantly. Perozo also came off the bench against Zamora for Sevilla in a cup match, becoming the youngest ever player in history to play for Sevilla at the age of 16 years and 132 days. He also came on as a substitute in a league match, but he played very poorly in both of his matches. None the less, it is a very bright start to young Perozo's career and he is off to a great start. Some of the other big Spanish clubs also dived into the player pool, with Gelmiro Navarrete moving to second tier club Real Sociedad while Fernié went to Athletic and Ihsaan Ahmed to Villareal. It was undoubtedly a very good start for the Spanish players.

Luke Swinson was one of the players to make an early move as he went to League 1 Brentford in England, only a few weeks after entering the footballing world. He played ten games, and provided two assists - quite a solid start for the English centre mid. He was joined at Brentford by Joe Tompkins, who scored five goals in fifteen matches up front. Another early mover was Ferhat Özkan, although perhaps it would've been a little better if he thought his move out a bit. He decided to head to Belgian fourth division club Ciney - a move that is earning him extremely little points. In turn, he dominated the fourth tier of Belgium with 5 goals, 9 assists and 6 MOTM awards in 26 matches, but he still sits near the bottom of the leaderboard. He really needs to move away as soon as possible if he wants to further his career.

Another player who is in early trouble is Frenchman Jerome Hebert. He took a very long time in deciding on a club, before finally moving to Balma Sporting Club in October - a club plying their trade in the fourth tier of France. He played a handful of league games but his late move has seen him miss out on the start of the season and he remains in a bit of trouble. Also near the bottom is Croatian goalkeeper Zvonimir Uljarevic, who made a rather uninspiring move to NK Imotski who compete in the 2. HNL in Croatia. He was one of the first players to move, as he joined in July, however he hasn't played a single league game and would want to better his fortunes from here. His rival goalkeeper, Matt Collard, also struggled early after moving to Superettan team Landskrona BolS. After becoming just the second player to find a club, he also didn't start in any senior games and he is even struggling to get a game in the Under 19s.

Versatile midfielder Steveldinho, who is the only Finnish competitor, got his career off to a reasonable start after putting pen to paper on a three year deal in August. He didn't get any first team starts in the Veikkausliga, but the move was a reasonable one to start off for him. Scottish full-back Matt Ferguson also settled into the mid-table rhythm as he made a surprise move to Iceland, joining Valur who currently compete in the top league. He made 5 appearances in the league, scoring a goal and providing an assist and he also became the youngest ever player for Valur after making his debut aged 16 years and 53 days.

Back to England, and it was Benjani Creigo who made a move to Leyton Orient. He will be competing against Brentford teammates Luke Swinson and Joe Tompkins in League 1, as well as quite a few other players. Charles Beams signed for Colchester, Alex Parker decided on a move to Brighton and the confrontational winger Ashley Salisbury went to Huddersfield. Ricky Nakano also made the move to Yeovil. All of these players played a few league games each, with the exception of Ashley Salisbury who has been in good forms for Huddersfield's Under 19 team. At the start of the new year, it is Huddersfield who are in the best position of these clubs, sitting in 5th - although Charles Beams' Colchester are in the final play-off position of 6th. Benjani Creigo's Leyton Orient are struggling in the league, in 18th position while Brighton are in 12th, Brentford 14th and Yeovil 7th. There was one other signing in England, as Chip Butty made a move to League 2 Bury. He has started in 16 games so far and has been very solid on the wing. He also became the youngest ever FA Cup goalscorer after knocking one into the net against Huddersfield at the age of 16 years and 150 days, as well as the youngest ever goalscorer for Bury and the youngest ever goalscorer in League 2.

Danish attacking midfielder Mikael Schøler has been faring reasonably well so far. He decided not to move outside Denmark and instead signed for Frem, who compete in the Viasat Sport Divisionen which is in the second tier. Unfortunately, Schøler's Frem are in last place and looking set for relegation; however Schøler himself is looking quite good and has made 16 appearances. He is currently playing on an amateur deal. Another player who is currently on an amateur deal is Dutch attacking midfielder Tom Vesters. He signed for the Belgium-based Hoogstraten, who are floundering in the depths of Division III Nationale Afd. A. He has scored 4 goals in 10 games so far, but might want to be thinking about a move - he is not earning a great deal of points there.

Swedish full-back Uffe Johansson made a fairly sensible move to Allsvenskan team Assyriska. He signed a two year deal, which gives him enough flexibility although it seems like a reasonable idea to stay at Assyriska for now. They only have basic training facilities but he should get some good experience if he breaks his way into the first-team, and he will be earning a solid amount of points. Another interesting move was from English centre forward Adam Kerr, who decided to move to Norway in an attempt to further his career. He signed for Viking, who compete in the top league of Norway, and he even came on as a sub for one match, putting in a solid display. His value has risen greatly and he has a very safe spot mid-table in the competition.

Back to the UK and Ireland once more and we take a look now at the competition leader. Triumphing over all the Spaniards who have taken the league by storm we have centre back Will Richardson. Richardson made his move to sign for Cork City in Ireland who are competing in the eircom Premier Division. Richardson became a key component of the team, starting in 15 league matches after being signed as a rock in centre defence. He was twice named in the Irish Premier Division Team of the Week and, on the first of January this year, he was named as the Welsh Young Player of the Year. A huge honour for him, of course. He also became the first player to wear the national colours as he made two youth appearances for Wales. The future beckons.

Fellow Welshman Ryan Dunn hasn't been faring quite as well, but made a big move to Carling Premiership side Linfield, who are based in Northern Ireland. The Northern Irish giants have reasonable training facilities and with Linfield being quite a dominant team domestically it seems he may be the first player to get a taste of the Champions League, depending on his role at the club. He made just four starts but Linfield seems quite a good place for him currently.

Also in the UK are two Irish competitors currently playing in Scotland. Centre back Shaneimus Maximus, who features a very traditional name, went to Partick Thistle in the Scottish First Division, and has been rewarded with 10 first team appearances. Winger/striker Sam Bellamy made a slightly less lucrative move to Cowdenbeath in the Second Division, but he has been rewarded with a lot more first-team activity. Bellamy has made 20 appearances, scoring 5 goals and providing 3 assists.

We have the two Irishmen plying their trade in Scotland and now, interestingly enough, a Scottishman playing in Ireland. Scottish target man Thomas Weir moved to big name Irish club Shamrock Rovers. He has only started in one game so far with two sub appearances, and although he hasn't performed particularly well yet, the future is still bright. He finds himself in the middle of the table so far.

Well, that just about sums up the order of events so far! Lionel Messi won the FIFA World Player of the Year, with Sergio Agüero finishing in second place but my next update to you will be coming in April, as we look to make our first elimination. In the event of another tie, the eliminations will continue every three months until we have caught up with our regular schedule. Here's the Top 5, which I will do each update (credit to Canvey).

---

Top 5: Value

Player                 Value

Gelmiro Navarrete      £3,000,000
Faustino Perozo        £1,600,000
Fernié                 £1,500,000
Ihsaan Ahmed           £1,300,000
Adam Kerr              £675,000

---

Leaderboard

Player                 Team             Value      Points

Will Richardson        Cork City        £90K       146.366
Gelmiro Navarrete      Real Sociedad    £3M        80.453
Faustino Perozo        Sevilla          £1.6M      73.770
Fernié                 Athletic         £1.5M      61.280
Ihsaan Ahmed           Villarreal       £1.3M      60.491
Joe Tompkins           Brentford        £140K      57.969
Mikael Schøler         Frem             £26K       48.046
Luke Swinson           Brentford        £100K      47.599
Shaneimus Maximus      Partick Thistle  £140K      47.423
Sam Bellamy            Cowdenbeath      £75K       45.046
Benjani Creigo         Leyton Orient    £130K      43.127
Adam Kerr              Viking           £675K      41.169
Chip Butty             Bury             £55K       37.944
Steveldinho            Tampere Utd      £450K      31.925
Thomas Weir            Shamrock Rovers  £110K      31.641
Uffe Johansson         Assyriska        £220K      31.258
Alex Parker            Brighton         £130K      29.948
Matt Ferguson          Valur            £90K       29.673
Charles Beams          Colchester       £110K      28.552
Ricky Nakano           Yeovil           £100K      27.727
Ryan Dunn              Linfield         £140K      27.573
Matt Collard           Landskrona       £1.5K      24.091
Ashley Salisbury       Huddersfield     £110K      23.324
Ferhat Özkan           Ciney            £4K        22.905
Tom Vesters            Hoogstraten      £18K       22.042
Zvonimir Uljarevic     Imotski          £0         20.993
Jerome Hebert          Balma SC         £50K       13.319
Ryan Andrews           -                £0         0
Pim Park van der Bus   -                £0         0
Cerneo Quam            -                £0         0
Tomaldinho             -                £0         0

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creigo

creigo

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Steady start for Creigo Junior. Nice league to start off in, League One. Just hope i can get a few more games under my belt and the odd assist this season and i'll be happy come 1st of April.

EDIT: Brilliantly detailed update :thup:

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WBA4LIFE

WBA4LIFE

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Third in value and fourth on points, can't moan really, I think picking Spanish nationality was a good choice :D

Have I played at all for Athletic by the way?

KUTGW mate!

Edit: Oh yeah, my guys Fernié in case you couldn't remember :)

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Dees-Blake

Dees-Blake

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Third in value and fourth on points, can't moan really, I think picking Spanish nationality was a good choice :D

Have I played at all for Athletic by the way?

KUTGW mate!

Edit: Oh yeah, my guys Fernié in case you couldn't remember :)

Nah mate, you haven't played yet but I have revamped the leaderboard formulas from last time I ran this challenge... and you will be rewarded for joining Athletic - even if you don't play with them. So, your lack of games shouldn't see you falling behind just yet.

Also, thanks heaps everyone for all the comments. It's really great to see and keeps me motivated. This is my first challenge run over here so if someone wants to give me some pointers I'll accept them too. :)

I was going to do player screenshots, but I might save them for a bit later (top 10 maybe). Don't want to be uploading 15-20MB every update. ;)

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Elnaith

Elnaith

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I think all of us are eager to see their chars DB ;) Maybe just doing a couple per update, and the next updates other players, etc.? Till everyone has seen them, although you might want to always include the one who got kicked out.

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Dees-Blake

Dees-Blake

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April 2010

---

Every player could sleep easily last update, with no elimination after four players didn't find clubs. However, the new condition was that the next elimination would be just three months after, due to the tie at the bottom. And so, the elimination, the person with the lowest points is...

Again, Nobody.

None of the original four players who had missed out initially managed to find a new club, which left us with another four way tie. This can't go on forever, and I don't want the competition to be burdened with these players dragging it on forever. Therefore, by July 2010, if there is a tie at the bottom, all players involved will be eliminated. The current four with no points are Ryan Andrews, Pim Park van der Bus, Cerneo Quam and Tomaldinho.

Now, let's take a look at all of the other players. There were three transfers in this short period, and most of them were big ones. Ferhat Özkan decided he wanted to better his fortunes and moved away from Ciney to Sheffield United in the Coca-Cola Championship, while joining him in the Championship was striker Alex Parker who made the move up a league to sign for Middlesbrough after rejecting a contract from Aston Villa. The biggest move, however, was Danish attacking midfielder Mikael Schøler who put pen to paper on a deal with English giants Liverpool on a 3 year deal. He has already made a handful of appearances for Liverpool's youth team and has looked quite impressive so far. These are good signs for the young Dane, and he is this update's biggest riser.

Taking a look at some of the Best XI and the two players to feature were early leader Will Richardson at Cork City and Scottish full-back Matt Ferguson at Valur. Richardson continues to impress and has shot out to a massive lead as he continues to shine at Cork City. His points tally is over double from his nearest competitor and he will definitely be extremely happy at the start that he is off to. Meanwhile, Ferguson featured on the bench of the Best XI after making just five appearances for Valur. He has already made four this year, however, and could play a part in Valur's league campaign.

The other two big risers of this update, who both moved ten positions up the leaderboard, were Ryan Dunn of Linfield and Dutchman Tom Vesters from Hoogstraten. Dunn has done (;)) himself well by becoming a first-teamer at Linfield and has made made 14 competitive starts for Linfield, scoring 2 goals and providing 3 assists playing as an attacking right winger. Dunn and Vesters both featured in the Team of the Week for their respective leagues which has given them some valuable points. Vesters himself has already made 21 appearances for Hoogstraten in the third tier of Belgium, and has scored 5 goals so far playing as an attacking left winger. These two are now in a far better position than they were at the start of January, and they will be hoping for things to get better and better for them as they go on.

There were no huge fallers of this update - three players dropped five places each, but that was the worst. These three were Spaniard Ihsaan Ahmed, Englishman Luke Swinson and another Englishman who is playing abroad at Viking in Adam Kerr. The three of them made no league appearances between them and all suffered significant value drops which hurt their league standings. Still, however, neither of them are in any prominent danger and all three should remain safe for quite a while unless their form continues to slump badly. For Ihsaan Ahmed in particular it is just a case of development and he is earning signifcant points just for staying at Villarreal which will ensure that he avoids dropping too quickly down the table. Once he develops he will then start to reap the benefits so perhaps it isn't such a bad thing after all for him not to be playing just yet.

At the bottom of the table - or, the bottom of the table above the four unemployed players - is still Jerome Hebert, who has been unable to improve on his poor start. He made 9 league appearances and 5 sub appearances for Balma in competitive matches, which is ironically more than two thirds of the competitors, however the lowly status and league of his club means he isn't getting a maximum return. Bear in mind, however, that he hasn't been at his club for particularly long compared to some of the other players after joining only in October - but, he is still in a fair bit of danger unless he can make a speedy recovery. He is almost certainly safe come July, but next year there may be a few problems for him unless he can start playing a few more matches for his club.

Looking near the bottom of the table we also have the two goalkeepers, Zvonimir Uljarevic and Matt Collard, who are both struggling early. Goalkeepers normally bloom a lot later so the signs aren't terrible for these two, but they will both want to start shaping up a bit because they are both near the bottom. They are also at two uninspiring clubs - Imotski in Uljarevic's case, and Landskrona for Collard. They have both only made two senior appearances for each club, but surely once they mature a bit they will learn quickly and gain some first-team appearances. Well - they will be hoping so, anyway.

Another player near the bottom, between Uljarevic and Collard in points, is English attacking winger and striker Ashley Salisbury. He hasn't made a single league appearance for Huddersfield over the course of the year, but instead played 34 games for the Under 19 team, where he returned the rather unimpressive figures of 4 goals and 7 assists. Still, the 16 year old has plenty of time to develop but he will be wanting to find his way in to the first team before too long. League One rival Ricky Nakano is another one that is near the bottom of the table. He has started in just two matches this season for Yeovil, although he has featured seven separate times as a substitute. He is slightly ahead of Salisbury - although his Yeovil team is three points below Huddersfield; but he also needs to start playing a bit more in the seniors if he wants to make a rise up the table.

Over to Spain now where we have some of the serious early competitors in the competition. We have already had a look at Ihsaan Ahmed who is at Villarreal, so now let's take a look at someone else who is faring particularly well this competition. Gelmiro Navarrete, the most expensive player in the challenge currently, had another fairly quiet season at Real Sociedad in the Liga Adelante. He did look very promising though in the youth team, playing up front and scoring 5 goals and adding 2 assists in just 8 matches. He was named as the Man of the Match in half of those matches, and with that sort of form it surely can't be long before Real Sociedad start considering him for senior selection. Also at Spain is Faustino Perozo, who has been in excellent form for the Sevilla youth scoring 12 goals in 18 matches. After his early two sub appearances which didn't end well for him for the senior team, Sevilla decided to simply retain him in their youth team and that seems to be the smartest thing for them to do right now. He will certainly develop well there.

The final Spanish player is Fernié, who is also still faring well in the competition. Fernié has scored a blistering 9 goals in 11 matches for the youth team, and the fit striker is definitely impressing all those around him at Athletic. His value has dropped £100K down to £1.4M but he is still easily one of the most expensive players in the challenge, and is also the third-highest paid on wages behind only Faustino Perozo and Ihsaan Ahmed.

The second-highest ranked player on the leaderboard from the United Kingdom behind Will Richardson is now Sam Bellamy from Cowdenbeath, who had quite an impressive three months at the lowly Scottish club. He has made more league appearances for Cowdenbeath with 31 games than any other competitor so far and has risen five places on the table since the last update. The person with the second-most amount of games played for their current club, who we have not yet covered, is Chip Butty with 26 appearances for Bury. Butty, who has earned the nickname Greasy by his Bury teammates for his renowned flair and attempts at dribbling tricks from the wing has fought fiercely in Bury's charge up the leagues. They currently sit in one of the last playoff spots in League Two, but it will be a tough battle for promotion.

Moving up a league in England we have Charles Beams of Colchester. Beams has been struggling a bit so far in the competition, and in the five league games he has played for Colchester he hasn't been entirely convincing yet. However, there is plenty of time for the attacking winger to sort things out and his Colchester team have a chance of winning promotion to the Coca-Cola Championship as they are currently sitting 5th in League One. Also in League One, alongside fellow competitor Luke Swinson who has taken a hit at Brentford, we have his teammate Joe Tompkins, who also dropped four places in the league. It wasn't a good three months for the Brentford boys - Tompkins didn't feature in any more first team matches for Brentford although he is sitting in a good position on the league table. We have one more competitor competing in League One, and that is Leyton Orient's Benjani Creigo. Creigo also dropped in the competition after being dropped from the team as centre midfielder Ian Morris came in on loan from Scunthorpe, and Creigo didn't feature at all for Leyton Orient in the league after his early spell in the first-team.

Heading over to Scotland we have the Irish centre back Shaneimus Maximus who continues his good form to move up a position in the table. He has made 15 starts now for Partick Thistle in the Scottish First Division and although his average rating hasn't been brilliant he has still been featuring for them which is what earns him points. His club Partick Thistle has also been faring reasonably well, looking almost certainties for second position although it is impossible for them to catch Dundee at the top. Back over to Ireland now and we see Scottish striker Thomas Weir in a tiny spot of bother after failing to make any appearances for Shamrock Rovers in the eircom Premier League. He started one game and made two sub appearances last year but hasn't featured in Shamrock's first five games this year. Nonetheless, there is still plenty of time and he should be moving up the table as his Shamrock Rovers team plays through April to August when many other players have their break.

Over to Finland where we have our one Finnish competitor in Steveldinho playing at Tampere United. The signs are looking reasonably good for him - he didn't feature at all for the senior team last year but has already come on once as a substitute this year. He is currently around the middle of the table and it will be interesting to see where the versatile midfielder ends up this year. And, finally for our last player we have Swedish full-back Uffe Johansson. Johansson made one appearance for Assyriska last year but the Swedish season is yet to start and so he hasn't played yet this year. It was a quiet few months for him during the winter-break in Sweden and as a result he dropped four places. He will be hoping to redeem these, however, as the league season kicks off again.

The World Cup is yet to begin but the groups have been drawn with some similarities to real life - Group A contains Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia which is a carbon copy of Group F in real life. The toughest group looks to be Group H, which sees Holland, France, Ivory Coast and North Korea competing - and Group F in this World Cup might see some good matches with Spain, Mexico, Serbia and Algeria. In contrast, the easiest group looks to be either Group A with Italy the only danger side or Group D, which sees Argentina up against the unlikely threats of Japan, Switzerland and Gabon. Scotland failed to qualify but Ireland managed to make it in - they will be playing against Germany, Australia and Tunisia. Just how far would they have gotten without the 'Hand of Frog' incident?

---

Top 5: Wages per week

Player                 Wages pw

Ihsaan Ahmed           £550
Faustino Perozo        £525
Shaneimus Maximus      £350
Fernié                 £325
Sam Bellamy            £160

---

Leaderboard

Player                 Team             Value      Points

Will Richardson        Cork City        £100K      209.981
Gelmiro Navarrete      Real Sociedad    £3M        96.309
Faustino Perozo        Sevilla          £1.4M      90.177
Fernié                 Athletic         £1.4M      76.327
Sam Bellamy            Cowdenbeath      £65K       72.328
Mikael Schøler         Liverpool        £16K       70.222
Matt Ferguson          Valur            £100K      69.940
Shaneimus Maximus      Partick Thistle  £180K      68.658
Ihsaan Ahmed           Villarreal       £750K      67.218
Joe Tompkins           Brentford        £110K      66.267
Ryan Dunn              Linfield         £140K      62.103
Chip Butty             Bury             £55K       60.444
Luke Swinson           Brentford        £85K       58.526
Benjani Creigo         Leyton Orient    £120K      54.255
Tom Vesters            Hoogstraten      £12K       48.597
Alex Parker            Middlesbrough    £120K      47.930
Adam Kerr              Viking           £375K      47.532
Steveldinho            Tampere Utd      £475K      45.122
Thomas Weir            Shamrock Rovers  £110K      43.564
Uffe Johansson         Assyriska        £230K      43.200
Ferhat Özkan           Sheff Utd        £110K      42.139
Charles Beams          Colchester       £140K      41.625
Ricky Nakano           Yeovil           £110K      39.280
Matt Collard           Landskrona       £1.5K      34.071
Ashley Salisbury       Huddersfield     £120K      33.886
Zvonimir Uljarevic     Imotski          £0         32.598
Jerome Hebert          Balma SC         £50K       27.231
Ryan Andrews           -                £0         0
Pim Park van der Bus   -                £0         0
Cerneo Quam            -                £0         0
Tomaldinho             -                £0         0

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