[FM11] Brazilian Lower League Adventure: In The Elusive Search Of The Futebol Arte

[corinthiano]

First of all, I would like to thank Mrt90 for making such a wonderful Brazilian leagues database, enabling people to play with the smaller clubs of Brazil again. I have only loade the Brazilian leagues for this save based on his database. This takes the Brazilian league down to a 5th tier, that one being a ficticious league to enbale you to play as a number of teams. It has also added more levels to each State Championship. I have started the game in December 2010 with the 2011 league teams already updated.

I have started as an unemployed former Sunday League player who is an avid Corinthians supporter (of course ) looking to kickstart his career. I will be applying to all 130 available posts at the start of the game, however my criteria for choosing a club will be based on the smallest wage budget offered, and as a tie break the highest wage structure already at a club. The ultimate aim will be to win the Libertadores with Corinthians, but knowing that this will be pretty much impossible I am just hoping to have fun and go aroind as many states as possible and hopefully winning one or other local competition.

I would also like to thank Raware, as I kinda stole his update format

Let the fun begin!

[corinthiano]

State Career Summary

Season   Team              State       Tier   	Position   Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2011     Ipanema           Alagoas     1st      8th        Survival

National Career Summary

Season   Team              Competiton   	Position   Achievements
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2011	 Ipanema (AL)	   Série E		-          -

Trophy Cabinet

[tumbleweed and dust]

[corinthiano]

Year Founded: 1923

Reputation:: Obscure

Estimated Value: R$240K

Corporate Facilities: Fairly Basic

Training Facilities: Basic

Youth Facilities Facilities: Minimal + Youth Academy

Youth Recruitment: Basic

My criteria took me to the Alagoas State countryside up in the Northeast of Brazil. Ipanema Atlético Clube are the only club in the 45,000 inhabitant city of Santana do Ipanema. They are a club with very little significant achievement, hovering between the top two Alagoas Divisions throughout the year, with the one campaign of note was the 1992 runners-up spot in the top division. They play their games at the Estádio Governador Arnon de Mello, who holds a 6000 capacity. Below is the best picture I found of the stadium.

[corinthiano]

Season 2011 : Preview

Board Expectations

-------------------------

Alagoas State Championship : Stay clear of relegation

Série E : Fight bravely against relegation

-------------------------

Série E Media Prediction: 12th (out of 12)

Transfer budget : None

Wage budget : R$2.500 p/w

Current wage bill : R$5.826k p/w

As expected, I have taken over a club with extremely limited choices. I currently have no staff and the players all seem to be of extremely poor quality. I will cut down the wage budget by offloading the players that do not fit my 4-1-2-1-2 system and bring in some players on loan. I have only got a contract until December 2011, so the main aim has to be do well enough to earn another contract.

[Romanista1994]

Brazil-based save gets a from me. Good luck with Ipanema!

[B.W.G]

Not really seen a Brazilian save before so will be following this closely.

[ToMexico!!]

Good Luck with this. Had a couple of flurry's in Brazil before and enjoyed it.

[corinthiano]

Thank for the comments guys For me it will be quite an interesting experience as well, as I don't think Ihave managed Brazilian teams quite so small beofore!

Season 2011 : Alagoas State Championship

The Alagoas state championship is not one of the most traditional State Leagues in Brazil, with its two biggest clubs, CSA and CRB, never making much of a mark on the national stage, being second tier regulars for periods at most. Historically the Championship has been won by either CSA or CRB, CSA having won it a record 37 times. However in the 00's there was the rise of ASA,who have won the State Championship 5 out of the 10 years. This year the State Championship was formed by the following clubs:

| Team             | National League |  PSP  |  PNP  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------
| ASA              | Série B         |  N/A  |  N/A  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------
| Corinthians (AL) | Série D         |  N/A  |  N/A  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------
| Coruripe         | Série E         |  N/A  |  N/A  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------
| CRB              | Série C         |  N/A  |  N/A  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------
| CSA              | Série E         |  N/A  |  N/A  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------
| CSE              | Série E         |  N/A  |  N/A  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------
| Ipanema          | Série E         |  N/A  |  N/A  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------
| Murici           | Série E         |  N/A  |  N/A  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------
| Santa Rita (AL)  | Série E         |  N/A  |  N/A  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------
| Sport Atalaia    | Série E         |  N/A  |  N/A  | 
| ---------------------------------------------------

*PSP: Previous State Position
*PNP: Previous National Position
(If a previous position is marked with a *, it means the club has either been promoted or relegated)

The format is pretty simple compared to other state leagues: There are opening and closing stages, in each stage all teams play each other once and the team with most points wins. At the end there is a two legged final between both stage winners, unless one team wins both stages, then the team is automatically declared champion. For relegation purposes only the combined league is taken into account and the team at the bottom is demoted to the Alagoas second Tier.

Predicted: 9th | Final Position: 8th | Opening Stage | Closing Stage | Graph

Even though most teams played at the same level of us, our squad was a lot weaker and we suffered a lot in the first few games. In games against ASA, CRB, CSA or Corinthians (AL) it was always a matter of how many we are going to concede. But against the other teams performances got better once we managed to sign a few players. In the end we survived, which is all that mattered. I got R$395k for my finishing position, which is a nice help for the finances, seeing as the mointhly loss has been around R$50k.

Best Match

Even though we were playing a Coruripe side in freefall, it was the first tiome I got a feeling that the team were playing good football and it has given me some good hope for the Serie E ahead.

Worst Match

There were actually three 6-0 thrashings, but this was the only one at home and at that point I thought I was doomed.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Is the Brazilian league system still as crazy as it used to be?

[corinthiano]

On a national level not as much anymore, since the introduction of the "normal" league for the top tier in 2003 the national structure has progressively gotten better. The strucutre is as follows now:

Série A: 20 teams, normal league format, bottom 4 teams relegated

Série B: 20 teams, normal league format, top 4 teams promoted, bottom 4 teams relegated

Série C: 20 teams, 4 groups of 5, play each other twice within the group, bottom of each group relegated,top two go to a two legged quarter final, teams who rech the semi-final are promoted

Série D: 40 teams, qualification via state performances apart from 4 teams relegated from previous Serie C, 10 groups of 4, top two go through, weird knock-out with some losers still making it through because the maths does not add up.

So yeah, Serie C and D are still a bit of a mess

Mrt90 created something different for FM, probably because of the crazy Serie D rules and it being impossible to have a team qualify for a national competition based on the state performance in the same year. So from the 4th tier downwards it is like this:

Série D: 40 teams, 8 groups of 5, bottom two relegated, top two qualify for Last 16, teams who reach the semi-final are promoted

Série E: 204 teams, 17 groups of 12, bottom team is relagated, top team plus 15 best 2nd places qualify for last 32. Team who reach the last 16 are promoted.

That way you can manage very small sides in the bottom tier, whilst also having a big change in teams in the 4th tier from year to year, like IRL.

On a State level things are still very complicated, each state has its own rules, sometimes even more competitions than others. Part of the fun for me is adapting to whatever rules there are for a state, and also seeing whether the championship gets weaker or stronger depending on how their teams fare in the national competitions.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Not quite as crazy as my sole venture playing LLM in Brazil some years ago then.

[bobatwal]

Brazil seems fun

Might give it a bash one day

[Branwell Brontë]

My criteria took me to the Alagoas State countryside up in the Northeast of Brazil. Ipanema Atlético Clube are the only club in the 45,000 inhabitant city of Santana do Ipanema. They are a club with very little significant achievement, hovering between the top two Alagoas Divisions throughout the year, with the one campaign of note was the 1992 runners-up spot in the top division. They play their games at the Estádio Governador Arnon de Mello, who holds a 6000 capacity. Below is the best picture I found of the stadium.

Splendid! The stadium looks a bit like the one in St Martins on Guernsey... in fact Blanche Pierre Lane looks more up to date!

I don't think I'd be brave enough to manage a club this small. Good luck!

[AK22]

The guy in the photo looks like he's having a slash on the pitch!

[Branwell Brontë]

The guy in the photo looks like he's having a slash on the pitch!

Some kind of Brazilian Barry Fry?

[Nobby_McDonald]

He's trying to make up for the recent lack of rain.

[AK22]

Well, I hope he doesn't turn up to 'water' my garden!