Wonderkids from minnow nations

[Ales]

Some more (FM 07) screenshots from late 2163. I refer to "minnow" nation not by population, though.

Starting with three members of the Peru golden generation who won Copa America this year.

Continuing with two fascinating players from Lithuania who almost made it to the Euro 2164 (lost the playoff vs. France) and have a 50 million euros worth striker.

Meanwhile Albania have reached the Euros, their first major competition in this save. 

The rest is my random collection of chosen players from interesting nations, be it dark horses or total outsiders.

Edited July 19, 2018 by Ales

[Bigmonkey79]

In old old CM games around 98 there would often be an Icelandic dm/sw regen or two who would turn out to be a worldie. They would mever have cb as position tho. Same for.Holland. Iceland as minnow is pushing it.and def not for Holland!)

[ryanlion28]

Am 19.7.2018 um 20:05 schrieb Ales:

Some more (FM 07) screenshots from late 2163. I refer to "minnow" nation not by population, though.

 Starting with three members of the Peru golden generation who won Copa America this year.

Continuing with two fascinating players from Lithuania who almost made it to the Euro 2164 (lost the playoff vs. France) and have a 50 million euros worth striker.

Meanwhile Albania have reached the Euros, their first major competition in this save. 

The rest is my random collection of chosen players from interesting nations, be it dark horses or total outsiders.

 

A Sao Tome and Principe player and Mozambique, nice! I'd guess both game through Portuguese academies, would be really cool if not though.

Also very interesting that Lithuania produced 2 gems in the same generation

[Ales]

The paths are various. Actually, the first two you mentioned, were generated at their current clubs (Werder/HSV), which I believe it is random, because they have no staff members from Mozambique/Sao Tome and Principe.

In this save I manage in Serbia and some Serbian (and even Croatian clubs-since I have their league also loaded) generate youth players from interesting countries "for no reason". I remember FK Srem got a player from Chinese Taipei who later acquired Serbian nationality and played for their national team. OFK Beograd generated a strong centreback from Kuwait. Interestingly, when the player retired, he worked as a scout at another Serbian club and also they got a Kuwaitian defender later in their u19s. Further examples include even a Nepalese player, generated in one Croatian club about 30 years ago.

The players I posted above have different histories and some were even found in their local home clubs. Just for curiosity, Brickhus, the Lithuanian MC, was "born" in FBK Kaunas academy in 2150, before moving to Real Madrid, was loaned to Roma, played then for Man Utd and now he is at Inter. Stazys, a 50 mill. wonderkid striker, started his carrer at Kareda Siauliai before moving for free to Levski Sofia and in 2158 Valencia bought him for 925k (note this is FM 2007).  Long Kai, the Chinese Beckenbauer, was acquired by United directly from Dalian Shide for 525 K in 2158. Pineda, the guy from Honduras, has had the following path: Olimpia Honduras->LA Galaxy->PSV->Spurs.

And the third example  is, when the players are created at foreign academies (what we thought would be with Portuguese academies), the example includes Albanian striker, created at Aris Salonika (Greece).

EDIT: I have just looked at various statistics for next World Cup qualifiers and found some more very good (but not exactly wonderkids) players from interesting nations. Some of them are already in their 30s.

Player history (the players were created at the club, listed first):

Ahmad: Al Ain (UAE)->Zurich

Bi: Sint Truiden->Waregem->Lierse->Haag

Lees: Zanaco (Zambia)->Porto (for 90k!!)

James: Hannover->Almeria

Huddlestone: Mouscron->Antwerp

Edited July 23, 2018 by Ales

[f00kinerr0r]

My best was a North Korean CB back in FM14, one of my first transfers once I arrived at Man Utd and had 8 years of joy until he screwed his ligaments, ended up selling him off to Sevilla after a homegrown player took that role and did well.

 

Also have a yemeni CM in the same save, Ahmed Al-Yazidi, English dual nationality though so not sure that counts but he's an absolute machine for club and country 

[ryanlion28]

With Brexit now a big thing on FM and most people's saves probably being in England do you think there's been a lack of minnow players coming through?

 

There's a rule on work permits which relates to needing a certain position in the FIFA world rankings to get a work permit, which makes it tougher for minnow players to come through.

 

However i think for the most part on FM wonderkids normally come through academies of a nation like France / England / Germany and have dual nationality, very rarely a wonderkid will generate in their home country but when that happens it's even better.

 

I haven't got FM19 yet but didn't really have anyone come through from a small nation in FM18, however had a Rwandan come through when i was United manager on Fm12 and also had someone with Tuvaluan 2nd nationality at Newcastle on FM15

[Robioto]

I don't have an image anymore but the best player in the world on my long term save in FM2012 was from Kyrgyzstan. He was a right winger and he played for Roma and I couldn't get him to come to me (I was Arsenal) as Roma wanted so much for him and the wages he wanted were astronomical when I did get a bid accepted.

I checked his stats and his PA was 200 and at the time I checked his CA was 199. I've never seen so many 20s on one player! It was ludicrous.

It's a shame never got to sign him.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Robioto

[Robioto]

On 11/11/2013 at 20:29, Georgik said:

91 goals in one season, seems hard to believe )

It was in CM 01/02 but Fernando Canvenaghi scored 104 goals for me in one of my saves in one season.

[ryanlion28]

4 hours ago, Robioto said:

I don't have an image anymore but the best player in the world on my long term save in FM2012 was from Kyrgyzstan. He was a right winger and he played for Roma and I couldn't get him to come to me (I was Arsenal) as Roma wanted so much for him and the wages he wanted were astronomical when I did get a bid accepted.

I checked his stats and his PA was 200 and at the time I checked his CA was 199. I've never seen so many 20s on one player! It was ludicrous.

It's a shame never got to sign him.

Do you know if he came from a Kyrgyzstan club? That's a really good one!

[Nerobianchi]

had a world class midfielder from fiji on fm08 iirc, ended up getting a goal a game for the national side from the DM position

[alanschu14]

1 hour ago, Nerobianchi said:

had a world class midfielder from fiji on fm08 iirc, ended up getting a goal a game for the national side from the DM position

I do love it when they are from a poor region.

He wasn't a world beater by any means and I flipped him for some amazing profit when I sold him, but I had a good striker from New Zealand that helped me get promoted from League One to CHampionship. As he played in Oceanic region, he'd often chew up regional opponents something fierce.

Saw my first 10.0 score game when he scored 5 goals in one game haha.

[chestermike]

Could you imagine being a small minnow country like scotland, where you produce 2 top class players but they are both left backs hahahahaha

[ryanlion28]

10 hours ago, chestermike said:

Could you imagine being a small minnow country like scotland, where you produce 2 top class players but they are both left backs hahahahaha

Lol, in FM terms, Scotland, USA and Canada are 3 nations who generally seem to overachieve.

Although you will always get 1 or 2 quality players for Scotland in real life per generation

[itay.bing]

23 hours ago, ryanlion28 said:

Lol, in FM terms, Scotland, USA and Canada are 3 nations who generally seem to overachieve.

Although you will always get 1 or 2 quality players for Scotland in real life per generation

i'd add south africa.

[ClemB]

My wonderkid from Canada.

[ryanlion28]

That's surprising that he came through in Denmark, is your manager Canadian?

[ClemB]

Il y a 13 heures, ryanlion28 a dit :

That's surprising that he came through in Denmark, is your manager Canadian?

 

He didn't, he was a free agent.

He was on trial until he was 18 and be able to join us for good.

[arsenalthebest]

here's two from a fm15 save

Edited December 9, 2018 by arsenalthebest

[ryanlion28]

21 hours ago, arsenalthebest said:

here's two from a fm15 save

They're both class!!

[arsenalthebest]

1 hour ago, ryanlion28 said:

They're both class!!

took alot of work and patience to get them that good

[Boat263]

FM2019

Thailand AMC from FC Bayern in second season.

[Matshit]

On 05/12/2018 at 13:14, chestermike said:

Could you imagine being a small minnow country like scotland, where you produce 2 top class players but they are both left backs hahahahaha

Just ask Slovenia how that feels. Specially when neither of their two top class player wants to play for the national team. 

To answer this thread, I had an old Holiday save where Sudan ended up playing in the world cup, due to having not one, but two of the best strikers in the world. The rest of the team was garbage though.

[benjawi.]

I think it was FM14, but I had a Faroe Islands striker that turned into a beast. He tore the league up for a few seasons until the next game was released. The only disappointing part was that his national performance was incredibly disappointing. Something like 80+ games and 6 goals. I was playing in the Dutch league as Den Haag and he was scoring over 30 a season every year. Ball got to him in the box and you'd be celebrating a goal almost every time. Just a shame about his international career... but I guess he couldn't do it all on his own. One of the most impressive players I've ever signed and cost hardly anything.

[mattcanary]

On 01/05/2018 at 17:35, ryanlion28 said:

Scotland winning the world cup is definitely more commonplace on FM than it should be!

Wouldn;t think it is that outlandish.

Scotland have a huge football heritage. And remember Croatia, (a very small country), got to the World Cup Final this year. 

[ryanlion28]

7 hours ago, mattcanary said:

Wouldn;t think it is that outlandish.

Scotland have a huge football heritage. And remember Croatia, (a very small country), got to the World Cup Final this year. 

Considering they struggle to even qualify in real life it's outlandish to me!

 

 

[upthetoon]

I had a cm that was Hungary in fm16.. 

[gavinski33]

I'm not so sure about some of the comments on this thread.

People from all over the world can be good at ****. If I was playing Cricket Manager 2019 and I got a wonderkid from Argentina I'd be chuffed. Whats to say the lad didn't move at 1 years old to a cricket playing nation? The players you get in a youth intake aren't born there, they're 14/15/16 years old, they've had a life - if an Indonesian kid rocks up in your Inter Milan youth team it's because he was good enough to get scouted, approached, and signed for them.  If he turns out to be good, happy days. What's to say that in those invisible and imaginary 14/15/16 years the kid didn't move there, didn't turn out to be alright, and get a shot in the academy?

The lad who mentioned xenophobia was quite right. What's your next 'realism'? Asian players not being short enough, African players not having 20 strength? Pele is the best player in the world, right? So how come after his emergence in the first televised World Cup did Santos embark on world tours to exhibit him? Why did the Premier League become the best in the world because of it's myriad styles and cultures?

Can't be real because a kid can't come from such-and-such country?

Very 80's mate

 

[CFuller]

On 02/05/2018 at 14:09, CFuller said:

I also think it's great that nations without much of a footballing background can still produce strong players every now and then. In my FM13 save at the moment, I've got a young central midfielder from Canada and a promising centre-back from India. To be fair, Canada have produced a lot of high-quality players in that save, but India certainly haven't.

Since some of us are sharing screenshot of their minnow nation wonderkids again, I thought I'd share mine, now that my FM13 career has finished. Eric Knox came from Montreal, and Raju Gomes came from Dempo.

[ryanlion28]

On 15/12/2018 at 19:31, CFuller said:

Since some of us are sharing screenshot of their minnow nation wonderkids again, I thought I'd share mine, now that my FM13 career has finished. Eric Knox came from Montreal, and Raju Gomes came from Dempo.

2 from the same team is nice, India is rare but with Canadian's it's more likely nowadays due to their being a few Canadian teams in the MLS.

 

Alphonso Davies is a good example of this irl

[Nathidz]

I had a Qatar GK called Mustafa come threw the Ajax youth system think was on fm15 

he was actually pretty decent 

[decapitated]

I was browsing the top teams players and came across this guy from St Vincent and the Grenadines

I thought it unusual given he had dual nationality he didn't choose to represent England or hold out for a call up.

[enigmatic]

Very unusual. Can't imagine he's not good enough for England youth sides, even with them often being stacked in FM. Moving from a local club to the Vanarama to Marseille is a pretty interesting career history too

[Crispypaul]

7 minutes ago, decapitated said:

I was browsing the top teams players and came across this guy from St Vincent and the Grenadines

I thought it unusual given he had dual nationality he didn't choose to represent England or hold out for a call up.

Aldershot to Marseille is quite the jump!

 

[decapitated]

4 minutes ago, enigmatic said:

Very unusual. Can't imagine he's not good enough for England youth sides, even with them often being stacked in FM. Moving from a local club to the Vanarama to Marseille is a pretty interesting career history too

He was first capped by St Vincent at Aldershot so maybe he didn't expect himself to be England quality given his level and by the time he moved to bigger things it was too late?

[ryanlion28]

On 19/02/2019 at 13:47, decapitated said:

I was browsing the top teams players and came across this guy from St Vincent and the Grenadines

I thought it unusual given he had dual nationality he didn't choose to represent England or hold out for a call up.

I wonder if Aldershot happen to have an affiliation with the St Vincent club? Very impressive either way

[ClemB]

An awesome regen from Faroe Island. I had never seen such a talented player from a minnow nation.

The second regen is also from Faroe Island and plays for my team. Not as talented but still very good for this country.

[Grifty]

In FM17 Arsenal had a right winger from Trinidad and Tobago who became World Class.

He came from a club from there directly to arsenal and stayed there for his whole career 

[Boycott]

My Zidane regen from Tunisia!

It's a funny story how I picked him up. Nottingham Forest signed him from ES Tunis when he must have been 21 or 22 for about £400k but stupidly put in a release clause of £4m. He just happened to be MOTM when Forest beat me in December. Out of curiosity I clicked his profile and thought ****ing hell. 

I would say bargain of the century but Forest probably beat me to that even if he only was there half a season!

[2feet]

Romania isn’t a minnow nation but I’ve seen players from there that have great attributes but they just don’t play or perform very well in games.

is this because of hidden attributes?

[herne79]

53 minutes ago, 2feet said:

is this because of hidden attributes?

Possibly.  Or they could be square pegs in round holes (not suitable for the tactical system).

[Boycott]

I've never really seen India progress as a footballing nation in FM but in my Spurs save they did produce a pretty solid defensive midfielder.

Dempo (India) > Sheffield United > Spartak Moscow > Genoa > Bordeaux

 

[Raffen]

On 27/06/2018 at 20:52, ryanlion28 said:

This is a nice range!  feel like the Armenian and Guinean compare to Mkhitaryan and Naby Keita who are both top talents from these nations.

 

We're yet to see a top level Uzbekistan or Syrian in the real world yet though!

I would say Maxim Shatskikh was quite decent in his day. Top scorer in the Ukarainian league. Played and scored a few in the Champions League for Dynamo Kiev.

[ryanlion28]

Uzbekistan are a decent team in respect to Asia, have a good chance of finally making it to a World Cup.

Hopefully when FM20 comes out we see some more talents from minnow nations

[ryanlion28]

Has anyone seen any minnows on the beta?

[ryanlion28]

Has FM21 been producing any minnow nation wonderkids in your saves? I expect it to become more regular as the game now reflects real life more with more nationalities coming through youth academies in countries like England

[Dreambuilder]

I think the rest of the world get alot more newgens and wonderkids if you add custom data like this: 

 

[ryanlion28]

Not FM21 but 20, this guy has come up for Malta, looks absolutely class

 

Weirdly he came from Partizan in Serbia, which is random, has no Serbian 2nd nationality, very impressive for 18

 

 

 

[Rikulec]

He came through at Atletico Madrid.

[X0X0]

Allow me to brag but i think I've had the best minnows wonderkid of the bunch on my Dalian Yifang  5 season + wonder save trying to raise China football level in FM 2020

The game generated Choi Io Wang (Show your Wang?). A Macau (Portuguese dual national) right footed Nº 10 (also played right winger) from Portimonense which i trained to play foward and left winger as well. He had weak physical stats and finishing but great mental stats and amazing skill stats like 17 technique, 16 dribbling, first touch and flair, 15 passing, 11 finishing  and 10 long shooting. Was a blast and incredibly frustrating watching him play for Macau NT.  It was like watching Maradona playing with a bunch of guys of the street, we would score all the goals, almost one every game and be a super sub for Yifang. Ended up selling him after 2 seasons so he could become the man on Guanghzou RF (he was about 20 years old).

Edited January 1, 2021 by X0X0

[ryanlion28]

On 01/01/2021 at 21:26, X0X0 said:

Allow me to brag but i think I've had the best minnows wonderkid of the bunch on my Dalian Yifang  5 season + wonder save trying to raise China football level in FM 2020

The game generated Choi Io Wang (Show your Wang?). A Macau (Portuguese dual national) right footed Nº 10 (also played right winger) from Portimonense which i trained to play foward and left winger as well. He had weak physical stats and finishing but great mental stats and amazing skill stats like 17 technique, 16 dribbling, first touch and flair, 15 passing, 11 finishing  and 10 long shooting. Was a blast and incredibly frustrating watching him play for Macau NT.  It was like watching Maradona playing with a bunch of guys of the street, we would score all the goals, almost one every game and be a super sub for Yifang. Ended up selling him after 2 seasons so he could become the man on Guanghzou RF (he was about 20 years old).

Macau is a very rare one!  Would've loved to see a screenshot of that