The Ultimate Football Manager

[LetsGetReadyTo]

The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge

“It’s kind of fun to do the impossible” – Walt Disney

You are an ordinary 20 year old lad, played Football Manager all your youth lives and enjoyed a good kickabout as much as the next person, that just isn’t the truth. This is the truth.

You played for your local Sunday League team, well played and managed! But, your family uproots you to (Insert Country You Get Here) and your life is upside down! You are not good enough to get a gig in this new country, so you turn to management.

The Rules:

Start Unemployed

Sunday League Reputation

No Coaching Badges

Stats must start in the middle and not adjusted.

Your manager must be 20 years old.

No additional languages (as they can REALLY help )

You MAY have attribute masking on, as I don't like the scouting system as it can be impossible to find players. Just this once though

Competitions you must win to win the challenge

Leagues

La Liga (Spain)

Premier League (England)

Bundesliga (Germany)

Ligue 1 (France)

Serie A (Italy)

AND 5 OTHER TOP LEAGUES.

Champions Leagues

Champions League (Europe)

Champions League (Asia)

Copa Libertadores (South America)

NACL (North American Champions League)

ACL (Africa Champions League)

International Tournemants

UEFA Euros (Europe)

AFC (Asian Cup Of Nations)

Copa America (South America)

Gold Cup (North America)

ACON (African Cup Of Nations)

FIFA World Cup

Confederations Cup

Others:

10 Domestic Cups required (Where Top Level Teams can Enter)

FIFA Club World Cup

You may incorporate different challenges into this save! For example, the 1,000 goal challenge.

Thank you, and good luck with the challenge!

Oh and there is a sneaky reference to a film in there. Anyone who gets it is a legend

[vikeologist]

Ultimate Manager Hall Of Fame

Completions

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[TD] Challenger

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[TD]Version

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[TD]Year Completed

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[TD]The Update

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[TR]

[TD]TheEarl

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[TD]FM15 Full

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[TD]2043

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[TD]EOC Report[/TD]

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Challenge Rules Clarifications

The 10 domestic cups don't have to be from 10 different countries, but we will think you're a wuss if they're not.

We don't allow any added leagues, especially in Asia or Africa. It would change (and simplify) the challenge too much.

Apart from that, there are no rules. It's not a LLM challenge. You can find staff and players however you wish, as long as you don't use in game editors for anything important. You can play however you wish. It's your game.

League Specific Clarifications

Mexico - Some Central and South American nations have 2 league championships a year; the Apertura and Clausura. Both count. The Mexican Cup also counts towards the challenge. Not all the top division clubs (the ones in continental competition) are in it, but it's the only domestic cup in Mexico.

MLS (USA) - I think for challenge purposes the MLS Cup would count as the league, and the US Open Cup counts as the cup.

A Very Small Piece of Advice

There are lots of different ways of going about this challenge. Should one start at a lower division club in a high reputation nation or the top division of a low reputation nation? Time and experience has provided some measure of insight into this, but I hope that new starters will explore their own path (or read the first 1,300 or so posts to find out). I will give one piece of advice though.

Don't take the first job you're offered at the start of the game. It may be worth waiting 6 months of unemployment at the start of your game for the right opportunity. Starting at too low a club can add several seasons to your challenge. It's going to take you long enough as it is.

Progress Reporting

You can report your progress however you wish, but there are 2 update tables that have become popular.

This is the most basic version of the first one

Season   Team    Position  Notes and Achievements 

Challenge Progress


Club
0/10 top domestic leagues (Insert nations)
0/10 domestic cups ()
0/5 club continental championships ()
0/1 club world championship


International
0/5 continental tournaments ()
0/2 world tournaments ()

To do these tables you need to 'go advanced'. You click on the code button (#) and then paste in your text. I would suggest preparing your text in the programme (probably) on your computer called notepad.

[LetsGetReadyTo]

Nice! Good Luck

I started at Gjovik-Lyn in Norway! - They were 5th when I took over and need a respectable league position. I only have a contract until December 2014 so I think, unless it goes really well, I could be out of a job as soon as I was in one!

[Rhoden88]

I'm very much up for this. I tried a similar venture last year (only I aimed to win every top division from each nation, it was horrific.)

Gotta few questions though. What in your opinion are 5 top leagues? Brazil? MLS? dare I say the SPL ?

And do you play in full fat FM or FMC?

Either way I'm in. I've posted a save progress on site before, so bare with me boys.

[LetsGetReadyTo]

By Top League I meant a premier division from any country around the world So SPL, MLS, even Peru!

And Full Fat FM, but it doesn't matter if you do FMC.

[Rhoden88]

Awesome, I'm gonna start it up later on tonight and we'll see how it goes. I'll fire up some updates when I'm in a job. I'm doing most of my forum posting via the ipad so I may not have screenshots.

But I'll work on that.... 

Anyways, here we go. I've been looking forward to an epic journeyman save.

Good luck troops.

[LetsGetReadyTo]

Good luck - It's difficult at first!

[Rhoden88]

So there I was buzzin to go with my leagues loaded when my mate informs me he was interested in having a crack at this beast as well. Only problem, he doesn't have the game yet. So I'm gonna put this on the back burner and try the youth player challenge.

Once he's up and running well race to success.

Good luck troops, I'll be back for this!!! ?

[TheCowboy]

I'm joining in. Loading Up Scotland, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and Italy. All leagues from there except Serie C because i forgot to change it.

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's Abortive Choose your First Club Carefully Report

I'll have a go at this. It should be easier than the Youth Challenge that has made my life a misery for the last couple of weeks.

I think this may be the best 'journeyman' challenge that anyone has come up with yet, or maybe it's just grabbed my wab.

I started off by loading the Chinese and South African top leagues; China because that's where I really do live, and South Africa because I'll need to go there eventually, but as S Africa doesn't start for about 8 months from the Dec start date for China, that was a bit pointless. I suppose I could try to get a job in South Africa, take the money, and do nothing until a job in China comes up, but that would be uncomfortably close to what my real life is like.

Ok. The first Chinese job to come up was Renhe.

It's the first time that I've had to do a job interview in FM, and I had to be a bit economical with the truth; in particular promising not to apply for other jobs in the foreseeable future. (I live in China. It's all about saving face. If this game is in any way true to life, the ability to tell a bald-faced lie without blinking is the real job prerequisite). Also had to promise to finish in the top half of the table even though the league is more than a third of the way through and the club is perched immediately above the relegation places. So, I'll probably get sacked by the end of the season which will solve the whole 'promised I'd love you forever' dilemma.

Vikeologist's 2014/15 End of Season Report

A bit short of time (plus maybe almost nobody else is reading or doing this challenge).

Originally I started with Renhe as above(because it was the first job I got an interview for) but I have never seen a team in such a mess. It was like one of those threads in GD where someone says, I hate <insert their favourite club's rival team> so much that I took them over, released all their best players on frees and gave a £1million a week contract to the 15 year old boot boy. Completely unsalvageable. Plus I want to manage Dalian, who won't even offer the 20 year old me an interview, so I started again in South Africa and took over Swallows.

Of course swallows were a mess as well. That's why there was a job opening.

They needed a striker (well 2 actually) so I frantically tried to up my knowledge of south African players from it's starting point of non-existent, while about 4 of my first team players stropped their way to my selling them. (For the most part I got fair prices for them, and their salary sort of exceeded what ability they had, but it didn't allow me the opportunity to scout and find replacements).

Half way through the season (when I took over) they were bottom of the league, and that's where they stayed until about the last 5 games. Then we were in the relegation playoff place until 2 games to go. In our penultimate game we need a win to be safe, but were spanked.

So last game of the season, we needed a win, or to do better than the club 1 place and 1 point below us. Their game was 0-0, but with the potential for them to score and put everything into the mix, it was a tense experience because in our match

The score went 1-0 (to us)

1-1

2-1

2-2

3-2

and safety.

Even if we had been relegated, I would have added the next division down and hoped that I was given the chance to bring them back up, (but I probably would have been sacked).

However, everything turned out ok. I now have a bit more knowledge of players, lots of money and salary to play with, and in a few months I'll get my first coaching qualification.

We're going to need a bigger team bus.

Season        Team        Nation            Position    Notes                                        Landmarks
2014/15        Swallows     South Africa        14th        Took over after 14 (of 30)games in 16th bottom position. Dodged relegation.

[vikeologist]

Cowboy - Howdy. I think you may be pleasantly surprised at the top division jobs that you'll be able to get even with your starting age / profile, (probably in Slovenia or Poland).

IMO, the tricky thing with this challenge at the start though is choosing the right club to take over, and at a time when you can turn things around, even though you have no knowledge or attributes.

But for me the interesting thing about this challenge will be seeing the different ways that people go about it, for instance starting in a lower league in a big country.

[TheCowboy]

My first club is Olot in Spain. We're semi-professional and have too much expectations. But i have to start somewhere.

[TheCowboy]

Cowboy - Howdy. I think you may be pleasantly surprised at the top division jobs that you'll be able to get even with your starting age / profile, (probably in Slovenia or Poland).

IMO, the tricky thing with this challenge at the start though is choosing the right club to take over, and at a time when you can turn things around, even though you have no knowledge or attributes.

But for me the interesting thing about this challenge will be seeing the different ways that people go about it, for instance starting in a lower league in a big country.

Unfortunately, Although i got a few interviews none have offered me yet.

[LetsGetReadyTo]

Well. I managed to complete season one in Norway It was a long, hard and ultimately disappointing campaign as we finished 8th I have made lots of recruitments though and i'm looking forward to season 2 more!

[vikeologist]

LGRT - Are you planning to take Gjovik-Lyn all the way to the title, or switch to a bigger club (Rosenberg) if a vacancy arrives?

[vikeologist]

I've got 32 Cups left to win but the South African FA Cup isn't one of them.

Vikeologist's 2015/16 Swallows End of Season Report

I was starting to get worried that managing Swallows was a bit of a dead end. Before this career I assumed that South Africa was a major football country in Africa, (probably because they’re the only playable country) but they only have 2 clubs qualify for the continental competitions each season (the league winner and the South African Cup winner) and the last time a South African team won the Champions League was 1995. (They’ve not even had a finalist in the Confederation (Cup Winners) Cup. South Africa in my stage of the game are the 35th ranked country. I have to win the Champions League with a team from the 35th best nation, and I’m not even managing one of the biggest clubs.

But things are looking up because I won the SA FA Cup, and we’re going to be in the Confederation Cup next season. It’s not that I think that I can take Swallows all the way to continental glory, but this will definitely increase my chances of getting bigger jobs. The job at the 3rd biggest club (Sundowns) is available now, but I’m going to stay with Swallows for another year to enjoy the continental adventure (which has only lasted until the 2nd round for the last 2 FA Cup winners). I think that the next and hopefully final) SA club I want to manage will be Kaiser Chiefs. Of course I may manage another club in the middle, or since Kaiser Chiefs only finished 3rd in the league this season, the job may come up quite soon anyway.

I definitely plan to hop around, and complete as much of this challenge as possible as quickly as possible. I’ve basically never done a journeyman save in Football Manager. I’ve only moved to different clubs after being sacked (which apart from the Youth Challenge has happened twice in about 18 years of playing). That said, I think I’ve been sacked about 10 times in 14 seasons in the Youth Challenge, or less than once a season once you consider that I didn’t always last a season.

I still have my eye on my new home, Dalian, but they’re currently top of the league, so there won’t be a job opening there in the immediate future.

Our league campaign was really mamahuhu; 12th place out of 16 teams. We were never in danger of relegation; the bottom 2 (newly promoted) clubs picked up a total of 26 points from their combined 60 games. However we were nowhere near the clubs in the top half of the table.

We had fairly easy (lower league) ties until the semi-final, but then we came up against Orlando Pirates. Maybe we were fortunate to beat them, but it earned us a shot in the final against Platinum Stars who’d sucked 1 place lower than us in the league in 13th. I was still very pessimistic, but as it turned out we dominated the game and secured a 3-0 lead without the Stars even getting a shot on goal, which was good because we have a habit of throwing away 2-0 leads, and we did indeed concede 2 goals in the last 4 minutes. In case you can’t do the math though, (which would suggest that you are a professional footballer) that’s still a 3-2 win, and we won the cup. If we could get FIFA to shorten matches to 60 minutes, we might even be able to win the league.

On the plus side, I bagged my first coaching license this season. On the minus side, this means that my coaching attributes are still worthless, the club won’t let me take another course yet and our already crap coaching facilities have been downgraded to adequate. (I threatened to quit unless they were upgraded back up, which worked. Might as well use my capital while I have it). To add insult to injury I did an experiment where I applied for the Sundowns job (even though I knew I wouldn’t take it) and didn’t even get an interview. They gave the job to Gavin Hunt. How many flaming FA Cup wins does he have?

Oh. He’s won it twice, including once with Swallows. And he won the league three times in a row with SuperSport United in the noughties.

Well that was years ago, like when there was dinosaurs and stuff, so I’m like, whatever. Bite me. (Check out my completely authentic portrayal of how 21 year olds speak. I love being young again).

Incidentally, my Chairman decided to try to sell the club as soon as we won the Cup, so I'm not the only one with the idea of making the most of the cup win. Unclear at the moment whether it's going to be one of the existing board or a group wanting to flog the club on the stock market.

Season		Team		Nation			Position	Notes										Challenge Landmarks
2014/15		Swallows 	South Africa		14th		Took over after 14 (of 30)games in 16th bottom position. Dodged relegation.
2015/16		Swallows	South Africa		12th		South African FA Cup winner. Continental qualification.				1 domestic cup

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2016/17 Swallows End of Season Report

I didn't win anything this season, but it was still a massive step forward. Our points total doubled from 30 points from 30 games to 60.

We finished third in the league, but in fact were in the hunt for the title all season. With two games to go only two points separated the top 4 sides. As it happens Kaiser Chiefs won the title. Actually they won everything, the 3 domestic cups, the African Supercup type thing, the League and the African Champions League. This last one was important because now South Africa get 4 teams into continental competition rather than just the two before.

So, our third place earns us another shot at the Confederation Cup. We were knocked out this season in the 4th round immediately before the group stage.

We have some extremely good players, but Jusly Boukama Kaya is our star striker who has a year left on his contract but I think I can get him to stay two years more by chucking everything I have at him financially. I expect someone will offer so much for him eventually that I'll have to let him go, but I'll ride him while I've got him.

Of course this challenge isn't about Swallows. I applied for a job at Guangzhou (by far the biggest club in China) midway through the year, and got an interview. I envisioned myself getting the job, winning the title and Asian Champions League in one season and then heading off for Europe before my 25th birthday, but they gave the job to someone else.

At the moment (given that I think Swallows stand a realistic chance of winning the title this year) there are only 4 jobs that I'd leave for in the two leagues I have running. Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates in South Africa, and Guangzhou and Dalian in China, and I doubt any of them will be available next season unless somebody retires (a real possibility as the 4 managers in question have a total age of 233. In fact, I hadn't realised till I checked, but Dalian are not doing well, so maybe I'll move to Dalian in the game before I move to Dalian in real life.

Season    Team        Nation            Position    Notes                                       
14/15    Swallows     South Africa        14th        Took over after 14 (of 30)games in 16th bottom position. Dodged relegation.
15/16    Swallows    South Africa        12th        South African FA Cup winner. Continental qualification.                
16/17    Swallows    South Africa        3rd        

Challenge Tally

1 domestic cup

[NormandyWept]

I played many careers on CM01/02 and CM03/04 but not so much recently. As stated already, this looks an incredible challenge and is very enticing as a way to start a journeyman effort. Due to time constraints (and a personal dislike of the too-much-detail main game versus the above classics), I will be taking this on in Football Manager Classic mode.

After failing to land a job higher up the league structure, I took over as manager of 延边长白虎, aka Yanbian Changbaishan FC in the Jia League (2nd division) in China. The club was ten points adrift of survival with eleven games to play when I took over, and 5-1 and 7-2 defeats in my two opening matches gave little confidence of a change. But two productive team meetings enused, seeing us win two and draw two of the next five to give ourselves a chance in the final three games. Key midfielder Chi Zhongguo issued a rallying call to the troops before the crunch game at home to Chongqing and then opened the scoring with a long-range screamer, but the visitors gradually wore us down to lead 4-3 and then scored cruelly on the break to make it 5-3 and condemn us to relegation to the third tier.

With the Chinese third tier not a playable division in FM15, I am unemployed again, and hoping that any propsective employers saw only the neat passing play and goals in some of my later games, and not the disastrous start that prevailed from the poor form under my predecessor and ultimately left us with too much to do.

[NormandyWept]

I am back in management, taking over at Dempo in the Airtel I-League on 9th February 2015.

Season  Club                    League                          Cups                    Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014    Yanbian Changbaisan     16th in CFA Jia League          N/A                     Took over with 11 games remaining, 10pts from safety. Relegated.
2015    Dempo                                                                           Took over with 12 games remaining in 8th place

I've dodged an early question from a reporter about the wage budget after finding out that my chairman's surname is Dempo, meaning this is a family venture. Let's hope I can get on side with that family with some good results!

[vikeologist]

I'm so pleased someone else is doing this challenge. I had never heard of Dempo, but having wikied them, hopefully you'll be picking up your first silverware soon.

Hard luck with Yanbian, but one of the obstacles of this challenge is that it's likely that your first job will be a relegation battle.

I thought initially that taking over Dempo in 8th place might spare you from this, but now I realise that there's only 10 clubs in the league. Is it another relegation battle for you?

Is Beto still with the club? His Wikipedia article is fairly breathless with adoration.

[NormandyWept]

I eventually managed to guide Dempo SC to 7th place in the I-League: only a one-place improvement on when I took over, and I'm certainly not in the fans' best books after a crushing 3-0 defeat at home to derby rivals Saigaocar (a feeling that, as a Newcastle United fan, I can only identify with - but at least Saigaocar won the league!)

After a draw and four losses in my first five games, including that derby defeat, we bounced back with a run of three wins, three draws and only one loss in seven games through some much-improved play to finish the season in much better form.

With the board keen to cut the wage bill (unsurprising, given the poor football on display much of the season and some very low attendances as a result), there's some serious work to be done to ensure we have a stronger squad next season, but honestly I believe we will be stronger, with a lot of contracts expiring and therefore giving me plenty of opportunity to stage a rebuild of sorts. I'm also looking forward to the first Cup campaign of my managerial career, with the Federation Cup group stage taking place before the I-League kicks off next year.

Season  Club                    League                          Cups            Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014    Yanbian Changbaisan     16th in CFA Jia League          N/A             Took over with 11 games remaining, 10pts from safety. Relegated and resigned
2015    Dempo                   7th in Airtel I-League          N/A             Took over with 12 games remaining in 8th place

[NormandyWept]

Thanks for your support vikeologist. You're already one trophy ahead and I'm not showing many signs of catching up quickly! Ha ha :-)

Is Beto still with the club? His Wikipedia article is fairly breathless with adoration.

That is, you're right, one of the most gushing Wikipedia articles I've ever read (I'm pretty confident it needs a few more citations!). Beto has commented on our form, and is available on a free. I've been over wage budget and unable to pick him up, but central midfield is not a strong area for us so if I can add him next season then I definitely will do.

[LetsGetReadyTo]

Been quite ill in the past couple of weeks so had a bit of time on FM! Glad to see people doing well!

I resigned at Gjovik Lyn following a dispute with the board, it's quite bad as I had just put together the best side in the league by far! And under wages!

They sold my best player for 12k behind my back.

I resigned and after 42 days joined Hereford. In a transition period with them but hopefully, we can get playoffs and who knows, promotion?

[NormandyWept]

Unfortunately I did not tick 'Remove nation and league restrictions' when beginning my career for this challenge. This means I won't be able to add the European/Africa/American leagues when needed, so effort one is an automatic fail - not good!

I'll be restarting right away. At least I have found this out early.

Watchout for anyone intending to use Classic mode: even if you are only going to run 3 leagues at once, you need to tick to remove the restrictions in order to enable more/swap out existing leagues during your career.

[vikeologist]

NW - Sorry to hear that. If you're starting again, I really think that you'll be able to get plenty of top division sides to manage (if you want to) and don't have to sat off with a lower division side like Yanbian.

Of course, the possibility of promotion is nice. I'd like to get promoted once. In my vague plan I'd like to manage a large club that has found it's unexpected way into the English Championship or similar large country.

In China and South Africa I had no trouble getting jobs at the start with top division clubs, though by no means all of them entertained my application. I don't think there's any harm taking 6 months to wait for the right job to open up anyway. (of course this may be different in Classic mode).

I'm quite focussed on trying to complete this challenge as soon as possible. It might take more than a year, but I'd like to think that the club element can be done in 30-40 seasons.

My vague plan is to win the Asian and African Champions leagues in the first 10 years. Win both the Libertadores and NACL with a Mexican side within another 5 years and then head to Europe. Obviously I hope that I'll pick up some domestic league and cup wins along the way.

The key will be getting jobs at the biggest clubs in each nation/ continent. It's safe to say that Swallows are now the 2nd best side in South Africa. It's also safe to say that Kaiser Chiefs, having won the Champions League the last two seasons, are now a financial behemoth King Kong astride the Empire State Building of African football.

We are currently 1 point ahead of them having played one more game than them in the league with about 5 matches left, so we are still in with shout in the league, but I'm not optimistic. They are fairly likely to win their remaining matches.

[bollarn]

The hardest thing I found when doing these sort of challenges is in africa and china when teams easy become "bayern munich". I can do pretty good with other teams but since they are so far ahead, the only thing I can do is to wait until that club doesn't have a manager. Which can take a lot of time and sometimes you don't get the job so you have to wait it out even longer.

[vikeologist]

As ifto prove your point, Bollarn

Vikeologist's 2017/18 Swallows End of Season Report

In one of my previous posts I confidently predicted that we would finish in the top 2, and by gaining 22 points from our last 10 games, that's what should have happened. Unfortunately Orlando Pirates gained 30 points from their last 10 games (including a win against us) and overtook us leaving us in third.

This could be a problem as only the top 2 teams are guaranteed Champions league places, but if one of the three South African teams left in the CL (group stage so last 8 teams) win it (as Kaiser Chiefs have the last two years) we'll qualify again, especially if it's us that win it. (The Champions League starts and ends half way through the South African season).

Unfortunately we are probably going to have to win our last group game (against the top side in our group) so it's looking a bit dodgy.

The Guangzhou manager was sacked, so I applied for the job, had an interview but didn't get it.

No problem. I knew the Kaiser Chiefs manager was retiring at the end of the season, and was pretty confident of getting the job, or if they gave it to the Orlando Chiefs manager got it instead, settling for that job. Unfortunately they gave it to the manager from Wits. I am so fed up, and now applying for other jobs is starting to count against me and being raised in interviews as evidence of my disloyalty.

So, I'm going to stay with Swallows until the middle of the season to see how the Champions League goes, and whether I can win it. Then, unless I'm leading the league, I think I'll resign and try to find another job.

One thing in my favour though is that the new Chiefs manager has got off to a bad start, so maybe he's going to wreck the team.

Season	Team			Position	Notes										Challenge Landmarks
14/15	Swallows(South Africa)	14th		Took over after 14 (of 30)games in 16th bottom position. Dodged relegation.
15/16	Swallows		12th		South African FA Cup winner. Continental qualification.				1 domestic cup
16/17	Swallows		3rd		Champions League qualification
17/18	Swallows		3rd

[streety]

Oh go on then lets give this challenge a whirl...to go along with my 1,000 goal challenge and Dafuge challenge i have got on the go

[streety]

So my first venture into the unknown takes me to a country I have never managed in before in any version of CM/FM so after throwing my hat into the ring for every job going and doing about 7 interviews I'm the new manager of

African Warriors

Wish me luck, I feel I'm going to need it

[bollarn]

haha there you see vikeologist, I have a "pentagon challenge" save and I'm in 2026 and haven't won a single champions league... stuck in asia...

[3AtTheBack]

Can we run additional leagues? It might help with the variety of places people could manage.

If you decide to run additional leagues, you could also add the Oceania Champions League to the list of trophies needed.

[vikeologist]

Although I'd like to see people allowed to add leagues, I don't think any of the associated extra trophies should be needed, (unless the Oceania Champions League is already winnable in the game if playing in Australia without adding any leagues).

Streety - African Warriors start in the First division, so have you taken them over as a newly promoted side to the Premiership or mid-season? (They've appeared in the Premiership for my save for one season, but then quickly made their excuses and left again).

Being able to do well in the interviews is probably important for this challenge, although I don't think any of the boards that I've interviewed for were ever going to offer me the job. I wonder if age factors into it.

[streety]

Although I'd like to see people allowed to add leagues, I don't think any of the associated extra trophies should be needed, (unless the Oceania Champions League is already winnable in the game if playing in Australia without adding any leagues).

Streety - African Warriors start in the First division, so have you taken them over as a newly promoted side to the Premiership or mid-season? (They've appeared in the Premiership for my save for one season, but then quickly made their excuses and left again).

Being able to do well in the interviews is probably important for this challenge, although I don't think any of the boards that I've interviewed for were ever going to offer me the job. I wonder if age factors into it.

No I have started as the season starts???...in the first div. Do I have to sim a season for newly promoted to start???

[vikeologist]

Streety - I was just a bit surprised that you couldn't get a job in a top division, or chose not to. The first time I briefly started this challenge I got a job with Renhe. They're a fairly big club in China. As I stated, they were in a complete mess, and would probably have been relegated in the few games I had remaining, and since the club has about the fourth biggest budget of Chinese sides, the board probably wouldn't have taken that with much equanimity.

Anyway, I have news.

Vikeologist's 2018/19 Swallows I Give Up Report

Mid way through the reason I resigned. We lost to Kaiser Chiefs in the Champions League semi-final. Then, the Chiefs lost in the final, and this meant that having finished third in the league, we weren't going to have Champions League football in 2019. We were near the top of the table at Christmas, but my squad was getting older, and we just didn't have the money to sign the replacements I needed. To use the cliché, I'd taken Swallows as far as I could, so I quit, added the South Korean league, and waited to see if I could get any decent jobs elsewhere. (The answer was no. I didn't even get interviews for the Korean jobs I applied for).

In the meantime, the new manager of swallows was running the squad into the ground by selling the best two young players they had to Kaiser Chiefs, though as it turned out, that was good news.

Kaiser Chiefs went out of both the FA Cup and Champions League to top sides who they had the misfortune of drawing in very early rounds. Add to that they're only third in the league, it was goodbye to the clown they gave the job to instead of me last July.

I was instantly made the favourite to get the job. The board looked sufficiently shamefaced that I decided not to rub it in that they wouldn't be in this mess if they'd given me the job last time.

Anyway, I graciously accepted their grovelling offer to help them out, and you are reading the smug relief of the new manager of

I might not last very long. The board want me to win the title, but with only 9 games left and 7 points behind Orlando Pirates (though we have a game in hand) that's unlikely to happen. Hopefully we can at least grab second place and have Champions League football in 2020. Hopefully they won't sack me at the end of the season, though as the last managerial reign showed, they don't take disappointment well.

At least my challenge is back on track.

[streety]

vikeologist - Nah i decided to broaden my horizons and manage in a country I have never been before...

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2018/19 Kaizer Chiefs End of What Was Left Of the Season Report

As mentioned above, I took over with 9 matches left in the season, and almost no chance of catching up Orlando Pirates. That forlorn hope was killed off by being spanked in our first two matches, and I did think that I might have the shortest managerial club stay in Football manager history, but the side gradually adjusted and we won the last 4 or 5 matches of the season to secure 2nd place at the last match of the season, which ensures Champions League football in 2020.

I have lots of changes to make to the squad over the summer, getting rid of deadwood.

Season	Team			Position	Notes										Challenge Landmarks
14/15	Swallows(South Africa)	14th		Took over after 14 (of 30)games in 16th bottom position. Dodged relegation.
15/16	Swallows		12th		South African FA Cup winner. Continental qualification.				1 domestic cup
16/17	Swallows		3rd		Champions League qualification
17/18	Swallows		3rd	
18/19 	Swallows & Kaizer Chiefs2nd		Quit Swallows mid-season. Took over Kaiser Chiefs with 9 games of the season left.

Challenge Tally

1 domestic cup (and either that changes next season or my job will)

[streety]

African Warriors

So I have just finished my friendlies in which I lost one and won the 3 remaining all pretty good. Overview of the squad it is well filled out. I needed to buy a backup Goalkeeper(more on him) and a Left back as I felt the team looked fragile in that area. So the friendlies done and I was looking forward to the start of the season and then..my number 1 goalkeeper gets injured and he is out for 6-7 weeks with torn ankle ligaments:mad::mad:. Remember that backup goalkeeper I bought????...looks like he won't be so backup as first team now..

Formation wise I have gone for a simple 4-4-2 with backup formations of 4-3-3 DM Wide (I like to call a 451) and a 4-4-1-1

The board want a steady mid table finish me as always setting my sights higher. 5th or above

[Tobias Funke]

Just throwing my hat in the ring for this, starting in South Africa I had 4 interviews at second division clubs and opted for Santos FC, will post a proper update at the end of the season but so far so good with 4 wins and a draw in the first 5 games, also since they were champions of the top flight just 13 years ago I like the idea that I'm waking a sleeping giant here.

[streety]

Does anybody know what the situation with the South African First Div Playoffs is??. When's it held?

[streety]

Does anybody know what the situation with the South African First Div Playoffs is??. When's it held?

does'nt matter figured it out...

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2019/20 Kaizer Chiefs End of Season Report

We finished second in the league. We had a few bad games, but with one exception they happened in the league. We won 2 of the 3 domestic cups including the most important FA Cup, (losing to Orlando Pirates in the final of the other Cup). We've won all our Champion league matches so far. I thought at one point we might go out, as we were 4-1 down to some team in the first leg. Going out at that stage would probably have resulted in the sack, but then we scored 4 goals to win the leg and the first 6 goals in the second leg). The Champions League starts and ends midway through the domestic season, but we're top of our group in the group stage and on track to get to the final, where we're probably meet Orlando Pirates. (KC were knocked out of the CL early last year, which is why I am now the manager, and not the clown they originally gave it to before).

Oh dear. Orlando Pirates. They won the Champions League last season, and then went on the win the World Club Championship. They only lost one league game all season, and won their last 15 matches, of a 30 match season. At the moment they are a better side than us. We do however have one advantage; money. I might apply the maxim; if you can't beat them, buy them. Not of course that many Pirate players want to sign for us anyway.

The board have taken our not winning the league relatively well, but they don't give a crap about anything except the league and Champions League, so I probably need to win one of them soon.

My other big news is that I am now the manager of the China U23(Olympic) side. It's a short-term gig, and should enhance my reputation in China where I want to manage once I leave Kaizer Chiefs. I know I don't need to win the Olympics for this challenge, (which is lucky because you know, China U23, I won't).Having got the job I do wonder what would have happened if I'd applied for a job with one of the countries that might win, but as i say, this was a reputation building exercise. There are actually Champions League and Olympic matches on the same date, so I hope that doesn't result in one of my employers getting the hump.

Season    Team            Position    Notes                                        Challenge Landmarks
14/15    Swallows(South Africa)    14th        Took over after 14 (of 30)games in 16th bottom position. Dodged relegation.
15/16    Swallows        12th        South African FA Cup winner. Continental qualification.                1 domestic cup
16/17    Swallows        3rd        Champions League qualification
17/18    Swallows        3rd    
18/19     Swallows & Kaizer Chiefs2nd        Quit Swallows mid-season. Took over Kaiser Chiefs with 9 games of the season left.
19/20    Kaizer Chiefs/中国U23    2nd        Won 2 domestic cups.

Question for Let'sGetReadyTo - I presume that the 10 domestic cups need to be from 10 different countries, or at least 10 different cups. The new cup I won (Super8) is only open to the top 8 teams in the league anyway.

[vikeologist]

Does anybody know what the situation with the South African First Div Playoffs is??. When's it held?

Congratulations on getting to the playoffs. Looking forward to hearing how it went.

[streety]

African Warriors - Season Review Season 2014/15

So my adventure for greatness starts in a country I have never managed before South Africa.

Squad wise it looked pretty good, a bit of tweaking here and there and I would be set for the season. In total 6 left and 4 were bought in which i was happy with, I had a big squad as it was so even if an injury crisis did hit I was confident the team could get through it.

Formation

The team struggled with the formations that I had pre set so I reverted to a 4 - 4 - 2 which the team got hold of real quick and the results started to go in the right direction and the team were hovering in and around the top 4 which pleased me.

League Form

The League was my only focus during the season as I was getting confident that as the season wore on if the team held it position we might be in with a shot of the playoffs. By January the team was in a right royal scrap with the top 3 and I was eyeing the title form was good apart from the odd slip up by February the team went on a 7 game unbeaten run which saw us move to the top of the league by May a slip up meant we dropped to second but with 1 game and 1 point in it. Final day Final game a win would seal us the title but we needed Milano United to slip up which they had done couple of times. However

A 5-2 win over Highlands Park was never in doubt but as I nervously glanced at the table it was all going our way but 70th minute in the other game changed all that Meluti FET lost a two goal lead and Milano United won 2-5. Nothing I could do as I watched the team slip to second powerless to do anything. Snatched from the hands of victory I was handed a crushing runners up position. :mad::confused:

Honurable mentions should go to my Star stiker Yves Krizoa who apart from single handedly scored a whopping 29 goals in 34 appearances he also got Player of the season I have a real gem here

South African Cup

Did not do to well in this negotiated the preliminary round but came up against Kaiser Chiefs which ended in a 4-2 loss at home

Play - offs Mini League

I had no idea what was going to happen after the season had finished but as it happened me and Santos FC and Swallows and Polowane City went in a round robin and who ever finished top would go up. I had already decided to leave if we failed but I managed to nab top spot and gain PROMOTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Future

As I have got promoted I am staying to fight it out in the South African Premier League, but with the huge squad some of them are moaning about playing time which is being looked at and a rebuilding job will be in affect from next season. I asked if I could do a coaching badge this was denied to me because of Finances which are a mess so the team really needed the promotion. Lets just see what happens next season, I'm playing my future by here don't get me wrong I Am not looking to leave, I think next season will shape my Future more better.

History

[TABLE=class: outer_border]

[TR]

[TD]Season[/TD]

[TD]Team[/TD]

[TD]Position[/TD]

[TD]Notes[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]14/15[/TD]

[TD]African Warriors[/TD]

[TD]2nd (Play-offs)[/TD]

[TD]Gained Promotion through Play-offs Mini League (1st)[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[vikeologist]

Congrats on promotion, Streety.

I hope that your new season goes well, but if not you should be able to get a much, much better job. If like me you entertain the crazy hope of actually completing this challenge, sticking around won't actually do you much good. The day (if it happens) that I've won both the Champions League and domestic league with Kaizer Chiefs, I'm out of there. (Probably. If I'm 6 months away from a threepeat or something like that, it would be tempting to stay).

If you feel you need to leave, quitting your current post might be a good idea. IRL you would have no income and probably spend your days sitting around in sweatpants staring forlornly at your computer, but in Football Manager..... Well you'd be doing it for a much shorter period of time.

On the other hand, unless you can get a job at one of the big South African clubs, (Chiefs, Pirates, Sundowns) it might be counterproductive.

Of course, I know that everybody else probably isn't as fixated on the destination as me, and are enjoying the journey instead.

Incidentally, although I'm only about a thirtieth of the way through the challenge (in terms of silverware) I'm already up to studying for the Continental A qualification. Not that it's had much impact on my coaching stats. My best attribute is something like an 11 for attacking training, and I still have a 1 for working with youngsters, which is annoying because my season and a bit with Kaizer Chiefs has been spent weeding out the granddads who achieved everything they could before I arrived and bringing in younger hungrier players.

On the other hand, as I'm still only 25 in the game, perhaps being good at working with youngsters would be a bit creepy.

[Tobias Funke]

Already through to November 2015 having forgotten to post an end of season update but in my first season with Santos F.C. (South Africa) I got promoted in first place after a very close title race where we were joint on points as late as the penultimate game of the season! unfortunately my star striker Mpho Sitayitayi left for a South Korean side called Jeonnam on the cheap as he had an £85k release clause that I wasn't aware of which was a blow after he got 27 goals in 26 games, however he's been ably replaced with a guy called Bradley Grobler who was brought in on a free and so far has 6 in 9 which considering we're in a higher level league is a strong tally. I've also brought in a young striker called Ayanda Nkosi in on loan from Orlando Pirates who has only had 2 starts and a sub appearance thus far but has looked decent, just the one goal so far though.

In terms of league performance we're currently in 7th place after 9 games which is a solid start, thankfully the two teams at the bottom are DREADFUL with 1 and 2 points so far so we look pretty comfortable already in terms of staying up, in regards to the title challenge Sundowns, Wits and Orlando Pirates are all storming the league at the moment and are joint on 22 points, 8 points more than us, so that's gonna be tough to crack but I'd be more than happy with a top half finish considering the boards expectations were not to embarrass ourselves plus maybe I can tick off one of the 10 domestic cups in the challenge this season since I'm through to the QF in the Knockout Cup and have drawn Platinum Stars who I smashed 6-1 a couple of weeks ago.

[streety]

Cheers vikeologist , I have decided I shall fight it out in the Premiership next season in South Africa, I have let a massive 11 players go in the overall squad but only need the odd face here and there (to save whingey players). Avoid relegation is the name of the game next season. Yep think that is achievable to me.

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2020/21 Kaizer Chiefs (And China) End of Season Report

It was a very long season, but in the end fruitless. We lost in the Champions League final to Orlando Pirates in November, and finished second in the league to Orlando Pirates in May.

The Champions League defeat (we twice had a 3 goal advantage over the 2 legs, but eventually lost on away goals) was perhaps the most gutting of any match I can remember in Football Manager. I’m sure there’s been some awful penalty shootout disappointments in play off finals and the like, but in those situations there’s always next year. This time I wasn’t sure there would be a next year. I’m not paid to finish second, and we were already a long way behind Orlando Pirates in the league who had that point had won something like the last 25-30 league games in a row.

But there will be a next year, and closed the gap with Pirates from 13 to 6 points by the end of the season including thumping them in the league. I hope the tide has turned.

A part of this is my raiding the Pirates squad. Most of their top players don’t want to come to us, but I have signed their best defender for £3.5 million. (I know how sickening that figure must be to those of you managing the riff-raff in our division) along with all their most promising youngsters. It’s a duel advantage. Not only do we have good players; they don’t. Of course this means that they have a lot of money, but they’d be rich anyway. Both sides have the same problem; finding top players to spend their almost bottomless budgets on. To be fair I did spend my whole budget this year. £3.5 million will do that.

At the end of the domestic season we are currently in the group stage (last 8 teams) of the next Champions League, and headed for another final with Orlando Pirates. The most stressful part of the Champions League is actually the draw, as you can be drawn against any team up to the group stage, and I’ve been terrified of facing Orlando Pirates early on and being sacked. There are lots of good teams go out early because they’re drawn against each other.

There’s another side to my tale of the season. I mentioned in my last update that I’d become the manager of the Chinese Olympic team. (We won our first game against Ivory Coast which was unexpected, and then were thrashed by Holland and Argentina, which was less so.

At the close of the Olympics the national team manager retired, and I was given the job. From a challenge point of view I’m not actually going to win anything with China, at least not in the near future. With 3 games to go in the final qualifying group, we’re probably not going to qualify for the World Cup. We qualified for the East Asia Cup, but that’s not a challenge trophy, (and we’ll probably lose every game anyway). (Update - I was wrong. we only went and won it!!!!) However, it is good for reputation and developing knowledge of China as I’d ideally like to move to Guangzhou to manage when I leave South Africa clothed in either glory or shame. Plus there’ll be the Asian Cup at some point, and I suppose it’s possible that we could contend for that.

I think the international trophies might be the toughest part of the challenge to complete, because there’s not many job openings, so many competitions are quadrennial and you have to get a job with a country that can be a contender. I suppose it will depend how open the top nations are to having a centenarian manager. Still that’s a long way away.

Season    Team            Position    Notes                                        Challenge Landmarks
14/15    Swallows(South Africa)    14th        Took over after 14 (of 30)games in 16th bottom position. Dodged relegation.
15/16    Swallows        12th        South African FA Cup winner. Continental qualification.                1 domestic cup
16/17    Swallows        3rd        Champions League qualification
17/18    Swallows        3rd    
18/19     Swallows & Kaizer Chiefs2nd        Quit Swallows mid-season. Took over Kaiser Chiefs with 9 games of the season left
19/20    Kaizer Chiefs/ChU23    2nd        Won 2 domestic cups.
20/21    Kaizer Chiefs / China    2nd        Lost in Champions League Final on away goals

[streety]

So an injury crisis and poor performances see African Warriors drop to 13th in the SA Premiership...:o this is not going the way I wanted it too. Talk about going, I could be on my way if things don't improve.

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's 2021/22 Kaizer Chiefs (And China) End of Season Report

We won 36 matches in a row in all competitions, so it was a fairly successful season. The trouble is what bookended those 36 victories.

League - Yep. We won this fairly comfortable obviously. We obtained 85 points from a possible 90. 28 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss, and a 19 point victory cushion. We won every domestic trophy apart from the FA Cup. Our 36 match streak came to an end against Orlando Pirates in the final.

Champions League - We qualified for the semi-final with ease. Surprisingly Orlando Pirates, a team clearly in terminal decline finished 2nd in their group. Of course it didn;t matter whether we snatched the crown off them one stage earlier; except that we didn't We went 3 goals down in the first leg and lost on aggregate 4-3. It was gutting. Pirates then went on to narrowly win the final for the third time in a row against Sundowns, another South African club. (We then lost our next league game to Sundowns in the last minute, which ended up spoiling what would have been an unbeaten domestic season, after which we went on our 36 match streak.

I've played Football manager (and Champ man before that) for a long time, and I've never managed a team as dominant as Kaizer Chiefs is now, but none of this matters is we don't win the Champions League. Losing to Pirates in the FA Cup final was a bit worrying as we'll probably have to get through them to win the CL, but we thrashed them 3-0 in the last match of the season, so hopefully we won't have too much of a problem. That win against them in the last match of the season means that they only finished 3rd in the league, so if neither of us wins the CL next season, they won't even be in the CL the season after that. (This makes sense if you get the domestic and continental schedule).

Anyway, I cannot stress enough that we are currently, by a mile, the best club in Africa. Hopefully next time we can lock up the Champions League and I can head off to Asia. It's even possible that we might win the World Club championship. Orlando Pirates did, and we're a lot better now than they ever were.

Challenge Progress
1 domestic league
1 domestic cup

Obviously I have a lot of trophies now, including, and I can't believe this myself, the East Asian Cup with China, which included a victory over south korea. It didn't alter the fact that they finished top of the World Cup qualifying group, and we finished bottom. It was a ridiculously close group.

China don't have any competitive games for ages, and I can't see us winning the Asian Cup, so hopefully I will be able to get a job with a more competitive national team after the 2022 World Cup which is about to take place. I quite enjoy managing China, as it's where I usually live, but sentimentality can play no place in this challenge. After 8 seasons I'm 2/33rds of the way through the challenge. Obviously I'm in quite a good position reputation-wise and should be able to rack up the trophies fairly swiftly from now on.

On the other hand, this challenge from now on is about managing top sides, which is very different from the lower league management or developing clubs types of saves I play. I won't always get 3 years to win a domestic title before a board sacks me. I'm going to have to figure out how to hit the ground running in future. On the other hand, maybe Orlando Pirates run of 3 leagues and Champions Leagues was just a fluke.

Season    Team            Position    Notes                                        Challenge Landmarks
14/15    Swallows(South Africa)    14th        Took over after 14 (of 30)games in 16th bottom position. Dodged relegation.
15/16    Swallows        12th        South African FA Cup winner. Continental qualification.                1 domestic cup
16/17    Swallows        3rd        Champions League qualification
17/18    Swallows        3rd    
18/19     Swallows & Kaizer Chiefs2nd        Quit Swallows mid-season. Took over Kaiser Chiefs with 9 games of the season left
19/20    Kaizer Chiefs/ChU23    2nd        Won 2 domestic cups.
20/21    Kaizer Chiefs / China    2nd        Lost in Champions League Final on away goals
21/22    Kaizer Chiefs/China    1st        Lost in Champions league semi-final. Won 36 straight matches and East Asia Cup    1 domestic league

[WarroOxford]

This is a challenge that's right up my street! Normally I do realistic journeyman saves, starting off in England and moving up the career ladder in any way I see fit, as long as it doesn't set off my OCD realism goals.

But I've been wanting to try something different and manage in different countries while still working to get to the top. So this is literally perfect! Booting up FM right now and will set up my save. I've already decided I'll holiday through the first month of the save so it's not the exact same teams available.