The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge - Silver Age Archive

[streety]

@vikeologist 

I started last time in South Africa with African Warriors struggled then went to Italy where i thought i would do better but ended up messing the whole thing up.

 

 

[streety]

 

The journeys beginning!.. I have landed a job as the manager of  

 

 

[numero uno gunner]

            

Season Review 2034/35

FS Stars and USA

And so to the Gold Cup...

First up was Jamaica. I have been a little worried going into the tournament about which of my sides would turn up, but we started well enough, with a comfortable 2-0 win. Striker Kevin Borja and left winger Alan Fernandez grabbing the goals. We totally dominated the match, to the extent that Jamaica didn't even have a shot on target. A thoroughly professional job, and onwards to the second game with huge confidence, and raised expectations.

Canada, however, had completely different ideas. We were 2-0 down inside 14 minutes, with them scoring with their first two shots on target. Despite us having more possession and 20 shots, we didn't break down the stubborn Canadian defence, and suddenly the competition seemed far more open than I had originally anticipated it would be.

Canada managed to only draw their other two games in the group, which meant we went into our final group game against Guadeloupe knowing a win would ensure top shot in the group. An early goal by back up striker Brett Fleming and an own goal in first half stoppage time were enough to see us into the quarter finals. Another dominant performance, in which we didn't allow a single shot on target against us.

We faced El Salvador in the last 8, and it was a cracker of a match. Kevin Borja put us in front after 20 minutes, but we were pulled back before half time. Midfielder Omar Ramirez put us in front just after half time, before El Salvador started to attack a little more. Borja grabbed his second of the game in the 82nd minute, which should have been enough to wrap it up for us, but they pulled it back to 3-2 a couple of minutes later. As they surged forward looking for an equaliser to send us into extra time, Borja broke away and sealed the win, and his hat-trick, and the Stars and Stripes rumbled on into the semi finals.

Costa Rica awaited us in the semi finals, and I was confident with the way the team was playing so far that we were destined to reach the final, and so it came to pass. An Alan Fernandez goal put us ahead after 9 minutes, but we were pulled back by half time. Central midfielder Jon Defty managed to break free and grab a vital goal just after half time, and our defence did their bit, holding out and taking us into the final!

Our opponents in the final? Well, it could only be Mexico really, couldn't it? Now, for those of you who have recently joined, to say I've got a bit of history with Mexico would be a bit of an understatement. They remain the only team to have sacked me throughout my entire career, and the timing of it was possibly the worst I've ever seen. I was halfway through a Gold Cup campaign, having qualified for the knockout stages easily. However, because I had put my reserve squad into the Confederations Cup and been unsuccessful, they pulled the trigger. Needless to say, the desire for revenge has fuelled my term as USA boss for the past two years.

I had my players fired up from the off, and right winger Craig Bradbury grabbed the opening goal of the game just 4 minutes into the contest. Both sides had chances in the next 20 minutes, before star striker Kevin Borja doubled our lead on the 27th minute, and then trebled it 8 minutes later. At this point, I'll admit to an immense sense of smugness, and thinking the game was done. We had kept possession well, created the better chances, been clinical in front of goal, and had a 3-0 lead at half time.

However...

I have said over and over that this team has the potential to throw in an awful performance. I thought we had got that out of the way against Canada in the group stage, but my players had other ideas. Within 20 minutes of the restart, our comfortable 3 goal cushion had been reduced to just 1, with Mexico grabbing a quick double. For the rest of the half they absolutely battered us, but somehow they couldn't find another goal, and the game ended 3-2.

Winners! I had banished my horror story from two years ago, and lifted a seventh, and final, international trophy. More importantly...

CHALLENGE COMPLETED!

Club
Season        Team             Position      Notes and Achievements
2015/16      Dungannon     10th          Won Northern Irish FA Cup and kept Dungannon up after taking over with 3 games to go
2016/17      Dungannon     8th            A solid but unspectacular season
2017/18      Yiteng            8th            A settling season in China
2019           Jiangsu          1st            Won Chinese Super League and FA Cup, as well as claiming MOTY.
2020           Jiangsu          1st            Won Chinese Super League and Asian Champions League
2020/21      Aberdeen       9th            Won Scottish League Cup
2021/22      Monterrey      5th/5th      Won Opening Stage, knocked out in semis of closing stage. Won NACL.
2021/22      Salzburg        1st             Won league and cup double
2022           Corinthians    1st             Won league
2023           Corinthians    8th             Won Copa Libertadores
2024/25      Juventus        1st             Won Serie A and Italian Cup
2025/26      Juventus        2nd            Won Italian Cup
2026/27      Real Madrid    1st             Won La Liga and Spanish Cup
2027/28      Real Madrid    1st             Won La Liga and Spanish Cup

2028/29     Everton             10th          Knocked out of both cups and Europa League. Left them in 10th with 10 games to go.

2028/29     Chelsea             4th            Took over with 10 games to go and club in 8th. Won FA Cup and Champions League!

2029/30     Chelsea             1st           Won the title on the last day of the season!

2030/31    Unemployed

2031/32    Marseille          1st          Won Ligue Un and Coupe de la Ligue

2032/33   Schalke             1st           Won Bundesliga and German Cup

2033/34   FS Stars            7th          A solid if unspectacular season after joining with 12 games to go and the team in 12th.

2034/35    FS Stars           1st         Champions League winners! League Winners! SA Knockout cup winners!

Season        Team              Notes and Achievements
2016/17      Congo              Resigned without playing a game
2016/17      Cameroon       One win away from WC qualification
2017/18      Cameroon       2nd round of 2018 World Cup
2019           Cameroon        African Cup of Nations winner!
2021           Poland              An abject failure!
2022           Ireland              4 wins, 2 draws and promotion to European International League Division B
2023           Ireland              2 wins, 2 defeats from 4 qualifiers before taking Colombia job
2024/25      Colombia        Currently top of WC qualifying and ranked 4th in the world
2026           Colombia         World Cup winners!
2027           Colombia         Copa America winners!
2028           Italy                  European Championship winners!

2029           Italy                  Confederations Cup winners!

2030          Italy                   Knocked out of World Cup in group stage!

2031         South Korea     Asian Cup winners! 

2032         Mexico              World Cup qualification is going well

2033         Mexico              World Cup qualification is still going well, and I'm gearing up for the Gold Cup. Incredibly, I was sacked midway through the Gold Cup!

2034        USA                   Knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages and we've been all over the place since.

2035        USA                   Gold Cup winners!

 

Challenge Progress

Club

10/10 top domestic leagues - China (Jiangsu), Mexico (Monterrey), Austria (Salzburg), Brazil (Corinthians), Italy (Juventus), Spain (Real Madrid), England (Chelsea), France (Marseille), Germany (Schalke), South Africa (FS Stars)

10/10 domestic cups - Northern Ireland (Dungannon), China (Jiangsu), Scotland (Aberdeen), Austria (Salzburg), Italy (Juventus x 2), Spain (Real Madrid), England (Chelsea), France (Marseille), Germany (Schalke), South Africa (FS Stars)

5/5 club continental championships - ACL (Jiangsu), NACL (Monterrey), Copa Libertadores (Corinthians), Uefa Champions League (Chelsea), African Champions League (FS Stars)

1/1 club world championship - Chelsea 2029

International

5/5 continental tournaments - ACON (Cameroon 2019), Copa America (Colombia 2027), European Championships (Italy 2028), Asian Nations Cup (South Korea 2031), Gold Cup (USA 2035)

2/2 world tournaments - World Cup (Colombia 2026), Confederations Cup (Italy 2029)

 

And that, as they say, was that. I shall get round to doing a proper career round up at some point shortly, thinking about my best challenge XI, key turning points, highlights and lowlights, and helpful hints and tips (if that's allowed?).

So many of you have made excellent starts on this year's edition. I'll also get round to commenting on people's saves soon enough too!

[vikeologist]

@numero uno gunner Congratulations. That's a record that I don't think will be bettered any time soon. I'm delighted for you, and to finish it off against Mexico must have been sweet. I've added you to the Hall of Fame.

 

Edited November 9, 2016 by vikeologist

[Fadedaf]

@TheEarl congrats on the title! I actually set up a senior affiliate with Nordsjaelland with Royal Eagles and currently have one of their regens on loan who's playing striker for me!

also great work @numero uno gunner sounds like an incredible final tournament!

Edited November 9, 2016 by Fadedaf

[TheEarl]

Congrats @numero uno gunner really amazing career!!!

[JoeLapira]

@numero uno gunner; Congratulations 

[Fadedaf]

Royal Eagles Season 2019/20

Thats right... I have not yet left Royal Eagles despite my best efforts. Anyways here's the season review:

Super 8 Cup- Knocked out in the first round yet again. Still don't care about this competition so whatever.

KO Cup- Made it all the way to a third straight final and this time we got the win, smashing Sundowns 5-1 in the final.

South African FA Cup- Another great cup run here and once we made it to the semi finals we were the only top division team left! unfortunately I have a bad habit of losing cup ties against lower league opposition... but we kept it together this time beating Thanda Royal Zulu then Santos FC in the final. Double cup winners!

League- We lost our first game and I was expecting our traditional slow start however once we were knocked out of the CL and I wasn't keen on staying at the club my players all kicked it up a notch and we pulled off no less than 14 wins in a row and 21 games undefeated overall. We ended up sitting in first for most of the year despite having games in hand and we sewed up the title with 2 weeks to go pretty comfortably. Treble winners!

Champions League- We got through our group easily with 5 wins and a loss from the 6 games, but drew Kaiser Chiefs in the Semi finals who are probably the only team in Africa we regularly struggle to beat. We lost both legs 2-1, hitting the woodwork 3 times and receiving 1 red card. INcredibly disappointing result that made me really question whether I wanted to leave South Africa. I decided I did however i have been unable to so far and I'm already half way through another CL. We got through the 3 qualifying rounds easily, smashing a few central African teams before being drawn in a group with Stade Malien, ES Sahel and....... Kaiser Chiefs. We've so far won our first game against Stade Malien and actually got a win against Kaiser Chiefs at home! this leaves me cautiously optimistic for this competition should I end up staying until its end.

Best Players- honestly a great team effort across the board, especially with some of our youth prospects coming through and getting significant game time and doing really well. Must give a special mention to Jeef Kayembe (32 goals, 7 assists, 6 POM) who managed to get third place as the African striker of the year behind Aubemeyang from Dortmund and another extremely highly paid dude in Europe.

International- mixed results with Cameroon before I switched to Algeria as they had better players and suited my 4-4-2 better (they have 2 players from Leicester, the kings of 4-4-2!). I ended up resigning after just 2 games however in which we performed pretty terribly, in the hope that i'd have a better chance of getting a club job. So far 1 interview and 0 offers so I don't think that was a success.

Results Results 2

Overall I cared very little how the season went, as I was constantly applying for jobs and trying to leave, however none of them took me and we ended up doing essentially as well as we possibly could have. My best season at Royal Eagles as it turns out and i'm proud of the squad for how they've done. My reputation is up to 40% now and i have my Continental A license, studying for Continental Pro. I'm currently up for the managerial vacancies at essentially every club in Serie A as well as a few others but due to the extreme amount of rejection i've gotten in the past year i'm not incredibly confident! If I don't get a job I suppose i'll stick around and try to win the CL with Royal Eagles again, but I think there's still a high chance of that being foiled at the hands of Kaiser Chiefs.

Season       Team             Position         Champs League       Notes and Achievements     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17      Royal Eagles     2nd                  -               Promoted to South African Premier League
2017/18      Royal Eagles     1st                  -               KO Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2018/19      Royal Eagles     2nd                  -               FA Cup runners up, CL qualification, CL ongoing
2019/20      Royal Eagles     1st              Semi Final          KO Cup winners, FA Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification

Challenge Progress

Club
 1/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles)
 1/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles)
 0/5 club continental championships 
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments 

International:
Season       Team             Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2018        China U23         Won Asian Games
2019        Cameroon          Started ACON qualification, switched to Algeria
2019        Algeria           Resigned after 2 games

 

 

[Fadedaf]

Time for another provisional challenge XI, I think the last one was a bit heavy on the stats so I think for this one I'll just describe the player and their contribution and only include any particularly outstanding stats. 

Goalkeeper- Muhammad Nashnoush (Royal Eagles). Great name, pretty solid keeper too. Libyan international who's been undisputed number 1 for 2 seasons now

Left back- Junior Sibande (Royal Eagles). Has had a few injury problems but has been solid at fullback for a few seasons straight.

Centre Back- Gladwin Shitolo (Royal Eagles). Made 91 appearances before leaving to a big salary in China last season. Was a key defender since the first season and was one of my first transfers. We've definitely been missing him.

Centre Back- Keanu Cupido (Royal Eagles). Has come of age this season, winning his first caps for South Africa and cementing his place in the starting XI. Is currently rated as the best player in our team by the coaching staff at age 21 with plenty of room to improve. 

Right Back- Ayoub El-Khaliqi (Royal Eagles). Moroccan fullback who's been at the core of the defence for ages. Starting to feel the effects of his age though and is retiring at the end of the season.

Right Midfield- Felix Obada (Royal Eagles). Nigerian wide man who's been ever present since my first season. Has another quality youth prospect snapping at his heels but he keeps his starting spot.... for now.

Central Midfield- Makuntima Kisombe (Royal Eagles). 1 cap for Congo, very impressive performances for a year and a half now.

 Central Midfield- Eudes Dagoulou (Royal Eagles). Central African Republic international who just edges out one of our new signings due to his contributions over multiple seasons. Great goalscoring midfielder (goal of the season winner).

Left Midfield- Denver Mukamba (Royal Eagles). Zimbabwean wide man who seized this starting spot from Serge Kouakou this season as he proceeded to win Player of the season and Player's Player in the league this season.

Striker- Jeef Kayembe (Royal Eagles). So far my most prolific striker with 73 goals under my management. Won 3rd place African striker of the year. Once scored 6 goals in a match.

Striker- Lucky Mathosi (Royal Eagles). Jeef's long-term partner who is decent but not quite as good. has been replaced this season by a highly rated Malian youngster so we will see if he keeps this spot for long.

 

[JoeLapira]

Here's my own Challenge XI, this is for club level only as I will be doing a separate one for International players:

GK: Boalefa Pule(Swallows) - Heroics in 2 shootouts helped secure my first Challenge Trophy.

RB: Lee Joo-Yong(Busan) - Key player in ACL winning team. 2 goals and 5 assists in the ACL alone.
CB: Cakarevic(Dortmund) - 17 years of age, 35 games with an average rating of 7.78. 
CB: McGreever(Berwick) - Captained my Berwick side 3 years in a row and only missed 2 league games.
LB: Alex Telles(Roma) - Always reliable, played every single game for me at Roma.

RM: Everson Felipe(Dortmund) - 24 assists and 11 goals, best set piece taker that i've managed. 
CM: Florenzi(Roma) - Most important player for me at Roma, played in several positions and never let me down.
CM: Mason(Vancouver) - Key player during the NACL winning campaign with Vancouver.
LM: Cuneyt Kacar(Dortmund) - 23 assists and 18 goals, tore so many right backs to pieces.

CF: Joao Afonso(Dortmund) 40 goals in 48 apps, 11 goals in the CL, 3 in the final.
CF: Gens Luis(Real Madrid) 41 goals in 43 appearences. Best player i've managed.

[streety]

Season Review 2016 FC Gute

 

 

Joining my first club in this challenge just after the halfway point in the season was not ideal..but that was the hand I was dealt.

 

Manager Profile

The team

Looking at the team it was not much a few decent looking players but nothing to shout about. The previous manager seemed to like a defensive 4-2-2-2 formation which I quickly scraped for my own tactic which they didn’t take to  and the 4-2-2-2  there was little or no chances being created. Im still playing about with formations and the team seem to like a 4-3-3 so a bit of tweaking and I might have my formation set…he thinks?

 

The formation going forward into next season perhaps?

 

The League

 

The league oh the league I had hoped we could be scraping near the top but this season was straight up survival I will take some of the blame with messing with tactics but the club has majorly under-performed finishing 8th predicted 3rd and not securing our league status till the third game from the finish. I was worried it could be an early sacking for me..and I'm still not convinced..Watch this space.

 

Disappointing in the League..must do better!

 

Overall

If I was to grade my time in charge out of 10?..6 maybe a 5 but over the winter break the squad is going to be looked at a few outgoings (including my no 1 goalkeeper..doh) The recruitment drive will be in full swing and my scouts will be busy beavers. The finances are in a poor state so its freebies all the way. Just hope i can keep hold of my few good players for next season Especially Marcus Kettler 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 9, 2016 by streety

[vikeologist]

Vikeologist's Nigeria 2021 African Cup Report

Group Stage

Vs Uganda 4-0

Vs Ivory Coast 3-1

Vs Zambia 2-1

 

A fairly comfortable group stage. The big result was the win against hosts and top-seeded Ivory Coast.

 

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Vs Senegal 1-3 A total shocker. We scored first, and looked the better team for most of the first half, but Senegal got a quick-fire double, and we couldn’t break them down after that. We are out. I’m a bit disappointed, because I hoped to replicate my good start at club level. However, I’ve had so many international disasters, particularly in this tournament, that I kind of expect it. Particularly disappointed by my striker who's supposedly the best African player. Ihenacho or something. Did nothing.

Semi Final (if applicable)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

3^rd Place Playoff (if applicable)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Final (if applicable)

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

After The Tournament

Spoiler

Unsurprisingly I was sacked. I’d probably have tried to get one of the other jobs made vacant by sackings anyway. I applied for DR Congo, South Africa and Ivory Coast. DR Congo were the first to offer me the job. They’re ranked in 20^th, seem to have some wingers and the vast majority of the squad are under 30, These are the things I look at in the absence of more helpful information. What do the rest of you take into account?

 

 

 

[numero uno gunner]

Thanks for the kind words guys. Its been a fantastic challenge to be a part of, and I'm so glad I managed to complete it!

So, here's the first of a few posts now I've reached the end of the challenge. This one is focused on my all-time Challenge XI.

GK – Oscar Cinque (Marseille and Schalke) 12 clean sheets in 13 games as part of a fantastic run to seal the title at Marseille, and he kept that level of consistency up when he joined me in Germany the following season. He was utterly magnificent. Pietro Cerruti (Real Madrid and Italy) runs him close, but ultimately Cinque gets the nod.

DR – Zhao Honglue (Jiangsu) A solid DR, and one who offered double figures in assists in both seasons at Jiangsu. I've not really had any utterly outstanding right backs in this save, so I've gone for Honglue as he contributed well at both ends of the pitch in our Champions League-winning season.

DC – Ivo Comte (Marseille and Schalke) Comfortably the best centre back I've managed in this save. He was so good, I bought him twice. At Marseille, he had an average rating for the season of 7.53, which for a centre back is fantastic.

DC – Felice Cherubini (Italy and Schalke) Whilst he was solid for me when I was managing Italy, its his performances for me at Schalke which have earned him his place in this team. An average rating of 7.59 as we raced to the Bundesliga title definitely helped his cause.

DL – Guillherme Arana (Corinthians, Real Madrid, Everton) The only player to have played for me at three separate clubs. He was utterly phenomenal for a left back, providing complete defensive stability and offensive creativity, especially as part of an excellent Real Madrid team. Whilst he might not have been the first name on this team sheet, he was the easiest pick in terms of having no real competition, as he was that far ahead of everyone else.

MCa – Fabricio Oya (Corinthians and Schalke) Class. Its the one word that sums Oya up. At Corinthians, he pretty much played every game for me, and considering the ridiculous number of games they play in Brazil every season, that's a magnificent achievement. I couldn't believe it when I was able to bring him to Schalke on a free. Yes, he was getting on a bit, but you don't lose the sort of class he had.

MCd – Otavio Augusto (Real Madrid) The best defensive midfielder I have ever managed. At one point, he was the highest valued player in the world. For a defensive midfielder. That's how good this lad was. I wish I could have brought him to all of my clubs, but, quite simply, I couldn't afford him.

AMR – Ryan Babel (Jiangsu). One of the closest run positions in my team, with several great options, including Sebastian (Schalke) who got 16 goals and 16 assists in 33 games, and Marko Pjaca (Juventus) who pretty much carried my team for several months during Dybala's injury absence. However, I've opted for Babel. He got 20 goals and 14 assists, as well as winning Player of the Year as we went on to dominate in China. That said, my main reason for choosing him is because he showed me that I was going to be able to do well in this challenge. I'd never really managed outside Europe before, let alone in Asia, and thought I'd struggle, but his performances dragged my side to a completely unexpected continental trophy.

AMC - Cizao (Juventus). Strangely, I've never really had any exceptional AMCs throughout this career. Alex Texeira (Jiangsu) did well for me, but his memory is a little tarnished by the fact that he threw his toys out of the pram and refused to sign a new contract for months on end. As such, I've gone for Cizao, who provided plenty of assists for my Juventus strikers during my two seasons in Italy.

AML – Juaquin Cuellar (Colombia and Real Madrid) With 6 medals (2 titles, 2 cups, Copa America and WC!) and 25 goals in a season from midfield, he had to be in this team. He's probably my favourite ever player from this save, and considering some of the talent I've managed, that's a huge statement. Utter class. That said, he was run mightily close by Gian Fillippo Felicioli, who scored in every knockout game for Italy as we won the Euros, and scored a double in the final of the Confederations Cup.

ST –  Jean-Claude Laurent (Chelsea) gets the nod, despite not being the best striker I've ever managed, or having the best goal to game ratio. Gabin Mercier (Marseille) got 34 goals in 35 games, Carlos Salazar (Monterrey) was a Mexican goal machine, and Burak Strutz (Real Madrid) netted 37 goals in a double-winning season. Yet despite all of those, I've gone for Laurent. Why? Quite simple really: he scored the crucial goals throughout my run to land the Uefa Champions League at the fifth attempt. I was getting to the point where I thought I might never win it, and so anyone who contributed the way he did was always likely to feature here.

[vikeologist]

I'm having a problem with removing a nation; Sweden. The nation simply won't be removed. On the day the league is supposed to disappear, it reverts to the following year.

Has anybody else had this kind of problem?

I guess most players don't add and remove leagues as often as we do, but maybe I am the only person experiencing this.

If anybody also has this problem, could you log it here

[Fadedaf]

I've just been knocked out of the Champions League again... even more disappointing than last time. I thought I hated Kaiser Chiefs before but I *REALLY* hate them now. Is it any easier to get a job elsewhere if you resign? because i'm 100% sure I want out of South Africa now

[vikeologist]

42 minutes ago, Fadedaf said:

I've just been knocked out of the Champions League again... even more disappointing than last time. I thought I hated Kaiser Chiefs before but I *REALLY* hate them now. Is it any easier to get a job elsewhere if you resign? because i'm 100% sure I want out of South Africa now

My belief is that the killer for getting another job is being and international manager, (not whether you've resigned from a job). Anyway, you've been with RE for 4 seasons. You've never resigned from a club job before. You've won a few things. I think resigning shouldn't do you any harm. Anyway, if you really are that keen to get out, you kind of have to.

 

This challenge takes so long, you can't let it make you miserable; at least not until the end when it can be a real slog or heartbreak. This early, my advice is to do what keeps you happy / sane.

 

Incidentally, we've been awarded 5 penalties in our first 4 competitive games. It was bad enough when I lost 6 of my players in the last Olympics Football Tournament. At this rate the other half of my squad will be in the Korean Diving team.

I'm being unfair actually. Our opposition have 2 choices at the moment; let us score at will, or assault our players in the penalty area.

Still, can you imagine if it was the other way round, and we'd had 5 penalties given against us in that time. I'd be on GD frothing at the mouth.

Edited November 10, 2016 by vikeologist

[Fadedaf]

@vikeologist yeah i think i'll resign after the Super 8 cup final.. one last chance to get back at Kaiser Chiefs. but yeah I don't think i can go anywhere further with RE, so hopefully someone gives me a job. I've only managed 2 interviews and 0 offers in the last year and a half of constant applying for jobs.

[TheEarl]

@vikeologist (and all other users here for that matter.) I was checking the regulations in post 3, as I am playing in Mexico at the moment. I was pretty sure I remembered correctly and I did that both the Opening Stage and Closing Stage counts. And its of course the Play-Off you need to win, not necessarily be number 1 in the league table right?

But my real question here is about MLS it doesn't concern me right now, and probably won't if I succeed in Mexico. But I read that the Canadian Championship doesn't count for anything. So lets say you manage Montreal Impact, you can only win domestic league and continental and CWC, but shouldn't the Canadian Championship count as a domestic cup? Just that you win the Canadian side of domestic cup and not for US? (Or am I missing something obvious here?) Just thought most managers wouldn't do that and then go on to lets say LA Galaxy just to win the US Open Cup with them (though in my mind that would be cool hehe)

Any thoughts or comments...

Edited November 10, 2016 by TheEarl

[JoeLapira]

@TheEarl; I had that Canadian Cup problem in my save. I took over the Vancouver Whitecaps without knowing there was even a seperate Cup competition for the Canadian sides. I won the MLS and the NACL with them anyway so im not really that bothered. Personally i dont think it should count as the MLS sides go straight into the Semis, so 2 wins and you have a cup towards the Challenge. Wouldnt that be too easy?

As for Mexico, my understanding is that either the Opening and Closing stages count, as long as you win the playoffs in the end.

 

[JoeLapira]

Also, @Fadedaf; i would resign from the Eagles. Potential employers might be put off when they have to pay compensation to get ya. As you say yourself, you've taken them as fae as you can, its time for a new chapter. 

[TheEarl]

5 minutes ago, JoeLapira said:

@TheEarl; I had that Canadian Cup problem in my save. I took over the Vancouver Whitecaps without knowing there was even a seperate Cup competition for the Canadian sides. I won the MLS and the NACL with them anyway so im not really that bothered. Personally i dont think it should count as the MLS sides go straight into the Semis, so 2 wins and you have a cup towards the Challenge. Wouldnt that be too easy?

As for Mexico, my understanding is that either the Opening and Closing stages count, as long as you win the playoffs in the end.

 

OK! @JoeLapira I didn't know that the teams enter that late. Just 2 games is maybe a bit easy. Just from all the competitions won by managers in this challenge, it would be cool if we had the Canadian Cup up on the board as well.

[JoeLapira]

If i recall there's only 5 teams in the Competition, the 3 MLS sides are straight into the Semis while 2 other sides are in a preliminary round to see who's the 4th team in the Semis. But look if people wanna include as a Cup id have no problem claiming it as my 6th Cup 

[vikeologist]

The reasons I don't think that the Canadian Championship should count are

a) because it's not the cup of the nation (USA)

b) it gets too far away from the notion that the cups should be ones that all the top division sides can enter.

So why do we allow the cups in Mexico, USA and Australia, (I'm not sure if Wellington Phoenix is still excluded in Australia).

In these nations there is no eligible cup, so we made a decision to count the one that most fits with the idea.

 

As for Mexico, to be clear, for the league title, all you have to do is win the playoff thing at the end. You don't have to win the league stage, and winning this stage in and off itself is not a challenge achievement. There are indeed 2 chances a year to win it.

Of course things change in the leagues every year in terms of rules and competitions, so if there are any relevant changes in Mexico or anywhere else, please let me know. Basically in the tournament history there are a list of past winners, and if your team appears in that list, it counts.

[TheEarl]

7 hours ago, vikeologist said:

The reasons I don't think that the Canadian Championship should count are

a) because it's not the cup of the nation (USA)

b) it gets too far away from the notion that the cups should be ones that all the top division sides can enter.

So why do we allow the cups in Mexico, USA and Australia, (I'm not sure if Wellington Phoenix is still excluded in Australia).

In these nations there is no eligible cup, so we made a decision to count the one that most fits with the idea.

 

As for Mexico, to be clear, for the league title, all you have to do is win the playoff thing at the end. You don't have to win the league stage, and winning this stage in and off itself is not a challenge achievement. There are indeed 2 chances a year to win it.

Of course things change in the leagues every year in terms of rules and competitions, so if there are any relevant changes in Mexico or anywhere else, please let me know. Basically in the tournament history there are a list of past winners, and if your team appears in that list, it counts.

I didn't remember how few teams that participate in Canada, so I totally agree now that it shouldn't count. 

If there is any changes to structures/rules I will post as soon as I notice of course, but Mexico looks like before.

[TheEarl]

The Earls Ultimate Quest (FM17)

Cruz Azul (Mexican Liga Bancomer MX 2022/23) and Ecuador (Copa America 2023)

 

When I came to Cruz Azul, it was literary an empty club. It was just me and the chairman, and thank god some decent players. I had to sign all other staff members and got a few decent ones. Player wise we had some amazing talented players, most of them only around 18-19 years old. I signed a few my self, most notably an 18 year old Colombian midfielder named Fabian Abril. The club had already landed a striker on loan from PSG, Christian Gaxiola an amazing 19 year old Mexican striker. I was really excited about this squad. The transfer window was soon over, so after a few signings I had to move on to actually playing the games. I soon found out there was too few Mexican born players, and I struggled really all season with registering 8 Mexicans to all matches (except Champions League)

The season started badly with only 1 win and 2 losses from the first 3 league games. (I won the Champions Trophy which is not part of our challenge). I soon found out that the team was really good at home, but struggled away. The league was close though, so in the end we finished top of the table in Apertura (Opening) Stage with 38 points from 17 games, the same as Tigre's but with better goal difference. We got Pachuca in the Quarter Final of the play-off. They finished 8th in the league, but was somewhat our bogey team. We had one of those awful away  games, and lost 1-6. Home game was not nearly close to save us, we won only 2-1 and lost 3-7 on aggregate.

For the Clausura (Closing) Stage I didn't bother too much about the league matches. We played 2 games a week, if not three. It would all come down to the Play Offs anyway. We took 37 points this time, 1 point less than Pachuca and finished second. We then played Pumas in the Quarter Final, and once again lost away by 1-2. This time we had what it takes to turn it around for a 3-0 win at home and 4-2 on aggregate. Opponents in the Semi Final would be Deportivo Toluca. I felt really happy and thought this would be easy. Thats when our disastrous away form hit again, and we lost 1-4 away. In the home game we played all out attack and took an early 2-0 lead. Then one of our defenders got sent off with 60 minutes to go. Toluca reduced to 2-1 and I felt the game slip away. But goals in the 85th minute, 89th minute and 2 minutes into stoppage time salvaged a 5-1 win at home and 6-5 on aggregate. CF Monterrey was our opponents in the Final, by far the richest team in the division, but they had never bothered us in previous games. They couldn't in the Final either as we won 2-0 away and 3-2 at home for a 5-2 win on aggregate. League winners on the final day of the season!!!

I was really happy that the team was part of Champions League in North America as well. It meant I had a chance to "wrap up the continent" in one season. For the Group Stage we got teams from Nicaragua and Panama. It was 4 straight easy wins with rotated squad and scored 30 goals conceded 2. For the Quarter Final there where 4 Mexican teams, 3 US teams and 1 team from Costa Rica. We got Alajuelense from Costa Rica. Once again easy wins 4-1 away and 5-0 at home. In the Semi Final we faced Seattle Sounders and we lost 1-2 away (really never found that away form!) , at home we won 2-1 and the game went to Extra Time. In the away game we missed Christian Gaxiola due to injury. In the home game he was slightly fit and sat on the bench. I brought him on for the Extra Time, and the guy banged in 2 goals for a 4-1 win and 5-3 on aggregate. In the Final we played LA Galaxy. This was more straight forward as we won 4-2 away and 3-0 at home for a 7-2 aggregate win. So both league and CL winners!

I always felt a bit strange winning a title without winning the league, I lost out in the Apertura when the league stage was won, but then won the Clausura when we only finished second in the league stage. However I feel it was "acceptable" given that we where the best team overall in the season. If it was a 34 games straight season we would have won on 75 points with Monterrey on 68 points in second.

Early in 2023 I took over Ecuador as well. They would play Copa America as host nation. Really the team was not nearly good enough, but sometimes you can see an upset especially in Copa America I feel. We where handed an "easy" group with Peru, USA-B and Bolivia as host nation. We lost to Peru, drew against USA-B and won marginally against Bolivia. This was enough for second place, and we got Chile in the Quarter Final. We got smashed so hard by the Chileans I never even felt the pain, 1-6 and bang out of the tournament. I resigned from the job, as I was unsure if the Ecuador position would keep me from other jobs.

After the season I had an interview with Basel, and really felt like going to Switzerland as I have never managed there in my entire FM career, but I never got the answer as I also had an interview with Saint Etienne. The french club approached me first and I didn't dare to wait them out. So France here I come!!!

CLUB CAREER

Season     Club			Pos	DC1	DC2	Cont	Notes & Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016   Unemployed			n/a   n/a	n/a	n/a	No job until after season finished.
2017   Dalian Yifang (CHI)	1st	R.2	n/a	n/a	Winner of First Division and promoted to Super League.
2018   Dalian Yifang (CHI)	2nd	QF	n/a	n/a	Qualified for Asian Champions League.
2019   Dalian Yifang (CHI)	1st	WIN	n/a	WIN	Amazing Treble season, but lost Super Cup.
2020	 Unemployed			n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	No club for around 1,5 years.
2020/21 Nordsjælland (DEN)	7th	n/a	n/a	n/a 	Took over 3 games from end, lost Euro places play-off.
2021/22 Nordsjælland (DEN)	1st	WIN	n/a	n/a	The Double!!
2022/23	Cruz Azul (MEX)		1st	n/a	n/a	WIN	Only Quarter Finale in Apertura, but won Clausura. CL Winner!
	
INTERNATIONAL CAREER

Year	Nation        	WC     	Cont.  Conf.  	Notes & Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019	DR Congo		n/a		n/a	n/a		Took over at 22nd in the World Rankings.	
2020	DR Congo		n/a		2nd	n/a		Qualified for ACON, finalist in CHAN.
2021	DR Congo		n/a		WIN	n/a		Won ACON, and 
then resigned to get a club job.
2023 Ecuador		n/a		Q.F	n/a		Lost 1-6 to Chile in Quarter Final of Copa America, resigned.

Challenge Landmarks
Club
3/10 top domestic leagues (China 2019 with Dalian Yifang, Denmark 2021/22 with Nordsjælland, Mexico 2022/23 with Cruz Azul)
2/10 domestic cups (China 2019 with Dalian Yifang, Denmark 2021/22 with Nordsjælland)
2/5 club continental championships (Asia 2019 with Dalian Yifang, North America 2022/23 with Cruz Azul)
0/1 club world championship


International
1/5 continental tournaments (Africa 2021 with DR Congo)
0/2 world tournaments (World Cup)

8/33 Total

Best Eleven

Formation 4-3-3
Goalkeeper:
Wang Dalei (China) - Dalian Yifang - Steady goalkeeper for 2 Super League seasons, winning the treble - 63 appearances.
Right Back:
Herve Ndonga (DR Congo) - DR Congo - Star right back at DR Congo winning ACON - 16 caps.
Central Defenders:
Marcel Tisserand (DR Congo) - DR Congo - Strong centreback scoring goals from set pieces, winning ACON - 17 caps 3 goals.
Yu Yang (China) - Dalian Yifang - One of few players to play all 3 seasons with Yifang - 101 appearances 1 goal.
Left Back:
Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo) - DR Congo - Star left back winning ACON - 18 caps 2 goals.
Central Midfielders:
Fabian Abril (Colombia) – Cruz Azul – Amazing youngster who blends everyone with his skills at Cruz Azul – 46 appearances 5 goals.
Youssouf Mulumbu (DR Congo) - DR Congo - Former Premier League player also won ACON - 19 caps 3 goals.
Cui Ming'an (China) - Dalian Yifang - Another player who played all 3 season at Dalian - 81 appearances 5 goals.
Strikers:
Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo) - DR Congo - Star striker who cost Liverpool over 50M pound ACON winner - 20 apps 23 goals.
Markus Ingvartsen (Denmark) – Nordsjælland – Star striker winning the double in Denmark - 50 appearances 42 goals.
Christian Gaxiola (Mexico) – Cruz Azul – The Goalmachine shoot us to league and CL victory - 44 appearances 52 goals.

 

[Fadedaf]

Royal Eagles 2020 Mid-season Report

Thought i'd do an update as i've finally managed to leave Royal Eagles! I kept on applying for jobs and even added in a few new leagues to improve my chances of getting a job. I never ended up resigning from the Eagles, but ramped up my job application efforts. When the Norwegian league came online I applied for all of the jobs available but wasn't too confident as i'd done the same with the Swedish league and got not a single interview! however, for some reason the Norwegians really liked me and i was eventually offered some jobs. As it tuns out... i was offered the head job at every club in the league. This meant the tough decision over who I should take over, and I narrowed it down to the top 2 or 3 before deciding on Molde FK. They have a pretty decent squad, good facilities and pretty good finances. They had no staff initially so I brought 4 or 5 of my Royal Eagles staff with me as well as hiring a few more in the first few days. Anyways here's a quick update of the half season I completed at R.E. before heading off.

League- Mixed results initially but we came good after a few weeks and we were sitting in 2nd, 4 points off Supersport United in first place. I am sure i could have finished in the top 2 by the end of the season so we shall see how my successor does.

Super 8 Cup- For once we actually won a game in this competition, and then a second. We made it to the final against my arch-nemesis Kaiser Chiefs and played out one of the most ridiculous games i've seen so far (Final result). We were 5-4 up in the 111th minute and we still lost. I mean, I don't particularly care about this competition but I really wanted to win it to get one over Kaiser CHiefs, so it was still disappointing.

KO Cup- This seems to be our specialty as we narrowly won game after game to send us to a fourth successive final. We won it 1-0 with a goal in the 119th minute from super-sub Serge Kouakou. So a third KO Cup title for Royal Eagles, not bad! and a good way to finish up my 4.5 season career there.

Champions League- After a great start we only just qualified from our group in second place behind guess who... Kaiser Chiefs. We drew Raja Casablanca in the semi final and I knew we had the potential to beat them. Unfortunately a few things immediately went against us. We had finally found an absolutely lethal strike partnership in Jeef kayembe and Malian wonderkid Aboubacar Tandia for probably the first time in this career, they were absolutely destroying defences. This lasted for about 5 games however... as Jeef Kayembe, after scoring 5 goals in a match and receiving a perfect 10.0 rating immediately got tendonitis and was out for 8 months. Then, Kaiser Chiefs (of course) decided to meet the release clause for Tandia and so off he went as well, and immediately scored twice against us for them in the following game. We also had the release clause met for our best centre back Keanu Cupido by a European club so we lost him too. We then suffered long term injuries to 3 other first team players including a fullback named Maurice Sery who I had just pulled off an absolute coup in signing and was rated 5 stars by my backroom staff (and also my scouts at Molde! although he doesn't want to come to Norway). So we went from an exciting, talent-filled side in the group stages to an absolute shambles by the time the semis started. The first leg was a 0-0 draw at home in which we hit the woodwork twice and received a red card, then we lost the second eg very, very narrowly 3-2 late on. I was absolutely shattered that we couldn't go further in this competition as I thought we had a great chance of winning it with our squad at the start of the season. Anyways, I'll be back someday to win it!

Overall mixed feelings as I left R.E. but I'm excited to see what I can do at Molde.

 

Season       Team             Position         Champs League       Notes and Achievements     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17      Royal Eagles     2nd                  -               Promoted to South African Premier League
2017/18      Royal Eagles     1st                  -               KO Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2018/19      Royal Eagles     2nd                  -               FA Cup runners up, CL qualification, CL ongoing
2019/20      Royal Eagles     1st              Semi Final          KO Cup winners, FA Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2020/21      Royal Eagles     --               Semi Final          KO Cup winners, Super 8 runners up, left halfway through the season for Molde


Challenge Progress

Club
 1/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles)
 1/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles)
 0/5 club continental championships 
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments 

International:
Season       Team             Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2018        China U23         Won Asian Games
2019        Cameroon          Started ACON qualification, switched to Algeria
2019        Algeria           Resigned after 2 games

 

 

 

[RSByt]

Created my save and my manager, I just need to find someone stupid willing enough to take on a 19 year old Australian with virtually no experience!

Loaded up Spain, Italy, France, Germany, England, Australia, South Korea, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico, although the first five are View-Only for the time being, I want a tougher challenge...

Will edit when I have found myself a job. Just going to apply like mad and take whatever I feel is right!

EDIT: I have taken the job at Santos F.C. in South Africa, they have a much larger transfer budget but with similar expectations to every other club that offered me an interview. I was surprised that I was able to get a job this early.

Edited November 11, 2016 by RSByt
Extra information, centering an image

[JoeLapira]

2028/29 Season Review

Chelsea

League

So having taken over Chelsea with 20 games left in the season, but a massive 17 points behind City, my plan for this season was to focus on the FA Cup and use the league to assess the squad and see what I needed to win the league next season. But a small glimmer of hope appeared after our 3rd game which happened to be a win over City, this was our 3rd win a row and for City it was their 3rd defeat. So now we were only points behind City with 17 games left. Could it be done? Having only suffered 1 defeat and a couple of draws in our next 14 games we were in with a shout. By this stage United were on top 4 points clear of us in 3rd with City in the middle. All 3 of us won our 2 next games but in the second last game, it all changed. City and United both lost and we won, meaning we went in the last game with a shot for the title. We were away to Villa, while United were at home to QPR and City were away to Sheffield United. We went into the game without our 2 first choice strikers but at least we had a fighting chance. The final game was the most nerve racking game of this save. Come half time we were 2-1 up, City being held and most importantly United were 3-1 down. I actually could watch and left the room. I asked my missus to keep an eye and make any changes in case of sending offs or injuries. Thankfully there were none and by the time i came back into the room we were Champions.

FA Cup

This was my focus for the season as i wanted to finish the season with a trophy. We breezed through the first couple of rounds beating Swansea and Chesterfield. We then went on to require replays against Man Utd and Villa in the next 2 rounds before struggling to overcome Bradford in the Semi Finals. We were scheduled to face Everton in the final and as like the final League game we had to do it without our 2 first choice Strikers. Armado Ferriera stepped up to the plate with a hat trick to secure us that League title, could he do it again? Well his early goal calmed my pre-match nerves but Everton soon pegged us back. It was a very nervy game and went to Extra Time where both teams shared another couple of goals in ET and so it was to penalties. Again i left the room and again by the time i came back we had done it, we had done the double, my 4th domestic league and cup double in a row.

Champions League

Although I won this last year I wouldn't have mind winning it again. That ambition was very short lived though as we lost in the 1st knockout round on away goals to Bayern.

World Club Championships(2029)

My final trophy with Dortmund was the CWC, I said it was an easy run in an earlier post and as you can see it was. We beat Shandong in the Semis quite easily and followed up with another comfortable victory over Boca Juniors in the final.

Player of the Season: Ashley Donnelly: 32 goals in 42 games, 8 of those helped us reach the FA Cup final.

Club Challenge XI: Same as the earlier post, Donnelly was the only one who might have made it I couldn't justify him taking the spot of either of the other 2 strikers.

So 2029 has been a very successful year and we still had the Confederations Cup to come in the Summer. Now that I had secured the English League and Cup i figured there was no real reason for me to stay at Chelsea, so i am hunt on for a new job.

CLUB CAREER

Season     Club			Pos	DC1	DC2	Cont	Notes & Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015/16   Berwick Rangers(SCO)	1st    	R.4	R.1	n/a	Champions and promoted to League 1.
2016/17   Berwick Rangers(SCO)	2nd	R.4	R.2	n/a	Promoted to Championship via playoffs.
2017/18   Berwick Rangers(SCO)	3rd	R.5	R.3	n/a	Reached playoffs but lost out on chance to go the Premiership. Challenge Cup WINNERS!! Resigned from Berwick.
2018      Suwon FC(KOR)		3rd	n/a	n/a	n/a	Took over with 12 league games remaining. Promoted to K-League Classic via Playoffs.
2019	  Suwon FC(KOR)		9th	R.5	n/a	n/a	Favourites for relegation but survived.
2020	  Suwon FC(KOR)		11th	R.5	n/a	n/a 	Left Suwon for Swallows(RSA) with 9 games to go.
2020/21	  Swallows(RSA)		7th	R.2	WIN	n/a	Took over with one game played. KO Cup WINNERS!!
2021/22	  Swallows(RSA)		6th	n/a	R.2	n/a	Left after 10 games to join Vancouver Whitecaps.
2022	  Vancouver(USA)	1st	n/a	n/a	Q.F	MLS CHAMPIONS!!! Won Canadian Championship. 22/23 NACL still ongoing.
2023	  Vancouver(USA)	3rd	n/a	n/a	WIN 	NACL CHAMPIONS!!! Left for Busan.
2023	  Busan(KOR)		1st	n/a	n/a	n/a	Took over with 22 Games gone in 5th. League Champions!!!
2024	  Busan(KOR)		7th	WIN	n/a	WIN	Very poor league performance. Korean Cup Champions!!! ACL Champions!!! Resigned from Busan.
2024/25	  Roma(ITA)		3rd	WIN	n/a	R.1	Took over with Roma in 4th position, 22 games gone. Italian Cup Champions!!
2025/26	  Roma(ITA)		1st	WIN	n/a	S.F	League and Cup Double!!! Knocked of Champions League in the Semi Final.
2026/27	  Real Madrid(ESP)	1st	WIN	n/a	R.2	League and Cup Double!!! Knocked of Europa League in the Second Knockout Round.
2027/28	  Dortmund(GER)		1st	WIN	n/a	WIN	Fantastic season, completing the TREBLE!!!
2028/29	  Dortmund(GER)		3rd	Q.F	n/a	R.1	Won Club World Championship!! Left during Winter Break for Chelsea.
2028/29	  Chelsea(ENG)		1st	WIN	n/a	R.1	Took over in 11th after 18 games. League and Cup Champions!!!
2029	  Santos(BRA)
						Took over after 6 games.	
INTERNATIONAL CAREER

Year	Nation        	WC     	Cont.  Conf.  	Notes & Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015	
2016	Scotland u19	n/a	n/a	n/a	Qualified for European U19 Championship.
2017	Scotland u19				Resigned as Scotland u19 Manager.
2018
2019	China u23	n/a	n/a	n/a	Resigned as China u23 Manager without playing a match to take over Tunisia
2019	Tunisia		n/a	n/a	n/a	Qualified for 2020 CHAN.
2020	Tunisia		n/a	n/a	n/a	CHAN WINNERS!! Qualified for 2021 ACON.
2021	Tunisia		n/a	WON	n/a	ACON WINNERS!! Secured  2022 World Cup Qualification.
2022	Tunisia		3rd	n/a	n/a	CHAN WINNERS!! Finsihed 3rd in World Cup. Left Tunisia for Costa Rica after World Cup.
2022	Costa Rica	n/a	n/a	n/a	CAM WINNERS!! 
2023	Costa Rica	n/a	WON	n/a	GOLD CUP WINNERS!!! Left Costa Rica.
2024	Brazil u23	n/a	n/a	n/a	Olympics WINNERS!!! Resigned from Brazil u23s.
2025	Italy		n/a	n/a	n/a	Qualified for World Cup.	
2026	Italy		WON	n/a	n/a	WORLD CUP WINNERS!!!	
2027	Italy		n/a	n/a	n/a	Qualified for Euro 2028.		
2028	Italy		n/a	WON	n/a	Euro 2028 Champions!!!	
2029	Italy		n/a	n/a	

Club
6/10 top domestic leagues (USA,KOR,ITA,ESP,GER,ENG)
6/10 domestic cups (RSA,KOR,ITA,ESP,GER,ENG)
3/5 club continental championships (N.America, Asia, Europe)
1/1 club world championship


International
3/5 continental tournaments (Africa, N.America, Europe)
1/2 world tournaments (World Cup)

20/33 Total

 

Edited November 11, 2016 by JoeLapira

[JoeLapira]

Wasn't long before i got a new job. Santos sacked their manager after their first game of the season, which was a draw. I resigned from Chelsea to ensure that compensation wasn't issue and a couple of weeks later i was Santos manager. The caretaker manager had being doing well, winning 4 and drawing one of his 5 games in charge. Unfortunately they had been eliminated from the Brazilian Cup though, but i took the job nonetheless. So after 6 games we were top of the table, let my Brazilian adventure begin.

[dkouv]

Season 3 – 2018/19 – Volgar Astrakhan (RUS) / Cameroon U23s

First off, big congratulations to @numero uno gunner for completing the challenge! Seemed like an almost fairytale journey in the end, glad it all came together! And congrats to the others on their successes and perseverance (in case of @Fadedaf especially )

I’ve been playing at what feels like a ridiculously slow pace but have another season to update now.

Club

Transfers

I got the promotion but players were still turning their noses up at coming to live in Southern Russia, and I wonder why that would be… Most established players demanded ridiculous wages (like half my wage budget), so I was left scrambling for youngsters in Russia, Latin America and Africa. I bought a couple of duds but found one real gem – a midfielder called Guy Ndlend from Cameroon. He was signed on the cheap and quickly became the star performer of the season, creating and scoring plenty as a roaming playmaker, including a few screamers from free kicks. I actually almost panic bought him on the last day of the window to replace my best-rated youngster, who my board again sold over my head to Zenit for £1.5m. Glad this transfer saga worked out ok in the end.

League

We were of course predicted to get relegated, but the league season turned out quite unpredictable. We started off with mid-table form, which was already fine really, and then the team and tactic stabilised and we were chasing 1^st place for the title throughout the second half of the season. In the end we fell just short, finishing 2^nd behind Krilya Sovetov, who remarkably won their first RPL championship in history. Still, this means champions league qualifiers and probably Europa league football next season if I end up staying at Volgar.

Highest rating, joint top scorer: Guy Nlend (MC), 7.47 from 23(2) apps, 8 goals and 3 assists.

Top assists: Boubacar Outtara (AMLC/ST), 6 in 21(7) apps

League Table (2nd/16)

International

First off were the U19 Euros with Russia. We did ourselves proud, beating Spain U19s in the group stages and qualifying for the semi final, where we were beaten by the superior Portugal team.

I got bored of that job and resigned, but Cameroon U23s came up and I thought I’d give it a go, to improve my player knowledge in Africa if nothing else. Playing in the U23 ACON qualifiers so far.

Group stage | Knockout stage

What’s next?

I was planning to move to Asia and loaded the Chinese and Korean leagues. But due to this bug, no clubs in these leagues had a manager, and still don’t by mid-summer. So it feels contrary to the spirit of the challenge to apply for any of those jobs, and I’ll have to give Asia a miss for now.

Has anyone else had this issue with newly added leagues having no managers at clubs? I’m thinking if this is some kind of legacy of starting in beta, I might have to start a new save…

Anyhow, I’m loading up Mexico and South Africa, and it will be a toss-up between these two and staying in Russia. I’ve applied for a job at Lokomotiv Moscow, but was rejected from some top Russian teams earlier in the season so might just end up staying at Volgar. Also, having read the other posts, I might resign from my (pointless anyway) international job to increase my chances.

Reputation: just over 1 star ( @vikeologist's tip didn’t work for the percentage, might be my PC being funny)

Coaching badges: We were deep in the red until I got the league prize money and sponsorship at the end of the season, so no progress here.

Club Career:
 
Season     |    Country    |    Division    |  Position |    Cups  |       Top scorer              |    Highest-impact player              |    Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    |    Russia     |   First Div.   |   5/20    |    n/a   | Islam Mashukov (16)           |    Kevin Diaz (AML/AMR)   (7.22)      |    Took over in mid-October; lost in promotion play-off
2017/18    |    Russia     |   First Div.   |   1/20    |    n/a   | Eugene Morozenko (14)         |    Eugene Morozenko (AMR/C)   (7.32)  |    Promoted; reputation boost
2018/19    |    Russia     |   Premier Div. |   2/16    |    n/a   | Guy Nlend, Felix Chenkam (8)  |    Guy Nlend (MC)   (7.47)            |    Runners-up in the first top-flight season
 
International career:
 
Season     |    Country      |     Competitions       |        Position            |    Highest-impact player      |    Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18    |  Russia U19     |   Euro U19 2018        |   Qualified; Semis         |    n/a                        |    Beat Holland and Spain but lost to Portugal in semi final
2018/19    |  Cameroon U23   |   U23 ACON quals       |   3rd round so far         |    n/a                        |     
 
Challenge Progress:
 
Club
 0/10 top domestic leagues
 0/10 domestic cups
 0/5 club continental championships
 0/1 club world championship
 
International
 0/5 continental tournaments
 0/2 world tournaments

Edited November 11, 2016 by dkouv

[vikeologist]

@dkouv EDITED - I have this as well in my save. When I loaded USA (for the second time) I think none of the clubs had a manager, although they fairly quickly hired. I'm on the beta, and I can see how this would be annoying, and indeed unrealistic. Now the same thing has happened in Mexico, so actually this is being caused by the 'finished' game 'update', though like you I started with the beta. If this isn't fixed, it will certainly make the challenge much easier, though it hasn't done that for me because I'm loading the leagues before I need them. I expect that the Mexican clubs will hire managers, so I'm not having that part of the bug.

Quote

Reputation: just over 1 star ( @vikeologist's tip didn’t work for the percentage, might be my PC being funny)

It's the reputation bit in the characteristic part of 'my profile'

@JoeLapira Fantastic league win, and congrats on the other achievements. Good luck at Santos.

Edited November 12, 2016 by vikeologist

[pug 407]

On ‎23‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 10:23, numero uno gunner said:

3 hours ago, JoeLapira said:

Wasn't long before i got a new job. Santos sacked their manager after their first game of the season, which was a draw. I resigned from Chelsea to ensure that compensation wasn't issue and a couple of weeks later i was Santos manager. The caretaker manager had being doing well, winning 4 and drawing one of his 5 games in charge. Unfortunately they had been eliminated from the Brazilian Cup though, but i took the job nonetheless. So after 6 games we were top of the table, let my Brazilian adventure begin.

Good Luck With Santos

On ‎08‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 22:45, numero uno gunner said:

 

 

[pug 407]

Well Done Numero Uno Gunner, With You Be Starting 2017

[pug 407]

Just Got Back After A Nice Holiday, Loading FM 2017 So I'll Be Starting Soon. Been Reading all Post's When Been Away Looking Good.

[dkouv]

@vikeologist Thanks, good to know you were having a similar issue. I'll see how far it persists first, and maybe run a trial save where I start on full version in July and add the Asian leagues in Dec. I don't think it's too big a deal as long as the clubs hire managers - I also added Mexico and about half the teams are managerless, but there is a leading candidate for each job, so they should be filled reasonably soon. It's just the China/Korea thing, where all jobs stay vacant for the whole season, and there aren't even any favourites for each job, it would be annoying if this is a persistent issue.

I got rejected from the Lokomotiv Moscow job (no interview), but the CSKA Moscow job came up which would be perfect so I resigned from Cameroon U23s and applied for that, hopefully I have better luck this time. Also applied for a job at Monterrey in Mexico just on the off-chance they'd want to hire me.

[Crowy]

I joined the FM16 one way too late and struggled to get in to it, I've decided to give this a go early in FM17 so it can be my main save.

 

Profile

Leagues Loaded

 

I'll update once I finish my first season. Good Luck all.

[streety]

@Crowy Good luck on the challange 

[TheEarl]

Good luck @Crowy

A big number of leagues you have loaded there, exciting to see where you will go first...

[GloryFan2002]

Decided to begin this challenge and post it up here hopefully I'll finally get a long term save. Took over at GKS Tychy in the Polish 2nd Division will post update at end of season

[Fadedaf]

@GloryFan2002 @Crowy @pug 407 @RSByt welcome and good luck!

@dkouv thanks for the support haha and good job so far in Russia, sounds like you'd have a pretty good chance at getting a job at a bigger club in the same league or elsewhere and not having an international job certainly helps!

[pug 407]

Vikeologist Did You Know That You Can now Get To Manage A Oceania. Just Applied For Fiji Manager's Job, Will You Be Adding It To The Trophy List.

Edited November 12, 2016 by pug 407

[TheEarl]

I noticed this as well, I started a totally different game not part of this challenge, as manager of New Zealand. I never tried before, but was this impossible in previous versions?

[pug 407]

Just Make's It That Bit Hard To Do

 

[vikeologist]

As far as I remember Oceania, and it's impossibility in the challenge, has only ever been considered with regard to the club side of things. It's possible that (by adding players) it has always been possible to manage an international side.

 

Is the OFC Nations Cup actually playable? I suppose it must be.

I wouldn't be against adding this extra tournament at all (with effect from FM17 starts). My only concern is that if people have started the challenge with a small or medium database, they may find that those nations aren't 'manageable' and the challenge thus becomes impossible to achieve. I had problems in Asia in FM15 where South Korea was the only nation that could be managed (without adding extra leagues, and then that only added Australia and China with not many players).  I don't want to make the challenge impossible for anybody.

 

None of the Oceanic nations are playable in my save. I started with a custom size, so I could add the Asian players and thus the nations, but I think it was at least a medium sized database.

Thus this would make the challenge impossible for me, and I suspect quite a few others.

 

Probably not crowy. With that many leagues loaded, he can probably manage his local pub's Sunday morning team.

[TheEarl]

4 minutes ago, vikeologist said:

As far as I remember Oceania, and it's impossibility in the challenge, has only ever been considered with regard to the club side of things. It's possible that (by adding players) it has always been possible to manage an international side.

 

Is the OFC Nations Cup actually playable? I suppose it must be.

I wouldn't be against adding this extra tournament at all (with effect from FM17 starts). My only concern is that if people have started the challenge with a small or medium database, they may find that those nations aren't 'manageable' and the challenge thus becomes impossible to achieve. I had problems in Asia in FM15 where South Korea was the only nation that could be managed (without adding extra leagues, and then that only added Australia and China with not many players).  I don't want to make the challenge impossible for anybody.

 

None of the Oceanic nations are playable in my save. I started with a custom size, so I could add the Asian players and thus the nations, but I think it was at least a medium sized database.

Thus this would make the challenge impossible for me, and I suspect quite a few others.

 

Probably not crowy. With that many leagues loaded, he can probably manage his local pub's Sunday morning team.

I agree. But this makes sense of course that you need to add players from those nations. However it might be a step a manager can take to further his career by winning the competition.

As for adding it to the necessary titles I don't think this specific challenge should be fiddle with (unless SI add a New Zealand league and thus enables the OFC Champions League a long the way.) If at all added I think it should only be added from FM18 as people already have started save games, and like you said not included enough players to take part in Oceania.

[Crowy]

Thanks for the wlecome guys, when I do challenges like this I always start outside of Europe. Decided to go a more traditional route this time.

 

2016/17

I've decided to start in England for a change from what I'm use to, also Macclesfield seem like they have a decent squad to turn their season around.

 

League Table

Squad

 

So here is the start to my cahllenge, I know it's just images etc and don't have much to write up on at this point, but I will get better with my layout/posts with more information the more I use this website and post updates. Thank you all for the welcome/good luck's. I shall look forward to keeping up to date on all your updates.

[SavoNFFC]

Shandong Luneng - Chinese Super League 2023

Season       Team             Position         Notes and Achievements     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015         Goyang HI FC     5th
2015/16      Vasco CT         14th             South African Divison 1
2016/17      Vasco CT         1st              Promoted to South African Premier League
2017/18      Vasco CT         7th             
2018/19      Vasco CT         1st              South African FA Cup
2019/20      Vasco CT         1st              African Champions League/South Africa Super 8 winners
2021         Shandong         3rd              Chinese FA Cup
2022         Shandong         1st              Chinese FA Cup and Chinese Super League

International Management
2017 - Mali
2018 - Mali
2019 - Mali                                    African Cup of Nations winners


Challenge Progress

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa 2019, China 2022)
 2/10 top domestic cups (South Africa FA Cup 2019, Chinese FA Cup 2021)
 1/5 club continental championships (African Champions League 2020)
 0/1 club world championship

International
 1/5 continental tournaments (Mali AFCON 2019)
 0/2 world tournaments 

Haven't played in a little while as the game pissed me off a bit (details later) but I'm just restarting this save again this weekend. My last update saw us winning the Chinese FA Cup which gained us automatic qualification for the Asian Champions League, so I was able to have a crack at it without winning our domestic league. Getting into the Champions League started off my frustration as I was told that I was only able to call up 4 'foreign' players - one of whom needed to be Asian - so 2 of my best players (both Bosnian freebies) had to be left out of the squad altogether. We drew Hiroshima FC, Seoul and Brisbane Roar in the groups and finished 2nd to Seoul who were outstanding, beating us home and away. I started to sense that this wouldn't be quite the formality that the African equivalent had been. 

Domestically, we were supremely comfortable and won the Chinese Super League by 27 points (is that a record in a 30-game league?) and once again won the Chinese FA Cup. Brazilian free signing Fabio Andre scored 24 goals, and we once again we had a brilliant season from our right-winger Wang Hong who would definitely be in with a shout of making my overall career best XI so far. 

Now, in the Asian Champions League we finished 2nd in the group and got Jeonbuk of South Korea who we beat 7-4 on aggregate. So we went into the quarter finals with spirits high, only to draw our old foes Seoul out of the hat. I was slightly warmed by the fact they were 5th in the South Korean league and we'd been comfortable against Jeonbuk who were top. However their two Brazilians up top, Alemao and Dimba had caused me all sort of problems in the group stages. Now, I'd mentioned earlier how annoyed I'd been at the game...well when it came to the first league in Seoul, I go to pick my side only to see Wang Hong, and several others away on international duty for the U23 Asian Games, you know that really important massive competition. So I'm down to the bare bones and I was forced to field at least 4 players from the youth team, 3 of whom were defenders. I feared the worst against Dimba and Alemao and lost the game 5-3. Not a complete disaster by any stretch with 3 away goals and thought a good performance with all my players back could take us through in the second leg.

Back in China we welcomed our players back and absolutely battered Seoul over 90 mins and was winning 1-0 after 70 mins. One more goal would've done it until Alemao did us on the counter. We were out and Seoul ended up making the final until being beaten by Al-Ahli of the UAE. 

Now we prepare for the next season and the aim has been to bring in more Chinese players of quality to pack out the squad and have less reliance on the foreign lads. We overpaid for striker Hu Jinghang from Guangzhou for £13.75m but we needed decent Chinese players and Guangzhou seem to have a lot of them even though they can't get near us in the league and yet none of their players are interested in a move unless it's for silly money. Verstalie midfielder Wang Shangyuan joined us from Huaxia too for a couple of million as we aim to win the Asian Champions League this season. We've just been drawn against Suwon, Brisbane Roar, Hai Phong of Vietnam this season. More updates to follow...

[SavoNFFC]

Another thing that's puzzling me, is why no international team will touch me. Applied for lots of jobs at a variety of levels, including Morocco, Colombia, Ivory Coast, USA and a few other low-level Euro nations. None will even entertain the idea yet at the beginning I got the Mali job and won the AFCON?

[Fadedaf]

Molde Season 2021 Report

I chose to take over Molde after having my pick of all the best clubs in Norway and it proved to be a good decision! 

Europa League- We managed to dispatch iBV of Iceland 9-3 on aggregate then Vaduz of Switzerland (technically Liechtenstein) 10-1 before coming up against Swansea of the English premier league. We played pretty well but couldn't match a team of such quality, and Erik Lamela especially proved to be our undoing as we went out 5-2 on aggregate. Didn't think we had much chance of going very far in this competition so I didn't mind particularly getting knocked out when we did.

League- We were pretty good all season, although a bit inconsistent with a few poor results now and then. We were top or nearly top for the whole season, however our involvement in multiple competitions meant that we constantly had 2-3 games in hand on most other teams in the league. Started to slump a bit near the end of the season when we were trying to close out the league, but we managed to hang on and win the league with a week to go in a 1-1 draw against Haugesund. This match also included something i've never seen before in FM; one of my players, centre back Stian Rode Gregerson who was our second choice penalty taker, was called on to take a penalty to put us 2-0 up. He had it saved unfortunately and the keeper threw it quickly to his teammates who raced down the field, chased by Gregerson, who then slid in from behind and gave away a penalty for them... which they scored. From 2-0 to 1-1 in about 10 seconds, incredible!

Cup- We thrashed two lower league teams in the first two rounds then faced three successive top division teams, which were all very tough games. One we only won on penalties against Viking (3-2 after 6 penalties each!). Once we got to the semi finals we faced another lower league team who we beat 5-0, sending us into the final. We faced yet another lower league team in Tromsdalen, who were in their first ever cup final in their 78 year history. I have a history of losing cup games to lower league teams however so I did not take it easy whatsoever. We ran out comfortable 5-0 winners to give us the double! felt a little sorry for Tromsdalen for smashing them in their first cup final, reminded me of Bradford City's run to the League Cup final a few years back, however i'm very happy we were able to win it.

Best Players: Highest goalscorer + most POM- Bjorn Bergmann Siguroarson (27 goals, 18 assists, 8 POM) my most consistent striker this year as he bagged quite a few goals and helped us secure the title.

Most assists- Patrick Roberts (20 goals, 22 assists, 6 POM) signing of the season from Man City where he had played 1 game in 4 years. Was excellent at wide midfield on both sides of the pitch all season long.

Highest avg rating- Pedro Silva Torrejon (7.98, 19 goals, 14 assists, 6 POM). Another great signing on a free who was usually on the other side of the field from Patrick Roberts.

 

Overall, an excellent season in which I achieved everything I wanted to. I have now completed my Continental Pro licence and my reputation is currently staying at just 40%. I suppose I'll look for another job now as I can't really win anything else towards the challenge with Molde unfortunately. This may be slightly more difficult however as i have once again taken an international job, this time with Nigeria. They have a great core of star players such as Alex Iwobi and Kelechi Icheanacho and we have been going well so far. We have qualified for the world cup already and ACON qualification is ongoing. 

Season       Team             Position         Champs League       Notes and Achievements     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17      Royal Eagles     2nd                  -               Promoted to South African Premier League
2017/18      Royal Eagles     1st                  -               KO Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2018/19      Royal Eagles     2nd                  -               FA Cup runners up, CL qualification, CL ongoing
2019/20      Royal Eagles     1st              Semi Final          KO Cup winners, FA Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2020/21      Royal Eagles     --               Semi Final          KO Cup winners, Super 8 runners up, left halfway through the season for Molde
2021         Molde            1st                  -               Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification

Challenge Progress

Club
 2/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles, Norway- Molde)
 2/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles, Norwegian Cup- Molde)
 0/5 club continental championships 
 0/1 club world championship

International
 0/5 continental tournaments 
 0/2 world tournaments 

International:
Season       Team             Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2018        China U23         Won Asian Games
2019        Cameroon          Started ACON qualification, switched to Algeria
2019        Algeria           Resigned after 2 games
2021        Nigeria           Qualified for world cup, ACON qualification ongoing

 

[Fadedaf]

Provisional challenge XI time, will any new players break into the previously all-Royal Eagles side, read on and find out!

Goalkeeper- Muhammad Nashnoush (Royal Eagles). Great name, pretty solid keeper too. Libyan international who's been undisputed number 1 for 2 seasons now

Left back- Junior Sibande (Royal Eagles). Has had a few injury problems but has been solid at fullback for a few seasons straight.

Centre Back- Gladwin Shitolo (Royal Eagles). Made 91 appearances before leaving to a big salary in China last season. Was a key defender since the first season and was one of my first transfers. We've definitely been missing him.

Centre Back- Keanu Cupido (Royal Eagles). Has come of age this season, winning his first caps for South Africa and cementing his place in the starting XI. Is currently rated as the best player in our team by the coaching staff at age 21 with plenty of room to improve. 

Right Back- Ayoub El-Khaliqi (Royal Eagles). Moroccan fullback who's been at the core of the defence for ages. Starting to feel the effects of his age though and is retiring at the end of the season.

Right Midfield- Felix Obada (Royal Eagles). Nigerian wide man who's been ever present since my first season. Has another quality youth prospect snapping at his heels but he keeps his starting spot.... for now.

Central Midfield- Makuntima Kisombe (Royal Eagles). 1 cap for Congo, very impressive performances for a year and a half now.

 Central Midfield- Eudes Dagoulou (Royal Eagles). Central African Republic international who just edges out one of our new signings due to his contributions over multiple seasons. Great goalscoring midfielder (goal of the season winner).

Left Midfield- Patrick Roberts (Molde). He usually plays on the right but can cover both sides. Previously a Man City flop who was brought to Molde to play out wide and provided heaps of asissts and goals in a great season. Player of the season winner for both Molde and the Norwegian Premier league.

Striker- Jeef Kayembe (Royal Eagles). So far my most prolific striker with 73 goals under my management. Won 3rd place African striker of the year. Once scored 6 goals in a match.

Striker- Bjorn Bergmann Siguroarson (Molde). Lethal finisher who was consistently dangerous in a double-winning Molde side. Goal of the season winner.