The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge - Silver Age Archive

[Fadedaf]

Faded's 2043 ACON Report

I'm back for another attempt at the ACON, the wonderful lottery of a competition where literally anyone can win. I don't think i've ever gone into an international competition with less optimism, and the only thing giving me any hope is the fact that this tournament is ridiculous and I just might get lucky. I chose to take over the Ivory Coast as they have a great centre mid who I signed at Chelsea, but honestly they don't have much else. They don't fit my preferred 4-4-2 tactic very well but after a failed experiment with some kind of 4-3-3 i've gone back to it. Pre-tournament friendlies consisted of a 3-1 victory over Angola and a 1-0 loss to South Africa. We've drawn a group containing Zambia, Morocco and Ghana. I haven't managed in this competition after finishing runner-up with Ghana in 2027 so lets see how I do:

Group Stage

Spoiler

Ivory Coast 3-0 Zambia (goals from I. Diallo x2 and Toure) A pretty solid start but Zambia are by far the weakest team in this group.

Ivory Coast 3-0 Morocco (goals from E. Diallo x2 and Traore) We've actually come up with a good performance! we looked great out there as we dominated a good Morocco side and deserved a comfortable win. How strange, I didn't think this team had that in them. Need only a point against Ghana to qualify for the next round.

Ivory Coast 1-2 Ghana (goal from N'Goran) And we followed it up with a pretty average performance. Ghana are definitely a better side than us and deserved the win, however luckily Zambia have done us a favour by pulling off a 3-3 draw with Morocco and we're still into the quarter finals! we've been drawn to face Tunisia.

Quarter Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Ivory Coast 2-3 Tunisia (goals from Traore, O.G.) And we're out. We went up 2-0 thanks to a fluke goal and an own goal but they slowly came back into the match and ended up winning it in the 88th minute. A very disappointing way to be knocked out but I didn't think this team would have gone much further in the tournament anyways.

Semi Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

3rd Place Playoff (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

Final (if applicable) 

Spoiler

 

Aftermath

Spoiler

The last time I managed the Ivory Coast at an ACON in 2025 I also got knocked out in the quarter finals. Anyways i'm now 0/3 in the ACON but loads of new jobs have come up so i'm going to resign and try again in 2 years with a new country! On the club side of things it's going quite well, we are top of the league and still in all competitions. Expect an update soonish regarding how my season with PSG has gone.

 

[Fadedaf]

@YellowLittle are they in good shape to be promoted soon? I've never actually managed in China so wouldn't really know much about it. Pretty hard to pick where the best place to start is so anywhere that looks promising is worth a shout.

[YellowLittle]

@Fadedaf not at the moment to be honest haha. Bottom of the table with 11 games to go, but means I can build a team of my own in 11 games.

[Cheekybananafm]

The Start and my first job

League Loaded & Starting Preferences

Manager Profile

It took until March 2017 to get my first job offer and I snapped their hands off.

Job Offer

Thanda Royal Zulu currently 14th in the South African 1st Division but the squad looks decent and I feel we can easily survive this season and if we can improve the overall playing staff we can push for promotion next season.

League table when taking over

Only 8 games left so my next update will be pretty quick to come through and will probably be rather short

 

[Cheekybananafm]

16/17 Season - Thanda Royal Zulu

This update may be rather short!

South African 1st Division - I took over with 8 games to go sitting in 14th place, we had a decent run which gained us 17 points in those final 8 games, it only pushed us upto 11th but it has given me hope for next season, a mid-table challenge is what is expected but this league can be quite easy to push the top if we get some decent players in.

South African FA Cup - The only cup comp that I had chance to play in and what a run it was. I took over after the 1st round was played, we beat Premier Division Platinum Stars on penalties away in the 2nd Round and then beat Black Leopards in the Quarter Finals. We finally lost in the Semis to FS Stars but it was a really nice run with a couple of decent performances.

Next Season - A promotion push is definitely in order, we need to improve the defence and bring in a quality striker, other than that the squad looks pretty balanced. Hopefully I can keep hold of my best players. I also need to try and stabilize the finances otherwise the club will never give me the chance to start learning some of my coaching badges.

I will say more in my other updates but with only 8 games to play it was hard to find something to talk about!

[dkouv]

@vikeologist @numero uno gunner Just checked Copa Lib, it stopped in 2030. Wow, and I only won it in 2029. Very lucky even without realising it. That is such a ridiculous bug. Especially how it seems to affect every save, just that timing is random. But 2019 is just plain crazy, it's pretty much impossible to win Copa Lib by then. And you started really well, understand why you wouldn't want to restart after that.

@Fadedaf Tough luck with Ivory Coast, you have my full sympathy given my recent international management travails... At least ACON is every two years and you already have the Euros and World Cup, hope you can tick it off the list soon!

@YellowLittle @Cheekybananafm Good luck to both of you!

[vikeologist]

I'm not sure how to feel about the suggested workarounds to the Copa Lib bug. I mean if N1G wants to complete the challenge a different way then fine. I'm more than happy to put him on the leader board and hall of fame however he wishes to complete it.  I don't have any interest really in completing a different way though, because there's no alternative competition.

Like @numero uno gunner my Copa Sudamerica stopped at the same time. I wouldn't feel as though I had completed the challenge, but then again, having had to reload a significant part of my intial challenge completion, because of problems with my laptop, one of my primary aims this time round was for my completion to be 'pure'.

It's shocking that it's happened in the saves of at least 4 of us who were quite far into the challenge. As people have said elsewhere on the forum, if this had happened to the Champions League, people would be furious. I think it's really messed up this challenge, which was for a while more 'popular' than any other challenge, even the Dafuge one. There's far fewer people doing the challenge than before, which suggest that it may have happened to others, and it will be such a pity if it happens to new people, because you have to invest a significant amount of time into this challenge. All I can say to @cheekybananafm and @Yellowlittle is get the Copa Lib as soon as you can. To be fair, I'd say that the bug is a lot less likely to happen if you've started from the latest update, but the necessity to add and subtract leagues is something that's always likely to trigger this kind of problem.

Both N1G and myself have completed the challenge. I'm glad it hasn't happened to (AFAIK) anyone who hasn't completed. Well, this year at least. It happened on FM15 to somebody who was fairly close to completing.

 

So here is one of the links that I mentioned above.

https://community.sigames.com/topic/381387-south-america-official-specific-issues/

 

 

Edited June 7, 2017 by vikeologist

[yugular]

 

2020 European Championship report

I arranged two friendlies to scout few more players. Won Switzerland 2-1 but lost to South Africa 1-0 - oops, not good for morale...

 

I had a tough group. Ireland, France, Spain and Croatia. First up Ireland (which had two of my Mboro players) and pretty solid performance but only a 1-0 win. Next up France and boy they were a lot better. My defenseline was unable to stop Martial-Griezzman duo and we lost 0-1 but it could have been more. Last match against Spain. We got early lead and their Sergi Roberto was sent off on 39'mins. After that I just controlled the game and won 2-0.

Next up Poland. They also faced early sent off which means I was able to kill the game and hold on to my 1-0 lead. Next up Italy! I was controlling but they managed to score first and shortly after that Mario Mandzukic was sent off! I made some changes and my plan was to get as many players forward as possible. On 85'mins my sub Pjaca scored the equalizer and we won the penalties 4-3. Then we faced Portugal in the semis. This was one of the easiest games in the tournament and 2-0 win.

Finals! Against France  Again they were a lot better, but Mandzukic scored the first goal in the tournament and it was enough to win us the game, even though Sime Vrsaljko was sent off.

 

 

Right after the tournament i got offers from Spain and England. Well as Spain is one of the strongest national teams I decided to take the offer:

Meanwhile I was building my Middlesbrough team for an interesting campaign ahead, but made a slight mistake by pressing the board too hard on my finances regarding player wages. Oops:

 

Season       Team             Position         Champs League       Notes and Achievements     
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

16/17	Carlisle              7th Sky Bet League 2	           Lost in playoffs rnd 1
17/18   Carlisle              1st Sky Bet League 2                 Promotion 
18/19   Middlesbrough         2nd Championship                     Promotion
19/20   Middlesbrough         5th Premier League                   EC slot

Challenge Progress

Club
 0/10 top domestic leagues 
 0/10 domestic cups 
 0/5 club continental championships  
 0/1 club world championship 

International
 1/5 continental tournaments (European Championship 2020/Croatia)
 0/2 world tournaments

International:
Season       Team             Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2020        Croatia          Won European Championship

[Fadedaf]

PSG Season 2042/43 Report

So I made the move from Barcelona to PSG to try to win the last one of the European 'Big 5' leagues as well as to have another go at the Champions League. I actually managed in France earlier in this career with Saint Etienne and I did win a cup in that time so no need to focus on the cups this season. PSG have absolutely loads of money so i've brought in several new signings, however surprisingly none of them were from Barca. Here's how we went:

Trophee des Champions- Basically the French Supercup. My first game with Saint Etienne was this fixture against PSG which I won, and this time I lead PSG to a win over Saint Etienne in my first game. Good way to start the season as the squad looks pretty promising.

Coupe de la Ligue- This was the cup I won with Saint Etienne so really didn't put any focus onto this competition. We still won it anyways as we breezed past Lille, Lyon and Stade Rennais before smashing Stade Malherbe Caen 4-0 in the final.

French Cup- Won this one as well pretty comfortably. these two cups are among the easiest trophies i've won in this challenge so far. In our 6 matches we scored 24 goals and conceded just 1. Finished it off with a 4-0 demolition of Stade Rennais in the final.

League- It wasn't even close, we ended up winning the league by 23 points over Monaco in second. It was kind of close until about January and then we really started pulling away. Monaco were our closest competitors and actually inflicted a loss on us however when we played them at home they were dispatched 7-1. 4 domestic trophies without breaking a sweat, this team must be half decent.

Champions League- named joint favourites with my old team Barca, could we win it all and finally bring home this insanely difficult trophy? We were drawn into a group with Tottenham, Besiktas and my old team KRC Genk. We finished with 6 wins from 6 and were into the 1st KO round without much difficulty. This round saw us face Porto, and we suffered a scare away in the first leg after they pulled two goals back after we went 2 goals up, but we scored a winner and won the return leg 3-0 to send us through 6-2 on aggregate. We were then drawn to face Stuttgart of Germany and the first leg at home was absolute carnage as we scored goal after goal, finishing up at 6-0. Stuttgart were awful admittedly, scoring two own goals however we totally dominated, with my centre back even scoring a hat trick! We secured a comfortable 2-1 win in the away leg to send us into the semis. We were drawn to face Man City and we played very well in the first leg but could only secure a 1-0 win at home. I was quite nervous ahead of the return leg as I didn't think this lead would be enough, thinking back to that horrible game with Barca against Chelsea. We then produced our best performance of the season and possibly of my career as we thrashed them 5-0 away from home! We were into the final, my second in two years. And our opponents were of course, Barcelona. My two old teams in Barca and Chelsea played off in the other semi with Barca narrowly winning so the final test would be against my own invincibles from last year. I found out prior to the game that they were missing four key players due to injury, including the Pablo and Paolo strike partnership so my optimism started to grow. We went ahead early and it was a very tight and nervy game but we played impeccably and saw it out until the final whistle. Champions at last! This was my 13th year competing in this competition and it proved to be the one!

Best Players: Top goalscorer and most assists- Adrien Arnaud (35 goals, 27 asissts, 10 POM) This guy was a part of my old Chelsea teams and it seems he's still got it. He's also a very capable central midfielder so an incredibly valuable player to have.

Most POM- Adrien Arnaud and Ivor Aralica (12 goals, 17 assists, 10 POM) Ivor is a wide player who always played very well however ended up losing his starting spot to an incredible young wonderkid. Anyways he did very well in the games he played.

Highest avg rating- Joseph Sibanyoni (1 goal, 17 assists, 7.94) The veteran South African fullback had an excellent season and its always good to see a defender make it into the end of season awards.

Honourable mentions:

Niek Makaay (32 goals, 18 assists, 5 POM)

Armando Carletti (27 goals, 11 assists)

Charles Eze (25 goals, 15 assists, 9 POM)

Daniel Lang (13 goals, 9 assists, 6 POM)

Pablo de Paula Neto (12 goals, 2 assists as a centre back!)

Jose Rakotonirina (8 goals, 12 assists)

Marc Fragata (34 clean sheets)

Results Results 2 Season review CL winners

Overall, a perfect season. We won all 5 competitions we entered with only the Champions League providing any kind of difficulty. Somehow I didn't win manager of the season although I have now moved into the top5 of the worldwide hall of fame. I had my doubts about our chances in the CL but I was proven wrong and i'm very happy with how its gone. This is definitely a breakthrough moment and I finally believe I can finish this challenge now. I still need another cup as well as the African Champions League on the club side of things, so i'll be looking for opportunities to pick those up now. if nothing good in South Africa comes up soon I'm thinking of possibly going to Australia as I know that the cup takes place before the league even starts. We will see what comes up, and if nothing looks promising I wouldn't mind grabbing a second Club World Cup with PSG as I am definitely enjoying managing them. On the international side of things I resigned and have taken over Egypt, my 6th different African nation. The squad looks decent and we've so far won both friendlies played with ACON qualifying starting soon.

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 season for Molde
2021         Molde            1st                  -               Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2022         Molde            --                   -               Undefeated and 1st in the league when I left for Genk
2022/23      Genk             1st                  -               EL Semi finalists
2023/24      Genk             2nd              Group Stage         Super Cup winners, Cup runners up, EL Quarter finalists
2024/25      Genk             1st               Playoff            Cup winners, CL qualification
2025/26      Saint Etienne    3rd                  -               Supercup winners, Cup runners up, EL Semi finals, MOTS, CL qualification
2026/27      Saint Etienne    3rd               Playoff            Cup winners, EL Quarter finals, CL qualification
2027         Jeonbuk          1st              Semi Final          Took over in 6th position, CL qualification
2028         Jeonbuk          1st              CHAMPIONS           Cup winners, MOTS, FA cup best manager, CL qualification, 5th in CWC
2029/30      Tigres        1st + 2nd               -               Cup winners, Libertadores qualification, MOTS
2030/31      Tigres        1st + 1st           CHAMPIONS x2        Quintuple winners, CWC qualification, double CL qualification again, MOTS
2031/32      Tigres      3/4th + 1st     2nd Round + runner up     Recopa winners, CWC Champions, NACL runners up
2032/33      Roma             4th             1st KO Round         Cup semis, CL qualification
2033/34      Roma             1st             1st KO Round         Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2034/35      BMG              1st             1st KO Round         Cup semis, CL qualification
2036/37      Chelsea          2nd             1st KO Round         EFL Cup runners up, FA Cup semis, CL qualification
2037/38      Chelsea          2nd             1st KO Round         FA Cup winners, EFL Cup runners up, CL qualification
2038/39      Chelsea          1st             1st KO Round         MOTS, CL qualification
2039/40      Chelsea          2nd              Semi Final          CL qualification
2040/41      Barcelona        1st             1st KO Round         CL qualification, Cup winners, Supercup winners, MOTS runner-up
2041/42      Barcelona        1st              Runners Up          Unbeaten in the League, Cup winners, Supercup winners, MOTS, CL qual.
2042/43      PSG              1st              CHAMPIONS           Cup winners x2, Supercup winners, CL qualification

Challenge Progress

Club
 10/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles, Norway- Molde, Belgium- Genk, South Korea- Jeonbuk, Mexico- Tigres, Italy- Roma, Germany- BMG, England- Chelsea, Spain- Barcelona, France- PSG)
 9/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles, Norwegian Cup- Molde, Belgian Cup- Genk, Coupe de la Ligue(France)- Saint Etienne, Korean FA Cup- Jeonbuk, Mexican Cup Opening Stage- Tigres, Italian Cup- Roma, FA Cup- Chelsea, Copa del Rey- Barcelona)
 4/5 club continental championships (Asian CL- Jeonbuk 2028, Copa Libertadores- Tigres 2031, NACL- Tigres 2031 Champions League- PSG 2043) 
 1/1 club world championship (Tigres 2031)

International
 3/5 continental tournaments (Copa America 2031- Brazil, Gold Cup 2035- Mexico, European Championship 2040- Spain)
 2/2 world tournaments (Confederations Cup 2033- Brazil, World Cup 2034- Brazil)

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
2022        Nigeria           Knocked out of World Cup in group stage, resigned
2023        Ivory Coast       Started World Cup and ACON qualifying
2024        Ivory Coast       Qualified for ACON
2025        Ivory Coast       Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned
2026        Ghana             Qualified for ACON
2027        Ghana             ACON runners up, resigned
2028        SK + France U23   Won U23 Asian Cup, Olympic silver medallists
2029        Brazil            Qualified for World Cup
2030        Brazil            4th in World Cup
2031        Brazil            Copa America Winners!
2032        Brazil            Qualified for World Cup
2033        Brazil            Confederations Cup Winners!
2034        Brazil            World Cup Winners!
2035        Mexico            Gold Cup Winners!
2036        Spain             Started World Cup qualifying
2037        Spain             Qualified unbeaten for the World Cup
2038        Spain             World Cup runners-up
2039        Spain             European International League Div.A Winners!
2040        Spain             European Championship Winners!
2041        Ivory Coast       Missed out on World Cup qualification on goal difference
2042        Ivory Coast       Qualified for ACON
2043        Ivory Coast       Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned

 

[yugular]

@Fadedaf wow finally Champions League. Nice.

[numero uno gunner]

@Fadedaf - Yessss! Congratulations! Having suffered the Champions League pain last time round, I know how you're feeling. Must be so good to get it out of the way!

[pug 407]

@Fadedaf Nice That You've Finally Won The Champions League. Good Luck On The Rest Of Your Trophy Hunt.

[Fadedaf]

@yugular @numero uno gunner @pug 407 Thanks guys! it was definitely a relief to finally win it after so many failures. It will be interesting to see where I end up to get the last 2 club trophies

[shirajzl]

11 hours ago, vikeologist said:

I think it's really messed up this challenge, which was for a while more 'popular' than any other challenge, even the Dafuge one. There's far fewer people doing the challenge than before, which suggest that it may have happened to others, and it will be such a pity if it happens to new people, because you have to invest a significant amount of time into this challenge.

To be fair, I think fewer people play this because many have started and realized this challenge drains you mentally and emotionally, as ridiculous as it sounds saying for a video game. It surpasses everything dafuge challenge and the likes can throw at you because here you experience all sorts of weird competition rules across the globe whilst having to build and rebuild your squad(s) over and over and over again.

And then you get to international management which I've spoken enough of before.

That said, I've had a few failed starts of this challenge and Copa Lib bug (among others) did put me off. I'm planning to hop back on the train for FM 18, hoping there wouldn't be any game breaking bugs apart from dreadful implementation of international management which I've made my peace with.

[YellowLittle]

2016 Chinese First Division - Meizhou Kejia

 

Chinese First Division

So I took my first job with Meizhou Kejia. They were bottom of the table with 11 games to go. 5 points from safety. I managed to keep them up by 1 point, which wasn't a bad turnaround in 11 games. However, I subsequently resigned once the season finished. For 2 reasons: 

• I think China may be easier once I have a higher reputation and can get a big job there. Some of the teams budgets in the Super League mean Meizhou will never compete and I can't see myself winning title or domestic cup for a long, long time
• Secondly, I want to get into South America and win the Copa Libertadores before the bug comes in. 

I instantly knew I had made a mistake taking this job, and wish I held out for a South American job. I have Brazil and Argentina's 2nd tier loaded so hope to get one of them next.

Onto the next challenge.......

Season| Team             |Position | Notes and Acheivements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  2016| Meizhou Kejia    | 14th    | Took over bottom of table and 11 games left - kept them up

 

 

Edited June 8, 2017 by YellowLittle

[vikeologist]

@YellowLittle Be interesting to see if you can get a job in S America. Trouble is it's very difficult. I don't think China is a bad place to start, but Meizhou are a pretty small club. 

@Fadedaf Congrats on getting the CL. In the home straight now. It's a pain that you'll have to manage 2 different clubs to get the last 2 trophies. If you have loads of leagues loaded, you can probably do a vike and swoop in on a club in the latter stages of a cup, although I don't know how you feel about doing a vike.

@shirajzl I think the trick to the challenge once you have a high enough rep is taking jobs where you don't need to rebuild the squad. Taking the wrong job can really screw up the challenge.

@yugular Great progress. Very impressive, and hopefully you'll get another club job quite easily.

 

 

[Fadedaf]

@vikeologist I think this is the perfect situation to do a vike, so i've loaded up about 18 leagues and we'll see what I can pull off! Quality jobs in South Africa seem to not come up particularly often so I really have no idea how the next few seasons will go

[YellowLittle]

@vikeologist I had a couple of interviews in Uruguay 2nd tier, however was overlooked. Got offered a job with Beijeng Beikong who have a decent budget for 2nd tier China but I didn't want to go back to China. Instead I opted for a more familiar Crawley Town. I took over with Crawley in 17th. I've got 19 games to go and 10 points from play off's, will be a tall order but they haven't got a bad team and are not in horrendous form. I think getting my reputation up is probably the priority at the moment. If I can sneak play off's I'll be happy. 

[Cheekybananafm]

2017/18 Season - Thanda Royal Zulu

First full season down and what a season it was.

South African 1st Division - I had a feeling we could push for a play off spot (top 4) but after a shaky start it wasn't looking good, I had a quick change of formation and it worked a treat, after 10 games we sat 5th, after 20 games we were 3rd and then a really good end of season run put us top with 4 games to go, we won 3 of our final 4 games to win the league by 3 points and seal promotion to the Premier Division

South African FA Cup - No where near as good as last season semi final finish, we were knocked out in the 1st Round by Ajax CT 3-1.

In Other News - With the club losing nearly £150k a month a takeover was good news. The new board wiped all the debts clear and pumped £600k into the bank which put us around +£200k, we are still losing lots of money but they seem happy to pump money in when required.

Manager Progress - The new board have also agreed for me to start doing my National C Licence which was a pleasant surprise, my manager rep is now upto 10%.

The Future - I have just signed a new 1 year contract with the club and will reassess at the end of next season. I don't think my rep is good enough to be getting a better job so hopefully we can survive next season, a few players are going to leave and I will look at frees and loans to try and limits the outgoings. If we manage to stay up I will more than likely sign a new deal and try and push us up the Premier Division table

 

[dkouv]

England 2038 World Cup report

Two seasons after resigning from Benfica and crashing out of the Euros with Spain, I am still without a club job. The Barca and Real managers seem virtually unsackable, and the only other decent job that has come up during this time was Real Sociedad, who intriguingly rejected me after an interview. I still need a cup from another nation, but no team that is decent and still in the cup has sacked their manager during these two seasons.

My England team, however, are flying. For the first time in a while I feel that we have a tactic that suits the team really well. The players are not as good as Spain’s but we have good quality in every position and a few world-class stars in goal, midfield and defence. The only issue is lack of depth so I hope we don’t get too many injuries.

We won the Internaltional League and all the qualifying games, the only loss during my reign coming in a friendly to Spain. I still think it’s unlikely we’ll win the World Cup, but I’m looking forward to the ride. Group stage against bitter rivals Argentina, as well as Jamaica and Russia awaits. At least I hope I can do better than the real-life England…

Group stage

Spoiler

Argentina 2 – 4 England. Goals: MacDonald, Scott, Swann x2

Well I never had much trouble playing Argentina in all the previous internationals, and so it proved again. The 4-2 scoreline flattered them, and there was a bit of controversy as Juan Carlos Scott, a naturalised Argentine who plays for England, scored against his country of birth. Better not go back to visit relatives anytime soon, don Juan!

England 4 – 0 Jamaica. Goals: Swann x2, Nicholson, Moore

My left-back decided to make things interesting by getting sent off in the 23^rd minute, but in the end it was an easy win against one of my former teams.

England 2 – 0 Russia. Goals: Moore, Wells

A very solid performance that ensured we finish top of the group. Switzerland are next in the second round. They have a good team and were the extra-time losing finalists in the Euros, but hopefully a few of their players have aged since then.

Second round (if applicable)

Spoiler

Switzerland 0 – 4 England. Goals: Rowley x2, Swann, Nicholson

I had some fitness issues before this game so couldn’t play a full-strength side, but my reserve midfielder Leon Rowley came up with the goods, scoring two, assisting one and hitting the post. France are next.

Quarter final (if applicable)

Spoiler

France 2 – 4 England. Goals: Moore x3, Chapman

We were playing great, but somehow kept wanting to give it away – first from 2-0 to 2-1, then from 3-1 to 3-2. But in the end we prevailed, and again it was one of my reserve players Paul Moore – who, like Leon Rowley, plays for Norwich (and no, Norwich have not suddenly become amazing in 2038) – scored a wonderful hattrick, to send us through to the semis, where we face… Portugal. Who again beat Spain in the quarters.

Semi final (if applicable)

Spoiler

England 3 – 1 Portugal a.e.t. Goals: Flanagan, Meakin x2

My god that was tense. We went ahead with a classy finish from my attacking midfielder Kenny Flanagan. The game was uneventful but, as last time with Spain, Portugal somehow equalised. This time the goal came from a super-deep cross on the stroke of half time – I don’t think I’ve seen such a crossing goal since FM 2016.

The game continued to be uneventful despite my best efforts, as we went into the second half of extra time. Here we go again I thought, out to bloody Portugal on penalties; and I’m even thinking of Spain 2036, not England 2004. But then the substitute Meakin, who came on to replace the injured Flanagan, broke the deadlock with a lovely finish, I went to bunker mode and Meakin added another one just to be sure. We are now potentially one game away from ending 72 years of hurt. Rather fittingly, it’s going to be against Germany.

Third place playoff (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

England 0 – 2 Germany.

It’s a shame that you can’t manage Germany, they have so many ridiculously good players. We gave ourselves a good chance and played well. My star striker Swann wasted a glorious chance, while Germany scored their first from a misplaced pass by my rightback, and their second from a freekick. Still, they are the better team and I guess it was just one game too many against good opposition that we had to win.

After the tournament

Spoiler

Disappointed to be beaten finalists again. But then we gave a very good account of ourselves in the tournament, the team is reasonably young, and the tactic works well, so I’ll give the euros another go in two years’ time. We did seem to have a lot of tough games throughout the tournament, which eventually took its toll.

I’ve got the job as a manager of Rostov in Russia on the club side (they finished second last season and first the season before). I guess there is no rush with club trophies so I might as well take my time and spend a whole season or two trying to win a cup. Internationally, I’m staying with England.

[dkouv]

@Fadedaf Congrats on finally getting the CL, look forward to reading about you storming over the finishing line in this challenge now

[numero uno gunner]

Season 2023

Palmeiras

A very, very strange season.

As many will have read, I've taken over at Palmeiras in Brazil, and then discovered that the Copa Libertadores is no longer running in my save. The most frustrating thing about it is that I have got to a club where I could have been a realistic challenge within a couple of seasons at a fairly early stage in my career (I think 7 years is fairly early anyway) and still not stand a chance through no fault of my own.

We were 12th when I took over, and finished 9th in the end. Not exactly a massive amount of progress, but it was an odd situation. We actually went 13 games unbeaten in the league after I took over, and we got as close as 4 points behind the leaders at one stage. However, 6 defeats in our last 9 league games was enough to end any lingering hopes that we might crash the top three and qualify for a defunct Copa Libertadores. It might seem ridiculous, but I thought that if I could at least qualify it would vindicate my anger. Alas, it wasn't to be.

Or was it?

A solid cup run saw us win on away goals in the 4th round, 2-1 on aggregate in the quarter finals, before absolutely smashing Atletico Minero 5-1 over two legs. This set up a final against Corinthians, the first tea to beat us in the league this season. After a remarkable 3-1 win in the first leg away, with goals coming from Dudu, Ignacio Huguenet and Juninho, we went into the return full of high hopes. Corinthians took an early 1-0 lead, and the game then went into a bit of a lull, with neither side having any real chances. With 20 minutes to go, I really should've gone defensive and just seen the game out. However, I didn't, and they grabbed a 90th minute goal. I didn't mind too much, as having gone through on away goals in round 4, I knew we were still ahead, and only moments away from lifting the trophy.

The full time whistle went, and instead of scenes of joy, I was confronted with a stark reality. Away goals aren't used in the final.

I needn't have worried, though. Four perfect penalties later, followed by two excellent penalty saves, meant we won the shoot out 4-1, and I'd added another cup to my trophy haul! The thing that hit me afterwards? We'd have been playing Copa Libertadores football next season...

So what's next? I think I'm going to try and head back to Europe, unless a decent club side in South Africa becomes available. I feel like without continental football I'm not going to enjoy being at Palmeiras now. Rather than lose faith in the challenge, I'm going to move on to a new club.

Club
Season        Team             Position      Notes and Achievements
2016/17      Dungannon     9th            Irish Cup winners, Mid-Ulster Cup winners

2018            Sligo Rovers    1st             League winners!

2019            Tianjin              1st             League winners!

2020            Tianjin              8th            FA Cup winners! Champions League winners!

2021            Montreal         4th            League (MLS Cup) winners!

2022            Montreal         1st             Won MLS Supporters' Shield, currently in last 8 of NACL

2023            Montreal          N/A          NACL winners!

2023            Palmeiras        9th           Brazilian Cup winners!

Country

2021           Ivory Coast         Qualified for the World Cup

2022           Ivory Coast         World Cup quarter finalists. Quarter finalists in CHAN. Qualified for African Cup of Nations

2023          Ivory Coast         African Cup of Nations winners!

Challenge Progress

Club

3/10 top domestic leagues - Republic of Ireland (Sligo), China (Tianjin), USA (Montreal)

3/10 domestic cups - Northern Ireland (Dungannon), China (Tianjin), Brazil (Palmeiras)

1/5 club continental championships - Asian Champions League (Tianjin)

0/1 club world championship -

International

1/5 continental tournaments - African Cup of Nations (Ivory Coast 2023)

0/2 world tournaments -

 

[yugular]

 

New job:

 

MLS is a new experience for me and oh boy im so unfamiliar with all the rules. Hopefully I will not mess up. The squad is really weak and needs lots of new players if I wish to be competitive. I will try to build the squad this season and next season is where I will aim to win all possible comptetitions.

 

Next up World Cup with Spain! In group stage I fill face Algeria, Japan and Belgium.

 

Season       Team             Position         Champs League       Notes and Achievements     
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

16/17	Carlisle              7th Sky Bet League 2	           Lost in playoffs rnd 1
17/18   Carlisle              1st Sky Bet League 2                 Promotion 
18/19   Middlesbrough         2nd Championship                     Promotion
19/20   Middlesbrough         5th Premier League                   EC slot

Challenge Progress

Club
 0/10 top domestic leagues 
 0/10 domestic cups 
 0/5 club continental championships  
 0/1 club world championship 

International
 1/5 continental tournaments (European Championship 2020/Croatia)
 0/2 world tournaments

International:
Season       Team             Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2020        Croatia          Won European Championship

[Cheekybananafm]

18/19 Season - Thanda Royal Zulu

2nd full season in charge and after promotion to the Premier Division last year my my aim was just to stay up, I did that and so much more!

Premier Division - What a season! An amazing start and we never looked back, it shows how bad the South African Premier Division is when a team comes up and smashes everyone with a pretty rubbish team. We went top after 4 games and even though we had a slight blip in the middle we ended up running away with it winning the league with 3 games to spare!

The Cups - Rubbish but the league was more important. We were knocked out in both cup comps in the 1st Round

Next Season - We are in the African Champions League! Let's hope can have another amazing season, winning a cup will be my main priority

Me as a Manager - I have successfully learned my National B Licence and am now doing my A Licence

 

 

Season   Team    Position  Notes and Achievements
17/18	Thanda Royal Zulu	1st	South African 1st Division Champs
18/19	Thanda Royal Zulu	1st	South African Premier Division Champs

 

Challenge Progress

Club

1/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa)

0/10 domestic cups ()

0/5 club continental championships ()

0/1 club world championship

International

0/5 continental tournaments ()

0/2 world tournaments ()

[Fadedaf]

PSG Season 2043/44 Report

So another quick update from me as another season has passed although there is not a lot to report. I was keen to have another go at the Club World Cup with PSG if no good jobs came up and this was the case, and we were able to win the French and European super cups followed by the CWC pretty comfortably. I holidayed through most of this season, only managing the international fixtures with Egypt but we did end up winning the league by miles again. Got knocked out pretty early in the 2 cups and Champions League apparently. I checked for new jobs pretty regularly but absolutely nothing promising came up. Not a single decent South African side or team in a country I hadn't yet won a cup in came up all year. I am going to resign from PSG now and just focus on the Egypt job and keep on the lookout for any jobs that look promising to grab those last 2 club trophies. All the extra leagues i've loaded should come into play pretty soon so hopefully i'll be able to find a job! On the international side, things are going very well, we managed to finish runners-up in the CHAN, losing the final in extra time to Senegal and our ACON qualifying campaign has so far consisted of 4 wins from 4. I'm optimistic about our chances at ACON 2045 so looking forward to that. 

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 season for Molde
2021         Molde            1st                  -               Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2022         Molde            --                   -               Undefeated and 1st in the league when I left for Genk
2022/23      Genk             1st                  -               EL Semi finalists
2023/24      Genk             2nd              Group Stage         Super Cup winners, Cup runners up, EL Quarter finalists
2024/25      Genk             1st               Playoff            Cup winners, CL qualification
2025/26      Saint Etienne    3rd                  -               Supercup winners, Cup runners up, EL Semi finals, MOTS, CL qualification
2026/27      Saint Etienne    3rd               Playoff            Cup winners, EL Quarter finals, CL qualification
2027         Jeonbuk          1st              Semi Final          Took over in 6th position, CL qualification
2028         Jeonbuk          1st              CHAMPIONS           Cup winners, MOTS, FA cup best manager, CL qualification, 5th in CWC
2029/30      Tigres        1st + 2nd               -               Cup winners, Libertadores qualification, MOTS
2030/31      Tigres        1st + 1st           CHAMPIONS x2        Quintuple winners, CWC qualification, double CL qualification again, MOTS
2031/32      Tigres      3/4th + 1st     2nd Round + runner up     Recopa winners, CWC Champions, NACL runners up
2032/33      Roma             4th             1st KO Round         Cup semis, CL qualification
2033/34      Roma             1st             1st KO Round         Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2034/35      BMG              1st             1st KO Round         Cup semis, CL qualification
2036/37      Chelsea          2nd             1st KO Round         EFL Cup runners up, FA Cup semis, CL qualification
2037/38      Chelsea          2nd             1st KO Round         FA Cup winners, EFL Cup runners up, CL qualification
2038/39      Chelsea          1st             1st KO Round         MOTS, CL qualification
2039/40      Chelsea          2nd              Semi Final          CL qualification
2040/41      Barcelona        1st             1st KO Round         CL qualification, Cup winners, Supercup winners, MOTS runner-up
2041/42      Barcelona        1st              Runners Up          Unbeaten in the League, Cup winners, Supercup winners, MOTS, CL qual.
2042/43      PSG              1st              CHAMPIONS           Cup winners x2, Supercup winners, CL qualification
2043/44      PSG              1st             1st KO Round         CWC winners, French + Euro Supercup winners, CL qualification

Challenge Progress

Club
 10/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles, Norway- Molde, Belgium- Genk, South Korea- Jeonbuk, Mexico- Tigres, Italy- Roma, Germany- BMG, England- Chelsea, Spain- Barcelona, France- PSG)
 9/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles, Norwegian Cup- Molde, Belgian Cup- Genk, Coupe de la Ligue(France)- Saint Etienne, Korean FA Cup- Jeonbuk, Mexican Cup Opening Stage- Tigres, Italian Cup- Roma, FA Cup- Chelsea, Copa del Rey- Barcelona)
 4/5 club continental championships (Asian CL- Jeonbuk 2028, Copa Libertadores- Tigres 2031, NACL- Tigres 2031 Champions League- PSG 2043) 
 1/1 club world championship (Tigres 2031)

International
 3/5 continental tournaments (Copa America 2031- Brazil, Gold Cup 2035- Mexico, European Championship 2040- Spain)
 2/2 world tournaments (Confederations Cup 2033- Brazil, World Cup 2034- Brazil)

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
2022        Nigeria           Knocked out of World Cup in group stage, resigned
2023        Ivory Coast       Started World Cup and ACON qualifying
2024        Ivory Coast       Qualified for ACON
2025        Ivory Coast       Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned
2026        Ghana             Qualified for ACON
2027        Ghana             ACON runners up, resigned
2028        SK + France U23   Won U23 Asian Cup, Olympic silver medallists
2029        Brazil            Qualified for World Cup
2030        Brazil            4th in World Cup
2031        Brazil            Copa America Winners!
2032        Brazil            Qualified for World Cup
2033        Brazil            Confederations Cup Winners!
2034        Brazil            World Cup Winners!
2035        Mexico            Gold Cup Winners!
2036        Spain             Started World Cup qualifying
2037        Spain             Qualified unbeaten for the World Cup
2038        Spain             World Cup runners-up
2039        Spain             European International League Div.A Winners!
2040        Spain             European Championship Winners!
2041        Ivory Coast       Missed out on World Cup qualification on goal difference
2042        Ivory Coast       Qualified for ACON
2043        Ivory Coast       Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned
2044        Egypt             CHAN runners-up

 

Edited June 14, 2017 by Fadedaf
spelling

[Fadedaf]

Faded's 2045 ACON Report

So yet another attempt at the ACON and i'm feeling slightly more optimistic this time. This Egypt squad has been performing well and they fit my preferred formation decently as well. Pre-tournament friendlies consisted of a 2-0 loss to Nigeria and a 2-0 win over Cameroon. We've drawn a very tough group of Algeria, Tunisia and Togo. Could we end my long wait for an ACON trophy?

Group Stage

Spoiler

Egypt 1-2 Algeria (goal from El Sayed) Not a good start. We had red cards, injuries, clear chances missed etc. our next game against Togo is a must-win now.

Egypt 4-1 Togo (goals from Moss'ad x2, Ibrahim, Fathy) Much better, a good solid performance however we need a result against Tunisia in the final group game to go through

Egypt 1-0 Tunisia (goal from El Sayed) We ended up needing a win to go through and it didn't look like we would get it until El Sayed scored a screamer of a free kick in the 89th minute to send us through. We even ended up topping the group! Huge amounts of luck but i'll take it, now onto Cameroon in the quarter final.

Quarter final (if applicable)

Spoiler

Egypt 0-3 Cameroon Well, that's the end of that then. A truly terrible performance as we never really got into any kind of rhythm. Out in the quarter finals for the second time in a row and third time overall...

Semi final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

Third place playoff (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

Aftermath

Spoiler

So i'm pretty disappointed with this tournament. I thought we had a great chance but we really didn't play particularly well and none of my key players performed. We had very little depth in strikers and our centre backs were particularly poor. I guess its time to resign and pick another African Nation. See you again in 2 years ACON! On the club side of things I have finally found a job so that's good news. I've taken charge of Celtic for the end of the season so expect an update on that soon. 

 

[Fadedaf]

Celtic Season 2044/45 Report

So while I was managing at the ACON, Celtic's manager was headhunted by Newcastle presenting a perfect opportunity for me to swoop in. They were comfortably top of the table and still in the cup so it looked very promising. My primary interest was the cup but another league win is always welcome. The squad is undoubtedly the best in Scotland and I then added 2 world class strikers, one that i previously managed at Chelsea and the other a wonderkid from Real Madrid on loan. I also picked up a quality right midfielder on a free transfer as well as a backup left back and the squad was then really something to behold.

League- This league is one that splits into championship and relegation groups, but we won it before that even happened. We ended up winning by 26 points to deliver Celtic their 34th title in a row. And I thought PSG were domestically dominant! There were 15 league games left when I took charge and we won 14 and lost 1, conceding just 6 goals in that time. This team could win the league in their sleep.

Scottish Cup- I took over just before the 5th round clash against Queen of the South. They actually took us to a replay after a bore 0-0 draw away in the pouring rain, but we won the replay 2-0. We then beat Kilmarnock 2-0 in the quarter final and Motherwell 3-0 in the semis to set up a final against Rangers. An old firm derby in the final made me a little anxious, although we did beat Rangers 5-1 in the league a few weeks previously. Injuries and suspensions piled up and we ended up having 4 first teamers unavailable, giving a young goalie his debut and playing a few guys out of position. They went ahead early but we struck back straight away then just cruised from there as we secured a 3-1 win. Another trophy for the challenge!

Best Players: Top goalscorer and most POM- Ally Sweeney (21 goals, 8 assists, 8 POM) The Scottish striker ended up losing his first team spot by the end of the season to my new signings but still held on to the top goalscorer spot.

Most assists- Serge Hiagbe (12 goals, 13 assists) consistently good performances from Serge, who scores a lot of goals for a ball winning midfielder.

Highest avg. rating- Allan Austin (2 goals, 5 POM, 7.25) Always good to see a defender get into the end of season awards. Its a pretty low highest avg rating for one of my teams but he still did very well playing both centre and left back.

Honourable mentions to my 3 big January signings:

Aitor Orta (19 goals, 8 assists, 5 POM in 18 apps)

Val Griffin (8 goals, 9 assists in 18 apps)

Antonio Franco (8 goals, 2 assists, 3 POM in 9 apps)

Results (everything after the Preston Athletic game)

I got exactly what I wanted during my time at Celtic and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll be leaving the club with a pretty good record of 18 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss, 2 trophies won. Only one trophy left on the club side of things! Hopefully a decent job in South Africa comes up soon. On the international side of things i've taken charge of Senegal, my 7th different African nation. The squad looks decent and we are in the Confederations Cup as they won the ACON before last so expect an update on that soon.

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 season for Molde
2021         Molde            1st                  -               Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2022         Molde            --                   -               Undefeated and 1st in the league when I left for Genk
2022/23      Genk             1st                  -               EL Semi finalists
2023/24      Genk             2nd              Group Stage         Super Cup winners, Cup runners up, EL Quarter finalists
2024/25      Genk             1st               Playoff            Cup winners, CL qualification
2025/26      Saint Etienne    3rd                  -               Supercup winners, Cup runners up, EL Semi finals, MOTS, CL qualification
2026/27      Saint Etienne    3rd               Playoff            Cup winners, EL Quarter finals, CL qualification
2027         Jeonbuk          1st              Semi Final          Took over in 6th position, CL qualification
2028         Jeonbuk          1st              CHAMPIONS           Cup winners, MOTS, FA cup best manager, CL qualification, 5th in CWC
2029/30      Tigres        1st + 2nd               -               Cup winners, Libertadores qualification, MOTS
2030/31      Tigres        1st + 1st           CHAMPIONS x2        Quintuple winners, CWC qualification, double CL qualification again, MOTS
2031/32      Tigres      3/4th + 1st     2nd Round + runner up     Recopa winners, CWC Champions, NACL runners up
2032/33      Roma             4th             1st KO Round         Cup semis, CL qualification
2033/34      Roma             1st             1st KO Round         Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2034/35      BMG              1st             1st KO Round         Cup semis, CL qualification
2036/37      Chelsea          2nd             1st KO Round         EFL Cup runners up, FA Cup semis, CL qualification
2037/38      Chelsea          2nd             1st KO Round         FA Cup winners, EFL Cup runners up, CL qualification
2038/39      Chelsea          1st             1st KO Round         MOTS, CL qualification
2039/40      Chelsea          2nd              Semi Final          CL qualification
2040/41      Barcelona        1st             1st KO Round         CL qualification, Cup winners, Supercup winners, MOTS runner-up
2041/42      Barcelona        1st              Runners Up          Unbeaten in the League, Cup winners, Supercup winners, MOTS, CL qual.
2042/43      PSG              1st              CHAMPIONS           Cup winners x2, Supercup winners, CL qualification
2043/44      PSG              1st             1st KO Round         CWC winners, French + Euro Supercup winners, CL qualification
2044/45      Celtic           1st                  -               Cup winners, CL qualification

Challenge Progress

Club
 10/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles, Norway- Molde, Belgium- Genk, South Korea- Jeonbuk, Mexico- Tigres, Italy- Roma, Germany- BMG, England- Chelsea, Spain- Barcelona, France- PSG)
 10/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles, Norwegian Cup- Molde, Belgian Cup- Genk, Coupe de la Ligue(France)- Saint Etienne, Korean FA Cup- Jeonbuk, Mexican Cup Opening Stage- Tigres, Italian Cup- Roma, FA Cup- Chelsea, Copa del Rey- Barcelona, Scottish Cup- Celtic)
 4/5 club continental championships (Asian CL- Jeonbuk 2028, Copa Libertadores- Tigres 2031, NACL- Tigres 2031 Champions League- PSG 2043) 
 1/1 club world championship (Tigres 2031)

International
 3/5 continental tournaments (Copa America 2031- Brazil, Gold Cup 2035- Mexico, European Championship 2040- Spain)
 2/2 world tournaments (Confederations Cup 2033- Brazil, World Cup 2034- Brazil)

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
2022        Nigeria           Knocked out of World Cup in group stage, resigned
2023        Ivory Coast       Started World Cup and ACON qualifying
2024        Ivory Coast       Qualified for ACON
2025        Ivory Coast       Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned
2026        Ghana             Qualified for ACON
2027        Ghana             ACON runners up, resigned
2028        SK + France U23   Won U23 Asian Cup, Olympic silver medallists
2029        Brazil            Qualified for World Cup
2030        Brazil            4th in World Cup
2031        Brazil            Copa America Winners!
2032        Brazil            Qualified for World Cup
2033        Brazil            Confederations Cup Winners!
2034        Brazil            World Cup Winners!
2035        Mexico            Gold Cup Winners!
2036        Spain             Started World Cup qualifying
2037        Spain             Qualified unbeaten for the World Cup
2038        Spain             World Cup runners-up
2039        Spain             European International League Div.A Winners!
2040        Spain             European Championship Winners!
2041        Ivory Coast       Missed out on World Cup qualification on goal difference
2042        Ivory Coast       Qualified for ACON
2043        Ivory Coast       Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned
2044        Egypt             CHAN runners-up
2045        Egypt             Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned

 

[vikeologist]

@Fadedaf That's a bit of a blow. I presume you were sacked. Looks like you might have a spell of international management at the end of your career. Anyway, hopefully you can win a cup with Celtic first time out. With 2 cups, you're surely going to win one of them.

@Cheekybananafm Well now, that's impressive. It seems like your main obstacle is going to be being patient as you won't enter the Champions League for another 6 months, and the early stages will be pretty easy for you. The latter stages though are usually a bit of a crap shoot, but hopefully you'll get it first time. In early seasons, South African teams are always the best in the continent, though that usually changes as the game goes on.

@yugular Be interesting to hear how bugged the MLS is in the latest version. The combination of bugs and the (presumably real life) ridiculousness did for me. Not even sure it's possible to 'build a squad' in the MLS. Still N1G was successful there; speaking of

@numero uno gunner  Congrats on the cup in Brazil. Has the Lib bug changed your career plans. Do you still plan to achieve every other landmark asap, or are you going to roam wherever the whim takes you now? 

I suppose I might be tempted to go back to my ultimate challenge once (if) I finish the youth challenge, but I would just go to nations I've never managed in, even though I wouldn't need them for the challenge. Frankly when I do the challenge again, I'd want to try to set the record, which I suspect my soon become unbreakable if some of these new starters keep going, (although I think luck in international competitions will be needed to set the record as well). 7 international tournaments in just over 20 seasons doesn't leave a lot of room for failure, especially since one usually won't win one early on, so @yugular has got off to a very promising start.

I did start a save to see what kind of Chinese jobs one can get. My very first (and quickly aborted) attempt at this challenge nearly 3 years ago started with a top division Chinese club. A really terrible one, but top division. That's just not going to happen anymore. I wasn't even interviewed by the clubs when they were relegated at the end of the season.

@dkouv Commiserations of falling in the final with the Sassenachs.  Be interesting to see how you fare in Russia In my youth save I don't really think of Rostov as contenders, but they do finish in the top half each season. You stand a good chance in the Russian Cup as it's essentially quite seeded.

@YellowLittle Hope things are going well at Crawley. 

[Fadedaf]

Faded's 2045 Confederations Cup Report

Here's another quick update regarding how I got on at the confederations cup with Senegal. My goals were basically to perform as well as possible and not get sacked. We've been drawn into a group with Mexico, Colombia and Argentina so it will be pretty hard work. Here's how we went:

Group Stage

Spoiler

Senegal 4-3 Mexico (goals from Bayo x2, Sagna x2) what a great start! we beat the North American champions with a good performance in a pretty crazy game. We led the whole time but it was very open and i'm glad we could come out on top. This will be the easiest game of the tournament for us though so now we test ourselves against the real big guns

Senegal 1-0 Colombia (goal from Camara) We scored right off the kickoff then parked the bus for 89 minutes and it worked! The last world cup winners and world number 1 ranked side have fallen to the mighty Senegal!

Senegal 0-2 Argentina A pretty deserved win for Argentina here but we had already qualified for the semi finals so not a big deal. Unfortunately we are going to have to play Brazil in the next game.

Semi final (if applicable

Spoiler

Senegal 1-2 Brazil (goal from Mbaye) Injuries and suspensions meant I was forced into playing a terrifying 3-4-3 formation against a very dangerous attacking team. I thought we were going to pull off another smash and grab win after Mbaye scored a bullet header inside 10 minutes but Brazil went super attacking and we just couldn't hold them off. It was a very good performance though as we matched Brazil all the way, only conceding the winner in the 83rd minute. Now we have to play Argentina again in the 3rd place playoff.

3rd place playoff (if applicable)

Spoiler

Senegal 0-2 Argentina same result as last time but we probably played slightly better. Their second goal was scored well into the 49th minute of the first half despite one minute of added time being signalled. Oh well, another decent performance against a top-class team.

Final (if applicable)

Spoiler

 

Aftermath

Spoiler

Overall i'm very happy with how we went and i'm liking this Senegal side. We're up to 14th in the world and i'm feeling optimistic for the ACON in a year and a half, but that seems to happen every time. On the club side of things I left Celtic but haven't found a new job yet. Quality jobs in South Africa seem to come up incredibly rarely. I was offered the job at newly promoted Polokwane City but they have no money and no staff and one of the worst squads in the league, so I rejected them and hopefully I can find something better.

 

[yugular]

13 hours ago, vikeologist said:

@yugular Be interesting to hear how bugged the MLS is in the latest version. The combination of bugs and the (presumably real life) ridiculousness did for me. Not even sure it's possible to 'build a squad' in the MLS. Still N1G was successful there;

 

North American Champions League... Is it possible to do it in somewhere else than MLS?

[numero uno gunner]

@yugular - the vast, vast majority of people win it with a Mexican club.

@vikeologist - to be honest I have no idea. I'm still annoyed. I'm amazed people have won international competitions inside the first couple of seasons when I was struggling to et interviews let alone jobs at that point! I'm hopeful my 20 season record will be safe. Getting jobs seems much harder this year than last.

[Cheekybananafm]

19/20 Season - Thanda Royal Zulu

Another season down and after our shock Premier Division win last season this time I wanted to tick off a cup win and also progress in the African Champions League.

SA Premier Division - A tricky season, way too many draws but somehow with a late winning run we managed to end 2nd in the League. We had a poor start and never really looked like ending anywhere above 4th but 2nd was a great season and enough to qualify us for the 2021 African CL.

The Cups - My main aim this season, we have 3 cups to play for. In the FA Cup we were knocked out rather surprisingly in the Quarter Final to a non league team. We did however manage to win the other 2. Beating Kaizer Chiefs in the Super 8 final and beating Ajax CT in the Knockout Cup. So 3 full seasons in and I have ticked off 2 trophies

African Champions League - This runs over 2 different SA seasons so by the end of this season we had only played to playoff round. We had a pretty easy run although in the 2nd round we scraped past Zamalek. We are now into the Group Stage where we have been pitted against Es Tunis (Tunisia), Al-Ittihad (Libya) and Petro de Luanda (Angola). Really and truly we should get into the semi finals at least

Me as a manager - My reputation has massively increased and is now at 50% and I am now on the way to having my Continental B Licence.

The Future - I am adamant I want to stay and win the Champions League here but if we struggle over the next season and a half I will reassess. It would be frustrating to leave here with ticking that competition off. Also with my rep increasing I will now be looking for an international job.

Season   Team    Position  Notes and Achievements
17/18	Thanda Royal Zulu	1st	South African 1st Division Champs
18/19	Thanda Royal Zulu	1st	South African Premier Division Champs
19/20	Thanda Royal Zulu	2nd SA Knockout Cup and Super 8 Winners

 

Challenge Progress

Club

1/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2019)

1/10 domestic cups (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2020)

0/5 club continental championships ()

0/1 club world championship

International

0/5 continental tournaments ()

0/2 world tournaments ()

[numero uno gunner]

I've decided this game hates me.

After choosing to leave Palmeiras due to the lack of being able to play in the Copa Libertadores, I've been out of work until after the Euros (a brief, unsuccessful stint as Colombia under-23s manager aside - I wanted to try and win back-to-back Olympic golds but lost all three games). My first interview, after lots of rejections, was with Ajax. They have offered me the job, but there's a problem:

THE DUTCH CUP HAS STOPPED WORKING!

Seriously, it's like this game doesn't want me to complete this challenge again.

 I'm really undecided on what to do now. Accept the Ajax job knowing my trophy chances have been halved, or wait god knows how long for another job. I'm going to sleep on it and decide in the morning. Ugh.

[Fadedaf]

@numero uno gunner I'm pretty sure the Dutch Cup stopped working in my save as well which prevented me from taking a few jobs there. Super unlucky though that you're prevented from even competing in several competitions through no fault of your own.

[vikeologist]

@numero uno gunnerThere might actually be a fix for this one;

which makes me wonder why they can fix this and not the indubitably worse Copa Lib bug.

Edited June 17, 2017 by vikeologist

[GloryFan2002]

I'm thinking about restarting this challenge. Regards the Copa Libertadores glitch would I be able to just win league+cup competition in any South American nation and call that it and win the OFC Nations Cup to make up in trophy numbers

[vikeologist]

22 minutes ago, GloryFan2002 said:

I'm thinking about restarting this challenge. Regards the Copa Libertadores glitch would I be able to just win league+cup competition in any South American nation and call that it and win the OFC Nations Cup to make up in trophy numbers

If you start on the latest version, the Copa Lib bug probably won't affect you, although it wouldn't hurt to try to win it as soon as possible.

The OFC Nations Cup isn't really a viable replacement for the Lib, because one's a club competition and one's international, but the bug probably won't affect you anyway.

Although the bug has happened in almost every long-term challenge so far this year, that's because most of us who had managed quite a lot of seasons started before 17.3.

If it does, we'll have to talk again.

@numero uno gunner Obviously once you get to 10 landmarks, I'll add you to the leader board, but if you want to be in the hall of fame for a second time, maybe you could suggest now what landmark you will achieve instead of the Lib, or just decide that you're going to go on the hall of fame for the second time with 32 instead of 33 landmarks. There's lots of things you could do, such as win the NACL or Asian CL twice with clubs from 2 different nations. I think the European CL might be too easy, and obviously it's impossible in Africa, but it's your save, so tell me what you criteria is going to be.

[numero uno gunner]

@vikeologist - Being in the Hall of Fame on 32 would feel wrong, so I'm happy to have something else to win instead. I think that you're right in saying it needs to be a club competition. As this is essentially your challenge, I'm happy with whatever you decide. Either Champions League in either of the three possible continents with clubs from different nations, Europa League, an extra league title? I'm happy for you to set the rules. I can adapt my career at this stage, having only won a few trophies at this point. I'd quite like to avoid going back to South America though!

[YellowLittle]

I will be starting the challenge again as I want to do things a bit differently, i.e starting in China and stuff. Sounds silly but I think I've picked the wrong job twice now and I want to do it a different way. 

Edited June 17, 2017 by YellowLittle

[vikeologist]

@numero uno gunner So I guess an extra Champions League with a club from a different country. Also Europa League with a club not from the big (mandatory) 5. How about that?

@YellowLittle Look forward to hearing where you start this time. The start is definitely the hardest part of the challenge. Once you're in the second half you are offered jobs with title contenders, but in China I wasn't even offered jobs with clubs that you'd normally expect to finish in the top half of the Jia (2nd tier) league.

[numero uno gunner]

@vikeologist - Sounds good to me. It'll make a change, targeting the Europa League and Champions League twice. Actually, it'll make some of my career choices further down the line rather interesting. Last time round, I was quite happy to move between clubs in the big 5 leagues if I'd won the league title but not been successful in the Champions League as I knew I'd get another crack somewhere along the road. This time round, I'm going to have to win one of them twice, so definitely need to bear that in mind.

@YellowLittle - The advantage to starting in China (speaking as someone who hasn't on either challenge) is that they tend to have some money so you can get your coaching badges done, which I think definitely helps to build your reputation early doors.

[vikeologist]

3 minutes ago, numero uno gunner said:

@vikeologist - Sounds good to me. It'll make a change, targeting the Europa League and Champions League twice. Actually, it'll make some of my career choices further down the line rather interesting. Last time round, I was quite happy to move between clubs in the big 5 leagues if I'd won the league title but not been successful in the Champions League as I knew I'd get another crack somewhere along the road. This time round, I'm going to have to win one of them twice, so definitely need to bear that in mind.

@YellowLittle - The advantage to starting in China (speaking as someone who hasn't on either challenge) is that they tend to have some money so you can get your coaching badges done, which I think definitely helps to build your reputation early doors.

Actually I mistyped. I meant either an extra Champions League (with different nation) or the Europa League (with non-big 5 club). So still just 33 trophies. Am I right in thinking that you already have a NACL with a MLS club? That would make it kind of easy to get the NACL with a Mexican side. I think there's some kind of lesser Asian continental competition as well, which might necessitate managing a club from a lesser nation, but anyway, good luck.

I suppose I could continue my save on these terms, but want to finish the youth challenge first, though it's definitely becoming a bit of a slog.

[numero uno gunner]

@vikeologist - You are indeed right, as I won the NACL with Montreal Impact. Even with the big 5 leagues I'll only get to 8, so that gives me a bit of scope to consider where to go. Mexico or South Korea would probably be good options, but I quite fancy managing in Europe, so Ukraine, Portugal, Belgium and Holland are all possibilities too. I've taken the Ajax job, despite the cup not being in play (the fix didn't work), which will mean having to go to another nation looking for cup wins at some point. 

I don't know much about the youth challenge, but reckon we'd all like to see you back completing this challenge!

[pug 407]

This Thing About Cups Stopping Do People have The CD Or Did They Download It. Because I've Got The CD And Up To Now

I've Had No Problems With Anything Stopping. 

[yugular]

 

I resigned as a manager of New England, MLS was not meant to be for me... I made some mistakes in building the squad as I was unfamiliar with the rules etc.

 

WORLD CUP REPORT:

 

So I was in the 2022 WC with strong Spain squad. My goal is still to keep the ball and win games without conceding any goals. Group phase was easy. Algeria (1-0 W) and Japan (2-0 W) proved to be just as bad as I thought and I was able to rotate my squad for the last match against Belgium (0-2 L) which didn't mean anything as they were already eliminated and I was set to proceed.

 

2nd round opponent was a weak Holland side, they lacked the quality in defence and I won easily 2-0. Then we faced strong Mexico but manage to win a game we dominated 2-1. Semi Final was against England, they have a strong young roster but they couldn't find a way to break our possession and we won 1-0. In the Final we faced France who are the strongest team in attacking force, but once again our defense was golden and we won 1-0.

 

Now I am hoping to get a good club job.

 

 

Season       Team             Position         Champs League       Notes and Achievements     
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

16/17	Carlisle              7th Sky Bet League 2	           Lost in playoffs rnd 1
17/18   Carlisle              1st Sky Bet League 2                 Promotion 
18/19   Middlesbrough         2nd Championship                     Promotion
19/20   Middlesbrough         5th Premier League                   EC slot
21/22   New England Revolution MLS                                 resigned

Challenge Progress

Club
 0/10 top domestic leagues 
 0/10 domestic cups 
 0/5 club continental championships  
 0/1 club world championship 

International
 1/5 continental tournaments (European Championship 2020/Croatia)
 1/2 world tournaments (World Cup 2022/Spain)

International:
Season       Team             Notes and Achievements     
----------------------------------------------------------
2020        Croatia          Won European Championship
2022        Spain            Won World Cup

[yugular]

Just after typing that message I got a reguest to attend an interview with Leverkusen board. They won Bundesliga last season, but their manager stepped up to take the German national team role and they are looking a new manager. Now this is a great opportunity. Also applied to Boca Juniors

 

[Cheekybananafm]

2020/21 Season - Thanda Royal Zulu

Another season down and another rather successful one but the main question is how did we do in the African Champions League.

So let's start with that first!

2020 African Champions League - We breezed through the group stage winning all 6 games, in the semi final we cam up against Ismaily, to be honest I felt quite confident but my hope ended in despair. We were smashed in the first leg 4-1, we went for it in the 2nd leg but could only win 2-0 and we were knocked out! To be honest it was partly my fault. I made too many changes to my squad in pre-season and because the CL registration period had ended I had a very small squad to take us through, suspensions and injuries meant my squad was so thin on the ground by the time the semi final games came along. Next season I won't be letting any players leave!

2021 African Champions League - Once again we have got into the Group Stage winning in all 3 play off rounds quite conformably. We have been put up against 2 DR Congo teams, Vita Club and TP Mazembe and also Egyptian side Al-Ahly. We really should progress to the semi finals.

South African Premier Division - After a pretty shaky start due to the large amount of games we had to play we went on an amazing end of season run winning 10 of our final 11 games, We didn't get anywhere near to top spot until mid-way through the season but as we started our brilliant end of season run we went top and never looked back. Wits kept up with us but couldn't catch up and we won the title with 2 games to spare. Our 2nd Premier Division title in 3 seasons.

The Cups - For the 2nd season in a row we won the Super 8 competition but that was to be our only cup win. We lost in the KO Cup final to Kaizer Chiefs and lost in the 1st Round of the FA Cup to Platinum Stars.

Manager Progression - I have just finished my Continental A Licence and my manager reputation is at 55%

The Future - I really don't want to leave here without lifting the African CL so as long as the club is qualifying for it then I will stay. If we somehow have 1 bad season where we miss out then I may consider moving and returning to win the CL at a later date but it would be a gutting way to leave if I hadn't won it. The good news at the moment is our finances are amazing. The Cup wins and titles and gate receipts are really pushing up the balance and it now sits at +£3.5m, This means our transfer budget for next season is £1.6m!

International Management - I have eventually got myself an international job with Egypt, currently ranked 36th in the world their manager wa sacked after they didn't get out of the African Nations Group Stage. Egypt are currently In World Cup 2022 qualifying and are into the final group stage where we need to win a group containing Ivory Coast, Gabon and Togo to qualify. We are also in the Qualifying for the African Nations Cup 2023, our group seems easy enough (Ethiopia, Tanzania and Mozambique)

Season   Team    		Position  	Notes and Achievements
17/18	Thanda Royal Zulu	1st	South African 1st Division Champs
18/19	Thanda Royal Zulu	1st	South African Premier Division Champs
19/20	Thanda Royal Zulu	2nd 	SA Knockout Cup and Super 8 Winners
20/21	Thanda Royal Zulu	1st	SA Premier Divisin and Super 8 Winners

 

Challenge Progress

Club

1/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2019)

1/10 domestic cups (South Africa - Thanda Royal Zulu 2020)

0/5 club continental championships ()

0/1 club world championship

International

0/5 continental tournaments ()

0/2 world tournaments ()

[Fadedaf]

Mamelodi Sundowns Season 2045/46 Report

So i've finally managed to get a club job! Unfortunately I had to settle for Sundowns who when I took over were absolutely awful. They were sitting in the relegation zone halfway through the season with a terrible squad and very little staff. After waiting so long for a decent job in South Africa to come up I took it as it was the best one that has come up in the last 3 years at least, and Sundowns have quite a lot of money for this level so hopefully improvements shouldn't be too difficult. Anyways, I took over in January and immediately signed new staff across the board and completely overhauled the players. I sold 5 players and sent plenty more down to the reserves and brought in 12 new players, including 5 of my Senegalese internationals. So from 15th in a league of 16 halfway through, here's how we went:

League- The league was surprisingly tight so with some good results we could shoot right up the table. We did just that despite having a few too many draws near the end of the season where none of our strikers were firing. Anyways we managed to finish all the way up in 4th which i'm pretty happy with. No CL qualification unfortunately though, so we must aim for that next season if not winning the title. As the African CL is ridiculously scheduled it will take at least a few more years to win it with sundowns.

South African FA Cup- We beat the excellently named Hungry Lions FC as well as Tuks, FS Stars and Baroka FC to set up a Final clash against Ajax CT who are currently the second best team in the country. We went ahead twice but couldn't see it out and ended up losing 4-2. A bit disappointing but we did well to get so far with such a poor quality team.

Best Players: Top goalscorer- Bongani Khomane (10 goals, 0 assists) and Siphenathi Kelepu (10 goals, 12 assists). We really struggled to find any good strikers this season and it showed. Khomane is pretty awful and i'll be trying to sell him this summer. Kelepu is a better player but he's an attacking mid who i'm trying to retrain as a false nine. He is only 19 so I might keep him around a bit as a backup at least.

Most assists- Kelepu with 12

Highest avg rating- Baye Kane (2 goals, 1 assist, 7.22) My star Senegalese centre back who is the heart of my club and international defences. He's one of the few truly quality players in this team and i'm very happy I could sign him. yet another defender in the end of season awards which is good.

Most POM- Matar Camara (8 goals, 7 assists, 5 POM) Another Senegalese international, he did pretty well from right midfield after we signed him.

Results (everything after the 2 friendlies)

So the plan now is quite simply to win the league next season. We need CL qualification at the minimum but significant improvement will be needed in terms of players. Our strikers are pretty awful and our fullbacks leave a lot to be desired so i'll be spending a lot of time on transfers this summer. One positive is that we have a very young team, with our starting 11 regularly all being under 23 so they all should improve pretty steadily. Almost all key positions are being filled by 19 and 20 year olds (one wide midfielder who plays regularly is only 17) so maybe this can be a golden generation for Sundowns. If a better job comes up i'll definitely jump ship but I doubt that will happen as neither of the top 2 teams have changed manager in the last 10 years. Looks like it'll be a few more years yet before I get a chance to win the CL with Sundowns but we'll see how it goes. On the international side of things its going pretty well with Senegal and we have the World Cup coming up soon so expect an update on that soon. We have a tough group but i'm aiming to at least reach the second round.

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 season for Molde
2021         Molde            1st                  -               Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2022         Molde            --                   -               Undefeated and 1st in the league when I left for Genk
2022/23      Genk             1st                  -               EL Semi finalists
2023/24      Genk             2nd              Group Stage         Super Cup winners, Cup runners up, EL Quarter finalists
2024/25      Genk             1st               Playoff            Cup winners, CL qualification
2025/26      Saint Etienne    3rd                  -               Supercup winners, Cup runners up, EL Semi finals, MOTS, CL qualification
2026/27      Saint Etienne    3rd               Playoff            Cup winners, EL Quarter finals, CL qualification
2027         Jeonbuk          1st              Semi Final          Took over in 6th position, CL qualification
2028         Jeonbuk          1st              CHAMPIONS           Cup winners, MOTS, FA cup best manager, CL qualification, 5th in CWC
2029/30      Tigres        1st + 2nd               -               Cup winners, Libertadores qualification, MOTS
2030/31      Tigres        1st + 1st           CHAMPIONS x2        Quintuple winners, CWC qualification, double CL qualification again, MOTS
2031/32      Tigres      3/4th + 1st     2nd Round + runner up     Recopa winners, CWC Champions, NACL runners up
2032/33      Roma             4th             1st KO Round         Cup semis, CL qualification
2033/34      Roma             1st             1st KO Round         Cup winners, MOTS, CL qualification
2034/35      BMG              1st             1st KO Round         Cup semis, CL qualification
2036/37      Chelsea          2nd             1st KO Round         EFL Cup runners up, FA Cup semis, CL qualification
2037/38      Chelsea          2nd             1st KO Round         FA Cup winners, EFL Cup runners up, CL qualification
2038/39      Chelsea          1st             1st KO Round         MOTS, CL qualification
2039/40      Chelsea          2nd              Semi Final          CL qualification
2040/41      Barcelona        1st             1st KO Round         CL qualification, Cup winners, Supercup winners, MOTS runner-up
2041/42      Barcelona        1st              Runners Up          Unbeaten in the League, Cup winners, Supercup winners, MOTS, CL qual.
2042/43      PSG              1st              CHAMPIONS           Cup winners x2, Supercup winners, CL qualification
2043/44      PSG              1st             1st KO Round         CWC winners, French + Euro Supercup winners, CL qualification
2044/45      Celtic           1st                  -               Cup winners, CL qualification
2045/46      Sundowns         4th                  -               FA Cup runners up

Challenge Progress

Club
 10/10 top domestic leagues (South Africa- Royal Eagles, Norway- Molde, Belgium- Genk, South Korea- Jeonbuk, Mexico- Tigres, Italy- Roma, Germany- BMG, England- Chelsea, Spain- Barcelona, France- PSG)
 10/10 domestic cups (South Africa KO Cup- Royal Eagles, Norwegian Cup- Molde, Belgian Cup- Genk, Coupe de la Ligue(France)- Saint Etienne, Korean FA Cup- Jeonbuk, Mexican Cup Opening Stage- Tigres, Italian Cup- Roma, FA Cup- Chelsea, Copa del Rey- Barcelona, Scottish Cup- Celtic)
 4/5 club continental championships (Asian CL- Jeonbuk 2028, Copa Libertadores- Tigres 2031, NACL- Tigres 2031 Champions League- PSG 2043) 
 1/1 club world championship (Tigres 2031)

International
 3/5 continental tournaments (Copa America 2031- Brazil, Gold Cup 2035- Mexico, European Championship 2040- Spain)
 2/2 world tournaments (Confederations Cup 2033- Brazil, World Cup 2034- Brazil)

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
2022        Nigeria           Knocked out of World Cup in group stage, resigned
2023        Ivory Coast       Started World Cup and ACON qualifying
2024        Ivory Coast       Qualified for ACON
2025        Ivory Coast       Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned
2026        Ghana             Qualified for ACON
2027        Ghana             ACON runners up, resigned
2028        SK + France U23   Won U23 Asian Cup, Olympic silver medallists
2029        Brazil            Qualified for World Cup
2030        Brazil            4th in World Cup
2031        Brazil            Copa America Winners!
2032        Brazil            Qualified for World Cup
2033        Brazil            Confederations Cup Winners!
2034        Brazil            World Cup Winners!
2035        Mexico            Gold Cup Winners!
2036        Spain             Started World Cup qualifying
2037        Spain             Qualified unbeaten for the World Cup
2038        Spain             World Cup runners-up
2039        Spain             European International League Div.A Winners!
2040        Spain             European Championship Winners!
2041        Ivory Coast       Missed out on World Cup qualification on goal difference
2042        Ivory Coast       Qualified for ACON
2043        Ivory Coast       Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned
2044        Egypt             CHAN runners-up
2045        Egypt             Knocked out of ACON in quarter finals, resigned

 

[vikeologist]

@Fadedaf I think Sundowns are a bit of a sleeping giant in your save, so I think it's a good job to take, although it does mean that it's going to take you a minimum of 3 years at the club to win the ACL.

@Cheekybananafm Yes, I often forget, but one really mustn't let your players leave in the middle of the ACL. A useful cautionary tale.

@yugular Splendid international success, so it will be interesting to see if you can get one of the jobs you've applied for. I'd be surprised if you didn't.

@pug 407 I don't think the CD has any effect on the bug, because when you install it the game should just install the latest version and update accordingly. if you've started on 17.3, you're unlikely to get the Copa Lib bug, though some have claimed that they still get it. I just hope it's fixed next year, but I no longer have any faith in SI. If I'm able to get the beta, I plan to try very hard in the first couple of weeks to trigger the bug, so that they can fix it asap if necessary, though I've noticed that SI no longer bother responding to these type of bug reports for FM17.

[jezzar]

Gave this a go a year ago, but starting out in China basically killed all my enthusiasm.

Will start out again tonight, hopefully can find a decent club to start with.

Congrats to everyone who beat the challenge so far, really inspiring stories!