[FM17] The North Remembers - A Nordic Challenge Save

[Crispypaul]

The North Remembers – A Nordic Challenge Save

 

Hello all – after not having any career of note in FM16 for various reasons I’ve decided on a new challenge that I’ve been thinking about for some months now.  
My career in FM17 will be a Nordic Challenge career – the challenge to win every trophy I can in the Nordic Leagues, plus Continental, World, and International tournaments with a Nordic nation.  

Therefore I will be aiming to win the following:

Denmark: Superliagen, Bet25 Liga, 2. Division, DBU Pokalen

Finland: Veikkausliiga, Ykkonen, Suomen Cup, Liigacup*

Iceland: Pepsi-deild Karla, 1. Deild Karla, Icelandic Cup, Deildabikar (League Cup), Super Cup

Norway: Tippeligaen, OBOS-ligaen, 2. Liga, Norwegian Cup

Sweden: Allsvenskan, Superettan, Division 1, Division 2, Svenska Cupen, Supercupen

Continental/World Club: Champions League, Europa League, Super Cup, Club World Cup

International: Nations League, Confederations Cup, European Championships, World Cup

Including the international trophies that makes 30 trophies!

*I just found out the Finnish League Cup ends in 2016 so am removing from the list

Rules

I am starting as an unemployed English manager with Sunday League reputation, with a National C licence.

Only edits I have are for competition and team names plus adding media sources, also a small one for international team histories.

I am not starting with any restrictions on signing players (most of these leagues have their own restrictions anyway) nor any restrictions around international management.  No restrictions on moving clubs within nations.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I am counting non-champion promotions from the lower tiers as completing that league.

Game setup

Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden (full)

Starting date - early preseason in Denmark 25 June 2016.

All players loaded from top clubs worldwide, all players based in Scandinavia, large database.  Gives me 70,130  players.

[Crispypaul]

Season		Team		Country		League			Position	 Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016		SK Vard		Norway		2nd Division 		13th		 Sacked on relegation
2017 		Sindri          Iceland         1. Deild Karla          4th
2018            Sindri          Iceland         1. Deild Karla          2nd              Promoted
2019            Sindri          Iceland         Pepsi-deildin           8th              League Cup and Cup Winners
2020            FH              Iceland         Pepsi-deildin           1st              League Cup and Cup Winners
2021            FH              Iceland         Pepsi-deildin           1st              League Cup, Super Cup, and Cup Winners

[Crispypaul]

Competition Progress

 

Denmark
Superliagen 
Bet25 Liga
2. Division
DBU Pokalen

Finland
Veikkausliiga
Ykkonen
Suomen Cup

Iceland

Pepsi-deild Karla  - FH, 2020
1 Deild Karla - UMF Sindri Hofn, 2018 (runners up)
Icelandic Cup  - UMF Sindri Hofn, 2019 - FH, 2020
Deildabikar - UMF Sindri Hofn, 2019 - FH, 2020
Super Cup - FH, 2021

Norway
Tippeligaen 
OBOS-ligaen 
2. Liga 
Norwegian Cup

Sweden
Allsvenskan 
Superettan 
Division 1 
Division 2
Svenska Cupen
Supercupen

Continental
UEFA Champions League, 
UEFA Europa League, 
UEFA Super Cup
Club World Cup

International
Nations League, 
Confederations Cup, 
European Championships, 
World Cup

Progress - 5/30 

[Crispypaul]

After a month or so and a few interviews, I accept a job at Norwegian 2nd Division side SK Vard

[gibbo11]

Good luck mate. Quite a few of us in Scandinavia so will be good to see how we all do. Sounds like a great challenge to do but a tough one!

[Crispypaul]

SK Vard Haugesund

We join 2nd Division side SK Vard Haugesund part way through the 2016 season.  The Norwegian league, I discover, is going through a restructuring so the 2nd Divisions are relegating about half of their teams.  Unfortunately Vard are sitting 11th out of 14th so its going to be tricky to get them up to 7th and safety.

History

Squad - really quite unbalanced and a 16 year old in goal.  This guy is good though but injured at first.

Staff - at least this is alright although no scouts or physios

Finances - these are not

I would be surprised if I can keep them up, but we'll see.

[Crispypaul]

1 minute ago, gibbo11 said:

Good luck mate. Quite a few of us in Scandinavia so will be good to see how we all do. Sounds like a great challenge to do but a tough one!

Cheers - if my start is anything to go by won't be with this club much longer!

[Crispypaul]

Yep - we were relegated to the 3rd Division and I was immediately sacked

Back to the job centre!

[Crispypaul]

It took a few months of waiting but I'm back in business.

This time in Iceland, as the manager of UMF Sindri HOFN.

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn

I join Sindri, newly promoted to the Icelandic 1st Division (1.Deild Karla), on a one year contract.  My only target is to not get relegated.  Unfortunately we have a ridiculously long pre-season as we're not in the Upper League Cup (Deildabikar) and the pre-season start date was bizarrely set as 27th December.  At least I have lots of friendlies to sort out my tactics and squad.

History and Facilities - fine for this level

Squad - need a decent goalkeeper, but we have some solid players in veteran full back Ekrem Hodzic, versatile Kristinn Snjolfsson and another midfielder Benjamin Dizdaric. We also have a 47 year old playing for us!

Staff - this will need immediate action

Finances - ok for this level although we're not playing any competitive matches for a while.

 

[Guest]

Looks interesting and good luck 

[King Costly]

Let's hope you have a better experience in Iceland than you did in Norway! Good luck.

[mjaferrie]

Nice challenge mate, good luck!

[Crispypaul]

16 hours ago, ajj2410 said:

Looks interesting and good luck 

 

3 hours ago, King Costly said:

Let's hope you have a better experience in Iceland than you did in Norway! Good luck.

 

2 hours ago, mjaferrie said:

Nice challenge mate, good luck!

Thanks all!  Trying to kind a goalkeeper with a star rating higher than 0.5 will be my chief challenge!

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
1. Deild Karla
2017 Preseason Review

Friendlies - not a brilliant start but we got better as the tactic familiarity, and squad improved.  Very long odds for the season however

Transfers - quite a few in over several months, including a good goalkeeper in Oskars Dargis

 

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
1. Deild Karla
2017 Midseason Review

League - not doing badly at the halfway stage, sitting in 7th place with an outside chance of promotion

Cup - got past fellow league side Haukar in the 2nd round only for a narrow loss against Valur in the next round.

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
1. Deild Karla
2017 Youth Intake

Intake

Not too bad considering - I get a good keeper (already better than my current backup) and some other good prospects

Viktor Haraldsson

Bjarki Por Jonsson

Kristjan Freyr Benonysson

Porkell Porvaldsson

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
1. Deild Karla
2017 Season Review

League - we did have a chance at promotion but some poor end of season performances meant we ended in a still respectful 4th

Cup - out in the 3rd round

Key players:

Fannar Dadi Malmquist - a good attacking midfielder

Ekrem Hodzic - veteran right back - unfortunately retiring at the end of the season

Kristinn Snjolfsson - versatile midfielder, recently extended his contract

Benjamin Dizdaric - good quality left winger

Aleksander Andersen - great left back

Finances: somewhat in danger

I sign a new contract for an additional year

Season		Team		Country		League			Position	 Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016		SK Vard		Norway		2nd Division 		13th		 Sacked on relegation
2017 		Sindri          Iceland         1. Deild Karla          4th

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
1. Deild Karla
2018 Preseason Review

Deildabikar (League Cup): Fixtures | Table - went out in the group stages of this pre-season tournament, without a win but we didn't finish last anyway

Friendlies - not too bad, as I got the squad together for the season

Transfers - quite a lot of retirees which I had to replace.  Highlights are striker Andreas Hellum,  right winger Sergio Cuesta,  and left winger Simen Standerholen.

EDIT: Should point out my DOF signed Hellum, plus a couple of other players on the list.  He's actually been pretty useful in sourcing some decent players.

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
1. Deild Karla
2018 Midseason Review

League - similar to last season we sit in 6th at the halfway stage.  Still can challenge for the top two though

Cup - going very well, we're into the semis with a good chance of the final.

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
1. Deild Karla
2018 Youth Intake

Intake

Unfortunately nowhere near as good as last time.  A couple of decent prospects

Olgeir Rafnsson

Halldor Pall Hlynsson

[Bitner]

Hey! I managed Vard aswell, won 6, drew 6 and lost 1. Relegated. BOOM. :/

Good Luck

Cheers,
Bitner 

[Crispypaul]

World Cup 2018

Tree - won by Brazil with a 3-0 win over Argentina in the final

Nordic Nations

Denmark - did very well, getting to the semi finals until losing 4-0 to a rampant Brazil side

Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden -  did not qualify

 

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
1. Deild Karla
2018 Season Review

League - Table|Fixtures - pushed it right to the end but we made it into 2nd to achieve promotion

Cup - had a great run to the semis only to lose on penalties to the eventual winners

Key players:

Benjamin Dizdaric - had some injury issues but the versatile midfielder proved his worth

Andreas Osteraas - solid at the back

Andreas Hellum - top scorer

Aleksander Andersen - another good season from the left back

Sergio Cuesta - great work down the right wing from the Spaniard

Finances: still rather terrible, losing a lot of money in the season.

Our U19 team also won the cup for the first time.

 

Season		Team		Country		League			Position	 Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016		SK Vard		Norway		2nd Division 		13th		 Sacked on relegation
2017 		Sindri          Iceland         1. Deild Karla          4th
2018            Sindri          Iceland         1. Deild Karla          2nd              Promoted

Nordic Update

Denmark: FC Kobenhavn won the league (well, of course...)

Finland: IFK Mariehamn, won their third title in a row, and ever

Iceland: FH pick up another title

Norway: Molde pick up another league championship, their third in a row

Sweden: Malmo also pick up their third in a row

 

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
Pepsi-deildin
2019 Preseason Review

I signed a one year extension to my contract.

Deildabikar (League Cup): Table | Fixtures - a tad better this season, as we lift the Deildabikar after narrowly beating 10-man Stjarnan in the final

Friendles -  a reasonable work up

Transfers - couldn't quite strengthen as much as I like but some decent reinforcements in defensive midfielder Cristian Puscas, experienced Danish centre half Jonas Westmark, striker Elvar Ingi Vignisson and central midfielder Birkir Heimisson.

Finances - these are really not very good.

Finally got an affiliate in French side Clermont, although no-one was interested in joining.  Our odds for this season are not the best.

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
Pepsi-deildin
2019 Midseason Review

League - at the approximate halfway stage we are 8th, which is ok but could be better.

Cup - going well here again, into the semi finals.

[Crispypaul]

Not much luck in the transfer window (some random backup players, I won't go into detail) but I do finally manage to sign a good player on loan, from Clermont, centre half Murphy Mputu whom is going straight into the squad, being one of my best centre halves already.

 

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
Pepsi-deildin
2019 Youth Intake

Intake - back to another good one including a Professional player.

Baldvin Petursson

Alex Freyr Baldursson

Oskar Baldursson

 

 

[Crispypaul]

UMF Sindri Hofn
Pepsi-deildin 
2019 Season Review

League - Table | Fixtures - a good first season as we finished 8th.  Need to strengthen the squad for next season.

Cup - went one better than last year, winning the cup with a defeat of 2.deild karla side Haukar in the final.

Key players:

Benjamin Dizdaric - another good season from the midfielder

Simen Standerholden - great work from the left winger

Cristian Puscas - the defensive midfielder protected the back four well

Jonas Westermark - strong first season from the centre half

Finances: dreadful, insecure again.

We also won a fair play award

Season		Team		Country		League			Position	 Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016		SK Vard		Norway		2nd Division 		13th		 Sacked on relegation
2017 		Sindri          Iceland         1. Deild Karla          4th
2018            Sindri          Iceland         1. Deild Karla          2nd              Promoted
2019            Sindri          Iceland         Pepsi-deildin           8th              League Cup and Cup Winners

Nordic Update

Denmark: FC Kobenhavn again

Finland: SJK win this time

Iceland: Stjarnan get the league this year

Norway: Molde win again

Sweden: IFK Norkoping win the league this time around

[Crispypaul]

In other news, both KR and FH have sacked their managers.  I have applied for both as they are much bigger clubs than Sindri.  Let's see what happens....

[Crispypaul]

Something has happened.....I have been appointed manager of FH on a one year contract.

[Crispypaul]

Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar (FH)
Pepsi-deildin

Background

Quote

Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar (English: Hafnarfjörður gymnastics club), commonly referred to as FH, is a professional Icelandic sports club based in Hafnarfjörður. The club competes in football, handball, track and field, and fencing. Its men's football team has been a dominant power since the early 2000 and is the reigning first division champion, after taking the 2015 title, the seventh in its history.

So I join FH, Iceland's only professional club and previously dominant in the league.  

Squad - there are two things to note from this - 1) the squad is huge and 2) much better than Sindri.  They should really have done better than a 4th place finish.  Not as much strength in centre half as I'd like so am focusing my efforts on that position, and trimming the squad a bit.

Best players include American goalkeeper Charlie Horton, Bosnian winger Goran Zakaric, centre half Per Karlsson, and midfielder Bjarni Thor Vidarsson.

Finances - err, yeah, these are a bit worrying.  I am slightly concerned that we'll end up going semi-pro when the season updates but lets see.

Facilities - much better than I am used to.  

[Crispypaul]

FH
Pepsi-deildin
2020 Preseason Review

Deildabikar (League Cup): Fixtures - I lifted this for a second time with a fairly comfortable run.  Board gave me no credit though.

Friendlies -  these went very well

Transfers - had to sell a couple of my players to try and balance the books and bring replacements in on loan or free transfers.  Include young Croatian winger Zlatko Tokic on loan, Polish left back Milosz Kalahur also on loan, Norwegian centre half Jorgen Hammer and former AC Milan player Juan Mauri.

Finances - no European football means we're really in trouble

We're favourites for the season.

[Crispypaul]

Also I'm going to monthly updates now as I haven't been updating as much as I'd liked

[Crispypaul]

FH
Pepsi-deildin
May 2020

League - Table | Fixtures: not bad winning the first couple of games however (as fate would have it) we lose to my old club Sindri in the third match.  However we make it up by winning against Valur to sit 2nd behind KR after 4 games.

Cup - Fixtures: a competent win against Leiknir.  Next up another Pepsi-deildin side in IBV

[Crispypaul]

FH
Pepsi-deildin
June 2020

League - Table | Fixtures: Started off poorly with our main keeper getting shin splints and his replacement not being that great.  Started the month with a good win over KR however then had a poor defeat against Keflavik and a bore draw at Breidablik.   Got a narrow win against Fram to recover slightly however did very poorly to draw against IA at home, mainly due to poor keeping.  We are however 2nd only a point from the top.

Cup - Fixtures: took an extra time goal but we got past IBV. Only to get KR away in the quarter finals.

[Crispypaul]

Euro 2020

Tree - France beat Germany in the final

Nordic Nations

Denmark - did well again, losing to Germany in the semi final and beating Sweden in the quarters

Sweden - got to the quarter finals only to be knocked out by Denmark

Norway - knocked out by Germany in the round of 16

Finland, Iceland -  did not qualify

[Crispypaul]

 

FH
Pepsi-deildin
July 2020

League - Table | Fixtures - a very good month as we draw against surprise team Leiknir then win our following 3 matches.  Still in with a shout of the title.

Cup - Fixtures - just sneaked past KR with extra time in the quarter finals, then comfortably beat Stjarnan in the semi final which also broke the attendance record.

 

[Crispypaul]

FH
Pepsi-deildin
2020 Youth Intake

Intake - really not very good, I signed four fairly professional players and this chap

Hallur Arsaelsson

[Crispypaul]

FH
Pepsi-deildin
August 2020

League - Table | Fixtures - just about keeping pace with Leiknir despite 3 draws this month but looks like it will go down to the wire.

Cup - Final - humped Breidablik in the final to win my second Icelandic Cup.  Although my board weren't that impressed...

 

[Crispypaul]

FH
Pepsi-deildin
2020 Season Review

 

League - Table | Fixtures - this was a lot closer given we are far and away the biggest club in the country, however Leiknir had an amazing season and it was only in the penultimate game when we beat them that the title was secured and with it a treble.

Cup - Fixtures - played only Pepsi-deildin sides on my way to lifting the trophy for the 2nd year in the row.

Key players:

Porsteinn Saevarsson: fantastic season from the striker (and youth product), top scorer for the club and in the league, and getting an Iceland call up (and scoring the winning goal on his debut!)  A lot of much bigger clubs sniffing around now including Braga and Anderlecht.

Irfan Hadzic: got injured towards the end of the season but dovetailed well with Saevarsson beforehand.

Jonathan Hendrickx: solid season from the Belgian right back

Jorgen Hammer:  great at the back from the Norwegian

Jeremy Perez: loaned the young American from Philadelphia Union and he had a great season.  His contract was expiring but wasn't interested in a permanent return unfortunately.

Finances: really in trouble.  Might have to make some sales here....

 

Season		Team		Country		League			Position	 Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016		SK Vard		Norway		2nd Division 		13th		 Sacked on relegation
2017 		Sindri          Iceland         1. Deild Karla          4th
2018            Sindri          Iceland         1. Deild Karla          2nd              Promoted
2019            Sindri          Iceland         Pepsi-deildin           8th              League Cup and Cup Winners
2020            FH              Iceland         Pepsi-deildin           1st              League Cup and Cup Winners

Nordic Update

Denmark: FC Kobenhavn (of course)

Finland: IFK Mariehamn back to winning ways

Iceland: FH

Norway: Molde again

Sweden: Malmo again

[Crispypaul]

I decided to sign a one-year extension (they offered two years)

I've pretty much done Iceland however FH are in a bit of a mess so I want to try and sort that out first.  If I win the Super Cup and drop out of Europe early I will resign and head elsewhere.

[Crispypaul]

Brexit

Sort of a quasi-one - 17 foreign player limit is the highest I believe so I will be surprised if this makes any difference.  The British players in my squad are not listed as "non-EU" so presumably Iceland is not affected and a quick look at the other active leagues with British players is the same.

 

[cel1234]

What about the Faroes ??

[Crispypaul]

1 minute ago, cel1234 said:

What about the Faroes ??

I started this before the expansion was available so only went with Nordic nations with the standard leagues.

[cel1234]

49 minutes ago, Crispypaul said:

I started this before the expansion was available so only went with Nordic nations with the standard leagues.

Ok mate

[Crispypaul]

Just noticed that Stjarnan were relegated despite winning the title in the previous season!

Also Sindri finished bottom.  A shame given I left them in a reasonable position and with European football.

[Crispypaul]

FH
Pepsi-deildin
2021 Preseason Review

Deildabikar (League Cup): Table | Fixtures - absolutely walked this to win my third league cup in a row.

Fraebar Bikar (Super Cup) - won this comfortably, the last trophy standing in Iceland

Friendlies - fairly comfortable

Transfers - had to sell a number of players including a large fee for Saeversson to balance the books.  I replace him with Hilmar McShane from Breidablik - other good signings are midfielder Lucas Ottosson on loan from Malmo, Dutch midfielder Pablo Rosario, Turkish winger Sefa Yilmaz and experienced left back (and former FH trainee) Logi Valgardsson

Finances - we had a cash injection but still losing a lot of money, hopefully Europe will help with this.

Once again we are favourites for the season.

 

[Guest]

When will you go to the next Nordic club?

[Crispypaul]

6 hours ago, ajj2410 said:

When will you go to the next Nordic club?

Decided to see the season out which is when my contract expires too.

Thinking Finland next.