[FM18] AFC, A Chainsaw Massacre (2019-2036) // Basque Bonanza (2037-2040)

[Minuy600]

Hello. Those are some stats. Really amusing to see.

I'm back again with another few questions though as you know by now from me. Such as, where was the World Cup held in 2026? And where is Ronaldo managing now?

As you can probably tell by my constant questioning, i'm really interested in this series. It's just so much fun, which is pretty much a first of FM18 series. Keep your good streak up, will ya?

[MarcxD]

13 hours ago, Minuy600 said:

Hello. Those are some stats. Really amusing to see.

I'm back again with another few questions though as you know by now from me. Such as, where was the World Cup held in 2026? And where is Ronaldo managing now?

As you can probably tell by my constant questioning, i'm really interested in this series. It's just so much fun, which is pretty much a first of FM18 series. Keep your good streak up, will ya?

Haha thank you, I appreciate the questions!

The 2022 World Cup was held in China instead of Qatar, the 2026 World Cup was held in Canada and the 2030 World Cup will be held in Spain. Euro 2024 in Italy. and Euro 2028 in Spain as well so they'll have two tournaments in a row...

Both Ronaldo and Messi have not found a job (yet).

[MarcxD]

October 2027

Another good month, although we haven't scored quite as much - the lack of a strong striker was more obvious this month, a lot of the goals had to come from the wings. Which is not in and of itself a bad thing of course. Still unbeaten in the EL, through in the Cup and a few decent results in the league. Twente was the first away win of the season in the league.

In sixth but all the top teams are pretty close (perhaps the top 8?), dropping points here and there. As long as PSV is not getting into one of those winning streaks like the last couple of seasons this season could have a more exciting title race. Hopefully.

This is still going... let's see how long it can last.

[MarcxD]

November 2027

A really amazing month when you look at the fixtures, away games in Europe against Wolfsburg and Napoli where we didn't concede and got 4 points, and away games domestically against Ajax and Feyenoord where we didn't lose and won another derby. Honestly the 1-0 against 18th placed Zwolle was the worst performance of the team but still got the 3 points anyway. And still unbeaten since the psv losses at the beginning of the season!

Really really surprised with how well we're doing in Europe so far, whatever happens in the last matchday we will finish the group 1st.

In 5th, all still very close. 

Couldn't help but laugh at this, you really think now you're 32 that you're still going to play in the premier league? You're not even good enough for my first XI anymore.

Was a bit surprised with this, seemed to came out of nowhere! I hesitated for a bit, because even though I do like national management I wasn't sure I could really do a lot with the Dutch national team. The Dutch were unable to qualify for Euro 2028 (finishing third in their qualifying group after Russia and Poland...) and were second in their latest nation league division a group behind Spain. 

The ability though to give my AFC youth products their national debuts and see their development even after they leave the club was too tempting to I have accepted it and from now on will be the Dutch national team manager as well. It will be at least untill March that I'll have to manage the first match with the Dutch though.

Imagine that, an Andorran manager for the Dutch national team. 

I'm earning 350k p/a as AFC manager so that is a nice little boost in earnings... 

[MarcxD]

December 2027

A poor start to the month with two games where we dominated but the forwards didn't perform. Another good European win followed those games, and a decent win in the league. We were finally beaten by Heracles in the Cup, so we will not be able to defend our title. Most importantly though, we won our home match against PSV!

In fourth and a game in hand on #1 and #2, we're really well positioned about halfway the season. 

Really amazing performance in the group, absolutely dominated. 

Not the easiest of draws although perhaps not the hardest either. Should be interesting.

I had been mistaken when I said the Dutch would not be at the next Euros, I forgot that 3rd placed teams in the new European Qualifiers can still qualify through play-offs with the 24-team tournament. Normally Lithuania should be relatively easy prey, but because these are the first matches I will play as national team manager I don't want to be too cocky.. and not jinx it.

The qualifying group for the 2030 World Cup has also been announced, and seems pretty kind to me, with us facing two absolute minnows in San Marino (even though they have now made it to 177th) and the Faroe Islands and should normally only be rivalled in the group by Ukraine, although you never know with Iceland.

[MarcxD]

January 2028

Good month, 3 league wins out of 3, zero goals conceded, two away games as well. 

In second! Possible first title race we'll be competing in.

I didn't do any transfers but elsewhere a little thing happened. Not too happy with it.

Vos only ever was used as a sub at AZ so they sold him on 6 months later, which means we'll be missing out on all potential future fees.

 

[MarcxD]

February 2028

Disappointed to start the month with a loss, we did dominate but forwards had trouble finishing the chances. After that though, it was one great performance after the next. Beating AZ was really important in the title race and we hardly had any trouble with Galatasaray in the Europa League. Next up we will face Leverkusen.

8 points ahead of PSV, wow! 8 games left and it will be between us and AZ, most likely!

[Minuy600]

Let me jinx it for ya

[MarcxD]

Youth Intake 2028

Another golden generation, but perhaps this is a golden generation among golden generations!

A lot of players with decent to very good (perceived) potentials, a lot of players with at least 1 CA star. Mostly good personalities. Almost a complete new axis with the best 4 perceived players, 2 DC's, one MC and one striker (because what is one of these intakes without a striker prospect?!)... one of the better intakes I can remember ever having had, at the look of them, but of course we'll see how they develop.

Seen as the best player of the bunch, and he looks lovely. Great midfielder, who will definitely have to work on some things like tackling and strength, but still. Really good first touch and passing, determination, teamwork, vision, work rate, decisions. Resolute personality. If he can improve on his defensive attributes he could become a very good first team midfielder for me. 

And look at this dude. His marking could be higher but otherwise lovely lovely attributes to start out with for a DC! 198 cm as well. His technical side of things is not looking that great so he should be working on that and partnering with someone who does have some of that ability.

Of course he had to be unable to jump, but otherwise such lovely attributes for an advanced forward. Wow!

And the second defender, also very promising although perhaps not quite as much as Herman Jacobs.

Some of the others also look very decent. Really excited about this intake!

 

 

[MarcxD]

March 2028

What a month!! 3 really strong league wins and after two very tough games against Leverkusen we managed to scrape through to the quarter-finals!

A familiar opponent! PSV has also made it to the quarter-finals of the EL, at least one Dutch team will make it to the semi's, possibly two! Let's hope it's us.

With that great month we're now in first!! 3 points lead, 5 games to go. 

What a season it's already been.

[MarcxD]

Euro 2028 Play-offs

Absolutely dominated, what a debut for me as manager. 4-0 after 32 minutes, probably should've won with way more goals. As you can see though, this was only the "semi-final" of the play-offs, I guess this is the real new format of play-offs. A bit weird though, we only play one game and we played at home. Pretty big disadvantage if you have to play away!

 In the final round we had to face Greece. We played at home again. 

Not quite as dominant, had to wait for the second half to get the goals in. But we've qualified. 6-0 over the two matches, not too bad really! Two PoM performances from Fosu-Mensah, big brother of AFC player Paul Fosu-Mensah. 

Decent start 

[MarcxD]

April 2028

NO!! Totally imploded at the moment where it counted. Out of the EL... lost a lot of points in the league.

But it can still happen. On the same amount of points as AZ. One more match. They have a slightly better goal difference, but we play Katwijk at home while they play Utrecht away. It could happen. Will have to do better than in April though.

As if that wasn't enough bad news, Karaoglan has chosen Turkey!! Apparently they promised he would be called up for the next Euros, I was not willing to promise that. Come on. He's 15 and nowhere near good enough yet.

Then this happened. Sigh.

Talking about the Euros... this is the group. Interesting. Especially the game against neighbours Belgium of course.

Couldn't help but laugh at this... all the talent of the year candidates are AFC players. Van Dijk should probably win it!

[MarcxD]

Final Matchday, Eredivisie, 7th of May, 2028, Part 1.

Going to do this a little bit differently...

Before the matches start, AZ had done something quite remarkable in the week leading up to the match.

They beat Benfica in the semi-final and will play Tottenham in the final of the Europa League. Great for them, good for Dutch football in general, but hopefully that means that they are tired now!

Now the match. Our form is horrific, while they have won their 3 last matches to make sure they weren't relegated automatically. Cold weather for a may afternoon. The stadium isn't even sold out. But come on!!!

 

[MarcxD]

Final Matchday, Eredivisie, 7th of May, 2028

What a start!!! No, not from us, but from Utrecht, who have gone 1-0 up on AZ. With us still being 0-0 we're in 1st!

[MarcxD]

Final Matchday, Eredivisie, 7th of May, 2028

.... that didn't last long! 1-0 behind now 

[MarcxD]

Final Matchday, Eredivisie, 7th of May, 2028

Utrecht has helped us some by going up 2-0 against AZ!! Come on AFC, take advantage of this!

 

[MarcxD]

Final Matchday, Eredivisie, 7th of May, 2028

Nothing much happened in the first half, but Verhoeven just scored after the break!! 1-1! AZ still down 2-0, so we're back in first. Now don't screw this up.

[MarcxD]

Final Matchday, Eredivisie, 7th of May, 2028

And it all falls down....  20 minutes left to save the match and the title. At least AZ is still 2-0 down.

[Deisler26]

[MarcxD]

Final Matchday, Eredivisie, 7th of May, 2028

HAHAHA! 93rd minute!!! 2-2! Torres! The Andorran kid came on as a substitute and got us to the title!!!!!!!

 

[MarcxD]

Final Matchday, Eredivisie, 7th of May, 2028

An Icon!

[Deisler26]

Well done Torres! Well done you! Congratulations.

[Rikulec]

[Minuy600]

Oh dear I almost succeded in actually jinxing it :o

Congrats though, very good job. I assume that's not 'Goed Genoeg' for you though?

[ajcardall]

Congrats! What a way to win it as well!! Enjoyed the build up of suspense through the updates

[oriole01]

What a comeback, what a title win! Congrats mate, now it's time to reach further in the CL.

[LRV]

[KlaaZ]

Very nice read, congrats on the title win! Could you post a current screenshot of Vos? I'm always curious about regens.

[kidthekid]

This was close to being an FM disaster. Congrats

[noikeee]

Bloody hell, that was an awesome way to win the title! Brilliant!

[andychar]

Absolutely fantastic way to win the league. Bet you went mental! 

Now to prove it wasn't a fluke and to really challenge in Europe. No pressure!

[MarcxD]

22 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

Well done Torres! Well done you! Congratulations.

 

22 hours ago, Rikulec said:

 

22 hours ago, Minuy600 said:

Oh dear I almost succeded in actually jinxing it :o

Congrats though, very good job. I assume that's not 'Goed Genoeg' for you though?

 

20 hours ago, ajcardall said:

Congrats! What a way to win it as well!! Enjoyed the build up of suspense through the updates

 

19 hours ago, oriole01 said:

What a comeback, what a title win! Congrats mate, now it's time to reach further in the CL.

 

15 hours ago, LRV said:

 

13 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

Very nice read, congrats on the title win! Could you post a current screenshot of Vos? I'm always curious about regens.

I'm calling him up for Euro 2028 and will show screenshots of all the players!

12 hours ago, kidthekid said:

This was close to being an FM disaster. Congrats

 

11 hours ago, noikeee said:

Bloody hell, that was an awesome way to win the title! Brilliant!

 

3 hours ago, andychar said:

Absolutely fantastic way to win the league. Bet you went mental! 

Now to prove it wasn't a fluke and to really challenge in Europe. No pressure!

Thank you all!! It was crazy and certainly among my favorite FM moments. 

Europe, certainly CL, will be a different beast but let it come! (First though: Euro 2028)

[MarcxD]

Season Review 2027-2028

What a season. What an end! And let's not forget we almost made it to the semi-finals of the EL as well.

AZ almost won the thing as well..

Best Elevens:

(getting kind of annoyed with these subs, makes no sense..) Apart from the striker position very happy with the first team. Too bad Torres isn't among these players, should've at least been a sub after the title winning goal!

Bayazit has crossed the 300 games milestone, and will probably not be replaced next season. There aren't any GK prospects really from the intakes yet, so I would need to buy Amsterdam-born if he were to be replaced. Since he is performing well still I don't think I will do that.

Strong support, as you would expect after 9 seasons in charge and the first title.

Will be showing players who've had impressive developments:

First of all Aras who I'd gotten in 1,5 season ago and was already good and I did not expect much improvement, but he did actually improve quite a bit this season and looks really good for the Eredivisie now.

Gravenberch is one of the first team central defenders - for now, a lot of decent attributes but hasn't made much of a improvement this last season.

Something similar could be said of Phurueng, being part of the first team for a while but has not made any huge improvements after a very speedy rise at a young age. Is still very decent as an all-round midfielder, one of the few midfielders who can play very well as a box to box midfielder.

Has made a lot of improvements, isn't quite natural at the striker position and obviously his heading is still a problem but otherwise really hopeful about him. For some reason he's only still played for the Andorra u21's, but that can't last for long.

But, best of all, there's Marlon van Dijk. Look at him. Only 17 years old! Had the highest average rating last season... as a defensive midfielder.

This was really annoying though, I had promised him a new contract after the season ended, but he wasn't willing to sign one! And then getting upset at me for not keeping to my promises? Pff.

He won the Talent of the year, deservedly, ahead of other AFC players (remember, there were only AFC nominees)

The fourth manager of the year title in a row.

Bayazit winning the GK of the year.

Lovely bonus. 

One final note, for @Minuy600 and @Deisler26

FC Lisse was promoted to the Jupiler League but did not have the most fun season there. At least they're professional now. RKC got promoted again, through the play-offs.

[Deisler26]

Yasss! Go them!

[MarcxD]

Euro 2028 - Squad

Let's get into the squad and the friendlies I've arranged before the tournament. Since I was really focussed on the domestic side of things I hadn't really noticed, but quite a lot of Dutch players are based at some of the biggest clubs around!

A mixture of regens and IRL players who are getting to the latter halfs of their careers. Two players are selected from AFC intakes, Marlon van Dijk after his incredible progress and Sam Vos. AFC player Ilkay Aras is also selected. 

I have screenshotted all 23 players, will show the first team plus a couple of others here, the rest will be linked down below.

GK:

As far as keepers are concerned it's really not a lot, this guy was rated the highest as a sweeper keeper which is why I've picked him as #1, but with passing 1!

Subs: Joel Ottenhoff and Dylan Bergsma

Defenders:

Two Barcelona backs, and the central defenders play at Real and Atletico Madrid. Remarkable! The defense seems to be the strongest part of the team by far.

Subs: Rick Karsdorp, Nathan Aké, Ferry van der Valk, Wesley Hoedt

Midfield:

Two AFC players and the older brother of another AFC player! Decent but not great obviously.

Subs: Jorrit Hendrix, Donny van de Beek & Cees Geerken

Wingers:

Would like them to just be that little bit better, they can do the job but are honestly not good enough for the highest level I think.

Subs: Justin Kluivert & Randy de Boer

Striker:

Does not have a great record with the Dutch national team, but I do like the look of him a lot. 

Back-up:

Has barely improved over the last year, since moving to AC Milan he has made 1 appearance. He really needs playing time at some point soon or I'm afraid this is where he peaks. His potential as rated by the scouts for the national team is already not the best sign.

 

 

 

[MarcxD]

Euro 2028 - Pre-Tournament Friendlies

A good comfortable win, but obviously not against the most fearsome of opponents. Conceding 2 was poor.

A really poor performance from us, and this is a worrying way to go into the tournament. Couldn't even keep hold of the ball most of the time.

 

[MarcxD]

Euro 2028 - The Group

Very relieved with this, it wasn't an easy game by any means but we played relatively well and the full 3 points against our neighbors means we've started well to the tournament.

The next match though was really poor. Nothing much happened of importance... Boring 0-0.

Another absolute stinker of a match, with Hendrix getting a red card as well. Barely any chances here, but the draw means at least we're through. Not all that comfortably though, and in the second round we'll have to do much better.

We went through together with Belgium, no huge shocks in the other groups besides perhaps the fact that Kosovo even qualified for the tournament! France, England and Germany dominated their groups, while Spain did not do their home fans very proud.

[MarcxD]

Euro 2028 - Knockout Rounds

Well, we didn't do much better although we've had most of the ball, not doing much it. Through to the quarter-finals, which is all that really matters at this point. 

It is quite remarkable that we're through to the semi-final with the way we're playing. Some good individual moments here at least. 3-0 is not really a fair result. But who cares.

Ouch. France again, that damn Mbappe absolutely crushed us. Pretty painful way to go out of the tournament, but we certainly didn't deserve anything more.

Delighted with losing 4-0, okay. 

France went on to win the tournament, scoring 3 in extra time (!) past England. 

[adamdfry]

Could Vos come home one day to form a dream strikeforce with Inaki Torres if his form at AC Milan doesn't improve?

Loving this so far!

[MarcxD]

3 hours ago, adamdfry said:

Could Vos come home one day to form a dream strikeforce with Inaki Torres if his form at AC Milan doesn't improve?

Loving this so far!

Perhaps, if he wanted to rejoin us! Not a bad idea.

Thanks!

[MarcxD]

Pre-Season 2028

Still only predicted to finish 10th... bit strange! Perhaps because we're spending so much less money than the competitors.

Not using these budgets at all! Sure, giving players new contracts if at all possible. But a player like Van Dijk for instance, is not willing to sign a new deal but (after learning from the Vos debacle) he has a contract until 2032, still on 5k p/a...

Haven't signed anyone, let a bunch of players go when their contracts ended plus some other deadwood was let go. Achilles got back up to the Jupiler League again and decided that some of the poorer players from my intakes are the way to go. Not too sure about that strategy myself.

Really good pre-season, with a bunch of games against international opponents, not conceding all that many goals plus the first Johan Cruyff Schaal Win! (Interesting to see the game being played at our 5K capacity ground)

These countries wanted me to join them but I obviously rejected all of them.

Some terrible injury news though, he will be missing most if not all of the season. Verhoeven is the first choice AMR and there are not a lot of other AMR prospects, I think Mees de Wit will play this season from the AMR position because I do have quite a few interesting AMLs waiting for a chance.

[MarcxD]

August 2028

What a start to the season!!! Playing PSV, Ajax and Heerenveen, three of the tougher opponents and PSV and Heerenveen away... winning all 4 games and conceding zero goals... it literally can't get any better than this!

Look at the stats from the Ajax game. AML prospect scored both goals, but we had 65% possession against Ajax!!! And 8 shots on target versus 1. Wow. Can't really imagine a more humiliating derby win.

Obviously in first after that incredibly strong start.

I also played a friendly with the Dutch national team.

Nothing too particularly noteworthy, a decent performance against a very decent opponent.

[KlaaZ]

Cheers for the screenshot @MarcxD, shame he left you. Would have made a lot more progress at your team, especially since the AI's not exactly great at player development.

[noikeee]

I've found in my tests that the Netherlands tends to have quite some brilliant regens, seems like you're getting them all in defence though!

Good run to the semi-finals even if it ended with a 4-0 defeat.

[MarcxD]

15 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

Cheers for the screenshot @MarcxD, shame he left you. Would have made a lot more progress at your team, especially since the AI's not exactly great at player development.

Possibly, although it has to be said that in the last year at the club his development had already slowed.

2 hours ago, noikeee said:

I've found in my tests that the Netherlands tends to have quite some brilliant regens, seems like you're getting them all in defence though!

Good run to the semi-finals even if it ended with a 4-0 defeat.

Amongst the upcoming talents it seems that there are even more talented defenders... 

Thank you!

[MarcxD]

September 2028

Not as good as the start but through in the cup, 4 points in the Champions League and still unbeaten is hardly cause for complaints. As you can see this time we play our home games in the CL in the Ajax stadium. Which means quite a bit more money!

In second now, PSV has had a very strong start except for their defeat to us.

There was also the first game in the Nations League group, a comfortable win against Russia. AFC central defender Gravenberch has made his debut and scored as well!

The 400 game milestone.

Finally after two years facilities upgrade done... a couple more to go still.

With 50M in the bank we can easilly afford this.

[MarcxD]

October 2028

Great month domestically, with all wins and through in the cup. Did lose our first match of the season in the Champions League against Shakhtar, a bit disappointing.

Back in first but PSV keeps on getting points as well. Ajax in 13th... I don't know why they're doing so badly.

Lost the second match in our nations league group, Portugal were the better side and deserved to win.

A win in the next friendly, with a goal from Sam Vos who got a chance in the first XI. Hasn't played for AC Milan yet though, so I really hope he will be moving on rather sooner than later. 

[Sheriff7]

An Andorran gave you the title??!!Great results with Netherlands too..Kosova quilified for major tournaments in many saves in fm17 too...

[MarcxD]

1 hour ago, Sheriff7 said:

An Andorran gave you the title??!!Great results with Netherlands too..Kosova quilified for major tournaments in many saves in fm17 too...

Yes! Thanks. I hadn't seen that in FM17 myself but I believe you haha. We'll see if that happens IRL at some point I guess. 

[MarcxD]

November 2028

Wow, another great month although against NAC and RKC we should've scored more. 4 points in the CL but we aren't quite safe yet.

Clear in first but PSV has one of their great seasons, actually they're already qualified for the knock-out rounds in the CL. If this amazing form lets up they'll be there to snatch the first place away from us I'm afraid!

Some more disappointing injury news, he's my first team left back (even though he was only seen as the 12th best player from that particular intake!)

Won the game against Russia, I actually also beat Portugal (2-1) but for some reason that screenshot is either gone or I simply forgot to take it.

Anyway, that means we're through to the semi-finals of the nations league, together with France, England and Spain. Pretty much no chance we're going to win the thing.