[FM18] [FC Suðuroy] [Faroe Islands] ::: A Faroese Fairytale Adventure

[ajcardall]

Media and board are expecting easy victories domestically. Can't argue with that. At this stage its starting to be all about Europe and trying to improve co-efficients, reputations and league rankings!

[ajcardall]

After reaching the First Knockout Round of last season's Europa League, I was expecting to see us moving in the right direction, but this increase is unbelievable. We've moved beyond some really big clubs, such as Rangers, Partisan, Sampdoria and Udinese. A truly amazing rise.

 

The league is now in its highest position on the rankings table since I started, and we're getting close to those leagues at 1.5*. Passing the Icelanding Premier Division - currently 94th - is my current target.

 

No surprise we earned the 3 spots in the First Round Qualifiers after our exceptional run in Europe.

 

Another good European run in the 2025/26 season and we should see some more big increases.

It's very gamey, but I've read that a common tactic is to purchase rival club's fringe players for over-inflated prices in an effort to give them money to strengthen. While this is gamey, and it is something I'd prefer to avoid, I'm wondering if long-term there's any alternative. I assume there is only so much one club can do to affect the rankings and reputation of the league/nation as a whole!

[kidthekid]

Just read the whole thread and this is amazing stuff. I know this is not a youth only save, but you don't seem to be signing many players either, which makes the progress more impressive.

[ajcardall]

6 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Just read the whole thread and this is amazing stuff. I know this is not a youth only save, but you don't seem to be signing many players either, which makes the progress more impressive.

Thanks

Yeah, it isn't a pure Youth Only, but I am trying to bring players through where I can. It may be something I switch to, but for the time being it's a case of trying to stabilise and make sure we are regularly doing well in Europe - reaching the latter stages of qualifying, etc. They money is crucial, the TV revenue and prize money for domestic Faroese football isn't enough to sustain a Professional club

[ajcardall]

The Champions League 1st Round Qualifying was drawn, and we've been pitted against a Kazakh team, FK Aktobe. I know nothing about them, and all their history shows was their last competition win was the domestic league in 2013. They have a club value of £11M, so by that measure they're bigger than ourselves, but I still think we should be beating them and progressing on to the 2nd Round of Qualifiers.

 

Here're the remaining fixtures. Some pretty interesting match ups: Malmo vs Slovan Bratislava, Ludogrets vs Dundalk and Sheriff vs Clinftonville.

Also noticed Celtic have entered this round, too. Not sure if that is standard, but I'd always thought Scottish teams entered in the latter stages of qualifying. They've won the SPL title every year since 2012!

[ajcardall]

Here's the Europa League First Qualifying Round draw, focused on our compatriots. Vikingur definitely got the bum deal out of the three, and it will take a lot for them to overcome Djurgardens.

 

One thing I've noticed is that this is the 2025/26 Europa League competition. If you check previous posts, then when the qualification places were released for the 2025/26 competition, we were allocated 2 places in the First Round, and 1 place in the Preliminary Round. However, all three teams entered the First Round, with none progressing from the Preliminary Round.

I've attached the screenshot in question that relates to the 2025/26 competition, and where teams from the Faroe Islands will enter:

I can only assume that this gets superseded by the latest calculation, which gave us THREE spots in the First Qualifying Round?

If so, then the fact it says "2025/26 Europa League Places" is misleading?

 

[ajcardall]

If we make it through the 1st Round, then either Dinamo Tblisi or HJK await!

[ajcardall]

Professional performance in the 1st leg, and in a strong position as we return back to the Faroe Islands

[ajcardall]

Another solid performance and we're through to the 2nd Qualifying Round, where we will face Dinamo Tblisi, who beat HJK on away goals (1-1)

 

We will be without our star player so far this season as Filip Djordevic is ruled our for about three weeks with strained knee ligaments.

It isn't ideal, but we have plenty of fire-power in the final third to compensate.

[ajcardall]

Here's the draw for the 3rd Qualifying Round, providing we can overcome Dinamo Tblisi. It'll be either FC Copenhagen or Lechia, and I'd say the smart money is on the Danes.

[ajcardall]

A poor performance. We were wasteful in front of goal and could/should have been out of sight. A 1-1 draw is definitely more suited to Tblisi, and we will need a very good away performance in the Georgian capital if we're to progress to the 3rd Qualifying Round.

[ajcardall]

Update:

Unfortunately, I appear to have run into a bug, either with the game itself, or with the custom DB.

As you know, I've been tracking the places we get allocated in Europe to track our progress, based on the news article released every summer that tells you what rounds clubs will enter in the Champions League and Europa League. For most of the Europa League campaigns, the Faroe Islands should have had at least one club in the Preliminary Round of qualifying. I've checked through every Europa League campaign played so far, and only once did teams from the Faroe Islands enter at the Preliminary Round. In all other instances, the teams entered at the 1st Qualifying Round. Obviously this doesn't tally to what the game has been saying. Now this either means:

a) My progress tracker is null and void, despite being based entirely on the information the game has provided

b) We could have a game-ruining bug where our qualification places and the corresponding rounds are static.

Either way, it is exceptionally frustrating to have this happen.

I've reported the issue in the bug forum, and shall await to see what the outcome is.

Either way, I'm going to put this on hold for the time being, and instead attempt a similar career, but using an official DB/league.

This is the potentially the second bug with the DB (the first being the contracts issue semi-pro clubs have), and both are potentially game breaking. Decided to persevere after the first bug, but the two of them in tandem are leaving me very frustrated.

[DefenseLover]

hace 1 hora, ajcardall dijo:

Update:

Unfortunately, I appear to have run into a bug, either with the game itself, or with the custom DB.

As you know, I've been tracking the places we get allocated in Europe to track our progress, based on the news article released every summer that tells you what rounds clubs will enter in the Champions League and Europa League. For most of the Europa League campaigns, the Faroe Islands should have had at least one club in the Preliminary Round of qualifying. I've checked through every Europa League campaign played so far, and only once did teams from the Faroe Islands enter at the Preliminary Round. In all other instances, the teams entered at the 1st Qualifying Round. Obviously this doesn't tally to what the game has been saying. Now this either means:

a) My progress tracker is null and void, despite being based entirely on the information the game has provided

b) We could have a game-ruining bug where our qualification places and the corresponding rounds are static.

Either way, it is exceptionally frustrating to have this happen.

I've reported the issue in the bug forum, and shall await to see what the outcome is.

Either way, I'm going to put this on hold for the time being, and instead attempt a similar career, but using an official DB/league.

This is the potentially the second bug with the DB (the first being the contracts issue semi-pro clubs have), and both are potentially game breaking. Decided to persevere after the first bug, but the two of them in tandem are leaving me very frustrated.

 Well, I recomend you Portstewart Youth only (they are from the Northen Irish Intermediate League)