The Football Manager Youth Academy Challenge

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Youth Intake 2035

Another pretty decent year, with two players looking particularly promising.

Here is the best of them, striker Etholm, who will definitely see first team minutes next season:

And the second best prospect, CB Stensen who lacks some determination but looks pretty good other than that:

[Hovis Dexter]

In season 2021_22 I'm beginning to off this challenge. It's not a lot of fun when you've only won two out of twelve games. I thought the first two seasons were too easy. The funny thing is that Genoa are plumb bottom with no wins and in my other save I won Serie A with Genoa this season .. go figure.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Hovis Dexter

[XaW]

1 minute ago, Hovis Dexter said:

In season 2021_22 I'm beginning to off this challenge. It's not a lot of fun when you've only won two out of twelve games. I thought the first two seasons were too easy. The funny thing is that Genoa are plumb bottom with no wins and in my other save I won Serie A with Genoa this season .. go figure.

I can sympathize with you, but that is also the charm of this challenge; getting success too soon might not always be a good thing! And you can't buy your way out of it! I won the league with ease last season, but now, I'm struggling in the tier above. After two wins in the early start I'm on a 7 game win-less streak, and in a 30 game season, that's not good...

[Hovis Dexter]

46 minutes ago, XaW said:

I can sympathize with you, but that is also the charm of this challenge; getting success too soon might not always be a good thing! And you can't buy your way out of it! I won the league with ease last season, but now, I'm struggling in the tier above. After two wins in the early start I'm on a 7 game win-less streak, and in a 30 game season, that's not good...

I'm hoping a get a good goalkeeper from this season's youth input. Both of my goalkeepers are pretty poor and to make matters worse the slightly better one seems to permanently injured

[Hovis Dexter]

My third season in my first attempt at the challenge. Well, that was rubbish … after two back to back promotions we finished plumb bottom and were relegated. I think we flew too high too quickly. For some reason I wasn’t sacked so let’s see how we do again next season. The board continued to support me with coaching courses and I gained a Continental A Licence and am studying for a Continental Pro Licence.

I’ve still only got one scout and no data analysts as I’m not sure they are any benefit in a youth challenge. I have, however, continued to improve the data analysis facilities on the basis that an”ambitious club” should look to improve all it’s facilities.

Summary of Performance

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1i4ey9FYZaYatxntkQdOL1M2Q-CNCWK-E

Summary of Facilities

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NnSCuRTYMqvW0gj1hS3F2SviLbflu0ha

No matter how I played I couldn’t get a result, became disillusioned and holidayed the last couple of months. Here’s the final table.

 

No transfers in or out

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QcKrGDIvBTC02AOiMXk8jZStdg_7yQbT

The good news was the regens … I got five really good ones including a goalkeeper who I really need as my best two are both poor.  Here they are:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=17t47IdFjxLh2gMncRY5CRL2w0FaadxGd

https://drive.google.com/open?id=15frzDmVXo867HhVShax-RVV5tuUB0mJI

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NKd9apNdBAnNzB4N6LiCEwfdhyc-htaJ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RO-1ZNZSi-HKgBscz3dKvvIkRoGR5lMq

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Bg5UNXlD1-KOQBJcI-6i5A9qYVOGlPZz

I’ll be glad to start again in Serie B but, of course, everybody’s morale is rock bottom so we need to win some matches asap.

 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by Hovis Dexter

[Koetzer]

Pécsi Mecsek Futball Club - Season 2022/23

League table

Like last season, we could clinch the 3rd place on final matchday but lost to Debrecen and failed to overtake Ujpest. Disappointing, especially as the cup was won by Vidi so 4th place won't get a Europa League place this year. The upside is that we finished only seven points behind champions, so actually the title is much closer now.

Magyar Cup

A shocking early exit after our backup striker received a red card on 2nd minute.

Europa League

A decent result overall, we easily beat Armenian and Estonian sides and had quite a favorable draw in the 3rd round (there were teams like Ajax and RB Leipzig in the pot) but 3-1 win at home wasn't enough to advance.

Youth intake

Illes 23a | Rodenbucher 23b | Korcsmar 23c | Grabant 23d

Not even a golden generation this time, though center-back Pal Illes looks really promising (and unlike our previous prospects on this position, he's tall!)

Squad stats

Not much has changed from previous season, Fujsz is still our best goalscorer (and also best goalscorer of the league this time!), Valkovszki provides the most assists as he did every year from our start. Two new names appeared in the first team squad, and they were the leaders of 2021 intake - Laszlo Borsi 21a and Laszlo Kovacs 21b.

Transfers

Prize money from Europa League games helped us improve the youth facilities, still no funds for the other improvements but it's better than nothing. So we obviously need to qualify for Europe more often.

[XaW]

 XaW - Follo FK - 2020

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

A very nice promotion last year, so I had hopes we could stay up now that we are trying our all in the 2nd tier. We started quite well and won a couple of the early matches and were looking pretty good. Then we got a call back to reality when we went 7 matches without a win, mostly losses in fact. We did manage to turn it around and rounded up a few wins. After this we kept on getting a few points, but not really stinging up any runs. Going into the final few matches we actually had an outside shot at playoffs, but we are far away from the quality of a top tier team. Bodø/Glimt ran away with the title, and only Haugesund were anywhere near them. Kristiansund, Aalesund, Sandnes Ulf and Jerv tried to push, but more than playoffs were not very likely at any give time. At the other end Tromsdalen were left far behind early on and got Strømmen and Notodden with them going down. In the end, I'm very happy with the season and think we can build on this, however, a promotion is still quite far away at the moment.

In the Norwegian cup we beat Ålgård and Sola before losing to to tier outfit Stabæk in the 3rd round. We held them to extra time, but they were much better than us, so it was a deserved loss.

The main players I would like to mention this season are:

• Patrik Karoliussen - The best player once again. I hope I can keep him for a long time yet.
• Frikk Stand Wulff - Partnered great with Karoliussen in the midfield and are playing much better than his attributes suggests.
• Espen Tvedter Andresen - Out top scorer and the main man up front.

I managed to get improvements to Youth Coaching and Youth Recruitment this season, so hopefully it will show on the future youth intakes.

[XaW]

Youth intake 2021

Well now, this is exciting. One fantastic youngster and a few others with potential.

Simply an amazing talent in Glenn Torgersen 21a. I hope I can keep him for a while!

Another talented striker, but is a bit dwarfed Glenn.

[XaW]

I gave Torgersen 21a a start in a friendly.

Yeah, a hattrick in 7 minutes. Granted, it is against a crappy team, but still.

[AliG]

Alta de Lisboa - Season 1 - 2019/20

So I decided to try out the youth challenge this year after conquering Austria (but not Europe) with SV Grodig last year. I tried a few different nations but none of them dragged me in so as a Wolves fan, I thought I'd give Portugal a go. With three playable tiers, the third tier consisting of 4 groups of 18 teams, it seemed like a good challenge. I then realised that 5 teams from each group get relegated so this would be tough. Upon loading, I found a team with a great starting infrastructure in Alta de Lisboa.

Starting Profile

So the season started fairly well with a couple of wins in the cup and some average results in the league. We managed to beat our board's expectation of 2nd round in the cup and made it through to the 4th round where we were dispatched 4-0 at home by SC Braga. Our focus returned to the league and attempting to claw our way away from the relegation zone and a poor return of 5 points from 5 games in November had me worried. A change of tactics saw us hit our stride and we went 11 games unbeaten rocketing us up the table. At this point in January, there were just 4 points separating the top 7 so it was going to be a long season. We continued our good form but drew some games we really should have been winning and going in to the final day, we sat 2nd just 2 points clear of 3rd placed UD Leiria. We lost away to Vilfranquense but luckily Leiria also lost meaning we qualified for the end of season playoffs. The format is the top 2 teams from each group progress to a knockout with both finalists earning promotion to the second tier. The draw was made, FC Porto B. I didn't have much hope and the bookmakers agreed making me 4-1 outsiders in the home match alone. We proceeded to lose the home game 2-0 followed by a 7-0 demolition away and the season was over.

All in all, it was a fantastic season, one where consolidation was replaced by hope. With some of our better players being the veterans, next season will be a real test of the potential of the youth players in the squad.

Fixtures 1 - 2 - 3 - Transfers

League Table

I managed to skip youth intake day and not get a screenshot but needless to say, a large number of them were quality and will be playing their part in season 2. The majority of the intake seem to be good midfielders and attackers, already our strongest area of the team, I could really do with a bumper intake of defenders next season.

Edited May 30, 2019 by AliG

[AliG]

Does anyone have tips for securing professional status? This second season is proving tough and I really need to work towards being a professional club to secure the training sessions to develop these kids.

[XaW]

2 minutes ago, AliG said:

Does anyone have tips for securing professional status? This second season is proving tough and I really need to work towards being a professional club to secure the training sessions to develop these kids.

The short and boring answer is; have enough money. Depending somewhat on the country, but having av couple of million pounds in the bank will do it most of the time. Other than that is getting promoted to a league that expect it (different levels at different countries). Sometimes a takeover and new board does it, but there is not easy way. A lot depends on how ambitious the board is as well.

[AliG]

Just now, XaW said:

The short and boring answer is; have enough money. Depending somewhat on the country, but having av couple of million pounds in the bank will do it most of the time. Other than that is getting promoted to a league that expect it (different levels at different countries). Sometimes a takeover and new board does it, but there is not easy way. A lot depends on how ambitious the board is as well.

Thanks, in the 3rd tier in Portugal, it seems that a lot of the clubs are Semi-Pro so it's not too bad but with only 2 teams getting promoted out of 72, I just need that bit of luck to make the jump. Once I get that first promotion, I get the feeling the club will kick on. The finances are ok, we have just under 1M in the bank and lose around 15k per month but prize money was over 500k last year so we made a huge profit on the year.

The slog continues.

[XaW]

18 minutes ago, AliG said:

The slog continues.

This should be the slogan for this challenge!

[Koetzer]

Pécsi Mecsek Futball Club - Season 2023/24

League table

When we lost three of five starting games I couldn't predict that the remaining part of season would be so successful, but before the winter break we already were in top three, close to leading Vidi and Ferencvaros! This form was carried into spring, we smashed Ferencvaros 3-0 to take the lead... and then FM started its favourite game, every new week brought new injuries, we dropped some points and eventually lost to Vidi in what was expected to be a decisive match, allowing them to gain three points advantage. But a week after they lost to MTK and we returned to the top, only needing to beat two bottom teams of the league. These games weren't easy of course (especially final one) but we did exactly what had to do. First ever league title in Pecs history, and we'll be in the Champions League next season!

Magyar Cup

There couldn't be any other priority than the league this season, so the cup was mostly played by reserve squad, and still we were close to reach semifinal.

Youth intake

Kulcsar 24a | Kodmon 24b | Toltosi 24c | Bodor 24d

A disappointing one, I doubt that Kulscar would be even noticed if he came in some of previous intakes. Except him, I just signed some players with decent personalities.

Squad stats

It's certainly a good sign that we won the league in the year when our newgens took the lead. Daniel Kovacs finished the season as the league's top goalscorer, and Robert Horvath was really unstoppable. I don't know how to check it but from what I remember about half of his goals were scored from direct free kicks (and a lot of assists were provided from indirect ones). Our players also claimed all individual awards and eight of them were selected into team of the season!

Transfers

It also turned out that our U19 team won their league last season, so qualified for the Youth League and had quite a decent debut, defeating Nantes and losing to Dortmund only in shootout.

[Hovis Dexter]

Bari 2022_23

My fourth season in my first attempt at the challenge. After last year’s relegation we won Serie B by 10 points and will be back in Serie A next year. The board continued to support me with coaching courses and I gained a Continental Pro Licence.

I’ve still only got one scout and no data analysts as I’m not sure they are any benefit in a youth challenge. I have, however, continued to improve the data analysis facilities on the basis that an”ambitious club” should look to improve all it’s facilities.

Summary of Performance

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1J2cuiexIMO4HMYZPbZzSkRtHGsXhuwpS

Summary of Facilities

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vVcaDooLuykxfbF6lEdEV4T4E2yMFnlH

Here’s the final table

 

No transfers in, a couple of loans out and, unfortunately, I lost two players whose minimum release clauses were met. When I was negotiating their contracts I couldn’t escape those clauses.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DksPOJd4019DtFxTqV7sHAxNIbpzUws7

I’ve received four good newgens albeit that one is unambitious with determination of 3.  Here they are:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hXeVHwr_dLSHs3HwKc81LixgVVIxyJhX

https://drive.google.com/open?id=16_BT0w_7o_KyDiq7UQ6gkhvGUWR6lo5R

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gpbE5TT-pG2xROW06qKjE7v2gbN0IDS6

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1wgcYfcdc3YRfVcBFBbMlPhRMhDG_YKvU

Let’s hope we are not immediately relegated again next season ... on a separate note I'm finding the documentation of the club development to quite interesting.

Edited June 1, 2019 by Hovis Dexter

[XaW]

 XaW - Follo FK - 2021

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

After we almost reached the playoffs last season I hoped we could compete for the same this season. It should be noted that we really aren't good enough to do as well as we do. We do have a few great players, but the squad overall are really not more than a team that should fight to avoid relegation at this level. So when we started as well as we did, with 4 wins in the first 5 games, I'm elated, but also a bit apprehensive as to how we are doing as well as we are. We are still semi-professional, while quite a lot of the other teams are professional, so we are really overachieving quite a bit. When we had a bit of a dip in form in June, I though reality had caught up with us, but we bounced back with a great July and found ourselves at the top at that time. I had expected newly relegated Lillestrøm to be a major force, but they were closer to relegation and fired 3 managers during the season and had a mare. Kristiansund were good last season around (lost in the playoffs), and Mjøndalen, Fredrikstad were our main opponent with Asker and Åsane also chasing the pack. Into the final part of the season we really hit a good form and only lost once in the last 13 matches, away to Kristiansund. Still, this caused us to be officially promoted with 2 games to spare. Unfortunately, Kristiansund also had a great finish and we ended in 2nd place, behind them on goal difference. A fantastic achievement, but I think it might be too soon, and I'm very clear on that we have a good chance of being relegated next season.

In the Norwegian cup we beat Vidar, Mandalskameratene and Aalesund before losing to Rosenborg in the 4th round.

The main players I would like to mention this season are:

• Glenn Torgersen 21a - Our young superstar had a great season, although, he is a bit of a spree scorer and do have some dry spells.
• Espen Tveter Andresen - The striker who works closely with Torgersen 21a. Have a great knack for scoring important goals.
• Sander Haugen - A really good season from our left back. Bombing up and down that pitch for just about every match this season.

I got some further improvements to the youth coaching and youth recruitment this season and hopefully it will give us even better youngster in the coming seasons.

[Fadedaf]

@XaW you're making progressing through the Norwegian leagues look much easier than I have, congrats on the promotion! If you ever come across Oppsal in the cup or anything have some mercy! 

[noworthyicon]

Sestao River Club 19/20 Report

Juan Smith endured an up and down season during his first year in charge but led the team to a 13th place finish with 50 points. It was a tough start to the season with only 2 wins in our first 11 games. The team actually started playing from November - January with only 1 defeat and 8 wins - a run of form that definitely saved our skin given that as soon as February came the team disappeared once more.

Finances are utterly awful, whoever was in charge before Smith took over made some insane contract blunders, with 12 players ineligible for league registration (and those 12 eating up around roughly 9k p/w in wages). Luckily all their contracts expired at the end of the season and the wage budget is looking much slimmer. But still, almost 2mil in debt for a 3rd division club is shocking and there will certainly be no facility improvements until the financial situation is sorted out.

The happy story of the season is a solid youth intake to go along with the intake that happened in the holiday-ed year, meaning Smith has a good base of young players to work with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[XaW]

13 hours ago, Fadedaf said:

@XaW you're making progressing through the Norwegian leagues look much easier than I have, congrats on the promotion! If you ever come across Oppsal in the cup or anything have some mercy! 

Thanks, though, I seriously doubt we will be able to stay up in the top tier next season. I think we got promoted too fast, but I'm willing to try it out. I also got lucky with Torgersen 21a. Without him I don't think we would have done as well as we did. Oppsal just got relegated from the 3rd tier this season after getting promoted the season before, so I doubt I'll face them in the league soon. But a cup is possible, and I'll try to be gentle if that happens!

[XaW]

Youth intake 2022

Oh my! It seems the improvements I got approved have had a great affect on the intake. A number of talented players this time.

Even Hammer 22d are a very talented defender and will likely be part of the main squad this season.

Tore Frøstad 22b is also one I'm excited about. Though he have some blatant flaws, I'm excited because I only have one left back in the who squad before this.

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Season 2035 Report

After narrowly missing the playoffs last season, the goals for this season were to get back into the playoffs again and push for promotion. Our finances are starting to look worryingly bad, and as a result the board have started accepting very poor bids for some of my best players over my head. Before the start of the season they let our promising young striker Oscar Sortevik 32A go for just 73K. I then called up the incredibly promising Pål Etholm 35A from the most recent intake, who at 16 years old was sent straight into the starting lineup and played fantastically well, racking up 14 goals before the mid season transfer window, where my board accepted a bid of 24.5K for him on deadline day. One of the stupidest decisions the board could possibly make, but I guess that's what we get for having such terrible finances.

Cup- In a positive change of fortunes, we had a great cup run this year! We started off with wins over lower league Selbak and Engerdal before drawing Start from our division. A great performance saw us win 3-1 and go on to play Premier Division side Brann. We started off with a catastrophic owl goal as my fullback decided to smash a cross straight into our goal, but we fought back into the game and ended up scoring a dramatic 93rd minute winner! we then faced Arendal from our division in the quarter final and saw them off 3-1 before facing another Premier Division team in Tromsø in the semis, who were unfortunately very clinical and smashed us 4-0. Still, reaching the semis is a great achievement and netted us around 680K in prize money which was much needed! 

League- A bit of a rough start gave way to a great run of form where we went 16 games unbeaten and were fighting for the automatic promotion places. We then had our best striker and leading scorer Pål Etholm 35A sold over our head by the board and the 4-0 loss in the cup semis, leading to a bit of a drop off in form. We remained in the playoff places however, finishing 4th, only 3 points back from an automatic promotion place. We played Odd in the first playoff match and a pretty poor performance saw them scrape a 1-0 win which was very disappointing.

Best Players- 

Top goalscorer: Asbjorn Jakelln 32B and Martin Ferrer 34A (11 goals) Well, if Pål Etholm 35A had finished the season with us, he would have won this as he already had 14 before leaving and was on track to set all kinds of records as a 16 year old but oh well. I'm not salty at all... But anyways both of these guys look extremely promising as well.

Most assists: Glenn Hoel (11 assists) This guy is extremely inconsistent, but when he's good, he's good. 

Highest avg rating: Asbjorn Jakelln 32B (7.23)

Most POM: Asbjorn Jakelln 32B (6 POM)

MVP: Asbjorn Jakelln 32B

Best U23 player: Asbjorn Jakelln 32B

Results Results 2 (no) Transfers

 

Well, despite the disappointing end to the season, it was certainly an improvement on last year. Without the transfers over my head by the board, I think its very likely we would have been promoted, but our finances do need to improve so things like that don't happen again. I think we are right on the verge of getting promoted again, next year is our year!

|         League        | Pos.  |   Cup       |  Europe    |  Top scorer     |    Top assists          |  Highest avg rating|     Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   2nd Division       3rd      2nd Round        -         Bransdal(22)        Bransdal(8)             Bright-Taylor(7.41)     PROMOTION
2020   1st Division      11th      1st Round        -         Langåker(11)        Östman/Nilsen(7)        Bright-Taylor(7.06)     Survived
2021   1st Division       9th      3rd Round        -         Langåker(14)        Rosendal/Nilsen(6)      Kristiansen(7.20)       Mid Table
2022   1st Division       9th      2nd Round        -         Langåker(18)        Rosendal/Paulsberg(6)   Bright-Taylor(7.07)     Mid Table
2023   1st Division      14th      1st Round        -         Bransdal(9)         Nilsen(5)               Nilsen(7.08)            Relegated
2024   2nd Division       2nd      3rd Round        -         Langåker(17)        Nilsen(9)               Bright-Taylor(7.51)     PROMOTION
2025   1st Division      15th      2nd Round        -         Langåker(10)        Harviken(7)             Nilsen(7.14)            Relegated
2026   2nd Division       2nd      1st Round        -         Langåker(17)        Harviken(11)            Granhaug(7.58)          PROMOTION
2027   1st Division       8th      3rd Round        -         Langåker(9)         Nilsen(7)               Nilsen(7.21)            Mid Table
2028   1st Division       8th      4th Round        -         Langåker(17)        Nilsen(7)               Nilsen(7.23)            Mid Table
2029   1st Division       8th      3rd Round        -         Krogstad(11)        Nilsen/Hoel(7)          Hoel(7.09)              Mid Table
2030   1st Division       8th      1st Round        -         Furthi(11)          Rygh(4)                 Furthi(7.10)            Mid Table
2031   1st Division       4th      2nd Round        -         Langåker/Furthi(15) Hoel(9)                 Hoel(7.23)              PROMOTION
2032   Premier Div.      14th      4th Round        -         Furthi(8)           Rytterager(6)           Knudtzon(7.04)          Relegated
2033   1st Division       5th      4th Round        -         Furthi/Krogstad(8)  Hoel/Jakhelln(6)        Auklend(7.13)           Playoffs
2034   1st Division       8th      2nd Round        -         Furthi(10)          Hoel/Knudtzon(5)        Knudtzon(7.28)          Mid Table
2035   1st Division       4th      Semi final       -         Jakelln/Ferrer(11)  Hoel(11)                Jakelln(7.23)           Playoffs

 

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Youth Intake 2036

I changed my HOYD about a year ago and he has come up with the goods:

Two players that are going straight into my first team squad, and potentially even into the starting lineup! Both have 3 names and I am feeling good about them. There's also another two cheeky 5 star potential players in there as a bonus.

This guy is immediately my 3rd best CM on current ability and that is only because CM is one of our strongest positions. He will be straight into the rotation and may start most games next season.

The other star of this intake is striker Helland 36B, which is a perfect position as we lost two promising strikers last year. I have gone back to the deep lying forward/advanced forward front 2 so he will slot in perfectly at the DLF spot

[Fadedaf]

Update: both of the prospects from the last intake have already been poached. Helland 36B totalled 19 appearances for us before refusing to sign a professional contract and leaving to Lillestrom for free, while Delaveris 36A did at least agree to sign a contract before my board accepted an offer of 1.4 Million from Rosenborg. He only managed 13 appearances for us, although he had already developed into probably the best prospect to come out of our academy. To make matters worse, the board ALSO accepted a bid over my head for my other striker, Martin Ferrer 34A for just 120K. All three of these deals happened within 5 hours of the transfer deadline. I truly despise my board

[dkouv]

IFK Eskilstuna – Season 15
 

Season 15 – 2033 – Swedish Premier Division

League: We stepped it up a level this year. Djurgården were giving us a run for our money at the beginning of the season, but we eventually pulled away and despite a dip in form around the euro qualifiers in August, we won the league easily with 4 games to go.

Cup: Out to Djugården in the quarters again

Europe 2032-33: Finishing top of the euro cup group meant we got a reasonable draw against Steaua in the last 32, with a great 3-0 away win seeing us through. Marseille were too strong for us in the last 16, beating us home and away with a 6-2 aggregate scoreline.

Europe 2033-34: We went straight through to the champions playoff but got a tough draw with Olympiakos. We outplayed them at home, but they sneaked in a last-minute away goal to make it a tense 2-1 advantage for the second leg. The second leg was predictably nervy, with me choosing to shut up shop. Both sides hit the post a few times, before Olympiakos made the breakthrough with a VAR penalty in the 79^thminute. More drama followed however as our left winger Henrik Björklund 30c got us the away goal in the 88^thminute with a 20-yard curler. We hung on and went through on away goals. The group draw was tough, and we finished bottom behind Tottenham, Benfica and Shakhtar, albeit with a respectable 4 points and plenty of money in the bank.

Best players: Johan Forsblad 22a (DRC) continues to impress, as does Filip Qvist 28c (MRL).

Youth watch: The aforementioned Henrik Björklund 30c (ML/AML) has had a great introduction as a goalscoring inside forward, and Emil Hermansson 32a (AMRC/ST) from last year’s intake has got some game time, but didn’t play very well.

Youth intake: Some promising prospects this year, although most are in defensive areas where I’m already well stocked. Fredrik Ross 33a (DC/WBR) looks like a soon-to-be regular at right back, Fredrik Persson 33b (MC/AMC/ST) has good passing stats for a midfielder but could do with better mentals, and Claes Ericson 33c (GK) is yet another highly-rated goalkeeper. Daniel Gustavsson 33d (DRLC) has the top rated PA but terrible personality.

Transfers: trying to shift a few oldies, and loans

Finances: looking good after the CL, and I go straight to the group stage next year as Sweden has jumped up the euro ranks

Facilities: Maxed out coaching and recruitment, and continuing to build up training and youth facilities

Next season’s aim: Title

Season |  League       | Pos. |   Cup   |     CL      |     EL      |     Top scorer          |  Top assists           |     Top rating            | Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   | Div 2 S. Svea |  3   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (22)          |   Milde (15)           |     Alkoyun (7.7)         |
2020   | Div 2 S. Svea |  1   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (22)          |   Milde + 2 more (10)  |     Milde (7.8)           | Promotion
2021   | Div 1 North   |  1   |   n/a   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (21)          |   Milde (14)           |     Cirak (7.7)           | Promotion
2022   | Div 1 Elite   |  11  |   R2    |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Cirak (17)          |   Hallberg 19a (9)     |     Cirak (7.4)           | Survived
2023   | Div 1 Elite   |  9   |   R2    |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (12)     |   Milde (11)           |     Milde (7.1)           |
2024   | Div 1 Elite   |  6   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (20)     |   Milde (9)            |     Östling (7.4)         |
2025   | Div 1 Elite   |  7   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |     Juhlin 20b (19)     |   Palm 24c (14)        |     Lundin (7.3)          |
2026   | Div 1 Elite   |  4   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (14)  |   Palm 24c (12)        |     Palm 24c (7.2)        |
2027   | Div 1 Elite   |  1   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (12)  |   Hallberg 19a (6)     |     Hallberg 19a (7.5)    | Promotion!
2028   | Premier       |  8   |   QF    |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (19)  |   Claesson 26d (13)    |     Claesson 26d (7.3)    |
2029   | Premier       |  7   | group   |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Juhlin 20b (14)      |   Claesson 26d (13)    |     Sundberg 26h (7.2)    |
2030   | Premier       |  1   | winner  |   n/a       |     n/a     |    Gustafsson 24a (23)  |   Claesson 26d (14)    |     Jönsson 25b (7.6)     | !! :D
2031   | Premier       |  2   |   QF    |   playoff   |    Last 32  |    Sundberg 26h (24)    |   Claesson 26d (14)    |     Sjöberg 27a (7.2)     |
2032   | Premier       |  1   |   QF    |   Qual. 2   |    Last 16  |    Gustafsson 24a (29)  |   Claesson 26d (13)    |     Qvist 28c (7.4)       |
2033   | Premier       |  1   | ongoing |   Group     |     n/a     |    Sundberg 26h (18)    |   Qvist 28c (13)       |     Qvist 28c (7.4)       |
.
Season |  Finances |  Coaching     |  Recruitment      | Training Fac.  | Youth Fac.      |  Stadium
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   |   £23k    |  Fairly Basic |      Basic        |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2020   |   -£9k    |  Average      |  Fairly Basic     |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2021   |   -£6k    |  Average      |  Fairly Basic     |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2022   |   £55k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Poor         |  Poor           |  7800
2023   |   £42k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Basic        |  Poor           |  7800
2024   |   £38k    |  Adequate     |     Average       |   Basic        |  Poor           |  7800
2025   |   £136k   |  Good         |     Average       |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2026   |   £241k   |  Good         |     Average       |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2027   |   £464k   |  Good         |  Above Average    |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2028   |   £464k   |  Good         |  Well established |   Basic        |  Basic          |  7800
2029   |   £491k   |  Good         |  Well established |  Below Average |  Basic          |  7800
2030   |           |  Good         |  Well established |  Below Average |  Basic          |  7800
2031   |   £5.7m   |  Excellent    |  Extensive        |  Below Average |  Below average  |  7800
2032   |   £11.3m  |  Excellent    |  Extensive        |  Adequate      |  Adequate       |  7800
2033   |   £25.4m  |  Exceptional  |  Extensive        |  Average       |  Average        |  7800

Edited June 9, 2019 by dkouv

[AliG]

Alta de Lisboa - 2021 Youth Intake

Well this time I remembered to take a screenshot!

Youth Intake

Some much needed defensive talent in both Bruno Campos 21a and Ivo Jacob 21c along with yet more CM talent. With our best young player that we started with signing a pre contract to leave at the end of the second season, the abundance of talent in the middle of the park is very much necessary. Carlos Tchiaka 21e looks like he could a gap at the Inside Forward role on my LAM and finally Sandro Veloso 21f is next in line for leading the line.

The team currently sits 11 points clear of 3rd place with 5 games to go so playoff qualification looks likely. But what team turns up in the playoffs I don't know. I've had some really strange results this year including the last game which was a 7-0 loss at home to Amora who are in the relegation zone. I hope that isn't a downward trend for our form!

[XaW]

11 hours ago, Fadedaf said:

Update: both of the prospects from the last intake have already been poached. Helland 36B totalled 19 appearances for us before refusing to sign a professional contract and leaving to Lillestrom for free, while Delaveris 36A did at least agree to sign a contract before my board accepted an offer of 1.4 Million from Rosenborg. He only managed 13 appearances for us, although he had already developed into probably the best prospect to come out of our academy. To make matters worse, the board ALSO accepted a bid over my head for my other striker, Martin Ferrer 34A for just 120K. All three of these deals happened within 5 hours of the transfer deadline. I truly despise my board

Oof! That rough. Hopefully, the big sale will sort out some of your issues with finances for a while. I've been lucky, as the board haven't sold anyone of my players this time around. I experienced what you are now when I played in Finland a few years ago, anyone with a hint of talent got sold for pocket change. If I remember correctly, they sold one of my best talents to a Swedish club for £10... yes, 10 pounds. And that happened with money in the bank as well. Infuriating, but a great challenge anyway! It's when you win in those conditions the sense of winning is so much better.

[Hovis Dexter]

Bari 2023_24

Survival!!! Following our second promotion to Serie A we finished 15th and were 10 points clear of the relegation zone. At one stage we hit the dizzy heights of 6th but it was all downhill after that. We were, however, voted the Serie A Best Club of the Year

which I guess means that we were the team that performed best compared with its original expectations. Other notable achievements were that we made the most fouls - 651 - and received the most red cards – 8. Suprisingly we were the best team at hitting the target with 51% and had the 6th highest average attendance.

I’ve still only got one scout and no data analysts as I’m not sure they are any benefit in a youth challenge. I have, however, continued to improve the data analysis facilities on the basis that an ”ambitious club” should look to improve all it’s facilities.

Summary of Performance

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1g3ELQftyYyoDFjq8_VHrqSHWcjWQqkFZ

Summary of Facilities

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NJs13pmjQtJ6HejIjNQ2yYOXwrU5V-4V

Here’s the final table

No transfers in of course and, unfortunately, I lost one player whose minimum release clauses was met. When I was negotiating his contract I couldn’t escape the clause.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vSMTW3Hk1Ls1nqamF4QoHRIb0XCWeeH2

I’ve received five good newgens. There are two very exiting ones being Alan Macormac 24D who is a 16 year old striker with two and half star current ability and Gabriele Grigis 24E a 16 year old goalkeeper with two star current ability.

Here they all are:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=16N7kOIv5wUL8RVKOf9O7ATQEKDYMoK9H

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eWUbPlfRd6CVlEwFHV2OWZgBMGBowP-H

https://drive.google.com/open?id=139sgOc4m3aYom2oDpMzJbie91wbSAPy_

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ScRqpr9BTbqL4iIMB6ZH6148OIKx8F28

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uNxyXDTLvdcN9iP-2wJw8c2Eq5sAXHWc

I must admit to getting fed up in the latter part of the season when everything was a struggle. Let’s hope it gets better next season.

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Hovis Dexter

[XaW]

1 hour ago, Hovis Dexter said:

when everything was a struggle. Let’s hope it gets better next season.

A few of my matches so far this season. If I survive the drop, it's more than we deserve...

Although, I'm not the worst team in the league at the moment. I can pretty much only hope that at least two teams are worse than us.

Edited June 3, 2019 by XaW

[Hovis Dexter]

Just now, XaW said:

A few of my matches so far this season. If I survive the drop, it's more than we deserve...

Oh dear ... good luck

[AliG]

@Hovis Dexter

Good job with Bari there. With the league’s 6th highest attendance and those facilities it’s just a matter of time before you produce some exceptional talent. Being in Serie A already means you’re less likely to lose your talent so quickly too so just stick with it and let those youngsters grow. 

[dkouv]

23 hours ago, Fadedaf said:

Update: both of the prospects from the last intake have already been poached. Helland 36B totalled 19 appearances for us before refusing to sign a professional contract and leaving to Lillestrom for free, while Delaveris 36A did at least agree to sign a contract before my board accepted an offer of 1.4 Million from Rosenborg. He only managed 13 appearances for us, although he had already developed into probably the best prospect to come out of our academy. To make matters worse, the board ALSO accepted a bid over my head for my other striker, Martin Ferrer 34A for just 120K. All three of these deals happened within 5 hours of the transfer deadline. I truly despise my board

Damn, I hate it when this happens  That's the worst part of the challenge for me, find it much easier to deal with crap results than losing good prospects against my will. I think the only way you can get out of it is improve the finances, other than protesting a bid or two. Annoying that Lillestrom got the player for free rather than compensation, I got 800k for my youngster when he got poached off a non-pro contract; guess Norway has tougher league rules than Sweden by the looks of it...

[Hovis Dexter]

1 minute ago, AliG said:

@Hovis Dexter

Good job with Bari there. With the league’s 6th highest attendance and those facilities it’s just a matter of time before you produce some exceptional talent. Being in Serie A already means you’re less likely to lose your talent so quickly too so just stick with it and let those youngsters grow. 

Thanks for that. What really annoys me is the agents who insist on minimum release clauses. Following the end of the season I’ve already lost my best defender but on the positive side he was one of the players who demanded a new contract every two months or so and it’s only a few weeks since I managed to increase his minimum release clues from about £2m to about £4m. I’ve also realised that it can be good to have players constantly asking for new contracts. I’ve conceded contracts to a couple but at the same time have got rid of the minimum release clauses which is a win for me.

[Hovis Dexter]

On 02/06/2019 at 21:11, Fadedaf said:

... both of the prospects from the last intake have already been poached. Helland 36B totalled 19 appearances for us before refusing to sign a professional contract and leaving to Lillestrom for free ...

A total pain. This season I’ve decided that I’m offering professional contacts to my good newgens straight away to try to prevent them from being poached. In a non youth challenge it doesn’t matter too much if you loose a player as you can always buy a replacement but in a youth challenge you have to keep everybody who is any good.

[AliG]

Full update to come tomorrow but I've secured two major milestones today. Promotion on away goals after which the board came to me and suggested we changed to a professional club!

[Koetzer]

Pécsi Mecsek Futball Club - Season 2024/25

League table

Lost too many points to be real contenders this year, we actually were closer to be dropped out of top three but Ferencvaros and others weren't consistent as well. So just a harder Europa League route for next season.

Magyar Cup

Once again our cup run was ruined by an early red card. Not paying too much attention to the competition, but still there could be some more practice for our youth,

Champions League

We hit the woodwork five times in two games against Maribor and conceded a penalty on 89th minute... A very disappointing outcome but there was a second chance in Europa League.

Europa League

And here we really exceeded all expectations! Reaching the group stage already was a big achievement but I certainly haven't expected four wins out of five (including one in Rome)! We secured the top spot with a game to go and were drawn against AZ. Goalless draw in Alkmaar gave us a chance to go further but unfortunately we couldn't hold a single goal advantage at home. Still it's by far the best ever European campaign for us and what's even more important - over 10 million euros of TV rights and prize money! After balancing around zero in all previous seasons this is a giant leap forward, our facilities upgrade is already in progress and will be completed in November.

Youth intake

Kover 25a | A.Farkas 25b | Fulop 25c | B.Farkas 25d | Kelemen 25e | Bodor 25f

I think changing our HOYD to a perfectionist Ciprian Deac had the effect as we seem to have more positive personalities in this year's intake and better potentials as well.

Squad stats

No new names in best 11, though it's quite interesting that Mate Sagi 22g who wasn't predicted as top prospect in his intake, and Laszlo Szabo who wasn't tagged at all (that's why 21z) developed a lot better than some of their more promising teammates and gained first team experience.

Transfers

Youth League

Another good season for our U19, and it's a bit unusual to see Vaduz here as they can't enter the Champions League but it seems to work other way for the youth teams. Unfortunately, our youth lost the domestic title this season so won't have European football in the next one.

P.S. Two more important news came after the season ended - Attila Fiola 20c became our first player to be called into the senior national team, and Hungary moved into 11th place in UEFA rankings which means an extra Champions League spot!

Edited June 4, 2019 by Koetzer

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Season 2036 Report

Well, to sum it up this season was almost an exact replica of last season, minus the cup heroics. We've been crippled by our finances and the board selling all my best players over my head but we just have to keep pushing on I guess.

Cup- Beat lower league UII/Kisa before a tough draw saw us face Tromsø from the Premier Division, who we lost to in the semi finals last year. We gave them a bit more of a fight this time but still lost 2-1. A second round exit is not great, although it is just due to the tough draw. We did miss out on a decent amount of prize money by not progressing further however.

League- Almost exactly the same as last year. A good start, rough patch, inconsistent finish and we finished in 4th, this time just 2 points off the automatic qualification places. We played Odd in the first playoff game, same as last year and unfortunately it was exactly the same game, a 1-0 loss in a pretty disappointing performance. Yet again, I believe we were on our way to promotion had we not had our 3 best players poached on deadline day of the mid-season transfer window.

Best players-

Top goalscorer: Asbjørn Jakhelln 32B (7 goals) Both of my strikers would certainly have finished the season with more had they not been poached. Jakelln is developing into a really good wide midfielder though.

Most assists: Glenn Hoel and Daniel Vraalsen 33E (7 assists) Hoel always seems to end up leading this stat and Vraalsen is slowly becoming a solid player at the other wide midfield position.

Highest avg rating: Glenn Arne Knudtzon 29A (7.22) Another excellent season from the CM.

Most POM: Glenn Arne Knudtzon 29A (4)

MVP: Glenn Arne Knudtzon 29A

Best U23 player: Asbjørn Jakhelln 32B

Results Results 2 (no) Transfers

 

Well, to try to stay positive, we were only 2 points from automatic promotion and if we keep getting good enough intakes i'm sure we can push on and get promoted very soon, despite the board's best efforts. In the immortal words of @AliG: The slog continues!

|         League        | Pos.  |   Cup       |  Europe    |  Top scorer     |    Top assists          |  Highest avg rating|     Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019   2nd Division       3rd      2nd Round        -         Bransdal(22)        Bransdal(8)             Bright-Taylor(7.41)     PROMOTION
2020   1st Division      11th      1st Round        -         Langåker(11)        Östman/Nilsen(7)        Bright-Taylor(7.06)     Survived
2021   1st Division       9th      3rd Round        -         Langåker(14)        Rosendal/Nilsen(6)      Kristiansen(7.20)       Mid Table
2022   1st Division       9th      2nd Round        -         Langåker(18)        Rosendal/Paulsberg(6)   Bright-Taylor(7.07)     Mid Table
2023   1st Division      14th      1st Round        -         Bransdal(9)         Nilsen(5)               Nilsen(7.08)            Relegated
2024   2nd Division       2nd      3rd Round        -         Langåker(17)        Nilsen(9)               Bright-Taylor(7.51)     PROMOTION
2025   1st Division      15th      2nd Round        -         Langåker(10)        Harviken(7)             Nilsen(7.14)            Relegated
2026   2nd Division       2nd      1st Round        -         Langåker(17)        Harviken(11)            Granhaug(7.58)          PROMOTION
2027   1st Division       8th      3rd Round        -         Langåker(9)         Nilsen(7)               Nilsen(7.21)            Mid Table
2028   1st Division       8th      4th Round        -         Langåker(17)        Nilsen(7)               Nilsen(7.23)            Mid Table
2029   1st Division       8th      3rd Round        -         Krogstad(11)        Nilsen/Hoel(7)          Hoel(7.09)              Mid Table
2030   1st Division       8th      1st Round        -         Furthi(11)          Rygh(4)                 Furthi(7.10)            Mid Table
2031   1st Division       4th      2nd Round        -         Langåker/Furthi(15) Hoel(9)                 Hoel(7.23)              PROMOTION
2032   Premier Div.      14th      4th Round        -         Furthi(8)           Rytterager(6)           Knudtzon(7.04)          Relegated
2033   1st Division       5th      4th Round        -         Furthi/Krogstad(8)  Hoel/Jakhelln(6)        Auklend(7.13)           Playoffs
2034   1st Division       8th      2nd Round        -         Furthi(10)          Hoel/Knudtzon(5)        Knudtzon(7.28)          Mid Table
2035   1st Division       4th      Semi final       -         Jakelln/Ferrer(11)  Hoel(11)                Jakelln(7.23)           Playoffs
2036   1st Division       4th      2nd Round        -         Jakelln(7)          Hoel/Vraalsen(7)        Knudtzon(7.22)          Playoffs

 

[3rik]

This is a really interesting challenge, I will try it out tonight i think. Must decide on the league first. I thought about starting in Germany but the restriction of no under 17 players made my reconsider my options. Bari is interesting but I havent decided yet if I want to start with a newly promoted team. Sweden looks kinda nice but feels tough to challenge in Europe. Any league that is extra interesting right below top 3?

[Hovis Dexter]

25 minutes ago, 3rik said:

This is a really interesting challenge ... Bari is interesting but I havent decided yet if I want to start with a newly promoted team ...

If you want to do the challenge and abide by all its rules it's necessary to start with a newly promoted club. Have a look at the section headed "steps when getting started" in the very first post.

[3rik]

5 minutes ago, Hovis Dexter said:

If you want to do the challenge and abide by all its rules it's necessary to start with a newly promoted club. Have a look at the section headed "steps when getting started" in the very first post.

Yes I know but it feels like the club needs to be a good fit to keep the save interesting so that made me think about the clubs availeble now.

[Fadedaf]

Oppsal Youth Intake 2037

Improving my HOYD two years ago was definitely a good move as we've come up with another good intake:

A very clear standout player, another with 5 star potential and plenty of others that may or may not develop into good players. Here is the standout Forsnes 37A:

He's obviously very talented and will go straight into the first team, however probably not as a starter as my RB and RM are two of the best young players in the squad. I am seriously considering retraining him as a left sided player, probably a LB as we have much less quality there. I don't know how long we can hold on to him but I will try to get him on a professional contract ASAP. Our other bright hope from this intake is Ingvaldsen 37B:

He lacks a bit of determination but still looks like an excellent prospect

[AliG]

@Fadedaf some quality youngsters there, I'm really in need of a future RB so I'm jealous of Forsnes!

[AliG]

Alta de Lisboa - Season 2 - 2020/21

So second season after a successful first one, we were predicted a more difficult time. A couple of useful veterans had left and retired so we were going to have to lean heavily on the youth to provide the spine of the club. The first month of the season was mid-table quality but then we put together a fantastic run on 18 games unbeaten and tore away at the top of the league. We suffered some injuries and tiredness in the squad and really limped over the line in the end. I didn't hold out much hope for the playoffs with our form especially when I was drawn against Vitoria de Guimaraes B but my fear was unfounded as the team won the first leg 4-0 and even won away 1-0. These results sent the morale flying up which I think carried them through a tough semi-final against SP Espinho. We won the first leg 2-1 at home and clung on to lose 1-0 away going through to the final on away goals. With both finalists being promoted, I wasn't too bothered about the final but a trophy would have been lovely. An injury time equaliser denied us the win and then we ultimately lost on penalties but promotion was secured!

League Table - QF - SF - Final - Transfers

Squad - Squad 2 - Squad 3

Stats - Stats 2 - Stats 3

No transfers in but we lost one of our best performers Diogo Ribeiro on a pre-contract deal during the season so we have to replace him next year. We will be in the same league as him next year too so we will be looking out for those fixtures when they're released.

Summary

[AliG]

Time for some advice, is there any particular reason why I'm only able to offer players a contract for one year? This means that my excellent youngsters are signing their first deal and then refusing to listen to further offers because they've just signed a deal while negotiating with other teams on a pre-contract deal. I'm going to lose three of my best players already this year to this. 

[Koetzer]

2 minutes ago, AliG said:

Time for some advice, is there any particular reason why I'm only able to offer players a contract for one year? This means that my excellent youngsters are signing their first deal and then refusing to listen to further offers because they've just signed a deal while negotiating with other teams on a pre-contract deal. I'm going to lose three of my best players already this year to this. 

Probably that's because you are still in lower division, I remember that while playing in German regional leagues I couldn't sign players on long contracts as well.

[Koetzer]

Lost in Europa League after a VAR penalty for a foul which clearly was outside the box, and this happened in next two matches:

Spoiler

 

 

Looks like a nice compensation  

[AliG]

1 minute ago, Koetzer said:

Lost in Europa League after a VAR penalty for a foul which clearly was outside the box, and this happened in next two matches:

  Hide contents

 

 

Looks like a nice compensation  

I really want the two Sagi's to be related!

[Koetzer]

4 minutes ago, AliG said:

I really want the two Sagi's to be related!

They are not, as well as two Horvaths and three Kovacs in our first team  

[3rik]

IK VIRGO SEASON 1 2020
DIV 2 NG, SWEDEN

Predictions for the season. It looks like it might be a tough season but with some good players inte the squad it might be possible. The facilities and finances are nothing to brag about. And my profile as well. Virgo is my local team so when I saw them get promoted I thought I must try the out.

[AliG]

17 hours ago, Koetzer said:

They are not, as well as two Horvaths and three Kovacs in our first team  

Just had my next intake and managed to get two Paulo Silva's!