[FM20] The Great Liechtenstein Challenge - FC Balzers

[CTID86]

It has been a little while since the last update... a season and a half in fact and we catch you up on how season 14 and 15 panned out. We take a look at some new signings including wonderkids and a new batch of Swiss home grown signings. But then... big news... We FINALLY have a 5 star potential Liechtenstein regen. It took 15 years but we finally have one and we take a look at the lad who has already attracted a bid from PSG!

Following this catch up and regen review we play the opening game of season 16 against St. Gallen and a few players are in line for their debuts.

Part 29 - S16 An Exciting Regen

[CTID86]

It's just over halfway through season 16 and there are a few things to cover. Lionel Messi has joined FC Balzers! There is an interesting Manchester United regen to take a look at. We also have a round up of the winter transfer window including a player that we have sold for £48m to an English giant.

Following this we play Young Boys who are hot on our tails in the Swiss Super League.

Part 30 - S16 Lionel Messi Joins

[CTID86]

It's the Liechtenstein Challenge and it's a big episode. We have the Europa Conference League final against VFB Stuttgart, just our second European final of the challenge so far. As ever, a win would guarantee us a spot in the Europa League Group Stage for season 17, whilst defeat would see us remain in the Europa Conference League.

It's a chance for the second treble of the career too as we take a look at the league season where we secured our fifth straight Swiss Super League title and yet another Liechtenstein Cup.

Part 31 - S16 Europa Conference League Final

[CTID86]

After the completion of a magnificent treble in season 16, confidence is high as we enter season 17. Following our victory in the Europa Conference league it does mean we go straight into the Europa League Group Stage for season 17 and we kick this video off by watching the live draw to see who we will be up against.

We also take a look at some departures and arrivals at the club and play an early league match against Young Boys who have made a flying start to the season.

Part 32 - S17 Faith Renewed

[dcu4life]

You've inspired me to do this challenge, having a great time so far. 

 

Currently I'm in the middle of the 2023-24 season. First two seasons were back-to-back promotions but so far I've been unable to get promoted to the Super League after two tries, though currently in my third season it's looking pretty good as we're in first place with a bit of breathing room. Still haven't managed to qualify for the Conference League group stages yet: last season we got drawn in the fourth qualifying round against eventual winners Lazio, and this season we lost on away goals to Lausanne in the same stage. 

 

Much more success from the NT perspective. We got an incredible Liechtensteiner striker regen at Basel who is getting interest from top clubs in Europe. In the most recent Nation's League we went 5-1-0, in a group with Czech Republic, Armenia, and Estonia. (Incredibly beat the Czech 2-1 home and away). Not looking forward to getting slaughtered in League B next time around

Our performance earned us a spot in the Euro 2024 playoffs (we lost all our qualifiers except beating Armenia home and away), and we held on against Hungary winning in penalties 0-0, and then in the final deservedly beat Georgia 1-0 to head off to Euro 2024 (where again, I'm sure, we'll get slaughtered )

Edit: Just played the Euros. The good news is we only let in 3 goals all tournament. The bad news is we lost every game xD. Our group was Norway (conceded an 89th minute winner), the Netherlands, and Denmark. So pretty tough but a decent showing

Edited September 24, 2020 by dcu4life

[CTID86]

On 23/09/2020 at 18:06, dcu4life said:

You've inspired me to do this challenge, having a great time so far. 

 

Currently I'm in the middle of the 2023-24 season. First two seasons were back-to-back promotions but so far I've been unable to get promoted to the Super League after two tries, though currently in my third season it's looking pretty good as we're in first place with a bit of breathing room. Still haven't managed to qualify for the Conference League group stages yet: last season we got drawn in the fourth qualifying round against eventual winners Lazio, and this season we lost on away goals to Lausanne in the same stage. 

 

Much more success from the NT perspective. We got an incredible Liechtensteiner striker regen at Basel who is getting interest from top clubs in Europe. In the most recent Nation's League we went 5-1-0, in a group with Czech Republic, Armenia, and Estonia. (Incredibly beat the Czech 2-1 home and away). Not looking forward to getting slaughtered in League B next time around

Our performance earned us a spot in the Euro 2024 playoffs (we lost all our qualifiers except beating Armenia home and away), and we held on against Hungary winning in penalties 0-0, and then in the final deservedly beat Georgia 1-0 to head off to Euro 2024 (where again, I'm sure, we'll get slaughtered )

Edit: Just played the Euros. The good news is we only let in 3 goals all tournament. The bad news is we lost every game xD. Our group was Norway (conceded an 89th minute winner), the Netherlands, and Denmark. So pretty tough but a decent showing

Huge congrats on making the Euro's so soon. Even though you lost all 3 games it's still a huge achievement! Good to hear a nice regen has popped up at Basel too! I seem to be getting flooded with Goalkeepers! Had to wait about 10 years for even a semi-decent striker haha!

Keep me updated with how it goes, always like to hear about other peoples Liechtenstein Challenges!

Making the Europa Conference League group stage is a game changer as it bags you a decent sum of money.

[CTID86]

With a nice lead at the top of the Swiss Super League we have the opportunity to extend it with an away game against St. Gallen where two Liechtenstein youngsters will start for us. Before the game we catch up with our league form and our Europa League group stage campaign.

We also take a look at the National Team which came VERY close to making history!

Part 33 - S17 Staying Strong

[dcu4life]

12 hours ago, CTID86 said:

Huge congrats on making the Euro's so soon. Even though you lost all 3 games it's still a huge achievement! Good to hear a nice regen has popped up at Basel too! I seem to be getting flooded with Goalkeepers! Had to wait about 10 years for even a semi-decent striker haha!

Keep me updated with how it goes, always like to hear about other peoples Liechtenstein Challenges!

Making the Europa Conference League group stage is a game changer as it bags you a decent sum of money.

I'm also getting tons of Goalkeepers. Currently all my NT goalkeepers are 4.5stars+. Struggling in center mid and center back

[CTID86]

It's the latter stages of season 17 and we have the first leg of our Europa League Quarter Final tie against Athletic Bilbao as we attempt to win the competition for the first ever time. 

Before the game we take a look at the winter transfer dealings which include a few departures for a combined fee of £51 million and a couple of new additions. 

Part 34 - S17 Europa League Quarter Final

[dcu4life]

Nice progress! Great result in the first leg, hopefully you can go further but there looks like some tough teams still in the tournament.

 

I'm in the middle of season 7, and have FINALLY made it to the conference league group stages. We've been unlucky in the past 3 season, where twice we've drawn the eventual winners (Lazio in season 4 and last season Wolves) in the fourth qualifying round. We had an easy path this time, beating an Icelandic team 22-0 on aggregate, then easing past FK Partizan and Vorskla. We have a pretty tough group, with Espanyol, Feyenoord, and Molde. 

Season 6 was our first in the Super League, where we performed great finishing 3rd, some way behind Young Boys and Basel. Sadly, we lost our best player on a release clause this summer. I had negotiated a deal with PSG to do a two year loanback, but unfortunately my star right winger opted to sign with Real Betis instead, which met the $9M release clause. Off to a rocky start in the league, winning 4 and losing 4 in the first 8 games (though 2 of those losses were away to Basel and Young Boys). 

 

The good news, however, is I was finally able to upgrade some facilities with the cash raised from the transfer. 

 

On the National Team front, we got drawn into World Cup 2026 qualifying with Germany, Sweden, Iceland, Montenegro, and Moldova. Results have been decent, and we almost got a draw at home against Germany after Emre Can got sent off in the middle of the second half, but we couldn't find an equalizer and lost 2-1. Lost home and away to Sweden (2-0 and 1-0), won away to Iceland and home to Moldova, and disappointingly only drew Montenegro at home (which we deserved to lose actually). 

[CTID86]

On 01/10/2020 at 22:16, dcu4life said:

Nice progress! Great result in the first leg, hopefully you can go further but there looks like some tough teams still in the tournament.

 

I'm in the middle of season 7, and have FINALLY made it to the conference league group stages. We've been unlucky in the past 3 season, where twice we've drawn the eventual winners (Lazio in season 4 and last season Wolves) in the fourth qualifying round. We had an easy path this time, beating an Icelandic team 22-0 on aggregate, then easing past FK Partizan and Vorskla. We have a pretty tough group, with Espanyol, Feyenoord, and Molde. 

Season 6 was our first in the Super League, where we performed great finishing 3rd, some way behind Young Boys and Basel. Sadly, we lost our best player on a release clause this summer. I had negotiated a deal with PSG to do a two year loanback, but unfortunately my star right winger opted to sign with Real Betis instead, which met the $9M release clause. Off to a rocky start in the league, winning 4 and losing 4 in the first 8 games (though 2 of those losses were away to Basel and Young Boys). 

 

The good news, however, is I was finally able to upgrade some facilities with the cash raised from the transfer. 

 

On the National Team front, we got drawn into World Cup 2026 qualifying with Germany, Sweden, Iceland, Montenegro, and Moldova. Results have been decent, and we almost got a draw at home against Germany after Emre Can got sent off in the middle of the second half, but we couldn't find an equalizer and lost 2-1. Lost home and away to Sweden (2-0 and 1-0), won away to Iceland and home to Moldova, and disappointingly only drew Montenegro at home (which we deserved to lose actually). 

Definitely sounds like you are making good progress! It took us a while to crack the Young Boys/Basel stronghold but got there eventually. Upgrading the facilities is key so good that you have been able to do that!

[dcu4life]

Yeah. Just finished season 7 and after the aforementioned rocky start we lost the title to Young Boys by a single point. Some fun twists in the title race:

• In the middle of the season we missed a 90th minute penalty against Young Boys (which would have given us the win)
• In the stretch run we played Young Boys at home with 4 games to go (level on points at the time), and we lost 1-0, with this time them scoring a penalty, scored none other than my star NT striker Bas Drechsel (who moved from Basel to Young Boys in January for about $15M)
• The aforementioned Drechsel also scored the title clinching goal, as Young Boys won away to FC Thun on the final matchday

 

In the conference league, we qualified second from our group with Feyenoord, Espanyol, and Molde. The highlight was a deserved 2-1 away win to Espanyol, and we had a nervy 0-0 draw at home to Espanyol on the final matchday to sneak into the first knockout round. I forget who we drew, but we ended up losing in the second knockout round to FC Krasnodar. 

 

So far season 8 has gotten off to a good start, and we're in October with a 4 point lead at the top of the table. Both Young Boys and FC Basel have had pretty subpar starts to the season. We also have a very easy Conference League group, with Partizan, Lech Poznan, and some Swedish team. Unlike last season I'm playing a heavily rotated squad in that competition. 

Edited October 5, 2020 by dcu4life

[CTID86]

18 hours ago, dcu4life said:

Yeah. Just finished season 7 and after the aforementioned rocky start we lost the title to Young Boys by a single point. Some fun twists in the title race:

• In the middle of the season we missed a 90th minute penalty against Young Boys (which would have given us the win)
• In the stretch run we played Young Boys at home with 4 games to go (level on points at the time), and we lost 1-0, with this time them scoring a penalty, scored none other than my star NT striker Bas Drechsel (who moved from Basel to Young Boys in January for about $15M)
• The aforementioned Drechsel also scored the title clinching goal, as Young Boys won away to FC Thun on the final matchday

 

In the conference league, we qualified second from our group with Feyenoord, Espanyol, and Molde. The highlight was a deserved 2-1 away win to Espanyol, and we had a nervy 0-0 draw at home to Espanyol on the final matchday to sneak into the first knockout round. I forget who we drew, but we ended up losing in the second knockout round to FC Krasnodar. 

 

So far season 8 has gotten off to a good start, and we're in October with a 4 point lead at the top of the table. Both Young Boys and FC Basel have had pretty subpar starts to the season. We also have a very easy Conference League group, with Partizan, Lech Poznan, and some Swedish team. Unlike last season I'm playing a heavily rotated squad in that competition. 

Great stuff man, really good to hear that you are making good progress! Them European days feel great don't they? I remember drawing 3-3 with Napoli away from home to qualify us as group winners years ago and beating Milan 4-2 at home a couple seasons later. Fond memories!

Maybe season 8 is your year!

[CTID86]

It's season 18 and unfortunately, in terms of European football, we are back at square one. We play against Slovan Bratislava in the Europa Conference League but there is lots more to cover before that.

We look at season 17, our new signings and departures, the club finances and facilities and the prospect of a brand new stadium for FC Balzers!

Part 35 - S18 Square One

[CTID86]

The curtain is all but closed on season 18 but we have one huge game remaining. The Super League and Liechtenstein Cup have both been secured yet again but we have our third Europa Conference League Final to play. We can win the competition for a third time and complete another treble if we beat Watford. A win would also secure Europa League football for season 19!

Before the game we take a look at the season and the signings we made in the winter as well as our most recent youth intake.

Part 36 - S18 Another Final

[dcu4life]

Wow what a result! Congrats. My recent update after season 8, which was just a crazy season. Funny enough, it took us just as long to win the challenge league as it did for us to win the super league. (3 years for each)

• We won the league with 2 games to spare, despite having 8 fewer points than the previous season (69). We clinched the title at home to Basel, scoring 2 goals in stoppage time (cue me running around my apartment like a lunatic ). Had we lost that game it would have been a nervy finish, as we would have been only 3 points ahead of Basel, with our final game of the season being against Young Boys (who, for the life of me, we cannot score against. It's probably been about 10 games since we've even managed to score a goal against them. Luckily most of the games have been 0-0). FC Zürich of all teams ended up finishing second. 
• We got all the way to the Semis in the Conference League, but lost to Feyenoord 3-2 on aggregate on a crazy own goal. 
• Unfathomably, we lost the Liechtenstein cup final against Eschen/Mauren (I played a rotated squad but they scored on one set piece and got a 92nd minute penalty on another set piece). This has got to be one of the worst results I can remember ever playing FM

A poor year with the national team as well. Finished 3rd in our Nations League C group behind Albania and Cyprus (finished ahead of Moldova). Euro Qualifying off to a shaky start: lost 4-2 away to Bosnia and 3-1 away to Portugal, followed by 2 wins against Armenia. 

Edited October 9, 2020 by dcu4life

[CTID86]

On 09/10/2020 at 19:23, dcu4life said:

Wow what a result! Congrats. My recent update after season 8, which was just a crazy season. Funny enough, it took us just as long to win the challenge league as it did for us to win the super league. (3 years for each)

• We won the league with 2 games to spare, despite having 8 fewer points than the previous season (69). We clinched the title at home to Basel, scoring 2 goals in stoppage time (cue me running around my apartment like a lunatic ). Had we lost that game it would have been a nervy finish, as we would have been only 3 points ahead of Basel, with our final game of the season being against Young Boys (who, for the life of me, we cannot score against. It's probably been about 10 games since we've even managed to score a goal against them. Luckily most of the games have been 0-0). FC Zürich of all teams ended up finishing second. 
• We got all the way to the Semis in the Conference League, but lost to Feyenoord 3-2 on aggregate on a crazy own goal. 
• Unfathomably, we lost the Liechtenstein cup final against Eschen/Mauren (I played a rotated squad but they scored on one set piece and got a 92nd minute penalty on another set piece). This has got to be one of the worst results I can remember ever playing FM

A poor year with the national team as well. Finished 3rd in our Nations League C group behind Albania and Cyprus (finished ahead of Moldova). Euro Qualifying off to a shaky start: lost 4-2 away to Bosnia and 3-1 away to Portugal, followed by 2 wins against Armenia. 

oh no, losing that cup final against Eschen/Mauren will hurt the finances for a year not having the European football. Great late win over Basel there haha!

[CTID86]

It's a new season and the Europa League Group Stage draw has been relatively kind to us as we begin our 3rd ever Europa League campaign. Today we play against Zulte Waregem of Belgium away from home as we attempt to win the tournament for the first time.

Prior to the game we take a look at the events of the summer transfer window as a number of players were deemed surplus to requirements.

Part 37 - S19 Group Stage Hype

[CTID86]

It's part 38 and we begin the knockout rounds of the Europa League with a match away from home against Marseille. Before the game we check in with the other Liechtenstein club sides to check on their progress and review the winter transfer window.

Part 38 - S19 Away in Marseille

[CTID86]

In part 39 we take you through what was a disappointing end to our Europa League campaign and focus on a new season where we play Olympiakos in the Europa Conference League qualifying rounds.

Before this we take a look at what happened during the summer transfer window and the thriving finances of the club.

Part 39 - S20 Fighting the Greeks

[CTID86]

Just over half way through season 20 and we have a big away game against a rejuvenated Basel side. Before that we take a look at how the winter transfer window went in what has ended up being a season of record spend for FC Balzers!

We finish with a round up of the National Team and how it is developing.

Part 40 - S20 Spending Money

[CTID86]

It's season 21 and the challenge continues as we have qualified for the Europa League. We round up the closing stages of season 20 before taking a look at a few summer signings.

We then play against our old foe, Basel, in the Swiss Super League.

Part 41 - S21 Fighting On

Edited November 3, 2020 by CTID86

[CTID86]

It's part 42 and we have a second leg Europa League Quarter Final match against Chelsea. After drawing the first leg 0-0 in Liechtenstein, we must visit Stamford Bridge to lineup against a Chelsea team consisting of a former Ballon D'or winner and seasoned internationals.

Part 42 - S21 Stamford Bridge

[CTID86]

It's the headline of season 21 and perhaps the headline of the challenge so far as FC Balzers play in their first ever Europa League Final against Manchester City. There is a Champions League spot at stake but a huge obstacle in the way for the Liechtensteiners.

Having overcome PSG, Chelsea and Juventus so far, do Balzers have one more big game in their locker? Or is it curtains?

Part 43 - S21 Europa League Final

[CTID86]

It's season 22 and after coming through our Champions League Group Stage with flying colours we have to play PSG in the last 16 of the Champions League. Following a 1-1 draw in Paris, can we secure a result to take us to the Champions League Quarter Final?

Part 44 - S22 Champions league Last 16

[CTID86]

It's the Champions League Quarter Final against European Champions, Borussia Dortmund. After a 0-0 draw in Germany, we welcome them to Liechtenstein where we hope to repeat the result that we got in the Uefa Super Cup earlier in the season.
 

Part 45 - S22 Champions League Quarter Final

[dcu4life]

Oh man bummer about the Champions League. Thanks for keeping us posted with all the updates! 

 

In my save, we got our first taste of Europa League football in our 12th season (2030-31 season), where we lost 2-0 on aggregate to Arsenal in the semifinals. It was the exact same scoreline as 2 years ago in the Conference league, where we also lost both legs to Arsenal 1-0 in the QF. The league has become quite stale, where we've been unchallenged for the past 3-4 seasons. We actually got a scare in the Liechtenstein Cup last season where Vaduz took us all the way to pens. It was an odd one - the original final got rescheduled for a waterlogged pitch, then rescheduled again because Vaduz were in the Pro/Rel playoffs, which meant I had a bunch of players out on international duty. 

 

Currently starting season 13 (2031-32). We had a pretty tough conference league playoff draw where we drew Gladbach, but went through comfortably 7-3 on aggregate. My hopes of an undefeated season are already over, as Basel did a smash-and-grab 1-0 against us at home. Our squad is strong - we have players who are semi-regulars for Spain, Italy, France's starting goalkeeper (I signed him a couple years back for ~$300K and the next summer he was starting for France in the World Cup - talk about a steal!), Argentina, Switzerland, Colombia, and Uruguay (one of my two remaining non-regens left in the squad who has been with us since the Challenge League). 

 

BTW Vaduz and Eschen/Mauren are doing great in my game. Vaduz has been yo-yoing between the Super League and the Challenge League, and Eschen/Mauren just survived their first season in the Challenge League and is now professional (they actually went up with me to the Promotion League in our first season). Though sadly that hasn't translated into any good regens for the NT, but I have gotten a couple of naturalized players from those clubs. For some reason all of my players who could be naturalized don't see any benefit - I guess I have to invest in non-EU players so they'll make sure to pick up the nationality.

 

With the national team, we are finally in the top 90. We just got relegated from Nations League Group B (been yo-yoing between C and B), but finished on a respectable 5 points in a group with Wales, Sweden, and Bulgaria. We haven't qualified for any major tournaments since Euro 2024, but we should have another shot in the playoffs this time for Euro 2032. (I have no idea how the playoffs work, but I checked in my game and last time all but one of the teams in League B had at least a shot at the playoffs.) Last season a nice regen popped up at Basel, but he has dual citizenship with Italy. I haven't been able to convince him to play for Liechtenstein yet, but it looks like he will be just not good enough to play for Italy (and good news is that he is not Swiss), so fingers crossed! 

Edited November 9, 2020 by dcu4life