[FM 20] Building Berlin

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November 2025

This is more what I expected. We started off with a great win against Mainz, but it was probably not deserved, especially not this convincingly. They were better in every aspect except chance creation and conversion. Next, against Stuttgart, the match was similar to the Mainz one, but they were much better at chance conversion and creation and ran out convincing winners. The match was still close in the 55th minute, but a red card for us really turned the tide in their favour. Against Wolfsburg, another red card, this time in the 18th minute cost us dearly as we just couldn't hand on for that long down a man. The unofficial Berlin derby was a very close game, but a 25 yard screamer and a penalty were enough to get us the win.

The win against Berlin wasn't quite enough to get us above them, but remarkably, we're still within touching distance of 1st and 5 points clear of 7th place Wolfsburg. Edwards has been absolutely incredible so far this season and is second in the goalscoring charts with a whopping 10 goals in 13 matches.

No surprise here.

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This is still quite disappointing. I'm hoping this will improve as the reputation of the club improves.

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December 2025

Wow, what an end to the year. We went down early at Signal Iduna Park, but we were able to equalize fairly quickly and managed to get a late winner. We weren't great, but we held them to no real chances so it was a great performance for us. Against Köln, we were really poor early on and went down 2-0, but in the second half we were unplayable and a Justin Edwards hat-trick gave us the win. The Frankfurt match was very similar with us going down in the first half and then playing exceptionally well in the second half. Edwards was fantastic again with a brace to bring his tally to 15 for the season in just 16 matches.

This fantastic run has pulled us up the league into second and equal on points with Bayern. The longer we stay near the top of the league, the more I'm starting to believe that we could have an unbelievable season.

Unsurprising again.

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I think it's safe to say that Edwards was a fantastic signing and well worth the £5 million we spent on him (plus add-ons). I believe this is the first player that I've ever had win Golden Boy, so I'm very excited about him.

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January 2026 Transfers

We've had this signing lined up for a while. It was one of those free transfers that I couldn't refuse.

He looks very good and still has room to improve. He'll be the backup for the rest of the year.

United came in for Bazunu and he wanted to leave so I sold him for £5 million and brought this guy in for £4 million. He has more potential and is only a small downgrade on Bazunu. This also facilitated a transfer that I have lined up for next summer which I am very excited about.

He's very decent, but I'm honestly never sure whether a goalkeeper is good or not.

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January 2026

This month was very much a mixed bag, a great start and a fairly poor end. Against Dresden, we were absolutely fantastic, but were unable to make our dominance count. We were able to get the win, but it should have been more convincing. Our performance against Düsseldorf was very similar, but this time we were more clinical and managed 3 goals. I still don't know how we even lost to Augsburg much less losing by 3 goals. We were better than them or equal in every aspect of the match, but they were far superior at taking their chances. I thought we were back on track with an early goal in the Leipzig match, but 3 goals in 6 minutes before halftime changed that significantly. A goal early in the second half gave me hope, but we were not able to get an equalizer.

As great as it is to be tied at the top of the table, I'm a bit disappointed as we were 5 points clear at the top after the Düsseldorf match. The top 5 are so unbelievably tight right now, only separated by 3 points. I'm concerned about where we'll be next month as we're playing Bayern twice, BMG, and Schalke in our next 4 matches. Considering our current form, I can see us struggling with those matches.

Even with a poor rating for match performance, I'm still at an A+ which is somewhat surprising.

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February 2026

Holy crap, what a horrible month. We started off against Bayern in the cup, I rotated the squad so I had no expectations for the match. Against BMG, they were the better side and deserved the win. In our second matchup against Bayern, it was quite an even match, but 2 long range strikes got them the win. Against Schalke, which should have been a winnable game, we were poor and didn't create any chances. Finally, against Leverkusen we were much better (after conceding an early penalty and led going into injury time, but they scored a 94th minute equalizer leaving us with just a solitary point from this month.

In the 6 matches since we played Düsseldorf, we've gone from 5 points clear at the top to 7 point (maybe more) off the top. It's been a really poor run, but we now have a much easier end to the season so as long as we can pick up our form, I can definitely see us qualifying for Europe.

Despite our abysmal form, I'm still rated at an A+. I guess the board are over the moon with our league performance.

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2026 Youth Intake

Now this is more like it! We have one player who has the potential to be an excellent player for us and 3 others who will likely go on to have careers in the Bundesliga either with us or for other sides.

This is our best youth player so far, Dennis Schwartz. He has excellent tackling and first touch and other than that he is decent at most other things. He is a well rounded player for his age and he should improve nicely over the next few years.

And here is Peter Hey, the second best player from the intake. He wasn't rated as highly on intake day, but after the friendly he was rated much better. He looks decent and definitely has room to improve at just 15.

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March 2026

Well, this was another poor month. We started off with yet another loss against Hamburg, but we deserved more than the loss. I'm not sure we quite deserved to win, but we definitely should've gotten a point. The Freiburg match was much better for us. The shots were similar to the last match, but we were much better at creating chances than the previous match. Against Mainz, we took the lead, but then they outplayed us and got a deserved win against us.

We've now dropped further and I'm not sure we'll actually qualify for Europe now. We're only 2 points clear of Leipzig who are in incredible form and 4 points clear of Mainz.

Unbelievably, I still have an A+.

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April 2026

This was a very mixed month. We started off with another loss against Stuttgart in a match where they got more shots, but we created much better chances. Then we hosted Wolfsburg and failed to score in what was an even match. Unfortunately, they scored a 93rd minute winner to prevent us getting any points. We weren't able to score in our next match against Hertha either and lost to an own goal after the ball cannoned back off the bar and hit a defender. Finally, in a complete shock result considering our recent form, we destroyed Dortmund at home 3-0. We were absolutely incredible from a chance creation standpoint and we could've gotten another as we missed a penalty.

The win against Dortmund was crucial as it keeps us in European contention with 3 matches left. I'm confident now as our last 3 matches are all against teams near the bottom of the league.

My rating finally drops to an A-, but that is still very good considering our recent form.

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May 2026

Wow, what an end to the season! We started off with a dominant performance against Köln, and carried that form through into our match against Frankfurt where we dominated in a similar fashion and held them to absolutely nothing. Our final match against rivals Dresden was not as convincing, but a fantastic free kick for Edwards got us the win. Schalke ended their season against the top 2 in the league and as a result, the league finished like this:

Yep, that's right. We're into the Europa League!!! It's been a truly unbelievable season. I'm not sure if we can replicate this next year, but either way we have European football.

And  I'm back up to an A+.

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Man this is nice.

Because it gives us this for a budget.

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Season Review

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this was an unbelievable season. We sold out the home section of every home match this season, yet the board still refuse to expand the stadium. I don't understand, we even have tons of money in the bank now that we've received the prize money.

It should come as a surprise to no one that our player of the season was Justin Edwards, the Golden Boy himself. Somewhat of a surprise package, Tomas Antosik was our signing of the season after working his way into the first 11 at just 18 years old.

Somewhat surprisingly, Edwards was our only player to get either 10 goals or assists. Behind him for goals were wingers Drewes and Espinoza with 7 each. Drewes also led the team with 7 assists.

This definitely came as a surprise considering Liverpool still did well in the Premier League, finishing in 3rd. Less surprising were the awards for Edwards:

He only won one of these, but for him to even be considered for Bundesliga player of the year at just 20 years old is incredible. Coming second in the Golden Shoe award is also incredible, although the player who beat him to it is also only 20 years old.

He also made the Team of the Year, which is incredible.

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Europa League!!

First of all, we get extra money which is always good.

I'm a bit unsure of this group. Plzen won the league last year and Vitesse finished in second in the Eredivisie. I think we got the toughest 3rd seed in West Ham, but other than that I think we can take anyone in the group. I definitely think we can get 3rd in the group and qualify for ECL2.

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2026 Season Preview and Transfers

We aren't predicted to be relegated! After our incredible season last year, I think we can at least get mid-table.

Included in these transfers are 2 midfield playmakers, a very good centre back, a decent backup striker, a promising full back, and a fantastic attacking midfielder that we brought in on a free. This was a very good window for us, bringing in several very promising young players.

The first of the midfield playmakers in Aguirre. For a player who has only turned 18 recently, he is very good, especially with his technical ability. He is quite small though, so we'll have to see how he does.

I was looking for a good backup to Edwards and this guy definitely fits the bill. He isn't the greatest at finishing, but he has good aerial ability which has been crucial for our strikers in past season. At only 18, he's still got lots of room to improve.

Careca is probably my favourite signing of the summer. We were lacking a very good defender and Careca definitely gives us one. He was available for only £9.75 million which I think is a bargain for a player of his skill and age. 

The second of our 2 young midfielders, Gaudenti is also very good for his age and I think is the more well-rounded of the 2. I have high hopes for these 2.

Finally, we got an absolute bargain with this guy. For some reason, Benfica hadn't renewed his contract, so with only 6 months remaining of his current one, we came in a got him for free.I still can't believe it and we're now filled with quality in that area of the pitch.

 

Now, there was one more signing that we arranged this summer, but he's only joining us next summer. I think this guy could win the Ballon d'or in the future. Let me know what you think of him:

He just turned 15!!! His size is a bit disappointing, but he is by far the best 15 year old I've ever seen in any FM game. I can't wait for him to join the club.

[dllu]

Koci looks insane!  

KUTGW, great progress so far. 

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14 hours ago, dllu said:

Koci looks insane!  

KUTGW, great progress so far. 

Thanks. I recently got a racing wheel so I've been playing racing games lately and FM has taken a backseat. I think I'll be getting back to this save fairly soon though.