First of, I have to say I love the idea of this sort of save. It can be fun, and interesting, and a lot easier if you choose a country with really good youth recruitment and a bevy of decent teams to choose from. There are a couple of problems inherent in this sort of save though.
The game doesn’t know you are doing a Youth Only save, and the feedback and actions of the board and fans can be detrimental
If you aren’t playing in a big country, or a big team in a small country, the path to success is longer, and that where we are in Romania.
I last posted season 11. I have played up to season 22. And I can tell you right now what the next 30 years in the save are going to look like should we keep playing: More of the same.
There are a few problems we are dealing with, that with time and the application of a little application, can be overcome. But all of these problems are a series of interlocking, overlapping circles, some bigger than others, with less overlap, but they all have to be done at or near the same time for us to be going forward.
Case in Point:
We have more academy graduates playing than any other team in Europe. Are some of them Elite talents? Yes, Rocky Jivan (Class of ’34) had the potential to be one of the best M(C)’s in the game IMO. He went to PSG for €3.4M, never broke into the 1st Squad, had a season with PSG 2 where he had 3 goals and 16 assists, went on loan to Rapid Bucharesti, then left on a free to go to Ludogorets. Is he still a good M(C)? Yes, I would bet he’s in the 130 range as a player, but his potential was probably 150-160.
Nikolay Tuntev came thru as a 2 star PA Strike in the Class of ’35
Three years later, he left for PSG at €3.2M. Had 3 good seasons on the PSG 2 squad, had a season on the first team where he scored 8 goals in 7 appearances, but he’s their 4th option.
Radu Aldea (Class of ’35) went to Inter, so did Alin Munteneau and Dennis Mocanu (Class of ’35 as well), Andrei Voice (Class of ’36) went to Juve, Iulius Tarcea (Class of ’38) went to Milan, and that’s just internationally. I’ve had several player move within smaller clubs for decent money as well, although quite a few have ended up staying in Romania.
The reason for all these good young players moving are interlocked.
The minimum Fee clause is set by the agent, and they are very attainable for other clubs. I tried setting Jivan’s clause to €20M, and his agent countered with a locked offer for €3.2, which I had to accept or he could have left for a lot less. I could have taken it off and tried to get more money, but that’s a shake of the dice I am not willing to take.
We are one of the best clubs in Romania, Top 3 even, and while our reputation has grown, it’s still Regional. While we have been performing well in Continental Competitions, a Semi Final loss in the UECL, Europa League Knock out Round Losses, Europa League Group losses, and a couple of UECL Round of 16 losses, there have also been years we haven’t qualified.
The Country rating as a whole has improved, going from 65th to a high of 32nd before falling back recently to 40th, as the other clubs in Romania have not had the success that we have had.
This sets up a cycle that is particularly troublesome to deal with:
Good player comes thru Youth intake
Good player gets Senior Team starts Early, sometimes when 17 y/o, also gets International appearances on the Youth Squads
Good player develops, signs new contract with minimum release fee locked by agent.
Team plays in Europe really well, Player gets noticed
Team with Better Reputation makes offer to player, meeting release clause, Player leaves, often sits on 2nd team, and then leaves for another club.
To break this cycle, we need to
Grow our reputation, and countries reputation
By getting good, young players, and developing them
Holding onto them for more than 3-4 years to build up a quality squad that will get us the wins we need
While sending out other players to other teams in the country to get them inproved as well so the country rating can improve as well
Which we can’t do because teams with a better reputation currently get all of the good, Young Romanians.
Is it a cycle that can be broken? Yes, I believe so, but it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight, it’s a 30 year project, at least.
And I don’t have the interest in hitting the ‘Auto Resolve’ button for the next 30 seasons while playing the European games. That doesn’t hold any interest for me. I haven’t touched this save in almost a month, and when I loaded it back up again, I saw the familiar names, and just…eh. I knew this was going to be a challenge when I started it, I just wasn’t aware of how big a challenge it was going to be, and that’s my fault. It’s been fun, but near the end it was getting frustrating, and that’s just no way to play FM, so I am going to set this save aside.
I appreciate all of you who have followed along, and for the foreseeable future I will have some more content coming, mostly related to screenflow and scouting.
Thanks,
Jellico
Bonus content:
Teodor Drăgan, the best Romanian Player in the game. CFR Cluj, Class of ’30, to Porto for €5.25M in 2035, then PSG for €72M in 2038. First International Experience, Romanian U21 squad at age 17, where he won goal of the tournament. 2036/37 Champions League Young Player of the Season, FIFA Best U21 Men’s Player the same year. Blue is 13-16, Green is 17+, and I would bet most of those blues are 15 or 16
We’ve known about “Fallen Giants”, clubs that were once big but have now fallen back, such as Saint Etienne in Spain, Buraspor in Turkey, Parma in Italy, Coruna in Spain, but what about those clubs who spent a long time climbing their way to the top, only to stay for a couple of seasons or less before crashing back down. Or what about those clubs that have always come close, but have never managed to get promoted to the top flight?
I’ve never seen posts about them before, but the word that comes to mind is in the title: “Icarus”. Given a pair of wings made by Daedalus, Icarus was warned first of complacency, then hubris. Instructed to fly not to high or too low, Icarus ignored Daedalus. He flew too close to the Sun, the wax holding his wings together melted, and he plunged to his death in the sea below.
Icarus flew “Too close to the Sun”, which I believe is an apt metaphor for these teams. All these teams can be found in the base version of the game, but the list of Icarus Clubs across all countries is quite large. This post is going to focus on European Clubs.
GERMAN CLUBS
Fortuna Düsseldorf won the Bundesliga in 1933, then fell all the way to the RegionalLiga levels. The made the Bundesliga in the 2012/13 season, and again in the 18/19 and 19/20 seasons, before being relegated back down to the 2. Bundesliga. They are probably the easiest Icarus team to take to the top.
SSV Ulm 1846 won the RegionalLiga Sudwest in 1998, and then finished 3rd in the 2. Bundesliga in 1999 and promotion to the Bundesliga. Despite a scrappy fight, they could not avoid relegation on the last day, and were relegated back to 2. Bundesliga. Their 2000-01 campaign was a disaster, they finished in 16th place and were relegated to the Regionalliga Sud, but the chaotic state of their finances led to the DFB denying them a license, which sent them all the way down to the 5th Tier Verbandsliga Württermberg. In the two decades since the club has weathered a betting scandal, insolvency issues, administration, but finally clawed their way back to the 3. Liga in the 2023 season.
SC Preußen Münster was a founding member of the Bundesliga, but were relegated after the inaugural season. In the mid 70’s the club’s board took a lot of chances to try and get the club promoted back to the top flight, that effort ended up with most of the board resigning because of the financial difficulties and tax fraud accusations. In 2006 the club again invested significant financial resources to try and climb the German pyramid, but again fell short. They finally made it to the 3.Liga in 2011, and finished 4th the following season, but ensuing seasons saw a variety of changes at the top for no return, and the club crashed back into the RegionalLiga. They earned promotion back to the 3. Liga in the 2021-22 season.
ENGLISH CLUBS
Yeovil Town F.C. is one of the true “Icarus Clubs” on this list, in that they have never played in the EPL or First Division. After spending most of it’s existence in the lower leagues of the English Pyramid, they finally reached the League in 2001. Two seasons later they were promoted to League 2, and in 2007 were promoted to League 1 via the playoffs after a 5th Place finish. The next few seasons despite lacking the financial muscle of other teams in the league, judicious scouting and loan signings helped the team get promoted to the Championship, but despite wins over Forest, Watford and Sheffield Wednesday, they were relegated. Their finances did not get any better, and they were relegated again the next season back down to League 2. In the 18-19 season the club dropped out of the EFL, and since then a variety of management changes have occurred, while the team has fallen down to the National League South.
I will admit this is a sentimental choice for me, I saw a video on YouTube (Probably by HITC Sevens) about the club, and the story resonated with me. A Small club, lacking financial stability, thru good coaching, good scouting, and overachieving players manages to get to the 2nd highest level of competition in the EPL, only to fall short. If that’s not an Icarus Club, what is?
Swindon Town F.C. made it to the Premier League in 1993-94 season, but were relegated after just a year. Their time in the Premier League was notable for two things:
One of their 5 wins was against League Champions Manchester City
They conceded 100 goals during the season, a record that still stands.
The club also earned the dubious distinction of being the first team in the Premier League to have been relegated to League Two in 2006, but a couple of years later missed out on promotion back to the Championship by losing in the playoffs to Millwall on penalties. After that the club made several appearances in the tile game, losing each time, but again were releagted to League 2 in 2021. Since then financial issue have plagued the team, to the point where the EFL deducted 3 points from them in 2021. Since then a variety of head coaching changes, and CEO changes, have led to the current instability at the club, with the club falling back down into League 2. Can you get the back to the promised land?
Barnsley F.C. finished 2nd in the First Division in 1997, which led to their only appearance in the Premier League in the 97-98 season. In 2002 The fell to League 1, and won promotion back to the ECL, where they stayed for 8 seasons. Relegation and Promotion followed, and again the club was promoted to the ECL in 2019, but relegated again in 2022. Barnsley holds the distinction of having played more games and spent more seasons in the second division of English Football than any other team. Are you the coach to get them back to the top flight and beyond?
Millwall F.C. spent two seasons in the top flight of English football, from 1988 to 1990. The club has been in existence for 97 years, in that time 90 of those years have been spent yo-yoing between the 2nd and 3rd Tiers of the EFL. The FA Cup Giant Killers made it back to the Championship in the 2017-2018 season, and have come close to making the playoffs several times. What separates a club like Millwall from Swindon in this case is good ownership. Under the stewardship of Chairman John Berylson, the club remained financially sound, and the money the won in their various FA Cup upsets certainly helped as well. However, in the summer of 2023, Berylson was killed in a car accident, with his son taking over as chairman. Since then the clubs performance on the field has been less than stellar, and they currently sit in the bottom half of the table. As head coach, can you bring stability to the squad, get them promoted, and help fulfill the previous chairman’s dreams?
Northampton Town F.C. were promoted three times in five years once. Starting in 1960 in the then Fourth Division, they made it all the way to the First Division, where they relegated after just one season. They then had the dubious distinction of being relegated back to the Fourth Division over the next five years, and since 1967 have bounced back and forth between the 3rd and 4th Tiers of the EFL. The last day of the 2023 season, they defeated Tranmere to get promoted to League One. Its quite possible that very few people outside of Northampton remember they played in the top flight once. Can you get them there again?
Leyton Orient F.C. is the second oldest club in London to play in the EFL. Like Northampton they spent just one year in the First Division, 1963-1964, and since then have bounced back and forth between the various EFL tiers. The new century has not been kind to the club, new ownership in 2006 saw two relegation’s and eleven managers over the next three years, ending the 112 years the club had spent in the EFL as they dropped to non conference for the first time in their history. Nigel Travis took over the running of the club in 2017, and since then there has been slow but steady improvement, the O’s won the National League in 2019, then promotion to League One in 2023 after finishing 1st. Slow and Steady may win the race, but fast climbs to dizzying heights make Headlines, can you put Leyton Orient on the front page again?
Carlisle United F.C. spent one year in the First Division, the 1974-1975 season, but then suffered thru back to back relegation’s, starting a journey that saw them go as high as the 2nd Division in 1982, then out of the EFL altogether in 2004 when relegated from League 2. They returned the following year, winning the League two title in 2006, relegated back down in 2014, then back up in 2023. To be honest, they might be more well known to casual fans because they’ve played in the League Trophy final Six times, winning it twice. The club was just purchased by new ownership, can they provide the financial muscle to not only help the club get promoted, but maybe rebuild a stadium that 114 years old and needs some flood barriers, at a minimum?
FRENCH CLUBS
Chamois Niortais FC was a regional club for most of it’s existence, until the mid 80’s when it achieved promotion to Ligue 2. This allowed the club to become professional, and they finished a respectable 10th place in their first season. The next season saw them go on a 17 game unbeaten streak all the way to 1st place, and promotion to Ligue 1. Despite a promising start, the team just did not have the caliber of players required to compete in the top flight, and were relegated after just one year. The club remained a Ligue 2 mainstay for most of the following years, with short stays in the 3rd Division. In 2008 the wheels fell off, with the club going winless in three months of football, and relegation to the Amateur Levels. This also meant they lost their professional status, owing to DNCG rules on the issue. Despite this, the club returned to the 4th tier the following year, and then back to the 3rd tier in 2011. In 20013, after again winning promotion to Ligue 2, they became a professional club again, however they were relegated back to the 3rd tier at the end of the 2023 season. The club has always had a small, regional fan base, but the right coach can lead them to bigger and better things, possibly even unseating PSG at the top of Ligue 1. Are you that coach?
LB Châteauroux, or La Berrichonne de Châteauroux, played one season in Ligue 1, the 1997-1998 season, but they are probably more well known for reaching the 2004 Coupe de France and losing to PSG 1-0. However, because PSG finished 2nd that season, Châteauroux played in the UEFA Cup the following year. The club spent the next few seasons between the 2nd and 3rd Divisions, and has spent the last 10 years in Ligue 2, avoiding relegation the past few seasons.Financially stable, the team doesn’t play in the most populous reason of France, but a good coach taking the team to the top of Ligue 1 and beyond would certainly bring himself, the club and the region quite a lot of honor and attention.
ITALIAN CLUBS
Ternana Calcio reached Serie A twice in the 70’s, staying in the top flight for just one season each time. The first go they only won 3 games out of 30, and the second time was not that much better. Despite a brilliant semi final run to the Coppa Italia in 1980, the club was relegated back to Serie B, then began bouncing between the C1 and C2 divisions of Serie C. Winning Serie C and returning to Serie B in 1993 proved costly, as the team was forced into bankruptcy. After re-entering the Italian pyramid in Serie D, the club again won promotions to Serie B, staying there until 2006. The closest they came to promotion again was in 2004, when they missed promotion by 4 points. A series of relegation’s back down to Serie D, and then Promotions back up to Serie B again in 2021 sees them in the second tier again, trying to break thru back into Serie A. Their fierce rivalry with Perugia is somewhat hampered by the fact that I Grifoni have spent 13 seasons in Serie A at various points in their history, can you take over at Ternana, dethrone the King’s of Umbria, then Italy, and then the world?
AC Trento 1921 is a phoenix club of Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Trento Calcio 1921 S.r.l, which went bankrupt in 2014. The club title was transferred to the current entity, which has been on both sides of the regional leagues and lower tiers of the Italian pyramid. The days of playing in Serie B are long past, as the club has bounced back and forth between Serie D and Eccellenz leagues. Recently though, the club has been on an upward tick, winning the Girone C title, resuming its Professional status, and staying midtable in its Serie C Division since 2021. North of the Trento Autonomous Region is South Tyrol, where FC Südtirol has been climbing the pyramid to the top of Serie B. A Fierce rivalry between the two teams has developed, can you put it to rest by reaching and winning Serie A before they can?
Potenza Calcio is another phoenix club, formed by two amateur squads who claimed the name after reaching professional status in 2018. The original club, Potenza FC, had been founded in 1920 before being de-registered by the Italian Football Federation in 2012. The clubs best years were from 1963 to 1968, when it spent 5 seasons in Serie B. A long decline soon followed, culminating in the 2010 match fixing scandal. Financial problems followed, leading to the clubs de-listing in 2012. The 2018 promotion to Serie C has helped it stabilize, and becoming professional has certainly helped as well. The club and it’s fanbase are looking to reclaim the glories of days gone by. Can you lead them to that glory, while kicking their Campanian rivals (Benevento and Salernitana) along the way?
SPANISH CLUBS
SD Huesca has had some recent success lately, but I am including them in this because the team that should have been here had I done this post two years ago is currently 7 points out of first place in La Liga. Huesca started the century in the Tercera Division, and since then has been gradually climbing it’s way to the top of the Spanish pyramid. 1 year stints in La Liga in 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 have given it a taste of what top flight football is like, and after Fortuna Dusseldorf they would probably be the easiest team to take over. Until recently, they’ve always been second in the region to Real Zaragoza, but that club has not seen top flight football since 2013. Climbing to the top of La Liga won’t be easy (Despite what Girona is doing in real life), but taking over this Huesca squad will certainly help.
Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa has a long history and an interesting future. They reached the top flight once, in 1955, but were relegated after that season, and spent most of the decades following in the Segunda Division, with periodic stints in the 3rd and 4th divisions. In 2011 the club was relegated due to financial issues, but since then it has worked it’s way back up to the Segunda until relegation back to the third division in 2021. What makes this club interesting is that it’s almost entirely owned by the ASPIRE group, a Qatari company that also owns Eupen in Belgium, a partnership with Leeds, and an Academy in Senegal. This gives the club an interesting network to work with, in particular the Senegal link IMO. A deft hand is going to be required to pull everything together and get this club back to La Liga, are you the coach who can do that?
AD Ceuta FC is on the list because it was founded as a merger between Sociedad Deportiva Ceuta and Atlético Tetuán. Tetuán played in la Liga for one season, 1951-52, and was relegated, then the merger occurred in 1956. The current club came into being when the original AD Ceuta club was dissolved in 2012 due to high debts. Since then the club has slowly climbed its way back up to the 3rd tier, with a Round of 16 appearance in the Copa del Rey. To make this save even more interesting, the club itself is not in Europe. Ceuta is an Autonomous city on the North Coast of Morocco, and its membership in the RFEF means that not only can you win La Liga, but the Conference, Europa, and Champions Leagues if you desire.
PORTUGUESE CLUBS
AD Fafe had a 30th anniversary to remember, as they won promotion to the First Division. That they were promptly relegated the next season is probably not as well remembered, especially as only a few years after that they were back down in the 4th Division. Since then it has bounced back and forth between the 3rd and 4th Divisions. Getting back to Liga NOS and breaking the stranglehold the Top Three have on the that league will be tough, but doing so with Fafe would be very rewarding.
C.D. Trofense climb to the First Division was one for the ages. After winning their group in 2006, they advanced to the playoff to determine who would be promoted to the Second Division. Regular time, Extra time, and 20(!) Penalty Kicks later, Trofense achieved promotion. After a solid midtable finish the following year, the finished top of the league and won promotion to Liga NOS. Despite some very good games, beating Benfica and drawing against Porto as an example, they could not avoid the drop, and in the years since have fallen back down to the Third Tier. Only 18km away from Porto, can you be the manager that takes them out of the Portuguese giants shadow and to the top?
UD Oliveirense last visit to the First Division was the 1946-46 season, but I am including the in this list because since 2001 they have spent of their time in the 3rd Tier, but in 2008 gained promotion to the Second Tier, and since then they have been trying unsuccessfully to gain promotion to the First Tier. The closest they came was a 4th place finish in 2000-2011, and since then they have avoided a relegation battle. The club is owned by the same group that owns Yokohama FC, and while at the moment the affiliate agreement does not include players, dipping into the talent pool that is Japan could help push the club back into the 1st Tier, and this time keep them there for longer than a year.
OTHER CLUBS IN EUROPE
HOLLAND: Emmen, Helmond Sport
DENMARK: BK Fremand Amager, B93, FC Helsingor, Koge BK, Vendyssel FF
SERBIA: Mladost Novi Sad
CROATIA: NK Dubrava, HNK Orijent
GREECE: Makedonikos FC
POLAND: Miedź Legnica
All of the teams listed in this article should be playable without any downloads. Any errors in the details are mine.
I hope those of you reading can find a team/save you like. I will try an do a South American one in the future as well.
Youth Oriented Saves and Youth Only saves are quite popular in Football Manager, and as with all Football Manager saves depending on the team you choose, your Youth save is going to be Easy (Chelsea, Barcelona, Sporting, Ajax) or Hard.
Several things affect a clubs Youth Intake:
The Club’s Youth Recruitment, which is how far away from the club a player could be pulled in from.
The Club’s Youth Facilities, which are separate training facilities for the Youth Team
The Club’s Academy Coaching, who are coaches you can’t hire.
The Club’s Country’s Youth Rating, the higher the more likely it is to generate good youth players
Your Head of Youth Development. There’s a bit to unpack with this. A HOYD with a high Scouting PA will better identify players with potential. The formation he favors will affect what positions he tries to recruit for, and last but not least, his personality will affect the youngsters brought in. The more “positive” a HOYD directors personality (Professional, Determined, Driven, Fairly Determined, etc) the more likely the youth players he brings in will also have a positive personality.
Some club’s have Youth Development Philosophy, that is they try and recruit the best young players they can to their Youth Academies, develop them so they are ready to make appearances for the Senior Squad before they are 21, and are then moved onto “Bigger Clubs” for profit. Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia, Altinordu in Turkey, and PSV are good examples of this. Other Clubs choose to develop within, and keep the players they develop. The best example of this is Barcelona and their La Masia Academy.
Following are ten clubs (and a bonus club) that in my opinion are good challenges for a Youth Oriented Save. They aren’t from the biggest Leagues, and they may not be the “Best” teams in the league they play in, but they are all capable of winning them. Eventually. While they do not possess the best in every Youth related category, they have the capability to produce some very good youth players, making a youth save with these clubs a challenge, but not an impossible one, and there are a variety of stories to build around each one as well.
1. Lech Poznan (Polish Ekstraklasa)
Lech Poznan had had somewhat of a renaissance starting in the 2010’s, winning the League in 2010, 2015, and in 2022. They were knocked out of the Champions League this year in the First Qualifying Round by Qarabag, and look to compete for a European spot again this year. Youth wise, they possess the following in terms of Facilities and Recruitment:
Training Facilities: Great
Youth Facilities: Great
Junior Coaching: Good
Youth Recruitment: Exceptional
In addition, the club is financially secure, has a philosophy of wanting to sign U23 players, and is in my opinion actually helped by the Ekstraklasa League which stipulate that U22 domestic players must play 3000 minutes of match play or the club will be fines 317K Euro’s, which when you consider that winning 1st place nets you only 1.44M Euro’s can be quite the penalty. However, this is offset by a League rule that will award the top 5 clubs 127K-634K Euro’s based on U21 minutes played, and by International appearances any player on the squad makes. Can you fill all 41,620 seats in Lech’s stadium, and lead the best Youth Prospects in Poland to an Ekstraklasa Victory, and beyond?
2. Hibernian (Scottish Premiership)
Hibernian haven’t won the League since 1952, but they did win the Scottish Cup as recently as 2015. The clubs current philosophy is geared towards a Youth Oriented save, they want to sign players under the age of 21 to develop, they want to develop players within their system, and they want to maintain the quality of youth system they have, and it is a very good system. Facilities and Recruitment wise, Hibernian has:
Training Facilities: Excellent
Youth Facilities: Excellent
Junior Coaching: Excellent
Youth Recruitment: Excellent
Hibernian has three things going against it: Celtic, Rangers, and League Work Permit rules that make it very hard to sign talented foreign youth players to sign for the club. While the Leagues payout is not big, 1.19M to 3.56M Euro’s, the club’s finances are in Okay condition, and qualifying for any European competition is additional prize money for the coffers, which currently means finishing 5th or higher when the season ends. Can a Scottish Youth Movement beat the Old Firm? Play Hibernian and find out.
3. Basel(Swiss Super League)
In my opinion Basel is one of the more interesting “Bigger” clubs to try and do a Youth Oriented Save with. From a historical point of view, Basel has won the League 20 times, the last in 2017, and has finished 2nd four times in the last five years. The League itself is a top 20 League, with clubs like Grasshopper, Zurich, and St. Gallen all being very competitive. Under the hood though, things get a little bit…strange.
If you win the Swiss Super League you receive 3.69M Euro’s in prize money, which covers slightly more than half of the 6M Euro annual rent Basel is paying the city for using St. Jakob Park. I am almost positive that fee is not a typo. Despite that discrepancy, the clubs finances are in good shape, and Facilities and Recruitment wise they possess:
Training Facilities: Excellent
Youth Facilities: Excellent
Junior Coaching: Excellent
Youth Recruitment: Exceptional
Staying in the black financially means not only winning, but winning in European competitions as well. The question is can you do that with a team of Youth Players and fending off the likes of Zurich, Grasshoppers and others for those European places?
4. MŠK Žilina (Slovak Super Liga)
Žilina have won the Super Liga 7 times since 2000, and while the league itself may not be the biggest, the region is well known for turning out quality players. Like most leagues in a country the size of Slovakia, winning does not pay out bigly, only 115K Euro’s. That said the League itself is strong enough that finishing 3rd or higher guarantees European Football, and 4th thru 7th place participate in a round robin format in which the winner also qualifies for European Football, and while the club is OK financially speaking, any success in European competitions would be helpful. Facilities and Recruitment wise, MŠK Žilina has:
Training Facilities: Great
Youth Facilities: Great
Junior Coaching: Good
Youth Recruitment: Excellent
While that setup alone is good enough to guarantee Žilina will see some quality potential comes thru its doors, the one advantage the team has over its local rivals is its direct affiliation with MŠK ŽilinaAfricaFootball Club. The Ghanaian club is a direct affiliate, giving the Slovakian club an additional leg up when it comes to recruiting talent. Benson Anang is the best example of this, the Ghanaian International started for the club in Accra, then moved to Žilina in 2018 and has been a solid defender for the team since. With those facilities, the countries love of Football (over 400K players registered) and a pipeline to some potentially great Africa Talent, can you take a Youth Oriented team to the top?
5. NK Lokomotiva Zagreb
For the longest time after World War Two Lokomotiva bounced around Croatia’s lower leagues. Then in 2007, they had back to back to back promotions to the top flight of Croatian Football, the First Football League. After finishing in 2nd place in the 2012-2013 season, they have finished between 4th and 6th place in each the following seasons. Teams like Dinamo, Hadjuk Split and Osijeck have long dominated the region, even when playing as part of the Yugoslav First League, and for Lokomotiva to now be competing with them year in and out is quite the accomplishment. Additionally, Croatia’s standing in world football is such that the top 4 teams in the 10 team League qualify for European Football, so the opportunity for extra income is certainly there. The club has a policy of signing U23 players, and the League itself does not have any onerous work permit rules, other than a 6 non EU player limit, and the matchday squad having at least 6 players trained by a Croatian club. Facilities and Recruitment wise, NK Lokomotiva has:
Training Facilities: Good
Youth Facilities: Good
Junior Coaching: Excellent
Youth Recruitment: Good
At first glance those may not look great, but when you consider that the club is financially stable, and good Youth Recruitment covers Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Italy, the quality of Youth players they are going to bring in is very high. With a good HOYD, and judicious investment, good recruits at Lokomotiva can become great young players at Lokomotiva, and you can use them to dethrone Dinamo and Hadjuk before selling them off to bigger clubs and reinvesting that money again.
6. Hapoel Be’er Sheva (Israeli Premier League)
Be’er Sheva returned to the top of the Israeli Premier League in 2015, winning back back to back titles, and also became a constant presence in European competitions as well, with their 2016-17 campaign being a highlight. After beat Sheriff Tiraspol and Olympiacos, they lost to Celtic and fell to the Europa League. In the Group stage they beat Inter twice, drew with Southampton twice, and lost to Sparta Prague twice, eventually losing to Beşiktaş. All that European football comes in handy, because the payout for winning the Israeli Prem doesn’t cover the 325K a year Be’er Sheva is paying in stadium rent. What they have done with a lot of those winnings is reinvest it into the club, which has:
Training Facilities: Great
Youth Facilities: Excellent
Junior Coaching: Good
Youth Recruitment: Excellent
The club has Okay finances, and the League rules are interesting in that in order to foster playing local players, squads that register 5 or fewer players receive a payout at the end of the season. U19 players are also automatically eligible for play in all matches, which works very well with a club that wants to sign/develop young players and then sell them for a profit.
7. FCV Farul Constanţa (Romanian First League)
Romanian Football legend Gheorge Hagi founded FC Viitorul Constanța in 2009, and after spending the next three seasons in the lower leagues of Romanian Football, were promoted to the top flight. They finished 5th in 2016, qualifying for European football, and won Liga I in 2017. Hagi had set up an excellent Academy after founding the club, and many players who won the League in 2017 were graduates, in fact the teams average age of 22.2 years were the youngest champions in Europe that year. However, in 2021 Hagi and Ciprian Marica, the owner of Farul Constanța, announced that they were merging. Viittorul disappeared in the process, Faul took their spot in Liga I, the team was rebranded as FCV Farul Constanţa, and the only things left of Hagi’s original club were the grounds the team played on, and the academy and youth system, and what a system it is:
Training Facilities: Great
Youth Facilities: Excellent
Junior Coaching: Good
Youth Recruitment: Exceptional
The team is financially secure, which bodes well for them because Liga I does not pay out a lot of money, only 138K for winning the league. Additionally, Romania’s stature in the game has fallen to where the league only gets 3 European positions, so developing and selling players for profit is one way FCV Farul can stay solvent. But what if you didn’t sell them internationally, but to other clubs in Romania? Could you build the nation, and the club, and achieve Europeans success again?
8. Danubio Fútbol Club (Uruguayan Primera Division Group A)
Founded by Bulgarian brothers and named after the second longest river in Europe, Danubio has had some success in Uruguay, winning the league 4 times, but what they are known for is developing talent. In a League that also has the likes of Peñarol and Nacional in it, Danubio has developed no less than 16 players who have made at least 50 appearances with the club and/or 30 with the National team. In a 16 team division, finishing 8th or above will get you Continental Football, and while the various Copa’s may not pay as much as their European ‘Cousins’ do, and with a league rule that sets a 3 foreign player limit in the playing eleven, developing and keeping quality youth players will go a long way to the club’s financial stability. Danubio would be a great club to build a story around because not only do they have fierce rivalries with Nacional and Peñarol, and that the Clasico de los Chicos Derby with Defensor Sporting is very competitive, but the clubs priority is to sign Youth players, and to develop and maintain the best Youth System in all of Uruguay. To help them do that they have:
Training Facilities: Adequate
Youth Facilities: Average
Junior Coaching: Excellent
Youth Recruitment: Exceptional
Much like Lokomotiva above, while Adequate and Average are not the best, investment in those areas will have immediate payoffs as Uruguay has one of the highest Reputations in the game, as well as a very good Youth rating. Can you find the talent, develop it, and dethrone Peñarol and Nacional?
9. Suwon Samsung Bluewings(Hana 1Q K League)
Baseball used to be the most popular sport in South Korea, until the 2002 World Cup, when as a Co-Host Country South Korea made it all the way to the Semi Finals before losing to Germany. Prior to that electrifying run, players such as Cha Bum-Kun had represented their country very well in Europeans competitions, but after 2002 players such as Park Ji-Sung, Ahn Jung-Hwan, Lee Young-Pyo started playing with top European teams, and today players such as Hwang Hee-Chan and Son Heung-min lead a new wave of talented South Korean players in top flight Leagues. More than a few of them started their careers at Suwon Samsung Bluewings. A Club that has had some past success, winning the domestic League 4 times, the Korean FA Cup 4 times, and the Asian Club Championship twice, Suwon has fallen off a bit since clubs like FC Seoul and Jeonbuk Hyunadai have started winning on a regular basis. That said, Suwon still has some very good facilities and coaching:
Training Facilities: Good
Youth Facilities: Excellent
Junior Coaching: Good
Youth Recruitment: Good
Financially secure, and with South Korea having one of the higher youth rating in the game, Suwon Samsung Bluewings has a great opportunity to find and develop the next generation of great South Korean footballers. The question is, can it hold onto them to achieve domestic and Asian success, or will they leave for bigger clubs in foreign leagues?
10. Stabæk (Norwegian First Division)
Of all the clubs in this list, Stabæk has some of the best youth facilities and coaching, Norway has one of the better reputations in the game, and their Youth Rating is very good as well, having produced several world class players over the years. Despite that, due to financial difficulties in the 2010’s, the club has bounced back and forth between the top two divisions, and in 2023 they were promoted out of the 2nd tier and back into the Eliteserien, the top Tier of Norwegian Football. For the moment they are financially OK, but they do have some issues, such as their stadium not being in the best shape. Facilities and coaching wise Stabæk has:
Training Facilities: Great
Youth Facilities: Excellent
Junior Coaching: Excellent
Youth Recruitment: Exceptional
Another issue facing them is that the Eliteserien has some very good teams in it, Italian Giant slayers Bodø/Glimt, Rosenborg, Viking, Molde, and Vålerenga are all quit capable of winning the League, and more often than not all five teams are competing for one of the top four spots that guarantees European football. Playing Stabæk and getting them to the top of the Norwegian League, and potentially to the top of Europe with primarily homegrown talent is going to be a long save, but success will be worth it in my opinion.
The Bonus Challenge/Club: Retrô Futebol Clube Brasil
Founded in 2016 by a businessman in Pernambuco, Brazil, Retrô FC’s mission is to remove children and adolescents from vulnerability, giving them a place to learn, develop, and grow through organized football. In less than six years they’ve achieved promotion and in 2022 (well, December of 2021) they start in Group C of the Brazilian Fourth Division. You’ll have to download a database to play them, I suggest Riddler’s Brazilian League download from Steam. Playing in the 46,154 seat Arena de Perambuco stadium, Retrô FC has the following facilities:
Training Facilities: Good
Youth Facilities: Great
Junior Coaching: Adequate
Youth Recruitment: Above Average
Nicknamed Fênix, Retrô FC is looking to sign players under the age of 23, grow the clubs reputation, and maintain a top 2 finish in the Division. Promotion out of the Division is difficult, and could take some time. But consider the challenge: You are coaching a club who’s main goal is to find and develop Brazilian youth players, some of the best players in the world. Can you find them, develop them, and more importantly keep them long enough to climb your way up the ladder, into the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A? Can you beat the likes of Palmerias, Santos, Corinthians and Flamengo, and win the Copa Libertadores as well?
Football, despite it immense worldwide popularity, is still very much a regional sport in terms of fan support, often times in some neighborhoods as to which side of the street you live on. A club can be many things to many people, but no matter what size it is, at it’s heart it is something that will pull a community, be it big or small, to it. But as with all things sports, while you have your big teams, with an international presence and top league success, you also have your smaller teams that have their core supporters, and whether or not these teams have tens of fans or thousands of fans, they are not as well known as their neighbors. Maybe in the past they have had success, maybe they are a new team reborn from the ashes of an older team, but for the better part of their history, they have been playing in the shadow of their bigger and maybe more successful neighbors. In this post, were going to look at a few teams in the base database you can play right now without any additional league downloads. The question is, can you take them up the pyramid, and dethrone those teams. Can you get them out of the Shadows of the Giants, and lead them to Glory?
Queen’s Park
Rangers and Celtic have long dominated football in Glasgow and Scotland, but Queen’s Park has a history as long and rich as their neighbors. A Founding Member of the Scottish Football Association in 1873, they became known for their proclivity to “pass” the ball from one player to the other instead of dribbling like like all their contemporaries. A 5-0 victory over Wanderers in 1875 made headlines throughout England, and soon more teams were passing the ball.
Their best years were between the First and Second World Wars, they spent time in the top flight in the early 50’s and were relegated after only two years, which started a long slow decline. A brief respite in the 80’s saw them climb back to League Two, until falling back to the Third Tier, and into Amateur status.
The club has a fine reputation for developing youth players, and it was the loss of many of these players without compensation that prompted the club to turn professional in 2019. Success followed this move, and promotions from League Two to League One culminating in a return to the Championship in 2023 have set Queen’s Park up nicely.
At the start of the 2022/23 season, the Spiders find themselves in good shape, with solid Finances, Good Youth Facilities, Great Training Facilities, and Average Youth Recruitment and adequate Academy coaching. The only issue they have is a ground to play on, I believe currently they are groundsharing with Ochilview in the real world, FM has them playing at Lesser Hampden, which is their training round. In previous years they have also ground shared at Falkirk and Firhill.
But the Table is set, can you take control of Queen’s Park, and knock Rangers and Celtic down a peg or three?
Pro Vercelli
Before the rise of Juventus in the 30’s, Torino in the 50’s, and Juventus again, Pro Vercelli was the reigning team in the region, winning seven titles between 1908 and 1922. Since their last title though, they have see Juventus and Torino win a combined 36 League titles, 14 Coppa Italia’s, and 9 Supercoppa’s. After being relegated from Serie A in 1935 and Serie B in 1948, they bounced back and forth between Serie C and Serie D. In the early 2000’s they slowly climbed their way back up the Italian pyramid, culminating in a promotion to Serie B in 2012, 64 years after their last appearance there.
Their stay did not last long though, as they were relegated back down to Serie C the next season.
I think Le Bianche Casacche are well positioned to make a comeback. While the 5500 seat Silvio Piola stadium is old, the club had Good Youth Facilities, Good Training Facilities, and Average youth Recruitment and Academy coaching. They are financially solid, and with some judicious signing and youth development, could be back in Serie A within a few years. The question then, is how long will it take to dethrone Juventus and Torino, to become the Prince of Piedmont, and ultimately the Kings of Italy?
Calcio Lecco 1912
If a team from Piedmont isn’t winning the Serie A Title, chances are high a team from Lombardy is. Home to AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Atalanta, Lombardy is well represented in the top flight of Italian football. However, 31 miles north of Milan, Calcio Lecco 1912 have been toiling in lower table mediocrity for decades. They had a brief period of success post World War Two, reaching Serie A for a brief stay, then falling back to Serie B for a few years, then spending most of the latter half of the 20th Century bouncing between Serie C and D.
This lack of success has meant the club has not been able to invest in itself over the decades, and a result has Basic Youth Facilities, Below Average Training Facilities, Fairly Basic Youth Recruiting and Average Academy coaching. While financially solid, their bank balances certainly aren’t as high as Vercelli’s, and the shadows cast by the other teams in Lombardy may be bigger, but will just make beating them with I Blucelesti sweeter.
FC Ingolstadt 04
Bavaria has dominated German football. FC Bayern has won 30 Bundesliga titles, Nurnberg has won 9, SpVgg Greuther Furth has won 3, even TSV 1860 Munich has won a title. In the shadows of these clubs, ESV Ingolstadt and MTV Ingolstadt played mostly in the RegionalLiga, with brief periods of success followed by a rapid fall. Both MTV and ESV achieved promotion to the 2 Bundesliga in the late 70’s, and both were relegated the next season. As the years continued both teams struggled, and in 2004 ESV was facing insolvency. To avoid having to shut the team down, the two teams merged in 2004, and became FC Ingolstadt 04.
After the merger, things began to improve for the club. Promotion out of the RegionalLiga came quickly, and they reached 2.Bundesliga, but after falling back to 3.Liga in 2013, they returned to the 2.Bundesliga, and clinched the tile and promotion to the Bundesliga in 2015. A surprising 11th place midtable finish in the 2015/16 season gave fans hope, but the next season they were relegated back down to the 2.Bundesliga, and then relegated again down to 3.Liga in 2018. Since then they have bounced back and forth the lower leagues, and start 2023 in 3.Liga.
However, they have had a taste of success, and while toppling the Kings of Bavaria (and Germany) isn’t going to be an easy task, Ingolstadt have a solid foundation to build on. Audi Sportpark is a modern 15000 seat stadium, and the team has Good training facilities as well. Average Youth facilities and Average academy coaching are not bad, but having Fairly Basic Youth Recruiting means building from within may be a harder task. Financially they are in good shape, and while they don’t start the season with a transfer budget, they also do not have any debt, and are among the favorites to be promoted. Getting Die Schanzer back to the Bundesliga and respectability might not take a long time, but beating the likes of Bayern and Nurnberg consistently will..
FC Roskilde
Denmark maybe one of the smaller countries in Europe population wise, but the quality of players and clubs within its borders cannot be denied. While FC Kobenhavn have won quite a few of the 3Superliga trophies the past years, other team like Brondby, Mitjyelland, Aab and Nordsjaelland have also won titles. With that in mind, of the clubs you can play right away on this list in Football Manager 23 FC Roskilde might just have the hardest task at coming out of the shadows, because not only are there quite a few being cast, but Roskilde is a club fighting for its own reputation.
The club was formed in 2004 by a merger of three local squads, Roskilde Boldklub 1906, Svorerslev Boldklun and Himmelev-Veddelev Boldklubbe, and has played in the lower leagues of the Dutch Pyramid since. They set a Danish record for consecutive win, in 2014 with 20, and looked to be making positive steps forward when the teams head coach accused his players of match fixing in 2019. After an investigation was inconclusive, he departed the club, but the effects of the accusation have remained.
FC Roskilde has a lot to overcome if it wants knock the rest of the Superliga down. Below Average Training Facilities, Basic Youth Facilities, Average Academy coaching and Failry Basic Youth Recruiting means the club will have to do a lot Facility wise, and as a Semi-Professional club starting out, while not in debt their finances are not in the best shape either. It may be awhile before the Eagles can fly high enough to topple the Lions, the Ulvene, the Tigrene and the Drengene fra Vestegnen.
There are a great many football clubs out there with great stories already written, and great many more with stories waiting to be told. In the next chapter of this series, we will take a look at five more clubs, mostly from “Smaller” leagues, that you take over and try to lead the to glory while knocking off their bigger rivals along the way.
THE FOOTBALL MANAGER BLOG OF FM_JELLICO 