A Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses Story

[leckuno]

With FM 25 finally cancelled its time to get stuck back into FM24 properly now and deliver another story as we look to bring glory to another team and I've decided to give myself a challenge and go with a proper long-term save and try and topple the big 3 in Portugal

Club Information

Year Founded: 1919
Stadium: Estadio do Restelo
Capacity: 19,856
Rivals: Atletico CP (Ocidental Derby), Benfica (Lisboeta derby), Sporting CP (Lisboeta derby)
Training Facilities: Great
Youth Facilities: Great
Youth Recruitment: Good
Junior Coaching: Good

Honours

Liga Portugal Betclic: 1946

Taca de Portugal Placard: 1942, 1960, 1989


History

Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Restelo in the Belém parish of Lisbon, hence the club name, which translates as "The ones from Belém". Among its fanbase, the club is commonly nicknamed O Belém, in reference to the neighborhood; Os Pastéis (The Pastries), in reference to a traditional Portuguese pastry originated in the parish; Azuis (Blues) or Azuis do Restelo (The Blues from Restelo), in reference to the club's color and its home stadium; and A Cruz de Cristo (The Order of Christ Cross), for its emblem, or also "Os Rapazes da Praia" (The Boys of the Beach), a reference to the zone of Belém in the earlier 20 Century.

Belenenses won the 1945–46 Primeira Liga, making them the first club other than the Big Three to win the league title. Belenenses has also won six Championship of Portugal/Portuguese Cup trophies, and is the fifth most decorated team in Portuguese football.

Until 1982, Belenenses was one of four teams that had never been relegated from the first division. Nowadays, it is the team with the fourth most seasons in the Primeira Liga as well as the team with the fifth most points in the championship's history.

Belenenses was the first Portuguese team with a turf pitch and artificial lighting, and was also the first Portuguese club to participate in the UEFA Europa League.

The main sports of the club are football, handball, basketball, futsal, athletics, and rugby union. The club has won national championships in all these sports, but it remains best known for football, its original activity. In the club's history, Belenenses has won more than 10,000 trophies, including the first divisions of football, handball, basketball, rugby, and the Portuguese Cup in football and futsal, among other sports.

At the end of 2017–18 season, CF os Belenenses and Belenenses SAD went their separate ways, as the "Protocol on the use of Estádio do Restelo" ended and the SAD refused to negotiate a new contract with the club. So from the 2018–19 season, Belenenses SAD (the professional team) play their Primeira Liga home games at Estádio Nacional, whereas CF os Belenenses registered an amateur team in 1ª Divisão Distrital de Lisboa, the equivalent to the Sixth Division (lowest Portuguese division), with the support of the majority of fans and club members.

As a consequence, Belenenses SAD was legally forbidden from using Belenenses' Logo and name and now uses a new logo. In the first games of the season, the professional team saw home attendances of only a few hundred, whereas the new, amateur team saw home attendances of approximately 5,000, reversing a long decline in attendance figures. Its even sweeter now as Belenenses SAD have now gone bust and no longer exist.


So why have I picked CF os Belenenses?

With whats happened to the team over the years this is a great chance to rebuild what was once a great club from the ground up they are also just one of two teams to win the top league outside of the big 3 clubs. With the facilities at the club as well then we will be looking to make the most of them over the course of the save to bring some exceptional youth through and it would be even better if we can get one early in the save to then stay with us to for the long-term and see us grow as a club/

Its not all going to be easy though as there is no way we can wave a magic wand and get a team good enough to get 2 promotions in two seasons in my eyes so its going to be a long time to overtake the top 3 teams and then get European success at the end of it all.​

 

[leckuno]

Club Introduction

Now we're at the club and met the president we are now aware of the boards expectations going for the next few seasons ahead.

They are completely focused on us getting out of the Liga 3 which is my aim in the first season before working our way to the top as expected. The other good thing to see is that they want us to continue to develop the youth system as well as they want us to have the best in the league and its going to be vital to our philosophy of bringing through home grown players.

We also had the finances presented to us as well to see what we'd be working with this season.

With £300,000 in the bank I'm sure we'll burn through that quite quickly this season but we'll see what we can do. We have a wee bit of money to spend in transfers and it will be unlikely that we spend anything. We also have a nice bit of wiggle room in the wages as well which may let us bring in a loan player or two this season as well.

Supporters

We also had the pleasure of hosting some of the fans as well at the training ground to meet them and let them share some of their thoughts for the season ahead.

One thing we learn is the number of season ticket holder is really low for the size of our stadium as we have just shy of 3000 ticket holders and have a stadium capable of holding 19,856 and it will be vital to grow this as we move through the years to get the stadium full again. Apart from that then their expectations line up with the board and of course looking for the bragging rights for when we play Atletico CP and finishing above them in the league.

The Squad

First look at the squad and there are some very good players in the team with the most notable being former Sporting CP and Liverpool defender Tiago Ilori bringing a lot of experience. There is also former FM wonderkid Duarte Valente. I'm sure it was Football Manager 2017 he was a favourite signing from Estoril. João Tavares will be the key man in the team though this season as he bring a wealth of experience from Liga 2 which can only help.

One thing that screams out though is that nearly all of the contracts expire at the end of the season so we'll have to work closely with players agents to try and tie the better players down before January to make sure we're not going to have to find a whole new squad come the end of the season.. I'm sure a few of the players on the larger wages would be willing to take small pay cuts as well to let other players get a bigger wage to ensure they stay for a bit longer.

With the players that we have then we'll be looking to play a 4-3-3 with wingers out wide and a defensive midfielder as well to shore up the defence and to try and help dictate the play with getting the ball forward as well.

Expectations

We already knew the expectations going into the season but this just reiterates what the board are expecting from us and after meeting the squad then its definitely achievable in my eyes.

Preseason

Just a small preseason with 13 games as we wanted to try and get the players use to the training required of them and the tactic which they'll be playing in as well as it will be a big change from what their use to.

August/September

Its a quiet opening couple of months so we'll put them together to help us get through the matches all a bit quicker for updates as well. We start the league cup campaign in the 2nd round and hopefully we can get through a couple of rounds before getting knocked out.​

 

[leckuno]

August and September

Belenenses v Oliveira do Hospital

A very impressive start here as we run riot in the opening game and 36 year old Zequinha still has the legs to get into the space for his opening goal.

1º Dezembro v Belenenses

Another big win as its looking like this season is going to be an easy one and Sambu looks like he could be a decent winger down the wings for us.

Belenenses v Sp. Covilhã

Well after two big wins a disappointing result here as we really should of taken one of our many chances.

Académica de Coimbra v Belenenses

Well the last game was just a blip as we get back to our best here with another big win against a team that was in the top division before falling down the league

Transfer In
José Bica

I decided that we needed a back up striker for Zequinha in case anything happens to him and we've decided to bring in Bica on loan for the season from Maritimo

Belenenses v Lusitânia Açores

Zequinha with a great hat-trick here as we have now scored 19 goals in 5 games which is mad.

Taca de Portugal 2nd Round
Belenenses v Oliveirense

The cup is no change as we get off to a flyer with racing to a 2 goal lead in just the opening 6 minutes as Bica marks his debut with the goal before we add another 4 as we walk into the 3rd round.

Sporting CP B v Belenenses

A big test against one the big 3 B teams and we just manage to make it past them thanks to the veteran striker doing what he does best.

League

With the league being split in two just now I thought it would be good to show how the North league is doing as well as we will be facing off against 4 of them in the 2nd part of the season. After just 6 games though we already have an 11 point lead over 5th but most of the teams do have a game in hand

October and November

Another 7 games here with a huge game in the cup against Famalicão but at least we have the home advantage which is something I guess.​

 

[leckuno]

October and November

Belenenses v Vitória de Setúbal

We carry on with the form that got us through the first 2 months as Sambu has a great game with scoring twice while coming in off the left wing.

Atlético CP v Belenenses

Bica has taken a few games to find his shooting boots since joining but he starts here and scores an excellent brace as Zequinha was pushed out onto the wing for this game

Taca de Portugal 3rd Round
Belenenses v Famalicão

What a win here as we played totaly counter attacking football here and had to be patient for our chances to come but we cleared a corner early and were able to get to the other end of the pitch for Tavares to slot it home. We then made a sloppy challenge to give them a penalty but then managed to hold on somehow for another 90 minutes but it was sub Keita who only came on for extra time managed to get to the back post and slot it home to get into the 4th round

Caldas v Belenenses

Bica gets us to another good start before there is a mad 7 minutes with the other 4 goals all coming within that timeframe.

Belenenses v 1º Dezembro

Zequinha with another couple of goals here as he has adapted to life on the right wing expertly but I wouldn't expect anything else with his experience.

Oliveira do Hospital v Belenenses

We were really made to work here and weren't even able to make the extra man count for the final 37 minutes of the game as well but we scrape through here to get the 3 points which is all that matters

Sp. Covilhã v Belenenses

We appear to have a bogey team now as we also dropped points against them at home as we get another disappointing draw.

Taca de Portugal 4th Round

Lusitano Évora v Belenenses

A bit of a scare here as we go into half time behind which was a new experience for us so I wasn't sure how the players would react but the rallied when it mattered here and put in a **** of a performance in the 2nd half.

League

We've been scoring goals for fun here and we've been defensively sound as well with only conceding 5 goals so far as we only need another couple of points to see us guaranteed a top 4 spot.

December and January

We've been given another favourable draw in the cup here as we'll look to move into the next round. I don't see it being a struggle in the league games as we look to finish off the first half of the season.​

 

[leckuno]

December and January

Belenenses v Académica de Coimbra

A great game here as we started the game well and its always great to keep a clean sheet in a game like this as well.

Lusitânia Açores v Belenenses

Zequinha is still amazing at this level at the ripe old age of 36 as he is still capable of darting runs down the wing then cutting in and slotting it home. We left it very late though to secure the win in the dying minutes of the game.

Belenenses v Sporting CP B

For a team of their calibere then their B team isn't great as they have most of their good youth players in their U23 team instead as we manage to get a good win. Its rare your left back scores from the penalty spot but ours did well as one of our best penalty takers at the moment.

Vitória de Setúbal v Belenenses

A tough game here as we had to come from behind twice here but we rallied at half time and started the game fresh and it paid off.

Taca de Portugal 5th Round
AD Sanjoanense v Belenenses

We were already on our way to the win here before the sending off but it did make it a lot easier as we record a big win to move into the 6th round

Belenenses v Atlético CP

Gonçalves with a rare two goals from open play here as he managed to get forward and to the back post for crosses coming into the box.

Belenenses v Caldas

The final game of the first half of the season and we got lucky with a penalty in the opening minutes and then just weren't able to break Caldas down at all.

Transfers Out

A couple of deals here to bring some money in. Romano hadn't been getting game time so wasn't happy so it was an easy deal to make. The Manso deal was taken out of our hands as the board accepted the deal on our behalf but it was a good amount of money so I'm not complaining.

Transfers In

Junior Colina

Zequinha picked up an injury so it was vital we brought in more cover for up top and Colina is young but I feel we can give him a game or two to help his development.

David Vaillant Mindombe

We needed more injury cover here as well so we looked to the loan market again as Mindombe joins from Sint-Truiden

Leonardo Barroso

With Manso leaving we needed a new RB in so yet again we look to the loan market to find another player to try and develop as Barroso joins on loan from Sporting for the rest of the season.

Louie Watson

A late signing on the final day of the transfer window as we now needed injury cover in the middle of the park and Watson looks like a good prospect for us as he joins on a free transfer.

League

We top the league in the south of the country as we now know the other 7 teams we'll be facing in the 2nd half of the season

February

We'll now focus on a month by month basis for the final months of the season. We get another favourable draw in the cup but we do start the new league campaign against out bogey team.​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Scoring goals for fun mate!

 

[leckuno]

February

Taca de Portugal 6th Round
Penafiel v Belenenses

We get off to a flyer here thanks to a stunning solo goal from Tavares before a great 10 minutes of football as we add another 3 goals to secure our route to the semi final.

Belenenses v Sp. Covilhã

We finally get a win here at the third attempt against our bogey team with them being the only ones to take points of us in the opening half of the season.

Trofense v Belenenses

Turns out Tavares loves an early goal as he just runs riot and at the centre of so many goals for us, we did take out foot off the gas in the 2nd half as we had the 3 points as were never worried.

Belenenses v Académica de Coimbra

The sending off after just 10 minutes didn't even throw a spanner in the works here as we had to move a midfielder back into defence to cover the gap but Pina was still able to make light work of the defence with two strong goals. Their goal did worry me as with coming straight after half time it did have the chance to knock our confidence but we held on for the 3 points.

Taca de Portugal Semi Final 1st Leg
Belenenses v FC Porto

Well this was a toally one sided game but the main positive we take from the game is we did manage to score 3 goals against Porto, we'll just ignore the 7 we conceded as we dread the return leg in Porto.

League

3 from 3 with just the 1 goal conceded as we look strong already for the promotion places.

March

We need to wait until April for the return leg of the cup so we get to concentrate on the league here with 5 games which I don't see causing us too many issues.​

 

[MT55]

Excluding the Porto game, what a great month.

 

[leckuno]

Sorry this has died a death, I've tried to do something I've done in the past and they enjoyment just isn't there so will go back to the drawing board to see what to do next and come back with something new

 

[misterioBean]

Sorry this has died a death, I've tried to do something I've done in the past and they enjoyment just isn't there so will go back to the drawing board to see what to do next and come back with something new

I think we are all going through the same, even new saves I’ve never done before seem to not get me going as much as before