Aberystwyth Town - European Giant

Well done. Always wanted to do something like this, just never had the patience to do so.
 
Congrats, I tried doing something similar with Athlone Town but found it almost impossible. You are a legend
 
Season 13 Review (2024-2025)


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Welsh Premier League - Winners (30 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss, 143 goals scored, 10 conceded)

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Welsh Premier League Cup - Winners

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Welsh Cup - Winners

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Champions League - Winners

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League and Competition Improvements:


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Objectives Review:

1) Reach the Champions League Semi-final - Went one step better and won the whole thing!
2) Have a player surpass the club record of 45 goals in all competitions in a season - Achieved, backup striker Lewis Doyle got 50 goals.
3) Take points off Arsenal - Failed, only took one point so expect a better group stage performance next year

Managers Comments:

'Well we couldn't have asked for a much better season. A famous quadruple including the coveted Champions League. The great bonus from winning the Champions League is that it qualifies us for next years competition, meaning that the leagues group stage spot goes to the 2nd place team TNS and 3rd place Afan Lido get to enter the CL at the best placed 3rd qualifying round.


Next update will be a season 14 preview, including our CL group, objectives and transfers.



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Season 14 Preview

Season 14 Preview

Transfers

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3 more clubs in the Welsh league made professional here with the three top signings on the list. I think the signings other teams are making are starting to go up in quality, and it's nice to see one of the Welsh teams took one of our young foreign players on loan for the first time. We also made a record signing here....

Ins

Helder - Young Portuguese striker who could be the long term successor to Lewis Doyle as a target man in our squad. Will spend the season on loan at Cardiff City who have top training facilities so I'm hoping to see some nice improvement. Only worrying aspect is his low determination stat.

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Paul Araujo - Young Ecuadorian midfielder who I envisage holding down the role of first choice deep lying play maker, once he shifts the ageing Chinyama from the position. He's our record signing at £5,000,00 but hopefully he proves himself to be worth it!

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Outs

Bob Hunt - Brought in on a free and sold for £1.4 million. Decent player but barely played for club.

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Almin Sejmenovic - 200k a month loan to Basel. He slipped to backup winger last year and his loan will allow Schroter more games this season to try and push Zavatta.

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Champions League Group G

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I would say this is a pretty tough group and we will have to play well to get out of the group. Both Chelsea and Athletico Madrid have quality teams and Bordeaux are certainly no mugs. We will have to play well to get out of the group.


Champions League Group C

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TNS have an arguably even tougher group than us in their first year in the Group stages. It would be nice to see them take third and get into the Europa knockout rounds but I can't see it.


European Super Cup:

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Tottenham 3 - 0 Aberystwyth Town

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This result certainly flatters Tottenham. On each highlight where they were attacking they scored, with one of my national strikers bagging a hattrick for them.... really unsure whether I'm going to pick him in the next national squad haha! We also hit the post twice and are quite disappointed to not add the Super Cup to our trophy collection in our second appearance in the competition. I'm hoping for a better performance at the Club world Championship.

Next update will be the Champions League Group stages, will we pull a Chelsea and fail to qualify from our group the year after winning the trophy?



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Champions League Group G

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Match Day 1 - Aberystwyth Town 3 - 2 Girondins Bordeaux

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Well this certainly was an entertaining start to our group stage. On paper this was our easiest game in the group so to find ourselves 2-0 down after 41 minutes was not in the plan. Fortunately, the lads must have knew the blasting they were about to get and somehow we managed to get two quick goals to bring us in level at half time. OAQ then got his 2nd of the match in the second half to give us a 3-2 victory, but improvements had to be made in the rest of the games.

Match Day 2 - Chelsea FC 1 - 1 Aberystwyth Town

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We once again found ourselves behind in this game but luckily OAQ had his shooting boots on and was able to to get us an equalizer shortly after.

Match Day 3 - Atletico Madrid 2 - 5 Aberystwyth Town

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Wow, was not expecting this result. Slovakian right winger Lubomir Koleno produced a coming of age performance, notching 4 great goals to gives us a comfortable away victory against a very strong Atletico side.

Match Day 4 - Aberystwyth Town 2 - 2 Atletico Madrid

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Atletico were clearly out for revenge here as they took the lead after just 20 seconds! Luckily we managed to turn it around as Zavatta equalized before OAQ put us 2-1 up. It seemed we were heading towards another victory until the 87th minute when they equalized.

Match Day 5 - Girondins Bordeaux 0 - 5 Aberystwyth Town

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Another brilliant away performance from the boys in Europe, this time in France. OAQ showed his class banging in 4 goals and he is quickly becoming my favorite FM regen ever. His stats are improving in all of the important areas and I think he is now a world class poacher, I've uploaded a screenshot of him above.

Match Day 6 - Aberystwyth Town 2 - 2 Chelsea FC

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We were already qualified by the time we played this, so I rested a couple of 1st teamers who were one booking away from a suspension. Still to be 2-1 up and concede a goal to 10 men was disappointing. We have AC Milan in the 1st knockout round, who have won Serie A for the past 4 seasons.

Final Standings

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TNS in Champions League

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As I have mentioned briefly before, TNS qualified for the group stages due to the fact we won the CL last season, so the league's 1 Champions League group stage spot went to the runners up, which was TNS. Anyway, their first year in the competition went unbelievably well, grabbing 3-3 draws away at both Inter Milan and Stuttgart, whilst also beating Stuttgart 1-0 at home to guarantee 3rd place and a place in the Europa League 1st knockout round against Chelsea. I'm really not sure how they manged these results but it is nice to see another Welsh side doing well in Europe. What makes it even more unbelievable is that they are currently languishing in 6th place in the league!

Next update will be the Club World Championship, could we make Aberystwyth the club world champions?



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Enjoying reading this, great work with Aberyswyth! Have you thought about developing it further and becoming Wales manager? I've got to the stage with my San Marino club team where I'm winning everything comfortably now so the focus is now on the national team. Think I may get a bit bored though with the club team, any tips to keep it fresh?
 
seanhrfc said:
Enjoying reading this, great work with Aberyswyth! Have you thought about developing it further and becoming Wales manager? I've got to the stage with my San Marino club team where I'm winning everything comfortably now so the focus is now on the national team. Think I may get a bit bored though with the club team, any tips to keep it fresh?
Click to expand...

Thanks mate. I considered it at the start and I have developed a few players for the national side but I'm just concentrating on improving the team and the league for now. I actually did the SM challenge last year so I know what you mean. I would suggest giving yourself a rule where you maybe have to introduce one or two SM players to the club side every year and going all SM as soon as possible. I got to the European Championship quarter final in 2028 but never actually did a season where I only used San Marino players which I regret now. The only problem is the ****** dual nationality players!
 
Safc-mad-scotty said:
Thanks mate. I considered it at the start and I have developed a few players for the national side but I'm just concentrating on improving the team and the league for now. I actually did the SM challenge last year so I know what you mean. I would suggest giving yourself a rule where you maybe have to introduce one or two SM players to the club side every year and going all SM as soon as possible. I got to the European Championship quarter final in 2028 but never actually did a season where I only used San Marino players which I regret now. The only problem is the ****** dual nationality players!
Click to expand...

Last season I used 5 Sammarinese players regularly and 2 I would consider first team players. I'm thinking of going down the Barcelona route - have the majority of the players come from the Cantera, but add in/keep the quality players in the areas where the Cantera struggles. I've sent one of my SM players to Liverpool on loan as he'll be first choice LW there. Not had too many problems with dual nationality players - my best ones have been SM only. There's 3 players that would get in the squad that have rejected, but wouldn't be my best players.

Do you ever holiday parts of the season?
 
seanhrfc said:
Last season I used 5 Sammarinese players regularly and 2 I would consider first team players. I'm thinking of going down the Barcelona route - have the majority of the players come from the Cantera, but add in/keep the quality players in the areas where the Cantera struggles. I've sent one of my SM players to Liverpool on loan as he'll be first choice LW there. Not had too many problems with dual nationality players - my best ones have been SM only. There's 3 players that would get in the squad that have rejected, but wouldn't be my best players.

Do you ever holiday parts of the season?
Click to expand...

I have done after I have been knocked out of Europe on this save for around 5-6 games but never any longer than that. And that's only because the Welsh League is so weak...
 
Club World Championship 2025

Semi Final - Aberystwyth Town 3 - 1 CD Cruz Azul

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I was quite worried when we went 1-0 down early on to the winners of the North American Champions League Cruz Azul. However, I needed not be as we ended up finishing comfortable 3-1 winners, with Honduran center back Douglas Altamirano bagging a brace.


Final - Aberystwyth Town 1 - 2 Velez Sarsfield

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Aaaarg! My target at the start of the season was to win at least one of the CWC or the European Super Cup and we have failed to win either. A brace from Argentinian striker Ruben Cabellero in the first half put us 2-0 down at half time and despite us pulling a goal back in the 52nd minuted and Velez getting a player sent off in the 65th minute, we were unable to get that all important second goal to take the game to extra time. We will have to wait a bit longer before we can call ourselves world champions.....


Up next will be my Champions League 1st knockout tie against AC Milan, can we make it to the quarter final or will we bow out against the Italian giants....



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Aberystwyth Town - End of Season Review 2025/2026

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Welsh Premier League - Winners (30 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses, 116 goals scored, 12 conceded)

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Welsh Cup - Winners

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Welsh Premier League Cup - Winners

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Champions League - Lost in Quarter Final vs Manchester United

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European Super Cup - Runners Up

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Club World Championship - Runners Up

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Next update will be a season 2026/2027 preview including transfers and Champions League groups.



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unlucky son but just think what you have done and how far your team has come
 
Aberystwyth Town - Season Preview 2026/2027

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Transfers:

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Some big players have been let go this season to allow for younger players to come through and get a chance in the first team. Chinyama was the Zimbabwean midfielder we brought in for a free a couple of seasons ago, so to get £7,000,000 for him was a nice profit. Andre Elana stayed in Wales as he joined Barry Town for £100,000 , I could have got far more for him but I decided to try and keep him in the country as he will be a star player for Barry Town. Sejmenovic was bought for 150k around 4 or 5 seasons ago, and after spending last season on loan at FC Basel for 200k a month he was sold for £3,100,000 this season so we have made a very nice profit on him to. However the special mention here has to go to Kevin Conn... Kevin was brought in on a free from Northern Irish side Loughgall in 2016 and was a pivotal figure in us breaking onto the European scene and was a major part of our Europa League winning side in 2023, as well as scoring the winning goal in the Champions League final in 2025. He moves onto Notts Forest for £6,000,000 to allow academy prospect Glydwyr Lewis more first team playing time and leaves the club as a club legend!

Ins

Raphael Thomas - A young Belgian midfielder brought in from Anderlecht for £3,800,000 potentially rising to £4,800,000. He'll slot into the squad as backup advanced playmaker for now, but I hope in a couple of seasons he will make that role his own as he has some good stats and brilliant potential.

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Champions League Group E

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To be honest this group seems to be one of the nicer groups we have got in the recent years. Porto do have some brilliant player but we have got results against them in the past so I'm aiming for at least 4 points against them. Newcastle finished 4th in the Premier League last season so obviously have a decent squad but once again I would hope that we will be able to take at least 4 points off them. Red Star are considerably the weakest team in the group and we will aim to take 6 points in the games against them, however do have a few good players who would be able to take advantage of any complacency.


TNS in Europa League:

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TNS are once again the only other Welsh side to playing European football this season despite the fact they only managed to finish in 3rd place last season. They got past AS Aris Salonika in the Playoff round but I can't imagine that they will get through their group although they should be targeting points from the Steaua Bucharest games.

Youth Academy Prospects:

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Since I always forget to post our youth intake I though I would show you the best 3 players to come through our academy in the past 2/3 seasons. Gwion Hughes (the left back) has 3 and a half star potential but the jury is out on whether he will ever make it at the club at the moment. The next couple of seasons will be key for him but I hope at very least he becomes a solid back up. Glyndwyr Lewis has some great stats for a poacher and room to improve further as he has a current rating of 2 stars and 3 and a half star potential. He will hopefully become a key member of the squad if not first choice, as he will help the home grown quota in the CL. However, the biggest prospect of the 3 in my opinion is Dylan Meredith. Our current 2 back up center halfs are from our academy so we have a reputation for producing them, however I believe Meredith is the best of the lot. 4 star potential and some great stats, if he can improve his physical stats then I think he will be first choice center back in 2/3 seasons.


Next update will be a review of the Champions League group stage, will we qualify through our group for the 4th season running?



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Could you post the 'Past Winners' of the Welsh league, never seen it filled up with one team
 
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Champions League Group E

Match Day 1 - Aberystwyth Town 2 - 0 Red Star Belgrade

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A decent enough start to our group stage as we run out easy 2-0 victors over our Serbian opponents. However they are the weakest team in the group and this was, on paper, our easiest game in the group.

Match Day 2 - FC Porto 4 - 2 Aberystwyth Town

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One of our most disastrous first half performances ever. 3-0 down by half time and it could have been worse. Shortly after half time it was, as by the 60th minute they had added another to make it 4-0. We then staged a comeback of sorts, scoring two but also missing another two very good chances so we could have escaped with a draw. Much improvement was needed for the next game.

Match Day 3 - Aberystwyth Town 2 - 1 Newcastle United

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This game should have been a lot more comfortable than it turned out to be after Lubomir Koleno made it 2-0 in the 55th minute however an 89th minute penalty meant we had to hold Newcastle off in a very nervy last 4 minutes, which we managed to do!

Match Day 4 - Newcastle United 3 - 3 Aberystwyth Town

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What a brilliant result! Chasing the game at 2-1 behind, Newcastle caught us on the counter attack to go 3-1 up in the 87th minute. Game over, right? Wrong. Just two minutes later Altamirano rose the highest from a corner to pull it back to 3-2 and then in the 93rd minute Nico Pasanen drove into the box from the right and powered a shot into the top right hand corner. This point left us very close to qualification....

Match Day 5 - Red Star Belgrade 0 - 5 Aberystwyth Town

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The momentum from the end of match day 4 seemingly carried over to match day 5 as we crushed Red Star 5-0 in Serbia with braces from OAQ and Suazo. This game secured qualification in 2nd place.

Match Day 6 - Aberystwyth Town 1- 1 FC Porto

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I made a major error here as I was to quick to bash the space button and so entered the game with the back up team which played the previous league game, ooops! This meant we only had 2 players starting who I would have had in the team so I was expecting the worst. Fortunately, we managed a respectable draw with ex Porto man Helder, who is having a brilliant season, getting on the scoresheet against the club who released him.


Final Standings

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So we only managed 2nd place in the group but I suppose that is irrelevant as it doesn't have any major effect on who we draw in the next round. Speaking of the next round we have been drawn against Premier League leaders and our conquerors of last season, Manchester United. We could very well be heading for another early European exit.....


TNS in Europe


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So TNS have managed to qualify for the Europa League knockout rounds for the second year running, qualifying from their Europa League group with 3 wins and 3 losses. This comes as a pleasant surprise as some other countries seem to be edging closer to us in the European coefficient rankings...


Next update will be a January Transfer Window update, as I already have agreed one decently sized player sale and 2 incoming transfers, with a third just waiting on a work permit...

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One thing I would like to ask anyone reading this story is whether they have a reason as to why my CL group games are no longer moved to an alternative stadium? When I first started qualifying for Europe, we always played our home group games at the Parc y Scalets as our home ground only has 1,000 seats but nowadays only the knockout round games are played there which means our home group games have an attendance of just 1,000. I think this problem will stand for the foreseeable future as well, because my average league attendance is still only around the 2000 mark and the stadium capacity is 5,000 so I can't convince the board to build a new stadium :(
 
What a read! I did this with Wrexham on last years game.

I am going to try and do what you have done myself!

I don't suppose you have come across a team called Flint Town have you? I'm from there and there in the league below the Welsh Premier? Have they got in the WPL on your game?

Well done to you!
 
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