Intro
In the past I’ve always settled for what other people have put together. Dissatisfied with what was on offer for Australia I decided to give it a go myself. Several months & three attempts later here is the result. I don’t claim to be an expert at editing much of what I learned is through trial & error so please keep this in mind when asking any questions. What I hoped to have created is a fun league with plenty of challenges loosely based on the English league system. I’ve avoided going with regional leagues as this was too hard to manage plus I liked the idea of each division having teams from all over Australia & NZ .
About Me
I’m a lifelong Brighton & Hove Albion supporter but I also have a soft spot for both Chelsea and Fulham as my father is from that area. I was born in Adelaide, South Australia & still live there. The local clubs I support are Adelaide United & South Adelaide Panthers but English football is my true passion. I’ve played Championship Manager since it was released on the Amiga back in 92 & have played every version since (although none of the CM’s since the split in 05). Generally piloting Albion from the depths of the football league to European glory but the last couple of versions of FM I’ve taken more of an interest in managing in my native Australia. Naturally the A-League is not the same challenge as the Football league so I was able to find decent custom leagues to play in Oz while my English adventures have been getting Dorchester out of the Conference (FM10) & Littlehampton’s rise as a footballing power (FM11).
Is it realistic?
No, but I hope its fun. Quite frankly the sort or league structure I’ve set up would never work. Australia is an enormous place & just the cost of travel alone would make only the top league with clubs playing in front of crowds 10,000+ cost effective. Any lower division with clubs playing in front of crowds less than this could only operate as regional leagues making it difficult for promotion & relegation between these & the top league. Plus there isn’t the corporate or fan base to support anything bigger than the current A-League. Yes some of the regional clubs do well but others struggle to keep their doors open as it is. It is possible for perhaps a Second Division to be viable in the future but only if soccer continues grow at the expense of AFL & NRL but that’s about it. I’ve made the TV & prize money extremely generous but completely unrealistic. I’ve made it this level so teams won’t fold & to make it possible to compete with the Richer Asian teams.
About the league
As I mentioned in the intro I couldn’t find a Custom Australian League that really matched my vision of what I hoped to find or more importantly wanted to play. Having never created my own custom league before I figured I’d tinker with somebody else's first. So I downloaded Australian League 4 tier relegation/promotion system by OnTheLevee from the SI Site which I felt was close to what I was looking for. I discarded the regional league system & replaced them with standard sub divisions but as I wanted to play as South Adelaide I really should have all Australian teams of similar or better standard in my league too. So sometime & much research later the 7 tier monstrosity that you see here was created. Unfortunately my first attempt didn’t work & kept crashing at a certain date. So I had to deconstruct the league until I could figure out where I went wrong. By this time pretty much nothing of the original league was left but I figured out where I went wrong by the third attempt.
Thanks to
A big thank you goes to OnTheLevee whose original download I tinkered with & while virtually none of it is left, it gave me great insight into how to create a custom league. Thanks to FLV Player whose FM10 custom download gave me an idea on what Prize Money to set. Also thanks to anybody who has created an Australian database. I have likely at sometime downloaded it & used it for inspiration in creating this XML document.
The structure is as follows;
A-League (18 teams, $2M TV money, winner champs league place, two relegated to A1 League).
A1-League (20 teams, $1.5M TV Money, 2 promoted (1 auto, 1 through playoffs), 3 relegated).
A2-League (20 teams, $1M TV money, 3 promoted (2 auto, 1 playoff), 4 relegated).
State Championship Premier Division (2 sub Divisions, 20 teams per division, $100,000 TV money, 4 promoted (2 auto, 2 playoffs), 8 relegated).
State Championship First Division (4 sub divisions, 20 teams per division, $75,000 TV money, 8 promoted (4 auto, 4 playoffs), 12 relegated).
State Championship Second Division (4 sub divisions, 20 teams per division, $50,000 TV money, 12 promoted (8 auto, 4 playoffs), 12 relegated).
State Championship Third Division (4 sub divisions, 18 teams per division, $25,000 TV Money, 12 promoted (8 auto, 4 playoffs) none relegated).
Major Cup Competitions
FFA Cup (all teams, winner champs league place)
A-League Cup (teams from A, A1, A2 Leagues)
State Championship Cup (teams from State Championship Premier & First Divisions)
State Championship Trophy (teams from State Championship Second & Third Divisions)
Super Cup (A-League winner versus FFA Cup winner)
Minor Cup Competitions
Hellenic Cup (teams with Greek heritage)
Australian-Croatia Tournament (teams with Croatian heritage)
Karadjordje Cup (teams with Serbian heritage)
Macedonian Cup (teams with Macedonian heritage)
Coppa Italia (teams with Italian heritage)
FFA State Institute Cup (Cup for various Institute & Academy teams)
Australian University Cup (Cup for University teams)
Kennard Cup (Cup between Sydney University & University of New South Wales)
Friendship Cup (South Melbourne, Melbourne Knights, Sydney Olympic & Sydney United)
Main Changes
Changed Australia’s youth rating from 90 to 120
Added failed A-League bid sides, Canberra United, Tasmania United, Sydney Rovers, Geelong City and Western Sydney Wanderers.
Resurrected North Queensland Fury, New Zealand Knights, Canberra Cosmos, Penrith Nepean, Logan United, Logan City, Central Coast FC and Southern Cross United.
Added teams from NSW State Leagues Div 1 & 2, NEWFM 1st Div and Brisbane Premier League Division 1 & 2 Added Port Pirie City.
Moved Adelaide United to Adelaide Oval
Moved Adelaide City to Hindmarsh Stadium
Removed all team debts & credited a season’s worth of TV rights to each team.
Checked all teams home ground details where accurate & edited it where necessary.
Checked all teams home & away kits where accurate & edited it where necessary.
Added Team’s history where possible.
Database accuracy
Every effort has been made to make sure this database is as accurate as possible. Unfortunately when dealing with 300+ clubs some with very limited information there are bound to be some mistakes. I have had to make educated guesses for some team kits especially away kits when there has been little or no information on them. Likewise I’ve had to guess at ground capacities for some teams. I have not altered player details as this was one of the things that caused my earlier databases to crash.
Future Improvements
Improved Reserve League with promotions & relegation's Reserve Cup Improved Youth League with promotions & relegation's
Download
This league is finally ready to go. I've run the league on holiday mode for five seasons & so far no trouble. I'd love to hear peoples feedback & any constructive criticism they may have (remember I'm no expert at editing).
Extra
One thing that is lacking in this database is team derbies. While I've added some derbies from what information is at hand their are clearly many I'm missing. So if you support one of the clubs from the various state leagues let me know who your rivals are & what is considered a derby game.
New version 3.01 with transfer windows for A-league, 7 subs rule for A-League A1-League & emergency goalie loan.
View attachment 257134
View attachment 261167
In the past I’ve always settled for what other people have put together. Dissatisfied with what was on offer for Australia I decided to give it a go myself. Several months & three attempts later here is the result. I don’t claim to be an expert at editing much of what I learned is through trial & error so please keep this in mind when asking any questions. What I hoped to have created is a fun league with plenty of challenges loosely based on the English league system. I’ve avoided going with regional leagues as this was too hard to manage plus I liked the idea of each division having teams from all over Australia & NZ .
About Me
I’m a lifelong Brighton & Hove Albion supporter but I also have a soft spot for both Chelsea and Fulham as my father is from that area. I was born in Adelaide, South Australia & still live there. The local clubs I support are Adelaide United & South Adelaide Panthers but English football is my true passion. I’ve played Championship Manager since it was released on the Amiga back in 92 & have played every version since (although none of the CM’s since the split in 05). Generally piloting Albion from the depths of the football league to European glory but the last couple of versions of FM I’ve taken more of an interest in managing in my native Australia. Naturally the A-League is not the same challenge as the Football league so I was able to find decent custom leagues to play in Oz while my English adventures have been getting Dorchester out of the Conference (FM10) & Littlehampton’s rise as a footballing power (FM11).
Is it realistic?
No, but I hope its fun. Quite frankly the sort or league structure I’ve set up would never work. Australia is an enormous place & just the cost of travel alone would make only the top league with clubs playing in front of crowds 10,000+ cost effective. Any lower division with clubs playing in front of crowds less than this could only operate as regional leagues making it difficult for promotion & relegation between these & the top league. Plus there isn’t the corporate or fan base to support anything bigger than the current A-League. Yes some of the regional clubs do well but others struggle to keep their doors open as it is. It is possible for perhaps a Second Division to be viable in the future but only if soccer continues grow at the expense of AFL & NRL but that’s about it. I’ve made the TV & prize money extremely generous but completely unrealistic. I’ve made it this level so teams won’t fold & to make it possible to compete with the Richer Asian teams.
About the league
As I mentioned in the intro I couldn’t find a Custom Australian League that really matched my vision of what I hoped to find or more importantly wanted to play. Having never created my own custom league before I figured I’d tinker with somebody else's first. So I downloaded Australian League 4 tier relegation/promotion system by OnTheLevee from the SI Site which I felt was close to what I was looking for. I discarded the regional league system & replaced them with standard sub divisions but as I wanted to play as South Adelaide I really should have all Australian teams of similar or better standard in my league too. So sometime & much research later the 7 tier monstrosity that you see here was created. Unfortunately my first attempt didn’t work & kept crashing at a certain date. So I had to deconstruct the league until I could figure out where I went wrong. By this time pretty much nothing of the original league was left but I figured out where I went wrong by the third attempt.
Thanks to
A big thank you goes to OnTheLevee whose original download I tinkered with & while virtually none of it is left, it gave me great insight into how to create a custom league. Thanks to FLV Player whose FM10 custom download gave me an idea on what Prize Money to set. Also thanks to anybody who has created an Australian database. I have likely at sometime downloaded it & used it for inspiration in creating this XML document.
The structure is as follows;
A-League (18 teams, $2M TV money, winner champs league place, two relegated to A1 League).
A1-League (20 teams, $1.5M TV Money, 2 promoted (1 auto, 1 through playoffs), 3 relegated).
A2-League (20 teams, $1M TV money, 3 promoted (2 auto, 1 playoff), 4 relegated).
State Championship Premier Division (2 sub Divisions, 20 teams per division, $100,000 TV money, 4 promoted (2 auto, 2 playoffs), 8 relegated).
State Championship First Division (4 sub divisions, 20 teams per division, $75,000 TV money, 8 promoted (4 auto, 4 playoffs), 12 relegated).
State Championship Second Division (4 sub divisions, 20 teams per division, $50,000 TV money, 12 promoted (8 auto, 4 playoffs), 12 relegated).
State Championship Third Division (4 sub divisions, 18 teams per division, $25,000 TV Money, 12 promoted (8 auto, 4 playoffs) none relegated).
Major Cup Competitions
FFA Cup (all teams, winner champs league place)
A-League Cup (teams from A, A1, A2 Leagues)
State Championship Cup (teams from State Championship Premier & First Divisions)
State Championship Trophy (teams from State Championship Second & Third Divisions)
Super Cup (A-League winner versus FFA Cup winner)
Minor Cup Competitions
Hellenic Cup (teams with Greek heritage)
Australian-Croatia Tournament (teams with Croatian heritage)
Karadjordje Cup (teams with Serbian heritage)
Macedonian Cup (teams with Macedonian heritage)
Coppa Italia (teams with Italian heritage)
FFA State Institute Cup (Cup for various Institute & Academy teams)
Australian University Cup (Cup for University teams)
Kennard Cup (Cup between Sydney University & University of New South Wales)
Friendship Cup (South Melbourne, Melbourne Knights, Sydney Olympic & Sydney United)
Main Changes
Changed Australia’s youth rating from 90 to 120
Added failed A-League bid sides, Canberra United, Tasmania United, Sydney Rovers, Geelong City and Western Sydney Wanderers.
Resurrected North Queensland Fury, New Zealand Knights, Canberra Cosmos, Penrith Nepean, Logan United, Logan City, Central Coast FC and Southern Cross United.
Added teams from NSW State Leagues Div 1 & 2, NEWFM 1st Div and Brisbane Premier League Division 1 & 2 Added Port Pirie City.
Moved Adelaide United to Adelaide Oval
Moved Adelaide City to Hindmarsh Stadium
Removed all team debts & credited a season’s worth of TV rights to each team.
Checked all teams home ground details where accurate & edited it where necessary.
Checked all teams home & away kits where accurate & edited it where necessary.
Added Team’s history where possible.
Database accuracy
Every effort has been made to make sure this database is as accurate as possible. Unfortunately when dealing with 300+ clubs some with very limited information there are bound to be some mistakes. I have had to make educated guesses for some team kits especially away kits when there has been little or no information on them. Likewise I’ve had to guess at ground capacities for some teams. I have not altered player details as this was one of the things that caused my earlier databases to crash.
Future Improvements
Improved Reserve League with promotions & relegation's Reserve Cup Improved Youth League with promotions & relegation's
Download
This league is finally ready to go. I've run the league on holiday mode for five seasons & so far no trouble. I'd love to hear peoples feedback & any constructive criticism they may have (remember I'm no expert at editing).
Extra
One thing that is lacking in this database is team derbies. While I've added some derbies from what information is at hand their are clearly many I'm missing. So if you support one of the clubs from the various state leagues let me know who your rivals are & what is considered a derby game.
New version 3.01 with transfer windows for A-league, 7 subs rule for A-League A1-League & emergency goalie loan.
View attachment 257134
View attachment 261167
Last edited:
. But anyway sounds great cant wait to play it