Building a Nation - San Marino

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Yep, that's right. I am doing the impossible. I think before I start it's important to note a few things before you spend 5 minutes reading this only to be put off by something.

1 - I am 15 seasons into this save. I didn't really have any intention of documenting this save, and if I'm being completely honest I didn't think I would make it this far. For those sane enough to never have attempted to build a nation in San Marino, you may not realise just how awful it is. Even I'm surprised I made it this far. But I have, and I will try my best to document what has happened in the last 15 years, but I am very likely to miss something that at the time felt major (A change in Coefficient rankings as an example). So if you're not interested in a save set 15 years in the future, you have saved yourself a lot of time.

2 - I downloaded a tactic. Shock, I know. I spent a lot of my fm career downloading tactics. I just don't get it, and it's a game, so I chose the easy way out. Since fm19 I refused to download any tactics and tried my best to learn. I failed and would almost always resort to Gegenpress 4-2-3-1... Sound familiar? Anyway, this year was no different; A 10 year stint in Ireland was ended when the board sold a welsh beauty to Ipswich for 800k and I spat the dummy out. I brought my tactical genius to San Marino but somehow, even the might of the gegenpress 4-2-3-1 wasn't enough and I really considered giving up. I thought to myself, is this pain worth it? Or shall I admit defeat? I chose the latter and downloaded a friends tactic before he introduced me to the strikerless formation found on this site. My god is it good. I'm not here to debate the legitimacy of achievements based on downloading tactics, it's a game and I'm having fun. However, I understand that is a deal breaker for some so this is your opportunity to click off before you see me lift countless Copa Sammarinese. (I would just like to note that I won't change my formation, but I am absolutely open to discussions on tactics so I can develop a better understanding).

3- I changed a couple of things in the editor. Firstly I chanaged the Youth Importance (or whatever it is) to 200 because I wanted to some funky regens. You're welcome to class this as cheating, but I really didn't think it would matter until I got so far into the game where all my staff and facilities were the best (I was kind of wrong on this, no worldies but players that definitly would not come from San Marino). If this is cheating for you, you're probably right, But please remember this is a game and I thought it would be fun. Secondly, I changed the amount of years it takes to gain Citenzenship. This was an inadvertant cheat. I intially did this as I thought it would be fun to have some players declare themselves for San Marino and they could rise the rankings. Not only has this not happened, but most players have taken up San Marino as an eligble nation to help with squad rules. I really didn't think about this, and by the time I did it was too late. If these are too far for you, no problemo! This isn't a save to prove I'm the best, more to prove that I have the patience of a saint and wanted to make it as fun as possible.

Now I've finished doing what I do best (putting people off what I want them to enjoy), let's get into it. I'm going to break it down into 3 parts. Part one will cover years 1-5. Part 2 will cover years 5-10. Part 3 will cover years 10-15. Let's begin right at the start.
 
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Chapter 1 - The Dark Ages (Years 1-5)

Mash Reid was born on the 21st June 1997 in Faetano, San Marino. He grew up watching San Giovanni, and always had dreams of playing for the reds. After an uninspiring Sunday league career ended at the age of 23, Mash took the chairman of San Giovanni out for a pint, and may or may not have blackmailed him into sacking their current manager and hiring the young, inexperienced manager. Below is probably what my stats looked like. No coaching qualifications and big ambitions, he set off on a journey no fan of the mighty Rossoneri could have possibly expected.

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The Cup Competitions

A quick note for those unfamiliar with the league and cup systems in San Marino. There are 15 teams, with teams playing each other twice for a total of 28 games. Once the 28 games have been played, 5th-12th qualify for the 'Jupiler Play-offs' while the teams 1st-4th qualify for the Quarter Finals of the Play-Offs. This is important, as a team in 12th can theoretically win the league. It is absolutely mental, but they're the rules. Once in the Play-Offs, teams are drawn at random and play each other twice (one home and one away leg). Bizarrely, ties that finish on aggregate as a draw, don't go to penalties but the team with the highest seed go through. The only exception to this is in the final, with a winner take all match that will go to penalties if the scores are still level after extra time. There are no Relegations as there is no second tier. 25 players must be registered for the league, and none can be added after the window has closed, except for free transfers. So should you be hit with a big injury list, there isn't much you can do.

The Fa Cup, also known as the Copa Sammarinese is fairly straightforward. It starts in the first round and goes through to the final. Similar to the league, teams play each other twice, however the ties won't be decided on seed, but will go to penalties if the scores are level after extra time. The winner of this gains the lowest European qualification spot, which at the start is the First Qualifying round of the Euro Cup II.

Finally is the Super Copa Sammarinese, which is exactly the same as the English Community Shield. The team that won the league plays the team that won the cup (or the team in 2nd if the two winners are the same... Spoiler alert, they will be eventually)

For all competitions, there must be no more than 9 foreign players in the playing 11.

Season 1

San Giovanni are a Semi Professional team (as are the rest of the league) and are predicted to finish 15th. Due to contract rules in San Marino, Semi-professional players aren't paid weekly wages but are given appearance fees, goal bonus' etc. Because of this, players can leave and join clubs with no compensation required. It is very annoying.

The club has the lowest training and youth facilities, as well as the lowest youth recruitment. In a nutshell, they're bad.

In the first season we signed 30 players. The standout player being an Albanian striker named Raul Ura, who we went on to sign 5 more times. As I said,very annoying. With the nation ranking rock bottom of the coefficients table, only 2 teams qualify for Europe. This means we would need to reach the Play-off final (and hope the other team in the final won the cup), or we win the cup ourselves.

We made it to the Semi-final of the cup in our first season, which isn't too shabby. We lost 2-1 & 3-2 to Juvenes Dogana (Who Raul Ura manages in 2035), so our only hopes of qualifying for Europe would be via the league. Now if you have a little peak below, you will see how critically flawed the San Marino league system truly is.

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7th!!!! We finished 7th and won the league!!!!

This was a fluke, and isn't par for the course, but amazingly we did win the league. Following a decent league effort that resulted in 13 wins, we found ourselves in the Play-Offs. We narrowly made it past Fiorentino after a 2-0 home win made it 2-1 on aggregate. We then beat 2nd in the league 4-1 away from home and followed it up with a 3-2 aggregate win against Murata. Then, against 11th placed Folgore we won 2-1 to give San Giovanni their first ever trophy. This really was incredible and something I could never have predicted.

Season 2

The second season saw less transfers come in, but still 24 (including Raul Ura again) players joined the club. Our first Supper Coppa saw us beat soon to be arch rivals La Fiorita 2-1 to lift our second trophy.

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I won't show you all of those, I figured the first would be important though. What is important is Europe. With us winning the league we would be entered into the Champions Cup First Preliminary round. Amazingly, in only our second season we were competing in Europe and not doing an awful job at it (this was short lived). We beat Faroe Island side HB 3-2 and followed that up with a 5-1 dismantling of Trepeca '89. A 2-1 home victory was enough to see us past Dudelange but APOEL would be the end of our journey. We then lost to Lech in the Euro cup third qualifying round and to Dinamo in the Euro Cup II fourth Qualifying round.

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This was an overachievement that dwarfs winning the league in 7th. If my memory serves me right, I had around £2 million in the bank from prize money and miniscule amounts in outgoings (I made a profit most months). This meant I was roughly £1 million shy of turning pro, which in the second season is an incredible position to be in and offered me an opportunity to run away from the other clubs in the league.

The cup run was almost non-existent, with us being knocked out in the quarter final to Cosmos. The league however was much better. Finishing 3rd overall, I was confident going into the Play-Offs. Tre Flori were brushed aside in the Quarters, but we relied on the weird rules to save us from falling at the Semis. A higher seed put us through to face La Fiorita in the final who we lost 1-0 to. Thanks to them winning the cup, we still had a place in Europe.

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Season 3

After such a great performance in Europe, our coefficient rose. In season 4 we would have 3 teams Qualify for the First Qualifying Round of the Euro Cup II and 1 team qualify for the Champions Path First Qualifying Round. This is great, as now I only have to win the cup, or finish in the semi-final to get in Europe. But for now just the 2, and we're one of them. We beat Jeunesse Esch twice but came unstuck at the hands of Dinamo Brest. a couple hundred grand was not what we needed to go pro, but I would take it anyway.

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Okay so a decent attempt in Europe, off the back of a final in the league and a cup win, alongside back to back Super Copa's. This season is going to be great? Right? Nope. A 10th place finish had me feeling all kinds of angst. No worries, we finished 7th in the first season and won the league. 'Be reyt' I told myself. It would not be reyt. We were knocked out to Murata due to the higher seed rule, which frankly makes no sense considering we beat them last season as the higher seed, so obviously must have been the higher seeded club? We didn't deserve anything, but that did irk me and still does. Thankfully we pulled through in the cup, beating Murata, the team better than us, 3-0 in the final. We live to see another day.

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Season 4

Last season was a write off. We go again I told the boys and again we went. But we didn't quite go where I wanted us to. We were immediately knocked out of Europe with two 1-0 losses to Ruzomberok, a side I can guarantee absolutely no one has heard of. We then lost 1-0 to La Fiorita in the Super Copa, ending our streak before it ever really got going.

I'm not going to insert a picture here because that would be embarrassing.

We had to quickly deal with our negative emotions in the only way we know how, by burying them deep down inside ourselves and not talking about it.The league campaign was disturbingly average, and a crazy 6-6 game saw us go through via the higher seed rule against Folgore. We were knocked out of the cup in the Semis by Juvenes Dogna, but made it all the way to the Play-off final where we lost on penalties in a game we did not deserve to lose. This was incredibly frustrating as not only I growing tired of signing players to progress only to lose them to La Fiorita and Tre Penne, but I was so close to going pro, and needed just one run in the champions league to make it but instead I was giving that opportunity to La Fiorita season after season. This was only the second worst feeling I've had during this save, as season 5 left me in despair and made me quit the game for a week while I considered where my next save would take me.

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Season 5

Here we are then. The final season of part 1. After being knocked out of Europe at the first attempt via a 10-5 aggregate loss to FC Inter, I was left licking my wounds. I decided, as all Semi-Professional managers in one of the worst leagues in the world would do, and pulled up a list of players that would be willing to join me from all around the world. To my Surprise I found a young Colombian striker that looked above and beyond anyone I had at the club. Harrison Arbelaez joined at the end of August 2025 after winning the Super Copa back from La Fiorita. Yeah we were knocked out of the cup in the Quarter finals but we finished 3rd! This was going to be it, the season I finally reclaim the title, win a few games in europe and go Pro. *insert that noise from Family Fortunes, you know the one*. We were knocked out by Murata in the Quarters and for the first time we would not be competing in Europe. I truly considered giving up and took some time away from the game.

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Thank you for reading this far. I appreciate there's a lot there, and there's more to come. Part 2 will cover seasons 5-10 where we grew as a club, developed a tasty regen or two and dipped our toe in the international youth of tomorrow.
 
Chapter 2 - The Bronze Age (Years 6-10)

We left at the end of season 5. For the first time we wouldn't be competing in Europe. At the time this felt crushing, but in hindsight it seems as though it was exactly what we needed.

Season 6

I spent about 4 hours scouting the world for absolutely anyone that would play for free. We've gone on to sign excellent players, but Fraser Moore was one that arrived and completely changed our team. He's no world beater, but he was a San Marino beater. He scored goals for fun and really began an era of dominance that is yet to end.

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I appreciate this isn't a great image, but it's what I took at the time. I will go through all the key signings throughout our career after the 3 chapters are complete, but this one feels too important to ignore. Fraser is still a legend at the club, and while we have gone on to sign some amazing players, he really was a game changer. Anyway, enough about Mr Moore, lets talk football.

This really was the start of a great run, and looking back it's amazing what a difference a new tactic and good players can make. We lost 1 game all season (a 1-0 loss to Tre Fiori) and had a total of 73 points. We finished top and found ourselves back in the Play-Offs with a point to prove. Despite a scare in the semi-final, losing to Folgore in the second leg, we had done more than enough in the first to put us into a final against La Fiortia. I know their names have popped up a lot, but they really were a thorn in our side and were always there or there abouts in the early years. The cup run was a little more smooth, beating everyone in our path until we eventually reclaimed our domestic cup with a 4-1 victory over Faetano.

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Season 7

Someone get on the phone to Jet2, because the boys are back and ready for a European tour. This one was more important than the others. La Fiorita had turned pro at the start of this season and there was a real risk that if we didn't find the extra million we needed they could ****** all our good players and we would be back to square 1. La Fiorita turning pro was actually the start of the end for them, as they would begin falling down the pecking order due to financial issues. But enough of them, let's talk about Europe. We smashed Welsh giants TNS 7-0 and then 5-0. I knew we really had pushed on. We lost to Partizan and then Sarajevo. But thanks to our initial victory we were in a play-off match against Dudelange for a place in the Euro Cup II group stages. If you recall, we beat Dudelange a couple of seasons ago, and this year it was no different. This really was huge. The board immediately agreed to turn pro with the prize money, and the club and league coefficient would rise as a result. Not a lot, but it was something.

We were drawn against English side Brighton, Finnish side HJK and dutch side AZ. There's no doubt this was a mountainous challenge, and anything above bottom would have been a success. We managed exactly that, an away win and a home draw against HJK helped us to a 3rd place finish in our European debut. Amazing.

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Amazingly, we finished on 1 point less than the season before, losing 2 games instead. We were 10 points clear and was an indicator of what was to come. Folgore once again caused problems, but once again a good first leg helped us move on and eventually go on to beat Tre Penne in the final for back to back titles. Tre Penne were also dispatched in the cup final as they began emerging as the new challenger to the throne. A swift slap on the wrists with our golden cane was enough to subdue them this season and we would claim our first ever treble, winning the Super Copa, the Fa Cup and the league.

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Season 8

Strap in boys, this is a wild one. We began with a routine victory against Linfield and followed it up with a solid performance against Sarajevo to put us into the 3rd Qualifying round. Once you reach this point, you're guaranteed a group stage in Europe, as losing this would put us in the Euro Cup play off, where if we lost we would enter the Euro Cup II Group Stages. A 1-0 victory at home to FCSB was huge, but not as huge as the away goal we scored in the second leg. We beat FCSB on away goals and would face Molde in the playoff. I'm not really sure what happened in that first leg, but whatever it was I liked it. 6-2 victors and surely we would be in the Champions League? Well we definitely made hard work of it in Norway. We lost 3-1, making it 7-5 on aggregate. We're through. We actually did it. I was so happy, £16 mil in the bank and a chance at making it further. Well that happiness was quickly replaced with nervous laughter as we drew Manchester United, Inter Milan and Red Bull Salzburg. A 9-0 drumming to Man United was certainly the low point, but a 4-3 victory with Anthony Knockaert scoring the winner in the 90th minute was certainly a high point. Overall, it was hard to be annoyed with this. That was a truly horrible group and to take 3 points was an achievement. It wasn't enough for 3rd and would see us out of the Champions League.

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The league and cup had their own dramas, but overall it was business as usual. A quarter-final game in the cup finished 11-5 but that was the only real moment of note. We beat bogey side Folgore 5-1 and lifted the cup once again. The league final was something entirely different. After beating Domagnano 14-0, I thought we'd walk the final. Nope. We were 2-0 down, then had a man sent off. Somehow, we managed to pull back 2 goals and finish the tie on penalties. We were the better side, and deserved to win. But the circumstances in which we did it really did make me feel uneasy. In hindsight, this may not have been one of the biggest moments of the save. After going pro, spending more money on wages and infrastructure, getting another shot at the champions league was huge and gave us a real platform to kick on from.

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Season 9

It was always going to be difficult topping last season's achievements. At this stage it was important to not get carried away but also not get too dejected should we take a step back. The next couple of years were focused on building the club's facilities and purchasing young players who could help us in 2-3 years really start to push on. We were knocked all the way down to the Euro Cup II after a close loss to Dinamo and a not so close loss to Djurgardens IF. Thankfully we pulled it out of the bag with 2 victories over Laci to put us in the group stages. Another challenging draw saw us pick up 4 points, with a 1-1 draw to TSV Hartberg and a bizarre 3-0 away victory to Atlanta.

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The league and cup were far more straightforward this season, with us cruising to victory in the league cup final against Tre Prenne and a 2-1 victory in the cup which looks close, but was always in our control. This was also our first invincible season! This is fairly common in Build a nation saves, but was still nice to get the first one! I'm afraid there won't be anything too interesting to note in the domestic competitions, as until another club begins to compete the fun and progress will be in the European competitions. I will still show the league table and final results, but won't go into too much detail unless anything noteworthy happens.

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Season 10

Here we are, the final season of Chapter 2. This chapter saw us take huge steps in progressing the club forward. By this point I was close to max facilities and was starting to benefit from my prior focus on youth transfers. Several targets had turned 18 and had joined us. This really took the squad to the next level and now all the foundations were in place, we could really go on to create a legacy. The key game in the qualifiers was the away goal victory to Viktoria Pizen, with our 3 goals coming in the 82nd, 83rd and 89th minute. It was absolute bedlam, let me tell you that. I couldn't believe it. The game against FC Honka was a little easier and we were back in the Champions League. We came to earth with an absolute bang, losing 11-0 to Real Madrid. Ouch. Funnily enough, we actually beat Juvenes Dogana 11-0 in the very next fixture in the league, highlighting the complete gulf in class between the Champions League and the Domestic League. A victory against Porto and a draw against Dortmund gave me real hopes of qualifying for the Euro knockouts by finishing in 3rd, but a 4-1 loss to Porto knocked us out.

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The league was another simple endeavour with us beating out Tre Penne 6-0 in the final. Oddly enough, it took extra time to beat the same team in the cup final, but nevertheless we did come out victorious. The unbeaten season couldn't be done again, however *Spoiler Alert* ... This would actually be the season we last lost a domestic game (for now). A 4-0 loss to Tre Penne was the last time we dealt with a domestic defeat (for now).

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z_KMpbYQxwPY9iAY0gE5Fkdj5zx7NZeSAiUwJwaIJFRhKp_GgLvh3_4OhEwGUVfFjq3NoX8nesQJry4uC_cm_F8h0jAXg9fsR5hKV8fgPXPJE-BZoFzznrpDKQdV1wtCRYljiYHF


Right then folks, that concludes Chapter 2. I really appreciate you all reading, the end is near and we will soon be caught up. Tomorrow I will conclude the trilogy with the final seasons leading up to where I'm at now. I will then post a couple of side bits such as major transfers, records, clubs stats etc. and then the in season updates shall begin. See you tomorrow!
 
Chapter 3 - The Golden Age (years 11-15)

Well then ladies and gents, here we are. The final chapter. We left off having made appearances in all 3 European club competitions and a hunger to go on to reach new heights. Will we achieve this (psttt, the golden age in the chapter title is a clue that we will), let's find out.

Season 11

We set our sights on back to back Champions league appearances for the first time and boy did we do just that. The only hiccup sandwiched in between big wins against big clubs was a goalless draw to Shakhtar. But what followed was our worst performance in Europe to date. A solitary win to PSV were our only points. While this is commendable, I did have bigger ambitions. This was the first group that didn't look horrific and it brought me back down to earth and showed me how far we had to go to progress. But we licked our wounds, took the coefficient boost and moved on to the league and cup.

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We performed so well in the league it's actually hard to talk about. This is the first time I have ever won every single domestic game in a season and was something I was proud of. We have come on leaps and bounds in the league and it was nice to have this achievement. We completed the treble once again topping the seasons off in the cup against our foes Tre Penne and beat real life rivals Pennarossa in the league final.

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Season 12

I quickly put the disappointment of last season's Champions League behind me. At least it couldn't get worse. Ha. We drew Man City. Ac Milan and Barcelona. Have you ever seen a more difficult group? I am genuinely curious. I walked away from my screen and didn't come back until the next day I could not believe it. We gained what I am counting as a respectable point with a 0-0 draw at home to Milan. Barcelona, Man City and Ac Milan. I'm moving on.

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The league and cup were certainly more favourable, with yet another clean sweep of the entire nation, taking maximum points and maximum victory royale's. La Fiorita popped up to remind us they still exist but were ultimately dispatched with ease, and usual suspects Tre Penne would have been better not showing up as they were beating 4-0, handing us another Treble.

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Season 13

Okay, I promise it starts getting interesting now. There isn't much point in discussing the qualifiers until something interesting happens, so let's instead focus on the groups. I knew Dortmund and Arsenal were going to win the group, I'd made my peace with that. But Portugese champions Chaves had found their way into our group. I was quietly confident this may be the season we actually do something. A 2-0 victory at home confirmed my feelings and I had a great feeling. One for the ages next against Arsenal as we narrowly lost out 5-4. We then battered Chaves 7-0 and it was confirmed, we would be finishing 3rd and entering the Euro cup Knockouts. We drew German side Darmstadt 98 and did the business in the home leg winning 4-0 and 6-2 on aggregate. We were knocked out in the next round to LOSC, which stung but it was impossible to be upset. This was the first time we had reached a knockout round and was cause for celebration. We went back to San Marino with our heads held high.

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We actually didn't win the league this season... We dominated it. Once again winning every domestic game and absolutely destroying Tre Penne in the league final. At this point it's fairly obvious we're going to win the league, but you just never know with the play-off system. Thankfully, we did more than enough on the day and were crowned Treble champions right there on the spot.

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Season 14

Europe was a little different this year. It's hard to call it a failure, but it certainly doesn't feel as big of a success. We were knocked out in the playoffs to Qarabag on penalties which at the time was a real stinger. We re-grouped and went in to the Euro groups with our heads held high. We only lost one game, away to Estoril. Other than that we picked up 15 points, a fair coefficient points as well which can never hurt. We were knocked out in the second round to eventual semi-finalists PSV. We left the competition in the same round but via a completely different route. But another Knockout round entered which was confirmation we were on the right track.

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Our success in Europe helped compliment our success in San Marino, as we won every competitive match from September until our away to PSV. Looking at a sea of green is satisfying, so as a treat I'll show you that instead of just the end of season fixtures (which were also fairly tasty).

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Season 15

We made it!! Almost caught up (I'm halfway through season 16 but that will come as a regular update). Another favourable 4th seed draw (we were actually 3rd seed for the first time) in Dynamo Kyiv set up what I thought would be an easy 3rd place with Man United and PSG topping the group. But we almost didn't make it. a 1-1 draw at home and a 2-2 draw away to CFR Cluj saw us advance on away goals. This was annoying when you look at what's to come, but it was a sigh of relief at the time. We almost secured an unlikely surprise at home to Man United as we scored in the 87th minute only to have it snatched from us in the 93rd. Oh well, a nice point and will certainly help us in our quest for 3rd. The way the group ended up meant that a point against United would have us tied on points, but the way the teams are separated is results against each other and then away goals scored against the other team. Because they had scored 2, a 1-1 draw would leave us in third. But up stepped my Mexican hero (You'll learn more about him soon) in the 92nd minute to send us through to the champions league group stage in second. Absolutely mental. We would eventually lose out to Bilbao on away goals. This was not something I could be disappointed with however and I took immense pride in our performance.

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The league once again was business as usual. Winning all league and cup games, we went into both finals against Pennerossa and funnily enough beat them 7-1 both times. This is the last league title I have won, but for some reason I doubt it will be the last. No teams have really offered any real fight, but I have started giving £1 million to the top 3 teams in an attempt to boost there finances and hopefully help them progress in Europe.

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Okay, so we're all caught up. But not so fast. There will be a couple more posts over the weekend, showing the clubs facilities, records and the Coefficients. I will then highlight some major transfers and finish off with the international story (That's right, it got even more spicy). Then we shall begin with season 16, and you will be all caught up. See you tomorrow!
 

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Fair play mate toughing through a save like this, personally i downloaded something that added San Marino Calcio back into Serie D and I'm about 9 seasons deep myself, but playing in the actual San Marino leagues is something else!!
 
Fair play mate toughing through a save like this, personally i downloaded something that added San Marino Calcio back into Serie D and I'm about 9 seasons deep myself, but playing in the actual San Marino leagues is something else!!

Sorry to hijack the thread but haven't found any other San Marino threads this year. Have you noticed any issues with CL games being scheduled during international breaks?
 
Sorry to hijack the thread but haven't found any other San Marino threads this year. Have you noticed any issues with CL games being scheduled during international breaks?
Not with the database I downloaded from Steam mate, no issues at all
 
Fair play mate toughing through a save like this, personally i downloaded something that added San Marino Calcio back into Serie D and I'm about 9 seasons deep myself, but playing in the actual San Marino leagues is something else!!

It's certainly rough! Once you get past that first hurdle and can pull away from the other teams it becomes a lot simpler!
 
Sorry to hijack the thread but haven't found any other San Marino threads this year. Have you noticed any issues with CL games being scheduled during international breaks?

That hasn't happened to me either! Only during the world cup but I don't have many players capable of reaching the latter stages of the world cup!
 
So we're all caught up, but I wanted to do a couple of posts just showing off various parts of the world. This is going to be surpising, but In addition to managing one of the best teams in the world, I am also the manager of France. The manager at the time retired and I was offered the job. I didn't apply and it was a shock to say the least.

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To say this was a shock is an understatement. I was manager of San Marino at the time but had only been so about 6 months and achieved absolutely nothing. The france squad is stacked with serious talent and the fact it was handed to me on a plate was lovely. The world cup was quickly approaching and excitement was filling my attic space where I play Football Manager on my own.

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As you can see it was a clean sweep and we absolutely dominated the competition. The closest result was a 2-0 victory over Belgium, but that wasn't close in the stats. We then stole the show in the final, leaving Argentinian fans crying in the streets of Benes Ares. Poor guys. There were tears in the streets of Paris, but for different reasons. This boosted my reputation from 75% all the way to 85% and is the first time I've ever won the world cup on Football Manager.
 

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On to the club now. Below is the club info page. 3 players make it into the Legends column, two of which still play for us. More on them later. The club is maxed out in their training facilities, and the youth facilities are in the process of becoming the best. The club has won 12 league and cup trophies, with one extra Super Coppa thrown in there. All of these were won while I was at the helm, just saying. The club has just built a 10,881 (4,836 seated) capacity stadium. Sadly it isn't in my name but I'm sure in time one will be.

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Now lets go over the records -

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There's a fair few to go over so I'm going to try and go over each section, focussing on important records.

I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to top the fewest goals conceded, and frankly I'm not sure how they managed that. But 172 goals scored in the season you guys haven't seen yet (season 16) is something I intend to top. I think the goal is to breach 200 goals in one season.

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Our biggest victory was actually a few seasons ago, and was the highest scoring match as well. a 17-0 drumming against Libertas in 2031 is going to be some game to top. The 11-0 defeat to Real Madrid is a difficult one, as it's hard to call it embarrassing because it's Real Madrid. But conceding 11 goals is embrrassing, I'll let you decide.

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(it wont let me get the full details of the 11-0, how convenient)

Our highest transfer paid is current legend Diego Poli (I left the am in there because I'm lazy). Diego is a clinical Attacking Mid that has proven his weight in gold. Signing from Club Brugge, he has contributed to our success on the field and rise in Europe. We signed him when he was 18 years old and he has performed every single season since. Our highest fee received was £15 million for left back Michal Orpik. Orpik appeared on my radar at 16 and was signed from Lechia for a measly £1.5 million. There's no doubt Orpik was a great player for us, but £15 million was well above what I valued him at and felt like a no brainer. It's important to note I have turned down multiple £40 million bids for Shadow Striker Everton, so it seems that Orpik won't be on the record books for much longer.

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The player records are on going as some players are still at the club, but these are accurate as of 2036.

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Jesus Esparza leads the line with the most league goals by a player. Esparza is a young Mexican striker that has bagged goals for fun since joining the club. Esparza has scored countless important goals and has been a main stay ever since joining. There are certainly better players out there, but he consistently out performs everyone that has joined the club. Esparza also holds the record for most goals in a match and most Man of the Match awards.

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Juan Arellano holds the record for the most goals in a single season with a staggering 75 goals. Esparza and Arellano traded this record for a couple of seasons before Juan absolutely stole the show in 2032/33. Juan is another Mexican striker that will always have a place in my heart. While he is now being replaced by Everton, it breaks my heart to have to leave him on the bench.

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Finally, lets touch on regens from the clubs academy as two feature in the records. Firstly is Tommaso Coppola who is the clubs leading appearance maker. Coppola is a central defender that made 196 apperances before leaving on a free to Cailungo. Sadly he is now a free agent despite making appearances for the national team.

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#

Up next is the youngest goalscorer, Allesandro Tini. This young central defender came through in the youth intake as a 5 star ability player and I almost **** myself. He immediatly entered the team as a 15 year old and remained there until the board accepted a bid of 10.75K which made me feel physically sick. I did manage to renogiate where I asked them to loan him back which was enough for me! Tini has gone on to lead the national team and feature for Bayern Munich who were Champions league runners up in 2036.

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Okay, this is the final part I promise. The nation currently rank 17th in the Coefficiants table. The nation starts dead bottom at the start of the save, and boy was it a long climb. This means as of next season, the winner will be placed in the Champions path second qualifying round, with 3 clubs entering the Euro Cup II at the second qualifying round. The main aim for now is to reach 15th, where 2 clubs will be able to enter the champions league, with the team finishing in 2nd being guranteed a spot in the Euro Cup II group stages as a minimum. This should help boost their finances and hopefully improve there squad. We'll see.

Finally is the clubs coefficiant. San Giovanni rank 26th in the world, putting us above the likes of Tottenham and Benfica, and only one place behind AC Milan. The climb into the top 10 will be significantly more difficult, but with us being the 3rd seed in group stages means we have a better chance of reaching knockouts in at least the Euros every year.

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And I believe that is everything. I will go over the squad in more detail as we begin our season. If there's anything else you would like to see, please let me know! See you all at the start of the season.
 
Season 16

Alright folks. We're all cuaght up (almost) and it's time to begin season 16. I'm still finding my feet with the while writing business, so the format may change but for now I'm going to kick things off with 3 major transfers.


Roberto Lizama- £4.1 Million to Al-Shabab

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Lizama was purchased for £1.6 Million 3 seasons ago and was brought in as a Attacking Midfield option but soon found himself playing as a Box to Box Midfielder. Roberto was an excellent player, there's no doubting that. However, there wre youngsters joining who were arguably better and £4 million with a 50% sell on felt like a good deal.

Blagoja Trajkovski - £1.4 Million from Young Boys.

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This young Macedonian full-back was an absolute fluke of a find. Spotted in January of season 15, Young Boys were wanting £15 Million for him. I would have considered paying that, but decided to have a check to see how long he had on his contract. 3 Years but a relegation release clause of £1.4 Million peaked my intrest. Surely Young Boys wouldn't be going down? They were rock bottom on 10 points, miles behind safety. As soon as the next season rolled around Trajkovski didn't fancy it in the Swiss second division so joined us for what I am counting as an asbolute steal.

Osvaldo Jose - Free from PSG

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With us losing Orpik, we needed a new full back. During my scouting I noticed this young man out of contract and willing to sign. He looked absolutely brilliant and I fiured was worth a shot on a free. the £32K in wages a week is covered by the £0 we paid to aquire him, so feels like good business.

Pre-season/Qualifiers

We finished off our friendlies with convincing wins against Club Brugge and FC Wacker, while comfortably making it to the group stages of the Champions leagues. A total of 44 goals scored and 1 conceded was our total in the qualifiers and shows our knockout stage appearences wasn't a fluke. We would face Inter Milan, Havre FC and Estoril in the group stages (I have played this season, will have fresh pictures in season 17).

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September

"Start as we mean to go on" I tell the boys every season and every season they start well. A comfortable 6-0 victory to continue our domestic dominance against Pennarossa in the super Copa kicked us off followed by easy victories including a 13-0 demolshing of Cosmos. The key result here was a 2-1 victory over Inter Milan. This was hard thought, and not in any way a simple match but certainly have me great ambitions of a knockout stage appearance once again.

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October

We were immediatly brough back to earth follwoing a 1-1 draw with Estoril. This point was annoying, as we'd done more than enough to win the game but couldn't break them down. I guess it's a sign of how far we've come when I'm annoyed at a point in Europe. We then had to grind out a result against Havre. Another game we dominated but couldn't finish in. However, I was now starting to appreciate how far we've come, as we are grinding out results against teams we would have no right to beat a few seasons ago. The league almost through a spanner in the works, with a close 2-1 victory over Pennarossa sandwiched between a 9 and 8 nil win.

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November

The return leg saw us grind out another 1-0 victory over Havrem a victory that mathematically guranteed us knockout football. At this point it was hard to complain, who cares if we only win by 1 but get through each year? Can't lose if we don't concede! We were then shown how to play football by Inter Milan, earning them a fair 3-0 victory. No complaints from me. We almost went the whole month without conceding a goal, but it wasn't to be this month.

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December

December truly was an action packed month. It started in usual fashion as we battered local sides here there and everywhere but I wasn't expecting a 7-0 thrashing of Estoril which only made the draw that more annoying. This was one of those games where everything went right and we ended the group stage in fashion, despite playing on 4 days rest. A further 5 games followed, with victories in the cup putting us through to the Semis which would be played towards the end of the season. We finished the year off with a bang, beating Cosmos 12-0, making it just the 25 goals scored against them this season.

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Loved reading that.
Don't ever be put off sharing the story, end of the game its a game and we can all play it how we want. I always download tactics, don't have the time to invest in trying to figure out how to make mine work. It killed FM19 for me as I refused to download one and was constantly awful! Ha ha.
Great read mate, interested to see how this one pans out!
 
Loved reading that.
Don't ever be put off sharing the story, end of the game its a game and we can all play it how we want. I always download tactics, don't have the time to invest in trying to figure out how to make mine work. It killed FM19 for me as I refused to download one and was constantly awful! Ha ha.
Great read mate, interested to see how this one pans out!

Thank you! The same happened to me. At the end of the day its a game and how you have fun is down to you! I regret nothing!
 
I know its only been a few days but it feels like it's been a life time! I have genuinely been quite busy, which is impressive in the midst of a global pandemic. But alas, here we are. We left in December after maintaining our domestic winning streak as well as qulalifying for the Champions league knockouts for the second year in a row. Would we get knocked out straight away or would we be able to progress for the first time.

Sadly there were no major inbound trophies in the January window but there were two major outbound transfers.

Federico Poroles - £7.5 million to Guangzhou

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The Chinese clubs are slowly becomming a thorn in my side, as they are bidding upwards of £40 million for my main striker Everton. In this case, they bid a measly £3 million for Portoles, which didn't concern me until I realised I'd left a release clause in there like an asbolute rookie. He was upset and wouldnt sign a new contract and the release clause was eventually met. Portoles was signed for £4 million from Boca and amazingly only played 19 league games which is staggering. Great business on paper, but I know I could have got more.

Mourad Boussaid - £15 million to DL Pro

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Another great deal on paper, and in fairness, a great deal for me. Boussaid signed on a free at the end of his contract with PSG and immeaditly established himself as a first team player. I had rejected bids from major clubs in Europe for £10 million, and when DL Pro offered me £13 million, I added a loan back clause, 50% profit fee and bumped the cash up to £15 million. This was a great deal and while it was sad to let him go, good CB aren't too rare this game, and it felt like a good chance to cash in now and potentially again in the future if the big clubs are still after him.

Tobias - £27K from SEP (Joins 10/01/2037)

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Tobias doesn't join us until 2037 but I did purchase him this window and for an absolute steal. A perfectionist mentality, and already a starter in the Brazilian second division, you expect him to develop considerable before joining us, with stats already compareable to Portoles. Even if this kid never makes it, there's almost 0 risk attached to thistransfer, and one I'm excited to see play out.

January

Janaury was a nice simple month, with 3 games played and 3 games won. We found out our opponents in the champions league would be Man United, which made me nervous but oddly optimistic after our performances against them in the season prior. I was quitely confident heading into February we could shock the world.

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February

February consisted of 5 matches, 4 wins and 1 draw. No shock as to who the draw was against. Drawing at home to Man united, with an away goal felt like a loss. We all know teams perform better at home, and going away to Old Trafford would be a step too far... just like it was last time. But ignoring the past, we had a few players get suspended due to 7 yellow cards recieved in the game.

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March

Who cares about the 12-0 win over Folgore, lets talk about that match!!!!!! If you look over to the image below, you will see just how crazy of a game this was. Our star striker came off injured, our left back had a goal disallowed and a Romanina youngster scored a 92nd minute winner, just had Esparza had done last season. To put how much I enjoyed this into context, I'm a Rotherham fan. We recently beat our local rivals with a 97th minute winner (an absolute beauty, utm), and I'm really not sure which I celebrated more. We were drawn against the team at the top of the Bundesliga, No not Bayern or Dortmund. Not even Red Bull... ****** Hertha. I was shocked and thought maybe we had a genuine chance of reaching the Semi's.

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April

Unfortunately, this would be the month our European dream ended. A 2-0 loss away to Hertha followed by a spirited 2-2 home draw finally had the fat lady singing. But we wouldn't go out with our heads down, what an amazing achievement this was. We'd taken on some of Europe's elite and made it this far and it only wet our appetite for more. Hertha went on to win the Champions League, beating Bayern in the final. We ended the regular season winning all our league games, and would take our league form into May to see of another successfull season... I hoped.

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May

Bet I had you all nervous then. Obviously we would go on to win the league and cup, but christ did we make it difficult. After battering Pennarossa in the league cup final, and humiliating Folgore in the Semi's, who at this point must truly despise us, I thought the league final would be a walk in the palk. It was, if you count walking in the park as a nightmarish experience filled with despair and desperation. Everton missed a penalty, which was annoying but we had more than enough chances to bury the game. It really felt like one of those moments where the game would just break. You know the ones where you're unbeaten and you lose to West brom who have 7 points in 29 games. I just couldn't believe it. But up stepped Armando Dotti, a man I had to click on to remind me who he is to score the winner in the 120th minute. As a thank you he will get a special spot after the results, as a thank you (and a reminder of who he is, he looks quite good)

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Thank you very much for reading this far. Up next will be the 2036 Euros with France, followed by season 17 where we will try to expand on our recent European success. As the Sanmerriese say, see you later folks.
 
Euro's 2036

After San Marino's hearty performance against England the other day, it's only fitting we take a look at the Euro's in 2036, where the favourites France are led by the mighty Joe Reid. Would I be able to follow up our world cup win with another trophy? Lets find out.

Czech Reupblic vs France

Our opening game was against the Czech Reupublic and boy did it rock me. This was supposed to be a nice easy game to get us going, but a 37 year old Mbappe couldn't do it for us. We took the lead through a Havertz penalty in the 59th minute only to be pegged back 3 minutes later from a spot kick of there own. We would need to drastically improve.

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France vs Norway

Well, in fairness, we did 100% better in he goalscoring department...But 100% worse in the not conceding to teams we should be beating comfortably department. This was another stinger, especially as I felt we'd buried the dissapointment of the last game by going 2 goals up. Goals in the 65th and 71st minute really made us fear for our sruvival, as we would need to win the last game in order to qualify. I was all but ready to pack my bags and say goodbye to international football.

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France vs Serbia

In a must win game against Serbia, the French ran out 2-0 victors despite a missed penalty from Havertz. I significantly better peformance this time around, allowing only 3 shots compared to our 19. It felt like this game we had finally found our feet and would kick on from here. Havertz bagging a brace was nice as I only put him in due to Mbappe no longer being able to deliver the goods (he retired from football not long after the Euro's)

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Wales vs France (Second round)

A dissapointing start didn't have to devide our fate, and we showed that against Wales. The first of 2 sides we would face from the United Kingdom, we ran our comfrtoable victors in this game. A 92nd conselation goal sweetened the scoreline for Wales, but ultimately we were too strong for the Welshmen and progressed into the quarter finals with barely a scratch. Goals from Bucci and Lescot helped us in our win.

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France vs Spain (quarter final)

Our first true challenge came in the quarter finals as we faced off against Spain. We ultimately made light work of it, keeping them to less shots than Wales in the previous round. A solid performance by our defence was topped off with a goal from centre Bucci to grab is 2nd goal in as many games. Somehow our keeper got a 7.2 despite only making 2 saves, but I prefer that over getting a 6.4 after making 20 saves in previous games. Onto the semi's we go.

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Italy vs France (Semi Final)

Another serious test this time in the form of Italy met us in the Semi's. This felt personally, as San Giovanni are slowly overtaking Italian clubs in Europe, so this was an oppurtunity to kick them while they're down. And boy did we, again limiting them to only a few shots, we had our best game of the whole tournament beating them 3-0. Goals from Lescot, Keita and the only non-regen in Camavinga score the goals that took us through to the final where we would meet Scotland!!!!! Easy win right? See you all with the winners medal, I'm off to Bali.

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Scotland vs France (Final)

Well. The press had an absolute field day when I rocked up to Paris airport on my way to Bali (I booked a non refundable flight like a fool). This is by far the worst result of this save. We beat Spain and Italy, limiting them to 7 shots combined yet we gave away 6 to Scotland and only managed 7 ourselves??????????? I couldn't believe it to be honest, and I expected the sack. They scored with the first chance of the game and we never recovered. We certainly had our chances, Lescot missed a 1 on 1 late in the game but Scotland defended well and held on to their lead. It wasn't a classic that's for sure, but I doubt the people of Glasgow cared too much. Riot's ensued in France, I had to be flown back to San Marino by the secret service. But then some guy on the internet said he didn't like cats OR dogs and everyone quickly forgot, phew.

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Well that's the Euro's over for another 4 years. I'm not entirely sure if I'll continue with France. I think I'll see what the world cup has in store for us. The French side are quite old and they're not providing the world class regens I need. Plus with our domestic life on the up it seems better to focus on the club. We shall see, there'll be at least one more tournament to come I hope. See you soon for the mid season update!
 
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