Wow. Just read my way through this. This is fantastic and has made me consider trying my hand at a country like this. I've never managed a country apart from the big ones apart from Belgium and come to think of it, I enjoyed that too! Thanks for this story it's brilliant to follow and I will make sure to come back for more!

Thanks mate. You should give the a smaller nation a try, the league gets a bit boring when you become dominant but there are plenty of other aspects to keep you interested (buying low, selling high, european football, trying to improve the national side etc).
 

FC Inter Turku
End of season review - 2023
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Finnish Premier League - Winners

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Finnish League Cup - Winners

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Finnish Cup - Winners

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Champions League - 3rd in Group

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Europa League - 1st Knockout round (in progress)

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Fans Player of the Year - Walter Arza

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Best 11:

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Overall Best 11:

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Next update will be a review for the Finnish national team in 2023...

 

Finland
2023

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Fixtures:

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Another great year for the national side, winning 5, drawing 1 and losing 1 in the 7 qualifying games played, resulting in Finland qualifying for their first ever major international tournament, Euro 2024! This is how the qualifying group ended...

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World Ranking - 25th

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Player of the Year - Simon Skrabb

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Juntunen in 2nd place came through our academy, and after a couple of poor transfers seems to have finally settled at Lokomotiv Moscow and is playing well.

Under 21 Player of the Year - Markus Scheweleff

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All 3 are graduates of our academy who have moved onto pastures new, however the winner Scheweleff is coming back to us on a free at the end of June after selling him for £4,000,000, to be our backup left winger, so we can develop him to his full potential.

Best 11:

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Overall Best 11:

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Euro 2024 Group:

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Finland will probably just be happy to be there, and could chuck up a surprise or two during the tournament. Serbia and Portugal are both rated higher than Finland but Denmark are 5 places behind them. Hopefully the Finnish manager might retire at the end of the tournament!


Next update will be Europa League knockout round update...

 
Fingers crossed you get your chance to work with the National team soon! Keep up the amazing work mate. :)
 

FC Inter Turku
Europa League - Knockout Rounds 2024

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1st Knockout Round - FC Inter Turku 4 - 1 Valencia

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We got off to a great start in only our second ever Europa League knockout round appearance, beating Valencia 3-0 at home in the first leg before drawing 1-1 at the Nuevo Mestella, securing a comfortable 4-1 win on aggregate and setting up a tie against Vitesse in the next round.

2nd Knockout Round -
FC Inter Turku 8 - 4 Vitesse

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Into the Europa League quarter finals we go with a comfortable victory over the Dutch side! In reality the tie was all over after the first leg in which we won 5-1, however the second leg was a really entertaining affair which ended 3-3. We've been drawn against Parma in the next round, who are a very strong Italian side on the save, so we may have reached the end of our journey...


Next update will either be another Europa League update, or a pre-season update...

 
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FC Inter Turku
Season Preview - 2024
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Transfers:

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My main 2 sales were that of Finnish internationals Heikkinen and Coulthirst, as with the Euros coming up I thought it would be best to let them go and get 1st team football to allow them to fight for a place on the plane to Spain! Unfortunately, we could only get pitiful fees for them because of the **** reputation of the league, combined with their ages.

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On the incomings, we signed a brilliant Chilean centre midfielder who could be a starter for us for the next 12 years.

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League Cup:

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Another nice League cup win for the boys, especially with the backups playing the majority of the later matches in between Europa League games.

Squad:

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Other News:

1)
Paulo Marcelo (Our backup left winger) has now taken up Finnish nationality, just in time for the European Championship. They currently don't play wingers though, so he may struggle to make it into the squad.

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Next update will be a Europa League review for the quarter finals, and the semi finals if we make it there...

 

FC Inter Turku
Europa League Knockout Stages (Part 2)

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Quarter Final - FC Inter Turku 5 - 2 Parma

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In the first leg against Parma at home, I was severely disappointed to end up drawing the game 2-2 as we were by far the better team and it left a lot of hard work for the 2nd leg away in Italy. Luckily, in the 2nd leg we produced arguably our best ever away performance in Europe, winning 3-0 with a goal each from our front 3. This set up a semi final against Liverpool, who were sitting in 2nd in the Premier League at the time.

Semi Final - FC Inter Turku 2 - 5 Liverpool

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For the first time in the tournament, we had to play the first leg of the tie away from home and we got punished for it, losing 4-1 at Anfield with 3 goals in the last 13 minutes from Liverpool effectively killing the tie off. Any slim chance we had of mounting a come back in the second leg was killed off by a 4th minute opener from Liverpool at the Veritas Stadion. We did draw the game 1-1 to restore a little bit of pride though. So, a decent run in the Europa League ends at the semi final stage. Ultimately, reaching the semi finals probably won't do much for the club as we would need to win it to increase our reputation, but it will improve our coefficient rating a bit.


Next update will be an April and May review...

 

FC Inter Turku
April and May 2024
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Fixtures:

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We've flew out of the blocks in the league, winning every game and also getting through to the Finnish Cup quarter final. We don't have a game until mid July now though due to the fact that Finland has qualified for the Euro's. We won't be playing catch up though, as it seems the game has put in place a break for the whole league due to Finland qualifying, which is a nice touch I think. Our fixture pile up through the latter half of the season with European games in there will be hellish though!

Player Stats:

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League Table:

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Only 1 goal conceded in 7 games!

Other News:

1)
The Finland squad has been announced for the Euro's. The biggest decision made was to leave out winger Walter Arza! We only actually have 5 players make the 23, with 4 ex-players in the squad. 5 players in the squad were produced by our youth academy.
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Next update will be a special European Championship update, to look at how Finland get on in the tournament!

 

Finland
European Championships - 2024

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Finland 1 - 1 Denmark

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A crowd of 80,000 turned up at the Bernabeu to witness Finland's first ever game at a major tournament. On the pitch, Denmark dominated the first half and Finland were probably lucky to go in just 1-0 down. However, the introduction of arguably the best player to come out of the Inter Turku academy, Marko Byskata, at half time swung the momentum in Finland's favour. He equalized after just 3 minutes of the second half, with the first ever goal by a Finland player at a major tournament, meaning they picked up a point from their first game.

Finland 0 - 3 Serbia

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Unfortunately, they couldn't build on the draw in the first game as Serbia ran riot over them in their second appearance, leaving Finland hanging onto their place in the tournament.

Finland 1 - 1 Portugal

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The San Mames of Bilbao was the location for the final group game for Finland and the game started well as Inter Turku winger Paolo Marcelo put Finland ahead after just 7 minutes with a free kick from 25 yards. However, Portugal equalized just 15 minutes later and were the better team for the rest of the game, but Finland held on for the point meaning they finished the group stages with 2 points...

Final Group Standings:

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Despite not winning a game, Finland only narrowly missed out on qualification as one of the best placed 3rd teams. Scotland qualified from their group with 2 points in 3rd place, however they had a goal difference of just -1 whereas Finland's GD was -3. Overall, it wasn't a bad showing from Finland in their first tournament as it was a pretty strong group they were placed in.

The bad news however, is that the manager did not resign after the tournament so I still don't get the chance to apply for the job! He is 57 now so I'm hoping he's not too far off of retiring but I won't hold my breath...


Next update will be a quick review of the months of June and July, not many games to go over due to the Euro's but we do enter the 2nd qualifying rounds of the Champions League and sign back a former youth academy graduate on a free who we sold for a decent fees a few years back...

 
!Q!


FC Inter Turku
June and July 2024

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Fixtures:

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We've picked up right where we left off before the break, putting plenty of goals past teams and not conceding many either. We've cruised into the Champions League 3rd qualifying round, with 2 6-0 victories over the Latvian champs.

Player Stats:

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Viljanen and Strandvall are both proving capable of leading the line for us, which can only have a positive effect on the national side.

League Table:

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We're 12 from 12 so far this season, however I feel it will be hard to remain unbeaten throughout the whole of this season as the games are coming so thick and fast. Saying that, our backup side would still comfortably win this league so I don't envisage any big problems.

Other News:

1)
We bring back striker Markus Scheweleff from Napoli on a free. I intend on retraining him as a left winger as he doesn't really fit as a deep lying forward and I feel with Viljanen and Strandvall, we don't really need him as a striker for the club or national team.

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2) I was also able to sell a young attacking midfielder for £2,400,00 + 50% of his next transfer fee. It's strange how I can get that sort of money for an unproven young player but cant get someone to even offer £1,000,000 for a 26 year old winger in the prime of his career!

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3) The league stayed in the same place in the European coefficients but the club jumped up a few places once again. The league also rose a place in the competition rankings.

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Next update will be a Champions League qualifying update...

 

FC Inter Turku
Champions League Qualifying - 2024

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3rd Round - FC Inter Turku 11 -
0 Sarajevo

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A comfortable win in the 3rd qualifying round against the Bosnian champions, beating them 6-0 at home and then 5-0 away in Bosnia.

Playoff Round - FC Inter Turku 5 - 2 Stromgodset

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We qualified for the Champions League again as expected, with a 3-0 win at home followed by a scrappy 2-2 draw in the away leg sent us through 5-2 on aggregate.

Group Draw:

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This should be a pretty competitive group. Man City are the strongest team in the group, however the other 3 teams are pretty well matched and all will have a chance of making it through the group. No other Finnish sides made it into the group stages of European football, with HJK dropping out at the playoff stage of the Europa League with a 3-2 defeat on aggregate to Wigan whils IFK went out at the same stage, with a 6-3 aggregate defeat against Standard Liege.


Next up will be an update of the rest of the domestic season...

 

FC Inter Turku
August, September and October 2024

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Fixtures:

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We've had to really use the whole squad over a very busy 3 month period, but the results weren't affected and we only dropped 4 points over the period and managed to retain our Finnish Cup.

Player Stats:

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Markus Scheweleff has been impressive since rejoining, whilst Strandvall and Viljanen both managed to bang in over 30 goals. Vitor Cesar and Walter Arza led the way with assists, getting 22 and 21 respectively.

League Table:

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The draw in the second last game of the season stopped us breaking the points record, ending the season on 95 points which is the same as last year. We did smash the goals record though, adding another 15 goals to our tally of 99 last season.

Other News:

1) We received £1,500,000 from ex-player Gastron Andrada's move from Hannover to Hoffenheim.

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2) We get a goalkeeper with very good potential in the youth intake, a future Finland international surely.

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Next update will be a Champions League group stage update...

 
Amazing work so far mate, really hope I can emulate what you have done in this save and your others, when I do my next story! Keep up the good work, hopefully the national manager job isn't too far away! :)
 

FC Inter Turku
Champions League - Group Stages

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Fixtures:

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I'm feeling a bit lazy and so I'm not writing each match out individually this time. The campaign started with a hard fought 2-1 defeat at home to Man City before an impressive 3-0 win away in Russia due to a Walter Arza hatrick. Unfortunately, we lost the following game at home to Udinese 3-1, but we got the best possible revenge in match day 4, smashing them 6-0 in their own stadium. Our worst performance was on match day 5 when we got hammered 4-0 away to Manchester City before we won our final game at home to CSKA, with Markus Scheweleff coming off the bench to grab a 91st minute winner. Here's a screenshot of the away win vs Udinese, our best ever away performance in Europe...

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Group Table:

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Man City cruised through the group, whilst we were able to ****** 2nd place with 9 points from the 3 games.

1st Knockout Round Draw:

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Our reward for getting through the tie is a difficult looking tie against Premier League side Tottenham. Our record against English sides is pretty awful, so I don't hold much hope of getting through to be honest...


Next up will be an end of season review...

 

FC Inter Turku
End of Season Review - 2024
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Finnish Premier League - Winners

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Finnish Cup - Winners

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Finnish League Cup - Winners

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Champions League - 1st Knockout Round (in progress)

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Fans Player of the Year - Jorma Viljanen

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Best 11:

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Overall Best 11:

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Next up will be a 2024 review for Finland...

 

Finland
2024
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Fixtures:

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A year that promised so much with their first ever major tournament appearance ended in a catastrophic disappointment. They failed to make it out of the group stages, and won only 2 games from 12 all year! To top it off, they had an absolutely humiliating defeat at the hands of minnows Andorra! Still, the manager's job is stable though!

European Championship Group:

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World Cup Qualifying Group:

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A terrible start sees Finland 2nd bottom and sitting behind Andorra in the group, with little to no chance of progessing...

World Ranking - 57th

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32 places down from the end of last year.

Player of the Year - Tomi Heikkinen

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Under 21 Player of the Year - Jesse Strandvall

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Best 11:

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Overall Best 11:

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Next update will be a Champions League 1st knockout round review, where we play Tottenham...

 

FC Inter Turku
Champions League 1st Knockout Round - 2024
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1st Leg - FC Inter Turku 1 - 3 Tottenham Hotspur

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2nd Leg - Tottenham Hotspur 6 - 3 FC Inter Turku

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A comprehensive defeat over two legs against the English side, and we just can't seem to bridge the gap to the top sides in the big leagues.


Next update will be a season preview...
 

FC Inter Turku
Season Preview - 2025

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Transfers:

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A pretty quiet window as we bring in one young centre back go and bring another one in on the cheap, whilst making just over a £3,000,000 profit. Jussi Grohn came through the academy and already has a Finnish cap at just 18, but he was never going to be a 1st teamer and with his solid personality I figure he will reach his potential away from the club. Ignacio Rocco is a young Argentinian centre back who we got for a cut price 600k as his contract was expiring, he'll be furst choice back up and will eventually qualify to play for Finland in 6 years time, as long as he doesn't get a call up for Argentina...

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Finnish League Cup:

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Another Finnish League Cup in the bag!

Squad:

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Jesse Strandvall is starting to push Viljanen for the first choice striker role, but there's not much other change to the starting 11...


Next up will be a April and May review...
 
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FC Inter Turku
April and May 2025

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Fixtures:

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Not a 100% start as we dared to drop 2 points at home to IFK, but overall it's been a very good start. Our defence of the Finnish Cup has had no hiccups and we have progressed to the semi final.

Player Stats:

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Brazilian right winger Cesar has been the standout player so far. He's only 395 days off of becoming a Finnish national, but he'll be 29 by then so Finland won't get much use out of him.

League Table:

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We'll have to all 23 remaining games to set a new points record, and we currently are on a 108 unbeaten run in league football.


Next update will be a June and July review, can we continue our form and will the Finnish League gain back it's 2nd Champions League spot?

 

FC Inter Turku
June and July 2025

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Fixtures:

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A much better couple of months in terms of the quality of our wins, with 2 big 11-0 wins over the Faroese champions and an 8-0 win in the league over SJK. The best game was our 4-3 win over IFK, where it was nice to see another Finnish side putting up a good fight against us.

Player Stats:

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Vitor Cesar has continued his brilliant start to the season and has been banging them in from the right wing. Rodgrio Medel, the 20 year old Chilean midfielder is really starting to hit top form as well and I believe he is the one true world class player in our squad!

League Table:

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Other News:

1)
The league drops one place in the competition rankings but remains 17th in the European coefficients. The club jumped a couple of places in the club coefficient rankings.

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Next update will be a Champions League qualifying update...

 
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