German Lower Leagues- Second and Third Division guides.
I highly recommend a German Lower League game, I did it with Offenbach in FM2010, guiding them to the Bundesliga. The quality of players is very good (I had 3 players from my original team in 2010 still with me at the top tier)
One of the major issues with nearly every German club is debt, every team bar a few are saddled with this. Some clubs have potential to operate very well in the Bundesliga, and a requirement of this is at least 20,000+ ground (makes you bigger than Mainz). I generally stay away from teams that do not meet this criteria.
The general objective of this guide is about taking a bottom tier team into the top whilst maintaining a wage budget smaller than every single top tier club, whilst not compromising field success. In other words, you'll be securing mid to top half finishes (good prize money here), if lucky, Europe, whilst keeping expenditures small, leading to occasional monthly profits, whilst retaining mass surpluses to upgrade your youth infrastructure (the cornerstone of this guide).
Lower League Clubs to look out for:
Karlsruhe SC (Established youth recruitment- can get good regens at start of game, low debt, city is about the size of Stoke so expansion is plausible after purchasing ground)
Offenbach (Great players in Marko Kopilas and Nicolas Feldhahn- quite decent ground)
Dynamo Dresden (Average youth recruitment- quite decent ground, fairly big city irl, so expect some expansion in the future after purchasing the ground, a bit of debt but should be out by December)
Fortuna Dusseldorf (One giant ground, 51,000 capacity- massive debt however)
TSV 1860 Munchen (Alianz Arena- good youth system, proven quality players)
Challenges
Eintracht Braunschweig (10M debt, insecure finances, with only decent ground (on high rent))
FC Ingolstadt 04 (Poor youth side)
SC Paderborn (Same predicament as EinBrau)
Saarbrucken (30% of gate receipt rent, low attendances in a 35K stadium)
Babelsberg/Heidenheim (Low reputation, small stadiums)
Survival Tips.
1) Free Transfers- Use your free transfer skills to the max here, so many good players, on occasions about Championship quality will play for your club, especially given the status of debt that permeates throughout German leagues (a side effect of their 51% fan/49% corporate owner system). There are no pesky work permit systems- but in the third division, you can't sign non-EU from abroad (but from a German team, yes.). Do use this to replace outgoing players or players you will buy with intent to sell them on at profit.
2) Loans- Loan players are a great way to further bulk up your side. Though you may be only allowed 4 loan players, there are many top tier quality players to choose from, and will join you down here. To maximise your 4, hire players that can play multiple positions. Kevin Wolze can be good.
3) Youth- Even clubs in the third division can have pretty decent youth players in the ranks. I recommend just loading new game over and over again until you have the desired amount of youth players that you want to promote to the 1st team- this will help if you're Offenbach- smallest squad in the league. Offer them contracts immediately to prevent FC Bayern and its ilk from poaching. They will generally accept a very low wage (as low as 90 pounds a week depending on who). Make sure you tick add players to playable teams. Once you get higher, you will be in a position to be the poacher- steal as many as you can.
4) Money making opportunities- Use your pre-season (June-Jul for third divs, June-Aug, for second divs) to host friendly leagues with 1.Bundesliga clubs. Werder Bremen, Schalke and HSV are always willing for your abuse. These matches attract high attendance, and are televised, which makes tons of money, and will greatly assist in getting rid of that massive debt you have. There is a January break, repeat again. This should earn upwards of 2-3M. Sure this might be cheating, but does it look like you have a choice?
5) Cull, Cull, Cull!-With such debt, and low ticket prices, cull as many players as you can- especially fringe players on 2K a week or above. Sell them off ASAP, once rid of, these spots can be taken by cheap as chips youth players. Culling will be your strategy as you make your way towards Bundesliga. At first cull your wages by all means, and as you grow up in stature, start making profits on players you bought. Keep to yourselves a very threadbare squad, about 20-25 first team players (3 gks max) with as many youngsters as you want (55 pounds a week isn't much). Generally my modus operandi would be 20 (about 8 would be key players, 8 rotational and 4 hot prospects) and 4 fringe youngsters who show talent (and make up the numbers as well).
6) Take advantage of America(s)- Do you know why Jermaine Jones, Steven Cherundolo, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark ply their trade here? Take advantage of the US, Argentina and Brazil from the second division on, watch especially for American regens, who are of very good quality over half the time, on occasions just world class- and thanks to no work permit system, you can just sign, sign, sign. Sign as many as you can, plonk them into the side, but do leave some EU players (if you can find Americans with Italian/Irish/English/German blood, all the better!) for the German Cup games. One of the easiest to quickly get the heads up on the American market is to set your manager's nationality as American.
Happy hunting.
I highly recommend a German Lower League game, I did it with Offenbach in FM2010, guiding them to the Bundesliga. The quality of players is very good (I had 3 players from my original team in 2010 still with me at the top tier)
One of the major issues with nearly every German club is debt, every team bar a few are saddled with this. Some clubs have potential to operate very well in the Bundesliga, and a requirement of this is at least 20,000+ ground (makes you bigger than Mainz). I generally stay away from teams that do not meet this criteria.
The general objective of this guide is about taking a bottom tier team into the top whilst maintaining a wage budget smaller than every single top tier club, whilst not compromising field success. In other words, you'll be securing mid to top half finishes (good prize money here), if lucky, Europe, whilst keeping expenditures small, leading to occasional monthly profits, whilst retaining mass surpluses to upgrade your youth infrastructure (the cornerstone of this guide).
Lower League Clubs to look out for:
Karlsruhe SC (Established youth recruitment- can get good regens at start of game, low debt, city is about the size of Stoke so expansion is plausible after purchasing ground)
Offenbach (Great players in Marko Kopilas and Nicolas Feldhahn- quite decent ground)
Dynamo Dresden (Average youth recruitment- quite decent ground, fairly big city irl, so expect some expansion in the future after purchasing the ground, a bit of debt but should be out by December)
Fortuna Dusseldorf (One giant ground, 51,000 capacity- massive debt however)
TSV 1860 Munchen (Alianz Arena- good youth system, proven quality players)
Challenges
Eintracht Braunschweig (10M debt, insecure finances, with only decent ground (on high rent))
FC Ingolstadt 04 (Poor youth side)
SC Paderborn (Same predicament as EinBrau)
Saarbrucken (30% of gate receipt rent, low attendances in a 35K stadium)
Babelsberg/Heidenheim (Low reputation, small stadiums)
Survival Tips.
1) Free Transfers- Use your free transfer skills to the max here, so many good players, on occasions about Championship quality will play for your club, especially given the status of debt that permeates throughout German leagues (a side effect of their 51% fan/49% corporate owner system). There are no pesky work permit systems- but in the third division, you can't sign non-EU from abroad (but from a German team, yes.). Do use this to replace outgoing players or players you will buy with intent to sell them on at profit.
2) Loans- Loan players are a great way to further bulk up your side. Though you may be only allowed 4 loan players, there are many top tier quality players to choose from, and will join you down here. To maximise your 4, hire players that can play multiple positions. Kevin Wolze can be good.
3) Youth- Even clubs in the third division can have pretty decent youth players in the ranks. I recommend just loading new game over and over again until you have the desired amount of youth players that you want to promote to the 1st team- this will help if you're Offenbach- smallest squad in the league. Offer them contracts immediately to prevent FC Bayern and its ilk from poaching. They will generally accept a very low wage (as low as 90 pounds a week depending on who). Make sure you tick add players to playable teams. Once you get higher, you will be in a position to be the poacher- steal as many as you can.
4) Money making opportunities- Use your pre-season (June-Jul for third divs, June-Aug, for second divs) to host friendly leagues with 1.Bundesliga clubs. Werder Bremen, Schalke and HSV are always willing for your abuse. These matches attract high attendance, and are televised, which makes tons of money, and will greatly assist in getting rid of that massive debt you have. There is a January break, repeat again. This should earn upwards of 2-3M. Sure this might be cheating, but does it look like you have a choice?
5) Cull, Cull, Cull!-With such debt, and low ticket prices, cull as many players as you can- especially fringe players on 2K a week or above. Sell them off ASAP, once rid of, these spots can be taken by cheap as chips youth players. Culling will be your strategy as you make your way towards Bundesliga. At first cull your wages by all means, and as you grow up in stature, start making profits on players you bought. Keep to yourselves a very threadbare squad, about 20-25 first team players (3 gks max) with as many youngsters as you want (55 pounds a week isn't much). Generally my modus operandi would be 20 (about 8 would be key players, 8 rotational and 4 hot prospects) and 4 fringe youngsters who show talent (and make up the numbers as well).
6) Take advantage of America(s)- Do you know why Jermaine Jones, Steven Cherundolo, DaMarcus Beasley, Michael Bradley and Ricardo Clark ply their trade here? Take advantage of the US, Argentina and Brazil from the second division on, watch especially for American regens, who are of very good quality over half the time, on occasions just world class- and thanks to no work permit system, you can just sign, sign, sign. Sign as many as you can, plonk them into the side, but do leave some EU players (if you can find Americans with Italian/Irish/English/German blood, all the better!) for the German Cup games. One of the easiest to quickly get the heads up on the American market is to set your manager's nationality as American.
Happy hunting.
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