someone on here asks why no one has answered their queries - it's because such basic stuff isn't worth the effort.
how do you put a break in the premier league? well, have a look through the tabs when you're recreating the league and you'll find how.
Anyway, here is my updated, simplified UEFA and European cups. UEFA takes in national cup winners. They both have qual rounds before moving to the group stage, then last 16 and on to final. The seeding mechanism allows the top teams to skip the qual rounds through to the group stages - 24 teams go straight through to the 32-team group stage in the European Cup, 20 do the same in the UEFA to mix it up a bit more. Match days are Tuesday for UEFA, Wednesday for European, and the final is played in a neutral stadium.
Match winners get lots of money, and draws earn both teams. Cup winners get lots of dosh too.
I have knocked out some of the lesser countries - obviously if you tweak the qual rounds you can get them in oif you really want to but they never win anything anyway!
I have edited so that teams are forced to pick homegrown players - there must be a minimum of 13 home-grown players in the match squad. The AI copes well with this demand.
I've also updated my Italian league system - 4 divisions and a cup, plus four divisions of non-league, PLUS a custom reserve league of 3 divisions of 16 reserve teams with promotion and relegation . All major clubs are represented in these leagues and they play in the background with no extra demand on the CPU.
I have restricted squad size to 25, it takes 30 years to gain citizenship and there must be a set number of homegrown players in the match-day squad. A team is allowed only four foreign players in that 25, and that includes EU players. A maximum of three foreign players are allowed in the match-day squad. The two transfer windows are short.
This is an attempt to reflect Italian football in its 90s heyday when there were a max of three foreigners in a team and Italian players were the business. The AI handles this very well and consequently doesn't buy up crappy players from abroad - established internationals and Italian players are prized but the AI does still scout and buy young foreigners who develop in the u21 league and reserves.
I've set the Serie A to be the best league in the world, highest reputation, and lots of money. I have tweaked my favourite team Sampdoria so you might want to have a look at the stats and stuff - Di Carlo is now a coach rather than a manager, Pazzini, Marilungo and Cassano haven't been transferred, all loans and shared-ownership deals have been rescinded, the staff is small but high-quality and there's a bit more dosh in the bank.
A word of warning - make sure your squad numbers are assigned to the players you have selected for your 25-man squad. If you don't and the registration window expires, you are unable to use the players in your squad who do not have a squad number and basically, you're ****** as you won't be able to name a match-day squad.