The Football Ambassador Challenge Journal

[Buchenwald]

Hey guys!

I have started a story a few months ago about a French team...but it was too long to write so I dropped it.

The posts will be different : It will be reports of months of play, transfers, etc. No storytelling, just gameplay.

The challenge is tough :
-Be the ambassador of football in Iceland.

Iceland is a very small country (317 000 hab.), with an underdeveloped football association. They are ranked 124th in FIFA, and they are in the bottom of the UEFA club ranking. They send one team to Champions League, in 2nd Round, and three teams to Europa League, one in 2nd Round and two in 1st Round.
The biggest team is worth 2.1M€, and every team of Iceland is semi-pro.

The challenge :
-Starting in Sunday League, take over an Icelander team
-Win the championship
-Take the team to Champion's League level, eventually winning it
-Raise Iceland's global level (changing teams is allowed) to the point where Iceland is 1st in UEFA, sending 4 teams to C1.

-At the same time, take over the national team
-Win both Euro and World Cup

Why Iceland? Because it's the worst European country playable (well there's Northern Ireland, but they have good players in their national team, and they have good regens via Irish and English teams and double-nationalities)

 

[Buchenwald]

Iceland for dummies :

-1st division : "Simadeildin"
-2nd division : "1st division"
-3rd division : Not in FM

Simadeildin : 12 teams. (22 games)
1st : C1
2nd and 3rd : Europa League
11 and 12 : Out
Games : May to September, every week

Iceland Cup
Games : May to August
System : Classic (if draw, extra time + penalty shootout)
Winner : Europa League

League Cup
Games : March to April
Teams : 24 (Simadeildin and L1)
System : 3 groups of 8 (7 games only), the 1st goes through, along with the best 2nd. Semi-final, final.
Winner : Nothing!

Iceland Supercup
May
Simadeildin winner v. Cup winner

"Summer" Transfer window : January to May
"Winter" Transfer window : 2 weeks in August

As you can see, the cycle is reversed compared to European standards. I don't know when vacations will be but there will be a LOT of friendlies to keep the players busy. Champions League might be tougher than expected (which is saying something)

Teams in Simadeildin :
FH, KR, Valur, Keflavik, Breioablik, Fram, IBV : 2 stars (popularity)
Grindavik, Fylkir, Stjarnan, Vikingur, Por : 1.5 star

I am going to pick Vikingur, because that's the only cool name out there. I am expected to finish the season second to last. The game starts the 1st of January 2012.

 

[Buchenwald]

Season 2011 Recap

This is a post that I will do every game year, to give information on Iceland's football level

Winners
Simadeildin : Breioablik
Iceland Cup : FH
League Cup : KR
Super Cup : FH

European Competitions 2011-2012
C1
Breioablik : 2nd round (loss 0-2, 0-3 against Victoria Pizen, Czech Rep.)

Europa League :
KR entered in 1st round, went to 3rd round (loss 1-1, 0-2 against Alania, Russia)
FH entered in 2nd round, went to 3rd round (loss 0-2, 0-4 against Mayence, Germany)
IBV entered in 2nd round, loss 1-1, 1-3 against Larnaca, Cyprus

Biggest team : Breioablik, est. 2.1M€
Sum of Simadeildin teams : 11.64M

Simadeildin competition level :
Cup : 2 stars
Simadeildin, League Cup, Super Cup, 1st Division : 1.5 star

Iceland european rank : 40 (1 team in C1 2nd round, 1 team in Eur 2nd round, 2 teams in Eur 1st round)
Iceland national team : 124 in FIFA

Up next : the team of Vikingur, and the friendlies.
​

 

[draamkov]

Wow!! This is a very tough challenge , will follow this .
Good luck mate

 

[Buchenwald]

Vikingur!

View attachment 305976

Based in Reyljavik, the Iceland Capital, the team just won 1st Division and promotion to Simadeildin. They are a former "big" team in Iceland, winning Simadeildin 5 times (last time in 1991). They have one Iceland Cup (1971) and no League Cup yet.

The team has crappy installations ...
2000-person stadium
5 grey star training center
"Meh" youth center
Rudimentary youth recruitement

The cold in Reykjavik means there will be cancelled games in January to March, and that the grass will become rough more often.

The president gave me the following tasks
Simadeildin : Top 10 (stay)
Cup : Quarter Final
League Cup : Doesn't care
Transfer/Wage budget : 0€ - 450k€/month

I should note that for a team expected to end 11 in Simadeildin, the President is asking a lot in the Cup. I think he will be a pain in the *** when I get to C1.

Authorised staff :
Medic : 1
Trainer : 2
Supervisor : 1

Ok, now that's just wrong. I talked some sense into the president and expanded it to :
Medic : 1
Trainer : 4
Supervisor : 6

I recruited a goal trainer because my keepers weren't happy with the situation. Speaking of the team....my key player is 37. You heard me.

View attachment 305980

My transfer center is EMPTY. I don't know anyone to recruit. And my supervisors can only go to Scandinavian countries, or England. I sent them to Faroe, Finland, Norway, England, Iceland (duh) and Iceland again. My team is barely Simadeildin level. The youths all suck.

(I won't post the starting 11 yet)

Oh, and I have two whole months of friendlies to schedule before the League Cup starts. I'm going to win money by losing against the big teams....another bad news : I can't face non-Iceland teams because 1) It's January and 2) Iceland is far away from everyone.

My "good" players are the Central Midfielders and Left/Right Midfielders, so I use them in my main tactic :

View attachment 305982

The striker is a target man. The transition between midfield and attack worries me, so I put a focus on crosses and passes. No through balls, my players have crappy speed.

At the same time, some agents come knocking at my door with unemployed players. GREAT.

In :
César (Left Midfield)
Guobrandson (Central Midfield)
Kambou (Defensive Midfielder)
Jonasson (Left Midfield)


Pictures next post. Kambou is from Ivory Coast, and I can only use 3 non-EU players (African players don't count :/)


Okay, here goes nothing...

Haukar 1-5 Vikingur
Marshall, César, Sigurosson, Takefusa, Rutgers

BI 2-2 Vikingur
Marshall, César
César injured

LV 0-2 Vikingur
Marshall, Sveinsson

Vikingur 1-1 KR
Sigurosson

Vikingur 1-0 Keflavik
Marshall

Vikingur 1-4 Breioablik
Magnusson

Vikingur 2-2 FH
Marshall, Sigurosson

César is back
Vikingur 0-1 Fram

Vikingur 1-0 Valur
César

A promising set of games. I learned that Marshall, my right midfielder, owns. The players have great troubles keeping their fitness, so I had games every 3 days. The games went nicely, especially against Simadeildin top dogs. A big loss against the reigning Champion though.

César had a great impact on games when he was there. He's 37 so only here for a season though. If some of them remember him, he was in Inter in 07-08.

I have two good strikers according to my *** man, but they don't have an impact on the games yet.

Rutgers is a solid CD but the other three defenders suck, and the goalie is mediocre.

Oh, and no B team. If any of my key players is not here, I'm dead.

Coming soon : League Cup, and my starting 11.
​

 

[Buchenwald]

2012- Part 2 : League Cup

Okay, so I forgot to mention two extra Iceland rules :
-You can use players who have signed on a month trial. I'm definitely going to abuse this.
-Yellow cards limit is 4. However, once you pass that, the limit becomes 2. It's a clever system, but my meaner players will miss some games...

Starting 11 :
GK - Pormar
Def (right to left) : Einarsson - Rutgers - Alatson - Bjnarnason
MD : Kambou
Mid (right to left) : Marshall - Briem - Guobrandsson - César
ST : Sigurosson/Takefusa

View attachment 306233View attachment 306235View attachment 306236View attachment 306237View attachment 306238View attachment 306239View attachment 306240View attachment 306241View attachment 306242View attachment 306243View attachment 306244


This is not a Simadeildin winning team level yet, but we can hope for midtable while we sign some more players
BTW : I have 25 contracts expiring in the end of the year, most of them useless players, but some of them in this team (Sigurosson, César...)

Reminder : 24 teams (3x8) in the League Cup. The first team and the best second team go to the semi-finals.

My group : Valur (arch rival, expected 3rd), Grindavik, Fylkir, IA (Simadeildin middle class), IR, Prottur, KA (1st division), me.

I'm going to aim for best 2nd with a draw with Valur.

IA 2-4 Vikingur
Sigurosson (3), Marshall

KA 0-1 Vikingur
Sigurosson

Vikingur 1-0 Prottur
Sigurosson

IR 3-3 Vikingur
Kambou, Alatson, Marshall

Vikingur 0-0 Grindavik

Vikingur 1-0 Fylkir
Kambou

Vikingur 2-1 Valur
El Bahri, Marshall

We finished 1st!! I recruited a great player before the last game :

View attachment 306246

He is really top Simadeildin level. And cheap! I love him already.

View attachment 306248

My players are really playing good football, and my "wingers" have the best assists and goals. Sigurosson start to score important goals, and when he's not, he's pressuring the opponents who eventually crack.

League Cup Semi-final
FH 1-2 (aet) Vikingur
Sigurosson (88'!)
Kambou (101')

League Cup FINAL
Vikingur 4-1 Haukar
Tokpa, Rutgers, Sigurosson, OG

WE WON!!! I recruited another top player for the midfield :

View attachment 306251


This is great, we really played well and I can't wait to start Simadeildin!
Bad news however : As a winner, I won....11k€ -__- And my team won 7k in prizes... -_- Meaning I only won 4k oO
I hope the Cup and Simadeildin pay better, because I need the cash...

I was scared of the poor level of my defense, but my tactic is a solid one, with quick passes and good transition between defense and offense. Sigurosson is often alone and marked by the two CD opponents though.

We're in May, so coming soon : Simadeildin part 1, Cup, and the European contracts about to expire...
​

 

[Buchenwald]

2011, Simadeildin part 1

The board wants us to stay in Simadeildin, but we will be aiming for victory. Our performances in the League Cup were very good.
I also want to win the Cup for the money.

Vikingur 4-3 FH
César (2), El Bahri, Sigurosson
Ridiculous first half where we went 4-0. Ridiculous second half too...

Stjarnan 0-3 Vikingur
Marshall, Alatson, Tokpa (p)

Vikingur 4-1 KR
Tokpa, Sigurosson, Marshall, OG

Fylkir 0-3 Vikingur
El Bahri, Sigurosson (2)

Iceland Cup 3rd round
Grindavik 1-3 Vikingur
Takefusa, Briemm, Tokpa

Vikingur 2-0 Grindavik
Sigurosson, Rutgers

IBV 1-3 Vikingur
Sigurosson (3)

Vikingur 2-0 Por
OG, El Bahri

Iceland Cup Last 16
Vikingur (aet) 4-1 FH
El Bahri (3), Sigurosson

Keflavik 3-2 Vikingur
Rutgers, El Bahri
Our first defeat! The Keflavik team was very motivated against us (and their coach spent the whole week talking trash about me, he hates me) I'm going to befriend him, because I really got my *** kicked here and I don't want that to happen again.

Vikingur 2-0 Breioablik
Alatson, Sigurosson

Fram 2-0 Vikingur
Ouch! Fram is playing well too.

Iceland Cup Quarter Final
Vikingur 1-0 Selfoss
Alatson
We totally dominated the match against a 1st division team, but their goalie was on steroids. Scored the winning goal in a corner kick.

Valur 2-2 Vikingur
Rutgers, Sigurosson

The first half was good! A long winning streak to begin the season, and the difficulties came with the Cup, where we got two tough opponents (FH and Grindavik) which forced me to play B-class players in the Simadeildin, and I lost points.

We're first!!

View attachment 306768

Our arch-rival Valur won't stop winning either. Fram is a serious outsider and Keflavik hates me but loses against everyone else.
I should note the last place of the richest team, Breioablik. Seriously?

Two games left in the Cup (Semi vs Valur and eventually Final)

We recruited a good goalie too! Our goalie was making way too much stupid mistakes.
El Bahri is killing it, best assist in the league! Sigurosson is the best scorer, and César is slowly becoming useless... Marshall is still solid, but I need to think ahead for next season, fast.

View attachment 306769

Coming soon : "summer" transfer window, the end of Simadeildin, and the expiring contracts of 80% of my team.
​

 

[draamkov]

great work so far , and congratulations on your first trophy

 

[Buchenwald]

2012, Simadeildin part 2

We're slowly losing money, victory is possible but next year will be tough...

FH 0-3 Vikingur
Sigurosson, Tokpa (p) , Marshall

Iceland Cup Semi-Final
Vikingur 1-1 Valur
César
Penalty Shootout...5-3!

I talked to César and Sigurosson to make them join the staff next year....because my next star is here!!

View attachment 308168

Look at that Nigerian beast. Fast as ****, composed in the box...a perfect addition to my team! But now, I have four extra-european players. I can't have more than three in the same starting 18. Looks like Kambou won't stay long after all. I need a new DM.

At the same time, a friendly match occured in Spain and popped in my radar. Some Spanish team ordered a game between 22 unemployed Spanish players. I came to see what was on sale...

View attachment 308169

Yes, when César was going to retire! I got my new DM by the way :

View attachment 308170

Okay, I can rush to the end of the season :

Vikingur 2-0 Stjarnan
Sigurosson (2)

KR 1-1 Vikingur
Eboigbe

Vikingur 1-0 Fylkir
Marshall

Okay, not "rush", because we have game every three days :/ remember when I said I don't have a B team?

Iceland Cup FINAL
Vikingur 2-0 Fram
Eboigbe, Takefusa

We won the cup, and I get National reputation!

Grindavik 3-3 Vikingur
Aolasteinsson, César, Marshall

Por 0-0 Vikingur
Ridiculous match where we had 16 shots on target. Por plays a 5-4-1 and is going to Division 1 next year >_>

Vikingur 4-1 IBV
Marshall, Eboigbe (2), Tokpa (p)

Vikingur 0-0 Keflavik
Okay, this teams ****** me off. They pulled another match of the year against us and loses against everyone else!!

Breioablik 0-2 Vikingur
Marshall (2)

Vikingur 1-0 Fram
César

We are officially champions, one game before the end of the season! Let's celebrate in the last game against arch rivals and runners up Valur

Vikingur 0-1 Valur

Meh.

View attachment 308172

This was a good final rush considering we had two games a week with our squad. César and Sigurosson are leaving the team, along with 18 other players.

We finished the season and the year with a 310K deficit (20% of our capital), yet the board chose to give our stadium 1000 more spots. That's good, because it was getting full (2000) very often.
Next season will be the hardest : Our C1 debut, keeping the title with NO team, and preventing Vikingur from going bankrupt.

The vacations are October+November : I wonder how I will do when I eventually reach group stage...





-----------------------

Meanwhile in Europe...

Slovakia (!!!!) won Euro 2012 against Spain on penalty shootouts. What the **** FM?
Barca won C1 against Man U
Atletico Madrid won Europa League against AS Roma

Up next : Recap of Iceland's year 2012.
​

 

[Buchenwald]

Season 2012 Recap

This is a post that I will do every game year, to give information on Iceland's football level

Winners
Simadeildin : Vikingur
2nd, 3rd and 4th : Valur, FH, Stjarnan
Iceland Cup : Vikingur
League Cup : Vikingur
Super Cup : Breioablik

European Competitions 2012-2013
C1
Breioablik : 2nd round ,loss 0-0, 1-2 against Shamrock Rovers, Ireland

Europa League :
KR went to 2nd round , loss 1-1, 0-2 against Teplice, Czech. Rep.
FH went to 2rd round, loss 0-4, 0-3 against Kayserispor, Turkey
IBV went to 1st round, loss 0-2 0-3 against Dynamo Minsk, Belarus

Biggest team : Breioablik, est. 2.1M€
Sum of Simadeildin teams : 11.16M (-0.48M since 2011)

Simadeildin competition level :
Cup : 2 stars
Simadeildin, League Cup, Super Cup, 1st Division : 1.5 star

Iceland european rank : 39 (1 team in C1 2nd round, 1 team in Eur 2nd round, 2 teams in Eur 1st round) (+1 since 2011)
Iceland national team : 74 in FIFA (+50 since 2011)


Very good year for the national team who scored upset wins against the likes of Switzerland in WC2014 Qualifiers. I'm actually not okay with this since I want the coach to be sacked to take his spot.

The four Iceland teams lost in European competition badly, I hope I can do better.

Up next : Vikingur, new and maybe improved.

 

[Buchenwald]

2013, part 1

Okay, so my wage budget dropped to 300K/year, which sucks. The stadium has expanded to 3000 spots.

Posting my team will be long and tedious, I'll do it if someone asks. There's not much life in this board...but my "group" is

Olsen - Naes, Rutgers, Alatson, Justinussen - Savolainen, El Bahri, Zazu, Udsen - Eboigbe, Jonsson

Bench :
GK : Pormar
Def : Hauksson, Sveinsson, Gunnarson, Bjarnasson
Mid : Pohjanpako, Thomsen, Marshall, Tokpa, Kambou
Str : Hanneson, Colombo

I use a 4-4-2 now that I have some playmakers

View attachment 309562

23 players is acceptable, since I'll do friendly matches every time I have a chance. After some calculation, it's cheaper to face very low level leagues (4K a game) than Simadeildin level leagues (3K a game)

Between November 2012 and March 2013 I did 22 friendly games, 21 against Icelander teams and 1 against Monaco (France) who challenged us

Vikingur 0-0 AS Monaco

The 21 Iceland games :
17 W - 2 D - 2 L
82 goals scored
7 goals taken

I was ready to rock the League Cup, and I did

IR 1-3 Vikingur
Eboigbe (2), Rutgers

Vikingur 5-1 Prottur
Eboigbe (2), Udsen, Marshall, Alatson

Breioablik 1-5 Vikingur
OG, Eboigbe (2), Jonsson, Udsen

Vikingur 2-0 Por
Zazu, Eboigbe

Fjolnir 1-4 Vikingur
Eboigbe (3), El Bahri

Vikingur 2-1 Grindavik
Marshall, Jonsson

Vikingur 3-0 Fylkir
Tokpa, Eboigbe, Hannesson

View attachment 309583

That was really easy, except the Grindavik one. League Cup is always easy because the opponents don't have as much prep as we do. Simadeildin is harder.

Semi final
Vikingur 2-0 Selfoss
Eboigbe, Rutgers

Final
Vikingur 3-1 Fram
Rutgers, Eboigbe, Udsen

Nice! We crushed everyone. Eboigbe is an absolute monster for Iceland standards, and he doesn't want to leave yet. El Bahri is making poor games lately, and Zazu is doing all the work in the left side of the field

Simadeildin + Cup + Our very first Champions League attempt, up next.
​

 

[Buchenwald]

Simadeildin 2013 - Part 1

Iceland Supercup
Vikingur 3-0 Valur
Rutgers, Savolainen, Eboigbe

Simadeildin
A Fram 1-1 (Udsen)
H Keflavik 2-1 (Eboigbe)
A Grindavik 3-0 (Justinussen, Udsen 2)
H Valur 1-0 (Eboigbe)
A Stjarnan 2-0 (Tokpa, Zazu)
H IBV 4-0 (Hannesson, Eboigbe 3)
A Fjolnir 4-1 (Eboigbe 3, Kambou)
H FH 2-0 (Rutgers 2)
H KR 2-2 (Eboigbe 2)
A Fylkir 5-2 (Udsen 3, Marshall, Alatson)
H IA 2-2 (Marshall, Eboigbe)

After a great start, I had to send the B team sometimes because there was Cup matches against honorable teams, so we made three draws. It wouldn't be a problem unless...

View attachment 310488

Yeah, KR is behind our backs and is doing one **** of a season too. Eboigbe is a beast, Udsen is super useful as a replacement striker too. El Bahri is doing a crappy season...
Of the youth players I recruited, a LOT of them are actually pretty lame. Only Pohjanpalo is above average. >_<

Cup :

Last 32 : vs IR 3-0 (Marshall, Jonsson, Udsen)
Last 16 : vs KR 3-0 (Pohjanpalo, Alatson, Udsen)
QF : vs Dalvik 2-0 (El Bahri, Pohjanpalo)

Champions League : We drew Lech Poznan, the champs of Poland. Tough draw because they are the strongest UEFA coefficient in the 2nd round, and I guess that's for a reason. Their players are a class above us.

The priority here is to keep the C1 spot, this means keeping the title. The prize money for 2nd round is good, but not good enough to throw away our reputation and our C1 spot.

 

[Buchenwald]

2013-2014 : The European run

Okay, I was waiting for this : our first European run!
I will only post European games, Simadeildin part 2 will be next post...

2nd round 1st Leg
Lech Poznan 1-2 Vikingur
Eboigbe, Hannesson

Yeah, I changed my mind and sent the A team >_> But it payed off, we owned them.

2nd round 2nd Leg
Vikingur 3-1 Lech Poznan
Eboigbe, Tokpa (p), OG

We drew Maccabi Haifa in 3rd round, the Israeli champs, a lot harder than Poznan. We'll have to bring our A game...and at the same time, Simadeildin is escaping from our hands so we need to be in two tables at once!

3rd round 1st Leg
Vikingur 1-1 Maccabi Haifa
Zazu

We got robbed. ROBBED. 15 shots on target, one goal, they have two....one goal. Their striker is their only "real" player, so I'll need to break his legs on 2nd Leg.

3rd round 2nd Leg
Maccabi Haifa 1-1 Vikingur
Tokpa
Extra time :
Maccabi Haifa 2-0 Vikingur

We lost, pure and simple. The man I was marking with my two CB and roughing up scored a hat trick.

----------------------

Our 3rd round run awarded us the final round of Europa League, 4th round.
We drew AZ Alkmaar, who finished 4th in Netherlands. Yeah, we're toast.

Europa League 4th round 1st Leg
AZ Alkmaar 2-0 Vikingur

Europa League 4th round 2nd Leg
Vikingur 2-1 AZ Alkmaar
Tokpa, Eboigbe


This was a decent run and we won 400k, awesome
I liked how we play at home, we managed to beat AZ and to dominate every other team. We need better luck on our drawings next time.

 

[Buchenwald]

2013, part two (results only)
I will make a big post some other time with what I learned from two years in Iceland, but I'll close this season first. We were first after 11 games, and we play games every 3 days with European competitions (meaning the B team is doing Simadeildin)

H Fram 3-0 (Marshall, Pohjanpalo, Hannesson)
A Keflavik 3-2 (Colombo, Marshall, Udsen)
A Valur 2-2 (Udsen, Eboigbe)
H Stjarnan 2-1 (El Bahri, Eboigbe)
H Fjolnir 3-0 (Eboigbe 2, Savolainen)
H Grindavik 2-1 (Udsen, Marshall)
A IBV 3-1 (Colombo, Eboigbe 2)
A KR 2-0 (Pohjanpalo 2)
A FH 0-0
H Fylkir 3-1 (Zazu 2, Hannesson)
(champs because we have 3 points lead and a huge goal average)
A IA 2-3 (Udsen 2)

View attachment 310706

We lost again in the last game, but that was our only loss. We broke the point record in Simadeildin....but so did another team! If we had done anything short of our huge season, we would be in Europa League.

Maccabi Haifa went on to lose in the group stages.
AZ Alkmar went to Quarter Finals of Europa League (I'm even more proud that we beat them)

We won the cup too :
Semi final v. Reynir (3rd tier) 2-0 (Colombo 2)
Final v. FH 3-2 (El Bahri 2, Einarsson)

Up next : recap of Iceland in 2013, and a checkpoint on the challenge, its difficulties, and random thoughts.

 

[Buchenwald]

After two seasons, I'm used to the Iceland football..

It's mainly a physical one, where crosses and headers are the main danger for my defenses. The defenses are slow and clumsy, which is good, except when teams (like Por) play in 4-3-2-1, then you just pray ><

The main threats are KR, which have awesome wingers, and Fram, with their possession football. Keflavik are applying great pressure to my team, and all the other teams are ****.

The season goes this way :
December - February : Friendlies
March-May : League Cup (easy as **** because all the teams aren't ready yet) and Super Cup
June to September : Simadeildin, Iceland Cup.

The Simadeildin is easy, but each year there's a team that rocks everyone just as much as we do. HOWEVER, it's never the same team, meaning Icelandic teams are still losing ASAP in Europa League. -__-

Our players are enough for what we want to achieve, and I don't want to sign too much "great" players because my wage budget will go up.

It means it's going to be a slow process : keep winning Simadeildin (easy) and try to as far as possible in C1/C3, with money focus on
1) Stadiums
2) Pro status
3) Training center
4) Youth center

Because my players are really doing nothing in traning...semi-pro is not enough.

I'm going to post yearly recaps from now on : I'm already in 2015 in my game and I owned Simadeildin beginning to end those last two years. The main focus will be : my team, the European run, and the facilities.

 

[stourbridge]

Keep up the good work!

 

[Buchenwald]

2014 : the turning point

Okay, after two years, all the useless contracts in my team have expired and my wages are around 300k/year. Not bad for a team consistently winning Simadeildin. However, bad news : El Bahri wants to leave the team! I told him to wait a year, and he accepted. Still, I need a new right midfielder.

I recruited a new striker, a nigerian regen named Agoye. He's a complete striker, and will go well along Eboigbe.

I also recruited an awesome french offensive midfielder, and the next Bastian Schweinsteiger (!!) Not sure how long I can keep the latter.

Tactic : still the 4-4-2 :
Olsen - Naes, Rutgers, Savolainen, Justinussen - Sigurosson/Vassaugh , El Bahri, Zazu, Dedola - Eboigbe, Agoye

Bench :
GK : Pormar
Def : Andresen, Magnusson, Marshall
Mid : Tokpa, Olsen, Loland, Pohjanpalo
Str : Jonsson, Colombo, Udsen

Yeah, Marshall is now old and slow, so he went down to be a full back.

I also took briefly control of Tanzania (8 months) to learn Arab and to see if there's some good regens : there's only one, for next season.

League Cup was easy as ****, as was first part of Simadeildin. El Bahri is killing it for his last year, Eboigbe is still a beast but scores a bit less and provides a lot more assists. I taught him two special skills : "Run with ball in the center" and "Run with ball a lot" because of his pace, acceleration and dribbling. He's really making the opponents sweat.


The new stadium has been built at the same time. It's the biggest one in Iceland (10500) and in our opening game in Simadeildin, we scored 7500 attendance! The money will come more quickly from now on

View attachment 311295

11 games won out of 11 The second part is always the hardest with the Cup and the C1 every three days.


View attachment 311296

Second part was good, we finished Simadeildin three games before the end and after that, we made 3 draw games. Still didn't win the last game of the season, that's frustrating.

Agreed to sell El Bahri for 150K (team record) to a STUPID SWEDEN TEAM FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL??? SERIOUSLY??? Stupid IA...


Around the globe :
France won the 2014 World Cup against England (1-0 AET, Diaby)
Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2013 Ballon d'Or (Messi not even in the top 50!!)
Manchester City won the C1 against Real Madrid (0-0, 8P-7P, Pepe missed the last one)
Lyon won the Europa League against Vfb Stuttgart 2-0 (Tafer, Lisandro Lopez)

In Tanzania, my job was precarious. The president wants me to play "well" in the African Nations Cup Qualifiers, all the while knowing I'm against Ivory Coast and Gambia. -__-. I quit with basic knowledge of Arabic and left to Ireland!

The European run : 2014-2015

All the Iceland teams except us died ASAP. Great.

I drew BATE Borissov in 2nd round. Seriously? They're in the last 32 in Europa League IRL. We have no chance in ****...

2nd round

BATE Borissov 2-3 Vikingur
Eboigbe, OG, Zazu

Vikingur 0-0 BATE Borissov

Well that was unexpected. I instructed my players to try to score goals on the away game and we did. The home game was rough.

3rd round, we drew NK Maribor, the Slovenian champs. I think we have a chance here.

3rd round

NK Maribor 0-3 Vikingur
Savolainen, Zazu, Rutgers

Vikingur 1-1 NK Maribor
Eboigbe

Yes! This means we get to play the Play Offs, and wheter we win or lose, we get to play a group stage (Europa League or C1) However, we drew Sparta Prague, yet again the toughest team possible...

Play Offs

Vikingur 4-0 Sparta Prague
Zazu (3), Dedola

OMG! Zazu was on fire. He scored a free kick, and an impossible goal by shooting near the corner post. Now we're sure to go the C1 Group stage. What could happen?

Sparta Prague 3-0 Vikingur

...doesn't matter, we pass! Iceland is awarded good UEFA coefficient, and we're going up the ladder (35)
And we win 7.2 M€! I went to the board the day after :
-New training center + New youth facilities (3.5M)
-Pro status!!
-Scouts allowed to go all around the world!!

I keep 4M just in case, because I don't know how much I will have to spend now that we're pros (actually, not now, but starting in January 2015)

Champions League group F
Arsenal
FC Porto
Glasgow Rangers
Vikingur

LOL, we're dead. In every group, we were dead. Doesn't matter, we have 4M in the bank! I'm still playing every game seriously to see the flaws of my 4-4-2 against big teams.

Rangers 4-1 Vikingur
Eboigbe

Vikingur 3-1 FC Porto
Agoye (2), Eboigbe

That was a stolen game. We scored in the 1st minute, and they owned us all the 1st half, but we scored again in our only counter. They came back in the 2nd half stronger and scored. We held on until the last minute where their goal keeper went to help the other players in the corner kick. The corner kick failed and Agoye shot the ball from the midfield to score.
Anyway, we won 800K with this game, more than 50 years worth of Simadeildin. >_>

Arsenal 4-2 Vikingur
OG, Eboigbe

Vikingur 0-3 Arsenal

Vikingur 2-4 Rangers
Dedola, Udsen

FC Porto 6-2 Vikingur
Eboigbe, Savolainen

We get carded a lot in C1, which is never good. Two people were sent off during the group stage alone. But our offensive power is very good, even from European standards. We need a new defense line.

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Up next : The recap of Iceland in 2014, random thoughts.
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[jwestbury]

absolutely fantastic, really enjoyed this, keep it up!

 

[Cai1234]

Great challenge. Looking forward to future successes.

 

[Buchenwald]

I'm finishing 2016, so i'll post 2015 soon. 2015 is a normal year, but 2016 is so far the toughest year yet. Full of twists and surpises.