The Outsiders Challenge

[waywardzzt]

The Challenge: Win the highest prestige continental competition with a club from a country that has NEVER won the competition.

Football is a game dominated by superpowers. Maybe that is why there is so much interest when an underdog pulls through to do something remarkable. But the dynamic of the sport, on a worldwide basis, means that countries can produce talented players, but those great players end up being poached by the wealthiest clubs from the wealthiest countries in the world. Where does that leave everyone else? Fighting for relative scraps. Stuck below the glass ceiling. Outsiders of the "Big Boy's" club.

Your mission as manager is to bring glory not only to your side, but to your country as a whole. All you have to do is to bring your side up and win the continent's most prestigious cup. All you have to do is go where no one in your country has gone before.

Competitions that Count Towards the Challenge:
Africa: CAF Champions League* (see below)
Asia: AFC Champions League
Europe: UEFA Champions League
North America: CONCACAF Champions League* (see below)
South America: Copa Libertadores

Rules:
1) You must not manage a club located in any of the restricted countries listed below.
2) You must start with rep either as either Automatic or Sunday League Footballer
3) You may start as unemployed or you may choose your club**
4) You may accept job offers from another team at any time as long as they are not in a restricted country**
5) You may only use a custom database if you playing in a country not available in the default database, and only for the sole purpose of playing in the desired country. The database must not be overpowered (See North America & Africa below)
6) Use of scouting aids like Genie Scout is strongly discouraged. Use of downloaded tactics is discouraged.
7) To receive credit for your season, post the final league table, season best 11, and (if applicable) tournament/league final placement.

Recognition:
I will be keeping track of anybody who decides to take on this challenge in the next post. In order to receive credit for seasons played, please post screenshots of the following: final league table, season best 11, and (if applicable) tournament/league final placement. I will give special recognition** in the below post who make their challenge even harder for themselves, including (and I am open to more suggestions): staying with the same team, starting unemployed, staying within the wage budget (financial screenshots encouraged), only signing players from your own country, concurrently managing the country's national team. Please mention any additional challenges when you post in this thread so you may be recognized.

Keeping FM-Base Updated:
When you complete a season, you are encouraged to post about your season. Post however much or little you want regarding your season. However, you are encouraged to post the following information to make tracking easier:

Team Name:
Year:
Division Played:
Final Position:
Tournament Results:
Best Win:
Worst Loss:
Best Player:
Season Best 11 Team Score:
Goal(s) for Next Year:

Country Restrictions: You are not allowed to manage clubs in the following countries:
​

Asia: AFC Champions League Past Winning Countries
China
Iran
Israel (note: is eligible for EUFA Champions League)
Japan
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
South Korea
Thailand
United Arab Emirates

Europe: UEFA Champions League Past Winning Countries
England
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Serbia
Scotland
Spain
Romania

Central/South America: Copa Libertadores Past Winning Countries
Argentina
Brasil
Chile
Columbia
Ecuador
Paraguay
Uruguay

Africa & North America*: Every country in the default database (USA, Mexico, and South Africa) except the MLS teams from Canada have won the CONCACAF/CAF Champions League at least once. In order to take on the challenge in one of these continents, you will need to get a custom database with the appropriate league loaded. However, the following countries are ineligible:

Africa: CAF Champions League Past Winning Countries
Algeria
Cameroon
Congo
DR Congo
Egypt
Ghana
Guinea
Ivory Coast
Morocco
Nigeria
South Africa
Tunisia

North America: CONCACAF Champions League Past Winning Countries
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Mexico (note, Mexico is eligible for Copa Libertadores Challenge)
USA
Trinidad & Tobago
Suriname

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I go to get more nations to load?
There are a number of editor files floating around, but probably the most stable & comprehensive one I have found is hosted by fm-base. The FM2012 World Megapack. It's not perfect, but it gives you a ton more options. Here is the link to the Megapack. The instructions are easy to follow but send me a PM if you have problems.

What about teams like Swansea and Toronto? They are from one country but play in a different country's domestic league (England and USA respectively)? Can I play as them?
The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is that while it is valid to say that playing in the English Leagues or USA Major League puts the team at a far greater advantage than someone that starts in Chad, but plenty of strong nations are eligible for the challenge (ex. Russia, Mexico & Australia). Personally, I would much rather have participants play with the team they want to play or start unemployed and work their way there.

What happens if a team from my country wins the achievement before my team does?
Post it in this thread, but you do not have to quit and join another nation unless you want to. After all, it takes a lot of work to build up your enough to compete on the continent. It's still a big deal if you lift the trophy, and you will still make it on the Hall of Fame.

How do I upload a screenshot?
The default key to take a screenshot is ALT-F9, although you can go into the preferences menu and change the key binding (and change the file format). When writing a post, click the button with the tree portrait on it, select the file you want to upload, and don't forget to click upload. Once you take your first screenshot, if not before, the file should be saved in My Documents>Sports Interactive>Football Manager 12>Screenshots

 

[waywardzzt]

Outsider Hall of Fame

Name / Club / Country / Championship / Year

Outsider Challenge Best 11 Scoreboard
7908 | waywardzzt | Bi/Bolungarvik| Iceland| No Tourn. | 2011

​

Outsider Participants

Wonderkiss:
Challenges: Start Unemployed
SKA Khabarovsk
2011: Russian First Division

waywardzzt:
Challenges: Strict LLM Rules; Start Unemployed
Bi/Bolungarvik
2011: 12th in Iceland First Division (R)
Fj Andijon
2012: Oliy Liga (Uzbekistan)

I7IDanny:
Dinamo Zagreb
2011: Croatian First Division

Ronan:
Shaktar
2011: Premier League (Ukraine)

The Ice Man:
Vancouver
2011-2012: Major League Soccer (USA/Canada)

Rangers26:
Challenges: Start Unemployed
NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac
2011-2012: Croatian Second Division

 

[wonderkiss]

Reserve me a place to start mate a would like to have a good go at this

 

[waywardzzt]

Reserve me a place to start mate a would like to have a good go at this

Absolutely! Will add you to the #2 post in a few here.

I just really found myself playing the same game in the same countries again and again. I wanted something different. And it looks like I will be this time: I'm throwing down the gauntlet in ICELAND (started unemployed):

View attachment 214750View attachment 214778

Bi/Bolungarvik is currently in dead last in the Icelandic First Division over halfway through the season. I have 9 games to get them out of the cellar. Let's see how this goes.

Edit: forgot to mention: Nations Loaded (all available leagues loaded) Hong Kong, India, Belgium, Singapore, Mexico, Iceland, Sweden, Australia, Peru.

 

[sammyt]

i might give this a go in the future, but i've got a couple of questions. what happens if you get beaten to it by another team from your country? e.g. you're playign as cska but zenit win it before you manage it.

and what about clubs playing in foreign leageus? would winning with swansea count as they are a welsh club in the english leagues or does it have to be a welsh league club? same with teh 2 canadian teams in the mls.

 

[I7IDanny]

Surely the easiest team to do it with would be Dinamo Zagreb...

Gonna give it a go... with Dinamo Zagreb

Screenies:
View attachment 214773View attachment 214774View attachment 214775


As you can see, Zagreb have an immensly talented squad to begin with, and are easily the best club in Croatia. The real challenge, will be to hang onto youth stars such as Sime Vrsaljko, Milan Badelj and Mateo Kovacic to provide a base for a strong European push in the near future.

EDIT: Just realised I threw the requirements onto my experimental manager profile - hence why it's female. :L

 

[sammyt]

Surely the easiest team to do it with would be Dinamo Zagreb...

Might give this a go in the future.

possibly anzhi due to the amount of money you'd get although the russian league rules would make it tougher, unless at some stage in your game you get a team from a nation that hasn't won it regularly in the later knockout rounds.

 

[waywardzzt]

i might give this a go in the future, but i've got a couple of questions. what happens if you get beaten to it by another team from your country? e.g. you're playign as cska but zenit win it before you manage it.

and what about clubs playing in foreign leageus? would winning with swansea count as they are a welsh club in the english leagues or does it have to be a welsh league club? same with teh 2 canadian teams in the mls.

Those are two fantastic questions:

1) Another Club Beats You To It: I think, based on the challenge text above, that you would need to move to another country. So in the strictest sense, yes -- if Ukraine or Russia wins the Champions Cup in Year 3 and that's where you were hoping to win from, you would need to move to another country. On the other hand, I don't want to penalize people who have built up a powerful squad in a country where it could be far more difficult to do so. Thus, if a fellow team in your country beats you to the win, just note it in the thread here and I will leave it up to you whether you want to stick strictly to the spirit of the challenge or see if you can show the world Russia is no one year wonder.

2) There are two schools of thought for Clubs playing in a foreign league, and I believe both are valid. The short answer is yes -- but largely because I want to encourage people to play the game they want to play.

School of thought #1: the game lists Swansea as an English Club (under the information tab + the clubs tab in England) because they are in the EPL. Toronto and Vancouver are listed as USA squads because they are in MLS. Their listing in the game disqualifies them.

School of thought #2: Swansea is in Wales, Toronto and Vancouver are in Canada. Look at it from a logical sense of where location is -- after all a Canadian team has never won the NA Champs League, and a Welsh team has never won either. It may not be as much of a "challenge" as starting from less prestigious leagues, but it's easier to keep clicking continue when you're playing a team you want to play as. (plus see the wildly popular San Marino (listed as Italian team) Challenge).

So my answer is yes, foreign clubs in high prestige leagues, while discouraged in the spirit of the challenge, are allowed.

 

[I7IDanny]

possibly anzhi due to the amount of money you'd get although the russian league rules would make it tougher, unless at some stage in your game you get a team from a nation that hasn't won it regularly in the later knockout rounds.

However, Zagreb are BY FAR the best team in Croatia... A league, where only the top team goes into the CL

 

[I7IDanny]

First friendly of the season, and the result doesn't bode well for the rest of the league, if this performance has anything to go by.
View attachment 214777

 

[waywardzzt]

So far I have been fighting for survival. Starting 6 points from surviving relegation with only 9 games left in the season is tough. What's also interesting is that most of the players I have brought over to Iceland from continental Europe all sacked their agents within days of getting to my club.

Guess the weather is a little cold up there?
View attachment 214812
Meanwhile, I'm getting some good wins, but I'm still finding myself 4 points out of relegation. But I'm going to fight as hard as I can.

 

[waywardzzt]

It would figure that I would start my own challenge thread, only to do something I have never done before in football manager. Get relegated.

Team Name: Bi/Bolungarvik
Year: 2011
Division Played: Iceland First Division
Final Position: 12th (Relegated)
Tournament Results: N/A
Best Win: @ Vikingur O 4-1
Worst Loss: vs (at the time 10th place) Haukar 4-0
Best Player: Tomi Ameobi (6.66) -- scored all 5 goals while I was manager; kept playing when rest of team quit.
Season Best 11 Team Score: 7908
Goal(s) for Next Year: Regroup with a new team and try again -- this time with an off season?

I don't know if I'm that embarrassed. I guess I bit off more than I could chew taking on a team that was 6 points from safety with 9 games to go that had a roster so sparse it could not even field a starting 11. Add on tactic confusion (despite trying to run a fairly basic 4-4-2) and a profound lack of confidence and you get this:

View attachment 215001View attachment 215002View attachment 215003

Note: that is the most pathetic Best 11 I have ever seen.

I may have started out 6 points from relegation, but with Vikingur O being the 10th placed team that meant in reality I really needed to overcome an 11 point deficit in a mere 9 games. That's not happening -- even when I managed to triple the team's scoring output (7 goals when I came aboard, 21 at season's end). On the other hand, I did manage to get 13 points in 9 games. If the bottom ranked teams hadn't kept winning I might have had a chance, but one bad result snowballed into four losses where my team was entirely without confidence.

View attachment 215004

I resigned because there is no lower Icelandic league in the database and I did not want to sit around and wait to inevitably get let go. But the dream is not over. Hope is still alive. I sat at home (went on Holiday!) hoping and waiting to get called up by a team that was in a warmer climate and possibly out of Europe just for a change of pace. Instead I got a call up I couldn't refuse:

View attachment 215005

Umeå asked me to coach despite a) my only management experience being getting relegated and b) Umeå had just been relegated out of Swedish Division 1 after being expected to fight for promotion.

Edit: But sadly, my save file corrupted shortly thereafter :\ Unrecoverable. Had to make a new save and this time I loaded some different countries. Details to come in a little while.

 

[wonderkiss]

Just before I have the chance to do it how do I load Screenshots up onto here for you to see?

 

[waywardzzt]

Just before I have the chance to do it how do I load Screenshots up onto here for you to see?

You can go to the preferences menu in Football Manager and assign a hotkey (or find the hotkey) for taking an in game screenshot. Find what folder it is saved in (should be located in My Documents).

Then in the posting window, push the button with the portrait of the tree (Insert Image), select the file from your computer, and upload away.

Look forward to seeing it and look forward to seeing you have better success than my egg in the face first season.

 

[wonderkiss]

its not there pal

but a did get offered the SKA Khabarovsk job

 

[waywardzzt]

its not there pal

but a did get offered the SKA Khabarovsk job

What's not there? Perferences --> Shortcuts --> (scroll to the bottom) Take Screenshot
Would that really be a difference because I'm playing on a Mac instead of a PC? Or are we talking about the picture not being located in

My Documents --> Sports interactive --> Football manager 12 --> Screenshots

If all else fails, I forget what steam's screenshot shortcut is (because it did not work for me with FM 12) but if you alt-tab to steam and from go to view screenshots from the drop down menu, there should be more info there on how to take one.

If all else fails, throw me a PM and I'll walk you through it. And grats on the job offer!

 

[Rangers26]

Starting this now, database is loading so I'll see who I end up managing.

 

[I7IDanny]

Just before I have the chance to do it how do I load Screenshots up onto here for you to see?

You running through Steam? Think you can use alt+F9 to take screenies (changed mine long ago, but I think that's the default)
Then they'll be in Steam folder under

Steam\userdata\45368797\760\remote\71270

 

[wonderkiss]

the take a screenshot shortcut mate and a have not got a screenshots folder as well. And cheers mate

 

[wonderkiss]

yeah and a tried that mate but it didnt work or a cannot find the screenshot folder