Yugoslavia Reunited - A Road to Glory with FK Borac Šamac (reloaded)

Venator77 · Aug 21, 2020

Welcome back to Part 2 of Borac Samac, where the end of the season has arrived. It's been a good season and let's take a look at the results.

We have won the league title again after a 4-0 victory against Zrinjski Mostar. In addition to the league, we also won the Yugoslav Cup by beating Cukaricki 3-2 over two legs in the final, completing the domestic double. We are quickly becoming one of the nation's top sides after our good performance in both domestic and European competitions. Looking at the other side of the table, Lokomotiva Zagreb and Slaven Belupo were relegated to the Second League as both newly promoted Istra 1961 and Celje survived comfortably in mid table.

My player's of the season.

Stankic was signed last season from Celik Zenica for 550k as an exciting prospect for the future. He had his breakthrough season this year and was excellent in the midfield, a great partner for Varensanovic who also had a phenomenal season.

This right winger was signed a few years ago from Sesvete for 84k as one for the future. He played a few games the past two season, but had his breakthrough this season, scoring 5 goals and 8 assists in 27 league games. He does have his disciplinary issues, picking up 17 yellow cards and 3 reds throughout the whole season, but his ability more than makes up for the infringements.

This young striker was picked up on a free transfer from Dinamo Zagreb after we took advantage of his expiring contract. He turned out to be an excellent capture, scoring 20 goals in all competitions, including 6 in the Champions League. He is part of a new generation of strikers that will replace the aging Mirel Ibrahimovic and Anel Husic.

We picked up this Belgian center-back on a free from Schalke. He was pretty good on the back line, starting the majority of our league and continental games. He has a lot of promise to become one of the best defenders in Yugoslavia.

This young striker was signed from Zrinjski Mostar for a fee of 1.7 million Euros, which met his minimum fee release clause. He was our top goalscorer this season with 34 goals in all competitions. His 17 league goals this season earned him the Yugoslav First League's Top Goalscorer award.

This left winger was brought in on loan from Red Star to help with depth in the left side of the park. He was mainly used as a substitute in the league and started a majority of our cup games. He impressed me enough to arrange a permanent transferof 1.2 million Euros, averaging a rating of 8.16 in the cup and scoring 7 goals.

This left back was signed on a free after being released from Fiorentina. He was excellent, starting 37 matches and earning a 7.38 rating across all competitions. He even grabbed a couple of goals, mostly in the cup.

The goalkeeper is our new starting goalkeeper, signed from Dinamo Zagreb for 350k Euros. We needed some more quality in that area, and Semper provided, conceding only 12 goals in the league. His actions in the Champions League also helped us get out of the group with some good saves against Altetico Madrid.

That's it for Part 3 of Season 5. I will return with results from across Europe and Euro 2024.

Venator77 · Aug 23, 2020

Here is the last part of Season 5 of my Borac save.

The Second League was won by Zeljeznicar, who were promoted with Vardar into the First League. Triglav, Sibenik, and Dinamo Zagreb's 2nd team were relegated to the 3rd tier.

The Bundesliga was won by Bayern Munich once again after Dortmund failed to capitalize on Bayern's slip ups. Eintracht Frankfurt won the DFB-Pokal to qualify for the Europa League despite their 11th place finish. Augsburg and Dusseldorf were relegated at the end of the season. Nurnberg won the relegation playoff against Holstein Kiel to remain in the top tier.

The Bundesliga 2 was won by Paderborn, who were promoted with St. Pauli. Erzgebirge Aue, Heidenheim, and shockingly Hannover 96 were relegated to the 3 Liga, where they will be replaced by Magdeburg, Wehen Wiesbaden, and playoff winner Uerdingen. Hannover 96 were supposed to be promotion favorites this season, but instead suffered back-to-back relegations.

The Premier League was won by Liverpool, who overtook Man City as the season ended. Swansea City, West Brom, and Wolves were relegated to the Championship.

The Championship was won by Fulham, who were promoted with Norwich and playoff winner Brentford to the Premier League. Ipswich, Preston, and Barnsley were relegated to League One.

The Serie A was won by Inter Milan, who are now becoming major contenders for the league as Juventus's dominance is gradually becoming less of an issue. AC Milan are certainly on the recovery, finishing as runners up to their city rivals. Trapani, Chievo Verona, and Crotone were relegated to Serie B.

Serie B was won by Empoli, who were promoted with SPAL and Pescara. Alessandria, Venezia, Benevento, and Cesena were relegated to Serie C.

La Liga was won by Barcelona once again. Real Madrid seem to be on a slight decline, as they finished 4th, a whopping 15 points behind 3rd placed Valencia. Las Palmas, Getafe, and Levante were relegated to La Liga 2.

La Liga 2 was won by Girona, who were promoted with Deportivo La Coruna and playoff winner Real Valladolid. Cartagena, Hercules, FC Andorra, and Mirandes were relegated to the 3rd tier.

The Soviet top tier was won by Zenit, retaking their place on the top. Krasnodar won the Cup, and qualified for the Europa League. Vorskla, Kairat, and Olexandriya were relegated to the 2nd tier.

The Soviet 2nd tier was won by the Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol, who were promoted with BATE Borisov and Rostov. Sokol, Chertanovo, and Ingulets Petrove were relegated to the 3rd tier.

The Champions League was won by Barcelona, who beat Liverpool 1-0 in the final, preventing the English side from back-to-back titles.

The Europa League was won by Atletico Madrid, who beat the German side Hoffenheim 4-2 in the final.

The Europa Conference League was won by the Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, who beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 after extra time in the final.

The 2024 European Championship was won by France, who beat Germany 2-1 in the final.

That's it for Season 5 of Borac Samac. I will return with Part 1 of Season 6, looking at the league and Champions League qualifiers and summer transfers.

Venator77 · Aug 30, 2020

Welcome to Part 1 of Season 6 with Borac Samac. After our exploits last season in Europe and at home, we were given a large transfer budget of around 25 million Euros to spend. Before we get into the summer transfer business, we must look at our first games. Also, due to a planned stadium expansion, our club has temporarily relocated to Tušanj Stadium in Tuzla for the whole season.

It's a solid start to league as we currently lie in 2nd place behind Cukaricki by one point. We dropped quite a few points from games we should be winning, but nothing to really worry about. Because of Yugoslavia's improvement in the UEFA coefficient, we entered the Champions League Play off round, where we faced the Hungarian side Ferencvaros. We absolutely destroyed them, scoring an incredible 11 goals over two legs to confirm our place in the Group Stage. Here's our Group Stage draw

It's another tough group for our side, squaring up against Manchester City, Inter Milan, and Spartak Moscow. I can't see us picking up any points against Manchester City, so the games against Inter and Moscow will absolutely be important if we are to make it into the Knockout Rounds.

It was a big transfer window as we signed Filip Brekalo from Sheffield United for 15 million Euros to be our new starting left back. Nicolas Contreras is our new Chilean right back brought in on his release clause of 4.8M Euros. He looks very exciting for the future and I can't wait to see him develop. Erakovic, Markovic, Konsawatt, and Zivanovic are all exciting prospects who are good enough to start games. The best signings of the window however are the arrivals of Miralem Pjanic, Ryan Sessegnon, and Edon Zhegrova on free transfers. They are all excellent players who come in for the first team on the cheap and Pjanic's experience in Europe despite his age will prove very helpful.

That's it for Part 1 Season 6 of Borac Samac. I will return with the winter transfer window, the league, and the results of the Champions League Group Stage.

Venator77 · Sep 6, 2020

Welcome back to Part 2 of Season 6 with Borac. It been a mixed bag sort of season so far. While we are still preforming as expected of us, the winter transfer window has not been kind. Before we cover the transfers, let's look at the results.

This season has not been as comfortable as I would've liked in terms of the league, as we sit only 1 point clear of Hadjuk Split and 3 clear of Dinamo Zagreb. However, we once again made it through the Champions League Group Stage by the skin of our teeth. Huge wins against Man City in Round 1 and Inter Milan in Round 6 were just enough for us to qualify for the R16 for the second year in a row. We were drawn against Liverpool and managed an impressive 1-1 draw at home, keeping us in the tie. I don't think we will be able to overcome the Reds, but we have a good shot of doing so compared to last season.

And now for the winter transfer window.

I have never had a more frustrating transfer window than this one. Two of our important first team members, Sinisa Vucinovic and Besir Hani, were sold by the board on huge sums despite my best efforts to keep them here. I am absolutely ****** at this betrayal, because now I was left with only one right back, and I had to arrange replacements as soon as possible. We did sign a new first team goalkeeper in Arijanet Muric in anticipation of our other GK Adrian Semper wanting to leave, but ultimately, Semper didn't get his move out.

That's it for Part 2 of Season 6 of the Borac save. How will the winter transfer window affect the rest of the season? Find out in Part 3 very soon.

Venator77 · Sep 17, 2020

Welcome back to Part 3 of the Borac save. The end of the season is here and the result are in.

As I had expected, Liverpool beat us in the 2nd leg of the Champions League R16. After that loss, our form became very good, as we have won the League title and the Cup once again to complete another domestic double. Hadjuk Split were hot on our heels for the title, but ultimately couldn't catch up. At the other end of the table, newly-promoted Željezničar Sarajevo went straight back down after winning only 2 matches the entire season. Rijeka joined them after losing the relegation playoff to Aluminij 2-0 on aggregate, a surprising feat as their season wasn't much better than Željezničar's. The Yugoslav Cup Final was an exciting affair, as we nearly bottled a 2-0 first leg lead by losing 4-2 after normal time in the 2nd leg. We scored another three goals in extra time to ensure our second straight cup.

That's it for Part 3. I will return very soon with results around Europe.

Venator77 · Sep 18, 2020

Welcome back to Part 4 of Season 6 of the Borac save with this season's results.

The Second League was won by NK Lokomotiva Zagreb, who were promoted into the First League with Slaven Belupo. Zeta, Tuzla City, and Domzale were relegated to the third tier.

The Bundesliga once again goes to Bayern Munich, who seemingly can't be stopped. FC Nurnberg, Paderborn, and play-off loser FC St. Pauli were relegated to the 2 Bundesliga.

FC Augsburg won the 2 Bundesliga and were promoted with Union Berlin and play-off winner Hamburger SV. 1860 Munich and Wehen Wiesbaden were relegated to the 3 Liga.

The Premier League was won by Manchester City by quite some distance. Brentford, Burnley, and Southamption were relegated to the Championship.

The EFL Championship was won by Wolverhamption Wanderers, who achieved a recrod-breaking 118 points to get promoted with Millwall and play-off winner Birmingham City. Stoke City, Reading, and MIddlesbrough were relegated to League One.

The Serie A was won by Juventus quite comfortably. Pescara, SPAL, and Brescia were relegated to Serie B.

Serie B was won by Chievo Verona, who were promoted with Salernitana and play-off winner Crotone. Spezia, Padova, Avellino, and play-out loser Vicenza were relegated to Serie C.

Real Madrid won La Liga after Barcelona bottled it by losing their last two games. Celta de Vigo, Real Valladolid, and Deportivo La Coruna were relegated to La Liga 2.

Levante won La Liga 2 and were promoted with Getafe and play-off winner Tenerife. Merida, Pontevedra, Cordoba, and Fuenlabrada were relegated.

Zenit St. Petersburg were once again champions of the Soviet 1st tier. Interestingly enough, as the years go by, the league is gradually climbing up the ranks as they now sit 6th in the European coefficients, granting them 3 CL slots. Krasnodar, as the Cup winners, occupy the only Europa League spot. Krylia Sovetov, Ural, and Dinamo Brest were relegated to the 2nd tier.

Kairat won the Soviet 2nd tier and were promoted with Dinamo Minsk and Torpedo Moscow. Kaisar, Dinamo Bt., and Ordabasy were relegated.

This year's Champions League went to Liverpool, who knocked us out in the R16. They beat Chelsea 1-0 in an all English final. Make me think how we could've done if we somehow beat the Reds....

The Europa League was won by Barcalona, who beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the final. Sums up Barca's season really, slipped in the league and in the Champions League.

The Europa Conference League was won by Werder Bremen, who demolished Lazio 4-1 in the final. As Werder Bremen did not qualify for the Europa League through the Bundesliga, they qualify through this competition.

That's it for Part 4 of Season 6 of the Borac save. I will return soon with very exciting news and the summer transfer window.

Venator77 · Sep 19, 2020

Welcome back to my Borac Samac save. Season #7 is finally here and things have taken a turn for the better. At the end of last season, our Managing Director announced that he was retiring at the end of the season, and he was selling the club to a native consortium. The takeover was completed in due time and we have started making huge improvements across the board, including further upgrades to our facilities and movement in the transfer market. Now, before we get into the transfer market, we have played through July and August.

An excellent start to the season sees us at the top with 25 goals scored in 7 matches. We had quite a few high scoring games to start off and it certainly helps that due to the First League's improved UEFA coefficient standings, we do not have to play any qualifiers. As we qualified directly to the Group Stage, here is the draw:

It's a tough one once again. Being 4th seed for the groups isn't fun and I don't think we will make it out this time. I'll try for third place once again.

And finally, the summer transfer window, which is probably the biggest and most significant transfer window we have ever had. Let's take a look.

We have brought in some real quality into the side, including several players for the future. Due to the board takeover, two Brazilian defenders Titi and Marcos Paulo were automatically signed without my input and without touching the transfer budget. I am very happy about this, as those two are very good at what they do. The most notable arrival is Nikolas Moro, who was released from Bayern. He is a very good midfielder for our side and he'll fit straight into the first team. We also sold some of our recognized first teamers, as they became not good enough to feature. So happy with the business, this is probably my best transfer window to date.

That's it for Part 1 of Season 7 with Borac. Now, due to the recent FM update, my save file is showing bad signs for the future, as my autosave has stopped working for this file recently. It's entirely possible that I may have to end the save soon because I can't handle redoing this entire transfer window again. If that happens, I'll start a different Yugoslav save in another club.

Anyway, see you soon.

Venator77 · Oct 25, 2020

Welcome back to Part 2 of season 7 of my Borac save. It is with a heavy heart that I will be ending this series at the end of the season. I have lost all interest in this save and find myself doing other saves more. Anyway, let's discuss what happened from September to March.

We have been unstoppable! Apart from a match against Partizan Belgrade, we won every single league match since the start of September and we are currently 15 points clear of Hajduk Split in 2nd place. Even better, important victories at home in the Champions League Group Stage allowed us to top the group, including a big 5-1 victory against Borussia Dortmund. We got Manchester United in the Round of 16 and the first leg, taking place at Old Trafford, ended 1-1 with a last minute goal by Rade Zdravkovic. With our strong home form, it entirely possible we can reach the Quarter Finals for the first time ever! The winter transfer window was somewhat quiet, but we brought in a few more new faces into the fold.

Three exciting prospects come in as well as a temporary back up GK. Tomas Laba immediately went out on loan to Spain in order to gain Spanish citizenship as we were at the limit for non-EU players. Most outgoing players were loan deals, some names were sold as they weren't good enough. A productive transfer window, if I do say so myself.

That's it for Part 2 of the Borac save. I will return with the end of the season results. Part 4 afterwards will have the results from around Europe and the save file for those interesting in picking up where I left off.

Venator77 · Oct 26, 2020

Insanity. Absolute insanity.

In a turn of events even I hadn't seen coming, the season is over with with Borac Samac collecting a fabulous Treble! Our league and cup runs were a foregone conclusion, but an incredibly lucky Champions League run secures us our first in the competition and qualifys us for the Club World Cup. We barely managed to scrape by Manchester United in the 2nd leg while our fantastic home form continued to carry us to the final. A lucky victory against Real Madrid in the Semi-Final 2nd Leg booked our place at Old Trafford vs Liverpool, who we managed to beat 4-1. Absolutely buzzing! Here are the key players for my final season in charge before I post my save for those interested in continuing.

In what is considered his best season yet, Nikola Pavlovic managed to break all sorts of records this season, from breaking the First League's goalscoring record with 33 goals (record was 26) to surpassing club legend Anel Husic's record of 35 goals in all competitions by scoring 49 goals. Absolutely delighted, if you are looking up to continue where I left off, you must keep him at all costs.

Runic is another special player for the Borac frontline, as he picked up the Top Goalscorer in both the Cup and Champions League with 13 goals in both competitions. He also placed 2nd in the First League goalscoring charts by netting in 20 goals. He is another special player to keep at all costs.

Our star left back was solid in defense and still provided service to our strikers. Sead Kolasinac is his back up, but make sure you don't lose him this summer.

He is a very good winger who provides and assists goals. You have a couple of good options on the left wing, but he is arguably the best one.

Our best right winger, he manages to maintain a good goalscoring record in the league and his versatility should be a stable to anyone willing to take up this save.

Another very good option at left wing. He improved a lot during the season. Adds good depth to that area of the pitch.

The star midfielder of the team, mostly played him as a DLP, can play more forward. You should keep him, he's almost done with his residency in Yugoslavia and his relish for big matches is a good asset.

That's it for this part 3 of the Borac save. I will return with the final post from around Europe and the save file for those interested.