FM10 - The Andorra Challenge

The Volt

credit to Brettney1980 of the SIgames forums for this. Just started this myself. Definitely the hardest challenge I've taken on yet.

Step 1: It's pretty simple really you just have to take control of FC Andorra in the 5th Tier of Spanish football (which i have added a fantasyesq version of) and take them from there to Liga BBVA winning the Title in the process then going on to win the UEFA Champions League.

Step 2: Take control of the Andorra national side and get them to qualify for a Major tournament finals (I.E World Cup or European Championships).

Optional Extras;
1, Only sign Andorran players for FC Andorra.
2, Only use the players coming through your Youth Academy at FC Andorra signing no players.
3, After winning the Champions League with FC Andorra why not take control of an Andorra based club and win the Champions League with them ... Simple!

The Files:

Andorran League

Spanish regional leagues

How to set up;

Put the above into the following directory My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\Editor Data. Start a 'New Game', and you will asked to choose a database. Tick 'Change', press 'OK', and choose the new leagues Spain down to 5th Tier (Regional Divisions) and Andorran League (Optional).

Custom database is recommended adding all Andorran players

Attribute masking must be enabled.

You are allowed to use fake players if you wish.

Create a manager and his reputation must be set at Sunday league footballer, or Automatic if you can't find the Sunday league footballer option. Your manager nationality is up to you.

Take over FC Andorra and lead your team eventually to Champions League Glory!

Create a second manager as the Andorran national team manager, retire him and apply for the job with your original manager. Should get the job.

The Volt

Glenn Fitzpatrick - FC Andorra (Season 1 Review)

Final Table
Media Prediction: 2nd
My Prediction: 2nd
Final Position: 3rd (Promoted via playoffs)

I must admit I was very fortunate to get promoted at the first attempt. I'm trying out a formation that I really don't have the players for and I operate on an Andorran players only basis (Although I may reconsider that on external feedback from you guys). The playoffs were relatively straightforward but we struggled to make the cut at all.

Star players are of course Toscano, Ayala who was a free agent and Ribolleda at the back.
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National Team
Results

Liechtenstein (h) - 1-1 D
Ukraine (a) - 0-3 L
Kazakhstan (h) - 0-1 L
Ukraine (h) - 0-4 L
Iceland (a) - 0-2 L
San Marino (h) - 2-1 W

We restrict teams quite well but show no signs of ever threatening their goalmouth and of course the stamina is poor so we usually concede a couple more in the last 20 minutes of matches. Rome wasn't built in a day and Andorra wont be world beaters for at least a few weeks
We have been drawn in the following group for Euro 2012 Qualfiers. As you can see we picked up a victory over San Marino right at the end of the season in a friendly

Holland
Serbia
Ireland
Wales
Montengro
Andorra

Next season my aims are hazy really. I know nothing about the new division.

The Volt

(Season 2 Review)

Media Prediction: 15th
My Prediction: 4th
Final Position: 4th (Promoted via playoffs)

Kind of similar to the season when Everton managed to finish 4th in the Premier League, we had an oustanding run up until about February and just made it over the finish line. We had some fantastic results in the playoffs, beating Osasuna and Compestela 2-0, Toscano scoring both in both matches, hero. I found with this division that anyone can beat anybody on their day (with the exception of Barcelona At). Consistency, even a bit of it, is enough to seal a playoff place in this league, found it easier to get up than the first season


I have broken my promise to just use Andorran players, progress would be near impossible for a coach of my standard I will however emphasize their importance to the club, hopefully the standard of players coming through will gradually improve. I'm expecting to struggle this season, if I stay up then I'll be ecstatic.
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National Team

Results

Malta (h) L 1-0
Luxembourg (a) L 3-1
[B]Holland (a) L 4-0
Wales (h) L 2-0
Ireland (a) L 4-0[/B]
Faroe Islands (a) L 2-0
[B]Serbia (h) L 6-0
Montenegro (a) L 4-0
Holland (h) L 3-0[/B]
Macau (h) W 2-0

Very much so the same problems as before being honest. It's not going to get any better any time soon and I can only pray I don't get the sack.



I'm looking forward to the next season now. Up Andorra

Glico Man

Christ this is bleeding hard

I've only done the Andorra manager part but is so challenging

I'm happy that I finally have the players playing the way I want them to but I just can't get a win...or a break for that matter

Drawn a few, lost most and the sickener is that a good portion of those losses occurred in the last 15-20 of the match.

The fitness of the players is shocking.

Even more shocking is that I was offered a job by Real Betis (in Segunda Liga)

But I shall resist and persevere with my team of misfits, halfwits and dimwits all in the hope that I can win one game...

L'prof

This is a great idea. I'm a final year student myself so, I won't have the time but, I'll be keeping an eye here. Keep us posted!

On the National Team front, they'll get stronger as your team get stronger. Even if you're not sticking to the Andorran players only rule, if you get into La Liga, your youths should be very strong! You might get sacked in the meantime...no idea what their FA's expectations would be like!

The Volt

My best result so far was a narrow 1-0 loss to Ireland away, only to be hammered by Wales in the next game Here's hoping I don't get sacked as the expectations of fans are ridiculous, completely.

Töpher

Was considering seeing if I could pick up FM10 on the cheap now its been out a while, think I'm going to have to now to give these challenges a go (provided its a semi-reasonable price)! Thanking you, sir!

Bobalicious93

Gonna give this a go, sounds fun. Though I'm crap at FM, so I can't see myself getting anywhere near Liga BBVA, never mind winning it

Glico Man

I got 2 wins hah zah!

One was in a friendly against Lithuania and the other a European Championship qualifier against lowly Faroe Islands

I also drew a friendly against France, was ecstatic with that cos I scored an equaliser with 20 seconds to go. My formation had to go out the window as I threw both CBs up front along with my 2 widemen so my formation was a 2-3-5

And I clung on until the end

ctrl-alt-delete

Am starting this full challenge this evening,

have decided i won't be sticking to the only signing Andorra players though,

Have signed 6 players on a free so far, have been doing well in friendlies so far.

Hope i have it set up right, there is a tonne of leagues in Spain :eek:

Also the other Andorra team, think it's Andorra CS have tried to sign 4 of the players i signed!

Will post back on how season goes, i'm expected to win promotion.

ctrl-alt-delete

Have finished my first season and have won promotion, winning the league by 14 points.

Final League Table

I had made the following signings



I was worried that most free transfers that were interested in a move were old, but the experience paid off in the end.

Brais was a 16 year old defender at the start of the season, he played 38 games for me, finishing with an average rating of 7.27.

Aitor was 29, a free transfer and played 30 games, he finished up scoring 15 and making 10 assists, i was very happy with that, he complimented the star player (who was already at the club) well.

Angel played 32 games for me and he had a grand total of 14 assists and 4 goals, another good free transfer who was on the right side of 30.

Toscano will be player of the season, he was at the club already and ended up netting 35 goals, he is a goal machine! i have been unable to tie him down to a full time contract though so i'm hoping he will not be tempted by another club.

My other signings suffered from injuries and poor form throughout the season, they were free though so nothing ventured nothing gained, they are ot on long contracts and 2 are close to retirement anyways.


I didn't manage to get the Andorra International job, i tried twice but they still didn't employ me. I will try again in season 2 seems as though i have a bit of history now and a league win.

Back to club management i pulled in the biggest average attendance at just under 1000, the club does not have much money and i don't want to go down the route of selling players. I will try get some to sign full time contracts so they can train more. I doubt i'll have any money to spend in season 2 so it will be raiding the free transfer list again for me.

Roll on season 2 though!! hopefully i can get the Andorra job this time.

The Volt

Glenn Fitzpatrick - FC Andorra (Season 3 Review)

Media Prediction: 17th
My Prediction: 18th
Final Position: 15th (Promoted via playoffs)

Says something about my managerial talent that some people are flying with FC Andorra. We just managed to avoid a relegation playoff due the fact that we were reasonably ok at the back and there are 3 or 4 teams actually worse than us. Playing the likes of Alaves and Castilla was never going to be easy and I'm just happy to have stayed in the league. It's annoying not to be playing in the Copa Del Rey or the Andorran Cup
I'm sticking to Andorrans as much as I can and there has been slight development of quality through my good coaching prowess.
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National Team

Nothing too much to report here. For the WC Qualification Group we've been drawn with - Germany, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Switzerland and N.Ireland
Results

Sao Tome e Principe (h) W 1-0

Aims for this season:
Pray hard that the board upgrade facilities
Finish in the top half
Get at least one point in qualification group


Edit: You're as well off holding off on the job until you manage to improve the youth players at Andorra FC. Expectations are ridiculous and I got the sack

Töpher

Thoroughly enjoying this challenge so far (my first game in FM10, I bought it on the back of reading about this challenge having not owned FM since 07).

Töpher - Season 1

FC Andorra
Media Prediction: 2nd
My prediction: Promotion
Final position: 1st
Key players: Toscano, Txema, Motwani (loanee), Genís, Xavier Gil, Somoza, and obviously Koldo.

As its only season 1 I've not deviated from Andorran players yet, going to try to keep it that way, with an Andorran background staff, and only Andorran players on loan - though I fully expect to buckle!

Promoted with several games to go, which allowed me to take the foot off the gas and play the youngsters in the final few games - would imagine they'll be needing their game time!

Brought Motwani in on loan for the season for free from Santa Coloma, who were happy to pay all of his salary. He then proceeded to net 19 times and produce 13 assists in 27 starts (6 subs), no Toscano but bloody useful to have! Santa Coloma have also just loaned him to me for the entirety of next season, again requiring no fee and a whopping 0% of his salary to be paid. Legends! :pac:

Mainly playing a 4-1-3-2 rigid controlled formation, seems to be working well, scoring lots and relatively solid at the back (GD +72).

Managed to bring in some of the international players midway through the season, some of them citing wanting to work with the international manager as reasoning. Going to try for a few more during the summer now that we've gone up a division, on loan if nothing else.

Was frustrated when the chairman accepted an offer that was "too good to turn down" for one of my regular late impact subs who was on a €5 a week contract, that turned out to be a free transfer. I was €98 p/w over the wage budget, I'm assuming that may have been why. Gwendal Mauduit was the lad, shockingly bad stats, but fast as hell and ran tiring defences into the ground!

Will be letting several of the players and background staffs contracts terminate over the summer to free up some funding and with a bit of luck strengthen somewhat. Currently have 3 players on full time contracts (€110 p/w) and am training them intensively to boost the stats; Ayala, Gabriel Riera, and keeper Prieto as I'd imagine the defence will suffer when Koldo retires - I've got him tied down for the next season, but he will turn 40 during it!

National Team
Thankfully there was a friendly before any of the competitive matches which gave me the chance to mess with the setup, currently utilizing a defence heavy, very rigid counter attacking 5-1-3-1 setup for the most part, as I find anything without the 5 at the back and the DM allows the opposition too much space to run into and presents alot of 1-on-1 opportunities.

FR. |	ANDORRA		0 - 1	Czech Republic
WCQ |	Ukraine		2 - 0	ANDORRA
WCQ |	ANDORRA		2 - 2	Kazakhstan
FR. |	Qatar		2 - 0	ANDORRA
WCQ |	ANORRA		0 - 1	Ukraine

Was sickened by the result against Kazakhstan, 2-0 up with just over 5 minutes to go! Shocking stamina levels strike again! Haven't suffered any tankings yet, most teams are restricted to firing off long shots - but some of them are getting in 30+ a game, so of course the odd few are flying in!

The fan expectations are insane, going to need a win or two in the next campaign to get them off my back! Might be able to pick up a result (read: not lose) or two at home in the next qualifying campaign, which is for Euro 2012;

Germany
Turkey
Bulgaria
Macedonia
Liechenstein
ANDORRA

To be honest, at this stage I'd take a point off the other minnows at home and be happy with it! Can see Germany having a field day!