Africa Extended // Bringing FM20 to Africa

This is a file I have been working on for a long time now (several years, on and off) and finally finished last year.

One of the things you can notice about Football Manager is that certain areas are not very well represented in FM (for obvious commercial reasons, mostly), but which are historically hotbeds of football. For me, the main one has always been Africa. Think of the number of African players who have made a huge name for themselves playing in Europe.

My vision was to bring FM to Africa properly. This does not just mean activating leagues in the editor and releasing them immediately. I wanted to get the correct teams, in the correct leagues, with authentic rules. And most importantly, with the correct players.

The main thing I wanted was accurate rosters for every team I have added. This is because often the roster in the FM DB is a hot mess for countries that are not included in the game by default. Often very out of date, with many young players missing, and older players not having been retired.

This file is an update for 8 African nations. Promotion, relegation, and updated rosters.

Last updated: April 12th, 2020 - v4

What's included

8 nations have been completely updated with correct rosters, league rules, fixture rules, etc. These are: Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, DR Congo and Sudan. This choice is based on how easily I can find information about squads for all players in the top division. Morocco and Algeria now how 2 levels on the pyramid. Tunisia will also have the second level added some time in the future.

The top division and main domestic cup has been added for each of these leagues. I have tried to ensure the dates and rules are accurate. I do not have any intention to extend this to lower leagues yet, although this may be a future goal.

Every team has a correct roster (correct on the date I did it anyway). Where possible, this includes contract details.

All created players have position set, and have been assigned a CA and PA value based on the spread of ranges in the current squad. This is not the most accurate, but is better than letting the AI randomly assign values when you create a game.

Free agents have also been pruned to remove those who have retired, and several duplicate players in the database (if you find any, tell me).
Managers have also been added to team to be a realistic as possible.

Finances have been set to realistic levels so they should not balloon unrealistically. Prize money is set according to the information I can find online.

What's not included (yet)

I have not looked at teams outside of the top division. So promoted teams will not have accurate rosters. This could lead to some of them getting outclassed (depending on what their initial roster is like).

I have not added player history. This is a huge undertaking, so I have left off for now. It is probably not a path I am doing to go down, it will be boring and a huge amount of work.

I have not touched the staff, except the manager. Mostly because I find it difficult to find accurate information.

I did not change the CA/PA of players already in the database. I have no idea how accurate this information actually is.

No extra leagues or players from other nations.

What is planned to be added

I will be extending the database (or creating a complementary one, I have not yet decided) for the Arabian peninsular. There is information available, and since I have included most of North Africa this is a logical extension anyway. Plus with the WC in Qatar, maybe some people will want to explore football in the area (no bribes will be included).

I will look at the feasibility of adding lower leagues. At the very least, I am ready to tackle rosters in the second divisions (where the info is available) to create a better experience when new teams are promoted.

I really hope to be able to add at least one additional African nation. Preferably a couple. The problem is finding accurate information for all first division sides. I would really like to include Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and some more West African nations. So much European football talent originates here. Imagine being the person to unearth the next Yaya Touré, or Didier Drogba, or Sameul Eto'o!

I am also considering making a similar file for Asia. Given how long it took me to get this one off the ground and finished, I would not expect it to be ready soon.

Note that there are now two files. One contains database edits and one contains competition rules. I have split this so I can try to integrate other files easier, and so I can keep rules independent of changes to rosters. You should download and run both files. If you just want to add players but not leagues, download the database change file only. It will only add players.

Credit

Shout out to @Kanwulf for help with getting things more correct in Sudan.