Biggest Cities in Europe with No Club in the First Tier

Credit goes to MrRobert44 on Reddit [original post]

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Credit also goes to AwakenTheBacon_ on Reddit for their research and contribution to the original post.

FM always brings out the creativity of the community, with new save ideas and challenges constantly being shared around - one post by MrRobert44 on Reddit caught our attention here on FMScout. Biggest City in each European Country that have never had a football club in the 1st tier.

A very intriguing concept. One of the great challenges of FM is Lower League Management, but an added level of difficulty can be management in smaller population areas.

Stadiums can only be expanded so much, only so much interest can be drawn, income created, businesses to invest and the overshadowing of bigger existing clubs near by.

We’ve decided to elaborate further on MrRobert44’s post, showing what they have researched below and going further with it.

We hope you enjoy this read and it helps you with a save idea, enjoy!



The image above found in the reddit post displays the most populous city in each nation which has not had a team in the respective 1st tier.

There are some important points to make; these “cities” are actually “inhabited places” because some of these areas noted can actually be considered towns, villages and/or suburbs which are located near larger cities - for example, Swords is near Dublin in the Republic of Ireland.

The original reddit poster did not include several countries simply because of research difficulty, and countries that are not geographically a part of Europe were not included either.

To help summarize the information, below is a table of every inhabited place in question:

Association	Inhabited Place
Albania	Sarande (20,000)
Austria	Villach (60,000)
Belarus	Maladetschna (95,000)
Belgium	Namur (111,000)
Bosnia & Herzegovina	Doboj (71,000)
Bulgaria	Asenovgrad (51,000)
Croatia	Kastela (38,000)
Cyprus	Geroskipou (8,300)
Czech Republic	Havirov (72,000)
Denmark	Roskilde (51,000)
England	Plymouth (262,000)
Estonia	Voru (12,000)
Finland	Joensuu (77,000)
France	Perpignan (119,000)
Germany	Bonn (318,000)
Greece	Acharnes (107,000)
Hungary	Hodmezovasarhely (44,000)
Iceland	Mosfellsbaer (12,000)
Italy	Taranto (195,000)
Latvia	Ogre (25,000)
Lithuania	Ukmerge (20,000)
Moldova	Soroca (22,000)
Montenegro	Herceg Novi (20,000)
Netherlands	Almere (211,000)
North Macedonia	Radovish (16,000)
Norway	Arendal (38,000)
Poland	Zielona Gora (141,000)
Portugal	Villa Nova de Gaia (188,000)
Republic of Ireland	Swords (39,000)
Romania	Focsani (97,000)
Russia	Chelyabinsk (1,188,000)
Scotland	East Kilbride (75,000)
Serbia	Pancevo (90,000)
Slovakia	Martin (54,000)
Slovenia	Kamnik (14,000)
Spain	Caragena (214,000)
Sweden	Lund (94,000)
Switzerland	Chur (35,000)
Turkey	Sanliurfa (2,115,000)
Ukraine	Makiivka (340,000)

A reddit user by the name of AwakenTheBacon_ took the time and effort to elaborate further on MrRobert44’s research and posted the following table below which not only details out the country and city, but which club exists and at what level they will be at starting the 2022/23 season.

Association	City	Club	Tier 2022/23
Albania	Sarande	KS Butrinti Sarande	3rd
Austria	Villach	ESV Admira Villach	5th
Belarus	Maladzyechna	FK Molodechno	2nd
Belgium	Namur	Union Namur	4th
Bosnia & Herzeg.	Doboj	FK Sloga Doboj	1st (Promoted)
Bulgaria	Asenovgrad	FC Asenovets	3rd
Croatia	Kastela	?	?
Cyprus	Geroskipou	Geroskpou FC	?
Czech Republic	Havirov	MFK Havirov	4th
Denmark	Roskilde	FC Roskilde	3rd
Estonia	Voru	Voru FC Helios	4th
England	Plymouth	Plymouth Argyle	3rd
Finland	Joensuu	JIPPO Joensuu	3rd
France	Perpignan	Canet Roussillon FC	4th]
Germany	Bonn	Bonner SC	5th
Greece	Acharnes	Acharnaikos FC	?
Hungary	Hodmezovasarhely	Hodmezovasarhelyi FC	3rd
Iceland	Mosfellsbaer	Afturelding	2nd
Italy	Taranto	Taranto FC	3rd
Latvia	Ogre	FK Ogre	?
Lithuania	Ukmerge	FKS Ukmerge	?
Moldova	Soroca	CF Inter Soroca	3rd
Montenegro	Herceg Novi	OFK Igalo	2nd
Netherlands	Almere	Almere City	2nd
North Macedonia	Radovis	FK Detnoit Junior	2nd
Norway	Arendal	Arendal Fotball	3rd
Poland	Zielona Gora	Lechia Zielona Gora	4th
Portugal	Vila Nova de Gaia	CF Canelas 2010	3rd
Rep. of Ireland	Swords	n/a	n/a
Romania	Focsani	CSM Focsani	3rd
Russia	Chelyabinsk	FK Chelyabinsk	3rd
Scotland	East Kilbride	East Kilbride FC	5th
Serbia	Pancevo	FK Dinamo Pancevo	3rd
Slovakia	Martin	MSK Fomat Martin	3rd
Slovenia	Kamnik	NK Kamnik	4th
Spain	Cartagena	FC Cartagena	2nd
Sweden	Lund	Lunds BK & Torns IF	3rd
Switzerland	Chur	FC Chur 97	5th
Turkey	Sanliurfa	Sanlurfaspor	3rd
Ukraine	Makiivka	n/a	n/a

Along this topic, we decided to take it a step further on FMScout.

The amount of research involved would be astronomical, but we came up with the idea of taking every urban area with a population of over 100,000 people and listing those areas out as an idea to either take over a club, or create a new one in that area.

On your part as a manager, research will be needed to look up football clubs within these populated areas.

Fortunately, the United Nations have a demographics list which can be found via this link here with such a table.

Now of course, this information is overwhelming - but for your FM saves, why not try taking over a club, or creating a club in a low population area?

This automatically restricts and limits your capabilities to operate, grow and compete.

As a challenge, why not explore the world, even in familiar associations that you operate in and add the extra layer of low-population to your FM saves.

Even in larger populated areas, there is also the pressure of existing clubs which compete for fans within that area - trying to grow a club in a condensed footballing geographical area grows rivalries and makes it difficult to attract fans and interest to your club.

We hope this article has helped you managers create and develop a new save idea for now with FM22 and previous editions, or in the future when FM23 arrives.