London as a Nation in FM24

Introduction

Arguably the biggest footballing city in the world, London is home to some of the planet’s most successful clubs and is the birthplace of some of England’s greatest players. However, a referendum has led to the area of Greater London becoming an independent nation and member of FIFA and UEFA.

Taking San Marino’s club coefficient ranking at the very bottom of the pile, maybe you’ll tackle the task of building London as a nation and developing its newly formed leagues into some of the strongest in the world.

Perhaps you’ll take the reins of the London national team and lead them to their first appearances at the Euros and World Cup or guide them from Nations League D all the way up to Nations League A.

Or maybe you will fight to maintain the popularity of English football after the monumental blow of some of its biggest clubs leaving the country. This may be an opportunity to build a new English superpower to replace one of the London giants who have left.

With 116 teams in 7 leagues over 5 division levels, an FA cup and multitude of league cups, 15 under-21 competitions and 16 under-18 competitions, the opportunities to discover in London are truly endless.


The Competitions

D1: Professional League Premiership
To maintain the strength of the competition, the Pro League Premiership contains 10 teams who play each other 4 times (36 games total). At the end of the season, the last-placed team is automatically relegated and the second-last-placed team enters a relegation playoff with the runners-up of the Pro League Second Tier. TV money is very generous in this league (£20M per team) and the champions win £25M in prize money.

D2: Professional League Second Tier
The Pro League Second Tier bridges professional and semi-professional football in London. The league consists of 12 teams that, like the Premiership, play each other 4 times (44 games total). The league champions are automatically promoted and the runners-up enter a playoff with the second-bottom team of the division above for a place in next season’s top flight. The two teams finishing at the bottom of the league will be relegated.

D3: Amateur League Citywide Premier Division
In this division, 16 teams play each other twice before the league splits and teams play those in their half of the split once more (37 games total). League champions are automatically promoted and teams placed 2nd to 4th compete in a promotion playoff. The bottom two teams will be automatically relegated at the end of the season.

D4: Amateur League Citywide First Division
18 teams play each other twice (34 games total) with one automatic promotion slot and teams placed 2nd to 5th partaking in a promotion playoff. The bottom 4 teams will be relegated.

D5: Amateur League Regional Divisions
In the lowest playable league, 54 teams are split into 3 regional divisions (north, south and east) of 18 teams each and play each other twice (34 games total). The winner of each division will be automatically promoted and the three runners-up will play each other in a cross-divisional playoff for the fourth promotion spot. The last-placed team in each league is relegated.

Main National Cup: London FA Cup
With 110 teams taking part, the London FA Cup is the most prestigious cup competition in the country. Teams enter at different stages depending on what league they play in. Matches that end in draws are replayed to emulate its exciting English counterpart. Winners of the final at Wembley Stadium earn European qualification for the following season.

Main League Cup: Professional League Cup
The Pro League Cup is contested by the 22 teams in the top 2 divisions of the pyramid with the Second Tier teams playing in a group stage to earn the right to join the Premiership teams in the round of 16. All knockout games other than the final are played over 2 legs. Although still a highly competitive competition, selection rules are in place to ensure young homegrown players get opportunities in the match squad in these games.

Super Cup: Greater London Challenge
A super cup that takes place a week before the start of the season that pits the Pro League Premiership and London FA Cup champions against each other at Wembley Stadium.

London Amateur League Cup
Contested by 88 teams in division levels 3-5, the London Amateur League Cup presents an opportunity for clubs further down the pyramid to get their hands on some silverware. All ties are played over two legs other than the Wembley final.

London Amateur League Regional Divisions Cup
A chance for those in the lowest playable league to taste some cup glory, the LAL Regional Divisions Cup is played over four rounds by the 54 teams in the Amateur Regional Divisions. The first three rounds are group stages in which teams are split into groups of 3 that play each other once with the group winners qualifying for the next round. The final is played at Craven Cottage with £7500 prize money up for grabs – huge for clubs at that level.

U21 Competitions
Each playable team has an U21 team in the reserve league system which has 9 divisions over 4 levels and 6 cup competitions.

U18 Competitions
Each playable team has an U18 team in the U18 league system which has 11 divisions over 3 levels and 5 cup competitions.


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Other Details

Everyone born in London who previously had English nationality is now a London national. The only exception to this is people who have been capped for England at senior or U21 level or declared for England. These people will still have London second nationality, so it’ll be possible to convince some of those who are yet to declare for England or play a competitive senior international to play for London instead. London-born players that did not have English nationality before London’s independence will be given Londoner second nationality.

Where London teams have left the English league system, they have been replaced by the highest ranked teams in the league below in the 2022-23 season in real life. The placement of London teams in their new leagues was decided by their league position in the 2022-23 season in real life. Teams’ placement in the U21 and U18 leagues was decided by reputation.

Arsenal will take part in the English Community Shield in the first season as a result of being Premier League runners-up. This is not a bug and no other teams will take part in the Community Shield in following seasons as they are no longer playing in English competitions.

London has replaced San Marino in the database. All Sammarinese people, cities, stadia and clubs are now Italian in the database. All their records have been erased but London has assumed their position in the UEFA coefficient rankings, the UEFA Nations League, Euro and World Cup qualifiers and FIFA rankings.


Installation Instructions

Go to documents -> Sports Interactive - > Football Manager 2024 -> editor data and paste the file here
Create the last folder if it doesn't exist.
Open FM24 and start a new career save. In the top right of the screen, under 'Database', make sure ‘London as a Nation’ is selected.