[FM16] From Bottom to Glory: An Unemployed Career in Africa

The month of June.

When the current football manager series starts feeling shit, and the wait for the new FM series begins.

This year isn’t any different. After beginning a new save, playing the friendly matches, working out the transfer target, I end up rage quitting after a while because it doesn’t seem interesting to me anymore.

So after a lot of thinking, to get back my interest in FM, I decided I will start an unemployed career. However, as I am impatient guy, I will confine the save to only one continent.

And that continent is Africa.

Why Africa you ask?

Well, it’s pretty simple. I have never played in Africa, so always had a wish to try out a save here.


The Aim

- Win the Africa Champions League

- Win the Africa Confederations Cup


Loaded Leagues

As only the South African Leagues are playable, I needed to use some editor data files to enable some other African Leagues. Thanks to classsen & lukafanzer (the official FM researcher for African football), I loaded the following leagues:



The Manager



To make this even more challenging, my chosen manager is a Djiboutian. Djibouti is in the bottom tier of African Football hierarchy, and one of the worst footballing nation in the world.

Can this unfortunate poor Djiboutian make history? I hope he can. :p

Wish me luck guys.

PS: This is my first unemployment career, so go easy on me.

After checking out the job center, I noticed that some international teams are wanting manager for their under 23 team for the upcoming African U23 Nations Cup. I don’t know why, but instead of applying for a club side, I decided to apply for them instead.


To my surprise, 4 days later…………..



So many quality teams want me that I am in a dilemma, who should I manage?


Why the Les Elephants? Well, to start with, I think they are the most powerful out of the four options, and I get to manage the new Manchester United Signing Eric Bailly.

After finalizing the paperwork, I went to job center again & applied for all the club sides. However, a lot of clubs were saying “Their Interview process is over” & a lot of clubs simply laughed off my interest. The only one who offered me an interview was an Angolan club named Desportivo da Huíla.


But 3 days later.


Let me just focus on my international team for now.

Anyway, first up is the Third Round of Africa U23 Cup of Nations, against Gabon U23.


That was quite disappointing, we should have done better. We failed to clinch an away goal in the first leg. In the 2nd leg, we were 1-0 behind till 61 minutes. 2 quick goals from our substitute strikers sealed the match. It would have been a disaster if the mighty Ivory Coast failed to qualify.

A promising start to your career, it'll certainly be a tough journey. Good luck with your adventure!

I would never be able to do a tough story like this so you have my support Ivory Coast U23 is a solid starting point

Thanks for your comments Justice & BeanyUnited.

The month of August was boring. No match was scheduled for Ivory Coast U23. On the other hand, I was rejected by some of the clubs. Looks like the Djiboutian reputation is really affecting my career.

In the mean time, Nigerian club El-Kanemi who are lying in the 17th position of the league, just fired their manager.


A relegation fight, well I don’t care anymore. I want a job now.


The present condition of the point table:


With 8 matches to go, we are still 5 point away from safety. Goal difference? Don't ask me anymore please. :mad:


The Squad:


Yes, six, I have only 6 players are in the whole squad!! The transfer window is off, and the league doesn’t allow signing free players in this window too.


Fixture List:


Almost all my next oppositions are in the top positions. The 2 matches which we can win are against Abia Warriors & Tarba, respectively lying in the 18th and last position of the point table. Let’s hope we can snatch a point or two from any big teams, and Giwa FC doesn’t get any more point.

Good to see you take up a club job, will be especially challenging with all things considered!

Trust me Jack, it was. Thanks though.

I went with a 451 formation, with a rather conservative midfield selected. Basically, my approach was to “Park The Bus” and hope for the best. It didn’t work in the slightest, as we were brushed easily by both Akwa & Nasarawa Utd. After that, I changed my approach a bit, using a CM-A role in my midfield. It worked wonders, as we Sunshine Stars to a draw. Improved performances followed against Baysela Utd & Enugu Rangers, but we could not convert our performances into a draw.

A scrappy win versus fellow relegation candidate Abia Warriors took us to the same point as Giwa FC, who were still without a point since I took charge.

Due to fixture congestion, I decided to rest some players in the next match against league leader Dolphins. Surprisingly, we almost won the match if not for a last minute equalizer from them. That took us finally away from the relegation zone, as Giwa FC lost again.

The last match was against Ifeanyi Ubah, who didn’t win a single match this season.




Survival ensure, thanks to Giwa FC, who helped us by losing all their final 12 matches of the season.


Final Point Table:


Well, I do not think I have the capability to take this club to a next level. The finances are bad, there are not enough players in the club. The board doesn’t even my pleas to arrange a coaching degree for me. So, I decided that I would resign and look for another job.

Well done on keeping them up though.. After those first five fixtures i would have lost all hope.

2016-06-24 00:30#234451 Grant_MUFC25 : Well done on keeping them up though.. After those first five fixtures i would have lost all hope.

I never thought I would get any point out of the first 5 fixtures. My hope was against the two relegation candidate we faced later.

When I tried to choose the squad for this competition, it seems some of the players can not be chosen, as they are already selected for upcoming friendly matches for the main team. This includes Mande Sayouba, our main goalkeeper who is attracting interest from Serie A team Frosinone, Eric Bailly and Assane Gnoukouri, who plays for Inter Milan.

The final squad thereby stands:



Friendlies:


The match against was odd, we were inferior to them in possession. However, we took 30 shots compared to their zero. Defeat against South Africa was a major blow. Not to mention, this match has ended the international period of Thomas Toure, our best striker.


But one injury was a blessing, as we can now call up our main goalkeeper.




Group Stage:


With a goal & an assist from our striker Adame Diakite, we managed to win our first match fairly easily. However…


Our first choice right midfielder suffered a short injury. It’s not serious, if we do qualify, he can play in the semi-final, but he already had a low fitness before the start of the tournament. The situation will likely get worse now.


Despite fielding a weaker main XI, we still managed to destroy underdog Uganda, therefore qualifying for the semi-final. Next stop, our toughest test yet, Ghana U23.

And again, another injury, to our best midfielder.


Despite his injury, we did the job done.



Full Group Stage Point Table:


Semi-Final & Final:

We drew against Senegal U23 the host, and a powerful team in their own right.


What a match! Manade Sayouba, the GK who is not supposed to be in the squad, saved our ass in the penalty shootout!

Again, two more injuries just have to occur before the final against Nigeria.


While none of them were included my main XI, they would have been good options in the bench considering our fatigue level.


Well, we still won it, despite being unable to fill up my substitute quota of the match. My first trophy came, rather quickly.

Congrats on the win man. Injuries and fitness is a real problem in African tournaments right? It is happening to me too in my South Africa save.

Nice win should help for a club job. Do the u-23's play constantly or just in bunches?