The Youth Academy Challenge is one of the most popular challenges in FM, with the thread over on the SI forums being the busiest of any challenge out there. I've decided to tackle the challenge myself, and did a fair bit of research around some of the lower league clubs in Europe. I figured the challenge would be more interesting and maybe a little easier at the start if I went to a non-top five league system that still had plenty of playable divisions, so the quality of player might be a bit lower to start with and it could be easier to win the league but it would be more challenging to reach the summit of Europe.

In the end I was left with a choice between Denmark and Portugal, who both have the top four tiers playable in the base game. I did some more research into the many clubs in the fifth tiers of these countries, and there ended up being a pretty easy choice of club.


Clube Oriental de Lisboa, or Oriental Lisboa for short, will be where I am plying my trade for this challenge. I like managing small clubs in big cities, and taking on Sporting and Benfica for control of the city will be a big task. They have been a much bigger club in the past as well, but last played in a professional league back in 2014, and at the moment are an amateur club (although this has changed by the time I take over in June 2023).

So, for the challenge I have simulated a year into the future, and have taken over Oriental Lisboa who got promoted into the Campeonato Nacional Prio D, in the fourth tier of Portuguese football. To win the challenge I'll need to avoid being sacked or relegated to the fifth tier which will end the challenge, then get promoted at least three times, topple the existing triarchy dominating Portuguese football and then go on and become the best club in Europe.

Easy, right?

Wow, this will be quite the challenge. Good luck, will be following this!