Welcome to the teams in the shadows challenge, presented by FMBO55 where I provide you with a further recommendation of clubs to manage in Football Manager. This is a great addition to the my previous article released last week where I revealed the most exciting saves in Scandinavia.
Now we like to bring attention to a quite different Football Manager challenge focused on 5 football clubs we recommend to manage which are living in the shadow of their city rivals. For this edition we’ve focused on clubs in major European cities where there’s a less successful and lesser-known club, often playing in the lower leagues.
The teams in the shadows challenge gives you the chance to go from zero to hero as you look to dominate in some of the biggest cities around Europe with a minor club that’s nipping at the heels of their bigger rival club.
This challenge, teams in the shadows, looks at minor clubs in the some of the capitals around Europe where a major club exists. Here we will give attention to smaller brother clubs who’s living in the shadow of their city rivals like Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munchen and Feyenoord.
Pull up your sleeves and rule the world as you look to surpass the achievements of your major club rivals by trying out our teams in the shadows Football Manager challenge.
Paris FC – France
Paris FC is a club that was founded in 1969 and currently plays in Ligue 2. Paris FC merged with Stade Saint-Germain to form Paris Saint-Germain in 1970. The current Paris FC exists as a result of the club splitting from Paris Saint-Germain in 1973.
Unlike its counterpart, which has gone on to establish a solid foundation via its wealthy owners, Paris FC has struggled to establish itself, having spent the majority of its existence playing in the amateur divisions.
A transfer budget of just £258k is not very generous but they already have some good loan signings at the club. So, that may continue to be a running theme or to utilize the free-agent market.
Paris FC has been known to be the “ugly sister” of PSG but could you show up the “pretty sister” by taking over their domination in French football?
TSV 1860 Munich – Germany
TSV 1860 Munich, as per the club name is a club that was founded in 1860 and currently plays in the 3rd tier of German football. The club previously co-owned the Allianz Arena with Bayern Munich but sold its 50% share back in April 2006 to help resolve a serious financial crisis that saw TSV face bankruptcy. In July 2017, Bayern Munich announced the termination of 1860 Munich’s rental agreement for Allianz Arena. TSV1860 Munich then returned to their previous ground Grünwalder Stadion.
The main club in the city, Bayern Munich, has gone on to dominate the German division and attracting the best talent in Germany, whilst TSV is trying to make a name for themselves again.
The club is not offering any transfer budget but is providing the new manager with 9.8k in wage funds. This is a chance to perhaps use the youth talent available or explore the loan/free-agent market to try and push for promotion.
Bayern, the big brother has gone onto bigger and better things leaving TSV behind. Can you be the one to bring TSV to the top and surpass the Bavarian Giants?
Sparta Rotterdam – Netherlands
Sparta Rotterdam was established in 1888 and they are the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. They currently play in the Eredivisie after their recent promotion to the top division. Sparta Rotterdam plays their home games at Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel which is approx a 6-mile drive away from their local rivals Feyenoord.
Feyenoord is considered as one of the top teams in the Netherlands and is regular participants of European football. So it is no surprise that for anyone outside of the Netherlands to think of Feyenoord when they think of the city Rotterdam rather than Sparta.
The club is offering a transfer budget of £322k which is not a huge amount to strengthen the existing squad to compete in the main division. Sparta owns a good youth academy and previously produced the likes of Danny Blind and Kevin Strootman. This could be a chance to develop more club icons.
Feyenoord is not considered at the same level as Ajax, so there is a chance for you to overtake your noisy neighbours of Rotterdam and lead them to glory.
Edinburgh City – Scotland
Edinburgh City a club that some of you may not have expected to end up on this list but we will explain why. The club was founded in 1928 and currently play in the 4th tier of Scottish football which is in the Scottish League two division.
Most people think of Celtic or Rangers when it comes to Scottish football but its often forgotten that the capital city of Scotland is Edinburgh. Hearts and Hibernian are considered as the biggest clubs in the capital who are in the top division of Scotland.
The club is offering a transfer budget of £43.2k. There is an opportunity to convert this budget into a wage and try and pick up some free agents or loan off the main clubs in the country until you find your way to the top.
Why not stamp down Edinburgh City FC as the main club in the capital and forge a real challenge with the top clubs. In Scotland, there is real scope to progress as most of the top clubs have their players poached by all the big teams across Europe so they have to recruit and start again.
Internacional de Madrid CF – Spain
Internacional de Madrid, an exciting option in Spain is the last one on the list. The club was founded in 2002 and are currently playing in the Segunda División B – Group 1,
The capital of Madrid has 2 of the biggest teams around (Real & Athletico), so the likes of Internacional de Madrid won’t be the list of peoples minds when they think of the Spanish capital.
The club is offering a wage budget of £6.47k. This is a fairly decent amount of wage budget at this level which can be used on free agents or even loan some players of the big teams in Madrid.
This is such a great challenge, potentially the toughest as there are so many super giants in the leagues above and they attract the best players around the globe. The first season you would be taking on Real Madrid’s B team which could be a stepping stone before you could potentially play the first team in seasons to come.
Summary
These challenges listed are for the hardcore Football Manager players as you’ll be able to test some great lower league management saves. This would be a long term save with real rewards as you will change the outlook of the country as a whole, not just the city itself, as you make history by looking to surpass the achievements of your city rivals!
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