FMM 21- European Teams to Manage

After reading the articles for English and Scottish teams to manage, I decided to do a quick suggestion for teams from other European countries in the game.

Belgium- Anderlecht 

In FM20 this club was lead by former Mancester City captain Vincent Kompany and his former Man City teammate Samir Nasri. Now with Kompany as manager and Nasri as a free agent, can you take this team to the top of Belgium and the Champions League?

Denmark- Vejle Boldklub

Freshly promoted back to the top flight of Danish football, this team has the facilities to compete with the likes of Kopenhagen and Midtjylland. Can you take this fresh blood to the top of the Danish Superliga and claim the throne?

France- SC Bastia

In 2017, this team was demoted from Ligue 1 to the 5th tier due to financial troubles. After back to back promotions, we see them in tier 3 and ready to go up again. Can you hop on this train and ride it all the way to the top?

Germany- Hertha Berlin

New ownership has this team financially ready to compete with the big boys in the Bundesliga. Can you take this team from the capital city all the way?

Greece- "Insert your generic Panathinikos reasoning here."  There are a lot of teams in this league you could manage for multiple different reasons. Personally I would follow in Lullujo's footsteps and manage newly promoted Apollon Smyrnis.

Holland- Ajax! Ajax! Ajax! This team has young talent all over the place. Less than 2 years ago, they were Champions League semifinalists. This is one of my favorite teams so I'm a bit biased here. If I had to pick elsewhere though, I would choose PSV.

Italy- AC Milan

Zlatan looks like a God and plays like one too. They have made some good signings and look to be on their way back up. Can you take this fallen giant back to the king of the jungle and kill the Zebras?

Northern Ireland- Larne F.C.

Two Words: Sugar Daddy. I'm not sure how it will work in the mobile version but this team has a Foreground Sugar Daddy.

Poland- Piast Gliwice

The only team besides Legia Warsaw to win the title in the last 5 years. Take this team over and add some parody back to Polish football.

Portugal- What many consider as the best league outside the top 5 in Europe, this league is known for the big 3 of Porto, Benfica and Sporting. Could you take a team with youth building like Braga or finances like Famalicao and turn this league into the big 4?

Ireland- Derry City

The only team from Northern Ireland playing in the Irish Premier League. I picked this team because it reminds me of a Andorra or Cardiff/Swansea/Wrexham type of save.

Russia- PFC Sochi

This is an underrated league and one of the top 10 in the world. Zenit is a beast and there is a ton of history from the teams in Moskow. I choose Sochi because you can write your own history with this new team that is less than 3 years old.  You also have a huge stadium to play in that was leftover from the Winter Olympics in 2014.

Spain- Honestly, I don't know who I would choose. La Liga is my least favorite out of the big leagues so I don't really have my heart in this one. You could pick a team like FC Andorra who represents their own country or Deportivo La Caruna who is a fallen giant of sorts and have an interesting backstory to your save. 

Turkey- Fenerbache

This league is loaded with good teams like Galatasaray, Basaksehir and Besiktas. You could pick any of them and have a fun and challenging save. I just like the name Fenerbache.

Wales- TNS

The New Saints didn't win the league title for the first time in 8 years and had previously won 9 out of the last 10 before finishing 2nd last season. Take this team, take your league back, and find some European success. This could also be paired up with a Welsh national team job and be your "build a nation" save.

SPECIAL BONUS SECTION- English Non-League

If you are like me, you are addicted to the 5th and 6th tiers of England. Since the post about England covered League Two and up, I figured I would throw my non-league two cents in.

Vanarama National League-

Wealdstone- This team is newly promoted from the National League South and are contending in real life. Will their squad on FM21 allow you to do the same?

King's Lynn/Weymouth- After back to back promotions, we see these teams one promotion away from league football. Can you make it 3 in 3 and get them there?

Notts County- They were one of the popular picks last season and should be again this season. They should have the biggest stadium and budget out of the non league teams again.

Barnet- This team had the best facilities of all the non league teams on FM20 and they had a decent squad to back it up. If things look the same on FM21, this team will put you in good position for a non league to legend run.

Vanarama National North/South

Dorking(South)- This team had the worst facilities and smallest stadium in FM20. This hasn't stopped them from being a competitive team in real life and they have some talent in the game as well. They have a great story with getting promoted a dozen times over their 20 year history. Can you take them to new heights?

York City(North)- They were in 1st place when the season shut down but lost out to King's Lynn on PPG and stumbled in the playoffs. This team belongs in league football, can you take them there?

Boston United(North)- This team had the best facilities in the 6th tier in FM20. They have a nice real life story too that you can give a read if you want another reason to manage them. I took these guys to the Championship last season before jumping ship to Leeds. 

Billericay(South)- This team and management are in shambles. The drama with the owner has been a real life storyline for a while now and it seems like he is on his way out if he isn't gone already on FM21. This team finished near the bottom of the league last season after being pegged for promotion. If the chairman's money is still in the club, then they are the 'Rich' team in the non league. Basically LLM on easy mode. If he and his cash are gone, you can slide in and be the hero this club needs.

 

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I have used this site to get a lot of info about the game and this is my way to give a little back.

[broodje kip]

Great article mate though Zebras don’t actually lives in the Jungle 😂

I agree with you La Liga for some reason just not a fun place to play.

I love your pick of Vejle Boldklub I remember playing with them in my FIFA player career mode. Hertha BSC, AC Milan and PSV looks promising and great for trying the match engines / trainings. Also I see you did a lot of research for most club outside of the top-5.

Finally, I haven’t seen you before? Hope to see you do challenges around here 😁

[Rhewi]

2 hours ago, broodje kip said:

Great article mate though Zebras don’t actually lives in the Jungle 😂

I agree with you La Liga for some reason just not a fun place to play.

I love your pick of Vejle Boldklub I remember playing with them in my FIFA player career mode. Hertha BSC, AC Milan and PSV looks promising and great for trying the match engines / trainings. Also I see you did a lot of research for most club outside of the top-5.

Finally, I haven’t seen you before? Hope to see you do challenges around here 😁

Im new and for the most part just a lurker looking for save ideas or tactic ideas. My only post before this was about a season I had with Kings Lynn winning the FA Trophy while still being in the Vanarama North.

Some of my picks were based on research and some were from what I know about the country and its leagues from playing them in the past and following them in real life now.

[Rob]

Excellent article.

And you mentioned Weymouth ❤️ 

[Rhewi]

2 hours ago, Rob said:

Excellent article.

And you mentioned Weymouth ❤️ 

I remembered seeing them in an article on here about teams to manage in FM20 and I knew they went up again so I had to include them. Hopefully FM21 will have their link with Bournemouth.

[DIRECTFX]

Nice write up good to see some of the more lower leagues get some love .. 

 

[Rich]

Very nicely done mate, some good choices I’m sure some people will go with.

I have to post this, whenever I think of Wealdstone, this is what comes to my mind 🤣

 

[Aaron Thornton]

Great to see Larne on there, they are based very close to where I live. 

 

They're owned by Kenny Bruce who made his fortune as a Co founder of Purplebricks (A UK based estate agent) he is from Larne and decided to buy the club a few years back and it's been a dream romance ever since, he invested heavily in the facilities in general, giving them the second best infrastructure behind Linfield in the country. Hes placed a heavy emphasis on promoting and developing youth also, giving them a very young and promising team who have come from nowhere to be challenging at the top end of Northern Irish football, if this combination continues to blossom, Larne FC are tipped to be the best team in the country in the non too distant future who have a very passionate owner and wants the club to succeed in every way, a genuine idol of club ownership. 

 

It will be very interesting to see how much budget they start with as being in Northern Ireland, usually 200k to 300k transfer budget is considered huge. 

 

[Rhewi]

6 hours ago, RichD said:

Very nicely done mate, some good choices I’m sure some people will go with.

I have to post this, whenever I think of Wealdstone, this is what comes to my mind 🤣

 

I learned about him on a COPA 90 video.

[JamesVilla]

17 hours ago, RichD said:

Very nicely done mate, some good choices I’m sure some people will go with.

I have to post this, whenever I think of Wealdstone, this is what comes to my mind 🤣

 

Ive got a photo with this bloke. When-ever the villa get to Wembley, the pub i travel down on the coaches with, park at Wealdstone FC, then get the tube across to the ground. 

It was the play off final defeat to Fulham when I saw him, he was laughing it up, loving life, villa fans chanting with him, buying him drinks just in exchange for a few pictures. 

They open up the bar, put a BBQ on. Great friendly hosts in all honestly. One year, the manager of the bar said the money took when Villa came to visit was the most out of any club that uses the club on a day out 😂