Bayern Munich are the Giants of German football without a doubt, recently they’ve not been at the top of their game but they have had many a Golden Era, none better than in the mid 70s when they won the Champions League 3 times in a row. They’ve had some truely world class players in recent and not so recent times. From Oliver Kahn to Sepp Maier, Franz Beckenbauer to Gerd Muller. They’ve all left their own impact on World Football as we know it today, so I thought a Bayern Munich Legends database was a fitting tribute. I’ve added 13 of their legends to the current squad.

The players included were primarily those voted in the Bayern Munich best ever XI in 2005 by 66k fans. There were only really 2 players that rivalled this team, Bizente Lizarazu and Oliver Kahn.. Yes, Kahn wasn’t the best Bayern goal-keeper! The wages at present are too high so people will need to be sold, but I thought I’d let you decide who to sell and who to keep. The legends are all 24-27 years old I think, so are all in their prime!

Squad:

Sepp Maier

Augenthaler – Schwarzenbeck – Beckenbauer – Breitner

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Scholl – Effenburg – Matthaus

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Elber – Muller – Rummenigge

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Reserves: Oliver Kahn, Bixente Lizarazu

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Download Link – HERE

Thanks to aird too has produced a facepack specifically for this database. Download that here.

How do I load the database?

Firstly you download/save the database to: Users > *name* > Documents > Sports Interactive > Football Manager 2010 > editor data

Then, when you load up FM you will be promted with this screen…

Tick the box “Change” and then click Ok. You will be promoted to this screen: (will vary depending on other databases you have)

Check the box next to Bayern Legends VI.xml and you’re away!

It’s important to delete the fake.inc file if you want Oliver Kahn’s real name (contractual issues means he’s known as Jens Mustermann on the game).

A special mention goes out to the lads at FMLeague.net who helped a lot with the research side to this database. We hope to be working with them a lot more in the future!

As always, any comments and criticism is welcome, I will be doing a V2 of this if people give me feedback. It’s inevitable I’ve got some stats and positions wrong, so if you tell me I’ll change it!

Name: Manuel Neuer
D/O/B: 27/03/1986
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Schalke 04

Background
Widely regarded as Germany’s future between the sticks, 23-year-old Manuel Neuer has been the number 1 ‘keeper at Schalke 04 since the 2006/07 season. Since making his debut at the tender age of 20, Neuer has been praised for his consistently good performances, with many connecting Schalke’s relative success in the Bundesliga over the past few seasons directly to his emergence within the side. His performances have, rather predictably, attracted interest from several top European clubs, including Bayern Munich and Manchester United, but Neuer has remained loyal to his home-town club, ruling out moves elsewhere on several occasions. However, earlier this season Neuer came out and said that he needed to be playing Champions League football if he were to command the regular number 1 spot in the German national side, for whom he has so far received 2 caps, but that he would be willing to stay at Schalke if they managed to qualify for next season’s competition. Currently, things are looking good: they sit in 3rd place, 8 points ahead of 4th placed Hamburg. Here‘s another compilation video of some of Neuer’s saves from last season.

Attributes

Positions

Tactics
Neuer’s only attribute I’d be particularly worried about would be his Handling. At 12, it’s nowhere near disastrous, but it’s slightly disappointing for someone who is hoping to be a world-class goalkeeper. He’s tall though: 6’4″, with his height bringing with it good Strength, Command of Area and Balance. His distribution is also excellent: his throwing in particular has potential to set off several attacking moves.

Transfer
Neuer can be signed relatively cheaply, considering he’s meant to be one of the brightest goalkeeping prospects on FM2010. A bid of at least £5 million would usually be enough to acquire his services, but that figure is bound to increase as you get further into the game. I believe his desire to play at the highest level outweighs his love for his home-town club, so in terms of his allegiances to Schalke, you shouldn’t really come across a problem.

Overall
Neuer is one of the most promising young goalkeepers on FM2010, and added to the fact he’s comes with a fairly cheap pricetag, it’d be stupid not to consider him when looking for a new goalkeeper. If he isn’t ready at the beginning of FM2010 to play for a big European side, it won’t be long before he’s up there with the likes of Casillas, Buffon and Van Der Sar.
Recommended Rating: 9/10

You can follow the discussion over at our forums!

Introduction:

I have to admit, the first thing that came to my head when I thought about German football was the 5-1 thrashing at the hands of England all those years ago. Second to this though was the great Bayer Leverkeusen team of the early noughties. For anyone who doesn’t know about this relatively successful era in the clubs history, it’s the time when the bottled a lead in the German league in 2000, then managed to bottle another League, German Cup and Champions League in 2002. Okay, losing against Real Madrid to that goal from Zinedine Zidane may not be a bottle, but losing out on 3 titles sure is!

This team was made up of stars who they predictably lost to larger European teams; Ze Roberto and Michael Ballack both left for Bayern Munich which really hurt Leverkeusen. Players such as Lucio, Jens Nowotny, Bernd Schneider, Hans Jorg-Butt, Carsten Ramelow, Oliver Neuville, Yildray Basturk, Dimitar Berbatov, Marko Babic and Ulf Kirsten all made up the 2002 squad which was famously named “Neverkeusen” after the treble failure.

Since that time they’ve not really been the same again, they managed a 3rd place finish in 2003/04 but since then they haven’t finished above 5th. They really are a team in a transition period that needs a few top players to take them to a place they’ve never been before – Bundesliga champions.

Fact File:

Full Name: Bayer 04 Leverkeusen
Stadium: BayArena (30,000 all-seater)
Training Facilities: Top training facilities
Youth Facilities: Excellent youth facilities + Youth Academy
Media Prediction: 9th
Board Expectations: Top half finish
Continental Competitions: None

The Squad:

The team is full of great individuals but really lacks enough quality throughout the squad. I’ll only be highlighting the good players in this guide as there are about 50 players in the first team and reserves who will never get close to the team! These can all get sold for for a tidy profit allowing you to bring in over £10m in the first summer.

In the goal keeping department you are blessed with one of the greatest goalkeepers on the game; Rene Adler. Rene has high ambitions though, so if he does not see the club progressing after 18 months – 2 years then you might be in trouble. Keep him tied down on a long term deal on frequent periods so you can demand top prices for him when he inevitably asks to leave. If he doesn’t ask to leave then you’re succeeding as far as I’m concerned. You must be in and around the top of the table and competing in the latter stages of the cup competitions to keep him around. Other than Mr Adler though, there is no real back up or competition. Benedikt Fernandez is the best of a bad bad bunch – you wouldn’t want him in goal for more than a handful of games a season!

In defence we have more good quality players but we’re really lacking any top class players. Daniel Schwaab and Michal Kadler are two good improving fullbacks who are solid enough in both the attacking and defending elements of their game. They could both be employed as a center half if you’re desperate for cover, although you’re going to really be missing out on their explosive styles from full back. If you wish to play with wingbacks then they’re also very capable of filling the right and right roles respectively. Gonzalo Castro is also another good young fullback, not quite at the level of Schwaab or Kadlec but he’ll offer more than adequate back up on the right. There’s little cover for the left though, definitely a place to strengthen.

Center backs at Leverkeusen come in abundance, although you feel there is something lacking from everyone of them that will stop them getting to the top of their game. Sami Hyypia is a recent signing from Liverpool although his legs have almost completely gone now and has shocking pace, he strikes me as a perfect substitute for when you’re defending a 1 goal lead on the edge of your 18 yard line. Manuel Friedrich is another good defender but there are questions about his lack of concentration. In truth he’s probably the best center back at the club so you need to take a punt with him really and hope any mistakes he does make are not costly. I’d partner Friedrich with Lukas Sinkiewicz, a 23 year old defender. His weakness, like Hyypia, is his poor acceleration although he does have a bit more pace to make up for it. At 6’3 he’s a menace in both boxes from set pieces and definitely one to keep hold of. Stefan Reinartz would be my 4th choice defender. At just 20 years of age he’s still very raw but would do a job for a number of games in a season if called upon. He’s solid all round defensively with no obvious weaknesses. Stefan could fill in in midfield either holding or breaking up the play with relative ease. A product of the youth system here almost guarantees he’ll be a fans favourite in years to come.

Midfield is where Leverkeusen have been arguably at their strongest in years gone by. Michael Ballack, Ze Robero and Yildray Basturk are just 3 of the names that have lit up the BayArena with great displays. You’ll be pleased to know this current team isn’t far off the pace, either. The best of the bunch in my opinion is Simon Rofles. The holding midfielder is in his 5th season with Leverkeusen and is one of the best in current times. Whilst he’s at his best sitting deep breaking up play and spreading the ball, Rofles can also be used in a central midfield role as a box to box midfielder. He could also cover the left flank if you got really desperate but I think that’s reducing his ability to control the game. Arturo Vidal is in a similar mould to Rofles, the holding midfielder has an all round game that could match the majority of Bundesliga midfielders, and to think this kid won’t make it into your starting line up! His only weakness is his finishing, although it never did Makelele harm from in front of the back 4 so I see no reason why Artuto cannot develop to one of the stars of Leverkeusen. At just 22 he still has a fair amount of potential that can be unleashed with the correct training; the Chilean international came through the famous Colo Colo youth set up so has a decent enough pedigree. Lars Bender is the third and final holding midfielder at the club worthy of first team football. The young German signed from 1860 Munich in the summer so wants to make a name for himself in the coming years.

Toni Kroos is an exciting player on loan from Bayern Munich. This is probably the most controversial point of this article but I’d terminate his loan immediately. There is little chance of you affording his transfer fee, which I’ve seen to be upwards of £20m in recent games, so I’d be quite tempted to let him go back to Bayern. He’s on huge wages too, upwards of £30,000 per week which is going to take a lot out of the bank over the period of a year for little return. There’s no doubt he’s going to have a massive future but for £30,000 per week at this stage in his career? No thanks. His readymade replacement is already at the club in Renato Augusto. The versatile midfielder can play right along the pitch and will always put in a decent shift. I’ve found him to be most useful on the right wing but with the freedom to cut inside in the “inside forward” role. On the left there’s Tranquillo Barnetta who is always highly coveted by Europe’s elite but won’t be that pushy in forcing himself out of the club. If you wish to use a formation that doesn’t use wingers or just want to sell him then you can make around £15-20m from him in the first season, which will increase as seasons pass. The attacking midfield/wing positions are where you really have the most quality but least amount of depth. If you were to keep Kroos it won’t be too bad, but otherwise you’d really need to dip into the transfer market at least once.

Upfront there is an abundance of different strikers, firstly there’s the big target man in Stefan Kiessling. At 6’3 the 24 year old German is the best physical presence you could employ upfront. He’s suited to the stereotypical target man role or, the more modern take on a defensive forward. He’s pretty much a German Kevin Davies/Emile Heskey. He won’t get you goals but his contribution to the team shouldn’t be measured in goals. Eren Derdiyok is next up, the recent signing from FC Basle is another target man but has a bit more about him. At just 20 years old he’s got a lot of potential he’s yet to fulfil, plus being already worth £6m can only bode well for the future.

Theofanis Gekas is without doubt your best goal scorer already at the club. The 28 year old Greek international lacks the physical presence of either Stefan or Eren, but he will give you the goals they will not. He’s probably best suited to the poacher role, especially if he’s playing alongside a target man, although he could play the advanced role with relative ease. Another great finisher at the club is Patrick Helmes. The complete forward starts the game injured but when he’s returned to full fitness he is without doubt your best striker. The 24 year old has only one goal for the national team but 100 in 188 for his club teams. This may point towards the fact he’s not a great big time player, or perhaps he’s just been unlucky, nonetheless he’s going to be key to your Leverkeusen future.

Richard Sukata-Pasu, touted by German media as the next Jurgen Klinsmann, is without doubt the brightest prospect at Leverkeusen. The 18 year old is very raw but has the potential to be an international-class player for club and country, but he needs to be handled carefully. When the big clubs come calling he will demand a move away unless the club has progressed to one of the best in Germany, if you’re outside the elite few then say bye bye to RSP!

Recommended formation/starting XI:

Recommended signings:

Marek Sapara – Rosenborg – £1.1m
Brilliant all round midfielder for a snip at around £1m. Will offer a more attacking edge to your team.

Mehmet Eckci – Bayern — £475k
The young German is often transfer listed and will develop at a rate similar to Lars Bender. A must at half a million.

Kikin Fonseca – Tigres – £700k
Goals may well be your problem so a proven scorer this cheap is too good to turn down. Short term option which will allow RSP to develop.

Bofa Bautista – Jaguares – £1m
Same as above really, plays better at AMC although he scores from anywhere. Another short term option that’ll prove worth every penney.

Aleksander Lukovic – Udinese – £925k
The left back will offer great competition up against the likes of Kadlec at fullback, allowing you to ship out the un-needed players.

Asmir Begovic- Pompey – loan
Back up to Rene Adler, won’t be called upon, good long term option if you can get him cheap enough though.

Finances:

Start of season balance: £12.8m
Loans outstanding: £61m bank loan (£270k p/m until 2028)
% of transfer revenue made available: 55%
Current wage budget: £475k p/w

Expectations:

Top Half Finish – £2.6m transfer budget, £525k wage budget
Continental qualification through league finish – £3.1m transfer budget, £550k wage budget
Title challenge – £3.3m transfer budget, £575k wage budget
Winner – £3.6m transfer budget, £575k wage budget

You can follow the discussions over on the forums!

Name: Mesut Özil
D/O/B: 15/10/1988
Position: Attacking Midfielder/Winger
Club: Werder Bremen (Germany)

Background
Born in Germany to Turkish parents, Mesut Özil began his professional career at Schalke 04, his home-town club, and made his debut as a 17-year-old back in 2006. After a bright and promising start to life with Schalke, things soon changed when he declined to commit his long term future to the club. He was subsequently dropped and Schalke had little choice but cash-in on their highly-rated youngster. Werder Bremen came calling, and paid €4.3 million for him on deadline day of the 2008 January transfer window – the highest fee ever paid for a German teenager. Whilst at Bremen, Özil teamed up with Brazilian playmaker Diego and formed one of the most dangerous and creative midfields in the Bundesliga, and despite a relatively poor domestic 2008/09 season, the club reached the final of the UEFA Cup, only to lose out 2-1 to Shaktar Donetsk in extra-time. During the same season, Özil received his first caps for the German national team, making his debut in a friendly against Norway in February 2009, and scoring his first international goal on his third appearance in September of the same year. Özil also qualified for Turkey because of his parents, and could’ve followed in the footsteps of other German-born Turkish internationals such as Yildiray Basturk and the Hamit Altıntop twins, but instead chose the country of his birth. Despite having a contract with Bremen until 2011, Özil has attracted a significant amount of interest, specifically from Sevilla, Barcelona and Arsenal to name but a few. If you can stand seven-and-a-half minutes worth of cheesy Euro-pop, then there’s quite a good video here that shows just how good Özil really is.

Attributes

Positions

Tactics
Özil has some really impressive attributes; perhaps most impressive are his speed, creativity, ball skills and his passing ability. FM says that his best, or at least natural position, is as a Central Attacking Midfielder, but he can operate equally as effectively on the Left Wing or as a regular Central Midfielder. Playing behind two strikers, Özil has the ability to carve open defences with almost inch-perfect through balls, and his speed means he will more-than-likely be first to the ball. Off the ball, his movement is second-to-none and in terms of actually having the ball at his feet, he could quite literally run rings round opposition defenders. Özil is a player who performs best when in possession; I know that sounds kind of obvious, but there are some players whose movement or passing alone can draw plaudits. To really get the best out of him, I’d advise you to set him as either a Playmaker or, preferably perhaps, as a Trequartista, and allow him a lot of creative freedom. Doing this might mean you’ll need a ball-winning midfielder behind Özil, as his free role could often lead to a loss of possession. A couple of good Wingers and at least one Striker with good heading ability and/or who can get in behind the Defences would also bring out the best in Özil, as his passing range will often lead to several crosses in the box.

Transfer
Özil is valued at just under £5 million on FM, but it’d probably cost you at least double that to acquire his services. However, it will almost definitely be worth it, as FM describe him as a ‘wonderkid’. Judging by the lack of loyalty Özil showed to his home-town club Schalke, I don’t think it’d be too difficult to sign him, especially if the money is right. At the start of the game, he’s not world-class, but easily has the potential to become one of the best players in the world. It’ll be easier to sign him if you are Barcelona or Fenerbahçe as both feature in his ‘favoured clubs’.

Overall
At just 20-years-old at the start of the game, Özil has some brilliant attributes for his age, which will only get better with time. Deployed with the right tactics and the right players around him, he could become a world-beater, just as long as you can keep his very ambitious feet firmly on the ground.
Recommended Rating: 9/10

You can follow this discussion on our forums!

Name: Jérôme Boateng
D/O/B: 03/09/1988
Position: Defender
Club: HSV (Germany)

Background
A strong, quick and composed player, Boateng can operate comfortably anywhere across the back four. Before signing for his current club, HSV, he was a first-team regular at Hertha Berlin, even though he was only just 18-years-old at the time, provoking many pundits to state that we should expect big things from the youngster. Boateng, the brother of Portsmouth’s Kevin-Prince, has firmly established himself as a constant and almost essential part of HSV’s back line since his move in 2007, leading to his first international call-up from the German national side in October 2009. However, things didn’t go entirely to plan for Boateng, who would also be eligible for Ghana due to his father being from the country, as he received his marching orders in the second half of the game against Russia, after picking up a second yellow card.

Attributes

Positions

Tactics
Literally, the only positions Boateng isn’t able to play (according to FM) are Central Attacking Midfielder, and Goalkeeper. He’s possibly one of the most versatile individuals I’ve seen on the game. Rather more realistically, he performs best in the centre of defence, or at full-back on either side. He has some impressive attributes; Strength, Jumping, Pace, Composure and Tackling are just some of the key ones. He’s tall as well – 6’4″ in fact – which makes him almost ideal for a place in the heart of the defence. However, good Anticipation, Crossing and Creativity, as well as the ability to use both feet, also make him an outstanding candidate for a position at either full-back. I personally, would play him in the middle, just so his height is utilised to its full potential. However, his Heading ability is slightly disappointing, but could be balanced with a central defensive partner who is good at it. His attributes do suggest that he possibly likes to go wandering up field a bit, so a defensive-minded central midfielder might be needed in order to fill his gap if this occurs. In terms of formations, I don’t think it’s a massive deal as to how you play, as being a defender he will more-than-likely fit into most styles.

Transfer
Signing Boateng would probably be a little easier than signing Toni Kroos or Aaron Hunt, mainly because Boateng’s only been at HSV for three seasons. On my AFC Telford game, he signed for Bayern Munich in 2009-10 for £8million and has performed increasingly and consistently well since then, achieving an average career rating of over 7. If you do wish to sign Boateng, it will be both easier and cheaper to do it sooner rather than later, also due to the fact that another big club, like Bayern, are likely to come in for him. He’s been a first team regular at Bayern in 2016 for a good five or six seasons, which suggests that he would be able to cope in most Premier League sides.

Overall
Even if you buy Boateng and don’t play him week-in, week-out, he’s an almost ideal candidate for a back-up defender, at least at the start of the game, due to his immense versatility but as you get further into the game, he is likely to develop into a very solid part of your defence.
Recommended Rating: 9/10

You can follow the discussion on our forums!

Name: Aaron Hunt
D/O/B: 04/09/1986
Position Attacking Midfielder/Forward
Club: Werder Bremen (Germany)

Background
Aaron Hunt may be a familiar name to a lot of people. This is because although he was born in Germany, his mother is English, leading to a significant amount of interest from the English FA regarding his international allegiance. However, he chose to represent his birth-nation instead, and made his debut for the national side in November of last year. A pacey, creative forward, Hunt has been on the books of Werder Bremen since the age of 15; to date making just shy of 100 appearances, and scoring 20 goals. He became Bremen’s youngest ever goalscorer when he netted on his start for the club, against Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2005, at the age of 18 years and 161 days. Despite interest from several big-name clubs across Europe, including Liverpool, Hunt today committed his future to the club by signing a new four-and-a-half year contract with the German side.

Attributes

Positions

Tactics
On FM, Hunt is described as a natural Left Winger, but for Bremen, he usually features somewhere in the forward line. His obvious strengths are his speed, his creativity and his fitness; all of which point towards him being very effective in midfield, either on the left or in the middle. Even though Bremen use him as a forward, I would be inclined to drop him back into midfield; his finishing, first touch and off the ball attributes are by no means bad – far from it – in fact they are excellent. However, because of his dribbling, crossing, and speed attributes, he might be more suited to the wing, or an attacking midfield role. Tactics-wise, I would suggest having a striker who can head the ball well if Hunt is on the wing, as he is capable of providing plenty of service to the frontmen. I would also advise you to give him a fair amount of creative freedom, as well as letting him drift inside occasionally, mainly because his ability to strike the ball from range could quite easily lead to some cracking goals throughout the season. If you decide to play Hunt on the wing, he might work quite well as either an Inside Forward or an Advanced Playmaker, whereas he’s probably more suited to an Advanced Forward role if playing up front.

Transfer
As he has been at Werder Bremen since the age of 15, you can imagine that he’s quite attached to the club. It would probably take a bid of at least £15 million, I would say, but this fee is bound to rise as you progress in the game. On my AFC Telford game, in which I’m in the year 2016, Hunt is playing for Hertha Berlin, whom he signed for in 2010, so judging by that, he would more-than-likely sign for most top-half Premier League sides, I would say.

Overall
Although Hunt isn’t the youngest of all the young-prospects on the game, he certainly does possess a vast amount of talent. It would be very interesting if it was possible for him to play for England, but he’s unfortunately declared to the German national side instead.
Recommended Rating: 8/10

Name: Toni Kroos
D/O/B: 04/01/1990
Position: Attacking Midfielder
Club: Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) – on loan from Bayern Munich (Germany)

Background
Toni Kroos is widely labelled as one of the hottest prospects in German football. After signing for Bayern Munich in 2006 as a 16-year-old, he make his debut for their first team a year later. Uli Hoeneß, Bayern’s President, promised Kroos the club’s number 10 shirt after he had more experience under his belt. This led to him being loaned out to fellow Bundesliga side, Bayer Leverkusen for the duration of the 2009-10 season. To date, Kroos hasn’t appeared for the full German national side, but has represented his country at U16, U17, U19 and U21 level. However, in January of this year, he was called up to a training camp with the senior squad for the first time.

Attributes

Positions

Tactics
Kroos’ attributes are put to best use when he is deployed in a central midfield position. He is a natural Attacking Midfielder, but works equally as well in a regular Centre Midfield role. He would be best suited to the Playmaker role, and should be allowed a lot of creative freedom if you wish to take advantage of his most impressive attributes. Due to his relatively poor defensive skills, I would advise that you assign him the minimum defensive duties as possible. This could be compensated by placing a defensively-minded player behind him in Central Midfield, in order to balance out the partnership. In terms of formation, it really depends how much of a free role you want Kroos to have, because he does have the ability to really run-the-show. A diamond 4-4-2 formation would work well; with Kroos operating in an Attacking Midfield position. Personally, I would possibly look at a 4-2-3-1 formation, with two Defensive Midfielders, two Wingers, Kroos in the middle as an Attacking Midfielder, and then a big Target Man up front who can get in behind the opposition Defenders.

Transfer
Due to his somewhat overwhelming potential within the game, Kroos’ signature is rather difficult to secure, as I’m sure you can imagine. Bayern are extremely reluctant to part company with the youngster, but if you’re a team with a big transfer fund, they will more-than-likely accept an offer within the region of £20-£30 million. In terms of the Premiership, Kroos would probably sign for any of the ‘Big Four’, as well as Manchester City I would assume, if the money was right of course.

Overall
Kroos has the ability to pull all the creative strings in a team, and at just 19, has the world at his feet, so to speak. Given the right tactics with the right players around him to complement his attributes, he could quite easily grow into one of the finest players in world football, leaving followers of German football to dub him the ‘new Michael Ballack’. The current German captain leaves big shoes to fill, but it’s a good job Kroos has, metaphorically speaking, big, big feet.
Recommended Rating: 10/10

]]> http://www.fm-view.com/2010/02/fmv-tours-presents-toni-kroos/feed/ 0 http://www.fm-view.com/2010/02/fmv-tours-presents/ http://www.fm-view.com/2010/02/fmv-tours-presents/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:43:24 +0000 John http://www.fm-view.com/?p=1096

Okay, so you have arrived in Germany, where you will be looking for promotion back to the 1. Bundesliga. The German league consists of 3 tiers known as the ’1. Bundesliga’, the ’2. Bundesliga’, and the ’3. Liga’. As well as these competitions there is a cup competition known as the ‘DFB-Pokal’ which is akin to the English FA cup in both style and stature. Being in Europe means there are the normal transfer windows (1st July – 2nd September, & 1st January – 1st February). One match bans appear after every 5 yellows or after each red card throughout the leagues, and the top 2 divisions are sorted in the same way: Points > Goal Difference > Goals Scored > Results Between Teams > Away Goals Scored.

The 1. Bundesliga is composed of 18 teams which play each other twice, meaning there are 34 games in a completed season. The rules for the competition are pretty straight forward, you can name seven substitutes and can use a maximum of three of them in a match. The bottom two teams are relegated to the 2. Bundesliga whilst the team in 16th position enters a playoff against the 3rd best side from the second division for the right to compete in Germany’s premier competition. The top three teams in the 1. Bundesliga qualify for the European Champions League and the 4th-6th place teams enter the EURO Cup (depending on the winner of the DFB-Pokal).

The 2. Bundesliga is also composed of 18 teams which play each other twice, meaning there are 34 games in a completed season. The rules for the competition are like above, except that the top two teams are promoted to the top division and the 3rd placed team goes into the playoff for 1. Bundesliga football. At the bottom the worst 2 teams are relegated automatically, whilst the 16th place team enters another playoff – this time for the right to stay in the 2. Bundesliga.

The 3. Liga is composed of 20 teams which play each other twice, meaning there are 38 games in a completed season. There are a few changes to the rules at this level. The match squad must have no more than 3 non-EU players, and must also have at least 4 German players aged 23. Teams in this division are only allowed to sign non-EU players if they are from fellow German clubs. The Top two teams gain promotion to the 2. Bundesliga, whilst the 3rd place team enters the playoff for the right to play in that division for the next season. The bottom 3 clubs are relegated each season, and league sorting is slightly simplified for this division: Points > Goal Difference > Goals Scored > Results Between Teams.

1. FUSSBALL-CLUB KAISERSLAUTERN

1. Fussball-Club Kaiserslautern, also known as 1. FCK or simply FCK, is a German football club based in Kaiserslautern. The city of Kaiserslautern lies in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland (State) of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) at the edge of the Palatinate forest (Pfälzer Wald). It is twinned with two towns in England, Rotherham and the London Borough of Newham.

On 2 June 1900, Germania 1896 and FG Kaiserslautern merged to create FC 1900. In 1909, the club went on to join FC Palatia (founded in 1901) and FC Bavaria (founded in 1902) to form FV 1900 Kaiserslautern. In 1929 they merged with SV Phönix to become FV Phönix-Kaiserslautern before finally taking on their current name three years later.

1. FCK won their second German Cup in 1996, but that victory was soured since the team was relegated to 2.Bundesliga with a 16th place finish just one week before the Cup Final. At the time, Kaiserslautern was one of only four of the original sixteen teams that had played in each Bundesliga season since the inception of the league, never having been relegated. This group included Kaiserslautern, Eintracht Frankfurt who went down in the same season, 1. FC Köln down in 1998, and “the Dinosaur”, unrelegated Hamburger SV.

The Red Devils came storming back in 1998 with an accomplishment unique in Bundesliga history by winning re-promotion to the first division from the 2.Bundesliga and immediately going on to win the national championship under famous coach Otto Rehhagel.

They saved themselves from fully falling off the radar in German football by escaping relegation to the newly formed 3. Liga on the final day of the 2007–2008 season with a win over already promoted 1. FC Köln.

Kaiserslautern is by far the smallest city (pop. 99,000) to ever have a German Bundesliga championship team (in 1991 and 1998)

KEY HISTORY
German Champions: 1951, 1953, 1991, 1998
UEFA Cup: Semi-final: 1982, 2001
UEFA Champions League: Quarter-final: 1999

The Fritz-Walter-Stadion

FCK plays its home fixtures in the Fritz Walter Stadion first built in 1920. The stadium and the adjacent street are named for the player who brought the club to prominence after the war. The stadium has a capacity of 48,500 and was a 2006 World Cup venue, hosting four preliminary round and one Group of 16 round matches. The facility underwent a major refurbishment for the tournament with addition of new grandstands and a roof.

Chairman Stefan Kuntz has called you into his office and asked you to turn around 1. FCK into the former German powerhouse they were by any means necessary. Your task is to improve FCK back to the heady days when the club won the 1. Bundesliga and also made the semi-finals of the UEFA cup & quarter-finals of the Champions League. The club have never had money worries for many years now so this won’t be an easy task, but he hopes to be in a position to provide enough funding to return the club to the 1. Bundesliga.

Your first season minimum goal is to get into the top half of the 2. Bundesliga and to do so Mr Kuntz will provide you with a transfer budget of around £425k, and a wage budget of £165k per week (current wage bill is around £162k per week).

Your captain, Martin Amedick, is a 6’4″ central defender who, at the age of 26, is probably your best player. Also one to look out for is your young German keeper Tobias Sippel, who is under pressure from American Luis Robles for the starting birth – Sippel could become a star with the right management.

CHALLENGE DYNAMICS

This challenge will last for five years, upon completing your fifth season in Germany, you can consider your excursion to be over as far as earning points for the challenge.

You must start set your manager experience as “Automatic”.

You have until the 4th March 2010 to accumulate as many points as you can within the confines of a maximum of 5 seasons.[/color]

HOW TO SCORE POINTS

1. BUNDESLIGA
Relegation – -10 points
Win the Relegation Playoff game – 0 points
15th/14th – 1 point
13th – 2 points
12th – 3 points
11th – 4 points
10th – 5 points
9th – 6 points
8th – 7 points
7th – 8 points
6th – 9 points
5th – 10 points
4th – 15 points
3rd – 20 points
2nd  – 40 points
Win 1. Bundesliga Title – 60 points

2. BUNDESLIGA
Relegation – -10 points
Win the Relegation Playoff game – 0 points
15th/14th – 1 point
13th – 2 points
12th – 3 points
11th – 4 points
10th – 5 points
9th – 6 points
8th – 7 points
7th – 8 points
6th – 9 points
5th – 10 points
4th – 12 points
3rd – 15 points
Win the Promotion Playoff game – 20 points
2nd (Promotion) – 30 points
Win 2. Bundesliga Title – 40 points

3. LIGA
Relegation – -25 points
Survival – 0 points
7th – 1 points
6th – 2 points
5th – 3 points
4th – 4 points
3rd – 5 points
Win the Promotion Playoff game – 10 points
2nd (Promotion) – 15 points
Win 2. Liga Title – 20 points

DFB-POKAL
1st Round Win – 1 point
2nd Round Win – 5 points
3rd Round Win – 6 points
Quarter Final Win – 8 points
Semi Final Win – 10 points
Winner – 25 points

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Qualify from Groups – 6 points
Win in Round of 16 – 12 points
Win in Quarter Final – 20 points
Win in Semi Final – 50 points
Winner – 100 points

BONUS POINTS
Beat FC Bayern – 5 points (Every time you do it in a competitive fixture)
Beat Mainz – 3 points (Every time you do it in a competitive fixture)
Beat Frankfurt – 3 points (Every time you do it in a competitive fixture)
Beat Karlsruhe – 1 point (Every time you do it in a competitive fixture)

FIVE YEAR ONE OFF ACHIEVEMENTS BONUSES
Increase bank balance to £20m (After Debt) – 20 points
Increase bank balance to £40m (After Debt) – 40 points
Sell a Regen from your youth team for £5m + – 30 points

POINT DEDUCTIONS
Sacked – -25 points

So there you have it. Kaiserslautern need you to get this fallen giant of German football into the Bundesliga and try to get into Europe once more – Do you have what it takes to put them back onto the map?
Give the challenge a go and see what you can do. Any good quality Current Game threads that result from this will be repped by myself, and the best one may also be entered into the next Current Game of the Week – Good Luck!

To take part of ask any more questions, please check out the forums!

Every year the same old questions are asked about how to get the German National Team to pick real players and to a lesser extent about Japanese teams have proper names and to an even lesser extent about those obscure Asian Nations that have been disabled as well. In this guide I’ll go through all the configuration files to let you know what they do and how to reverse them!

All the file names I mention from here on in are located in the edt and lnc folders within “C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\football manager 210\data\db\1000″ if you installed via steam or “C:\Program Files\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\data\db\1000″ if you installed the boxed version

Fake.lnc

This file has a number of intentions, firstly it disables the German National team but also changes Oliver Khan’s name to Jens Mustermann and finally disables player pictures for France and Holland.

To reverse the effects of this file you can either go in and change the 1′s to 0′s which will disable it, remove the entries and save the file or just delete the whole file.

nleague.lnc

This is by far one of the largest configuration files which creates fake names for clubs in Japan, changes a number of colours and disables the Chinese, South Korean and Japanese National Teams. The other thing file does is randomise the players of Albirex Niigata (Singapore).

Once again either changing the 1′s to o’s will disable some functions or you can just delete the file.

team_holland.ddt

This file does exactly what it says on the tin – 24 of the finest Dutch players are made “first choice” for their country. To end up with a more random Dutch national squad just delete the file.

transfer_embargo.edt

The one you’ve all been looking for! There are two entries in this file – Chelsea & Bournemouth. You can either remove the lines or delete the file and Chelsea will then be able to buy players again! Maybe you might even want to stop other clubs buying players for a period of time ….

valid_takeovers_only.edt

This file determines which types of takeover are permitted in each country – well worth having a look at just to see where the Russian Billionaires won’t be able to invest!!

add_my_chairman.edt

This is one of those fun features that doesn’t get exploited as much as I thought it would, the opportunity to enter your name, favourite club etc. and maybe become their future chairman!

add_my_journalists.edt

This was a new addition in Football Manager 2009 whereby you could add a list of real journalists to the game to make press conferences more realistic.

add_my_media_sources.edt

Coupled with the Journalists file you can add real media sources to the game making press conferences more realistic.

alliteration_adjectives.edt

This is the file which picks the superlatives for those news stories along the lines of ‘Larsen-sational’ there is also a list of negative words but these are only for newgens (due to legal issues). I challenge you to find words that could be added to the already very long list!

sugar_daddy.edt

The second file in this list created initially for Chelsea, in the latest version they are also joined by Manchester City and Notts County.

In the latest incarnation of this file there is now three different types of Sugar Daddy

• Front end – They throw money at the club to spend.
• Back end – They spend enough to make them a force in their current league but if they go up a level or two it would no longer apply.
• Underwriter – They don’t give the manager any extra transfer budget but come the end of the season they will always cover any loss the club is making and not expect the money back.

Hopefully this brief explanation of each file will get your creative juices flowing and some customised versions will be shared, if not at least you’ll be able to buy players for Chelsea and see Ballack playing for Germany!

As I mentioned in my previous piece ‘Deflated, dejected and loving every minute’ I decided to take up the challenge of managing what was perceived to be the worst team in the lowest playable league in Germany. For my sins that turned out to be SV Sandhausen.

For those that haven’t played yet alone thought about managing in the lower leagues it really isn’t for the faint hearted. Not only are you limited by the talent (or lack of) that your squad possesses but there’s other limiting factors to contend with like a very small back room team and an every decreasing bank account. Don’t let these put you off though as once you learn to ride the roller-coaster it’s very difficult to get back off.

My spell started off with what can only be described as a false dawn, 6 wins in 6 pre-season games including a 6-0 win over Bonner SC is enough to make anyone think it can’t go that badly over the rest of the season. two defeats and three draws in the first five games took me back to the realisation that beating Lower league opposition in pre season doesn’t guarantee you results in the league. By the time the mid-winter break had come around we’d picked up 6 wins in 20 games which when as spaced out as they were seemed worse than it was. The first six games went much better after the winter break, three wins and 2 draws helped push us up to mid table, what was looking like a possible top half finish was dashed when we failed to win any of the last seven games. We ended the season in 14th 18 points clear of relegation. At this point in most games I’d be looking for a new challenge as I get itchy feet quite easily but I was determined to see if avoiding relegation was a fluke or if I could better it.

Better opposition in Pre Season meant 3 defeats before the league was underway, once again we didn’t win a game until the sixth game of the season. Entering the winter break we had six wins in 20 games (I see a pattern emerging here!) but with the summer reinforcements I’d signed we were getting better performances than the previous season. Unlike the first season though we finished much stronger finishing the season unbeaten in five games. We finished the season in 11th, three places higher and 2 points better off than the previous season.

At the beginning of the third season I used my assistant managers network to recommend some players that we might be able to strengthen our weak spots with, Four players arrived from the reserve squads of Stuttgart, Hoffenheim, Leverkusen & Kaiserslautern. Coupled with a couple of youngsters I picked up on free transfers from Duisburg and Dortmund meant I was much more confident of our chances and hoping for a top 10 finish.

The start was our best yet, it only took four games to win our first game! 8 wins and 6 draws leading into the Winter break was beginning to put my head in the clouds a bit. Thankfully a 5-0 defeat to Kaiserslautern bought the teams confidence down a peg or two in the mid season friendlies. Not for long though, in the first 8 games after the break we picked up seven wins and one draw. Leading in to the end of the season we suffered only one defeat in our last six games as we finished the season with 21 wins and 8 draws from 38 games to finish the season in 3rd place with 71 points, 22 more than the previous season!

For those that don’t know how the German League system works the 3rd place team in the 3rd Division plays off against the team who finished the season 3rd bottom in the second division. Unfortunately for me after leading my team of relegation hopefuls to the promotion play-offs was always going to end in defeat when you find out that the team you’ve got to play is Armenia Bielefeld! We played the first leg and home, which for us you would think would be some advantage. We lost 4-0 and then drew the second leg 1-1 with a much better performance.

At this point I’d love to tell you that I’m still managing Sandhausen and that we’re going places – Unfortunately neither is true. At the end of the 3rd season I’d managed to reduce the growing debt by selling a couple of players. The wage expenditure had been around the budget’s level for most of the last season without going over budget, season tickets were up on last year and gates had been rising year on year. Unfortunately for me I had a stingy board who decided that they would reduce the next season’s wage budget by 25% and demanding I sell my best players. Rather than seeing sense and agreeing to the boards demands I decided that my three years of improving the team were of more influence than the board trying to manage a bank account majorly in the red. Needless to say that my ultimatum to make more money available for wages was met with a swift goodbye and my P45 in my hand.

My successor didn’t make any effort to reduce the wage bill and led the team to a 10th place finish so in hindsight maybe I left at the clubs high point. I spent a short spell at then bottom side Union Berlin before resigning just before the seasons end after leading them out of the relegation zone but frustrated by the inconsistency shown by the team. I later found out that if I’d paid attention that my predecessor had employed similar tactics to me leading them to the bottom of the table. My successor on the other hand went for a completely different tactic and got much better results. On that thought I’ll leave you with an oft repeated quote regarding repeated failure in Football Manager

It’s not the game, It’s your tactics!