2025
Youth Cup: Draw and Winners for New Player Picks
UPDATED:
Teams in the hat for the free new player pick Youth Cup prize draw to be made later.
All teams that forfeited games have been excluded.
Let me know asap if you think you should be in but aren't.
Winners highlighted below.
Leicester City
Juventus
Espanyol
Chelsea
1. Sampdoria
Hertha Jugend
2. Leverkusen
Barcelona
3. Manchester United
Cruzeiro
CSKA
Everton
Aston Villa
Feyenoord U21
MAn City
Bayern Munich
Stoke City
Dynamo Kyiv young stars
Sevilla
CR Flamengo
Santos FC
Milan
Atletico Madrid
Udinese
Besiktas
St Ettiene
Valencia
São Paulo
Montpellier F.C.
Dortmund
Tottenham
Hamburger SV II
Olympiacos
Dinamo Zagreb
Villarreal
Season 25 Division 1 Stats and Facts
Strength or Depth you decide.
Usual preamble: I take the average rating in the 4 main positions, plus the rating of the 18th highest player. I ignore multiple keepers and can add some human input if the 18th rated player is far lower or there are odd combos of teams with 5 FC in the top 11…for example. Etot is then calculated from a tried and trusted formula. In case of a tie average is used.
If they can keep it going all season Dortmund have the first eleven to beat Hellas, but Hellas have huge amounts of depth. Both teams are hugely higher rated than the rest. Chelsea in 3rd place in the stats also lack any kind of depth, maybe now with the 5 subs this is even more of a problem, but on their day, they could challenge the top 2, as potentially could Porto, maybe if they adopt a defensive approach against those 2 sides. Barcelona would fancy a top 5 finish this season with one of the strongest attacking lines in the league. Over performers Leicester probably just need a high rated keeper to achieve even more than last season
.
Of the promoted sides Villa should thrive in their new surroundings. Milan look set to struggle, as do Spurs. Hertha may well top and tail their way out of trouble. Cologne presumably will find at least an 87 rated keeper otherwise they are as good as relegated.
D1 is slightly weaker 0.1 down from last season.
| Gk | Def | Mid | Att | Top18 | Ave | ETOT | Pre | |
| Dortmund | 92.0 | 92.5 | 94.0 | 96.0 | 88.0 | 92.5 | 233.20 | 1 |
| Hellas Verona | 94.0 | 92.8 | 93.0 | 95.0 | 90.0 | 93.0 | 232.43 | 2 |
| Chelsea | 95.0 | 93.3 | 93.0 | 93.0 | 82.0 | 91.3 | 230.69 | 3 |
| FC Porto | 94.0 | 92.0 | 93.4 | 93.0 | 87.0 | 91.9 | 230.49 | 4 |
| Barcelona | 92.0 | 91.5 | 92.0 | 95.0 | 88.0 | 91.7 | 230.15 | 5 |
| Leicester City | 89.0 | 92.3 | 92.6 | 94.0 | 85.0 | 90.6 | 229.86 | 6 |
| Juventus | 95.0 | 92.7 | 92.2 | 92.0 | 89.0 | 92.2 | 229.83 | 7 |
| Levante UD | 91.0 | 91.8 | 92.0 | 92.0 | 85.0 | 90.4 | 227.92 | 8 |
| Internazionale | 92.0 | 89.8 | 91.6 | 94.0 | 87.0 | 90.9 | 227.66 | 9 |
| Aston Villa | 88.0 | 90.8 | 91.8 | 93.0 | 86.0 | 89.9 | 227.37 | 10 |
| Bayern | 90.0 | 89.0 | 90.6 | 96.0 | 86.0 | 90.3 | 227.20 | 11 |
| Manchester City | 94.0 | 90.3 | 91.0 | 92.0 | 87.0 | 90.9 | 226.52 | 12 |
| Sporting CP | 91.0 | 91.3 | 90.6 | 92.0 | 86.0 | 90.2 | 226.52 | 13 |
| Arsenal | 91.0 | 90.5 | 90.2 | 92.0 | 86.0 | 89.9 | 225.60 | 14 |
| São Paulo FC | 89.0 | 90.0 | 91.0 | 92.0 | 86.0 | 89.6 | 225.60 | 15 |
| RCD Espanyol | 90.0 | 90.8 | 90.6 | 91.0 | 86.0 | 89.7 | 225.35 | 16 |
| H. Berlin | 92.0 | 89.8 | 90.0 | 92.0 | 88.0 | 90.4 | 225.20 | 17 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 88.0 | 90.0 | 89.8 | 91.0 | 83.0 | 88.4 | 223.51 | 18 |
| Cologne | 84.0 | 88.8 | 90.2 | 91.0 | 84.0 | 87.6 | 222.51 | 19 |
| AC Milan | 89.0 | 89.3 | 89.3 | 89.0 | 87.0 | 88.7 | 221.77 | 20 |
World Club Cup S25
New season around the corner, new World Club Cup is calling!
First of all big congratulations to both winners of last season, Porto in WCC and Juventus in WCS.
In new season we will have slightly different competition. History learned us that too many games can be too much for some managers to handle. That is why we will try with just one competition. It will still include all the teams of Top100 GW, just format will be changed.
All teams has been in random draw that gave us bracket with elimination games from first round on. Every round will be played with two games. As you can see on the schedule: WCC S25, some teams has free pass in Round 1. They had a luck in random draw, but this is necessary that system will work with 100 teams involved.
Below is schedule by the dates. As you can see we will start third Wednesday, 30th of April.
All rules of competition stays the same. This also includes how we will handle games that will finish tied after two games: Fictional Extra Time.
Only change in the rules will be in handling managers that they are not organizing their games. Based on last season's experience, we made a decision. Managers will need to be proactive if games are not played. Managers will need to contact me and show proof that they tried to organize their games. If not, both teams will be eliminated from the competition. Their opponent in the next round will get a free pass to the next level of competition.
Hope all is clear and we will have a lot of fun in new season. Enjoy in new format of WCC and hopefully we will see some big surprises this season.
See Manager of the Season Winners in Each Division
The results are in - congratulations to all the winners!
UPDATED: Some managers had problems voting so polls have been recreated. If you voted before, please vote again. Sorry for the inconvenience and confusion.
Vote for your manager of the season in each division, below.
Division 1
- Luis Andre - A hattrick of titles for Champions Hellas Verona.
- Doug - PVA winners and a second consecutive Youth Cup triumph for Leicester City.
- Andre - A World Club Cup and SMFA Champions Cup double for Porto.
- Glen - Most value added and defying all expectations for Espanyol (along with another Youth Cup Final).
Division 2
- David - Champions Aston Villa.
- Simon - From relegation favourites to automatic promotion for AC Milan.
- Pedro - Playoff final glory and a second successive promotion for Tottenham Hotspur.
- Regan - Promotion and a Top 100 Cup win for Hertha Berlin.
Division 3
- Atillio - Champions Standard Liege.
- RJ - Runners up and PVA winners Southampton.
- Neil - Playoff winners Udinese.
Division 4
- Christian - Champions Zenit Saint Petersburg.
- Noisy - PVA leaders, promoted Roma.
- Carlos - Playoff winners and Cup finalists Saint-Etienne.
Division 5
- Yamil - Champions and PVA leaders with Besiktas.
- ruts... Runners up at Feyenoord
- Ricky - Playoff winners with Olympiacos.
If you can't see the D5 poll (for some people it seems to be showing the D4 poll), here's the direct link.
99 transfers but the manager ain't one...
Well after a less than enthralling fight with certain relegation Walter and his team return for the next season to challenge again the hoarders ha ha . The team we think has never looked better. With some youthful talents and then the fine blend of experience mixed in to provide knowledge to the younger ones.
Ratings have recently took an battering with ratings in Saudi taking a dive but we were aware of the risk. Players like Carrasco dropped from 90 to 88 at the end of the season along with Mendy.
Firminio still has enough left in his 89 rating to lead the return to div 2 we think along with talents like Diaby 91 and Almeda 89 we have talent that should be enough for a return up the divisions
.kocku 89 is our midfield marshall
Andre 88 again joins very recently to add amazing talent to the team.
diaby 91 kept his recent review thankfully to keep his place even after recent transfers fell through.
At the back we look to ndidi and lindelof for now to stay and prove their worth. De vrij nearly over the hill will return to support the team.
Aim is to keep what we have. Yes a lot will bet against this. With the team better than ever we will look to youth development in the coming season. with players with Jelert in the youth we look forward to these progressing under chansiri jnr youth team coach.
on the way back is the chant...
Bayern in S25
Before the new season begins we are proudly representing our first team, cup team and youth team:
First team this year is a mix of experience and young players with a lot of potential. Captain of the team will continue to be Harry Kane, co-captains will be Antonio Rüdiger and Granit Xhaka.
Season will be long and interesting as always. Mid season reviews will make it even more enjoyable for us. We expect many of our players to be rewarded for their good performances in real life. Players from the cup and youth team are especially anticipated to be recognized.
We can’t wait for new season to start!
Mia san mia
CSKA: Season 25
We enter our 3rd consecutive season in division 3, which is a fine accomplishment and a step up from where we found the team. But the manager, the fans, and the private equity group all envision a D1 team. After all, no one manages a club or a buys a club for them to flounder in mediocrity. Below is a recap of where the team stands heading into season 25 and the upcoming ratings updates.
Season 24 at the midway point we were in relegation territory. We added Iago Aspas, Ciro Immobile, and Stefan Savic to shore the team up and we rose to the playoff spots only to lose out on goal differential on the last day.
GK: We have starting GK Carnesecchi (90) who is having a great season domestically and in the Champions League. We sold Majecki to Hamburg as he didn't seem likely to overtake Carnesecchi - he was doing well for Monaco at the time of sale, which made it painful, but has slipped a bit since. Youth GK Mycael (80) is starting in Serie B and in the Brazilian youth teams. He is a PK specialist and modern GK who could draw a move to Europe.
RB: A two way battle between pending free agent Kyle Walker Peters (88) and Alexander Bah (88), stalwart in the Benfica side. Behind those two are youth players Alex Jimenez (76), now a rotational Milan player, and Wes Okoduwa, who I believe can develop into a lockdown defender but may need to add to his offensive repertoire.
CB: We have two aging starters in Harry Maguire (90) and Stefan Savic (88). Gone are the retired Varane and long-time captain Coates. Behind them are Chris Richards (87) and Martin Valjent (87), who are solid with some potential. Youth team players Jon Martin, Jan-Carlo Simic, Mamadou Sarr, and Tarek Buchmann hold down the fort. Simic and Sarr should be in for hefty rises given their starting spots at Anderlecht and Strasbourg. Buchmann continues to battle injury. We've also added German youth international Tyler Meiser.
LB: Caio Henrique was sold this week to Celtic for Tierney and 2 Brazilian youths. He had been performing well for Monaco and is a big loss. Taking his place is Kieran Tierney (88), spot player for Arsenal when healthy, and on his way to Celtic. Alvaro Carreras has been a standout for Benfica and should see a summer move and a rating increase. He is our long-term starter. We've also added Ben Hawighorst for the future at CB/LB.
DM: Jordan Henderson (89) will start the season alongside oft-injured Romeo Lavia (87). Pape Gueye (87) is consistently starting for Villareal and Celtic captain Callum McGregor (87) is a good depth piece as well. From a youth perspective, we have Sekou Kone at Man United, compatriot Hamidou Makalou finally made his move to France and was on the team sheet on Day 1. Staying in France, Pape Diong has the profile I like in Strasbourg and Saimon Bouabre should be getting more game time in my opinion. We've also added Brazil U17 captain Ze Lucas.
CM: We recently added Hakim Ziyech (88) with Brazilian Matheus Pereira (87) behind him. A lot of youth talent should raise the ceiling soon with Kendry, Mastantuono, and Lorran all making varying degrees of progress.
AM: We brought in Iago Aspas (89) to pair with Adingra (88). Laborde and Bertrand Traore are the main backups and have been getting plenty of game time. Odobert has recovered and is getting time for Spurs. We're transitioning the youth at this position knowing our CMs can play here as well. Irankunda and Cavan Sullivan remain, while we've added Isaque, Oscar Perea, and Mathis Lambourde.
CF: We brought in Ciro Immobile (90) and Jamie Vardy (88). Cognizant they are aging, we have a few options in the holster, Karim Konate, Jayden Danns are the nearest options (Laborde is a true CF as well). We've also signed 2 players we're excited about: N'Guessan and Mikkel Bro Hansen.
Marketing: The "Bro" campaign featuring Mikkel Bro Hansen has been a big hit with American youth. He was recently on the Joe Rogan podcast and Barstool Sports. While the manager questions these media outlets, he has been assured by the private equity group that the message of a (former) Russian club really resonates with this audience.
Likely starting lineup: Carnesecchi, Bah, Maguire, Savic, Tierney, Lavia, Henderson, Ziyech, Aspas, Adingra, Immobile.
Youth lineup: Mycael, Martin, Sarr, Simic, Jimenez, Lavia, Paez, Lorran, Mastantuano, Odobert, Konate
The most important season is coming!!
Hamburg's Season 24: Challenges and Future Prospects
Season 24 was another disappointing one. Like last season we started badly, just one win in our first eleven league games.
Bizot was our Szczesny replacement. He wasn't cutting the mustard, so we replaced him with the "very experienced" Franco Armani. The transfer was for cash from Besiktas. Shortly after we had our best run of the season, seven games unbeaten.
Not much else to say except we ended just about where predicted safely in mid-table.
Mid-table Mediocrity
We were safe enough to give Radoslaw Majecki a few games in goal. We also tried out SM's new fangled tactics options. This unfortunate combination led to a catastrophic and hugely embarrassing home defeat to Luuk de Jong and the Manchester United youth academy.
This in turn set off a nuclear chain reaction. David Walsh, new manager at PSG who was doing well and trying to keep them up resigned claiming match-fixing. Despite Dan's best efforts to claim the final relegation place, United stayed up relegating Beddows' not-so-Super Samp by one goal. PSG missed out by five points and five goals in the end, and Frank Hirst has yet another unwanted horse's head to dispose of.
Transfer Tango
On the transfer front, our main signings during the season were Noa Lang from West Brom with Alessio Romagnoli going to The Hawthorns. That allowed Memphis Depay to go to Liverpool with veteran Argentine Nicolas Otamendi coming in to replace Romagnoli.
We also brought in Brazil in winger Kevin and left-sided Dutch defender Jayden Oosterwolde from Southampton with Renan Lodi moving to St Mary's. Kevin helped the youth team to the Youth Shield semi-final where we lost out to eventual winners Flamengo.
We broke the club's transfer record dropping £77m on Talles Magno from external. We hope he can live up to the hype and the promise he once showed!
Next Season
Post-season, we traded Lang for Alex Iwobi and Idrissa Gueye. Lang's a talent, yet unfulfilled, but we needed more depth and Iwobi and Gueye are seasoned PL players doing well in real life.
We let our star player Piotr Zielinski move to relegated PSG under new boss Josh, bringing in the younger, talented duo of Sergio Gomez and Hamed Traore. Also some great versatility there.
In some ways, perhaps our biggest and most surprising move was to bring Maxence Lacroix back to Hamburg, allowing Tomas Araujo go to Bayern. Both are progressive young centre backs, but Lacroix is an upgrade for us now and that was the determining factor in planning for the new season.
Youth Team
On the youth front, we've got plenty to be hopeful about. We signed Luka Stojkovic, Jonathan Jesus, Igor Serrote and Pape Demba Diop all from external, and they will all get rises soon, along with Breno "the Brazilian Pedri" Bidon, Radek Vitek, Adama Bojang, Joane Gadou, who are all playing regularly for their real life clubs.
Comparison
S24/25 starting XIs:
Bizot 87 / Armani 88
Hamari Traore 89
Azpilicueta 89 / Lacroix 88
Romagnoli 90 / Otamendi 90
Lodi 89 / Azpilicueta 89
Casemiro 91 / Casemiro 90
Zielinski 91 / Bourigeaud 89
Forsberg 88 / Iwobi 89
Greenwood 88 / Greenwood 89
Immobile 90 / Ekitike 88
Depay 89 / Hamed Traore 88
We've lost some ratings, but should get some rises in the next couple of months. The first team has a younger age profile, and the youth team is only going to get better.
Outcome of the Player Concerns Vote Revealed
The Player Concerns Vote was a close one.
Here on our blog, it was 50:50.
On Facebook it was the same.
On WhatsApp there was a clear majority in favour of scrapping the rule.
However several managers voted in both the FB and WA polls. Taking those votes into account, the vote is still just in favour scrapping the rule, 16 to 12.
36 managers voted anonymously on the blog.
26 managers voted publicly on FB.
39 managers voted publicly on WA.
11 managers voted on both FB and WA polls.
Removing their duplicate votes still leaves 36+26+39-11=90 maximum number of unique votes. Minimum 26+39-11=54 votes (assuming all blog votes are duplicates). It's likely that the true number of unique votes is in between 54 and 90, probably around 70.
The other factor to take into account now is the concerns bug which has seen players developing concerns despite playing all matches. SM issued a fix today, but we likely won't see if this fix works until turn 12 of next season.
UPDATE: SM posted more on this in their April update:
...the cause of these issues was related to the changes we made to the transfer ban. A fix was put in place off the back of this work and we are continuing to monitor the system to make sure the desired effect was achieved.
Therefore, we will scrap the L3 concerns rules with immediate effect and keep the L5 concerns settings as normal.