Previously on Plazas de Soberanía, AD Ceuta FC narrowly missed out on LaLiga playoffs and had a fire sale.

Intro

As an Arsenal fan, there is something about being top at Christmas that sends a little shiver down my spine. It is usually seen as an indicator that the side topping the English Premier League on Christmas Day goes on to win the title. That’s not the case for Arsenal, who on each of the last five occasions where they’ve topped the league on Christmas Day have gone on to miss out on the greatest domestic prize. In 2022/23 they’re going to make that six aren’t they?

The good news is that my AD Ceuta FC FM save can be a welcome distraction compared to my real-life fandom. My FM23 side topped LaLiga 2 on Christmas Day 2028/29 (my 7th season), an impressive feat for such a small club. But can Ceuta see it through and reach the promised land of LaLiga? Today’s update is a first for the Plazas de soberanía series whereby I’ve recapped an entire season in one go (mental, eh?), instead of two posts per season. Why? I figured that there was not a lot to say at the midpoint this time round (other than we’re top of course), so I simply carried on playing FM23 and enjoyed myself with the 4222 formation.

Season 7 then, did we get promoted? Read on to find out…

Season 2028/29

July - December 2028

Last time out on the blog I wrote about the player sales which curbed my expectations going into the 2028/29 season. The 4222 Grasscopper tactic was great, but I had to hurry a few signings through and replace 57 goals worth of attacking output that had left us! Txus Alba, one of the Ceuta greats in this save, was pushed into AMC alongside Iker Losada. Up top, we had Eythan partnering Newgen loanee Rubén Acuña…and it worked really well for us:

January - May 2029

There was no wriggle room in the salary cap to bring anybody in during January’s transfer window, until the AI once again met a minimum fee release clause. This time 1st-choice Right Back, Emmanuel Attipoe departed for €900k to Metz in France. Emmanuel clocked 201 appearances for Ceuta, and was the longest serving member of the squad. This sale took transfer income to €8m for the year, with only €575k going the other way on transfer expenditure…MONEYBALL. As I’m a tight arse, I never replaced Attipoe…instead I would take the risk and use Jérémy Mellot more; who had previously joined in the Summer. Again, MONEYBALL.

Being a man down for the rest of the season did not stop Ceuta continuing with the title push. The 4222 delivering when it matter most in the month of May with four straight wins, three of them away from home! Whilst the tactic is certainly strong (24 wins and 80 goals), Ceuta were no doubt fortunate to have played their first-choice attacking quartet for nearly the entire campaign - they all played over 3,000 minutes. MONEYB…stop Tony.

The biggest surprise has been the success of Mallorca loanee Advanced Forward Rubén Acuña, who was the league’s top scorer with 26 LaLiga 2 goals. Not matter the opposition he faced, Acuña would consistently score and it is proof you don’t need too much other than raw speed and solid Off The Ball to score goals if the tactic fits. The good news is that he is still only half way into his loan, with another season still to run…can he continue to perform in Spain’s top league? It’s certainly going to be interesting to see how he does.

With a game to spare, AD Ceuta FC were crowned champions of LaLiga 2 🏆

Major Save Milestones

I felt my interest in the save waning a little bit recently, but the LaLiga promotion represents a major milestone from my original FM23 checklist, and it’s hopefully a springboard for better things to come. Notably a new stadium, seeing as the current 6,500 capacity Estadio Alfonso Murube does not meet LaLiga requirements. Ceuta for the next two years will therefore need to find a costly groundshare arrangement (TBA), but a new 15,000 Ceuta Stadium is on its way! Hooray:

With the stadium now in construction, I’m going to tick off that FM23 save milestone in advance. It is therefore time to start progressing with item 2. Admittedly I am 2-3 years behind schedule on challenging for LaLiga, but I am at least now in the right league to complete this objective…

Seasonal Updates

Season recaps in one blog post (rather than two per season) are probably going to continue in the Plazas de Soberanía series, as I generally play [and blog] less over real-life Summer months. Season 7 represents my greatest FM23 achievement so far and, as mentioned above, I think the promotion has breathed new life into the save. I am hoping to reach a Decima Season in FM23, something I have not reached since the dizzy heights of FM16 when I first started blogging FM!

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, there’s the mother of all relegation fights to come.

As always thanks for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper