FM23 | Kiruna: 2025 Season

Hello again!

Originally this post was meant to be a deep dive into the finances at the club during my first three seasons. Instead, I played another season. It’s been a ton of fun, and It’s hard to stop when you’re on a hot streak. But I want to make A FM Old Timer proud one day with a proper finance post.

Let’s take a look at my first season in the Allsvenskan.

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Transfers

Promotion can be a bitch. On the one hand, it guarantees some prize money and TV exposure, which can benefit the rest of the club. On the other hand, it also puts the team in the spotlight, drawing attention from other teams, not just in Sweden but across Europe. Unfortunately, our short summer transfer window was a disadvantage compared to other European clubs that were enjoying their longer transfer period.

We sold 23 players for a total of £5.3M, with twelve going to Allsvenskan sides and the remaining ten heading to teams in Denmark, France, Germany, and Norway. The loss of our three best central defenders, Adel Ziarat (£5K, AIK), Adnan Ćatić (£50K, Helsingborgs IF), and Robin Frej (£16.5K, IFK Götenborg), was tough to swallow. We also had to say goodbye to some fan favorites, including Willie Sörensen (£6.5K, GAIS), Oliver Verona (£240K, Sion), Måns Nygren (£60K, Sandefjord), and legend Adam Johnson (£8.25K, GIF Sundsvall).

To fill the gaps in the first team, we brought in some promising new players, such as goalkeeper Sebastian Selin (free, Hammarby IF), Yannick Adjoumani (free, BK Häcken), Mayer Gil (free, Águilas Doradas), Poul Kallsberg (free, Djurgårdens IF), Oscar Aga (£78K, IF Elfsborg), August Sandström (£3.6K, Lunds BK), Matias Belli Moldskred (free, Sandnes Ulf), and Marcus Ferkranus (free, LA Galaxy). We also signed six Central American youngsters and several young Swedish players. We spent a total of £90K for 21 players, most of whom would play in the reserve and U19 teams.

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First Team

During the season, our first team consisted of 26 players. Still, towards the end of the season, we played a league-high 37 players, focusing on plenty of rotation to give opportunities to some reserve and U19 players.

Four new signings snuck into our starting eleven. Sebastian Selin took over as our no.1 following Nygren’s departure. John Clarke and Marcus Ferkranus filled the gap left by our departing central defenders, and Diego Campos secured the starting spot at right wingback. Omar Alba also joined towards the end of the season and will begin the next as our left wingback, while Chris Andersson and Philippe Niang will rotate at right and left wingback.

Youth Intake’s favorite, Joe Hodge, will begin as our BWM(D)/CM(D), with Matias Belli Moldskred as our CM(S) and Ramon-Pascal Lundqvist as our CM(A). Club legend Tobias Stridsman, Johan Nyholm, and Nicaraguan international Jacob Montes will support this midfield trio.

Our team’s attack will be led by Benié Traoré as our shadow striker, with support from Enrico Dueñas and Adam Bark. August Sandström and Poul Kallsberg will play wherever needed due to their versatility. Our striker duo will comprise new club captain Robert Bengtsson and Oscar Aga. Their backups will be Kiruna’s wonderkid, Mirsad Ziba, and South Korean youth international Sang-Jun Park.

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Svenska Cupen

We played in the Svenska Cupen for the first time, having qualified for the group stage and placed in a favorable group. We secured our position at the top of the group after defeating IF Bromma (4-0), Västerås SK (3-0), and IK Norrköping (7-0). Moving onto the quarter-finals, we faced Halmstads BK, winning with a hat-trick from legend Adam Johnson, securing a 3-2 win. However, our cup journey ended in the semi-finals as we faced Malmo FF. Despite a brave effort from our team, Malmo FF dominated possession with 60% compared to our 40% and had more chances on goal, taking 21 shots compared to our 6. Nigel Robertha scored the winning goal to end the match (1-0).

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Allsvenskan

Our first team in Sweden’s first tier was a fun one. The team took a while to hit their stride as we began the season with three straight draws, IFK Göteborg (1-1), BK Häcken (2-2), and Landskrona BoIS (1-1). Even though we dominated all matches in possession and shots, averaging over 20+ shots and 60%, we were only able hit the target six times in each of the matches. We turned things around in the next three matches, winning two against AIK (2-0) and Örebrok SK (1-0)and losing one against IF Elsborg (2-4).

Performances continued to improve in the next nine matches, winning five against the likes of GAIS (2-0), Helsingborgs IF (4-2), and Kalmar FF (2-0). We also lost three more matches against Hammarby IF (0-1), Mjällby AIF (2-4), and Djurgärdens IF (2-3). A 56-minute goal from Richard Bengtsson helped us draw (1-1) against Malmö FF. Halfway through the season, we found ourselves in 4th place.

Although we were slowly climbing up the table, we struggled to put the ball in the back of the net. We led the league in all attacking metrics (goals, crosses completed, chances created, etc.) but still underperforming our xG by -6.75, our 34% shots on target were 14th in the league, and we were tied dead last at a 9% conversion rate. Yes, that conversion rate is horrible, but the highest rate in the league was 15%, so it wasn’t just us that could not score or hit the target.

The team improved in the second half of the season, going on a ten-match unbeaten run. Those changes to our approach paid off in a big way. We saw a significant performance improvement, with our attacking play coming to the fore. Our unbeaten run started with a (1-0) win against IFK Norrköping FK, followed by a (4-1) victory over Helsingborgs IF. Although we lost to Malmö FF (1-0) in our next match, we bounced back with a stunning run of form that saw us win six of our next seven matches, including a (4-1) win against Halmstads BK and a (5-1) thrashing of Mjällby AIF.

As the season drew close, we found ourselves in a tense battle for the title with Malmö FF and IF Elfsborg. Our goal difference proved to be the decisive factor, as we had scored eight more goals than Malmö FF. On the final day of the season, we knew that we had to win against Djurgårdens IF to secure the title. The pressure was on, but we were the more dominant team winning (4-0) to clinch the league title in style. CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, HERE WE COME!

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Team Stats

Our attacking numbers have been phenomenal throughout the season. We finished the season with the highest number of goals (66) and the highest non-penalty expected goals (xG) (63) in the league. We also ranked first in the league for goals from indirect free kicks (10) and penalties (9). Additionally, we had the highest number of shots (515) and shots on target (198).

However, our conversion rate was only 12%, which ranked us third in the league. Furthermore, the fact that we ranked seventh in shots-on-target percentage with 38% showcased our inability to finish our chances, becoming a trend for most of the season, especially in close matches.

In contrast to our attacking metrics, our defensive metrics were less impressive. We conceded 31 goals throughout the season, which ranked us fifth in the league. Our expected goals conceded were on par, at 31.61. We also needed to improve our set-piece defending as we ranked towards the bottom in goals scored from set-pieces. Of the 31 goals we conceded, eight came from set pieces and five from penalties. We must also improve our pressing as we ranked 6th with 4.55 OPPDA.

Our dominance in the attacking front helped us score enough goals to offset our defensive weaknesses. As I look ahead to next season, my focus is on improving our defense as I hope to bring in some reinforcements. If we continue to create chances while improving our defensive performance, we will have a strong chance of winning the league and making it to the Champions League league phase.

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 Player of the Season

Thanks to his impressive performances over the past three seasons, Richard Bengtsson has quickly become my favorite player during this save. Scoring an impressive 50 goals in just 72 matches, he has proven to be a force to be reckoned with on the field. Richard continued to shine this season, adding 24 goals in just 32 matches. Not only that, but he also managed to score three hat-tricks and had a remarkable 4-goal match.

While Bengtsson’s statistics place him somewhere between an average and an “elite” player, there is always room for improvement. One area where he could stand to enhance his game is in headers won. With his imposing frame and impressive attributes, including 15 jumping reach, 15 off the ball, and 16 heading, he has the potential to terrorize defenders in the air.

Bengtsson managed to rack up an impressive list of accolades. He was awarded the Top Goalscorer title, Forward of the Year, Swedish Young Player of the Year, and even Swedish Player of the Year. Bengtsson has a bright future ahead of him.

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Youth

Over the past few seasons, Kiruna FF has seen several promising youth players come through the ranks. While I have yet to have the chance to write extensively about them, I’ve had the opportunity to sign several newgens through trialing over 100 players in the club’s first two seasons. Some were manually scouted, while others were recruited through the recruitment focus.

During the 2022 season, we signed 11 nonattached players to the first team, including Richard Bengtsson, Philippe Niang, Johan Nyholm, Mohammed Andersson, and Carl Andersson. Unfortunately, the 2022 intake didn’t produce any players worth signing.

Moving on to the 2023 season, we added four more nonattached players, though they have yet to fully develop to the point of being notable. However, we did sign a decent graduate from the 2023 intake in Mintesnote Worku, a Swedish/Ethiopian right-back with a 4.5-star potential.

Looking ahead to the 2024 season, we signed an additional ten nonattached players to bolster the team. We were particularly excited to bring in our first Central American youth player, Salvadorian left-back Franco Fernandez. The 2024 intake gave us two decent players, defender Filip Resin and Daniel Olsson, and one player that will surely be a star – Kosovan/Swedish striker Mirsad Ziba. Sixteen and already with a 3-star current ability, we immediately moved him to the first team.

I can finally report on a good enough intake to be excited about. Among the intake were four “elite” talents, including two left-backs in Albin Ådemo and Allan Lindbäck, and two attacking midfielders in Lukas Boqvist and Jacob Christensen. We also had two “top” talents in Finnish goalkeeper Markku Rahikka and Afghani/Swedish right midfielder Samiullah Akbari. The future is looking bright at Kiruna FF.

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Finances & Infrastructure

Finances:

Overall, the football club has seen some ups and downs, but there’s more to celebrate than worry about.

Let’s start with the good news: From 2022 to 2025, the club’s total cash inflows increased from £223,142 to £11,000,500. The most significant contributors were TV revenue, Prize Money, and players sold, bringing in a combined £9,256,159 in 2025, making up over 84% of the total cash inflows for that year. On the flip side, the club’s outflows increased over the last four years. In 2025, the club totaled £10,219,417, compared to £198,688 in 2022. The most significant expenses for the club were player wages, staff wages, and ground maintenance, which accounted for a total of £6,855,111 in 2025.

It’s worth noting that the club was in debt for most of the last four years. In 2022, we had begun with an opening balance of £10,010, and by 2025 that had ballooned to £(742,564). Thankfully due to our success on the pitch, we have been able to get back on track finishing the season with a whopping £38,519! Jokes aside, I will have to keep winning the league and continue to profit on player sales if we are to maintain a positive balance.

Infrastructure:

My top priority has always been to improve our club’s facilities and youth setup. Over the past four seasons, I have invested £2,988,682 into the facilities. Our first team facility is now regarded as average, and the next step is to improve the youth facility’s rating from below average to above average.

Moreover, I have also spent £1,395,290 on our youth setup, and the results speak for themselves. We now have an exceptional academy coaching and youth recruitment system. Our youth development is already bearing fruit, with some exciting young players coming through the ranks, with Mirsad Ziba being the jewel of the Kiruna academy. Ziba is a promising young player, and he has the potential to become a future star of our team.

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Alrighty, enough of that! I must improve the team if we are to retain the title and qualify for the Champions League, as the board has updated the objectives for next season – win the league and make it to the Champions League league phase.

With the 2026 World Cup just around the corner, it will be the perfect way to answer this question: How effective have my recruitment efforts been in Central America, and what impact have they had on the success of the respective nations?

Feel free to reach out on Twitter, and if you want to stay up to date with the save, come say hi on Slack.
Thanks for making it to the end!

Cheers,
José

FM23 | Three Seasons with Kiruna FF

Welcome back! 

We’ve won promotion three years in a row to Sweden’s top division, Allsvenskan! I’ve gone rogue with how I usually operate. Still, I wanted to achieve promotion to the first tier as quick as possible. But I didn’t expect to get through this many seasons so quickly. As the seasons in Swedish lower leagues are short, I won’t be discussing the club’s infrastructure, finances, transfers, or getting into many details in later posts. These are straight-to-the-point season updates!

Thanks to @FMRensie for incorporating @fmstag’s “What Does “Good” Look Like?” metrics into his custom skin. The FM community is very fortunate to have you both around. 

Let’s take a look at how we performed in each season.

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2022 – Div 2 Norrland

My first season at Kiruna FF was definitely an overachievement. The bookies had us in 11th place at the beginning of the season, and as you might have read in the last post, our first-team squad was below average. I identified seventeen players that were not going to cut it. I won’t go over too many details, but I was able to slowly replace those players as the season went on. These players gave us the extra quality that was required to achieve promotion. Thankfully, my bet paid off. 

We managed to go undefeated in our first 15 matches. Still, a loss in form had us slip twice against promotion rivals Bodens BK and Friska Viljor FC, but soon after, it was 🟢 all the way to the end of the season. Our performances were often not as dominant as you might have assumed by looking at the results. 

Goalkeepers, Fernando Milioli & Måns Nygren, conceded 28 goals in 26 matches. Their combined stats are some of the worst in the league. Their save percentage was 70.68 vs. their expected save percentage of 85.57. Our defense was perfectly described as quiet and leaky. My stubbornness to play with a mid & high line came back to bite me as our defenders were often beaten by long passes from the opposition keeper. We were also the fifth-worst tackling team in the league. 

Our midfield players’ creativity and the forwards’ ability to convert those chances were the difference. New midfield signing, Oliver Verona, was our most creative player finishing the season with 7 assists and 2.59 key passes per ninety. He was also our best tackler on the team, with 83% of tackles won. 

We finished the season as top scorers with 72 goals, 23 goals ahead of second-place Friska Viljor FC. Adam Johnson was the top scorer with 23 goals, and new(gen) signing Richard Bengtsson was second with 18 goals. Richard came in as a free agent a few matches into the season and was a revelation; the kid was a monster in the air but also assisted his teammates six times. Although Bengtsson would be an excellent shout for our crucial player of the season, the key player of the season is Adam Johnson.

Key Player

The English forward’s second stint at the club was just as fruitful as his last one. The Pressing Forward was the most clinical striker in the league. He finished the season with 23 goals, 6 assists, and 9 MotM awards in 26 matches with an average rating of 7.78.

Johnson’s numbers (in blue) are too good for the Swedish 4th tier. Two metrics that stand out to me are his conversation rate (26%), and headers won (9.17). I was worried that I would have to replace Johnson with a more clinical striker after seeing so many missed chances; luckily, that won’t be happening.

Time will tell whether he will be a starter once we make it to the promised land.

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2023 – Ettan 1 Norra

My main priority for the season was to strengthen our goalkeepers and defense. In came newgen free agent, Peter Lucian Stipkovič, to provide cover for Måns Nygren. Centerbacks Adel Ziarat (£500 from Team TG FF) and Adnan Čatič (£2.8k from Örebro IF) came in as starters. We also needed some depth in the midfield; Kevin Roberts (£0 from Bodens BK) joined alongside utility/injury-prone winger Nebiyou Perry. These five transfers were precisely what we needed.

The season began with back-to-back wins, followed by a tie and a loss. During these matches, I tinkered with the formation. Although the results were positive, they weren’t clicking the way I wanted them to. I was then inspired by a tactic that @Jord used during his “Seven Nation Slalom” save. He dropped to a low block and a low defensive line to create direct counter-attacks. I dropped my lines, and there was no looking back. New midfield signing, Kevin Roberts, was everywhere on the field. The midfielder was able to recycle the ball to his more creative teammates. If anything went wrong in the midfield, we had Adnan Čatič and Adel Ziarat, who were rock solid at the back. 

Our fluid counter-attacking style was deadly. We scored 36 goals more than the second-best scoring team. Adam Johnson and Robert Bengtsson finished within the top 3 goalscorers, with 19 and 16 goals, respectively. Adel Ziarat, Luca Gomes (free signing towards the end of last season), and young superstar Robert Bengtsson had the three highest average ratings in the league. Unlike last season, there were no doubts about who was the best team in the league. We went 26 matches undefeated, with 21 wins and 5 ties, finishing 19 points clear from second place IF Karlstad Fotball.

Key Player

Carl Andersson is one of the 17 players that joined the club last season. He was a free agent newgen. After having him on trial for a couple of weeks, I decided to give him a youth contract. He played a few matches last season, mainly as a sub. He impressed me enough that he became the starter at the end of the 2022 season. The decision paid off; Carl finished the 2023 season with the most open play assists in the league (12), even though he missed 8 matches due to injury.

Looking at his numbers, he is not tackling enough, but his role in the team as a WB(A) is to be an attacking threat on the right-hand side. His successful pressures (11.32 p/90) are also the most in the league. His stamina (9) isn’t anywhere near as I’d like it to be, so he will be working on it next season. The 16 y/o is undoubtedly one to look out for in the future.

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2023 – Superettan

After achieving promotion to the second tier, the club’s chairman decided it was time for the club to turn professional. Doing so helped us attract better players to the club, such as Robin Freij from IF Brommapojkarna (free), Benié Traoré from BK Hacken (£200k), Diego Campos (Costa Rica) from Degerfors IF (£70k) and Ramon-Pascal Lundqvist(Sweden/Nicaragua) from FC Groningen (free). We were also able to crank up our recruitment of South Americans, with 7 players joining throughout the season. 

Tactically, I decided to stick with the 4-3-1-2 and switch roles instead of changing formations whenever things got rough. I also switched our playing mentality from ‘balanced’ to ‘cautious.’ The last tactical change was adding counter-pressing to our game. These changes were the right ones, as we began the season with three clean sheets. We would finish the season with 14 clean sheets, just one behind GIF Sundsvall. The team improved their defensive record year after year, conceding only 22 goals from 30 matches. Due to having a high possession rate, we were not amongst the leaders in blocks, clearances, interceptions, or tackles attempted. We excelled in not allowing the opposing team to have many goalscoring opportunities. We were top in shots against (240), 3rd in shots on target (89), passes attempted + passes completed, and 1st in OPPDA (3.49). 

It’s hard to say that we could have been better up front as we scored 77 goals in 30 matches, 27 more than second-place GAIS. The team could have been even more clinical. Creatively were outstanding, creating 160 chances (57 more than the next team). But we only had the 6th best shots on target ratio (37%) with the most shots in the league (524, 114 more than the next team) and the most shots on target (199). Again leading the line were Robert Bengtsson (16) and Adam Johnson (14). They were also joined by Benié Traoré (11) and Ariagner Smith (10). Smith joined us last season from Lativia club Spartaks (free) to become the first Nicaraguan player at the club. 

This season’s success was indeed a group effort. We featured 20 players with at least 700 minutes. Seven of those players were 21 y/o or younger, with Johan Nyholm (17 y/o) featuring most out of all of them with 1,700 minutes. We also featured eight players in the average rating table, an incredible feature for any team, let alone a newly promoted team.

Key Player

Diego Campos was brought in as the first choice WB(A) as Carl Andersson needs more time to develop. I’ve included metrics for fullbacks and wingers to show how he performed as an attacking wingback.

The Costa Rican was outstanding. Campos led the league in every creative metric, including open-play key passes, open-play assists, and chances created. He completed the most dribbles, sprints, and successful pressures.

His metrics are impressive for a player with such average attributes. I’m curious how he will perform next season in the Allsvenskan.

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These first three seasons felt like a big blur. I’ve never played through so many seasons this quickly. So much has happened that I couldn’t fit everything into this post. Otherwise, it would have been 15x longer! I have already begun working on a couple of posts. The next is on the club’s finances, and lastly, a recap of the main goal, signing and developing Central American players.

Thanks again for stopping by. Feel free to follow me on Twitter and on FM Slack for more updates on the save.

Best,
José

FM23 | Kiruna FF: Club Overview, Squad & Tactics

Welcome! Let’s dive a bit deeper into what’s happening at Kiruna FF.

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Club Overview

Kiruna FF find themselves in Division 2 Norrland, Sweden’s 4th tier. As a semi-professional club, Kiruna don’t much going on in terms of infrastructure. Kiruna currently have poor training and youth facilities, and fairly basic corporate facilities. In terms of youth, we’re also limited with basic academy coaching and limited youth recruitment.

The club will playing their matches at Lombia IP. The stadium is in poor conditions as it was built back in 1976, it currently hosts a capacity of 2,300 (1,500 seats). As mentioned in last post, building a new stadium is a priority. The club has 95 season ticket holders and 795 social media followers so promotion to Ettan Fotboll Division 1 Norra is a must if we are to going more fans. Something I failed to mentioned in the last post is that I will be keeping track of season ticket holders, social media followers, and average attendance as we progress through the football leagues.

Financially, the club has £10,010 in the bank and it’s projected to have a positive balance in the next two years. Kiruna has two sponsors for a total of £28,000 p/y, in addition to sponsors, the club membership (573 members) accumulates to £20,000 p/y. The wage budget is of £13,000 per year but I am sure that this will be hard to maintain as we need better players if we are to gain promotion.

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Squad

I won’t be putting you through too much information about the current team. The majority of these players won’t be around for too long. Instead, I’ll just highlight the players that I think will stay at the club for more than two seasons. The goal is to find the right replacements this season to be able to compete.

Defense

The standout in central defense is Ayodeji Abayomi. Abayomi is a new signing from fellow Div 2 Norrland club, Bergnäsets AIK. Emil Björnström will partner with Abayomi in central defense. He has been at the Kiruna his whole career and is a leader in the squad. Their understudy will be August Niemi. Niemi is one of the two academy players that I will try to develop.

Brendan Nanuseb and Wille Sörensen will start at right-back and left-back, respectively. Although I doubt that they will be good enough to play higher up the leagues, they are both academy graduates and are influential members of the squad.

Midfield

The same as our defense, our midfield is in need of new players. At least we can tackle. 😅 

Tobias Stridsman is the son of IRL manager, Hans Stridsman, and the nephew of the current chairman, Tommy Stridsman. Tobias is Kiruna through and through. He is also the captain of the club. I will do my best to keep Tobias around as long as possible.

Elias Johansson is the second highly rated youth player at the club. He’s been promoted to the first team alongside August Niemi. Elias has the potential to be better than Stridsman according to my coaching team.

Forwards

An American and English walk into a bar… jk, I don’t have any jokes about Americans and English men. (Feel free to leave them in the comments) Anyways… Our forwards are not as bad as the players behind them. If the midfielders are able to supply them with opportunities, I am sure that they’ll put the ball in the back of the net.

Gibson Bardsley joined for the club back in 2017, and has now been at the club for 5 seasons. His partner up top will be Adam Johnson (no, not that Adam Johnson). Johnson is back at the club after playing for Kiruna for two seasons. I am hoping he matches his previous efforts at the club of 39 goals in 40 matches back in 2017 & 2018 seasons.

Key Players

Abayomi, Johnson, and Stridsman are clearly the best players are the club. I will try to build a team around them. Let’s see how what formations and roles they will be playing in.

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Tactics

My only goal in terms of tactic for the save is to use a AMC through out the entirety of the save. The above formations are the two that I will sticking to. As for team instructions, it will be more of the same as I’ve done in the past – Shorter Passing, Countering, and Pressing More Often. 

I do understand that I need to be flexible in the style of play. Whether I go long to the Target Forward, counterplebe more direct, or slowing down the tempo of the game. My aim is to do what I need to win the match regardless of the style of play.

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Next up will be a review of the 2022 season. Thanks again for making it all the way down here. Also, thanks to @fm_throwing for the way he analyzes his teams. You’ve “inspired” to do something similar.

Best,
José

FM23 | Kiruna FF: Central America to the Arctic Circle

 

Welcome! Let’s jump right into it. I am unsure if I’ve spoken about my background in any of my FM saves, so let me briefly tell you. My family and I moved to Miami, FL (USA), when I was 12 years old. I was born and raised in Matagalpa, Nicaragua until I was twelve. Why is this important? 

While managing Ternana Calcio in FM22, I came across a Nicaraguan ‘wonderkid’ named Jairo Garcia playing in the MLS for Toronto FC. Finding him such a rarity wasn’t just the fact that Nicaragua has quite a low youth rating but that he was also developed at Real Estelí, one of Nicaragua’s more notable teams. Most decent Nicaraguan players that I’ve seen through my time playing FM have been dual citizens, either from Colombia or Spain, but none as good as him.

This transfer sparked the idea of finding and developing Nicaraguan players to help build the country’s youth rating. I realized this would not only take a ton of time but would require me to manage the Nicaraguan national team. So I decided to find a club where I could focus on recruiting and developing Central American players. That club will be Kiruna FF in Sweden’s 4th tier. 

Recruitment Plans

Recruitment will be simple. I will focus all my attention on scouting in Central America. Those of you who may not know what countries are part of Central America are Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.

This will also include any player born outside the isthmus and players with dual nationality. I will also consider bringing in some of my favorite players from the last few FMs. Such players include Titas Krapikas, Joe Hodge, Florian Kruger, Antonio Palumbo, Alfredo Donnarumma, and others. 

Lastly, this wouldn’t be a proper Youth Intake save without developing academy players for the first team.

• Sign Central American players without disrupting the balance of the squad.

• Sign players from previous FM saves, if possible.

• Sign Swedish players.

• Develop homegrown academy players.

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Kiruna FF

After digging around, I found that the most significant amount of players playing outside the Central American leagues, Mexican and MLS, were, in fact, playing in the Scandinavian leagues. Although most of them play in Norway, I chose to manage in Sweden because their registration rules are straightforward. The Swedish FA requires a max of 5 non-EU players and a minimum of 9 players in the match squad trained in Sweden.

Kiruna FF is the northernmost club in Sweden. They find themselves in the Arctic circle alongside clubs like Bodø/Glimt, Tromsø IL (Norway), and Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) (Finland), plus many others in lower divisions. 

Kiruna has spent most of its history in the lower leagues of Sweden. They spent a few years back in the early 90s in the 2nd tier. Mainly, they’ve yo-yo’d in the 3rd and 4th divisions. In 2009, they were relegated to the 5th division. They are back in the 4th division after being promoted in 2021.

Lastly, Kiruna’s current squad has a diverse group of players. Which was a surprise to me because of the geographical location. Their team features players of dual citizenship and players from Africa, England, and North America.

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Aims

• Become a stepping stone for Central American players

• Develop homegrown players for the first team

• Win the Swedish title

• Win a European cup

I will be keeping track of the Central American players that have passed through the club to keep an eye on their progress.

Finances

As this save will be relatively long, I want to focus on the club’s finances. I will be using A-FM-Old-Timer‘s finance tool from his FM22 Southampton save. 

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In the next post, which will be once FM23 is released, I will take a look at the club’s finances & infrastructure, squad, and the tactics that I will be using during the save.

Feel free to follow along on Twitter or Slack.

Best,
José

FM22 | Ternana Calcio: 2026/2027 - Final Season

Welcome back friends!

This will be my last season at Ternana Calcio. This save has been a ton of fun, it was my first time managing in Italy and trying to stick to a particular way of recruitment (although I strayed away from it at times), as well as the first time dealing with such insane amount of players at a club. 

It was our best season so far and it also happened to be Alfredo Donnarumma‘s last season as he had announced his retirement earlier in the season. So I figured that it would be a great way to end my time in Terni. 

Let’s dive deeper into the season and see what the future holds.

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Transfers

In:

Summer: Junior Lopez – CS Municipal (Free), Martín Amer – Huachipato (£125k), José Wilson – El Sauce (Free), José Hernandez – Comunicaciones (£1m), Carlos Ríos – Tigres (£6m), Ricardo Alvarenga – Santa Tecla (£225k), Iván Guevara – Isidro Metaplán (£875k).

January: João Maria – Monte Azul (Free), Daÿanç Kadyrow – CSKA Moscow (£1.5m), Karolis Micevicius – Telsar (Free).

Out:

We sold a total of 20 players in both windows for a total of £13.5m. All players sold were from the youth teams and no one noteworthy.

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First Team

First Team

We promoted two young strikers from the U19s for coverage, aside from that, the team remained quite the same as last season. We still had the youngest team in the league at 21 years old, also the tallest at an average of 6’2″ and the heaviest at 176lbs (I’m not sure if weighing the most is helpful, but I’d like to pretend it’s because my players are brick walls). We also featured the most homegrown players, not just the in Serie A but elsewhere in Europe. From the 27 players in the first team, 16 of them were trained at the club.

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Competitions

Super Coppa & Coppa Italia

We traveled to Beijing, China for our second Super Coppa in back-to-back years. This time around we faced Juventus as the winners of last season’s Coppa Italia. Unlike last season, this match was more competitive. Liridon Aliu opened the score in the 51st minute from a header via an indirect free kick. Juventus continued to put pressure on us and their efforts were rewarded in the 91st minute, Paulo Dybala placed a lovely shot from a low cross from Raphinha, so we headed to extra time. After not much action, we were able to complete a lovely passing sequence which led to new boy Francesco scoring the winning goal in the 118th minute!

We entered the Coppa Italia in the third round to face Verona. The Gialloblu were easily brushed aside by my B Team. Our journey end in the Quarterfinals after losing in penalties (0-0 FT) against Roma.

Serie A

As you by now have noticed, we won the league once again. That’s three times in a row. What better way than to end my time in Terni, Italy by going undefeated in my last season.

Not only did we finish unbeaten, we had the best defensive record across the top 5 leagues in Europe with only 7 goals conceded. In total, we did not concede in 22 matches in-a-row (without including Champions League, more on that later). Our four central defenders were truly on top their game, all of them finishing the season with an average rating over 7.10, Gerald Brandt being the standout of all of them.

This season was truly a group effort. Gerardo González and Matteo De Rossi chipped in with 23 and 19 goals, respectively. Our midfielders combined for 30 goals between seven players. One-third of them were scored by Chilean international Lapo “Assumpta” Assumma, who had his best season at the club. 

There’s no better way than end my time at this club than leave after breaking so many records. I wish them luck in the future!

Champions League

In the group stages we were drawing against Dinamo, Monaco, and Valencia. For the first time in the save we were not in the group of death. We were able to get through to the knockout stages unbeaten with home-and-away wins against Dinamo and Valencia, as well as a set of ties against Monaco. We finished the group with 13 goals for and 3 goals against.

In the First Knockout Round we faced a decent FCKøbenhavn side, but not good enough to challenge us, we went to the next round after winning 3-0 on aggregate. PSG were next in the Quarterfinals. This team was filled with superstars; including an aging 35 y/o Neymar, former Ternana players Lorenzo Lucca & Andrea Colpani, Samuele Ricci (probably the beast DM/M in my FM universe, he’s worth £146m-£196m) and a few others. We managed to shut them down in the first leg, they didn’t even have a shot on target, the match ended (0-0). I thought all was coming to an end in the away leg, but luckily for us Neymar decided that he wanted to begin his retirement a bit early and lunged himself at Lapo Assuma and left PSG with 10-men after 20 minutes. Two first-half goals from Assuma and David Peréz were enough to take us to the Semifinals.

We were off to Barcelona to the face the Catalan giants. For the semifinals we moved to a back three to give us a bit more coverage in the back, still continuing our cautious approach, it was the perfect recipe when matching up against better oppositions such as Barça. We were able to FMed them twice over the two legs. The first match ended (0-2), a mis-placed pass by Balde landed on De Rossi’s feet and quickly assisted his fellow striker Gerardo Gonzalez. Moments later Mateo De Rossi’s header from a corner cemented our lead. The second leg was ours to lose, so we went a bit more defensive and dropped the lines to make sure that we were able to keep the ball on our feet and counter when possible. We were playing some lovely stuff out there, completing 960/998 passes. Gerardo Gonzalez put us ahead in the first half and Facundo Maldonado‘s GOLAZO was the perfect way to send us to the finals. As you can imagine, Titas Krapikas was the MotM on both occasions. In the two legs Barcelona attempted 31 shots with 16 on target vs our 15 shots and 7 on target,

At this point, we had yet to allow a goal for the entirety of the second half of the season in all competitions. By this time, I was not sure how many records we had broken and how many near loses we had, but I was confident. Our opponents were Vincent Kompany’s Manchester City, yes you read that right. I thought PSG had stars, I was mistaken, I mean take a look at this team. You know when you get this feeling that maybe if you tweak something to your tactic that it might give you the edge, if not… all good. I decided to switch to a balanced mentality and pushed the team up the field. This was my way of saying, “fuck it, I’m going for it.” Instead of a more cautious game we were able to go back-and-forth with the best team in the world. Kylian Mbappe stroke first in 28th minute after a lovely one-two with Valentín Barco. Six minutes later, Federico Salas won a header after clearance and passed it to Assuma, which began a well constructed passing sequence for Facundo Maldonado to scored another GOLAZO (this man loves the big stage) and keep us in the match. It would all come crashing down as Ternana new boy Liridon Aliu headed the ball back to Man City in our own half. They caught us out of shape and quickly counter, it took three passes for Joäo Felix to slip between our defenders to end our hopes of lifting the Champions League trophy.

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Player of the Year

Titas Krapikas has been one of the best players for most of the save. He completely outdid himself this season. He had 31 clean sheets out of 38 matches in the league and the best save percentage, saving 96.75% of the shots faced.

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Team Performance

Last season I switched to a more cautious approach and it worked wonders, that success continued this season. We had the best defense in Europe’s top five leagues, maintained the best passing accuracy and we were 5th in possession in the Europe’s top five league. We had a streak of 30 matches without conceding, the longest in my time playing FM and I believe also within the game.

As you can see by the graph above, everyone did what was of them. The standout player was Gian Marco Nesta, contributed so much going forward. He finished the season with 13 assists and 2 goals. Nast did this while splitting his time with Jairo Garcia, who played about 700 minutes more than him. Nesta completed the most key passes and dribbles in the team with 3.99 key passes p/90 and 4.28 completed dribbles p/90. 

Seven Ternana players were named in the Team of the Year. This goes to show how dominant we were in the defense and midfield. I’m still not sure how Titas Krapikas was not named in the team but I’m content nonetheless.

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Youth

First Team & Player Development

As written above, from the 27 first team players included 23 of them were 22 years old or younger. If I include the further 10 players that were out on loan, we have a total of 21 players in the first team that were Trained at the Club. 

In terms of total Homegrown players that were Trained at the Club, we were amongst the top talent producers not only in Italy but also in Europe. We produced a total of 32 homegrown players in Serie A, only Fiorentina had produced more with 34 homegrown players. In Europe’s top five leagues, we were tied in third place with Real Madrid, only Bayern (41) and Barcelona (46) have produced more players throughout Europe. 

The good news continued this season as 8 players were featured in the NXGN 2027, including the winner – Nicaraguan International Jairo Garcia. Out of the 8 featured players, 4 of them were homegrown academy players, Dalibor Verbič, Romano Conti, Tommaso Bernardi, and Uzbekistan International Rustam Jumayev.

Intake, U18s, and U20s

Once again our intake was labeled a “Golden Generation,” with three ‘elite’ talents (see below) and five ‘top’ talents. Our of the three ‘elite’ talents, Giuseppe Pastrello is the standout. He is already worth between £850k – £8.4m.

Both youth teams won everything that was up for grabs, our academy has become the best in Italy since taking over the club. They’ve also won a combined 18 trophies in the last 6 seasons. 

U18s: 4 x Allievi Serie A/B, 4 x Supercoppa Allievi, 

U20s: 1 x Primavera 2, 2 x Primavera 1, 2 x Super Coppa Primavera, 2 x UEFA Youth Leagues, 3 x Viareggio Cups

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Finances & Infrastructure

Finances 2021/2022 – 2026/2027

In the six years at the club, we were able to sell a total of 170 players for a grand total of £334m and bought 72 players for a total of £87m for a transfer net of £247m. I leave Ternana in a phenomenal financial state with £373m in the bank and the club’s worth is now £2B. 

They will have a transfer budget of £201m and wage budget of £2.8m per week. I’ve managed to keep our wage spending extremely low at just £951k per week, this will give them enough financial muscle to recruit high profile players if needed. The club will be able to do as they please in the transfer market. I wish them luck.

Infrastructure:

Yup, you guessed it, no stadium…. So we finish our time at Ternana without a new stadium. That’s two versions of Football Manager in a row were we’re not able to build a new stadium. 

If you’ve followed the save for the last few months you’ll know that we’ve maxed out on the facilities as well youth coaching and recruitment. I hope to see Ternana continue to develop wonderkids throughout the rest of this universe.

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As mentioned above, this was such a fun save. I got to learn about the headaches of the Italian non-EU rules, and being patient with a tactic as well as understanding when to adjust it. It was my first time playing with a team that had a lot of players that were past their prime, including an aging striker, Alfredo Donnarumma, who was sensational through the seasons.

You might be wondering what’s next for me. The ones of you who are in the Slack Channel will know that I was debating whether to continue for another season or start a brand new save. I decided to do what some fellow FMers (cc: @oakyfm) do which is to continue in same save universe, so I resigned at the end of the season as my contract was expiring and no contract offer had been received by board. It felt like the right time to leave and #persuetheadventure elsewhere.

“Elsewhere”

That “elsewhere” is FC Lorient. The club was relegated to Ligue 2 at the end of the 2025/2026 Season and finished in 7th place this current (26/27) season. My goal is to bring them back to Ligue 1 and hopefully one day win a trophy or two. I’ve never managed in France so this will keep me entertain until FM23.

Thank you all who have been following my time in Italy, let’s see if I can bring some sort silverware to Northwest of France

As always, feel free to chat with me over on Twitter or Slack.

Best,
José