FM13 - OLT Botswana

Botswana are an up and coming footballing nation, having recently qualified for the African Nations Cup for the first time. Their league is poor, but is of good quality still. Many of their players have recently sought success outside of their nation - mostly in South Africa. Players like Mogogi Gabonamong, Joel Mogorosi, Mogakolodi Ngele, Kabelo Dambe and Ofentse Nato have all recently signed for South African teams. Phenyo Mongala and Dirang Moloi are a couple of others who have had spells in South Africa, but have since returned to the BPL.

This league file will give you the opportunity to manage in one of the lesser know footballing nations, and perhaps give you the chance to put local Botswana teams on the map. Finances will be tough, but you'll find a wealth of quality players all the way down to the lower leagues. Do you have what it takes to bring success to the Batswana? Will you take the easier route and manage one of the established top teams like Centre Chiefs, Township Rollers or Gaborone Utd? Or, dare you try your luck with one of the worst* First Division (teams and build them up from scratch?

HINT: If you're looking for the ultimate challenge, you should opt for either Green Lovers, Two-Two-Five or Ghanzi Terrors.

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GENERAL INFORMATION
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A Data Editor file of the Botswana leages, created as accurately as possible with a few exceptions (as noted in the info sections of this file)

This file has been tested through 20 full seasons without any issues.

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COMPETITIONS
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BeMobile Premier Leauge
Med Rescue First Division North & South
Regional Division One (Inactive)
Regional Division Two (Inactive)

Coca Cola FA Challenge Cup
Mascom Top 8 Tournament
Orange Kabelano Cup (Super Cup)

Under 18's League and Cup

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BeMobile Premier Leauge
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16 Teams
Play each team 2 times for a total of 30 games
Bottom 2 teams relegated to Med Rescue First Division
14th placed team in relegation play off against runners up of Med Rescue First Division North & South*

Notes:
League history has been added to show past winners since 1967
Squads and staff as accurate as I've been able to gather from various web sources.**

* The relegation/promotion play-off takes place between three teams (14th Premier, 2nd Med Rescue First Division North & 2nd Med Rescue First Division South), in which they play each other on a home and away basis, with the winner qualifying for Premier League next season.

** It's not been easy to find info on the Botswana leagues, but it's been a long time coming from me as it was the first league I wanted to do many years ago when I (at that time) found a great source of info, and I thought it would be really fun to manage such a low profile league. This was long before the league editor was released. With that old source no longer around, I tried my very best to collect info from various news sites and such to get information on the teams, and also who are the top players in the league. It should be accurate enough - but I don't claim that it's all perfectly up to date.

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Med Rescue First Division North & South
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12 Teams (In each)
Play each team 2 times for a total of 22 games
Top team promoted to BeMobile Premier League
Runner-Up of each division in promotion play off against BeMobile Premier League 14th placed
Bottom two teams relegated to Regional Division One*

Notes:
Many teams here don't have full squads, as it was virtually impossible to find any info at all (apart from teams participating, and league rules) about the First Division. Make sure you tick "add players to playable teams", and "add key staff" when starting up a new game.

* The game should promote two northern teams, and two southern teams to the First Division from the lower leagues, but no matter what settings I use, the game chooses any random four - so you may see 3, or even all 4, coming from either north or south. There is nothing I can do about this, as I've tried everything, and ended up thinking it has to be an SI issue after all. Even if I got it to work properly, it would not be 100% as in real life. To my understanding, they promote teams from the Regional Division One based on regional allocation in the following year. So it two northern teams are relegated from the premier league and only one promoted, there would only be one promotion spot from the Northern Regional divisions to maintain 12 teams in the division. This they do so they don't have to move teams between the divisions, as it can cause a lot of travelling and stadium issues for the teams involved. Of course, this is not possible with the current ruleset we have in FM, as we can't check from available spaces and decide what number of teams to promote from there.

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Coca Cola FA Challenge Cup
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66 Teams qualify for the Coca Cola FA Challenge Cup
Quarter Finals and onward played on neutral ground
Final is played in National Stadium

Notes:
Cup history added from 1968 on

* Quite pleased with how I got this to work, although it's not 100% as in reality. Where I couldn't get it to work is the qualifiers from the lower leagues. Since I don't have all 16 regional leagues added to Division One (but rather grouped them all into north and south, because I cannot find info on all clubs involved), I had to take some liberties here. It's a rather complicated qualifying system, and if you're interested in reading it all you can do so here (http://www.bfa.co.bw/news-details.php?news=86). But, I've managed to ensure that all 16 teams of the PREVIOUS season's Premier League get top seeding. Then the top 8 teams from each of the Med Rescue First Division leagues are second seeded. In order to cope with the regional leagues, I simply had to add 15 random teams from each Regional Division One, and then 2 Random from each regional Division Two to participate in the four team qualifying round. So, apart from how the lower league teams (which you can't manage) are chosen - this cup runs exactly as it does in real life.

** Actually - in real life - the Coca Cola Cup is wrapping up it's final season. The Cup are currently without a sponsor, and will not be scheduled for next season. I decided to ignore that, and let the cup continue on as it gives a lot to the gameplay of the Botswana leagues. Without it, you'd have only the Mascom Top 8 to play, and that is only for the best 8 Premier League Teams from the previous season. An issue that Botswana FA will probably try their hardest to remedy, and who knows? Perhaps some sponsor shows up to reactivate the cup under a different name (and perhaps different format).

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Mascom Top 8 Tournament
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Top 8 Teams from Previous Season's BeMobile Premier League Table
Cup Format - Home and Away fixtures. Away Goals Rule.
Final is a one match event played on neutral ground.

Notes:
Cup history added from 2011 on (inaugural season)*

* This is a brand new competition in Botswana that started last season. It was played towards the end of the season, but the league commitee have asked sponsors Mascom to move the cup to an October/November schedule to ease up on the fixture congestion towards the end of the season. While Mascom have yet to agree to this move, I decided to schedule it for early season for the very same reason... especially with the FA Cup remaining in this file which also takes place in the second half of the season.

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Orange Kabelano Cup
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Winner of BeMobile Premier League play against the winner of the Coca Cola FA Challenge Cup (League Runners up if same as League Champions) *

Notes:
Cup history added from 1996 on

* Honestly - this is not how it should be. This cup is really an invitational cup, and has had many different formats and sponsors over the years. And some years it's not been played at all. Some years have seen four teams participate, while others only had two. I couldn't really figure out a reasonable way to do it as an invitational (random just didn't seem fair), so I made it out to be a Super Cup... let's just say that those are the invited teams? Also, it hasn't been played since 2008, but I still decided to include it in this release.

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Under 18's League and Cup
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Under 18's for all teams in Premier + Med Rescue First Division.
4 Regional groups of 10 teams in each

* I know that Premier and Med Rescue First Division teams are required to have U18 squads, and also that they play in a regional league system. Apart from that... I couldn't find jack - so this is how it will be represented in game.

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AWARDS
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BeMobile Player Of The Season
BeMobile Young Player Of The Season
BeMobile Green Boot Award (Top Scorer)
BeMobile Goalkeeper Of The Season
BeMobile Coach Of The Year (Manager)
BeMobile Supporters Player Of The Season
BeMobile Players' Player Of The Season
BeMobile Referee Of The Season
Med Rescue First Division North Player Of The Season
Med Rescue First Division North Young Player Of The Season
Med Rescue First Division North Top Scorer
Med Rescue First Division North Goalkeeper Of The Season
Med Rescue First Division North Coach Of The Year (Manager)
Med Rescue First Division South Player Of The Season
Med Rescue First Division South Young Player Of The Season
Med Rescue First Division South Top Scorer
Med Rescue First Division South Goalkeeper Of The Season
Med Rescue First Division South Coach Of The Year (Manager)
Coca-Cola Cup Player Of The Tournament
Coca-Cola Cup Top Scorer
Coca-Cola Cup Goalkeeper Of The Tournament
Coca-Cola Cup Coach Of The Tournament (Manager)
Mascom Top 8 Number One Player
Mascom Top 8 Number One Safe Hands (Goalkeeper)
Mascom Top 8 Yellow Boot Award (Top Scorer)
Mascom Top 8 Number One Coach (Manager)
Mascom Top 8 Number One Referee

* All awards as in reality, apart from Young Player of the Season awards which I don't think really exists. For gameplay purposes, however, I find it too important an award to leave out to help promote the youngsters reputations.


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TEAMS
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Total of 108 Botswana teams in the database (91 New Teams Added)
All teams also have an Under 18 squad

BeMobile Premier League: BDF XI, BMC, BR Highlanders, Centre Chiefs, Ecco City, Extension Gunners, Gaborone Utd, Miscellaneous, Mogoditshane Fighters, Motlakase, Nico Utd, Notwane, Prisons XI, TAFIC, Township Rollers, UF Santos

Med Rescue First Division North: Amakhosi, Great North Tigers, Green Lovers, Kazungula, Maun Tigers, Orapa Utd, Sankoyo Bush Bucks, Satmos, Sua Flamingos, TASC, Tonota, Two-Two-Five

Med Rescue First Division South: Black Peril, Gabane Utd, Ghanzi Terrors, Jwaneng Comets, Kanye Swallows, Killer Giants, Letlapeng, Masitaoka, Mochudi Buffaloes, Modipane Utd, Wonder, Young Strikers

Regional Division One North: 26 Teams *

Regional Division One South: 26 Teams *

Regional Division Two North: 8 Teams *

Regional Division Two South: 8 Teams *

* There are 16 Regional Divisions that I've grouped together into North & South Regions only. These regions also have a varying number of levels ranging from only the one, down to level 5 (Gaborone Region, for example) As I'm unable to find info on all regions, I thought this was the best way to go.

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PLAYERS
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937 Players and Staff added to the database (including referees)

Of course, my limited knowledge of the leagues mean these are not well researched, apart from what I've been able to gather online. I've tried to ensure that they play at a reasonable level for this league, and that the star players of the teams will be just that. While I cannot claim perfect realism here, I believe it's better that I randomize some factors for a balanced league, than leave it all to zero's and have the game make all the players pretty much useless.

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MISCELLANEOUS
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40 New Cities Added with correct Long/Lat values
36 New Stadiums Added *
4 New Media Sources Added

Mostly correct data, but in some cases I had to just add "CITY NAME Grounds", if no info was found. Many teams also use alternative stadiums in the cups and if they get promoted to bigger leagues, since many of their stadiums are just school grounds or outdoor fields with no stands for the spectators. So, in order for them to generate some income in the leagues, they sometimes have to travel many miles to another city and use their stadiums. I've tried to recreate this to the best of my ability in this file... so don't be surprised if your First Division Team all of a sudden play on a different stadium when you get them promoted to the Premier League.

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TAX RULES
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Tax Rules set according to reality (to the best of my knowledge)

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IMAGES
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BOTSWANA LEAGUE STRUCTURE:
DOWNLOAD

Extra files!


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Logos:

I offer two separate downloads for Botswana logos. The default one, which covers all the teams that are in the original database. This one has the config-file all ready for you, so you just need to plop it into the graphics/logos folder.

The other one contains official logos of teams and competitions that are not in the original database. I have not created a config file for those, since the ID's will differ from game to game, depending on what league files you are loading. You'll have to set that up yourself. Check the skinning forum if you don't know how to write the config files.

DOWNLOAD - Botswana Logos

DOWNLOAD - Botswana Logos (Not In Original Database)


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Player Pics:

I have also cut out 145 player profile pics of players that weren't in the database. I offer the ready cut images, but you'll have to write the config file yourself (again, changing ID's from game to game). Players that were already in the database were also cut and submitted to sortitoutsi's MegaPack - so you'll get some player faces if you use that as well.

DOWNLOAD - Botswana Player Pics (Not In Original Database)


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Adboards:



For those of you who are using rabcp's excellent adboard patch, I've compiled the necessary files to bring the Botswana leagues to life. Custom Adboards that are representative of the leagues (based on match pictures, and known sponsors). It's a bit of a hassle to get these to work in game, so I recommend you have a bit of know-how before you attempt these. I've provided a short description in the read me inside the .zip file.

DOWNLOAD - Botswana Adboards

Great work

Looks very detailed, I shall give it a try at some point.

Thanks, guys!

Hope you'll enjoy the experience.