[FM19] The Relaxing Journey Around Europe

Welcome to my new career! Just a quick point, this doesn't mean that I'm abandoning my Ultimate Journeyman Challenge at all, just that I want a change of scenery for a little while and a different challenge!

The main problem I have is with the lack of support in the database, even with Claassen's excellent updates for the African/Oceanian leagues etc. So I'm moving to the continent of structure - Europe, although with Claassen's current European Megapack (in spolier below) in play, so I will have access to all 55 European Nations and have loaded all of the divisions possible from the Northern Irish 7th Tier and Israeli 5th Tier to the EPL and La Liga.

• Take a team from the bottom division in a country to the top division
• Have an unbeaten season
• Manage my boyhood club - Cheltenham Town FC
• Win the Champions League
• Win the Europa League
• Become Favoured Personnel at a club
• Become a club Icon
• Become a club Legend
• Win every trophy possible in a nation
• Manage in at least 10 different countries
• Break into the European Hall of Fame
• Become the best European manager in history (knocking old whisky nose off top spot)

My Journey

Trophy Cabinet

Personal Awards

Total Game Completion

From Djibouti to Luxembourg... standard. I like having two saves on the go myself, keeps things feeling fresh.

This will be an interesting journey to say the least.

Love journeyman saves, tempted to start another save alongside my current one and use Claasens pack. Good luck.

Good luck with this

I thought it was a pretty natural move @r96Skinner, was just a bit concerned because I've seen it done so many times before I didn't want to be accused of copying!

Thanks @HawkAussie, I'm looking forward to finding out where I'm going to end up!

Do it @bigmattb28! I definitely think it has made me more motivated already, knowing I have something to fall back on if I'm not enjoying my current save or finding it too repetitive without giving up. Always got to be a journeyman for me though.

Cheers @Dan

So after loading my game, I decided to "Holiday" for a year, so that there weren't any jobs available purely for the reason that a club had only just been loaded into the custom database. This means that when I return, all jobs are either newly promoted sides or available due to sacking previous managers. I was amazed to find 324 jobs in June 2019 upon my return!

I thought the easiest way to decide where to start my journey would be to holiday for a day and apply for all jobs available through that feature and then take the job at the first club that offered me an opportunity.
17 clubs wanted me in charge despite having no badges or experience of any form, but the first to reply were Luxembourgian Third Tier side Avenir Beggen.




With the prospect of no salary or fixed contract, who could refuse!

Avenir Beggen - Luxembourg First Division North (T3) - Season 2019/20

June 2019 - Assessing the situation

Luxembourg is where my journey starts, and it's safe to say that I won't be travelling to many smaller places. With an area of under 1000 sq miles, and a population of only 600,000, Luxembourg is home to a large proportion of Portuguese nationals, as well as some from neighbouring France and Germany and the local Luxembourgers. Generally seen as a peaceful and democratic nation, Luxembourg were one of the EU founder nations, have sat on the UN Security Council and are one of the three Benelux nations, along with Belgium and The Netherlands.

Beggen, where my new club are based, is a district of the capital - Luxembourg City, which is a UNESCO heritage site and houses 100,000 people. The Beggen district itself is one of 24 comprising the city, and its 3,500 strong population holds host to the Russian embassy, as well as being the lodgings for US forces during WWII. One of the most famous things about the district is actually its football team and the stadium they play in, the 4,830 seater Stade rue Henri Dunant.

The pitch is one of the largest in the country, and is far superior in quality to most top-flight sides let alone those at our level, so for most players this will be a once in a lifetime experience.


The Luxembourg First Division is the Third Tier of Luxembourgian football, and is split into two sections, North and South, with us playing in the North section. The rules are identical for both sections. A reasonably standard league format sees each time play each other home and away once each until 26 league games have been played with 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw and 0 for a loss. After the games have been played, the bottom 3 teams are relegated and the top side is promoted to the Second Tier. The second place side goes into a Playoff group with the Second place side from the South section, and two potentially relegated sides from the Second Tier. One match is then played against one of the other sides only, with the winners ending up in the Second Tier and losers in the Third Tier.

In terms of regulations, no more than 4 Non-EU players are allowed to be registered and 3 substitutes out of 5 are allowed to be used each game.

Avenir Beggen

Founded in 1915, Avenir Beggen, known as Wichtelcher (translating to Pixies) by their fans, are a fallen giant in the Third Tier of the Luxembourg pyramid as they are one of the most successful clubs in the history of Luxembourgian football.

This helps to explain why they have such an impressive stadium, as 15 years ago they were winning silverware and challenging for the National Division title as well competing in Europe. In fact as recently as 2009 they were still competing in the top flight, but their catastrophic fall from grace saw them languishing in the Fourth Tier of the Luxembourg football pyramid for the recent 2018/19 campaign. However with a successful promotion last time out, it is my job now to continue the rise of a club that has too much history to be in this lowly division for too long.

The Current Squad

Doesn't make for good reading does it? And this is after I have promoted any 16 and 17 year olds with a 2 star rating or above from the U19 squad! With no strikers, only one CM and no goalkeeper above one star, it is clear that we are going to need to be busy in the transfer window in order to be prepared for the upcoming season. On top of that we only currently have 14 players so couldn't even fill out the bench! I have until the end of July to make any necessary transfers, but fortunately with all players on amateur contracts, I can sign players with no risk factors if they aren't up to standard as they can be released with no consequence.

The one area of strength we appear to have however is our wingers (stats in spoilers below), although two of our three star men play in the same position, so one of them may need to shift into the middle and learn how to play as a AMC or striker (probably Carlos Tavares since he is comfortable playing as an Inside Forward already).





Next update I will conclude the pre-season, summarise any business I have done, run through formation/tactics, expectations and friendly results.
Thanks for reading!

Might need to expand on that depth if you want to challenge for promotion with only 14 players on your books.

Can’t wait to see how this pans out, best of luck in Luxembourg!

Definitely was an item at the top of my agenda @HawkAussie, I like to have a squad around the 20-23 mark ideally, enough to cover for injury but not too many so players get fed up with a lack of first team football.

Thanks @AdamRK! Should be fun, hope you keep up the good work in Sweden!

Avenir Beggen - Luxembourg First Division North (T3) - Season 2019/20

July/August 2019 - Pre-Season Preparations

Transfer Window Summary

None. Always a nice thing to see at an amateur club, particularly when sides from the Second Tier tried poaching some of our best players, but they decided to stay put!



Just the 21 players in, although 8 of them were before my tenure started, so I have signed 13 players, some for now and some for the future to boost my playing squad up to a healthier 25.
Below I will post the stats of the signings that will make the first XI for those that are interested.



At only 17 he will play as a part of a rotation system, but I am planning on training him to become a box-to-box midfielder given his high work rate. Also released from the Tier 1 champions last year, so developed at the best club in Luxembourgian football.



Signed from another Third Tier side, but in the Southern group, easily slots in as our number one right-back. The Frenchman is more for defence than supporting attacking play.



Poached from lower league Norden, at only 17 Frank is definitely one for the future, but I will look to develop him as an AMC, and he may start the season there as a flair player.



Possibly my most impressive signing, Max is solid at the back as well as being more than competent coming forward, but this is something we will look to develop more in him. The best left-back in the squad by a long margin, and signed on deadline day from Tier 3 South side ASL Porto.



Another excellent deadline day signing, Felix is a natural supportive Ball-Winning Midfielder, with good passing and tackling stats he is going to be vital to our success and the way we play.



Solid CB, will compete with Marc Fiorani for the second CB spot. Good marking and physical stats particularly pace will prevent us from being countered too often. Played in the Second Tier last season so was an obvious and easy early signing.



Excellent pace, good heading and marking all help to make another good covering CB to prevent counter-attacks, which always seem to be my undoing on FM. Straight into the first team. Also partnered Tutic last season in the Second Tier (where they finished 3rd) before both were let go.



One of two strong Portuguese-speaking goalkeepers signed in the window, Emanuel will get the nod to start the season but Admilson will provide strong competition. Both signed from sides tipped to do well in the Third Tier they are both strong options in this league.



Strong heading, pace and finishing stats make an all-round forward that can adapt between our wing-play and control possession formations with ease. I personally love a Poacher up top, so he fits the bill for what I look for in a striker perfectly. Also played at Wiltz with Tutic and Stranen last season before being released.

Nine new faces into the starting XI means that it may take a few games for the players to click, but when they do, we will have enough quality to match any of the sides in the league as we have upgraded in almost all positions. We also have the depth now to cope with any injuries, with the exception of AMR/AMC. This is how the squad looks now.


With transfer business concluded, our expectations and league predictions were both released.

A top half (7th+) finish expected for the newly promoted giants seems ambitious, especially with the limited squad that I received, but now in truth I think I'd be disappointed not to challenge for promotion with the squad I have created - you're welcome board!


One of the most bizarre sets of odds I've seen on FM, with no less than 8 out of 14 sides given a good chance of promotion at around 2-1 or less. We are in the mix and predicted to finish 4th, but the bookies obviously think that there is nothing to choose between the top sides with the exception of Kehlen. Looks like it should be a nice and close title fight which my boys are more than up for.




In truth we had a difficult pre-season, with a narrow loss to Top Tier side Mondorf and respectable draws against Second Tier sides Wiltz and Atert Bissen, although we could and maybe should have won both of those which gives us confidence going into the season. Even the loss to Lille Reserves was a game we dominated, and we shocked Belgian Third Tier side Zottegem who were predicted to thrash us!

The two disappointing things from pre-season were the results against the two German sides in Wegberg-Beeck and particularly Bubingen as we failed to score and Bubingen were supposedly a weaker side than us. The other is the fact that despite producing some good pre-season performances, we only managed to win one game, hopefully something that we can rectify early in the league campaign.

My first competitive match of the save will take place in September as the league season gets underway.
We will start our promotion challenge against recently relegated and similarly ranked FC Swift Hesperange (a), before a potentially easier tie against FC Alisontia Steinsel (h). Our third league game of the month should be our most challenging as we take on the side predicted to finish second - FC 47 Bastendorf (a), but will finish against two sides predicted to struggle against relegation - DC Echternach (h) and CS Oberkorn (a) so will hopefully get more points on the board. We conclude the busy first month against currently unknown opposition in the Second Round of the Luxembourg Cup after receiving a bye through the First Round, but as we have no expectations in the competition it will be a good opportunity to challenge ourselves (and hopefully earn some money from a good run) without any pressure.

Looks like the media are expecting you to be there or there abouts, lets see what you can do with that!

Pre season odds of a high mid table finish, am sure you can better that mate.

Really excited to see you manage in some of the lesser known European Nations! Hope it goes well!

Us and half of the league @Dan! But I'm glad that they see us challenging in the melee at least. Board expectations are in check so there will be no repercussions if we don't make it this season.

Hopefully @bigmattb28, I guess the first few months will tell us how realistic we should be though.

Cheers @tongey! Who knows, I may even end up managing a club someone has actually heard of one of these days. (don't hold your breath though )

Avenir Beggen - Luxembourg First Division North (T3) - Season 2019/20

September 2019 - First Competitive Action

As the stats suggest, we were the better side throughout the game, but in truth only looked like scoring through Mauro Agrela's dangerous set-plays in the first half. We created chances but looked like we wouldn't put any of them away, until Felix Meyer's deep cross from the left was headed back across goal by Agrela, where substitute Frank Bossi volleyed home on his debut to give us the best possible start.



We dominated the first half, but could only get one of our first ten shots on target. Alex Wagner gave us the lead on his first start of the season, robbing their right-back before placing into the corner. With 10 minutes to play, Mendes played in Agrela with an incisive through-ball, and the right-winger finished into the top corner from 6 yards to keep up our 100% start. Mendes added gloss to the scoreline from the spot after Agrela was pushed and Bossi completed the scoring, chesting down Wagner's angled ball before rifling past the keeper to give us a comprehensive victory.



We went into this one as big underdogs, despite Bastendorf only picking up a single point from their first two games. Boetelho had the best chance of the first half, but volleyed over for Bastendorf in a low-quality encounter. He had another similar chance in the second half, with a similar result, and Mendes ended up somehow wasting our best chance when one-on-one by making the ball end up behind where he shot from? I think this one would've been goalless after 900 minutes let alone 90!

After the game, the draw for the Luxembourg Cup 2nd Round was made.

And we ended up against Second Tier side US Sandweiler away from home. Should be a good opportunity to test where our squad really is at against higher league opposition. It also saw the Oberkorn game rescheduled for the start of October.



We rotated our starting XI for this one with the Cup tie just around the corner, despite Echternach having a strong start to the season so far. They showed us why in the first half, with Max Landim twice going close to breaking the deadlock. Despite us having more of the game, Echternach continued to produce the best chances, but the FM gods shone upon us when Cyril Wagner's pressured clearance from his own byline hit teammate Ben Held and deflected tantalisingly past the keeper to give us an undeserved victory.



We go into this game as big underdogs yet again, although US Sandweiler have only managed 4 points from their 5 games in the Second Tier, so may be low on confidence which we can use to our advantage. They completely outplayed us from the kickoff, with Emanuel Fontes making a few good saves to keep us in the game. With their strikers, Ibrahima Sangare in particular, unable to find the target with any authority, it took centre-back Aldin Dervisevic to break the deadlock, as he somehow found himself in the box after a counter-attack. We were much better after Sandweiler had scored, and almost equalised with Alex Wagner's dipping free-kick, but he saw the effort saved. That was our first shot of the game and was in the 80th minute! Clearly we don't have the class to match higher league opposition yet, but with no expectation in the Cup this season I'm not too disappointed.

P5 W3 D1 L1 GF6 GA1 PTS10

An excellent start to the league campaign sees us second on goal difference, having not yet conceded and Fontes having only faced 6 shots on target in our 4 games. The cup performance whilst disappointing, was expected and in the press conference after it was mentioned that we were expected to lose by 3 or 4 so should be proud. A possible concern is scoring goals moving forward into the rest of the season as we have scored 6 in 4 games, but 4 came against one side, and we have only scored one goal before the 80th minute!

October sees another 5 fixtures, all in the league, as we start the month with the rescheduled game against CS Oberkorn (a), quickly followed by US Esch (h), who lie 4th and 3rd respectively in the table currently. This should be another excellent test to see how we stack up against the sides we will be competing with for promotion. Then comes a trip to FC Minerva Lentgen (a) and Union Bersdorf-Condorf 01 (h), who both currently sit in the bottom half of the table so may be slightly easier fixtures to negotiate. We finish the month against overachieving Jeunesse Schieren (a). A reasonably challenging month sees us face 3 of the current top 7, so will be interesting to see whether our defensive strength will still prevail.

Avenir Beggen - Luxembourg First Division North (T3) - Season 2019/20

October 2019 - Can the iron curtain stay strong?

We managed to score more goals in the first half in this game than we'd managed in our previous 5 put together. Agrela started things off after he swept home the persistent Carlos Tavares' cut back with his weaker left foot. Marc Fiorani grabbed his first for the club to double our advantage, heading home Bossi's wide free-kick back across the keeper into the top-left corner. Our job was made easier when Tidiane Mabille picked up his second booking for a foul off the ball at the start of the second half. Even with 11 men on the pitch they wouldn't have stopped Meyer's first for the club though, as he bent the ball into the top corner from the edge of the D after the ball broke to him. Oberkorn let things go from bad to worse, as Mike Magalhaes received his marching orders for a dangerous two-footed lunge to leave them with 9 men, but Samuel Ribeiro was allowed to stroll through our defence unchallenged to score his 11th (surely can't be right?) of the season and stop us from keeping a clean sheet for the first time this league campaign.



1st met 2nd for two of the three unbeaten sides in the league, and the cagey encounter that followed showed that neither side was prepared to give up their record. Ribeiro Alves had a glorious chance at the start of the second half, getting denied by Fontes when one-on-one to keep our clean sheet intact. A completely even game was once again settled by our ability to finish games off in the final ten minutes, as left-back Max Richartz headed Bossi's corner into the turf and past the man on the line to give us a crucial 1-0 win and halt US Esch's unbeaten run (as well as scoring the first goal they have let in all season).



Michiel de Graaf took an early bath for two clumsy bookable offences inside the first 30 minutes, and we utilised our numerical advantage straight away, with Emir Sejdovic arriving late into the box to sweep home Carlos Tavares' low cut-back. However the 10 men struck back quickly, with Nimon Muslji spotting Fontes off his line after a goal kick was poorly cleared and he lobbed the ball over him from 25 yards. Some goals you can do nothing about! Agrela restored our lead after the break as he cut in from the right wing and bent the ball into the far corner with his left foot from just inside the box. Minerva Lentgen somehow became much stronger as a team after going down a man, and equalised from the spot after Gregor Stranen was accused of bundling his man over from a free-kick. Loick Ella Ndomann then saw his marching orders for us after a second bookable offence to level the sides at 10 apiece, but that seemed to make us play better and was capped off with Agrela's second which was a carbon copy of his first and gave us a hard-fought victory.



When Mendes put us 1-0 up inside 15 minutes against a side that hadn't won in their past 14, it only looked like the result could go one way. Before half-time he had added a second on the volley, and Bossi had also netted his third of the season from just inside the box, both assisted by Meyer. Our dominance was clear to see in the first half and made a nice change given our performance last time out. Mendes then completed his hat-trick with a left-footed volley from close range after a corner was only half cleared. However Bersdorf-Condorf got back into the game as they scored with their only two chances, firstly with Ben Bossi strolling in after being completely left alone following a routine long ball, and then with Vuksanovic's header. Disappointing to concede to 11 men for the first time this league season!

Tavares' injury will take him out until the new year, with Wagner and youngster Goncalves now left to fight for the AML spot.




Disappointing that we couldn't break down a bottom half side. No real chances of note either to be honest, very disappointing way to end the month. Schieren came with a game-plan to park 11 men behind the ball and take the point, and it worked for them.

P5 W4 D1 L0 GF11 GA5 PTS13

Our unbeaten start continues, to my joy and amazement given how tight it was supposed to be at the start of the season. The snatched victory over US Esch was particularly important given that both sides were unbeaten and in excellent form at the time. We do however sit second at the end of October, behind Kehlen on goal difference, although we do have a game in hand to potentially move into first. US Esch and Swift Hesperange (who got over their poor start) seem to be the other promotion contenders, with a 4 point gap between them and the rest of the league. Alisontia Steinsel seem doomed for the 4th Tier even at this early stage after conceding 34 in their first 10 games, with Bersdorf-Condorf and Boevange needing to turn around their form if they are to avoid joining them. We started to score before the final ten minutes this month, although we did concede our first league goals of the season. Bizarrely only 2 were against 11 men, 2 were against 10 and one was when we were facing 9 men!

November will take us to halfway through the 26-game league season as we will play four fixtures. The first is against promotion rivals Alliance Aischdall (h), who have only really dropped points against lesser sides and performed well against the better clubs in the league such as ourselves. Winnable fixtures against Sporting Merzig (a) and US Boevange (h) follow, before the biggest game of my managerial career to date - pre-season favourites F.C. Kehlen (h). This should be an excellent game of football with both sides scoring freely and keeping it tight at the back, it'll be a true battle, one that could decide who gets the title advantage given that neither of us have dropped many points to date. The advantage we have this month, is that 3 of our 4 fixtures (including the two against our title rivals) will be played at the Stade rue Henri Dunant in front of the Pixies faithful.

Cracking start so far, love seeing the more obscure European leagues as well. Fingers crossed with that game in hand you can make the top spot yours!

Great start to the season, things are looking good early on!

Great start hope you keep it up man!

Thanks @AdamRK, one day I might manage in a league with a team that someone's actually heard of! Might take until 2070....

Cheers @Dan and @bigmattb28, November was an interesting month, so it will be intriguing to see what the rest of the season brings!

Avenir Beggen - Luxembourg First Division North (T3) - Season 2019/20

November 2019 - Clash with Kehlen

We started this tough fixture in the worst way possible, allowing a corner to bounce in the area without a challenge, straight to Corin Grosber who half-volleyed into the top corner. We were awful in the first half and only managed a single shot. The lads got the hairdryer treatment at the break, and it did pay off. Nabil Benhamza, the best player on the pitch, pinged a long diagonal ball to Goncalves, who got to the byline and squared to the near post for Mendes to arrive on cue and finish from 3 yards out at the start of the second half. Their captain got sent off late on, but this really was a poor game from both sides with few chances and a point the fair result.



If the last game lacked quality, I don't have words to describe the first half of this one. Agrela wasted our best chance at the start of the second half, heading at the keeper from less than 6 yards, although he did make an excellent save he shouldn't have had a chance. We managed 67% possession and this was our only shot on target. We threatened from set plays throughout, but couldn't produce good enough service or finishing to challenge their keeper. Dylan Prudhomme's late (and undeserved) winner inflicted our first loss of the season in the league, as slack marking allowed him too much time to shoot from the edge of the box. The manner of the defeat was disgusting, and we had no right to expect to win either of our games this month as two poor performances now see us without a win in 3.



Desperately needing to bounce back, changes were made as we hosted lowly Boevange, who currently sat in the bottom 3. Frank Bossi put us into the lead for the first time in 4 games as he followed up on the rebound from Goncalves' saved shot. Benhamza's form was probably the only positive thing to take from our previous two games and he continued it here, crashing in a low, angled shot off the post after he was teed up on the edge of the box by Agrela. We hit the post twice through Mendes as we dominated and finally seemed able to remember how to play football again. But it was Agrela who finished things off, going from provider to scorer as he tapped home substitute Wagner's wicked cross at the far post after losing his man. Just the display we needed before facing our main rivals.



With only goal difference separating the two sides at kick-off (and only 1 goal difference at that), anyone would've predicted a tight and tense game with neither side willing to give up any ground to their rivals. They came into this one in much better form than us however. 1 shot in total in the first half summarised everything we'd predicted. The first shot on target in the whole game came in the 62nd minute as we switched from control possession to an adapted form of wing play as Mendes out-muscled two of their defenders before unleashing a ferocious strike that keeper Haagen deflected behind for a corner. Then, Bossi won a free-kick 30 yards from goal and took it himself, forcing Haagen into an excellent save to tip the swerving ball onto the post at full stretch. No other chances at all in the game as we prevented Kehlen from even having a single shot on target and on another day we would've taken all 3 points, but got to be happy with a draw against the number one side in the league.

P4 W1 D2 L1 GF4 GA2 PTS5

November was a definite blip in our near-fautless season so far as not only did we drop points against weaker sides, but our offensive performance in 3 of the 4 games was also below par and saw us create very few chances and score even fewer goals. All of this was also with us averaging well over 60% possession, so we need to become better at using the ball more intelligently and creating more chances. Hopefully in December we will be able to rebound, as if this is our drop in form for the season, it wasn't too costly. We remain behind F.C. Kehlen courtesy of 1 goal difference, but the draw between the two sides has seen the chasing pack in 3rd-6th all catch up to within 5 points.

Halfway through the league season and I have very few complaints about where we are and would've loved to have been in this position if you'd asked me at the start of the year. December sees us play two early fixtures before the winter break sees competitive action cease until late February, with another transfer window in the mix as well. Before the break we play basement side Alisontia Steinsel (a) which will surely be 3 more points and a good boost to our goal difference considering the problems they are having this season. We then play FC 47 Bastendorf (h) who started their campaign incredibly poorly, but the side predicted to finish 2nd have racked up 5 wins on the spin to drag themselves right back into the promotion hunt so this should be another tight, competitive game.

Avenir Beggen - Luxembourg First Division North (T3) - Season 2019/20

December 2019 - Battle of Bastendorf

Due to the injury to Stranen picked up last game and Sejdovic's suspension we rotated for this one, and that included a return from injury for Carlos Tavares. He repaid my faith in him by lashing home from the left side of the area inside of 10 minutes, netting his first for the club. Benhamza's guided header into the top corner and Tavares' second after a goalmouth scramble were both products of the excellent set-pieces taken by Bossi that were a constant threat throughout the game. We rested players in the second half and lowered our intensity, but I was still disappointed that Fontes was forced into making two excellent saves to maintain the 3 goal margin.



Last time we played the in-form Bastendorf, it ended as a tepid goalless draw, but with them as the top scorers in the league, maybe it would play out differently? We took the initiative however in the first half, firstly with Meyer seeing his header tipped onto the base of the post from Wagner's inswinging free-kick. And then when Mendes was brought down from behind when clean in on goal in the box, Richartz sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot to give us a 1-0 lead. The second half started in a crazy manner, with Bastendorf equalising, but it being disallowed for a Maradonna-esque "hand of god" finish. Both sides then had dangerous free-kicks, with Bossi seeing his tipped past the post for us, but DC Dylan Thill managed to make his count, equalising for Bastendorf from 25 yards. Our opponents were far stronger in the second half, and when Benhamza was wrongly judged to have brought his man down in the box, the referee awarded Schmitz the chance to make up for his previous handball from the spot. But Fontes was our hero, guessing the correct way and palming the tame penalty away to safety. I'll definitely take the point given the form Bastendorf are in!

P2 W1 D1 L0 GF4 GA1 PTS4

Two identical results to Kehlen in December sees us very much as we were at the start of the month, behind by 1 goal difference. 5 of the top 6 also picked up 4 points this month, so no-one has made up any ground on us, but equally we haven't pulled away with most sides breathing down our necks. Alisontia Steinsel and now Boevange look destined for the Fourth Tier of Luxembourgian football after both sides have lost at least 5 on the spin, with Boevange 7 points from safety having only picked up 8 points from 15 games so far. Bersdorf-Condorf will be wishing that the winter break could come at any other point in the season after winning back to back games to boost their survival chances, whilst Echternach and Schieren will both be looking over their shoulders.

My next update will summarise everything through to the end of February 2020, including the January transfer window, friendly games to keep up squad fitness, and the first league game back after the break against relegation-threatened Echternach (a).

Looking closer at the top. Could go right down to the finish line. Hope you can cross it in first place!

Thanks @tongey! Definitely going to be a close run thing, and we've only lost once so far this season! Hopefully should be able to get a top two finish with the second placed side going into a playoff game, but with Kehlen matching us step for step I don't know if we'll have enough to finish as champions!

Avenir Beggen - Luxembourg First Division North (T3) - Season 2019/20

January/February 2020 - Title run-in preparations

Transfer Window Summary

Just the single player out as Tavares couldn't handle being criticised for a poor training level, so when First Division South promotion contenders CS Sanem came knocking he jumped at the opportunity to leave. A shame as he's a decent player, but I won't lose too much sleep over it as clearly he has the wrong mentality to play here. Let a few squad players go, but only excess players that were never going to make the cut and a few second choice goalkeepers.



Seven faces in, most of whom were sourced by our Head of Youth Development, but should provide depth with a few first-team players to strengthen our promotion chances.



An excellent steal, managing to coax the utility player from title rivals Kehlen. Whilst his favoured position is LB, he could easily slot in as a first/second choice in any of the four positions he can play in, adding great depth as well as quality.



Signed way back in October after he was recommended, Ben has all of the technical attributes to make him our starting AMC, but with Bossi owning the role at the moment and having the additional bonus of set-play delivery, Peters may be stuck in a rotation system with him.



His passing and vision attributes make him an ideal Deep-Lying Playmaker alongside Felix Meyer in the centre of the park. But with Benhamza in excellent form this will introduce some competition for places with the players in the best form getting the nod. Sejdovic is likely to see a reduction in playing time now, but he's only 17.



He was excellent when he played against us earlier in the season, and the combined pace and clinical nature of Ribeiro made him an obvious choice to challenge for the #1 strikers spot, with Mendes currently coasting a bit without any competition. He will probably be our #1 choice, but form will dictate whether he stays in the side or not.



Signed from a high-flying First Division South side, Perl has good all-round striking stats, leaving him equally adept with the ball at his feet and in the air. Signed way back in September before Ribeiro was an option, Andy gives us the option of playing two upfront, as well as providing his experience to support the younger strikers in the squad.



Poached from strugglers Schieren, Marcio has incredible physical and technical defensive stats despite only being 21 years old! The first name on the teamsheet even at this stage, Marcio could definitely develop into a quality Tier 1 player and his signing signals the club's intentions of getting back to the big time.



Whilst Agrela has largely performed well on the right wing so far this season, there was a sequence of games where his level had dropped and with no-one else at the club capable of playing on the right wing, there was less pressure on his place in the side. Kos is probably just about better than Agrela statistically (even at 17), but both players will rotate and play when they are in-form.

Seven new faces through the door again sees our side upgrade to one that could potentially challenge the next Tier of sides. The quality in depth is definitely here now, and with the exception of keeper Fontes, there is no-one who is guaranteed a place in the side now. It'll be interesting to see how the squad develops and gels with these new characters in the dressing room, and the mid-season friendlies should tell us what level this squad is now operating at.

Competitive player stats to date

Hardly got anyone leading the way in terms of goals scored with Agrela and Mendes only on 5 goals a piece. Bossi possibly the best player so far with the most assists and 4 goals, but there's not much in it and you could argue the case for both CM's in Benhamza and Meyer as well. Consistently strong performances across the starting XI see us leading the way in the league in pass completion, with 6 of the top 7 players coming from our side. Hopefully the new competition will inspire even better performances.



Although the main purpose of these friendlies was to keep the squad fit and familiarise new players with our style of playing, we have pulled off some incredible results, particularly against higher-tier opposition. We managed to draw with 4th placed Tier 2 side Grevenmacher and Belgian Pro outfit RFCB Sprimont, both of whom we were predicted to lose comfortably to. Even more impressively we managed to shock German side Mehring, and only lost by a single goal to 3rd placed Top Tier side Differdange in an incredibly tight game. The most unbelievable of all of our results however was the 5-1 spanking that we handed to Top Tier side Titus Petange that saw Ben Peters establish himself as a first team player.



After a drab and even first half, substitute Andy Perl had the best chance to give us the lead, but was denied by a good save from their keeper Moris, as was Agrela as his bending free-kick got tipped past the post as it was heading for the bottom corner. The old guard saw us through however, as Benhamza's rocket from 25 yards after a cross was badly cleared and then Meyer's driven shot through a crowd at a corner saw us take all three points. This was after a bad-tempered second half saw Echternach reduced to 10 men after Wagner picked up two yellow cards in the second half. On the whole Echternach didn't play too badly, and based on this performance should survive this season.

P1 W1 D0 L0 GF2 GA0 PTS3

Although only one competitive fixture has been played, we have moved top on goals scored based on Kehlen only managing to win by a goal. Swift and Bastendorf also failed to win, increasing the gap between the top three and the rest of the league. The interesting thing for me will be to see how our new signings perform and how that will impact our squad dynamics. I think for now in certain positions the old guard need to be trusted to continue performing.

March sees a substantial chunk of the remaining league season take place with 5 games. We face home matches against CS Oberkorn (h) and FC Minerva Lentgen (h), both mid-table sides who gave us a tough game when we met them earlier in the season, but also clubs from whom we have stolen players in the January window so these should be interesting fixtures. Between those games we face arguably the biggest tie of the month against US Esch (a), who could leapfrog us into pole position with victory, so just a point here may be enough to hold them at bay, but may give advantage to Kehlen. We round the month off with matches against two sides in the relegation battle - Union Bersdorf-Condorf 01 (a) and Jeunesse Schieren (h) - so they will both be fighting for their futures and will not give us an easy game, with Schieren in particular proving tricky to break down last time we met.

Fingers crossed the new signings can seal the league for you! Good luck for March!

Very close at the top of the league man! Hopefully you can pull away

God it's close at the top! Fingers crossed you can do it and win that league!

Thanks @AdamRK, hopefully they can help us both this season and hopefully as we transition into the Second Tier next season! (Fingers crossed)

I know right @tongey and @bigmattb28, its definitely going to come down to the wire and will probably depend on the result of the penultimate game of the season as we travel to Kehlen F.C.!

Avenir Beggen - Luxembourg First Division North (T3) - Season 2019/20

March 2020 - Will our new signings go on to haunt their former employers?

We annihilated Oberkorn in the opening stages, forcing multiple good saves from their keeper - our recently released Helio Lopes. We also hit the bar with Meyer's header, but he was judged to have been fouled giving Richartz the chance to score from the spot. Lopes stayed big and beat the penalty away to safety. Agrela saw a free-kick tipped onto the bar, and Peters was denied from close range in a first half that saw us manage 10 shots on target. At one point I felt that this was going to be one of those games that ended 0-0 despite us peppering their goal with shots all game, but a quickfire double sealed the 3 points for us. First Wagner fired across Lopes and into the side netting from a narrow angle inside the box, before he turned provider for debutante Riberio who smashed home his corner on the half volley. Domination on another scale.



Peters and Meyer both came within an inch of giving us the lead in the first half with long-range curling efforts that kissed the post on their way wide, but generally it was a tense one which is to be expected given how tight it is at the top. An even tighter second half followed despite tactical and personnel changes, leaving both sides with a point.



Minerva Lentgen went into this one off the back of 4 consecutive victories, and considering they pushed us with only 10 men earlier in the season I was prepared for a tight encounter. However they had no answer for Alex Wagner and Loick Ella Ndomann in the first half as the two players combined with RB Ella Ndomann finding time and space to fire in a pinpoint cross which Wagner glanced into the corner. Wagner then doubled our advantage with a powerful free-kick that their keeper could only parry onto the inside of the post. He had a chance to grab his hat-trick when 1 on 1 but saw his effort well saved. Ella Ndomann wasn't done though, exploiting the space out wide and giving their LB a torrid time again, he managed to pick out Louis Bleser with a square ball who was left with a simple finish to get his first for the club. Minerva Lentgen also lost a man in the first half as Ben Ruppert was dismissed for a horrid two-footed lunge. Bizarrely they improved after the break when down to 10 men and Fontes had to make an excellent point-blank save to keep the score at 3-0, but our numerical advantage paid off, as Marcio Leal fired home the second ball at a free-kick with 15 minutes to play to seal the win.

A tiny bit of information following our huge victory - the board have finally funded my National C License course, so I should have the qualification in July at some point.




The relegation candidates came out and shocked us from the start as they poured forward in attack, only let down by poor finishing and an excellent double save by Fontes. We grew into the game as the half progressed and took the lead as Ferraz's pinpoint cross from the left found an unmarked Agrela six yards out, who chested the ball down before smashing home. Leesch pulled off an insane set of saves to prevent us from building on our lead, including a string of one on one save to deny a frustrated Ribeiro. Bersdorf-Condorf barely threatened in the second half, instead focusing on defence, but equalised with the best goal I've seen scored in this country as Jan Vuksanovic (a man I turned down at the start of the season when he was unattached) powered home a bending,swerving drive from 30 yards out of nothing. Overall they both deserve a point and their place in the league given the fight they've shown in the two games against us.



Schieren came and set up shop once again with 11 men behind the ball looking to frustrate us like they did in our 0-0 draw earlier in the season. However this time it only worked for the first 25 minutes as Peters' low drive into the very corner from the edge of the box broke the deadlock with our first major chance. Ribeiro then doubled our lead as he latched onto a bad backpass and fired through the keeper's legs. We really had them on the ropes and AMR Sven Kos got our third after a well worked team move. They regrouped well at the break and became defensively stable once more, but offered little going forward. They did pull one back late on after our LB Ferraz was robbed in possession but we got the result against a very poor Schieren side who deserve to go down.

P5 W3 D2 L0 GF10 GA2 PTS11

Another highly successful month sees us top now by a point, largely down to our strong defensive performances. Our new boys have gelled in well with our existing players and there is a good amount of rotation going on in most positions in the starting XI which is creating competition. The best new performers have probably been AMC Peters and DC Leal. With only five games to play, things are hotting up at both the top and bottom of the table, with a potentially unbridgeable gap of 5-6 points between the top two and the chasing pack. This means that barring a complete meltdown in our final few fixtures we should at least get a playoff game and maybe automatic promotion and the title. At the bottom Alisontia Steinsel have all but had relegation confirmed as they lie 10 points adrift with a maximum of 15 available. The other two relegation places look to be decided between Echternach, Boevange, Bersdorf-Condorf and Schieren with only 5 points separating them. Schieren are on an 8 game losing streak in 13th so look favourites to go drop to the 4th Tier, whilst I hope Bersdorf-Condorf survive as they've played the best football out of the sides down there and earned a respectable draw against us.

April sees us play three league games, two of which are versus sides that we will be seeking revenge against. Firstly we play Alliance Aischdall (a) who held us to a boring draw last time, so we must improve there and show them what we're made of. The same could be said for the following game against Sporting Mertzig (h) as currently they are the only side to defeat us in the league, yet as they sit in mid-table this has to be seen as another must-win game and a chance to redeem ourselves. We finish the month against relegation-threatened US Boevange (a) which may prove harder than it looks considering they may still be fighting desperately for survival at this stage.

Good going there mate, and the next 3 games are definitely winnable.

Very good month for you! I expect another unbeaten month next time round with those games coming up!