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**Edit: March 10th - We figured out the issue with tournaments! Thanks to Digi and Omarsorto over on the SI board for the help sorting it out. So, I am proud to present the FM 23.3 version of the CONCACAF Extended Universe**
About a decade ago, the user Raysox created a three tier US pyramid complete with crests and kits for 72 teams. He released an FM mod for the set, which is how I got into the game, and ever since I've updated and expanded it for new versions. It's grown a bit from his original vision (now ten tiers and 384 teams in the US and four tiers and 80 teams in Canada), but explores what it would look like if the US and Canada had functional soccer pyramids, as well as a world where CONCACAF has continental club competitions that are a notch below UEFA's.
This first post will cover the US and Canadian competitions. For both, I created a basic and advanced version. The basic files don't have a lot of the immersive features (cup draws, FFP, deadline day experience, or VAR), so if you don't want those features, use those files. The advanced ones have some more editor magic (the above, plus U21 and HG U23 players are always eligible, schedules are more balanced, etc.) So, you can pick your preferred game experience.
USA - 10 Tiers
- The US has four professional leagues (Apple+ MLS, Prime Championship, Peacock League One, and Paramount+ League Two), three semipro leagues (reconstituted USL Championship, 1, and 2), and three amateur leagues (NISA, UPSL, and NPSL.) The lower five leagues are split into regional divisions, while the top five are national in nature. There is a good amount of TV money throughout the Pyramid and is on a winter schedule, beginning in August and running through May.
- There is one national Cup, three cups based on league type (named for major figures in US Soccer history), and twelve regional cups that take place in the winter months.
- All teams in USL1 and above have reserve teams, and all teams have a U19 squad. The teams are split into regional youth and reserve competitions.
(3/10)- Advanced File has FFP regulations, Immersive deadline days and cup draws, VAR, Schedule adjustments to address congestion (especially for the first year, thanks winter world cup), and other fun features around revenue splits and cup dates.
(3/19)- It looks like there may be a bug impacting saves that start in the lower levels (Peacock League One and below) in the advanced database. I have a bug report logged with SI, but until further notice use the basic database if you want to do a lower level save.
(5/31) - I created top tier where the top 3 teams get CL spots and the bottom 4 are given out through a playoff. There are more details about it at the end of the thread, but I wanted to append a copy here.
Also, a quick update on the CTD bug for the lower tiers - the crash happens at level 3 or below on the 4th Monday in August. If you quit the Sunday before and sim past that Monday and retake your job, you can play for another 364 days without disruption. Unfortunately the issue is with the game, not the database, so I can't do anything to fix it.
(6/8) - I updated the US files with the Messi transfer. It goes through on July 1, 2023.
(10/2) - I found some errors in the US files (including why Miami and a few other MLS teams didn't have their correct rosters), so this update addresses those problems.
The USA kit and logo files can be found at this link
Canada - 4 Tiers
- The Canadian Set-up has two professional leagues (The CPL and the Canadian Soccer League), one semi-pro league (CSL 2nd Division), and one amateur league (CSL 3rd Division.) The lower two levels are split into regional divisions. There is also TV money, but not nearly as much as the US. The season runs from April to October.
- There is one national cup and four regional preseason cups.
- All teams in the top two tiers have a reserve and a U18 team, split up according to the preseason cups.
(3/10)- Advanced File has FFP regulations, Immersive deadline days and cup draws, VAR, Schedule adjustments to address congestion, and other fun features around revenue splits.
The Canadian kit and logo files can be found at this link
Both of the graphics files have the kitbasher files for the teams and sponsors in each country, so you can easily update the kits as you advance through the save.
Comments
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Chris Nielson
CONCACAF CLUB COMPETITIONS
The other fun part of this mod (for me at least) is imagining what it would look like if CONCACAF had a developed continental competition. The Competition file has five competitions:
The top 3 competitions are 32 team, 8 group competitions in the fall with a four round knockout tournament in the spring. The money for the competition is about 75% of UEFA's, so particularly for teams in smaller countries entry can be make or break. Like the US and Canadian Files there are advanced and basic versions - the advanced versions have more complicated roster registration rules and participation money.
(5/31) I created a new format for the CONCACAF competitions that expands the number of teams involved, added drop downs between competitions, and created a coefficient. It is below as the CONCACAF advanced file with dropdowns.
ADDITIONAL CONCACAF NATIONS
I think it's kind of fun (and rounds out the world a bit) to have some more CONCACAF countries playable as a part of the tournament. I gave the Mexican competition a lot of TV money (to hopefully help it compete with the US teams a bit more than previous iterations) and activated the top 20 nations in CONCACAF (who all participate in all three competitions.) The competitions are all made in basic mode, so they reflect some of the roster rules and realities of the respective competitions (transfer deadlines, dates of the competition (based on wikipedia), restrictions on the number of foreign players, playoff structure and relegations, etc.) The one big exception is that a lot of the Central American competitions have an opening/closing (apertura/clausura) structure - for those competitions I included a midwinter break to imitate the structure. I also activated (or created) several lower level divisions to create more opportunities for promotion and relegation.
The 16 countries are
Chris Nielson
Reserved for other future info
TheVanBurenBoys
Awesome glad its back for FM23! Any estimation on when the advanced edits will be made and posted?
Chris Nielson
It depends on when the editor gets fixed. Once the bug has been resolved I'll get to work on it. My hope is that it'll be done 1-2 weeks after we can edit us databases.
Camerino Del Tuca
Costa Rica??
Chris Nielson
I'm waiting until the rules error is fixed before I start working on other countries in CONCACAF. I tried doing a few and it crashed out of the game, so it isn't available yet.
All Gas No Brakes
Fantastic mod, really loving the kits and the concept! Hopefully they fix the rule error so we can get the advanced rules soon. Not sure if you are aware but there are a number of teams that are missing either an away kit or both of their kits, These are all pretty much in the USL1 and lower. I have a list of all the teams that are missing kits if you need to edit them in the editor.
Chris Nielson
Thanks All Gas No Breaks! I'm glad you enioy it. You can send me the list in pm and I'll take a look. Thanks again!
FlorisW
Looks very cool!
Ongston Bhearto
canada file has error when verifying with 23.3.0 update
Chris Nielson
Yep - thanks for noticing Ongston! I think I know what they are - I created a Vancouver FC prior to the actual expansion team that is now in game, and still used Edmonton FC (which went extinct), so there are a couple of issues. I'm working on an update since 23.3 fixed a number of the bugs that were present before, but it may take a couple of weeks because I'm able to do the advanced rule changes that weren't possible before.
All Gas No Brakes
I dont have enough post history to PM you so I attached the file of the team kits not working below
All Gas No Brakes
if you dont feel like downloading the file here is kits in a spoiler so it doesn't make the post so long
Kits not working
USL 1 East
NJ Teamsterz 2000010744
USL 1 West
Cascade Surge 981754
Casper (away) 72043028
Crossfire Redmond (away) 2000007474
Dallas Texans (away) 72023782
Fort Wayne (away) 2000008034
Nomads (away) 72023770
Texans Houston (away) 72023785
Texas Rush (away) 72023786
USL 2 East
Fort Meyers (away) 72023800
Inter Atlanta 2000220362
One Knoxville (away) 2000081611
Oak wood (away) 72023822
Seacoast Und (away) 72023823
Tampa Bay 72043032
West Virginia 2000088652
USL 2 West
AS LA (away) 2000007478
Brazos (away) 20045173
De anza 72023765
Flatiron (away) 72023774
Grand Rapids 20041723
FC Inland Empire (away) 72043016
Oly Town (away) 2000012740
Panathinakios 2000067947
Santa Barbara 2000220481
NISA Mid
AC Houston sue 2000159300
Ann Arbor (away) 20041720
Chicago FC (away) 20045177
Denton (away) 2000010215
Detroit und 2000050768
Irving (away) 2000067945
Joy AC 2000074301
Muskegon (away) 2000008035
Oakland 2000012160
Peoria city 2000088654
Pittsburg (away) 2000008309
South Bend Lions (away)2000012162
Texas und (away) 20046306
NISA Nor
Boston Bolts (away) 20041636
Flower city 2000068442
Hudson Valley 2000159303
New Jersey 20041777
Real Central 2000088632
NISA Sou
Appalachian 2000067937
Asheville city (away) 20045159
Dalton Red 20049333
Daytona rush 2000012375
Greenville 20047485
Nashville und (away) 2000010240
Palm beach 20045160
Tallahassee 2000008312
Tennessee 2000159597
NISA Wes
ASC San Diego 20041747
Ballard (away) 2000159244
Boise 2000050787
Boulder 2000012737
Fullerton 2000031518
High Desert (away) 2000007480
Napa (away) 2045168
Park city 20049340
Racing Sacramento 2000031549
Real Medina 2000031513
San Diego surf (away) 72023773
Strikers (away) 72023769
Tacoma (away) 2000007477
UPSL Mid
All but Green Bay, Kalamazoo (away), Kaw Valley, Midland (away)
UPSL Sou
All but Central Florida (away), Lakeland, North Alabama, Peachtree, Treasure coast (away) Tri Cities (away)
UPSL Nor
All but Cedar Stars (away), Greater Lowell, Kingston, NY AC, Northern Virgina (away), Rochester Lancers (away)
UPSL Wes
All but Alaska, Las Vegas (away)
NPSL Deep Sou
All but Georgia Rev, Louisiana (away), port city (away), Rocket city (third)
NPSL Great La
All but Dakota (away), Duluth (away), Milwaukee (away), Med city (away), Minneapolis (away), Sioux Falls (away), Toledo (away)
NPSL Heartland
All but Houston, Ozark (away), Tulsa
NPSL Metro
All but Black rock (away), Hartford City, Merrimack valley (away), Southie (away)
NPSL Mid Atl
All but Electric city, Erie commanders, FC Frederick, First State (away)
NPSL Nor Wes
All but PDX (away), southern Oregon, Spokane (away)
NPSL Sou Atl
All but Apotheos, Naples (away), Pensacola,
NPSL Sou Wes
All but Sporting Arizona (away)
Chris Nielson
Thanks AGNB! I think I made the necessary adjustments - please feel free to download and let me know if it works. Thanks for your help!
Chris Nielson
A quick note - I mentioned this at the top, but right now CONCACAF continental competitions aren't showing up in game when they are modded. Because of this I'm going to hold off on releasing the continental competitions and the non-active concacaf nations for now. I'll probably do a version of the US and Canada databases in advanced mode eventually, but may go a bit slower now. Thanks to all of you who are playing this mod - I hope it brings you a small bit of joy!
tarajos
Hi Guys!
I want to expand MLS Western Conference with a new Club. I have made my team (Hawaii), but I can't put them into the MLS league.
The Club is in the list of future teams, registered teams…but it's not working 😢
Can somebody help me?
Just create the Club in 23.3.0 Update, and expand MLS with the new team. I can make the rest (Stadium, Colors etc.)
Thank U so much!
Chris Nielson
Hi Tarajos! MLS is notoriously hard to modify in the editor - there is a lot that is hardcoded in it, and that makes it challenging to make changes. You're probably better off renaming one of the existing clubs if you want to do that.
tarajos
Unfortunately…
That would be the other option.
I hope so, that someone is good enough for it 🙂
Chris Nielson
Quick update for those following the thread - I found a workaround for the continental competitions, and will hopefully have a first draft of the broader Concacaf EUD and the advanced rules for the US and Canada done by the weekend for people to start playing around with.
YoShadii
I’m following your updates on 2 sites. Appreciate the work that goes in.
Pappy709
Thank you, looking forward to it.
YoShadii
Thanks again for all the hard work. The beta was excellent and the official update looks amazing.
Chris Nielson
Hi everyone! The full CONCACAF EUD is live. I ran two tests with the files for stability - there were no crashes, one went 20 years and the other 45, so I feel pretty good about the state of the set. Additionally, the kits and logos should be updated for 22.3. If you run across issues with the editor files or kits and logos please let me know and I'll work to address them (I have notifications on for this thread now.)
Also, as a heads up, there is one change I still want to make to the club competitions (I want to have losing teams in the group stages qualify for lower competitions), but that is proving more difficult than I thought, so I wanted to share what I have and think represents the whole imaginary world. Thanks all!
Pappy709
Thank you!
Ninja777
Hi there,
I have a question about Martinique. (I've downloaded another database and played 10 games and was supposed to play in the French Cup Round 7., but all my players was marked as “non-eu”, even when the Coupe de France says Martinique citizen isn't considered “non-eu”)
So before I download this database and files, I wanna know - Are Martinique players (and other player French overseas territories) still considered EU-players, so they are available in the French Cup? (I'm trying to do a challenge for overseas teams in the french cup) 🙂
Thank you in advance.
Ninja777
Edit: just tested. This one has a problem too with Martinique citizen not being considered EU players in Coupe de France.
TiltedAiri
hihi! Reading through this cause i love the concept but, just wondering if you're aware of the problem with both Canada & US for 23.3.0
I've tried to put in screenshots for it, so hopefully they go through.
This is my first FM so its entirely possible that I mucked something up while installing but I couldn't find any fix scrolling through here or online so wondered if it's possibly a bug or something that you're aware of XD
Love what you're doing, so please keep up the amazing work!
TiltedAiri
never mind I'm a dumb dumb! I was on the wrong setting XD
Chris Nielson
I'm glad you got it figured out. For others who are curious, my guess is that the Canada and US databases weren't active. Since it replaces and expands the leagues in both, you need to make sure they are both checked to have them in game - otherwise you get the error message Airi did (ie- you can't use the Concacaf champions league structure by itself and expect the US and Canada to be playable.) Hopefully this is helpful for other users, and thanks for asking for help Airi!!
TiltedAiri
Are there any good strategies for getting new players if you're starting as an NSPL team? Or is it all about talent development?
Just trying to figure out how I can get better than half star midfielders XDD