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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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Vakama2619
(sorry sent something here but have no idea how to delete it)
Scoraaa
Is there a coefficient or anyway to view how many teams qualify from each nation?
zbladzg
update for 23.5?
Chris Nielson
There isn't a coefficient, or I haven't figured out how to set it up, but here is a Google sheet with the number of teams from each nation: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HnZqraLuQdgzmFo37QRCqeeOcGvqJIUFsYbcQ5SAzP4/edit?usp=sharing.
Scoraaa
This helps alot tyvm, it was just that the American and Canadian league were highlighted as playoffs so couldent see who qualifies for what
Chris Nielson
Yes, I have tried to dig around and figure out how to show the qualifications as well as the playoffs, but haven't figured it out… yet. Maybe one day.
TiltedAiri
hey Chris!
Just wanted to let you know I've been looking for what could be causing crashes and I downloaded FM23 onto my dinky little work laptop and used the Database and it seems to work just fine!
Unsure if it's a Hardware thing, or something we have installed in our FM that's breaking it
TiltedAiri
Update:
If I'm unemployed on the Crash date it doesn't crash. It only crashes if I'm employed on the date.
Chris Nielson
Hi Airi - thanks for continuing to dig in, and yes, you found what looks like the workaround - if you have the in game editor, quit before the fourth Monday in August, sim pass the date, then jump back into the club. It impacts more than just my mod (https://community.sigames.com/bugtracker/football-manager-2023-bugs-tracker/913_pre-game-and-in-game-editor/custom-league-verified-by-editor-but-game-will-crash-always-r14605/) and may not have been addressed in the latest rounds of patches, so we may just be in this world for this version of the game.
TiltedAiri
yeah, unlucky. hopefully it gets fixed in FM24
Chris Nielson
Hi friends! Since it looks like we're at the end of the FM 23 window, This summer I may release a few test versions I've been working on. They're elements I may or may not include in the FM 24 version of this database, so I want to see if anyone wants to use them and give feedback.
First, I redid the qualification in the top tier of the US database based on this James Lawrence Alcott tweet:
So, for the US top tier, the top 3 teams automatically qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League, and teams 4-7 are entered into a playoff. The winners of the semifinal face off for the last CONCACAF Champions League spot (loser goes to the Gold cup), while the losers of the semifinal face off for the last Gold Cup spot (loser goes to the Silver Cup.) It's down below as US Advanced Playoff Test.
The second is a reworking of the CONCACAF Champions League to mimic the drops between the Champions, Europa, and Europa Conference Leagues. So, the top two CL teams go into the round of 16, the 3rd place group team in the CL faces the 2nd place group team in the Gold Cup, and the 4th place CL team faces the 2nd place team in the Silver Cup. The loser of the knockouts in the Gold Cup faces the winner of the silver Cup round, and that team proceeds to the round of 16 in the Silver Cup. It's down below as CC - Drops between competitions.
I have a more… ambitious one I'm working on for the champions league, but that will take some time this summer.
If you use them, please feel free to let me know what you think and any tweaks you would suggest. Thanks all!
TiltedAiri
Sounds awesome, I'll check it out!
Chris Nielson
I think this is the last tweak I'm trying for FM 23 - I redid the CONCACAF competitions. The problem with the CONCACAF leagues (for anyone who has played) is that the gap in talent between the top and bottom (or even mid tier) teams in North America is pretty massive, so a lot of the teams outside of Canada/Mexico/The US are being blown out by the 5th or 6th year in. The new competition tree looks something like this:
The shorter (and much less complex version) is that to ameliorate this I added a fourth cup (the Bronze cup) that the teams lower in the group stage of the Gold and Silver cups get dumped into, and the lower teams in the Champions League group stage face off against the 2nd place teams in the Gold and Silver cup group stages. In theory this creates winnable competition for teams from smaller leagues, so they can get the champions league money and also have a route to a cup win.
There were two other tweaks that are notable and one fun thing:
1) I added a coefficient, so theoretically nations can climb and fall - so it's possible to do a build a nation and get more slots.
2) There is also now a super cup between the winners of the four competitions in July.
3) I created a rotating set of host nations and stadiums, so the finals won't be at the home stadium of the larger teams anymore.
The file is below.
TiltedAiri
sick gonna start a canadian save or something should be fun!
Chris Nielson
I updated the US database with the Messi transfer. It now goes through on July 1, 2023.
ay man
I downloaded the logo packs for both Canada & US and put them in my graphics folder but only some teams have logos. For example, Atlanta Utd does but some other teams in the apple+ don't. Almost all lower league teams don't have their logos or kits. Can someone help?
natefsga
Hey, thanks for the DB. Been trying to troubleshoot issues I have with this database crashing on random dates. I was just trying to do a save with the basic us and canada databases including the basic concaf with the new nations you provided. With the nations added I had a hard ctd date of October 4th that I could not get past. When I removed the extra nations (and the total number of players loaded for faster testing speed) and just left USA, Canada, and the concaf file it made it to the next year before I got two random crashes. I was able to keep advancing after reloading this time though. I am using 23.4 which I believe this db uses unless it was updated with the messi update you made. Any insight you or anyone could provide would be awesome Thanks
Chris Nielson
Hey Nate - I'm sorry for the instability issues you're running into. It seems like something that's been an issue of late - I don't know if there was a shadow update that I missed, but it seems to be a common problem. I think it's a bug in the game (not related to the database) and not something I can fix unfortunately - you can see our efforts to have Sports Interactive address it in this thread: https://community.sigames.com/bugtracker/football-manager-2023-bugs-tracker/913_pre-game-and-in-game-editor/custom-league-verified-by-editor-but-game-will-crash-always-r14605/. As frustrating as it is, I don't think this bug will be addressed in FM 23, but it may be helpful to post in the thread and upload your save file in hopes this will be addressed in FM 24. I'm sorry - I wish I had a better answer for you, but there are multiple of us with US databases that are having this issue.
natefsga
Thanks for the response. This database is so fun. I took it a step further and made some more tweaks to really get a feeling of how good USA football would become if it replaced US football as the most popular sport. To combat the crashes, I now save every week but I have not had any more hard CTD dates so all is well. They 100% need to address some issues in FM24 but who knows if they will. Companies get so complacent these days. Anyways, thanks for the response and I hope all is well.
Chris Nielson
No problem - I'm glad you're enjoying it! I'm always in the market for changes for future versions - what changes did you make?
Friga_DnM
hey i need delete fill from usa of con but i cant
xythos46
howdy, ive been really enjoying playing this, its just im noticing transfers seem to be a bit broken.. players who sign for teams in the usa (domestic or foreign players) often sign for 1 year contracts no matter what and a lot of u23 guys get youth deals and then get released on a free days after the club paid a transfer fee sometimes large fees, the youth contracts are allowing approach to sign which ends up in them getting released it seems.. lots of journey men in my 5 seasons, way more than should be normal i think.. also big teams like miami are signing world class youth prospects and then releasing or selling after 1 season at a loss of profit often or breaking even.. could it be conflicting with a different editor file for example i play with a germany lower division file as well as the only other file aside from name change fixes.
Chris Nielson
‘Thanks Xythos. I have seen something similar happen - I am curious if the MLS teams are hardcoded to have a limited roster size. There are a number of issues we've found with MLS, and this may be another one. Do you see any non-MLS teams having this issue?
xythos46
yes, the mls canadian teams, i started two seperate saves, one with the germany lower leagues i used and one with only the usa canada mexico and some downloaded nations from here like jamaica, they had the same issue too. i can load up all my saves and double check if any non mls canadian teams have this issue. i dont know if it is any help to you, but zealand created a similar database last year for fm22 and it didnt have these issues, maybe it would be a good way to reference if it is a hardcoded issue or not?
Trey B
edit I would love if in your spare time you could just release an additional version of the up to date file with reduced money for realism. I would like one last save before the new game arrives 🙂
I know its been forever since you posted this. Thank you it works flawlessly! I've done a few different saves for several years and it works just fine. Definetly should add it to the list at the top of the page for those that desire a closer to reality save.
Trey B
I have noticed that problem too which is odd because it wasn't a issue before. When I try to sign anyone they fight to get a 1 year deal regardless of the terms offered. I've tested and it doesn't do it if this file isn't active so theres something wrong but no clue what.
Chris Nielson
Here is the file I made for Trey - the top division TV contract is $100m, as opposed to $2b in my original, so there is significantly less money throughout the pyramid. Enjoy everyone, and I'm looking forward to the FM 24 version!
Trey B
Just to put it here in case anyone else has this issue or knows how to fix it. Inter Miami doesn't have an updated squad like they should. Is this a conflict with the websites Data Update or something else? Also when I tried to troubleshoot the issues base MLS is completely broken. I cannot select any clubs except for STLC in the east and three clubs in the west that should be there such as Rhode Isand. Idk if something on my end has got corrupted to cause the data issue or what. I want one last Atlanta save before FM24, but want Inter Miami to have their talent. Any suggestions?
Bret Piechowski
I was trying out the US advance file and ran into the same issue with a non-MLS team. One year deals or nothing, it was for the main team. I do wish SI would give us a version of the MLS/USA structure that wasn't so “hard coded” so that those of us who don't want to play MLS in it's RL version can. Even with all of the “hard coding” by SI the MLS still doesn't run right.
Chris Nielson
I had only seen it with MLS teams, so it's interesting it would happen with a non-MLS one. Which team was it?