San Diego FC - MLS Expansion Team & MLS Update (Updated Transfers 27/02/25) ~500 New Players Added w/ Graphics

The difference a day makes lol

I have added 29,000 cities to the USA in the FM database from a census data database found online.

I'll post it here so it can be used as a resource for anyone who wants to use it.

I'm going to merge this file with my San Diego update so it won't be needed to merge with later versions of this update.

EDIT (19/3/2025):

Indiana Cities added

Love this mate - can see a lot of work as gone into it.

Thinking of downloading this tomorrow and trying it out - is it compatible with the data update from here?

I assume the 002_sortitoutsi.net FM24 Data Update (San Diego Transfers).fmf is the file that makes all the players be at San Diego rather then Free Transfers like they are on the update from here, is that correct?

Yes that's the correct file.

It is just the update file from sortioutsi but adjusted to keep San Diego players at San Diego.

I've made a more recent version of it today that has a few more recent transfers.

The thing with the MLS transfers is that there's so many league specific rules for contracts that it's easy to make mistakes when moving players so I've given the current MLS DPs their correct contract status.

Honestly it's quite impressive how well San Diego have been able to implement a style of play in only 7 weeks of training.

I saw the St. Louis and Real Salt Lake games live on apple tv and it's fun to watch them play.

I see a lot of similarities with how Norwich City play under Johanes Hoff Thorup who also coached at Nordsjaelland where they originated this RTD philosophy.

It's very fast tempo, direct, possession heavy and risky.

For Norwich it took a few games into the season until they found their rhythm but when they did it was really incredible especially with Borja Sainz inform.

The main risks of this style are that it is very demanding and players get injured. After Norwich lost a few players they lost consistency.

It also leads to a lot of errors as players learn the system.

I can see that with San Diego already but they are not being punished for it yet.

Jeppe Tverskov is an amazing player to watch for them. Really assured and composed player.

I don't know why I'm the first person to notice this but Jasper Loffelsend is definitely not 1.8m like he is reported to be and is currently in FM.

Wikipedia has him at 1.7m which feels more accurate as on the field he looks small and is pushed around a lot.

I really don't rate Ema Boateng.

Mikey Varas keeps bringing him on as a sub to impact games but I can't see what he offers that Alex Mighten wouldn't do better.

Maybe because he's already an established name in MLS he gets more playing time but he's nothing special and honestly looks like he's not even the age he claims.

you can do the kits in fc'12 style??

anyways thanks for this amazing content

Thank you.

I don't have access to a version of photoshop on my laptop at the moment otherwise I'd give it a shot.

However if anybody would like to give it a try, FM Slovakia have a psd kit template pack that makes it easy to recreate kits https://fmslovakia.com/addons/kits/fc12-templates-megapack/

Kits aren't my strongest point and I've only been able to make the initial ones using https://fmkitcreator.com/ although admittedly the 2d kits don't look the best.

My next iteration of this project will most likely be an expansion for the USA where I use @themodelcitizen's lower league database and attempt to expand it with NCAA teams I have added to the database. (D1,D2, & D3)

This probably means that I will title the next update as something else that isn't so San Diego specific but it will still be based off the same database.

For the NCAA D1 teams I'd like to add players to the teams from the biggest conferences or as many as I can. 

Currently I'm still adding college teams.

If anyone would like to recommend additions feel free to suggest something.

I'm not aware of the big college rivalries so if people could recommend the established derbies I could add then that would be helpful.

Logos are pretty simple to add since all the colleges have nice png's of their logo on their wikipedia page.

When adding players, their ages aren't listed publicly, unless they have a transfermarkt which is a little rare, so I have to make a guess based on their school year.

So far only San Diego Toreros, San Diego Aztecs, San Diego Tritons and Vermont Catamounts (current NCAA champions) have teams based on their school roster pages which I'm satisfied with but making a full league with actual players would be kind of cool so adding more players is something I'd like to work on.

With the addition of the NCAA College teams as playable leagues it would actually be possible to make the MLS draft exclusively populated by college athletes instead of the USL 2 team's players in the standard version.

Obviously this adds a level of realism to the game.

As a stand in for the years MLS players played their college football the vanilla database uses a team called “US Colleges” and for as many players as I can I've replaced this with their actual college team.

Would this work better as an add-on? Like, if I rejigged my DB so san diego used an existing unique ID instead of a created one, you could have your add-on that would (as long as it came after alphabetically) override any changes I made to SD, and player contracts, etc. Then it could just be an add-on so people can use your SD work with my lower league db if they want. Also means that when my DB is subject to random bug fixes and stuff they get the fixes when they start a new game

Since there are so many clubs, people, competition additions, etc I think it would be difficult to merge the two databases.

Currently I'm using Chivas USA for San Diego FC but there's a lot more additions I've made than just that.

I think the way that would probably work the best would be to copy the rules from your database and paste them on mine then replace the competitions that reference things with the wrong UID.

If you have any other ideas feel free to suggest them.

San Diego doesn't appear in my game, only Chivas USA appears. What should I do?

Hi guys, I'm a San Diego FC season ticket holder, but am having trouble getting this to work. What am I missing? Thank you for any guidance.

I've downloaded the zip and extracted it
I copied the .fmf  files and the new league folder into \Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2024\editor data
I drop the entire downloaded 00_San Diego folder: \Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2024\graphics

I can see the databases when I create a new league, but even if I only select the 002_sortitoutsi.net FM24 Data Update (San Diego Transfers).fmf as the only active choice, I am not seeing San Diego as an option when I go to select my team in the MLS (west).

Since San Diego has been created by overwriting Chivas sometimes on start up it will initially revert back to that name.

The solution to this is to save the game and your file -→ shut down FM -→ Restart FM -→ Re-enter your save file

The name usually changes back to San Diego FC

Hi Mike,

Would you be able to post some screenshots of where you have put the files in your directory?

On startup of your game you should select both 000_San Diego FC (MLS Start) - This is the file that adds San Diego to the game and 002_sortitoutsi.net FM24 Data Update (San Diego Transfers) - This file is the sortitoutsi transfer update but it has been modified so that San Diego's player are not released

If you do not select 000_San Diego FC (MLS Start) on startup no team for San Diego will show up but both of these files are necessary to use.

Are there any other issues?

Oh yeah, I forgot I used them too, will brainstorm other ideas.

Re: Chivas' name appearing, I wonder if some people have a real name fix that touches CUSA for some reason… if so they can find the offending line in the real name fix file (can open in notepad) and delete it

Yes, selecting that second (or first?) database did the trick! Thank you.

Is there a way to start in 2025 and not February 2023? And did I read that San Diego replaced another MLS club? I guess there's no way around that?

Unfortunately there's no real way to start in the 2025 season because we are working on an outdated game currently.

The team that San Diego replaced was Chivas USA which is an extinct former MLS team.

I added another team and put Chivas USA's data on that team so any former players or staff from Chivas USA will still have it in their bio and league history.

Using a pre-existing MLS team is important when creating an expansion side because the MLS rules and draft system can glitch out when you create a team from scratch.

Chivas USA as a former MLS team still have league specific drafts and GAM and TAM although for the first transfer window San Diego will start off with 0 GAM and TAM.

It's glitched out so that you can't change it in the editor but if you play the game you'll be awarded it TAM and GAM as normal throughout the season or through trades.

What I suggest to do when you start up your save is to immediately trade your draft picks for international slots even if they are just for 1 season since otherwise it is not possible to fit the existing roster in the squad.

Also congrats on San Diego's success! Through making this project I've become a fan of the team.

I think you can start in 2025 if you mess with the “start date” in the editor, who knows what issues with MLS' hard-coding that would throw up though. If you're doing an NCAA expansion of my US file go nuts, just be aware that any bug fixes/QoL updates I do as people flag them won't be reflected in yours (mention that when giving credit)

when i load game up i donr see san diego i still see chivas? any help please

Save the game and restart FM

Hi guys,

Some of you may find this 3D kits for the 2025 season useful.  Just sorting out the 2D SS kits upload now.

Regards,

Stuart

USL (USA) 2025 3D kits for current teams in the two leagues (East & West) - 3D Kits Forum - FM24/25 Update - Football Manager 2024/25

Here are the 2025 USL 2D kits in SS style to marry up with the 3D shirts above …………

USL (USA) 2025 2D kits for current teams in the two leagues (East & West) - SS Kits Forum - FM24/25 Update - Football Manager 2024/25

up

what?

finally got it working, great work brother

Hirving Lozano is no longer in the database with this addon?

Am I doing something wrong?

Is there any chance you can upload just the San Diego in MLS file without database changes like transfers cities club names staff etc…

no.