USA 10 Tier Database and Concacaf Expanded Universe - FM 24 Version

It’s time for this year’s version of the Concacaf and US databases! Because of some conversion issues this is an entirely new database that has a few key differences from the last few years, but I’m excited about this new version.

US Database

The top 7 levels of the us database are now split into an East and West division, with each team playing twice in division. The 8th and 9th levels have 4 divisions, and the 10th level has 8 divisions. For the top seven divisions it's split into an opening and closing season  (February-May and July-October (or December in the MLS Championship.)) In June and July there are a series of tournaments, including the US Open Cup and 19 regional cups happening in June, and league level cups happening in July (The Leagues Cup between MLS championship and the Liga MX, the MLS cup for teams in MLS 1-3, the USL cup for teams in the USL leagues, and the Amateur cup for lowest level teams.)

Most leagues have two promotion and relegation spots, and have between 12 and 16 teams per division. In Divisions 2-7 the winners of the stages win automatic promotion to the next league - if the same team wins both stages the next two teams in the overall table have a two game playoff. There is also  a championship between the East and West overall table winners, and the top division has a 16 team playoff to determine a champion and continental cup competition slots. I also reduced the amount of money available to the us teams, so hopefully that addresses some concerns from previous years. There should be less fixture congestion than previous years (teams play between 25 and 60 games depending on how far you go in competitions.)

A few notes:

As you may remember, this database used to be based off of Michael Danger’s US 2030 project. This years I pulled out those teams - I figured they weren’t needed since a lot of those cities have (or will have) lower league teams, so I raised all of those up a few tiers. Most of the current USL expansion teams are present, along with the independent MLS next pro teams - so all of the usl championship teams are now in the second tier instead of the fifth. I also added the MLS expansion franchise in San Diego and kept

Part of why it took so long to put out this db is that I needed to wait for extinct teams to be made playable. I kept our dearly departed San Diego Loyal and Rio Grande Valley FC. I also brought back some of the extinct teams that were in the original Raysox database (like the San Antonio Scorpions, New York Cosmos, and Atlanta Silverbacks) to round out the league.

I added 10-15 players (including at least one goal keeper) to each team in levels 2-7, so you should have a decent starting group to choose from. 

Finally, this year’s known lower level CTD issue is as follows:

In every database I’ve made there is a ctd date that impacts some lower levels. It’s a bug in the game that I can’t fix unfortunately, but you can add to the big thread found here: (I'll update it when I actually reported - I'm traveling right now and can't get a decent signal to upload the files). If we get enough critical mass they may address it. The bug this year impacts the 8th level and below and happens on the 4th Wednesday in May. If you quit your job, sim past the day, and then retake the role you will be able to play for another year.

Concacaf Club Competitions

I remade the CONCACAF competitions to mimic the new CONCACAF format. There are still four cups (Champions, Gold, Silver, and Bronze), but like the new format US, Mexican, and Canadian teams are immediately sent to the round of 16. The Group stages happen in the summer, and the knockouts in the fall, in order to ensure that US and Canadian teams that qualify play the year after they get into the tournaments. 

The qualifiers from Latin America (20 teams, with the top 3 for most competitions except for Belize (which gets 2) and the Caribbean (42 teams, with the top 2 from the 10 best nations and the solo competition winner for the other 22) will be entered into a group stage, and the top four teams from each group will qualify for the corresponding competition.

There are no coefficient points in order to maintain this structure, but each nation has at least one slot (minus Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, because you only have three teams and are off the coast of Canada and you messed up a previous version of this db, so I and sending you into exile!)

Canada (and other nations)

In previous versions of this database I made a Canadian pyramid. Because of some of the vagaries of the game (including the way the Canadian Championship is coded) I decided to forego building one this year and instead modified the roster rules and money in the advanced rules for the Canadian Premier League. It’s a closed shop, but You should be able to build a more competitive team than you would otherwise for the international club cups. Similarly I changed the Mexican money and schedule to help keep them competitive.

Finally, to provide a new way to do a journeyman save, I made database files for 39 of the other nations in CONCACAF. All nations have at least one slot in the Concacaf Club competitions, so you can start out at a Sint Maarten or a Belizian or a Jamaican side and work your way up the ranks. I made all of the rules in the basic mode, so some of the special rules for each division (especially the opening and closing structures of the Latin American and Haitian/Dominican leagues) are not present. It should replicate roster rules, schedule structure, and transfer windows of each nation, so it should give you a starting point for each competition. I’ve also attached a quick start so you can easily add all of the Concacaf competitions quickly.

*UPDATED: 3/1: Logo and Kit Pack*

Like last year I made a logo pack for all of the lower league us teams, along with logos for all of the leagues and competitions added here. There are actually two kit packs this year - I put together one here: USA Concacaf EUD Kit Pack. Forum User DonJohn (see below) also put together a mega kit pack that you can find here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/cexphgjqb6imzbg/Test+Kit+Megapack.zip/file

24.3 Updates

I made a few adjustments for the 24.3 version that are listed below:
 

- I properly activated the reserves (levels 1-4) and U19 (levels 1-7) leagues. 

- I added kits and stadiums for each US based team, so teams won't randomly build new stadiums after season 1. 

- I made some tweaks to the later stages of the July tournaments - they now run into Wednesdays in August, providing a bit more space and hopefully reducing fixture congestion a bit. 

- I brought the CONCACAF cup knockouts into the fall, so teams that qualify will get to play in the tournament the year after (instead of waiting two years.)

- I adjusted some things to make sure the correct teams qualify for the Central American group and the Champions League knockouts. 

- I renamed awards that had the same name, and thus were not showing up in game. These and a few other minor cosmetic changes were made throughout the DB. 

24.4 Updates (4/11)

• The big one this time - levels 1-7 now have formal opening and closing stages. The winner of the stages win automatic promotion - if the same team wins both stages then 2nd and 3rd in the overall table have a playoff to determine who goes up. Relegation is based off of the overall table.
• I gave each team a modest starting budget, added managers to most teams, and added players to teams in levels 2-7, so you should have some players at an appropriate level for the league when you play a team lower down the pyramid. You will still want to check the add players box though.
• I made levels 1-7 playable by default because of the lower league bug.
• I added a lot of local media to the US database - you should have 10-15 outlets at your news conferences going forward.
• I registered the appropriate clubs from the US, Canada, and Mexico for the Continental Cups.
• I tried to add a CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup in the spring, but I couldn't get the game to set it up. So, we will call it good for this year and try again in FM 25. 
   

24.5 Update (12/15)

• Most of the beta from last month in the US database has been incorporated, including:
  • Schedule shifted to Aug-May instead of Feb - Nov.
  • Instead of winning automatic promotion if you win a stage, you get home pitch advantage in a promotion playoff (Or champion play off in the top tier.)
  • The top division has been expanded to 18 teams, and the next three divisions have been expanded to 16 teams.
  • The leagues cups have been moved into the opening/closing stages, reducing some fixture congestion in those windows.
  • The top tier now takes off the international competitions. 
• The CONCACAF Club competitions now run in both the fall and spring - Round of 16 and quarter finals are in the fall, and Semis and Finals are in the spring. All competitions happen in the same window and are now two legs, minus the final. 
• I added reserve and youth leagues to the top 12 non US/Mexico leagues. 
• I added a simple pro/rel for mexico - 2 go down from the top tier, 2 up from the bottom. It verified in the editor - please let me know if there are issues that crop up. 

There may be a few minor tweaks based on bugs, but otherwise I think it should be set. 

Happy Concacafing all!