FM24 | Pentagon Pursuit

"These days, it seems like every man and his dog thinks he's capable of being the next Pep Guardiola." That was the opening line from the thesis that Robaato Rasamu (ロバート ラサム) had proudly presented to the advisory board at The University of Tokyo Sports Science Initiative a few months ago.

Now, in June 2023, the thesis - which analysed the evolution of soccer and questioned why popular media sources were so quick to laud over modern obsessions like "passing out from the back" - had clearly gone down an absolute storm. That's because it wasn't just the university's advisory board poring intently over Rasamu's work.

In fact, the relatively small office on the Komaba I Campus was packed with representatives of sports clubs across Tokyo, from the Tokyo Yakult Swallows baseball team, Sun Rockers Shubuyta basketball side, Black Rams rugby team and NEC Blue Rockets volleyball club to the FC Tokyo, Tokyo Verdy and FC Machida Zelvia football teams. These representatives were frantically flicking through Rasamu's clearly revolutionary words, reading the thesis while throwing amazed glances in his direction as he quietly sat in the corner of the room wondering what on earth was happening.

Eventually, the muttering and oohs and aahs were ended with a hushed silence. Rasamu's mentor and course leader Nagao Shizuka stood up and walked over to Rasamu with a huge beaming smile, shook his hand, and announced to the gathered attendees: "Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the new revolutionary mind of Japanese football, Robaato Rasamu." That prompted a rapturous round of applause, and Rasamu was soon surrounded by leading voices from Tokyo's top sports organisations desperate to pick his brain.

The event went on for a couple of hours and, by the end of it, Rasamu had business cards of managing directors from every sports club in Tokyo desperate for him to join their club. He could easily join these huge companies in a variety of roles, from a recruitment analyst and assistant manager to even a sporting director. But Rasamu, buoyed by confidence thanks to the adoring words of these leading individuals, had a far more grandiose and ambitious new career in mind.

Introducing The Pentagon Pursuit

Robaato Rasamu had grown up obsessed with all things sports-related. His father was a Brazilian who moved to Japan in 1975, met Robaatu's mother and stayed in Japan. He'd worked as an engineer in the city of Nagoya, around two hours east of Kyoto and five hours west of Tokyo, but his weekends revolved around sports, especially his beloved Nagoya Grampus Eight. So as a youngster, Robaato had religiously watched the flourishing J.League spearheaded by his idol Gary Lineker. He'd also regularly tuned in to global football, with a particular fascination for big continental trophies like Europe's Champions League and South America's Copa Libertadores.

Despite this obsession and growing up playing football, baseball, tennis, golf and basketball, Rasamu knew his talents were more academic than physical. His early career had focused on several areas of research, including sports science and performance analysis, contributing to a wide range of papers before his most recent really got his name out there.

But it was Japan's success at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, defeating Spain and Germany before being knocked out by Croatia, that really piqued Rasamu's fascination. Indeed, one of the most prominent people to contact him on the back of his thesis was the national coach Hajime Moriyasu, with whom he had a long conversation about footballing philosophies and the art of modern football. And that discussion had inspired Rasamu, armed with an arsenal of knowledge about the beautiful game, to bring his talents into the managerial space. And he had one hell of a mission in mind.

Rasamu wasn't content with simply trying to become a Football Manager. Despite not even attending a coaching course or playing a single professional football match, Rasamu wanted to win all five of the biggest continental trophies available. His mission, as an unemployed football manager with zero qualifications, was to first find a job then manage on every continent and win:

• Africa’s Confederation of African Football Championship (CAF)
• Asia’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Championship
• Europe’s Champions League
• North America’s Confederation of North, Central American & Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Champions League
• South America’s CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores

To achieve that aim, the countries available for Rasamu to manage in are:

Asia: Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea
Africa: South Africa
Europe: All 35 European countries available, but realistically England, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain
North America: Canada, Mexico, USA
South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay

Rasamu's ideal situation would be to begin his managerial career in his native Japan. That said, he was a bit of a polyglot, speaking Portuguese, English, Spanish and a little Zulu and Korean, so he was open to working abroad and honing his managerial skills elsewhere in Asia. The most difficult first step would be to convince a club to take on an unemployed manager, regardless of how intelligent they may be and how intriguing their football philosophy.

But with the full version of Football Manager 2024 now playable, we started up a brand new Pentagon Pursuit career. I selected all the Asian and African leagues, added players from every continent to give us a huge database of more than 123,000 people, and created the manager profile of Robaato Rasamu.

Can Robaato Rasamu find his first managerial role? And where will it be? Join us tomorrow to find out as we go on the job hunt!

On The Job Hunt

Fledgling 39-year-old Football Manager Robaatu Rasamu was on the job hunt, fresh from completing a thesis exploring the evolution of the beautiful game. He was keen to follow in the footsteps of his heroes, including the likes of Marcelo Bielse, Fernando Diniz, Sir Alex Ferguson, José Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti. But, with no coaching experience and only Sunday League Football playing experience, getting that first job could be tricky.

Rasamu wasted no time in applying for vacancies that were available on 3 July, including a couple of roles in his native Japan and clubs in South Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia. Six days later, he attended his very first Football Manager interview with Malaysian club Melaka FC then two more interviews with Japanese side Kamatamare Sanuki and South African side Black Leopards.

Sanuki took five days to ask Rasamu for his staff changes, of which he could afford zero with the amount of compensation available. Another two days later, on 16 July 2023, the Japanese side made an offer that meant Rasamu was staying in Japan to begin his managerial career. He signed a one-year deal, earning £800 per week to become the Manager of Kamatamare Sanuki.

Who are Kamatamare Sanuki?

Kamatamare Sanuki is a professional football club based in Takamatsu, the capital city of the Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in southern Japan. The club's name combines Kamatama, which is a type of udon noodle bowl and features on the club crest, and Mare, the Italian word for sea, and Sanuki is the former name of the Kagawa Prefecture.

The club was first founded in 1956 by students of Takamatsu Commercial High School using the name Takasho Old Boys Soccer Club. It rebranded to Kagawa Shiun Football Club in 1991 and became the leading side in Kagawa. Nine years later, a dubious change saw it become Sun Life Football Club, when the consumer loan company Sun Life signed a sponsorship deal for the club's naming rights!

But in 2005, after a brief stint as Takamatsu Football Club, it announced its intention to take J.League status and became Kamatamare Sanuki. The club won the Shikoku League in 2010, which saw it move into the JFL then, in 2014, moved into the second-tier J2 League. But after five years at that level, Sanuki were relegated to J3 League in 2019, where they remain. Last season, the club finished 17th of 20 teams to narrowly avoid relegation.

Sanuki plays at the pretty-looking 30,099-capacity council-owned Marugame Stadium or Pikara Stadium, which is around 25 miles west of the city of Takamatsu. The club also has a handful of rivalries, playing the East Shikoku Classico Derby against J2 League side Tokushima, the North Shikoku Derbies against fellow third-tier sides Imabari and Ehime FC and the Setouchi Bridge Derby against J2 League Okayama.

Kamatamare Sanuki in FM24

Sanuki has fairly average facilities with 8 training facilities, 6 youth facilities, 7 youth recruitment and 7 junior coaching, plus a one-star reputation. Things look better financially with £1m in the bank and no debts, a transfer budget of £293k and a wage budget of £18,900 of which £800 is going spare.

Having started the save in July, the Japanese leagues are in full flow. Sanuki were widely expected to finish bottom of Meiji-Yasude J.League Division Three (we'll stick to J3 League) with title odds of 250/1. But after 18 games of the 38-game season, Sanuki find themselves sitting 13th on 24 points, a healthy 12 points clear of the two relegation places. They're also on a five-game unbeaten streak, of which they've drawn four, and have only lost once in the last 10 after a shaky start of six defeats in the first nine.

Luckily, Rasamu's first-ever board only expects him to avoid relegation. While the supporters, one-third of which are core fans, expect the side to become an established J3 League team.

Meet the Kamatamare Sanuki Squad

The best player at Sanuki is winger Yuto Mori, who's currently the club's top scorer with five goals in 20 games. Other key players could be holding midfielder Nao Eguchi, centre-back Kei Munechika, full-backs Takashi Kanai and Ikki Kawasaki, striker Himan Morimoto, who's oddly only started once all season, and midfielder Kazuki Iwamoto, who's out for up to three months. There are also a couple of promising centre-backs in Takumi Narasaka and Keisuke Tao and a decent young striker in Soshi Iwagishi.

Rasamu also had a few promising youngsters to develop in the youth teams, led by 15-year-old striker Tatsuya Yamada. Other talents to keep an eye on were striker Kokoru Maruyama, midfielder Tsubasa Aoki, centre-back Makoto Takashima and midfielder Toshiya Miyasaka.

Rasamu had a little bit of time to settle into his first-ever football club and start thinking about tactics and getting started with training his side. His first match wasn't for eight days, when he'd take his Kamatamare Sanuki side to 17th-place FC Osaka.

Goals Aplenty!

Robaato Rasamu was a little taken aback at how quickly he'd managed to fall into a job in football management. He'd only spent 13 days as an unemployed and inexperienced Football Manager yet Japanese third-tier side Kamatamare Sanuki had deemed him the ideal option for their vacant managerial role.

Rasamu realised he'd foolishly promised not to make any staff changes during his Sanuki interview. So any much-needed staff adjustments would have to wait until the end of the campaign. He spent a couple of days working on a training routine and watching his new players on the training pitch, which helped him immediately spot a couple of glaring issues. Firstly, the club seemed to have a total void of central midfielders. Secondly, there didn't seem to be a natural goalscorer at the club. Both of which, are pretty big problems for any football club, regardless of your philosophy.

The renowned thesis he had written, which helped him gain a footing in football management, had discussed the need for managers not to be restricted by a specific style of play. And with that in mind, Rasamu was open to different formations and approaches based on the players available to him. A couple of areas where Sanuki were well-stocked were centre-back and full-back, which prompted Rasamu towards a 3-5-2 approach. He also needed to try and get the best out of star player Yuto Mori, so opted to play him in a relatively familiar attacking midfield role. However, the below approach would soon evolve into two central midfielders and a single holding midfielder.

Into the J3 League

If you're not au fait with the Japanese leagues, it consists of three playable leagues - the top-tier J1 League, the J2 League and the J3 League. J3 League has two promotion places, one automatic relegation place and a relegation playoff for the team finishing 19th.

Sanuki were huge favourites to be relegated from J3 League with title odds of 250/1 compared to the next highest odds of newly-promoted sides FC Osaka and Nara (150/1) and Tottori (100/1). The favourites are Imabari (4/7), FC Gifu (6/4), FC Ryukyu (15/8) and Iwate (7/2). However, Sanuki found themselves sitting 13th with 24 points after 18 games, nine points clear of 19th-place Tottori. Imabari looked to be delivering the expected promotion as they were on 41 points, two clear of Kagoshima and seven clear of Ryukyu. Entertainment had been at an absolute low in Sanuki games, scoring just 17 and conceding 19 in 18 matches.

Rasamu's managerial career began with a big game at fellow relegation candidates FC Osaka, who had former Barcelona wonderkid Jean Marie Dongou up front. Rasamu's team started well and took the lead with a superb counter-attack from an Osaka corner, with the ball ending up with Himan Morimoto floating the ball over the top for his strike partner Kaima Akahoshi to tuck home just his second goal of the season. But goalkeeper Takuya Takahashi threw that lead away by letting in a tame 30-yarder and then being chipped from 25 yards. Akahoshi thought he'd levelled things up in injury time, only to be ruled narrowly offside. But Rasamu saw plenty of positives, given they had more shots and xG but they lost right-back Takashi Kanai for six weeks.

The Sanuki supporters got their first look at Rasamu as they welcomed 11th-place Fukushima to Marugame Stadium. And they wouldn't have been impressed by a first half that Fukuhashi dominated and again scored a long-range strike. But Rasamu offered a glimpse of his tactical nous after the break, shifting to two central midfielders and his side suddenly seized control. Midfielder Hayato Hasegawa teed up an equaliser for Akahoshi, who five minutes later sent Morimoto through to calmly convert. And Robaato Rasamu had his first win as a Football Manager.

Two big games followed with trips to teams expected to struggle. First up was Sagamihara, where they started well with Mori setting up Akahoshi before Rasamu was delighted to see his newly-instilled short free-kick routine work as Mori created another for Akahoshi. The hosts scored in injury time but Sanuki held on to claim Rasamu's first away victory - despite having seven shots to 18. Next up was Nara Club, who were also overperforming in 9th. Akahoshi scored again on eight minutes but Nara were soon level with a ridiculously good free-kick. Morimoto responded with a stunning 25-yard strike, which won the August goal of the month, but Sanuki were wasteful and Nara came back to get a 2-2. However, Rasamu was yet again delighted with the team's efforts as they had significantly more shots and xG.

Takahashi's issues prompted Rasamu to make his first transfer, agreeing a pre-contract deal with 23-year-old Korean keeper Kim Minho and then signing him for £3k from Nagano. Minho made his home debut in the North Shikoku Derby against promotion-chasing Imabari and delivered Rasamu's first clean sheet in a pretty tepid 0-0. So after five games, Rasamu had only lost once, won twice and drawn twice, moving his Sanuki side 15 points clear of the dropzone.

Avoiding A Relegation Battle

Rasamu's fine start continued as midfielder Takuma Goto's injury-time strike nicked an undeserved 2-1 win at local rivals Ehime FC. They also earned a point in a wild 4-4 draw at home to Toyama in which both teams traded screamers, including another goal of the month by Mori, early in the second half and striker Shota Kawanishi came off the bench to score an injury-time equaliser. That carnage was immediately followed by an even more bonkers 90 minutes as Sanuki lost 6-4 at leaders Kagoshima, which unsurprisingly was a new club record high-scoring game.

They put that chaos behind them with the most dominant performance of Rasamu's reign, defeating struggling YSCC Yokohama 4-1 led by Morimoto's perfect hat trick. That win moved them 20 points clear of relegation with 10 games remaining, so survival was more or less guaranteed.

Rasamu decided to test out some tactics in the final few games, including a 4-4-2 that earned a wild 3-3 at 3rd-place FC Gifu in its first outing then defeated 7th-place Numazu 4-2 led by an Akahoshi hat-trick. But it also led to defeats in the final two games of the season, ending typically with a 3-2 loss at Iwate. That saw Sanuki finish where Rasamu found them, in 13th place. But there's no doubt he brought entertainment to the fans. Prior to his appointment, Sanuki had scored 17 and conceded 19. In his 20 games in charge, they scored 40 and conceded 40. But the big positive was leading the club to comfortable survival, a huge 21 points clear of the relegation places.

Reflecting On Rasamu's Solid Start

Akahoshi finished the season as Sunaki's top scorer with 13 in 31 followed by Morimoto (11), Hasegawa and Mori (6) and winger Ikki Kawasaki (4). Mori led the assists with eight followed by Kawasaki and holding midfielder Nao Eguchi (6) and Morimoto was the only regular player to get over a 7.00 rating.

Rasamu had made a positive start to life as a Football Manager, passing the board and supporter objectives to establish Sanuki as a J3 League team with six matches remaining. And even the media were impressed with his start to management, lauding his efforts after his 20th game in charge, which was also the final game of the season. The board was so pleased with his efforts that they agreed to his request to start studying for the National C Licence. So Rasamu made the very first step towards becoming a "proper" manager heading into the off-season.

Rasamu would have plenty of work ahead of him in the winter, with several players leaving and a significant need for better-quality players. He also needed to pin down a preferred tactic and attempt to address his side's leaky defence.

First Winter Rebuild

Fledgling manager Robaato Rasamu had made a lively start to life in his first role at Kamatamare Sanuki, averaging four goals per match in his first 20 career games. But he was also a manager keen to make progress, as proven by bagging his first coaching badge, the National C Licence, in January 2024. Just as Rasamu was preparing for his first winter transfer window (Japan's off-season is in the winter), Chairperson Yusuke Nakamura announced plans to build a new stadium. The move will see the club return to its home city of Takamatsu and Nakamura is in the process of identifying sites and investors.

Rasamu faced a huge task in his first off-season as 21 players departed, leaving him with just eight of last season's first team. He then saw his best defender Kei Munechika leave for £40k, which smashed the previous record sale of £2.3k. But he wasted no time in utilising his minimal recruitment capabilities.

J3 League clubs are only allowed four foreign players in a matchday squad, so Rasamu had to be careful. But he strengthened in key areas with Ivory Coast holding midfielder Hamed Traoré, who'd been playing in Sri Lanka, and two South Koreans in winger Go Jun-Young and midfielder Kang-Min Choi. Joining them were midfielders Takumi Wakaya from Kitakyushu and Yutaka Soneda and Kyoji Kutsuna from rivals Ehime FC. Rasamu also turned to the loan market to bring in full-backs Yuta Ueda and Atsushi Inagaki - who he later realised was a victim of FM's 4ft 11 bug - from J1 sides Kyoto and Urawa and Harumi Minamino from fellow J3 side Miyazaki.

With that mini-rebuilding job done, Rasamu was leaning towards a 4-2-4 approach with two holding midfielders.

Into Rasamu's First Full Season

The Japanese bookies were big fans of the work Rasamu had done, predicting a 10th-place finish for Sanuki with title odds of 20/1. Matsumoto Yamaga are 11/10 favourites followed by FC Gifu (6/4), Iwate (9/5), Kagoshima (3/1) and relegated Yamaguchi (5/1). The Japanese system changes going into the second season, with J1 moving from 18 to 20 teams and J2 and J3 adopting playoffs behind two automatic promotion places.

Sanuki began the campaign with a tricky trip to Yamaguchi and looked to have nicked a dreadful math through debutant Kutsuna, only for centre-back Takumi Narasaka to score an injury-time own goal. But they were much better in the first home game of the season against FC Osaka, starting with Go putting in a wonderful cross for striker Kaima Akahoshi to send a looping header into the top corner. They took control from there and eventually got their reward with goals by midfielder Nao Eguchi and Kutsuna.

An equally impressive performance saw them defeat relegated Iwaki 3-1 led by Kutsuna scoring again before a really unlucky 2-1 defeat at Gifu. But Rasamu picked up his first away win of the campaign thanks to a superb club-record four-goal haul by striker Himan "He-Man" Morimoto. Other than that, the away form was a little shaky but they were strong at home, including Akahoshi bagging a brace in a 4-1 win over Nagano and Go getting his first goal for the club in a 2-0 win over rivals Ehime FC.

Reaching Heady Heights

After 10 games, Sanuki found themselves sitting pretty in 5th with the top of the table increasingly tight. Rasamu's side earned a point at 4th-place Fukushima before putting ni their best performance yet at home to leaders Matsumoto Yamage. The visitors scored early on but winger Yuto Mori soon levelled before an inspired second half saw Akahoshi's header, Eguchi's wonderful free-kick and Doi's first career goal send Sanuki top of the league for the first time in Rasamu's reign.

Sanuki maintained that position with a 3-1 win over struggling Kagoshima. A disappointing 2-1 loss followed at Nara before Kutsuna and Morimoto, who ended a 10-hour goal drought, earned a 2-1 win over 8th-place Kitakyushu. That saw them really hit top gear as a Kutsuna double led a 4-1 thumping of 18th-place Iwate, bottom side Maruyasu were dispatched 4-0 away and Morimoto broke his own record with an amazing club-record five-goal haul - from a total of about 12 yards - to defeat Toyama 6-3.

Five successive wins and one defeat in three months left Rasamu's side sitting top of J3 League. Sunaki have 41 points, one clear of Matsumoto but six clear of 3rd-place Numazu. The strikeforce of He-Man and Akahoshi are second and third top scorers in the league with 29 goals between them. Morimoto's 16, of which nine came in two matches, is two short of Matsumoto's Watanabe and winger Kutsuna is fifth-top scorer with nine. While Go leads the league with 11 assists followed by Eguchi with eight.

Sanuki's strong start to the campaign didn't go unnoticed as the board agreed to Rasamu's request to go on a coaching course, and he began work on gaining his National B License.

A great start to this challenge! Looking good in the league and it won't be long until you're heading up the leagues.

Is your plan to stay with them ,or move up the leagues to a new side when you can?

how do i put the asian+african leagues ?