M.C - Comments

Just a quick update, as a few people have asked: the Data Update now contains a file that reflects transfer bans/embargoes. The 41 transfer embargoes that were in place in the original database (all of which have expired) have been removed from the game and have been replaced with ~100 transfer embargoes that are in effect at the moment on European clubs. This includes (for example) Sheffield Wednesday. They are all offset by two years, so the first in-game transfer window (Summer 2023) is the equivalent of the Summer 2025 transfer window.

Other continents will be covered in the coming days and integrated into the Data Update.

Where it says ‘Show Rules For: Scotland’, in that drop-down select the relevant division. The Promotion/Relegation section is then within that specific division's advanced rules.

This was the case (the single XML file download), but a few days ago the past releases were corrected and now the full form of the Data Update is available, via https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update/releases.

You should be able to get it, from there, at your convenience. Any of the older update instances from May will contain the +1 years file.

It would be great if you would be able to do this yourself, via the Add New Youth Player button on Birmingham City's page at https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update/team/609.

The form you will be prompted to fill in will guide you through entering all the relevant information and that submission will then be moderated by the staff and, if approved, he will become part of the Data Update.

From your screenshot, I think the mistake you are making is that you are actually browsing to the Competition record in the Database. In the top-left, if you click on Advanced Rules, you should then find the options you need.

I'm not really in a position to provide a meaningful ETA, to be honest - and I don't want to mislead you in terms of expectations.

I can understand your point around what it says there. The data on that page is generic and is based on information that comes from the FM database (as far as I am aware). It isn't intended to indicate a custom position based on the Data Update available on this site.

Whilst I am a staff member, I do not have any control over the payment-related processes, so there is nothing I can directly/personally do to assist. However, if you have purchased the enhanced Data Update on the understanding that you would be able to manage in this specific division, believing that the Data Update provided that capability, I'd recommend you make a post in https://sortitoutsi.net/content/57415/all-issues-with-premium-membership-post-here, following the general guidelines on the opening post. I am sure the Site Admin will take care of a refund for you in this case.

All the same, I do still intend to look at what can be done to override the situation in the Romanian Liga III. In addition, I'll raise the point internally about amending the summaries related to the Romanian Liga III so it does not indicate it as playable.

Previous versions of the Data Update can be accessed via https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update/releases.

However, I can assure you that the recent versions of the update all work as expected. Therefore, I think there must be something else happening on your end for the issue you are experiencing. The most common cause is the presence of additional, incompatible Editor Data files (i.e. other custom database files).

If you would like, please share screenshots of your ‘editor data’ folder (showing all contents) and also screenshots of where your game setup fails (i.e. if it won't allow you to activate England, hover over it and it may show a specific error message).

I am sure we will find a way to resolve the issue so you can make use of the latest update.

An update on all global club transfer restrictions is in the works - I am hopeful to finish it today/tomorrow and then integrate it into the Data Update.

The amendments to club statuses will be something that we can try and do as part of the ‘second round’ of amendments to Belgium. As you'll be aware, Belgium has a level of complexity due to recent structural changes to the league system - the intention is to replicate those, but we've concentrated on getting as many of the nations tackled, first, as a priority. The plan is to loop back to do the more complex ones in the near future.

Regarding the stadium changes - there is also a plan to add a file to the Data Update that is dedicated to updating stadium information for exactly situations like RAAL La Louvière. Again, this may take some time - but it's on the list!

I'm pretty confident this is something that stems from the FM 24 base-game - I cannot be sure of the reasons, but I'm confident that the league is partially-playable because it has been set up that way by Sports Interactive. I think the situation with this division is nuanced - however SI have set it up means that whilst it appears to be a playable league (e.g. when selecting the playable levels), in reality it isn't.

Just to be clear: you're not doing anything wrong, nor do I think this is caused by the Data Update.

I haven't had a chance to look into what is involved in making it fully-playable as part of the Data Update. It is on my to-do list.

Previous versions of the Data Update are available via: https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update/releases

This is only an anecdotal test, from my end - but my downloads (from sortioutsi.net) are running at the normal speed. I am not sure if there is any difference between the infrastructure used to host the Free vs. ‘Classic FM’ update (though I doubt it).

Also, this may not be a factor, but we have been under heavy barrage from spam activity throughout today, so I do not know if there is anything extra going on (like attempted DDoS) that is impacting data transfers.

I am trying to engage in a discussion with you about this, because as a fellow staff member, believe me, we all value the contributions of the community. The essence of the Data Update is the fact that it is community-driven submissions that keep it up to date.

Having some of your submissions rejected/disabled can be frustrating, I'm sure. However, again, I really don't see that there is a conspiracy, or something widespread, going on here. Which is what your initial post certainly suggested.

You have over 1,300 Data Submissions. Of the ones that are marked as Disabled (which number about ~75), a total of two have been moderated by the staff member you mention (Davor Matijas & Vasco Lopes).

The other three examples you cited pertain to other users' submissions. Of those three, two appear to have identical data - with one having had the transfer start date corrected.

Respectfully, I do not know what point it is that you are making that has been proven. If you're saying that there is a staff member who is regularly disabling/rejecting your submissions in order to ‘claim’ them for themselves, then there is no evidence of that. The rejections in the conditions you cite (specific staff member, where data you submitted is identical to theirs) account for less than 0.2% of your submissions. The job of the staff members is to moderate the many submissions that you, and others, kindly provide. As a run-rate of accurate moderation, I think it is going pretty well.

One other possibility with these instances are that the staff member has submitted their own submission without recognising that there is even a pending submission from a community member. For staff, submissions are auto-approved - and this could be the scenario here; which I am mentioning just to further point out the fact that in this case, there would really be no malice/conscious thought process in deliberately not approving the community member's submission.

If the number being rejected - that shouldn't be - was significant, or even genuinely noticeable, then I think your frustration/concern would be more justified. There is absolutely no benefit to any staff member ‘claiming’ the odd submission from a user, here or there, nor any downside for that user (especially in the case where that user is a prolific submitter and has contributed heavily over time). So I will still maintain my original stance: which is that your accusations are without basis and, on a more human level, feel unnecessarily personal. Ultimately, everyone that plays their part in maintaining this site's Data Update is on the same side and we are, presumably, all here and contributing our time for the same reason: to be able to use that Data Update in our games of Football Manager. It's a shame there is a feeling that there is something underhand going on, when there isn't evidence to justify it to any meaningful degree and I am hoping that all concerned/involved can see that the big picture is one of a healthy submission-and-approval process in the vast, vast. vast majority of cases and move on.

How regularly has this happened? I had a quick look at your recent submissions - and there are plenty, so thank you for contributing - and I could only see one instance on the first page or two that had been rejected/disabled in favour of an identical one resubmitted by a staff member. In that case, I think there was another submission pending from a second community member which had something incorrect. My assumption would be that the staff member in question was reviewing the other submission and chose to submit a corrected version - perhaps not noticing yours was a valid one that should’ve been approved instead. From my perspective, that looks like a genuine mistake - and one with ensuring the transfer/change makes it into the update, versus just gets rejected and not reflected into the update, in mind. I find it unlikely that any staff member(s) would be doing what you are saying with any malice behind it.

I think perspective is important because, as I say, the vast majority of your submissions are being enabled - it doesn’t look like anything systematic or malicious is going on. If you do feel there’s a genuine pattern, please cite me a couple of extra examples (you can do it via DM if you prefer) and happy to look further.

The following morning, Connolly woke before his alarm. Nine- and two-year-old boys have a habit of making that the regular routine. He lay still for a moment, letting his nerves catch up to his breath. Today could be the day. Sliding out of bed, he moved with the sort of discipline he used to demand from his Sunday League midfielders - methodical, purposeful. A black notebook lay open on the kitchen table, scribbled with the names of some of the clubs he'd applied to the night before: Vojvodina 1928, Ermionida, Rudar Labin, SK Bischofschen. The latter of these sent his brain thinking of a caffeine fix and a biscuit or two to go with it.

He brewed his coffee strong, hoping it would instil in him a sense of business-as-usual about the day's proceedings. The ritual grounded him. As it brewed, he stretched, stared out at the overcast sky of north London and allowed his mind to wander to the possibilities of what might lie ahead.

Dressed in gym shorts and last night's t-shirt, he finally sat in front of his laptop. His finger hovered over the mouse. No fanfare. No crowd. Just this quiet moment before possibility. He clicked refresh.

To his disbelief, there were a handful of formal-looking emails, arriving from a variety of email domains that he was surprised didn't get filtered into his spam folder. The first two, written in broken English, signified his contact to Proodeftiki and Sloga, of Greece and Serbia respectively, were appreciated but impractical to take further. The majority of the others were written in languages - many of them using the Cyrillic alphabet - that he would need to decipher using online translators. However, there was one that stood out: it was in English, from a lady named Sophie Purves, and definitely indicated the club's interest to discuss the managerial vacancy at Tonbridge Angels FC.

“Errr…babe?! What was the name of that friend of yours that you had lunch with last week in Kent? The social media guru that manages the socials for that football club?” he called out, without diverting his eyes from the low light of the laptop's screen.

“Oh, Sarah?”

“What exactly did you discuss? Because Tonbridge want to talk to me about a job…”

And thereafter followed the sort of shouted conversation, spread across three rooms, that would leave an imprint on not only their family, but those of their neighbours and any particularly-keen dog-walkers happening to pass by. Amongst the revelations were the fact that a Powerpoint version of Connolly's CV had been ‘presented’ and that there was a follow-up Powerpoint for the family to consider that went into great detail, in pie charts, comparing monthly expenses of staying in the UK versus relocating to mainland Europe.

“You sabotaged my dream,” Connolly concluded, deflated.

“I saved our mortgage. And your children being enrolled into a Czechoslovakian school. The interview is set for Thursday. You're welcome."

Out of a mixture of curiosity and mild marital fear, Connolly crafted a reply to Sophie's email, thanked her for her contact and confirmed he would be delighted to attend the interview that Thursday, casually acknowledging that he needn't forward on his CV or any associated documentation as he understood she had already been provided it in advance.

Deep down, he remained headstrong that this would not be the end of his European adventure and so Connolly plotted the almost-perfect assault on the Tonbridge Angels FC application process: competent enough to stand up to the guaranteed scrutiny of his very own domestic general, but patchy enough to ensure a more suitable candidate would be selected. This was a scenario that, when imagining the many scarcely-believable challenges that lie ahead, he had not thought about for even a moment. The challenges associated with entering the world of football management were taxing indeed.

This is not possible, unfortunately - the changes that are processed ‘through the site’ (which includes updated transfers/contracts, as well as the newly-created players) are all done programmatically and the end-to-end flow requires them to be in one file.

I am just curious - is there any reason for not wanting the updated transfers/contracts, as those are a fundamental part of the Data Update offering? I am just asking as I am genuinely interested in the use-cases people have for it.

Thanks for stopping by. Herein will lie the tale of one man's attempts to scale the heights of football management. Whether those heights provide a view of the surrounding horizon, or whether they are scarcely taller than the frayed corners of carpet laid in the 1980s in the bedroom he was brought up in, is yet to determined.

However, those early, formative years are long-since a distant memory. Now 38, Matthew Connolly, originally of Islington, London, has set out on an adventure to reconnect with his Polish roots and, possibly, even finally make use for the second language his mother insisted on teaching him since birth.

Born in Islington, raised on Premier League dreams and force-fed rosól soup when he caught a cold, Connolly grew up in a household where Match of the Day was sacred and his mum shouted at the telly in Polish whenever the Eastern European national side turned up at a major international tournament.

His dual heritage has left him uniquely qualified: in true Brit fashion he apologises like there is no tomorrow, but also yells “SĘDZIA!” (REFEREE!) with enough Slavic intensity to ensure that the league's officials will soon become acquainted with the spelling of his surname. Connolly’s coaching journey began when he formed a Sunday League team in 2008, consisting of school friends and whatever local rabble would cough up the £60 annual subs in advance. Nearly 20 years later, with that club finally folding, he hopes his experience of negotiating frozen-solid pitches - against fellow Sunday League Turkish Supporter Club sides, Irish pub teams with ex-Watford Under-21 ringers and dubiously-well-organised clubs whose home kits comprised of Primark t-shirts, amongst others - would serve him well as he attempts to make the first step into the 'real' world of football.

A disciplinarian at his core, Connolly hopes to seek employment in an area of mainland Europe - his definition of which liberally includes Cyprus, because he recalls a nice holiday there from a number of years ago - where he can instil his tactical brand on whichever club shares his vision. He has promised (himself) to abide by a few simple principles - notably, ensuring he takes a hands-on approach to all club matters. He will not be a 'yes man' to any overly-involved chairmen, nor report to a Director of Football. Given the calibre of clubs within his grasp, it is highly unlikely that these principles of engagement will be tested.

Despite the self-assuredness needed of any budding manager, he also recognises the complete lack of experience and the importance of keeping his reputation intact, should he forge a successful career in the long-run. With that in mind, he has deemed the major footballing nations in Europe and Poland off-limits for his first managerial appointment. Furthermore, Connolly has discounted a number of nations that - for reasons valid or whimsical - he feels uncomfortable about. Those include the likes of Hungary, Russia & Ukraine for reasons of a political nature, but also Albania on the grounds of a terrible series of Eurovision Song Contest entries. Actually, on the basis of that final criteria - this could be a short story, indeed, as this author is not sure if that leaves any valid hunting ground for employment at all.

Despite the ecclectic mentions of far-flung lands and a peek into his discerning political palate, however, Connolly continues to be based in his home in North London, for now, and his exciting adventure is being conducted solely via email applications to any of the numerous association football clubs who are currently without a manager. Within the last 48 hours, Connolly has made initial contact with no fewer than 41 clubs, narrowed down to within the handful of acceptable nations - two in Austria's third tier, one in Belgium's fourth tier, a whopping six in Croatia's fourth tier (that sounds like it should be the third tier), a conservative five based in the Cypriot third tier, two in Czechia, a number too high to accurately count in Greece's lower divisions, as well as a handful of others from a variety of other places that haven't been documented along the way. The bias towards the latter is, undoubtedly, the influence his long-term girlfriend and mother of his two children (who is of Greek descent…in fact, no, she is Greek) has on the matter. However, this is not her story and her sway on footballing matters will surely find their way into this saga in due course.

According to the wonderfully-connected - and undeniably ethical and in no way corrupt - world of central European bookmaking, Matthew Connolly has even been instilled as the odds-on favourite to land the managerial post at two of that list of clubs: Chalkanoras Idaliou of the Pankypriou Protathlima G' Katagorias, alongside Petřín Plzeň of the Fortuna ČFL Divize A. Both slightly concerned about his internet security and, at the same time, pondering the mechanics (and legalities) involved in placing a bet on himself to secure one of these vacancies, Connolly closed the lid on his laptop and considered it a good evening's work. Perhaps one of these sleeping giants of the beautiful game will offer a meaningful start to this chronicle…

Thank you. I have now removed the duplicate Bernardo Lima and also the community-created versions of Ollie Harrison and Tiago Silva (as they were already in the default database).

Appreciate you pointing these out - it is quite tricky to catch them all in real-time and quite a lot of work to scan for duplicates across all of the newly-created players (especially when the player in question has been created as a new player but already existed in the original DB).

Thanks for pointing these two out. I have now removed one version of each. Following the next update release, these two should no longer be duplicated!

Whilst we do our best (in particular, whilst moderating submissions) to avoid duplicates, unfortunately some do sneak through sometimes. Reports of which ones they are help us to get rid of them - so if there are others that you notice, please do report them.

Yes, we have processed today’s update, now. In general, there is an update processed every day - it isn’t always the same time of day as there is some manual involvement required by the staff team.

I believe the latest version of the Data Update should contain updated Bulgarian files. They were added only yesterday to the main update.

Oh, that’s my bad. I thought that was a collection of the old ‘full format’ update for each day. My guess is that it is just the main ‘Changes.fmf’ content but in XML format.

Ill be able to confirm later when I am at my PC. What you probably can do is import that XML into the Pre-Game Editor then ‘Save Editor Data’ to crate the FMF.

But if it is just the main ‘Changes’ content, it won’t include promotions/relegations and it’ll just be the transfers, contract changes and newly-created players. I will check with the Site Admin what the intention is of these old releases.

Historical releases of the Data Update can be accessed via https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update/releases.

However, I am not sure you can go as far back as you would like, unfortunately.

From the perspective of the SortItOutSI Data Update, this is a work-in-progress. The site owner has provided an update in the following thread, on this topic:

https://sortitoutsi.net/content/71367/non-dynamic-capa-update-when

If you go to here: https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update

Does it say, beneath the big green ‘update’ button that you have Classic FM? If so, that is all you need - I’m pretty sure when you purchase it links to your account in this forum.

This is by design, as the general goal of the Data Update is to reflect the footballing world ‘as it is now’ from the start of a new game.

Therefore, whilst it isn’t possible to alter the actual start date to 2025, offsetting everything by (now) two years achieves this goal. In addition to player ages being adjusted, contract lengths are also adjusted so the relative number of years matches real-life (so a two-year contract starting in 2025 will be a two-year contract starting in 2023 in the game).

Are you using the latest version of the Data Update? This specific duplicate was actually reported a while ago and I personally deleted the one introduced by the Data Update at the time (would've been a couple of weeks ago now, I believe, or thereabouts).

I've also re-checked the current state of play (via https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update/team/676) and cannot see any evidence that there is a Trey Nyoni at Liverpool…just in case another newly-submitted one had been approved, for whatever reason.

OK, so I think (using Nonato as an example) I can explain what the situation is here.

Nonato had a loan to Fluminense (from Santos) configured to expire on 30/06/2025. I appreciate Brazil is a league system that runs from March-December each year (approximately); which differs from the typical European cycle (August-May).

Even though the ‘official’ cutover date for transfers in and around Europe is around 30/06/2025, a decision was taken to ‘process’ that cutover on 01/06/2025. Most people are keen to play with updated squads as soon as possible, even if - strictly - they haven't been finalised (contractually) in real-life. This decision, essentially, brings forward the processing of pre-agreed summer transfers and, also, terminates loans scheduled to end around that time.

Nonato is a good example of a player that would've been affected by that ‘early processing’. So on 01/06/2025, I think Nonato's loan would have been terminated, returning him to Santos. In real-life, he's still on loan until 30/06/2025, but in the Data Update his return is reflected from 01/06/2025.

I think this explains the discrepancy and I think this is a ‘unique’ case for Brazil (and other similar nations). I am not sure what the best way to handle this is - of course, at this stage, what is left of Nonato's loan is only a matter of a few weeks…but I appreciate it is technically incorrect at this moment in time that he shows as ‘returned’ to Santos. @Footygamer - sorry to tag you, any thoughts?

Transfers included in the Data Update are primarily as a result of those that are submitted by the community. Anything submitted by the community and then approved is automatically included in the Data Update.

Looking at Brazil (https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update/nation/1651), I can see plenty of activity related to players in Brazil on a continuous basis. If there are specific transfers that haven't been submitted, it would be a great help if you can submit them via https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update/contribute. They can then be approved and included.

As best I can tell, the first 2025/26 league structures were introduced on 03/06/2025. Perhaps also relevant for your needs, the change to a 2-year offset of contracts/player ages took place on 01/06/2025. On this date, many real-world transfers that are officially taking place on 01/07/2025 (in real-life) were processed into the Data Update.

With that in mind, I'd recommend V4989 (31/05/2025) if you are seeking a version that reflects 2024/25 and does not represent 2025/26.

There is no way for them to be separated, unfortunately.

Whilst it is true that they were previously separated, this was because the ‘new players’ were done as a central, bulk creation - and not integrated into the site as something that is now community-driven. There are (very good) technical reasons for them being merged and reversing the merger of the two files is not possible, nor the intended direction.

My guess is that the thing that doesn't work smoothly alongside the Daveincid Realism Pack is the fact that you end up with duplicate new players. From what I understand of the Daveincid Realism Pack, they have a separate file for the new players, which you may decide to disable if you wish to make use of the SortItOutSI Data Update. Of course, it is your choice and you may choose not to do that - but that could be an option.

Invariably, both the SortItOutSI Data Update and the Daveincid Realism Pack (and other ‘all-in-one’ packs that offer lots of functionality) will have a variety of things on which they overlap. There's only so much that can be done to make them work alongside each other.

If there are specific things that make the new players in Daveincid's Realism Pack better-executed than those in the SortItOutSI Data Update, your feedback would be much appreciated so the staff, here, can try and take that on board and perhaps improve the offering.