2029/30: Serie A and Champions League
Fresh off the back of the clubs first ever Europa League title and a second ever Serie A I was confident I could develop Calcio into a top European club that would allow for seriously good regens to come through for the national team. Sadly (and not for the first time) issues in the board room affected my ability to do this.
I found out that the club was once again up for sale as we had steadily been losing money through the last two seasons while we struggled to compete on Europe’s top stage. This gave me a transfer budget of £6 million for next season which I would need to use to somehow bring in top level talent.
Despite this significant challenge our transfer window got off to a good start as an old player became available on a free transfer. One time wonderkid Giovanni Chiappini had been released by PSG and I snapped him up on a £70k a week contract. During the 8 years (wow I have been playing this save for a long time) since he left the club he had developed into a good Serie A player and having the chance to pick him up on a free was an opportunity too good to miss.
After loan spells at Lens, San Marino, Empoli, Rennais, Saint-Etienne and Mainz, Chiappini would finally be settled (hopefully) at a club for the first time in almost a decade. His goal scoring record during this time had been good without being spectacular (79 goals in 219 appearances) but i hoped he could have his best days at his boyhood club. Also he was still eligible for the San Marino team having not being capped by Italy yet so there was hope he could boost my prospects in international management!
There were no significant purchases for the rest of the window as I added depth with a couple of loan signings of poor quality and two young players of moderate potential. The only major out going was back up defender Diederich who went to Bologna for £2 million.
Pre-season had added importance for the first time in many years as we were building up to the UEFA Super Cup which would be the final game before the Serie A opener. We started well in pre-season as we destroyed AEK Athens 9-1 (no idea how this happened) then beat Mansfield 3-1 before things took a turn. We lost to the mighty Walsall 2-0 before losing our three remaining friendly games. A very inauspicious start.
The Super Cup went just as badly as Manchester City went 3-0 up just after half time with England winger Willis-Leather scoring twice. Despite a second half goal from Francini this proved to just be consolation as Man City were simply too good for us to beat. Hopefully our draw in the Champions League would be kind as we were still short of being able to beat the best teams in Europe.
Fortunately the draw was kind as Calcio were drawn in a group with Borussia Dortmund, Basel and Rapid Wien we had a chance to top our group for the first time! Calcio started their competitive season flawlessly winning our first three league games and scoring a total of 8 goals in the process. This then lead into perhaps the toughest two matches we might play all season as we played away in Dortmund before facing Juventus at home in what could be an early signal of who would win the league title.
The first of these games started well as Reggini opened the scoring but we just couldn’t widen our advantage. Sadly Dortmund took the lead shortly after half time as Calcio struggled to stay in the game. As an action packed second half unfolded, Chippini then scored his first Champions League goal to give Calcio a chance of a point in the game. Sadly we couldn’t hang on as Dortmund nicked a late goal to win the opening group game, we would have to rebound against Juventus in the league.
Just like in the previous game we started very strongly. After an own goal started the scoring Reggini added a second goal just after the half hour mark to put us in control. This looked like it was shaping up to be a fairly routine victory against our major domestic rivals for once. This all changed on 57 minutes as Martin got a goal back to make things a little tighter. Reggini and Teixeira hit back in quick succession to once again make the points seem secure but Martin had other ideas as he completed a second half hat trick in the 92nd minute to set up a tense last couple of minutes of injury time. Calcio hung on but this was a much harder victory than it needed to be.
These two results highlighted the major flaws with my current squad. We had a world class set of strikers and midfielders that could compete with any team on their day however this was backed up by a steady but mediocre defence and GK by comparison. Young goalie Renaud was now our number one and had huge potential but he was still only an average Serie A GK. We needed improvement in these areas moving forward.
Despite these frailties Calcio continued to march on in the league and Europe. The season was shaping up to be a positive one as we won 8 of our next ten league games to sit comfortably top of the league in November whilst we also won our next three Champions League games to sit top of our group with only games against Basel and Dortmund remaining.
Things picked up even more off the pitch as, on the 15th of November, my chairman announced that the club had been bought by a ‘group of wealthy businessmen’, very promising indeed. I could only hope they would give me funds to improve my team when the transfer window opened! This was also the clubs third set of owners during my time at the club!
In the remaining two Champions League games we beat Dortmund to secure top spot in the group before surprisingly losing to Basel away but this result was of little importance. In an even bigger upset Wien actually managed to beat Dortmund to consign them to the Europa League!
By the time the January transfer window rolled round San Marino were still undefeated in the league with a sizeable points advantage. With improvements to both the training a youth facilities approved as well as an injection of funds to spend in the transfer window things really were looking up for the future! (we had even manged to get to the Coppa Italia Quarter finals)
We made three signings to bolster the defence in January with Miranda being the pick of the bunch. At only £6.5 million he was an absolute steal from Real Madrid and went straight into the first team. Wisloff and Papadopoulos were cheap players who added depth to my lineup and may improve the team in future.
With Miranda and Postma together at in the middle of defence we maintained our unbeaten record in the league through January when we hit disaster in the game against Bologna. Our main GK Renaud tore his hamstring and would be out for two months. Unfortunately in the remaining two weeks of the transfer window I was unable to secure a replacement keeper of any real quality so the burden of playing in goal would fall on the shoulders of the national team keepers remaining at the club; Gallo and Francioni.
I elected to play Gallo as he was the current national team goalie with over 30 caps and over 100 appearances in league football (all away on loan) but he was a good Serie B keeper at best. I hoped his brief loan spell at Real Madrid back in 2027 would serve him well.
With Gallo in goal we did manage to pick up two more league wins (including one against Juventus) but we lost our unbeaten record against Genoa. This time we fell 14 games short of a perfect season! Damn!
More importantly Gallo would have to play the first leg of our Champions League knockout tie against Porto. He performed well in this game as we picked up a very valuable 1-1 draw away from home. The second leg proved to be equally tight as it remained 0-0 until the 67th minute when Porto took the lead. Fortunately San Marino rallied and scored three goals in the last 20 minutes to secure a 4-2 win on aggregate and a first ever place in the Quarter Finals.
Despite losing only our second (and it would turn out last) league game of the season we secured our third Serie A title on the 6th of April only three days before our next Champions League tie where we would face Arsenal.
Carrying this positive energy into the game we went 2-0 up in half an hour thanks to Francini. Sadly he then was stretchered off just before half time with what turned out to be a fractured ankle, effectively ending his season. This injury gave Arsenal control in the game and they came back to draw 2-2. Even with a major injury this was a very costly lead to give away and I didn’t hold back in my post game team talk. We would need better in the second leg.
With half an hour remaining it looked as if Calcio had kept my words in mind as we lead 2-1 thanks to goals from Reggini and Francini (the winger) but we just couldn’t hang on. Of all people Alex Iwobi scored in both normal time and extra time to see Arsenal sneak through after extra time as we just couldn’t find the equaliser needed to get us through on away goals.
Late goals had cost us in a big way through the course of this tie as we had fallen agonisingly short against a really good team in this competition. The loss of Francini (the striker) really did hurt us but it was still a phenomenal effort.
With his season effectively finished with five games remaining it had been another amazing year for Francini until this point. He had scored 22 goals and made 11 assists in the league with a further 8 goals in 6 Champions League games. Slightly worse than last season but still a top, top effort. Equally impressively he looked set to win both his third golden boot in a row along with his third European Golden Boy award in a row (no one has ever done this before).
After this it was an odd end to the season. We had five totally meaningless games to play with only one major milestone within reach. Club legend and all time leading scorer Andrea Tamagnini was on 99 league goals and, considering the nature of the games left, I elected to start him in every one of them.
On the 5th of May against Atalanta he made history by becoming the first Calcio player to reach 100 league goals! Despite being in decline he was still a steady player to be able to bring on from off the bench with his pace and finishing providing a stesdy strsm of goals over a number of years.
He only had a couple of prolific seasons in terms of goal scoring so it was inevitable that either Reggini or Francini would overtake him eventually but I was pleased that he was the first player to hit this milestone. He was one of the first top Sammarinese players produced during the game.
His standout years were between 2023 and 2026 where he had double figures for goals in three consecutive seasons, something he has only managed once in his other 13 seasons as a footballer. This steady rate of roughly a goal every three matches for club is in stark contrast to his international record where he has a fairly incredible record of 94 goals in 125 games!
This was a dominant season for us in Serie A as we only lost twice and finished 21 points clear of second. Juventus were surprisingly poor finishing 4th and both Milan clubs were both languishing in mid-table!
- Average Attendance – 20314
- Biggest Win – 6-2 v Bologna
- Biggest Defeat – 1-3 v Man City (the very first game of the season)
- Top Scorer – Alessandro Francini, 22 goals (his third golden boot in a row)
- Most Assists – 21, Massimo Reggini
- Player of the Year – Alessandro Francini
- Highest Rated Player – Alessandro Francini, 7.62
Best Eleven
Francini (the winger) lost his place in the best eleven for the first time in almost a decade as Cevoli broke through for the first time as he blossomed this season. Miranda looked assured at CB after only half a season while Bojovic and Fournier have now made over 250 appearances each at full back.
Youth Intake
First touted to have solid Serie A potential (which he may still develop into) but has shown absolutely no signs of significantly improving to this level so far. By no means a bad defender for the national side but when loaned out to Serie C level he has has performed very badly for both Modena and Sambiase. I can only hope he can kick on to become a consistent CB as he moves into his 20’s.
Not one for the national team but a top prospect. Did well filling in for injuries in his first season before being loaned out in order to develop. Despite being on the short side he could become a top LB for Calcio in the future.
All in all a terrible youth intake. One potentially good national team player and a good club player is all I have to show from this season. Every other player was of very low quality and wouldn’t even be able to break into the national side unless there were huge injury problems. I really need better to say I almost have top tier facilities, coaching and recruitment.
National Team
With San Marino managing to Qualify for the 2030 World Cup I thought i’d cover this in depth in a separate piece next week. It might be the only major tournament we qualify for so I might as well give it the coverage it deserves!
StratMan Gaming 