Totally Lost With League Setups, etc. Little help

[zanner]

This is my first Fifa game in a while, I played premiere soccer my teenage years but I never followed the sport at all. I opened up the game and will enjoy the gameplay; however, I'm a big Dynasty/Career mode player in these games and the amount of teams, countries, etc is just really overwhelming that I don't know who to play as to get what I want out of Career mode.

Basically : I don't want a top team, and would be up to play in the "B" league of any of the leagues as long as the stadiums are big/nice and the jersey's or kits don't look like complete trash. Given my stick skills at the moment, a little talent wouldn't hurt, but again I want a team I feel like I accomplished something with so being in B and moving up in a 2 or 3 years would be excellent.


Now other than that, I am completely clueless to the way futbol playoffs, championships and the like works. It looks to me like teams from different leagues play in an UEFA championship?? What leagues feed into this bigger championship (because I would want to be in a league that plays for the big championship) , and is that even the biggest championship?

Which league do most have the opinion is the "best", like la liga, serie, english? I guess more so than asking for team advice or history (other than decent stadiums and not some backlot), I just really be appreciative if someone can take the time to give some explanation on the leagues, how playoffs work, and how does UEFA Championship or things of that matter work. Just seems like so many "cups", tables, leagues going on all the time.

[KG]

Wikipedia is your friend.

[inzie]

based on what you are looking for your best bet would probably be the English Championship (the second division). Its the second tier of english football but still has some clubs that you would probably recognise the names of because some have a decent history. Clubs like Middlesboro, QPR, Derby County, Leeds United, Leicester City etc are all in this division even though at times in the past (some recent, some not so recent) they have been major players in English club football. One of these would probably fit your criteria for a club to take up to the big time over the 3 year time frame.

Be warned though FIFA doesn't put a huge amount of effort into setting these teams up so the base tactics are pretty generic & will need some tinkering on your part to make them effective.

Hope this helps.

[zanner]

Quote: Originally Posted by inzie

based on what you are looking for your best bet would probably be the English Championship (the second division). Its the second tier of english football but still has some clubs that you would probably recognise the names of because some have a decent history. Clubs like Middlesboro, QPR, Derby County, Leeds United, Leicester City etc are all in this division even though at times in the past (some recent, some not so recent) they have been major players in English club football. One of these would probably fit your criteria for a club to take up to the big time over the 3 year time frame. Be warned though FIFA doesn't put a huge amount of effort into setting these teams up so the base tactics are pretty generic & will need some tinkering on your part to make them effective. Hope this helps.

It definitely does. I'll check those teams out on the web and in the game. Thanks!

It's probably the best bet because I know English Premiere feeds into a bigger championship. After taking the "wiki" advice I'm still not sure I completely understand the whole 'streams' into the tournaments and coefficient business.

The way I understand it is
League Champs goto 32 team tourney?
Each league standing (2-4) goto a group setup where top 2 of 8 groups goto UEFA cup? Tournament style?

And then those that don't make that tourney drop into a Europa cup

The amount of teams from each league put into the tournaments or groupings are based on prior success aka coefficient? Is that the basis of pro soccer in Europe?

[inzie]

Yeah its complicated - especially for those not exposed to it regularly

Every domestic league in Europe potentially feeds into the champions league which is like the club championship for european football (i can't think of a US sports comparison except maybe the NCAA Basketball tourney where the conference winners + various other teams qualify for the big chamionship torunament).

The various strengths of the leagues is determined by a co-efficient which grades the domestic leagues based on recent european performance to determine how many automatic spots + qualification spots that they league gets into the champions league eg England gets 3 automatic + 1 qualification spot meaning that the top 3 teams in the league (Chelsea, man u & arsenal from last season) get automatic entry into the chamions league and one team (tottenham from last year) has to go into a playoff with a team from another country to get into the champions league. The number of places can change over time based on the performance of that country's teams over time eg next season Italy will almost certainly drop down from 4 to 3 places and Germany will gain a spot.

The Europa league is the second level European club championship (like the NIT) for the next level down of clubs. This has all of the losers of champions league playoff games as well as a set number of teams from each league (again based on the same co-efficient number). To further complicate matters when the champions league has its first stage (groups of four playing each other home and away) the teams that come 3rd in each group drop back into the Europa League from that point on.

I hope that makes sense - it was funny to have to try and explain it because when you are immersed in it like i am it all seems so straight forward but then to try and explain it to someone else you see how needlessly complicated the system has become!

[MrRudy]

Quote: Originally Posted by inzie

Yeah its complicated - especially for those not exposed to it regularly Every domestic league in Europe potentially feeds into the champions league which is like the club championship for european football (i can't think of a US sports comparison except maybe the NCAA Basketball tourney where the conference winners + various other teams qualify for the big chamionship torunament). The various strengths of the leagues is determined by a co-efficient which grades the domestic leagues based on recent european performance to determine how many automatic spots + qualification spots that they league gets into the champions league eg England gets 3 automatic + 1 qualification spot meaning that the top 3 teams in the league (Chelsea, man u & arsenal from last season) get automatic entry into the chamions league and one team (tottenham from last year) has to go into a playoff with a team from another country to get into the champions league. The number of places can change over time based on the performance of that country's teams over time eg next season Italy will almost certainly drop down from 4 to 3 places and Germany will gain a spot. The Europa league is the second level European club championship (like the NIT) for the next level down of clubs. This has all of the losers of champions league playoff games as well as a set number of teams from each league (again based on the same co-efficient number). To further complicate matters when the champions league has its first stage (groups of four playing each other home and away) the teams that come 3rd in each group drop back into the Europa League from that point on. I hope that makes sense - it was funny to have to try and explain it because when you are immersed in it like i am it all seems so straight forward but then to try and explain it to someone else you see how needlessly complicated the system has become!

I think you've done a pretty good job of explaining the way that the major tournaments work/comparison with the NCAA Basketball tourney. They are pretty similar in that way. Kudos

[jb12780]

At the rate they are going, pick Liverpool.

[zanner]

Thanks Inzie, that does definitely simplify it in terms that I can better understand. And in a way I think most that aren't familiar with the setup can understand.

Ended up doing this career with Derby County.