The Byline

The latest in our series on Bundesliga teams to manage sees us profile a team known to many for their regular appearances in continental competitions over the last two decades, Bayer 04 Leverkusen. 

The club were founded in 1904 by workers at the Pharmaceutical company Bayer AG and they’ve tried to maintain a link to their roots to this day, with Leverkusen nicknamed ‘Die Werkself’, meaning ‘The Company’s Eleven’. Despite their long history, they’ve never lifted the German title.

Bundesliga regulars since 1980, they’ve mostly finished in the top half, aside from a couple of brushes with the drop zone, and more often than not in the top six. Domestically, their best achievements are five second-place finishes in the league and a single DfB Pokal triumph in 1993.

Leverkusen have had some great success in Europe, producing a dramatic comeback from a 3-0 first leg deficit to win the 1988 Euro Cup on penalties. They also became the first team to reach the Champions Cup final without having ever won a league title in 2002, losing 2-1. 

Köln (or Cologne) is the cultural centre of Germany’s Rhineland, hosting a wealth of museums, galleries and, like all good cities, one very interesting football club. A club with a magnificent 50,000 seater-stadium which creates one of the nation’s finest atmospheres. 

1.FC Köln were Bundesliga stalwarts until 1998 when they slipped into the second tier. Until that campaign, they’d been in the top flight since the Bundesliga’s inception and were the first team to win the title. They were crowned champions again in 1978, truly cementing themselves as one of the country’s fiercest clubs. 20 years later, they dropped down to the second tier. 

Looking back retrospectively like this makes that relegation seem so peculiar. The same can be said for their relegation in 2018 too, a year after securing a fifth-placed finish in the Bundesliga. 

The first cricketer to take part in Why I Love FM, Surrey’s Scott Borthwick, comes to the crease to tell us about his best bits from the game over the years. 

Like all of us, the England-capped all-rounder has had to change a lot of his real-life plans of late, something that has given him more time to continue his progress on Football Manager 2020. We caught up with Scott to discuss his best-ever save, go-to tactic and FM alter ego…
 

Earlier in the series we profiled Hertha Berlin and now we turn our attention to their neighbours from the east of the city, Union Berlin.

In their current guise, ‘The Iron Ones’ were formed in 1966 but, as they were based in the eastern part of Berlin, they only joined the Bundesliga league structure in 1990. Since then they’ve mostly played their football in the Bundesliga 2 and the 3.Liga and prior to 2019, their greatest success came in 2001, when they reached the DFB-Pokal final as a third-tier outfit, losing 2-0 to Schalke 04 in the final. 
 

The Bundesliga became the first major European league to restart since the Coronavirus outbreak. In the three weeks since its return we’ve been entertained with plenty of high-scoring games and tense clashes at both ends of the table.

The Bundesliga is a fantastic league to start a save in Football Manager as well. For a start, it’s fully licensed - no silhouettes on the team line-ups screen here - and each of the 18 teams in the league has a fully fleshed out, unique identity. Over the coming days we’re going to showcase six Bundesliga outfits that offer the best short and long-term challenges for you to get stuck into in FM20.

We kick things off with a trip to the capital to take a closer look at Hertha Berlin.
 

Have you ever wondered where the player attributes, club data and stadium information in Football Manager come from? We are assisted by more than 1,000 researchers across the world who help put our database together but that wasn’t always the case. The research team started out quite small in the mid-1990s but has expanded almost exponentially since then. 

Our researchers are fans of the series, just like us, and many of them took on their roles because they were passionate about their clubs, domestic leagues and national football setups and they wanted to ensure they were represented accurately in the game. 

Indeed, many of those who have worked as researchers for Football Manager have moved into jobs in the footballing world as a result of their knowledge and commitment, so it can be a pathway to the job of your dreams. 

Oliver Zesiger is our Swiss head researcher and he has been involved with FM for more than a decade. 
 

This week's Wednesday Wisdom is brought to you by Ihor Crusadertsar of Dictate the Game who focuses on two underrated and under-utilised roles. 

At first glance both Pressing Forwards and Defensive Wingers might appear to be roles you would make use of in the dying moments of a game. Maybe you’d use them when you’re trying to preserve a fragile lead in a tight game, or competing as the underdog in a big match? Whatever the case, it would be very unusual to consider either role as the basis of your standard tactic or formation. However, appearances can be misleading. A different sport gave me the idea of mixing things up.

Our newest instalment of Why I Love FM is with the West Bromwich Albion and St Kitts & Nevis midfielder Romaine Sawyers. Romaine was recently in charge of the Baggies in the EFL Football Manager Cup and while he didn’t win, we still wanted to chat to him about that experience, when he first got into the game and some of his best saves…

A throw-in is not all that different from a free kick or a corner; it’s a set-piece that you can train and prepare multiple routines for. There is one major difference, though: while corners and free-kicks are aspects of the game that are coached rigorously from a young age, throw-ins are often neglected. This is madness as, on average, football teams get to take and defend around 50 throw-ins per game. That is a colossal figure, far too big just to ignore. The good news is, though, that (like all set-pieces) throw-ins can be improved upon both in terms of technique and positioning.

By @MerryGuido 

The Bundesliga is back.

This season has already been one of the most competitive and dramatic in years. Five teams in a battle for the title. Big names battling to beat the drop. Seven weeks to decide it all. 

The Bundesliga’s brand of pulsating, attacking football is punctuated with explosive young and developing talents who mix it up with the very best in the league. Those promising stars will have the chance to decide their team’s fate. 

With such an array of talent, we had the hard job of singling out the players who will have the biggest impact over the remaining fixtures. Some players narrowly missed the cut and we could’ve included multiple stars from some teams. In the end, we decided to go for one from teams at the top and bottom of the table. Here are the stars you won’t want to take your eyes off.

That special buzz in the air. The big pre-match build-up. There’s nothing quite like a Football Manager cup final.

Whether you’re a seasoned pro with a trophy cabinet bursting at the seams or a managerial novice, cup final days always feel exceptional. It’s difficult to treat a cup final as ‘just another game’ and we don’t think you should. Treat it for what it is… a day to remember. Here are the six things you need to do to get fixed up and looking sharp for your cup final.
 

If you’re like me and usually take some time before hitting ‘Continue’ after starting a new save, then you more than likely have Day One of Football Manager nailed down by now. A combination of attempted perfectionism and general new save obsession means that days can pass before I reach our first league game… and I’m completely ok with that.

However, if you’re not as inclined to spend hours deciding which U18 Physios and set piece routines you will need in your first season, or you’re a newcomer to the series, it’s important to remember that Day One in FM can be critical in ensuring you get the right things done from the very beginning. It’s valuable time where you can avoid being slow off the mark when it comes to sorting your team, tactics, recruitment and financial situation before hitting ‘Save’ for the first time.

Here are 10 essentials that every player should remember when starting a new save in Football Manager.