Once again I thank you for your votes which put me on my 4th mandate as the Swedish national team manager. The role of the NT manager is both demanding and fun. I surely enjoy the challenge, and look forward to see what we can do in the future.
This year's European championship is quite relaxed for us, since the pressure from the domestic public seems low at the moment. Sure, my promises of the better future should catch up eventually, but currently we are as low as I expect we go. The bar is therefore set to "keep or slightly improve the rating", and to "give experience to youngsters". Naturally we will not hesitate if the opportunity presents itself! We can surprise many higher ranked teams, but I don't expect us to be in contention for the second round, since this requires steady results where the random-luck factor is more or less eliminated.
Our schedule for the season is:
Andorra A feisty little nation with 11 users. It is a déjà vu from the last season, when we also played the first game against them - and lost. This time we were more successful, and managed to start the EC with a win
(80482). It wasn't super convincing, but it was a decent win, which gave us some well-needed confidence before the following games.
Denmark Another Nordic nation with 32 users is currently on the rise, and their youth-development program seems a couple of seasons ahead of ours. They have a very young team with several very talented players. For the game against Hungary (which they convincingly lost), the average age of their top 10 was 27.5 years old. For example, our roster (top 10) against Andorra had an average age 29.8 years, which can also be considered young. Top nations are usually at around 32 years. Experience definitely plays an important factor, but talented youth can also bring positive surprises, at least on a bit lower level. Quality-wise, Denmark is currently similar to us (they beat us in the last EC), so it will be a difficult game.
Czech republic A country with 133 users finally managed to get a new trophy in the last EC - they finished second, behind France. They nabbed 8 trophies of all colors between seasons 17 and 26, so it was a long break, but now they definitely seem to aim on the top positions again. A game, where our chances are very limited.
Portugal A large BB nation with 232 users demonstrated their strength already in the first game, where they beat Spain
(80481). Their team also seems on the rise, and is very close to the teams of Spain or Czech republic. We played them several times under my management, and were not yet successful. So another difficult task for us.
Hungary Another large BB nation. With 263 users, Hungary could probably achieve more than it did in its history. Hungarians seem more interested in the U21 team, where they got a lot of trophies (the last one is bronze from S66 EC), but their senior team's trophy room is still empty. Still, Hungary is probably also in contention for the second round, although they are a bit behind the likes of Spain, Czech republic or even Portugal. But their convincing win against Denmark demonstrates their strength and suggests that they are another stronger opponent from our perspective.
Malta The smallest country of our group (7 users) is not completely innocent, since they have some very nice players. Naturally, the depth of their roster is not great, and probably Malta will use a lot of their strength to achieve one victory (most likely against Andorra). That does not mean we are out of danger. Now, with the addition of Utopian players, every micronation can become a threat under the right management.
Spain A country with 1233 users is automatically considered the top favourite. So obviously their players are close to perfect. But Portugal managed to beat them, if they make another mistake, they are out. For us, this is a "cant loose anything" game.
Last edited by Deschamps at 7/23/2025 9:22:13 AM