FM 2015 Club Brugge Guide

Why Club Brugge?

Few know that Club Brugge is the only Belgium club to have played a final of the UEFA Champions League — back in 1978 when it was named European Cup — lost against Liverpool. Even more, Club Brugge also holds the record number of consecutive participations in the UEFA Cup (16), the record number of Belgian cups (11) and the record number of Belgian Supercups (13). The club has quite a long history, dating from 123 years ago (1891) when Brugsche Football Club was created by the old students of the Catholic school Broeders Xaverianen and the neutral school Koninklijk Atheneum.

Club Information – The Initial Setup

• Reputation: National
• Estimated Value: €34.5M (Loan Debt: €24.5M)
• Stadium: Jan Breydelstadion, 29042 all-seater
• Affiliated Club(s): Diegem Sport, Belgian Third Division
• Training Facilities: Good
• Youth Facilities: Good

Having enjoyed their greatest spell of success during the 1990s and despite not having won anything for seven years, Blauw-Zwart are still one of the most successfull clubs in Belgium. Boasting a proud total of 37 competition wins, Club Brugge won the Belgian top division 13 times and are 19 times runners up, and won the Belgian Cup on 10 occasions while they came in second place six times.

Finances

• Balance: €9.8M
• Projected Balance: €13M
• Sponsors: 1 year general sponsorship deal at €5.99M per season (ends 2015) / 5 year main kit sponsorship deal at €1.46M per season (ends 2018) / 4 year back of shirt sponsorship deal at €699K per season (ends 2018)
• Loans Outstanding: €24.5M
• Total Player Wage Budget: €1.38M per month
• Current Player Wage Budget: €1.26M per month
• Transfer Budget: €999K (90% transfer revenue made available)

Board Expectations

The board will not give you any options to choose from as their desire is simply to win the league title, you will such start with the budget specified above under the Finances section of this article. There are no other philosophies included.

Staff Members

• Mutual Termination: Aaron Verbeek (Director of Football) / Roel Vaeyens (Chief Scout) / Jurgen Belpaire, Rudi Fort, Jean-Claude Lagrou (Scout) / Karel Watteyne (Head Physio) Valentijn Deneulin (Physio) / Jef Vanthournout, Sven Vermant (Under 19s Coach).
• New Signings: Mogi Bayat (Chief Scout) / Stephane Pauwels, Henri Zambelli (Scout).

The Squad – Key Players & Backups

Goalkeepers: Matthew Ryan will be your main keeper and quite a good option with lots of potential, while Sokratis Dioudis will provide decent backup for a season or two.

Defenders: Lots of good prospects but perhaps the most promising are Oscar Duarte and Bjorn Engels, you also have fairly good wing backs by the names of Thomas Meunier, Laurens De Bock and Davy De Fauw. Might use a new transfer in this area though.

Midfielders: We start with the club’s veteran Timmy Simons, a key player despite of his advanced years, best choice for a defensive midfielder in my opinion. There are also good covers in central area with Victor Vasquez, Ruud Vormer or Jose Izquerdo. Great prospects on the wings, Felipe Gedoz can be a real threat but you can also rely on Lior Refaelov or Jose Izquerdo. Midfielders are quite versatile, you can play them around as you like with a single exception, Felipe Gedoz who must by all means be played on the wings.

Strikers: Tom de Sutter is your number one striker if you don’t plan to make any transfers in this area. He does a very good job but is quite susceptible to injuries so I recommend you turn your attention towards the transfer market for an additional backup, or you can force the youngsters who really have bags of potential.

The Youth Generation

• Good Junior Coaching
• Established Youth Recruitment
• Prospects: Nikola Storm (19), AMRL / Tuur Dierckx (19), AMRL / Obbi Oulare (18), ST and many more others.
• Youth Intake Rating (First Season): 7/10

FM 2015 Club Brugge Tactics

The adjustable 4-2-3-1 system proved to be a very good setup that once again made the most out of our striker Elias, who didn’t reach 30 goals like he did on FM 2015 Montpellier Guide, but that is understandable since I had Simons the main penalty taker, and Felipe Gedoz with an incredible display overall, I also used de Sutter and Senghor in rotation and even so he still had over 20 goals during the season. Instructions such as play out of defense, look for overlap and lower tempo are still in place however I gave up on retain possession since we were the favorites throughout most of the games, but you can play around with the instructions as you desire. [Download]

Club Transfers

If you followed my other guides I think you already know that finances are my top priority for the very first seasons, so I am not going to spend it all out on some big name transfers. Instead I begin by offloading any deadwood which in this case included 16 players, anything below a 3-star potential all out on a mutual termination. Next I turn my attention towards the free transfer market and see if there’s any good bargain out there and eventually, if I really need extra quality (or quantity) I sign other players as well. Luckily this time wasn’t the case (please note that you must have a large database with current International players available!).

Players In

• Goalkeeper(s): none
• Defender(s): Samuel Inkoom
  
• Midfielder(s): Humphrey Mieno
  
• Striker(s): Elias, Andre Senghor

Team Management

This one applies for each and every save possible. Always aim to encourage your players. Be careful to injuries, try the rotation system as it will help youngsters develop. Pay attention to finances, above all. Set general training to either Tactics or Fitness in pre-season, High and then lower intensity during the season. Main focus for match preparation can be set to Match Tactics initially then Teamwork. As for scouting, keep your scouts active through all season and make sure you’re prepared for any future transitions.

The Conclusion

Well this save has been the easiest so far. I managed to win the Belgium title, while we also played the Belgium Cup final (lost against Zulte Waregem on penalties) and Europa League semi-finals (defeated by Lille). Club Brugge definitely has enough quality to ensure a good start of your career without much troubles at all, and while the Belgium league system might be a bit confusing at first (with the playoff system and all), it can be a real fun save for the newbies. Worth to mention that the foreigners rules are also loose, as the only requirement is to have enough home grown players on the match day. Thanks for following and good luck with Blauw-Zwart!

• Pros: large stadium,  great prospects, very good setup.
• Cons: difficult keeping youth prospects due to lower league reputation, loan debt.
• Difficulty: 3/10