If you were asked who would be the first Football Manager world champion, how many would have bet on Indonesia? Well, it happened.
The first FM World Cup
From August 29 to September 1, 2024, Liverpool hosted the FIFAe World Cup featuring Football Manager, the game’s first official world competition. Twenty managers from 19 countries competed for a total prize pool of $100,000.
The format had nothing to do with pressing “continue” until the end of the season. Clubs were drawn from a global list, participants were split into groups of five and had four days to prepare their team before the competition started.
A no-nonsense final
The final was between Indonesia and Germany. Ichsan “Miracle” Taufiq, with assistant Manar “wednesday” Hidayat, won both legs, 3-0 and 5-2, sealing the tie 8-2 on aggregate against Sven Goly. The result of someone who really knows what they are doing.
What about Portugal?
Portugal was one of the 19 nations chosen for the tournament. The Portuguese representative was Lica, who won the national qualifier and traveled to England with the national virtual football coach, Francisco “Quinzas” Cruz. Lica was 29 and had been playing FM since 2006, when he got his first computer. He told zerozero it felt like a daydream.
For years we were told that spending nights on FM would lead nowhere. For some, it led to a World Cup.
Sources: Wikipedia: 2024 FIFAe World Cup featuring Football Manager · RTP Arena (08/10/2024) · zerozero
