The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed a subtle difference to my ongoing Saving Sporting series. That’s because I discovered the work of Laura, aka Chilled Moose, with her awesome looking regen faces and a really exciting database she’s created.
This came as I was mulling over potential new saves, now that I’ve also got a new gaming laptop to play FM20 on! And the idea came to me to start a new save in a new country with new players – all of which are based within a fictional database.
I’ve got the database (which you too can access by subscribing to Laura’s Patreon or right here) saved and loaded up ready for me to get going. I’ve had a good read up on it and spent a little bit of time digging through it to get an idea for how I want to play this save. And, my criteria for starting the save is a team that:
- Has a name that I like
- Has a colour scheme that I like
- Has kits that I like
- Plays at the lowest level possible
- Isn’t the best team at that level but has potential for growth
I think I’ve selected a team that feels right for me, but more on that next time. In this blog, I want to introduce Aswijan – the concept, the nation.
What is Aswijan?
The Aswijan Project began in April 2018 as a concept of creating an entirely fictional country, which has its own language and unique culture.
Aswijan, an island country situated off the west coast of south-west Europe, is a nation of roughly 50,000 square kilometres. It has a population of approximately 32 million people (so, roughly half the size of the UK), of which around 26 million live in its major towns and cities. The country is formed of various fictional regions and states, which are home to multiple weather systems, cities and towns.
In the last 60 years, Aswijan has developed a self-sufficient economy that’s made it a very wealthy country. It is a leader in high-tech exports and, more recently, renewable energy resources.
Aswijan’s football heritage
Aswijan’s economic growth has led to huge investment in the national game of football. Furthermore, the newly crowned Queen Nimah is a huge football fan, so the Aswijanis kind of follow suit whether they like it or not.
The nation has quickly risen through the FIFA rankings and it now has a number of competitive clubs on the European stage. These are led by two powerhouse clubs: Aswijan Malikiy (Malikiy meanings Royal) and Aswijan Siti, The People’s Club (not to be confused with People’s Club Manouza or Ajqab).
Queen Nimah has stated that her dream is to see the Aswijani national team, nicknamed the Purple Panthers lift the World Cup and bring sporting glory to the nation. But, given she’s already 89, that could be difficult.
The nation’s footballing hierarchy consists of 3 new leagues, 3 cup competitions, youth leagues and, crucially, its teams compete in the Champions League, Europa League and international competitions.
The Aswijan football system is composed of 64 new clubs. For each club there are training grounds and academies, rivalries and derbies, league and cup histories, favourite players and club legends. Each club also has its own unique flavour, from youth development specialists and powerhouse clubs to fan-owned clubs.
Going even deeper, within the database are new sports clothing brands, as well as badges, kits and graphics for every team. Even more impressively there are more than 4,000 unique new players and 1,500 fictional staff with some individual player and staff faces.
There’s so much more to this proect that I can’t write about without massively plagiarising Laura’s hard work, so go and read everything you need to know about Aswijan in her post on Dictate The Game. And, find out more in this short video:
In short, Aswijan is an amazing project that’s clearly taken a monumental effort to not just create but have the vision and, no doubt, patience to piece together. And that effort and creativity needs to be celebrated. So, we’re going to do exactly that by immersing ourselves into life in Aswijan.
Join us at 12pm on Monday (1 June) to find out a bit more about the Aswijan footballing hierarchy and discover the team we select to start The Aswijan Assignment with.
Football Manager Addict 
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