AZ Alkmaar won a second Eredivisie title in three years with a team comprised wholly of players produced by the club's youth academy. The challenge now was to try and compete in Europe as they re-entered the Champions League in the 2029/30 campaihn.
There had been a seismic shift in the fortunes of FC Pompei in the five years that previously unknown Roberto de Vesuvius Sulpicius had been in charge. And the minnows defied all the odds to remain in Italy's Serie C/C for a second season.
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Twelve months on from becoming Champions of the Netherlands, AZ Alkmaar were reflecting on a solid if unspectacular campaign. Manager Robinho Lazaró had done an impressive job of promoting homegrown youth while keeping his promising AZ side competitive.
Little-known FC Pompei were well and truly rising from the ashes as they spewed from tier-five anonymity to turning professional as they stepped up to Italy's Serie C within four seasons. But now things reached whole new levels of difficulty as Robí Sulpicius attempted to rebuild a squad nowhere near ready for this standard of football with the ongoing threat of crippling debt.
Having created save files with all the real-life squads for the European Championships, which kick off in Germany next Sunday, I thought we'd use FM24 to see who the game thinks will win the tournament. I simulated the tournament five times to see who came out on top.
EURO 2024 is nearly one week away and I recently noticed there were no databases available to play the tournament with the real-life groups and final confirmed squads on Football Manager 2024. So I took to FM to do what I could to create the final squads.
The exciting crop of youngsters at AZ Alkmaar outperformed even their loftiest expectations as they usurped the big three to become champions of the Netherlands for the third time in 2027. The challenge now was for Robinho Lazaró and his young squad to build on that success.
Debt-ridden FC Pompei made the doubters eat dust last season as a hot run of form led them to an impressive 3rd-place finish in Serie D/H. But there was no doubt the off-field matters were the biggest talking point in the summer of 2026.
The wonderkid factory project at AZ Alkmaar was progressing very nicely as Robinho Lazaró led the club to two 2nd-place finishes in three seasons. He'd also reduced the AZ squad to just five players who didn't come through the club's academy heading into the summer of 2026.
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