We are patiently awaiting the release of FM19 in a month, whereupon we will start the whole process of creating a new Draft World Cup. But in the meantime, here is the start of an exciting new series!
I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the brilliant Women on FM account on twitter. They have been creating superb databases to reflect the women's game, primarily focusing on Scotland and England. I have long believed that being able to control women's teams in FM is long overdue, particularly as FIFA have included women's teams since 2015. Whilst I appreciate that a large overhaul of key gameplay features may be necessary, if one person can create such a rich database, SI should be able to as well.
I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the brilliant Women on FM account on twitter. They have been creating superb databases to reflect the women's game, primarily focusing on Scotland and England. I have long believed that being able to control women's teams in FM is long overdue, particularly as FIFA have included women's teams since 2015. Whilst I appreciate that a large overhaul of key gameplay features may be necessary, if one person can create such a rich database, SI should be able to as well.
Anyway, with the exciting new database, the inevitable solution was to recreate our Draft World Cup, but with women's players. So, this is the launch of the WDWC! A reminder for those who haven't followed our DWC series, this is a tournament where players play for the country they play football in, rather than their nationality. For example, in the men's tournaments Messi plays for Spain, and in the women's Lucy Bronze will play for France.
As I've mentioned, the database focuses on Scottish & English players, with an extraordinary depth of players from those countries. However, this means the pool of players is relatively limited elsewhere. We are able to make 7 teams representing individual nations: England, France, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden and USA. There are still a lot of fine players playing in other countries, so we grouped those to make three hybrid teams:
With only 10 teams, it seems silly to have qualification, so all 10 teams will go straight into the finals. So we will have two groups of 5, with the top two from each group going through to the semi-finals. It seems harsh that 3 in each group get eliminated, but they will get to play four group games rather than 3 in the men's tournament.
Of the 10 teams, four stand out as being the strongest: England, France, Germany and USA. So these teams are seeded such that two are in each group. And the draw is...
Group A: USA, England, Rest of World, Scotland, Ireland
Group B: France, Germany, Rest of UK, Mainland Europe, Sweden
This will be a fairly short series, taking us through October. The next update will be a preview, featuring each team's squads.
As I've mentioned, the database focuses on Scottish & English players, with an extraordinary depth of players from those countries. However, this means the pool of players is relatively limited elsewhere. We are able to make 7 teams representing individual nations: England, France, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden and USA. There are still a lot of fine players playing in other countries, so we grouped those to make three hybrid teams:
- Rest of UK (Northern Ireland, Wales)
- Mainland Europe (Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Spain)
- Rest of World (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa)
With only 10 teams, it seems silly to have qualification, so all 10 teams will go straight into the finals. So we will have two groups of 5, with the top two from each group going through to the semi-finals. It seems harsh that 3 in each group get eliminated, but they will get to play four group games rather than 3 in the men's tournament.
Of the 10 teams, four stand out as being the strongest: England, France, Germany and USA. So these teams are seeded such that two are in each group. And the draw is...
Group A: USA, England, Rest of World, Scotland, Ireland
Group B: France, Germany, Rest of UK, Mainland Europe, Sweden
This will be a fairly short series, taking us through October. The next update will be a preview, featuring each team's squads.