Precedently in Hexagon Challenge, we conquered Oceania and then stuck around for a bit
Today, we are challenging the legacy of Gengis Khan and trying to conquer Asia.
After leaving AS Dragon, I start looking for an interesting job in either Asia or Africa, depending on what my reputation will allow me to land. I also apply to Real Madrid who just fired their manager but get laughed off. Apparently, they're not impressed by my 2 Oceanian Champions Leagues. We'll make sure to avenge that later. In 15 years or so.
I apply to a few clubs, get some interviews and finally get the job at Shabab Ordon, in the Jordanian first division.
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I'm lucky and find myself in a very good situation. Shabab Ordon is a small club in a country dominated by Wehdat and Faisaly (respectively 35 and 20 titles when I sign) but in a good shape. They won the title 2 years ago in 2023, and if they were searching for a new manager, it is because the old one had retire and not because of bad results. Indeed, the club has been on the podium for the past 6 seasons. The roster is pretty good given the restrictions (we are only allowed 3 non-Jordanians, and they cannot be GKs). And the Jordanian league qualifies for the Champions League ! I'm not delusional enough to think I can win it there in less than a decade or so, but it will allow me to test out the waters a bit.
Season 1 - 2025/2026
My first order of business is bringing with me my friend Ramy Mohsen, the egyptian CB. We sign him for a little over 100k and a friendly against AS Dragon (in which we will hammer them 5-1). He was great in Tahiti, and he's great in Jordan too, he is well worth a foreign slot.
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I also bring him the belgian winger Maxime Lestienne who was listed for a loan from his qatari club, on loan with mandatory fee. That'll turn out to be a big mistake from me, I have let my feelings speak on this one (I loved him at PSV). His physicals are way too low to be productive and his salary is more than 3x than anyone else on the team. I'm let off the hook when he announces his retirement at the end of the season. We won't even have to pay the fee !
I also find out that the team is in the West Final of the Asian Confederation Cup (equivalent to the Europa League). It takes me some time to figure this out due to the complete clusterfuck this competition is, but the West Final are in fact the semi-finals of the competition (or one of them rather). We beat a Bahraini club, and then a North Korean club in the Finale. Champions of Asia ! Kinda. But we want the Champions League, not the Asian Mickey Mouse Cup.
I put the same possession based game as in Tahiti, and the roster is good enough to make it work. We win the league in the first season, and qualify for the Champions League (2 qualified teams in Jordan, the winner of the league and the winner of the Cup). This is not a very spectacular league, there is few goals and most victories are only by one goal. We finsh as the second attack with 39 goals in 22 games.
Jordanian Premier League - 2025/2026
Season 2 - 2026/2027
In the summer, I have an important decision to make, as the emirati club Al-Ain offers me an interview. Do I want to see what I can do with Shabab Ordon in the CL or do I want to try and fast track the process ? I decide that the opportunity is too good to pass up and take the interview. They will end up chosing someone else. Their loss. We'll stay at Ordon then.
We improve the roster a bit, with the main objective of scoring more goals. We don't, but we still win the league.
Jordanian Premier League - 2026/2027
The interesting stuff only starts in the second part of the season with the Champions League (since my league and the CL are not on the same calendar).
And look who we get drawn with in the group phase ! Al-Ain ! Interesting ... We also have a club from Uzbekistan and Al-Hilal from Saudi Arabia. We fare better than I expected, losing twice to Al-Hilal without getting demolished, and splitting the games against the uzbeks. But, and THAT was nice, we beat Al-Ain 2-0 twice. You picked the wrong guy motherfuckers. In the second round we play Al-Sadd from Qatar, the step is too high for us and we get beat 2-0.
I realize then that the gap between Jordanians and the others is too big and would need years and years of grooming to be filled. I decide that I need to leave for a bigger stage, I feel ready for the next part of my career. I have established myself in Asia a bit and my reputation is good enough to land a job in one of the big leagues (basically Korea, China, Qatar, Iran or Saudi Arabia).
I start actively looking for an interesting job in the summer and in september, I sign with Henan Jianye of China.
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Jianye is basically nothing on the Chinese scene. At the moment of my arrival, they came up to the first division 2 years ago, massively overperformed in their first season finishing second mainly because of Joshua Zirkzee. They then promptly sold Zirkzee and found themselves in the middle of the pack, firing their coach a few weeks before the end of the 2027 season. That's when I arrive.
Beijing with Bruno Génésio at the helm has won the past 5 titles. Jianye has of course never won a single one. We'll try to stop those 2 streaks and then go on and bring continental glory to rural China.
And let's be honest, we have work to do. The roster is utter shite, no idea how they managed to get to the 2nd place a year prior. I use the final games of the season to assess the situation, we lose more or less all of our games and finish in 9th.
Season 3 - 2028
Oh boy do we have work to do. As I said, this squad is SHIT. Everything needs to change. And the board agrees, because I have a transfer budget of over 130M€. As in Jordan, we have restrictions. Here, we are allowed 4 foreigners but only 3 on the field at any time. And still no goalkeeper. I decide to splash a huge part of my money on a brazilian wonderkid from Arsenal. We spend 63M on him, with bonus amounting to 112M in total. He'll be the center of our play from his left wing.
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We spend just about another 50M on 21 other players. Yes, 21. We installed revolving doors at the training ground so it would be easier for everyone that summer. The squad needed a full overhaul and goddamit it got it. The main difficulty is chosing on what position I want to have foreigners (so my better players), for this I settle on both wingers and a central midfielder. I'm not sure it is the best way though, as it is very difficult to find good chinese defenders.
Among those players, of course, is Ramy Mohsen, who we bought win a loan back to Shabab Ordon for 18 months. China might be a step too high for him, as he's deemed pretty shit by my scouts. Definitely not worth a foreigner slot.
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On the tactical side, I try to install the same possession game as in Tahiti and Jordan. I'm still not sure how it happened but it gradually became a lethal counter-attacking game. This is not at all what I wanted to do and what I like to do but it works I guess. Counter-attacks it is then. And I must admit, it works pretty well !
I'm pretty optimistic that we'll get a spot in the Champions League (top 3 or winning the Cup). My board not so much, as they ask me to finish mid-table.
Our spending spree has put us in dire situation regarding the Financial Fair-Play but we get a new mysterious short-term sponsor giving us just enough money to pass the FFP ! How lucky ! I have no idea what the sanctions could have been though.
On the field, everything is going perfectly. Carlos Alexandre is performing as good as we hoped (18 goals and 9 assists), and everything is clicking well. So well in fact that we win the league, finishing with 22 more points than the precedent year !
Chinese Super League - 2028
We almost sweep the end of season awards, Carlos Alexandre winning Best Player and a young midfielder we bought from Beijing winning both Best Chinese Player and Best Young Player. I myself win Best Manager. Our striker also finishes as the best Chinese scorer.
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Bruno Génésio is sacked by Beijing, I consider the first part of our mission as accomplished.
Before the beginning of the nest season, Ulsan offers us an interview. It's interesting, as they were in the Champions League Finale only 2 years ago, but I decide not to go for it, as I'm happy with my team here.
Season 4 - 2029
With the success of last season, we don't need to do a lot of work during this transfer window. I chose to improve the defense how I can, but chinese players are pretty limited. I find a good left back, and am able to improve the CBs a bit. I also bring in a new Chinese striker, who I hope will be more clinical.
I almost soil myself when the board accepts an offer for aforementionned Yang Kui without consulting me because it is "too good to refuse". 32M too good to refuse ? Are you kidding me ? Thankfully, he chose to stay with us. Smart kid, I tell ya.
We start the season fantastically well, scoring more and more goals while having less and less possession. And while everyone else in the league is beating each other, we're running with it and already have more than 10pts on the second at the half of the season. There will never be any suspense, and we'll smash our points record and win the second title in Henan Jianye's history.
Chinese Super League - 2029
In the Champions League, we get a pretty easy group (Australians, Japanese and Koreans) that we top without breaking much of a sweat, winning 4 games, drawing one and losing one where we sent the backups because 1st place was already ensured.
More Australians in the Second round. We hammer them 4-1 in Sydney and after a boring second leg we go through. Koreans in the quarters, same story : a 2-0 away in the first leg, a boring second one and we're through. Then for the semis, we get a familiar face because we get drawn against a Chinese team. At the moment of the game, they're sitting at 10th in the league. If you know FM, you know how that looks ... And exactly as expected, we dominate the first leg but fall 1-0 to a second half pen. Thankfully, we play much better in the second leg and are able to win 3-0 to go through. In the other semi-finals, an Iranian duel took place and there is an upset ! After winning the last 3 Champions League, Esteghlal falls to compatriots Persepolis in a derby of Tehran.
Meanwhile, we've also qualified for the Cup Finale, and the schedule will not be kind to us
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The first leg starts perfectly, and we go up 2-0 after less than 30 minutes. We will somewhat lose our composure, which is uncharacteristic, and they are able to equalize 2-2 before half time ! And things go from bad to worse in the second half when our best midfielder gets a yellow card that will keep him out of the second leg and another gets a straight red. Thankfully, we don't concede another goal and get back from Iran with a 2-2 draw.
The backups can not do better than a 0-1 loss in the first leg of the Cup Final
The second leg was a masterclass of butt clenching on my part. Unsure what to do with my midfield, I elect to play without a DM and have 3 CBs instead. It works quite well because they do not get a lot of shots, but it appears just about all of them are dangerous. On our end, we do not produce much. Relief will come after the 75' mark from a corner headed in by Yang Kui. We hang on, win the game 1-0 and that's it ! WE WON THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE !
What I imagine to be a pretty hangover squad gets a 3-3 draw in the second leg of the Cup Finale. Entertaining game but not enough to complete the treble. I can't say that I care.
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On my first participation with Jianye, I must say this was pretty unexpected but we had a shitload of money and used it pretty well. We won them their 2 first ever league titles, their first ever Continental title, and made them the Chinese club with the biggest reputation, overtaking Beijing. That was a short but efficient stint.
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I can now leave Asia and never look back. I will set my sights onto Africa. After 4 years in Asia, 4 league titles in 2 different countries as well as 2 continental cups (even though I don't really feel like I've won the Confederations Cup since I only played 3 games), I've left my mark.
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See you soon for my African adventures !
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