This is post six of a wider series. A series for FM24.
“I’ve covered the Bundesliga for many years, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this season. What a story.”
In-game date: 16 May 2026
The following is an excerpt from a (fictional) article, written by a (fictional) journalist, from an (also fictional) sports website called theangrylinesmen, modelled on the style of The Athletic.
15,000 fans filter into a sold-out Viktoria Köln Stadium and take their seats. There’s an enormous and terrifying black and red wolf tifo rolled out for the first time behind one of the goals at the new arena and music is rattling the ear drums of every supporter and press agent as various pyrotechnics light up the darkening sky as the teams take to the field. What a spectacle!
It’s not the music that plays when a goal is scored for the home team, that’s the Boys Noize track Overthrow. Instead it’s the Hamburg-born producer’s track Loaded which is getting everyone’s blood pumping.
Everyone’s adrenaline is through the roof by the time kick off comes around.
Fans, young and old have come to support the team they’ve watched Enzo Scutari drag from 3.Bundesliga obscurity to the cusp of European football.
This evening’s game is Viktoria Köln versus Eintracht Frankfurt and it could be the biggest game in The Viktorian’s history. Win and the club could finish FOURTH in the Bundesliga, guaranteeing not just UEFA Champions League football next season, but the desperately needed financial boost that would bring. As is well documented, manager Scutari still hasn’t been able to spend a single penny on transfer fees while in charge of the club.
Marco Rose’s RB Leipzig have already been crowned Bundesliga champions for the first time in their short history, and the mighty Bayern Munich are destined to finish second. But 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th are still up for grabs between Viktoria Köln, Borussia Dortmund, Wolfsburg and Freiburg going into this final day.
Viktoria Köln have been the shock of the season. Though by this point we shouldn’t be surprised. Beating Bayern 3-1 both home and away and beating Dortmund 1-0 at home are among the most surprising results this year. In fact, champions Leipzig are the only side to beat VK both home and away this league campaign.
Dortmund did put Viktoria Köln out of the DFB Pokal at the Quarter Final stage, a historic best for the minnows, but this exit has done little to dampen the excitement going into the final league game of the season.
The first half is played at a high tempo as the terrific work ethic of both midfields effectively cancel each other out. This match is a war of wills. Versatile Eintracht forward Omar Marmoush smashes a lovely long range drive off the bar after some great work by Ansgar Knauff on the flank after Marcos Rojo, deputising for the injured Christoph Greger, was caught out of position. The teams go in at half time with nothing between them.
Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund are participating in a five-goal thriller as they host Augsburg, edging it 3-2. That result would remain with no further drama in the second half, and Dortmund would hold strong to grab third place in the table. With St. Pauli leading Freiburg 1-0 and Bayern Munich holding Wolfsburg to a 0-0 draw at the Allianz Arena, all Viktoria Köln need is a goal and then to pray in order to capture fourth. Pray a lot.
Dreams come true momentarily when 40-year old striker Edin Džeko smashes in a Sidney Cabral drilled cross to fire his club 1-0 up in the 51st minute, with the other games locked as they were.
Hopes were short-lived though when Eintracht Frankfurt equalised just eight minutes later via a Hugo Larsson drive across the face of goal past flailing VK backup keeper, Dudu. Things got from bad to worse just five minutes later when Sergey Pinyaev curled a beautiful shot into the net via the far post. 1-2.
Viktoria Köln drop down to sixth.
Bayern would go ahead at home in the 77th minute through Sacha Boey in a game that would now be meaningless to VK. Freiburg equalised at St. Pauli in the 83rd minute and it looked like all was lost, until the veteran Edin Džeko took it upon himself to change the entire narrative. ‘La Tigre‘ Lobinger beat defender Tuta with a neat touch and lofted the ball towards the far post. Dzeko rose into the air and thundered an unstoppable header off the underside of the bar past the devastated Kevin Trapp in the Frankfurt goal to make it 2-2.
Wolfsburg equalise at Bayern via Yussuf Poulsen right at the death, but it doesn’t matter.
The final whistle blows and the players fall to their knees, exhausted. Some are in tears.
The draw was enough and in the 2026-2027 season, Viktoria Köln will play UEFA Champions League football!
Hannover 96 who were promoted last season ahead of Viktoria Köln as the 2.Bundesliga champions finish rock bottom of the table, managing only one victory in the 34 match campaign. VK on the other hand won more than half of their games, losing only seven. It’s amazing how one season can shape teams and their fate so differently.
I’ve covered the Bundesliga for many years, and I’ve never seen anything quite like this season. What a story.
Dieter Gerver for theangrylinesmen
I never thought in my wildest imaginings that this would be how season three would finish. This could possibly be my favourite FM save ever. Up there with La Sombra from Football Manager 2021, that’s for sure.
Winger Aurel Wagbe was recalled out of the blue by parent club Paderborn, so we suddenly had a lack of depth out wide. With the decline of captain Moritz Fritz and Lars Dietz training with the II side after failing to agree terms with other clubs after deals were agreed for the transfer, we also had a gap at the back.
I couldn’t help myself…
Two South American icons. Both previously of my beloved Boca Juniors. Both free agents. One previously Manchester United and the other previously Rayo Vallecano. It was written in the stars that I had to bring them in on short-term deals. Despite their combined age of 70.
Since arriving mid-season, Rojo and Advíncula played 943 crucial minutes between them. They really added bite to our defence and proved to be astute signings.
I won’t dive into any statistical analysis of our first Bundesliga season, but I’ll pad out what I Tweeted recently, going through our main tactic in detail, and explaining the thinking behind it.
In defence – A flat back four with two protecting defensive midfielders. We play a high-line but crucially don’t press too aggressively, in order to retain our shape out of possession. The starting position of both wide men is also around the halfway line, meaning that despite their behaviour when we have the ball, they drop deeper than most wingers (who would ordinarily sit in the AMR/L slots) to provide support against any marauding opposition wing-backs. We don’t trigger any sort of complicated Pressing Trap or unique Cross Engagement option.
Player-wise, the focus is on Aggression and Jumping Reach for centre backs. I need man mountains who will outmuscle and overpower opposition forwards. I want my full-backs to have high Tackling and Positioning. The left-sided full-back acts more like a third CB out of possession at times, while the right one has more offensive responsibilities. More on that later.
In the example screenshot (defending the left goal), you’ll notice that we have lost possession and about to defend against the opposition transitioning to attack. The back four are already in position with the ball in front of them, and the two defensive midfielders are deeper than the central midfielders of the opposing team. The wide attackers aren’t too high either. This gives us considerable numerical advantage. Despite our high line we are minimising the risk of being caught on the break.
Changing Mentality changes the height of both the Line of Engagement and Defensive Line (independently of those sliders), and starting with Balanced gives us the flexibility to push further forward if I notice from the Average Positions visualisation and in the match engine highlights that we could and should press them higher, or if they are perhaps lacking in counter-attacking pace. Or to drop deeper if we are seeing the ball go in behind our high line regularly.
In transition and attack – As per the instructions, we aim to win the ball back quickly with a Counter Press and the key players are the two Segundo Volantes in the middle of the pitch. This is a bit of a misnomer as the role itself is supposed to be a ‘second wheel’ or partner to another type of midfielder, but it works in Football Manager. They are sort of ‘blank canvas’ midfielders like ‘Central Midfielder’ roles further up.
The left-sided SV is a creative pivot. Think a Xabi Alonso-type DM. In possession, his job is to receive the ball, pivot and play threaded through balls or diagonals almost immediately to turn defence into attack (like the screenshot, attacking the left goal). I’m not a fan of loads of additional instructions, but for this type of role, adding ‘Dribble Less’ and ‘More Direct Passes,’ ideally coupled with using someone with high Vision, Passing and the ‘Tries Killer Balls Often’ trait regularly leads to swift counter-attacking patterns.
The right-sided SV is more of a box crasher. Someone who needs Acceleration and Stamina, and ideally good Finishing or Long Shots. Their job is to be almost box-to-box. Competent at recovering quickly, but able to do their best Frank Lampard impression and support the strikers when we drive forward.
The right wing back pushes to often overlap the Wide Midfielder who isn’t too adventurous, but puts in regular crosses and diagonals. The winger on the left is a classic Flair player, taking on his full back, getting to the byline and playing balls into the box.
We play ‘fairly wide’ so that we open up slightly when we transition to attack, but not as aggressively as to open and close like an accordion in some of the more Pep-inspired systems I’ve used before.
Set pieces and our strikers – For this system to be at its best, you need powerful aerial threats as strikers. Fortunately I have three forwards with 18, 17 and 15 Jumping Reach with solid Heading and great Off the Ball movement.
The combination of Pressing Forward – Support and Poacher means that there is always one player pressing centre backs and pulling them out of position, often for the cheeky Segundo Volante – Attack to exploit, and one playing on the shoulder of the last defender, looking to get shots away as often as possible. I use one of my favourite “#FM24 tips” by instructing the two strikers to swap with each other regularly, causing maximum confusion for the opposition defenders who are often caught in two minds between following one of the forwards, and tightly marking the other.
I want my giant strikers to win everything in the air, whether that is long passes from the left-sided SV, crosses from the wide attackers, or crucially, cleverly-worked corners.
I use a custom routine which places our strongest aerial threat attacking the near post, but everyone else either at the far post or outside the area. The idea is to create less traffic at the near post as markers are, in theory, pulled away to track other attackers. With a good corner taker and a powerful aerial threat (in this case the colossal Edin Dzeko) it can lead to a lot of goals.
Summary – A solid and relatively no frills 4-4-2 which relies primarily on powerful strikers and clever through-balls and set pieces. It’s not rocket science, but some of the nuances around Segundo Volantes, line height, player swapping and custom set piece routines make it something that has really worked for me and this team.
With every incredible event, there’s always a balancing negative. Sadly we must say goodbye to a number of players this summer. Some are declining and it makes little economic sense to renew them, while others are simply retiring.
290 league appearances for Koronkiewicz, our longest serving player, 35.
Lars Dietz, Bryan Henning and backup goalkeeper Dudu will also leave the club this summer at the end of their contracts. Despite their relatively recent arrivals; Marcos Rojo and Luis Advíncula, now both 36, are very much nearing the end of their careers, with just 12 months remaining on their deals, they may go too.
The 800-1 team are now in the UEFA Champions League. The club has gone from being valued at £4m 1,034 days ago to now being valued at £262million.
Club captain Moritz Fritz will also leave next month after seven seasons at the club. A sad day. He and Enzo Scutari share whisky in the manager’s office, a firm handshake closing a significant chapter in Viktoria Köln history.
Thanks for readi…WAIT.
Could Enzo Scutari finally have some money to invest in the playing squad having dragged the group of average players he inherited in the third tier along with a host of free agents and veterans to Champions League qualification?
You’re absolutely right he will!
Welcome to Viktoria Köln 2.0.
Thanks for reading.
FM Stag