FMAddict

Wonderkid Factory | Part 18 | Celebrating Our Greatest Ever Wonderkid Factory Our fourth iteration of the Wonderkid Factory may well be our best yet as, 17 years into Wonderkid Factory IV, our homegrown Thespakusatsu Gunma squad won a second J1 League title, their first domestic cup and became Champions of Asia in 2042. Furthermore, 12 of the homegrown players are in the current Japan squad.

#FM26 #WonderkidFactory Part 18: We take a moment to celebrate arguably our greatest ever Wonderkid Factory, fresh from @OfficialThespa securing a historic J1 League, AFC Champions League and Emperor's Cup treble! #ThespaGunma

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Turf Wars | Revolució Quadribarrats | Part 9: Sant Andreu in Europe! The meteoric rise of Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu picked up pace as exciting homegrown attackers led them to a massive overperformance, securing European football in their first season in LaLiga. That raised expectations and created a massive challenge for manager Oriol Ribas to manage domestic and continental football.

#RevolucióQuadribarrats Part 9: Sant Andreu in Europe! The meteoric rise of @uesantandreu continues as Oriol Ribas' side continues to impress in #LaLiga while the @Conf_League draw opens up in their favour.

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Wonderkid Factory | Part 17 | Gunma Chase A Historic Treble Supporters of Thespakusatsu Gunma were becoming all too accustomed to the feeling of being second best. They saw their side finish 2nd in J1 League for the fifth time in nine seasons in 2041, which, in fairness, they probably couldn't have dreamed of before manager Robaato Rasamu arrived at the club 16 years ago.

#FM26 #WonderkidFactory Part 17: Gunma Chase A Historic Treble. A tactical shift works wonders as @OfficialThespa end a continental hoodoo and chase down their rivals aiming for a second #J1League title.

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#FM26? Completed it mate.

Is this the best #FootballManager newgen ever? 15 years old, and Giulio Leonardi is already LaLiga quality! #FM26

Turf Wars | Revolució Quadribarrats | Part 8: Turf Wars Heats Up As Sant Andreu Reach LaLiga The Catalan Turf Wars rivalry was really heating up, as promotion meant Sant Andreu would be playing at the same level as cross-city rivals FC Barcelona for the first time.

#FM26 #RevolucióQuadribarrats Part 8: #TurfWars heats up as @uesantandreu reach #LaLiga and face their cross-city foes for a first time. And an amazing first clash with Barcelona is the spark for star youngsters to lead a thrilling campaign.

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Wonderkid Factory | Part 16 | Familiar Outcomes in 10th J1 League Season Robaato Rasamu passed 15 years in charge of Thespakusatsu Gunma, fresh from leading the club to a fourth 2nd-place finish and a sixth top-four finish in J1 League. In those 15 years, Rasamu had led Gunma into battle 680 times, winning 332, drawing 163 and losing 185 en route to leading the club out of the third tier and competing with Japan's elite. And, ultimately, they achieved the pinnacle as Gunma secured their maiden J1 League title in 2038.

#FM26 #WonderkidFactory Part 16: Familiar Outcomes in 10th J1 League Season. Robaato Rasamu celebrates 15 years at @OfficialThespa with another title battle that goes to the final day and a repeat result as they return to @TheeAFCCL.

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Firmly believe that Spain is the most difficult league to crack in #FM26. If it's not Real Madrid dominating... it's Barcelona doing silly things like this.

Turf Wars | Revolució Quadribarrats | Part 7: Homegrown Trio Ignite LaLiga Promotion Dreams The new, true pride of Cataluña, Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu, consolidated their position in Spain's second tier for a third season, thanks largely to the goal contributions of their homegrown academy products. Manager Oriol Ribas now faced the challenge of reshaping the squad to try and build on two 15th-place finishes.

#RevolucióQuadribarrats Part 7: Homegrown Trio Ignite LaLiga Promotion Dreams. @uesantandreu's youth academy stars Reyes, Marín and Iglesias inspire unexpected overperformance, as the small Catalan club mount a @LaLiga 2 promotion bid.

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Wonderkid Factory | Part 15 | Back In Title Contention Thespakusatsu Gunma's first J1 League title defence didn't exactly go to plan as they suffered a slow start but recovered to the board's expected top-half finish in 2039. And manager Robaato Rasamu recognised it was time to shake things up a little.

#FM26 #WonderkidFactory Part 15: Back In Title Contention. Robaato Rasamu leads @OfficialThespa back into the fight for the #J1League title but a lack of goals sees them fall just short. And a Colombian prospect becomes their best player yet.

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Sum up the #FM26 match engine in one image... 2 defenders looking at what's happening off the pitch. 4 defenders not marking anyone when Pérez cuts back and picks out the blonde player that the guy at the top of the box should be marking, who has 10 yards of space to score. What a joke 😂😂

Football Academy Manager: Establishing the FM Addict Academy in 20 Seasons We recently took a sidestep away from our primary focus of Football Manager to, for the first time in the 7 years of FM Addict, play another game. Shock horror! And I enjoyed the experience of playing Football Academy Manager so much that I wanted to continue playing. So I fired the game back up and made it through 20 seasons of our first save in the game.

Establishing the FM Addict Academy in 20 Seasons: We get stuck into the brand new game #FootballAcademyManager, from developer @Hubidi_, developing wonderkids and finishing in style with a huge record sale!

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Turf Wars | Revolució Quadribarrats | Part 6: Reyes Carries Relegation Favourites The rapid rise of Barcelona's Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu continued as their exciting young team survived with relative ease in their first-ever season in Spain's second tier. And Ultras leader turned manager Oriol Ribas continued to focus on youth ahead of his fifth season at the helm.

#FM26 #RevolucióQuadribarrats Part 6: Reyes Carries Relegation Favourites. @uesantandreu continue to make progress off the pitch as, despite a slow start, their young homegrown stars perform on it in their second season in #LaLiga2.

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Wonderkid Factory | Part 14 | The Slow-Burn Okamoto Project The streets of Gunma Prefecture hosted the biggest party the region had ever seen in June 2038 as Robaato Rasamu and his team of homegrown stars were treated to an open-top bus parade. They showed off the Emperor's Cup and the J1 League trophies as they celebrated not only winning the club's first major honour but also an unexpected double.

#FM26 #WonderkidFactory Part 14: The Slow-Burn Okamoto Project. @OfficialThespa's maiden title defence doesn't exactly go to plan as Olympics call-ups see them suffer a slow start before their young squad gradually recovers.

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Turf Wars | Revolució Quadribarrats | Part 5: Registration Headaches To the surprise of everyone in Spain, let alone in Barcelona, little Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu secured promotion to Spain's second tier for the first time in club history in 2028. This saw the Turf Wars begin to simmer, with the club now just one league below their city rivals FC Barcelona for the first time.

#FM26 #RevolucióQuadribarrats Part 5: Registration Headaches. Little @uesantandreu make the surprise step up to Spain's 2nd tier and, despite a few league rule issues, their young stars perform well beyond expectations.

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Wonderkid Factory | Part 13 | Gunma’s First Trophy Thespakusatsu Gunma finished 2nd in J1 League for the third time in five years as Robaato Rasamu's exciting youngsters excelled again in 2036/37. But, after 12 years in charge of Gunma, Rasamu was keen to take the next step and secure the club's first major silverware.

#FM26 #WonderkidFactory Part 13: Gunma's First Trophy. Rabaato Rasamu's exciting young @OfficialThespa side continue to compete at the top of #J1League. They win a maiden trophy in the #EmperorsCup before taking the title race to the final day.

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FM Experiment: What If English Football Went American? The English football system has been stuck to its traditional pyramid system since the Second Division was created way back in 1892. However, in the summer of 2025, a cash-strapped English Football League went bankrupt and was bought out by an American investor.

#FMExperiment: What If English Football Went American. In our first #FM26 experiment, we test out @CTxCB's ridiculous database with the #PremierLeague split into a 92-team league American style divisions. And a few tweaks make for wild results.

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Turf Wars | Revolució Quadribarrats | Part 4: Potential Catalan Superstar Oriol Ribas led Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu to survival in Spain's third tier, relying on young players to avoid the bookies' prediction of a surefire relegation. But Ribas' job wasn't getting any easier ahead of his third season in charge of the Barcelona club.

#FM26 #RevolucióQuadribarrats Part 4: Potential Catalan Superstar. An exciting young @uesantandreu performs well beyond expectations in their 2nd season in Spain's tier 3. And a strong youth intake delivers a star who hits the ground running.

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Wonderkid Factory | Part 12 | Gunma’s Champions League Return An improved season saw Thespakusatsu Gunma compete for the Japanese title for the second time in four seasons, two years on from a relegation battle. That improvement saw the club qualify for the Asian Champions League for the second time. Last season's record-breaking sales of star academy talents left Gunma in a very strong financial position, with £26m in the bank, £32m in the transfer budget and £37k spare in the £73k weekly wage budget.

#WonderkidFactory Part 12: Gunma's Champions League Return. @OfficialThespa manage #J1League and #ChampionsLeague football better than their previous attempt. However, a fixture backlog sees the 36/37 season finish with a whimper.

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Game Review: Football Academy Manager If you've read any of our FM Stories, you'll know that one of my favourite elements of playing Football Manager is developing young players to become world beaters. I'd love the ability to get deeper into youth development in FM and gain more knowledge of youngsters coming through the system.

Something a little different today, as we get our teeth into a brand new game that allows you to scout and develop young players, Football Academy Manager. We had a go at the game and chatted to developer @Hubidi_ to find out more.

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Turf Wars | Revolució Quadribarrats | Part 3: A Mass Exodus at Sant Andreu Oriol Ribas was the toast of every Catalan native as he led his beloved Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu to playoff glory and back into the Spanish third-tier Primera Federación. However, he quickly encountered a few challenges ahead of his second season in management.

#FM26 #RevolucióQuadribarrats Part 3: A Mass Exodus. @uesantandreu step up to the third tier of Spanish football and 25 players are released as Oriol Ribas puts his faith in the club's talented youngsters. #SantAndreu

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Wonderkid Factory | Part 11 | Massive Academy Star Sales Thespa Gunma put their relegation battle behind them to record a top-half finish in J League in 2035, while star academy product Yusuke Ishii became the club's first graduate to play for Japan. The summer of 2035 saw big moves as Gunma's all-time record goalscorer Masaya Nishi, who scored 133 in 334 games for the club but had dropped off in the last two seasons, and midfielder Shota Asada, who'd dropped out of favour last season, went to Saudi side Al-Tai for club-record fees of £2.5m, before Rasamu was forced to sell midfielder Mamadou Diallo to UAE side Ajman for £1.3m.

#FM26 #WonderkidFactory Part 11: Massive Academy Star Sales. Robaato Rasamu cashes in on his star youth players as he refreshes his @OfficialThespa squad. And a new bunch of exciting youngsters lead the club into another #Jleague title fight.

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Turf Wars | Revolució Quadribarrats | Part 2: A First FC Barcelona Rivalry Revolution was afoot in Cataluña as Ultras leader Oriol Ribas was elected as manager of fourth-tier club Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu. The rookie manager was entrusted with the mammoth task of restoring Catalan glory by leading the charge to usurp the mighty FC Barcelona.

#FM26 #RevolucióQuadribarrats Part 2: A First FC Barcelona Rivalry. Oriol Ribas gets started at @uesantandreu and discovers some decent players, tricky finances and a first rival from the club across the city. #TurfWars

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Turf Wars | Revolució Quadribarrats | Part 1: A Catalan Revolution Thousands of people descended on Camp Municipal Narcís Sala ahead of one of the most highly anticipated nights in recent Catalan history. The football culture in Barcelona had been shifting rapidly, as club memberships had increased 600% over the last five years, passionate fans created electrifying stadium atmospheres, and local vendors were completely sold out of replica kits. But this wasn't due to a surge in support for the club you might be thinking of.

#FM26 #RevolucióQuadribarrats Part 1: The Revolution Begins. We kick off a brand new series on the blog, #TurfWars, in which we bid to take control of major cities with unfancied, smaller teams. Our first stop is Barcelona and @uesantandreu.

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Red card after 11 seconds 😂 #FM26

Wonderkid Factory | Part 10 | Gunma’s First Japan International After enjoying several seasons of success, Thespakusatsu Gunma and Robaato Rasamu came down to earth with a thump as they got drawn into a J1 League relegation battle in 2034. But, 12 months on fro…

We celebrated 1,000 blogs today, with a classic FM Addict post led by a potential Japanese superstar and a mass of homegrown youngsters being thrown into the first team.

Read here: footballmanageraddict.com/2026/01/16/w...

#FM26

We passed 400,000 all-time views earlier this week and we've racked up 230,000 visitors in that time. And there's plenty more to come in #FM26. So thanks for the support and here's to much more FM blogging!

From the Pentagon Challenge and the A-Z Challenge and one-club saves to establishing Truro City, Bolton and Wimbledon as the best teams in the world, and maximising the youth potential at Envigado, as well as silly experiments and a whole host of FM guides.

We just published the 1,000th article since Football Manager Addict began back in 2018. From humble beginnings in our 1st blog series, Atalanta Avventura, we've been on all manner of adventures all over the world of #FootballManager. From ridiculous challenges to wild one-club saves.

Wonderkid Factory | Part 10 | Gunma’s First Japan International After enjoying several seasons of success, Thespakusatsu Gunma and Robaato Rasamu came down to earth with a thump as they got drawn into a J1 League relegation battle in 2034. But, 12 months on from a title challenge, they finished the season well to maintain their top-flight status.

#FM26 #WonderkidFactory Part 10: Gunma's First Japan International. @OfficialThespa enjoy a much better season as they push for a top 8 finish. And Yusuke Ishii becomes their first academy international... then decides he wants out!

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