One of the biggest event ever to be held within the Football Manager Community has just ended! The FIFAe World Cup feat Football Manager tournament enabled us to enjoy five days of spectacle where some of the best Football Manager content creators across the globe knocked head-to-head in a fantastic battle to become the first-ever Football Manager World Champions!
It challenged managers and their assistants to navigate the complexities of traditional football management. This included handling media interactions, engaging with fans, and developing strategies and signings under pressure.
One Final – Two Stories: Meet the FIFAe Football Manager World Cup finalists the German team
After a group stage over three seasons racking up as many points possible and entering the final stages of the tournament moving over from Career Mode to Draft Mode, it was the Indonesian team who won the tournament after a nerve-wrecking final day!
NB! If you want to catch up upon the event by re-watching streams or discover how the different nations did it, you can browse the FIFA.gg website for all you need to know about the FIFAe World Cup feat. Football Manager.
Their victory immediately caught my attention and I immediately decided to contact Ichsan and Manar who represented Indonesia as Manager and Assistant Manager to speak with them about the the FIFAe World Cup feat. Football Manager, and what went through their head as they knocked Jack Peachman (aka Work The Space), Arron Fallon aka RDF Tactics, and Sven and Tery (aka Zweierkette.de) from Germany on the road to the finals!
We hope you’ll enjoy our interview with the Indonesian team and how they won the inaugural FIFAe World Cup feat. Football Manager championship. So without further ado, lets meet Manar and Ichsan and see what they has to say about taking home the trophy.
Question 1
First of all, congratulations on a massive achievement becoming the very first FIFAe World Champions featuring Football Manager! How does it feel lifting the trophy?
We are very happy! It was amazing. We didn’t expect it and we didn’t have a target before.
Question 2
Now we all wonder, who are you and how long have you been playing Football Manager? Tell us a little bit about yourselves and how you started playing Football Manager.
My name is Manar Hidayat and I have played Football Manager since 2008. My fellow manager Ichsan has played Football Manager from FM23 and onwards. However, I didn’t play Football Manager for a few years as I stopped to focus on school but have played the game more or less since 2012. Avtually, it was my brother who taught me to play.
Question 3
A major part of Football Manager is tactics. As the Champions we are curious to know if you could describe your football philosophy? What tactical style do you enjoy, or prefer using in your Football Manager saves? Do you got a favourite formation or player role you likes to use?
Basically our formation is inspired by gegenpressing, playing high pressing and fast tempo (of course with changes depending on the game situation). And, the most important thing in this game when facing the enemy is the opposite instruction, you have to really kill the opponent’s key players. We know playing with high pressing will risk injury or getting cards, so when the group stage uses Sporting, we have 30+ players in our main squad, we don’t rely on just 1 or 2 players, because if the key player is injured then it will be hell, so it’s better to have a fat squad and just as good.
Question 4
Representing your home nation at such a massive event within the Football Manager Community is huge. Did you go through lots of preparation to get ready for the tournament and if so, what did you focus on in the weeks leading up to the event?
If you like to see how we prepared for the FIFAe World Cup, please read our thread on X going through the preparation process.
Question 5
In the FIFAe World Cup you came up against some of the heavyweights within the FM Community. On the road to the finals you beat England twice, first WorkTheSpace in the group stage before RDF Tactics waited in the semi finals. Did you ever feel like being the underdog?
One of our friends in the IDFM community, once beat RDF, so we are never afraid of anyone. I believe our community is one of the largest because it has 2000 members on Discord and is actively playing online on Discord.
Question 6
In the game against RDF Tactics it was 2-2 after the first match. Did you approach the second leg differently than what you would if you had played the game at home?
Their key player is Almada, so we turned him off with opposite instructions, so they can’t do anything. Unlike us, all our players are key players even the reserves are good, so you can’t turn off 1 or 2 of our key players.
Question 7
Then, in the finals. Up against Germany – a team who had dominated in their group & looked very confident! Did you analyze their tactics or were forced to make greater changes to your tactics before entering the finals?
Of course we watched the match between Germany and South Africa. Their key players are on both wingbacks, we turned them off, and they don’t have any backup tactics!
Question 8
What was the biggest challenge you came across in the FIFAe World Cup tournament? Secondly, did you ever feel the pressure of representing your country at the biggest stage?
In our opinion, in the groups stage it is much more difficult than in the knockout stage. We had to meet Poland, France and England, they have a formation similar to ours. We were down when France won the UEFA Champions League but luckily we were able to fight back. We never get pressured, we always read chats from our Indonesian viewers, they always make us laugh, and when we enjoy it, it makes us more comfortable to play!
Question 9
In this tournament you met Football Manager Content creators from all over the world and as you have got time to land back home and are looking back at the tournament, do you feel you have learned something new about Football Manager?
Yes on the first day we asked for photo with content creators from England like Tom FM, RDF Tactics, Work The Space and Second Yellow Card, and Zealand. On the last day it was Zealand who asked for our photo haha! I asked Tom, how can he survive by becoming a fulltime content creator FM, so maybe I will follow Tom FM to become a fulltime content creator in the future! *hahah*
Question 10
As we are reaching the end of this interview our partner FMNatics is curious to know: Indonesia is not a football superpower, however, the Football Manager community is quite significant. Should the community pay more attention to content coming from outside of the more popular markets such as England?
Yeah of course, we know that our football in the real world is not good but for this game it’s a different story. We have a good and big community, and few are toxic, so this really helps us!
Question 11
Finally, if you should give a word of advice to all the newbies to Football Manager, what tips could you share with us that would immediately help them out to become a better manager?
Our advice for beginners is that you should choose a big team first, if you have got the feel of the game, then it will be easier. It’s okay if you use other people’s tactics but step by step you have to find your own tactics, adjust to your team’s needs.
Remember, facing AI and facing real people (in versus mode or fantasy draft) are very different. Against a real person is much harder. You can’t use the same instructions as when facing a real person. You have to adjust to your opponent, and again, the most important thing is the opposite instructions!
I can now only wish you both good luck in the future and looking forward to follow you guys for Football Manager 2025! Thanks again for participating in this interview and for taking the time as soon as you landed back home to answer our questions!
Follow the guys on X (formerly known as Twitter) to support their future works!
The Tactics of Indonesia…
Are you curious about the tactics of the Indonesian team? Or what Manar and Ichsan did in the first three seasons of the group stage to qualify for the Knockout stage?
You can download their save game to continue playing their Sporting save by following this link.
Then, our partner DarkHorseFM has taken a closer look at their tactics and tried to recreate it as best he can on Football Manager 2024. Watch the video below for Indonesia’s FM24 FIFAe Title Winning Tactics feat. all player instructions.
NEXT PAGE | Meet the German Team in the FIFAe World Cup feat. Football Manager
