Hello and welcome to the 2023 CM Cup. I’m always in a bit of a quandary how to present this to you – I appreciate outside of the 26 competitors there might not be that much interest, so in a change to the norm I’m presenting this year’s efforts in the style of a Wikipedia page. It’ll be updated at various points but hopefully you can see what I’m trying to achieve. There’ll be an opening ceremony and we’ll also include the results of the 26th Anniversary best player celebrations. On a serious note, thank you to those who gave up their time to take part this year, the whole tournament took about 4 months due to the strains of family life so thanks for sticking with it. Onwards…

2023 CM Cup

The 2023 CM Cup is the 7th edition of the Championship Manager Cup, more commonly known as the CM Cup. Matches were played out on Zoom between August and December 2023.

Qualification

There were 26 competitors in the 2023 CM Cup. Qualification was achieved by invitation and was issued to a mixture of site contributors, fans of the game and all round good eggs.

Teams this year were real life qualifiers for the 2023/24 Champions League but with their 97/98 squads.

Final Draw

The draw to match the participants to a football team was made on the Not Another 90s Football Podcast with host Dan Barker Gray. Myself (Dave) and professional hype man Ross Bell oversaw proceedings. You can watch the draw here.

Mark Carruthers declined entry, making this the first CM Cup to take place without him. Regulars Paddy 90s and Dan Barker also declined to participate whilst newcomers to the blog squad Kibworth Bull and Gary Goals also opted out.

Player	Team	Twitter/X	Previous Appearances
Andrew Chapman	Borussia Dortmund	@KingOfTheRooks	6
Dan Williamson	Toulouse	@winkveron	6 (2017 Winner)
Ross Bell	Manchester Utd	@RossBell__	5 (2019 Winner)
Deano	Atletico Madrid	@Emsonite	2
Nathan	Paris St Germain	@FMCM_FC	3
Tom Rostance	Eintracht Frankfurt	@TJRostance	4
Nick Rowe	FC Porto	@NTR9798	3
Zak	Feyenoord	@CornishZak	3
Nikolai	Celtic	@9798Nikolai	3
Andrew Walker	Barcelona	@footballacumen	3
Dan Williams	Rangers	@S4ooter	4
Jakob	PSV Eindhoven	@Williewrap	3
FPLHints	Lazio	@FPLHints	5 (2018 Winner)
Matt Wills	Arsenal	@Matt_C_Wills	5
Rob Tait	Manchester City	@Taitanator	5 (2020 Winner)
Dave Mathieson	Napoli	@DaveMathieson84	4 (2021 Winner)
Charlemagne	Genk	@9798V2	2
Gary	Lens	@Retrofootballnw	1
Kiota	Ajax	@KiotaGaming	1
Tom Robinson	Inter Milan	@tomwjrobinson	1
Shales	Sevilla	@PES_DNA	1
Stu’s Footy Flash	Aberdeen	@Stusfootyflash	1 (2022 Winner)
Michael Marden	Bayern Munich	@QuicklyKevin	4
Gavin Greaves	Benfica	@goatnmcl	Debut
Philip Verbist	Royal Antwerp	@Verbist_Philip	2
Liam	Real Madrid	@LM9798	1

We shall now hear The Quinn’s Speech to officially begin the tournament:

Group Stage

Teams were split into 6 groups, with four groups of four teams and two groups of five teams. The top two in each group were guaranteed to advance to the round of 16, with the four best performing third place teams also advancing.

Group A

Manchester United	@RossBell__
Celtic	@9798Nikolai
Benfica	@goatnmcl
Atletico Madrid	@Emsonite
Rangers	@S4ooter

The first of two five team groups, Group A saw a Triple Threat battle of Britain featuring both Old Firm sides and Manchester United. Ross, a former winner, was dealt a bad hand with Manchester United (he’s a Leeds fan) which blog squad members Deano and Gav will have their work cut out with Atletico Madrid and Benfica respectively. Nikolai will have to dig very deep in his tactical backpack to get a tune out of Celtic whilst cup veteran Dan will be quietly confident of getting into the knockouts.

These are the lineups the teams started with:

Ross and Manchester United took control of the group after opening wins over Atletico Madrid (4-1) and Benfica (3-0). However, a surprise defeat to Celtic in their third match opened the door for the chasing pack. Rangers had also convincingly won their first two fixtures over Benfica and Celtic but a 4-0 defeat to Ross left them sweating over their automatic passage into the knockouts. It meant their match with Atletico Madrid was essentially a shootout for that second spot but a late flurry saw Dan advance whilst Deano had to wait for the other groups to play out to see if he would be joining them.

Please enjoy this slideshow of the results (use the left and right arrows to cycle through:

The final table:

Group B

Arsenal	@Matt_C_Wills
Borussia Dortmund	@KingOfTheRooks
Lens	@RetroFootballnw
Manchester City	@Taitanator
Toulouse	@Winkveron

This is one of the toughest groups to call. Former winner Rob Tait has one of the poorer squads in the event, with Manchester City being a First Division side back in 1997. Blog Squad members Matt & Andrew have the two strongest sides in Arsenal and Dortmund but neither have much in the way of form in past CM Cups. Toulouse would have to be seen as the rank outsiders even with inaugral winner Winkveron at the helm whilst RetroFootballNetwork (Gary) and Lens are a bit of an unknown quantity.

Here are how the teams started out:

Lens caused the first big surprise in the group by beating Arsenal 2-0. With a handsome win over Toulouse in their opening game, this gave Gary a great chance of progressing. Dortmund joined Lens on two wins after thrashing Toulouse and then beating Arsenal, leaving Matt in a spot of bother. Andrew’s keeperless tactic came unstuck at Maine Road where two late goals earned the Citizens a point before a 4-2 defeat in Lens secured the French side top spot. Arsenal’s 8-1 win over Toulouse was ultimately only enough to secure third. Man City’s win over Toulouse in the final game could be significant in the third place calculations, even if it didn’t help the English side in general.

This left the table looking like this:

Group C

Real Madrid	@LM9798
Bayern Munich	@QuicklyKevin
Porto	@NTR9798
Eintracht Frankfurt	@TJRostance

In Group C we find Real Madrid, whose obvious qualities don’t need talking up but they have to expect to get out of the group. Bayern are a big reputation team but are fairly average in reality, whilst Porto have some superstars but not a full squad by any means. Frankfurt are a second division German side and will do well to get near the latter stages.

Here are how the teams started out:

The group is off to a shocking start as Porto stun Real Madrid with a 4-2 victory. That should open the door for Bayern Munich to put a marker down but they are remarkably pegged back by Frankfurt from 3-1 up. Porto’s victory over Frankfurt sees them through whilst Real Madrid’s handsome win over Bayern puts them in the box seat to join them. Bayern’s win over Porto opens the door for Real Madrid to top the group with a handsome win, which they duly deliver.

Bayern should be through as one of the top third placed sides but Real Madrid overcome that early loss to top the group.

Group D

Barcelona	@Footballacumen
Ajax	@KiotaGaming
Feyenoord	@CornishZak
Sevilla	@PES_DNA

Barcelona under Andrew Walker are the obvious favourites for the group but Ajax shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s a tough ask for Feyenoord against either team whereas Second Division side Sevilla need a miracle from manager Shales, who impressed in last year’s tournament.

Here are how the teams started out:

The group goes as expected for Barcelona with opening wins over Sevilla and then the tougher task of defeating Ajax. Ajax and Feyenoord played out a tennis match to open up with Ajax taking the first set 6-4. In the final round shootout, Ajax comfortably defeated Sevilla but Feyenoord’s late equaliser against Barcelona should secure them a knockout place, whilst it was enough for Barca to top the group.

Barcelona and Ajax advance and Feyenoord should join them.

Group E

Paris Saint Germain	@FMCM_FC
Lazio	@FPLHints
PSV Eindhoven	@WillieWrap
Royal Antwerp	@Verbist_Philip

Former champion FPL Hints can be found in this group, he will be quietly confident of guiding Lazio to the knockout stages but he will face huge competition form blog squad member Nath. Superfan Jakob will try to make something from the random stats of PSV whilst Philip, our resident Belgian, has been drawn as a Belgian club, which you couldn’t make up.

Here’s how the teams lined up:

Going to form, PSG breezed this group with minimal fuss. Although Antwerp were expected to be the whipping boys, they opened up with a 6-0 win over PSV, immediately putting Jakob in trouble. Lazio would go on to beat both teams to nullify their opening loss to the French champions and take second spot, whilst Philip’s positive goal difference in third could really help in the third place rankings.

A very neat table:

Group F

Inter Milan	@tomwjrobinson
Napoli	@DaveMathieson84
Aberdeen	@Stusfootyflash
Genk	@9798V2

Tom and Inter Milan will be the overwhelming favourites for this one. Former Champion Dave Mathieson’s Napoli will fancy their chances of joining them but will face competition from current champion Stu. Charle’s CM pedigree needs no introduction but in Genk he has one of the poorest sides in the competition. He has his work cut out to say the least.

A fascinating group as Inter Milan were by far the best side and Genk by far the worst, so with results going the way you’d expect it came down to a final match between Aberdeen and Napoli. With Napoli edging the goal difference, a point would have done them but Dean Windass’ last minute goal ensured current CM Cup Champion Stu would be in the last 16, whilst Dave and Napoli would have to wait nervously.

Confirmation of the final standings:

Third Place Qualifiers

The top four third placed teams also went through to the last 16. For the groups of five, their results against the bottom team in the group were discounted from the below table. This meant we lost Deano and Matt on goal difference, with Matt particularly unlucky to lose his 8-1 win against Toulouse (had Toulouse beaten Man City, the Toulouse result would have counted towards the below table rather than the 2-1 win over Man City).

Knockouts

This is the bracket for the last 16 draw – if you click it, you should see a larger version if you need to.

Last 16

The biggest surprise of the left side of the draw was Bayern Munich knocking out much fancied Inter Milan. Man Utd were always likely to have too much for Porto and blew them away in the first half, whilst Lens and Napoli looked a close game on paper it didn’t turn out that way. That set up Lens against Man Utd in the last 8, whilst Bayern would tackle an impressive Ajax side who saw off Lazio.

The right hand side of the draw very much went to form, with the only surprise coming when Rangers knocked out Borussia Dortmund. Andrew’s side had lead the game but an equaliser followed by a red card for Kohler left the door open for Van Vossen to score twice and put Dan into the quarter finals. There were expected wins for Barcelona, Real Madrid and PSG. Barcelona’s win against Aberdeen meant Stu would not be retaining the CM Cup – nobody has managed to retain the coveted cup to date.

Quarter Finals

Lens caused the biggest shock of the knockout stages so far with a win over Manchester United. Few had backed the French side to do so well but they will now face a semi final with Ajax, who saw off Michael’s belligerent Bayern side in a thriller. Alber had made it 4-4 with 17 minutes to go before Ajax retook the lead and sealed it on the break late on.

PSG shaded an epic with Barcelona, a game which had to be replayed because the host is/was a doofus. They’ll meet Real Madrid in the semi finals who saw off Rangers in another thriller, the Scottish side just unable to get level with their illustrious opponents.

Semi Finals

Let’s have a recap of the tactics by this stage

Would you believe it, Lens rose to the occasion yet again to beat Ajax and put themselves in the final. Vladimir Smicer was the hero, netting a hat-trick whilst Sibon couldn’t quite match his hat-trick from the previous round. Ajax’s efforts were all the more impressive given Ronald De Boer was sent off for a handball in the 4th minute, made worse by Smicer bending in the resulting free kick.

It was just about deserved for the French side.

An obvious man of the match candidate.

Who would meet Lens in the final?

Real Madrid rather ran away with this a bit, although much like the Antwerp game in the last 16, 3-0 became 3-2 towards the end albeit in this case a stoppage time consolation.

PSG couldn’t have done much more but poor finishing cost Nath.

Big game player Seedorf got the gong.

All of that meant the final would be between Gary and Liam.

Final

Lens and Real Madrid, who thought that would be the way of it?

As ever we have recorded the final so here it is, the usual images are a bit further down if you don’t want to spoil it for yourself.

A reminder of how the teams lined up:

When we say the CM cup always delivers, this is what we mean. Real Madrid were in control for a lot of this match, taking an early lead through Morientes. Smicer did pull Lens level but as the game drifted towards penalties, Morientes looked to have won it in the 86th. Gary threw on all possible attackers and one of them, Querel, bundled in an 89th minute equaliser. Shootout.

Smicer had been a hero throughout but his miss opened the door. Seedorf returned the favour and when Suker missed, Ziani had the chance to seal. He failed but then so did Morientes and, somehow, Lens are the 2023 CM Cup champions!

It wasn’t a battering but Real Madrid and Liam will be dissapointed to lose.

Obviously, Hierro was man of the match.

What a tournament. It had everything! Congratulations to Gary and commiserations to Liam, so close and yet so far.

Thank you to the 26 competitors for their time and efforts, I’ll be back with the annual roundup including your votes for best CM9798 player. Bye for now.