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Pays Basque - v1.0

It is the summer of 2023 and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez finally gives in to calls for an independence referendum to one of the country's autonomous regions; but it's not the one people expected. With an overwhelming "YES" vote, the Basque Country becomes the world's newest independent country. In the process, and as a token of goodwill to the nascent nation, France allows the French Basque Country to secede and join the newly formed "Pays Basque".

Hi everyone! This is my first mod for the game, I hope you like it! This mod makes the Pays Basque a playable nation. Their national team competes in European competitions like all others (Kazakhstan has been moved back to Asia), and the Basque clubs now compete in their own league, competing normally in continental competitions like the UCL, UEL and UECL.

Here is a (potentially incomplete) list of changes:

v1.0

Pays Basque is made into a "normal" playable nation in Europe. Kazakhstan has been moved to Asia.

Added 3 new divisions to the Pays Basque league system: Kutxabank Liga, Euskal Herriko Bigarren Maila & Euskal Herriko Afizionatuen Maila (8 regional subdivisions). The Kutxabank Liga and the Euskal Herriko Bigarren Maila each have 20 teams and have a simple promotion/relegation system of the top and bottom 3 teams, respectively. The winners and 2nd placed teams of each subdivision of the Euskal Herriko Afizionatuen Maila compete in a playoff for the 3 promotion spots to the Euskal Herriko Bigarren Maila.

All Spanish & French teams that are based in Basque towns have been moved to Pays Basque and now participate in their league system (other teams from Spain and France have been promoted to fill in their place).

Added 2 domestic cups: A "normal" cup in which teams from all divisions participate (Kopa Euskal Herria) the winner of which qualifies for the UEL in the beginning season and, since the Basques have always been proud of being a factory region of professional footballers, another cup in which only players with Basque nationality can participate (Euskaldunen Kopa), the winner of which qualifies for the UECL in the beginning season. The latter cup has been added to incentivize teams to keep Basque players in their squads and build around them.

A super cup competition (Euskal Herria Superkopa) in which the winner of the Kutxabank Liga faces off against the winner of the Kopa Euskal Herria.

Added standard awards like all leagues have, for the top two divisions.

I compiled the performances of the past 5 years of each Basque club in continental competitions, calculated how many coefficients points they have, and added them all up. This gives Pays Basque its starting spot in the continental competitions ranking.

Added the immersive "Deadline Day" experience to the league.

The youth rating of Pays Basque has been set to 152 (Spain's is 145 and France's is 155, so a normal value would be something like 150, but I added a couple points to account for the fact that within Spain, the Basque Country is one of the regions that produce some of the best footballers; and a lot of them, too).

Added a dynamic sponsorship system with respect to the teams' reputations.

The youth intake day has been set to December 15th, contrary to most other nations. This is because I personally like to see my youth intake before the winter transfer season to do some planning.

The season update day is July 1st to give some time for all competitions to finish in case of conflicts.

The summer transfer window is from July 1st to August 31st (with an extension to September 21st for free transfers and loans only) and the winter transfer window is from January 1st to January 31st (with an extension to February 7st for free transfers and loans only).

Now I've done a few tests up to 10 years in the future and a lot of things work correctly, but please let me know of any bugs or issues you encounter! Also, here is also a (potentially incomplete) list of bugs and known issues:

v1.0

Asia now has 48 nations instead of the normal 47, due to Kazakhstan being moved there. This means that one nation will always miss out on the chance to qualify for the World Cup and Asian Cup. I'm ok with that for now, but I try to fix it in a future update.

The large flag is missing from the Pays Basque nation (don't know why, it's just not in the game, but can easily be added manually).

In the first season, Osasuna still participates in the Spanish Cup. In my mind there was some backlash from the Osasuna fans regarding the secession so they wanted to stay in the Spanish Cup for a little bit more! :P If they don't win it (or the Super Cup in which they also participate), then it's fine and they won't participate in it in the following seasons.

The clubs' newgens are mostly of Spanish and French nationality with only about half of them having a Basque second nationality. The sad news is that, after significant (and I mean SIGNIFICANT) testing, I am 100% convinced this is hard-coded in the game specifically for the Pays Basque nation; newgens work correctly if you try to create another new nation. The good news is that after a few years, the Pays Basque national team will have done well enough that newgens will prefer it over Spain or France, and also a lot of the actual players retire and the game realizes it needs to produce people to fill in the national team, so the clubs start producing newgens which have Basque as their first nationality and sometimes as their only nationality. So think of it as a lore thing that the papers on the secession haven't really gone through legally yet and take a decade! :P If you do a long-term save and not just a couple years, eventually the newgens will function correctly for you.

I hope you enjoy the mod; I'm really excited to listen to your feedback and criticism, as well as update (to the best of my abilities) any bugs or issues you find!

Have fun and Aupa Athletic!