I saw a recent blog regarding players who have been in VM for 10 years, and what they had achieved. I thought it might be interesting to also look back on my achievements in the game, given that I recently (May 2023) passed that very anniversary myself.

It certainly took a long time to achieve success - one of the main traits of this game is that it is set up this way - no quick gratification in terms of cups and league titles for sure!

I entered the game in 2013. The first big success took 3½ years when in 2016 I won my first senior Cup competition, winning another 3 in 2017 before finally winning my first senior Division One title in June 2017, so four years after starting.

These early successes heralded further progress when I became one of the most successful, rapid-rising teams in VM by being, by May 2017, one of only 2 teams established since mid 2013 to have risen inside the top 10 of all teams.

But progressing on from this top 10 achievement took me a lot longer. In November 2022, so 9 long years since entering VM, I eventually advanced into the top #3 of VIFA-ranked senior teams for the first time. However, I had already hit the VM #1 spot for my youth team in February 2022, and I retained that top spot for several months thereafter.

But it has proved to be a huge struggle to maintain competitive junior and senior teams at the same time. I last achieved the double of winning country senior and junior League One titles in the same week back in March 2022. After winning my last junior team competition (the Greek U23 Cup in July 2022), I have concentrated on the senior team only.

The strategy seems to have worked as in April 2023, all in the same week I won the VM World Cup (for the first time), as well as a 10th Division One league title and the national senior cup competition. Super Cup honours also arrived in 2023 with a first victory in VM's top competition in February 2023.

As of now, June 2023, my team Newcastle U FC has won top honours 80 times:
11 senior Division One league titles (in 5 different countries)
20 senior Cups (incl. VM World Cup and Super Cup)
19 junior Division One league titles and
30 junior team Cups.

I really enjoy VM and try not to get too annoyed at the remoteness of the developers and frustration at their peculiar and sometimes bizarre decision-making and prioritisations. But hey, I'm only a player so my lot is to do what I can to be as successful as I can be, enjoy the game and the camaraderie of interacting with this VM community. Thanks!

Rolf