International Domestic Soccer Newswires 2

[Estorvipa and Estorpiva]

The Federal Top League of the Federal Republic, commonly shortened as the Federal Top League, is the top football competition for the Federal Republic of Estorvipa and Estorpiva. Football has long been a popular sport in the Estorian lands, but the sport had to take a back seat to everything else once the old Estorvipan People's Republic was torn apart by strife and civil war. There were unconfirmed reports that the Estorvipan Commune had tried to organize its own football competition during the few years that it had been involved with the greater multiverse of sport, but that competition was reportedly abandoned after the Commune and its puppet-masters from the Imperium went back into international reclusion. Football in Estorian lands was then played at only an amateur level before the establishment of the Federal Republic allowed a sense of normalcy to return to the Vipan and Pivan people, allowing them to finally organize a new professional football league as part of the nation's rebuilding process. Twelve teams have been selected to become the first members of the new Federal Top League, and while the shortage of professional clubs in the country would mean that promotion and relegation would not be implemented in the league just yet, it is hoped that the continued success of the Federal Top League would inspire more teams to adopt professionalism and pave the way for the return of an organically organized football system in Estorian lands. But who are these twelve teams participating in the first ever season of the Federal Top League? Let's find out.

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THE OLD POWERHOUSES: Spartak Rybolovlev, Traktor St. Paulsburg

These two teams have been the historical powerhouses of the old People's First Division of the Estorvipan People's Republic. Most of the championships in the old league have been won by these two teams, with Spartak's 28 championships edging out Traktor by eight titles. The last eight of Spartak's titles however came in the last years of Vissarion Zhivkov's rule, as he made his support for the team from the old capital very well known and took steps to make sure that Spartak would win those eight consecutive titles under his reign. Both Spartak and Traktor were unfortunately dissolved when the Estorvipan People's Republic collapsed after it was attacked by the Federal Republic, with most of their players being conscripted to the Estorvipan People's Army, which inevitably resulted in some deaths. But once the Federal Republic had successfully occupied the remaining territory of the People's Republic, both teams were reformed by pro-Federal fans, and these fans have successfully convinced some of the clubs' surviving players to return. But can these two old stalwarts of football in Estorian lands continue their domination in the new Federal Republic? Or will a new rising upstart knock them off of their thrones?

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THE UP-AND-COMERS: CSK Armiya Supskij, Mamai Ihorovtsi, Foc Feuerstadt, Dinamo Durdenville

The Centralny Sportiv Klub Armiya have always been the "best of the rest" in the old People's First Division with ten championships under their belt. Because of its status as the football club of the country's army (first the Estorvipan People's Army and now the Federal Defense Forces of the Federal Republic), Armiya was also known as "the people's club", the club that neutral fans loved to follow when things between the city-based clubs got a little too spicy. Mamai Ihorovtsi on the other hand were regularly mid-table for most of the existence of the old People's First Division, never really challenging for the title but also never in much of a threat from relegation. They only ever won one title, and that was way back in 1998. And Foc Feuerstadt and Dinamo Durdenville were never really in the picture until recently, but that's now potentially about to change with the establishment of the Federal Republic and the Federal Top League. Armiya and Mamai are always game to bring the right to the likes of Spartak and Traktor, and with both Foc and Dinamo now getting more support from the Pivan diaspora returning to Estorpiva, could one of these teams upset the natural order become the first ever champions of the Federal Top League?

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THE SURPRISE PACKAGES: Chornyy Volodymyrovka, Cavaleri Urodorasul, Velikiy Varadino

Out of these three, Chornyy is the only club to have a history in the old People's First Division. The other clubs from the smaller towns of the Federal Republic were originally amateur teams established during the so-called "dark days" before the Federal Republic returned to Estorian lands to restore order from the chaos that had been brought down on the land by the Estorian Civil War and the Imperium's puppet states. With the establishment of the Federal Republic, the fans of both Cavaleri and Velikiy Varadino secured the necessary funding from rich backers from their places to make the leap to professionalism, or at least semi-professionalism. Neither of these three teams accept that they're ready to challenge for the right to be crowned the champions of the Federal Top League just yet, but the removal of any risk of relegation (at least for the league's first few seasons) also eliminates any fear of reduced funding and allow them to thrive in midtable before potentially making that leap towards fighting against the big boys.

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THE ONES JUST HAPPY TO BE HERE: Matrega Fanagoria, Delfo Yevdokiya, Politehnica Humongalia

Just as the title says, these three teams are very much just happy that they've been the ones invited to take part in the Federal Top League in the first place. Out of these three teams, only Delfo have ever made it to the old People's First Division, and even then they never really made any impact in that league, and you can guess how well that went down for the people living in the third largest city in the old Estorvipan People's Republic rump state. Matrega and Politehnica meanwhile started off as amateur sides and they still remain only semi-professional at this stage, and they're definitely the happiest out of all the other teams to be taking part in a league without relegation. It allows them to keep their place in the league even if their style of play could very well look out of place compared to the other teams.

---

2023-24 Federal Top League Final Standings

   Federal Top League      Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts   Qualification                          
 1 Mamai Ihorovtsi          22   11   8   3    24   14  +10    41   Champions, Qualified for CAFA LigAnaia
 2 Spartak Rybolovlev       22   10   8   4    39   32   +7    38   Qualified for CAFA LigAnaia
 3 Dinamo Durdenville       22   10   6   6    26   17   +9    36
 4 Foc Feuerstadt           22    9   6   7    41   38   +3    33
 5 Velikiy Varadino         22    8   7   7    25   22   +3    31
 6 Delfo Yevdokiya          22    8   7   7    40   39   +1    31
 7 Chornyy Volodymyrovka    22    6  11   5    41   38   +3    29
 8 Cavaleri Urodorasul      22    8   5   9    34   33   +1    29
 9 Traktor St. Paulsburg    22    8   5   9    21   21    0    29
10 CSK Armiya Supskij       22    4   8  10    25   37  −12    20
11 Politehnica Humongalia   22    4   7  11    20   30  −10    19
12 Matrega Fanagoria        22    4   6  12    21   36  −15    18

Mamai Ihorovtsi have managed to beat all the odds and claimed the first ever Federal Top League championship. It's also their first ever top level Estorian championship in 25 years, and they only barely beat out Spartak Rybolovlev for the title. Spartak actually had a chance to win the title, but it depended on Mamai losing to Matrega Fanagoria and Spartak themselves beating Velikiy Varadino. Neither of these things happened, with both matches ending in 0-0 draws, and thus the title went to Mamai. It's not the end of the world for Spartak though; they will have the chance to compete in the CAFA LigAnaia alongside Mamai.

Estorvipa and Estorpiva (ENE) qualifiers
Puppet of Abanhfleft

CAFA LigAnaia: Mamai Ihorovtsi, Spartak Rybolovlev

[Mont Vert]

Mont Vert's football pyramid is organized across three leagues (A, B, C). The Ligue Montvertanesque-A (LigMA) has 14 teams.

   LigMA                    Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Boursir Grenadiers        26   16   7   3    32   11  +21    55
 2 Avilême AC                26   17   3   6    45   14  +31    54
 3 Grande-Plailly SC         26   14   8   4    19    7  +12    50
 4 Racing Club Viersier      26   10   9   7    41   35   +6    39
 5 AS Plairac                26   10   8   8    34   27   +7    38
 6 Racing Chabonne           26   10   8   8    19   12   +7    38
 7 Real Vabagne              26   11   5  10    18   11   +7    38
 8 Gregueux FC               26   10   7   9    28   25   +3    37
 9 AS Vanoît                 26    9   9   8    35   38   −3    36
10 Oceania Périnoît          26    8   7  11    17   23   −6    31
11 Draluçon FC               26    6   8  12    23   35  −12    26
12 AS Drassion               26    7   2  17    23   41  −18    23
13 Bergelès CH               26    4   8  14    14   33  −19    20
14 AS Champinnois            26    2   7  17     8   44  −36    13

Mont Vert (MNV) qualifiers
CAFA LigAnaia: Boursir Grenadiers, Avilême AC

[Space Laser Dinosaur Robot Pirate Land]

SPACE LASER DINOSAUR ROBOT PIRATE LAND

Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!

Space Laser Dinosaur Robot Pirate Land (LDP) qualifiers
Puppet of Sanford

CAFA LigAnaia 3: THE SUPER COOL AWESOME SUPER TEAM OF SPACE LASER DINOSAUR ROBOT PIRATE ALL STARS, Ms. Johnson's First-Grade Class
VCIAPP: Second Period Honors Bio (LDP)

[Osarius]

Season Eleven: Final Standings

Osarius (OSR) qualifiers
Primary Association

CAFA LigAnaia: Hastmead Diamante, Firewood City

Cobrio (CBR) qualifiers
Primary Association

CAFA LigAnaia: Negus Koromanti, Jraxville FC

[Osarius]

CAFA LigAnaia
Edition III

As with most things in Anaia, the actual deadline for CAFA LigAnaia III has been unpredictable. But here we are.

For the third edition of the CAFA LigAnaia, thirty-six teams from eighteen nations will participate.
The late entries from The Sevens Federation, Estorvipa and Estorpiva, Space Laser Dinosaur Robot Pirate Land, Osarius, and Cobrio were accepted.

AUD  Audioslavia              CBR  Cobrio
CMT  Chromatika               ENE  Estorvipa and Estorpiva
EVM  Evermark                 FVA  Flavovespia
KOR  Ko-oren                  LDP  Space Laser Dinosaur Robot Pirate Land
MNV  Mont Vert                MRN  Mriin
OSR  Osarius                  PYA  Pyazhnaya
QUE  Quebec and Shingoryeo    SAL  Saltstead
SEF  The Sevens Federation    STB  Starblaydia
STR  StrayaRoos               SVG  Savigliane

Notes: CAFA Coefficient is based on results from the last three editions of the CAFA LigAnaia. 
       Association ranks are the sum of all coefficient points earned by their teams in the last three editions.
       Unranked teams from associations with prior entrants were assigned 30% of the association's rank.

Qualifying Round
In the qualifying round, the eight lowest ranked teams face off in randomly paired two-legged ties for the right to participate in the group stage.
For this competition, in all two-legged ties, away goals will not count double.
If scores are level after two ninety-minute legs, the tie will be settled via penalty shootout.
Ties on CAFA Coefficient for this draw were settled by the drawing of lots.

(MNV)                          Avilême AC    4–0    Goha AFC                            (SEF)   2–0   2–0 
   
(CBR)                        Jraxville FC    3–3 p  Valiant                             (EVM)   1–2   2–1  (4–5 pen)
   
(PYA)                       FK Vselitamak    0–0 p  Outcast                             (EVM)   0–0   0–0  (2–3 pen)
   
(MNV)                  Boursir Grenadiers  p 3–3    Goha 7th                            (SEF)   3–3   0–0  (6–5 pen)

Group Stage
The four winners from the Qualifying Round joined the remaining entrants, and all were seeded according to CAFA coefficient* and split into four pots of eight. One team from each pot was placed in each group, with no two teams from the same nation permitted to be in the same group. Each group then completed a six-game, double round-robin tournament of its own, with three points awarded for a win, one point for a draw. The top two teams in each group progress to the round of sixteen.

Tiebreakers, when required were applied in the following order:

• head-to-head results,
• head-to-head goal difference,
• head-to-head goals for,
• head-to-head away goals,
• overall goal difference,
• total goals scored,
• total away goals scored,
• number of matches won in the group stage,
• and a coin flip.

Notes: CAFA Coefficient is based on results from the last three editions of the CAFA LigAnaia. 
       Association ranks are the sum of all coefficient points earned by their teams in the last three editions.
       Unranked teams from associations with prior entrants were assigned 30% of the association's rank.

#  Team                                           P  W  D  L  GF  GA  GD  Pts    CRG    LOX    FKA    VLN
1  Cherrygrove City                         SAL   6  3  3  0  18  10   8  12      -     2-2    3-2    2-2  
2  Loxthorpe Rovers FC                      FVA   6  2  4  0  13   7   6  10     3-3     -     2-2    4-0  
3  FK Armaskoye                             PYA   6  2  1  3   9  14  -5   7     0-4    0-2     -     2-1  
4  Valiant                                  EVM   6  0  2  4   6  15  -9   2     1-4    0-0    2-3     -   


#  Team                                           P  W  D  L  GF  GA  GD  Pts    SAS    WYV    PNO    NKR
1  SLDRP ALL STARS                          LDP   6  4  2  0  12   5   7  14      -     2-1    2-0    1-1  
2  Wyvernscrest                             MRN   6  2  2  2  15  11   4   8     2-2     -     1-0    6-0  
3  Panem Olympic                            STR   6  1  2  3   6   8  -2   5 *   0-1    3-3     -     2-0  
4  Negus Koromanti                          CBR   6  1  2  3   7  16  -9   5 *   1-4    4-2    1-1     -   
* Tie broken by head to head results

#  Team                                           P  W  D  L  GF  GA  GD  Pts    WRT    SRV    SWA    HMD
1  Wirr Tsi                                 CMT   6  4  1  1  10   5   5  13      -     3-1    0-1    2-1  
2  Straudum VV                              KOR   6  2  2  2   8   9  -1   8 *   2-2     -     1-1    2-1  
3  Southwest Ajax                           STR   6  2  2  2   5   5   0   8 *   0-2    0-1     -     0-0  
4  Hastmead Diamante                        OSR   6  1  1  4   5   9  -4   4     0-1    2-1    1-3     -   
* Tie broken by head to head results

#  Team                                           P  W  D  L  GF  GA  GD  Pts    RMT    TEL    MSJ    BRS
1  Royal Michaeltown                        SAL   6  4  2  0  12   4   8  14      -     3-0    2-0    0-0  
2  Telecontarë                              STB   6  3  0  3  10   9   1   9 *   2-3     -     1-2    1-0  
3  Ms. Johnson's First-Grade Class          LDP   6  3  0  3   9   8   1   9 *   1-3    1-2     -     4-0  
4  Boursir Grenadiers                       MNV   6  0  2  4   1  11 -10   2     1-1    0-4    0-1     -   
* Tie broken by goals scored

#  Team                                           P  W  D  L  GF  GA  GD  Pts    BNW    MAE    NAC    AVM
1  Binclestead Wood FC                      FVA   6  5  0  1  16   2  14  15      -     1-2    4-0    1-0  
2  Maethoru SC                              KOR   6  3  0  3  10   9   1   9     0-4     -     4-0    0-1  
3  Nazionale Acqui Bollente                 SVG   6  2  1  3   7  13  -6   7     0-2    3-2     -     1-1  
4  Avilême AC                               MNV   6  1  1  4   2  11  -9   4     0-4    0-2    0-3     -   


#  Team                                           P  W  D  L  GF  GA  GD  Pts    BRU    SPR    MPJ    SFT
1  Bruul Skewers                            MRN   6  3  1  2   8   7   1  10      -     2-3    1-0    1-0  
2  Spartak Rybolovlev                       ENE   6  3  0  3  12  12   0   9     0-2     -     3-1    2-4  
3  Mipojoseon                               QUE   6  2  2  2   8   8   0   8     2-0    1-0     -     2-2  
4  Stade-Ferre Trinité                      SVG   6  1  3  2  12  13  -1   6     2-2    2-4    2-2     -   


#  Team                                           P  W  D  L  GF  GA  GD  Pts    CTH    OdR    FWD    MIV
1  1830 Cathair                             AUD   6  5  1  0  14   3  11  16      -     2-1    1-0    1-1  
2  Olympique de Rimouski                    QUE   6  4  0  2  12   4   8  12     0-2     -     3-0    3-0  
3  Firewood City                            OSR   6  1  1  4   4  13  -9   4     1-4    0-3     -     1-1  
4  Mamai Ihorovtsi                          ENE   6  0  2  4   3  13 -10   2     0-4    0-2    1-2     -   


#  Team                                           P  W  D  L  GF  GA  GD  Pts    ITZ    CHR    CRS    OCS
1  KT Itzalovalle                           AUD   6  4  1  1  16   7   9  13      -     2-2    3-0    1-2  
2  Chromatik                                CMT   6  3  2  1  16   8   8  11     2-3     -     4-1    1-1  
3  Corinthian Spirits                       STB   6  2  0  4   7  13  -6   6     1-2    1-2     -     1-0  
4  Outcast                                  EVM   6  1  1  4   5  16 -11   4     0-5    0-5    2-3     -

Round of Sixteen
Group winners were randomly drawn against group stage runners up. Two teams from the same nation cannot be drawn against each other at this stage.
Group winners are the home team for the second leg.

(CMT)                            Wirr Tsi    3–4    Loxthorpe Rovers FC                 (FVA)   3–3   0–1 
   
(FVA)                 Binclestead Wood FC    6–4    Chromatik                           (CMT)   4–1   2–3 
   
(SAL)                   Royal Michaeltown    1–3    Maethoru SC                         (KOR)   0–2   1–1 
   
(LDP)                     SLDRP ALL STARS    1–2    Straudum VV                         (KOR)   1–2   0–0 
   
(AUD)                      KT Itzalovalle    1–4    Wyvernscrest                        (MRN)   1–2   0–2 
   
(SAL)                    Cherrygrove City    3–2    Olympique de Rimouski               (QUE)   2–0   1–2 
   
(AUD)                        1830 Cathair    6–1    Telecontarë                         (STB)   2–0   4–1 
   
(MRN)                       Bruul Skewers   10–3    Spartak Rybolovlev                  (ENE)   7–2   3–1

Final Stage
The eight winners from the round of sixteen progress to the Final Stage: a seeded, single-leg, double-elimination tournament.
Seeds were determined by CAFA coefficient, and all matches were to be settled on the day; using extra time and penalty shootouts as required.

For each game in the top bracket (except the final) the home team is the higher-ranked side.
In the elimination rounds, the home team is the lower-ranked side (except the final).

Quarter Finals                                                                                               
(KOR)                     Maethoru SC    1–4    Bruul Skewers                   (MRN)  
(FVA)             Binclestead Wood FC    2–1    Loxthorpe Rovers FC             (FVA)  
(KOR)                     Straudum VV    5–2    1830 Cathair                    (AUD)  
(SAL)                Cherrygrove City    5–2    Wyvernscrest                    (MRN)  

Elimination Round One                                                                                        
(KOR)                     Maethoru SC    5–0    Loxthorpe Rovers FC             (FVA)  
(AUD)                    1830 Cathair    2–2 p  Wyvernscrest                    (MRN)  (2–2 FT · 4–5 pen)

Loxthorpe Rovers FC and 1830 Cathair are eliminated.

Semi-Semi Finals                                                                                             
(MRN)                   Bruul Skewers    2–3 e  Binclestead Wood FC             (FVA)  (2–2 FT)
(KOR)                     Straudum VV  p 1–1    Cherrygrove City                (SAL)  (1–1 FT · 4–2 pen)

Elimination Round Two                                                                                        
(SAL)                Cherrygrove City    1–4    Maethoru SC                     (KOR)  
(MRN)                    Wyvernscrest    0–1    Bruul Skewers                   (MRN)  

Cherrygrove City and Wyvernscrest are eliminated.

Semi Final                                                                                                   
(FVA)             Binclestead Wood FC    0–1    Straudum VV                     (KOR)  

Elimination Round Three                                                                                      
(KOR)                     Maethoru SC    2–1    Bruul Skewers                   (MRN)  

Bruul Skewers are eliminated.

Final Eliminator                                                                                             
(FVA)             Binclestead Wood FC    1–3    Maethoru SC                     (KOR)  

Binclestead Wood FC are eliminated.

With two teams remaining, the final can take place, at a neutral venue selected from those put forward by CAFA associations.

To decide the venue for the final, CAFA officials decided on a simple coin flip, as there were only two bids. One venue was assigned "heads", and the other "tails". In typical Anaia fashion, however, the coin landed on its edge. After a length discussion involving the tilt of the planet on its axis, the position of the stars in the sky, and the length of shadow cast by the coin, experts determined that the coin had landed slightly further toward "heads". It was thus decided that this venue would be chosen, and it was announced that the final game(s) would take place at The Reneegrad in Quebec City, Quebec and Shingoryeo.

@ The Reneegrad, Quebec City
(KOR)                     Straudum VV    1–3    Maethoru SC                     (KOR)

As this was Straudum VV's first defeat in the final stage, a second final was required. Also played at The Reneegrad, Quebec City.

(KOR)                     Maethoru SC    2–1    Straudum VV                     (KOR)

Maethoru SC are crowned CAFA LigAnaia III Champions

Congratulations to the winners, and thanks, as usual, to all entrants for your patience.
A full bracket of the final stage (to make things a little easier to follow) can be found here



Administrative note: An error was discovered in the group stage, wherein Boursir Grenadiers (MNV) were mistakenly replaced by AS Villeneuve (SVG) -- the latter of whom did not enter CAFA LigAnaia III. The affected group was re-scored, as the six results involving AS Villeneuve did not take any rank into account and returned a default 0-0 scoreline, therefore making them invalid results.

As the results of the re-scorination did not change which teams progressed (or their positions in the group stage), no further ties were re-scorinated. The re-scored group is now visible in this post, and those results have been added to the CAFA LigAnaia history file to be used for coefficient calculation.

[Kanran-Riku]

Season

Kanran-riku (KRU) qualifiers
Primary Association

CAFA LigAnaia: Firefly Ushironemawari, North Star Nakata

[The 14 Stars]

Starsian super league results

all roleplays can be viewed here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=510547

Senior league

*                         Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Blizzard Academy        34   20   6   8    47   32  +15    66
 2 Orion                   34   18   9   7    48   29  +19    63
 3 Omega                   34   17  10   7    51   33  +18    61
 4 Mount Olympus FC        34   16   6  12    49   36  +13    54
 5 Almighty Faith          34   15   8  11    41   35   +6    53
 6 Amazona United          34   13  12   9    34   22  +12    51
 7 Universal FC            34   15   6  13    33   29   +4    51
 8 Phoenix United          34   13  11  10    36   33   +3    50
 9 Black Rose Academy      34   13   7  14    31   34   −3    46
10 Port Vale FC            34   11  12  11    29   32   −3    45
11 The Lagoon              34   11  10  13    31   37   −6    43
12 Haunted FC              34   12   7  15    30   39   −9    43
13 Red Bison               34   10  11  13    26   27   −1    41
14 Mirage United           34   11   7  16    37   47  −10    40
15 Desert Lions            34   10  10  14    33   44  −11    40
16 Prominence FC           34    9  10  15    28   38  −10    37
17 Greenville FC           34    6  11  17    21   35  −14    29
18 Ancient Forest FC       34    6   7  21    24   47  −23    25

Youth league

*                             Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Universal FC U19            34   15  10   9    45   35  +10    55
 2 Phoenix United U19          34   17   4  13    37   33   +4    55
 3 Greenville FC U19           34   15   9  10    39   34   +5    54
 4 Prominence FC U19           34   14  10  10    40   30  +10    52
 5 Blizzard Academy U19        34   13  12   9    39   30   +9    51
 6 Desert Lions U19            34   13  11  10    31   26   +5    50
 7 Ancient Forest FC U19       34   13  11  10    31   30   +1    50
 8 Almighty Faith U19          34   15   5  14    44   46   −2    50
 9 Omega U19                   34   13   8  13    29   26   +3    47
10 Amazona United U19          34   14   5  15    37   36   +1    47
11 the Lagoon U19              34   12   9  13    33   34   −1    45
12 Haunted FC U19              34   11   9  14    28   34   −6    42
13 Red Bison U19               34   12   6  16    30   40  −10    42
14 Mirage United U19           34   10  11  13    44   47   −3    41
15 Mount Olympus FC U19        34   10  10  14    27   33   −6    40
16 Port Vale FC U19            34   11   7  16    27   36   −9    40
17 Orion U19                   34    9  12  13    30   33   −3    39
18 Black Rose Academy U19      34    8  13  13    33   41   −8    37

Qualified for international tournaments

Qualified to international tournaments:

IFCF Championsleague: Blizzard Academy
IFCF Challengers cup: Orion, Omega, Mount Olympus FC
IFCF Rising Stars cup: Universal FC U19
FFI/LoV Qualifiers: Blizzard Academy, Orion
FFI Confederations trophy: Omega

[Zwangzug]

Transfers pre-season 37:

Out of the college system:

Youssef Broide (forward, Liulevi University) -> Unama'kik-Inverness 1877, Quebec and Shingoryeo
Adele Guildenstern (defensive midfield, Ozcheb University) -> Raven River, Nephara
Ryan Holloway-Chan (left wing, Neume College) -> Real Pablo FC, Bollonich

Into the college system:
Ildefônso Ìsní (striker, Farfadillis) -> Taravin College
Çînlârfêno Güsé (offensive midfield, Farfadillis) -> University of Sinako
Abel Abga (left wing, Farfadillis) -> Mandelbrot University

Into the 1./:

Yang Tao (center midfield, Yuezhou) Fagli Cinquanta, San Ortelio -> Ephesian FC
Jordan Watson (left back, Poafmersia) Pro Stampano, San Ortelio -> Ephesian FC
Catarina Malmquist (center back, Nyowani Kitara) -> FTC United
Zhou Mushonga (left back, Nyowani Kitara) -> Keppal Cosmos

Zwangzugians overseas:
Martin Staunt-Anderson (defensive midfield) Urbitzo FC, Astograth -> Tenth Star Hasiera, Audioslavia
Anita Rao-Chavan (center back) Betham FC, Sylestone -> Southrons-Errant, Brenecia
Carrie Geffen-Broad (right midfield) Cleorough FC, Sylestone -> Nephara

Definitely graduated college, may have stayed on to get a masters' or something, but totally a professional now:
Luo Chuan (attacking midfield, Yuezhou): Mursbayley College -> Spenson Suburbia

Ephesian open their hearts, and their pocketb...okay mostly their hearts to the survivors of the collapsed San Ortelio league; Yang's Yuezhou side were right at home in the ZS^3 during qualifiers, at least. The dismantling of the Sylestone league leads its veterans to try their luck in Nephara and their former puppet state of Brenecia, while we think Martin Staunt-Anderson may be the first Zwangzugian to play in the modern Audioslavian league. The university system, despite not having high-tech tools for evaluating player potential, like their Farf signings because two of them are swimming in Cabañas effect, and the other one--according to our expert scouts--is just as talented going forward as backward. That was an Abelian joke. Everybody move along.

Slightly belatedly, two members of the Nyowani Kitara team joined our ranks (to be fair, there are a lot more important things on their mind than the transfer window deadlines). Catarina Malmquist, the national team's only woman, joins the FTC United side that is hoping to build on their top-half finish last season, while Zhou Mushonga will try to bolster Keppal's defense. Please note that we signed both one black Kitaran and one white Nordlander, and neither player's position on the roster or the starting lineup was affected by defections. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

Matchday One

A new season is upon us! As you may know if you read, like, the international news, Namiri Forest and Rovers United will be kept busy with their global/independent domestic competitions. But the quest to fight on multiple fronts is always a daunting one, and we'd like to string out the suspense by interweaving all the plotlines. Or maybe we'll just run out of time and give up halfway through like last season. Which would be a bit embarrassing considering all the climactic stuff. Note to self: don't leave this in if you actually have to give up halfway through.

Anyway. Namiri Forest's attempt at a title defense got off to a poor start, as they lost 4-1 in 102d. Nepharim Helena Buis of university near-fame got the hosts' season off to a brisk start, scoring in the thirteenth minute; the stalwart Valerie Waugh would add on around the half-hour mark, off a pass from Mariano Llosa. Farrokh Sokhi opened his account for the visitors in added time of first half, but after the restart, it would be all 102d again, with Waugh making it a brace in minute 67. Phoebe Lehrer headed in a Buis free kick to finish it off.

The perils of extremism were also on display, in much the same form, in Hope City, where it was Sporting Esper dispatching Ephesian FC by the same scoreline. This time, it was actually the visitors who got on the scoreboard first, with Yang Tao assisting Lukas Helsen-Roan in minute 8. From there, the Robins took flight. Judy McCarter's header in the twentieth minute tied it up, and she quickly assisted Zoe Stark-Hewitt for the go-ahead goal. The visitors got a break when a Yves Ramsey foul on Quinten Fryx led to a penalty, but the Mertagnian Lliot Celarte saved it, which made Ephesian kind of miffed because how dare, etc, etc. Anyway, they looked lethargic after that, and Alyssa Montgomery and Keith Gray-Stroop scored in the second half to complete the drubbing. So both takil and karela will be sulking and seeking to defend their honor when they, uh...meet next week! Let's go.

Matchday Two

The Guariday clash was a slightly sloppy 2-2 draw which probably bodes better for Ephesian's chances, medium-term, than Forest's. Kedarnath Indori made the most of an errant pass from Kausalya Vizirani and unnerved his teammates by trying to basically walk it in, but to be fair, against Ephesian you often can walk it in. The visitors bounced back with a goal through Paulina Henrico, and after halftime, Mikhail Volpert-Yuffa gave them the lead. But Sakina Keshavan-Kaur would take advantage of a miscommunication between Jesse McWhorter and Jordan Watson at the back to tie things up for Forest.

On the other side of the district, Namiri Independent are continuing their campaign where they left off last season. Which, unfortunately for them, is being rubbish. The Robins took advantage, with Gray-Stroop converting a pass from Nora Kent-Maner to put Sporting Esper on the board. After a McCarter shot was deflected by Shekhar Reddy, Montgomery poked in the rebound. Pentala Handa scored Independent's first goal of the season (they were shut out in Spenson last week) in minute 52, only for Jeremiah McHoughton to add Esper's third sixteen minutes later. The Robins lead outright, being the only team with two points from two. Parity!

Qualifying Phases of International Tournaments:

Ephesian FC enjoyed their trip to Boring Paradise, though some of the epistle-loving fans probably took issue with their characterization of eternity. They then crushed Hálsrath Warriors FC, from the surprisingly venerable nation of Melbergia. Trebuchet Cham defeated Hatem Phoenix FC of Schima Bas (we hope the epistle fans from Zwischen were able to keep their noses out of Schima Bas' business when it comes to the entanglements of church, state, and football, although we're not 100% that they can manage that). The Rovers got promptly dumped out of the Champions' League by the unsurprisingly venerable Soldarian FC, while Ephesian continued their high-scoring ways against Sporting Kohnhead City, and Cham narrowly advanced against Perolas. And...whatever, we'll cram in the other stuff later, this isn't particularly scintillating business.

Matchday Three

The Robins continue to enjoy fair winds, with Stark-Hewitt tapping in a Kent-Maner pass for the only goal at home against FTC United. Forest continue to look unsteady, even though they can't blame fixture congestion yet; today, they lost to an Arlington side still nominally in a "rebuilding" phase under Cameron Raleigh. To be fair, the goal came from Meldi'ita Mungwaii, who at age forty shows no signs of slowing down. But still.

The big scoreline of the day, however, came in Trink, where the Nebenstimme demolished a 102d side that looked nothing like the one that beat Forest two weeks ago. Uwe Quade got the hosts started, scoring in minute 14 off a pass from Hanna Suzuki. Shinji Hoshino would score two more before the first half was out, and spend most of the second half lurking around, trying to get a hat-trick, and being repeatedly called offside. Trink didn't exactly need him, however, with Ryota Imamura and Isidore Timm-Joffe scoring in minutes 69 and 81 respectively. (My editor has too much class to make a 69 joke, those were stale even in Lawrence Sevvy's era which was way long ago. She is, however, trying to come up with some innuendo involving 81, so this shouldn't be taken a sign of her maturity.)

Matchday Four

Sporting Esper and Canbix Muses share a commitment to a rather defensive style, while not as stultifying as Namiri Forest's nor even as brutally efficient as Excelsior Slogda's (well, it looked brutally efficient when they were winning titles). You could say that they both compromise by being about three-fifths as karelan as--(My editor tells me this is in poor taste but can you trust her???)

Anyway. The point is, Einvarður Adamsson moved from Steinaux to Canbix not by trying to remake the team in his vision, but because they both already share similar outlooks when it comes to strategy. And while his results with the Muses haven't always been ones to brag about, he's had time to find his feet, albeit mostly because nobody here is entitled enough to sack their coaches. Today, the Robins' win streak ran into trouble at Groth Park. Potz Gambor set up Saebyeok Sisinis for the opener on twelve minutes, but Esper clawed their way back into it with a header from the enormous McHoughton. (A note to any Farves/curious foreigners reading this: it would be pretty obvious to a Zwangzugian audience that someone named "Jeremiah McHoughton" is very likely to be part of the ethnic Bigtopian diaspora. Of course, one oughtn't generalize about them or any other ethnicity, Bigtopians can be charismatic leaders like Jonah McCollins or stoic and remote like Joel McJakill or sardonic and late-blooming like Jesse McWhorter. You get the picture. But every once in a while, you get someone who's muscular, naturally athletic, wouldn't mean to knock anybody's skull in but would cause some damage if they accidentally did, and comes close to fulfilling any stereotypes you might have about diaspora groups that have struggled to win acceptance across the multiverse. Jeremiah McHoughton is this dude for Sporting Esper.)

Um, where were we? Right, the Muses. Emily Kuiper scored in minute 57 to give the hosts the lead; the Robins rallied for a few nice back-and-forth passes though Kent-Maner and McCarter, but Helen Pimbura made it look easy in goal. To be fair, she makes it look easy a lot, just kind of taking it easy but actually shutting down attacks before they can start, that's kind of her thing. So Canbix pull into the lead.

As for Namiri Forest, they finally got a win, and where better than at home against their cross-district rivals? Ganesh Pandey, as we may have mentioned, isn't as classically a "lone striker in a 1-6-3-1 who will score all the goals because no one else knows how to attack" as earlier Forest sides have been, but he's the closest thing they've got to filling that mold, and he was the one who got on the scoreboard against the lifeless visitors from Sharag.

Matchday Five

Forest's success is short-lived, as they fall to defeat in Trink. Suzuki is playing like she wants to get back on Kate DiMarini's radar, which, given the caliber of competition she's up against both here and overseas might be an uphill battle. Nevertheless, she assisted Imamura for a goal in the seventeenth minute, then valiantly ran around trying to tackle Sokhi and Talat Ilango. Which led to her almost getting toppled over by Vizirani ten minutes from full time, but she survived in one piece. Forest can't even use the "fighting on two fronts" excuse yet, they get byes to the group stages by virtue of winning the league. Come on, guys!

The other extremists almost lost in the exact same style, as an early goal from Devin O'Shea gave the Muses a lead that they would defend through ninety minutes. In the second minute of added time, however, Yang caught Pimbura napping (not literally) and poked one by her to recover a half-point for the hosts. Canbix are still top.

Challengers' Cup: fourth preliminary and playoff rounds

The Rovers enjoyed their trip to Dí Maozöxê, and played the "home" leg at the home field of Wawen College in Xander District (see, I told you this worldbuilding stuff might matter someday), which is the closest thing Zwangzug has to a Faroleran-language region. The Rovers understand that Rülândéá and Farolera are not the same place, but the point stands. Gotta say, I'm curious what kind of pep talks they have. "All right, folks, just in case you were tempted to go on about the time some people got dead, remember that we're playing a side who date their founding to 'Before Anarchy' and routinely have fatal arson following their derbies." Ephesian continued to enjoy making mock of opposing defenses, until Rülândéá Kôstä proved too takilan even for Ephesian. And Nancy Puyo-Sachar got a scrappy extra-time goal which lifted the Cabbas over Kingsgrove.

February Fanaticism: First Round

Okay, this is a little bit of a lie. The first round isn't actually being played now. All of the rounds take place in a matter of a few weeks, after the regular season, which is totally a thing that exists and has conference matches And Stuff. However, in keeping with our, um, commitment to spreading the love around, we will be interweaving the university results every few matchdays.

Also, in other university news, Misako Tsuki is taking a sabbatical from Bryce College to continue her "soulwood" research, and whether the Namirite legends of "poison cedars" have anything to do with it. My editor told me I have to foreshadow this just in case it turns into a magical realism plotline in a future cycle but more likely she'll just get bored of the concept and move on. (My editor, I mean, not Tsuki.) Anyway. I hope you're satisfied, because you probably aren't getting anything more out of our university staff.

Snowden College 4–1 DU
University of Twineur 0–2 Orling College
Frammard College 0–1 Taravin College
Stiglex University 2–0 Newtown Institute
Bryce College 0–1 Maddon College
Ronquebuck University 2–3 Parmel District University
University of Greater Zwangzug 3–4 College of Bronc
102d Polyteknik 1–0 Sapper Tech
Bulkeley College 1–0 Zwangzug National University
Liulevi University 3–1 University of Ponderosa
Westfield College 3–1 Henssen Institute
Zwangzug University of Science 0–1 Mursbayley College
Leblanc Universite 0–3 University of Naspe
University of Jeatt--Kindtown 0–1 Freund College
University of Sinako 2–3 AIU
Heisenberg University 0–2 Scholl College
Elizur Mountain College 4–4 Mandelbrot University (4–4 AET) (3–4 pen.)
Culver College 0–0 Klerked College (1–0 AET)
Shanbock University 0–3 Ozcheb University
University of 102d 1–0 Fleinhardt College
Zwangzug University 1–6 University of Jeatt--Lucina
Erewhon University 1–0 Ashthorn College
Neume College 1–0 College of the Riverside
Edison College 2–6 Glune Institute of Natural Sciences
Brench 1–0 College of Twake
University of Homler 1–4 Wawen College
St. Deedrag University 1–0 Hassench College
University of Dauclem 3–3 Lanius University (3–3 AET) (4–2 pen.)
Engdahl Institute 1–0 Jefhed College
Geeccles University 1–0 Universitaet Schwandt
Pittman University 0–1 Minong College
Modal College 0–3 Stoal Institute of Science

Matchday Six

The Muses' momentum got a boost by playing Namiri Independent, who continue to be consistently listless. Gambor set up Kuiper in minute thirty-six; shortly afterwards, against the run of play, a looping pass from Syed Nagori found Eknath Sandlas, who poked in an equalizer for the visitors. But Deirdre Pannenkoeken scored for Canbix in minute 74 to clinch the win. Canbix stay top of the table, although they're now tied with...

Wait a minute. This isn't supposed to happen!

Rovers United can claim the "fighting on multiple fronts" excuse. They can't claim the "travelling frequently" excuse, because that's kind of their thing. But anyway, while it's early, last season's late-surging runners-up have not impressed so far. And today, they lost to Arlington City, who are supposed to be in their rebuilding phase. Instead, we got a trio of goals from Felicity Ephatha, Rufus Lyngblom-Hutch, and the indefatigable Mungwaii. Fiona Hubbard looked badly out of position for the last two, charging forward with too much optimism about her defense's capabilities, but to be fair, the Rovers finished ten places above Arlington last season.

It's also fair to say that Raleigh didn't see this coming either; in a postgame press conference, he urged caution but praised his players for their "commitment" (although that might have been a very indirect dig at Jenna Kowalski, who's the butt of her teammates' jokes after trying, and failing, to get transferred elsewhere). Still, if Cynthia Fairfax-Hazy remembers how to apply herself and not recklessly reply-all, their defense looks like it could be formidable sooner rather than later.

Matchday Seven

The east side of the FTC is the butt of many jokes in Zwangzug, for good reason. In the past, it had significant issues with crime, economic inequality, and a tedious but less-than-openminded relationship to gay rights. Today, happily, it's a mostly-utopian setting where the worst you have to fear is graffiti in impenetrable algebraic script, reckless pizza delivery cyclists, and social deduction nerds who may or may not be lycantrophes. But it still has to put up with being, while enormously populous, only half of the FTC metropolitan area, and sometimes looked down upon by the other half. (Not literally, they both have skyscrapers.) So locals can be a little touchy.

On the other hand, compared to somewhere like Nyowani Kitara, it's spectacularly idyllic. At least, it was today for Catarina Malmquist, who put in a strong performance at center-back for the Oxen. While Kuiper and Sisinis tried to string together a few passes for the visiting Muses, it was to no avail, and the Oxen secured a tie. They were third at the halfway point last season, you'll recall, before regressing toward the mean, or at least eighth place. Perhaps Malmquist's arrival could provide needed stability. Or perhaps she'll be just as unstable as her homeland.

That meant that Arlington could go top outright with a win. They were visiting Stabb Field, granted, and once visitors make their way past all the experiments in progress on the tennis courts and ice hockey rinks, they still have to break down a midfield that features Kayla Haugen and Puyo-Sachar--not an easy test for any side. But Junia McCue knows their style from the national team, and she was able to sneak through and score the only goal of the match 36 minutes in. The postgame press conference was mostly Raleigh continuing to downplay the accomplishment, with a few interruptions from the indefatigable Ígnîgo Xôjálá who is still really excited about speaking to a live Bigtopian.

Cereal Cup: First Round

Namiri Forest 1–2 Keppal Cosmos
Rovers United 0–1 Sporting Esper
Twineur Bugs 3–3 Bassabook Old Boys
Ephesian FC 3–3 Arlington City
Trebuchet Cham 3–3 Eintracht Trink
Canbix Muses 0–0 Excelsior Slogda
102d Jr.s 0–0 Spenson Suburbia
FTC United 1–0 Namiri Independent

Look, the league has been plenty exciting, and whether or not Arlington's kids stay hot we'll have a deserving champion. Specifically, there will be wins and losses and it won't all be a clusterbleep. However, this particular competition miiiight be fodder for the naysayers who are worried about too much parity.

Partly, the "fighting on two fronts" excuse does apply, even if the Rovers' IFCF ambitions are over. And there was nothing unexpected about Namiri Independent losing to FTC United, with Hilde Clages converting a pass from Pia Leykauf. But the other two matches which ended in victories were defeats for last season's top two! McCarter's goal was enough to lift the Robins over the Rovers, while youngster Senbi Kuriakose--getting a start since a lot of the first team was busy with the Champions' League--actually gave Forest the lead in their match. But Rosamund Kynes scored a nifty equalizer for Keppal, and then got badly hurt by a rough foul from Suraj Uppapa in minute 42. Lena Pulaski slotted home the penalty, and while Kynes' status is still iffy, the Cosmos were able to hang on for a win. Our schedule-makers are really not looking forward to dealing with all the draws, but we could get a battle of the Kitarans if this means FTC United get to play Keppal next!

Champions' League/Challengers' Cup: Matchday One

Sometimes, the schedule-maker helps with the foreshadowing. Namiri Forest, having enjoyed their byes to the group stage, got the Champions' League off to a bang by trouncing Cazadores Cathair in Janaki Gardens. The "Hunters" may be led by a Rook, but Forest boast their own towering figure at the back, with Kausalya Vizirani their imposing captain on defense. And while she might not have gotten on the highlight reel today--how could she, when Forest took the proceedings seriously enough they deigned to score four, while being as resolute as ever at the back?--she nevertheless was all smiles after the victory. Ilango's header opened the tally, Pandey managed a brace, and Sokhi scored shortly after halftime.

We're gonna be honest, we don't know a great deal about the Coret Hawks beyond the fact that they, like a bleepload of their Nepharan colleagues, appreciate bird imagery, which is valid. One wonders how they beat out all the Harriers and Starlings and Goodfeathers for the rights to use the "Aviary" moniker for their home park. Anyway, Cham's visit there resulted in a tense scoreless draw.

Meanwhile, the Bug House was hosting Gunzlach, who received a tepid reception mostly due to not being named Altendalur. The match got off to a rough start for the hosts, when Kirsten Jackson--usually poised and disciplined with the national team--hacked down Jochi Murakami in the penalty area. Fortunately for Twineur, they have a goalkeeper named Ryne Sheneth-Calvert, who is a normal human person who exists and has a lot of character from "let's just play the kids and build some character" matches under the polarizing Dale Hartford-Phelps. Unfortunately, he did not save Murakami's penalty, although that's also pretty normal, with some honorable exceptions.

In minute 36, Hanna Takáts scored from open play. After halftime, Twineur scored, with Eric Motley-Kashone converting an Aimee Ginoud-Sachs pass. Their offense looked underwhelming for the rest of the match, however. And in the 74th minute, Sheneth-Calvert rushed out to try and shut down Çè Quîrîjá, only to fumble the ball into his own net for an embarrassing own goal, which will be even more embarrassing if the tiebreakers end up mattering, hint, hint. Unfortunately, the schedule-maker also did some foreshadowing with this one. But come on, honestly, we can't complain knowing how the rest of the campaigns are gonna turn out.

Matchday Eight

We now return you to "Arlington being surprisingly good," already in progress. Milo Tien scored in the fifteenth minute against Spenson, Lyngblom-Hutch added on on forty minutes, and Tabitha Kridel's chip shot in the second half was an extra flourish. Canbix didn't exactly keep pace with them, but still won, albeit by a smaller margin, against a Forest side still mostly playing the kids. O'Shea began the scoring for the visitors, Kuriakose equalized, Pannenkoeken scored the go-ahead goal. The Muses added on through Kyrie Tsomou, and my editor instructs me to note that her first name is pronounced "as in Eleison, not as in Irving." I hope this was helpful information to somebody, somewhere. Anyway, Seth Ojah scored a late goal for the hosts, but to no avail.

Champions' League/Challengers' Cup: Matchday Two

One could be forgiven for lumping Vizirani in with a long string of defensive leaders for Forest, from Sonal Kaur down through Chevanthi Arokiaraj. Truth be told, despite her obvious maturity on the field, she's a bit more wide-eyed and touristy off-pitch. (Then again, Arokiaraj went through her share of soreness and pains off-the-field too, but that's another story, or parody.) Anyway, Vizirani's return trip to Farfadillis (she's been there at least in World Cup 85, if not more recently) was always going to feature a lot of gawking and gaping at the reverence in which they hold fire, which is one of the very few things Farves and Namirites can probably agree on. (Although La Nueva Avenida at least have some eco-crazies too!) After the Novanos opened the scoring, Keshavan-Kaur equalized for Forest, securing...well, we have to say "one point," it's an international competition.

Trebuchet Cham hosted Shearwater; following a nervy and scoreless first half, the naval side broke through with two quick goals after the break. Ronald Vandereck would score on a pass from Kelssek's own Gabriel Lapierre in injury time to provide some happiness for the fans who'd stuck around. Which is the vast majority of them. We're not quitters, we keep up hope, you can generally guess with good accuracy how long a match is going to be, and it's not like you can take your own car to beat traffic. Also, the snacks are good.

Twineur would visit Royal Rumiatzi, and quickly turned their attention from "knight" puns to "room yahtzee" puns. The hosts would get a four of a kind, to coin a phrase, with the Bugs having to settle for filling in their "twos" row. We admit this was a stretch, but we couldn't resist a board game allusion.

Matchday Nine

When Forest "at" Rovers (actually they were in Logrove) was scheduled, fans circled this as a thrilling matchup between last season's top two. They entered this match eleventh and eighth respectively, and the results were suitably underwhelming; the only decent chance of the first half was when Kuriakose, who is definitely trying to use this as an audition to keep his spot if or when the first team gets back, got fouled by Savannah Kurge of the Rovers. But Hubbard actually managed to save the penalty (this is foreshadowing) and keep the nominal hosts in the game. In the second half, Forest played with a little more flair, and strung together a sequence of passes that culminated in a goal from Reenat Gambhir. We like her chances of staying on the roster, mostly because we could make "Gambhir Gambit" headlines. The Guariday Guardian has its priorities in order.

Twineur's trip to Canbix...actually would have made some people take notice, they both finished in the IFCF places last season. They entered the week as third and second respectively, and duly produced a much crisper 1-0 result, with Sisinis' goal making the difference for the hosts.

Arlington jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in their visit to Sporting Esper, courtesy of Mungwaii and Kridel; the Robins would claw one back through Stark-Hewitt, but 2-1 the scoreline remained. Arlington, therefore, continue to stay top, infuriating my editor. Don't tell her, but I kind of like them? I mean, there's all the nerdy Collective stuff, they could spring for another Silicon Boot guy! How does Hastur the Unspeakable sound in blue and gold?

...Okay, on second thought, yeah, you're right.

A match that probably did not get a lot of neutral attention before the season began was Namiri Independent hosting Bassabook Old Boys. The first half didn't look particularly interesting, either, with Bassabook jumping out to a lead through an aging Gordon Blum, and adding on through James Fauxbourdon. Sandlas got the hosts on the board in minute 39, in large part thanks to a Gail Niekro-Nolan defensive miscue.

In the second half, Tori Hollander scored for Bassabook, which was quickly answered by Handa to make it 3-2. And then, in minute 79, Ashim Narain chipped a shot over the head of Shlomo Eustace. For Bassabook, another high-scoring if sloppy result, but for Namiri Independent, their first half-point of the season! See, Forest, when you complain about your title defense, it could be worse. (Forest fans think they're good enough that we should be able to use "Namiri" and mean them by default. This season, they probably are, but in general for disambiguation purposes we try to call them "Forest" and "Independent.")

Champions' League/Challengers' Cup: Matchday Three

Put it this way. A trip to "Hellgate" is always going to sound intimidating, even to a side that just came out of the fires of Farfadillis in one piece. Forest will count themselves fortunate that Soldarian FC's home ground was merely a football stadium, albeit one home to a strong side that deservingly claimed the victory. As for Trebuchet Cham, it was their turn to brave the fires of Farfadillis, and...well, they lost 3-0 at the decrepit Âréné Délékôstä, to be honest, there's not a good spin other than "at least the fans will be in a relatively good mood." Do you think Nancy Puyo-Sachar's husband Griffith could call upon the wrath of Shai-Hulud to let them escape by force if necessary?

Yeah, probably not.

It was Twineur's turn to visit specifically Cathair, but not Cazadores; rather, they went to the Glass Bridge. Presumably Crewe has to warn his side against stone-throwing tactics. The locals were in their element, with Colm O'Tuathail and Finn Townsend's extensive experience controlling the midfield. Julio McBailey and Ginoud-Sachs managed to score for the visitors, at least.

Matchday Ten

Keppal versus Canbix is one of those matches that has somewhat of a "local rivalry" vibe. They're not in the same district, of course--Keppal City are in the corner of Egalia, having been separated from Keppal District by the Consolidators who were trying to prevent a unified "Keppal" regional identity from threatening the "Zwangzugian" consciousness. Canbix are in Maenems, and couldn't be bothered with district boundaries, their resentment of the early countrywide government came from it shutting down their big business and polluting factories. So that region earned the nickname of the "bitter center." But hey, that was a long time ago. Now we're all bitter, frustrated, anti-nationalists!

...Wait, that doesn't work. Anyway. A local-ish rivalry-ish between two defensive-ish teams. Today, Keppal, playing at home, came up with the win; Pulaski scored, off an assist from Zhou Mushonga. This, of course, provided even more room for Arlington to pull away at the top. They were playing Ephesian, who are both northeastern sides--you can tell by the way they pwonounce theyuh consonants--but also spar over the legacy of the first-generation national team. Arlington claim the whimsical (1)-3-4-3 with a defensive bent--"it's symmetric, so it should be inherently neutral, we just have a defensive mindset!" Ephesian represent the heritage that's like "we are going to play a 3-2-1-2-3, because we know best, no, that's not a typo," but are at least earnest about being all-out-attackers. This may all be old hat to you. If it is, sorry. There's no turnover with this franchise system so it's hard to do a preview, we just repeat the same old stuff in case it's new to someone.

So back to Arlington, where Ephatha opened the scoring--it was really a thundering pass from McCue, but Ephatha got her head to it at the right moment and that soft deflection is what counted. Joiya McTarrell headed in a Kowalski free kick to make it 2-0, before a long dribbling run from Watson set up Fryx for an equalizer.

After halftime, the visitors continued where they'd left off, with Volpert-Yuffa and then Helsen-Roan scoring to give them the lead. Arlington would press on, however, with Tien scoring in the 81st minute to tie. And then, in the first minute of added time, who else? Mungwaii did not need to do the Sydney Stefred-esque long run to get up front, but a Stefred-esque winner gave the hosts a win. Not the cleanest win, but even Cameron Raleigh was smiling after that one. It should be noted that Ephesian, who were fourth last season, are now fourteenth, and the three goals Arlington conceded today are as many as they'd conceded in, um, their previous nine. Okay, this is a little silly.

February Fanaticism: Second Round

Extra time drama! Penalty kicks! The nice thing about simple domestic competitions is that someone has to win, we can't complain about "oh none of us are good at extra time, too much melodrama" when half the extra time participants, by definition, have some experience winning.

Snowden College 0–0 Orling College (0–0 AET) (4–2 pen.)
Taravin College 3–3 Stiglex University (3–3 AET) (4–5 pen.)
Maddon College 0–1 Parmel District University
College of Bronc 2–2 102d Polyteknik (4–3 AET)
Bulkeley College 1–6 Liulevi University
Westfield College 4–4 Mursbayley College (6–5 AET)
University of Naspe 2–1 Freund College
AIU 0–1 Scholl College
Mandelbrot University 3–1 Culver College
Ozcheb University 4–0 University of 102d
University of Jeatt--Lucina 4–3 Erewhon University
Neume College 3–1 Glune Institute of Natural Sciences
Brench 2–0 Wawen College
St. Deedrag University 1–1 University of Dauclem (1–2 AET)
Engdahl Institute 2–1 Geeccles University
Pittman University 1–0 Stoal Institute of Science

Matchday Eleven

Arlington City, who are top, visit Namiri Independent, who are bottom by some distance. Some days, this kind of lede is setup for a surprising upset. This was not one of those days. Lyngblom-Hutch scored in the eighteenth minute, and while Arlington may not have parked the train, they didn't make much of an effort to add on, either.

Cham and Forest, both of whose minds are probably on the IFCF, played the kids in a drab scoreless draw. We did, however, finally get a glimpse of what made the Rovers so exciting during the second half of last season, when our journalists were, uh, otherwise engaged. They bombarded Spenson Suburbia to the tune of six goals--a hat trick for Quincy Dulk-Fough, who earned his way onto the national team based in large part on last season's back half, a brace for Paavo Loris, and a singleton goal for Rowan Singh, who despite his name does not play for either Namiri club. We have a lot of Singhs. It's a popular name among Jojie people. Jojie is--okay, it's the predominant ethnic/cultural family of Namiri, there are also other ones. Some of them write in the Devanagari script and complain about the difficulties of using it for cryptic crosswords. But honestly if your country has other languages or cultures like this, then you know what, whatever, don't worry about it. Our Jojie will be fine.

Um...where were we. Oh, Spenson weren't exactly starved for goals themselves, with Alicia Sakura-Willow, Lucinda Butler-Herbert, and Bruce Chapman all scoring. But Itzhak Canterbury wore a harrowed expression after the game, and you can't blame him. Technically, he can't be much older than Akhil Sibal, who is still trundling away for Energija Chernovets and the national team, but playing for this Spenson side has aged Canterbury, and not in the fun time dilation kind of way.

Champions' League/Challengers' Cup: Matchday Four

Twineur won the rematch against Shamrock on home turf, evading the MacCowan family on defense to grab a victory. Grover Kain-Harner and Jonathan McAvery were the Bugs' scorers. Forest and Cham, for their part, both played out messy draws at home--particularly unexpected in Forest's case, not so surprising with Cham hosting the Farf side.

Matchday Twelve

Forest, distracted by the Champions' League, parked the train at home in front of a noncommittal Keppal and a scoreless draw ensued. Twineur, distracted by the Challengers' Cup, played the kids, quickly went down 2-0 to Blum and Roscoe Patterson in Bassabook, then claimed "credit" for a Eustace own goal before the match ended 2-1. Trebuchet Cham, inspired by the Challengers' Cup, came home and took on a Spenson side still shaken by the Rovers' romp. Momentum is not always a thing in sports; it's usually a contrived plot device by journalists trying to force a narrative. But oh, was there a narrative.

(Haugen 9, Lapierre 14, Vandereck 20 and 37, Wolfgang Tzwyvel 45+2)

Trebuchet Cham five, Spenson Suburbia nil, halftime.

There is no mercy rule in football--nor should there be, for fans' sakes. Those things we said about Cham during the Shearwater game apply here. What if there was the comeback of the decade and the visiting Spenson fans left early? But when Canterbury didn't return after the break, you could almost hear the Ephesian fans shouting in the distance about why the whole concept of goalkeeping was a bad idea to start with. (Actually Ephesian was in Slogda this week so you really couldn't hear them whatsoever.) ACL injury was the official diagnosis; straining of the heart is the fans' consensus.

The thing is, at the risk of spouting yet another cliche, football is a game of two halves, and the second half was--if not a show of defensive prowess--arguably an even match between two energetic sides. Certainly, the scoreboard reflected it. With Watson Elvin-Soare thrown into the deep end--well, actually, whichever end of the field Canterbury had been on was surely the deep end, and they switched sides, but--oh you know what I mean. Spenson scored the first goal, through Chapman, before Puyo-Sachar set up Vandereck to complete his hat trick in minute 64. Tzwyvel, who is a fan favorite mostly because of his unpronounceable consonant cluster, added on five minutes later, and I will have not one word from my editor. But Luo Chuan, who may be regretting not staying at Mursbayley for her PhD, scored in minute 72, and Sakura-Willow scored nine minutes later. By this point, Cham were thoroughly in "save our actual starters for the IFCF" mode, and youngster Jubilee McOursein took advantage of her appearance to score a slick right-foot shot with six minutes to play.

Champions' League/Challengers' Cup: Matchday Five

Twineur pick up where they left off, with a 2-0 win on the road thanks to Allison Vasil-Irtch and Motley-Kashone. Trebuchet Cham aren't exactly able to keep their momentum going, though it would be difficult for anything to match their league form; they settle for a draw at home against Coret, with Haugen and Fritz Luckhaus scoring.

Forest complete the double over Cazadores Cathair--the defending champions of the multiverse!--with Pandey and Keshavan-Kaur scoring on their visit. Then again, how many 1./ fans could tell you that Cazadores won the previous Champions' League? It's not that we don't follow international domestic football, it's just that our tastes tend to run to "whatever weird matchup is on TV at lunchtime from another timezone" and that can be unpredictable. Anyway, whether the Audioslavians just took their credentials in stride or Forest are actually really good--probably some of each--it's a great result.

Matchday Thirteen

Arlington City entered the day in first place, a point and a half above Canbix. This means there were literally no possible results that could move Canbix into first today, no matter who they played. So yes, technically, Arlington remain top and Canbix are in second.

But oh, what a decisive swing of momentum there was today! Cameron Raleigh, 40% of the way through the season, could have been forgiven for thinking that this team was no flash in the pan but a worthy heir to the dynasties of Joshua Twoni and company. And then they went to Canbix.

Defender Simon Gannett would score in the thirteenth minute, and Gambor--who's not exactly the most attacking-minded player himself--added on ten minutes later, suggesting that it could be a long day. Arlington actually held the Muses for the rest of the half, but after the break, it was Kuiper, a more typical suspect, making it 3-0. Tsomou added the fourth, sparking songs of praise from the visitors (one wonders what Bassabook will make of her), and Elias Turray-Kao the fifth. Kuiper finished her brace in the eighty-ninth minute, Pimbura was mostly able to coil up and look menacing, and Raleigh's early caution looked vindicated. Not so Einvarður, who delivered a rousing pep talk about how you don't need any Yaforite sybermetrics to succeed, just hard work and discipline. (It's not clear why he would anyone would be applying Yaforite sybermetrics to a football league, but to be fair, we've seen weirder things happen.)

Champions' League/Challengers' Cup: Matchday Six

Cham follow the yellow brick road to Shearwater, where it turns out that, despite having brains and heart, they don't really have much in the way of feet, and end the group stage with a whimper. Twineur's cause is helped significantly by Shamrock Cathair, who after losing their first five matches manage to beat Gunzlach, which means the Bugs need only a draw against Royal Rumiatzi to advance; they lose, it goes to tiebreakers, and on "goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question" (that was fourth in the legend, if you're keeping score at home), the Bugs are out. Could be worse. Forest host La Nueva Avenida, who attempt to appreciate the ambiance. Maybe they understand a little more of where Paige Daunten's neuroticism comes from now, although to be fair, she played for Sporting Esper (briefly) before jumping to what was then the Nepharan Premiership. Ilango and Sokhi score in the draw, and Forest qualify in second behind the Novans.

Confederations' Trophy Qualifying Round

Twineur can't mope for long, because they have a second shot at international success beginning....right now. The FFI tournaments have seen a great deal of Zwangzugian success in the past, with many of the associations that tend to do well in IFCF competitions aggregating in some of the larger sporting regions that have their own regional club tournaments. Will the Bugs extend that tradition?

Well, no. Despite Sheneth-Calvert's best efforts in the shootout, Blue Strike Zoloroni left them feeling blue. And white. Those are their normal colors. They'll be fine.

Matchday Fourteen

With momentum solidly in their corner, facing a Trink team that came thirteenth last season, Canbix might count themselves disappointed by coming away with a single point. They led 2-0 at halftime, just as they did last week, with Sisinis and Turray-Kao providing the early goals this time. In the second half, however, Trink would fight back. Suzuki, in "sempai please notice me" mode, assisted Quade and Hoshino in turn. Kuiper scored in the 75th to briefly give the Muses the lead, but Amane Tachibana's header secured a draw for the hosts.

And yet, Twineur, disappointed in their IFCF fortunes, took out their frustrations on Arlington. They peppered Harper Norwich with shots in the first half, and--remarkably given her performance last week--she saved every one. The trend could not continue indefinitely, however, and Julio McBailey broke through in the fiftieth minute to give the Bugs a win. This means that Canbix go top--albeit on goal difference, but given the twelve-point goal difference swing last week that's pretty substantial!

Speaking of goal difference, 102d Jr.s now have some after a drubbing of Keppal Cosmos. For a club boasting both Fedya Troy-Vee and Valerie Waugh, nominal national team starters, they haven't really clicked thus far this season, but Waugh looked world-class today, scoring a hat-trick while making Mushonga and Ketevan Igreli look like fools at the back. (Igreli also looks like a fool at the back when she tries to play Chess960 against the South Newlandians, but Keppal expect more.) Priyanka Harish and Buis would also score for the host Jr.s.

All of this detracted from the news in, uh, Nuel, which is that Namiri Independent finally won a game! They had to work for it, too, with Singh and Kurge scoring inside the first twenty minutes for Rovers United. But Narain got Independent on the board before the half was out, Nagori scoring in minute 62, and Vasant Pawar scoring with ten minutes to play. Followed by a very Forest-esque attempt to defend like crazy just to give the fans something to brag about.

Matchday Fifteen

It's been a long time since Excelsior Slogda were relevant in the title clash. Today they weren't relevant on their own merits, but did serve to slow Canbix' ambitions, a goal from Gury Trakhtenbrot in the 33rd frustrating the Muses. The good news, at least for my editor, is that Canbix actually gained ground thanks to their bitter central rivals! Keppal Cosmos bounced back to defeat Arlington by two goals, via the cleats of Grigor Villanova and Kynes, who limped off thanks to another injury, this one caused by the absentminded Fairfax-Hazy.

It might not matter in the long run, but it's always fun when the schedulemakers let Bassabook and 102d face off on the final day, and this is going to be one of those seasons! Iosif Chaika, of the United Remnant Complicated Entity of Squornshelous, got an assist on Waugh's opener, and Lehrer added on to make it 2-0. Fauxbourdon scored for the annoyed hosts around the hour mark, but that was quickly answered by Llosa for a 3-1 finish.

League of Victors Round of 32

Pemecutan are not a country to take lightly, as Banija's national team found out the hard way during the WC89 qualifiers, and the rest of the world is going to find out soon. Our press was mostly too busy admiring and cooing over the "White Myna" logo to complain too much when they upset us on the WC89Q opening matchday. But Forest were able to trounce Pesetih Titih soundly, with a rare Vizirani goal interwoven amid a Pandey hat trick. You can tell that this is a new-look Forest side, because back in the "lone striker and no one else scores!!!" days there would probably be more hat tricks by now. If they score at least three goals, that is.

Bassabook fans point out that the myna bird is technically part of the starling family, so the fact that Forest got this hurdle out of the way probably bodes well.

Rovers United were not so lucky, allowing two to Inkopolis FC. Better to have the Squidroidians beat us mid-season than put together a "Super League" to replace the entire regular season, I guess.

February Fanaticism: Third Round

Snowden College 1–2 Stiglex University
Parmel District University 0–0 College of Bronc (1–0 AET)
Liulevi University 2–4 Westfield College
University of Naspe 0–1 Scholl College
Mandelbrot University 2–4 Ozcheb University
University of Jeatt--Lucina 0–3 Neume College
Brench 3–0 University of Dauclem
Engdahl Institute 3–0 Pittman University

Cereal Cup: Second Round

Keppal Cosmos 0–0 FTC United
Sporting Esper 0–1 Twineur Bugs
Ephesian FC 2–3 Trebuchet Cham
Canbix Muses 2–2 102d Jr.s
Bassabook Old Boys 6–2 Arlington City
Eintracht Trink 5–2 Excelsior Slogda
Spenson Suburbia 1–2 Namiri Forest
Namiri Independent 3–3 Rovers United

"Yo dawg," say Bassabook, "I heard you like decisive results."

Gordon Blum may be getting up there, but he can still put on a show. And he thrilled the home fans to the tune of a hat trick in the first half, upon which he was substituted out. (Our fans are still unsure how to feel about this practice, and are turning to their clantropano friends for advice.) Bassabook didn't exactly need him, to be fair, controlling the second half as well with goals from Patterson, Hollander, and Marius Wrexman. Arlington were able to make the second half somewhat of a contest, thanks to McTarrell and Tien. But while the VCI might have been a nice consolation prize for them last season, you have to imagine they might have bigger hopes this campaign, 6-0 or no 6-0.

Trink were not quite as dominant, but still thwapped Slogda, even with Suzuki getting a rest to focus on the league grind. Timm-Joffe scored in the first and seventy-first; Quade scored in the fourteenth and fortieth, and Henjo Karoli in the thirty-third. Very repetitive. Slogda would have to content themselves with scoring two goals at all, which was not a lot of contentment, as Alaisti--while not quite as extreme as Forest--still would rather play a defensive game. Reuven Goodilin's brace, while not numerologically significant, still came via his left foot and right foot, so there's that.

The Oxen-Cosmos clash lived up to the hype when it came to both Malmquist and Mashonga getting a chance to shine on defense; Pia Leykauf, an FTC defender who racks up a lot of kilometers on those step estimators, has raised her game in partnership with Malmquist at the back. The Robins were the only other side to get a win last time out, and they didn't exactly pull away from the pack, McAvery's goal lifting Twineur to the top. So our schedulemakers will have to deal with that...but not for another quarter of the season.

[Zwangzug]

Matchday Sixteen

Everybody have a good winter break? Celebrate your year-end holidays of choice? Reunite with family? Avoid family? Complain about the cultural hegemony of whatever culture makes these schedules? (Actually Osarius are fine, everybody likes Osarius.)

Well, that's good, but time marches on.

Thanks to this nifty schedule interweaver, we can tell you that Arlington were actually coming off a rough loss to Bassabook in the Cereal Cup. Maybe they were still there? Actually never mind, they probably went home and spent winter break with their families. Whatever. The point is, Arlington found themselves back/still/whatever in Bassabook, and Bassabook promptly continued where they'd left off. Fauxbordon and Wrexman scored in the first half; Viola Tuft-Wales and Andre Delacroix in the second, and Mungwaii had to settle for splitting the difference with a 45+2' shot, assisted by McCue.

So it would be difficult for Canbix' lead to narrow at the top, but that's exactly what it did, thanks to another blowout from an erratic Rovers side seeking to recover their form from last season. Dulk-Fough got the party started with a sixth-minute goal off a pass from Mikayla Lubtel-Katz. Shirley Bao tapped in a Loris pass off her laces to make it 2-0, and Clark Eurca-Shen caught Pimbura at the wrong post after a back-and-forth with Singh. The second half, the Muses got a little more possession, but Dulk-Fough was able to score twice more in minutes 62 and 75.

Confederations Trophy Round of 32

During the Wayr Stadium Lockdown, Hallam Vengor dealt with the crisis by taking notes. So that, if worst came to worst, the future would know that the Rovers had, individually and collectively, chosen to shoulder a terrible risk for the sake of strangers they would never meet. But that they would also know they were not saints or heroes; they were people, who told bad jokes and got sick of muffins and kept score at five-a-side. And he hoped that, if he could not continue the chronicle, his teammates would take it up after him, to the bitter end if need be. Certainly not so they could be mourned--this is Zwangzug, and they'd rather have been forgotten than made into some occasion for collective grief, as if people don't have enough to be sad for already. But that there would be no mystery, each date recorded and annotated.

His teammates assured him that they would do so. Because they were Zwangzugians (and a token Newmanistanian who was there at the time), and they understood.

Perhaps it will not come as a surprise that Vengor was, in fact, the Rovers' starting goalkeeper at the time. But where he erred was in assuming that his backup would be just as zealous as he was merely by virtue of her position. If there's one thing you should know about Fiona Hubbard, it's that she does not like to be typecast. She is merely a Zwangzugian, who happens to wear a differently-colored jersey than her teammates; that's plenty.

Hubbard, Dulk-Fough and Singh, benchwarmers seven long seasons ago, are the core of the current side. A trip to the City of Light was always going to be an intriguing matchup, with the Quagpire no stranger to obscure card game allusions, and Amaranth Crevasse a force to be reckoned with in the opposite goal. But Singh's 52nd-minute shot was enough to keep the Rovers in contention for ninety, then 120 minutes. And while neither he nor Dulk-Fough would convert their penalties, Bao, Lubtel-Katz, and Nikolaj Gehn-Miller were on the mark. Together with Hubbard's standing tall, the Rovers live to fight another day. Metaphorically, not literally, that'd be weird as well as tacky.

Matchday Seventeen

Canbix, again, have a chance to put some space between themselves and the chasing pack, and again, squander it. True, Cham are a solid side in a way that last season's Trink and Slogda were decidedly not, but the Muses led 2-0 as late as the 70th minute, thanks to goals from Kuiper and Sisinis. That was when a brilliant Puyo-Sachar run set up Haugen for a tap-in; Pimbura gestured and Einvarður railed that it was offsides, but the video replay team disagreed. And Lapierre's shot from distance, where Gannett really should have been guarding him, was a no-doubter. Cham 2, Canbix 2.

And yet, Canbix still lead, in part thanks to 102d. A goal from Waugh was enough to, not only keep Arlington from overtaking Canbix, but actually pull them down to third. That's because, as you probably don't remember from fifteen matchdays ago, it was time for the rematch of the extremists. Their meeting in Guariday saw a 2-2 draw that indicated more goals to come for Ephesian and got Forest's title defense off to a rough start. But slowly, despite the demands of the Champions' League, they've crawled back into contention. Today, a goal from Sokhi was enough to give them a victory over Ephesian in both the literal and stylistic senses, and to pull them up to 11.5 points, only three goals behind Canbix. And they'll have a great chance to make a statement about the relative values of bygone glories versus recent form next week, when Arlington come to town. Actually I think the cliche is the other way around from what Forest would prefer, but who's counting.

Matchday Eighteen

Defensive clashes between Namiri Forest and Arlington City go back a long way. An interrupted way, but still a long way. So ignore all the cliches about form versus class; they both have banners to gloat over from the really old days. The upshot is this: Forest didn't dominate City, but they were the better side on the day and came away with a deserving win. The first half-hour or so was tentative, as both sides seemed more afraid of losing than they were optimistic about winning (to be fair, the 1-.5-0 system has its critics), but shortly before halftime things opened up a little. Specifically, Arlington's quixotic commitment to playing three at the back despite their defensive leanings meant that the defenders got to shine as individuals, Kowalski in particular finally looking like this is a worthy team deserving of her attention. And Forest responded in kind, with Vizirani and Meghna Imomenba on defense making some highlight-reel tackles. The winning goal came after a long buildup from Imomenba, with Tien and McCue failing to contain her in the center; she passed to Ilango in minute 64, and that was all Forest needed.

Canbix also did their part, with Gannett setting up Gambor for a goal in the seventeenth minute against Spenson Suburbia. Elvin-Soare looked torn between wanting to prove himself more against a talented Muses side, and afraid of any further damage they might inflict. To be fair, it's not as if he's facing a lot of competition for the job on current form.

There were several other fixtures between teams in the IFCF hunt, which did not provide much separation in the gridlock below. The Bugs defeated Cham, with Motley-Kashone and Kain-Harner assisting each other in the first half. Tachibana gave Trink an early lead in 102d, but Troy-Vee denied Quade from close range on a couple of occasions, buying time for Buis to equalize in the eightieth. The upshot is that those four sides, and a Keppal squad that defeated the Rovers, occupy fourth through eighth place with just a half point separating them. Trink and 102d are in fact tied on goal difference as well, and while today's result isn't about to distinguish them, you may recall that Trink won the reverse fixture by a dominant 5-0, so they're technically ahead.

League of Victors Round of 16

The Namiri region is, of course, wildly environmentalist. They're known for the evergreen coniferous trees in their temperate rainforests and fondness for rice. However, we do not believe that they have historically featured Potato Farmers. At any rate, they were able to bloom on their visit to Mancodas Athletic, with Vizirani digging deep to get a foothold in the Poafmersian soil and Sokhi assisting Pandey, whose efforts bore fruit with a goal in minute 57. Have we run this joke into the ground yet? Good.

Champions' League Round of 16 (part I)

Remember Hanna Suzuki and her struggle to earn her way back into the national team? She's miffed because she was the only player from the twelfth Eagles' Cup not invited back to the qualifying roster. And why did DiMarini cut her? Not to call up another player from Namiri Forest, who were the defending champions and are now dreaming of more. Not to reward a Rover or Bug. Not, in fact, because of anyone playing in the 1./.

It was because Cixin Nguyen, first of Claude Pare-Achel's Chromia Central College University and now of the Rainbow League, had proven impossible to ignore. He won the league in the chessboard jersey, was named to the Rainbow League's second all-pro team, and wound up having a bird's-eye view to the intricate personal lives of his Tumbran colleagues.

So perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that with him, Kerr, and Harrison in the center of the field, the Capitalizt had the run of things at Janaki Gardens. That's what we're going with, anyway.

Matchday Nineteen

Forest have a short journey over to Sharag, where they take on Namiri Independent. On paper, this should have been an easy chance for them to get their league campaign on track--going up against a weak side and having a lot of local support. In practice? They didn't dominate, but they did their job. A goal from Sendhil Srinivasan in the twenty-eighth minute was all Forest needed to come away with a full point from the game. To their credit, they did try to add on some goal differential in the second half, but Younes Hachtroudi's tackles represented a rare success for Independent, and the Guariday side was held to one goal.

But that was all they needed to overtake Canbix for first, with the Muses held to a drab draw by Sporting Esper. This time it was not Suzuki's creativity but an acrobatic performance from Celarte to deny Tsomou and Turray-Kao from distance.

Confederations Trophy Round of 16

Another FFI competition, another ZWZ-PFA matchup. All things being equal you'd think they could have rigged it so that Forest got an actual home game instead of having to schedule an extra Rovers match, but the scrupulous Verdean organizers are of course above such backhanded deals. Anyway, they put it at the Eagles' Club, it's fine.

October MacLucas is not (we think) a Bigtopian, despite the opening prefix, but it's still a pretty balling name and he's a strong player. Between him and Bao, the midfield provided some tense drama for ninety minutes. When extra time began, however, it was the usual suspects who rose above; Lubtel-Katz assisted Singh for a goal in minute 96, and two minutes after the second half began, a short pass to Singh set up Dulk-Fough for a finishing flourish.

Champions' League Round of 16 (part II)

Haha, just kidding! To be fair, the Chromatik association has been effusive with praise for, or surprise at, our rise. I guess when you bill yourselves as a quirky gang of underdogs on one side of the Lopez Principle scale it's hard to pivot to "our league is serious business with real clubs that are good at football and we should definitely be contending for the Champions' League." But after that performance, with goals from Sokhi, Kuriakose (getting a chance to play in the big big time!), Keshavan-Kaur, and Ilango, Forest can consider themselves the equals of anybody.

Matchday Twenty

Easy come, easy go. Forest's return to the 1./ grind sees them draw scorelessly at home to a Trink side that's still on the fringes of the IFCF places. Nebenstimme have won more games than they've lost, which sounds good until you realize that they've drawn half of their games, too.

This allowed Canbix to take advantage of a typically leisurely performance from Ephesian. The visiting side actually took the lead ten minutes in, thanks to Yang assisting Fryx, but the Muses quickly rallied through Sisinis nine minutes later, and Kuiper gave them the lead shortly before halftime. After the break, Henrico evaded Pimbura to head in a Watson free kick and tie it for the visitors, but an embarrassing McWhorter own goal relinquished the lead, and the Muses held on. (Some fans would claim he committed several other embarrassing own goals later that evening on Blatter.)

February Fanaticism: Fourth Round

I know what you're probably wondering. In a country full of players like Dulk-Fough and Ginoud-Sachs and Fairfax-Hazy and Troy-Vee, what happens when two people who are both already hyphenated as a result of their parents' marriages decide to have a kid?

That's not what you're wondering? Tough.

Gloria Lewis-Moore's parents were known as Harold Moore and Cathy Lewis before their marriage. When Lewis-Moore and her then-husband married, they decided to keep the double names they already had, but give their children their paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother's names as a combination, in alphabetical order. This meant that neither parent had the same last name as each other nor their children (although there turned out to be two children, who obviously matched), however, the bureaucrats around here are used to dealing with this sort of thing. We barely have any diacritics to worry about and are pretty stringent about enforcing given name, surname order (Yang Tao got some eye rolls from the customs office, but he's worth the hassle).

As it happens, I'm sorry to say that Ms. Lewis-Moore's marriage ended in divorce. Under the circumstances, you might be forgiven for wondering if this was another case of the overdone cliche "normal and well-adjusted woman marries monomaniac man, marriage fails when monomaniac can't care about anything against his abstract passion, everyone in the vicinity wonders why they got together in the first place." In fact both spouses are emotionally stable and dedicated to their chosen careers; Lewis-Moore continues to work as a programmer in Ecklam District, where she sets up layers of internet bureaucracy forms to automatically process these sorts of things.

The upshot is, the pacy winger who scored the only goal for Stiglex University to advance to the semifinals is named Melissa Hartford-Lewis, and yes, her father is Dale Hartford-Phelps, currently of the Twineur Bugs, soon to be of the South Newlandia Elephants, may be seeking employment by the time you read this. See what kind of excellent worldbuilding happens when you're pressed to come up with backstory on the spur of the moment?

Stiglex University 1–0 Parmel District University
Westfield College 3–1 Scholl College
Ozcheb University 0–1 Neume College
Brench 4–2 Engdahl Institute

Matchday Twenty-One

An exciting Canbix-Namiri showdown with the league leadership on the line! ...No, not that Namiri, the other Namiri. The Muses travel to Sharag and, like Forest before them, will be grateful for the win but perhaps feel like they could have scored more than one goal. It was Turray-Kao who set up Gambor for a fiftieth-minute left-foot shot. Forest, for their part, were busy losing to FTC United, Avril Ferel-Bonneau's goal the only one that the Oxen needed on the west side.

Matchday Twenty-Two

The Oxen may aspire to be more than kingmakers, but today they'll be frustrated that their draw in Canbix doesn't earn plaudits for Malmquist's steady tackles or Leykauf's endurance, but rather "the Muses got a half-point off them, which was more than Forest got, this could loom large." On the one hand, FTC United can't really complain about not getting to be in the spotlight because they're in tenth place. On the other, everything from fourth to tenth is close-packed enough that a few lucky results could see them among the Challengers' Cup hopefuls.

Forest did get a full point against Slogda, who are--if not as dismal as Independent--not likely to trouble the scoreboard. Today it was Kuriakose, entrusted with a start, who scored twenty-four minutes in to make his claim. (My editor, who has been reading too much Cafundelense legacy media, says I need to apologize for any tittering this might induce. In completely unrelated news, we're looking for a new editor.)

But the big scorelines were elsewhere, as the mid-table contenders attempted to distinguish themselves from the logjammed pack. In Keppal, the hosts jumped out to an early lead against Ephesian, with Villanova and Pulaski scoring within the first fifteen minutes. Helsen-Roan would assist Volpert-Yuffa to put the hosts on the board before the half was out.

Marjorie Dako is the Ephesian right-back. Alongside Watson and McWhorter, she is agile and disciplined; it's important for any defender to avoid drawing careless penalties, but especially important when you play for Ephesian. The drawback of this is that, when she does hit you, she hits you hard. Unfortunately for Keppal, she would hit the relentlessly unlucky Kynes--who is brilliant when she's healthy, which is less and less often--in minute 57. Kynes staggered off, Villanova duly scored the penalty, and Dimitra Exarchopolous flicked in a Pulaski pass two minutes later. Jasna McUrsen made it 5-1 by the eightieth minute, and a late Fryx goal didn't make much of a difference.

Not to be outdone, the Rovers visited Trink and promptly took the lead through Loris. Eurca-Shen scored in the twenty-first minute, followed shortly by a Dulk-Fough goal that was ruled offsides. Trink got on the board through Imamura, but the Rovers responded with a Dulk-Fough goal from basically the same place that was definitely onsides.

After halftime, Suzuki set up Quade to make it 3-2, but the Rovers then dominated the next ten minutes of possession to squash any hopes of momentum bringing Nebenstimme back into it. It culminated in a Kurge pass to Singh to make it 4-2 by the hour mark. Dulk-Fough added on seven minutes later, and nearly had a chance at a hat-trick in minute 82, but left off for Singh and it finished 6-2.

Cereal Cup: Third Round

Bassabook Old Boys 3–3 Eintracht Trink
Twineur Bugs 1–0 FTC United
Trebuchet Cham 1–2 Keppal Cosmos
Namiri Forest 4–0 Canbix Muses
102d Jr.s 3–0 Sporting Esper
Rovers United 2–0 Ephesian FC
Spenson Suburbia 1–2 Namiri Independent
Excelsior Slogda 3–0 Arlington City

As we may have said before, one advantage of doing this in realish-time is having a better intuition for where these teams are and what they have to play for. Trink, who are seventh, hope that they can clinch an IFCF spot so they don't have to care about the VCI; Bassabook, who are fifteenth, want the Cup for its own sake. And for the first half, both sides played like that. Bassabook took the lead through Fauxbourdon and got another through a tired-looking Blum, who was mostly standing around being offsides and waiting unsuccessfully for his teammates to set him up. In the forty-first minute, Timm-Joffe converted a Suzuki pass to give the visitors a spark.

After halftime, Blum emerged slightly recharged, heading in a Niekro-Nolan pass in minute 52. From there, however, Nebenstimme would crescendo, with goals from Tachibana and Karoli in minutes 65 and 78 securing a draw. Karoli, an opportunist, is trying to convert this into a sponsorship deal with Audioslavia's "Kirola" because they're anagrams, we wish him luck.

Ginoud-Sachs' goal was enough for the Bugs to sting the Oxen, and while Lapierre gave the host Cabbas an early lead, Villanova had equalized for Keppal before the half was out and McUrsen added on after the break to give the visiting Cosmos a win. But how about Namiri Forest versus Canbix? The two sides are contesting the title race, and Forest have international commitments on their mind besides, but they sure played like this match mattered. After Pandey's first attempt was ruled offsides, he left no doubt with a long strike in the sixteenth minute. Sokhi and Gambhir added on, and even Imomenba got to come forward for the fourth goal in minute 74. Will this propel Forest to multi-competition momentum, or will it just rile up the Muses to strike back in the league? They play each other...very soon.

But first, the international scene!

Confederations Trophy: Quarterfinals

Rovers United blink several times upon seeing that the League of Victors' initial rounds take place before the corresponding Confederations Trophy matches, but for the later phases, the Confederations Trophy comes first. To be honest we don't really know either, but considering that it's possible to drop down from the League of Victors Round of 32 to the Confederations Trophy Round of 32 (such as the Rovers just did), we assume those have to be in that order, while at this stage, the "second-tier" competition comes first to build up suspense. Once again, we thank the FFI organizers for their commitment to single matches to reduce fixture congestion, and the Osarians for this AO-default calendar that we're playing a little fast and loose with.

The upshot being, the Rovers travelled to Juvencus to take on AC Serone. While both sides sport a boisteringly attacking formation, ninety minutes produced no goals. Once again, the Rovers took it to extra time. And while they fell behind four minutes in, the goal would not be golden for Serone; a Bao pass found Dulk-Fough in minute 111, who equalized for the visitors. You could say that momentum helped them in the shootout, but really, there's not a lot of room for momentum or buildup or open play in the shootout, just a lot of individualized nerves. Hubbard, however, is someone it takes a lot to unnerve, and once again, she was there at the right moment to see the Rovers through to the semifinals.

Matchday Twenty-Three

Forest travel to Canbix for a rematch of the Cereal Cup beatdown. This time, Keshavan-Kaur's goal in minute 35 was all they needed to go top by a half-point. It's hard to praise the collective efforts of the defense when neither side was really getting into the attack, but once again, people who subjectively claim to understand football said that the Vizirani-Imomenba defensive axis was in peak form, thwarting Canbix' attacks before they could begin. So we'll just go with that.

Champions League Quarterfinals (part I)

Burnaby SC are ironically nicknamed the "Centurions" because they were Kelssek's top-achieving side when the UICA Club of the Century awards were handed out, with two appearances in the Champions' Cup playoff round and three Globe Cup group stages. (For context, the corresponding Zwangzugian side was Canbix, who had once made it to the CC's third preliminary round.) When the time comes to record the corresponding history of IFCF, what will they say about this Burnaby team? That they dominated the KFL last season, with six of the all-star team's starting eleven hailing from their side? Or will the timescales and names of competitions have changed so much by then that historians can make up whatever they want?

We're thinking this particular performance is not going to rank highly in the list of Burnaby highlights. Forest, however, will look back fondly on their home leg, with a Pandey brace bracketing goals from Ilango and Nilkanth Mibang.

Matchday Twenty-Four

Forest, having clawed their way into the lead, promptly relinquish it again. And while they might want to blame it on fixture congestion, the truth is that the Rovers are sometimes good, and the old MUFN sides provided a tautly-balanced fixture in Guariday, in which neither side led for longer than eight minutes. Sokhi converted a Keshavan-Kaur pass in the thirty-fourth minute, which was answered by Rowan Singh in minute 42. (To be clear, this Singh plays for the Rovers.) Loris, in turn, gave the Rovers a brief lead in minute 61, and Kuriakose responded seven minutes later (not so nice). In between were some occasional daring dives from Hubbard, and a cool presence from her opposite number, Mrunalini Zamani, who's been able to fly under the radar this season and enjoy it. To be fair, Forest's general philosophy is "stuff the back line with so many defenders that the goalkeeper shouldn't have much to do," but still; given their busy schedule, the fact that she's still nearly anonymous will come as a relief.

This also means that Canbix won, in what turned out to be a low-scoring if very fast-paced game. The Muses and Bugs are united by a disdain for time-wasters, and proceeded to run each other ragged all over the field; it was Buis who converted a pass from Gannett to find the winner in minute 72. They are now three goals ahead of Forest.

Champions League Quarterfinals (part II)

Namiri Forest are not a mountainous side; that honor falls to Slogda, and the Rovers when they decide to play at Wayr Stadium. But travelling through Zwangzug, particularly playing the aforementioned sides, means that most of our players have at least some familiarity with mountainous terrain. At any rate, Forest did not experience any altitude sickness during the second leg, with Sokhi and Keshavan-Kaur adding goals as Zamani enjoyed a shutout.

League of Victors Quarterfinals

Forest avenge the Rovers, and by the same score, as Pandey and Vizirani score upon their visit to Inkopolis.

Matchday Twenty-Five

Twineur have designs on being more than kingmakers. The competition is fierce for Challengers' Cup spots; 102d, Trink, and the Bugs are within one goal of each other for fourth through sixth places at the moment. But while Hartford-Phelps' side were narrowly defeated by Canbix last week, they were not content to do the same to Forest. Instead, it was McBailey who evaded Vizirani in time to receive a McAvery pass and score the only goal.

This meant that the Muses could extend their lead if they beat their bitter central rivals, and they capitalized by taking a quick lead through a Kain-Harner brace. Keppal tried to make things interesting by setting up a cute if ornate series of passes that culminated in a Pulaski goal. But attempts to recreate the luck only wound up in Canbix getting irritated by their perceived time-wasting, and various snippy fouls ensued. Both Igreli and Pimbura were kept busy by the set pieces that stemmed from those snippy fouls, but proved up to the task, and the game finished 2-1.

February Fanaticism: Semifinals
Stiglex University 1–2 Westfield College
Neume College 2–0 Brench

John Boomhower's Brench are spared the anxiety of losing a final in nervewracking style by going out in the semifinals instead, and will face Melissa Hartford-Lewis' Stiglex in the third-place playoff.

Matchday Twenty-Six

When Cham and Forest met last time around, they were both focusing on the IFCF, and a listless scoreless draw between the substitutes ensued. Forest still have that excuse; Cham don't. But while Haugen, Puyo-Sachar, and Lapierre were individually skillful, the midfield connection couldn't come together, and a somewhat weakened Forest side were able to snatch a half-point. That's not enough to keep pace with Canbix, however, who defeated Bassabook in the battle of the touchy chanters. We are very pleased to say that, indeed, Kyrie Tsomou put on a show in front of the Bassabook faithful, scoring in the thirty-third minute off a pass from Pannenkoeken.

Confederations' Trophy Semifinals

Hálsrath Warriors FC were annihilated by Ephesian, 3-0 in Zwischen and 5-1 in Melbergia, in the Challengers' Cup preliminaries. Against the Rovers, they'd put up a much more respectable valiant effort, holding the hosts scoreless until a lucky chip shot from Bao in minute 83. For some teams, sneaking through only by the strength of a lucky chip shot in minute 83 would be considered a nail-biter. Given the way the Rovers got here, that's a positively luxurious margin of error.

Champions' League Semifinals (Part I)

Is this real? Is this happening? Bassabook and Arlington's runs to the finals of the old Champions Cup and modern Challengers Cup, respectively, were celebrated widely in our press, but details were eschewed in lieu of musical tributes. Forest's campaign, in contrast, has featured what by our standards passes for rigorous coverage, and a familiar opponent in La Nueva Avenida. Both of their group stage matches were draws, but perhaps they've learned a little more about each other from this encounter: Ilango and Sokhi would score, as they had in the group stage, but this time the Novans would be held to a single goal.

Matchday Twenty-Seven

We're at that stage of the season where you can read significance into any matchup if the races are close enough. Namiri Forest travel to Keppal, indirectly trying to go up against Canbix via their bitter central neighbors. Suriakose sports them to a lead in the twelfth minute; the fact that he's playing perhaps betrays a little cynicism about how likely a league championship is at this point, but he makes up for it by dazzling for the rest of the game, narrowly offside in the 27th and scoring again in the 60th. As for Canbix, they take on 102d, which could be billed as Troy-Vee and Pimbura dueling for national team bragging rights but really isn't because the defenses control possession too much for any real attacks to develop. When the Muses do score, it's a Kuiper penalty after a bad foul from Wilma Tyrone. But it's enough for them to stay top.

102d are now a goal shy of the IFCF places, in seventh trailing FTC United. Clages' goal for the Oxen let them beat...Arlington City, who are now ninth. Remember when we thought they were good again? Yeah, maybe Raleigh was right to play it cool.

Meanwhile, Twineur and Bassabook faced off in a match that's pretty meaningless for Bassabook, and was notable more for a surfeit of goals than for the Bugs' IFCF chances. If Twineur had gone up 4-0 they might have gotten complacent; if they'd fallen behind 4-0 they would probably have given up and played the kids, but instead, it was a see-saw contest. Blum gave the Old Boys the lead; Motley-Kashone equalized. McAvery gave the Bugs the lead; Fauxbourdon equalized. He then "promptly" scored a second, if by "promptly" you mean with the halftime break in between so it was really more like eighteen minutes apart even if it looked like three minutes. Anyway, Dylan Vear-Schul equalized for hosts Twineur, Patterson scored for the visitors, and Kain-Harner came up with the equalizer in minute 90+2.

Champions' League Semifinals (Part II)

Again, a weird echo of the group stage, as once again Keshavan-Kaur is the only goalscorer for Forest, but the defense is able to hold off even a Farf side. Some of our visiting fans attempted to explain how the divine aspects of creation, preservation, and liberation, as traditionally personified by the Trimurti in Hinduism, can also be represented by the multifaceted nature of fire, but it turns out that the modern Jojie dialect doesn't have anything that corresponds precisely to cagafuegos. Anyway, that's beside the point. Brigham awaits.

League of Victors Semifinal

Zilverstraat SC line up in a (1)-5-4-1 and qualified through a league system that's impressively complex; that, plus their late-alphabetical stature, made them politely welcomed in Guariday. Well, politely as long as the hosts were in control. Fortunately, they were; while an early Sokhi goal was all that Forest would need, Pandey would add on in the seventieth minute just for fun. So back to the FFI championship we go! Good thing it's at home this time, to avoid travel exhaustion and/or carbon emissions.

We should also mention at some point that the youth team competing for Namiri Forest in the youth cup did well, too. We sort of handwave away this part because for us, the university system takes the place of an academy structure, so maybe they just grab the high school champions from the relevant cities? I'm not sure. Anyway, hopefully Forest have some good youth talent coming through the mix, but will we do anything differently to reflect this fact? No.

Matchday Twenty-Eight

When Canbix took on Arlington fifteen rounds ago, City were league leaders and fell to a 6-0 drubbing for the Muses. This time, Arlington are ninth, albeit on goal difference, but managed to keep the scoreline respectable; they held the Muses scoreless for fifty minutes, until an O'Shea thunderbolt buried itself in the far corner. A late Pannenkoeken goal would be denied for offsides, and while Einvarður tried to work up some anger, you can't blame him for being satisfied. Particularly since Namiri were held to a draw by a dismal-looking Spenson side, who were frankly lucky to jump out to a fifth-minute lead via Chapman, and then decided to celebrate by defending like they were Namiri Forest. In that light, it's impressive that an overstretched Forest side managed the equalizer at all, but they did, with Sokhi going wildly against the run of play just after the hour mark.

Cham can't win the title, but they attempted to separate themselves from the chasing pack with a win, Haugen's left-footed curl enough to hold off the Robins. Below them, the chasing pack played out a pair of entertaining 2-2 draws. In Trink, the visiting Oxen took the lead thanks to Ferel-Bonneau, and added on via Kessarin Ratanarat just before halftime. Then the cliches took over; either "two goals is a very dangerous lead" (although you would think that the halftime break would have done something about potential momentum) or "game of two halves" applies here, because Timm-Joffe tied it up just after the restart, and Hoshino scored in minute eighty to secure a half-point for the hosts. Well, say what you will about football, but the FTC are certainly a team of two halves.

The other match of contenders was a good deal tauter. Twineur took the lead against 102d, thanks to a McBailey header. But the Bugs' defense, while fast, failed to cohere as a team, and Waugh quickly equalized. In the second half, she added on to make it 2-1 to the hosts, but Vasil-Irtch rallied to tie things up before Hartford-Phelps could write the match off as a lost cause.

Matchday Twenty-Nine

The Muses entered the week two full points ahead of Namiri Forest, meaning that all they needed was at least one draw, or Namiri failing to win at least one game, out of their next two. Today they got both, and the championship came not with a bang, but with a 1-1 draw that arguably meant as much for Trink as it did for Canbix, and a 2-0 victory for Bassabook, who had nothing to play for.

Bassabook were actually playing in the early time slot, so we'll start with them; goals from the duo of Blum and Fauxbourdon in the first forty minutes didn't exactly silence Forest, but you'd forgive the latter for having other things on their minds. By the time of kickoff at Groth Park, the result had been confirmed, and the Muses' performance was more a celebratory atmosphere in front of their home fans than an attempt at asserting their dominance. At least, that's what they'll say after the fact. The tireless Suzuki had a dribbling run to set up Imamura in minute 19, but the Muses eventually equalized through Kuiper, and proceeded to enjoy defense. Trink are now fifth, just ahead of the Oxen, who ground out a dire scoreless draw with Slogda. But Nebenstimme will have a chance to take fate into their own hands (feet?) next week, when they face Twineur, who are now fourth--though they'll need a decisive win to pass the Bugs on goal difference.

Cham entered the day in third and tried to gain some ground on Forest, but things quickly went from bad to worse in Zwischen. First, Fryx' goal gave Ephesian the lead. Then Henrico added on. And then, the dangerous Dako came forward and got into an ugly collision with Lapierre, who will not only miss the Cabbas' finale next week but also Kelssek's World Cup 90 proper, which is coming up. Soon. Probably. Better if you just trust us on this one.

The Ninth Confederations Trophy Final

Forty-five minutes. Ninety minutes. One hundred twenty minutes. With William Marsh leading the back line, Quaggen were resolute in controlling the laggard pace. The Rovers are not a defensive side, but you have to give them this; they are used to monotony.

Quincy Dulk-Fough and Rowan Singh, in turn, took and sank their penalties. Fiona Hubbard is no Ha Sun-ji nor Cassie Lee nor even a Saena Mathash, but after this campaign, she has carved her own place in history. On the fourth kick, she stepped up herself--she is nothing if not experienced, witnessing melodrama from both ends--and sent it home.

Matchday Thirty

Namiri Forest defeat the Robins to clinch the second Champions' League spot, although they really have higher hopes than advancing via the qualifying rounds. Cham, despite Lapierre's absence, thwack a lousy Namiri Independent side to clinch third. Fourth and fifth face off as Trink take on Twineur. The hosts jump off to an early lead, via Karoli, and add on via Tachibana in minute 34. At halftime, they're tied on 17.5 points, 8 goals of differential--and they drew during the first leg, so all Trink need is to hold the scoreline to come in fourth. But Ginoud-Sachs gets her name in the press once again, scoring in minute 73 to lift the Bugs back into fourth on goal difference. It probably doesn't matter in the long run, but it's funny to see Dale Hartford-Phelps' tenure end by not conceding defeat after falling two-nil down and rallying back instead. My editor wants me to mention that we all wish him the best of luck wherever his career next takes him.

(No one tell her.)

Um, the fight between sixth and seventh was probably more entertaining, in the battle of the Uniteds. The Rovers, you will recall, actually play their "home" game against the Oxen in the FTC, to make sure that both Eglantine Park and Palloci Pagoda Park get the same number of matches every season. Perfectly balanced, as all things must be. So this match put us on the west side. And whether it was due to local support or random luck, FTC United controlled the first half, dominating possession and making an elegant series of passes to build up to a goal from surly midfielder Surojana "Not Savojarna" Vantana. "Not A Palindrome" Ratanarat doubled the lead in minute 38, off an assist from Ferel-Bonneau. 2-0 at halftime, and that almost flattered the Rovers, who were admittedly on a high from the Confederations Trophy.

They looked revitalized in the second half, however, with Dulk-Fough setting up Bao and Loris in turn to make it 2-2 by minute 70. The Oxen had to work to hold them there, with the Leykauf-Malmquist axis racking up the steps at back, but were rewarded with a Clages header in minute 81 to hold onto sixth place.

Well, they'd hold onto it unless 102d mounted a comeback. Fortunately, there's something Bassabook love a lot more than kingmaking for Namiri, and that's beating 102d. Blum's goal was all they needed to stymie their archrivals, and put an exclamation point on an otherwise-forgettable campaign. And then we remembered, belatedly, that despite our Forest-aided coëfficient, we still only have five IFCF places. But oh well, it was still a fun showdown.

February Fanaticism: Final rounds

I better hurry up and get this done while it's still February, huh.

Third-place playoff:
Stiglex University 0–2 Brench

Final:
Westfield College 2–2 Neume College (2–2 AET) (3–5 pen.)

Cereal Cup: Fourth Round

Keppal Cosmos 1–1 Twineur Bugs
Namiri Forest 1–0 Bassabook Old Boys
Eintracht Trink 3–2 102d Jr.s
Rovers United 2–2 Trebuchet Cham
FTC United 1–0 Excelsior Slogda
Namiri Independent 1–2 Sporting Esper
Canbix Muses 4–4 Ephesian FC
Arlington City 1–0 Spenson Suburbia

An interesting setup here, as many of the potential favorites had already clinched IFCF play and weren't interested in the VCI. Keppal took the lead through Kynes, who is somehow healthy again and stayed that way for ninety minutes, but Twineur equalized through Kain-Harner. Forest won the cup by defeating Bassabook almost offhandedly, with the obscurity of goalscorer Debasis Garg a testament to just how deep this side is and just how versatilely they've been deploying their reserves. And Suzuki valiantly continued her quest to get back on DiMarini's contact list, with assists to Imamura and Masatoshi Kuroda. Waugh scored a brace for 102d, but Trink would fight back with a goal from Quade past a dismal-looking Troy-Vee. Maybe Suzuki can take his spot? That wasn't a serious suggestion, by the way, don't go getting ideas.

The most entertaining game for neutrals was between the Muses, who were still in festive mode, and Ephesian, who are permanently in "eh who needs defense" mode. You may recall that Einvarður's first game at Canbix' helm was against Ephesian, who defeated the Muses 7-5. Now that he's won a title and proven that he's plenty good enough for our league, it was semi-payback time. Kuiper and Tsomou scored in quick succession for the hosts; Watson assisted Henrico for the visitors, and it was 2-1 at halftime. After the half, Turray-Kao extended Canbix' advantage once more, but Volpert-Yuffa and then Helsen-Roan scored for the visitors. The Gannett-Gambor international connection (not quite as great as the Gambhir Gambit, but they're both more notable players) paid off with a goal for the Astograthian to give Ephesian a brief lead in minute 89, but Sisinis would give Muses fans something else to sing about deep into injury time off a pass from Kuiper.

Anyway, when the dust settled and the goal differentials were tallied, it would be Keppal on their way to the VCI, while Forest hope that their cup victory will be just an asterisk in some "double" or "treble" notes. (I wonder if Bassabook could give them any advice on treble notes? To be clear, that was a music theory joke, not a "Bassabook are fantastic" joke.)

The Ninth League of Victors Final

There's nothing like playing at home. Okay, actually, there are a lot of things like playing at home, particularly playing at a neutral venue, which most clubs expect to do in the final of big tournaments. Also, it's unclear how much of an impact home advantage has, at least in some scorinators, and you'd like to hope that Forest play cleanly enough that the referee shouldn't be giving them the benefit of the doubt because of loud fans. You might wonder if Forest actually have loud fans, or if they're just the sort of smug leftists who chant about whatever geopolitical cause is fashionable at the time. The truth is that during the regular season they usually do. But even they put politics aside and unite behind their club when there's a trophy on the line, particularly when getting to play for it at home is a rare achievement.

True, Corona Christiana are the defending champions of this tournament, and players like Riley Day-Shaw and Felix Fraser running rampant made them hard to contain. But then, Zwangzug fans can also be insular enough not to know or care who's the defending champion of anything that isn't them. Provincial? Yes. Human nature? Maybe also yes.

Anyway, with the crowd firmly behind them, Forest left no doubt in the first half, scoring quickly through Sokhi before seeing a Pandey goal correctly disqualified for offsides. On the one hand, it wasn't even close, on the other, maybe that'll stoke some goodwill with neutrals worried about referee bias. Ilango scored again before the half was out, and Pandey scored for reals in the second half.

The Ninth Champions' Cup Final

The Sasky Rising, the one the stadium is a memorial to, was a labor revolt during a civil war that got repressed by the Kingdom of Bastion. Again, this is the kind of thing that might interest Forest fans during normal times, but today they were mostly perplexed at the idea that you'd need to rope off some empty seats to separate fans.

KT Itzalovalle, likewise, is not particularly well-known to our fans. In particular, while some of them will make an effort to pronounce "Cazadores" as if it was Faroleran, they don't even bother to attempt the double ll or get the vowels of "Itzalovalle" right. Apparently the chance that the club was punningly named after that thing you say when you're pointing out the area between two high mountains to your friend Katherine is too amusing that nobody bothers to reckon with the fact it's probably Astograthian.

Anyway.

Keshavan-Kaur and Pandey would be the goalscorers, but really, this was another defensive win. With players like Anjalai Ruia-Sen and Mibang linking up quietly in the back, Forest have are able to put together another brilliant display of bus-parking. It isn't exactly "post-football" in the Audioslavian sense, although it has more in common with Ko-orenite possession than the Bulls' physicality. While their green politics are more atavistic than the rest of the country's techno-utopianism, Namiri aren't cynical enough to deconstruct anything. They just play their own game--influenced but not dictated by what they glimpse from the outside world--and on this occasion, it was enough to rise above.

Namiri Forest: Champions League 9 winners

Manager: Bhakti Kapoor

1. Mrunalini Zamani
2. Suraj Uppapa
3. Anjalai Ruia-Sen
4. Kausalya Vizirani (c)
5. Meghna Imomenba
6. Nilkanth Mibang
7. Kedarnath Indori
8. Sakina Keshavan-Kaur
9. Farrokh Sokhi
10. Talat Ilango
11. Ganesh Pandey
12. Tilka Menon-Tirmizi
13. Debasis Garg
14. Nungshi Lodha
15. Govind Bannerjee
16. Naomi Chouksey
17. Manju Nesargi
18. Jamsetjee Peerbhoy
19. Seth Ojah
20. Sendhil Srinivasan
21. Reenat Gambhir
22. Senbi Kuriakose
23. Soumini Bano-Patil

Pos/Team                 Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 Canbix Muses           30   17   8   5    40   25  +15    21
 2 Namiri Forest          30   16   7   7    30   21   +9    19.5
 3 Trebuchet Cham         30   15   8   7    51   38  +13    19
 4 Twineur Bugs           30   14   7   9    46   37   +9    17.5
 5 Eintracht Trink        30   11  13   6    59   52   +7    17.5
 6 FTC United             30   12  10   8    35   27   +8    17
 7 Rovers United          30   12   7  11    60   49  +11    15.5
 8 102d Jr.s              30   11   9  10    31   27   +4    15.5
 9 Arlington City         30   12   7  11    32   37   −5    15.5
10 Ephesian FC            30   11   8  11    52   53   −1    15
11 Keppal Cosmos          30   11   7  12    39   44   −5    14.5
12 Sporting Esper         30   10   6  14    33   32   +1    13
13 Excelsior Slogda       30    6  13  11    24   32   −8    12.5
14 Bassabook Old Boys     30    7   9  14    46   54   −8    11.5
15 Spenson Suburbia       30    6   9  15    40   60  −20    10.5
16 Namiri Independent     30    3   4  23    29   59  −30    5

Zwangzug (ZWZ) qualifiers
IFCF Champions League: Namiri Forest (defending champions); Canbix Muses
IFCF Challengers Cup: Trebuchet Cham, Twineur Bugs, Eintracht Trink

League of Victors: Namiri Forest (defending champions); Canbix Muses, Trebuchet Cham
Confederations' Trophy: Rovers United (defending champions); Twineur Bugs

VCIAPP: Keppal Cosmos (ZWZ)

IUCC: Neume College (+1), Westfield College (+4), Brench (+1), Stiglex University (+5)

Zwangzug (ZWZ) final site bids

League of Victors: Groth Park, Canbix

Canbix is the classic example of the "bitter center"--what might have been an imposing skyline pre-Consolidation is now mostly scenery, with polluting factories shut down under the government's strict environmentalist policies. The fans enjoy aggressive tackling but will boo time-wasters. Their favorite board game is Shadow Hunters.

[Srednjaci]

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MEN'S LEAGUE

* STANDINGS MNLS                 Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 NK Dinamo Katanija             22   12   7   3    62   44  +18    43CHAMPIONS
 2 NK Torpedo Melarit             22   12   7   3    48   33  +15    43
 3 NK Pionir Podgora              22   11   4   7    23   21   +2    37
 4 NK Taru                        22   11   2   9    37   37    0    35
 5 NK Mladost Melarit             22    9   5   8    59   49  +10    32
 6 NK Olimpus Bistua Nuova        22    9   5   8    48   48    0    32
 7 NK Traktor Vitreja             22    7   7   8    30   32   −2    28
 8 NK Čelik Raduč                 22    8   3  11    39   42   −3    27
 9 NK Dormatisi Dalatia Bank      22    6   8   8    29   34   −5    26
10 NK Lijepograd                  22    6   6  10    36   47  −11    24
11 NK Archer Kula                 22    5   7  10    41   47   −6    22 PO
12 NK Black Wings Katanija        22    2   7  13    25   43  −18    13

CHAMPIONS


MEN'S FOOTBALL LEAGUE

---

WOMEN'S LEAGUE

* STANDINGS FIRST ŽNLS (WFLS)        Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 ŽNK Dormatisi Blue Stars           22   14   4   4    63   41  +22    46 CHAMPIONS
 2 ŽNK Mladost Melarit                22   10   4   8    43   42   +1    34
 3 ŽNK Slavonija Banka - Podgora      22    9   7   6    49   54   −5    34
 4 ŽNK Kings Star Katanija            22    9   6   7    44   36   +8    33
 5 ŽNK Bistua Nuova                   22    9   5   8    47   38   +9    32
 6 ŽNK Dinamo Katanija                22    8   8   6    39   32   +7    32
 7 ŽNK Plima - Plava Laguna           22    9   4   9    32   32    0    31
 8 ŽNK Čelik Raduč                    22    8   4  10    45   55  −10    28
 9 ŽNK Hajduk Taru                    22    7   4  11    44   54  −10    25
10 ŽNK Kula                           22    6   6  10    44   45   −1    24
11 ŽNK Ominus                         22    6   5  11    30   37   −7    23 PO
12 ŽNK Zana Lijepograd                22    6   5  11    30   44  −14    23

CHAMPIONS


WOMEN'S FOOTBALL LEAGUE

---

PLAYOFF FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

INTRO : the playoff rule for playing the Champions League is simple. The men's league champion and the women's league champion will have to compete in the playoffs. Two games will be played, one at home and the other away. In case they are tied in the victories, the goal difference will be seen. If, after the expiration of 90 minutes of play + referee compensation, the overall result is still equal, extra time and, if necessary, penalties will be taken.
The winner goes to the Champions League, the loser goes to the Challengers Cup.

PLAYOFF- LEG 1
@Stadium- "Košnica" stadion- Katanija ( 58,680 spectators - max 65 000)

NK Dinamo Katanija 3-2 ŽNK Dormatisi Blue Stars

PLAYOFF - LEG 2
@Stadium - "Dalatia Bank Arena" Dormatisi - ( 38,920 spectators - max 42 000)

ŽNK Dormatisi Blue Stars 2-0 NK Dinamo Katanija

WINNER ŽNK DORMATISI BLUE STARS

---

PLAYOFF FOR CHALLENGER CUP

INTRO :The playoff rules for the Challenger Cup are such that runners-up and third place teams from both leagues will play playoff semie final.
Which means participating in the playoffs was achieved by four clubs. Teams in the playoff finals will join NK Dinamo Katanija in the Challenger Cup.

PLAYOFF SEMIE FINAL- LEG 1

NK Torpedo Melarit  4-1 ŽNK Slavonija Banka 
ŽNK Mladost Melarit 1-1 NK Pionir Podgora

PLAYOFF SEMIE FINAL- LEG 2

ŽNK Slavonija Banka 2-2 NK Torpedo Melarit
NK Pionir Podgora   0-2 ŽNK Mladost Melarit

PLAYOFF- LEG 1

ŽNK Mladost Melarit 2-1 NKTorpedo Melarit

PLAYOFF- LEG 1

NK Torpedo Melarit 4-0 ŽNK Mladost Melarit

WINNER NK TORPEDO MELARIT

Srednjaci (SRE) Qualifiers
Primary Association
Champions’ League: ŽNK Dormatisi Blue Stars
Challengers’ Cup: NK Dinamo Katanija, NK Torpedo Melarit, ŽNK Mladost Melarit
CdC: NK Dinamo Katanija

[IFCF]

The deadline for entries to the 10th IFCF cycle will be March 13th 2022 at 11:59 PM EDT (UTC-4).

This will be the cutoff for the Champions League, Challengers Cup, Liga B Champions Trophy, Rising Stars Cup, and Cup Winners' Cup.

All entries since the completion of the last cycle of IFCF competition will be counted, with the latest set if multiple sets of entries were submitted. Allocations are as listed are in this post. The same principle applies to final site bids for these competitions.

To speed up the processing of entries, nations are reminded to use the proper entry form for submission, with the RPs linked to your entry form. Samples of such an submission may be found here and here. A copy of the submission box can also be found here

[Yue Zhou]

The first season of the Yue Super! League's new format (a tendon-snapping quadruple round-robin, giving each club a punishing forty-four game slog of a season without factoring in international competition) ended with a bang, as Olympic Nangang caught fire late to pull ahead of crosstown rivals Nangang Royals. They were fueled by a Golden Ball-tier performance from striker Lin Qiang (who scored an eye-popping thirty-three goals), the composure and leadership of workhorse midfielder Wan Zhiyu, and a tactical masterclass from rising star manager Wu Zhenlin. Nangang Royals, looking to get back on top after being steamrolled by SC Jiangdong the season before, scored a whopping eighty-one goals - fueled by a record-setting 37-goal season from Wang Ban - but were just too leaky at the back to hang with Olympic.

Meanwhile, the defending champions in Jiangdong slumped to a disappointing sixth-place finish, ten points out of the IFCF places. The departure of star goalkeeper Zhao Deliang to Mytanija, as well as injuries to key contributors Zhen Long and Ma Jiabo, left them in an early hole that they never quite recovered from. The other notable story is that of Yincheng Phoenixes, the remnants of the formerly dominant Yincheng Capitals that steamrolled the league every season under Ren Qiang's regime. In their first season in the Super! League, the on-field performance certainly wasn't pretty, but it got the job done to the tune of a fifth-place finish. It would've qualified for the Copa Pavola had the FA not found some vague, definitely-not-political reasons to invite Xi'hai Warriors instead, but as it stands, the future is bright in Yincheng. Or at least, as bright as it can be for the former capital.

Yue Super! League Standings
    Team                     P   W   D   L For  Ag  +/- Pts
  1 Olympic Nangang         44  26   9   9  71  30  +41  87 CHAMPIONS • CL • CdC
  2 Nangang Royals          44  24  11   9  81  47  +34  83 CC
  3 Beian City              44  23  11  10  54  35  +19  80 CC
  4 Beiyun Stars            44  20  15   9  52  33  +19  75 CC
  5 Yincheng Phoenixes      44  19   9  16  39  46   -7  66
  6 SC Jiangdong            44  18  11  15  43  35   +8  65
  7 Xi'hai Warriors         44  16  10  18  63  62   +1  58
  8 Taishan Suns            44  12  15  17  26  35   -9  51
  9 Beian Rovers            44  11  11  22  40  61  -21  44
 10 Jiangdong Tycoons       44  10  12  22  27  47  -20  42
 11 Nangang Nanyue          44  10   9  25  45  78  -33  39 R
 12 Dynamo Dalian           44  10   7  27  23  55  -32  37 R

Golden Boot:
1. WANG Ban (Nangang Royals): 37
2. LIN Qiang (Olympic Nangang): 33
3. HU Riyou (Xi'hai Warriors): 31
Player of the Season:
1. LIN Qiang (ST, 28, Olympic Nangang)
2. WANG Ban (ST, 31, Nangang Royals)
3. WAN Zhiyu (CM, 26, Olympic Nangang)
Manager of the Season: WU Zhenlin (Olympic Nangang)

Yue Challenge League Standings
    Team                     P   W   D   L For  Ag  +/- Pts
  1 Nanhai Lunar            44  31   4   9  105  38  +67  97 CHAMPIONS • P • LBCT
  2 Beian Athletic          44  23  14   7   48  28  +20  83 P • LBCT
  3 WNS Nangang             44  20  17   7   58  29  +29  77 LBCT
  4 Xinhai FC               44  21  10  13   50  32  +18  73
  5 SC Hudong               44  14  17  13   30  31   -1  59
  6 RB Shanbei              44  16  11  17   57  64   -7  59
  7 Shangmen Tigers         44  13  17  14   35  39   -4  56
  8 Jiangdong Athletic      44  15   8  21   46  65  -19  53
  9 Qiangwan Freedom        44  13  12  19   27  45  -18  51
 10 FC Shanbei              44  12  12  20   35  43   -8  48
 11 Yincheng Alliance       44  12   8  24   29  57  -28  44
 12 AFC Liangdao            44   4  10  30   25  74  -49  22

Yuezhou (YZH) Qualifiers
Primary Association; puppet of Savigliane
IFCF Champions League: Olympic Nangang
IFCF Challenger's Cup: Nangang Royals, Beian City, Beiyun Stars
IFCF Liga B Champions' Trophy: Nanhai Lunar, Beian Athletic, WNS Nangang
CdC: Olympic Nangang

Copa Pavola III:
SC Jiangdong (highest ranked Pavolan team)
Xi'hai Warriors (highest team not in IFCF competition; Yincheng Phoenixes ruled ineligible for unclear reasons)

MATCHDAY 1
Nangang Royals 3-0 Dynamo Dalian
Olympic Nangang 2-0 Yincheng Phoenixes
SC Jiangdong 2-2 Nangang Nanyue
Beiyun Stars 1-0 Taishan Suns
Beian City 0-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
Beian Rovers 0-1 Xi'hai Warriors
MATCHDAY 2
Yincheng Phoenixes 0-2 Nangang Royals
Nangang Nanyue 0-2 Dynamo Dalian
Taishan Suns 0-1 Olympic Nangang
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-1 SC Jiangdong
Xi'hai Warriors 1-2 Beiyun Stars
Beian Rovers 0-3 Beian City
MATCHDAY 3
Nangang Royals 1-1 Nangang Nanyue
Yincheng Phoenixes 1-0 Taishan Suns
Dynamo Dalian 1-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
Olympic Nangang 2-0 Xi'hai Warriors
SC Jiangdong 1-2 Beian Rovers
Beiyun Stars 1-1 Beian City
MATCHDAY 4
Taishan Suns 1-0 Nangang Royals
Jiangdong Tycoons 3-1 Nangang Nanyue
Xi'hai Warriors 3-0 Yincheng Phoenixes
Beian Rovers 2-0 Dynamo Dalian
Beian City 1-0 Olympic Nangang
Beiyun Stars 1-1 SC Jiangdong
MATCHDAY 5
Nangang Royals 1-1 Jiangdong Tycoons
Taishan Suns 2-0 Xi'hai Warriors
Nangang Nanyue 1-2 Beian Rovers
Yincheng Phoenixes 1-0 Beian City
Dynamo Dalian 0-1 Beiyun Stars
Olympic Nangang 2-1 SC Jiangdong
MATCHDAY 6
Xi'hai Warriors 4-0 Nangang Royals
Beian Rovers 2-1 Jiangdong Tycoons
Beian City 0-1 Taishan Suns
Beiyun Stars 2-0 Nangang Nanyue
SC Jiangdong 0-1 Yincheng Phoenixes
Olympic Nangang 2-0 Dynamo Dalian
MATCHDAY 7
Nangang Royals 2-0 Beian Rovers
Xi'hai Warriors 0-3 Beian City
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-0 Beiyun Stars
Taishan Suns 0-0 SC Jiangdong
Nangang Nanyue 2-4 Olympic Nangang
Yincheng Phoenixes 1-0 Dynamo Dalian
MATCHDAY 8
Beian City 2-2 Nangang Royals
Beiyun Stars 2-1 Beian Rovers
SC Jiangdong 2-1 Xi'hai Warriors
Olympic Nangang 2-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
Dynamo Dalian 2-0 Taishan Suns
Yincheng Phoenixes 3-2 Nangang Nanyue
MATCHDAY 9
Nangang Royals 1-1 Beiyun Stars
Beian City 1-0 SC Jiangdong
Beian Rovers 2-1 Olympic Nangang
Xi'hai Warriors 1-2 Dynamo Dalian
Jiangdong Tycoons 3-0 Yincheng Phoenixes
Taishan Suns 0-0 Nangang Nanyue
MATCHDAY 10
SC Jiangdong 1-3 Nangang Royals
Olympic Nangang 0-0 Beiyun Stars
Dynamo Dalian 1-1 Beian City
Yincheng Phoenixes 1-0 Beian Rovers
Nangang Nanyue 0-0 Xi'hai Warriors
Taishan Suns 0-1 Jiangdong Tycoons
MATCHDAY 11
Nangang Royals 3-0 Olympic Nangang
SC Jiangdong 1-0 Dynamo Dalian
Beiyun Stars 4-0 Yincheng Phoenixes
Beian City 1-2 Nangang Nanyue
Beian Rovers 1-0 Taishan Suns
Xi'hai Warriors 2-1 Jiangdong Tycoons
MATCHDAY 12
Dynamo Dalian 1-1 Nangang Royals
Yincheng Phoenixes 0-2 Olympic Nangang
Nangang Nanyue 0-2 SC Jiangdong
Taishan Suns 1-1 Beiyun Stars
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-1 Beian City
Xi'hai Warriors 1-1 Beian Rovers
MATCHDAY 13
Nangang Royals 1-0 Yincheng Phoenixes
Dynamo Dalian 0-2 Nangang Nanyue
Olympic Nangang 2-0 Taishan Suns
SC Jiangdong 2-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
Beiyun Stars 0-1 Xi'hai Warriors
Beian City 1-0 Beian Rovers
MATCHDAY 14
Nangang Nanyue 3-1 Nangang Royals
Taishan Suns 1-1 Yincheng Phoenixes
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-1 Dynamo Dalian
Xi'hai Warriors 2-2 Olympic Nangang
Beian Rovers 3-2 SC Jiangdong
Beian City 1-1 Beiyun Stars
MATCHDAY 15
Nangang Royals 1-0 Taishan Suns
Nangang Nanyue 0-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
Yincheng Phoenixes 1-0 Xi'hai Warriors
Dynamo Dalian 0-2 Beian Rovers
Olympic Nangang 0-2 Beian City
SC Jiangdong 2-0 Beiyun Stars
MATCHDAY 16
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-5 Nangang Royals
Xi'hai Warriors 1-1 Taishan Suns
Beian Rovers 1-1 Nangang Nanyue
Beian City 1-0 Yincheng Phoenixes
Beiyun Stars 2-0 Dynamo Dalian
SC Jiangdong 0-1 Olympic Nangang
MATCHDAY 17
Nangang Royals 1-1 Xi'hai Warriors
Jiangdong Tycoons 1-0 Beian Rovers
Taishan Suns 1-0 Beian City
Nangang Nanyue 1-1 Beiyun Stars
Yincheng Phoenixes 0-0 SC Jiangdong
Dynamo Dalian 0-1 Olympic Nangang
MATCHDAY 18
Beian Rovers 1-1 Nangang Royals
Beian City 3-0 Xi'hai Warriors
Beiyun Stars 1-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
SC Jiangdong 0-0 Taishan Suns
Olympic Nangang 2-0 Nangang Nanyue
Dynamo Dalian 2-0 Yincheng Phoenixes
MATCHDAY 19
Nangang Royals 1-0 Beian City
Beian Rovers 1-3 Beiyun Stars
Xi'hai Warriors 1-0 SC Jiangdong
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-4 Olympic Nangang
Taishan Suns 1-0 Dynamo Dalian
Nangang Nanyue 0-1 Yincheng Phoenixes
MATCHDAY 20
Beiyun Stars 0-1 Nangang Royals
SC Jiangdong 2-0 Beian City
Olympic Nangang 3-0 Beian Rovers
Dynamo Dalian 1-1 Xi'hai Warriors
Yincheng Phoenixes 0-1 Jiangdong Tycoons
Nangang Nanyue 1-1 Taishan Suns
MATCHDAY 21
Nangang Royals 1-0 SC Jiangdong
Beiyun Stars 1-1 Olympic Nangang
Beian City 1-0 Dynamo Dalian
Beian Rovers 1-2 Yincheng Phoenixes
Xi'hai Warriors 0-1 Nangang Nanyue
Jiangdong Tycoons 2-0 Taishan Suns
MATCHDAY 22
Olympic Nangang 2-3 Nangang Royals
Dynamo Dalian 0-2 SC Jiangdong
Yincheng Phoenixes 0-0 Beiyun Stars
Nangang Nanyue 1-3 Beian City
Taishan Suns 0-0 Beian Rovers
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-0 Xi'hai Warriors
MATCHDAY 23
Nangang Royals 2-2 Dynamo Dalian
Olympic Nangang 1-2 Yincheng Phoenixes
SC Jiangdong 2-1 Nangang Nanyue
Beiyun Stars 1-0 Taishan Suns
Beian City 1-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
Beian Rovers 1-3 Xi'hai Warriors
MATCHDAY 24
Yincheng Phoenixes 2-1 Nangang Royals
Nangang Nanyue 0-1 Dynamo Dalian
Taishan Suns 1-0 Olympic Nangang
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-1 SC Jiangdong
Xi'hai Warriors 0-1 Beiyun Stars
Beian Rovers 0-0 Beian City
MATCHDAY 25
Nangang Royals 7-0 Nangang Nanyue
Yincheng Phoenixes 0-0 Taishan Suns
Dynamo Dalian 0-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
Olympic Nangang 2-0 Xi'hai Warriors
SC Jiangdong 1-2 Beian Rovers
Beiyun Stars 1-0 Beian City
MATCHDAY 26
Taishan Suns 1-1 Nangang Royals
Jiangdong Tycoons 1-0 Nangang Nanyue
Xi'hai Warriors 3-1 Yincheng Phoenixes
Beian Rovers 2-0 Dynamo Dalian
Beian City 1-0 Olympic Nangang
Beiyun Stars 1-0 SC Jiangdong
MATCHDAY 27
Nangang Royals 1-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
Taishan Suns 0-3 Xi'hai Warriors
Nangang Nanyue 2-1 Beian Rovers
Yincheng Phoenixes 1-0 Beian City
Dynamo Dalian 0-2 Beiyun Stars
Olympic Nangang 1-1 SC Jiangdong
MATCHDAY 28
Xi'hai Warriors 0-2 Nangang Royals
Beian Rovers 0-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
Beian City 1-1 Taishan Suns
Beiyun Stars 0-2 Nangang Nanyue
SC Jiangdong 1-3 Yincheng Phoenixes
Olympic Nangang 2-0 Dynamo Dalian
MATCHDAY 29
Nangang Royals 3-2 Beian Rovers
Xi'hai Warriors 2-2 Beian City
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-2 Beiyun Stars
Taishan Suns 1-0 SC Jiangdong
Nangang Nanyue 0-3 Olympic Nangang
Yincheng Phoenixes 1-0 Dynamo Dalian
MATCHDAY 30
Beian City 1-4 Nangang Royals
Beiyun Stars 2-0 Beian Rovers
SC Jiangdong 0-0 Xi'hai Warriors
Olympic Nangang 1-1 Jiangdong Tycoons
Dynamo Dalian 0-2 Taishan Suns
Yincheng Phoenixes 0-2 Nangang Nanyue
MATCHDAY 31
Nangang Royals 4-2 Beiyun Stars
Beian City 0-2 SC Jiangdong
Beian Rovers 0-0 Olympic Nangang
Xi'hai Warriors 2-0 Dynamo Dalian
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-2 Yincheng Phoenixes
Taishan Suns 0-1 Nangang Nanyue
MATCHDAY 32
SC Jiangdong 1-0 Nangang Royals
Olympic Nangang 1-0 Beiyun Stars
Dynamo Dalian 0-1 Beian City
Yincheng Phoenixes 1-1 Beian Rovers
Nangang Nanyue 3-7 Xi'hai Warriors
Taishan Suns 1-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
MATCHDAY 33
Nangang Royals 0-2 Olympic Nangang
SC Jiangdong 1-1 Dynamo Dalian
Beiyun Stars 1-1 Yincheng Phoenixes
Beian City 3-1 Nangang Nanyue
Beian Rovers 0-0 Taishan Suns
Xi'hai Warriors 1-4 Jiangdong Tycoons
MATCHDAY 34
Dynamo Dalian 1-3 Nangang Royals
Yincheng Phoenixes 0-1 Olympic Nangang
Nangang Nanyue 0-1 SC Jiangdong
Taishan Suns 0-1 Beiyun Stars
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-2 Beian City
Xi'hai Warriors 4-1 Beian Rovers
MATCHDAY 35
Nangang Royals 0-1 Yincheng Phoenixes
Dynamo Dalian 1-0 Nangang Nanyue
Olympic Nangang 2-0 Taishan Suns
SC Jiangdong 1-0 Jiangdong Tycoons
Beiyun Stars 2-4 Xi'hai Warriors
Beian City 2-1 Beian Rovers
MATCHDAY 36
Nangang Nanyue 3-4 Nangang Royals
Taishan Suns 0-0 Yincheng Phoenixes
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-1 Dynamo Dalian
Xi'hai Warriors 0-2 Olympic Nangang
Beian Rovers 0-2 SC Jiangdong
Beian City 0-0 Beiyun Stars
MATCHDAY 37
Nangang Royals 2-1 Taishan Suns
Nangang Nanyue 0-1 Jiangdong Tycoons
Yincheng Phoenixes 2-2 Xi'hai Warriors
Dynamo Dalian 1-0 Beian Rovers
Olympic Nangang 1-2 Beian City
SC Jiangdong 1-1 Beiyun Stars
MATCHDAY 38
Jiangdong Tycoons 1-1 Nangang Royals
Xi'hai Warriors 1-3 Taishan Suns
Beian Rovers 1-2 Nangang Nanyue
Beian City 2-1 Yincheng Phoenixes
Beiyun Stars 2-0 Dynamo Dalian
SC Jiangdong 1-1 Olympic Nangang
MATCHDAY 39
Nangang Royals 6-0 Xi'hai Warriors
Jiangdong Tycoons 1-1 Beian Rovers
Taishan Suns 1-1 Beian City
Nangang Nanyue 0-0 Beiyun Stars
Yincheng Phoenixes 1-1 SC Jiangdong
Dynamo Dalian 0-3 Olympic Nangang
MATCHDAY 40
Beian Rovers 0-1 Nangang Royals
Beian City 2-1 Xi'hai Warriors
Beiyun Stars 1-1 Jiangdong Tycoons
SC Jiangdong 1-0 Taishan Suns
Olympic Nangang 3-0 Nangang Nanyue
Dynamo Dalian 0-1 Yincheng Phoenixes
MATCHDAY 41
Nangang Royals 1-1 Beian City
Beian Rovers 0-3 Beiyun Stars
Xi'hai Warriors 0-1 SC Jiangdong
Jiangdong Tycoons 2-2 Olympic Nangang
Taishan Suns 1-1 Dynamo Dalian
Nangang Nanyue 1-3 Yincheng Phoenixes
MATCHDAY 42
Beiyun Stars 4-2 Nangang Royals
SC Jiangdong 1-2 Beian City
Olympic Nangang 2-2 Beian Rovers
Dynamo Dalian 1-3 Xi'hai Warriors
Yincheng Phoenixes 0-1 Jiangdong Tycoons
Nangang Nanyue 3-1 Taishan Suns
MATCHDAY 43
Nangang Royals 1-0 SC Jiangdong
Beiyun Stars 0-2 Olympic Nangang
Beian City 1-0 Dynamo Dalian
Beian Rovers 3-2 Yincheng Phoenixes
Xi'hai Warriors 3-1 Nangang Nanyue
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-1 Taishan Suns
MATCHDAY 44
Olympic Nangang 3-0 Nangang Royals
Dynamo Dalian 0-1 SC Jiangdong
Yincheng Phoenixes 1-0 Beiyun Stars
Nangang Nanyue 2-3 Beian City
Taishan Suns 1-0 Beian Rovers
Jiangdong Tycoons 0-3 Xi'hai Warriors
MATCHDAY 1
Beian Athletic 0-1 AFC Liangdao
Nanhai Lunar 3-1 Xinhai FC
WNS Nangang 2-0 Qiangwan Freedom
Jiangdong Athletic 0-1 Yincheng Alliance
SC Hudong 1-1 Shangmen Tigers
RB Shanbei 1-0 FC Shanbei
MATCHDAY 2
Xinhai FC 0-1 Beian Athletic
Qiangwan Freedom 1-1 AFC Liangdao
Yincheng Alliance 1-4 Nanhai Lunar
Shangmen Tigers 1-1 WNS Nangang
FC Shanbei 3-0 Jiangdong Athletic
RB Shanbei 0-1 SC Hudong
MATCHDAY 3
Beian Athletic 0-0 Qiangwan Freedom
Xinhai FC 2-0 Yincheng Alliance
AFC Liangdao 0-1 Shangmen Tigers
Nanhai Lunar 3-1 FC Shanbei
WNS Nangang 1-0 RB Shanbei
Jiangdong Athletic 2-0 SC Hudong
MATCHDAY 4
Yincheng Alliance 0-1 Beian Athletic
Shangmen Tigers 0-1 Qiangwan Freedom
FC Shanbei 2-0 Xinhai FC
RB Shanbei 2-0 AFC Liangdao
SC Hudong 0-1 Nanhai Lunar
Jiangdong Athletic 1-3 WNS Nangang
MATCHDAY 5
Beian Athletic 0-2 Shangmen Tigers
Yincheng Alliance 1-1 FC Shanbei
Qiangwan Freedom 0-1 RB Shanbei
Xinhai FC 0-1 SC Hudong
AFC Liangdao 2-3 Jiangdong Athletic
Nanhai Lunar 4-0 WNS Nangang
MATCHDAY 6
FC Shanbei 1-1 Beian Athletic
RB Shanbei 0-1 Shangmen Tigers
SC Hudong 2-0 Yincheng Alliance
Jiangdong Athletic 1-1 Qiangwan Freedom
WNS Nangang 1-1 Xinhai FC
Nanhai Lunar 6-1 AFC Liangdao
MATCHDAY 7
Beian Athletic 1-3 RB Shanbei
FC Shanbei 0-0 SC Hudong
Shangmen Tigers 0-0 Jiangdong Athletic
Yincheng Alliance 1-0 WNS Nangang
Qiangwan Freedom 0-4 Nanhai Lunar
Xinhai FC 2-1 AFC Liangdao
MATCHDAY 8
SC Hudong 1-0 Beian Athletic
Jiangdong Athletic 1-0 RB Shanbei
WNS Nangang 1-1 FC Shanbei
Nanhai Lunar 2-0 Shangmen Tigers
AFC Liangdao 0-1 Yincheng Alliance
Xinhai FC 1-0 Qiangwan Freedom
MATCHDAY 9
Beian Athletic 2-0 Jiangdong Athletic
SC Hudong 0-0 WNS Nangang
RB Shanbei 3-4 Nanhai Lunar
FC Shanbei 1-0 AFC Liangdao
Shangmen Tigers 0-2 Xinhai FC
Yincheng Alliance 0-1 Qiangwan Freedom
MATCHDAY 10
WNS Nangang 2-0 Beian Athletic
Nanhai Lunar 1-3 Jiangdong Athletic
AFC Liangdao 0-1 SC Hudong
Xinhai FC 2-0 RB Shanbei
Qiangwan Freedom 0-0 FC Shanbei
Yincheng Alliance 0-2 Shangmen Tigers
MATCHDAY 11
Beian Athletic 2-1 Nanhai Lunar
WNS Nangang 2-1 AFC Liangdao
Jiangdong Athletic 0-3 Xinhai FC
SC Hudong 0-0 Qiangwan Freedom
RB Shanbei 2-0 Yincheng Alliance
FC Shanbei 0-1 Shangmen Tigers
MATCHDAY 12
AFC Liangdao 1-3 Beian Athletic
Xinhai FC 0-1 Nanhai Lunar
Qiangwan Freedom 0-2 WNS Nangang
Yincheng Alliance 1-3 Jiangdong Athletic
Shangmen Tigers 0-2 SC Hudong
FC Shanbei 1-1 RB Shanbei
MATCHDAY 13
Beian Athletic 2-0 Xinhai FC
AFC Liangdao 1-0 Qiangwan Freedom
Nanhai Lunar 7-0 Yincheng Alliance
WNS Nangang 1-1 Shangmen Tigers
Jiangdong Athletic 1-0 FC Shanbei
SC Hudong 2-2 RB Shanbei
MATCHDAY 14
Qiangwan Freedom 0-1 Beian Athletic
Yincheng Alliance 0-2 Xinhai FC
Shangmen Tigers 1-0 AFC Liangdao
FC Shanbei 1-2 Nanhai Lunar
RB Shanbei 0-3 WNS Nangang
SC Hudong 2-2 Jiangdong Athletic
MATCHDAY 15
Beian Athletic 2-0 Yincheng Alliance
Qiangwan Freedom 1-1 Shangmen Tigers
Xinhai FC 0-1 FC Shanbei
AFC Liangdao 1-1 RB Shanbei
Nanhai Lunar 2-0 SC Hudong
WNS Nangang 4-0 Jiangdong Athletic
MATCHDAY 16
Shangmen Tigers 0-1 Beian Athletic
FC Shanbei 1-0 Yincheng Alliance
RB Shanbei 2-3 Qiangwan Freedom
SC Hudong 0-0 Xinhai FC
Jiangdong Athletic 3-1 AFC Liangdao
WNS Nangang 1-1 Nanhai Lunar
MATCHDAY 17
Beian Athletic 2-0 FC Shanbei
Shangmen Tigers 4-4 RB Shanbei
Yincheng Alliance 1-0 SC Hudong
Qiangwan Freedom 0-2 Jiangdong Athletic
Xinhai FC 2-0 WNS Nangang
AFC Liangdao 0-2 Nanhai Lunar
MATCHDAY 18
RB Shanbei 0-1 Beian Athletic
SC Hudong 1-0 FC Shanbei
Jiangdong Athletic 1-2 Shangmen Tigers
WNS Nangang 1-0 Yincheng Alliance
Nanhai Lunar 1-0 Qiangwan Freedom
AFC Liangdao 1-1 Xinhai FC
MATCHDAY 19
Beian Athletic 0-0 SC Hudong
RB Shanbei 1-1 Jiangdong Athletic
FC Shanbei 0-1 WNS Nangang
Shangmen Tigers 0-2 Nanhai Lunar
Yincheng Alliance 1-0 AFC Liangdao
Qiangwan Freedom 1-0 Xinhai FC
MATCHDAY 20
Jiangdong Athletic 3-2 Beian Athletic
WNS Nangang 1-1 SC Hudong
Nanhai Lunar 5-3 RB Shanbei
AFC Liangdao 1-2 FC Shanbei
Xinhai FC 2-0 Shangmen Tigers
Qiangwan Freedom 0-0 Yincheng Alliance
MATCHDAY 21
Beian Athletic 1-0 WNS Nangang
Jiangdong Athletic 2-0 Nanhai Lunar
SC Hudong 0-0 AFC Liangdao
RB Shanbei 0-1 Xinhai FC
FC Shanbei 2-0 Qiangwan Freedom
Shangmen Tigers 1-0 Yincheng Alliance
MATCHDAY 22
Nanhai Lunar 5-0 Beian Athletic
AFC Liangdao 0-2 WNS Nangang
Xinhai FC 3-0 Jiangdong Athletic
Qiangwan Freedom 0-0 SC Hudong
Yincheng Alliance 4-2 RB Shanbei
Shangmen Tigers 2-0 FC Shanbei
MATCHDAY 23
Beian Athletic 2-0 AFC Liangdao
Nanhai Lunar 1-1 Xinhai FC
WNS Nangang 2-0 Qiangwan Freedom
Jiangdong Athletic 1-0 Yincheng Alliance
SC Hudong 1-0 Shangmen Tigers
RB Shanbei 1-0 FC Shanbei
MATCHDAY 24
Xinhai FC 0-2 Beian Athletic
Qiangwan Freedom 2-1 AFC Liangdao
Yincheng Alliance 0-0 Nanhai Lunar
Shangmen Tigers 1-1 WNS Nangang
FC Shanbei 1-0 Jiangdong Athletic
RB Shanbei 0-1 SC Hudong
MATCHDAY 25
Beian Athletic 0-0 Qiangwan Freedom
Xinhai FC 1-1 Yincheng Alliance
AFC Liangdao 0-1 Shangmen Tigers
Nanhai Lunar 2-0 FC Shanbei
WNS Nangang 0-0 RB Shanbei
Jiangdong Athletic 3-0 SC Hudong
MATCHDAY 26
Yincheng Alliance 0-2 Beian Athletic
Shangmen Tigers 0-0 Qiangwan Freedom
FC Shanbei 0-1 Xinhai FC
RB Shanbei 2-0 AFC Liangdao
SC Hudong 2-1 Nanhai Lunar
Jiangdong Athletic 0-3 WNS Nangang
MATCHDAY 27
Beian Athletic 1-1 Shangmen Tigers
Yincheng Alliance 1-1 FC Shanbei
Qiangwan Freedom 2-0 RB Shanbei
Xinhai FC 1-1 SC Hudong
AFC Liangdao 0-3 Jiangdong Athletic
Nanhai Lunar 0-1 WNS Nangang
MATCHDAY 28
FC Shanbei 0-1 Beian Athletic
RB Shanbei 1-1 Shangmen Tigers
SC Hudong 1-1 Yincheng Alliance
Jiangdong Athletic 0-1 Qiangwan Freedom
WNS Nangang 2-0 Xinhai FC
Nanhai Lunar 3-2 AFC Liangdao
MATCHDAY 29
Beian Athletic 0-0 RB Shanbei
FC Shanbei 0-2 SC Hudong
Shangmen Tigers 1-1 Jiangdong Athletic
Yincheng Alliance 1-1 WNS Nangang
Qiangwan Freedom 0-3 Nanhai Lunar
Xinhai FC 2-0 AFC Liangdao
MATCHDAY 30
SC Hudong 0-2 Beian Athletic
Jiangdong Athletic 1-4 RB Shanbei
WNS Nangang 1-1 FC Shanbei
Nanhai Lunar 2-1 Shangmen Tigers
AFC Liangdao 1-0 Yincheng Alliance
Xinhai FC 1-0 Qiangwan Freedom
MATCHDAY 31
Beian Athletic 0-0 Jiangdong Athletic
SC Hudong 1-1 WNS Nangang
RB Shanbei 3-1 Nanhai Lunar
FC Shanbei 1-1 AFC Liangdao
Shangmen Tigers 0-0 Xinhai FC
Yincheng Alliance 0-1 Qiangwan Freedom
MATCHDAY 32
WNS Nangang 1-1 Beian Athletic
Nanhai Lunar 0-1 Jiangdong Athletic
AFC Liangdao 1-1 SC Hudong
Xinhai FC 1-2 RB Shanbei
Qiangwan Freedom 1-0 FC Shanbei
Yincheng Alliance 0-1 Shangmen Tigers
MATCHDAY 33
Beian Athletic 1-0 Nanhai Lunar
WNS Nangang 0-1 AFC Liangdao
Jiangdong Athletic 0-4 Xinhai FC
SC Hudong 0-2 Qiangwan Freedom
RB Shanbei 2-0 Yincheng Alliance
FC Shanbei 1-0 Shangmen Tigers
MATCHDAY 34
AFC Liangdao 1-1 Beian Athletic
Xinhai FC 0-2 Nanhai Lunar
Qiangwan Freedom 0-1 WNS Nangang
Yincheng Alliance 0-0 Jiangdong Athletic
Shangmen Tigers 0-1 SC Hudong
FC Shanbei 1-3 RB Shanbei
MATCHDAY 35
Beian Athletic 1-1 Xinhai FC
AFC Liangdao 0-0 Qiangwan Freedom
Nanhai Lunar 3-0 Yincheng Alliance
WNS Nangang 0-0 Shangmen Tigers
Jiangdong Athletic 0-2 FC Shanbei
SC Hudong 0-1 RB Shanbei
MATCHDAY 36
Qiangwan Freedom 0-2 Beian Athletic
Yincheng Alliance 1-0 Xinhai FC
Shangmen Tigers 2-1 AFC Liangdao
FC Shanbei 0-3 Nanhai Lunar
RB Shanbei 0-7 WNS Nangang
SC Hudong 2-0 Jiangdong Athletic
MATCHDAY 37
Beian Athletic 1-0 Yincheng Alliance
Qiangwan Freedom 0-2 Shangmen Tigers
Xinhai FC 2-1 FC Shanbei
AFC Liangdao 1-2 RB Shanbei
Nanhai Lunar 2-1 SC Hudong
WNS Nangang 2-0 Jiangdong Athletic
MATCHDAY 38
Shangmen Tigers 1-1 Beian Athletic
FC Shanbei 2-1 Yincheng Alliance
RB Shanbei 2-0 Qiangwan Freedom
SC Hudong 0-1 Xinhai FC
Jiangdong Athletic 2-1 AFC Liangdao
WNS Nangang 2-2 Nanhai Lunar
MATCHDAY 39
Beian Athletic 1-0 FC Shanbei
Shangmen Tigers 1-1 RB Shanbei
Yincheng Alliance 1-0 SC Hudong
Qiangwan Freedom 3-1 Jiangdong Athletic
Xinhai FC 2-0 WNS Nangang
AFC Liangdao 0-6 Nanhai Lunar
MATCHDAY 40
RB Shanbei 1-1 Beian Athletic
SC Hudong 1-0 FC Shanbei
Jiangdong Athletic 1-1 Shangmen Tigers
WNS Nangang 0-1 Yincheng Alliance
Nanhai Lunar 4-1 Qiangwan Freedom
AFC Liangdao 1-1 Xinhai FC
MATCHDAY 41
Beian Athletic 0-0 SC Hudong
RB Shanbei 1-0 Jiangdong Athletic
FC Shanbei 1-1 WNS Nangang
Shangmen Tigers 0-3 Nanhai Lunar
Yincheng Alliance 2-0 AFC Liangdao
Qiangwan Freedom 0-1 Xinhai FC
MATCHDAY 42
Jiangdong Athletic 1-2 Beian Athletic
WNS Nangang 1-0 SC Hudong
Nanhai Lunar 4-0 RB Shanbei
AFC Liangdao 0-4 FC Shanbei
Xinhai FC 1-0 Shangmen Tigers
Qiangwan Freedom 3-2 Yincheng Alliance
MATCHDAY 43
Beian Athletic 1-1 WNS Nangang
Jiangdong Athletic 1-2 Nanhai Lunar
SC Hudong 0-0 AFC Liangdao
RB Shanbei 1-1 Xinhai FC
FC Shanbei 1-1 Qiangwan Freedom
Shangmen Tigers 0-1 Yincheng Alliance
MATCHDAY 44
Nanhai Lunar 0-2 Beian Athletic
AFC Liangdao 0-1 WNS Nangang
Xinhai FC 3-1 Jiangdong Athletic
Qiangwan Freedom 1-0 SC Hudong
Yincheng Alliance 4-2 RB Shanbei
Shangmen Tigers 0-0 FC Shanbei

[Hebitaka]

Hebitaka(HEB) Qualifiers
Champions’ League: Blasters CF
Challengers’ Cup: Darek Daredevils FC, Athletic C Konoha, FC Demolishers
Liga B CT: Stalder Zone Club

Season Scores - SLA 4.1 | SLA 4.2 | Season Preview | SLB

[Adab]

Previews:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Adabian Premier League:
Matchday 1-10, Matchday 11-20, Matchday 21-30, Matchday 31-38

Emperor’s Cup

Adab (ADB) Qualifiers

IFCF Champions League: Baghdad City
IFCF Challenger's Cup: Damascus Steelers, Beirut, Mosul
IFCF Cup Winners’ Cup: Adab United

FFI League of Victors: Baghdad City, Damascus Steelers
FFI Confederations Trophy: Beirut

[Pyazhnaya]

May I kindly direct your attention HERE for brief coverage of the 18th edition of the Pyazhnaya Prvaya Liga.

Pyazhnaya Pervaya Liga                     GP	 W   D	 L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
 1 FK Krasnograd                           38   25   8   5   108   47  +61    83 Champions / IFCF Champions' League
 2 FK Armaskoye                            38   20  11   7    79   55  +24    71 IFCF Challengers' League
 3 Armada Sovran                           38   20   9   9    95   55  +40    69 IFCF Challengers' League
 4 Prizrachnaya Brigada Cherniy Zamok      38   19   8  11   101   76  +25    65 IFCF Challengers' League
 5 Torpedo Krasnograd                      38   17  13   8    85   50  +35    64
 6 Sila Saykonur                           38   19   6  13    78   63  +15    63
 7 FK Vselitamak                           38   16  12  10    74   53  +21    60
 8 Golubaya Zvezda Ochuromorsk             38   16   7  15    77   84   −7    55
 9 Mazhny Park Severoyarsk                 38   14  12  12    53   46   +7    54
10 Kompas Livropol                         38   15   8  15    84   79   +5    53
11 Legion Vostrakhan                       38   14  10  14    40   44   −4    52
12 FK Yarkuta                              38   14   8  16    45   64  −19    50
13 Taiga Tverinsk                          38   12  10  16    62   78  −16    46
14 Atlantis Buraskva                       38   11   9  18    53  100  −47    42
15 Admiral Tverinsk                        38   11   8  19    65   83  −18    41
16 Molniya Sarakhovo                       38   10  10  18    50   69  −19    40
17 Shakhter Khilyovsk                      38   10   9  19    53   79  −26    39
18 Dinamo Krasnograd                       38    9  12  17    61   89  −28    39
19 Medved Astakhopol                       38    9   8  21    42   57  −15    35
20 Avangard Lisegrad                       38    5  10  23    33   67  −34    25

Pyazahnaya (PYA) Qualifiers
Puppet of Tikariot
IFCF Champions League: FK Krasnograd
IFCF Challenger's Cup: FK Armaskoye, Armada Sovran, Prizrachnaya Brigada Cherniy Zamok
LigAnaia: FK Krasnograd, FK Armaskoye

[Squidroidia]

The following is the list of qualifiers for the various IFCF and FFI competitions (Plus the Vilitan Cove Invitational) for Squidroidia, which can be documented starting from here with the SSL's FunStar Opening Classic and ending here with the results from the Squidroidian Cup.

Squidroidia (SQR) qualifiers
IFCF Champions League - Starlight SC, FC Squidbreak
IFCF Challengers Cup - Weedpot FC, Inkopolis FC, Tyranny Sports Club
IFCF Liga B Champions Trophy - KC Sports Club, Ichimoto Eleven, Angel's Away End FC
IFCF Cup Winners Cup - KC Sports Club
IFCF Rising Stars Cup - TS Sawayama

FFI League of Victors - Starlight SC, FC Squidbreak
FFI Confederations Trophy - Weedpot FC

VCIAPP: Calamari County FC
Association: Squidroidia (SQR)
Selection Via: League Results

[Kriegiersien]

The BSL (Balder Super League) was created under Kriegiersien control, on Kriegiersien soil in Schoenwetter from where the league is managed, to find the best team in Balder. Only 7 nations of this massive Region send teams for this league, which saw its first winner from Darikovia, with the Akureyri Capitals winning the first trophy in a chaotic first season.
Except for the Kriegiersien teams, the other nations are united under the banner of the BAL as Association of Balder in the Super League.

BSL                                                            Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts                                                                        
 1 Akureyri Capitals (Darikovia)                                26   13   8   5    38   18  +20    47    —   1–0  2–0  2–2  0–0  2–1  5–0  0–0  2–3  1–0  0–3  3–1  2–0  1–0
 2 F.C Amrasa (Novanuki)                                        26   13   7   6    39   28  +11    46   2–1   —   0–2  1–0  3–0  1–1  1–3  4–4  1–1  0–1  1–0  1–1  1–1  1–0
 3 Islander Central (Latino Island)                             26   11   5  10    36   35   +1    38   1–1  0–2   —   1–3  1–4  3–1  1–1  2–0  1–1  1–0  4–0  0–1  1–0  5–2
 4 Morlander (Latino Island)                                    26    9  10   7    39   31   +8    37   0–0  2–2  2–2   —   3–1  2–1  4–2  4–1  4–1  5–4  0–0  1–1  1–1  0–1
 5 Osuokwu Institute of Technology Under 23s (OsuokwuLand)      26   10   7   9    32   35   −3    37   1–1  1–2  0–1  2–0   —   2–1  0–1  0–1  2–0  1–0  1–1  3–2  1–1  2–0
 6 Vocomian National Football Team (Vocomian)                   26   11   3  12    36   35   +1    36   0–3  1–0  5–1  2–0  1–0   —   1–2  1–0  3–1  2–3  1–0  1–3  3–1  2–0
 7 Timesteam (KGS)                                              26   10   6  10    32   36   −4    36   0–2  0–1  1–0  1–0  5–0  3–1   —   0–1  1–1  2–3  1–0  0–0  1–1  1–4
 8 Okpara International (OsuokwuLand)                           26    9   7  10    35   37   −2    34   1–3  3–5  3–2  1–1  0–0  0–1  3–1   —   2–0  2–1  3–0  2–1  3–3  2–0
 9 Adelaide FC (Vocomian)                                       26    9   7  10    34   41   −7    34   0–2  1–3  0–3  1–1  3–3  1–0  0–2  2–0   —   3–1  3–0  3–0  1–0  4–2
10 The Great Bestelesnian Football Team (Bestelesnia)           26    9   6  11    31   34   −3    33   0–0  1–0  0–1  2–0  1–2  1–1  1–0  2–1  0–1   —   2–1  3–2  1–1  0–2
11 Darikovia City Doves (Darikovia)                             26    9   5  12    39   37   +2    32   1–0  1–2  3–1  1–0  6–1  3–1  1–1  1–0  5–1  1–1   —   2–3  0–1  3–0
12 Amrasa United (Novanuki)                                     26    8   8  10    37   36   +1    32   0–3  1–2  3–0  0–0  0–1  1–1  0–0  2–1  1–1  3–2  2–2   —   4–0  5–0
13 Kendell National Football Team (Kendell)                     26    7  11   8    32   37   −5    32   2–1  0–2  0–2  0–1  1–1  1–0  4–1  0–0  1–1  1–1  5–4  1–0   —   1–1
14 Muhr FC (KGS)                                                26    6   6  14    25   45  −20    24   0–0  1–1  0–0  0–3  0–3  1–3  1–2  1–1  1–0  0–0  2–0  3–0  3–5   —

The Youth League found its winner in the FC Bigtopia, a team of Bigtopian Immigrants living in Kriegiersien.

BSL-Youth Competition                                          Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 FC Bigtopia                                                  30   19   2   9    57   41  +16    59
 2 Kendell National Football Team (Kendell)                     30   16   7   7    51   34  +17    55
 3 Morlander (Latino Island)                                    30   17   3  10    54   42  +12    54
 4 Balder Superkids                                             30   14   5  11    44   38   +6    47
 5 Muhr FC (KGS)                                                30   13   6  11    46   39   +7    45
 6 Akureyri Capitals (Darikovia)                                30   13   5  12    41   40   +1    44
 7 The Great Bestelesnian Football Team (Bestelesnia            30   12   8  10    42   43   −1    44
 8 Okpara International (OsuokwuLand)                           30   12   7  11    41   44   −3    43
 9 Islander Central (Latino Island)                             30   11   6  13    38   40   −2    39
10 Vocomian National Football Team (Vocomian)                   30   11   6  13    39   44   −5    39
11 Amrasa United (Novanuki)                                     30   11   5  14    38   36   +2    38
12 F.C Amrasa (Novanuki)                                        30    9   8  13    46   54   −8    35
13 Timesteam (KGS)                                              30    9   8  13    40   51  −11    35
14 Osuokwu Institute of Technology Under 23s (OsuokwuLand)      30    9   7  14    40   46   −6    34
15 Adelaide FC (Vocomian)                                       30    9   5  16    40   54  −14    32
16 Darikovia City Doves (Darikovia)                             30    8   6  16    44   55  −11    30

Outside of the BSL:
The Kriegiersien Cup, where the regional Cupwinners from 7 Kriegiersien regions and the presidents pet Club Timesteam per Wildcard entered, saw a surprising champion in the Capitals Champion FC Schoenwetter winning the final.

Kriegiersien Cup

Quarter Final

FC Schoenwetter 1–0 FC Winter City
HHW Candlekeep 0–1 Muhr FC
Pony City Calcio 2–4 Scorpion City Meerkats
Spineackers 1–4 Timesteam

Semifinal

FC Schoenwetter 1–0 Muhr FC
Timesteam 3–2 Scorpion City Meerkats

Final

FC Schoenwetter 1–0 Timesteam

Balder (BAL) Qualifiers
Primary association.
IFCF Champions League: Akureyri Capitals
IFCF Challengers Cup: F.C Amrasa, Islander Central, Morlander

Kriegiersien (KGS) Qualifiers
IFCF Rising Stars Cup: FC Bigtopia
IFCF Cup Winners Cup: FC Schoenwetter

[Nyowani Kitara]

The Kitara Worker's Football League

Rosters & Basic Information
Results and RP

Nyowani Kitara (NYK) Qualifiers
Puppet of Banija(BNJ)
IFCF Competition
IFCF Champions' League: East Dewayo
IFCF Challenger's Cup: Red Star Karora, Ibarnet City FC, Gugola United
IFCF Cup Winners Cup: Red Star Dewayo
Non-IFCF Competition
Copa de Campeones/CdC: East Dewayo
Copa Pavola: Red Star Karora(via finishing second in the Championship Round), Red Star Dewayo(via finishing second in National Round).
VCIAPP: Mubeza United
Selection via: Finishing first in the National Round

Nyowani Kitara (NYK) final site bids

Copa de Campeones: Dewayo National Stadium(cap. 55,000) in Dewayo, Nyowani Kitara.

The nation's capitol is bidding to host its first peace-time major international event, the final of the Copa de Campeones. The bid is being put together by the KWFA in celebration of the new-found peace deal in Nyowani Kitara, and in celebration of the country's unity following the Osterland Independence Referendum.

The stadium serves as the country's national stadium, hosting the Akongo Cup Final on an annual basis, as well as the country's national team.

[Chartistan]

So.

Hot League returned.

Chartistan (CHA) Qualifiers
Puppet of Squidroidia (SQR)
IFCF Champions League - Blinding Lights
IFCF Challengers Cup - Don't Touch Me, Got What I Got, Mad At Disney

Chartistan (CHA) Final site bid
IFCF Champions League Final - Old Town Park, Billboard (68,000 capacity)
Arial view

Built in Chart Year 62 to serve as the new Chartistani national stadium and named in honor of current Chartistani national team player and actually decent knight Little Exnash, Old Town Park has served as hosts to the Chartistani national team since the World Cup 87 qualifiers and had hosted the domestic club cup competition, the Heatseekers Cup, for multiple editions before it was scrapped in Chart Year 64. Despite being 2 Chart Years old, Old Town Park keeps a classic charm to its design and amenities, which have been highlighted as part of the bid to secure the biggest game in club football to aim for a more fan-friendly environment. Old Town Park is also located close to the heart of Billboard, allowing for quick and easy transportation from downtown to the stadium for supporters.

[New Gesem]

Gesemite Soccer League 2013 (season 1):
Preview
Halfway review
MD 8-13
M14 and Playoffs Review

GCAA Standings (IUCC)

New Gesem (NGS) Qualifiers
Champions' League: Thebes Stars
Challengers' Cup: Haysville Hate, FC Constantinople

CAFA LigAnaia: Thebes Stars, Haysville Hate
IUCC: Excalibur University Swordsmen

[Audioslavia]

Season 18

Season 18 is the final version of the fifteen-team National League. Audioslavia's Football Federation has decided to move down to a thirteen-team format for next season.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Audioslavia (AUD) Qualifiers
IFCF Champions League: AC Izotz Zubia, KT Itzalovalle, KT Moreazerua, Osarese Marcadia
IFCF Challengers Cup: KT Ferramendiak, Cazadores Cathair, Shamrock Cathair
IFCF Cup Winners Cup: Cazadores Cathair

CAFA LigAnaia: AC Izotz Zubia, Cazadores Cathair
VCIAPP: 1830 Cathair

Audioslavia (AUD) Final Site bid
Competition: IFCF Champions League final
Stadium:Burdina Jauregia (Ferramendiak, Audioslavia)
Capacity: 85,000

The Burdina Jauregia, or Iron Palace in the local dialect, was finished just a few months before World Cup 75 and was used to host the opening match of the tournament as well as the fourth quarter-final, in which Audioslavia put five goals past Electrum.

The outer structure uses, as the name suggests, quite a lot of iron, if only for visual effect, and more modern materials are used the higher up the stadium you go. The ground's most noticeable feature is the criss-cross iron pattern over the roof, giving it the feel of an oversized implement from one of the Saw films when viewed from far away. Over time, the stadium has been allowed to rust in the same way a film star looks dishevelled on screen: very meticulously. Either way, KT Ferramendiak's stadium has a bit of a rustic aesthetic these days.

Inside, the pitch is large and surrounded on all sides by two tiered stands that rise up to the aforementioned grid. The seats, numerous and fairly luxurious as far as stadia go, are painted white in the colours of tenants KT Ferramendiak, who moved into the stadium at the end of World Cup 75.

[Delaclava]

Full Results, Standings, Honors

Delaclava (DEL) Qualifiers
IFCF Champions' League: Catherina FC
IFCF Challengers' Cup: AC Espene, Coldwater, Ossiana FC
IFCF Liga B Champions Trophy: Stockton, Jasmine Island Peacocks, Kings Club

---

AO Champions League: Catherina FC

[Pasarga]

First Half
Second Half

Pasarga (PAS) Qualifiers:

IFCF Champions' League: Hellinic Rouge, CA Paulinthal
IFCF Challengers' Cup: Santos Luega, Tanrısal, Club Stein-los
IFCF Liga B Champions' Trophy: SC Filwarfin, Stilinkeep FC, Sardin United
IFCF Risings Stars Cup: CA Paulinthal

CdC: Hellinic Rouge
IFCF Cup Winners' Cup: Club Stein-los
VCIAPP: Lunas FC

[Valladares]

Valladar Liga-1 LXV and Kings' Shield LV:

Review: Pre-season • MDs 1-10 • MDs 11-19 • MDs 20-29 • MDs 30-37 • MD 38 • Liga-M and Season Awards

Valladares (VLD) qualifiers
Champions League: Fontvielle Impact, Metropolis Alligators
[Rising Stars Cup: Sion-Impact OSC, Metropolis Alligators]
Challengers Cup: Nacional, Canalave Dragons, Eterna Stars
Liga B Champions Trophy: Defensores de Villafuerte, Gatineau UC 98, Edmonton United
Rising Stars Cup: Guzmán-Cress Academy
Cup Winners' Cup: Nacional

Other competitions:

Copa de Campeones: Fontvielle Impact
VCIAPP: Ajax Carloburgo
Association: Valladares (VLD)
Selection Via: League (Liga-M) Table

[Virginia Nova]

Virginia Nova FA Super Nova League  Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts 
 1 National                             22   15   6   1    52   23  +29    51 CAFA LA
 2 Richmond City SC                     22   13   8   1    27   11  +16    47 CAFA LA
 3 Marine Sports Club                   22   10   7   5    32   23   +9    37
 4 Fifield PFC                          22    9   6   7    26   26    0    33
 5 Red Apple AC                         22    9   2  11    40   46   −6    29
 6 Fort O'Brien FC                      22    7   7   8    36   40   −4    28
 7 Port Chester Union                   22    7   5  10    27   31   −4    26
 8 Fifield United                       22    7   4  11    24   35  −11    25
 9 Royal Athletic                       22    6   6  10    36   41   −5    24
10 Rust Street Rowdies                  22    4  11   7    37   37    0    23
11 Bridge Town FC                       22    4   7  11    22   29   −7    19
12 Southern Loggers                     22    4   5  13    29   46  −17    17

Virginia Nova (VNV) qualifiers
CAFA LigAnaia: National, Richmond City SC