OOC: I'm going to try to wrap up my domestic leagues for the season in the next few weeks with the male league taking priority. But, I also always have a developmental league instead of RPing a second tier, so right now, I'm going to introduce the island of Endelos and the clubs there. Expect to see my young players on loan here, and if I buy your youth players I might ask to loan them to this league. I'm also going to be using a mix of scorinating and not scorinating for this league. Expect to see the player database updated soon with these clubs and the players assigned to play for them.
Football: EndeLiga 1 ClubsThe Free Land of Endelos is a territory of the Redvale that is located on the island of the same name that's located to the south of the main island. The smaller island is only home to eight million people, the vast majority of whom live in a small handful of cities, and while the nation has its own laws and policies as well as its own leader and political parties, it relies on the Redvale to fund its military and to come to its protection in the event of a war. Because of this, the Redvali leaders have a large amount of power. The country is also known for being home to Redvali citizens that were punished for the crime of heresy by being spared from death and instead deported. Due to that, Endelos is a pretty religiously diverse place. It's also more liberal than the main island, while being less libertarian than Janford. The country is pretty ethnically uniform and almost everyone speaks the Endelosi language, with English and Spanish being secondary languages.
The football league on the island has been around for a good amount of time, though it's always remained small due to the small size of the island, and the quality hasn't been up to the standard of the R-League. Some Redvali players have passed through the EndeLiga on loan or have played here after playing youth football to serve as a gap between the youth/amateur levels of the game and the professional levels. There's also the Women's EndeLiga(or WEL), which doesn't draw as many crowds but, like the RW League, has a strong niche support and some good players. For native Endelosi, the EndeLiga is often easier to play in than the Redvale, because of the drastically different laws in the two islands. Here's the preview of the teams in the league right now.
Karakosa BKNickname: The Angels, KBK
Colors: Black, white, and green
City: Karakosa
Stadium: Independence Arena(61,000)
Fan Groups: Valkyries(mixed), Green Boys(mixed), Fronten Nord(right wing)
Sponsor: Bank of Endelos
Home Kit: Green shirt with a horizontal black stripe, green shorts and black socks and boots
Away Kit: White shirt with a green horizontal stripe, and green shorts
Manager: Hakun Castberg(38)
One of the two giants of Endelosi football, Karakosa BK have always been around the top with the exception of a few bad seasons. They're the most supported club and they have fans all over the country because of their typically exciting play style and their tendency to value looking good over pragmatism. They play in the capital city of Karakosa, which is a fairly working class area despite being the capital of the territory. The working class atmosphere around the city has helped the football scene immensely, as Independence Arena is always packed to the rafters on KBK gamedays. The club has done a good job of branding themselves as
the Endelosi football club, using the national colors in their badge and kit and making efforts to support the fan groups that have popped up in every city and village. Fans of Karakosa don't necessarily expect wins every time, but they do expect the team to put on a show and go at it with a lot of effort.
The club has recently went through an effort to lower the age of their squad and look to the future, and while this cost them at first when they had to watch their rivals win back to back titles, they showed that their rebuild was a success when they rolled through the league in dominant fashion to capture the title two seasons ago. Hakun Castberg, the manager that was brought in to carry out the rebuild after the club's last manager retired, has done well enough with it to win himself a five year contract extension after the most recent title winning season. For the past five years, the club has been owned by the Bank of Endelos and the conglomerate behind it, giving it a large influx of cash to assist with rebuilding.
Slado BKNickname: The Sailors, the Walkers
Colors: Purple and pink
City: Slado
Stadium: Slado Brewing Company Park(44,000)
Fan Groups: Nightwalkers(extreme left), De Pirater(left wing), Kollektiv Fans(extreme left)
Sponsor: Endelos Health Service
Home Kit: Pink wrapped jersey with white shorts and pink socks
Away Kit: White jersey with white shorts, socks, and boots
Manager: Dag Isaksen(46)
Oh, Slado. The city that's either loved or hated but never forgotten. It's known for being a lower class port city, and is the largest on the western coast of the country. It's also known for being a hive of debauchery, with its wild raves and always in supply drugs and many, many prostitutes. Slado BK's secondary nickname, the Walkers, is actually derived from one of the famous industries of the city. But anyway, the club was founded by that industry, though many fans don't realize this and think that SBK was founded by port workers. While the club has called the port district home since its founding, its roots lay in the prostitution industry instead of the shipping business. However it was founded, the club quickly became the one to challenge Karakosa, being able to do so because of the large size of the city and the extra resources available to a club in a city the size of Slado, which is home to two million people.
They traditionally are big spenders, but not in the classical sense. Slado often spends a lot of money bringing in younger players before they reach their primes, and while they have the second highest payroll in the league, you won't see them buying superstar caliber players. There's also a strong sense of regional pride around the club, and so they end up signing many young players from Slado itself and developing them in their academy. The fans are demanding, both on and off the pitch. They don't just want wins, but they want players and staff members that support their left wing causes. Because of the amount of people that have been deported to western Endelos for dissent from the Redvale, the city has developed an extremely leftist/anarchist feeling in reaction to the authoritarian and (in the eyes of the Sladans) intolerant Redvali government. Their matches are some of the wildest in the country. When they win, there's partying throughout the city. When they lose, there's riots.
Karakosa IFNickname: The Dwarves
Colors: Black and gold
City: Karakosa
Stadium: Slagmark Park(32,000)
Fan Groups: Renegades(right wing), Nordsiden Fans(mixed)
Sponsor: Endelosi Fuel
Home Kit: Black shirt with gold highlights, black shorts
Away Kit: Gold shirt with black highlights and black shorts
Manager: Armo Jarvela(32)
KIF is the smaller of the two clubs in Karakosa, but that doesn't mean they aren't successful. They're the third most successful club in Endelosi football behind the two archenemies, KBK and SBK. They don't actually play in the city proper like KBK does, but they play instead in Northwest Karakosa, where the port is and where the suburban areas are. Because of this, they have a large number of supporters even if they are the smaller of the two clubs. While they have less success than their rivals, the expectations are the same. To compete for the title every year. But unlike their neighbors to the southwest, they don't care about how they look doing it. Karakosa IF plays gritty, physical football and often plays defensively with the goal of not losing, instead of playing to win. Their players are happy to sit back and wait for the opposition to make a mistake instead of going at them, which is the main difference between them and their crosstown rivals.
The club went through financial troubles in the past decade, and is still going through them despite some investment from Endelosi Fuel keeping them in the EndeLiga after they were nearly relegated despite finishing third, because they were going to be in too much debt that they couldn't pay off. But even with their financial trouble, they have the number one ranked academy in Endelos and the number six ranked academy in Endelos and Redvale, meaning that they should be able to perform well through using players that they've signed to team friendly contracts and developed through the youth system. That youth philosophy also extends to the manager, Armo Jarvela, who is believed to be a tactical genius despite being young even by EndeLiga standards.
Fjell BKNickname: The Miners, the Clovers
Colors: Maroon
City: Rone
Stadium: Bay Athletics Stadium(18,000)
Fan Groups: Red Kollektiv(working class/right wing)
Sponsor: Bay Athletics
Home Kit: Maroon with maroon shorts, socks, and boots
Away Kit: White with maroon horizontal stripe, and black shorts
Manager: Francis Schiavone(29, Redvali)
Fjell BK is from the industrial town of Rone, nestled in the mountains in the middle of the island and the heart of the mining and steelmaking industries as well as a sizable logging industry. Named for the mountains, the team has been much like the industries it represents; it struggles sometimes, but always bounces back. The town of Rone is very much behind supporting this club, and they've gained a reputation as giant slayers for their cup wins against much larger clubs at home. For most of their history, though, they've operated at a large financial disadvantage. This changed when Bay Athletics bought out the majority of the club, turning them into something of a farm team for Castle United that sees some good loan players pass through.
On the pitch, Fjell plays the way the city acts off of it. They focus on the power of the team, because they've never had players who are good enough to win games by themselves. They typically play narrow formations to try to control the middle of the pitch and focus on defending the most vulnerable spot on the pitch, the box, and then try to use long balls to force the opposing defenders into making mistakes and allowing them to get some chances on goal. This strategy has worked with varying success, and while fans of other clubs find it annoying, they've embraced it and Redvali manager Francis Schiavone has continued to use the strategy for the first two years of his tenure. With more investment from Bay Athletics, the club is expected to make the jump soon to challenge the big three.
Heimsjo IKNickname: The Farmers
Colors: Red, white, and blue
City: Heimsjo
Stadium: Gardpark(15,000)
Fan Groups: Krigere(left wing)
Sponsor: AirEndelos
Home Kit: Blue wrapped shirt with white shorts and socks
Away Kit: White wrapped shirt with blue shorts and socks
Manager: Egil Haugen(50)
From the farmlands to the west of Rone lies the town of Heimsjo, a hub for the farmers in the countryside that surrounds it. It seems strange for a place like this to have a football club. You'd think that such a rural area would have attendance problems, after all. But the support has been enough to keep the club afloat despite the hilariously bad financial mismatch between HIK and the rest of the country. That mismatch comes from market size, because you can barely call Heimsjo a market at all. Still, they've taken down big teams a few times and they usually play pretty football even in defeat. This is their third stint in the EndeLiga, after being promoted again in 505 and managing to stay up. But now, the real challenge will be keeping all of their talent from being poached by bigger clubs and bigger cities who want to break up the squad they stayed up with.
FC of HovlandNickname: The Firebirds, the Pirates
Colors: Black and white
City: Hovland
Stadium: The Forge(9,000)
Fan Groups: Rogues(far left)
Sponsor: None
Home Kit: Black wrapped shirt with black shorts and socks
Away Kit: Grey wrapped shirt with white shorts
Manager: Kjell Hall(37)
It started as a project by Slado fans who felt bad for another western left wing club that was about to go under. It turned into something much more. Hovland has long been home to football clubs, but the last football club in the city folded in 504 due to economic problems and overwhelming debts. Everything was liquidated, the squad split up and went their separate ways, and the identity and history of Hovland BK was sold to the debtors. After that, a group of Slado fans and Hovland BK fans gathered together to form their own anarchist football club, and they signed young amateur players from around the two cities to make up the squad. Somehow, last season, they managed promotion into the EndeLiga 1 after conquering the 2. Liga. It was thought to be impossible, even by their own hardcore support, but as the season continued, it looked more and more like this team of young amateurs would make some noise at the top of the table and knock off the clubs from larger cities. Now, the challenge is to not get completely destroyed and immediately sent into the relegation playoff by the much stronger competition of the fully professional top league.