This is the depository for all the assorted goings-on, domestic sport events, and general nonsense happening within the Fourteen Free Cities of the Bluecliff League. Here you'll find all you need to reaffirm your existing biases about the Bluecliffian talents and systems, from Kahiang to Piinos Valdiios. Here is where the extensive records of the union's sports ministry are occasionally displayed, at least until a new first among equals is elected from the Council of Kings and bureaucratic procedural bylaws get slightly tweaked. Then we might be offline for a bit until we are in compliance again.
What should I do here? If you're not Bluecliff or one of the Fourteen Free Cities of the Bluecliff League, nothing. You're welcome to read, choose some favorite teams, wonder how the Nialabadeans got so damn bad, or really do whatever you want as long as you don't post here.
If you're not sure whether or not you might be one of the Fourteen Free Cities of the Bluecliff League, here is a quick hint: you are not one of the Fourteen Free Cities of the Bluecliff League.
Moderators performing their duties, of course, are granted all sorts of exemptions by every government's sports authorities. We even convinced Zwazu.
What will I find here?
Bluecliff Domestic Sports. Mainly,
International Football:
The Bluecliff Championship is played every two years between the national teams representing each of the Fourteen Free Cities. The World Cup means nothing to Bluecliffians, but the football-mad union stops dead in its tracks when it comes time for the Bluecliff Championship. It is the most prestigious tournament in the Bluecliff League. If you came here looking for the latest Championship results, don't worry. You'll know when the Championship is going on. You'll know.
International Club Football:
The Bluecliff Cup, sometimes called the League Cup or the National Championship, is the most prestigious club competition in the union. The IFCF means nothing to Bluecliffians, but the Bluecliff Cup means everything for a club. It is the pinnacle of Bluecliffian football.
The format of the championship has changed over the years, from its origins as a simple one-off match between the champions of the first two leagues to exist, to the work-stopping event it is today. Currently, it is contested by sixty-four teams - four from each of the Fourteen Free Cities, and the eight quarterfinalists from the previous edition of the tournament. The third leg of the group stage is played at neutral sites, and the week of the matches, with five-game back-to-back marathons available on TV every day, generally sets both viewership and sick day records. At the end of the week, the Cup's "Decision Day," the last match of the marathon 9-game group stage, with 32 games kicking off simultaneously across the League, is treated by many as a national holiday, as is the final.
The political union of the Fourteen Free Cities happened mere months ago, and ever since then, wealthy financiers and other assorted sharks have been circling. A Bluecliff Super League is a real possibility. The individual city's leagues can't fill the entirety of the fixture schedule, and as anyone who follows any football knows, there is enormous money to be made in fucking over fans. The current proposal is one for a four-tiered league, with fourteen teams in each tier - but the shadowy consortiums are open to other suggestions and different TV deals, if you're offering.
The prevailing public opinion in Bluecliff is that the Free Cities were united primarily to exercise clout on the world stage. The fact that the governing elite wish to flatulate on hundreds of years of football history in order to compose a mechanism to generate IFCF entry forms has only reinforced this perception.
Football in the Free Cities:
Watch this space. Or don't. You're the masters of your own browsing habits.
Other Sports
Many sports, some on the Olympic programme, some not, are also contested in Bluecliff. Ice Hockey, American Football, Handball, and bits of cricket are chief among them. When Bluecliff's Fourteen Free Cities compete with one another, or when they set up leagues for these sports, you'll be the first to know - if you're reading this thread.
Multi-Sport Events
The local sports ministries of the Fourteen Free Cities, and of Bluecliff as a whole, love paperwork. They cannot get enough of the stuff. Approximately every four years, they hold multi-sport festivals that double as Olympic Qualifiers, just to get more facts and figures and inflate their file cabinet budget.