Despite the previously unprecedented move of bringing foreign players into the Pyazhnaya Pervaya Liga, the seventeenth season of the highest tier of domestic Pyazhnayan football looked oddly similar to the sixteenth to the point where pundits and fans were wondering, if they were experiencing some odd blip in the space time continuum, making them relive the same season for a second time in a row.
The biggest difference at the top of the league was not the team at the top, which for the third season running was FK Vselitamak, but the fact that they managed to win with a two-digit margin again while almost repeating a third 100+ goal season. Thanks to the money earned through the IFCF Champions League, they were able to sign three international players from the now defunct South Newlandian Soccer League with Delaclav left back Aleksandr Berezovskij, Zeta Rekan Wladmir Krammnik in central defence and Zwangzugian defensive midfielder Ryan Lippe-Berg, while also landing young Pyazhnayan players Kirill Sannikov and Timur Yefremov to further strengthen the squad. Losing only three games all season, they effortlessly kept FK Armaskoye at bay to qualify for the Champions League once again, leaving experts worrying that the additional revenues could lead to the club shoring up more players in the upcoming transfer season and make their lead even more pronounced.
In an even more staggering feeling of deja vu, Armaskoye managed to show an even uncannier repeat of their previous performance, with the exact same amount of wins, draws and losses, even goals conceded, just scoring one more than in season 16. They, too, were able to secure the services of two international players with Gouvanarchais Eudon Tournebulle and Tikariotian Imani Welch, while also signing local talents Sonya Fedulova, Yekaterina Pshenichnikova and Vladimir Baskin, even though in the strict numbers game the improvement could barely even be described as incremental. Rounding off the IFCF qualification places are Armada Sovran and FK Krasnograd, just trading places, in the biggest "excitement" of the season, which unfortunately does not account for much, unless one counts the arrivals of Sylestonian midfielder Donald Lancaster and Tikariotians Cristiano Cortez and Logan Vanderlaan in Sovran or Kohnheadian Jordan Korkson and Tikariotian Brandon Avea as exciting news, that is.
At the other end of the table the bottom three also have remained the same, with Atlantis Buraskva, Molniya Sarakhovo and Dinamo Krasnograd even more adrift than last season, which now is causing even more panic mode in the three clubs as the Pyazhnayan Football Federation has announced an expansion of the Pyazhnayan Football pyramid with an introduction of a second division as well as promotion and relegation, which could spell doom for at least two of them, if they cannot get their act together, so we might see some international transfer activity for these three clubs as well in their plight to stay alive and in the first division.
Pyazhnaya Pervaya Liga GP W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 FK Vselitamak 34 20 11 3 99 43 +56 71 Champions / IFCF Champions' League
2 FK Armaskoye 34 17 10 7 87 66 +21 61 IFCF Challengers' League
3 Armada Sovran 34 17 5 12 56 39 +17 56 IFCF Challengers' League
4 FK Krasnograd 34 14 12 8 77 47 +30 54 IFCF Challengers' League
5 Prizrachnaya Brigada Cherniy Zamok 34 16 6 12 71 59 +12 54
6 Sila Saykonur 34 15 7 12 58 62 −4 52
7 Torpedo Krasnograd 34 12 14 8 66 53 +13 50
8 Kompas Livropol 34 14 8 12 73 65 +8 50
9 Legion Vostrakhan 34 13 10 11 47 42 +5 49
10 Mazhny Park Severoyarsk 34 13 10 11 39 46 −7 49
11 Taiga Tverinsk 34 12 12 10 63 55 +8 48
12 Golubaya Zvezda Ochuromorsk 34 12 10 12 57 50 +7 46
13 Shakhter Khilyovsk 34 13 7 14 43 47 −4 46
14 Admiral Tverinsk 34 10 9 15 53 71 −18 39
15 FK Yarkuta 34 11 4 19 43 62 −19 37
16 Atlantis Buraskva 34 5 11 18 48 86 −38 26
17 Molniya Sarakhovo 34 5 10 19 27 62 −35 25
18 Dinamo Krasnograd 34 5 8 21 40 92 −52 23
Posted: Sun May 09, 2021 9:54 am
