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History of the Football League System
Poafmeria, being a nation crazy about football, has recently reformatted it's domestic system to facilitate it's entrance into international club competitions. This also comes with more clubs becoming full professional clubs, and an increase in appetite for inter-state football systems that allows the best of the nation to play together.
Previously, individual states have their own football competitions and leagues for local clubs, with the state champions playing together in the Champions Cup to become national champions. In the youth Under-23 division, however, the experiment with League systems has lasted for 4 whole seasons, and they have decided to convert the current conference-based single-tier system into the new promotion/relegation system with 2 tiers.
Uniquely in Poafmeria, football for people of different gender is placed together. There is no separate league for male or female players, and when called up, they would be all part of the national team together, getting a place on pure sporting merit.
Workings of League System
The League System is currently split into 2 separate systems: the main football league pyramid, organised by the Poafmeria Football Association (PFPA), as well as the developmental league system for Under-23 players, under the management of PFPA.
Main Football League Pyramid
The main football league pyramid is a 5 tier league system comprising of 102 clubs in its present state. It comprises of the PFPA Premier League (tier 1), the PFPA Super League (tier 2), as well as the PF National League (tier 3-5). While the top 3 tiers are mainly made up of professional teams, the bottom 2 tiers also comprises of semi-professional and amateur clubs.
(1) Promotion/Relegation Playoff between Premier League and Super League: 14th placed team of Premier League plays against 3rd placed team of Super League. Winner stays in Premier Legaue
(2) Promotion playoff from National League 1: 5th to 8th placed team enters 2-legged quarter finals (5th vs 8th, 6th vs 7th, order to be drawn) Winners will be seeded against the 3rd and 4th team in the semi-finals, with the order of matches to be drawn too. Winners of semi-finals will play another final match with winner promoting. Quarter finals will be played in home-and-away format with away goals rule, extra time and penalties in place. Semi finals and finals will be played in Libira National Stadium, with extra time and penalties if necessary.
Apart from that, the Premier League is expected to be a domestic qualification tournament for CEFA regional club competitions.
Besides the league, all clubs participate in the PFPA Cup, a cup competition where participants of the leagues come together to play football. The PFPA Cup utilises a single match + replay system (except semi-finals and finals). For every round except the semi-finals and finals, teams are randomly drawn in each stage without seeding (except in Round 1 where teams cannot face other teams from the same league), and the home team is also randomly decided during the draw. In the event the first meeting between the two sides ends in a draw, a replay would be held in the other team's stadium (ie. If A and B drew the first time in A's stadium, a replay match would occur in B's stadium). If the second replay match ends in a draw again after 90 minutes, it would go into extra time and then penalties. For the Semi-Finals, it would be a 2-legged tie, with the application of the away goals rule, and also goes into extra time and penalties in the event of a draw even after tiebreaking by away goals. For the Finals, it would be held in the Libira National Stadium as a one-off match, with extra time and penalties.
With regards to entry rounds, National League 2 and 3 clubs enter in Round 1, while National League 1 clubs enter in Round 2 and the clubs from the Premier and Super Leagues enter in Round 3.
Developmental League System
This is a league system reserved for Under-23 players, with age restriction and venue location rules in place. 24 clubs linked to one (or more) senior clubs play in this system. The clubs are split into 2 separate tiers, with 12 clubs in each tier. 2 teams are promoted from the Developmental League 2 into the Developmental League 1, with 2 teams going the other way. The teams in each league play each other twice, in a home and away format.
For age restrictions, clubs agreed that from the next season (season 5), the league would be reformatted to a largely Under-21 system, with the number of Under-23 (but not Under-21) players in the matchday squad restricted. (Only up to 7 can be named in the 18-player matchday squad, with a maximum of 4 on the field at any time)
As for venue restrictions, at least half (>=6, for that matter) of the team's home matches must be held at the senior team's main stadium. For teams linked to multiple senior teams, this could refer to any one of those stadiums.
Poafmeria, being a nation crazy about football, has recently reformatted it's domestic system to facilitate it's entrance into international club competitions. This also comes with more clubs becoming full professional clubs, and an increase in appetite for inter-state football systems that allows the best of the nation to play together.
Previously, individual states have their own football competitions and leagues for local clubs, with the state champions playing together in the Champions Cup to become national champions. In the youth Under-23 division, however, the experiment with League systems has lasted for 4 whole seasons, and they have decided to convert the current conference-based single-tier system into the new promotion/relegation system with 2 tiers.
Uniquely in Poafmeria, football for people of different gender is placed together. There is no separate league for male or female players, and when called up, they would be all part of the national team together, getting a place on pure sporting merit.
Workings of League System
The League System is currently split into 2 separate systems: the main football league pyramid, organised by the Poafmeria Football Association (PFPA), as well as the developmental league system for Under-23 players, under the management of PFPA.
Main Football League Pyramid
The main football league pyramid is a 5 tier league system comprising of 102 clubs in its present state. It comprises of the PFPA Premier League (tier 1), the PFPA Super League (tier 2), as well as the PF National League (tier 3-5). While the top 3 tiers are mainly made up of professional teams, the bottom 2 tiers also comprises of semi-professional and amateur clubs.
| Level on systen | League Name | No. of Teams | Promotion | Relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PFFA Premier League | 14 | None | 2 teams + 1 in Playoff (1) |
| 2 | PFFA Super League | 20 | 2 teams + 1 in Playoff (1) | 3 teams |
| 3 | National League 1 | 24 | 2 teams + 1 from Playoff (2) | 2 teams |
| 4 | National League 2 | 24 | 2 teams | 2 teams |
(2) Promotion playoff from National League 1: 5th to 8th placed team enters 2-legged quarter finals (5th vs 8th, 6th vs 7th, order to be drawn) Winners will be seeded against the 3rd and 4th team in the semi-finals, with the order of matches to be drawn too. Winners of semi-finals will play another final match with winner promoting. Quarter finals will be played in home-and-away format with away goals rule, extra time and penalties in place. Semi finals and finals will be played in Libira National Stadium, with extra time and penalties if necessary.
Besides the league, all clubs participate in the PFPA Cup, a cup competition where participants of the leagues come together to play football. The PFPA Cup utilises a single match + replay system (except semi-finals and finals). For every round except the semi-finals and finals, teams are randomly drawn in each stage without seeding (except in Round 1 where teams cannot face other teams from the same league), and the home team is also randomly decided during the draw. In the event the first meeting between the two sides ends in a draw, a replay would be held in the other team's stadium (ie. If A and B drew the first time in A's stadium, a replay match would occur in B's stadium). If the second replay match ends in a draw again after 90 minutes, it would go into extra time and then penalties. For the Semi-Finals, it would be a 2-legged tie, with the application of the away goals rule, and also goes into extra time and penalties in the event of a draw even after tiebreaking by away goals. For the Finals, it would be held in the Libira National Stadium as a one-off match, with extra time and penalties.
With regards to entry rounds, National League 2 and 3 clubs enter in Round 1, while National League 1 clubs enter in Round 2 and the clubs from the Premier and Super Leagues enter in Round 3.
Developmental League System
This is a league system reserved for Under-23 players, with age restriction and venue location rules in place. 24 clubs linked to one (or more) senior clubs play in this system. The clubs are split into 2 separate tiers, with 12 clubs in each tier. 2 teams are promoted from the Developmental League 2 into the Developmental League 1, with 2 teams going the other way. The teams in each league play each other twice, in a home and away format.
For age restrictions, clubs agreed that from the next season (season 5), the league would be reformatted to a largely Under-21 system, with the number of Under-23 (but not Under-21) players in the matchday squad restricted. (Only up to 7 can be named in the 18-player matchday squad, with a maximum of 4 on the field at any time)
As for venue restrictions, at least half (>=6, for that matter) of the team's home matches must be held at the senior team's main stadium. For teams linked to multiple senior teams, this could refer to any one of those stadiums.
OOC: Previous Champions Cup Winners (ie. the precursor to the new nation-wide league system) are not included.
Premier League
2020/21 Season: Current Season
Super League
2020/21 Season: Current Season
National League 1
2020/21 Season: Current Season
National League 2
2020/21 Season: Current Season
Developmental League
(Note: Before 2020, the league system was a conference system with East-West conferences and post-season playoffs. From 2020/21, the league system changed to a 2-tiered system with promotion and relegation)
2016 Season: Western - Dury Juniors; Eastern - Sarim Potato U23s (Playoff winner: Dury Juniors)
2017 Season: Western - Dury Juniors; Eastern - Sarim Potato U23s (Playoff winner: Dury Juniors)
2018 Season: Western - Dury Juniors; Eastern - Sarim Potato U23s (Playoff winner: Dury Juniors)
2019 Season: Western - Dury Juniors; Eastern - Sarim Potato U23s (Playoff winner: Sarim Potato U23s)
2020/21 Season: Current Season
Premier League
2020/21 Season: Current Season
Super League
2020/21 Season: Current Season
National League 1
2020/21 Season: Current Season
National League 2
2020/21 Season: Current Season
Developmental League
(Note: Before 2020, the league system was a conference system with East-West conferences and post-season playoffs. From 2020/21, the league system changed to a 2-tiered system with promotion and relegation)
2016 Season: Western - Dury Juniors; Eastern - Sarim Potato U23s (Playoff winner: Dury Juniors)
2017 Season: Western - Dury Juniors; Eastern - Sarim Potato U23s (Playoff winner: Dury Juniors)
2018 Season: Western - Dury Juniors; Eastern - Sarim Potato U23s (Playoff winner: Dury Juniors)
2019 Season: Western - Dury Juniors; Eastern - Sarim Potato U23s (Playoff winner: Sarim Potato U23s)
2020/21 Season: Current Season
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