Ligue Populaire (Batisuria)

Ligue Populaire

Founded	22 December 1959
Country	Batisuria (20 teams)
Other club(s) from	Midrasia (1 team) The Mawusi (1 team)
Confederation	FFA
Number of teams	20
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Ligue Mineure
Domestic cup(s)	Marensoald Cup
League cup(s)	President's Cup
International cup(s)	FFA Champions Cup FFA MajAra Cup
Current champions	Locomotif Lukubwa (9th Title) (2017-18)
Most championships	Troisponts Sportif
TV partners	BCM, MonduSport (Live Matches) MonduSport (Highlights)
2018-19 Ligue Populaire

Ligue Populaire is a professional mens' football league of Association Football clubs located in Batisuria. The league is Batisuria's major domestic football league, the top-tier league within the Batisurian National Football Federation. The league hosts a total of twenty teams from across the nation, and thirty have participated in the league since its inception in 1959, one of which plays from the neighboring Midrasian territory of Fortnouveau. It operates on a system of Promotion and Relegation, with the bottom-performing teams from each conference being relegated to Ligue Mineure, and replaced with the top-performing of the Mineure teams.

Ligue Populaire was created in 1959 following the reorganization of intramural ad-hoc teams within the Batisuria Peoples' Defense Force and other national government agencies including police, educators, engineers, and agricultural and public works coordinators. The first match between what would become LP Clubs took place between the Army "Legionnaires" and Navy "Odyssées", now Legionnaire Mwiga and Odyssée Sahabihina on a Naval Airstrip in the present-day Nosia Autonomous District. Thanks to an unexpected amount of press on the occasion, what was originally intended to be a simple morale boost to promote inter-department solidarity in the armed forces laid the groundwork for three more government-associated clubs to appear over the following months, and several more, including many among the general public, to take shape. In 1959, the explosion of sport culture, especially surrounding football, resulted in the formation of the BNFF and Ligue Populaire, composed of the first eight government-associated clubs, with those from outside the government operating in Ligue National, which today exists as the Federation's third-tier league. In 1968, it was announced that additional clubs would be permitted to join LP, largely in a bid to increase the popularity and talent pool of the League against the much more popular Asuran clubs, especially the Midrasian Liga Premiére. Until 1979, it competed in the Eastern League alongside the Federal Socialist Union and its allies, though it moved to the FFA following a number of other political and societal splits from the Union.

Today, LP's League Coefficient ranks the Batisurian football league among the most prominent in the world, and the most successful outside of Asura, permitting three clubs entry into the Champions Cup. It is often used as a jumping-off point for new athletes coming from across Majula and Arabekh, and holds significant viewership among members of both continents' diasporas the world over.

Format

The League follows a standard Double Round-Robin format. Over the course of the season, which goes from December to August, each club will play every other twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 30 matchdays per team, with a break between the fifteenth and sixteenth rounds. Teams must reach three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points achieved, allowing the top four clubs entry to the Presidential Tournament, the winner of which is crowned champion of the league for that season. Eleven matches are played weekly during the season, and are only put on hold for Federal Holidays, with Sundays hosting the "Match of the Week".

Promotion and Relegation

A system of Promotion and Relegation is established between Ligue Populaire and Ligue Mineure in Batisuria. The two lowest-performing teams are relegated to Ligue Mineure, which are subsequently replaced with Mineure's Champion and Runner-Up. The second runner-up and third-lowest ranking team in Ligue Populaire engage in a postseason match to decide which team will be promoted or relegated.

Below is a record of how many teams were present in Ligue Populaire throughout the League's history, as mandated by the League Charters, which are renewed every 10 years:

1958-68: 8 1968-78: 10 1978-88: 12 1988-98: 20 1998-2008: 16 2008-18: 20 2018-Present: 20

Ranking of Clubs with Equal Points

If points are equal between two or more clubs, the rules are, in accord to Midrasian Football Rules:

• If all clubs involved have played each other twice:
  • If the tie is between two clubs, then the tie is broken using the goal difference for the two matches those clubs have played against each other (without away goals rule)
  • If the tie is between more than two clubs, then the tie is broken using the games the clubs have played against each other:
    • a) head-to-head points
    • b) head-to-head goal difference
    • c) head-to-head goals scored
• If two legged games between all clubs involved have not been played, or the tie is not broken by the rules above, it is broken using:
  • a) total goal difference
  • b) total goals scored
• If the tie is still not broken, the winner will be determined by Fair Play scales. These are:
  • yellow card, 1 point
  • doubled yellow card/ejection, 2 points
  • direct red card, 3 points
  • suspension or disqualification of coach, executive or other club personnel (outside referees' decisions), 5 points
  • misconduct of the supporters: mild 5 points, serious 6 points, very serious 7 points
  • stadium closure, 10 points
  • if the Competition Committee removes a penalty, the points are also removed
• If the tie is still not broken, it will be resolved with a tie-break match in a neutral stadium.

Qualification for FFA Competitions

As of the current league charter in 2019 and its current FFA League Coefficient, the champion and first two runners-up of the previous season are qualified for the first round of the FFA Champions Cup. The Fourth and Fifth Place Clubs are qualified for the FFA MajAra Cup.

Teams

Included is a list of all teams that are or have been active in Ligue Populaire since its inception. Teams which are currently delegated to Ligue Mineure as of the 2018-19 Season are denoted by a grey background.

Team	Founded First LP Appearance	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Locomotif Jukubwaville	1956 1959	Jukubwaville		24500
Legionnaire Mwiga	1955 1959	Mwiga		30000
Technique Nuwara	1955 1959	Nuwara		31250
Verte Mananara	1959 1959	Mananara		51000
Odyssée Sahabihina	1955 1959	Sahabihina		69200
Legionnaire Onada	1955 1959	Onada		83000
Bouclier Rutete	1958 1959	Rutete		33500
Locomotif Courvers	1957 1959	Courvers		64000
Trois Ponts Sportif	1958 1968	Lotsha		67000
Toujoviljad Atletique	1959 1968	Toujoviljad		27250
Courvers	1964 1968	Courvers		55000
Ibbene-Aux-Portes	1965 1968	Ibbene-Aux-Portes		57100
Espirit-Roteran Sportif	1966 1970	Courvers		39250
Locomotif Putallam	1965 1971	Putallam		26000
Fegliare	1963 1973	Fegliare		35000
Odyssée Cote Moshe	1961 1973	Cote Moshe		72500
Matav Union	1957 1978	Courvers		35000
Villes-Sans-Frontières Atletique	1962 1978	Rutete Port Loyal, Mawusi		50000
Kamasi	1955 1974	Kamasi		32150
Galle	1957 1975	Galle		40100
Valjardin	1977 1983	Valjardin		95000
Avanti Sportif	1967 1984	Lotsha		70500
Première Capitale Atletique	1978 1985	Jukubwaville		33000
Technique Coquelicot	1957 1979	Temba		29450
Avia Mwiga	1969 1980	Mwiga		64500
Benota	1976 1988	Benota		50700
Fortnouveau Rouge Sportif	1969 1990	Fortnouveau		34500
Équatorial Atletique	1982 1990	Valjardin		74400
Seppmaa Union	1970 1991	Müdrasõprus		24750
Nosia Union	1976 1993	Dauvelone-Sur		23600