Toujin League 1

Toujin League 1 (TL1)

Founded	05 May 1997
Country	Toujin Republic
Confederation	NCFF
Number of teams	20
Relegation to	Toujin League 2 (TL2)
International cup(s)	NAC (Nagasaki Archipelago Cup)
Current champions	1
Most championships	Tarabashi City FC (9)
TV partners	TJ1TV;
Website	ToujinLeague1.org
2021-2022 TJ1

The Toujin League 1 (TL1) is the premier professional football league in the Toujin Republic. Founded in 1997 and run by the Toujin Football Association, the TL1 represents the pinnacle of professional football within the Toujin Republic. Throughout its history, Toujin League 1 has maintained its status as one of the best football leagues in the Nagasaki Archipelago fostering players from around the globe as well as homegrown talents. Many of the Toujin National Team's players are fostered within TL1 for international play. The league itself follows a standard point format with relegation and promotions from its lower level leagues (Toujin League 2, Toujin League 3 and the Toujin Association Football League). The top 3 teams are automatically entered into the premier international championship for football in the Nagasaki Archipelago (The Nagasaki Archipelago Cup), and the 4th team is entered in the play-in tournament. The TL1 enjoys dominance in the NAC fostering 11 titles in 24 seasons of play. Tarabashi City, the league's most successful club has 5 NCC titles and 9 TL1 Titles cementing themselves as the best club in the Toujin Republic.

History

Association football has been present in the Toujin Republic professionally since 1924. However it wasn't until 1997 when association football was officially established and centralized through the Toujin Football Association (TFA). In 1997, the Toujin League 1 was founded along with its subsidiary the Toujin Association Football League. Initially the association league acted as a feeder to filter the top teams into the premier league. However with the emergence of numerous high level clubs Toujin League 2 and Toujin League 3 were created to allow for high level professional play outside the premier league. (Both leagues founded in 2002)

The Noiburo Pioneers playing Tarabashi City in the early days of Toujin League 1 in Noiburo, May 1998.

The Gregahouvian Football Association (Gregahouvian: Assosiğatsiğa Greğahouğaniy Futbolniy) was founded on March 17, 1985 under the administration of President Murat Bragin after a quick rise to popularity of what now is the Premyer Liga, Gregahou's top flight of football. The national team was created first under the impression that it might build patriotism and community among the country's still-new and growing population, but Bragin's advisors were quickly surprised at the level of interest that was shown in the national team in its first few years. Within two years of its original founding, the team had secured enough resources to begin training at a specified facility and played abroad only until the completion of the country's national grounds, the Third of May Stadium in the capital city, Stolitsemlağa in 1990.

Early matches did not show much for the newly-formed Gregahouvian side, but the turn of the 21st century saw the team rise in power among its equally-sized Caribbean counterparts with more devotion and resources spent towards the team's expansion. Sheldon Montenegro, a Gregahouvian-American, signaled his final choice to play internationally for Gregahou in 1995 with 22 years of age and began to play full time. Porte Nouvelais prospect player Fontenay DuBois became eligible to play internationally in 2002 with the transfer of sovereignty of the player's homeland to Gregahou and became the team's lead goalscorer over the course of his continuing 16-year career. After the territory handover in 2002, many of the incoming Gregahouvian players were Nouvelais, which, at first created dissent among other ethnic groups present, but with following success, fans began to accept the growing demographic in the national team, which remains statistically significant today. Despite the team's continued rise and success since the turn of the century, the team has not attempted to qualify for either the CONCACAF Gold Cup or the FIFA World Cup, and, as such, has not played in either to date. Team success has since continued in the 2010s, and notable victories include an upset of 3-1 versus Canada in 2019 as well as a powerful 8-2 victory over the Curaçao national team in 2017, with gradually better results against powerhouse teams as well.

League system

Professional football in Toujin is divided into 4 officially sponsored leagues that are connected through a promotion/relegation system. Within this system there is the Toujin League 1, Toujin League 2, Toujin League 3, and the Toujin Association League. Each league has its own promotion/relegation rules but are all uniformly regulated by the Toujin Football Association (TFA). Each league uses the standard scoring format for professional leagues awarding 3 points per win, 1 point per draw, and 0 points per loss. Teams are ordered by points scored, with tiebreakers broken with goal difference.

Level	League(s)/Division(s)
1	Toujin League 1 20 clubs - 3 Places in the Nagasaki Archipelago Cup (1st-3rd), 1 Place in the Nagasaki Archipelago Cup Play-ins (4th), 3 relegations to Toujin League 2 (18th-20th)
2	Toujin League 2 24 clubs - 2 automatic promotions to Toujin League 1 (1st and 2nd), 4 teams entered in promotion tournament (3rd-6th), 3 relegations to Toujin League 3 (22nd-24th)
3	Toujin League 3 24 clubs - 2 automatic promotions to Toujin League 2 (1st and 2nd), 4 teams entered in promotion tournament (3rd-6th), 3 relegations to Toujin Association Football League (22nd-24th)
4	Toujin Association Football League 30 clubs - 3 promotions to Toujin League 3 (1st-3rd), 4 teams placed in relegation tournament with top teams from regional leagues (27th-30th)
5	TFA Tarabashi Regional League 17 Local Leagues, 154 Total Clubs - Top 4 teams from the local leagues are entered into a promotion tournament	TFA Hajimari Regional League 12 Local Leagues, 126 Total Clubs - Top 4 teams from the local leagues are entered into a promotion tournament		TFA Johsai Regional League 11 Local Leagues, 118 Total Clubs - Top 4 teams from the local leagues are entered into a promotion tournament			TFA Sunohara Regional League 8 Local Leagues, 76 Total Clubs - Top 4 teams from the local leagues are entered into a promotion tournament

Outside the Toujin Football Association lies the TFA sponsored regional leagues which are consisted of a number of local amateur leagues. The top teams in these local leagues are sent to a nationwide play-in tournament which decides the final 12 representatives to be sent to the promotion tournament. These 12 teams along with the 4 teams demoted from the Toujin Association Football League are then placed in a round robin style tournament which decide the 4 teams that will reside in the Association League.

Toujin League 1 table (2021-2022 Season Week 24 of 42)

The current Toujin League 1 table of the 2021-2022 season. Currently week 24 of 42 in the season with most teams having 21-23 games played. With 18 weeks left Yakamatsu, FC Tomoya, and Tarabashi city have a firm grasp on the 3 guaranteed spots in the NAC, with the Wakatori Battlehens and Kobayatsu FC not far behind.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Yakamatsu	21	16	4	1	87	29	+58	52	Qualification for the Nagasaki Archipelago Cup
2	FC Tomoya	22	15	3	4	78	31	+47	48
3	Tarabashi City	22	13	4	6	70	32	+38	43
4	Wakatori Battlehens	21	10	5	6	57	35	+22	35	Qualification for the Nagasaki Archipelago Cup Play-in
5	Kobayatsu FC	22	11	2	9	46	33	+13	35
6	Vegalta Sendai	22	8	6	8	38	37	+1	30
7	South Aoba City	21	7	6	8	36	32	+4	27
8	Tochigi Knights	23	7	4	12	30	43	-13	25
9	FC Hajimari	21	6	5	10	33	47	-4	23
10	Kochi United	21	7	1	13	36	46	–10	22
11	Kobayatsu City	22	6	3	13	35	59	–14	21
12	Kageyama Mountaineers	21	6	2	13	36	45	–9	20
13	Biwako Shiga	23	5	3	15	29	45	–16	18
14	Tarabashi United	21	5	3	13	30	52	–22	18
15	Totaru FC	22	4	4	14	25	44	–19	16
16	Sendo United	22	3	6	13	24	54	–30	15
17	Noiburo	23	3	5	15	35	62	–27	14
18	Jiharamatsu	21	3	4	14	21	59	–38	13	Relegation to Toujin League 2
19	Kokaitsu FC	23	2	7	14	22	62	–40	13
20	Mifune SC	22	1	6	15	12	70	–58	9