Liga di Futbol Angleano

Liga di Futbol Angleano

Current season, competition or edition: 2023-2024 LFA Season
Formerly	Liga Superior Angeleano
Sport	Gagian Rules Football
Founded	May 17, 1970 (1970-05-17) Playadiestat, Los Angeles
Inaugural season	1970-1971 Season
Commissioner	Alfonso Wevers
No. of teams	18
Country	Los Angeles
Headquarters	Playadiestat, Los Angeles
Most recent champion(s)	Enton (2nd title)
Most titles	Jerrostad (7 titles)

The Liga di Futbol Angleano (LFA) is a professional Gagian rules football league that consists of 18 clubs. The LFA is the highest level of Gagian rules football (known simply as "football" in the country). Each LFA season begins in early October, followed by the 19-week regular season which runs until February, where each team plays every other team and have two bye weeks spread throughout, for a total of 17 games over 19 weeks. Following the conclusion of the regular season, the six clubs with the most points (established by the point system) move on to the championships, a single-elimination tournament that culminates in the Angelean Cup, which is contested in March and played by the remaining two clubs. In addition, two other awards, the Gold Shield and Silver Shield are given respectively to the club with the best record and the one voted to be the top club by a commission of journalists, pundits, players, and coaches. Winning all three of these awards in a single season is known as a triple season. The LFA is a full member of the Konfederashon di Futbol pa Los Angeles (KFLA), the governing body for Gagian rules football in Los Angeles.

The LFA was formed in 1970 as a privatization of the Liga Superior Angeleano (LSA), the previous state-owned league. As a part of the Angelean Dawn, the political reforms of the 1960s, the LSA, then consisting of ten clubs, was made autonomous and eventually fully privatized. The new league, called the LFA, would expand from ten clubs to twelve in 1973, fourteen in 1985, and finally eighteen in 1999. While initial standings determined the divisional champion, a tie between Presidencial, Onslander Kaptstad, VC Playadiestat , and Atlético Torres in 1973 led to a single elimination tournament to determine the champion, which Presidencial won. The tournament system was so popular it was implemented, with three best clubs moving on to the tournament. This was expanded to four clubs in 1985, and six in 1999. The LFA is the most popular sports league in Los Angeles, with an average attendance of 38,910 people, the highest average viewership in Los Angeles at 1.6 million per game, and is the second wealthiest sports league in Galia, just behind the Onhsanenea League.

Jerrostad holds the most championships with seven titles, though Presidencial has the most Gold Shields at eight. The reigning league champions are Enton , who defeated VC Playadiestat in the 43rd Angelean Cup to win their fourth championship game.

Organizational Structure

At the corporate level, the Liga di Futbol Angleano considers itself a trade association made up of and financed by its 18 member clubs. Under current Angelean tax laws, the LFA is therefore an unincorporated nonprofit association, and thus did not pay taxes as current Angelean tax laws provide an exemption from income taxation for business leagues, chambers of commerece, real-estate boards, boards of trade, or professional sports leagues corporate operations that do not withhold profit or keep any of the net earnings of the league, provided that such profits are redistributed to the constituent clubs. The clubs, in turn, do pay income taxes on the income they earn, whether directly or by league redistribution, though at a lower rate than most other corporations as the clubs are collectively owned sports franchises.

The league has three defined officers: the commissioner, secretary, treasurer, and president. The president is a ceremonial role, an honorary position with few powers and mostly ceremonial duties, including awarding the league honors, such as the championship trophy to the club which wins the championship.

The commissioner is elected by the affirmative vote of two-thirds (currently twelve) of the clubs of the league, while the president of the league is elected by a three-fourths vote (currently fourteen). The commissioner appoints the secretary and treasurer and has broad authority in disputes between clubs, players, coaches, and employees. He is the "principal executive officer" of the LFA and also has authority in hiring league employees, negotiating television contracts, disciplining individuals that own part or all of an LFA team, clubs, or employed individuals of an LFA club if they have violated league by-laws or committed "conduct detrimental to the welfare of the League or professional football". The commissioner can, in the event of misconduct by a party associated with the league, suspend individuals, hand down a fine of up to ₭968,538 (roughly V͇1,000,000), cancel contracts with the league, and award or strip clubs of selection rights.

In extreme cases, the commissioner can offer recommendations to the LFA's executive committee, up to and including the "cancellation or forfeiture" of a club's membership or any other action, he deems necessary. The commissioner can also issue sanctions up to and including a lifetime ban from the league if an individual connected to the LFA has gambled on games or failed to notify the league of conspiracies or plans to bet on or fix games. The current Commissioner of the LFA is Alfonso Wevers, who was elected in 2019 after Paal Mikkelsen, the previous commissioner, died of a heart attack.

Season Format

Regular Season

Currently, the league operates under a round-robin system, with each club playing every other club in the league once, for a total of 17 games per club. The league runs a 19-week 153 regular season, with bye weeks in weeks 6 and 12. Since 2000, the season has begun the first Monday of October which is not October 1st and concludes in February, roughly 19 weeks later. The opening game of the season is normally a home game on a Monday night for the league's defending champion.

Most LFA games are played on Saturdays and Sundays, with a Monday night game typically held at least once a week. Most weeks (with some exceptions) LFA games include two Saturday afternoon games, a Saturday night game, four Sunday afternoon games, a Sunday night game, and a Monday night game. LFA games are rarely scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday, and those days have only been used three times since 1948: in 2010, when a Sunday game was rescheduled to Tuesday due to a hurricane; in 2012, when the Kickoff game was moved from Monday to Sunday to avoid conflict with the national convention of the United Democratic Party; and in 2020, when a game was postponed from Monday to Wednesday due to a terror-risk being declared by the government.

Although a club's home and away opponents are constant, the exact dates and times for LFA games are not determined until much later because the league has to account for, among other things, operation of other sports leagues and local events that could pose a scheduling conflict with LFA games. During the 2010 season, over 200,000 potential schedules were created by computers, 1,000 of which were considered "playable schedules" and were reviewed by the LFA's scheduling team. After arriving at what they felt was the best schedule out of the group, nearly 50 more potential schedules were developed to try to ensure that the chosen schedule would be the best possible one.

Postseason

Following the conclusion of the regular season, a 6-club single-elimination tournament, called the LFA Championships, is then held. Teams are selected according to their point values. Points are earned in the regular season by teams for their performance. A win is worth two points, a tie or an overtime loss is worth one point, and a regulation loss is worth zero points. Ties are broken through a series of tiebreakers outlined by the league's officials. The six teams with the best point values move on to the championships, which occur over four weeks, including a bye.

The top two teams (seeded 1-2) are granted bye weeks. The remaining four teams (seeded 3-6) compete in the first round of the championships, with the 3-seed hosting the 6-seed and the 4-seed hosting the 5-seed. The winners advance to the next round, which matches the lowest seed against the 1-seed, with the 1-seed hosting, and the two remaining teams against each other, with the 2-seed hosting. The winners of these games then compete in the Angelean Cup at a neutral site (after a week-long bye), which determines the league champion.

Clubs

Triple Crown

League Champions

Shielded Club

Gold Shield

Silver Shield

Emblem	Club	Location	2023-2024 Finish					Playoff Finish
			Finish	Points	W	L	T
Example	Colonial	Villelibre	7th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	Cruz Kingslayers	Cruz	12th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	Dele	Coração de Cristo	8th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	Enton	Enton	5th	Points	W	L	T	Won (at Jerrostad) 28-16 Won (at Mikkelby) 20-4 Won 43rd Angelean Cup (vs Puntonorte) 28-24
Example	Gobernador Mérida	Mérida	10th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	Groenkust	Nassau	2nd	Points	W	L	T	Lost (vs Puntonorte) 28-34
Example	Jerrostad	Jerrostad	4th	Points	W	L	T	Lost (Enton) 16-28
Example	Mikkelby	Mikkelby	1st	Points	W	L	T	Lost (vs Enton) 4-20
Example	Onslander Kaptstad	Kaptstad	9th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	VC Playadiestat	Playadiestat	14th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	Porto Azul	Porto Azul	11th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	Presidencial	Nova Ralume	15th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	Puntonorte	Puntonorte	3rd	Points	W	L	T	Won (vs Villelibre) 28-16 Won (at Groenkust) 34-28 Lost 43rd Angelean Cup (vs Enton) 24-28
Example	Santa Maria	Santa Maria	13th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	Santo André	Santo André	17th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	Atlético Torres	Torres	16th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify
Example	Villelibre	Villelibre	6th	Points	W	L	T	Lost (at Puntonorte) 16-28
Example	Noord Strand	Playadiestat	18th	Points	W	L	T	Did not qualify

Trophies

Team Trophies

The Liga di Futbol Angleano has used three different trophies to honor its champion over its existence. The first trophy, the People's Cup, was first created in 1949 to honor the champions of the predecessor league of the LFA, the Liga Superior Angeleano (LSA). The trophy became property of the LFA during the privatization of the league. The trophy was intended to be a traveling trophy and not become permanent until a team had won five titles. However, after only five years of being used by the LFA, the People's Cup was destroyed by Dilanian bombing campaigns during the Third Great War. The remains of the cup were never found.

The People's Cup (Copa di Pueblo) was created in 1949, but was destroyed by aerial bombing during the Third Great War.

The current Angelean Cup, which has been used since 1999.

The Memorial Trophy, dedicated to those who died during the Third Great War, served as the league's trophy until 1999.

A second trophy, the Memorial Trophy, was issued by the LFA from 1987 to 1999. The trophy was dedicated to those who died during the Third Great War, with the names of all players, coaches, and LFA staff who died being engraved into the base of the trophy. In addition to the main trophy, which would be in the posession of the current league champion, the league issued a smaller replica trophy to each champion, who would maintain permanent control over it. This was considered disrespectful, and the trophy was discontinued. The Memorial Trophy is now instead kept by the club who last won it, Jerrostad, who won the trophy in 1999.

The current trophy of the LFA is the Angelean Cup. The trophy was named to represent the national nature of the new championship and was created to reflect the growing league, being announced alongside the expansion of the league from 14 to 18 clubs. Unlike the People's Cup, the Angelean Cup is a pure traveling trophy, being placed in a place of honor somewhere in the winning team's stadium. Teams are authorized to make copies of the trophy for display, which are identical to the real trophy other than an engraving of the final matchup and result into the trophy. In addition, each player and coach on the winning team are awarded rings to commemorate their victory. Each ring design varies, but they usually include the matchup's score and the emblem or colors of the winning club.

In addition to the championship trophies, the LFA awards four other team awards. The first, the Gold Shield, is awarded to the team voted to be the best single team in the regular season by a panel of pundits, journalists, coaches, and players. The Gold Shield de jure ranks equivalent to a league championship, though it is de facto not as prestigious. However, it is often considered a respectable end to the season by itself. The second, the Silver Shield, is awarded to the team with the most points (and therefore the first seed in the postseason) at the end of the season and ranks just below league championship and is often considered respectable, but not with the same level of respect as the championship or a Gold Shield. Winning a Shield and a championship is called a Gold/Silver Champion, while winning all three is considered a Triple Crown.

In addition to the shields, four banners are given out, the Offensive Banner and Defensive Banner, both of which come in a blue and orange form. The blue form of both banners is awarded to the team voted to have the best single offense or best single defense according to the same panel which decides the Gold Shield, and is the more prestigious of the two forms of banner. The orange form of the Offensive Banner is awarded to the team with the highest scoring offense, while the orange form of the Defensive Banner is awarded to the team with the lowest number of points allowed. Being awarded both banners means a team is "Double Bannered"

A perfect season, where a team wins the championship, both shields, and all four banners, has only ever happened once; the 2009-2010 Presidencial team, widely considered one of the best teams of all time. Two other teams have come close; the 1972-1973 Gobernador Mérida team, which won every award except the Silver Shield, as Gobernador Mérida inexplicably lost to the 1-15 Cruz Regional team.The second team which came close was the 2017-2018 Jerrostad team, which won every award except the orange form of the Offensive Banner, thanks to a fluke game where Cruz Regional won their final match against Onslander Kaptstad by 104-28, meaning Cruz Regional scored 725 points to Jerrostad's 724. As Cruz Regional is responsible for preventing two perfect seasons, it has earned the nickname "Kingslayer", which became the official club name in 2018.

Player and Coach Honors

The LFA recognizes a number of awards for its players and coaches at its annual end of year gala, which takes place after the championships are finished. A panel of journalists, coaches, and players, called the Honors Panel, decides the recipients of each award, which is presented at the end of the gala. Major awards include the Offensive Player of the Year (for superior play on offense), Defensive Player of the Year (for superior play on defense), Special Teams Player of the Year (for superior play on special teams), the corresponding rookie equivalents of the awards, Coach of the Year, and the prestigious Communitarian Award (honoring those with the greatest impacts on their community). In lieu of a more conventional MVP award, the Honors Panel also assembles the All Honors Roster, which selects up to 51 players (21 on offense, 20 on defense, and 10 on special teams) considered to be the very best at their position in the league. As the LFA lacks a true all-star game, being selected for the All Honors Roster is considered a prestigious achievement.