Football in Lionsroar
Information
A Spreadsheet can also be found here, this page belongs to the Kingdom of Lionsroar
Further: List of Clubs (LFA), Lionsroarian Football Association (LFA), List of Seasons (LFA)
The Lionsroarian Football Association (LFA) is a royal state organization for the administration of the national sport of football (also: soccer) in the geographical area of Lionsroar. As an association, the LFA oversees the marketing, and regular operation of the leagues and the cup, as well as the activities and funding of the smaller regional and local associations. Due to Lionsroar's cultural diversity and the historical lack of a unified nation-state, soccer has also developed very differently. Soccer as a sport migrated from the west through the entire bay area at the end of the 19th century. To this day, soccer is still very popular and unrivalled in the West. The unique Lionsroarian fan culture was also first established in the West.
The LFA is 100% state-administered, with the state of Lionsroar having a strong influence on soccer. As a result, the national sport is primarily seen as a useful means of controlling and pacifying the population. The practice of sports, especially soccer, is very popular among the population. With passion and interest, there are several national soccer clubs in Lionsroar, which attract hundreds of thousands of fans every week.
The League System
Lionsroar's league system is divided into several leagues. At the top is the Erste Königliche Fußball Division (Royal Football Division (EKFD/FRFD)), founded in 1992. The Lionsroar league system developed over two centuries after football was established as a national sport in Lionsroar. Due to the different cultural and territorial details of the Northern Confederation, various short-lived league systems were established, far removed from today's modern soccer. Each of these leagues had its top division, in which today's first-division teams played. A first unified Lionsroarian league was planned, but never implemented with the fall of the confederation. In the ensuing civil war, the plan could not be implemented until it was taken up again by the Democratic Republic of Lionsroar. The first unified league was implemented with the creation of a nation-state. Few traditional clubs took part, however, as these were supported and founded by monarchists and the nobility. It was only with the founding of the EFKD in 1992 and its predecessor after the fall of the Republic that these traditional clubs also took part. The first division has the 20 best Lionsroar clubs and plays for 38 matchdays each season. It generates the most revenue and has the biggest clubs in the league in its ranks. The first division determines the champion and vice-champion of Lionsroar. The record winner of national competitions and best Lionsroar club of all time is the King's Team from Lowenburg. Places 20 and 19 in the table are direct relegation places to the Zweite Königliche Fußball Division (Second Royal Football Division (ZKFD/SRFD)), while 18th place has to play a first and second-round relegation match against the third-placed team in the Second Division. The winner will be in the First Division next season, and the loser in the Second.
The Zweite Königliche Fußball Division (Second Royal Football Division [ZKFD/SRFD] and the Dritte Königliche Fußball Division (Third Royal Football Division [DKFD/TRFD] are the second and third tiers of Lionsroarian soccer. The Second Division, like the First Division, consists of 20 teams. The champions and vice-champions of the second division, as well as the third-placed team, are promoted or compete in promotion matches. The bottom two and 18th and 17th place go into the relegation play-offs. These teams play relegation matches against the third and second-placed teams in the Third Division. The Third Division has 24 teams, 4 promotion places and 6 relegation places, with one relegation place for each team promoted from the Fourth Divisions. All 6 regional football divisions have a champion who is promoted directly to the Third Division. However, as the teams relegated from the Third Division come from different regions and therefore no longer play in the top three leagues nationwide, but only regionally in their respective league by location, the system needs to be rethought. Relegated Teams can belong to the same region and therefore also to the same regional league. To compensate for this, the direct relegation places of the Fourth Division will be expanded to the higher places in the table depending on the number of teams relegated from the Third Division. Consequently, there is now the same problem in the Oberliga. Depending on the change in the table places, a certain number of relegation places are added to the Regionalliga. Now, the Oberliga has to be changed again according to location. However, there are so-called buffer places for this, whereby the corresponding top division is extended to even numbers depending on the relegation from the regional league.
Example: If two teams are relegated from the south of Lionsroar, both will have to join the Regionalliga Süd. However, since only a capacity of 20 teams is allowed to play in the Regionalliga, the number of direct relegation places from the Regionalliga Süd downwards to the Fifth Division is increased. So if two teams are relegated, an additional direct relegation place will be required in the season. This means that the 18th-placed team in the table can be relegated directly and the 17th-placed team can go into the relegation play-offs.
The next step in the LFL's system is now into amateur soccer, towards the regional leagues. Six regional leagues (South, West, East, North, as well as Löwenburg and Central) each have a champion who is promoted to the third division. The issue of relegation from the regional leagues has already been addressed. The fifth tier of the system is the Oberliga. The number of Oberligen corresponds to the relegation places from the regional leagues. The Oberliga and Regionalliga are still in the six regional associations, which are still directly controlled by the LFA. Only with the sixth league, the Inselligen (Island Leagues), are there separate local associations. The island league is already so tightly meshed that it is specific to an island or several small islands. This is followed by the Bezirksliga or District Leagues (seventh league) with small districts on the islands, as well as the Kreis- und Stadtligen (County and City Leagues) for villages and towns (ninth league). These are the smallest local leagues in the system. In the ninth leagues, a distinction is made between three to four divisions, the so-called district and city leagues A, B, C and D.
The Cup System
The Lionsroarian Cup is the second most important title next to the championship in the first division. It is a knockout competition in 4 official rounds, a semi-final, the final and the match for third place. 64 participants from the first, second and third divisions take part. However, there are also unofficial association cups organized by regional and local associations for the lower amateur clubs. One striking feature of the cup is its unpredictability. Technically speaking, the first-division clubs have the best chance of winning such a cup, but in practice, this has rarely happened. In the inaugural 99/00 season, for example, not a single first-division team reached the semi-finals, but three second-division teams and even a third-division team mixed it up in the cup. This shows that the performance ratio in Lionsroar soccer is very balanced and is not altered by external or state influences.