OFA Pro League
Lua error: Cannot create process: proc_open(/home4/iltornan/lua/error.log): Failed to open stream: No such file or directory The OFA Pro League (OPL) is a league competition featuring professional football clubs from Osarius and Cobrio. Founded in 2228 as OFA Pro, the league is the successor to the Osarian Football Association operated professional football league in Osarius. Previously it had been known as the Osarian League of Association Football (OLAF) and before that, the Osarian Football League (OFL). It was created as a response to the dissolution of the COCANEFA run LigAnaia at the end of the 2227-28 season (LigAnaia season 14), to ensure that elite Osarian clubs would still be allowed to enter UICA competition. The operations centre of the OFA Pro League is the National Football Academy near Burningham, while its commercial office is in Dynapolis.
The league is unofficially split into two departments; OFA Pro Elite – which governs the top three tiers – and OFA Pro Secondary – governing the remaining two tiers. OFA Pro Elite has 58 clubs divided into three divisions, the Golden League, Aurumia League and Phoenix League. There are 18 clubs in the former, and 20 in each of the latter two. OFA Pro Secondary has 108 clubs divided into two tiers and six divisions. Promotion and relegation between these divisions (even across departments) is a central feature of the League and is further extended to allow the top clubs from the District Leagues to exchange places with the lowest-placed clubs in the Regional Leagues, thus integrating the League into the Osarian football league system. Although primarily a competition for Osarian clubs, clubs from the separatist state of Cobrio have been members, due to their historic status as OFA-registered clubs, and the absence of a Cobrio Football Association.
Competition
League
The League's member clubs are grouped into tiers based on performance in the previous season, and fixtures are arranged. Every team plays at least one game per season against every other team in their division, though a division may or may not contain every team in its respective tier.
Clubs gain three points for a win, one for a draw, and none for a defeat. At the end of the season, clubs at the top of their division may be eligible for promotion to the next higher division, while those at the bottom may be relegated to the next lower one. At the top end of the competition, several Golden League clubs win the right to enter UICA competition as Osarius' representative clubs, as do four clubs from the Aurumia League. At the lower end, while it is not common, teams may be relegated from the Regional League and replaced with District League champions who meet the OFA's professional criteria.
| Division | Promoted directly | Promoted via playoffs | Relegated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden League | None | None | Bottom 3 clubs |
| Aurumia League | Top 2 clubs | One from 3rd to 6th-place finishers | Bottom 4 clubs |
| Phoenix League | Top 3 clubs | Two from 3rd to 6th-place finishers | Bottom 4 clubs |
| Duchess League (two divisions) | None | Top 4 clubs from a combined Promotion League | Bottom 4 clubs from a combined Relegation League |
| Regional League (four divisions) | None | One from 1st to 3rd-place finishers in each division | Bottom 4 clubs[1] |
Promotion and relegation are mostly determined by final league positions, but to sustain interest for more clubs over the length of the season some promotion places are decided according to playoff matches, which take place at the end of the season. It is therefore possible for a team finishing sixth in the Aurumia League or Phoenix League, for example, to be promoted rather than the clubs finishing immediately above them in the standings.
Reserve teams of OFA Pro League clubs are eligible to play in the League, but cannot be promoted to tier one. Most clubs do not operate reserve teams in the League, with Firewood City Stars and Utica University being the two most well known exceptions.
Since the launch of the League in 2228, penalties have existed for clubs entering financial administration during the season. If a club enters administration before 31 March of any given season, they will immediately be deducted 12 points; entering administration from 1 April onward will see the points deduction either held over until the end of the season (if the club finishes outside the relegation places), or applied the following season (if the club was relegated anyway). It is also required that a club exiting administration agree a Creditor's Voluntary Agreement, and pay in full any other footballing creditors. Failure to do either of these will result in a second, potentially unlimited (though usually between 15 and 20) points deduction.
The other main situation in which is a club may lose points is by fielding an improperly registered or otherwise ineligible player. If a club is found to have done this, then any points earned from any match that player participated in will be deducted; the opposing club(s) do not earn any points from this, however.
Cup
The OFA Pro League organises three knock-out cup competitions: the OmniCup, the OFA League Cup, and the OFA Trophy. The OmniCup is technically open to all clubs registered with the OFA, though teams not in the OFA Pro League must qualify through preliminary rounds, which whittle their numbers down to ninety. These ninety clubs join the 166 OFA Pro clubs in an unseeded, 256-team, single elimination tournament, with the winner eligible to participate in the UICA Globe Cup as well as the Cygnus Cup. The OFA League Cup is open to all clubs playing in tiers one through three of the OFA Pro League, with the winner eligible to participate in the UICA Globe Cup. The OFA Trophy is for clubs belonging to tiers three through five of the OFA Pro League, and grants no international competition entry.
The League experimented with the Attacker-Defender-Goalkeeper (ADG) tiebreaker method for the League Cup and OFA Trophy in season one, while retaining the traditional penalty shoot-out for the OmniCup. At the end of season one, it was announced that the ADG method would continue into season two.
History
- See also: Osarian League of Association Football
2228 League Re-launch
When the LigAnaia announced it would officially be dissolving at the end of season fourteen (May 2228 in the Osarian calendar), the OFA announced that it would be officially relaunching the Osarian league under a new banner; the OFA Pro League. The re-launch would include a new logo, and a brand new record book, as well as the reintroduction of Dynapolis United to the national league and the addition of Cartagena Desert Foxes for the first time.
The inaugural season of the new League saw reigning national champions – from the LigAnaia era – Hastmead Diamante become the first OFA Pro League champions. Their Apoxian manager Ken Rickwright also became the first foreign manager to win the league, with Nepharim captain Elaine Ashdown also becoming the first foreign captain to do so.
Records
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Governance and management
Board
The OFA Pro League Board meets monthly and consists of two independent directors, three directors representing the Golden League, two each representing the Aurumia and Phoenix Leagues, one representing each of the remaining tiers, and one representing the OFA's developmental department. As of summer 2229, the members are:
- Jacob Dawson – Chairman
- Shadrach Gordon – Chief Executive
- Serenity Lewis - OFA Head of Development, senior consultant
- Beverley Prince – independent director
- Sharon Oakley – independent director
- Shaun Walker (chairman) Hastmead Diamante
- Michael Atkinson (chairman) Firewood City
- Eleanora Corradini (executive) AFC Hollybrent
- Emmanuel Cormega (Chief Executive) Alissar Phoenix
- Alessandro Marchesi (CEO) Arcaea County
- Femi Kelani (executive) Kronkow United
- Duane Murphy (chairman) Newhaven Athletic
- Shin'ichi Togashi (chairman) Osakyo FC
Senior Management
- Michael Appleton – chief operating officer
Member clubs
Below are listed the member clubs of The OFA Pro League for the first season (2228-29).
Past League winners
- See also: OFA Pro championship history - all tiers
Tiers four and five do not have a traditional tier champion in the sense of a team finishing at the top of the league standings. Due to their irregular formats, the team finishing top of the Tier IV promotion league is awarded the Tier IV championship, and the winners of the Tier V playoffs are crowned Tier V champions.
NB: League and OmniCup Double winners are highlighted in bold, League and League Cup winners are italicised, Treble winners are bolded and italicised.
| No. | Year(s) | Golden League Champions | Aurumia League Champions | Phoenix League Champions | Tier Four Champions | Tier Five Champions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 001. | 2228-29 | Hastmead Diamante | Violia FC | Yamihagi FC | Kyatoshima United | AFC Carbonia |
Titles by club
| Club | Top flight titles |
|---|---|
| Hastmead Diamante | 1 |
Football League titles
| Team | First tier | Second tier | Third tier | Fourth tier | Fifth tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hastmead Diamante | 1 | ||||
| Violia FC | 1 | ||||
| Yamihagi FC | 1 | ||||
| Kyatoshima United | 1 | ||||
| AFC Carbonia | 1 |
Play-offs
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Play-off winners
| Season | Tier Two | Tier Three | Tier Four | Tier Five |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2228-89 | Alissar Phoenix | Dynamo Druz Real Rajahara |
Kyatoshima United East Elismith FC Kelogi Lanismel Village |
AFC Carbonia Poyndale Rovers Corriere Sporting Denworth Athletic |
Cup wins by club
| Club | Total Cup wins | OmniCup wins | League Cup wins | OFA Trophy wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alissar Phoenix | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Hastmead Diamante | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Blacktube Village | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
References
- ↑ Theoretically. Rarely happens in practice.
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