The Premier League teams have officially entered the FA Cup, Palace v Everton has just finished, so I think now is a good time to preview our very own BFFA Cup.
The sixteen teams that are going to make up the First Round fixtures have been decided. Here are the teams that we will see competing in both the League and the Cup in Gameweek 21.
In the final gameweek before the deadline, BattleVAR Galactico benefitted from two Alfie Doughty assists and climbed out of the bottom sixteen and upto 23rd. In their place, Harambe Hotspur had a poor week (despite a brace of assists for Ollie Watkins) and dropped down over the line into 26th.
This week’s Belyea Memorial winners Farkelife came very close to escaping the longer route to the Final, but four yellow cards cost them the privilege. At the same time, Alex Scott scored the final Premier League goal of 2023 and the assist from Marcus Tavernier gave Housewives Favourite just enough points to cling on to 24th place.
So, the sixteen teams in the First Round Draw will be: AFC Chester, Allison Wonderland, Barons FC, Boss, Boudi’s Crew, Chicken and Bacon Sane, Don’t Tripp over Silva, Farkelife, FC Santa Barbara, GoFYS FC, Harambe Hotspur, Mighty fine feeling, Ole’s at the wheel, Shams army, StillluvQPR, Whiskey De Bruyne.
Which means the remaining teams will enter the BFFA Cup in Gameweek 24. The Second Round teams are: Peltier#1, Gloopy Yarbles#2, All Star Gunners#3, The Phenoms#4, SkyPlayerinFPL#5, Cullen the herd#6, Smash & Grab#7, Hung like a Bony#8, Jaysokker#9, Fergi Time#10, Uncle Monty BFF#11, East Loop United#12, Sporting Wicker Park#13, De Bruyne Trousers#14, El Dude Bros#15, Goleta Hotspur#16, Alleviate the Tedium#17, Webuiltthis City#18, Vanishing Spray FC#19, Route 57 FC#20, CG XI#21, Atletico Topo Chico#22, BattleVAR Galactico#23 and Housewives Favourite#24, plus the eight winners from Round One. Rankings will of course change before the Second Round, but these should give you an idea of the current strength of opposition.
Below are the round dates for this year’s tournament.
Round One will take place across in GW21 across the split week; Round Two in mid-Feb. The Third Round will follow the FA Cup 5th Round, and the BFFA Cup bracket draw (date to be confirmed). The final knockout rounds will take place after the March international break, concluding in GW35 (assuming there’s not another replay!)
That will wrap up the tournament before the postseason, where all forty teams will then be entered into one of our mini-tournaments. Those final two weekends will play out the same way as last season, with the exception that if the BFFA Cup winners finish the league season in the top four, then the open place in the 2024 Champions League place will be given to the next-highest scoring team in the Best-ish Rankings at the end of the season. But more on those finer details in March. Here are the key dates to focus your teams on.
The Draw
The date for the Draw will be Monday 8th January, at 8pm GMT, right before the Wigan v Man Utd match.
First, the sixteen First Round teams will be paired up, then the Second Round will be drawn with 24 teams + 8 places for the First Round winners.
The next draw will take place after GW25 in which we will bracket the last 16 and map the route to the Final.
The First Round
Shockingly, the opening round of this year’s tournament will feature the current holders, Mighty fine feeling. Currently eighth in the Premier League and twenty-eighth over all, MFF will begin their title defence on January 13th.
Also from the Premier League – Farkelife, Boss and Barons will join MFF in the hat for Gameweek 21. Barons have made two Quarter-Finals previously, Boss appeared in the Semis in 2018 and 2022, and Farkelife were the 2019 Runners-Up. They reached the 2019 Final from the First Round, and were ranked 32nd at the time of the First Round Draw and also at the Final. They lost in a 79-59 thriller.
We have three debutants in the First Round this season (which means we also have three receiving byes). Boudi’s Crew, Don’t Tripp on Silva and Shams army are the unlucky three stepping up early.
A.F.C. Chester (2023), FC Santa Barbara (2018 & 2022) and Harambe Hotspur (2017) have all made previous Semi-Finals, but there is also another former champion in the early games – StillluvQPR won the Winter Cup at the end of 2020.
Good luck, enjoy, have fun.
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