The Draw has been made. The Last 16 have been arranged into the BFFA Bracket, and here are your Third Round fixtures:
Atletico Topo Chico#27 -v- Whiskey De Bruyne#34
ATC and WdB have already met before, this season in fact, in the Champions League Group Stage. Unfortunately, both teams fell out of the tourney at the first round, having taken that win off each other and finishing third and fourth respectively in Group C. ATC then took their campaign to the IML where they beat Route 57 in the first game but lost heavily in the return fixture.
ATC have won four and lost four in their BFFA Cup history. In the last three seasons they have gone out in the Second Round; last season they lost their one and only game to Hung Like a Bony, 38-25. Whiskey de Bruyne have only had one previous Cup campaign where they won two and lost in the third to Smash & Grab, 49-30. So the winner of this tie will be entering their first-ever BFFA Cup Quarter-Final.
ATC: Championship (8th); Previous Cups: 4; 2023 Cup: R2; Best: R3 (2020)
WdB: League One (3rd); Previous Cups: 1; 2023 Cup: R3; Best: R3 (2023)
Fergi Time#6 -v- Hung Like a Bony#2
This match will not just be a slobberknocker between two of the top ten teams in the BFFA today, but it will also be a League-and-Cup double-header! The pair face-off in the league next weekend, at the end of the third set-of-nine, with Hung looking like title favourites and Fergi fighting for a play-off place. In their two previous encounters this season, each have taken three points off the other – Hung winning 40-31 in GW9 and Fergi winning 32-16 in GW18.
Last season they also met in the Champions League at the group stage. Fergi won the group, beating Hung on both occasions, and went on to finish as runners-up. Hung Like a Bony returned to the Champions League this season and made it to the Semi-Finals. They knocked out the World #1 side Smash & Grab in the Quarters, but lost both legs to the team that would go on to win the tourney (and take over as World #1) – Sporting Wicker Park.
But back to these two teams. Both teams exited the Cup at this round last season. Fergi Time went down by three points to Cullen the herd (formerly We have Kompany), and Hung lost out to Runners-Up ASG. Hung Like a Bony made it as far as the Semi-Finals in the 2020 Winter Cup where they lost to eventual winners StillluvQPR in a replay.
Fergi: Championship (4th); Previous Cups: 1; 2023 Cup: R3; Best: R3 (2023)
Hung: Championship (2nd); Previous Cups: 7; 2023 Cup: R3; Best: SF (2020)
CG XI#10 -v- Farkelife#25
This will be the first meeting between the two sides and both come in with mid-table form. Last season, both teams lost their one-and-only game in the Cup – CG XI went out to Fergi Time 60-44 (whom they could meet again in the Semi-Final) and Wijnaldum Leviosa lost to the Winter Cup winners StillluvQPR (whom they could re-engage with in the Final).
This is only CG XI’s second BFFA Cup, and they’ve already improved on the last attempt (by knocking out your faithful editor). Another win next week would give them a Quarter-Final against either a former Premier League Champion or the current Champions League champions.
Farkelife have enjoyed a lot of good Cup campaigns in the past; they have already appeared in four Quarter-Finals and won a total of 17 Cup games so far. With Smash and Cullen now out of the tournament, Farkelife are in the best position to become the first team to record 20 Cup wins in the BFFA. A win next weekend would tie them with Cullen on 18, a QF win would tie them with Smash on 19, and a SF win would give them that 20 plus a place in the Final. So if they can beat the sophomores in GW27 then they’ll get their fifth QF appearance. Only one team has been to five QF’s so far – Smash & Grab, and they were knocked out in the last round. One other team in the Last 16 has been to 4 QF’s: Vanishing Spray…
CG XI: League One (6th); Previous Cups: 1; 2023 Cup: R2; Best: R2 (2023)
Farkelife: Premier League (6th); Previous Cups: 8; 2023 Cup: R1; Best: RU (2019)
Vanishing Spray FC#21 -v- Sporting Wicker Park#12
This is a tie full of history, two of the three remaining originals in the Last 16. Neither made it to the Third Round last season, but both have been to the Semis before.
They competed in separate leagues in the first season of the BFFA and after high-scoring efforts they helped to form the Premier League. In the first three seasons of the PL, they played twelve times, SWP winning 6, Spray 5, and drawing once.
Three years later, they met in the First Round of the BFFA Cup. Vanishing Spray won 32-29 and went on as far as the Quarter-Finals. As mentioned above, they have made four QF’s previously, a win here would be their fifth, tying Smash & Grab’s current record. Sporting Wicker Park haven’t been to a Quarter-Final since 2016, the year that they went all the way to The Final. Could this be their year?
Spray: Championship (1st); Previous Cups: 10; 2023 Cup: R1; Best: SF (2021)
SWP: Premier League (7th); Previous Cups: 10; 2023 Cup: R2; Best: RU (2016)
Alleviate the Tedium#9 -v- De Bruyne Trousers#5
Compared to the previous pair, these two have very little Cup experience. Instead, they are blazing a new path. It is the first time in the Third Round by both and one will be going to the Quarter-Finals. Alleviate the Tedium could do it if they can reclaim their recent league form – three wins and a draw, plus a 51-49 Cup win over PL’s R57, before their loss to Goleta last weekend.
Meanwhile, De Bruyne Trousers have won all of their last five league matches, eight of their last ten, plus they have won the Cup games already, scoring 120FPts along the way.
Alleviate: League Two (5th); Previous Cups: 0; 2023 Cup: n/a; Best: n/a
De Bruyne: League One (2nd); Previous Cups: 1; 2023 Cup: R2; Best: R2 (2023)
StillluvQPR#26 -v- Ole’s at the Wheel#29
Here we go, we will bring this up every time Stillluv get stuck into a tourney – the Winter Cup Champions are back in the Third Round, one step further than last season, and ready to take it all the way. This matchup is particularly unusual, as they have run into each other four times before, but never in league competition. In 2021, they were paired up in the Group Stage of the Champions League. There, Stillluv won both of the two meetings, the first one by 22 points, the next one by just one (44-43) and went on to the Semi-Finals. OatWheel dropped into the Intramural League and went all the way to the Final.
A year later, they met again in the IML after both teams finished the league season in midtable. This time, it was Ole’s at the Wheel who had control of the two-legged First Round match. They won both matches, by margins of 12 and 9, but were knocked out themselves in the IML QF’s. So this weekend sees the two meet in a third different KO tourney in as many seasons.
Stillluv: League One (9th); Previous Cups: 8; 2023 Cup: R2; Best: Winner (2020)
OatWheel: League Two (6th); Previous Cups: 5; 2023 Cup: R2; Best: R3 (2020)
BattleVAR Galactico#28 -v- Goleta Hotspur#11
It is possible that Goleta Hotspur may be the most unlucky team in the BFFA Cup. They have lost two replays and once lost to BFFA heroes Sugar Daddies by just one point. Ten previous entries have yielded nothing more than a KO in the Third Round. This will be their second shot at a Quarter-Final spot, and it might be their best chance yet. Second in the League and scoring well, ranked #11, they are up against former League One rivals BattleVAR.
Across Seasons 7 & 8, BattleVAR did battle with Hotspur ten times, winning six, including a run of five-in-a-row between May ’21 and March ’22. However, the most recent engagement saw Goleta knick a win back in the final (irrelevant) game of the season. Goleta dropped down that season, but look good to rise again this summer. BattleVAR, who had a good mid-season, have struggled of late. However, with Gordon, McTominay and Ødegaard powering the midfield, change is surely imminent.
BattleVAR: League One (7th); Previous Cups: 5; 2023 Cup: R3; Best: QF (2021)
Goleta: League Two (2nd); Previous Cups: 10; 2023 Cup: R2; Best: R3 (2016)
Shams army#28 -v- The Phenoms#6
This one should be nice and easy to summise. Both are newcomers to the BFFA, and we love it when the newcomers do well. This matchup guarantees that there will be one rookie manager in the Last Eight, but this will of course come at the expense of the other.
On league standings, you’d think that The Phenoms are easily favourites for the win, but I’d remind you that nine gameweeks ago Shams army shocked The Phenoms with a 34-29 win. The loss caused The Phenoms to lose their place at the top of the League and they went away to regroup.
Now top of the league again, and five points clear, The Phenoms want to use their success to slingshot themselves further. But nothing is certain in the BFFA Cup. And this one is another League and Cup double-header!
Shams army: League Two (9th); Previous Cups: 0; 2023 Cup: n/a; Best: n/a
The Phenoms: League Two (1st); Previous Cups: 0; 2023 Cup: n/a; Best: n/a
Future Round Dates
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