It’s the also-ran tournament that nobody has noticed yet… Welcome back to the newly rebranded Intramural League!
Just as last year, we will be sending two teams from each League into the IML (formerly the ‘Europa League’) for a chance to qualify for the 2020 Champions League. This year however, there will also be a $50 prize for the winner!
The top two teams from each League last season that didn’t qualify for this year’s Champions League will be entered into the First Round, starting in Gameweek 9. These teams are:
From the Premier League: AC Reykjavik CobbleHill (6th) & Bigo1 (7th)
From the Championship: GoFYS FC (5th) & SB Town Baggers (6th)
From League One: Cornballers FC (5th) & stilluvQPR (7th)*
From League Two: Sugar Daddies (4th) & Tiger Tail Retaliation (5th)
*stilluvQPR were entered after DC LFC left the League.
The Intramural League will begin after the second international break, on Saturday 19th October. Each round will be played over two legs except for the Final.
The First Round will be played in Gameweeks 9 & 10 and, as last year, the fixtures will be set as:
Match 1: Premier League A -v- League Two B: AC Reykjavik CobbleHill vs. Tiger Tail Retaliation
Match 2: Championship A -v- League One B: GoFYS FC vs. stilluvQPR
Match 3: League One A -v- Championship B: Cornballers FC vs. SB Town Baggers
Match 4: League Two A -v- Premier League B: Sugar Daddies vs. Bigo1
The Quarter-Finals will be played on GW 11 and GW 12.
In a similar format to the UEFA Europa League, the winner of each First Round match will then face a team dropping out of the Champions League.
QF1: Winner Match 1 -v- 3rd-Place CL Group A
QF2: Winner Match 2 -v- 3rd-Place CL Group B
QF3: Winner Match 3 -v- 3rd-Place CL Group C
QF4: Winner Match 4 -v- 3rd-Place CL Group D
The Semi-Finals are set for GW 13 and GW 14.
The winners of QF1 and QF2 will play-off for a place in the Final
The winners of QF3 and QF4 will play in the other Semi-Final.
Gameweek 15 is a midweek gameweek and won’t feature any IML or CL games.
The Intramural League Final will be on Gameweek 16.
Tiebreakers:
Two-legged games: If a match is tied after both legs, the match will be decided by total goals in the tie, least red cards, total assists, total clean sheets, least yellow cards and then, if necessary, a best-of-five coin toss.
The Final: If the match is drawn then the winner will be the team that scored the most goals. If at this point the teams are still tied, we will replay the Final in GW17 and if necessary GW18 too. If for some reason three replays can’t separate the teams then the other tiebreaker deciders can be used.
The Intramural League 2020
A little look into the distant future…
Now that we are a 50-strong League, the IML will be expanded for the 2020/21 season. We will be adding two more teams and another knockout round to the tournament.
As it stands, we will continue to invite the best two teams from each League that don’t qualify for the Champions League 2020. The new First Round would see the two teams from League Two play the two teams from the new National League. The winners of these fixtures will then join the other six qualifying teams in the Second Round.
We are still planning on adding four teams dropping out of the Champions League in at the Quarter-Final stage.
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