Heralding in the 2024/25 BFFA Season

On this page:
Premier League // Championship // League One // League Two

…with the official curtain-raisers:

The BFFA Super Cup

The Champions League Champions versus the Intramural League Winners

Sporting Wicker Park vs. Route 57 FC

These two have fought over silverware before – in the 2022 IML Final these two did battle for the lesser inter-league trophy. Wicker Park won out with a neat 50-40 scoreline and booked their place in the Champions League. Last November, Route 57 made their way back to the Final again and collected the trophy at the second time of asking, while Sporting went all the way in the Champions League, completing the journey just a week later.

There were mixed results in the Premier League last year and, after differing fortunes in the top flight, will be contesting the upper echelons once again from this coming weekend.

The World Salver

The Premier League Champions versus the BFFA Cup Winners

Housewives Favourite vs. StillluvQPR

Last season this fixture played out in the Second Round of the BFFA Cup that StillluvQPR went on to win. The ever-faithful won 32-30 in a game strangely reminiscient of a previous meeting in 2021, when Stillluv beat Wives Fave 47-45 in the Second Round there too.

The season before the pair passed through the Championship like ships in the night, a long 10-month night, with Wives Fave continuing to sail northwards and Stillluv south. Housewives won three of those encounters, but Stilluv stole a win of the Champions mid-season.

Premier League

Housewives Favourite (Champions) vs. Hung Like a Bony (1st, Champ)
How can you take your eyes away from this opening fixture?! The two league champions have been thrown together in Week One and sparks will fly! If you want high scores – look no further. These are the two most recent recipients of the Best-ish Award and in their last two matchups, each has won with a score of 60+. And let’s not forget that thriller in ’22 when Wives Fave won out 83-59.

Although the two didn’t meet last season there will still be scores to settle, four of them in fact. Housewives Favourite are currently winning this fixture W6D1L4 and before the season is through, we may be talking about this becoming a modern classic.

All time: Housewives Favourite – 6 wins; Drawn – 1; Hung Like a Bony – 4 wins.
Last time together: Housewives Favourite 63 – 28 Hung Like a Bony

Gnonto Seed (7th) vs. Route 57 FC (2nd)
Last season, Route 57 missed out on a second Premier League title by just two points. They dropped nine points to Farkelife (W1,L3). Season Nine was a similar story (W1,D1,L2) and before that there was one other encounter in the BFFA Cup Third Round where Farkelife KO’d R57 by four fantasy points – winning 56-52.

If R57 are going to challenge for the prize money this season, they’re probably going to need to overcome that jinx more than once. Gnonto Seed peaked in the rankings at 3rd in GW5, S9. A win this weekend could propel then to raise that bar and possibly even challenge for the title this year.

All time: Gnonto Seed – 6 wins; Drawn – 1; Route 57 FC – 2 wins.
Last time together: Gnonto Seed 19 – 29 Route 57 FC

Vanishing Spray (2nd, Champ.) vs. mighty Fine (8th)
After a twelve-month hiatus, Spray are back and looking to double up on their podium place. Mighty Fine are also on a mission, but unusually for them they are here to write over the memory of last season’s escape story. After three straight years of top three finishes, MFF had a season to forget last time out.

How well both will do is anyone’s guess, but if they’re going to be successful, they’re going to do it from late in the draft. We’ll see ninth pick play tenth this weekend. Picks #9 & #12 – Bruno and Isak – will lead the line for Mighty Fine on Friday and Saturday, then ^#10KdB and ^#11Solanke are returning fire on Sunday and Monday night.

All time: Vanishing Spray – 6 wins; mighty Fine – 9 wins.
Last time together: Vanishing Spray FC 72 – 22 Mighty Fine Feeling

Gloopy Yarbles (3rd) vs. El Dude Bros (5th)

Like Spray & MFF above, Gloopy and El Dude have evenly split their last eight meetings W4L4. Unlike the above duo, three of the last four of these matchups have been decided by five points or less. Season Nine was a big success for both of these teams, finishing second and third behind Wives Fave and stepping up into the Premier League.

All time: Gloopy – 4 wins; El Dude Bros – 4 wins.
Last meeting: Gloopy Yarbles 46 – 51 El Dude Bros

Smash & Grab (4th) vs. Sporting Wicker Park (6th)
There will still be a bitter taste in the mouths of all those that follow Smash & Grab following the gut-punch loss in the final game of the season last May. A 10-point win for the Champions League winners crippled not only S&G’s title hopes, but wrenched them out of the top three places and down into fourth.

Smash & Grab had been top of the Premier League for ten weeks in the second half of the season, before dropping to second in GW33, and finally to fourth at the last. The previous six Premier League meetings had all gone the way of the 2021 PL Champions S&G and they looked like making it seven, but founding members SWP channeled the energy of their Second Round Cup win (over S&G, 70-34, GW24) and collected a consolation league win.

This is another tie that is likely to ignite. 10 of their 16 previous matches have been 100-pointers, including two last season – GW24: SWP 70-34; GW27: S&G 89-68.
Highlights from previous include S&G 79-43 (S9,GW25), S&G 99-75 (S4,GW37), S&G 56-54 (S3, CL Group C) and SWP 74-56 (S2, BFFA Cup 3rd Round)
Last season Smash & Grab got the highest score for a standard 10-game gameweek (GW27, 89FPts, joint with SkyPlayer), whilst Sporting Wicker Park won the highest-scoring game of the entire season (106-74 vs Gloopy Yarbles). This weekend promises a whole lot more!

All time: Smash 11 wins; Drawn: 1; SWP 4 wins.
Last meeting: Smash & Grab 38 – 48 Sporting Wicker Park

Championship

Uncle Monty (1st, L1) vs. De Bruyne Trousers (2nd, L1)
All-time: Uncle Monty – 3 wins; Drawn – 1; DBT – 6 wins
Last meeting: Uncle Monty 69 – 34 De Bruyne Trousers

For those that haven’t seen it on our Discord channel, not only have these two been perennial rivals since they joined in Season 9, and not only did they top the League One table last season, but they have met in the first week in all three seasons! In League Two two years ago, they started with a 46-all draw. Last season DBT smashed it out of the park with a topscore of 77, winning by 33! This August it’s in the BFFA’s second tier. Over the last two years, three teams have dominated the lower leagues – Whiskey De Bruyne and these two. Can they do it again in the tougher, more competitive classes? A Week One win would certainly get someone off to a great start.

Bidding for a third-straight league championship, Uncle Monty have compiled a team built around a black-and-white backbone of Burn, Gordon and Isak, flanked by Brighton’s Minteh and Mitoma, and finished with Smith-Rowe and Muniz from the Cottage. Facing them, DBT passed on KdB to create a squad founded on the Red midfield of Mo Salah, Mac Allister and the forward-thinking TAA, joined by another London pair of Muñoz and Eze with two more Palace backs on the bench.

There are also similarites in the two opponents so it could be a close one. They’ve a Chelsea midfielder each, a Liverpool defender, a City defender, and an Everton player #1 on their bench. It will be Uncle Monty kicking off with Smith-Rowe and Muniz and, unless Richarlison gets called up from #3, then this clash of the Titans will be pretty much concluded by the full-time whistle at the Chelsea-City game.

All Star Gunners (4th last season) vs. IB Lausig (7th)
All-time: ASG – 7 wins; Drawn – 1; IBL – 5 wins
Last meeting: ASG 46 – 36 IBL

Atletico Topo Chico (8th) vs. Whiskey De Bruyne (3rd, L1)
All-time: ATC – 2 wins; WdB – 1 win
Last meeting: Atletico Topo Chico 45 – 43 Whiskey De Bruyne

Barons (10th, Prem.) vs. Bigger than Brolin (3rd)
All-time: Barons – 1 win; Bigger than Brolin – 3 wins
Last meeting: Barons 23 – 35 Cullen the herd

Preliminary Version (4th, L1) vs. GoFys FC (5th)
First meeting
And we hope it’s not a one-sided affair. It is 1st pick against 10th on the opening day of the Championship season, and we will potentially see Haaland against Toney & Bowen or, more crucially, Haaland^(#1) against Malo Gusto & Noni Madueke (both signed on waivers). All three played in that friendly in Ohio Stadium two weeks ago. Haaland scored a hat-trick that was hailed as an omen of things to come, Madueke got an assist and a last-minute consolation goal, and Gusto collected a first-half booking. Also watch out for Ødegaard & Trossard against Wolves on Saturday; last April both midfielders scored in the reverse fixture in a 2-0 away win for the Gunners.

League One

The Phenoms (4th, L2) vs. Goleta Hotspur (1st, L2)
All-time: The Phenoms – 1 win; Goleta – 4 wins
Last meeting: The Phenoms 56 – 76 Goleta Hotspur

AFC Chester (10th, Champ.) vs. SkyPlayerInFPL (2nd, L2)
First meeting

Borussia Teeth (8th) vs. Slots Fired (9th, Champ.)
All-time: Borussia Teeth – 2 wins; Slots Fired – 3 wins
Last meeting: Chicken and Bane San 21 – 28 Allison Wonderland

East Loop United FC (5th) vs. Alleviate the Tedium (3rd, L2)
First meeting

Peltier (6th) vs. StillluvQPR (7th)
All-time: Peltier – 2 wins; Stillluv – 2 wins
Last meeting: Peltier 32 – 66 StillluvQPR

League Two

Harambe Hotspur (7th) vs. BattleVAR Galactico (9th, L1)
All-time: Harambe – 6 wins; BVAR – 3 wins
Last meeting: Season 10 IML Semi-Final
GW 13: Harambe 33 – 54 BVAR
GW 14: Harambe 57 – 41 BVAR – BattleVAR Galactico won 95-90 on aggregate

Tino’s Legacy (New) vs. Jaysokker (5th)
First meeting

Red Mersey Marauders (New) vs. Shams Army (9th)
First meeting

Sporting KhilMaan (New) vs. Boudi’s Crew (10th last season)
First meeting

Valley Village FC (New) vs. AI-Jiggery-Pokery (New)
First meeting