Ladies and Gentlemen, here are the tournament dates for the eleventh season of the BFFA.
2024
The biggest day of the season is undoubtedly DRAFT DAY. No, not the superb 2014 drama starring Jennifer Garner and Frank Langella in Kevin Costner’s finest-ever production. Our very own forty-team 600-pick epic curtain-raiser begins in just over four weeks. There is plenty of time to prepare strategies, rotation pairings, handcuffs and safety nets, etc. as the new season approaches, but the new platform will be launched anyday now, and believe me – the pre-season will fly by!
After the opening three weeks of settling in and balancing your squads (maybe a cheeky trade request or two), the Champions League will begin in earnest following the first international break. That will then be joined by the Intramural League at the Quarter-Final stage.
The draw for the BFFA Champions League will be made some time during the international break. The four seeded teams, the four League Champions – Housewives Favourite, Hung Like a Bony, Uncle Monty and Goleta Hotspur – will avoid each other in the Group Stage, and will each be drawn against three other CL hopefuls. Also in the pool are Alleviate the Tedium, Cullen the herd, De Bruyne Trousers, Gloopy Yarbles, Route 57 FC, SkyPlayerInFPL, Sporting Wicker Park, StillluvQPR, Vanishing Spray, Whiskey De Bruyne, plus Smash & Grab and The Phenoms who qualified in the postseason.
The draw will also set up the four IML Qualifier winners – East Loop United, El Dude Bros, GoFys FC and Jaysokker – against each CL Group. The teams that finish third in each group will join them in the IML Quarter-Finals. The teams that finish fourth will simply go out.
2025
After a manic Christmas period, the BFFA Cup will begin in the first gameweek of 2025 and, as always, all forty teams will be involved. The First Round will be comprised of the sixteen teams taken from the bottom of the Best-ish rankings after Gameweek 18 (Boxing Day) and the Second Round will introduce the remaining twenty-four (plus the eight First Round winners).
This season the BFFA Cup kicks off practically moments after the New Years’ streamers have hit the floor and a week ahead of the real FA Cup Third Round (break). After that, there are Cup games roughly every 3-4 weeks. We’ve been careful to avoid midweek gameweeks and clashes with the FA’s rather bigger version of our tournament. We’ve also tried to keep the games away from potential blank or double gameweeks, but they will come at us somewhat unexpectedly as ever. Hopefully those re-arranged games will fall into weeks set aside for potential BFFA Cup replays, but even if they don’t, well, it just adds to the drama of the Cup doesn’t it‽ 😁
So, without further ado, here are the dates for this season’s BFFA tournaments:
Knockout fixtures:
The 2024 Champions League
There will be six gameweeks in the First Round in which each team plays each other home and away. At the end of the group stage, the top two from each group go through to the Quarter-Finals.
The Quarter-Finals will match the same format as previous seasons:
QF1) Winner Group A vs. Runner-Up Group B
QF2) Winner Group C vs. Runner-Up Group D
QF3) Winner Group B vs. Runner-Up Group A
QF4) Winner Group D vs. Runner-Up Group C
Two-legged ties (GW’s 10 & 11). The best aggregate score goes to the Semi-Finals.
Semi-Finals:
Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2
Winner QF3 vs. WInner QF4
Again, two legs (GW’s 12 & 13). The winners will meet in the Final, Gameweek 16.
The 2024 Intramural League
The BFFA’s secondary inter-league tournament gives the midtable teams an opportunity to play for a minor prize before Christmas.
Fourteen teams were entered into the qualifiers last season and each league put forward one team to represent them in the IML. The fixtures will be drawn with the Champions League, however, we won’t know who each team will face until after Gameweek 9.
With eight teams in the IML proper, the tournament opens at the Quarter-Final stage. Two legs in the QF’s and also the Semi’s. The winners of the QF A (featuring a Group A team) will play the winners of QF B, and Winners QF C -v- WInners QF D.
There will be no midweek CL or IML games again this year, so this year’s IML Final will take place on Gameweek 15.
The 2024 BFFA Cup
It’s the big one. This is where all forty teams come together in a straight knockout for a title.
The First Round will feature the 16 teams with the lowest total scores after Gameweek 18. They will be drawn into eight games and the winners will venture forward into the Second Round. The first two rounds will be drawn sometime in the short gap between GW’s 19 & 20.
After the Second Round, there will be a draw for the rest of the tournament. The BFFA Cup Third Round Draw will place the final sixteen teams into a bracket and guide two sides all the way to the Final.
Tiebreakers
Because it’s good to get these cleared up nice and early.
Champions League & Intramural League:
As in previous years, ties in the Champions League & IML Finals will be decided by Goals Scored. If that doesn’t produce a winner then the Final will be replayed. If that replay is also drawn, then the following method will be used:
Group Stages: If two teams are tied on table points then teams are separated first by total matchpoints scored, then total goals, least red cards, total assists, least yellow cards, most bonus points, most BPS points, least minutes played and finally, if necessary, most recent gameweek scores.
Quarter-Finals & Semi-Finals: If a match is tied after both legs, the match will be decided by total goals in both legs, least red cards, total assists, least yellow cards, most bonus points, most BPS points, least minutes played, then best most-recent score.
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. If for some reason two replays can’t separate the teams then the SF tiebreakers will be used.
BFFA Cup:
If a match is drawn it will be replayed.
If the replay still doesn’t decide a winner, then it will be decided by: total goals, total assists, least red cards, least yellow cards, most bonus points, most BPS points, least minutes played and finally, if necessary, most-recent gameweek scores.
The League
The regular league season will again run until the end of Gameweek 36. At that point, we will declare the league champions, promotions, relegations and postseason set-up.
The post-season will follow the same format again – Pro/Rel playoffs, CL Qualifiers and IML Qualifiers, plus the Wooden Spoon, Runners-Up Trophy and the Champion-of-Champions tournament. Once again, the fourth-placed teams will get a shot at the 2025 CL via the Qualifying Round in the postseason.
The Best-ish competition will again continue right to the end of the season (Gameweek 38). Game on!
Hope you’re ready for a great season!
Good luck.
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