| UCFA Champions League |
|---|
|
| Founded |
| September 2007 |
| Abolished |
| June 2008 |
| Region |
| Cybernations |
| Number of teams |
| 9 (UCFA 6) 17 (most ever) |
| Current champions |
| Neo Japan - 1st time |
| Most successful team |
| Arcadian Empire (2 times) |
| Sign Ups |
| None. |
The UCFA Champions League (also known as the Champions League) was a national team football competition organised by the United Cybernations Football Associations (UCFA) which started in October 2007 for any team that wished to participate and ended in June 2008 due to time reasons. The tournament was held every two months. The Prize, the UCFA Champions League Cup with $6,000,000 prize money is a prestigious football trophy. The UCFA Cup winner gets $3,000,000.
As of UCFA 4, the Arcadian Empire is exempt from all UCFA prize money.
The UCFA Champions League is affiliated with the Transvaal World Cup and the Liga Mundo and was the only regular World Championships for National Sides during its 9 month tenure.
Neo Japan were crowned UCFA World Champions after claiming the UCFA Pre-Cup in the Sixth Champions League before it was abolished. They defeated Costa Libertad 2-0 at the Estadio Libertad on June 8, 2008 then were crowned on June 9.
History[]
The tournament was inaugurated in October 2007, and is the brainchild of Emperor Power of the Arcadian Empire who wanted his national team to play in a Cup Competition. However, the Legion was not interested, as they were not interested in the sport, so he decided to make his own Championship.
However, with the huge national cost of the UCFA Champions League. The Arcadian Champions League was ended.
The tournament has grown bigger, from 7 nations from UCFA 1 to 17 in UCFA 2, but it has fallen to 11 in UCFA 3, but is still a considerable number.
A spin-off has been created, the Champions of Champions Tournament where the winners of the tournament in the past year compete again to see which team was the best of that year. The competition is also known as the UCFA Super Cup.
The Arcadian Empire became the first team in UCFA's history to retain the Championship after beating MacLand 4-2 on penalties after a drawn 0-0 and then beating Paraganea 1-0 in the previous tournament. One season later, Paraganea became the first ever nation to be the Undisputed Champion, that is the real World Champion after winning both the Transvaal World Cup and UCFA Champions League at the same time.
The longest streak in the UCFA Championships go to Costa Libertad who has won three consecutive Pre-Cups.
The tournament was ended in June after the Pre-Cup was played, with UCFA citing "time reasons" and "organisation management collapse" to end the tournament immediately.
UCFA Champions League One[]
- Main article: UCFA Champions League 1
The first tournament was a small tournament by any means, only seven nations, but in that seven nations was still a huge number. UCFA had only 3 legal sign ups, and when they decided that was too small, they let 4 late comers in to make the tournament seem bigger.
Originally, only the Arcadian Empire, United Protectorates and Transvaal signed up within the one week sign up period. However, UCFA deemed that number was too small, and let four late comers in, Eastern Australia, Nigras, Costa Libertad and IrishLand.
The seven competitors battled through a tough group stage, all in one group. Arcadian Empire finished first, and battled Nigras, who finished fourth in the home away playoff. IrishLand who came second, faced Transvaal.
Arcadian Empire drew 0-0 with Nigras in the first leg, and after a scoreless second leg, along with extra time. The game refused to make any goals. The penalty shootout arised and Nigras one it 4-2, thus allowing them to the Final.
In the other fixture, Transvaal comfortably defeated IrishLand at home 3-1. The score was 1-1 at half time and two goals in the second half sealed the win. In the second leg, Transvaal managed to draw and were allowed to enter the final.
Over 88 000 people watched the Final entertinament live. The Sunset Game, the third-place playoff between Arcadian Empire and IrishLand ended in a penalty shootout win 4-3 for the Arcadians securing 3rd place.
In the Final, televised live to all participating countries and other countries, Nigras defeated Transvaal 2-1 in the Final even though it seemed the Final was going to Transvaal after an early goal, but a double goal showing by one Nigras player secured the win and allowed Nigras to hold the first ever UCFA Champions League Trophy. The money was given to Nigras and was used to rebuild the war ravaged country.
UCFA Champions League Two[]
- Main article: UCFA Champions League 2
The second tournament doubled the number of teams participating. It was the second monthly edition, and was highly anticipated. New features such as $500,000 extra in prize money, 20 more points for the first team and substitutes and substitutions to be added to the Champions League.
In total, 16 nations signed up, with 4 original teams. The sixteen teams were split into four groups each, with one original heading each group.
The group stage ranged from being very exciting (group 3, every team had a chance at all matchdays) to very dull and obvious who was going to win (group 1.) Upsets occured and Transvaal and Costa Libertad were knocked out.
In the home-away playoffs, Arcadian Empire defeated Neo Japan 4-3 on aggregate (1-2, 3-1), Winterfell defeated Bushcraftboyz 4-0 (4-0, 0-0), Paranganea defeated Ghuxalia 3-1 (3-0, 0-1) and MacLand defeated Nigras 1-0 (0-0, 1-0.)
In the semi-finals, Winterfell defeated the Arcadians on away goals, 2-2a on aggregate (2-2, 0-0) and because of this, the Away Goals Rule was scrapped. The other semi-final also went to the away goals rule decision, Paranganea defeating MacLand 4-4a (1-2, 3-2).
The Final was watched by over 30 countries world wide and the Staatspresident Botha Stadium was completely full at 58 000 people. In the third place playoff, Arcadian Empire defeated MacLand 2-1.
In the Final, it was 0-0 at half time between Winterfell and Paranganea. Both teams scored in the second half to bring the game to extra time, but 5 minutes into extra time, Winterfell scored and kept the lead for a 2-1 win after extra time.
Winterfell Incident[]
After Winterfell won the UCFA 2 cup, the $1,500,000 was to be delivered to the nation. However, no one accepted the prize money after a week, so it was put to a vote to decide what to do with the money.
The most votes was for the option (add money to UCFA 3 prize pot), to increase UCFA 3's prize money from $2,000,000 standard to $3,500,000.
UCFA Champions League 3[]
- Main article: UCFA Champions League 3
The third tournament began with a pre-cup, won by Costa Libertad defeating Dun Carrig. The first ever qualifying stage saw Ashwinder defeat Surrey Empire 4-2 on aggregate to see them go into the second group, with 4 participants.
Arcadian Empire and Paranganea, powerhouses in the competition finished 4th and 5th in the group stage, guaranteeing them a spot in the knockout stage, barely. Arcadian Empire was to face the group 2 winner and Paranganea was to face Nigras, the group winner.
In the second group, newcomers Ashwinder shocked the footballing world by defeating every single opponent at least once and finishing top of the group, a group which Transvaal was tipped to win. Transvaal finished last on 3 points.
The UCFA Cup was established, a secondary competition for the second-tier clubs, where the last placers in each group along with the 4 losers of the quarter final playoffs to contend. Neo Japan, Transvaal, Nigras, Dun Carrig, Laputa and Ashwinder contested the UCFA Cup, where Nigras and Laputa were eliminated in the 1st round. Neo Japan was knocked off in the semi-final as well as Ashwinder by new rivals Transvaal who beat them on the penalty spot 3-0. Neo Japan beat Ashwinder 2-1 for 3rd place and Dun Carrig defeated Transvaal 3-2 to win the UCFA Cup and a chance to be called UCFA Champion after a match with the CL winner.
Paranganea, Costa Libertad, MacLand and Arcadian Empire advanced to the semi-finals. Paranganea defeated Costa Libertad 3-1 on aggregate, while Arcadian Empire got a place in the final with a 3-2 win on aggregate. Costa Libertad won the third place playoff in front of their home crowd of 120 000 3-2 beating Dun Carrig. Arcadian Empire took its chance and took it well to become World Champions for the first time ever after a defensive error let the Arcadian's go through with the only goal of the match for a 1-0 win.
The UCFA Champion fixture is to be played on January 5 to determine the UCFA Champion, between Dun Carrig and Arcadian Empire. The Champion of Champions tournament is to be held in Nigras in January.
2007 Champion[]
- Main article: UCFA 2007 Champion
The 2007 Champion is to be contested by the winners and runners up of each UCFA Champions League played in 2007. Nigras, Transvaal, Paranganea and the Arcadian Empire contest the title. Winterfell isn't included as they were unwilling to send a squad and is not currently a UCFA member.
Nigras won the group stage, registering 2 wins and a draw from their 3 matches, Arcadian Empire came second with 3 draws and 3 points, Paraganea and Transvaal were on two points with Paraganea with -1 goal difference and Transvaal with a lower goal difference.
Nigras defeated Arcadian Empire 2-0 to go to the Final in the Page Playoff system, and Arcadian Empire would play the winner of Transvaal and Paraganea, Transvaal after winning 2-0. The Arcadians won the match and went on to the Final to replay Nigras for the Championship and Transvaal again playing Paraganea for third place. Transvaal defeated Paraganea to gain third place and Nigras defeated Arcadia 2-1 aet with the winning goal being scored in the 119th minute, 1 minute from the penalty shootout.
UCFA Champions League 4[]
- Main article: UCFA Champions League 4
Dun Carrig won the Pre-Cup, after a shocking performance by "heavyweights" in football. Then it was revealed four matches were wrongly played as Costa Libertad was to be the opponent in the Final, but it was given to Dun Carrig. This meant that all Costa Libertad matches were disqualified and needed to be played again.
The Group stage went swimmingly with the results that many expected coupled with huge shocks. Laputa, who finished lowly in UCFA 3 topped the Group 1 with 27 out of 30 possible points. They were followed by MacLand (16), Dun Carrig (15), IrishLand who returned from UCFA 1 on 13 points and Paraganea edged out Neo Japan on goal difference, -3 to Neo Japan's -7 who were both on 9 points.
Group Two produced some shocks. Marshdonia, a new entrant finished second with Jalop, another new entrant finishing fourth. Transvaal finished bottom of the group with Costa Libertad 3rd and Arcadian Empire 1st.
In the Home-away playoffs, it marked the first time away goals were not used. IrishLand defeated a resurgent Laputa 5-4 on aggregate (2-2, 3-2) to book a place in the Semi-Finals and relegating Laputa to the UCFA Cup.
MacLand and Costa Libertad had to settle their matches on penalties, which MacLand won 6-5 after a 4-4 drawn aggregate score (2-2, 2-2.) Dun Carrig won their clash with Marshdonia 6-5 on aggregate (3-3, 3-2) and the Arcadian Empire edged out Paraganea on both their matches winning the matches 4-3 and 2-1 to win 6-4 on aggregate.
At this point the UCFA Champions League stopped and the UCFA Cup was played. In the opening round, Laputa defeated Costa Libertad 2-1 to go to the next round and Paraganea inched out Marshdonia 3-2. Marshdonia then walked-over Costa Libertad 6-1 to claim the third spot in the Third UCFA Cup Round.
Transvaal, who finished last in Group 2 defeated Laputa comfortably 3-1 to book their place in the Group Stage. Paraganea defeated Jalop easily 6-2 and Neo Japan just lost to Marshdonia on penalties, with Marshdonia winning 4-2 after a drawn 1-1 extra time period.
In the UCFA Cup Group Stage, Paraganea stumbled in their first match to win the next 3 finishing on 9 points with Transvaal finishing on 7. Marshdonia finished on 1 point, making a Paraganea v Transvaal UCFA Cup Final.
After this, the Champions League resumed. IrishLand and MacLand played a second-leg thriller which was awarded Match of the Year by UCFA after MacLand coming down from a 4 goal deficit to win in a what seemed to be a never ending penalty shootout 7-6. The final score there MacLand defeating IrishLand 6-6 (7-6 PK) with 2-4 and 4-2 being the scores of the individual matches.
Arcadian Empire came back from a 2 goal deficit in the first leg losing 3-1 to Dun Carrig to win at home 4-1 to win their clash 5-4 on aggregate setting up a MacLand v Arcadian Empire Final.
In the Final, the Arcadian Empire became the first team ever to retain the World Championship after defeating MacLand 4-2 on penalties after a drawn 0-0 extra time period.
UCFA Champions League 5[]
- Main article: UCFA Champions League 5
For the fourth season in a row, the UCFA Champions League season started with the Pre-Cup. 10 nations entered the season's CL with 1 new nation, J Andres.
In the 1st Round, Jalop shocked Neo Japan 4-3 on penalties after Laputa defeated J Andres. In the Second Round, Transvaal beat Paraganea 1-0 in the major shock of the night, while Jalop shocked Dun Carrig 4-1 and Costa Libertad beating MacLand 3-1. Costa Libertad defeated Arcadia 3-1 in the semi-final with Transvaal edging Jalop 3-2. Costa Libertad won the Pre-Cup 1-0 over Transvaal, to increase their Pre-Cup streak to 3 consecutive Pre-Cup trophies.
In the first ever 2 groups of 5 group stage, Dun Carrig topped group 1 on 15 points followed by Transvaal and MacLand both on 12 points, then with Arcadia on 10 points. Neo Japan managed 4 points and was sent to the UCFA Cup. In group 2, Costa Libertad was totally dominant and won the group with 22 points, followed by Paraganea and Laputa (11) and J Andres defeating Jalop 3-2 in a last matchday playoff for the CL spot.
However, J Andres would be knocked out by Dun Carrig after they won 5-2 on aggregate, Paraganea defeated MacLand 3-2 on aggregate in a replay of the recent TWC Final, Laputa shocked Transvaal 4-3 and Arcadia came from behind to snatch a 3-2 victory over Costa Libertad.
MacLand then beat J Andres 8-1 on aggregate in the UCFA Cup, with Transvaal beating Costa Libertad 3-2. Transvaal and MacLand then faced the bottom nations in the group stage, but they both lost setting up a MacLand v Transvaal UCFA Cup Final, which MacLand won 1-0.
To the CL, and Paraganea thrashed Dun Carrig 5-2 and Laputa shocked Arcadia 7-5 on aggregate, to set up a Paraganea v Laputa Final which Paraganea won 1-0. The result set up a replay of the TWC Final which Paraganea won 3-0. MacLand however played an epic match and they won the UCFA Champion match 3-2 on penalties after a drawn 0-0 extra time period.
UCFA Champions League 6[]
- Main article: UCFA Champions League 6
The Champions League again started with a Pre-Cup. Neo Japan upset
Qualification[]
There is no qualification as of yet, as you qualify by signing up to be part of it. It is planned that later, qualification will take place in alliances, to play in the final stages.
There are only 24 spaces in the Champions League, and signing ups are closed after the deadline, which is specified, or after the 24th nation has signed up, however, this has never happened.
Expansion[]
After its inception, other UCFA competitions have surfaced. The Transvaal World Cup was re-born and is being played again. UCFA has also expanded into the Club tournament system with Costa Libertad heading that section. The Competition, Liga Mundo is the World's Premier Club Competition.
The Stages[]
The tournament consists of several stages and starts with the group stage, where all nations compete in a double round robin group stage, each team playing every other team once at their home stadium and once at their opponents stadium.
The top teams in each group (usually two or four) will then play a home-away playoff, the winners of the home-away playoffs will reach the Final. The Final is only one match, with extra time then penalties if the scores are drawn.
The away-goals rule was enforced, but is now not enforced after a 75% majority was reached in a scrappy poll. Now, drawn aggregate scores will be seperated by a penalty shootout.
UCFA 1
The stages in the first UCFA Champions League was where all seven nations were put in one group, and played a double round robin group stage. The four top nations then reached the semi-final home-away playoffs, where the winners advanced to the Final, which was only one match played at a predetermined stadium, the Stadio Imperator.
UCFA 2
The second Champions League had a slightly different format. The 16 teams were placed into 4 groups of 4 each, which played a double-round-robin stage. The top two in the group reached the quarter-final-home-away-playoff, where the winners on aggregate reached the semi-final, which was played in the same fashion as the quarter final. The winners on aggregate reached the Final.
UCFA 3
The third Champions League had a different format again. This season's league was to be more of a UEFA Champions League by incorporating the stages of the competition. Qualifiers, group, home-away playoff and final.
The 9 of 11 UCFA 3 nations automatically "qualified" with the 2 new nations playing in a qualifiers round to gain the 10th spot in the group stage. The winner of the playoff on aggregate joined the other 9 nations to play in a group stage.
The top 8 qualify for the home-away playoff which is played in the same fashion as the qualifiers, with the winners advancing to the semi-finals, and the winner of those reaching the Final.
UCFA 4
The fourth Champions League had a format similar to UCFA 3, without the qualifying round. This meant that one group had 6 and the other had 5 nations. The rest of the tournament is in the same layout as UCFA 3.
UCFA 5
UCFA 5 had two groups of 5 and then the playoff stages were identical to the UCFA 3 playoffs.
Tournament Finals[]
UCFA Champions League
| Season | Winner | Score | Runner Up | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June '08 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
| April '08 | Paraganea | 1-0 | Laputa | Grand Stadium of the Emperor |
| February '08 | Arcadian Empire | 0-0 aet 4-2 PK | MacLand | Grand Stadium of Garryowen |
| December '07 | Arcadian Empire | 1-0 | Paranganea | Estadio Libertad |
| November '07 | Winterfell | 2-1 aet | Paranganea | Staatspresident Botha Stadium |
| October '07 | Nigras | 2-1 | Transvaal | Stadio Imperator |
UCFA Cup Finals
| Season | Winner | Score | Runner Up | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April '08 | MacLand | 1-0 | Transvaal | Grand Stadium of the Emperor |
| February '08 | Transvaal | 3-1 | Paraganea | Grand Stadium of Garryowen |
| December '07 | Dun Carrig | 3-2 | Transvaal | Estadio Libertad |
Pre-Cup Finals
| Season | Winner | Score | Runner Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| April '08 | Costa Libertad | 1-0 | Transvaal |
| February '08 | Costa Libertad | 3-1 | MacLand |
| December '07 | Costa Libertad | 3-1 | Dun Carrig |
| November '07 | Nigras | 1-0 | Dun Carrig |
UCFA Super Cup
| Season | Winner | Score | Runner Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 07' | MacLand | 0-0 aet (3-2 PK) | Paraganea |
| February 07' | Arcadian Empire | 1-0 | Transvaal |
| December 07' | Arcadian Empire | 2-1 | Dun Carrig |
Year Champions
| Season | Winner | Score | Runner Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Nigras | 2-1 aet | Arcadian Empire |
Records and Statistics[]
Performances by Nation[]
| Nation | Winners | Runners Up |
|---|---|---|
| Arcadian Empire | 2 | 0 |
| Nigras | 1 | 0 |
| Winterfell | 1 | 0 |
| Paranganea | 1 | 2 |
| Transvaal | 0 | 1 |
| MacLand | 0 | 1 |
| Laputa | 0 | 1 |
Top Goalscorers[]
This will be done differently, this will now shown as the team.
| Team | Goals |
|---|---|
| Costa Libertad | 110 |
| Arcadian Empire | 107 |
| MacLand | 92 |
| Dun Carrig | 91 |
| Paraganea | 89 |
| Transvaal | 88 |
| Laputa | 64 |
| Neo Japan | 57 |
| Jalop | 39 |
| J Andres | 15 |
Clean Sheets[]
| Team | Clean Sheets |
|---|---|
| Arcadian Empire | 23 |
| Paraganea | 16 |
| MacLand | 15 |
| Laputa | 13 |
| Costa Libertad | 11 |
| Transvaal | 10 |
| Neo Japan | 6 |
| Dun Carrig | 5 |
| Jalop | 3 |
| J Andres | 1 |
Finance[]
The winning team is given $6,000,000 to be given to them by aid at the end of the Final. The UCFA Cup winner gets $3,000,000.
There have been many stories of how the aid has been used, in war-ravaged Nigras, when they won the first ever UCFA Champions League, the aid was used to rebuild the country. UCFA has now been hailed a "great organisation who combines the best of humanitarianism and football."
The Champions of Champions edition gives away $4,000,000 for the winner. As of yet the Pre-Cup winner and the UCFA Champion gets nothing as of yet either.
After UCFA 5, the Top Scorer's and Best Goalkeeper's (least goals conceded) Nation gets $1,500,000 each.
Editions of the UCFA Champions League[]
April 2008 Edition (5) - Winner: Paraganea
February 2008 Edition (4) - Winner: Arcadian Empire
2007 Champions Edition - Winner: Nigras
December 2007 Edition (3) - Winner: Arcadian Empire
November 2007 Edition (2) - Winner: Winterfell
October 2007 Edition (1) - Winner: Nigras
References[]
[1] - UCFA Champions League 5, Signups and Results
[2] - UCFA Champions League 4, Signups and Results
[3] - UCFA Champions League 3, Signups and Results
[4] - UCFA Champions League 2, Signups and Results
[5] - UCFA Champions League 1, Signups and Results