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Football in Sulivannia [WIP] (unformatted)
Football, officially called association football, or less commonly, soccer, is the most popular sport in Sulivannia.History
The sport was first played in 1881, and the Sulivannian Association Football Federation (SAFF) was established in 1898, to promote the sport in the national level.
League Football
The Sulivannian football league system or the Sulivannian football pyramid is a series of interconnected football leagues for association football clubs.
It consists of five tiers denoting the geographic extent of the managed leagues, where higher-numbered tiers cover smaller geographical areas, from national leagues to district leagues. There are 17 levels, and 11 official levels where the league structure is consistently defined. Some Tier 1 clubs (often Level 1, and rarely Level 2) have secondary teams containing their reserve players, often in Level 4 and below, but no two teams of the same club can operate in the same tier and the secondary team cannot be promoted or relegated out of their existing tier. The average league contains nine clubs.
In the 2021 football season, there are five tiers containing 17 levels, 5074 individual leagues, and 44,681 participating clubs.
The pyramid has always operated under a promotion and relegation system to a large extent. All leagues are under the management of the Sulivannian Association Football Federation (SAFF), established in 1898. The level of management decreases for progressively higher-numbered levels, and mainly focuses on Level 11 and above leagues.
A league structure similar to the present was adopted the 1900s decade. Until 1985 a club could be promoted and relegated to different levels but were prevented from moving to different tiers, except when a team performed exceptionally well or poor, and for financial opportunities such as expansion clubs. Hundreds of clubs were 'promoted' and 'relegated' in this manner. From the 1985 season, the SAFF reorganised its management and installed a more open promotion and relegation system. In 2016 the current format was developed - in Tier 1 two 32-club leagues became three 30-club leagues. The table below indicates the league structure the number of clubs participating in each tier, level, and league in the 2021 season.
National Football (Tier 1)
Level | League | Clubs per League | Promotions | Relegations |
1 ('top flight') | Sulivannian Championship Football League (1st step) | 30 | 0 | 4 |
2 | Sulivannian Premier Football League (2nd step) | 30 | 4 | 4 |
3 | Sulivannian National Football League (3rd step) | 30 | 4 | 4 |
Regional Football (Tier 2)
Level | Leagues | Number of Leagues | Clubs per Level | Clubs per League | Promotions | Relegations |
4 | Regional Football Associations Leagues (1st step) | 8 | 108 | 10-18 | - | - |
5 | Regional Football Associations Leagues (2nd step) | 8 | 120 | 10-20 | - | - |
State and Territorial Football (Tier 3)
Level | Leagues | Number of Leagues | Clubs per Level | Clubs per League | Promotions | Relegations |
6 | Combined State and Territorial Associations Leagues (1st step) | 20 | 308 | 8-20 | - | - |
7 | Combined State and Territorial Associations Leagues (2nd step) | 20 | 336 | 8-23 | - | - |
8 | State and Territorial Associations Leagues (1st step) | 47 | 507 | 6-17 | - | - |
9 | State and Territorial Associations Leagues (2nd step) | 47 | 540 | 7-18 | - | - |
County Football (Tier 4)
Level | Leagues | Number of Leagues | Clubs per Level | Clubs per League | Promotions | Relegations |
10 | Combined County Association Leagues (1st step) | 188 | 2162 | 6-18 | - | - |
11 | Combined County Association Leagues (2nd step) | 188 | 2259 | 6-19 | - | - |
12* | Combined County Association Leagues (3rd step) | 273 | 2546 | 6-15 | - | - |
13* | Combined County Association Leagues (4th step) | 273 | 2781 | 6-16 | - | - |
14* | County Associations Leagues | 748 | 6432 | 4-16 | - | - |
15* | County Associations Leagues | 748 | 6473 | 4-16 | - | - |
District Football (Tier 5)
Level | Leagues | Number of Leagues | Clubs per Level | Clubs per League | Promotions | Relegations |
16* | Combined District Associations Leagues | 1145 | 9035 | 4-14 | - | - |
17* | Combined District Associations Leagues | 1358 | 11164 | 4-14 | - | - |
Cup Football
The Sulevani National Cup is the oldest knockout competion in Sulivannia, established in 1902. The competition is open to clubs in levels 1-11 and over 500 teams participate annually.
Cup Competitions
League | Participating Clubs | Eligibility |
Sulevani National Cup | ~500 | Levels 1-11 |
Sulevani League Cup | ~1000 | Levels 5-13 |
Schedule
Football typically runs from early February with pre-season, club friendlies, and exhibition matches to early December with the Grand Final of the Sulivannian Championship Football League, though regular seasons typically operate during the period between early March to late November.
League Competitions | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
Sulivannian Championship Football League (finals in November and December) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Sulivannian Premier Football League and Sulivannian National Football League (promotion play-offs in November) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
Tier 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
Tiers 3, 4, 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Cup Competitions | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
Sulevani National Cup [Levels 1-11] | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||
Sulevani League Cup [Levels 6-13] | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
See also:
• 
2022 Sulivannian football season (ongoing)
Notes:
• Expand on information in each section
• Add continential club football section
• Add international football section
• Consider the effects of a new 2022 season schedule
• Retcon 2021 season schedule
• Add contents box
• Add possible translations
• Improve formatting
• Improve grammar, sentence structure, specificity, reduce ambiguity
