What I've learnt about Football Leagues

Entry: 3
17th of August 2006

Dear Diary,

I have certainly impressed myself with my own capability to digest football facts. Darling gave me a full lesson on England's football league. He said that every country has their own football league and that different leagues have different names. For example, in England, its called the English Premier League (EPL), Spain - Primera Liga, Germany - Bundes Liga, Italy - Serie A, etc. These are the top leagues of the countries. (Hey, i can't remember all these names yet :p It was given to me during the lesson.. haha)

Okay, what have i learnt about leagues?

Darling started off by teaching me about England's football leagues first. Why England? Hmm... I also dunno :p Maybe he really likes England *winks* Anyways, he said that an EPL season lasts from August to May every year. Some countries in Europe begin in September. After May, the players will have their summer break for 3 months and after that, begin a new season. The season this year which will start next week, is called EPL Season 06 - 07. For every season in England, there will be the Community Shield, EPL, FA Cup and League Cup. The Community Shield will be played first. Followed by the new EPL season and the FA Cup and League Cup which will be played throughout the season. Both the Fa Cup and League Cup are knockout competitions.

A Community Sheild is the match that took place last Sunday between Liverpool and Chelsea. Liverpool won u know... Hehe.. :p In other words, a Community Shield is the curtain raiser for every new EPL season. It is played between the champions of the EPL and the champions of the FA Cup for the last season. The 2 teams playing in the Community Shield are already included into the EPL.

The EPL will be played by 20 of England's top teams, followed by another 24 teams which will play in a lower division called the Championship Division. Lower than the Championship Division would be League 1, followed by League 2. Lower still is the Conference League, followed by the Non-league which is the lowest of them all. In the EPL, the top 20 teams will play against each other twice whereby their scores are counted by points. If a team wins, the team gets 3 points. If both teams are tied, they each get 1 point. If they lose, they dont get any points. Therefore, the standing of the table will be determined by the number of points each team has. The team with the highest points will be the champion and wins the EPL. Champions of the EPL will play in the Euro Cup and Community Shield. The top 6 teams of the EPL also qualifies for the Euro Cup where else the last 3 teams out of the 20 top teams will relegate to the Championship Division and the Champions and 1st runner up for the Championship Division will be promoted to the EPL for the new season. As for teams from the 3rd to 6th place, they will play against each other to decide who will be the last team to be promoted to the EPL in the next season.

The FA Cup usually starts in January and has its finals in May while the League Cup starts around September/October in which its finals is in February. Champions of the FA Cup will play in the Community Shield and Euro Cup.

The League Cup is a cup competition which every team in England competes for. It is opened to all the teams registered with the Football Association (FA). That means even the semi-pro teams can get to play in it, not just the pro teams. The League Cup starts from round 1 until the final. Round 1 is played between teams from the lower division. When it comes to round 2, the bottom teams from the EPL will join in. Round 3 would be joined by 10 of the top teams from the EPL. Winners from each round will progress on to the next round. However, darling says that the League Cup is usually not a priority for big teams like Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea because there isn't much prize money. Normally when these teams play, they would put young players in to gain experience.

Well, this is all there is to my little knowledge of football leagues. I've munched on it, digested it, and kept it in my brain cells. Yet, I bet it isn't even 5% of what darling knows about the whole world of football. Man... I've got a lot more to learn. Keep it coming darling.. Muax!!

Smiles,
~* joychariz *~