The Champions League returns next month with a familiar format. The Group Stage has been returned to its original 4-groups-of-4 set-up, which will see the teams compete across four separate mini-leagues instead of the UEFA-style all-in-one arrangement.
This cross-season elite tournament once again pits the sixteen most successful and highest-scoring managers against each other, with the promise of prize money and silverware (BYOT, Buy Your Own Trophy) before Christmas.
The Phenoms are this season’s defending Champions. They won last season’s Champions League Final 68 – 55½ against De Bruyne Trousers.
Two-time winners Gloopy Yarbles are also back thanks to qualification as a Best-ish Reserve – scoring over 2,000 Fantasy Points but unfortunately finishing (just one league point) outside of the top three. The 2023 champions – Sporting Wicker Park – are also back in the mix, with the 2026 BFFA Cup Champions badge sewn onto their imaginary jerseys.
The Teams
Barons FC
Beedle’s Boys
Beyer Neverleusen
Bigo1
De Bruyne Trousers
FPL Daddy
Gloopy Yarbles
GoFYS FC
Housewives Favourite
Hung Like A Bony
Preliminary Version
Smash & Grab
Sporting Wicker Park
The Phenoms
Whiskey De Bruyne
Wrockwardine Wood Wolves
| Previous Winners: Season 2: K.H. Granitza Sting FC Season 3: SB Town Baggers Season 4: Mighty fine feeling Season 5: All Star Gunners Season 6: Tralfamadore Zoo FC Season 7 – No Champions League competition | Season 8: Mighty fine feeling Season 9: Gloopy Yarbles Season 10: Sporting Wicker Park Season 11: Gloopy Yarbles Season 12: The Phenoms |
The Format
First Round:
Group Stage – 4 groups of 4 teams.
Every team plays each other twice.
The top two from each group go through.
GW4: A1 v A2, A3 v A4; B1 v B2, B3 v B4; C1 v C2, C3 v C4; D1 v D2, D3 v D4.
GW5: A1 v A3, A2 v A4; B1 v B3, B2 v B4; C1 v C3, C2 v C4; D1 v D3, D2 v D4.
[Double International Break]
GW6: A1 v A4, A2 v A3; B1 v B4, B2 v B3; C1 v C4, C2 v C3; D1 v D4, D2 v D3.
GW7: A1 v A4, A2 v A3; B1 v B4, B2 v B3; C1 v C4, C2 v C3; D1 v D4, D2 v D3.
GW8: A1 v A3, A2 v A4; B1 v B3, B2 v B4; C1 v C3, C2 v C4; D1 v D3, D2 v D4.
GW9: A1 v A2, A3 v A4; B1 v B2, B3 v B4; C1 v C2, C3 v C4; D1 v D2, D3 v D4.
[GW10: Champions League break]
Second Round:
Quarter-Finals – Two-legged ties. GW’s 11 & 12
QF1: Winners Group A vs. Runners-Up Group B
QF2: Winners Group B vs. Runners-Up Group A
QF3: Winners Group C vs. Runners-Up Group D
QF4: Winners Group D vs. Runners-Up Group C
[Gameweek 13 is a midweek gameweek.]
Third Round:
Semi-Finals – Two-legged ties, GW’s 14 & 15
Winners QF1 vs. Winners QF3
Winners QF2 vs. Winners QF4
The Final:
Gameweek 16
One match – the two Semi-Final winners.
Tiebreakers
Group deciders – The groups are, as always, ordered by League Points, then total matchpoints.
If two teams are tied on both, then they are broken by Goals Scored.
If that’s not enough then Head-to-Head results, then H2H matchpoints.
If that’s still not enough, we will go down to most Assists, Clean Sheets, fewest Red Cards, fewest Yellow Cards, fewest minutes. And if they’re still matched after that, then they’re probably clones and will be investigated by BeeFFA. We will do a “countback” – best score in the latest game, then best in the previous gameweek, then the one before that…
Knockout matches – ties are decided by Goals Scored, then Assists, then Clean Sheets, then fewest Reds, fewest Yellows, fewest minutes, countback, finally (and most undesirably) a replay (bleurgh!)
The Draw
The EFL League Cup Draw takes place on Wednesday 27th August around 10:15 pm (UK).
The draw will be live on the EFL website and Sky Sports.
The BFFA Champions League teams have been ordered by last season’s Bestish ranks (by total Season 12 matchpoints); the lower the number, the better they scored (therefore tougher, right?).
The balls numbered 9-24 (ignoring the 8 teams involved in the pre-draw) have been assigned to our CL competitors. When these are drawn by the Carabao Cup panel it will sort our teams into four groups.
The first four teams drawn from those numbers will generate Group A, the next four will fill Group B, the third quartet – Group C and the final four go into Group D. You can decide for yourselves which Group constitutes the “Group of Death“!
The first team drawn will be “A1”, and they will play “A2” (the second team out) in Gameweeks 4 & 9. The subsequently drawn numbers will be allocated as “A3”, then “A4”, “B1”, “B2”, etc.
| Ball # (Confirmed) | Team | S.12 Points | EFL Cup Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Beedle’s Boys | 2,249½ | Barnsley |
| 10 | Beyer Neverleusen | 2,217½ | Brentford |
| 11 | Housewives Favourite | 2,216 | Brighton |
| 12 | De Bruyne Trousers | 2,155 | Coventry City |
| 13 | Preliminary Version | 2,152½ | Fleetwood Town |
| 14 | Barons FC | 2,120½ | Hull City |
| 15 | Whiskey De Bruyne | 2,058½ | Ipswich Town |
| 16 | Gloopy Yarbles | 2,054½ | Leeds United |
| 17 | Hung like a Bony | 2,045 | Leyton Orient |
| 18 | The Phenoms * | 2,040 | Lincoln City |
| 19 | Sporting Wicker Park | 2,030 | Middlesborough |
| 20 | Smash & Grab | 2,014½ | Millwall |
| 21 | Wrockwardine Wood Wolves | 2,002½ | Norwich City |
| 22 | FPL Daddy | 1,989 | Peterborough United |
| 23 | GoFysFC | 1,983½ | Reading |
| 24 | Bigo1 | 1,848½ | Sheffield United |
The Dates
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