League A

Marc Ackter

With the final weeks of the season approaching, teams are going into overdrive in order to get their hands on a larger share of the £30m available in League A.

The Frecheville Blades have announced the stunning double signing of Maicon and Unal Gokhan, for combined fees totaling over £2.5M, sending a signal to their fellow AFA members that they mean business.  With the capture of two of the games brightest talents, league leaders Notvery Athletic must be feeling the pressure to maintain their position, especially with their current total inability to find the net.  With wages for the new pair rumoured to be around £90, 000 per day, Blades boss Reeves will be hoping his gamble comes good.

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At league leaders Notvery Athletic there have been some radical developments. Top scorer Andrea Caracciolo was transferred to a rival federation’s team for nearly £2m. Notvery’s American superstar Landon Donovan has also been shown the door, netting another £1.5m for the Outofbreathers. This was only the start as a shake-up also saw several of Notvery’s prospering youth team released to the wolves.

After several 0-0 draws Ackter broke out the checkbook and spent over £4m on bolstering his misfiring team. Strikers Ezequiel Maggiolo and Daniele Cacia joined the ranks while nearly every other area of the team also saw improvement.

Other teams were more reserved with their money as they looked to catch up with Notvery’s massive lead, sitting atop the table with 103 points. Notvery’s biggest threat comes in the shape of AS HySteriA FC who can take the lead if they win all of their games in hand. A tall order perhaps, but an exciting and close end is sure to emerge.

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At the bottom of the table, The Peacocks Athletic are in big trouble as a 4-1 loss to Harworth Allstars sees them drifting nearer and nearer to relegation. Having a player sent off within the first quarter of an hour is never the best way to stave off the threat of relegation, but when facing a team with stars such as Ryan Giggs it is nothing short of torture.

KaisAYR IFC saw themselves drift off the pace with a series of draws against lower opposition. It may be enough to see them out of the title race, but they could still qualify for one of the AFA’s European spots if they finish strongly.

Sith Warriors FC find themselves in all sorts of trouble, with the second automatic relegation place calling to them. 10 games and 2 points ahead of FC Show, results like their 9-2 demolition by Tom Warren’s Parson Cross Blades make the drop to League B seem inevitable.

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League B

Jay Kotak

Rather than dive straight into the action, this week we are taking a step back and looking at the League B structure as a whole, to give you an idea of what there is to play for.

Each Federation has to negotiate a media deal at the start of each season and it is up to the federation organizer to allocate these funds. League B has been given a 9 Million prize fund which is spread in varying allocations amongst the teams depending on their places. From the winner taking 1.26 million to themselves, to the bottom 3 gaining just 270K each.

There is not just the prize money to play for - there is promotion to the much lucrative League A that promises spoils of better teams to play, more media money as reward, qualification to the Inter Federation Cups (the UFFA Champions League and UFFA Cup) and an all you can eat buffet every Sunday. Well, maybe not the last, but there were forum-based rumours of SI adding an online take away ordering system into FML - you heard it here first!

At the AFA we encourage our users to be as active as possible (hence our name), and one way we encourage this is with our extensive playing times for our league games, with games going on from as soon as you get in after work at 17:30 till the early hours of 01:30 the next day, and that’s just on the weekdays!

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Now, on with the action: as the league table shows, it is one hell of a battle for the promotion spot with both teams on 93 points. With over two thirds of the season gone, London F.C. has emerged as perhaps the slight favourites with the better form and a game in hand.

 
The rest of the pack are still battling hard for the play-off places, with Fly Bhoys and Steagu’ having a tight battle for third place, no doubt hoping that one of the top two might slip up on their promotion charge.

 
At the other end, the wooden spoon of the league seems to be destined to go to AFC Fiddlesticks, with 29 consecutive loses, and not a single goal scored.

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With the season pushing on, the teams have also been finding out who is performing well and who needs to be shown the boot. The leagues biggest spenders have been Dillon Panthers, spending well over 2 million going for the title, bringing in the likes of Pasquale Foggia (AMRL - 600K), Kerra Gilbert (WBR - 500K), Magnum (AMLC -500K) and Maxwell (WBL -500K).  The rest of the league has capped their spending in line with their estimated prize money; with London F.C. spending 500K each to hire real life Hibernian stars Merouane Zemmama (MC+AMR) and David Murphy (DL). Fly Bhoys spent just shy of the same adding Eris Ceyhun (AMC - 250K) and Hossam Ghaly (MC - 200K) to their books. Steagu’, on the other hand, made the most of the loan market signing experienced strikers Ezequiel Maggiolo and Roberto Stellone to help the team in the league.

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FA Cup

Cian Fahey

The FA Cup’s opening rounds have been renowned for their free-flowing football and goals galore throughout the Football Manager Live Lobby.

 
This was no more exemplified than in the 1st round encounter between Steven Teal's Moorside Utd and Chris Mennel's Hobgoblin FC, where Hobgoblin led by 2 goal hero Dimitry Sychev stormed into the next round.

It was Sychev who wrapped the game up after a brace by Lisandro Lopez was cancelled out by Neil Mellor and Daryl Murphy.The forward line of Kanu, Lisandro Lopez and Sychev were in buoyant mood as they lit up the stage with their eye-catching link-up play.

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League Cup

Cian Fahey

The less prestigious but equally intriguing League cup was on the agenda for League 'A' leaders Notvery Athletic FC - managed by the insufferably cocky Marc Ackter. The AFA's leaders portrayed real character in their tricky away tie at Nathan Pollards Sith Warriors FC.
 

The hosts were behind after only ten minutes when man of the match David Jones fired in from the edge of the box.
 

Within 5 minutes Pollard's team had hit back through Carlos Eduardo. Sith Warriors’ joy was cut short by a moment of insanity by Robbie Elliott resulting in a red card.
 

The Warriors were to hold out until extra time where in the ninety-eighth minute the mercurial Anderson settled matters and dashed any hopes of an upset.

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FA Vase

Marc Ackter

 
The FA Vase can be considered the least prestigious of the AFA senior cups. Made up of the lower ranked teams and late-comers to the AFA it offers a chance for some of the smaller teams to better their financial positions.

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As it is only made up of 22 teams the FA Vase can be considered a quick-fire cup, with only two matches remaining before the Semi-Final draw in a few days time. Early favorites for the Vase were Jay Kotak’s London FC, whose 8-5 goal-a-thon against Iron Fist FC saw League B’s dark horses through to the second round, where they doled out a 5-1 thrashing to Crows FC. David Yellope’s Franklin Town seemed destined to challenge after their 7-0 hammering of Randwicked City FC saw them through to the second round and to an amazingly hard fought 4-3 loss to Fly Bhoys. The Fly Bhoys then put themselves forward as real contenders by dumping Kotak’s London FC out of the Vase with a 5-2 demonstration of solid football.

The Semi-Finalists so far are Fly Bhoys, Moorside Utd and Porto Alegre Utd. Dillon’s Panthers FC are almost certain to face Bruno Athayde FC to decide who gets the fourth semi final place.

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Read the first installment here!

Read the second installment here!