INPF Football (Soccer) League - CHAMPION = LENINGRAD

[Käpt'n Korky]

Goooooood Day, good Captains! Final table is here!

Since Bundesliga started again and I'm terribly bored apparently I organised a "small" INPF Football (Soccer) League.
I'm so hyped.

Rules are easy:
Each Walküre I could reasonably pin a team in a national league to, gets a place on the two tables.
If I could've attached more than one team I chose reasonably among the possible ones. (*sighs at Moskva*)
I will update ideally once a week (usually after Bundesliga matchdays. Yes, Bias.).
Pointing is according to league matchday outcome. 
A win gets 3 points, a draw 1 point and a loss 0.
In case of equal points I will weigh in the strength of the league and if same league the actual position on the actual table. 
At the end of the season (I'm thinking 1st of May atm) I cut all matches that exeed the number of matches of the team with the lowest number of matches at a table to keep it fair. (Got it?)
Worst three of table one relegate to table 2 and the top three of table 2 get promoted to table 1.

Every team which gets added lands on table 3. And then the league expands. INPF3 would launch after 5 teams are on it.

From time to time a team gets an team entry, with history until 1939, if it exists, and why I chose that particular team.

Applications for missed teams only via discord. Only ships in Shiros magnificent list are eligible.

INPF 1:

Spoiler

Rank	Ship	Name	Liga	Points	Matches
1.	Conte di Cavour	Juventus Turin	SA	112	50
2.	Leningrad	Zenit St. Petersburg	PL	107	46
3.	Belfast	Glentoran FC	NIFL Prem	80	38
4.	La Motte-Picquet	Stade Rennes	L1	74	45
5.	Moskva	Dynamo Moskau	PL	70	42
6.	Kongou	Cerezo Osaka	J1	61	28
7.	Algerie	MC Alger	AL1	48	28
8.	Verdun	FC Metz	L1	48	35
9.	Chiyoda	FC Tokyo	J1	46	30
10.	Augusta	Atlanta United	MLS	42	24
11.	Perth	Perth Glory	A-League	39	31
12.	Tenryuu	Jubilo Iwata	J2	36	26
13.	Wichita	Sporting Kansas City	MLS	34	21
14.	Pola	NK Istra 1961	HNL1	28	40
15.	Köln	1. FC Köln	FBL1	26	29
16.	SL City	Real Salt Lake	MLS	25	17
17.	Saguenay	Montreal Impact	MLS	23	22
18.	Lexington	New England Revolution	MLS	21	19
19.	Kumano	Iga FC Kunoichi	NJSL	20	15
20.	Houston	Houston Dynamo	MLS	16	14

INPF2:

Spoiler

Rank	Ship	Name	Liga	Points	Matches
1.	Exeter	Exeter City FC	FL2	85	48
2.	Hood	Coventry City	FL1	83	45
5.	Bearn	FC Pau	L3	64	35
3.	Canarias	CD Teneriffa	SD	63	45
4.	Admiral Graf Spee	CA River Plate	PDA	62	31
6.	Scharnhorst	Hannover 96	BL2	59	40
10.	Dunkerque	USL Dunkerque	L3	56	31
7.	Arizona	Phoenix Rising FC	USL	55	28
8.	Gneisenau	1. FC Magdeburg	BL3	52	39
9.	Parishkaya Kommuna	Red Star Paris	L3	48	31
11.	Nürnberg	1. FC Nürnberg	BL2	46	39
12.	Kaga	Zweigen Kanazawa	J2	38	28
13.	Aoba	Kyoto Sanga	J2	37	28
14.	Nevada	Reno 1868 FC	USL	31	21
16.	Takao	FC Machida Zelvia	J2	31	28
15.	Nagato	Renofa Yamaguchi FC	J2	28	28
17.	Axum	Shire Endasselasie FC	EPL	21	16
18.	Kitakami	Iwate Grulla Morioka	J3	17	26

Bets may be placed here for a) Champion, b) top three on each table and c) bottom three of each table.
Betting ends at 3rd of October 2019.
For every team in the right position you get one point. Most point can be considered a lucky bastard, least points gets the Lebi-Medal of bad luck.
BETS:

Spoiler

@Ninjapacman a) USS Salt Lake City
                            b) 1st USS Salt Lake City, 2nd Algerie, 3rd RN Pola// 1st Admiral Graf Spee, 2nd IJN Nagato, 3rd Scharnhorst
                            c) 20th Leningrad // Last HMS Hood 

@Käpt'n Korky a) Conte di Cavour
                           b) 1st Conte di Cavour, 2nd Algerie, 3rd Leningrad// 1st Arizona, 2nd Exeter, 3rd Admiral Graf Spee
                           c) 18th Köln, 19th Pola, 20th Tenryuu // 3rd last Scharnhorst, 2nd last Aoba, Last Nevada

@lazarusdw   a) HMS Exeter
                         b) 1st HMS Exeter
                          

 

 

[Käpt'n Korky]

Clubs of the INPF1 table:

1. Wichita - Sporting Kansas City

Chosen for: Right of the bat a good example of "loose geographical association". I honestly tried to give most of the Walküren a club to make it interesting. Now we ALL know USS Wichita is named after Wichita, Kansas. And it has no own soccer* club in the top three male leagues or top female league of the USA. So I looked where it is. The state of Kansas. And the highest playing club in Kansas is Sporting Kansas City in the Major League Soccer. So, there you have it, that's how Wichita ended up with Sporting Kansas City.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: It was founded in 1995, so none.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.
 

2. 金剛 - Cerezo Osaka

Chosen for: The  金剛山(Kongou-yama) is geographically nearest to Osaka of all towns having a soccer* team in the national leagues of Japan. And Cerezo is closer to it than Gamba Osaka, since the mountain is located south of Osaka and Gamba is actually from the town of Suita, north of Osaka.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: It was founded in 1957 as "Yanmar Diesel Football Club" (a company club), so none.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.
 

3. Verdun- FC Metz

Chosen for: I wanted Verdun in this very much, but could not find a football* club. I had to choose in the end between FC Metz and Stade Reims and chose the former for closer proximity to Verdun. Also the fortress Metz has a similar historical weight for WW1 as Verdun itself. This and FC Metz being currently in Ligue 1, made it worthy to me. And their emblem shows a dragon and a Croix de Lorraine, fits.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: FC Metz itself was founded in 1932, but preceded by the Cercle Athletique Messin, founded in 1919.... by players of the former SpVgg 1912 Metz, Metzer SpVgg, FC Metis Metz und FC Alte Herren Metz, all founded before the war.... yeah. The CA Messin however was very succesful in the amateur league of Lorraine, winning it 8 times, before becoming the professional FC Metz in 1932. FC Metz started in the second division, but won it in 1935 thus being elevated  to Ligue 1. At the outbreak of the war that's where it is, in a solid, but also unspectacular mid-field position.

Achievements until Sep 1939: Lorraine champion 1920-1922, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1929 and 1931 (8 times)
 

4. La Motte-Picquet- Stade Rennais

Chosen for: The family of La Motte-Picquet had very close ties with the Bretagne and especially the City of Rennais. So I fit Stade Rennais, a French top division football* club to the ship La Motte-Piquet.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Stade Rennais was founded in 1901 by a group of breton students. They were the founding members of the Ligue de Bretagne in 1902 and won it in the second season against rival FC Rennais. FC and Stade Rennais soon fusioned to counter the overwhelming force of US Saint Malo, but it took them until 1908 to defeat it in the Ligue du Bretagne.
After The Great War Stade Rennais focused on the newly formed Coupe de France, but was only able to be runner up in 1922 against Red Star Paris. Still the postwar time was of great success, since they won the Western ligue title 4 times, but departing from the ligue in 1929 over matchmaking issues.
French football launched its first professional top division in 1932 and Stade Rennais was among the first 20, despite not having played in a ligue for 3 seasons.
The clubs finances were in shambles, but local support was so overwhelming, that they could fulfill FFF regulations by donations from the citizens of Rennes.  The support was in fact so thick that local businessmen and citizens pressured the mayor and the city of Rennes to back the club financially in the years to come.
While being a very popular team, they haven't accomplished anything on national level yet and with the outbreack of the war, football in France is halted.

Achievements until Sep 1939: Bretagne champion 1903, 1908, 1909 (3 times), Ligue de l'Ouest champion 1919-1921, 1923 (4 times)
 

5. Conte di Cavour- Juventus F.C. (also known as Juventus Torino or Juve)

Chosen for: Conte di Cavour has the palazzo di Cavour as seat, which is in the Italian city of Torino. That city has not one, but two ringing names in italian football*: the FC Torino and the Juventus FC. Both play in the Seria A and have won the national championship and cup several times. Long story short: Juve is far more internationally prestigious AND the older club by 9 years. Also Conte is the Grand Lady of Italian Walküren, so who better to represent her than the grand old lady of Italian football. I mean that's what everyone calls her: The old lady. Or the grand lady. (yes, a club literally named "Youth F.C" is called "the grand old lady of European football. Unironically.)
She's la Fidanzata d'Italia, she's the killer lady and her players are legend throughout Europe as bianconeri or la Zebras. Scusi Toros, she wins. (Also you're technically her child.)

Brief history until Sep. 1939: At the beginning of our story, our lady Juve is already 42 years old. She was founded in 1897 by students in Torino and entered the Italian championship two years after its beginning and only three years after the foundation of the club in 1900. The current colours are worn since 1905, coincidently the same season Juve won the Italian championship for the first time. No one expected that. The colours btw were copied from Notts County FC in Nottingham (nickname: the Magpies).
In 1906 there were considerations to move Juve out of Torino, which made staff and players split. The splinter club was the FC Torino. So yeah, she bore her own derby rival. This ripped the clubs forces apart, but Juve slowly consolidated and survived the Great War. 
After the war, in 1923, a certain Edoardo Agnelli, just the vice boss of the biggest Italian motorcar company FIAT, entered the club. With this Juve became the dreadnought she is today. Subsequently 1923 the first documented paid -read: professional- player transfer in history was undertaken by Juve. With the money from FIAT the team got enforced and gained its second national title in 1926 until she began her reign supreme in Italian football starting in 1930. From 1930 to 1935 she had her Quinquennio d'Oro, five golden years. She won all championships from 1931 to 1935 and her players where the base for the national team of Italy in the World Cup of 1934, which was held in Italy and won by Italy and its "Nazio-Juve" team.
But since 1935 and the sudden death of her president, the old lady has a few problems to regain her power.

Achievements until Sep 1939: Italian Champion 1905, 1926 and from 1931-35 (7 titles)
 

6. Belfast - Glentoran FC

Chosen for: Belfast was one of those hard to choose. Belfast has several Northern Irish top division clubs. Namely the Cliftonville FC, Crusaders FC, Linfield FC and the Glentoran FC. Now I pondered back and forth which club I should choose. Usually I choose the oldest, but since they were ALL founded prior to 1900, I considered it inappropiate. So I read a bit around in HMS Belfasts history and found she was built at Harland & Wolff 8sadly defunct since August 2019). Now that put her birthplace right next to a stadium. Namely half a mile away from "The Oval" by foot, less in a direct line. Seriously, it's just on opposite sides of the A2. And the Oval is home to Glentoran FC. Please don't blow up my car, it would violate the German peace of rellgions founded in 1648, since my car is German.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Glentoran FC was founded in 1882 and has since 1890 participated in the several leagues around. It has won the early Belfast league once, the former irish league several times, including the last time it was held until the partition of Ireland in 1921 and also won the subsequent Northern Irish League on two different occasions. They also won the Irish Cup 6 times. And although it is only played by Northern Irish teams since 1921, it is still called the Irish Cup. As an anecdote counts the cup semi-final of 1920, where Belfast Celtic fans fired shots at fans and players of Glentoran FC, but Glentoran also got disqualified for fielding an illegal player. So by default the southern club Shelbourne from Dublin won the Cup a third time, making it only the 4th time a southern club could ever win the cup.

Achievements until Sep 1939: Belfast and District Champion 1894; Irish Champion 1905, 1912, 1913 and 1921, Northern Irish Champion 1925 and 1931; Irish Cup 1914, 1917, 1921, 1932, 1933, 1935 (13 titles in total)
 

7. Ленинград - ФК «Зенит» Санкт-Петербург

Chosen for: Leningrad is the soviet name for Petrograd, so I chose the top club FK "Zenit" Sankt-Peterburg (btw also the German name). Obvious, yes? Although in 1939 it is known under another name.....

Brief history until Sep. 1939: In May 1925 the Stalin-Metalworks in Peterburg founded a football* team. It had no name and played local league football. In 1926, the second year, they called the team LMS for "Leningrad Metalworks Stalin" (it's the same acronym in Russian) and joined the City league. Shortly before the CCCP started its club league, the clubname was changed to Stalinez Leningrad (Сталинец Ленинград). And yes, the Stalinez was a reference to Stalin. They started in the 2nd division in 1936, but in 1939 they play in the top league for the first time and face the "invincible" Spartak Moscow in the Cup final.... and loose.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none
 

8. Augusta - Atlanta United

Chosen for: Augusta is named after the city of Augusta, Georgia. Georgias capital has a team in the US top division. Augusta has no team in the national leagues. So I ended up with Atlanta United. There is team, Statesboro, in the USL one, but that's third division.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: It was founded in 2014 as your typical US sports franchise. So, none

Achievements until Sep 1939: none
 

9. Algérie - MC Alger

Chosen for: Since Algérie represents a whole country, I decided to look for a club from the capital. Alger has several teams to offer, but for seniority I chose MC Alger.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Mouloudia Club d'Alger was founded in 1921 on the birthday of the prophet Mohammed (the mouloudia) and originally met as a gathering of two neigbourhoods desiring to from the first muslim football club of Algeria. All previous clubs had been "christian French" clubs. The club had to jump several through loops set up by the colonial aithority and its first address was the "Buvette Américain" (American Bar) at the Mahon place in Alger.
They joined the FSINA, the independent North African Football Association rather than the French one.
In addition to this the club was dissolved and reinstated during the 1920 for financial reasons, players being drafted into the military and other stuff. And they finally joined the French Football Association for better match prospects. After the dust settled, they even got promoted to 1st Algerian division after the 1930/31 season for the first time. And in 1936 they landed the coup of winning the championship. In 1939 the club is an established force in the 1st Algerian Ligue.

Achievements until Sep 1939: Algerian Champion 1936 (1 title)
 

10. Москва́ - Футбольный клуб «Динамо» Москва

Chosen for: Ah, come the frak on! Moskoviti clubs are 4 in the Russian top league so how to choose one? Or at least eliminate one (except Torpedo, which played 2nd division)? Moskva was actually the first ship that gave me that headache. All four clubs were founded prior to 1939. The oldest one is ZSKA/CSKA, but it is affiliated with the Army and the Moskva we're talking about is a ship. Okay, second club out. The other three Dynamo, Spartak and Lokomotiv are pretty not so distinguishable for my purposes, so I did what a cunning reader might figure, since I did it with Belfast as well: I measured distances. Distances to what? The Bolshoi theatre, natürlich! And Dynamo Moskva has the closest stadium to it by quite a bit.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Dynamo Moskva was founded/integrated in 1923 as football section of the bigger Dynamo sports club und [redacted] (you will forget that name immediately!). In 1936 it was founding member of the Soviet National League and won the 1936 Spring-season and the 1937 season. In 1937 it also won the Soviet Cup. The nickname of the fans and club is [redacted, don't look for it or go to Gulag!] since the club is affiliated with [redacted].

Achievements until Sep 1939: Soviet Champion 1936 (spring), 1937, Soviet Cup 1937 (3 titles)

11. 千代田 - FC Tokyo

Chosen for: The  ship 千代田 was named after the district 千代田区 (Chiyoda-ku). It is the district of Tokyo with the Imperial Palace and Edo-castle. Now you might think: Oh that was probably a complicated choice.... except it wasn't FC Tokyo is the only Tokyo based soccer club in J1-League at the time of the creation of the INPF-League. See? that was easy.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Well.... FC Tokyo as founded as recent as 1998, BUT it was actually a transformation from the much older Tokyo Gas FC (you guessed it: A company club). And the Tokyo Gas Soccer Club was founded as early as 1933. So, yatta! First Japanese Club with a history!! In 1935 they changed the name to Tokyo Gas Football Club in which they started to be participating in official regional tournaments. And that's where they are atm. kicking around Tokyo. 

Achievements until Sep 1939: none I know of.

12. Salt Lake City - Real Salt Lake

Chosen for: It's obvious, isn't it? It's the MLS team of Salt Lake City.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Founded only in 2004. They have a crown in their crest, which should make republicans suspicious. The "Real" of Real Salt Lake comes from Real (Royal) Madrid, not the real real. There is a connection to the earlier team Utah Blitzz, but who cares?

Achievements until Sep 1939: none, obviously.

13.熊野 - Iga FC Kunoichi

Chosen for: 熊野 was named after the 熊野川 which flows through the Kii peninsula (where the ise shrine and Nara are i.e.). Now the problem is I couldn't find a high enough ranking soccer club at the river. Not even in the provinces he crosses. Technically Osaka counts as on the peninsula, but Osaka was represented already and Iga is actually in Mie province, one of the three provinces fully on Kii. And somewhat close by. And I was bit happy to finally be able to fit a womens team to a ship.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Founded only in 1976. It is a fairly successful club, but not in 1939 for apparent reasons.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none, obviously.

14. Perth- Perth Glory FC

Chosen for: Perth was named after the city Perth in Australia and they have a first division soccer club, which is Perth Glory FC. Easy.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Founded only in 1995.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none, obviously.

15. 天龍- ジュビロ磐田

Chosen for: 天龍 was named after the 天竜川 on Honshu and the 天竜川 flows in 磐田市 into the open sea. And Iwata was the city with the most prominent soccer club, so I chose Jubilo Iwata.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Founded only in 1992, but has the direct predecessor in the Yamaha company soccer club founded in 1970. So if you like their bikes, cheer for Tenryuu.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none, obviously.

16. Köln - 1. FC Köln

Chosen for: It is the highest playing kölner football club. Note I track the womens team which also plays 1. Bundesliga, der Frauen, natürlich.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: It was founded in 1948, because several kölsche football clubs felt (and rightly so) they were too weak. So none, nothing, naada. *lacht dreckig*

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.

17. Lexington - New England Revolution

Chosen for: Lexington is in Massachusetts, which is the site the battle of Lexington took place after which Lady Lex is named. At the same Interstate (I-95) south of Boston, in the same state, a soccer club calls a stadium its home who is coincidentally a founding member of the MLS. And who am I to deny a fan favourite her entry in this league?

Brief history until Sep. 1939: NER was founded in 1995, so none.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.

18. Saguenay - Montreal Impact

Chosen for: Saguenay and the Riviere Saguenay are in Canada, Quebec province. And it seems the soccer team Montreal Impact carries the Quebecoi figuratively torch in the MLS? Also Montreal is of all three Canadian teams the closest to the town and the river. That and I liked the idea of the Canadians being on board.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: MI was founded in 1993, so none. The oldest professional soccer team I could find for Montreal was founded in 1981.... really no chance.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.

19. Houston - Houston Dynamo

Chosen for: Well the ship Houstno is named after the city of Houston,TX, USA, so it is natural to choose that citys soccer team.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Houston Dynamo was founded in 2005, so none. But a "fun fact": The original name was supposed to be Houston 1836, the founding date of Houston , TX. And also the date Texas got its independence from Mexico, so the Mexicans in the city were pretty much not amused and the name "Dynamo" was chosen. Which makes them honorary commies in my book in 1939. Ask Moskva.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.

20. Pola - NK Istra 1961

Chosen for: Pola is named after the city Pola/Pula in todays Croatia. The highest division club is the NK Istra 1961 in the 1st Hrvatskan National League. So they got the spot.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Sadly the club was founded in 1948, so none.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.

[Käpt'n Korky]

Clubs of the INPF2 table:

1. Arizona - Phoenix Rising FC

Chosen for: Well Arizona is a state, so I chose the highest playing soccer* club in the state. And that's PRFC.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: It was founded in 2014, so none.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.
 

2. 長門  - Renofa Yamaguchi FC

Chosen for: 長門 (Nagato, the ship) was named after the old province of 長門国 (Nagato, the province). In modern day Japan, 長門国 (Nagato, the province) was erased and became a part of Yamaguchi prefecture. 長門市 (Nagato, the city) has no soccer* club I could reasonably find, so I went for the club of the prefecture capital the city is in today: Yamaguchi.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: The roots of Renofa Yamaguchi FC actually date back to the "Yamaguchi-ken Sakkā Kyōindan" (teachers soccer club of Yamaguchi prefecture), but that one was founded in 1949. Ten years late.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.
 

3. 加賀  - Zweigen Kanazawa

Chosen for: The ship Kaga was named after the old province of Kaga. Today it is part of the Ishikawa prefecture. Both the modern prefecture and the old province had Kanazawa as capital since the Edo-era. And since Zweigen Kanazawa was the only soccer* club I could find in the area, it was settled.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Founded as Kanazawa Soccer Club in 1956, got its current name in 2004, so none.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.
 

4. Hood  - Coventry City FC

Chosen for: Come on guys. The mighty Hood and not in this thing? She was actually the reason, why I decided to use strong personal namesake connections to a place for allocating clubs to ships. It would've broken @Wellington99 heart, if I hadn't done it. Soooo HMS Hood was named after Admiral Samuel Hood, 1. Viscount Hood of Whitley. And the Whitley in question is today a suburb of Coventry. So there you have it, Coventry City.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Coventry City was founded in 1883 as Swingers FC and changed its name in 1898. They did not play in a football league until 1908, when they were accepted in the 'Southern League' a third level league. During The Great War football in Coventry ceased to be played but a somewhat formidable performance in the ragtag local league in the season 1918-19 gained them a spot in the Football Leagues second division the following season. A corruption scandal over fixed matches shook the club in 1923 and the club slumped into third division. Since 1931 it went slightly upwards and finally in 1936, being a solid team until the start of the war in 1939, when football in Coventry is stopped again.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none
 

5. Béarn  - Pau FC

Chosen for: Pau was the capital of the historical province of Béarn and is capital of the Basses-Pyrénées departement, which was formed in 1790. So choosing its football* club seemed natural.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Pau FC was founded in 1920 as Bleuets de Notre-Dame de Pau (Cornflowerd of our lady of Pau), since Bleuets are one of the first flowers to bloom on a bombed out battlefield. Bleuets are also worn in France like Poppies in England in memory of the Great War. Although football wasn't played by that club until 1923. Recemtly Pau has joined the Pyrenne district league in 1935-1936, but nothing to show has come of it.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none.
 

6. Exeter  - Exeter City FC

Chosen for: Well the ship is named Exeter, the football* club is named Exeter City FC and comes from the city of Exeter, the ship is named after. Perfect match? Yes!

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Exeter City FC was founded in 1904 by fusing two other local clubs together and already became professional in 1908, replacing a totally insignificant club named "Tottenham Hotspurs" (Who? I got nothing.) from the second southern league in England. They made a famous South America tour in 1914, where they played the Brazilian national team among others and the legendary Brazilian player Arthur Friedenreich lost two teeth, courtesy of Exeter City FC. In 1920 they were invited to join the Football league in the Third Division. There ECFC is stuck pretty much in midfield, achieving nothing.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none.
 

7. Admiral Graf Spee  - CA River Plate

Chosen for: River Plate is, where AGS still lays around. And since I couldn't see my only known reader witout his favourite ship getting a club..... y'know. Why not? So South America gets in at least. That's a nice Bonus I think.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: CA River Plate was founded in 1901in the neighbourhood of La Boca in Buenos Aires. The name was chosen during a merger between two football* clubs. Legend has it they saw boxes used as goals by dock workers in the Buenos Aires Port reading "The River Plate" and since no one understood english the "enigmatic writing" was taken as a name. It took them a while to get a "proper" field, but after they had one, they joined the AFA (Argentinian Football Association) and played their first league match in 3rd division in 1905. Coincidently the year their future arch rival Boca Juniors was founded. In the following years the club was troubled by being forced to change fields every other year by always different circumstances. After getting promoted ater only one season to 2nd division, CA moved finally to 1st division in 1908. Their top division debut was in May 1909. In 1914 River Plate won the Argentinian Jockey club Cup, which allowed them to play the Uruguayan club Bristol FC for the Tie Cup, which they also won. The first national championship was won in 1920. In 1923 River Plate left Boca and moved to a new stadium, named Alvar y Talge in the Recoleta district, which they rented from a railway company. In 1931 football in Argentina was professionalised and CA River Plate immediately put huge sums out for players, earning them the nickname "Los Millionarios". After this move they are one of the super powers in Argentinian football starting in 1932, where they won the league, two national cups and the Copa Aldao (or Copa Rio de la Plata) against Uruguayan champions several times until 1939.
In 1938 CA River Plate finally moved to the "El Monumental" stadium in the Nunez district of Buenos Aires. they will not leave it for a long time.

Achievements until Sep 1939:  National Champions 1920, 1932, 1936, 1937; Jockey Cup 1914; Tie Cup 1914; Copa de Competencía 1932; Copa d'Oro 1936; Copa Ibaguren 1937, Copa Aldao 1936, 1937 (11 titles)
 

8. Dunkerque  - USL Dunkerque

Chosen for: Dunkerque has a football team on natinal level, USL Dunkerque. No contenders, easy choice.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Founded in 1909 (*breathes heavy*) as Stade Dunkerquois, went through a few namechanges and got professionalised as Olympique Dunkerque in 1930. They reached 2nd Division by 1939.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none.
 

9. Scharnhorst  - Hannover 96

Chosen for: Since Scharnhorst was named after Gerhard von Scharnhorst, who was born and lived a good part of his life near Hannover, I figured Hannover 96 (Or Hangover 69, if you want to mock it) would fit.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: As the name suggests, the club Hannover 96 was founded in 1896, although it went through a few fusions and changes until 1913. It actually started as a Rugby Football club, as it was common back then in the Kingdom of Hannover and the Heidelberg area. But unlike in the Heidelberg region, in Hannover the clubs soon switched to "Association Football", the "normal" football. In 1901 they fielded the first recorded foreigner in German football, a Swiss.
Their pitch from the beginning to 1939 is the "Radrennbahn am Pferdeturm" (the cyclist way at the horse tower).
The first attempts to make the club a "proper" football club (German football is amateur sport until 1939 and long after) began in 1905 and soon the club dominated the Hannover region, but couldn't get past its rival Eintracht Braunschweig to reach more than regional level.
This only changed very recently Hannover got its first full time coach in 1932 and fielded two national squad members in 1935. It all accumulated in the surprise victory in the finale for the German championship in 1938. They won against the current champion of 1939.

Achievements until Sep 1939: German Champion 1938 (1 title)

 

10. Парижскую коммуну  - Red Star Paris

Chosen for: I felt somehow Soviet ships were underrepresented and Parishskuyu Kommunu (lit. ger. transcript) gave me a perfect excuse with her name, when I found a club named "Red Star Paris" in Paris. 

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Founded in 1897 as Red Star Club Français de Paris, a red star as sign was chosen to show affiliation with the workers. Fits like a glove, no? Red Star played the regional Paris leagues, rising to first division in 1904 and won the national USFSA cup** in 1909. After the unification of French football under the FFF Red Star won the national FFF-Cup 4 times in 1921-23 as Red Star Amical Club and in 1928 as Red Star Olympique (they fusioned with other Parisienne clubs). In the early years they played on the Champ de Mars but had to move soon after, when someone decided they needed some space for flats. Since 1909 they play in the Saint-Ouen-Stadium north of Paris.

**France had several footbal lassociations until the FFF came around.

Achievements until Sep 1939: USFSA Cup "Coupe Marnier" 1909; FFF-Cup 1921, 1922, 1923 and 1928 (5 titles)

 

11. Gneisenau  - 1. FC Magdeburg

Chosen for: Okay, Gneisenau is probably a rather far fetched example, but maybe provides an entry for other "missing" Walküren. As I mentioned above, it more or less started with Hood to see if I could associate human namesakes with places. Now, just to add a few Kriegsmarine Schiffe (and piss of Wellington in the process) I checked the human namesakes of German ships a bit more intense. ... Yeah. Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau was a bit of a hassle. Gneisenau is a castle near Linz in Austria 1939 Germany. Which would put the Linzer ASK on the map. But when the namesake of the ship was born they had given up the castle almost 200 years ago.... August Neithardt von Gneisenau (ANG) was born in Schildau, Saxony, which is close to Leipzig, but it was a mere coincidence. ANG was born during a military campaign. then there would've been a funky reason to associate Gneisenau and not Saguenay with Montreal Impact.... but no. To cut to the chase: The problem with this man is, he was on the move a lot. So I decided I'd choose his last resting place, a mausoleum in the county Börde, Saxony-Anhalt, next to Magdeburg. Et voila. 1.FC Magdeburg it is.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Sadly 1. FC Magdeburg was only founded in 1965, and although it is a GDR legend even in the west, it is not existing in 1939.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none.

 

12. Canarias  - CD Tenerife

Chosen for: This was the most complicated one. Because the Islas Canarias have two capitals with the two best teams. Tenerife and Las Palmas. Both play Segunda Division. Buuut CDTenerife was founded more than twenty years earlier in 1922, so it has a history in 1939.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Founded in 1922 it has a history in 1939, but only plays in regional leagues until then. In 1927/28 the regional league of the whole Canary Islands s founded and CD Tenerife wins the championship in the 1931/32 season. 

Achievements until Sep 1939: Canary champion 1931/32 (1title)

 

13. 青葉  - Kyoto Sanga

Chosen for: The mountain Aoba is in Mizuru City, which has no notable soccer club, but is in Kyoto province and the highest ranking Kyoto club is Kyoto Sanga FC.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: It is by a long shot the oldest club in Japan, founded in the same year as the previous entry, 1922! Eleven years older than FC Tokyo. Founded as 京都紫郊 Club (Kyoto Purple Club), they keep purple as their team colour to this day. It is, as an rare exception in Japan, and in contrast to FC Tokyo NOT a company club, but was founded by students of the paedagogic high school of Kyoto. The records I found indicate, they had only regional success. Soccer in the 20's and 30's (Japan Football Association only organised matches since 1921, but has with the 天皇杯全日本サッカー選手権大会, Tennō-hai Zen-Nihon Sakkā Senshuken Taikai or Tenno-Cup, the oldest national football cup in Asia) was purely amateur teams playing each other, with the Tenno-Cup being the only national competition. They probably stood only little chance against more powerful university clubs as "only" a high school. Much like they later suffered against the company teams with their money.

Achievements until Sep 1939: nothing I could find.

 

14. Nürnberg - 1. FC Nürnberg, Verein für Leibesübungen e.V.

Chosen for: One of the more (in-)famous Walküren has the most (in-)famous football club of 1939 Germany. For obvious reasons. Btw everyone only calls the club 1. FC Nürnberg or 1. FCN or "Der Club", because it was and in 1939 still is, the overwhelming force from Frankia. Or "Glubb" as Nüernbesch would say.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: The Club was founded in 1900 as a Rugby football club, but since they didn't manage to get enough players regularily, they switched to association football in 1901. It was founded by upper school pupils (meaning eligible for university if graduating). They played on -a still used- open field called "Deutscherrnwiese" (German Gentlemn Grassland, yes with a lacking e) and used a nearby pub as club house. They had to bring the goal posts themselves every match, since permanent goals were not allowed. There was no organised football at that time so the FC Bayern München challenged the Club to a duel for nothing less than the Bavarian championship. The club lost 0-6, because they had no coach and "real" training, unlike their rival from München. They fixed that soon and 1904 there was a first, regular city league. The club dominated it and was thus allowed to join the brand new (Gau-/)Bezirksliga Nordbayern in 1905. This forced the Club to switch from the rag-tag Deutschherrnwiese, where the magistrate of Nürnberg even denied them a fence to take entry fees, to the "Ziegelgasse" (Brickvennel). It had a stand for a whooping 300 spectators. It won all championships of the Bezirksliga Nordbayern during its existence and in 1908 and 1909 the "Ostkreismeisterschaft" (east district championship), which more or less was an all Bavarian championship + some extra. East district of the southern German FA that was. Alas they did not rise above Bavarian dominance. On a regular basis they were checked for the Southern German championship by Outerbavarian clubs. They also lost their first matc hagainst a foreign club 3-8 in 1909, the FC Sunderland. The success forced the club to again resettle, this time to Schweinau (Pigmeadow) in 1908.
1910 was a very important year since the Club had the honour of the first German national player from the Kingdom of Bavaria. Also the Bezirksliga was abandoned for the new and higher Ostkreisliga, basically a "League Bavaria". A new feeling had to be compensated: Losing in the league. The Club actually was successful, but never won the Bavarian championship. Local and all-Bavarian opposition had become better with time. The increasing competition, but also popularity forced the Club into its 1939 residence, the "Zerzabelshof", called "Zabo". Only when the southern leagues had to devolve after a pause in 1914/1915 back into smaller Gau and district leagues (yes, the pansies in the south actually stopped playing football for a whole season! Can't imagine why. They say there was some big war, but that's no reason!). They even managed to finally win the Southern German Championship in 1916.
After the war football was still fragmented, but the Club was nearly unscathed despite losing many players in the war. A stroke of luck was the 1919 visit by MTK Budapest. Hungary at the time was the ultimate football nation on the continent and some Hungarians liked Nürnberg so much, they stayed. Only one year later Nürnberg won the Southern and the first All-German championship of 1920.
And thus the golden 20's began. Nürnberg won almost all "Bavarian leagues" until 1930 or was 2nd at least. They also won the German championship again in 1921, 1924, 1925, and 1927, naturally dominating the national team with its players. Keep in mind until 1933 there were a lot of highest leagues (up to 50!) in Germany.
The frenzy found an end in 1930. 
The normal weakening by retiring champions was actually accelerated by the Nazi party, which already had Nürnberg its "capital", when their chevy and agitation forced the jewish coach to flee Germany. In 1932! In fact Nürnberg excluded jews completely in early 1933 before the party demanded it. The Reichssportführer von Tschammer und Osten even criticised the Club for its rash action in June 1933! It also introduced "as first club of Germany" a sport department dedicated to form athletes "into warserviceready Germans". 
In 1933 the Nazis reformed the league system into the 16 Gauleagues. Gau (massive district) #16 was Bavaria and the Club dominates it from the start. They win it 4/5 times between 1934 and 1938, only having to kneel as 2nd before their arch enemy Fürth in 1935. But they win the German Cup in 1935 as a consolation price and in 1936 finally the German championship again. Currently however the Club has to stomach a debacle, by its standards. The last season 1938/39 was only finished as 5th. And no one knows yet, if that was only a one time thing or the beginning of a decline.

Achievements until Sep 1939: Southern German Champion 1916, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1924, 1927, 1929; Gauliga Champion 1934, 1936-1938; German Champion 1920, 1921, 1924, 1925, 1927; German Cup 1935 (17 titles total, not counting local ones)

15. 高雄 - FC町田ゼルビア

Chosen for: 高雄 was named after the mountain 高尾山 which is pretty much right next to 東京. But so are a lot of japanese clubs. Including the FC Tokyo. Who deserves the privilege of representing Chiyoda for reasons obvious if you read her entry. So.... I pinpointed the exact location of the Takaosan and Machida was the town closest with a good soccer club, the FC Machida Zelvia.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Machida is one of the few clubs in Japan without company background and the region is known for its amount of quality soccer players it puts out via its Machida soccer school. So to keep them in the area the FC Machida (Zelvia) was founded, but only in 1989, the school dates back to 1977. Not old enough..

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.

16. Axum - Shire Endasselasie FC

Chosen for: Axum is the only submarine in the field and she did not exactly match a city with an Ethiopian Premier League club. Because that's the only trackable national league for me. My amharic is really non-existing. So I looked around and under 70km away there is the nice town of Shire, which has a nice club. So I took it for Axum and that's how she ended up with Shire Endasselasie FC. If you're form Axum, tell me how you feel about it.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: It was founded in 2012, so none.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.

17. Nevada - Reno 1868 FC

Chosen for: I got, again, a whole state to choose from. And Nevada has one top division team, so I chose it. Also Reno 1868 FC is finally a club dating back to pre-1900's in the USA!!! Nah, just kidding, see below.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: It was founded in 2015, so none. The name was chosen via online contest in 2017. I could find no background on the decision, sorry.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.

18. 北上 - いわてグルージャ盛岡

Chosen for: 北上 the cruiser was named after the 北上川, which flows straight through only one city with a professional soccer club on national level: Morioka. Et voila: Iwate Grulla Morioka enters the field.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: It was founded in 2000 by students, which is remarkable because they were the only "regional" founding member of a J-League (the J3), but that doesn't count here.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.

That's all folks. INPF2 teams done.

[Käpt'n Korky]

Ships with clubs, but not on a table:

Wait what? How did that happen?

Well for one of two reasons: 1. I have overlooked a club or have no way of following its results. Tell me. 2. The club ranks below a national level. The moment a league level gets divided from "whole country" to "South Division/North Division" or something like that, the club is out. That's too low for my taste, standards and managing skills. That's the line I draw.
 

1. Surcouf - US Saint Malo

Chosen for: First case of "associating a region with a namesake". Robert Surcouf was born and died in Saint Malo and reportedly called in whenever he could. They also built him a statue, so the love was/is mutual.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: The club was founded in 1902. Founded on initiative of a former French player of the english  Blackpool FC, so he could continue at home I suppose. They won their first Bretagne Cup in 1905, after the opponent refused to play extra time to decide the drawn match. They dominate the Bretagne league thereafter until 1914. The first World War brings football* in France to a stop. After the matches are resumed, USSM has lost its dominant role and enters professional, nationalised football in the first season of the Division 2 (2nd league) in 1933-34. They have it rough, achieve nothing and even have to fold from the competition. With the outbreak of hostilities in Sep 1939 all football activities are halted in France.

Achievements until Sep 1939: Bretagne Champion 1905-1907 and 1910-1914. (8 titles)
 

2. Duca d'Aosta - Valle d'Aosta Calcio

Chosen for: In case it isn't obvious, one is the Duke of the Aosta Valley (at least by name) and the other is the football* club of the Aosta Valley. It fits, ja?

Brief history until Sep. 1939: The club was founded in 1997, so none.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above.
 

3. Киров - Dynamo Kirov

Chosen for: Dynamo Kirov is the club of the city of Kirov after which the ship Kirov is named.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Dynamo Kirov was founded in 1923 as Dynamo Vyatka, since the city of Yatka was renamed to Kirov only in 1934. Dynamo Vyatka played only on amateur level, but Dynamo Kirov managed to play in the lowest professional level in 1937. Next season they were back to amateur level, where they remain in 1939.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none
 

4. de Ruyter - VC Vlissingen

Chosen for: Vlissingen is the birthplace of Michiel de Ruyter and he lived pretty much his whole life in the city. So I looked up the local club and it's the VC Vlissingen. Sadly a 5th tier club. 

Brief history until Sep. 1939: VC Vlissingen was founded in 1912 and since then played mostly in the 'Tweede klasse' (second class), some few season were spent in the 'Deerde klasse' (third class) which in 1939, I believe was actually their actual level, since the three leagues aren't existing in 1939. Currently they play in the second class.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none
 

5. Rawalpindi - Pakistan Army FC

Chosen for: Rawalpindi is in modern Pakistan. And Pakistan has Premier League (PPL)..... which is held in highly irregular intervals. Rawalpindi has two football clubs in the PPL: Pakistan Army FC and Khan Laboratories FC. The latter is much younger, only founded in 1995, compared to PAFC in 1950 and Rawa always comes off as a fighting spirit. So the PAFC seems much more fitting for her. Sadly in 2019/2020 there seems to be no PPL season for internal reasons. It's bad from a football point of view. So I terminated her for the time being.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: the club was founded in 1950, so none.

Achievements until Sep 1939: none

[Käpt'n Korky]

The INPF 2 League now has 20 clubs and is full.

[Käpt'n Korky]

Second match day is done and I slowly get a good grip on things. I'll start commenting on the table situations probably next matchday or the matchday there after.

Table 1 is pretty straight, but on table 2 are teams that play crazy often (English) and teams I can't be sure if they'll have a season at all, yet (Pakistan Army FC). "Fun".... Let's hope I don't have to "kill" a team for too few matches. The club I'm not worried about is the only womens team Iga, they'll join the fray next week. Kumano or Perth will probably decide how many ranked matche will be on table 1.

@Ninjapacman changed his bet given the new circumstances, natürlich. I hope others will join him when the league has its first few matches under its belt prior to October 3rd.

The "no table" ships are done. I only found 4 I refused to list, because following them would be harder than following Ethiopian or Pakistan league.

Interestingly enough only French clubs on the tables have titles won so far. I'm curious who else will have anything in the "Achievements category", when I'm done.

[Käpt'n Korky]

Third matchday is done. I added the club of Conte di Cavour for INPF 1 and of Béarn for INPF2 in the descriptions.

INPF1 now has all teams played at least once. Kumano and Iga had no luck at all so far, while Conte di Cavour, Wichita and Kongou are flawless so far. An Interesting detail is the equal ranking of Moskva and Leningrad..... that's not reflected in the Russian league. One is 3rd and the other 13th there.
It is similarily strange with Kongou and Chiyoda. But Tenryuu is where she belongs.

INPF2 has the interesting fact of two ships with no matches yet outranking Nevada. Her team hasn't scored any points so far. But good news: As far as I could tell, Rawa and Axum will get matches played for them in a few weeks. By then Hood will probably have more matches on her than others in a whole season. The English are crazy, I tell you. Hood is paired with someone interesting for the moment.
 anticipate the answer to my question, if Béarn and Dunkerque can keep up with Arizona. All of them have won all matches so far, but Arizona has one more under her belt.

[Käpt'n Korky]

Fourth matchday is done. I added the club of Belfast for INPF 1 and of Exeter for INPF2 in the descriptions.

INPF 1 has suddenly Belfast up there with Kongou. Since Belfast has two matches more under her belt, it might not last. However Kongou is now the sole single unbeaten team of INPF 1 and Conte loses 2 places, but Wichita suddenly is only mediocre on 8th from 3rd last week. The dynamic between Moskva and Leningrad has balanced out as expected. While Kumano made it to safety for now, Tenryuu and Pola seem a bit stuck there. Perth has actually an advantage of one match less over Verdun and Köln. We'll see if that helps.

INPF 2 Holey Moley Arizona! 7 (in words: seven. SEVEN!) matches undefeated grants her the undisputed top. Quite impressive. Another interesting thing is the kcik down, the Royal Navy gave the French Navy from the spots behind USS Undefeated. Bearn and Dunkerque had to make way for Exeter and Hood. Nevada finally scored, setting her apart from the still not playing Rawa and Axum... or at least I can't find it. All in all the INPF 2 is a bit more inequal, since the spread of points is way larger than in INPF 1.

With two Royal Navy ships posted with their clubs and two Royal Navy ships kicking two French Navy ships down the ladder, please feel free to play "Rule Britannia".

I also placed my bets.

And I got a question: I follow the Köln mens team, but the Köln wmoen team also plays first class. Since we talking Walküren here, should I rather follow men or women teams?

[Käpt'n Korky]

Fifth matchday is done. I added the clubs of Leningrad and Admiral Graf Spee in the league descriptions..... and the club of Rawalpindi, for a sad reason.

INPF 1 is again topped off by Conte di Cavour and Leningrad managed to squeeze in on 2nd place, pushing Belfast one place down. But Leningrad has also one match more than the others under her belt. While Conte is stil lwithout defeat, Kongous first defeat cost her 5 places at once. 
At the bottom a lot happended at once. Pola won her first match, getting her on par with safe placed Walküren. At the same time a result of Perth was corrected, from victory to loss.... so she's now the only ship without points. That was my mistake, I misread a score. Also i switched from the Kölm mens team to the women team, which gave Köln a small boost in points.

INPF 2 ... I start with the bad news: I eliminated Rawalpindi from the competition. After I picked up nothing, then something, then a bit more, but confusing news about pakistan football, I now suspect there will be no domestic club matches in the foreseeable future in Pakistan, at least none I can pick up. Sorry Rawa.
Another "bad" news: Arizone is no loner USS Undefeated! She had to take in her first loss. This brings Exeter, Hood and even Béarn (two matches less than Arizona) in striking distance for the next matchday to snatch the lead position from that Yank. 
The bottom sees Axum still without matches, but unlike with Rawa, I have no reason to believe the season will not be held.... yet. So she stays on. While Kitakami couldn't score, because all teams not participating in the Tenno-Cup had no matches, Nevada and Aoba could. Aoba however failed to get any points, so she fell onto last place of teams with matches and Nevada could keep touch with the very narrow lower half of the table.

[lazarusdw]

I'll put my money on Exeter 

[Käpt'n Korky]

Been a bit busy, so no club updates today. 
But a short overview about the direct duels this week:
USS Salt Lake City vs USS Houston : 2-1
HMCS Saguenay vs USS Augusta : 1-1
Dunkerque vs Béarn : 4-1 (last week)
Scharnhorst vs Nürnberg : 0-4

INPF1: Conte and Leningrad start to distance themselves a bit from the others. Now the hunter group of Belfast, Kongou and Algerie have to already hope for a mistake done by those two and can't simply outrun them. The midfield now is basically the area where the US Walküren steam around and with Houston they also define the beginning of the danger zone. Pola and Kumano could limp ahead of Moskva this week, taking them temporarily out of immediate demotion area, but not by much. Perth had no match this week, so no points were lost there actually. Maybe they win, next time? For the first time?

INPF2: Not much changed at the top. Béarn catched up with the pursuers of Arizona since all three top ships let some or all feathers this week.
The bottom however is a bit more interesting, since Nürnberg and Nagato got ahead of Takao, who was pretty midfield last week, but now became the border between the mediocre and the bottom area. Aoba left last place by kicking Nevada and Kitakami one down each.

[lazarusdw]

Go Nurnberg 

[Käpt'n Korky]

One direct encounter this week: Augusta vs Lexington: 3-1

Added Augusta and Dunkerque to their respective club despriction lists. Anyone remember Dunkerque? Maybe we should put her name past Wichita....

INPF1 not much changed at the top. Conte di Cavour reigns supreme.(Skip to 3:50 in the video for context.) Leningrad however slipped an stagnates. Luckily for Leni, Belfast, Kongou and to a lesser extent Algerié slip as well. But Augusta seized the moment an shot up on third place, bringing her slowly into striking range for Leningrad at least.
Nothing changed at the bottom as all teams their either lost or had no match this week.

INPF2 similar to the upper house, Arizona was pretty safe in her top position, but behind her Admiral Graf Spee managed a small victory row and now is in striking distance to Arizona with only two points behind. Exeter, Hood and Béarn all left points on the pitch and now find themselves below AGS.
The only other action was Scharnhorst climbing from 11th to 8th, but that area of the table is all pretty even. Axum still has the remainder of this month to prove to me that her team will have a season 2019/2020.

[Käpt'n Korky]

If anyone noted, there was a break in the calendar, so I could rest a week. 🤔 But I could start a INPF nations ranking..... or not.

Direct matches this week were:
Augusta 1-0 Lexington (no Deja Vu, but the Yanks have started their playoff phase and by coincidence Augusta and Lex had the last conference match and the first play-off match against each other. Since its a one leg pla-off, LEX is done for this year.)
Nagato 1-0 Aoba 

I added Algérie and Scharnhorst in the club descriptions.

INPF1 La bella d'Italia cruises on at the top, while beneath her, Belfast made a three victory in a row stroke and forced her way back on second. Forced, because she has one match more than the Ladys around her and in theory even Augusta, Kongou and Algérie can get past her.
For the same reasons Lexi is out for now, some of the Northern American Walküren didn't gain anything. Their league finishes off and they're done until the new season starts in February again. So US fans need a bit of nerves since their Ladys will be falling a bit soon. I predict none of them will be Winter champion. 
The most "busy" Walküren were Köln and Kumano, our women team ships. Köln lost two consecutive matches and Kumano won two consecutive matches. Which sent Köln down quite a bit, but Kumano into a very safe place from her perilousstate last week.
Oh and Perth scored for the first time.

INPF2 Arizona let AGS come even closer and Exeter forced herself right behind the two. It mirrors a it Belfasts tour de force with the same problem. The only other ship keeping contact to the leading group is Bearn, because Hood had a terrible time with two lost matches. Other big losers are Canarias, she lost the most places and Kitakami also gained zero out of two matches and remains on the last place with actual matches. Axum gets until November, if she has no matches by November 15th I can find, she's out for now.

 

[Käpt'n Korky]

So here we go again. Some teams went dormant. I coloured them Orange.

Direct matches: None. But just theoretically..... in a naval duel Tenryuu vs Chiyoda, who would probably win?

INPF1: Conte di Cavour slipped a little in her winning streak, but got 3 points from the Derby della Mole. Forza!
The table leadership equaled its match scores and it turns out, La Signora is still comfortably leading by 6 points before Leni and Bell who are equal in points as well. In the forseeable future no other Walküre will be able to join them up there.
At the bottom no one really escaped, but Köln is now in serious trouble after a serious losing streak. Also the USN fans might stock up their pills..... dormant team might get dumped down easily and the new season only starts in late February.
Perth did it! She surpassed Kitakami (INPF2) as worst ship, by securing her first victory against @Wellington99 (Wellington Phoenix).
All US Navy ships are now dormant, since their teams have been eliminated before the final match of their league. Same goes for Kumano as her team is done with this years season.
The current match counter would be at 10 atm.

INPF2: The leading ship, Arizona went dormant, since her teams season is done for now. Same goes for Nevada.... so Nevada fans might need to get some tranquilizers, in case I open a third league table before February. So now Exeter and Spee will try to race past Arizona as far as they can until Arizona rejoins in spring. 
While at the bottom Kitakami is hopeless, Aoba, Takao and Nürnberg are making themselves comfortable in front of her. If this goes on, I seriously doubt Kitakami can get past dormant Nevada.....
And good news for Axum. She won't get eliminated!!

[Käpt'n Korky]

Okay, the US Walküren are out of the picture for now. So are some Japanese and soon they all will follow, since they're the only two countries with a "calendar season", instead of starting in the summer or, like Ethiopia, in autumn.

Direct matches: Damn..... Leipzig has no official Walküre. Anyways, to answer the question from last week: Tenryuu 0-1 Chiyoda AND in a sudden twist of events, Takao 1-0 Nagato

INPF1: Nothing new at the top, but Belfast was probably distracted by the recent update and let Leningrad surpass her. Algerei and Kongou will soon sack the defensless Augusta, but if the miserable 4 at the bottom of the table will ever get past her, I seriously doubt. While Pola and Perth at least scored, the loosealot Köln has now a loss streak of 6 consecutive losses at her keel.

INPF2: The two top teams didn't make the best of it and are no on equal points. Meanwhile Hood got close to snatch rank three from a dormant Arizona. The biggest gain had PK who is now in the upper midfield and Aoba and Takao surpassed the dormant Nevada. And Kitakami at least scored one point this week. Axum still has two weeks to go before possibly, hopefully joining the fun.

[Käpt'n Korky]

Here we go again after another national team break. In which btw all European INPF League countries and I believe even "misplaced" ships like Pola (today in Croatia) qualified for the Euro-Cup next year. Yay! (Correct me if I'm wrong)

But on to the league. Direct matches:

INPF1: As expected most dormant ships loose at least one position or will soon. While the top remains de facto unmoved, Belfast did not excel the best she could and Algerie looks farther back than she is, since she is also 4 matches short of the others at the top. At the bottom of the table Köln and Tenryuu managed to score for a change, so they climb a little, but everyone below Verdun is in severe danger of relegation. But then the season will only reach half time, when the other Japanese ships and their teams fall dormant in December. So all can change.

INPF2: Good news: Axum should be game by now. Bad news: I might not know until December, because I found a way to follow, but they update with a small delay of a week or two... Anticipation rising. 
For the already competing ships ...WTF Exeter! 4 matches! You're supposed to be a third league team! And what a run! Damn.....see you then Graf Spee. Now Spee probably regrets losing Copa Libertadores to a Brasilian team double. Over all the top half of the table did quite well for themselves. The lower half not so much. Nagato and Kitakami failed to score completely. Kitakami will fight on for two matches, but with little hope. Her team will drop from J3 league to JFL, but since that's a national league and easy to follow she will also rejoin us next year. So if you like Kitakami, get out your tissues. Scharnhort dropped quite a bit, but will probably correct that soon, since she is now stuck directly behind a bunch of dormant ships.

New Dormant: Nagato, Kaga, Aoba and Takao since J2 has ended. Aoba before Kaga ended up pretty much in the middle and Nagato below. Tako was nearly relegated, but they'll all stay in J2 and will come back in spring. Curiously only J2, but not J1 or J3 ended yet.

 

[Käpt'n Korky]

Geeze, I really forgot to update teams for a while now. Have Москва́  and Парижскую коммуну

Action this week was only indirect. Well... Moskva played with herself and won.... but that doesn't really count, does it?

INPF1: Our most noble Conte slipped a bit this week with only 4 points in 2 matches, while Leningrad got the full 6. Belfast won, but missed one match opportunity. It was postponed until further notice. None of the bottom 3 scored, so every USN fan can take a deep breath. Remember USN Belles are dormant for a while. So it looks like the table moved, but it did not really since all movement was push down of USN Belles.

INPF2: For an INPF2 it was quiet. Most notable in the upper regions AGS snuck closer to Exeter and Bearn managed to surpass Hood. Biggest surprise however was Scharnhorst getting 6 points out of two matches which shoots her up the table quite a bit. Didn't see that coming. GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! Axum had her first match yesterday, but the courier with the match results takes a while from East Africa, so I get the results only next week. I hope. (srsly google lists the league finally nut can't produce results younger than 48hrs) Doesn't matter. Nürnberg and Kitakami wait for her......

[Käpt'n Korky]

New updates are Chiyoda and Gneisenau 🥰

Direct action this week: 

Ленинград 3-0 Москва́ ; pretty much what you'd expect when checking the table. 

Verdun 0-1 La Motte-Picquet ; same as above.

Also you might count Conte vs. [redacted] where one of [redacted] teams kicked Contes back side quite firmly. Btw I have a very clear vision under which circumstances which team will represent [redacted].

INPF1: So yeah, Conte lost for the first time since the INPF-League started or after 19 undefeated matches. Leningrad catches up by beating her sister, which now drops out for a while. Tenryuu goes dormant in INPF-League in relative safety, but in the real world her club got relegated to J2-League as last place in J1s 2019 season. Condolences to all Tenryuu fans. Paradoxically this could boost her chances here. Chiyodas team is vice-champion and as such qualified for AFC Champions League. Omedettou!! The two French did the opposite thing: LMP won both matches and Verdun lost both matches. Köln got its match cancelled, because a local rival had a "unsuitable field".... Pola lost yet again, but Perth won, equalling in points with Pola now.

INPF2: Exeter picked up speed again and won both her matches. While AGS stumbled and fell on her nose a bit. Allowing Bearn to catch up to her. And for her last seasons match, Kitakami scored a point. But now for the anticipated news..... AXUM finally joins the fray and with a win!! Congratulazione! (Okay, she lost her second match, but who cares?)

Dormant teams: 
INPF1: Moskva left for winter break, so until March she will go into hibernation. So doe Kongou, Chiyoda and Tenryuu, but because their season ended. More teams will follow soon. There are already more teams dormant than active.
INPF2: Kitakami is the only one here, bute as above, more will follow soon.

[Käpt'n Korky]

Added Salt Lake City and Canarias

Direct matches this week:

 

INPF1: The tables have turned. This week Conte won both matches and Zenit Leningrad dormant with a loss. While Belfast drew again. In a string of fate with Conte, La Motte-Picquest defeated the [redacted] who defeated Conte last matchday. Quite impressively. Getting 6 points this week, LMP is on a roll. Algerie and La Motte Piquet both surpass Kongou and Perth scores a decisive victory, jumping finally off last place and climbs 6 places at once. Which pushes Houston on the precarious spot.

INPF2: Not much movement at the top, but that might change as AGS is now on winter break. Same goes for the bottom, Axum is no shooting star and Nürnberg collected at least one point.

Dormant teams: Leningrad now follows Moskva. Pola wet on winterbreak until end of January and dropped to last place for it. AGS went skiing too, but she will return in the middle of January and rests much more comfortably.

 

[Käpt'n Korky]

No club updates and last update for this year. I'm in Winterpause, together with zhe German league.

Direct matches: [redacted] could become the bane of Conte, if she ever joins the league with her more..... right wing.... club. 

INPF1: Conte left points on the pitch in a cup-finale against [redacted], but her advantage in points is comfortable. And Leni is out of the picture for now. Everyone still active scored as well at least one point and it somehow slipped my attention, that Köln is now dormant until February. So, Perth closed in to Verdun but nothing else happened.

INPF2: Biggest surprise happened at the bottom, where Nürnberg scored 3 points. And now goes to sleep together with Scharnhorst for winter. Hood has regained 3rd position, evening the score with defenseless AGS and Arizona was pushed down further by PK. Canarias surpassed Kaga.

Dormant teams: Köln, since I forgot her and Scharnhorst and Nürnberg. Gneisenau has one match left, but I will not report on it until the new year is a few days old. Canarias has short break, which will be shorter than mine, so I won't put her in Orange.

[Käpt'n Korky]

Happy new year folks! 🎆 INPF-L is back. By cunningly skipping the holidays I just can continue with at least the French, Italian and some rather exotic Walküren. And not only the English, because English are crazy. Not in a good way. I mean, football on Weihnachten? Outside a proper battlefield? They even made me extend my calc table....

The newest club additions are Japanese heavy cruisers Kumano and Aoba. So despite Kami-marus being all on break, they get spotlight.

Direct matches: No.

INPF1: Oookay, Conte starts with a victory in the second half of the season, but Belfast celebrates a 4 victory streak since Christmas as if it is nothing..... and.... still doesn't surpass Conte. For very personal reasons I'm unhappy with LMPs victory. And our Aussie Walküre is slowly, but steadily climbing. This week jumping three places ahead. Verdun missed her chance to climb at least two positions entirely.
 

INPF2: Blimey.... so, Exeter and Hood had several matches as well, natürlich. They gathered a lot of points by that and sailed pretty much away for now. But Bearn als passed AGS.... with a suspiciously low number of matches. And by that P-K is closing in as well. Sacre bleu! Surprisingly Gneis had a match.... and lost.... against a Belgian. Everyone else came back victorious from the holidays. Well.... Axum had no holidays and no wins, but at least she evened the score with Kitakami. One point and she leaves last place. 

Dormant ships: Dunkerque actually. For reasons she will rejoin only next week. But dormant is dormant. 

[lazarusdw]

I'm backing Aoba

[Ninjapacman]

My ships are suspiciously being cheated of their victories.  I demand a recount!  Short of that I demand victory!

[Käpt'n Korky]

I added Perth and Nürnberg. Nürnberg was possibly the most excessive read so far. Just compare this with this AND that. Yeah.....good thing I could stop in 1939.

Direct matches: none

INPF1: CdC and Belfast won their match each and distanced themselves from Leni a bit more. The pursuers of Leni on the other hand scored accumulated 0 points and stay where they are. Perth scored again and is now firmly in the midfield, going up and Verdun at least managed to follow her this week. Everyone else is firmly asleep.

INPF2: In the second league, the big event is, the Kriegsmarines return into action and starting the "big awakening" together with Dunkerque. But while Dunkerque and very surprisingly Nürnberg start with a win, AGS and Scharnhorst lose their matches (too busy with an argument about an duel?). Gneisenau manages to score at least one point. Exeter can widen the gap to Hood and P-K is now in striking distance to AGS. Axum was embolded and won two matches in a row. Catapulting her past poor Kitakami. Nürnberg also profited massively rank wise from her win. Most Walküren are now active again, the remaining have to wait at least a month to rejoin.

Reactivated Walküren: AGS, Nürnberg, Gneisenau and Scharnhorst are back. Dunkerque, as well after a one matchday break.