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INPF Football (Soccer) League - Season 2 CHAMPION = CONTE DI CAVOUR


Käpt'n Korky
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Important Results:

 

Champion is Conte di Cavour!

Relegated Belles are: Augusta, Hood - direct re-relegation- and Wichita

Promotions go out to Exeter, Parishkaya Kommuna and Kitakami

Good day again, fellow captains,

as announced in the last few posts of season 1, I'm back with season 2.

Rules are still easy, but slightly amended:
Each Walküre I could reasonably pin a team in a national league to, gets a place on the two tables. No one dropped out for that reason.
If I could've attached more than one team I chose reasonably among the possible ones. (*still sighs at Moskva*)
I will update ideally once a week (usually after Bundesliga matchdays. Yes, Bias.).
Pointing is according to 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 31st of June atm) I bring all teams up to 38 (INPF 1) and 34 (INPF 2) matches. This reflects a "normal" season in worldly football and it has been proven that even this might be a bit challenging for some teams to accomplish. Teams with fewer than the quota of matches will get their missing matches filled up with the average points of their last 10 matches. This also means, teams with less than 10 matches I could find will be eliminated at the end of the season.
Worst three of table one relegate to table 2 and the top three of table 2 get promoted to table 1.

The first two teams I might add through new Walkürenoffenbarungen (Belle reveals) get added to INPF 2. Every other team which gets added lands on table 3. And then the league expands. INPF3 would launch after 5 teams are on it. If it maxes out, there will be a reserve pool and a relegation mechanism from 3rd division.

I copied over the team entries from season 1. With 3 notable changes: SL City, Houston and Aoba are now represented by women teams who are new. So I struck out the old teams and will add one of them every time I feel like it. Conte di Cavour, Kongou and Perth were switched over to the womens team, but kept their clubs.

Belfast rule: I will count both men and women results as both teams play very little matches, but together it should be fine.

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

Green on the INPF 1 table is champion, red is relegation. Green on the INPF 2 table is promotion, red means eliminated after season start. In both leagues blue teams have ended the season by reaching the respective match limit. Yellow teams are dormant for the time being.

INPF 1:

Spoiler
Rank Ship Name Liga Points Matches
1. Conte di Cavour Juventus Turin SAF 103,2 38
2. Belfast Glentoran FC NIFL Prem 81 38
3. Admiral Graf Spee (P) CA River Plate PDA 77 38
4. Kumano Iga FC Kunoichi NL1 72,4 38
5. Leningrad (C) Zenit St. Petersburg PL 69 38
6. Chiyoda FC Tokyo J1 68 38
7. Lexington New England Revolution MLS 67,2 38
8. Arizona (P) Phoenix Rising FC USL 65,2 38
9. Moskva Dynamo Moskau PL 65 38
10. Kongou Cerezo Osaka NL1 63,8 38
11. Houston Houston Dash NWSL 59,5 38
12. Tenryuu Jubilo Iwata J2 59 38
13. Algerie MC Alger AL1 59 38
14. SL City Real Salt Lake MLS 56,4 38
15. Verdun FC Metz L1 52 38
16. La Motte-Picquet Stade Rennes L1 47 38
17. Perth Perth Glory WL 46,2 38
18. Augusta Atlanta United MLS 45,9 38
19. Hood (P) Coventry City Cs 44 38
20. Wichita Kansas City NWSL 39,8 38

INPF 2:

Spoiler
Rank Ship Name Liga Points Matches
1. Exeter Exeter City FC FL2 56 32
2. Parishkaya Kommuna Red Star Paris L3 50 32
3. Kitakami Iwate Grulla Morioka J3 48 32
4. Canarias CD Teneriffa SD 42 32
5. Nürnberg 1. FC Nürnberg BL2 42 32
6. Aoba Bunnys Kyoto/Kyoto Sanga (ab Spiel 13) NL2/J2 41 32
7. Scharnhorst Hannover 96 BL2 40 32
8. Pola (R) NK Istra 1961 HNL1 39 32
9. Takao FC Machida Zelvia J2 37 32
10. Gneisenau 1. FC Magdeburg BL3 37 32
11. Kaga Zweigen Kanazawa J2 36 32
12. Bearn FC Pau L2 35 32
13. Saguenay (R) Montreal Impact MLS 36,3 32
14. Köln (R) 1. FC Köln BL 29 32
15. Dunkerque USL Dunkerque L2 29 32
16. Nagato Renofa Yamaguchi FC J2 27 32
17. Nevada Reno 1868 FC USL 21 10
18. Axum Shire Endasselasie FC EPL 0 0

 

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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 - Utah Royals FC

Chosen for: It's the womens team from Salt Lake City

Bief history until Sep. 1939: Founded only in 2017. And sound like loyalists to me, no?

Achievements until Sep. 1939: none, obviously

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. 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.

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. 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)

19. Houston - Houston Dash

Chosen for: See below. It's the same team, but their womens branch.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: Only founded in 2013, so none.

Achievements until Sep 1939: see above

Houston Dynamo

Chosen for: Well the ship Houston 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. 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

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Clubs of the INPF2 table:

1. 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.

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. Köln - 1. FC Köln

Chosen for: It is the highest playing kölner football club. Note I track the womens team. I had to switch to the mens team in the Bundesliga, because the women got relegated to a sub national level.

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.

 

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. 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.

 

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  -  Bunnys Kyoto (1st half of the season)

Chosen for: Only female national level soccer team from Kyoto at the start of the season. Sadly got relegated and 3rd division is sub national level. There was also no other Kyoto based club to be promoted.

Brief history until Sep. 1939: It was founded in 1990, so none.

Achivements until Sep. 1939: none obviously

2ns half: 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 CD Tenerife, 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.

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Direct matches:
Moskva 1-0 Leningrad
Kumano 1-1 Kongou
Nevada 2-1 Arizona
Nagato 1-3 Kaga

INPF 1: And INPF 1 comes out of the garage with a sensational defeat of current champion Leningrad at the hands of Moskva! That gives Moskva 4 points as a start and Leni has to deal with only 1 point. Meanwhile vice-champion Conte gets a clean 6/6 start. Kumano finally got company in the Nadeshiko League and her duel with Kongou ends in a draw. And between the IJN kamimaru the tables are turned similar to the Soviet ones as Kumano gets 4 and Kongou only 2 points, reversing their positioning from last season. For now. Belfast has already three matches under her belt, from which she got 6 points at least. Wichita ran out of luck, because she only got 2 points from 4 matches. Atlanta also got 2 points, but only 3 matches. LMP got 3 points, three more than Verdun got from her only match yet. Tenryuu might be unbeaten with 5/9 points, but Chiyoda has the better overall start for now with 9/12 points. While Arizona lost her cross table duel (how embarrassing), she made up for it with a win in the second match she got. The last, but certainly not least, our lady Hood manages to score a perfect 9/9 series and takes the table lead with the better points-to-matches ratio over Chiyoda. 
Some Walküren will only later join, but none will not play as far as I can tell. Over the course of September SLC, Houston and AGS should join, Algier in November and Perth in December.

INPF 2: Saguenay starts her first season in the lower house with a respectable 6/9 booty. Köln continued where she left off last season: losing. Same goes for Pola. Exeter had a mixed start with 3/6 points. Dunkerque also has to wake up again as she scored 2/6. Nevada on the other hand had a perfect little start with 2 wins in two matches, one of them against 1st division Walküre Arizona. Hopefully for her fans this gives her energy for the whole season. Bearn scored 1/3 so on average not better than her compatriot. Aoba disappointed with her new club and lost both league matches she had. Canarias lost to herself and another island, but won against the continental competitor, so she got at least something to show for. Kaga scored solid seven points, three of those against Nagato, who herself only managed to score 1/9 points. P-K- was probably tired again and only managed to score 2/6 points in her two matches. Takao takes the lead with a clean sheet after 3 matches and the resulting 9 points and Kitakami starts the season at least not on last position, with one win in three matches.
The Kriegsmarine will join only later this month and Axum probably only in December.

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I updated SL Citys new club.

Direct matches:
Kaga 1-1 Takao

INPF 1: Hood gets stopped in her tracks after her glorious start and Chiyoda uses her chance and sails right past her and take the top spot. Belfast closes up to Hood and takes 3rd place, with which she's well acquainted from last season. Contes ladies take a break for a month. Tenryuu, Arizona and LMP take advantage of that, while Moskva and Kumano fail to do so. The (virtual) midfield is a bit moving, with Wichita and Leni winning each, Kongou getting at least 1 point, but Augusta failing to score any points in two matches. Verdun still has nothing to show for it and remains at the bottom.

INPF 2: The two leading kamimaru, Kaga and Takao clashed this week in an indecisive match. Both also didn't win their second matches, but Kaga got at least one point, getting her right behind Takao now. Nevada also joins in the merry one pointer reign, giving Saguenay the opportunity she needs to surpass Nevada and place her on par with Kaga. (Despite losing the Canada derby btw.) Also Exeter scores 4 points, getting her into striking range for the top 3. Canarias opens the midfield by scoring 3 points, while her pursuers Kitakami, DUnkerque, PK and Bearn all fail to score. So they get handed down a few ranks after Scharnhorst and Köln start with a win into the new season and Nagato scores at least one point. (Note I switched Köln from female to male team, see in her team entry above) Gneisenau and Nürnberg on the other hand lost and thus join Pola and Aoba at the bottom of the table.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Direct matches:
Lexington 3-1 Saguenay

INPF 1: With a little break between last matchday and today the picture slowly becomes clearer. Chiyoda continues her good run and gets some distance between her and her pursuers, which are now Belfast and Lexington, the latter getting some revenge for 1812 I guess. But both have Hood and LMP hot on their heels. Tenryuu had a terrible time with only 1/9 points sending her 3 places down from pursuer to midfield. Conte also plummets 6 places, but she will only rejoin next time, so she should be calm. Wichita was in for a ludorum diem perdidi moment, with 0/6 points, sending her down 4 places. Verdun finally scored, giving her good chance in the relegation region, she finds herself naturally in. Of our three joining Walküren, AGS gets out of port the farthest in her first two matches, with a respectable 4/6 points landing her as the only one of the three in front of Verdun, while SLC and Houston have to sail behind the grim French madame. Fans of Algerie and Perth have to be very patient as they will both certainly not join in October.

INPF 2: What was kind of foreshadowed last matchday, now turns out to be true. The top looses steam hard. Takao and Kaga each get only 2/9 points. But that is nothing compared to Saguenay being so very polite as to leaving all the points to the opposition, with a 0/12 result. This catapults Nevada straight to the top with a very solid 7/9 score and making Exeter now the best of HMSs in the 2nd division. Sadly Canarias also had a bad time and thus gets overtaken a lot, since the 2nd division was much closer together. One ship which did not overtake Canarias however was Köln, since she also made a total of 0 points. the complete opposite however is Nagato, who had a 9/9 killing streak, putting her suddenly in front of Exeter and on par with Kaga in a battle for promotion ranks. She shoots up 8 places! Dunkerque and Gneisenau now are on par at the bottom of things, where Aoba finally scores her first point. I'm happy for her. In contrast Nürnberg and Pola perfom well this matchday, adding to Kölns misery and completing her 6 places drop. Axum is scheduled for December.

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Direct matches:
Nagato 3-0 Tenryuu
 

INPF 1: Chiyoda defends herself gallantly at the top with two more victories. Belfasts ladies conquered her 3 points. Lady Lex and Lady Hood have to make smaller steps, since they did not win and Hood in fact got no points at all. LMP seizes the opportunity, kinda-only a draw, and puts herself above Hood on match base. Arizona sees the others struggling in front of them and cuts through them easily, climbing from 6 to 3. Leni stumbled with only managing a draw against a Moskva club, but at least she did not blow it completely like Tenryuu and Kumano.  And while Leni takes a severe hit from 7 to 11, Tenryuu and Kumano crash far deeper. For reasons becoming apparent below. Kongou and Moskva on the other hand scored victories, giving them a nice boost to the front of the midfield. Conte got herself a nice comeback with a rise from 12 to 9, but I'm glad I don't track the mens team. Oh, they too got 3 points.....just look up Juve vs Napoli. Awkwaaaard.... 
Anyhow, moving on with what is basically now the rest of the Americas in INPF 1....and Verdun. The latter threatening the yankii gals and AGS with 3 points. But Wichita put in some effort after her horrible last matchday and scored 3 points. Against "not Houstons team anymore". I changed her team description for the occasion. Houston herself also scored 3 nice points. And so did Augusta! Only SLC puts a dent in the merry US gal show with a draw, cementing virtual last place. Last, but not least AGS keeps up with everyone by also scoring 3 points. Algerié and Perth still waiting for their first matchday to happen.

INPF 2: At the top of INP2, Nevada fights for her position valiantly with 4/6 points. that's barely enough to keep a splendid Kaga at bay, who has a 6/6 matchday, but well enough for Takao who continues her lacking performance. Scoring only 1 point in two matches. And it costs her dearly. Nagato beats INPF 1 competitor Tenryuu and secures 4 points overall and Exeter wins her match, so both, in addition to Kaga, surpass Takao. Somewhat remarkable in Exeters case, since she was the Walküre with the most matches last season and now gets ahead of Takao, because she has fewer matches. In the midfield, Sanguenay barely parries a 3 point attack by Scharnhorst with a point of her own, but Kitakami is not so lucky. In fact her 0 points make her even victim to Dunkerque and P-K, the latter two also surpassing an unlucky Canarias. She failed at the Baleares. In the bottom region, Pola gets ahead of Nürnberg with a draw, while the Kriegsmarine around her fails completely. Bearn manages to score a point, but it only keeps her in place, which is also true for Aobas loss, keeping her in last place.

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Direct matches:
Nevada 4-5 Arizona after penalty shoot out, Arizona kicked Nevada out of the playoffs after Nevada and Arizona were #1&2 in the USL 2020 Western Conference table.
Saguenay 2-3 Lexington
Takao 2-2 Kaga
Kaga 4-2 Nagato
Kaga 0-1 Tenryuu
 

INPF 1: Chiyoda takes off with 4 matches in which she "only" manages 6/12 points, but she's so far ahead at the moment, she can do whatever she wants. For now. Belfast actually made it better with 9/12 and the beautiful oddity because of her special treatment, of losing to and beating the same club in one week with both her teams. Arizona won twice, keeping her match advantage over Lex who managed to do the same. LMP and Hood also did well, so no change there as well, but Kongou only scored 3/6 possible points and Moskva blew her only chance, thus both created openings for their numerous midfield pursuers. Conte used this opening in the elite fashion which can be expected of her team and marches right past Kongou and Moskva with 6 points to her total. And doing it with only five matches under her belt. Only Walküre to be unbeaten in her first 5 matches and longest winning streak of the season so far on par with Chiyodas run from her 8th to 12th match. Unlike her sister, Leni used her only chance well and subsequently surpasses her. Wichita was also a busy bee and gained 7/12 points, which puts her right behind Conte on match count alone. Last seasons early darling Augusta however only got 2/12 points and misses out on climbing up the table, even losing two places. Tenryuu on the other hand makes 7/9 points and follows Wichita up the ladder. In the lower regions AGS loses her only match, Kumano even both of her matches, so Verdun gains 1 point and surpasses two rivals, but gains only one position. In from behind comes Houston, who parts ways with SLC, since Houston won and SLC lost. Also the league of both teams only had 4 matches(?) which confuses me. But apparently they will be out until March, when the 2021 season for their teams starts.
Talking about teams waiting to play: Perth will start her season on Dec. 27th..... if there is no VB beta launch by that time, we should all get concerned. (Algerie starts on 28th of November, if there is no launch until then, we should demand a pillow fight with the devs.)

INPF 2:  As seen above, Nevada takes a hit by an INPF 1 Walküre. that leaves her with only 3/6 points and lets Kaga catch up to her with a mixed bag of 4/9 points. And Kaga battled everyone she could in the last two weeks. Drawing with Takao, winning against Nagato and losing to INPF 1 Tenryuu. Nagato herself had a rather weak 3/9 series, but Exeter and Takao miss es out to overtake Nagato with a 2/6 matchday bounty, even submitting her to a takeover by Takao who ties now with Nagato on points and matches after a 5/9 matchday. Busy bee of the matchday is Saguenay, who manages to get 6/12 points and ads insult to Exeters injury by sheer determination, if not skill. On the other hand Exeter has a comparatively low match count. The leading Kriegsmarine representant, Scharnhorst has a terrible match day with 0/6 points in a pretty vulnerable midfield position. And consequently, PK, Canarias, but especially Kitakami make short work of her. Only Dunkerque fails to score, making her now prone to hostile takeovers at the end of the table. Which starts with Pola who takes Dunkerque up on the offer and at least ties with her on points. Below Pola only Gneisenau manages to win, pushing her past Bearn and making her catch up with the other Kriegsmarine Walküren. Aoba also manages to at least score a point, bringing her on par with Bearn who lost. Axum won't join before December I assume.

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Direct matches:
none

INPF 1: Chiyoda loses for a change while she is encroaching the half season benchmark of 19 matches and just like that Belfast gets with a single point into striking distance with 4 matches less under her belt. Arizona is the first team this matchday to secure a win. Making her way to the USL playoff finale btw. the victory also secures 3rd place for now, since Lady Lex stumbles with a slim 1/6 booty. LMP fails to score entirely, which is good news for basically half the table behind her. Conte and Kongou had no match this week, so couldn't take her up on the offer, but Wichita and Tenryuu did, while Leni and Hood* missed their chance, this time. Moskva even used the weakness of her sister to surpass her. In the lower regions, Augusta continues her disappointing performance so far with a defeat. Which Verdun and AGS use to get in touch with the lower midfield of the table. Kumano passes this day as well and the other teams just have to sit it out.

*Hood had a special misery today as I checked the score and she actually did NOT score 3 points on the 17th day of the 10th month, but lost the match. Today she only gained one point, sending her down quite a bit. Sry, Mr. Wells.

INPF 2: Tis' the season.... where the USN Walküren slowly fall dormant. The IJN will probably follow soon. Not sure though. That said, Nevada stops playing matches as table leader and will return, hopefully in March. And Kaga just narrowly jumps her benchmark by one point, while the other two IJN kamimaru miss their chance almost entirely, with Takao at least scoring one point to overtake Nagato. With Saguenay also failing, Exeter sees a chance and uses it, by securing two wins and jumping from the midfield straight into the top bunch, putting severe pressure on Kaga already. Kitakami on the other hand misses her chance to stay in touch with the upper echelons. With PK resting and Canarias scoring only one point, Scharnhorst finds herself back at exactly the middle of the table on par with PK. The lower half of the table shows a rather mediocre performance and nothing changes, with the notable exception of Bearn, who scores 3 points and climbs ahead of Gneisenau, who had a terrible match day with two losses.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Off schedule, missed two... well. Life. It happens. At least a lot of potential points to throw around, eh?

Direct matches:
Takao 1-0 Nagato

 

INPF1: Chiyoda only gets 3/9. At least she wins her 19th match, which means she's halfway there to end her season. Alas, now Belfast gets a chance to bite. And misses, but at least comes one point closer. Arizona scored nothing, unexpectedly, since her only match left (USL league final) was canceled. The opposition fell victim to Covid-19. No title will be awarded the match not postponed, but struck. Lady Lex follows the trend and played three matches with only one win. But that's enough to overtake Arizona. Tenryuu had four matches, pushing her to halt season, but also only one win (4/12), but it keeps her close to Lex. Only with Wichita we finally see more than one victory: Two matches, two wins! She too gets into position to attack Lex. La Motte-Picquet one the other hand joins the "single victory squad" and only gets 3/12 points. Conte also only wins once, but she has 3/3 points. Notice anything? And even the mighty Hood only scores 3/12..... but it always can get worse and Kongou only scores one measly point in all the time. I start to feel the time was cursed in the INPF 1. Maybe the lower half will bring more excitement? 
Right off the bat, Moskva scores a double-win and sends herself up a few places. Leni only loses one of her four matches -making yours truly VERY happy- and getting good 7 points out of her time on the pitch. She has now catched up with her sister. Verdun also does good and gets 4 points in two matches. Only with Admiral Graf Spee we return to the 3 points scheme of the upper half.Atlanta follows suit and Kumano even fails completely. 

INPF 2: The table leader of 2nd division, Kaga, returns with a mixed bag of 4 points out of 4 matches. Lucky for her, Nevada is dormant, but Exeter sees the gap and sails right through it to the top. Takao beats Nagato in the direct face off, but those are her only points she gains. which is more than Nagato, who only scored 1 point. All three IJN Walküren are now firmly over seasonal half time. Same for Saguenay, who at least gets 3 points overtaking Nagato, just on matches. In comparison, Kitakami had a swell time with 5 points in three matches and this enables her to sack the point twins in front of her. PK scored the "usual" 3 points. Which is more than Scharnhorst with her single point can say. Under those circumstances, Canarias sacks both of them with 5/9 points, putting her back into the upper half of the table. While Dunkerque and Pola score 3 points each and keep touch with the midfield, Nürnberg and Köln do the Scharnhorst thing and only take 1 point home. With Gneisenau scoring 3 points, it brings the Kriegsmarine almost back together into one place, but with Bearn winning as well, behind the French Walküre, not in front of her. Aobas team still performs mediocre and only brings one point home. She probably needs a miracle to not get stuck in last place when Axum eventually joins the league.

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Direct matches:
Lexington 2-1 Saguenay

INPF1 : The leadership finally changes after Chiyoda can't ramp up her form and Belfast equalises on points, but with fewer matches. Wichita surpasses the dormant Arizona. LMP on the other hand loses and thus gives the Russian sisters the opportunity to at least equalise the score. Conte however deals a double win to all of them and rushes past them all. Kongou uses her opportunity to get past Hood and Verdun. But with an unexpected double win AGS overtakes all three of them and pushes herself into the comfortable midfield, with the promise of further rise. Augusta had a bad short season and missed the playoff round of her league, so she falls dormant. Kumano scores wins for a change and squeezes herself into the pseudo-safe 16th position.

INPF 2: At the top of the 2nd division, Exeter strengthens her position relative to her pusuers by an average performance, since Kaga and Takao fail almost completely to score, so badly even Kitakami can get between the two. Saguenay loses her match against first division Lex and because of it falls dormant. In the midfield PK uses the almost total failure of everyone around her to get into lead position of the "19p club". Dunkerque equalises with Scharnhorst. While Pola has no match, Only Nürnberg scores a win behind her, changing places with Bearn.
For Aoba there will be a team switch: As you can see, Aobas team only scored 3 points. In the whole season it was 8pts. So they will be relegated into amateur level next year. For that reason Aoba will switch back to Kyoto Sanga, starting next week already, since their season is a bit longer. That will maybe change Aoba fate decisively.

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Direct matches:
Perth 0-1 Chiyoda
Dunkerque 1-1 Bearn

INPF 1: Belfasts men stemmed all the matches since last matchday. With 4/12 points their result is mixed and Belfast gets pushed past the 50% match mark. Chiyoda fares only a little better with 6/15, but it is enough to reconquer the top! And give Perth a very rough welcome to the "new" season. And while Lexington keeps on fighting, Wichita loses and thus falls dormant for now. Tenryuu sees her Chance and overtakes BOTH of them despite the gap between Witch and Lex being 7 points. Back in Europe, Contes women have -again- only one match, but win it. However Contes next opponent is the dreadnought of European womens football, so her impressive 9 win series might come to an end soon. Moskva plays so-so with one loss and one win and fails to get past Arizona. LMP on the other hand has entered a very lousy phase and after 3 losses in a row only scores one point out of 12 on this matchday. Leni is literally a bit out of her waters and it shows. But 4/12 is enough to improve her position and push past her sister at least. A true highlight of the matchday is Admiral Graf Spee. She delivers a 10/12 four match run and steams past a third of the table even ahead of Conte an Wichita, getting into range for the top group. And only Conte is potentially up there with fewer matches. Kongous league has ended, but now the Japanese women entered the Empress Cup, so any of them can be eliminated or proceed and Kongou..... keeps on fighting with a win. And while Kongous result was close..... Kumano..... well Kumano furiously eliminated her opponent with an impressive 11-0 show of force..... yes, Kumano. Our Kumano with a negative points to match ratio..... or...equal ratio now. And she even climbs a rank. Back in England, Lady Hood passed her 50% mark with a respectable 8/12 points, getting her comfortably out of the sights of relegation zone. The same can not be said about Verdun who has had a lousy matchday with 0/6 points, getting her nowhere. 
And finally, finally Algerie and Perth join the fight for the championship. Algerie with a single draw and one point and Perth with a bloody nose from not only Chiyoda and also one point, but out of 15 possible points.

INPF 2: Exeter opens the table with a strong show of force and 9/12 points, pretty much cementing her spot at the top. Her direct pursuers make this even easier as all three of them only score five points in 10 matches. Together. Takao scores at least a win, overtaking Kitakami. P-K sees this, says hold my wine and just like that comes from behind to push herself into 2nd position. Nagato goes with the Japanese INPF2 flow and scores only 3/12 points. Canarias sails past her 50% match mark with a disappointing 4/12 performance, but at least it keeps her "in touch" with Nagato and gets her behind the dormant Nevada. Scharnhorst gets and admirable 3/6 matchday, but it gets her nowhere. Especially since Dunkerque and Bearn play a friendly draw amongst each other, which gives Dunkerque a 4/9 matchday and the one point she needs to put herself in front of Scharnhorst. Pola doesn't get nothing, but one point is too much to die and too little to live. Especially since Nürnberg overtakes her with one win in two matches and Bearn -like Dunkerque- gets 4 points and now is equal with Pola. Gneisenau even presents her first matchday where she isn't beaten and gets with 5/12 points behind Dunkerque. And very much to my personal dismay, so does Köln. *sigh* We always trip over the "weaker" ones..... anways. Köln gets her personal seasonal record with 4/6 points in one matchday, keeping the fight against the bottom open. But the best for last: Aoba completely changes her fortune with the forced switch to the means team and crashes into the table from below with 8/12 points. More than she scored the rest of the season. Axum has not played yet, but I reckon her schedule is finally online and will start in exactly one week from now. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Direct Matches:
Tenryuu 3-2 Takao
Leningrad 3-1 Moskva
Aoba 1-1 Kaga
 

INPF 1: As the year comes to a close and a VB Trailer lingers on the horizon, Chiyoda shows her skill one last time for this year with a double victory exit. She's also the first with only 10 more matches to go. Belfast had more matches and while not perfect, manages to snatch Chiyodas lead on matches alone. Tenryuu also reaches the 10 matches to go mark and sends Takao home into the new year with a win over her. AGs uses a very good 10/12 points matchday to overtake the dormant Lady Lex. Contes rise on the other hand takes a hard dampener with only 3/9 points. She rules at home, but was a bit out of her water in international waters. Hood can capitalize on that weakness with a mediocre 5/12 performance, but it probably will not last since she's already on twice the matches as Conte. Leni got rather frustrated (and the author rather delighted) with a loss internationally. She apparently vented her frustration not only on Moskvas Dynamo, but also on Moskvas Spartak, just to hammer the message home. It at least brings her past two dormant yankii, if nothing else. Moskva gets a very used matchday, not only but also thx to her sister. This finally separates the Russian siblings. Kongou lost her shot at the Empress cup in the third round, giving her at least 3 points, while Kumano sadly lost in the second round and goes empty into sleep until March. LMP puts in a real effort and now trails Leni, just like last season, but farther down the table. Verdun also has a very good matchday -compared to the season so far- and breaks contace with the relegation zone. After a cautious start, Algerie leaves Perth in the dust at the bottom with a 10/12 matchday and makes an attempt to get out of the relegation zone. And since Perth lost against Chiyoda last matchday, she has to let it happen, since she will be dormant until late January.

INPF 2: Exeter has an average matchday with 3/6. How much it will save her in the end is uncertain atm, because of her huge lead in points and matches to any competitor. Like P-K, who only has one match, but at least gets a point to show for it. Kaga (and most of the other IJN Kamimaru) concludes her season for this year. She, Nagato and Takao have only 6 matches to go. Kagas end of the year is disappointing with only 2/9 points. Her duel with Aoba gains both only one point each. Takao on the other hand gives herself a nice push towards years end. Only losing one match against INPF1s Tenryuu and winning the other two. Same goes for Kitakami, so both push back into the promotion spots. Nagato only manages to score 3/9 points an thus loses contact to the IJN block. Canarias scores a win and pushes past Nevada. Dunkerque reaches 50% of matches with a disappointing double loss. This helps Scharnhorst with a round of everything (1/1/1) to take back a position in front of her. And even Nünberg saily by, with 6/9 points. Gneisenau only had one match - onoe point, okay, maybe, not helping certainly. Talking about sailing by... the fact Pola rests until late Jauary sailed past me. Bearn performs also poorly with only 1 point and Aoba seems to have already lost her steam with now only 1/9 points this time. Köln on the other hand can keep her small momntum and scores 4/9 points, getting her behind Gneisenau and of the bottom. And very bad news for Axum. Apparently the Ethiopian Premier League was cut back from 16 ti 13 teams and I can't find her club anymore. Which means she is eliminated. Which makes me really sad. It also cuts the matches to play in INPF 2 by 2.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Direct Matches:
Verdun 1
-0 La Motte-Picquet
 

INPF 1: The new year starts slow for most teams. Belfast starts the new year with a win, and so does Chiyoda. The latter even winning the Japanese League cup. Omedettou! A contrast is AGS who had to play four matches and had a rather.... mixed performance. With only 4 points from 4 matches. Giving her the push past dormant Tenryuu, but then losing steam significantly to reach the top.....Hood however basically copies that result with 4 points from 4 matches, overtakes dormant Lex and then stops. Conte sees this weakness and uses it. She scores 2 wins in 2 matches and gets past Hood that way. Still topbound. Leni and Moskva have to stop playing for the time being, because of the still ongoing pandemic. Our French ladies had a direct duel, which LMP decided for herself. Apart from this both only gained 2 points. Overall it brings LMP into the front pack and Verdun ploughs post some helpless competitors. She also gets to her halftime of matches played. And from the depths of the table Algerié rises. In a stunning 12/12 matchday she makes up enough ground to put herself from back end position to a comfy midfield position. And given she has even less matches than Conte, she's now in the position to strike.

INPF 2: The table leader of INPF 2 seems to be always bound to start struggling. Thus Exeter disappoints with a 1/6 performance. But since she's comfy in front and her "direct" competition is asleep, she's safe for now. P-K also does her the favour of losing, but in a sudden twist o events, Canarias scores a 3 win streak an is now in 2nd, behind Exeter. Scharnhorst also doesn't too bad and scores 6/9 point, which sets her in a position to perspectively compete for promotion. But she crosses the 50%, so she'd need a strong second half for that. Nürnberg on the other hand loses her momentum already and drops dead in the water with 1/6 points. Dunkerque does the same. Köln surprises everyone with one of her rare wins, but gains nothing for now. Gneisenau had one match, got a point from it. Also dead in the water. Bearn had it even worse. She had three matches, like Köln, but gained zero points from them. All three Walküren have reached their 50% of matches now.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Direct Matches:
Nürnberg 2-5 Scharnhorst
 

INPF 1: Belfast begins the match as table leader and opens with a solid 4/6 result. AGS is also back in the victorious track and scores a win. Conte dashes with might through this matchday and delivers an amazing 12/12 matchday. Taking AGSs 3rd place. Below the top, the Ladies have a bit more trouble. LMP wins one and loses one, while Hood goes on a bouquet of scores and makes a 1/1/1 matchday. But that's enough to push past LMP for now. Leni and Moskva both return to the fray. Leni takes no prisoners and scores three wins in three matches. Getting her immediately reattached with Hood and LMP. Moskva has a much rockier start, but after her loss in Poznan, she returns to the motherland and takes 7 points from her enemies, pulling herself out of the lower regions, back into solid midfield. Where Verdun just arrived and prepares with might to climb further. She has an amazing 9/9 matchday, putting her above Lex.After a dreamy start, Algerié now got some sand into her gears. Of 18 possible points, she only manages to get 6. Enough to keep pace with Moskva, but not to stay in front of her. 6 points is also what the returning Perth manages to get. This at least gets her off the bottom and her hopes high to remain in the first division, now that she's up and fighting again.

INPF 2: Exeter is not only in the lead, but now only two matches away from finishing her season. And she will set a worthy benchmark with 50 points or more. It could've been over 60, but her matchday, by the looks of it, almost her last, ended with a disappointing 5/15 points. As if the table leader of INPF 2 gets suddenly a weakness spell. But not only her. Canarias scores only 1/9 and has no, with 4 matches left, no chance to win INPF2 this season. All she can hope for is to get as close to 45 as possible an then have enough to land on the 2nd or 3rd place. While others are already nearing the end, others, like P-K just cross the 50% mark. But she disappoints as well with a draw and a loss. Scharnhorst has two losses, but also two wins to show for. that's enough to make Canarias extremely nervous, as it makes Scharnhorst the new runner up to Exeter. And she has much more matches to go. Nürnberg crosses her halfway point dead in the water. 0/12 points gets her nowhere. Scharnhorst says "Danke" and takes the three points. This makes Dunkerques three points more than enough to overtake Nürnberg, but not enough to keep a place in front of Köln, who has a moment of relative strength and scores 7/12 points. Gneisenaus matchday was at least to get her in front of Nürnberg, but 6/15 is hardly a success. Bearn shows at least a sign of life and scores a win in her last of her four matches. the future will show if it brings her anywhere. For now Pola returns and tells Bearn, that it's not enough to keep her in check.

Most of the "dormant" Walküren, if not all, will return in March. A point where Exeter, Canarias and probably Hood will already be done. So then the turns will table.

Also, AXUM is actually eliminated. Her team got relegated to Ethiopian 2nd division (the league got cut, and they were not last three places last season, so only guesswork why). And the 2nd division is nowhere to be found with my resources or doesn't play this season.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Direct Matches:
 

INPF 1: The three active Ladies at the top, Belfast, Conte and Spee conclude this round of matchdays with two wins each, but only Conte stays spotless, as the other two suffer also a defeat. Conte matches now her initial 9 wins in a row with another 9 wins in a row. And maybe counting. With ten whole matches less than Belfast, she's pretty much bound to take the top spot. Leni made it like the higher ups with 6/9 but the direct competition, Lady Hood, had a terrible almost last matchday. She only has two matches to go with her team and only scored 4/15 points this matchday. LMP fails to use this, while also having a 5 matches matchday behind her. But she only scores 2/15 points and falls a bit behind in the pursuer group. This also constitutes a critical weak phase. She has 6 matches left. Through this Verdun actually overtakes her compatriot. But Moskva kills it with 5 victories in six matches and shoots right up next to her sister. And even overtaking her because of one match played less. Algerie can't keep up and stumbles on with a loss and a draw. Last, but not least, Perth continues her slow climb with a win. It will be interesting to watch if she can keep it up, when next week other Belles rejoin the fray.

INPF 2: Exeter is the first to conclude the (four matches shorter) season in the INPF 2 and total. She leaves it with two victories, setting the benchmark at 56 points. This thins out the possible competitors for first place quite a bit. Canarias on the other hand overtakes Scharnhorst momentarily, but she only has one match left, 39 points and even if she makes it to 42 next time..... that will be an easier nut to crack and her position is now only third and she is already under direct threat from Scharnhorst with 6 matches to go who had a mixed matchday, with a 1/1/1 to show for. Wait? Third? When she overtook Scharnhorst who was in 2nd? Oui! P-K kills it this matchday in the INPF 2 with 10/12 points, rushing past Canarias with already 40 points and a whoping 10 matches to go. Which also makes her the only real threat to Exeter at the moment. Scharnhorst and Canarias can't get to 56 anymore. The nether region of the 2nd division starts with a Köln who loses 3 and wins only one. Dunkerque had 4 matches, putting her into her last 4 matches as well. With three draws and one loss, she cements her midfield position, no more, no less. Gneisenau has an abysmal 0/9 points booty. Something Nürnberg actually uses. In fact she firmly puts her into the midfield with two wins, jumping up quite a bit. Pola is the last one to cross the 50% buoy and does so quite terribly with a 1/15 score..... Actually I have to fear for Gneisenau and Pola still being with us next season if they can't turn their ships around. Bearn fares better and scores 4 points which she uses to get even ahead of Saguenay.

-Chances to kick Exeter from her throne lie only with P-K. Kitakami (if she has a perfect rest run) and Nevada(12th, but only with 10 matches!), luckily for the other well performing Belles, three of them can get to INPF 1, but they have to fend off those three as well.

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General announcement: All US football leagues have postponed their start well in April, so they get an extended deadline, if they need one (currently June 30th).

Direct matches:
Tenryuu 1-3 Takao

INPF 1: Well, we kick off the matchday with Belfast -again- and maybe for almost the last time. She makes a perfect 12/12 score today and has only 12 points to gain at max. 4 more matches and she's done for this season. So her current 72 points can "only" be elevated to 84 tops. Conte however stays flawless as well and has still 16 fluffy matches to go. With AGS also losing no points on her way to the maybe top, the top 3 are uncatchable today it seems. But! The IJN is back in the fight! Chiyoda comes back out of drydock with a strong 7/9 performance. Just in time, so AGS can't shake her for good. She is however only 6 matches away from a complete run, so her title dreams from earlier are much thinner than when she left.
The sisterly battle in Russia turns into Moskvas favour as she can score two wins in two matches, while her sister only saves 1/6 points and falls behind. For now or was it the decisive matchday for those two? 
Lady Hood loses her steam in the end and also only gets 1/6 points. Denying herself a symbolic last huzzah over Leni and now being a sitting duck getting immediately taken over by Verdun, who also sacks Leni. Luckily Tenryuu seems to be stuck in winter quarters. She is back in the fight, but graciously scores 0/6 points. Lucky for her, LMP does the same today. Lex, like the other US Belles remains in drydock due to the pandemic (see above), so now threat there.
Algerié has a classic mixed back of 1/1/1 in three matches, but it's enough to at least even the score with Lex and overturning her with the better match ratio. Kongou and Kumano have Nadeshiko League Teams. They will join on the last weekend of March, so maybe first scores will be in in early April. This leaves Perth, with a mediocre 3/9 performance, getting her out of relegation, at least on paper.

INPF 2: With Exeter done, INPF 2 starts with P-k who also starts the hunt for Exeter. Since she was busy, showing you around last week, she only played one match, but managed to win it. Canarias goes out as well, but with a win, giving her chances to promotion a final, desperate push. Especially since Scharnhorst fails to deliver the killing blow with only 2 points in two matches.
In the 2nd division, the IJN Kami-maru rejoin the fight, some of them with only little left to fight. But Takao wins over INPF 1s Tenryuu. With her other match a draw however, her chances are pretty much theoretical, since she can only check Canarias. Kitakami would be next in list, but since her team plays in J3 league, she restarts to play only in a fortnight. Kaga already only fights for her honour, scoring 3/6 points and having also only two matches left. At least overtaking Kitakami. For now. Köln only scores one point. With only 5 matches in reserve, her chances for promotion are on paper only as well. Nürnberg doesn't fare any better, but has more matches left. Nagato and Dunkerque do the same and thus we enter the bottom of the table. And there Gneisenau suddenly shows signs of life! With 4/9 points she shows a performance getting her at least in front of Nevada for now. But Bearn beste her nonthelesswith a rare 6/6 matchday. Nagato, Dunkerque, Bearn and Gneisenau also have now entered their endgame with 5 matches or less left. At the very bottom, the losers duel sees two furious performances! Pola scores 6/9 points and Aoba 4/6. They're not done yet and Pola underscores it even by overtaking Nevada for now in a big leap!

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Direct matches:
Verdun 1-3 La Motte-Picquet
Aoba 3-4 Tenryuu
Bearn 3
-1 Dunkerque

INPF 1: Belfry is in for the last time and makes at least 9/12 points with her last matchday for this season. So 81 points is the checkmark for any Belle aspiring to be champion. And after ten wins in a row, Conte gets reminded of her team also being only mortals! Conte loses a match and wins another. AGS misses the chance to surpass Conte, but can at least shorten the distance from 2 to one point. Chiyoda grabs a mixed bag with 7/12 points in the end. But that's enough to get her in front of both AGS and Conte! But with only two more matches on the tab, she will end at 70 points at best. Moskva and especially Verdun loose steam, so they're now out of sight of the top. Leningrad uses this relative weakness to catch up to her sister. Tenryuu has not only a perfect 6/6 points matchday but also a lot of goals in her matches. Highlighted by her win over Aoba. LMP beats not only Verdun, but wins actually 2/3 matches and uses this steam to stay in touch with the rest of the midfield and surpass Hood together with Tenryuu. Algerie continues her solid run with 5/9 points and more matches ahead of her than all active Walküren in front of her. Perth however drops for the first time into a negative points to matches ratio and remains stuck in a sea of USN Belles. The latter which are still out of the fight, because they wait for April.

INPF 2: P-K opens the table 2 race with a 1/2/0 performance, keeping her dream of promotion to INPF 1 veeery alive. In theory she can push Exeter from the throne with the next three of her remaining 6 matches. Scharnhorsts matches were postponed, so no change there and Takao blows her minimal chances with a draw and a loss and does not get past Scharnhorst. Tbh this is quite a twist. Iirc at the beginning of the season only IJN Kami-maru were bound for promotion. Looks like none of them will actually make it at the end of the season. Same for Kaga, she scores a solid 4 points, but fails to gain nay more places. Takao and Kaga drop out, but Kitakami takes up the fight again. A bit late to the party from an IJN perspective, because she plays in the lowest possible tier. She scores 4 points on return, closing an IJN block and still having chances on promotion. As the only IJN kami-maru. Köln only makes one point. Nürnberg scores two and gets even with Köln at lesser matches. Bearn mauls Dunkerque to get past both with 4 points from two matches. Nagato ends her season with a weak 1/6 points matchday, which leads to Dunkerque overtaking her with her last steam by winning the "other" match she has. Before losing to Bearn on her very last match. Talking about steam, Gneisenau whips up her boilers and gets 6 points shortly before closure. She is no herself only 2 matches away from season end. Pola sees this and takes it personal and makes an outstanding 10/12 points matchday. The best she had this season if I'm not mistaken. It slams her from bottom third right into a mid table position. Aoba loses against Tenryuu, but still manages to score a win. So at least she has finally catched up to Saguenay in front of her.

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PSA (Personal Support Announcment): since i just found out, my home club (without any Walküre....yet) has a partnership with Iwate Grulla Morioka, I feel obliged to declare for Kitakami! Kitakami, banzai! Banzai! Banzai!

Direct Matches:
Tenryuu 1-2 Nagato
Arizona 0-4 Wichita

INPF 1: Chiyoda concludes her season with 4 points from her last two matches, bringing her up to 68 total. With Conte only gaining 3 points from her single match and Admiral Graf Spee getting only 2 points out of two matches, Chiyoda is 2nd for now, but probably not for long. Also AGS basically shot herself out of the title race, now needing 17/21 points. And she stumbles too often for that. Leaving the top group, Moskva and Leni follow the leading group with a win each. Verdun and Tenryuu keep in touch with both by making also 3 points each. La Motte-Picquet ends her season with a draw and right in front of Hood. Algerié misses her chance of overtaking both, by scoring just enough points to get right behind Hood. 
The USN Belles rejoin the fray, with their pre-season friendlies. the proper season starts later this month, but I always count friendlies, so I can start with them as well now. Less number malarkey later. So, Lady Lex and Wichita and have a mixed pre- season, with 4/9 points so far, but at least better than Arizona who loses to the US Witch and has only 3 points to show for from 4 matches. Kongou is next in line and also back with her team. She blows the start a bit with 2/6 points to the table. So any change on the table now relies completely in the bottom 5 Belles. And Kumano delivers with a perfect matchday (and 9-0 goals!), while Perth only gets 3/6 points, so she gets overtaken. Not to be a bore, Augusta even surpasses that and returns to the fight with a 10/12 points matchday, even immediately linking up to Kongou. Now with the bottom two, there is a twist. Because why not US Soccer? Why not? 
Houston will only join us next time since the NWSL starts its challenge cup on April 9th, ends it on May 8 and then starts its season..... So Houston will end up with no complete season. Salt Lake City has the problem of no team anymore. At least not a female one. It simply disappeared, because in the US you can sell teams. And here comes the kicker: it got sold to Kansas City. So starting next week, Wichita will switch from Kansas men, to Kansas women team. Which reintroduces SL City to her mens team again. Which had one match, which was won. so the bottom two stay the bottom two. For now.

INPF 2: As last active Belle of the current top 3, Parishkaya Kommuna gives the matchday a bumpy start with only 2 points out of three matches. Almost blowing her chances of winning the second division entirely. To win it she will now have to win all three of her remaining matches. Scharnhorst also only draws, probably blowing her promotion. Still, one lucky punch and she's in and also has three chances left for it. If it were not for Kitakami sneaking up on her with a solid 4/6 matchday. And two more matches on the tab. Pola makes a nice 3/6 matchday, surpassing Kaga, but with only two matches left in any case too late for the promotion race. Gneisenau also saves her honour by winning again. Next match will be her last. She also distances Bearn with finish line in sight, since Bearn only gets 1 point today and has two matches left. Nürnberg seizes her chance and overtakes Bearn with a win, while Köln is back at losing. Nevada will join us at the end of the month again and Saguenay next time. Aoba uses this to finally overtake them with a win in two matches.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So here we go again. And while some will stop competing today or very soon, others are just getting started.

Direct matches:

INPF1: And so we follow Conte and Spee on their journey to get past Chiyoda and Belfast. And it looks swell for Conte. Another matchday another win and she gets past Chiyoda. And whooping 12 matches to go to get to Belfast. But for now she gets surpassed by Spee with her perfect 9/9 matchday. She too can put herself in front.
In the pursuers group things don't go as smoothly for the Soviet ladies. Both score a win but also a draw and Moskva even loses one match. Still better than Verdun who lets her season fizzle out with 1/9 points and only one match to go. Tenryuu uses this weakness and gets past Verdunwith two wins and the Soviet sister have to watch out now not to be overturned on the last few meters. 
In the lower midfield, the task of cracking the LMP/Hood equator is on. And Algerie trips and entangled between the two as she only gets one point this time. 
Lady Lex on the other hand makes a nice 5pointer matchday and gets herself into position to get through the divide before Algerie maybe?
Wichita gets 4 points, but for now it gets her nowhere, but away from the bottom a bit. Arizonas matches all got delayed for now because of the pandemic. She cought the virus, we all wish her well. Kongou marks her 50% mark with a win and a loss, putting her in front of Arizona. Augustas trip to Costa Rica pays off, but then she draws back home. But 7 points is enough to close the gap again between Wichita and the bottom 7, recreating a lower midfield. And what is up with Kumano?? Since her break is over she keeps winning...... unlike her lackluster perfomance prior. Perth on the other hand mediocres around in the relegation zone with 1/9 points. Sad 50% memory.
And the last of the Belles clocks in to the league! Houston makes 2 points in 2 matches. Better than Perth, but some room for improvement.
Salt Lake City meanwhile takes a break. For no obvious reason.

INPF 2: Okay. P-K had a shit matchday with Lyon. She lost to both Lyon teams in seperate tournaments. So best to not do anything which reminds her of Lyon for a while. In her last match she scores her last point and such, Lyon destroyed her hope for the top. But not necessarily her hope for promotion. What ever will be the end, she's done for this season. Scharnhorst has it even worse. She had two "safe" matches and a tough one. She blew all three and is done. I can only imagine the party, My girl Kitakami adds insult to injury for Scharnhorst and also ends Canarias promotion hopes instead of Schranhorst with a single win. Banzai! Pola loses the steamy furor from last time and only limps into port with 3/6 points, but still ahead of Takao and much further up than anyone would've guessed after her 3x0 start into the season. Gneisenau finishes the season with her 4th win in a row and ahead of Kaga, who was at the top for quite some time. Nürnberg prepares for her season finale with a nice 4 points matchday. Also surpassing Kaga and with theoretical potential to jump on par with Canarias. Some Walküren had something in their tea for the season finale! Bearn does the same, but she is done now for the season. But Köln blows her last matches as well and can not threaten her even theoretically. 
Which makes for first league ranking (see rules at the top) in INPF history as she is even with Dunkerque. But German 1st division is certainly tougher than French 2nd, so Köln stays ahead of Dunkerque. Aoba bags in 6/6 points and sacks Nagato with this. Getting ready to snack Köln and Dunkeque next. With 5 matches left, she could -in theory- even get past Kitakami. That's how tight INPF 2 is this season! Navada only joins on Mayday, but Sanguenay reenters by the team from Toronto, asserting dominance inCanada, I guess. Overall she comes back with a solid 6/9 matchday, leaving Navada to keep up and keeping touch with Aoba.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Direct Matches:
Salt Lake City 3-1 Wichita

INPF 1: Admiral Graf Spee had only four matches left and by now played all of them. But instead of overtaking Belfast, she stumbles hard and comes home with only 5/12 points. So her final score is "only" 77 and Belfast can keep dreaming of the championship a bit. But only until Conte di Cavour closes in. Conte gets 6 points in her two matches and can't overtake AGS yet, but she has still 10 matches to go. 
Further down the table, Moskva has a matchday she'd rather wants to forget. Two matches, zero points, easy pray for Leni, who scores two victories in her two matches and not only overtakes Moskva in the INPF, but also wins the Russian championship 2020/21. Both have two matches to go, in the INPF as well as in the Russian league. Tenryuu on the other hand fails to sack Moskva as she only scores 3 points in her last to matches and is now done. And so is Verdun who ends with a loss. Algerie sees this and gets immediately past verdun with an uncommon 9/9 matchday, but even with her 7 matches in reserve, she won'tplay a role in the championship fight. But with Hood, LMP and Verdun behind her, she's already safe from relegation. The yankii bunch starts with Lady Lex, who cashes in 2 more victories and keeps steaming upwards. Our current host Wichita is rather mediocre and only gets 1/6 today. lucky for her, Augusta also disappoints with only 4/12 points and stays behind her. Kongou brings home only one point, but only had one match. Arizona on the other hand had 4 matches and brings home only 3 points. Still enough to overtake Kongou on matches. Kumano continues her small miracle streak of wins and thus overtakes Arizona and Kongou with 6/6 points.
Which brings us to the danger relegation zone. While Perth continues a weak season, Houston and SLC make good points and only just got started with both having less than 10 matches.

INPF 2: The 2 nd division sees fewer action as most teams are already done, but Kitakami starts the fray with a win, securing her possible promotion a bit better. And it was well needed, since Nürnberg ends on a win streak and on par with Canarias on points on a shared 4th place. Then we're already at current position 14, but Aoba changes this with might an 10/12 points! Only one match left and she establishes herself at least in the upper midfield. Not wuite expactable after her abyssimal season start. At the actual table bottom, Saguenay rows around with two draws, but at least it gets her on par with Nagato. And Nevada? Nevada makes Saguenay and Nagato THE table bottom by ceasing to exist.

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