Day 25 – Soccer season (club)
Lesson
Topic Point: Most leagues around the world start in late July to mid-August. Theyrun approximately 9-10 months and culminate in May. Some leagues, will runwithin the calendar year, starting anywhere between January to April, andending in November or December. League games are weekly during the season exceptfor holidays and international breaks.
FIFA sets an international calendar for nationalteam friendlies and national team competitions. Club teams release playerscalled to the national team roster. The FIFA World Cup typically runs 4 weeksfrom mid-June to mid-July. The 2026 World Cup will be 6 weeks (June 11-July 19)due to the increase in number of teams and games. Since most leagues competeAugust to May, the FIFA World Cup does not conflict.
Club teams usually compete in domestic Cupcompetitions which run in tandem with the regular season. The more successfulthey are, the longer double duty will continue (the domestic cups are singleelimination). There are also continental Cup competitions, though not all clubsare eligible to participate in these. The top teams from each domestic league willqualify for a continental Cup (the most famous being the UEFA ChampionsLeague). Appendix 5 shows the continental cups. Appendix 4 shows several countries,their Tier 1 league, and their domestic cup. The combination of league andtournaments results in the most successful teams having 60-70 games in aseason.
Finally, there is the FIFA Club World Cupwhich started in 2000 and, after a 4-year hiatus, continued in 2005. It was anannual tournament through 2023. Starting in 2025, it is a quadrennialtournament like the FIFA World Cup. In Club World Cup year, some teams will addto their game load.
Ted Lasso: InS3E12, Ted reviews the odd nomenclature and the somewhat confusing system ofhierarchy within the English football. Because AFC Richmond will finish in thetop 4 of the EPL, they earn a spot in the following season’s UEFA Champion’sLeague competition. It seems odd to him because only one team can be crownedleague champion, yet the top 4 teams earn a spot in the Champions League.Regardless, the next AFC Richmond season will include the normal 38 EPL games,potential FA Cup and Carabao Cup games, and the UEFA Champions League. The UEFAChampions League would be the only competition where Richmond plays clubs fromother countries.
Each season of the show culminates with thelast game of the league season. AFC Richmond’s fate each season depends on theoutcome of the game, and potentially other matches as well. This function istied to the European football seasons and the round-robin play that crowns theleague champion, and the teams that finish in the relegation zone (bottom 3teams). Finishing in the top 2-4 spots of the league have impact as well (promotionor continental championship play).
Soccer-related note: Major League Soccer (MLS) has run from March to November since itsinception in 1996. Unlike most world football leagues, MLS has a playoff systemlike other American professional sports leagues. The team with the best regularseason record is recognized as the winner of the Supporters’ Shield whichcreates a degree of similarity to other leagues around the world. In 2027, theleague will transition to a schedule that follows most other world leagues. MLSwill play an abbreviated spring 2027 schedule, followed by a regular seasonthat runs from July through May with a 2-month break from mid-December tomid-February.
American Sports comparison: While the NBA and NHL have seasons that span fall through spring,this is due to their designation as indoor winter sports rather than weather orother factors that dictate world football. The NBA implemented an in-seasontournament, the NBA Cup, starting with the 2023-24 season.
Traditional football is a fall sport thatextends into a portion of winter. Multiple spring/summer football leagues havebeen launched but pale in comparison to the NFL and NCAA division I football.
Interactive Day 25
Below are links to schedules for two club teams, Manchester City and Real Madrid. For ease of reading, a portion of their schedules are copied into the tables below. You can review the full 2025-26 schedule on their websites. Both clubs played their top tier schedule, a domestic cup tournament (Manchester City plays in two – the FA Cup and the EFL Cup also known as the Carabao Cup), and UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid did play in a mini-domestic tournament (The Spanish Super Cup) in addition to their domestic cup. Keep in mind that each of these clubs have a “Player to Watch” (Appendix 10) for the 2026 World Cup. Those two players also play for their respective national teams, and those schedules will be reviewed tomorrow!
NOTE – by convention, world football fixtures (matches) are listed “Home team vs Visiting team” – the first team listed is the home team. American tradition lists matchups as “Visting Team @ Home team” - the away team is listed first. The table below uses another American convention by noting the “@” symbol. If you click on the links to view the schedules on the team website or Wikipedia, the listing will follow traditional World Football where the home team is listed first.
Manchester City - Ultimately Manchester City played their league schedule finishing 2nd, played in the FA Cup final (Champions) and the EFL Cup Final (Champions). In the UEFA Champions League, they played the League Phase which is a group play like the first round of the World Cup. There are 5 teams in their group so they played 8 games (home and away against the other 4 teams). They advanced to the knockout phase which is a home-home two-leg series. They lost in the quarterfinals thereby reducing the number of games they could potentially play if they made it to the semi-finals or finals of Champions League.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Manchester_City_F.C._season
https://www.mancity.com/results
Real Madrid – Lost in the Round of 16 in the Copa del Rey (domestic cup) and in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. They had to play an extra round of the Champions League after the group play to determine which team (Real Madrid vs Benfica) would advance to the Round of 16. There were also two matches in the Spanish Super Cup.
https://www.realmadrid.com/en-US/schedule?filter-football=primer-equipo-masculino
*-Manchester City ended up playing Newcastle United five times during the 2025-26 season. Two games were EPL games, two games were the EFL (Carabao Cup), and one game in the FA Cup! They also played multiple games against EPL rivals Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and others.
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