Rennian Cardinal Football League

The Rennian Cardinal Football League (RCFL) is the Top Flight of Professional Football in Rennia. The League was formed in 229, as the EotLP Cardinal Football League (ECFL), by several teams based in cities around the original territory of Rennia (then the EotLP), the Campestrem Regionem. After the Smelly Cabbage Incident, and the restructuring of the EotLP, the ECFL restructured, and reformed old teams in new locations and with new names. Over the years, it grew greatly, and even began to include teams from outside of the EotLP.

In 272, alongside the Governmental Changes to the EotLP as it became the Rennian Republic, the ECFL renamed itself the RCFL.

Ownership

As with many things in the vastly unregulated early EotLP, there was a significant overlap between private & imperial ownership of the earliest forms of the ECFL. At its outset, the league itself was owned directly by Emperor Sergio Ren & The Imperial Government, who also owned the Legoia Imperators team. the other 4 teams were owned by either individuals or corporations directly.

In 239, in an attempt to bring more visibility and size to the league, the Imperial Government added 6 new teams to the League, five of which were owned by the Government. The exception to this rule was KF Cagne City, which was a second pre-existing team owned directly by the Duke of Cagne Island (same as Cagne Beach FC). Each year for the next four seasons, one of the teams was auctioned off to the highest bidder. KF Stravna City remained in Imperial Ownership, transferring to ownership by the Ministry of Sport following the 272 Coup.

The ECFL in the Campestrem Regionem

In 229, just two years after the EotLP gained independence, several businessmen and government officials began discussing the expansion of Sports into the EotLP, to help build both the population's happiness levels, as well as the Economy in general. The League initially formed with 5 teams, from across the Irin Plateau: The Legoia Imperators, The Reiths Sparrows, Brutuville FC, Inare FC, and the Spalke River Riders. They each played each other team twice throughout the season (one home game, one away game), meaning that each team would play 8 games, and the season would be made up of 20 games total.

A team which won a game would win 2 points, and teams that tied would be awarded 1 point each. At the end of the season, the team with the most points would be named the champion team. If more than one team was tied for a position in the championship, the tie-breaker would be # of wins, then # of draws, then finally goal differential.

The First year, Inare FC took the championship after winning 4 of their 8 games, and beating Legoia on Wins Countback.

In 230, Inare repeated their championship win, with 5 victories.

231 saw the Legoia Imperators win for the first time, and Inare fell to 3rd overall, with Brutuville FC coming 2nd on Wins Countback, despite leading in points through the whole year, only to be beaten at the last game by Legoia.

Despite a huge lead at several points throughout the year, The Reiths Sparrows failed to beat Inare FC to taking their 3rd Championship.

Once again, in 233, The Sparrows only barely managed to lose the championship to Inare FC. Behind the scenes, organizers and owners began to discuss potential ways to take Inare down a notch, as they seemed impossible to beat at the time.

Inare FC's dominance truly came to an end in 234, when they managed only 2 wins, and 1 draw. On the other side of the spectrum, the Sparrows and Riders stepped up to the gap in the top, and each won 4 matches, and drew 3, forcing the championship title to come from the Sparrows' +9 goal differential.

The 235 season started, and saw 2 Matchdays, before the Smelly Cabbage Incident struck the EotLP, and all life was overturned for nearly a year. Despite Brutuville FC's brilliant start to the year, and the Sparrow's unexpectedly poor start, because only 1/5 of the matches had been played, the 235 championship was declared null, although the teams were to keep the stats for the record books.

The ECFL in the Balkavanians

After the resettling of the EotLP in the Balkavanians finished, and the dust began to settle, the government forced re-openings of talks about the ECFL restarting regular play. However, since none of the cities that had hosted teams before still existed or were under EotLP Control, the teams were semi-re-located, with old teams taking new names and being in new locations. The Legoia Imperators took residence in the new capital, Rennia, and became the Rennia Imperators. The Reiths Sparrows settled in the former Sinitolian district of Qaret, to become Qaret Flags FC. Brutuville FC renamed and moved as Karebyr FC. Inare FC found a new stadium to call home at the Osborne Space Port, and became the Osborne Rockets, and the Spalke River Riders found similar patronage at the Octan Energy Central Campus, and became Octan FC. However, very few team identities were actually kept through the transfer, with many old players not returning after the gap, or being completely reshuffled between teams, and several redefining their colours, mottoes, etc.

The premier year of the Balkavanian ECFL, 237, saw Karebyr FC (which had once been Brutuville FC) win, after winning just 3 of their eight games, and tying a further 4 games, the first team to take the league title with a W/L ratio below zero.

Karebyr repeated their title the following year, with a much tighter top of the field, tying on points with both the Rennia Imperators and New Team Cagne Beach FC, but beating both on Win Count-back.

After Cagne Beach Left the Cagne Duchy Professional Football League (CDPFL), the League collapsed, and several teams went bankrupt, or closed. Although a season was technically completed, many teams played with exhausted rosters, and minimal funding. With the introduction of the Association of Football Clubs as a lower tier of Football in Rennia, 2 CDPFL teams joined the ECFL as part of the expansion to 12 teams for 239 onwards, and the remaining 2 teams joined the AFC.

239 saw the introduction of 6 new teams to the league, as the Imperial Government attempted to restart industries such as entertainment, tourism, and sports: KF Dobskova, KF Stravna City, KF Rennia United, Lakal Football, KF Cagne City, and KF Vazske UNIS. In addition, the points scale was adjusted, with 3 points now awarded for a Match Win. This doubling of points also came with a new tie-breaking procedure (aligning with international standard), deferring to GD after Points, rather than Wins. Karebyr completed a three-peat of the League Trophy, winning in an utterly dominant form, with 18 wins on 22 games, which was double the total wins they had from the previous two seasons.

International Participation

Beginning in 239, Rennian Teams participated in the Balkavanians Cup of Champions. During its first season of participation, only the previous year's champions (Karebyr FC) were selected to attend, however from

Historical Champions

ECFL Historical Champions

Year	Champion	Points	Possible Points	Wins	Win %	National Cup Winner
229	Inare FC	9	16	4/8	50	N/A
230	Inare FC	12	16	5/8	62.5
231	Legoia Imperators	9	16	4/8	50
232	Inare FC	10	16	4/8	50
233	Inare FC	10	16	4/8	50
234	Reiths Sparrows	11	16	4/8	50
Regular ECFL Play resumes in the Balkavanians
237	Karebyr FC	10	16	3/8	37.5
238	Karebyr FC	13	20	6/10	60
239	Karebyr FC	55	66	18/22	81.8	Karebyr FC
240	Karebyr FC		66			Karebyr FC
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
Reformation of ECFL into RCFL
272

Top Flight Records

After Cagne Beach FC joined the RCFL with the history of being the winningest team in Cagnian Football History (17 League Trophies + 1 Domestic Cup), they requested to the Rennian Football Federation

Club Information and History Rennian Top Flight Leagues

Club	Championships	Age	Location	Rival(s)	Former Names	Former Locations
Cagne Beach FC	17 (CDPFL)	190 (Joined ECFL 238)	Cagne, Cagne Proper (Cagne Island)	KF Cagne City
KF Cagne City	7 (CDPFL)	200 (Joined ECFL 239)	Cagne, Cagne Proper (Cagne Island)	Cagne Beach FC
Osborne Rockets	4 (as Inare FC)	229	, Pigne	Octan FC (Cagnoy River Riders)	Inare FC	Inare, Balka County
Karebyr FC	4	229	Karebyr City, Karebyr Centre South		Brutuville FC	Brutuville, Brutuville County
Lakal Football	3 (CDPFL)	198 (Joined ECFL 239)	Lakal, Lakal (Cagne Island)
Rennia Imperators	1 (As Legoia Imperators)	229	Rennia, Rennia-East	KF Rennia United	Legoia Imperators	Legoia, Legoia County
Qaret Flags FC	1 (As Reiths Sparrows)	229	, Qaret	Rennia Imperators	Reiths Sparrows	Reiths, Reiths County
Cagnoy River Riders		229	, Cagnoy	Osborne Rockets	Spalke River Riders Octan FC	Spalke, Spalke County
KF Dobskova		239	Dobskova, Dobskova City
KF Stravna City		239	Stravna, Stravna
KF Rennia United		239	Povysa, Rennia-West	Rennia Imperators
KF Vazske UNIS		239	, Teplipta