Your Guide to Promotion and Relegation

Get ready for the thrill of promotion and relegation in MFL Season 1! The stakes have never been higher, and every match could be the one…

Your Guide to Promotion and Relegation

Get ready for the thrill of promotion and relegation in MFL Season 1! The stakes have never been higher, and every match could be the one that changes your club’s fate.

With this update, we’re bringing the pressure and excitement of real-world leagues straight into the game, making every point, every victory, and every tactical decision more crucial than ever.

Here’s how it all works and what it means for your road to glory — or the fight to avoid the drop.

League Structure: How It All Fits Together

Consistency and Rivalries

In MFL, most leagues have 12 teams. Starting from Season 1, those clubs will have a straightforward path for moving up or down the league pyramid, and will face familiar foes each season, remaining in the same league season after season unless they get promoted or relegated. This consistency helps build rivalries, creating a competitive and engaging environment.

When promotion or relegation happens, teams know which league they’ll be going to next, providing a clear path. For example, the winners of League 1 and 2 will move up to League 1 in the division above, while winners of League 3 and 4 will move up to League 2.

We reserve the right to swap or reshuffle teams, or alter this system in order to resolve conflicts or edge cases.

Paths to promotion and relegation

Let’s dive into how you can go up and down the pyramid! A picture is sometimes worth a thousand words, so let me lead with this 👇

Promotion

First place teams from each league are automatically promoted to the division above.
If you place second, you’ll go into a Direct Playoff against a team that also finished 2nd in a different League of the same Division.
– Win the Direct Playoff, and you go up.
– If you lose the Direct Playoff, you can still get promoted. For that, you’ll need to win two extra playoff rounds.
If you place third, there’s still hope. You’ll need to win three playoff rounds to make it happen and be promoted to the upper echelon.

Relegation

The bottom three clubs in each league will drop to the division below.
Teams in 9th place will fight for survival in their Division during a Playoff Round (Playoff Round 3 in the image above).

The initial League set-up

Since Season 1 will be the first-ever season, we need to conduct an initial drawing to place clubs into their respective leagues. To keep things fair and exciting, we’ll use a Pot system for this process.

Clubs registered for Season 1 will be sorted into four pots within each division, based on the combined OVR rating of their top 18 contracted players. Each league will then be randomly drawn to include three teams from each of the four pots, ensuring a balanced mix of club strengths across the leagues.

Edge Cases & FAQ

_What are the promotion and relegation rules for leagues with fewer than 12 participants?
_Leagues with 10 or 11 teams will see less teams be relegated. In an 11-team League, the bottom two teams (10th and 11th) will be relegated, with the 9th-placed team going into a playoff round. In a 10-team league, only the bottom team (10th), will be relegated, with the 9th-placed team going into a playoff round.
Doesn’t this mean there will be fewer relegations than promotions initially?
It does! After Season 1, more teams will move up than down, causing the upper tiers of the pyramid to fill up ahead of Season 2.
_What happens if a club is inactive or does not register for the season?
_Clubs — established or not — that do not register are automatically relegated to a lower division at the start of the season. This prevents unregistered clubs from being sold as a higher-tier club during the season.
_What happens if an owner has multiple clubs in the same Division?
_Just have we have done until now, they will be placed in different Leagues within the Division.
_What happens if an owner has multiple clubs in the same League due to promotion and relegation?
_If two clubs from the same owner end up in the same league, we will:
a- If applicable, move the club to a different league than initially planned by the league system
b- If that’s not possible, the club that was set to be promoted won’t be, with the next club in the standings going up instead.

There will be highs and there will be lows, be it’s never truly over.
Ready for real seasons, with real stakes?🔥

By Lucas on October 17, 2024.

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Exported from Medium on March 19, 2026.