FM23 Polish League System by KingAlbertXIX

At first there was an idea.
Idea of Polish Top League having representatives of every Polish voivodeships in country.
And now I present to you, my edition of Polish League System.

Voivodeships are like English counties, they divide Poland into 16 regions:




The system consists of closed leagues for every voivodeship, so there will be 3-4 levels for each voivodeship. Leagues mostly consists of 8 teams per league but local regions are not equal for example Lubelska 4. Liga will have 4 teams, but Śląska 4. Liga will have 61 teams divided into three groups (the hardest tree by far).

1st level will have crazy amount of games, that is due to season being divided into 2 phases. First phase is regional 1st league (28 matches) to determine the winner of a given voivodeship and the winner qualifies for second phase that is PKOBP Ekstraklasa. 2nd phase have 16 teams, one per voivodeship, they play each other twice (30 matches) and winner is the champion of Poland, runners-up getting european seeds. Teams that did not qualify for PKOBP Ekstraklasa play to not get relegated.

Given that teams in 1st division will have between 52 to 58 matches in a season they won’t be participating in National Cup.

National Cup thus will consist of teams from 2nd, 3rd and 4th level. Each voivodeship has its own regional tournament to determine the best team outside 1st level. Winners of those will play in National Cup that has the format of group stage and then playoffs. Groups will be also seeded so that team from Podkarpackie doesn’t have to play team from Zachodniopomorskie.

It will go as follows:
Group A – Podkarpackie, Świętokrzyskie, Małopolskie, Lubelskie,
Group B – Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Łódzkie,
Group C – Śląskie, Opolskie, Dolnośląskie, Lubuskie,
Group D – Wielkopolskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Pomorskie, Zachodniopomorskie

Winners of those groups go to semifinals (one-leg) and final, and the overall winner gets seeded to European tournaments, which brings me to challenges of this db.

As you’ve probably noticed one team that qualifies for europe will not be from top division, and that in itself is a challenge for nation builders because you will have to rely partially on subtier teams to play good football. For this I’ve created a system of participacion money and prize money given to teams for playing in different leagues, so that they have something to work with and not to crumble underneath themselves. Obviously the higher you play the bigger the prize. That also helps to assert top teams over time in regions because they will clearly have more money than others, but a player with good teambuilding and tactics can still go up in divisions and beat them.

Additional info:
- Teams that have been set as extint in Poland are now playable, this also includes teams that are currently outside of Poland like Pogoń Lviv or Śmigły Vilnius.
- Overall there are 11 teams based outside Poland playing in polish system, they have been severly handicapped though. All of them have Global Transfer Ban up to 2300year, allowing only to sign their youth intake which is perfect for Youth Academy Challenge. Those teams are: Görlitz from Germany, Nexo Bornholm from Denmark, Cesky Tesin from Czechia, Cadca from Slovakia, Śmigły and Legia Vilnius from Lithuania and Pogoń, Lechia, Sparta, Hasmonea and Czarni Lwów from Ukraine. I’ve also handicapped my own local team Stal Łańcut, because I love Youth Academy Challenges. All those teams have also been set not to be able to be overtaken by outsiders disallowing them from lifting the ban through a takeover.
- If you want to bring back fallen giants of Polish Football you can play as Amica Wronki or Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski that are available now too.
- Every team playin in Poland have had their reserve teams removed and created new ones. U23, U21, U19. U23 and U21 have their own respective leagues for youngsters to get play time and develop. U19 doesn’t need one because youngsters up to 18yo develop quicker through training and another league would stress the PC even more (it’s already a struggle at least for my wooden PC).
- Loans have been also limited to max 4 incoming per team and loaning player up division is not allowed.
- There are two transfer windows, there is no rules as to who can play from what country etc. You should only focus on meeting the uefa standards when your team gets seeded to Europe.
- I’ve also created graphics such as team logos for some teams, like those based outside Poland, competition logos, trophies etc. but it would take me a lot of time to pull them out of the megafile that I have running on my PC, but if it will be a popular request I will find the time to share it with you.
- Feel free to ask me anything.