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+---- Thread: Dive into Teams, TPE, Age, & Success (/showthread.php?tid=9956)
Dive into Teams, TPE, Age, & Success - Quitolis - 2026-06-15
For my first article I wanted to write down the kind of things I was doing anyway during my first week here. So far I have found it a little difficult, or perhaps unintuitive, or pull data from the index. There are also a lot of stats that come up for players and at this point it seems overwhelming. Since I don't know much yet about how the games go I also don't know how to interpret some of these stats and find what actually contributes to winning.
One of my first thoughts is to look at other players playing my position and see what kind of builds they have gone for. I could see how they are doing now and also see how they did at the start of their career. I found absolutely no trends during my first look into this, so I did not push much farther.
My good idea came after some more poking around the portal when I came across the teams! This page was brilliant for someone brand new. I have a totally new outlook so I thought I would give my initial opinions on the teams as I see them. To aid in this I also pulled out the average TPE and the average draft class for each major and minor team. I wanted to see what teams are in their championship window, or in their rebuild, or anywhere in between.
First up we have CA Buenos Aires. For theme they are a classic with a nice shield for both their major and minor club, Athenai F.C. CS Buenos Aires currently has the 8th highest average TPE at 1350 and they are the 5th oldest main roster. The minor league club Athenai F.C. does not do too much to change these overall ranks, so this org is solidly right in the middle of the league for now. This makes sense as three season ago they finished 11th of 12, but the last two seasons have been better finishing 3rd in league 2 both times. They are close to a chance to play for promotion, hopefully an infusion from Athenai will help them reach that target.
Second on the teams we have Hollywood FC and their minor league affiliate F.C. Kaapstad. A good old fashioned USA team that has somehow been successful as I see 5 stars on their logo. No idea if that is on purpose or if they just want you to think they have won championships. Hollywood very notably has the oldest major league team with an average class of 17.2. Fortunately when i look at Kaapstad they seem to have the pieces in place to replenish some of their geriatric roster. They have also made good use of their window. Three years ago I see they dominated the league with a crazy 57 points, 8 higher than the next best, but losing The Cup must have hurt. Two years ago they finished in 3rd and lost to CD Tenochtitlan in the playoffs again. I see a rivalry. Last year ended the same but at least the season was better. They seem to be a classic team of performing really well overall in the regular season but not successfully bringing home a championship.
A.C. Romania and Inter London have a very pleasing symmetry in their shields. I can see the similarities and it makes sense graphically that the teams are related. Both have the same shape with their name and imagery of important aspects of their cities. A.C. Romana is another bottom half team in terms of average TPE ranking 9th, which a very average player age. Their oldest players are keeper and 3 defensive players, and they do have some of these in the pipeline. Should make for a good transition if those players keep earning. On the field, A.C. Romana also finally saw some good success on the field reaching the Semi Final of the last Cup. Their regular seasons however have been less than spectacular before this. We will see if they can build on this in the next season.
Next up are the small island clubs for Reykjavik in Iceland and Auckland in New Zealand. These teams could not be farther apart in the world for their Major / Minor affiliation. I quite love the Reykjavik logo and color pallet. It is easy to read and understand what I am seeing. The team logo for North Shore United looks to be a reference to the Mauri people of New Zealand, and the completely unique shape really sticks out, reminding me of Tottenham. Reykjavik is certainly in their window right now. They have the 3rd highest average TPE and the 2nd oldest roster. North Shore is the oldest Minor league club by a huge amount because they have a staggering 9 players from before S20 including two from S14 and two from S13. This appears to be the league's retirement home. Reykjavik United has been maintaining their place in League 1 but their results in the Cup have been quite disappointing. In each of the last two seasons they have been eliminated in their first game of the tournament. It might be time for a frustrating rebuild since they only have 8 players in their entire program younger than S20.
Another very high TPE team here is the Shanghai Dragons FC. They have a lovely color and logo, embracing some Chinese text in their logo is also a great idea. It does appear to be a doubling up of their team name, which I would expect helps to bring in the local fans. Shanghai Dragons FC has the second highest TPE but only the 6th oldest team, which really puts them in a good place for both the present and the future. It seems to me they are at the very start of maybe 5 seasons where they should always be completing for the best record and the Cup. Unfortunately for them they were just relegated to the league 2. Quite a shame after Seasons 23 and 24 were quite successful with strong season finishes and reaching the quarter finals in the Cup. In season 25 they had a very poor regular season and then got eliminated from the Cup in their first game. That must have been disappointing, but I expect they will find themselves back to the top league if their tactics can live up to their roster.
The next team to discuss is the Xelaju Cosmico FC, which is one of the newer teams in the league established in S22. The logos for both Xelaju and their minor league team AF Masques Sacres are both quite modern with their unique shames and color palets. I do quite like the use of the Quetzal bird in the Cosmico's logo. They sit at an average TPE of 1250, which is good for 11th in the league, but fortunately they are also on the younger side. I would say this club has been really outperforming their TPE. In their second season in the league they may not have done super, but then it started to improve. In Season 24 they were the first ever team to be promoted up to league 1. Last season they managed to hold off the Dragons and avoid relegation. Their Cup performances were living up to the hype until this past season with a one-and-done in the round of 16. If they can keep growing their TPE as their roster matures it seems their manager has them in a strong position to make use of it.
To start the second half of teams we have a fun comparison to the last. If you thought the Cosmico had the 11th lowest TPE because they were a recent expansion, then you might think that Tokyo S.C. would not be the lowest TPE in major league, since they were a Season 1 team. They must be in the middle of a big rebuild since they do also have the 3rd youngest roster. Many teams have a few old guys on the minor league team, but not Cairo City. The youth may not be ready for the big time just yet, but it is going to get there before long. The last few seasons have not been pretty. In all 3 most resent seasons Tokyo S.C. finished at the very bottom of the league and then got eliminated in the qualifying round of the Cup. Somtimes they lost to Minor league clubs, which is not where you want to be. In total they have 6 wins, 5 draws, and 37 losses in the last 3 seasons. Appologies for rubbing it in.
Onward we go to CF Catalunya and their Minor affiliate Seoul MFC. These clubs have very old looking crests and at least to me, it is not super clear what is happening in them. The logo for Seoul looks like a person with fangs, which I have to imagine has something important to do with the folklore of their culture. The shield for Catalynya has a knight riding his horse pointing his spear at a half dragon, half fox. CF Catalunya is the only team with a top half TPE and a bottom half roster age, which is where you want to be. The eye test proves this out, and their main team looks to have a lot of players in their prime, while Soul has a load of good players ready to go in a few more seasons. Their last few regular seasons have been interesting at the least. They have been competing for promotions and then trying to avoid relegations which at least is fun. The results in the Cup have not been interesting however since they have been eliminated in only 1 game each of the last 3 seasons. Lots of room to grow into their strengthening roster if their manager can keep up.
Uniao Sao Paulo has the highest average TPE in the league and it isn't close. The TPE gap between 1 and 2 is the same gap between 2 and 7. But before I digress into their team more, I do just want to comment on the quality of the logos for both Uniao Sao Paulo and AS Paris. They are very simple and calm logos without being minimalistic. The red door in the AS Paris logo also makes me think about how Paris is the entryway to Uniao, who of course are a red themes team. I would also be remis if I did not mention just how many ISFL players I recognize in this system. I have only been doing ISFL for just over a year so I would not say I know everyone, but off the top of my head I see 13 players in this system that I have seen before. Anyway, as we have seen with other teams, with great TPE also comes great age, and these guys prove it as the second oldest Major league team. In the last three regular seasons they have finished 2nd, 1st, and second, while Paris has finished in the Minors 1st, 2nd, 1st. Nice symmetry. In the cup Uniao has finished in the semifinals, twice and won it all this past season. Paris has also been very strong with a round of 16 finsh, a quarterfinal appearance, and last season was a wild one. Both of these teams met in one of the semifinal matches and Uniao won 4-3 on penalties. That must have been thrilling. I see no reason why these teams should not continue their runs at the top of their respective leagues for the foreseeable future.
Nearing the end of this adventure brings us to Schwarzwalder FV and their affiliate Montreal United. Like usual there is probably something I am missing in the Schwarzwalder logo but it seems a little confusing. It is fine I guess. I do quite like the Montreal United logo though. In the opposite situation as our last team, Schwarzwalder has the 10th most TPE and then the 2nd youngest age. Montreal United is also loaded up with players just waiting for their chance to join the main squad in a few more seasons. I have to imagine the club is ready for the rebuild to activate since they have finished dead last for both of the most recent seasons. They just got beat by a Minor league team in the S25 Cup, so I suppose it is only up from here. They are getting the players in place, just need to make it happen.
Now we can go over CD Tenochtitlan and their Minor league affiliate Krung Thep FC in Thailand. These teams were established in Season 20 and interestingly enough, there are seven S20 players on the CD Tenochtitlan roster. That looks to have been a quite effective entry draft for them. They rank 4 in average TPE for the Major league squad, but Krung Thep FC themselves are also loaded with high TPE players. These guys have definitely found success. Three years ago CD Tenochtitlan finished 3rd overall, but then went on to win the Cup. Then they got relegated but still somehow got to the cup final, this time losing it. This last season did not have any big rebounds, but there is no reason to think they can't still be on an upward trajectory for a while longer.
Last up is a pretty exciting pair of clubs in Liffeyside Celtic FC and CS Rova Mpanjaka. The Madagascar to Ireland connection is unique but something about it is working. Both logos are just great. No notes. Liffeyside Celtic FC is right in the middle of the pack in terms of average TPE and roster age. CS Rova Mpanjaka is a pretty experienced bunch but much of the team is already the same age as the Major league club, so I do wonder if they could have an aging problem in the future. For now though, they have only been a club for 4 full seasons and Celtic has done reasonably well. in just 4 seasons they went from 12th to 5th, to 5 and being relegated to then dominating in league 2 and being promoted right back. In the Cup they have improved every year since their creation including losing the Cup Finals this last season. Lilleyside Celtic FC is looking to be continuing on their run and will be a very strong contender to win the Cup in the next few seasons.
Going through this exercise does tell me that a team's TPE certainly has some meaningful impact on your chance of success. At least based on my snapshot of data, this last season's League 1 had the rank 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 11 teams in average TPE. Then by the end of the season 2 and 11 got relegated and replaced by 4 and 7. There can be some outliers like Xelaju Cosmico getting into league 1 without any players over 1500TPE, but then again they did fall back down after 1 season.
I suppose I should try to summarize my thoughts. It is clear that there are a lot of things that contribute to success on the field. As far as I have learned so far, I would say the big 3 seem to be TPE total, proper player builds, and proper team tactics. At least as far as this little experiment has gone, I have validated to myself that overall team TPE likely has a high correlation to team success. Maybe proving that out would be a statistical task for the future.
RE: Dive into Teams, TPE, Age, & Success - McLumberjack - 2026-06-16
Very nice look at all the organisations! It can be a bit overwhelming at the start but you got quite a lot right here. Good luck in the academy!