2026-06-14, 01:51 AM - Word count:
Introduction
Can’t wait for S26 to start? I got you covered. As part of me learning the teams and make up of the SSL, I thought I would do a pretty uninformed season preview. I am still planning to do a bit of a deep dive into the history of the league and teams to get more familiar with everyone, but I thought it would be fun to do the season preview first, so it is kinda blind. I won’t be biased by historical performance (this could be a bad thing), and I have no idea how valuable certain positions are over others or which teams have sim luck and which don’t. I have based my analysis off data that I have found in the portal and some external resources that have been sent to me by other players. It is entirely possible that the TPE data set I have looked at is out of date, but that is all I have to go off. My predictions below are based largely off this TPE data by positional group, weighing one list or starting 11 up against another. Some teams appear to have no GK on their lists (at least in this data, maybe drafted players aren’t on here yet?), but I have assumed they will get a competent one somewhere. I have also mainly used total roster, rather than starting 11, but in some cases I have looked over the starting 11 to get a better understanding or as a tiebreaker.
I will run through each major and minor group giving my predicted table finish, and comment on promotions and relegations. Then I will do a preview of the cup, going round by round. Again, I make no promises for how good or valuable this analysis will be, but it helps me to learn the teams and league better and if nothing else it give you something to read while you wait for the agonisingly long offseason to be over.
Majors
Division 1
União São Paulo
CD Tenochtitlan
Reykjavik United
Hollywood FC
CF Catalunya
Liffeyside Celtic FC
Division 2
Shanghai Dragons FC
CA Buenos Aires
Schwarzwälder FV
A.C. Romana
Xelajú Cósmico FC
Tokyo S.C.
Season Summary
Division 1
Sao Paulo looks to have the best team on paper by a decent margin, with Keeper being their biggest position of weakness. I have no idea how valuable a good keeper is, but given their TPE dominance at the other positions, I think this season is theirs to lose. Teno and Reykjavik were pretty evenly matched, but I awarded Teno the tiebreaker based on the quality of their keeper. TPE wise there is a drop off after the top 3, so I would expect these teams to be battling it out for the title. I could see any of the three coming out on top based on sim luck, but I think Sao Paulo will come out champions. Looking over the bottom three teams in the top flight, I have Hollywood over Catalunya, again based on the advantage they have at keeper, otherwise these two could finish in any order. Unfortunately for Liffeyside, I have the recently promoted team going straight back down, as they seem to be at a decent TPE disadvantage when comparing to other clubs in the top flight.
Division 2
Shanghai have the 2nd best TPE numbers in the entire SSL, so I expect them to run away with this division and can spend a bit more time focusing on the cup run. I have no idea what happened to get them relegated last season, but I expect them to swap right back with Liffeyside. Deciding between Buenos Aires and Schwarzwalder was tough, but ultimately I think Buenos Aires have the stronger outfield players and that can make up for the deficit between the sticks. Both teams look good, and I wouldn't be surprised to see either make the playoff game against Catalunya. The remaining three teams were pretty even on paper, but Romana looked a cut above the other two, which appear to be pretty solidly rebuilding or retooling at least.
Promotion Playoff game I have Buenos Aires coming out on top, and snatching a D1 spot from Catalunya. Both teams look pretty good, but I went with an upset just for chaos and fun.
Minors
Division 1
AS Paris
Krung Thep FC
North Shore United
Rapid Magyar SC
Inter London
F.C. Kaapstad
Division 2
Seoul MFC
CS Rova Mpanjaka
Montréal United
Athênai F.C.
AF Masques Sacrés
Cairo City
Season Summary
Division 1
There appears to be a clear cut top 3 in d1 for the minors, and I expect them to slot in based on current TPE order. Paris gets the nod because of their keeper (who knows if I should be putting this much stock into GK), and Krung Thep have a slight advantage over North Shore in most areas. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sim works its magic and these three chop and change around, but I can’t see anyone else winning the Minors this season. The bottom three are all very even on paper also, but assuming they find a serviceable keeper, I think Magyar manages to get fourth, as the rest of their team looks a little better than the other two. Comparing London and Kaapstad, I can see that London is well rounded with a lower TPE keeper, while Kaapstad has a good keeper, but is lower elsewhere. I have placed Londan ahead based on their outfield quality, assuming this can steal them a result or two to keep them ahead of last place.
Division 2
This division appears to be a bit of a crap shoot, with two teams lacking keepers (at least in the data set I used) and only a couple of hundred TPE separating the teams overall. I am predicting Seoul to come out ahead based on their GK, narrowly edging Rova Mpanjaka. Montreal look to have a very nicely constructed roster, with a well rounded team on paper, so I have them finishing ahead of Athenai and Masques who are lacking keepers. Cairo I have finishing last despite not having the lowest TPE average roster. This is due to the quality of their starting 11 being the lowest average.
Playoff promotion game I have London winning a tight one. This one could have gone either way and I basically flipped a coin. At the risk of burning some bridges and tanking my potential draft stocks, I have a soft spot for London already because I like the aesthetics and branding for their Org. Love a good Gladiator in imperial purple at Romana and the London branding is very clean. I won’t dive into it too much because I’ll probably save it for another piece of media, ranking each of the orgs by aesthetics alone.
The Cup
Opening Round
Cairo City defeats AF Masques Sacrés
Krung Thep FC defeats Athênai F.C.
A.C. Romana defeats F.C. Kaapstad
Schwarzwälder FV defeats Inter London
North Shore United defeats Rapid Magyar SC
Seoul MFC defeats CS Rova Mpanjaka
AS Paris defeats Tokyo S.C.
CA Buenos Aires defeats Montréal United
Round 1
Krung Thep FC defeats Cairo City
CF Catalunya defeats Xelajú Cósmico FC
Shanghai Dragons FC defeats A.C. Romana
Schwarzwälder FV defeats North Shore United
CD Tenochtitlan defeats Liffeyside Celtic FC
Hollywood FC defeats Seoul MFC
Reykjavik United defeats AS Paris
União São Paulo defeats CA Buenos Aires
Round 2
CF Catalunya defeats Krung Thep FC
Shanghai Dragons FC defeats Schwarzwälder FV
Hollywood FC defeats CD Tenochtitlan
Reykjavik United defeats União São Paulo
Round 3
CF Catalunya defeats Shanghai Dragons FC
Reykjavik United defeats Hollywood FC
Final
Reykjavik United defeats CF Catalunya
Summary
I have once again largely relied on TPE data to make these predictions, but I have been a little more adventurous picking a few upsets here and there. Who doesn’t love a magical cup run by a lower division team. I will keep my commentary to the final four teams here to save some time. I think that by the time the semi finals of the cup roll around, Reykjavik will be out of the title fight and will shift their full attention to the cup. I have them coming out victorious over Hollywood and then Catalunya to claim the silverware for themselves. I have Shanghai losing in the semi purely due to complacency. I think they will walk their division in and as such will forget what it is like to be challenged and play tough by the end of the season, resulting in a heartbreaking semi final loss in the cup. Catalunya may come to rue their cup run, as it comes at the expense of relegation.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed reading this and it will be interesting for me to come back at the end of the season and see how I went, knowing that I have no clue what I am talking about. I’m not allowed to do season preds in the academy, so here it is on paper. Lets see how it looks at the end of the season. Thank you for reading and hopefully I didn't upset anyone and ruin my chances of being drafted.
Can’t wait for S26 to start? I got you covered. As part of me learning the teams and make up of the SSL, I thought I would do a pretty uninformed season preview. I am still planning to do a bit of a deep dive into the history of the league and teams to get more familiar with everyone, but I thought it would be fun to do the season preview first, so it is kinda blind. I won’t be biased by historical performance (this could be a bad thing), and I have no idea how valuable certain positions are over others or which teams have sim luck and which don’t. I have based my analysis off data that I have found in the portal and some external resources that have been sent to me by other players. It is entirely possible that the TPE data set I have looked at is out of date, but that is all I have to go off. My predictions below are based largely off this TPE data by positional group, weighing one list or starting 11 up against another. Some teams appear to have no GK on their lists (at least in this data, maybe drafted players aren’t on here yet?), but I have assumed they will get a competent one somewhere. I have also mainly used total roster, rather than starting 11, but in some cases I have looked over the starting 11 to get a better understanding or as a tiebreaker.
I will run through each major and minor group giving my predicted table finish, and comment on promotions and relegations. Then I will do a preview of the cup, going round by round. Again, I make no promises for how good or valuable this analysis will be, but it helps me to learn the teams and league better and if nothing else it give you something to read while you wait for the agonisingly long offseason to be over.
Majors
Division 1
União São Paulo
CD Tenochtitlan
Reykjavik United
Hollywood FC
CF Catalunya
Liffeyside Celtic FC
Division 2
Shanghai Dragons FC
CA Buenos Aires
Schwarzwälder FV
A.C. Romana
Xelajú Cósmico FC
Tokyo S.C.
Season Summary
Division 1
Sao Paulo looks to have the best team on paper by a decent margin, with Keeper being their biggest position of weakness. I have no idea how valuable a good keeper is, but given their TPE dominance at the other positions, I think this season is theirs to lose. Teno and Reykjavik were pretty evenly matched, but I awarded Teno the tiebreaker based on the quality of their keeper. TPE wise there is a drop off after the top 3, so I would expect these teams to be battling it out for the title. I could see any of the three coming out on top based on sim luck, but I think Sao Paulo will come out champions. Looking over the bottom three teams in the top flight, I have Hollywood over Catalunya, again based on the advantage they have at keeper, otherwise these two could finish in any order. Unfortunately for Liffeyside, I have the recently promoted team going straight back down, as they seem to be at a decent TPE disadvantage when comparing to other clubs in the top flight.
Division 2
Shanghai have the 2nd best TPE numbers in the entire SSL, so I expect them to run away with this division and can spend a bit more time focusing on the cup run. I have no idea what happened to get them relegated last season, but I expect them to swap right back with Liffeyside. Deciding between Buenos Aires and Schwarzwalder was tough, but ultimately I think Buenos Aires have the stronger outfield players and that can make up for the deficit between the sticks. Both teams look good, and I wouldn't be surprised to see either make the playoff game against Catalunya. The remaining three teams were pretty even on paper, but Romana looked a cut above the other two, which appear to be pretty solidly rebuilding or retooling at least.
Promotion Playoff game I have Buenos Aires coming out on top, and snatching a D1 spot from Catalunya. Both teams look pretty good, but I went with an upset just for chaos and fun.
Minors
Division 1
AS Paris
Krung Thep FC
North Shore United
Rapid Magyar SC
Inter London
F.C. Kaapstad
Division 2
Seoul MFC
CS Rova Mpanjaka
Montréal United
Athênai F.C.
AF Masques Sacrés
Cairo City
Season Summary
Division 1
There appears to be a clear cut top 3 in d1 for the minors, and I expect them to slot in based on current TPE order. Paris gets the nod because of their keeper (who knows if I should be putting this much stock into GK), and Krung Thep have a slight advantage over North Shore in most areas. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sim works its magic and these three chop and change around, but I can’t see anyone else winning the Minors this season. The bottom three are all very even on paper also, but assuming they find a serviceable keeper, I think Magyar manages to get fourth, as the rest of their team looks a little better than the other two. Comparing London and Kaapstad, I can see that London is well rounded with a lower TPE keeper, while Kaapstad has a good keeper, but is lower elsewhere. I have placed Londan ahead based on their outfield quality, assuming this can steal them a result or two to keep them ahead of last place.
Division 2
This division appears to be a bit of a crap shoot, with two teams lacking keepers (at least in the data set I used) and only a couple of hundred TPE separating the teams overall. I am predicting Seoul to come out ahead based on their GK, narrowly edging Rova Mpanjaka. Montreal look to have a very nicely constructed roster, with a well rounded team on paper, so I have them finishing ahead of Athenai and Masques who are lacking keepers. Cairo I have finishing last despite not having the lowest TPE average roster. This is due to the quality of their starting 11 being the lowest average.
Playoff promotion game I have London winning a tight one. This one could have gone either way and I basically flipped a coin. At the risk of burning some bridges and tanking my potential draft stocks, I have a soft spot for London already because I like the aesthetics and branding for their Org. Love a good Gladiator in imperial purple at Romana and the London branding is very clean. I won’t dive into it too much because I’ll probably save it for another piece of media, ranking each of the orgs by aesthetics alone.
The Cup
Opening Round
Cairo City defeats AF Masques Sacrés
Krung Thep FC defeats Athênai F.C.
A.C. Romana defeats F.C. Kaapstad
Schwarzwälder FV defeats Inter London
North Shore United defeats Rapid Magyar SC
Seoul MFC defeats CS Rova Mpanjaka
AS Paris defeats Tokyo S.C.
CA Buenos Aires defeats Montréal United
Round 1
Krung Thep FC defeats Cairo City
CF Catalunya defeats Xelajú Cósmico FC
Shanghai Dragons FC defeats A.C. Romana
Schwarzwälder FV defeats North Shore United
CD Tenochtitlan defeats Liffeyside Celtic FC
Hollywood FC defeats Seoul MFC
Reykjavik United defeats AS Paris
União São Paulo defeats CA Buenos Aires
Round 2
CF Catalunya defeats Krung Thep FC
Shanghai Dragons FC defeats Schwarzwälder FV
Hollywood FC defeats CD Tenochtitlan
Reykjavik United defeats União São Paulo
Round 3
CF Catalunya defeats Shanghai Dragons FC
Reykjavik United defeats Hollywood FC
Final
Reykjavik United defeats CF Catalunya
Summary
I have once again largely relied on TPE data to make these predictions, but I have been a little more adventurous picking a few upsets here and there. Who doesn’t love a magical cup run by a lower division team. I will keep my commentary to the final four teams here to save some time. I think that by the time the semi finals of the cup roll around, Reykjavik will be out of the title fight and will shift their full attention to the cup. I have them coming out victorious over Hollywood and then Catalunya to claim the silverware for themselves. I have Shanghai losing in the semi purely due to complacency. I think they will walk their division in and as such will forget what it is like to be challenged and play tough by the end of the season, resulting in a heartbreaking semi final loss in the cup. Catalunya may come to rue their cup run, as it comes at the expense of relegation.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed reading this and it will be interesting for me to come back at the end of the season and see how I went, knowing that I have no clue what I am talking about. I’m not allowed to do season preds in the academy, so here it is on paper. Lets see how it looks at the end of the season. Thank you for reading and hopefully I didn't upset anyone and ruin my chances of being drafted.
![[Image: BPZ3GXn.png]](https://iili.io/BPZ3GXn.png)
