2025-07-13, 08:07 AM - Word count:
Let us have a small little look back at the initial season 1 of the SSL, the season that initially started it all.
For this season only the initial 6 teams participated, playing 10 league games each (2 times against all other teams), and playing in a cup with 3 rounds, and 2 teams getting a bye from round 1. Obviously this initial season also had a gigantic rookie draft, and it was still on the waiver wire system, which was a system in which players joining between the rookie drafts could be picked up by any team, with the priority going to the team in 1st in the waiver wire. Once you got a waiver wire player you were placed back to the back of all teams.
But now let us check which teams did participate (A little note, the managers were taken from the final savefile of S1):
Teams:
1. Athenai FC:
Our first team is Athenai FC managed by Canadice. Athenai used a total of 13 players during this season, but their most used 11 consisted out of:
GK – Jannik Andersen
WBR - A Singular Tub of Fazeberry ® GFuel ® Energy Formula - The Official Drink of ESports ®
DC – Budget Busquets
DC – Henrik Lind
WBL – Deedee Yoker
DM – Christian Silver
MC – Zinedine Gintonic
MC – Olsen Minion
AMR – Icarus Isosceles
AML – Arwyn Lamb
STC – Andreas Aadnevik
Sub 1: Tim Sinclair
Sub 2: Dr. Doofenschmitz
2. Cairo City:
The second team is another familiar sight, Cairo City with their manager Will3. The main 11 for Cairo City was:
GK – Radek Soboda
DR – Timo Reinmann
DC – Alessio Calvatore
DC – Tutankhamunt
DL – Ask Jeeves
DM – Alfredo Puttanesca
MC – Oscar Fernandes
MC – Davy Mac
AMR – Narsko Koivu
AML – Jakup Larsen
STC – Franco Torres
Sub 1: Heh Heh
3. Rio FC:
The 3rd team was Rio FC with manager Sermokala, and their primary 11 was:
GK – Arcueid Brunestud
DR - Breakfast Sandwich O’Pumpernickel
DC – Blueberry Poptart
DC – PenaltyTo Rangers
DL – George Costanza
DM – Milan Horvat
MR – Hunter Jones
MC – Malakai Black
ML – Elanor Lorien
AMC – Ruedi Wailis
STC – Haruka Mayoi
Sub 1: Maximus Djimrabaye Jr.
Sub 2: Now hiring Right footed AMC
Sub 3: Seb Henry
Sub 4: Ticket Cancelled
4. Hollywood FC:
Hollywood FC, managed by 3lewsers also took place in this initial season, with their primary 11 being:
GK: Scott Sterling
WBR: Ricky Bobby
DC: Cheese CantKick
DC: Mikko Järvälä
WBL: Giannis Kroustis
MC: Mikko Rashford*
AMR: Benji Atreides*
AMC: Awesome McPossum
AML: C.J. O’Broussard
STC: Tiki Taka
STC: Trevor Malone
Sub 1: Ryan Reynolds
Sub 2: Mack Fred
5. Inter London:
The 5th team taking place in season 1 was Inter London, managed by frazzle14. They are the only team to only use 11 players, with their squad looking like this:
GK: Tony Yeboah
DR: Linnea Nesse
DC: Aleksandar Stojakovic
DC: Connor Azpilicueta
DL: Mazrim Taim
MC: George Gordon
MC: John Wellerman
AMR: K Clamence
AMC: Nevin Kisbet
AML: Kuai Liang
STC: Jack O’Connor
6. Tokyo S.C.:
As the final team we have Tokyo S.C. managed by Graydonsanatomy. Tokyo used 13 players during this season with their primary 11 being:
GK: Pingu Nootazuki
WBR: Helena Söderberg
DC: Mike Rup
DC: Sam Siege
DC: Squall Vercetti
WBL: Jonas Thessenvitz
MC: Patrik Björkås
AMR: Shion Okamoto
AMC: Emilliano-Yoichi Isagi
AML: Barry Batsbak
STC: Kaspars Briedis
Sub 1: Friendly Hermit
Sub 2: Mikko Rashford
League:
That was it for the 11 teams, let us now look at how the league went.
MD1: As the initial matchday of the SSL let us go a bit more in-depth to the scores, with Athenai taking on Inter London, and Inter London winning 2-4, Hollywood won 8-2 against Rio, and Tokyo lost 0-2 against Cairo. In matchday 2 Cairo, Athenai, and London won, where in matchday 3 London becoming the only team to not lose points, while Rio and Tokyo were yet to get any points. Another big thing that happened in matchday 3 was the first ever player to move teams, with Mikko Rashford going from Tokyo to Hollywood to complete the remainder of the season.
Matchday 4 saw London dropping their first points, which meant Hollywood, London, and Cairo where all 3 on 9 points, with Athenai being on 6, and Tokyo getting their first points being on 3. Matchday 5 saw Hollywood dropping 3 points, where matchday 6 saw London dropping 2 points and Tokyo getting their first ever points. Hollywood meanwhile dropped another 3 points dropping behind Athenai with 10 points.
Matchday 7 saw Cairo getting a 5 point lead, which dropped back to 2 after matchday 8, and Cairo and London both had 19 points after matchday 9, going into the final match of the season with an equal amount of points, being the only 1 possible champions. These 2 teams were also playing against each other in matchday 10, with a London win seeing London become champions, and any other result meaning Cairo took the championship. London took an early lead with a O’Connor goal in the 10th minute, but Cairo got it equal in the 25th minute by a Mac goal, and 2 goals from Torres in the 37th and 47th minute secured Cairo the 3-1 win, and the first ever SSL championship.
![[Image: Vn9uIvI.png]](https://i.imgur.com/Vn9uIvI.png)
Next up let’s look at the cup, of course the shield was not yet held in the first season, but the cup was. The structure of this cup was a 3-round 2-legged head-to-head (except for the final which only had 1 leg), where 2 random clubs got a bye from the first round. These 2 clubs ended up being Inter London and Athenai F.C.
Quarter-Final:
The matchups in the quarter-final were Hollywood against Cairo and Tokyo against Rio.
Hollywood-Cairo their first leg ended in a 2-1 win for Cairo, which eventually got a 3-1 win in the 2nd leg making the semi-final. Meanwhile the Tokyo-Rio game had a 1-0 win for Tokyo in their first leg, and a 0-0 in their 2nd meaning Tokyo got into the semi-final.
Semi-Final:
The first tie of the semi-final was Athenai-London, which had its first leg end in a 2-1 win for Athenai, but Inter London came back in the 2nd leg, forcing an extra time which they eventually won 4-2.
The other tie was Cairo-Tokyo, the first leg was won by Tokyo with 2-1, and the 2nd leg with 3-2 meaning Tokyo made it through to the final.
Final:
The final was held between Tokyo and London in a 1-match system. Tokyo got an early lead with Batsbak scoring the 1-0 in the 19th minute, early in the 2nd half London made it 1-1 with O’Connor scoring in the 49th minute, however Tokyo got the lead against in the 72nd minute with Briedis scoring the 2-1, which remained the score meaning Tokyo won the first ever SSL cup.
Awards:
Most awards that exist now also existed back then, however the attacking midfielders were (for the first 9 seasons) still included in the MC instead of the W.
MVP: The MVP eventually went to Cairo City’s striker Franco Torres (1).
Golden Boot: The Golden boot for most goals went to Franco Torres (1, Cairo City) and Jack O’Conner (1, Inter London) both making 15 goals
Golden Eye: Benji Atreides (1), AMR from Hollywood FC with 9 assists
Golden Glove: Jannik Andersen (1, Athenai) and Tony Yeboah (1, London) both having 3 clean sheets.
Manager of the year: The manager of the year ended up being Will3 (1), manager of Cairo City.
Team of the Season:
GK: Pingu Nootazuki (1, Tokyo)
WB: Deedee Yoker (1, Athenai) & Mazrim Taim (1, London)
DC: Sam Siege (1, Tokyo) & Squal Vercetti (1, Tokyo)
MC: Davy Mac (1, Cairo) & Nevin Kisbet (1, London)
W: K Clamence (1, London) & Benji Atreides (1, Hollywood)
ST: Jack O’Conner (1, London) & Franco Torres (1, Cairo)
For this season only the initial 6 teams participated, playing 10 league games each (2 times against all other teams), and playing in a cup with 3 rounds, and 2 teams getting a bye from round 1. Obviously this initial season also had a gigantic rookie draft, and it was still on the waiver wire system, which was a system in which players joining between the rookie drafts could be picked up by any team, with the priority going to the team in 1st in the waiver wire. Once you got a waiver wire player you were placed back to the back of all teams.
But now let us check which teams did participate (A little note, the managers were taken from the final savefile of S1):
Teams:
1. Athenai FC:
Our first team is Athenai FC managed by Canadice. Athenai used a total of 13 players during this season, but their most used 11 consisted out of:
GK – Jannik Andersen
WBR - A Singular Tub of Fazeberry ® GFuel ® Energy Formula - The Official Drink of ESports ®
DC – Budget Busquets
DC – Henrik Lind
WBL – Deedee Yoker
DM – Christian Silver
MC – Zinedine Gintonic
MC – Olsen Minion
AMR – Icarus Isosceles
AML – Arwyn Lamb
STC – Andreas Aadnevik
Sub 1: Tim Sinclair
Sub 2: Dr. Doofenschmitz
2. Cairo City:
The second team is another familiar sight, Cairo City with their manager Will3. The main 11 for Cairo City was:
GK – Radek Soboda
DR – Timo Reinmann
DC – Alessio Calvatore
DC – Tutankhamunt
DL – Ask Jeeves
DM – Alfredo Puttanesca
MC – Oscar Fernandes
MC – Davy Mac
AMR – Narsko Koivu
AML – Jakup Larsen
STC – Franco Torres
Sub 1: Heh Heh
3. Rio FC:
The 3rd team was Rio FC with manager Sermokala, and their primary 11 was:
GK – Arcueid Brunestud
DR - Breakfast Sandwich O’Pumpernickel
DC – Blueberry Poptart
DC – PenaltyTo Rangers
DL – George Costanza
DM – Milan Horvat
MR – Hunter Jones
MC – Malakai Black
ML – Elanor Lorien
AMC – Ruedi Wailis
STC – Haruka Mayoi
Sub 1: Maximus Djimrabaye Jr.
Sub 2: Now hiring Right footed AMC
Sub 3: Seb Henry
Sub 4: Ticket Cancelled
4. Hollywood FC:
Hollywood FC, managed by 3lewsers also took place in this initial season, with their primary 11 being:
GK: Scott Sterling
WBR: Ricky Bobby
DC: Cheese CantKick
DC: Mikko Järvälä
WBL: Giannis Kroustis
MC: Mikko Rashford*
AMR: Benji Atreides*
AMC: Awesome McPossum
AML: C.J. O’Broussard
STC: Tiki Taka
STC: Trevor Malone
Sub 1: Ryan Reynolds
Sub 2: Mack Fred
5. Inter London:
The 5th team taking place in season 1 was Inter London, managed by frazzle14. They are the only team to only use 11 players, with their squad looking like this:
GK: Tony Yeboah
DR: Linnea Nesse
DC: Aleksandar Stojakovic
DC: Connor Azpilicueta
DL: Mazrim Taim
MC: George Gordon
MC: John Wellerman
AMR: K Clamence
AMC: Nevin Kisbet
AML: Kuai Liang
STC: Jack O’Connor
6. Tokyo S.C.:
As the final team we have Tokyo S.C. managed by Graydonsanatomy. Tokyo used 13 players during this season with their primary 11 being:
GK: Pingu Nootazuki
WBR: Helena Söderberg
DC: Mike Rup
DC: Sam Siege
DC: Squall Vercetti
WBL: Jonas Thessenvitz
MC: Patrik Björkås
AMR: Shion Okamoto
AMC: Emilliano-Yoichi Isagi
AML: Barry Batsbak
STC: Kaspars Briedis
Sub 1: Friendly Hermit
Sub 2: Mikko Rashford
League:
That was it for the 11 teams, let us now look at how the league went.
MD1: As the initial matchday of the SSL let us go a bit more in-depth to the scores, with Athenai taking on Inter London, and Inter London winning 2-4, Hollywood won 8-2 against Rio, and Tokyo lost 0-2 against Cairo. In matchday 2 Cairo, Athenai, and London won, where in matchday 3 London becoming the only team to not lose points, while Rio and Tokyo were yet to get any points. Another big thing that happened in matchday 3 was the first ever player to move teams, with Mikko Rashford going from Tokyo to Hollywood to complete the remainder of the season.
Matchday 4 saw London dropping their first points, which meant Hollywood, London, and Cairo where all 3 on 9 points, with Athenai being on 6, and Tokyo getting their first points being on 3. Matchday 5 saw Hollywood dropping 3 points, where matchday 6 saw London dropping 2 points and Tokyo getting their first ever points. Hollywood meanwhile dropped another 3 points dropping behind Athenai with 10 points.
Matchday 7 saw Cairo getting a 5 point lead, which dropped back to 2 after matchday 8, and Cairo and London both had 19 points after matchday 9, going into the final match of the season with an equal amount of points, being the only 1 possible champions. These 2 teams were also playing against each other in matchday 10, with a London win seeing London become champions, and any other result meaning Cairo took the championship. London took an early lead with a O’Connor goal in the 10th minute, but Cairo got it equal in the 25th minute by a Mac goal, and 2 goals from Torres in the 37th and 47th minute secured Cairo the 3-1 win, and the first ever SSL championship.
Next up let’s look at the cup, of course the shield was not yet held in the first season, but the cup was. The structure of this cup was a 3-round 2-legged head-to-head (except for the final which only had 1 leg), where 2 random clubs got a bye from the first round. These 2 clubs ended up being Inter London and Athenai F.C.
Quarter-Final:
The matchups in the quarter-final were Hollywood against Cairo and Tokyo against Rio.
Hollywood-Cairo their first leg ended in a 2-1 win for Cairo, which eventually got a 3-1 win in the 2nd leg making the semi-final. Meanwhile the Tokyo-Rio game had a 1-0 win for Tokyo in their first leg, and a 0-0 in their 2nd meaning Tokyo got into the semi-final.
Semi-Final:
The first tie of the semi-final was Athenai-London, which had its first leg end in a 2-1 win for Athenai, but Inter London came back in the 2nd leg, forcing an extra time which they eventually won 4-2.
The other tie was Cairo-Tokyo, the first leg was won by Tokyo with 2-1, and the 2nd leg with 3-2 meaning Tokyo made it through to the final.
Final:
The final was held between Tokyo and London in a 1-match system. Tokyo got an early lead with Batsbak scoring the 1-0 in the 19th minute, early in the 2nd half London made it 1-1 with O’Connor scoring in the 49th minute, however Tokyo got the lead against in the 72nd minute with Briedis scoring the 2-1, which remained the score meaning Tokyo won the first ever SSL cup.
Awards:
Most awards that exist now also existed back then, however the attacking midfielders were (for the first 9 seasons) still included in the MC instead of the W.
MVP: The MVP eventually went to Cairo City’s striker Franco Torres (1).
Golden Boot: The Golden boot for most goals went to Franco Torres (1, Cairo City) and Jack O’Conner (1, Inter London) both making 15 goals
Golden Eye: Benji Atreides (1), AMR from Hollywood FC with 9 assists
Golden Glove: Jannik Andersen (1, Athenai) and Tony Yeboah (1, London) both having 3 clean sheets.
Manager of the year: The manager of the year ended up being Will3 (1), manager of Cairo City.
Team of the Season:
GK: Pingu Nootazuki (1, Tokyo)
WB: Deedee Yoker (1, Athenai) & Mazrim Taim (1, London)
DC: Sam Siege (1, Tokyo) & Squal Vercetti (1, Tokyo)
MC: Davy Mac (1, Cairo) & Nevin Kisbet (1, London)
W: K Clamence (1, London) & Benji Atreides (1, Hollywood)
ST: Jack O’Conner (1, London) & Franco Torres (1, Cairo)
