How to Set Up a League?

Written by: Chris Thomas, Ottawa Foosball Association (OFA)

OFA has a long history of foosball leagues being the first charter holder for Valley International Foosball Association (VIFA) in 1994. Their original leagues were based on Valley’s pool league which is handicap driven. Given our league was full of engineers we quickly figured out how to win and still have your handicaps go down, breaking the system. Over the past 25 years, we have tried several different systems: handicaps, salary caps, rotation, and tiers, to make the game play competitive. We have settled on the following formats for our three leagues that we run the in the year.

Winter League:

15 weeks plus playoffs Oct to Feb.– Our most competitive league

Tiered format – Tier 1 PRO, Tier 2 AMATEUR, Tier 3 BEGINNER.

The league is organized with teams of 3 players. There are no restrictions to which players are on which team. The teams are ranked based on the league organizer and placed in Tiers. The tiers should have ideally 4 teams each for ease of rotation but the exact schedule will depend on the total number of teams. The teams play the other teams in the tier in a head to head match. After three weeks the teams are ranked and the lowest team is relegated to a lower tier and the top team is promoted to the higher tier. We do this for 4-5 rotations. At the end of the league, we run playoffs and share the payouts.

A league night comprises of several types of games – Singles, Roto Doubles, Specialty Singles, 2-Ball Rollerball, and 2/3 double to end the night. This league sheet has been refined over the years to ensure that people are playing a good variety of games and positions throughout the night while still making things competitive.

Spring League: 7 weeks plus playoffs – April/May

Similar to the Winter league in structure, where a team of three plays our regular league sheet played in a rotation rather than a tiered structure. We provide a 50% discount to our top players for every beginner they team up with. This creates a mentorship structure where our pros will teach up and coming players. This is a great FUN league where it is more relaxed and enjoyable.

Summer Point Race. 7 Weeks plus playoffs – July/August

We will play a Monster DYP where players get to play doubles with a different partner each round and the singles at the end of the night. Points are tracked over the weeks where people could drop 1-2 weeks. This is a great format as it allows for people not to have to worry about committing during a busy summer of the cottage and outside sports. Here is the list of resources available to you. If you need help organizing contact Chris Thomas and he will be happy to help set up the league.