apterous.org

Notes from the organizer: *SETTING UP ON BEHALF OF ANDY SC.

Welcome to the 2026 edition of the Apterous Champions League

First of all let's have a recap of the 2025 edition. Bodo/Glimt managed by Tom Cappleman successfully defended their title in a close fought 2-1 aggregate win over Paks managed by Adam Latchford.

The Europa League final wasn’t as close as that. Sumgayit from Azerbaijan managed by Dan Byrom claimed glory with an aggregate victory of 5-1 over Aston Villa managed by Dave Kempshall.

Now moving onto this year’s edition. If a crazy number of people sign-up (talking EC number levels from earlier this year) and I feel the number of people signed-up merits qualifiers to be held then qualifiers will be held. If I feel qualifiers do not need to be held everybody will enter at the Champions League - League phase stage,

Upon signing-up players are required to pick a team from the following link to represent. If you sign-up then comment the team you wish to represent in the comments section of the tournament page - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14JL8OzkQDNiv8oBf8hPz3bwjSS2nayPZomcdODlaiWU/edit?gid=1341802680#gid=1341802680

Tom Cappleman will have first refusal over Bodo#Glimt and will automatically be seeded into Pot 1. Dan Byrom will get first refusal over any other team since Sumgayit have failed to qualifying for next season’s European competitions (even if somebody else has picked a team prior to Dan picking). Apart from that it’s a first come first serve basis for people picking teams.

Whether we need qualifiers or not, the following is how the league phase will work. In the League Phase it will be one league table where you will play so many games. It will be at least 8-games or a bit more (depends on numbers or how evenly the pots split). Players will be divided into pots based on a combination of their teams coefficient and their pro rank on Apterous. You will then be drawn to play two teams from each pot (once at home and once away). Bots might be added if the number of players in each pot needs to be evened up. If bots do end up being added then nobody will be drawn to play a bot twice.

The Top 24 will advance to the Champions League. If numbers allow and their is no qualifiers prior to the League Phase then the next 24 will advance to the Europa League, Then if I feel numbers allow then the UEFA Conference League will be added for the Knockout Stages.

If there is any questions please fire away (to Andy SC, not Dave ;))

Runs from: 13 June – 19 July 2026. Format: Champions League. Matches: One-off. Approved.

Fixtures: 0. Completed: 0.