Not a Footium Blog

It is very strange the direction life takes you in sometimes, and this blog has been a very surprising journey for so many reasons.

I was absolutely delighted when the team behind Cheackippleigh reached out to me to document their journey in Footium. 

A huge collection of teams, over 14.5 ETH in prize money, and owners to some of the greatest players in the game. Let’s see how they did it.

The Portfolio

This empire currently consists of 7 clubs:

• Pury Albion
• Plyn an Wanderers
• Ferwitnor Park
• Wirsk Wanderers
• Rusten-Twe
• Thot United
• Cheackippleigh

And these teams have a great spread across divisions:

• 2 in Division 1
• 1 in Division 2
• 1 in Division 3
• 1 in Division 4
• 1 in Division 5
• 1 in Division 7

You can view the performances of the teams over the seasons below!

It’s when you get to the players that the numbers get crazy.

There are 277 players (at the time of writing) across all different rarities and across the clubs involved.

Common: 33 Players 

Bronze: 63 Players 

Silver: 48 Players 

Gold: 28 Players

Rare: 31 Players

Legendary: 7 Players

Retired: 63 Players

If we take the current floor price for each of these rarities, you’re looking at an absolute bargain basement value of 10.1025ETH , or around $19000.

They’ve had some of the greatest players in the game, including the Legendary Wonsik Cha. Legendary in more ways than one, might I add.

I find it fascinating how an ecosystem like this grows. I see a lot on Footium social media other clubs prioritising buying more clubs over trying to really progress one club, and I think a multi-club model like the type shown by Cheackippleigh is extremely effective. You can have elite teams whilst also bolstering your lower league outfits to climb the divisions and help fill your coffers.

The use of Legendary players still remains very interesting and exciting to me. The hype cycle for these players at the beginning of each season is fantastic, and even though we are not part of that process, clubs like Cheackippliegh are using these very special players to great effect. It will be interesting to see if it would be more cost effective to prioritise Rare and Gold players in higher Division clubs, but those Legendary players truly are the best of the best.

From The Owners

It was great to have the opportunity to chat with the team behind this empire, and ask them some questions.

“Why did you get into Footium & when?”

I was in the initial mint, and have had a partner at Cheackippleigh since Season 1. I wanted to compete at a high level and win!

“Biggest Success?”

Invincible season!

Editor’s note – This was Cheackippleigh’s Season 2 performance, where they won 19 and drew 3 games in Division 1, dropping only 6 points; scoring 84 goals and only conceding 20.

“Biggest Failure?”

I am not sure I can attribute failures at this stage! I guess the first couple seasons the D6 clubs we had were very much underperforming. But now one is D2 and one is D3.

Also S4 was really disappointing, with reduced revenues and performances.

“Any tips for new players?”

• Make your path.
• Use your strengths.
• Work with others.
• The game is super open-ended. Make sure to work around that & plan ahead!

“Biggest Inspiration?”

Inspiration as a tough one. Maybe it’s the long term vision of the game, or the community itself!

“Real life team you support?”

I support FC Dallas! My partner and I are based in Texas.

“Tell us about your partner?”

You may know them – GVG! They were very involved in Zed Run, and they’re a huge supporter of Crypto, Emerging Blockchain projects and Web 3. 

“Managerial inspiration?”

I find a lot of inspiration in the world of football! I loved the Arsene Wenger autobiography, he has quite a romantic approach. I remember him attributing his success as a player to playing in the street with no uniforms, having to really know his teammates and the game intuitively. He even got to training in Japan by remembering the billboards. I love the spirit of the way he jumped into that world.

“What’s next for the team?”

Well, we signed Wonsik Cha, pressed ourselves into the title race and now are looking to take the next step as a club.

We want to lead the way with youth development, and investment off the pitch. We have a measured and responsible approach; for example, 4 of our top 6 players retired and we sold the best remaining last week. This is because we are always planning for the long term. We might try and open up a title challenge in a few seasons, but we also want to stay flexible.

If you look at some of the S0 mints, for example, we spent 0.0023 on a mint, used it for 4 seasons, then sold it for 0.012. So regardless of the change of ETH price, there is already evidence of the value in the ecosystem. From a buyer perspective, or from a new player perspective, the utility in clubs, players and trained players is evident.

“Money talk?”

Season 5 is not final, but we’ve won around 14.5 ETH in prizes, whilst dramatically scaling up all our clubs and players.

Looking at Cheackippleigh’s Invincibles

We mentioned it earlier, but Cheackippleigh’s invincible season really is something to behold. 

Even across the 5 seasons, this club has been in the money in Division 1 FOUR times.

But there’s some crazy stats from that season, during which they netted a huge prize pot.

Let’s have a look.

In total, they made use of 6 different formations across the season. Here’s the breakdown:

• 4-3-3H: 6 times (27.3%)
• 4-1-4-1: 4 times (18.2%)
• 4-2-3-1: 6 times (27.3%)
• 5-2-3: 3 times (13.6%)
• 4-5-1DM: 2 times (9.1%)
• 4-4-2H: 1 time (4.6%)

The lowest rated starting 11 had an average rating of 51.2 (ratings based on the position they are played in).

The highest rated starting 11 had an average rating of 78.2.

The highest rated player was a 94 rated CF.

The lowest rated player was rated 11, playing out of position in some match day squads.

Rarity Breakdown:

• 4.5% of Starting Players were ‘Common’
• 20.7% of Starting Players were ‘Silver’
• 56.6% of Starting Players were ‘Gold’
• 12.4% of Starting Players were ‘Rare’
• 5.8% of Starting Players were ‘Legendary’

What a team.

One thing we didn’t mention last time, but felt it is worth mentioning, is the crazy defensive stats from this season. Attacking and winning is one thing, but they only conceded 20 goals in the entire season. That’s less than 1 per game on average. Maybe starting with your defensive stability is a way to go?

The Matches That Defined Them

It was fascinating to be able to ask the team about the matches that defined Cheackippleigh, and see from their perspective which the key games were.

Season 1 – https://footium.club/game/fixtures/live/511-16-1

This was a key game between Cheackippleigh and Bromber Town. Cheackippleigh came 2nd in this season, whilst Bromber Town won the league overall. Bromber Town got 55 points, whilst Cheackippleigh got 48 points. This game was a vital, top of the table clash, between 1st and 2nd.

Cheackippleigh went 4-5-1, with 8 Golds, 2 Rare’s and 1 Silver in the starting line-up. 

Bromber Town went 4-3-3A with 11 Golds in the starting line-up. 

This left Cheackippleigh with a 0.6 advantage here, but it was really fine margins. They eventually lost the game 1-0, but did well on the stats.

Season 2 – https://footium.club/game/fixtures/live/766-18-4

This season was kind of crazy. By this point teams had started buying Legendary players and stacking up even better squads than ever before. This was also Cheackippleigh’s invincible season so I imagine in many ways they could have picked out any game from this season!

This again, was a top of the table clash. This was with Cheackippleigh top, vs 2nd placed Crowichurbin.

Cheackippleigh went 4-4-2H, which was in fact, the only time they used this formation this season. Having the two DM’s is helpful for defensive stability, but the two CF’s also threaten the opposing back four. 2 Silver, 4 Gold, 4 Rare and 1 Legendary. The Legendary was 93 rated, crazy! They then subbed on Wonsik Cha, the legend, who banged in two goals.

Crowichurbin went for classic 4-5-1. 1 Silver, 9 Rare, 1 Legendary. Their Legendary was a stacked AM. 

They pulled out a 3-1 victory. Tactical masterclass? Or Wonsik Cha supersub?

Season 3 – https://footium.club/game/fixtures/live/1021-16-0

In Season 3, Cheackippleigh also did an NFT drop: https://x.com/cheackippleigh/status/1868480629823934570

This was such a fun little bit of community action!

The game they picked was really interesting. Cheackippleigh were on to win a 2nd title in as many seasons, but they weren’t going to be invincible, and they weren’t going to have as big a gap at the top.

This game, again, was a top of the table clash against Ling Ongpore Rangers. Legendaries once again making an appearance, as clubs begin to invest in even more.

Cheakippleigh went 4-5-1DM (obviously inspired by our own Marrouck Villa ) with 3 Gold, 6 Rare, 2 Legendary.

Ling Ongpore Rangers went 5-4-1 (the formation that kind of looks like a spaceship) with 4 Gold, 6 Rare, 1 Legendary.

This gave Cheackippleigh an ever so slight advantage in terms of the average rating of their starting line-up, but very little.

They were 2-0 down in the 76th minute, before pulling it around to a 3-2 victory. This was a fantastic comeback performance!

Season 4 – https://footium.club/game/fixtures/live/1380-6-5 

Earlier in the Q+A, Cheackippleigh mentioned that their failure was some of their lower league teams, but then followed it up by suggesting it was Season 4. This game is from that season! Overall, they had teams that did win money, but Cheackippleigh ultimately came 4th in Division 1. 

This game was against Sand Grack, who ultimately came 2nd in the league. The league was incredibly tight at the top, with only 2 points between the top two. Ling Ongpore Rangers, who came 2nd in Season 3, ultimately won the league this season.

Cheackippleigh brought back the 4-5-1 for this game, with 3 Gold, 6 Rare, 2 Legendary. Wonsik Cha didn’t start though. 

Sand Grack went 4-3-3D, with a massive 4 legendary players alongside 3 Rare and 4 Gold.

These were two relatively evenly matched line-ups, but Sand Grack went away as 3-0 runaway winners, with just a 0.8 advantage in average squad rating heading into this.

In this season, however, Cheackippleigh did manage to win 5-3 later in the season to prevent Sand Grack from winning the title, and did a double over the eventual champions!

Season 5 – https://footium.club/game/fixtures/live/1635-20-0

If you thought some of the other seasons were tight, Season 5 was a whole other level. The winners got 55 points, 2nd got 54 points and 3rd got 53 points. It was incredibly tight!

Cheackippleigh came 2nd in the end, but fortunately did manage to win some money by doing so!

This match was between two absolute giants, Sand Grack and Cheackippleigh battling it out again. Sand Grack eventually won out the league by a point. 

Both teams went 4-5-1DM in this game, which is the first time one of these games has had the same formation for both squads!

Cheackippleigh had 7 Rare, 2 Gold, 2 Legendary in the starting line-up, including a certain Wonski Cha.

Sand Grack were clearly SPENDING at this point, as they had 8 Legendary players and 3 Rare. I don’t even want to imagine how much those Legendary players cost!

Despite this, Cheackippleigh managed to win 3-2 in a super tight game. In Season 5, Cheackippleigh won 4 games against Sand Grack and Ling Ongpore Rangers, the two previous title winners, which is crazy impressive.

I love the story of these games, and each one has its own story.

What can we learn?

It’s almost impossible to even know where to start with the *learning* from these guys, because they know so much and have so much to contribute to Footium and the amazing community we are building.

I think there’s a key separation here, between the requirement for success at a Division 1 & 2 level, and the requirement for success at other levels of Footium.

As we demonstrated in our ‘How To Win Every Division in Footium’ blog, the average rating of a title winning squad in D3 was 60.2. D2 is 70 and D1 was 73.3 in the season we looked at. This is such a huge gap to overcome, and it also involves players getting significantly more expensive. The price gap between a 30 and 60 rated player is far more manageable than the gap between a 60 rated player and a 70+ rated player.

For Division 1 & 2, I think there’s a lot to look at:

• It is *expensive* to maintain a competitive squad at these levels, but also very doable if you are at this level.
• You are probably looking at a team with majority players at Gold or higher rarity.
• Squad rotation and picking your formation wisely is far more prevalent than in some lower divisions.
• Remaining dominant requires great forward planning and having a succession of players when your legends start to retire.
• You need to be looking at your matches live, and making substitutions and tactical changes whilst they are going on.

Some of these tips for Division 1 & Division 2 definitely apply across all divisions, but I think there’s some other bits more relevant for lower league clubs!

• Train your players! Even if they’re not going to be a future star player, you can add huge value to your club by getting a minted player from Common to Bronze or higher and reselling them. We currently have a CM rated 33. If we get him to his max potential of 57, he adds value and utility. We could sell him or we could also keep him. This provides utility for the club and increases the rating of a player to assist us in grinding up through the divisions.
• Feeder clubs work wonders. We have used this model to a limited degree, but your higher league clubs can distribute academy prospects and fringe players to a lower league, feeder club, where they can be more competitive. This boosts your chances of winning money & can allow those players to get more minutes and get trained.
• You don’t have to break the bank. It’s entirely realistic for your club to be self-sustaining at a lower level & there are more ways of income generation than just prize money.
• Target your players effectively. I’ve seen some people spending bucket loads on a RF, then using a formation that doesn’t utilise this position effectively or at all. You can easily perform with a squad of 22 or so targeted to one or two formations. Formation variation is much less prevalent at lower levels.

This has been a really fun project to be a part of, thanks so much to the guys over at Cheackippleigh!

Make sure to give them some love: https://x.com/cheackippleigh

See you all on the pitch!