Football in Pianteh

Football in Pianteh
Football is the most popular sport in Pianteh. The sport was introduced to Pianteh by a Dutch dock worker who arrived to the country somewhere in 1870. The unnamed dock worker had been in England when the Laws of the Game was put into effect in 1863. The dock worker worked on the dock of the city of Haloba where he, along with other dock workers, agreed to play a game of football with the dock workers of the city of Yuntae. This specific match was almost entirely dismantled when the unnamed dock worker passed away at the Haloba docks due to a workplace accident. His colleagues at the docks, however, proceeded to make the match more official by creating Pianteh's first football club PZ Haloba. The dock workers of Yuntae followed this development up by creating a football club of their own, naming it PZ Yuntae. The first match between these two clubs happened on the 16th of June 1880, with PZ Yuntae winning the match 7-5.

From 1880 to the current day there have been many new clubs set up all across Pianteh, with some notable names being PZ Carnith in 1886, PZ Kakifali in 1891, VV Midberg in 1975, and KZ Kamhea in 1886.

The Pianteh Football Association (PFA) was introduced in 1881 following the creation of multiple football teams that wished to play more games against one another. Professional football was immediately embraced by the PFA, deeming it a great way for people to stay in shape, connect with the local communities, and create closer ties with other communities. The first professional game was played on the 12th of February 1882 between PZ Indar and PZ Flitfal, with PZ Indar winning the match 8-0.

Pianteh, like many Asian countries, played their footballing seasons across a single calendar year for a long. They did so from the inaugural 1882 season up to the 1961 season. From the 1962/63 season onwards the footballing seasons happened across 2 calendar years, matching more with European football seasons as opposed to Asian seasons. This change came forth from the PFA merging with the football association of the province of Veere the Veere Voetbal Federarie (VVF), which the PFA up until 1961 did not see as legitimate. Due to the country becoming closer and closer as a people the PFA did eventually buckle under the population's pressure and merged with the VVF. Most Veere based clubs, having origins decades before 1961, were unable to fully be registered by the PFA for many years due to internal struggles. The clubs were, however, still allowed to play within the PFA's leagues despite not having a set year of origin.

In 2015 Pianteh saw a unique first in football as the country, which has settlements on the Moon, registered 2 new clubs that have their bases on the Moon. PZ Kharmola and PZ Shinyael were therefore the first clubs not based on Earth to be officially recognized by a footballing association. Difficulties with logistics prevented these clubs from gaining successful applications to join the PFA's footballing leagues until the 2022/23 season when an agreement was made with the Moon's leaders, granting extra funding so that the two Lunar football teams can travel between the Earth and the Moon to play football matches, as well as funding team travels for teams that have to travel to the Moon.

Domestic Professional Football
Pianteh hosts a professional football league system that consists of 5 tiers.

In 2010 the league structure of Pianteh changed into its current format, having previously ran with alternating league structures, number of clubs outside of the Premier League, and other factors. From 2010 onwards the PFA has ruled that every tier level can, at most, have 20 clubs within them. At the time this meant that only League Three did not have 20 clubs, having only 12 clubs within its league system after SV Midberg was created. In 2015 League Three was expanded to 14 clubs. And as of the 2021/2022 season the PFA has decided to actively keep track of statistics in multiple storage facilities following a fire that saw a massive loss of footballing history as, at the time, the footballing history was kept track of on paper and physical copies of events.

In the event that League Three grows to 20 clubs and there are other clubs interested in playing within the league system then the PFA will hold the creation of an eventual Pianteh League Four until at least 10 teams are ready to be grouped together at once.

Alongside the standard league system in Pianteh there is also the national cup competition the Pianteh Paful Trofa.

Football Clubs By Provinces
Football clubs in Amaranth

Football clubs in Luna

Football clubs in Mordaea

Football clubs in Veere

Football clubs in Shola