Albrecht Independent FC

Albrecht Independent Football Club was a professional football club from Albrecht, the capital of Candelaria And Marquez. Establishing themselves as the city’s third major force during the CMSC’s ‘International Era’, the Indies also achieved international notoriety as winners of the inaugural Series B Champions' Cup.

In comparison to Hoxton neighbours Albrecht Turkish and the mighty Albrecht FC, Albrecht Independent FC fans prided themselves on a counter-cultural ethos (albeit of a inoffensive graffiti, mild drug use and LPs variety) that extended to the ownership of the club by its supporters. The team spent four seasons in the CMSC1 during the ‘International Era’; fifteenth place and narrow survival in XXXV being their crowning domestic achievement.

Early years
The Indies were initially established as an amateur side with big ambitions during the late 1960s, congruent with Deevin FC’s transformation into Albrecht FC, and the NFBL domination of the now Hoxton-based Albrecht Turkish. Their initial home was in the Mary’s Park district, but hopes of picking up the support of the city’s most working-class communities proved short-lived: most continued to retain their affections for the Scorpions, while the Alber City Wasps – established at much the same time – enjoyed greater on-field success and appeared to have command of a more appealing off-field philosophy.

In time however, Albrecht Independent FC joined them in also becoming a strongly political club, keen to associate itself with left-wing, anti-capitalist and pro-Rushmori efforts in the wider community and attempting to sweep up supporters drifting away from the financially gluttonous ‘big three’ of the capital city and the contiguous cities (later Albrecht boroughs) of Hoxton and Lexaton. The club shifted between several stadia over the years, including a spell in Sorres shortly after that town too became part of the formally newly enlarged Albrecht. They became particularly popular among the capital’s teaming student population during the early years of the CMSC, but were still regularly nicknamed ‘Superfluous FC’ – partly because of their insistence of the use of ‘FC’ in all media reports (Albrecht FC also insisted on this wherever possible, but that particular case would seem more justifiable), but primarily because most of the city’s football fans and media simply considered them an unnecessary entity.

Becoming part of the semi-professional leagues in the CMSC pyramid, the Indies’ major break came with the building of the Millerman Sheppard Stadium and Turkish’s temporary move back to the heart of the capital. The Indies’ board took this opportunity to move the club to Hoxton, regenerating the venerable Army Ground and quickly attracting a whole new fanbase – not only from the local area, but the other suburban Albrecht boroughs of Sorres, Magnus and Liverpool. With crowds almost twice as large as their previous CMSC average, the Indies became a major financial player in the lower leagues, and their breakthrough came in the XXIX season.

Into the big time
With a side managed by Ancil Liebeskind, and including top-flight veterans as well as home-grown stars, Albrecht Independent FC won the CMSC2 to secure promotion to the top division for the first time. No less notable was their run in the first SBCC however, having qualified for that competition through leading the CMSC2 at the half-way stage. Runners-up in their group, but losing only one game and taking a 3-1 away victory at the once-mighty Jamaica Giants; the Indies then knocked out Vila Velha of Cafundéu, Northtown United of Ad’ihan and Kareen FC of Valanora, before beating KQ Nepáïire Tingitana 3-1 in extra time, in the final in Daehanjeiguk – setting up a lengthy run of Candelariasian sides to make the final of the SBCC – though another would not win the title until Radyukevich CSC at SBCC15.

Though the likes of Barry Adekunde, God’s Power Adekunde and Rio Kwan would go on to play representative football for C&M at various levels, and the team was widely considered one of the better newly promoted sides for quite some time, the Indies ultimately disappointed on their CMSC1 debut and were relegated, despite a second run into the SBCC2 quarter-finals and the domestic form of striker Wanderley.

The club were promoted again via the play-offs the following season, but were again relegated without much of a fight – despite this, Liebeskind remained the manager, with many supporters remaining perfectly comfortable with the ‘yo-yo’ status providing the club’s homely and independent image remained in place. Other fans and experts believed that their current rise would be followed by a long-term fall in the coming years – heralded by the return of Turkish to Hoxton, and the form of Magnus United and the Liverpool Knights.

Later years
In XXXIII however they were once again promoted, beating Mayo Valley 4-0 on the CMSC2’s opening day and remaining in the top two for the remainder of the season. Achieved with a by now hugely experienced side, with Liebeskind largely ignoring the club’s brief SBCC9 run in order to focus on returning to the top-flight, the manager was once again forced to assemble a rag-tag side in the vain hope of staying up for the very first time.

Experienced top-flight campaigners, including former C&M full-back Alex Duxbury, Kerecan international centre-half Russ Zapata and forward Guillermo Ibarra were brought in on a shoestring budget, the latter supporting teenage striker Luke Rogers.

Liebeskind’s key buy, however, proved to be in the acquisition of young Cassadaguan midfielder Katie Cincoski. Alongside the Candelariasian Lisa Walker in the centre of the park as part of the first all-female midfield partnership in the CMSC1; Cincoski emerged as one of the stars of the season – winning the inaugural, if much derided, Woman of the Season award and being among the runners for several other gongs as well, alongside sweeping to the Fans’ Player of the Season award. Even her presence couldn’t lift the XXXIV Indies from being a thoroughly mediocre side who were forced to battle bravely against yet another relegation throughout but, despite their struggles, the team shook off all pre-season predictions to avoid ever falling into the bottom three. Their top-flight status for a second season in a row was assured only on the final day, but fifteenth could be considered a genuine achievement by the lowly standards of years past, and offered real hope that the CMSC1 could maintain a place for a third Albrecht football team.

It wouldn’t last. Entirely unable to resist financial temptation, the Indies sold Cincoski to Marquez-Onwere, ripping out the heart of their side. Their new signings, on the face of it, were impressive – Augustine Dennin, XXXIV’s CMSC1 top scorer, a stunning arrival on a free, was joined by experienced Vanorian midfielder Nicole Delara and former Indies fullback Barry Adekunde. With a side that seemed well equipped to survive once more however, Liebeskind would take his team on a truly woeful run. Losing their first six matches – including a record-breaking 7-0 thrashing by Turkish – they won their first game of the season only on matchday 17 in a 5-4 comeback over fellow strugglers Radyukevich, thereby avoiding becoming the worst Apertura side since the season division was introduced. Liebeskind departed soon after, with former club captain Ravid Pimenta taking on the job as the doomed club’s manager and doing relatively well to win three Clausura fixtures and be relegated with nineteen points and a minus forty-seven goal difference.

The Indies were little more than a selling club thereafter, struggling even to make the CMSC2 play-offs. By XXXIX they had slumped to tenth, by now coached by God’s Power Adekunde, the C&M legend back at his boyhood club and supported in the dugout by brothers Barry and Zachary. Their collective appointment as professional football coaches lasted less than a season before the fallout from the Beatrice event led to the collapse of the CMSC, though they remained strongly associated with the amateur, community entity that arose from the ashes. Over the decade and more that has followed, Albrecht Independent – now ironically shorn of its FC – has become a vital voice for the country and the capital’s minority and immigrant populations, the Army Ground as much a home for political rallies and fundraising efforts as athletic pursuits.

Notable CMSC1 International Era players
Goalkeepers
 * Dak Gogrichiani
 * Murphy Matthews
 * Stefan Santamaria

Defenders
 * Barry Adekunde
 * God’s Power Adekunde
 * Alex Duxbury
 * Ravid Pimenta
 * Jono Plunkett
 * Alex Roberts
 * Valete
 * Reuben Ward
 * Flag of Ex-Nation.png Russ Zapata

Midfielders
 * Rian Bishop
 * Katie Cincoski
 * Nicole Delara
 * Kevin Ely
 * Shaun Gaspperitt
 * Tyler Kenroe
 * Rio Kwan
 * Flag of Ex-Nation.png Kirokazu Reizei
 * Leandro Vásquez
 * Lisa Walker
 * Dave Walsh

Forwards
 * Andrew Abbott
 * Augustine Dennin
 * Guillermo Ibarra
 * Luke Perry
 * Luke Rogers
 * Wanderley
 * Zachary Adekunde