OPSL Premier Division

The OPSL Premier Division (Gallic: Première Division de la LOSP) is the highest division of the Omerican football league system. Organised by the Omerican Professional Soccer League, an observer member of the United Republican Soccer Federation, the division is contested annually by sixteen teams and maintains a system of with the OPSL Second Division, Omerica’s second tier.

Competition
Sixteen clubs compete in the Premier Division annually. Each club plays every other club twice during the course of a season, once at their home stadium and once at their opponents’ home stadium. Teams are ranked by a points system, with teams earning three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. If two or more teams are tied on points, then games won, goal difference and goals scored are used as tiebreakers; if still equal, the teams are deemed to occupy the same position. If an absolute tie must be broken to determine the championship, relegation or qualification to domestic playoffs or international competitions, a playoff match at a neutral venue determines the higher-ranked team.

As of season 5, the two lowest ranking teams are automatically relegated to the OPSL Second Division, replaced by the latter’s top side and the winners of a knockout playoff tournament between the second- through fifth-placed sides of the Second Division. Previously, only the lowest ranking team were relegated automatically, with the fifteenth-place team defending their place in the Second Division playoffs; however, no Premier Division team won the Second Division playoffs before the implementation of full automatic relegation.

International qualification
In principle, the top-placing clubs of the Premier Division qualify for the IFCF Champions League and Challengers Cup each season. The Omerican champions have always qualified for the Champions League, while the Federation Cup winners have always been guaranteed a berth to the Challengers Cup. As with all associations, Omerica enters three teams in the Challengers Cup, while the number of Omerican entrants to the Champions League is dependent on Omerica’s IFCF association coefficient; currently, only the Omerican champions qualify for the Champions League.

Uniquely, no Challengers Cup places are awarded directly through the league by default, with the berths awarded to the winners of the Federation Cup, the OPSL Challenge Cup (the Omerican league cup) and the winners of a knockout playoff tournament between the four highest ranked teams not already qualified for IFCF competition. If the Federation or Challenge Cup winners qualify for IFCF competition through another method, the berth is passed down to the league, with the highest-ranking club not already qualified taking the berth.

History
The division was created by the OPSL as a replacement for the defunct Omerican Premier League, itself a replacement for the OSFL First Division. Prior to the foundation of the First Division, teams had competed in amateur leagues organised by the republican football associations, whose champions then contested a knockout finals tournament to determine the Omerican champions.

After the collapse of the First Division and the Premier League, professional clubs returned to semi-professional regional competition, organised by Omerica’s seven regional associations. To revive Omerican professional football, the United Republican Soccer Federation sanctioned the organisation of a professional league. Clubs from all seven regional leagues were invited to apply for OPSL membership during the penultimate Omerican Federal Championship season, with 82 shortlisted for the competition on the basis of financial and sporting criteria.

The last Omerican Federal Championship served as the qualification process for the OPSL, with four clubs from each specially drawn region qualifying for each of the four divisions. Teams affiliated to the same republican FA could not qualify for the same division, with Terreneuf and Marche Rouge considered a single association, as well as New Guernsey and the Seafoam Islands—a rule which would cost Corona Christiana, New Cardiff FC, Cathair Dhoire and Malavan Romainbourg berths to the inaugural Premier Division. Malavan Romainbourg and Corona Christiana would win promotion from the Second Division at the first opportunity, while Cathair Dhoire won promotion via the playoffs in season 6; in contrast, New Cardiff have yet to win promotion from the Second Division.

Clubs
The following sixteen clubs will compete in the Premier Division during season 7.