Crabliga A

Crabliga A

Organising body	Monscrabel Balompie Federacione (MBF)
Founded	1901 (1901) 1958 (as round-robin tournament)
Country	Montcrabe
Confederation	CONFUSUR
Number of teams	20 (since 2004–05)
Relegation to	Crabliga B
Domestic cup(s)	Taça de Montcrabe Supertaça Ricardo Cabral
International cup(s)	CONFUSUR Surcampeon
Current champions	Real Parante (24th title) (2021–22)
Most championships	Real Parante (24 titles)
Most appearances	Francois Ochoa (290)
Top goalscorer	Antoine Batistuta (400)
TV partners	MUDN
2022–23 Crabliga A

The Crabliga A, also called Crabliga A MKT for national sponsorship with MKT, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Montcrabe football league system where the winner is awarded the Crabetto and the league title. The Crabliga A was originally founded in 1901 as the Competição de Futebol do Príncipe (Prince's Football Competition) with 10 founding teams. The original competition format ran for a few decades, before a year-long break to reorganize the league as a professional and competitive sport hub. It has been operating as a round-robin tournament for over sixty years since the 1959–60 season. Crabliga A is regarded as one of the best football leagues in Terraconserva and it is often depicted as the most tactically attacking-based national league.

The Crabliga A is played throughout one full year, or season, in a total of 38 games - two between each club. The top two spots at the end of the season, by means of points or goal differential in case of a point tie, gain qualification to the CONFUSUR Surcampeon round of 16 the following year, the next two spots gaining entry to the qualifying rounds. The league adopts a relegation and promotion system, whereas the bottom 3 clubs at the end of the season are relegated to the Crabliga B, whilst the top 2 clubs in the second division are promoted to the top flight (the third promotion spot is decided through a playoff between places 3-6).

The league hosts three of the world's most successful and recognizable clubs in Real Parante, Inter Montena and Sinatre. Despite the quantity of successful and continentally competitive clubs in the league, Parante has won 6 out of the last 10 league seasons including 4 Taça de Montcrabe trophies and 5 Supertaças (out of the five Supertaça won, one was by default, as they won both league and cup in the 2021–21 season).

The Crabetto Patch, awarded to the league champions.

In addition to the Crabetto patch awarded to winners of the previous season, 5 league wins grant clubs a permanent star on their badge. Currently, Real Parante's crest features 4 stars thanks to their 24 titles, whilst both Inter Montena and Sinatre have two each.

History

Prior to the formation of the Competição de Futebol do Príncipe, Montcrabin football was played at an amateur level throughout the country under various unofficial regional and inter-city leagues and competitions. Later into the 1890s, given the growing popularity of the sport, calls for the creation of a centralized professional league began to take root. Displays from foreign leagues and clubs, most notably Creeperian ones, inspired some members of the government to begin advocacy about the growing professional sports issue, until the proposals reached the Crabin throne. Given the Monscrabel family's personal interest in the game through royally-owned university displays and hobbies, the KFP was founded by means of princely decree in 1901. Comprised of ten government-funded professional teams (including Parante Balompié, Sinatre Cite, Nacionale Montena, and others), the Kompetizzjoni tal-Futbol ran through from 1902 to 1958 as a set of 27 games, 3 between each club, per season. The grand majority of games were held in Montcrabe City's universities and government-owned facilities, evoking feelings of disconnect between cities and the clubs that supposedly represented them. Despite the shortcomings of the original competition, the sport began to be heralded by government and populace alike as the pride of the country.

In the 1959–60 season, after a year-long break called by the recently-formed Monscrabel Balompié Federacione (Monscrabel Football Federation), the tournament was expanded to include 20 teams in a round-robin format, where each team would actually play in their own location with stadiums paid for by the royal family. Semi-professional leagues under it were also created (later becoming the professional Crabliga B and Crabliga C) to advocate for player growth and club competitiveness, in addition to the introduction of the Taça de Montcrabe and Supertaça Ricardo Cabral. The same format has been ongoing for sixty years, seeing the later introduction of private club ownership and youth tournaments (most notably, the Jeune Crabligas; made up of U20, U18 and U16 categories).

In the last ten years, Crabliga A has seen the introduction of refereeing innovations like video-assisted refereeing, video replays, ball movement tracking, and other harsh measures meant to end the possibility of human error in games. The strictness toward fairness and refereeing perfection has led some to label the Crabliga as "too strict" and "flavorless". On the other hand, its lack of many refereeing scandals due to this has also been praised by some. Even then, the Crabliga A's guidelines are some of the least restrictive in terms of bodily contact and what warrants a foul, continuing its trend as one of the most physical leagues in world football.

Since the Crabliga's reformatting in 1959, it has seen wins by 11 different clubs, 14 domestic trebles achieved throughout the years, the relegation of two of the ten founding clubs, and 400 goals by top goalscorer Antoine Batistuta. The most successful team has been Real Parante with 24 Crabetto titles, followed by Inter Montena and Sinatre with 14 and 13 titles respectively.

Competition format

Surian qualification

As of 2023, the Crabliga A is ranked as the third best league by CONFUSUR coefficient, therefore the top two teams in the competition qualify directly into the CONFUSUR Surcampeon's R16. An additional two teams, spots three and four in the league table, gain access to the two-legged preliminary round of the competition.

Promotion and relegation

The league adopts a relegation and promotion system through its three professional leagues (Crabliga A, B, and C), and semi-professional national leagues below them. At the end of any regular season, the bottom 3 clubs of a given league table are relegated to the division below, meaning Crabliga A clubs go down to B, and clubs in B go down to C. Meanwhile, the top two teams in the league (bar the first division) are instantly promoted to replace those in descent. The third promotion spot is decided by a play-off between table places 3 through 6 in a two-legged semi-final, and then a play-off final. The play-off final between the two remaining teams has historically been played at the Campe Sou stadium thanks to its capacity, but Stade Zinedine Monscrabel has also seen recent appearances during play-offs. Play-off winners are awarded a trophy, though it is not often counted as a major one.

Tiebreakers

1. Points obtained in all matches (three points for a win, one for a draw, none for a defeat);
2. Goal difference in all matches;
3. Number of goals scored in all matches;
4. Head-to-head goal difference (for the current season);
5. Coin flip.

Clubs

Below is a list of currently competing clubs in the Crabliga A.

*	Club is part of the Montcrabe Major Club Association and founding member of the Crabliga.
†	Club was a founding member of the Principati Balompie Competicion and Crabliga.
‡	Club was recently promoted from Crabliga B.

Team	Location	A League titles	B League titles	C League titles	Taça Titles	Supertaça Titles	Founded	Stadium
AC Edde ‡	Edde	0	4	0	0	0	1982	Stade Edde Smith
Moinsel KS †	Montcrabe City	1	0	0	0	0	1901	Moinsel Coppa Stade
Dynamo Montena †	Perelocusta	2	3	0	1	2	1901	Stade Francois Jude
Atletico Costea †	Costea	2	0	0	2	1	1901	Metropolitan ta' Montcrabe
Avilbao	Avilbao	0	1	0	2	1	1974	Avilbao Coste Stade
Blabao	Blabao	0	3	0	3	1	1974	Stade de Blabao
Blamora Metall	Costea	1	0	0	0	1	1965	Ole Crabinstade
Bucca Deheb	Bucca Cite	0	0	0	0	0	1995	Bucca Cite Stade
Cardiace	Torosa	0	1	0	0	0	1981	Soldade' Grounde (shared)
Gafala	Perelocusta	0	0	0	0	0	1976	Perelocusta Cite Stade
Gatrios Calcio ‡	Gatrios	0	2	0	0	0	1991	Gran Calcio Stade
Gualaga ‡	Costa Gualaga	0	5	2	0	0	1984	Costa Gualaga Grounde
Inter Montena *	Perelocusta	14	0	0	11	15	1901	Campe Sou
Marbeles	Gatrios	0	0	0	0	0	1988	Gatrios Cite Stade
Real Creme †	Creme	2	1	2	4	2	1901	Creme Stade de Ligt (shared)
Real Parante *	Montcrabe City	24	0	0	14	23	1901	Stade Zinedine Monscrabel
Reguecos †	Montcrabe City	2	0	0	4	0	1901	Montcrabe City Stade
Sinatre *	Sinatre	13	0	0	15	17	1901	Nacionale Stade
Forza Torosa	Torosa	1	1	0	2	0	1977	Torosa Cite Stade
Verbao Bahhara	Costea	0	7	4	1	0	1962	Stade d'Verbao

Records (WIP)

Boldface indicates a player still active in Crabliga A. Italics indicates a player active outside Crabliga A.

Most appearances

Francois Ochoa made a record 657 appearances in the Crabliga A

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Years active	Apps	Goals
1	Francois Ochoa	Real Parante	2000–2023	657	1
2	Joaquín Mendoza Ulloa	Reguecos, Inter Montena	1984–2009	637	29
3	Francois Totti	Sinatre	1992–2017	619	250
4	Javier Zanetti	Inter Milan	1995–2014	615	12
5	Gianluca Pagliuca	Sampdoria, Inter Milan, Bologna, Ascoli	1987–2005 2006–2007	592	0
6	Dino Zoff	Udinese, Mantova, Napoli, Juventus	1961–1983	570	0
7	Pietro Vierchowod	Como, Fiorentina, Roma, Sampdoria, Juventus, AC Milan, Piacenza	1980–2000	562	38
	Samir Handanović	Treviso, Lazio, Udinese, Inter Milan	2004–2006 2007–present	562	0
9	Fabio Quagliarella	Torino, Ascoli, Sampdoria, Udinese, Napoli, Juventus	1999–2000 2001–2002 2005–present	550	181
10	Roberto Mancini	Bologna, Sampdoria, Lazio	1981–2000	541	156

Most goals

Silvio Piola is the highest goalscorer in Serie A history with 274 goals

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Years active	Goals	Apps	Ratio
1	Silvio Piola	Pro Vercelli, Lazio, Juventus, Novara	1929–1943 1946–1947 1948–1954	274	537	0.51
2	Francesco Totti	Roma	1992–2017	250	619	0.4
3	Gunnar Nordahl	AC Milan, Roma	1949–1958	225	291	0.77
4	Giuseppe Meazza	Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus	1929–1943 1946–1947	216	367	0.59
	José Altafini	AC Milan, Napoli, Juventus	1958–1976	216	459	0.47
6	Antonio Di Natale	Empoli, Udinese	2002–2016	209	445	0.47
7	Roberto Baggio	Fiorentina, Juventus, AC Milan, Bologna, Inter Milan, Brescia	1985–2004	205	452	0.45
8	Ciro Immobile	Juventus, Genoa, Torino, Lazio	2008–2010 2012–2014 2015–present	191	313	0.61
9	Kurt Hamrin	Juventus, Padova, Fiorentina, AC Milan, Napoli	1956–1971	190	400	0.48
10	Giuseppe Signori	Foggia, Lazio, Sampdoria, Bologna	1991–2004	188	344	0.55
	Alessandro Del Piero	Juventus	1993–2006 2007–2012	188	478	0.39
	Alberto Gilardino	Piacenza, Hellas Verona, Parma, AC Milan, Fiorentina, Genoa, Bologna, Palermo	1999–2017	188	502	0.37