Online Quiz League UK - Newsletter - 2024-01
OQL Season 12 Structure announcement
Thanks to all teams who have chosen to return for OQL Season 12. We ended last season with 143 teams, four others have chosen to withdraw, or take a season break and we have 3 new scratch teams so Season 12 of OQL will have 142 teams and here is how it will all work. All four withdrawing teams were from the lower divisions so there should be very few surprises in this post. We will also detail how the new Super Cup will work in conjunction with the Jon Jacob Cup
Division 1
All teams are returning so there are no changes to the expected division line up. The division will be played as a straight round robin of 12 teams. The top team are crowned OQL champions and the teams in 11th and 12th will be relegated to Division 2.
Division 2
All teams are returning so there are no changes to the expected division line up. The division will be played as a straight round robin of 12 teams. The top team are Division 2 champions and are promoted to Division 1, the runners up will also be promoted. The teams in 11th and 12th will be relegated to Division 3.
Division 3
All teams are returning so there are no changes to the expected division line up. As with the last two seasons this division will be split into two leagues of 8. From Weeks 1-7 you play a round robin against the teams in your division. The top four in each league move to 3A and the bottom four move to 3B. For weeks 8-11 teams will play the four teams in their new league who they haven’t already played, points from the first stage carry over. The top 2 teams in Division 3A are promoted to Division 2 and the bottom 4 teams in Division 3B are relegated to Division 4.
Division 4
All teams are returning so there are no changes to the expected division line up. As with the last two seasons this division will be split into two leagues of 12. Teams will play a round robin within their league and the top two in each league will be promoted to Division 3. The team which has the best record of the two Division winners will be crowned Division 4 champion. The teams in 11th and 12th in each Division will be relegated to Division 5.
Division 5
All teams are returning so there are no changes to the expected division line up. As with the last two seasons this division will be split into two leagues of 12. Teams will play a round robin within their league and the top two in each league will be promoted to Division 4. The team which has the best record of the two Division winners will be crowned Division 5 champion. The teams in 11th and 12th in each Division will be relegated to Division 6.
Division 6
Sadly, Airedale Terriers have chosen to withdraw from OQL. They had been with us since the very first season so it’s always sad to see such long-standing teams drop out, they will always be welcomed back in the future. This meant that we had to fill the gap that they left and having checked the records of various teams we decided that The Last Straws would be best placed to be competitive in Division 6 and therefore they have received a promotion from Division 7.
As with the last two seasons this division will be split into two leagues of 12. Teams will play a round robin within their league and the top two in each league will be promoted to Division 5. The team which has the best record of the two Division winners will be crowned Division 6 champion. The teams in 11th and 12th in each Division will be relegated to Division 7.
Division 7
The Spanish Inquizition have chosen to merge with another team and Not All There have decided to take a season out. Therefore, what we have decided to do is make Division 7 two leagues of 10 teams. From weeks 1-9 the teams will play a round robin. The top 2 in each division will be promoted to Division 6 and in Weeks 10 and 11 they will play in play-off matches to determine who are the Division 7 Champions. The teams who finish in 9th and 10th in each division will be relegated to Division 8. In weeks 10 and 11 teams who finished from 3rd to 10th will play mini 4 team tournaments to determine final placings which will be taken into account should there be additional promotions or relegations required in Season 13.
Division 8
Gaggle of Beefcakes have chosen to take a season off so Division 8 will be one Division of 10 teams, it will consist of the teams who finished in the bottom 2 of Division 7 last year (minus the team that withdrew last season), the teams in last season’s division 8 who finished between 4th and 8th (Minus Gaggle of Beefcakes) and the three new scratch teams.
The teams will play a round robin from weeks 1-9 with the top 4 team at the end of this stage being promoted to Division 7. These four teams will play a play off tournament in weeks 10 and 11 to determine who are the league champions. The teams in 5th-8th will play a mini-tournament in weeks 10 and 11 to determine final placings and the teams in 9th and 10th will play each other in both weeks 10 and 11 to determine final placings.
Hopefully this is all clear enough but if anyone has any questions at all about the divisional structure, please just ask.
Super Cup
The Jon Jacob cup only has capacity for a maximum of 128 teams so we have decided that 16 teams who reached the last 16 of the Jon Jacob Cup in Season 11 will enter a brand new super cup. Teams will be split into four groups of 4 and play a round robin in weeks 12-14. The top two in each group will progress to the quarter finals at which point it is a single elimination bracket playing one game in Week 15 and the Semi finals and Final in Week 16.
Jon Jacob Cup
This will be open to the other 126 teams in the league, this is optional so it is possible that there will be fewer than 126 teams enter. We may also invite potential new teams to participate in the cup to make the numbers up. If there are fewer than 128 teams then some teams will receive a bye in week 1.
All teams are guaranteed a minimum of two games, if you lose your first match you will be entered into the plate. Teams will play one game in each of weeks 12-14. In week 15 we’ll play the last 16 games and the quarter finals and in week 16 we’ll play the semi finals and the finals.
Both the cups and the Plate feature handicaps to ensure close games no matter who you are drawn against.
Again, we hope this is all clear but if you’ve any questions please just ask.
So that’s the details for Season 12! We’ll have the website updated over the weekend once the fixtures are organised and you should receive your first fixture email on Sunday.
If anyone has any questions about any of the above please just ask.