Introducing Season Mode: Climb the Divisions

Season Mode is the biggest feature addition to Free Flick Football since online multiplayer. It's a full 20-team league system with 3 divisions, promotion and relegation, and a standings table that updates after every match.

Each season, you play through a fixture list against AI opponents of varying difficulty. The teams in your division have names, and the standings table tracks wins, draws, losses, goals scored, and points — just like a real football league. Finish in the top spots and you earn promotion to the next division. Finish at the bottom and you drop down.

There are 3 divisions to climb through. Division 3 is where everyone starts — the opponents are manageable and the goal is to learn the rhythm of a season. Division 2 ramps up the difficulty, and Division 1 is where the best AI opponents live. Winning the Division 1 title is genuinely hard and requires consistent play across the entire season.

The design goal was to give solo players a reason to keep coming back. Individual matches against the AI are fun, but they lack stakes. Season Mode adds context to every game — this isn't just a random match, it's a must-win to stay in the promotion race. That emotional weight makes the same physics-based gameplay feel completely different.

Season progress is saved to your profile (via Supabase for logged-in players, localStorage for guests). You can pick up where you left off between sessions. The season result screen shows your final position, whether you earned promotion or suffered relegation, and your overall record.

One detail I'm proud of: draws are possible. If the score is tied at 4-4 when both teams have had equal turns, the match ends as a draw and both teams get 1 point. This adds a realistic league dynamic where a draw against a strong team can be a good result.

Season Mode is available from the main menu. Pick your formation, start your campaign, and see how high you can climb. I'm already thinking about adding cup competitions and playoff brackets in the future.