Football in Daau
Football in Daau is governed by the Daau Football Association. Football is the most popular sport in Daau in regards to both participation and spectating.
History
DAFA was accepted into FMF in mid-2022 due to the auto-membership rule that was in place. The Daau national football team, established in mid-2022 following a successful Micrasian claim, quickly made its mark on the international stage. In its debut year, Daau organized the Daau Opening Tri-Nations Series, finishing third after a loss to Phinbella and a draw against Krasnovlac. The team co-founded the Dauian-Mataba Cup, securing a 4–1 aggregate victory over Mataba in the inaugural edition. In 2023, Daau’s first competitive outing in the FMF World Cup qualification saw them finish second in their five-team group with 14 points. They also hosted and won the inaugural SEEFF Championship, clinching the four-team knockout tournament with a narrow final victory.
On April 2, 2023, Daas City won the reformatted Daau Super League, becoming record holders with one title. Aeland Krasno Natives Daau were relegated to the Daau Premier League and later to the Daau League after failing to secure a Premier League license. The 2023–24 season welcomed newly promoted teams Sembalang Knights FC, Qixying FC, Catang Evergrande, and Sembalang Sentek Mariners, alongside Matabese side Cheetahs XII. Sponsored by Kotify, the 2023 season saw Daas City claim their second championship and domestic treble, with Vegnese striker Mattia Dragoni topping the scoring charts with 25 goals.
In 2024, Daau placed second in their Copa Apollonia qualifying group with 16 points, defeating Victoria 3–2 on aggregate in the play-offs to qualify for their first major tournament. At the Copa Apollonia finals, they advanced to the knockout stages with five points, finishing third in their group ahead of Raspur on goal difference, but fell 3–1 to Senya in the play-off round. The 2024–25 DSL season expanded to 14 teams, with Mattia Dragoni again leading the scorers with 24 goals and becoming the first player to win DSL Player of the Year twice consecutively. Daau United clinched their first DSL title with a 1–0 victory over rivals Daas City on the final day.
Daau continued their success in the Dauian-Mataba Cup, securing a 2–1 aggregate win for their second consecutive title. The team qualified for the 2025 FMF World Cup after a home victory against Raspur and claimed a third consecutive Dauian-Mataba Cup to cap the June international window. Daau ended their World Cup run with a highlight 0-0 draw to giant Mercury, with regards to Mukundan Maran's heroic penalty save to claw a point
Ahead of the 2025–26 season, Cheetahs XII withdrew, marking the first time the DSL would operate without a foreign-based team. Sembalang Sentek Mariners, East Coast United, and Catang Evergrande were relegated, while Jinan Island FC, Caching City FC, and Seragaan FC were promoted. Expansion side Muscat DFC was approved to replace Cheetahs XII.
Domestic Football
The Dauian top flight is the Daau Super League, currently housing 8 teams and planning to expand to 12 next season.
There are a total of three professional tiers, being the DSL, DPL and the Daau League. The Daau Lower League is the highest rank an amateur team can reach in Daau unless they're willing to change to a full-professional club. Each club has their own designated youth team system. DSL, DPL teams compete in the DNTP Developmental Leagues while Daau League, Daau League 2 and Daau Lower League sides' youth teams usually compete in the Daau Youth Championships as having a youth team in such leagues isn't an entry requirement. Daau Island-Wide League teams' youth sides however compete in the lower tier Daau Island-Wide Youth League with other private academies or institute teams. The Island-Wide Youth League doesn't rank in any DAFA competition and the league has no registration requirement, meaning that players can freely join or depart when needed.
Club licenses are only acquired after a club's application has been approved to enter the Daau IWL and requires no entry fee, only a yearly review fee of Cr 5m for clubs above tier 3, and Cr 2m for clubs below tier 3. Licenses are transferrable however require approval from DAFA.
Daas City, Daau United and Bintang are commonly known as the big 3 among the fans.
League system
| Tier | National Leagues |
|---|---|
| 1 | Daau Super League Known as CHACE Daau Super League |
| 2 | Daau Premier League Known as Kotify Daau Premier League |
| 3 | Daau League Known as BSL Daau League |
| 4 | Daau A1 Semi-Pro League Known as MSBC A1 Semi-Pro League |
| 5 | Daau A2 Semi-Pro League Known as MSBC A2 Semi-Pro League |
| 6 | Daau Island-Wide League Known as BSL Island-Wide League |
| Tier | Women's Football Leagues | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Women's Premier League
Known as IBINLIFE Daau Women's Premier League | |
| 2 | Women's National Football League
10 clubs | |
| Tier | Youth's Football Leagues | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DNTP Under-21's Developmental League | |
| 2 | DNTP Under-18's Developmental League | |
| 3 | DNTP Under-16's Developmental League | |
| 4 | DNTP Under-14's Developmental League | |
| 5 | DNTP Under-14's Developmental League 2 | |
| 6 | Daau Youth Championship U18 | |
| 7 | Daau Youth Championship U16 | |
| 8 | Daau Youth Championship U14 | |
| 9 | Daau Youth Championship U12 | |
| 10 | Daau Youth Championship U8 | |
| - | Daau Island-Wide U18 Youth League | |
| - | Daau Island-Wide U16 Youth League | |
Intermicronational football
Daau is represented intermicronationally by the Daau national football team, nicknamed Bintang Timur or the Eastern Stars. The national team dons the red and white on their kit to represent the national flag. The team is considered as a developing team as the team grows stronger and stronger everyday through countless training sessions and friendly games. Daau is also one of the sole nations to allow fans to light flares and hang huge tifos during games.
As a new member of the FMF, Daau's best record was a draw to Krasnovlac at home whilst finishing 3rd in the Daau Opening Tri-Nations Series.
The Bintang Timurs' traditional rivals are Krasnovlac although no real actual fights or incidents have happened between them as the derby is self proclaimed as the "River Derby". The matches are usually packed and fans can be seen chanting all game long while remaining a positive attitude towards one and other as both countries treat each other as a brother. Krasnovlac remains as a major force in pushing Dauian football forward as most Dauian national team players play in Krasnovlac and a few from Krasnovlac play in Daau.
Youth football and development
Daau is known for its youth development system as the football association has setup the DNTP Developmental League and Daau Youth Championship to promote youth football all around Daau. Rules were implied to push clubs to play more youth talents and help with the large population boom of Daau in the near future.
Academies are usually easy to enter as they strongly encourage people to get active and start doing sports at a young age.
The DNTP is Daau's most famous academy as they have produced multiple talents such as Michael Mendonca, Jensen Roland, Syarin Abdulrahman, Hassan and many others.
Ultras and fans
Dauian fans are micronationally known for their passion and ethics of never giving up nor giving in to support their favourite club. Ultra groups have started to pop up in Daau in recent years with the Orange Army of Daau United being one of the largest club-based ultras group in Daau. The Bintangers of Bintang Lukana also come close as the Bintangers are known to be righteous fans and will always support their club.
Incidents rarely happen during league fixtures but the Bintang-Krasno brawl happened during a league fixture between AKN and Bintang, leading to a crackdown in Aeland Krasno Natives ultras group.
The throwing of flares onto pitches were banned shortly after the incident due to the risk of possibly blinding a player or an official with the flares
Support for foreign leagues
Most Dauians enjoy watching football from their TV, whether its the local league or foreign leagues. The Krasno Elite League and Craitish League 1 both have a huge following in Daau as most of the national team players play there and a few talents are also based overseas. Most notably Adam Yee and Zack Ortega in Craitland whilst Krasnovlac has Han Kwang Song. The up and coming Zyrkis Super Leagus is also attracting many Dauian followers.
Most Dauians cheer for Craitland, Krasnovlac and Zyrkistan when Daau isn't playing due to the countries maintaining a healthy footballing relationship between them and Daau.
