While Europe's top leagues have stuck to the tried-and-tested round-robin league system to decide their champions, and others have added U.S.-style postseason playoffs that culminate in a grand final, some countries have taken a leftfield approach to determining how soccer teams are rewarded for their endeavours over the course of a season.
The final of this year's Clausura championship in Argentina, pitting Estudiantes de la Plata against Racing Club, takes place on Saturday. Incredibly, this is one of eight matches that will crown a "champion" there this season.
Although Argentina may lead the way in baffling formats, it is not the only country with some unusual league rules.
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Eight 'champions' in one season?
For any fan, seeing your club become champions is the dream, the ultimate bragging rights, but that title loses some of its power when there are no fewer than eight "champions." That is the case in Argentina where the recent introduction of yet another "champion" has caused controversy.
As is often the case in South America (and, oddly in Malta), Argentina has an Apertura and Clausura system. The season is split into two self-contained league championships, each with its own champion.
However, in Argentina this is the tip of the iceberg. There is also the Copa Argentina, a cup for all teams in the Argentine league system, but after that it all gets a little confusing.
The Trofeo de Campeones pits the winners of the Apertura and Clausura against each other, with the victor then taking on the Liga Profesional de Fútbol champions in the Supercopa Internacional. The winners of the Copa Argentina and the Liga Profesional de Fútbol also fight it out for the Supercopa Argentina (a Super Cup as contested in many nations). And, finally, we can't forget the new Recopa de Campeones, a three-team tournament between the winners of the Copa Argentina, the Supercopa Argentina and the Supercopa Internacional.
Gracias Estudiantes. Esto es tener huevos.
— Lady Market (@ladymarketok) November 23, 2025
Fin pic.twitter.com/NVyrkJEQep
Into this deluge of champions, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) last month unexpectedly decided to add one more title -- the "league champions" -- to be bestowed upon the team with the most points in the Apertura and Clausura added together.
This proved to be the final straw for many, especially for the rivals of the new "champions" Rosario Central. Other sides claimed this new title had not been agreed, although the AFA disputed that, but the bad blood was clear when Estudiantes de la Plata were told to present a guard of honour for Rosario Central ahead of their Clausura knockout match. The Estudiantes players lined up but turned their backs to create a guard of dishonour. To rub it in, Estudiantes won the game 1-0, but club president Juan Sebastián Verón was suspended from all football-related activities for six months for his club's show of protest.
It may come as little surprise, then, that relegation in Argentina is also a complicated affair. While one team is simply relegated for finishing with the least points accumulated in the Apertura and Clausura, another team is sentenced to the drop for having the lowest points-per-game average over the past three seasons.
Points halved?
If you are a fan of playoffs, you'll love Belgium's Jupiler Pro League. Just finishing top of the table is no guarantee of glory, as Union St.-Gilloise have found out twice in three years.
The top six at the end of the regular season enter a playoff stage, where their existing points tally is halved (with the total rounded up if necessary) and everyone plays another round of games. It is only after this stage that a champion is crowned. There are also protracted playoffs for European places and to decide who is relegated.
This format led to one of the most thrilling climaxes to a title race in recent years when, in the final five minutes of the season, Union St.-Gilloise and Genk were both destined to be crowned champions before Toby Alderweireld's stunning 20-yard strike at Genk sealed the title for Antwerp.
Enjoy this playoff madness while you can, because from 2026-27 a new format will come into place -- a normal 34-game season where the title winner is just the team that has the most points at the end of it. Where's the fun in that?
Points for losing?
The French overseas department of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean is home to AS Gosier, who have upset the odds by reaching the round of 64 of this season's Coupe de France where they will face Ligue 1 side Lorient.
On the domestic front, AS Gosier's record is impressive. In fact, it appears to be impossibly so, as they have a tally of 31 points from just nine matches this term. A quick bit of arithmetic would baffle any football fan used to the traditional awarding of three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss.
However, that is no misprint. In Guadeloupe's Division d'Honneur, and also in the Championnat National of nearby Martinique, a winning side receives four points for a win, both teams get two points for a draw, and a losing side doesn't go home empty-handed, they are awarded a point simply for showing up. It gives a whole new meaning to the concept of "a hard-earned point."
Midseason relegation?
In Moldova's top flight, if a team's season gets off to a poor enough start, it is relegated at the halfway point of the campaign and has to redeem itself by playing its way back up from the second tier.
After playing 21 games in Phase 1 of the 2025-26 Moldovan Liga campaign, Politechnica UTM and Spartanii Sportul were demoted to the second-tier Liga 1. But all is not lost as, over the course of Phase 2 of the season, they are playing to secure promotion back to where they started. That's a promotion where the players probably don't celebrate with an open-top bus parade.
A three-legged final?
The Caribbean islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis have an unusual three-legged final to decide the SKNFA Premier League champion.
The two teams play a best-of-three format, so if one side is victorious in the first two games, there is no need for the third.
That was the case this year when St Paul's United twice beat Village Superstars 2-0, securing the silverware without requiring a decider.
Can we play you every week?
The Isles of Scilly is an archipelago off the southwest coast of England with a population of under 2,500 inhabitants. The Isles of Scilly Football League consists of just two teams: Garrison Gunners and Woolpack Wanderers.
These two teams play each other 20 times, on the Garrison football field on the island of St. Mary's, to determine which are crowned champions. Wanderers are the reigning champions after winning their 17th title, but the Gunners have the edge all-time with 20 championships.
Just in case the two teams weren't quite sick of each other, they also contest the two-legged Galley Cup, the Scillonian Club Cup and the Charity Shield every season.