About

The French Class League

The French Class League (FCL) is a season-long academic competition among the French classes of Monsieur Bracken. Each class period competes as its own team, earning points throughout the year through participation, academic performance, and engagement with the French language.

The school year is divided into two parts: a regular season and the Goeller Cup Playoffs. While the exact format and rules of the regular season change from year-to-year (yearly details below), the idea is simple: classes earn points (and sometimes "win points") and are ranked into standings which eventually set the bracket for the post-season tournament.

In previous years, matchups have been planned in monthly or weekly contests, and are typically scored using a set of statistical categories designed to capture both team performance and individual contribution. In other words, students earn points for their class and their class is ranked by points. In some years, students did not earn individual points during the regular season but instead worked as a class to earn points based on attendance, grades, class participation, and head-to-head results on class activities.

Since its introduction in 2019, the Goeller Cup has served as the defining finale of the French Class League season, blending academic engagement, competitive strategy, and, since 2025, serves as the culmination of the evolving storyline of the Kingdom of Zaccaria in the first-year story, Kingdom Rising.

Year-by-Year Hall of Champions

What are the Goeller Cup Playoffs?

At the conclusion of the regular season, teams are ranked and advance to the Goeller Cup Playoffs: a multi-round postseason tournament that determines the champion of the French Class League. Each round spans multiple class days, with advancement awarded to the class that wins the majority of five scoring categories.

While the playoffs build on the same classroom system used during the regular season, the structure becomes more defined. Teams are seeded into the Bracken Bracket and face a specific opponent in a head-to-head series.

In each matchup, classes compete across five scoring categories. To advance, a class must win at least three of the five. Each category is evaluated over a set number of class days—typically five—with the class holding the advantage at the end of the series earning that category. Tie-breaking procedures are established at the start of each school year to ensure that no series ends in a draw.

The five playoff categories are:

Might — Total class points
Unity — Average points per student
Honor — Percentage of positively awarded points
Voice — Percentage of points earned through speaking or using French
Legend — Average of the top three earning students (introduced in 2026)

On occasion, categories are adjusted to accommodate unique class formats. For example, in the 2022 Goeller Cup Playoffs, Mr. Bracken’s study hall class (“Trail Time”) participated in the tournament; since it was not a French course, its “Voice” category was calculated using an alternate metric.

Beginning in 2025, additional placement matchups for 3rd and 5th place were introduced, ensuring that all classes remain active in competition throughout the entirety of the fourth quarter.

The season culminates with the awarding of the Goeller Cup to the champion class. An MVP is also selected from the winning team and ceremonially recognized as the reigning leader of the Kingdom of Zaccaria—the fictional world that frames the competition’s narrative.

HISTORY OF SEASONAL FORMATS

The "Regular season" is defined as any period during the school year where the French Class League/La Ligue de la classe de françiais (formerly called Défi ClassDojo) is happening outside of the playoff format. It can start as early as August or as late as March. Generally speaking, the regular season is comprised of the first three marking periods/quarters of the school year. Each quarter would be considered its own competition where students in all classes competed generally against everyone else, with the goal being to accumulate the most points during that quarter. At the end of the quarter, the class in first place would receive one victory point in the standings. Classes were ranked first by victory points, then by total accumulated points throughout the regular season to determine their ranking and seed for the playoffs.

In 2022-2023, the format was changed to monthly competitions that started at the beginning of the second semester in January instead of a year-long competition. The points system and ranking system for the playoffs remained the same.

In 2023-2024, the format was again changed to resemble an NFL-style schedule where each class would play a specific opponent each week. The "regular season" was comprised of 15 weeks, allowing for each class to play every class 3 times. These 15 weeks were spaced out over the second and third quarters leading into the playoffs, which start at the beginning of the 4th quarter.

For the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year classes competed in the French Class Olympics where classes earned medals individually which were then used to create wins, losses, and ties in the standings. Starting in January of 2025, the format returned to the NFL-style schedule that was implemented in 2023-2024, just with 5 fewer weeks of competition.

In 2025-2026, the Kingdom of Zaccaria was born and the scoring systems again changed with classes competing as "Houses" and earning activity points for the regular season before eventually being ranked for the 2026 Goeller Cup.

PLAYOFF TIEBREAKERS

OVERALL CLASS POINTS: If teams are tied in total points, the tie will be broken by the “participation” point percentage. If still tied, then the tie will be broken based on total semester class tardies, with the class having fewer tardies winning the tie-break.
AVERAGE POINTS PER STUDENT: The class with the fewer total students will take the point. If the classes are even in number, the student with the least amount of points between the two classes will cost their team the point. If still tied, the class with the best attendance record during the round will win. If needed to break further, attendance will be checked by month, quarter, semester, and so on to find a winner.
POSITIVE POINTS: The percentage of positive points will be calculated based on the total points given and taken away, down to the smallest digit necessary to find a winner. If the percentage is too difficult to find, the least number of negative points given will break the tie. If two classes are tied at 100%, the tie break will be awarded to the class with the highest grade average for all students in the class.
FRENCH SPEAKING PERCENTAGE: French-speaking point percentage will be calculated by dividing the total number of points for “parler en français” into the total positive points, calculated down to the smallest number needed to break the tie. If still tied with the same percentage of points for using French, the next step will be to take the total number of points awarded for speaking/using French. If that number is tied, the class with the best lowest score on their most recent summative grade will earn their team a victory in this category.
HIGHEST-EARNING STUDENT: If the Average of the top 3 highest earning students is tied, the fourth highest student will be added, then the fifth, and so on to break the tie. There is no limit on how small of a decimial is needed to break the tie.

Updated for the 2026 Goeller Cup Playoffs

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