Right, gather round, lads. While half of yous were asleep, the clock ticked over to midnight UK on Saturday 4 July and — bosh — Season 4 went live. New ratings, promotions, relegations, the lot. The countdown clock Cipi kept pinning finally hit zero, and the whole server rolled up its sleeves for a fresh six months.

I've been down the back of the Discord sofa all week digging out the good stuff — the announcements, the record-breakers, the little clubs living the dream. Grab a brew. Here's your Season 4 launch roundup, and it's a proper celebration.

The clock struck midnight

For once the community sorted the confusion out itself. When newcomers kept asking exactly *when* the new campaign dropped, blvck999 laid it out plain and simple:

Creation of Season 4 happens at Sat 4 July, 00:00am UK time (midnight). Includes player ratings update, out-of-contract players moved to freebench, and promotion / relegation.

The other burning launch question — how much fresh player influence gets minted — got a straight answer from tyki, who checked with the team and dropped an @everyone to settle it once and for all:

Only 100k influence max will get added, so if 50k was sold already, it will get filled up to 100k again. If nothing was sold yet, 100k remain available (not 200k).

Legend. Max 100k, not 200k — sorted. And on the share-price multiplier that had everyone twitchy, cloudsv_ confirmed the number's staying put:

X12 fixed all season. We'll see in S5 😂

tyki even had the gag of the week for the impatient, reminding everyone the calendar rolls over by timezone: "If you hop on a flight to the US quickly now, you can maybe beat everyone, because the new season will start on Friday there already 🧠." Over in transfers, magnicida spoke for the lot of us signing off Season 3: "Good luck to everyone for the new season!"

Ten promotions and a world record

Now to the headline act. The Harris Group — that sprawling family of accounts that trades players like Panini stickers — rolled into #general-chat with an end-of-season report card that made jaws drop. Their claim: ten clubs promoted or finishing top in a single season, spanning Australia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Scotland, Wales, the United States and Brazil.

10 teams got promoted this is the Soccerverse Record. What an achievement by the record breaking Harris Group.

From Brisbane City in Australian Division 3 to Yanbian Longding in China, Caledonian Braves in Scotland to Real FC in Brazil, the Harris flags were planted everywhere. Their own telling is pure underdog theatre too — rebuilt from being outbid out of Guangzhou, they say, all the way to a record haul, with the motto stamped on the bottom: "Never give up." Last season they managed four promotions and were told it was a fluke; this year they doubled it and change. Community elder cloudsv_ tipped his cap: "Great Harris Group report by one of the Harris. Good luck next season!"

Take the numbers as the Group's own proud accounting — but ten badges climbing at once is a heck of a way to see out a season.

Little clubs, big dreams

Season launches are when the grassroots crowd take their bow, and two stories stood out.

King's Lynn boss svnickm posted a roadmap that read like a promotion story from the movies — a climb from the ninth tier all the way up:

We've climbed all the way from Division 7 to the National League! One promotion push over the next couple of seasons and we hit the ultimate goal.

He reckons the club's smashed its money target early and dragged the squad's average age down to a hungry 24. cloudsv_ again, never shy with the love: "Absolutely superb run by King's Lynn, honestly!"

And the line of the week for pure heart? GreenFuryx, quietly chuffed about his actual hometown:

My hometown club in Slovakia is doing pretty good... From lowest 4th div. in S1, we are now in top division and looking pretty competitive 💪🏻

Bottom of the fourth division in Season 1, top flight by Season 4. That's the dream this whole game sells, right there.

The community that names itself

No launch is complete without the unsung graft, and Cipi | El Rincón del DT delivered it. Hours into the new campaign, the datapack that turns cold player IDs into actual names got its Season 4 refresh:

Datapack for Season 4 has been released. For now, 'just' more than 7000 new names.

Seven thousand new names, done for free, so the rest of us can scout without squinting at numbers. That's the kind of quiet community win that keeps the lights on.

Changing of the guard at the FA

Over in the #soccerverse-fa corner, the player-run governance body opened its Season 4 recruitment drive, with cloudsv_ and Gevenito rattling the tin: "There's still spots open if anyone wanna join the FA." The rules got a polish too — minimum a season played, all alts declared, six-month terms.

There was a classy exit an' all. Gevenito, one of the FA's most respected voices, stepped down with grace:

It has been a pleasure working alongside such a dedicated team.

marianoraskin summed up the room: "Amazing work, Geve. Big work Big boss." Applications open, old hands bowing out with dignity, new blood invited in — that's a community governing itself the right way.

Last orders on Season 3

Let's leave it where the whole server did — with username_hamburgler's toast as the curtain fell on the old campaign, the tidiest bit of dressing-room spirit you'll read all month:

Congrats to the winners, the losers, the ones who got promoted and the ones who fought all season. Without each and every one of you. This all wouldn't be possible. 🥂 to season 3 and 🚀 to season 4!!

Couldn't have put it better meself. Season 4's on the pitch, the record books already have fresh ink, and the little clubs are dreaming big. Get stuck in. Skez, out.