Welcome to the COFL

Back in the early days of online football gaming, there were no online dynasties, franchises or Ultimate Team. You simply went to the lobby to find a random opponent for a ranked game, or you challenged a friend in an unranked game. It was fun, but people wanted games with more context. Players of Madden and NCAA started organizing their own custom leagues. In the game, it would simply be playing a friend in unranked mode. But behind the scenes, the organizers set up websites with schedules, stats, standings, awards, etc. Websites like League Daddy popped up to help the league owners organize and have website hubs for their custom leagues.

One such custom league was the COFL. Started on July 23, 2004, it was played with NCAA Football 2005 on PlayStation 2. It started with just a few players, and grew through word of mouth and online forums devoted to the game. The mission was pretty simple: we wanted to run a league that was fun and build a culture around the league and its coaches. We wanted to track and celebrate the history of the league. We wanted the coaches to play something that resembled real football, and didn't devolve too much into the lobby style of play that was more focused on finding the exploits of the game.

Eventually, EA would introduce online franchise, dynasty and Ultimate Team, as well as other online modes. But there remained something appealing about the original "traditional league." It was simple, and focused on playing the game in a structured season format against other users using real-life teams. So the COFL continued. After a hiatus to Madden for several years, the release of College Football 25 brought the COFL back to its college football roots. On July 21, 2024, 20 years following the league's debut, the COFL "Return to Glory" Era kicked off.