Compete in the Fall Fair Interregional Cup!

Do you love football (the soccer kind of football)? Looking for a couple weeks of excitement and a chance for a small prize on NationStates? Then you're invited to compete in the Fall Fair Interregional Cup!!

As an event for the INWU's first annual Fall Fair (which will be held from October 19th-25th), I'm going to be hosting a football cup which will be open to all nations (in any region) who would like to participate. In this dispatch I will give a basic overview of how this cup will be run; at the bottom, under "How do I join?", you will find instructions on how to sign up (it's super easy!!). If you like the idea, please join the competition and up-vote this dispatch so more nations will sign up!!!

The Competition

The Fall Fair Interregional Cup will consist of three stages. The first stage will be a "season" for qualifying matches. All participating teams will be randomly assigned to separate divisions of between eight and twelve nations (all divisions will contain an equal number of nations; the size will be determined depending on the number of total teams that sign up). Each team will play against every other nation in its division, and the performance from these matches will be used to compile a score for each team. Once the qualifying matches are over, an overall ranking of ALL teams will be used to select teams for the next stage.

The next stage will be group competition, like that of the FIFA World Cup. Depending on the total number of nations that sign up for the Interregional Cup, either the top 32 or the top 64 teams will advance to the group stage. These nations will be randomly assigned to groups of four teams each. Each team will then play against the other three teams in its group, and will receive points based on performance; as in the real World Cup, a win will count as 3 points, a draw will count as 1, and a loss will count as 0 points. The top two nations in each group will advance to the final stage - ties will be broken using goal difference (goals scored minus goals allowed).

The final stage will be an elimination round using a bracket. The bracket will be determined by the size of the group stage (either 32 or 16 nations will advance to elimination). Each bracket match will place one group's top nation versus the next group's second nation. Very simply, in the elimination round, the winner of each bracket match will advance to the next round of matches, until a winner is decided. A third-and-fourth place match will be conducted in addition to the Final. Draws will be settled first by an extra 30 minutes of play, followed by penalty kicks if no tiebreaker has been reached following added time.

Mechanics

The matches will be played using a reasonably simple online scorinator that simulates each minute of a match individually. Since the simulator uses relative strength as its chief factor, I will be compiling numbers myself based chiefly on goal difference, strength of opposing team, and home/away to find an individual score for each team. These scores will be used to determine relative strength for the simulator.

There WILL be home-field advantage for this cup. One nation (not me) from the INWU will be selected as the host nation for the Interregional Cup, and will benefit from home advantage in every game; every other match will decide home team and away team at random. However, as implied above, away games are slightly more valuable to a team's overall score, so a team that gets lots of away games by chance will get more credit for its matches.

Following the Action

For the duration of the Interregional Cup, I will maintain a separate dispatch that will contain match schedules, results, team data, et cetera. If you are simply interested in watching how your team is doing, that will be the place to go. However, to spice up the event, I will be writing news dispatches to cover particularly important or notable matches. If you like the buzz of upsets or pummeling games, or simply like to see specifics and an elaboration on the Interregional Cup action as a whole, those dispatches will be for you. This will become a little more relevant once we get to the part about signing up.

Prizes

To help add to the dynamics of the Interregional Cup, I will be offering gift prizes through the NationStates store to the top finishers.

The Fall Fair Interregional Cup champion will receive the "Supporter" package, plus 3,000 telegram stamps for their region (which can be gifted to another nation if necessary - for example, the region's recruiter).

The runners-up will receive 2,000 telegram stamps. Third and fourth place will each receive 1,000 telegram stamps. The same applies here for the specific receiver of the stamps.

How Do I Join?

To join, all you have to do is send a telegram to me (Gross independency) - however, you will need to include some specific information.

The only required information is a list of 11 players who will form your national team (you can come up with any names you like; gender does not matter). Each player must be assigned a position; you must have ONE goalkeeper, and each other player must be labeled a defender, midfielder, or striker. One player will also need to be labeled as your team captain in addition to the field position. One of your players will be credited for each goal scored by your team; the probability of each player scoring a given goal is determined by field position. Your list of players and positions will NOT affect gameplay.

Since I plan to write in-depth dispatches about certain matches, you may also want to include additional information (this is entirely optional; however, if your team happens to put on a good show, it will look terrific in a dispatch if I know more about your team!). For example, you can send me a team mascot or nickname (for example, Ohio State's mascot is the Buckeye, and its team is the Buckeyes; the German national football team is nicknamed "Die Mannschaft"), a name for your team's coach, a team logo, and even pictures of your players if you'd like. If you do send me additional information, please try to include it in the same telegram as your initial sign-up so that I'm not too overwhelmed by telegrams.

If you send me a telegram to sign up, I will reply to you confirming that your team has been registered. If you don't receive a reply from me within a day or so, please send another telegram containing the same information. Your team will not be accepted if any information you include is inappropriate or offensive; the Interregional Cup and its results will be publicly presented, and therefore all information included in the Cup must be acceptable for everyone. Beyond that you are free to complete customization of your team's information.

We'll see you soon! I will be sure to notify all competing teams when specifics are decided upon (such as the starting and ending dates for the Interregional Cup). Until then, happy Fall! Be sure to watch for other Fall Fair events as they are planned here, or even set up a booth for your own region to host events at the Fair (contact Albiorix if you're interested)!!