Rules by Bertoko

1. Qualification: Only one team per country is allowed to take part.

2.  Ranking: The participating teams are ranked according to their performance in the two previous cups (highest number of points /  goal difference / most scored goals / oldest team-id). Newcomers are ranked according to their date of application. See the ranking here.

3. The league system: The league system depends on the number of teams. The First Division consists of the 16 teams of ranks 1-16. The rest of the teams is divided into divisions of more or less the same number, but always an even number, i.e. if there are 78 teams, for example, there will be divisions of 16, 16, 16, 16 and 14 teams. In case of an odd number of teams from different countries, an additional Joker team from any country will be invited.

4. Matches: The matches are played in the league system on the home ground of the first mentioned team. The home team is the team with fewer matches at home in the current tournament. In case of equality, it is the team with the highest teamid that gets the home advantage. If a match is organized with different rules (different home ground, cup mode), this is regarded as an agreement between the two managers and counts as a correctly fixed match. In case of an organized match in the cup mode, it is the final result after the penalties that counts.

5. Challenging: Each manager must immediately challenge his opponent. If the opponent is not accepting the challenge, the full case must be reported to the administrator by HT mail, so that he can fell a decision. Remember that, with the given mode, an irreversible decision must be felled by Thursday, so that later arguments cannot be taken into account. From Monday, 8:00 GMT (HT time), the manager who has correctly challenged his opponent without success may look for an alternative opponent in order to save training effects. 

6. Prizes: The prize of a six months' supportership is given to the manager with the best-ranked team without supporter in the First Division. The prize of a three months' supportership is given to the managers with the best-ranked team without supporter in the other leagues. Supportership is checked shortly on the first match day.

Thanks for suggestions to schjotterken (manager of SV Heist) and pattyspice (manager of Insert Witty Name Here)!

What is the Swiss System?

The Swiss System is frequently used in many sports such as table tennis and chess, mainly when there are more participants in a tournament than match rounds, as an alternative to the knockout system. This way, every participant has the same number of matches, and in the end you get a complete ranking.

The matches of the first round are set according to the ranking: The16th ranked team plays No.1, etc. In the following rounds, No.1 in the table plays against 2, 3-4, 5-6, and so on, with the better ranked team playing abroad. 

If the two teams have already played each other, the next-best solution is searched. Let us assume that 1 has already played against 2. Then the next-best solution is 1-3 and 2-4, 5-6, etc. If 2-4 have already played, too, 2 plays against 5 and 4 against 6, etc.

This way it is guaranteed that in the end the clubs which are found on top have all played against each other, and the same holds for the bottom teams.