Zion Financial Challenge Cup (official posts only)

[The Babbage Islands]

Zion Financial Challenge Cup
Metro Charleston, The Babbage Islands

Authorised by the Football Federation of Babbage

Tournament Participants are reminded that this tournament, like other friendlies of the season, is intended to enhance roleplay for World Cup 62. Please use the RP thread of the World Cup for this event, and leave this thread for announcements, results, and pairings. Thanks.

The System

The cup will use the Kopavogur Method, a variant of the Swiss system, for pairings. All teams are guaranteed three matches regardless of results. No tiebreaks will be used. The tournament will declare co-champions if two or more teams finish top of table on the same number of points.

A technical document is appended for the curious.

What is Kopavogur Method?

Kopavogur Method (or KM) is a version of the Swiss system of tournament organisation. Like its parent, KM represents a compromise between the standard offerings of elimination cup-style play and lengthy all-play-all or round-robin formats.

The great advantage of KM when compared with Power Pairings and other forms of Swiss is that it removes all discretion from the hands of tournament managers. Anyone familiar with the procedures of KM will produce identical pairings from a given situation. There is no need to calculate anything other than the current standing in points. Further, the only randomness in the tournament is in the lottery to establish first-round matches. Everything else operates as a direct adjunct of earned results in play.

A KM tournament may be set for any number of rounds. Six to eight rounds are typical for significant competitions or those used as qualification to further events. Three- to five-round KM events can be satisfactory for smaller fields or where time is a constraint (e.g. a weekend competition in ultimate or go).

In the description below, "team" could also be an individual competitor.

The principles of KM

1. No rematches. Teams that have played each other once must not play again. (Events of a length that forces violating this principle should be recast into an all-play-all format using standard round-robin tables.)

2. Equal scores. Subject to the no rematch principle, in each round each team should be matched against an opponent whose current tournament standing is as near as possible to their own.

3. Always pair forward. This refers to the characteristic cycling through the tournament draw to find opponents, and will be made clear below.

The first round

4. Lottery. The first round is paired by lot. The first team drawn receives the number 1 for the entire tournament, and is paired against the next team drawn which is numbered 2. Continue drawing teams, numbering consecutively, and pairing 3-4, 5-6, etc. until all teams are paired.

5. Bye. Should there be an odd number of teams, a phantom team Bye is introduced. It receives the next number in sequence and is paired against the last team drawn in the first round. The opponent of Bye receives points for a win without play, and Bye is treated as having lost.

6. Home advantage. If the competition is to be played at different sites where home advantage is a factor, or another position of advantage is involved (moving first as White in a chess match, for example), the first team drawn in each pairing receives this advantage in round one. Neither Bye nor its opponent are considered to have had advantage.

Subsequent rounds

7. Last shall be first. The arbiter begins pairing for a round by finding the last pair made in the previous round, ignoring any pair with Bye. The team with "home" advantage from that pair, or if no advantage the team paired first of the two, is the starting point.

8. Cycle forward. From the starting point, work forward through the list of teams in numerical order to find the first team with the most points. (This could be the team on the starting point.) Place that team in the first pairing. Then cycle forward from the just-paired team to find the next team on the same number of points for an opponent. As the bottom of the list (highest-numbered team) is reached, return to number 1 at the top of the list and keep cycling forward. As each pair is complete, repeat the process until all teams are eventually paired.

9. Rematch not allowed. When finding an opponent under rule 8, skip over any team that has already played the team for which a pairing is sought.

10. As close as possible. When finding an opponent under rule 8, if there is no opponent available on the same number of points, continue to cycle forward looking for the next team with the next highest number of points.

11. Bottom deadlock. It is sometimes the case that the last remaining pair of teams have already met and must not be paired (rule 1). Should this occur, annul the next-to-last pair, start from the first team in that pair and re-pair them passing over the known anomaly to seek a legal set of pairings. Quite rarely it will be the case that no legal pairings can be constructed from the bottom four; in this case annul the next-to-penultimate pair and repeat as described.

12. Home advantage in later rounds. Advantage in later rounds goes to:
a. The team that has held advantage fewer times than their opponent;
b. If a is equal, the team that held advantage least recently;
c. If a and b are equal, the team with fewer tournament points;
d. If all the above are equal, the team with the lower lottery number.

Tie-breaking

13. When to break ties. Tie-breaking should only occur where a prize or prizes are at stake that cannot be divided, such as a title, trophy, or qualifications to another event. Every effort should be made by organisers to avoid the need for tie-breaking; co-champions can be declared, or duplicate trophies made.

14. KM followed by cup. When a tournament under one organiser uses KM for qualification followed by cup-style eliminations, it is normal to set the qualification as, for example, top eight or 16 plus ties. A play-in round is then scheduled to reduce the field to an appropriate power of two. Tie-breaking may appropriately be used as needed to seed the cup field and play-in games. The elimination of any team based on tie-breaking formulas only should be avoided at all cost.

The Field

The Babbage Islands, pairing no. 1, 46.69
Carmadin, pairing no. 2, 18.19
Free South Califas, pairing no. 3, 8.64
High Heels, pairing no. 4, 1.78
Backyard Sports, pairing no. 5, 2.14
Kinitaria, pairing no. 6, 15.71
Bears Armed, pairing no. 7, 35.69
Eastfield Lodge, pairing no. 8, 11.68
Mapletish, pairing no. 9, 16.40
Qazox, pairing no. 10, 27.57
Slembana, pairing no. 11, 5.11
Darmen, pairing no. 12, 19.36

First Round Schedule (pre-qual)

At Capital Stadium (59,437), Charleston

• The Babbage Islands v Carmadin
• Free South Califas v High Heels

Capital Stadium is the fourth-largest sports stadium in The Babbage Islands. Located on the harbour in the capital city, it has hosted numerous important events including a stand of over 40 years in the rotation for the Islands Cup. Charleston FC and Charleston United both make their homes here.

At Kupolo Zamenhofa (48,115), Zamenhofa Urbo

• Backyard Sports v Kinitaria
• Bears Armed v Eastfield Lodge

This domed stadium in the Charleston suburbs is the home ground of FĈB club FC Green Star.

At K.A. Hebbeler Field (18,206), East Charleston

• Mapletish v Qazox
• Slembana v Darmen

Better known for rugby than association football, Hebbeler Field is the campus stadium of Ensign Peak Military Academy.

Second Round Schedule (mid-qual)

To be determined by, and posted with, first round results.

Third Round Schedule (post-qual)

To be determined by, and posted with, second round results.

[The Babbage Islands]

The field is full, the schedule for the pre-qual round is up, and rosters that have been posted are now linked. Good luck to all!

[The Babbage Islands]

Zion Financial Challenge Cup
Metro Charleston, The Babbage Islands

Tournament Participants are reminded that this tournament, like other friendlies of the season, is intended to enhance roleplay for World Cup 62. Please use the RP thread of the World Cup for this event, and leave this thread for announcements, results, and pairings. Thanks.

First Round Results (pre-qual)

At Capital Stadium, Charleston
The Babbage Islands (P1) 1–1 Carmadin (P2)
Free South Califas (P3) 1–0 High Heels (P4)

At Kupolo Zamenhofa, Zamenhofa Urbo
Backyard Sports (P5) 2–3 Kinitaria (P6)
Bears Armed (P7) 1–1 Eastfield Lodge (P8)

At K.A. Hebbeler Field, East Charleston
Mapletish (P9) 1–3 Qazox (P10)
Slembana (P11) 0–3 Darmen (P12)

(Listed P numbers are pairing numbers for use in determining pairings according to the technical document. They are not ranks.)

Second Round Schedule (mid-qual)

At Capital Stadium (59,437), Charleston

• Darmen (3 pts) v Free South Califas (3 pts)
• Kinitaria (3 pts) v Qazox (3 pts)

At Kupolo Zamenhofa (48,115), Zamenhofa Urbo

• The Babbage Islands (1 pt) v Bears Armed (1 pt)
• Eastfield Lodge (1 pt) v Carmadin (1 pt)

At K.A. Hebbeler Field (18,206), East Charleston

• High Heels (0 pts) v Backyard Sports (0 pts)
• Mapletish (0 pts) v Slembana (0 pts)

Third Round Schedule (post-qual)

To be determined by, and posted with, second round results.

[The Babbage Islands]

Zion Financial Challenge Cup
Metro Charleston, The Babbage Islands

Tournament Participants are reminded that this tournament, like other friendlies of the season, is intended to enhance roleplay for World Cup 62. Please use the RP thread of the World Cup for this event, and leave this thread for announcements, results, and pairings. Thanks.

First Round Results (pre-qual)

At Capital Stadium, Charleston
The Babbage Islands (P1) 1–1 Carmadin (P2)
Free South Califas (P3) 1–0 High Heels (P4)

At Kupolo Zamenhofa, Zamenhofa Urbo
Backyard Sports (P5) 2–3 Kinitaria (P6)
Bears Armed (P7) 1–1 Eastfield Lodge (P8)

At K.A. Hebbeler Field, East Charleston
Mapletish (P9) 1–3 Qazox (P10)
Slembana (P11) 0–3 Darmen (P12)

(Listed P numbers are pairing numbers for use in determining pairings according to the technical document. They are not ranks.)

Second Round Results (mid-qual)

At Capital Stadium, Charleston
Darmen (P12) 5–3 Free South Califas (P3)
Kinitaria (P6) 0–0 Qazox (P10)

At Kupolo Zamenhofa, Zamenhofa Urbo
The Babbage Islands (P1) 1–0 Bears Armed (P7)
Eastfield Lodge (P8) 1–0 Carmadin (P2)

At K.A. Hebbeler Field, East Charleston
High Heels (P4) 5–1 Backyard Sports (P5)
Mapletish (P9) 3–1 Slembana (P11)

Third Round Schedule (post-qual)

At Capital Stadium (59,437), Charleston

• Darmen (6 pts) v The Babbage Islands (4 pts)
• Kinitaria (4 pts) v Eastfield Lodge (4 pts)

At Kupolo Zamenhofa (48,115), Zamenhofa Urbo

• Qazox (4 pts) v Free South Califas (3 pts)
• High Heels (3 pts) v Mapletish (3 pts)

At K.A. Hebbeler Field (18,206), East Charleston

• Carmadin (1 pt) v Bears Armed (1 pt)
• Slembana (0 pts) v Backyard Sports (0 pts)

[The Babbage Islands]

Zion Financial Challenge Cup
Metro Charleston, The Babbage Islands

Tournament Participants are reminded that this tournament, like other friendlies of the season, is intended to enhance roleplay for World Cup 62. Please use the RP thread of the World Cup for this event, and leave this thread for announcements, results, and pairings. Thanks.

First Round Results (pre-qual)

At Capital Stadium, Charleston
The Babbage Islands (P1) 1–1 Carmadin (P2)
Free South Califas (P3) 1–0 High Heels (P4)

At Kupolo Zamenhofa, Zamenhofa Urbo
Backyard Sports (P5) 2–3 Kinitaria (P6)
Bears Armed (P7) 1–1 Eastfield Lodge (P8)

At K.A. Hebbeler Field, East Charleston
Mapletish (P9) 1–3 Qazox (P10)
Slembana (P11) 0–3 Darmen (P12)

(Listed P numbers are pairing numbers for use in determining pairings according to the technical document. They are not ranks.)

Second Round Results (mid-qual)

At Capital Stadium, Charleston
Darmen (P12) 5–3 Free South Califas (P3)
Kinitaria (P6) 0–0 Qazox (P10)

At Kupolo Zamenhofa, Zamenhofa Urbo
The Babbage Islands (P1) 1–0 Bears Armed (P7)
Eastfield Lodge (P8) 1–0 Carmadin (P2)

At K.A. Hebbeler Field, East Charleston
High Heels (P4) 5–1 Backyard Sports (P5)
Mapletish (P9) 3–1 Slembana (P11)

Third Round Schedule (post-qual)

At Capital Stadium, Charleston
Darmen (P12) 1–2 The Babbage Islands (P1)
Kinitaria (P6) 1–3 Eastfield Lodge (P8)

At Kupolo Zamenhofa, Zamenhofa Urbo
Qazox (P10) 3–1 Free South Califas (P3)
High Heels (P4) 1–1 Mapletish (P9)

At K.A. Hebbeler Field, East Charleston
Carmadin (P2) 3–3 Bears Armed (P7)
Slembana (P11) 2–2 Backyard Sports (P5)

Eastfield Lodge, Qazox, and The Babbage Islands are crowned as co-champions, each on 7 points. Thank you to all who took part!