History Made Here: Paripana–Valanora World Cup 50 bid
The Paripana Sporting Council and Valanora Footballing Association hereby submit their bid to host the fiftieth football World Cup.
Principles
As the World Cup has now survived for over six years, with very few changes over the second half of that period, it is our belief that the fiftieth Cup does not need radical change in format or scorination. If this Cup is to be made memorable, it will be not because the mechanics of the tournament, but because of the roleplay threads woven by the participants. As a result, we present a bid in which the fundamentals are familiar, but which will attempt to provide a rich environment for roleplay to make this fiftieth World Cup the milestone it should be.
History Made Here
In commemoration of the fiftieth World Cup, the hosts will orchestrate a vote for an all-time World Cup squad from the first fifty tournaments. During qualifying, each participant will be allowed to submit up to eleven nominations (no more than three from their own teams). The top fifty candidates will be posted at the end of qualifying. A second round of voting will be held during the final tournament, with each participant (including non-qualifiers) allowed to vote for eleven starters and twelve substitutes. Participants will also be able to submit summaries of their players’ careers, as well as those of past players from nations no longer participating. These summaries (as well as information from NSwiki, when applicable) will be posted with the final list of candidates, to provide historical context to the vote for people unfamiliar with World Cup history. Summaries submitted will count toward RP bonus.
Under a similar procedure (but using only a single voting phase), a World Cup 50 all-star squad will be selected from the thirty-two teams participating in the final tournament. These two squads, as well as any additional awards the hosts may choose to confer, will be presented during the World Cup final at historic Holmes Stadium, which previously hosted the finals of World Cups 8, 39, and 45.
While any such selection, either in NS or RL, is guaranteed to be biased in one way or another (in this case, because people will be more likely to remember players from WC49 than WC2), we believe that the campaigning, bribery, protests, and whatever else people decide to do around this all-time squad will help foster unique RPs, in a manner that a simple RP bonus cannot.
Scorinator
The NSFS scorination formula will be used, with the exception of style modifiers, which will be implemented according to the xkoranate formula, such that the style modifiers have no impact on the outcome (win/draw/loss) of matches (and will fall within the range of −5 to +5). Post-BoF KPB ranks will be used during the qualifying stage and (if necessary) playoffs, while post-qualifying KPB ranks will be used during the final tournament.
Qualifying structure
The preferred format for qualifying will be fifteen groups of eight, nine, or ten, with the top two teams in each group advancing. Alternatively, twenty groups of eight, nine, or ten may be used, depending on the number of signups, with the top team in each group advancing directly and the second-placed teams being paired in playoffs. These formats will result in qualifying either being fourteen or eighteen matchdays long (excluding playoffs). In the unlikely event that there are more than 162 signups, other qualifying formats may be considered.
If the number of signups is unsuitable for these formats, the first step taken will be to request that puppets be voluntarily withdrawn. If an acceptable number is still not reached, puppets will be removed in inverse order of entry.
The first tiebreaker, if teams in a qualifying or finals group have the same number of points, will be results between the tied teams (points, wins, goal difference, and goals scored), followed by wins, goal difference, and goals scored. These tiebreakers will be applied recursively. If a relevant tie between two teams cannot be resolved, then a single playoff match at a neutral site will be used to determine who advances. If a tie between three or more teams cannot be resolved, or if a two-way tie is irrelevant to determining which teams advance, then it will be resolved by drawing of lots.
If twenty groups are used in qualifying, playoff ties will be played over two legs. If the aggregate score of a tie is level at the end of the second match, the away goals rule, extra time, and kicks from the penalty mark will be used, as appropriate. The away goals rule will apply after extra time.
The draw for the qualifying stage will be seeded based on post-BoF KPB ranks, while the draw for the group stage of the final tournament will be seeded based on post-qualifying KPB ranks, with the host teams—Capitalizt SLANI and Valanora—automatically placed in the highest-seeded pot. If twenty groups are used in qualifying, the draw for the playoffs will be fully random.
RP bonus
As in World Cups 36, 39, and 45, a bonus for the overall quality of each player’s RP so far will be multiplied by a modifier for RPing “frequently,” “occasionally,” or “never.” Under this system, someone that posts one great RP will get a larger bonus than someone who posts poor RPs every day, but someone who posts great RPs frequently will not have an overwhelming advantage. RPs posted during qualifying will not be included in determining the bonus for the final tournament, as updated ranks will be used.
Friendlies
As usual, three days (pre-qualifying, mid-qualifying, and post-qualifying) will be made available for friendly matches. Each nation will be entitled to request, by telegram, that the hosts scorinate up to three friendlies on each of these days. No restriction is made on additional friendlies or friendly tournaments scorinated by third parties. If necessary, an additional thread will be made available for scores of friendlies, including third-party friendlies.
Experience
Commerce Heights and Valanora are two of the most experienced hosts in NS sport. Each has hosted four World Cups, two of which were co-hosted together (CH hosted WC26 and WC36, Valanora hosted WC43 and WC47, and WC39 and WC45 were co-hosted). Commerce Heights’s credentials also include five Olympic Games, nineteen TakilQuip Champions’ Cups, CoH25, and BoF2, while Valanora’s include CoH41 and BoF23.
Statement from the Paripana Sporting Council
The World Cup is unique among sporting competitions, having nearly two hundred years of history (depending on location, of course). Paripana has formed an important part of that history, having been involved (in one form or another) since World Cup 5 and having hosted six World Cups, the first being World Cup 8. Capitalizt SLANI, who would (as winner of the first Paripanan Championship) represent Paripana as the host team should the World Cup Committee elect to hold World Cup 50 in Paripana and Valanora, is the longest continuous participant in World Cup qualifying, with Commerce Heights first entering in World Cup 7. To add World Cup 50 to Paripana’s sporting history would be a great honor, and the Paripana Sporting Council will gladly take on the responsibility of ensuring that the on- and off-field execution is worthy of such a milestone event. Paripana boasts some of the largest and most advanced football stadia in the world, which have played host to World Cups, Olympic Games, and Champions’ Cup finals. In particular, we believe there are few venues better-suited to hosting the fiftieth World Cup final than Holmes Stadium, which has already hosted three finals in a period of nearly one hundred fifty years (same disclaimer applies). The substantial resources available to a Paripana-hosted World Cup and the region’s excellent transport networks are also strong reasons to approve the bid. Capitalizt SLANI, one of the founders of the Paripana Sporting Council, has previous experience coördinating World Cup 39 with the Valanora Footballing Association, and their experience can help to ensure the smooth operation of this Cup. Having made our case, we hope the World Cup Committee votes to approve our bid, and we look forward to inviting players and fans from around the world to Paripana in 2186 for this monumental event.
), and is not an issue specific to this bid nor one that will be settled by debate. My personal opinion is that goal difference and goals scored are not necessarily reflective of “overall group results,” and give an undue advantage to more attacking teams (which ties into the questions about style modifiers). Head-to-head points can be seen as reflective of a relevant subset of the group results, and head-to-head goal difference is analogous to aggregate score in a two-legged tie.
