World Cup LVI Bid: Cafundéu and Sarzonia

[Sarzonia]

World Cup LVI - Cafundéu and Sarzonia

Introduction
Cafundéu. Sarzonia.

Two nations linked together by one legendary figure.

Franz Braddock was the first-ever national team manager for Cafundéu's national team during World Cup 32. He guided the team to World Cup berths in each of its first two World Cup qualifying cycles before returning to manage his club team Petardos S/A.

He later returned to manage the Cafundelenses to three consecutive World Cup berths before retiring, citing burnout. Later, however, he cast about searching for a national team managerial gig, consistently getting turned down by other nations because of his age.

That was until Sarzonia were searching for a national team manager. The Stars had promoted their legendary player Brian Wilson from his position as manager to serve as chairman of the Incorporated Football Federation, Sarzonia's governing body for football. At the behest of his father, two-time Sarzonian national team manager Dave Wilson, Brian hired Braddock, bucking the trend.

Now, Braddock sees the links between his native land and his adopted country strengthened once more as Cafundéu and Sarzonia present a bid to host World Cup LVI.

Format
Owing to concerns expressed by some veteran nations over the extensive duration of qualifying and the high number of participant nations, Cafundéu and Sarzonia have proposed their own ideas to address the concerns. First of all, we propose a two-tiered soft cap of 152 nations to 162 nations for total participant countries. In a 150-nation qualifying format, there would be 15 groups of 10 nations each, reaching a total of 18 matchdays. In the event that we had 162 nations, we would establish 20 groups of eight nations each, allowing for a more manageable 14-matchday format.

In the 20-group format, the group winners would automatically qualify for a spot in the final 32, while the second place nations would play a one-off playoff match to determine which teams join the group winners in Cafundéu or Sarzonia. In the more traditional 15-group format, the top two teams from each group automatically qualify for the knockout rounds.

In the event a nation who otherwise would qualify for the proper ceases to exist and is not restored by 24 hours after scorination for the final group stage match, the team directly below them in the table would qualify in its stead.

Scorination
The tried and true NSFS 3.0.1 will be used to scorinate matches. Style modifiers ranging from -5 (ultra defensive/karelan) to +5 (ultra attacking/takilan) will be allowed and must be specified in the roster post prior to pre-qualifying friendlies. If they are NOT included, we will assume a style modifier of zero (balanced). Style modifiers may NOT be changed at any point during the competition.

Roleplay Bonus
Without revealing the specific details of exactly how we plan to award bonus, both prospective hosts have decided upon a method that we believe will encourage nations of all levels to participate actively during qualifying and the proper. Nations who post a roster will receive a baseline RP bonus that will be maintained throughout the competition. The RP bonus would be updated for each matchday, with all RPs posted between one cutoff and another being considered as one for bonus purposes. It'll have a max daily value added to the KPB bonus which would consider the originality and quality of the RP. The bonus for each matchday will get smaller over time, in order to reward frequency: a player who RPs consistently will be able to stay with the highest bonus available, while another who stops RPing will see its bonus reduced over time.

Experience
The player behind Cafundéu has had extensive experience hosting WCC-sanctioned tournaments.

The first competition hosted by Cafundéu was Women's World Cup 8, but the country quickly became a natural destination for important competitions. Just two cycles after participating in their first World Cup campaign, which was a success with the qualification at the first attempt in World Cup 32, Cafundéu hosted the Baptism of Fire, and two cycles after that their first World Cup in home soil, together with Commerce Heights. After another two BoFs, two CoHs, other three World Cups besides WC36 and one Winter Olympics, the second toughest event to host in the world of international sports, Cafundéu proved that it is an outstanding host country for international competitions.

So far, the list of competitions hosted by Cafundéu includes: Women's World Cup 8, Baptism of Fire 21 (prior to World Cup 34), Baptism of Fire 30 (prior to World Cup 43), Baptism of Fire 37 (prior to World Cup 50 - with The Macabees); Cup of Harmony 31 (with Daehanjeiguk), Cup of Harmony 36 (with Dancougar); World Cup 36 (with Commerce Heights), World Cup 42 (with Septentrionia), World Cup 48 (with Bazalonia), World Cup 52 (with Nethertopia); and the 5th Winter Olympics.

The player behind Sarzonia has had fairly extensive hosting experience, the bulk of which came in his "second" tenure in NationStates. Prior to the first period of introversion, known in Sarzonia as Isolation (OOC: Prior to when I "left" NS in 2006/2007), Sarzonia had a modest resume as a host of multinational sporting events. It served as founding nation and host of the AO Bowl, an international gridball competition for nations in Atlantian Oceania. It also co-hosted two editions of the Basketball World Cup, the predecessor tournament to the International Basketball Championships. Sarzonia also co-hosted the inaugural Futsal World Championships with The Macabees and substituted as scorinator for a Cherry Cup match.

More recently, Sarzonia has hosted the seventh Handball World Championships, marking the first time in several attempts that a handball tournament actually concluded with a gold medal match. Sarzonia also hosted four editions of the World Lacrosse Championships and three editions of the NS Arena Bowl and its predecessor tournament the Sarzonian Indoor Gridball Cup. It also hosted the inaugural World Softball Classic and an edition of the Baptism of Iron.

Sarzonia just completed hosting World Bowl XIV, which had an unprecedented 72 nations compete. It also served as junior co-host of Cup of Harmony 45 with Rejistania and is currently serving as senior co-host of Cup of Harmony 47 with Saugeais. It bid unsuccessfully for Baptism of Fire XL.

The player behind Sarzonia has used multiple scorinators during his tenure as a host. He used Excel-based scorinators for each edition of the World Lacrosse Championships and the NS Arena Bowl and different Excel-based scorinators for his edition of the AO Bowl and the Baptism of Iron. He also used Leagion during Cup of Harmony XLV and NSFS 3.0.1 for the World Softball Classic and World Bowl XIV.

Scorination for Sarzonia will take place between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time. Cafundéu initially plans to scorinate at around 1 a.m. GMT.

[Civil Citizenry]

This bid looks fine to me. I have to wonder how Sarzonia can justify any attempt at encouraging RPing when he won't let anyone else choose his goalscorers (thereby stifling RP interaction with his own nation), but that's quite minor and doesn't affect my view of the bid.

[Legalese]

So, how will you handle the MSMT?

Seriously though, this bid looks solid, but largely identical to the competing bid's final format. What makes it any better than the competing bid?

[Bears Armed]

Bears Armed will not vote for any hosting bid that includes Cafundeu unless & until visiting teams (and their staff) and their travelling supporters are exempted from that nation's ridiculously high taxes...

[The Babbage Islands]

Now you've gone and done it, after I had endorsed Valanora and Sorthern Northland and they got their cap sorted. Obviously I think highly of Sorth as a potential host, or I wouldn't have bid the CoH with him. But Sarzonia is another host who has demonstrated the necessary commitment to be picked for a World Cup. And Cafundéu v Valanora is a pick 'em.

I stand by my endorsement, but I wish you well and feel that we are in good shape with two worthy bids.

[Qazox]

To either or both bidders:

Of the 2 options presented for group stage length and number of teams, which of the two options would you prefer; if you were a nation voting on this bid? The 15 groups of 10 or the 20 groups of 8?

[Starblaydia]

But Sarzonia is another host who has demonstrated the necessary commitment to be picked for a World Cup.

If this bid is picked, will Sarzonia take up the EWCC place on offer?

[Sarzonia]

This bid looks fine to me. I have to wonder how Sarzonia can justify any attempt at encouraging RPing when he won't let anyone else choose his goalscorers (thereby stifling RP interaction with his own nation), but that's quite minor and doesn't affect my view of the bid.

That particular bit was a reaction to someone in the World Bowl not respecting the boundaries I'd established and then refusing to change his RP when I objected to it.

By now, I've made the point I felt needed to be made.

And to answer Starblaydia's question, if this bid is chosen, I would accept the EWCC berth that goes along with it because it goes along with the territory.

[Sarzonia]

So, how will you handle the MSMT?

Cafundéu and I discussed that.

I will scorinate all pre-, mid- and post-qualifying friendlies that aren't tournaments such as the MSMT, the Pink Cup, etc. that request host scorination. The limits will be three per cycle per team. If you have any friendly requests beyond that, you will need to request someone else scorinate them.

Cafundéu will handle the friendly tournaments such as the MSMT, the Pink Cup, etc. That would allow me to continue my participation in the tournament unless someone were to object to a World Cup host taking part in the MSMT even though he or she isn't scorinating it.

Seriously though, this bid looks solid, but largely identical to the competing bid's final format. What makes it any better than the competing bid?

For one thing, our participation caps aren't intended to be quite as rigid as those for Valanora and Sorthern Northland. We would be open to going with as many as 20 groups of 10, which would provide for what we'd consider the upper limit of reasonable length for qualifying (18 matchdays) and would allow more participating nations to take part.

For another thing, our limit per break in qualifying is three friendlies, not two. For nations that want to take part in more friendlies with host scorination, ours is the more attractive bid.

Finally, while Valanora's and Cafundéu have roughly equivalent experience as hosts in the NS Sports world, I believe I bring a major advantage in experience as a junior host compared to Sorthern Northland's hosting experience. I just finished hosting a World Bowl that was not only by far the largest in the history of that tournament, but it was roughly equivalent in size to World Cups of (RL) years gone by, which had two hosts. Except for the semifinal and final matches, which were scorinated by a substitute, I served as solo host of that tournament.

In addition, I previously served as co-host of a Cup of Harmony and am in the final stages of co-hosting another. I also have hosted several smaller tournaments, and one or two tournaments that became much bigger on my watch.

[Akbarabad]

Will seeding be used in case of playoffs ?

[Cafundeu]

In case of playoffs, the seeding will be based on the group stage performance: best 2nd placed vs worst 2nd placed, 2nd best vs 2nd worst and so on.