AN OFFICIAL HOST BID FOR...
WORLD CUP 70
EQUESTRIAN STATES & SAN JOSÉ GUAYABAL
- AND -
CUP OF HARMONY 62
FELIX & MIZUYUKI
WORLD CUP 70
EQUESTRIAN STATES & SAN JOSÉ GUAYABAL
- AND -
CUP OF HARMONY 62
FELIX & MIZUYUKI
I. Introduction
The Equestrian States, San José Guayabal, Felix, and Mizuyuki proudly present to the World Cup Committee this bid to co-host the upcoming 70th World Cup and 62nd Cup of Harmony utilizing the Vilitan Plan for a four-host World Cup.
II. World Cup Hosts
Known throughout the multiverse for its majority population of sapient equines, the Equestrian States is a diverse and advanced island nation located in the far north of the Pony Lands region. Ruled by Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, the Equestrian States is a constitutional monarchy in name, though the Princess and the royal family hold considerably more political power than in most constitutional monarchies and thus play an active role in the country's government. Technologically, the nation is very advanced for one that only emerged from isolation a few decades ago, combining technology imported from its regional allies with magic to quickly modernize without the pollution seen in many countries which undergo rapid industrialization. Described by many as a pleasant utopia inhabited by a friendly and diverse population of numerous sapient species which happily welcomes foreigners, the Equestrian States is a natural host nation with an economy which thrives on tourism and sports.
The most popular sport in the Equestrian States is easily football, which is more commonly known as hoofball by the country's sapient ungulate locals, and the Equestrians have a respectable history of participation in the sport's premier international competitions. First appearing in the Baptism of Fire prior to World Cup 58, the Equestrian States has competed in every World Cup since, finally qualifying for the first time at the tournament's 64th edition. Over the course of the next four cycles, the Ponies quickly rose through the rankings, peaking at 15th following a second round appearance at World Cup 67. However, the last two years have not been kind to the Equestrians as poor officiating and bad luck have conspired to send the Ponies packing after the playoff stage two times, bringing the team's total number of playoff eliminations to six in six appearances, and leading some particularly superstitious supporters to believe that the team is cursed to always fall short at that final hurdle. Although no longer ranked as highly as they once were, the Ponies still boast an extremely talented squad which features a couple players who can be legitimately considered world-class athletes. With such a gifted team, the Equestrian States appears poised to once again rapidly climb up the rankings and once more compete with the best in the multiverse.
Located in southern Esportiva, San José Guayabal is a nation known for its environmental policies and claims one of its region's happiest populations. Governed by Queen Margaret I, the country is also a constitutional monarchy as its royal family plays a prominent role in Guayabalense society and is also politically active. Boasting a high HDI rating, San José Guayabal is an advanced nation which not long ago emerged from a period of civil war which ultimately led to the fall of a brutal communist regime but has quickly recovered thanks in part to the efficient work ethic of its people. With a beautiful environment, friendly population, and substantial infrastructure, San José Guayabal has a booming tourist industry that welcomes foreign travelers with open arms.
An emerging force in international football, San José Guayabal made its first appearance in the qualifiers for the 66th World Cup and has since managed to progress quickly through the rankings. The Guayabalenses qualified for the World Cup for the first time in just their third attempt at World Cup 68, stunning The Archregimancy along the way and finishing third in their finals group. Although the San José Guayabal national team was unable to repeat their qualifying run and missed the 69th World Cup finals thanks to a second-half collapse, they still made a decent run in the Cup of Harmony and reached the second round before being eliminated. With fairly recent successes in the World Cup and Cup of Harmony, as well as making runs to the quarterfinals and the final in the men's and women's football tournaments at the most recent Summer Olympics, San José Guayabal has a bright future in international football.
III. Cup of Harmony Hosts
Felix is a Federal Republic located in Esportiva between the continents Mardujsha and Terrabondante. Founded in 1875 after declaring independence from various nations, Felix has had a strong tradition of democracy which lasted well into the 21st century, but was temporarily killed off when the Nationalists overthrew the democratically elected government and formed a fascist state in its place. However, pro-democracy rebels were able to topple the authoritarian regime and are now slowly rebuilding Felix's infrastructure and democratic tradition. Although generally known for their kindness and acceptance of any faiths or sexualities, most Felixians are private about their religious beliefs and will be offended if a foreign tourist attempts to force them to reveal their own personal religious beliefs. An ethnically diverse nation, Felix has 6 official languages (Swedish, German, French, Italian, Spanish and English) and many Felixians are capable of speaking multiple languages as a result.
When Felix isn’t fighting a civil war or recovering from it, Felixians often can be found watching or playing football, which is easily the most popular sport in the country. Felix's national team is currently twelfth in the multiverse after reaching the second round twice in the last couple World Cups, which is fairly impressive considering the team debuted not long ago at the 52nd Baptism of Fire. Felixian football is commonly characterized as attacking football styled with speed and accurate long shots being the main strengths although that varies by region as the Swedish speaking region might play more defensive compared to maybe a Spanish speaking region. Under the leadership of Ishikawa Haruka, the Felixian national team is eager to break the second round ceiling that has been stuck on them for the past two World Cups and with the squad's existing talents reaching their primes and younger stars joining the team, Felix is stronger than ever and prepared to seriously challenge the multiverse's very best.
The Celestial Empire of Mizuyuki, more commonly referred to throughout the multiverse as simply Mizuyuki (or more descriptively, the River Flag country), is a liberal, technocratic nation situated in the region of Aeneas. The country - bordered to the southwest by Aurinsula and Chonburi - is ruled by a de facto absolute monarchy under Kirino of Amatsuka, with the assistance of a democratically elected Imperial Diet. The definitive difference between the land of the blessed snow and the other nations of the multiverse is primarily its devotion and commitment to scientific advancement above all; an element of the Mizuyukian psyche that has enabled the empire to rise from the backwater it once was to the regional power status that it now enjoys.
With regards to sports, Mizuyuki is slowly making a name for itself as a footballing nation with aspirations to be part of the crème de la crème in multiversal football. First emerging on the scene five cycles ago, the Mizuyukian national football team has lost no time in making a splash; a respectable mid-table finish in their debut cycle was followed by a concerted push that ultimately resulted in two successive qualifications for the WC66 and WC67 finals. Since then, their fortunes have flagged somewhat, as the two years of plentiful harvests were followed by two years of drought - the only mitigating factor being the team's impressive run to a third place finish in the Cup of Harmony last cycle. However, with the careful cultivation of talent via a dedicated development program, Mizuyuki has firmly established itself as a notable perennial contender for finals qualifications in recent years, and there can be no doubting that they are a team on the rise.
IV. World Cup Format
In terms of structure, World Cup qualifying would remain the same as it has for much of the NSWC's history, with a to-be-determined number of teams playing in groups, with everyone playing each of their groupmates home and away. Our target is to have 20 qualifying groups, which will allow all group winners to advance directly to the World Cup finals without needing to take part in a playoff. Meanwhile, the teams that finish second in their groups would take part in a two-leg playoff (home and away) which would be seeded based on the participants respective results during qualifying (the runner-up with the best performance would face the runner-up with the worst results, the second-best against the second-worst, and so on). The 20 group winners and 10 playoff winners, together with the two World Cup host nations, would then take part in the 32-team World Cup finals.
As it has at every World Cup, the finals will consist of 32 teams drawn into 8 groups of 4 divided between the two host nations. The Equestrian States would host Groups A-D and San José Guayabal would host Groups E-H. The top two teams in each group will advance to the knockout rounds, culminating in the crowning of the world champions at the Equestrian States' famous Royal Equestria Stadium in Canterlot.
The tiebreakers to be used during both qualifying and the finals are, in the following order: points, wins, H2H points, H2H goal difference, overall goal difference, overall goals for, and a single-match playoff at a neutral venue (if necessary to determine advancement in the tournament).
V. Cup of Harmony Format
As it's still too early in the signup process to know even how many nations will be competing in World Cup qualifying, it's impossible to make any concrete decisions on participation numbers for the Cup of Harmony, which will ultimately depend on how many active RPers there are during qualifying and who does and does not qualify for the World Cup finals. However, based on recent editions of the tournament, it would be reasonable to expect the Cup of Harmony to have between 32-40 participants. Regardless of numbers, the Cup of Harmony will use the traditional group stage followed by the knockout rounds.
With regards to tiebreakers, the Cup of Harmony would use the same tiebreakers as the World Cup: points, wins, H2H points, H2H goal difference, overall goal difference, overall goals for, and a single-match playoff at a neutral venue (if necessary to determine advancement in the tournament).
VI. Scorination & RP Bonus
Now, as you may have noticed, this bid deviates from the traditional two-host system that has been used for virtually every World Cup since the NSWC's earliest days and instead proposes the use of a four-host system, as outlined by Vilita several months ago on the WCDT. As per the Vilitan Plan, the four co-hosts would divide scorination duties during World Cup qualifying, with two hosts each scorinating half the groups in the first half of qualifying, and the other two hosts each scorinating half the groups during the second half of qualifying. In this case, the first half of qualifying would be scorinated by the Equestrian States and Felix, while San José Guayabal and Mizuyuki would share scorination duties during the second half.
The designated hosts of the World Cup finals, the Equestrian States and San José Guayabal, will not take part in World Cup qualifying and will qualify automatically for the finals, but Felix and Mizuyuki will compete in the qualifiers. As such, the groups in which Felix and Mizuyuki are drawn will be scorinated by the other two hosts, as will the groups with the two Cup of Harmony hosts' respective puppets (Mendoya and Kazamatsuri). Similarly, the qualifying groups that include the puppets of the Equestrian States and San José Guayabal (the Crystal Empire and Sakhalin, respectively) will be scorinated by Felix and Mizuyuki.
During the World Cup finals, all groups and knockout matches in the Equestrian States will be scorinated by San José Guayabal, with the Equestrian States scorinating those in San José Guayabal, the sole exceptions being the third place match (to be scorinated by junior co-host San José Guayabal) and the World Cup Final itself (to be scorinated by senior co-host Equestrian States). In the unlikely event that one of the two co-hosts reaches the third place match or the Final, the other co-host will take over responsibility for the match's scorination. Similarly, in the Cup of Harmony, should one - or both - of the Cup of Harmony co-hosts fail to qualify for the World Cup finals and have to participate in the tournament, the other co-host will scorinate the matches involving that nation.
As for the scorinator itself, this bid will use xkoranate with the SQIS formula. Without revealing the specific numbers, the RP bonus will be generous and cumulative throughout World Cup qualifying, the Cup of Harmony, and the World Cup proper. There will be a carryover of any RP bonus earned during qualifiers to both the World Cup finals and the Cup of Harmony, which will be equivalent to approximately one MD worth of bonus.
When it comes to evaluating RPs, we respect that everyone has their own unique styles. But whatever style you prefer, we are looking for originality, creativity, and astute information usage in RPs. Don't expect to get much of a bonus if your opponent's posted a roster and you don't make any use of it in your match report RP. And as always: quality takes precedence over quantity.
VII. Experience
All four proposed co-hosts have each successfully hosted at least one of NS Sports' major tournaments and three of the four have previously hosted a WCC competition. If elected as the winning bid, there would be no shortage of experience among the hosts.
Equestrian States can safely be considered one of the NS Sports community's veteran hosts, most notably co-hosting the 67th World Cup and 57th Cup of Harmony alongside Cassadaigua. Other major tournaments the user has hosted to completion include the 25th and 29th World Baseball Classics, 21st World Cup of Hockey, and the 29th Di Bradini Cup (the 32nd edition of which is also currently being hosted by the user). The lesser-known tournaments hosted by the Equestrian States include Market Cup VI, Runner Cup 3, Quidditch World Cup 5, and all four editions of the Equestria Cup. Finally, the user is currently serving his first term as the President of the World Bowl Assembly after previously serving as its Vice-President, and has been responsible for the maintenance of the tournament's rankings since April 2013.
San José Guayabal may not have as impressive a resume as some, but hardly lacks experience hosting major tournaments and co-hosted the 56th Baptism of Fire with Schiavonia. The user has also hosted two of NS Sports' top regional competitions: Copa Rushmori 18 (as Alianza Albos) and AOCAF Cup 45 (as Ratastan). Other tournaments hosted by San José Guayabal include the 5th World Junior Hockey Championships and the September Tennis Championship back in 2013.
Felix also has a respectable hosting resume, having co-hosted Campionato Esportiva X with German American States as well as solo-hosting the 6th U15 World Cup. Furthermore, the user also hosted five editions of the Copa Gaveo and Esquarium Cup I as Gaveo.
Mizuyuki is no stranger to WCC tournaments, with the coming World Cup cycle marking five cycles of consecutive participation in WCC-sanctioned competitions. The user's hosting portfolio includes several notable tournaments, such as the World Hoops Showcase and the International Basketball Championship in partnership with Electrum, a solo hosting of the International Firestorm Cup, and the 60th Cup of Harmony with Kinitaria.
Feel free to ask any questions!
