National Society for the Restoration of Darmeni Football

[Darmen]

National Society for the Restoration of Darmeni Football
Guide to the Romanov Cup

Cycle 1 (2028-2031)
March 3rd, 2028: Five and a half men in a quiet little Pub
March 28th, 2028: Practice? Practice? Water Fight!
April 5th, 2028: That Fresh Sideline Smell
April 10th, 2028: Seven Foot Surprise
April 15th, 2028: An Agonizing Appeal
June 12th, 2028: Someone call Security
June 12th, 2028: A Friendly Request
June 19th, 2028: Need to Press for more Press

[Darmen]

Guide to the Romanov Cup

The Romanov Cup is the highest level of football in Darmen, and the only football competition to be organized on anything like a professional level of quality. It is contested between the 12 members of the Confederation of Darmen, and takes place over two years, therefore occurring twice during each World Cup cycle.

Format
The 12 teams play a double round-robin schedule of 22 matches, playing home and away against each opponent. Teams are given three points for a win and a single point for a loss. At the end of the season, the four highest ranked teams will enter the playoffs, with the semifinals being played over two legs, followed by a single match Final. Breaks in the season are held intermittently for international matches to be held. As the teams are considered "national" teams by their respective governments, UICA qualification will not be granted.

Finances
Teams generate very little in income, with matches being sparsely attended and no broadcasting of matches. As such, players are payed very little, perhaps no more than three to six thousand dollars per year. Most players therefore have second jobs and practices are held only every couple of days. Players who are selected to play for the Darmeni XI team which represents the entire Confederation in international play, are usually given bonuses by the Society itself to allow them to focus on their football. These bonuses usually amount to twenty to thirty thousand dollars per year.

Teams & Stadiums

Nation                      Short Name  Main Colors     Location         Stadium
Republic of Alba            Alba        Green & Black   Darmen City      Tyger Stadium (39,000)
Republic of Brham           Brham       Yellow & Black  Brham            Brham Stadium (54,000)
Republic of Chuckio         Chuckio     Red & White     Chuckio          Olympic Stadium (28,000)
Kingdom of Darmen           Darmen      Green & White   Scott City       Thomas Stadium (76,000)
Holy Forden Republic        Forden      White & Red     Tempala          Queens Stadium (86,000)
Republic of Johnho          Johnho      Yellow & Purple Johnho           Stadio Rushmore (70,000)
Republic of Kalenda         Kalenda     Black & Blue    Rogerton         Kalenda Stadium (45,000)
Free State of Liverpool     Liverpool   Blue & White    Liverpool        Wolves Park (29,500)
Free Township of New Darmen New Darmen  Blue & Yellow   New Cotdelapoms  Oliver Gilles Park (2,000)
Empire of Romanopolis       Romanopolis Red & Yellow    Romanopolis      Colosus Romanopolis (65,000)
Republic of Super-Mare      Super-Mare  Orange & Blue   Vogler City      Rhinos Park (26,000)
Republic of Tilden          Tilden      Blue & Red      Tilden           El Mutiny Stadium (25,000)

[Darmen]

Romanov Cup: Matchdays 1-3

Matchday 1: Saturday, March 4th, 2028
Super-Mare 0–1 Johnho
Brham 2–0 New Darmen
Romanopolis 2–0 Kalenda
Chuckio 4–2 Forden
Alba 1–1 Darmen
Tilden 3–1 Liverpool

Matchday 2: Saturday, March 11th, 2028
Johnho 2–3 Liverpool
Darmen 2–1 Tilden
Forden 1–2 Alba
Kalenda 4–4 Chuckio
New Darmen 3–0 Romanopolis
Super-Mare 4–2 Brham

Matchday 3: Saturday, March 18th, 2028
Brham 2–1 Johnho
Romanopolis 1–0 Super-Mare
Chuckio 3–0 New Darmen
Alba 1–3 Kalenda
Tilden 0–1 Forden
Liverpool 2–3 Darmen

Romanov Cup              Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
 1 Chuckio                 3    2   1   0    11    6   +5     7
 2 Darmen                  3    2   1   0     6    4   +2     7
 3 Brham                   3    2   0   1     6    5   +1     6
 4 Romanopolis             3    2   0   1     3    3    0     6
 5 Kalenda                 3    1   1   1     7    7    0     4
 6 Alba                    3    1   1   1     4    5   −1     4
 7 Super-Mare              3    1   0   2     4    4    0     3
   Tilden                  3    1   0   2     4    4    0     3
 9 Johnho                  3    1   0   2     4    5   −1     3
10 Liverpool               3    1   0   2     6    8   −2     3
11 Forden                  3    1   0   2     4    6   −2     3
12 New Darmen              3    1   0   2     3    5   −2     3

3:07pm Tuesday, March 28th, 2028
Wolves Park
Liverpool, Free State of Liverpool
Alberich Goldschmidt looked on as his teammates ran past. Nur al Din Lambert hovered next to him, holding a stopwatch. "Maia!" yelled al Din Lambert. Boris Maia threw up his hands as he came to a halt.

"This is ridiculous!" yelled Mariano Rome, the backup goalkeeper to Maia, as he and several others on the team also stopped running.

"Hey! I didn't tell you to stop running. How do you expect me to get a grasp on where you're fitness is?" snapped al Din Lambert.

"Well lets see," responded Rome, "I haven't played a competitive match in the past 12 years and I'm 31 years old." Rome paused, moving his hands as if he were mentally calculating his fitness. "Yeah, my fitness is non-existent."

al Din Lambert sighed, and turned towards Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt was the youngest member of the team at only 16 years old. Despite that, he had been the slowest during the fitness test, and the first pulled out by al Din Lambert. Goldschmidt shrugged, not sure of what the assistant manager wanted from him. al Din Lambert just slouched and walked off the field.

3:38pm Tuesday, March 28th, 2028
Wolves Park
Liverpool, Free State of Liverpool
Tor Tong Lee watched from the press box as his assistant struggled to get the players to follow his instructions. With the team leaving for the Copa Rushmori the next day, Lee had not been impressed with the first 38 minutes of practice. He got up from his chair, grabbed his water bottle, and headed down towards the field.

After what seemed like an endless walk down the steps to the pitch, Lee emerged from the tunnel into the light. Everyone on the field stopped as the legend took a sip of his water. Lee walked up to Goldschmidt, looked up and down at the young Defensive Midfielder, and squirted him in the face with his water bottle. Goldschmidt was not pleased, but nonetheless was to awestruck by Lee to say anything.

"Why are you here Al?" asked Lee.

"To practice," answered Goldschmidt.

Lee gasped. He turned towards the rest of the team and scolded them, pointing towards Goldschmidt as he did so, "Would you look at that. The 16 year old knows what's going on, but the rest of you are clueless. And that's after I got him angry with the water. Why can't you be like him?"

The team nodded in agreement as their manager handed Goldschmidt his water bottle. He then pointed to his face. Goldschmidt smiled as he squeezed the bottle. Within a few moments the practice had devolved into a full blown water fight. Lee hoped it would help the team bond before the long flight to either Pasarga or Eura.

[Darmen]

Romanov Cup: Matchdays 4-6

Matchday 4: Saturday, May 20th, 2028
Johnho 1–2 Darmen
Forden 2–1 Liverpool
Kalenda 0–0 Tilden
New Darmen 1–1 Alba
Super-Mare 4–2 Chuckio
Brham 0–2 Romanopolis

Matchday 5: Saturday, May 27th, 2028
Romanopolis 1–0 Johnho
Chuckio 0–0 Brham
Alba 1–0 Super-Mare
Tilden 2–3 New Darmen
Liverpool 1–0 Kalenda
Darmen 1–1 Forden

Matchday 6: Saturday, June 3rd, 2028
Johnho 2–2 Forden
Kalenda 1–4 Darmen
New Darmen 0–1 Liverpool
Super-Mare 2–1 Tilden
Brham 3–3 Alba
Romanopolis 3–1 Chuckio

Romanov Cup              Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
 1 Romanopolis             6    5   0   1     9    4   +5    15
 2 Darmen                  6    4   2   0    13    7   +6    14
 3 Super-Mare              6    3   0   3    10    8   +2     9
 4 Alba                    6    2   3   1     9    9    0     9
 5 Liverpool               6    3   0   3     9   10   −1     9
 6 Chuckio                 6    2   2   2    14   13   +1     8
 7 Brham                   6    2   2   2     9   10   −1     8
   Forden                  6    2   2   2     9   10   −1     8
 9 New Darmen              6    2   1   3     7    9   −2     7
10 Kalenda                 6    1   2   3     8   12   −4     5
11 Tilden                  6    1   1   4     7    9   −2     4
12 Johnho                  6    1   1   4     7   10   −3     4

7:01pm, Monday, June 12th, 2028
Wolves Park
Liverpool, Free State of Liverpool
Tor Tong Lee sat in his makeshift office deep in the bowels of Wolves Park. The light flickered above him as his old desktop computer hummed rather loudly. Lee was watching film of Darmen's two goal loss to Eura in the Round of Sixteen in the Copa Rushmori. While the team had returned home feeling rather badly about their loss, Lee was quite enthusiastic that his rag tag team had advanced beyond the group stage.

The team would assemble once again the next day to begin practice for the upcoming friendly against an opponent which Lee still needed to find. Five days to set up an international match was quite a short time period, and Lee was beginning to regret the decision to visit his family over the past week. Lee's biggest concern was whether or not his own team would be ready for the match.

As Lee closed the video and opened up his email, Nur al Din Lambert walked into the office and plopped down on the chair across from Lee. He opened up the mini fridge that was within arms reach and pulled out a beer. He began to drink the beer in big gulps.

"Thirsty much?" asked Lee.

al Din Lambert burped. "No," he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"How do you think I should write this email?" asked Lee, as he began to tap the keyboard with his pointer finger.

"Well, first, you should probably take a typing class, 'cause that ain't how it's done."

"I know how to type just fine, thank you," said Lee as he glared at his assistant manager. al Din Lambert had drunk half the beer in under a minute and Lee was worried he'd grab another when he was done with the first.

"Well in that case, make it sound a little desperate. We could use the money you know, and I'm sure there's some FA that will pay us a nice sum of money to come to our place and play a match."

Lee began to type as he responded, "I'm not that desperate though. Just a bit late in sending this out. Besides, this is the first international football match played on Darmeni soil in over a decade. It's a huge occasion. I'd like to be able to convey that."

"Well in that case, I'll start decorating the rafters with some streamers and what not," said al Din Lambert as he grabbed a second beer and left. Lee watched as he walked out the door before picking up the phone and dialing the stadium security staff. He was not about to allow his drunk assistant manager to climb up to the rafters of the stadium.

[Darmen]

Romanov Cup: Matchdays 7-9

Matchday 7: Saturday, July 22nd, 2028
Chuckio 1–1 Johnho
Alba 2–1 Romanopolis
Tilden 2–3 Brham
Liverpool 1–1 Super-Mare
Darmen 1–0 New Darmen
Forden 2–2 Kalenda

Matchday 8: Saturday, July 29th, 2028
Johnho 1–1 Kalenda
New Darmen 2–1 Forden
Super-Mare 1–2 Darmen
Brham 0–0 Liverpool
Romanopolis 1–1 Tilden
Chuckio 2–3 Alba

Matchday 9: Saturday, August 5th, 2028
Alba 1–0 Johnho
Tilden 2–0 Chuckio
Liverpool 0–0 Romanopolis
Darmen 1–2 Brham
Forden 2–2 Super-Mare
Kalenda 2–0 New Darmen

Romanov Cup              Pld    W   D   L    GF   GA   GD   Pts
 1 Darmen                  9    6   2   1    17   10   +7    20
 2 Alba                    9    5   3   1    15   12   +3    18
 3 Romanopolis             9    5   2   2    11    7   +4    17
 4 Brham                   9    4   3   2    14   13   +1    15
 5 Liverpool               9    3   3   3    10   11   −1    12
 6 Super-Mare              9    3   2   4    14   13   +1    11
 7 Forden                  9    2   4   3    14   16   −2    10
 8 Kalenda                 9    2   4   3    13   15   −2    10
 9 New Darmen              9    3   1   5     9   13   −4    10
10 Chuckio                 9    2   3   4    17   19   −2     9
11 Tilden                  9    2   2   5    12   13   −1     8
12 Johnho                  9    1   3   5     9   13   −4     6