The United Republican Soccer Federation presents:
A bid to host the thirteenth fourteenth Independent Associations Championship
[insert bid title here]There isn’t any in-character guff to be said for this bid. But yes, I am once again forcing a vote. No, I do not lack confidence in Squorn’s ability to host the IAC. Yes, this bid is actually serious. No, this is not a joke. So as threatened last cycle…
ExperienceWhile not the most experienced bidder for the tournament by any means, the user behind the mask of Omerica has nevertheless hosted the
fourth Coupe d’Esquarium, the
nineteenth Handball World Cup and the
Xth Independent Associations Championship. Additionally, KitKat is now on the tenth season of the
Omerican Professional Soccer League, ninth season of the
Saltsteadish Football League and too many seasons of
HSOWAliga.
ScorinationIf this bid is selected, IAC 14 will be scorinated using the latest version of xkoronate with the SQIS formula and additive style modifiers. Home field advantage will be turned off, however, the host nation will receive a small bonus approximately equal to the bonus a nation would get with the home advantage option. As usual, participating teams may choose a style modifier from –5 and +5.
The interim IAC ranking system will be used for seeding and bonus purposes, with the proviso that the hosts (Omerica), the reigning indie champions (Indusse) and the titleholders of any WCC competition (i.e. Trolleborg) will automatically be seeded in Pot 1 by right. However, in line with a worthy IAC tradition, nations will
not receive their ranking bonus unless and until they post a roster, which must include a minimum of a starting XI and RP permissions.
RP bonus will be cumulative and generous and will favour quality over quantity. The bonus scale will set with the goal for unranked nations to be competitive with rank-coasters by the end of the group stage. RP bonus
will be available on bye days if 5-team groups are used.
Cut-offs will be at approximately 22:00 Eastern Standard Time (03:00 next day UTC) give or take 30 to 60 minutes. Scorinations will take place every 48 hours, though an extra day may be pencilled in to ensure that IAC cut-offs alternate with Baptism of Fire cut-offs (advance notice will be given when and if this occurs).
FormatIf this bid is selected, IAC 14 will consist of a single round-robin group stage, followed by a single-elimination knockout stage. [*
insert shock and horror here*] Formats with six or eight groups will be preferred. In the unlikely event we reach 48 sign-ups, the group stage will feed into a Round of 32, with the top four teams advancing from each of eight group; otherwise, the knockout stage will start with the Round of 16.
Teams will be ranked in their respective groups by [1] points, [2] head-to-head points, [3] head-to-head goal difference, [4] overall goal difference, [5] games won and [6] drawing of lots (OOCly accomplished via a scorinated playoff without rank bonus); if two or more teams are initially tied and a criterion only breaks part of the tie, the ranking procedure will restart, considering only results between teams still tied (this being the default xkoronate procedure).
The overall group stage ranking will be based on [1] group position, [2] points, [3] goal difference and [4] games won. If two or more teams are tied on all of these criteria, results against the lowest-ranked team in their respective groups will be discarded and the teams compared again. This procedure repeats until the tie is broken or all results are exhausted, in which case the tie will be broken by drawing of lots (i.e. scorinated playoff without rank bonus).
Teams from the same group will be kept apart in the knockout stage for as long as possible. If a six-group format is used, the knockout bracket will be set according to the
Qopa XXXII system; if an eight-group format is used, the knockout bracket will based on the one used in IAC X. If Omerica/HSOWA advance to the knockout stage*, a third-party scorinator will be scorinate any of their matches, with preference given to persons not participating in the IAC.
(*Which is not a given. #FirstIACHostToMissTheKnockouts)Closing remarksAs with IAC X, I welcome any and all questions.
Bon courage à tou·te·s!