International Domestic Soccer Discussion

[Hwiccemark]

An official, centrally run window no, since everyone runs their leagues at their own pace and inserting another transfer window would be quite a complication. You're free to RP your league as having one, however, and running transfers between your own clubs in there. If you really wanted to run some international transfers mid-season, you could specifically coordinate that with another user, but the 'official' transfer window is assumed to all run in the pre-season.

Ah that's fair enough, I'm sure my imaginary clubs will survive w/o a full January window! I kind of random generated my players and their attributes and whatnot and realised that I've actually generated some very imbalanced sides!

How do most of you guys create your squads for your teams? I feel I must've picked a really time consuming method.

[Astograth]

I generate players using a randomised spreadsheet - very similar to the one in my signature - to get names and region of birth, then sign them up to club squads as needed. I've only recently added skill ratings (on a very basic 1-10 scale) and do them manually in lieu of developing some better system. My spreadsheet also adds some extra information for flavour such as expected year of retirement and at what club they did their U13s, U18s and U21s, but that's far from essential.

[Hwiccemark]

I generate players using a randomised spreadsheet - very similar to the one in my signature - to get names and region of birth, then sign them up to club squads as needed. I've only recently added skill ratings (on a very basic 1-10 scale) and do them manually in lieu of developing some better system. My spreadsheet also adds some extra information for flavour such as expected year of retirement and at what club they did their U13s, U18s and U21s, but that's far from essential.

Oh ok, that's similar ish to how I thought to do it, but with a lot more thought put into it.

In terms of transfer fees, how do you guys set them? I'm presuming as a new country my players wouldn't have much of a premium on them.

[Graintfjall]

I am a new, unranked nation and was able to sell a few of my players, and buy a few foreigners. Mostly through the "free agent" window, but also through the transfer list. I was advised to stick to under 2 million $currency per player (these sums are totally meaningless, of course) but going off what other kinds of transfers were made that seemed to be a bit high and probably from my - our - perspective better to stick under 1 million.

My advice would be to get involved. I was horrifically scared of the complexity of it all but I stuck a few names in and now I have some fun international connections to RP in my season's next round - as well as a chance for a few of my players to play on foreign clubs.

[Murphtannia]

I received a telegram earlier from Kessler stating how my attempted entry into the IFCF will most likely be rejected due to the use of RL city names.

Now due to the mods I talked too didn't have a problem and the fact all these clubs will have a unique history, and that fact I have unique players, fans, a unique national stadium, I assumed the Use of RL cities and club names that have been changed slightly to fit w the rules wouldn't be a problem.

But apparently this wasn't the case. So in order to enter IFCF I am now spending my time changing names rather than creating backstory. So this is my question, the clubs will be from RL cities but I will change their name to have barely anything similar to RL clubs. I won't be copying clubs, or anything about them other than their city of origin, and in fact the only thing the cities are used for is for their names.

Now given how my lore as a former British colony will involve RL cities I kind of need the clubs to fit w that. Now given how the only, and I mean only similarity is the city of origin I want to know whether the IFCF will take a problem with it, preferably before I go about changing all my fact books and forum posts.

[Kelssek]

The whole point of me contacting you informally and privately was to avoid publicly singling you out and hopefully resolve the situation amicably. As the one who raised the issue to the other IFCF council members, I also wanted to avoid you having a nasty surprise at the deadline.

I've copied your response to me to the other IFCF members. As you insist on the submission of teams like Ashton Villa, Liecester, and Liverpol, then we'll have to discuss and decide, my position is clear that this is not really in the spirit of things in roleplaying as a creative activity but the others may feel differently.

I want to be inclusive of different RP styles here. If you are quite literally RPing the UK I understand this might be hard. We'll see.

[Murphtannia]

The whole point of me contacting you informally and privately was to avoid publicly singling you out and hopefully resolve the situation amicably. As the one who raised the issue to the other IFCF council members, I also wanted to avoid you having a nasty surprise at the deadline.

I've copied your response to me to the other IFCF members. As you insist on the submission of teams like Ashton Villa, Liecester, and Liverpol, then we'll have to discuss and decide, my position is clear that this is not really in the spirit of things in roleplaying as a creative activity but the others may feel differently.

I want to be inclusive of different RP styles here. If you are quite literally RPing the UK I understand this might be hard. We'll see.

I am now in the process of changing names, I wanted to make sure this was not to waste. 98% of people didn't care about my domestic names. My point to you was that in my nation lore I annexed the UK, and thus will have RL city names. However this doesn't mean I am copying RL clubs simply using the names of RL cities, which is why I am changing them to help account for anyone who really just can't stand my names.

[Northwest Kalactin]

Guys if you read the NKSL ever, I have a feedback form for the league RP. I really appreciate you guys taking it because it helps me improve the quality of the league. Thanks!
https://forms.gle/EkCuhVazH3gdfCYx6

[Commonwealth of Baker Park]

I was wondering if I've missed mention of the fate of the Vilitan Cove Invitational for last cycle? It's a moot point now.

[IFCF]

Good evening all.

With IFCF 3 long finished, and IFCF 4 coming on the horizon, it is time to address the composition of the host pool going forward.

Building off of what we've done last time, two more members of the present host pool have decided to step down, effectively immediately- Banija and Kita-Hinode. So it is time for the community to elect replacements.

The composition of the IFCF host pool for IFCF 4 will be as follows:

- Valanora
- Kelssek
- Eastfield Lodge
- Equestrian States
- Recuecn
- Valladares
- Nephara
- Elected from list of self nominees
- Elected from list of self nominees

Users will be able to self-nominate themselves, via telegram, to serve on the host pool. And then, the community at-large will vote on the nominees.

The spoilered list below shows the users who are both eligible to serve as a member of the host pool, and vote.

95X
Abanhfleft / Pridnestrovia
Ancherion / Boring Paradise
Apox / Mareibat
Astograth
Audioslavia
Banija
Baranil
Bolgano
Capitalizt SLANI / Jasiyun / Association francophone
Chinese Congo
Chromatika / Plane of Possibility
Cobrio / Osarius
Commonwealth of Baker Park
Cosneolta
Cosumar
Côte d'Saphir
Crystal Empire / Equestrian States / Freeport
Damukuni / The Golden Lotus
Darmen
Donnaconna
Eastfield Lodge / Olastor
Eraman
Ethane
Eura / Euran Oceania Territories
Farfadillis
Filindostan
Flavovespia
Fujai
Gergary
Havynwilde
Jeckland
Kelssek
Kita-Hinode
Ko-oren
Koana Islands
Krytenia
Lisander
Mercedini
Mitra and Soma
Mkabia
Mriin / The Quagpire
Mytanija / Prahecq
Nephara / Brenecia
New Lusitania
Northwest Kalactin
Oberour Ar Moro
Omerica / Saltstead
Pauh Janggi
Pemecutan
Poafmersia
Qusmo
Recuecn
Royal Kingdom of Quebec
Sajnur
Savojarna
Schottia
Sharktail
Siovanija and Teusland
Soracana Islands
Squornshelan Remnant States
Starblaydia
Taeshan
Terre Septentrionale
The Cross Islands
The Sarian
Timuria
Tinhampton
Torisakia
Turori / Vilita
Unified Legandia
Valanora / Pasarga
Valladares / Whirl Islands
Xanneria / Starcom Racing
Zeta Reka & Hügeltaldom
Zwangzug

I would therefore like to invite eligible members who would like to be considered for addition to the host pool to TG Busoga Islands announcing that you would like to stand in the election. You have until Wednesday, September 16th, at 11:59 PM EDT to do so.

[Busoga Islands]

So there has been one nomination to serve on the IFCF Host Council- PotatoFarmers(Poafmersia)

All eligible voters(As linked in the previous post) can vote on their inclusion into the hosting pool.

Vote yes to have Poafmersia ascend to the hosting pool
Vote no to not have Poafmersia ascend to the hosting pool

There shall be 96 hours for voting. The eligible voters are spoilered in the post above. Please telegram all votes to this account. This vote will end on Tuesday, September 22nd, at 9:35 AM EDT.

[The Sarian]

Would it be possible for the user to lay out their experience, so that I and others can make an informed choice before casting their ballot? Thank you :)

[Murphtannia]

Hello, while I and many other leagues around the multiverse await the IFCF to come back, which coincides with many of our seasons coming back, I have decided to create a little pre-season competition for clubs around the multiverse.


Entry Requirements


To enter you may either Telegram me or DM me on discord (find me in the NSS discord server) with teams you wish to enter, as this is pre-season I won't restrict the teams you can enter, you can enter whoever you like really.

When you enter a team it makes my life a lot easier if you provide context for the clubs previous season, their ability and any other information. After a few days I will close entry and scorinate the competition (using xkornate).

If you miss the deadline then Dw I can easily create a second tournement or have some freindly games between clubs.


Format

Depending on the amount of clubs entered their will either be a group stage, which leads to a semi final and then final and 3rd place playoff or it will go straight to the semi final.

If a lot of clubs are entered then I will expand the groups and then the last rounds to have a QTR final, round of 16 and so on.

I hope you enjoy, any questions feel free to ask me via Discord or Telegram.

[PotatoFarmers]

Would it be possible for the user to lay out their experience, so that I and others can make an informed choice before casting their ballot? Thank you

Well, I am shocked. I noticed 3 users fighting for 2 spots the last round, so I expected that there would at least be competition for a position on the IFCF Host Pool. Turns out I am the only one who jumped the gun and came out to contest.
First of all, I think I should introduce myself properly. Many people on discord know me as the "stats guy", having been jumped into my first World Cup cycle approximately a year ago with statistical RPs that line out things like permutations, predicted KPB rankings, and other things. Others may know me as the guy who questioned the IFCF coefficient calculation a while back. But I am considered relatively new to NS Sports as compared to many other users, who have been here for much longer time periods.
To be honest, if you ask me about experience scorinating international tournaments, I will be very frank with you - none. What made me want to throw my hat in was because I just want to learn from the best - the diverse group that makes up the current IFCF host pool is what I feel would allow me to kickstart a hosting career. There are many avenues and pathways a user can take to begin their hosting career, and I feel that I could try to work from something like the IFCF. It isn't the smallest competition around, yet the amount of job that needs to be done is not as large as hosting a World Cup for instance, because there are more people that can help split the job. Am I familiar with how the IFCF is scorinated? Well, I should say that I have a bit of knowledge. I have experimented with the IFCF scorinator that was published by Osarius, and used it to scorinate the domestic knockout cup for Poafmersia, my main nation (which is the IC name of this nation, btw).
That is it from me, considering that I didn't really prepare for this. I would be able to address any other questions that anyone has, since this has became a referendum on voting me to the IFCF host pool anyways.

[Sylestone]

Hello, while I and many other leagues around the multiverse await the IFCF to come back, which coincides with many of our seasons coming back, I have decided to create a little pre-season competition for clubs around the multiverse.


Entry Requirements


To enter you may either Telegram me or DM me on discord (find me in the NSS discord server) with teams you wish to enter, as this is pre-season I won't restrict the teams you can enter, you can enter whoever you like really.

When you enter a team it makes my life a lot easier if you provide context for the clubs previous season, their ability and any other information. After a few days I will close entry and scorinate the competition (using xkornate).

If you miss the deadline then Dw I can easily create a second tournement or have some freindly games between clubs.


Format

Depending on the amount of clubs entered their will either be a group stage, which leads to a semi final and then final and 3rd place playoff or it will go straight to the semi final.

If a lot of clubs are entered then I will expand the groups and then the last rounds to have a QTR final, round of 16 and so on.

I hope you enjoy, any questions feel free to ask me via Discord or Telegram.

I hope this is the right spot to put this.
I’ll put in three sides, Pesfield Trees FC (premiership winners), Kirkham Appliances (fourth place) and Avondale Beach SC (championship winners)

[Busoga Islands]

So there has been one nomination to serve on the IFCF Host Council- PotatoFarmers(Poafmersia)

All eligible voters(As linked in the previous post) can vote on their inclusion into the hosting pool.

Vote yes to have Poafmersia ascend to the hosting pool
Vote no to not have Poafmersia ascend to the hosting pool

There shall be 96 hours for voting. The eligible voters are spoilered in the post above. Please telegram all votes to this account. This vote will end on Tuesday, September 22nd, at 9:35 AM EDT.

There were 6 votes in favor of Poafmersia's ascension, and 2 votes against. Ergo, Poafmersia has been elected to the IFCF Hosting Pool.

Congratulations!

[Nephara]

The Preliminary Transfer Window 29 is UP!
This means: put up your players in advance if you want, sort out biographies, and have a bit of advance time to get everything hammered out it opens in earnest, when the IFCF cutoff drops; until then the Transfers, Bids and the option to purchase free agents are locked, to give everyone a fair chance.

Below is, of course, the companion to the Domestic League Tutorial, which is the ...

TRANSFER WINDOW FAQ
So, what is the transfer window? The transfer system is how players move from one club to another, and this transfer spreadsheet is how transfers across the multiverse are conducted. North Americans might be more familiar with the term 'trades'. In football, player-for-player exchanges are rare (though not unknown) and players are generally bought for money.

Where to start? Put players you would like to see sold in the Transfer List tab. Put players who are going to be released by their clubs in the Free Transfers tab. You will have to manually approve transfers for people in the Transfer List - Free Transfers are just bought on a first-come, first-served basis.

So someone bid on my player. What now? Look at the bid in the Bids tab. You'll notice there's two different columns - Club and Player accepting the bid. Generally speaking, the Club only cares about the transfer fee and if it meets its valuation. It doesn't matter how good the buying club is - the money's the same to the selling club. The player doesn't care about the money that the selling club gets, they only care about if the selling club is good, and if they meet their expectations. Selling clubs want more money, sold players are looking for clubs with more prestige.

How do I determine what leagues are good? The IFCF league rankings determine objective measures of strength. You will also want to consider the strength of the club in its given league - the Nepharim Premiership is a stronger league than the Brenecian A-League, but your player may well prefer to go to regular A-League winners Kingsgrove than Premiership strugglers Cranequin Wanderers. Most players also weigh RP quality of a given league into consideration, though only well-RPed leagues will get to the high ranks anyway. The League Glossary section of the sheet also shows the ranks of active leagues alongside short descriptions.

Can I put just anyone up? A good rule of thumb is to write a description for every player in the far right of the spreadsheet. If the player isn't relevant enough for you to want to write a description for them, they aren't worth putting on the sheet. A placeholder description will do for now, but definitely have a real description up by the time the window actually starts - when the IFCF cutoff occurs and the committee starts to score the international tournaments.

How can I buy players? It's the same in reverse. What players do you want to see in your leagues? If they're on the Transfer List, put a Bid for them in the Bids tab. At minimum, this will probably be their cited Valuation. If the club and the player both agree by putting a Y in the relevant tab, then it's a done deal! The player is yours.

What about players who aren't on the Transfer List? You can bid for them, too! The worst that can happen is that the other person says no.

What about Free Transfers? Just put your club and trigramme in the red New Club columns. It's automatically a done deal.

How should I value my players? And how much can I reasonably bid? Fortunately, the NSS economy is far less stratified than the real-world football economy. Instead of big players changing hands for hundreds of Euro, while most leagues outside Europe will never see a transfer of even one million, there's more parity across IFCF and this is reflected in more even results. If it's your first season, your top-half teams might have a full million to spend on a transfer fee, with most of the purchased foreigners being free transfers. Your best player, if they're in the prime of their career (roughly 25-29, but youth adds value, so 24-25 is probably peak value for a player), might fetch one or two million. Other starters on your national team might go for about a million, and ambitious guys in your league hoping to break into your national team will probably fetch like half a million.

Is that a hard and fast rule? No, and there are exceptions. Maybe your league is like the real-life Chinese Super League, a low-prestige league with a lot of money. It's entirely fair to throw a lot of cash around without much prestige, just as long as you're aware of that status. More generally, nobody is going to police you for Doing Things Wrong.

What should my expectations be like for my first season? Modest. Out of a few bids for less prominent players, often in their early- to mid-30s, a few will probably be accepted - and, of course, look through Free Transfers for players who appeal to you. Be realistic, of course - a guy who is like 31 and is still an active international for a strong team is probably not going to join your lower leagues just because he's in the Free Transfers tab - but beyond those obvious cases, you don't need to second-guess yourself. Also, only your top tier is going to be a viable destination for pretty much anyone good enough to be listed on the window, and I'd recommend focusing almost entirely on the top tier for your first few seasons of RPing anyway.

If I have a free agent player, but I care about their destination, can I put them on the Transfer List anyway? Yes. Any bid for them will be for 0 - there's no club with their contract to take the money - and you are free to accept whatever destination you'd like.

Can I start yet? So far, the window is only open in a preliminary stage. People can put their players and managers up, write rumours, and start declaring interest in players, but the actual Sales and Bids tabs, and the New Club columns of the Free Transfers sheet, are locked for the time being. There's no rush, either - you can still add new characters onto the spreadsheet after the transfer window officially opens, when the first IFCF round is posted.

Have other questions, or just want to hang out and chat? Then feel free to join the NS Sport Discord channel!

[Lisander]

Just to report.

The IFCF Calendar, like that of UICA before it, contrasts sharply with Lisander's own temporality. In addition to all the rest of the nation's affairs, I have all my other hobbies, apart from work and college. Unfortunately, adulthood has come, and I don't have time to manage a league the way I would like.

Originally, I intended to have an edition of the league every RL year, but considering that I would be completely detached from the rest of NS Sports, I decided that I will update my results with each other edition, that is, around 2 seasons per year.

Starting this season, I will be alternating between re-submitting entries from the previous season and submitting new results. Also, I plan to do the same in other sports where I haven't been working with the necessary care, like Hockey, Rugby and Basketball. I apologize if anyone feels harmed by this, and I will understand if some of my entries are refused.

Thank you for your patience.

[Hebitaka]

May I join this thread?

[Squidroidia]

You don't have to "join" per say, admission is guaranteed lol. I see you set up a domestic newswire thread, so maybe you need help with scorination. Help is provided in the Guide to Sports Roleplaying at the top of this forum, where you can find Xkoranate (A scorination tool) so you can simulate your league. IFCF cutoff is in 12 hours though, so unless you are in a rush I recommend you submit for the upcoming cycle (Which submissions will begin after the IFCF results are scorinated and what not).

If you need any more help, you can go to the NS Sport Discord, also in the Guide to Sports Roleplaying, and people will help you out there. We always like more members in the community

[Brenecia]

With the posting of the IFCF cutoff, Transfer Window 29 is now OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

[Mriin]

Hey all! For our collective sanity, a quick note on spreadsheet etiquette this transfer window.

If you want to filter the sheet, use Data -> Filter from the menu. This will filter the sheet on only your end, and not affect anyone else's. In case you want to look at all the CBs or all the Nepharans listed at once.

We've already had our first instance of someone hard sorting the Free Agents tab which is a huge pain for everyone else.

[Nephara]

As I dry my tears in the aftermath of the WC Final, I will be closing the window at the conclusion of the IFCF group stages - a few days from now. The much-needed quicker turnover between seasons means finalising rosters and starting RP needs to happen earlier, while still giving roughly two weeks.

[Nephara]

As I dry my tears in the aftermath of the WC Final, I will be closing the window at the conclusion of the IFCF group stages - a few days from now. The much-needed quicker turnover between seasons means finalising rosters and starting RP needs to happen earlier, while still giving roughly two weeks.

With the group draw released, this is going to be within the next 24 hours. Most likely exactly 24 hours from now, as I get home from uni.

[Kelssek]

Important Challengers Cup 4 announcement
There was an error in scorinator set-up that resulted in all teams that dropped from the Champions League into the Challengers Cup being given the wrong skill rating. As a result, all matches involving those teams will be re-scorinated.

Unaffected matches will be untouched and changes to posted scores minimized. Thus, I will not be re-seeding or re-drawing entire rounds, even if the seeding might be affected by changes to who advances. Given that this will go back to the 2nd preliminary round originally posted last week, there is a strong likelihood of RP already reflecting posted scores (e.g. transfer window decisions) and it wouldn't be fair to give teams a second bite at the cherry, as it were, in matches that were scorinated correctly the first time.

I apologize for this and hope you won't be too disappointed if your upset win is now not to be. The Champions League is not affected by this issue at all.

The technical explanation is that the IFCF scorinator requires a competition setting when teams are put into the sheet, and this has a significant effect on a team's skill rating. I set all teams to "Challengers Cup" when the teams dropping down from the CL should have been set to "Champions League". These teams were thus scorinated with a much lower skill rating than they should have had, which is one reason for the unusual number of upsets in the Challengers Cup. All else equal, a team that finished 2nd in the league will have a higher skill (and probability of winning) than a team that finished 3rd.

UPDATE: I've done the re-scorination up to the qualifying round, and since the group stage will have to be entirely rescorinated anyway I considered it fairest to redo the group draw with the teams that made it for real this time.

You'll hear more from me around 2200 UTC when I get off work tomorrow. If you spot further problems telegram me ASAP.