Copa Rushmori XXXVIII Bid
The Kitara's Workers Footballing Association(KWFA), the governing body for the sport in Nyowani Kitara, is officially submitting its bid to greater Rushmore to bring a major tournament to our shores for the very first time.
Nyowani Kitara National History
Basic Map
The Democratic Republic of Nyowani Kitara has functionally existed in some form for about 200 years. Founded when the Kitara Tribe was functionally exiled from Banija and found themselves sent to the icy shores of North Rushmore, their descendants have built up a fully functioning country. For the last 90 years this state has been described by most foreigners as a totalitarian socialist state, where power fully rests in the hands of the sole legal political party, the Kitara Progressive Workers Coalition(KPWC).
Demographically, Nyowani Kitara prides itself on being one of the most diverse, multi-racial countries in Rushmore. There are three major ethnic groups in the country. There is the Kitara ethnic group, comprising approximately 57% of the national population. This majority group are generally descendants of those who came from the country following the Banijan exile, and of the four major ethnic groups, this is the only one considered to be racially black. The other three are white ethnic groups, who are native to this country long before the arrival of the Kitarans. Osterlanders(approximately 30% of the population), followed by Nordlanders(6%) and Zealanders(1%). The remaining 6% are of either white or other minor ethnicities, mostly with roots from neighboring countries, particularly Graentfjall, Tikariot, Yuezhou, and San Ortelio.
With the sudden arrival of a large number of Kitara Tribe members, for about 100 years, this country experienced a lot of racial tension, violence, and strife. Mostly violence between the Osterlanders who were mostly inland, and the Kitara Tribe who were dominant on the coasts, but also between the Kitara Tribe and both Nordlanders and Zealanders. It was a violent period, as the Kitarans established Nyowani Kitara but largely failed to unite the country behind their Chief(later titled a King) and his successors. There were seriously bloody massacres on both sides of the equation.
Approximately 90 years ago, however, following the rise of communism among Nyowani Kitara's neighbors(Tikariot, Graentfjall, and Yuezhou), the wave swept through Nyowani Kitara and the country's first truly multi-racial coalition launched a revolution against the King of the time. This was the Kitara Progressive Worker's Coalition(KPWC), which remains the country's sole legal political party. They defeated the royalist forces, executed the entirety of the Royal Family, and worked on building a united country by bridging previously dominant racial divides.
Even though it was socialist and crushed all political opposition, the KPWC brought stability to the country, by ending a lot of the violent civil wars the nation had, and ensuring equal access to power among the ethnic groups. The position of General-Secretary of the Party(which came with the positions of President of the Republic and Commander-In-Chief) was to be one, singular, six year-term. Elected by the Politburo, it would go back and forth between a member of the Kitara Ethnic group, and a member of the Osterlander ethnic group. Other bodies were carefully divvied up to ensure different groups had political power.
It was a system that worked, as more of a national identity was built out, interracial marriage was encouraged, and the country generally lived in harmony with themselves and their mostly communist neighbors. But a little over 30 years ago, the system was upended. When revolutions against communism hit the Tikariot and Graentfjall union, anti-communist waves hit Nyowani Kitara. People were demanding things like freedom of worship(this was officially an athiestic state), political opportunity, the right to vote(no elections in Nyowani Kitara), etc...
And the General-Secretary at the time listened to them. He began to open up the system, declaring open local elections with the potential for the nation's first ever national Parliamentary election. The Party looked as if it might fall. However, the military took decisive action. General Zelotes Akongo launched a coup, declaring the General-Secretary and many of his allies capitalist traitors and revisionists, and stopped the potential revolution in its tracks. Serious crackdowns saw thousands of potential opposition candidates arrested, local elections blatantly rigged(according to foreign observers), and many people simply disappeared and were never heard from again.
Under General Akongo, the military took precedence over the party. There was a lot less political freedom, and they began to eat up a much larger share of the state budget. The General eliminated the party's term limits on being General-Secretary, and he was declared President-For-Life. He served for 22 years. before he died of a heart attack. He passed on power to his nephew, the current President, Boaz Akongo.
Nyowani Kitara has seen communist allies fall in three of its closest neighbors in the last 3 decades- Tikariot, Graentfjall, and most recently, Yuezhou. Formerly comfortable, they view themselves as a last communist bastion among capitalists, and sometimes the government has a 'besieged on all sides' mentality. Foreign Affairs wise, they still recognize the Government of Ren Qiang as the legitimate government of Yuezhou, and do not have any sort of diplomatic relations with Banija due to disagreements since the Kitaran exile from there almost 200 years ago.
The country is excited to potentially host foreign teams for the first time. They are excited to try and revive their international reputation, by bringing Rushmore's best talent into the country for the regional tournament.
Format
There will be five-eight stadiums used, depending on numbers. The entirety of the tournament will take place in Nyowani Kitara. All groups are single round robin.
24 teams: Six groups of 4. Top four from each group advance to the Round of 16.
28 teams: 7 groups of 4. Top two from each group plus the top two 3rd place sides will advance to the knockout stages. The group winners shall be ranked 1-7, runners-up ranked 8-14, and third place sides ranked 15-16. That is where the knockout stage bracket will be drawn.
32 teams: 8 groups of 4. Top two from each group will advance to the knockout stages.
36 teams: 6 groups of 6. Top two from each group, plus the top 4 third place teams, will advance to the knockout stages.
40 teams: 8 groups of 5. Top two from each group will advance to the knockout stages.
In all formats, group winners will be ranked ahead of group runner-ups, who will be ranked ahead of group third place sides, and so on.
So no matter the format, each team will have an extra game at the end of the group stage. This will be called "rivalry showdown." It will count in your own team's group standings no matter what. It will be against a team from another group. Here will be the kicker- you can pick the opponent. It can be any opponent in another group, as long as that team agrees and as long as they are in another group. You would have until the scorination results of the final regular scheduled matchday to get your matchup scheduled. You could talk to each other, and then finalize it by both of you TGing me or messaging me on Discord.
Anyone who does not have an opponent, of course, will be assigned one. The deadline will be the cutoff before the Rivalry Showdown Matchday. That extra game will count towards your own group standings.
If the explanation is not clear, here is an example to show how it would work(baseball scores used, but the function is the same).
Tiebreakers
1) H-2-H Wins
2) H-2-H Goal Differential
3) Record against teams in the same group
4) Overall Goal Differential
5) Overall Goals For
6) Coin Toss(RP Bonus)
7) Actual Coin Toss
Knockout Stages
And now, for the knockout stage format.
It will be a straight, 16 team, knockout format. Exactly as you'd expect it.
Hosting Experience
This will be the first ever major tournament brought to Nyowani Kitara. However, as a user(we are a puppet of Banija), I do have an extensive hosting background, including the following(but not limited to).
All as Banija
World Bowl XXXIV
World Bowl XXXVII
25th International Basketball Championships(co-hosted w/ Filindostan)
28th World Lacrosse Championships
29th World Lacrosse Championships(co-hosted with Razenthuria)
67th Baptism of Fire(co-hosted w/ Qasden)
76th Cup of Harmony(co-hosted w/ Xanneria)
Conferences in multiple seasons of both the NSCAA and the NSCF
Multiple seasons of the IDLO
World Cup 83(co-hosted with Equestria)
World Cup 81(co-hosted w/ the Federation of Free Republics)
AOCAF LVIII(co-hosted with Baker Park)
XIV Summer Olympiad(co-hosted with Liventia)
AOCAF LXII
IBS XIII
Scorinating Method
Scorination will be done with the latest presently existing version of xkoranate. We will use the NSFS formula with xkoranate (additive) style modifiers. The ranking system used, of course, will be the official Copa Rushmori rankings(as opposed to the KPB rankings), and RP bonus shall be cumulative throughout the entirety of the tournament. A roster shall be worth up to a full matchday's RP bonus.
Other OOC Information
My cutoffs will be between 9:30 and 11 PM EST.
I'm ready for any and all questions.
