Independents Cup 13 OOC Thread

[IAC Organising Committee]

INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP 13
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

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IAC Discussion Thread & History

Reigning Champion

Welcome to the Independent Associations Championship (Independents Cup) - 13th edition! This is the signup thread. If you've been here before, you know the drill. If not, read on for more information about the "non-regional" regional tournament!

HOSTING
Hosting rights for IAC-13 are currently available. Single or joint host applications are welcome, from users who have experience in hosting competitions of this scale. Bidders must be signed up for the present competition and users behind the nation must have competed in one of the previous installments, even if under a different flag. Host bids should be posted in this thread and include the usual details including methodology, formulae, and indicative scheduling - please read guidance on expectations for format and scorination further down this post. A vote may be organized if more than one bid is received. Currently signed up nations with at least one previous user entry will likely be eligible to vote.

Please note, if only one bid is posted, the IAC-OC reserves the right to select the bid without running a vote, in the interest of time. The IAC-OC also reserves the right to run a vote for a single bid, but a vote is not guaranteed unless there's at least 2 bids. This is consistent with IAC precedent going back to the beginning.

There are currently two bids, those of Poafmersia and Trolleborg/Quintessence of Dust

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SIGN-UP RULES FOR IAC-13

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ELIGIBILITY & ENTRY
Any nation that is not a resident of the Big Three sporting regions - AO, Rushmore & Esportiva - at the time of this post may sign up to compete in the IAC. You may have been resident there in the past and may have competed in their international tournaments previously. You may plan to move to the sporting regions in the future and participation in this tournament does not preclude that, although it would be considered extremely bad manners to do so at the time of participation. Note, even if you've participated in the IAC in the past, you cannot participate with us if you're currently residing in a Big Three region, especially if you've signed up for their tournament.

NEW NOTE: With the creation of Anaia splitting off from Atlantian Oceania, there has been some discussion on whether or not the new region of Anaia qualifies as a full "sporting region" yet. While I was originally planning to allow Anaia to compete in the IAC, the creation of their new "CAFA" tournament seems to fill their need for a regional tournament. Thus, Anaia residents are barred from entering the IAC.

The Independents Cup is not, of course, a WCC-sanctioned tournament, and while it usually uses official WCC rankings it has no impact on those rankings. Nations that have participated in WCs and nations that have not are both welcome to compete in the IAC, by signing up in this thread. Please note that we are currently looking at implementing a standard ranking system that includes both recent WCC and IAC success in the calculation.

PUPPETS
Puppets of main nations resident in the Big Three are still eligible to compete in the IAC provided the puppets themselves are not resident in the Big Three, and it is permissible to create puppets just to take part here - all eligible nations are welcome. These puppets are suggested to be declared for transparency.

Previous entrants may enter two nations into the IAC provided they meet eligibility criteria. This means any user who competed and RPed (roster + minimum 1 post) in a previous edition of the Independents Cup (it doesn't have to be the nation they are signing up to the IAC with). When entering two nations, please declare puppet status.

Everyone else may enter one nation to this tournament.

FORMAT & SCHEDULE
Precise arrangements will be confirmed by the host once selected and as the numbers become clear, but the suggestion for prospective hosts will be for a group stage dependent on group size followed by a knockout bracket from 16 qualifying nations. Hosts will decide on a cap, with puppets taken out of the draw first if sign-ups exceed this at their discretion if necessary, last in first out.

The timetable will likely run in tandem with the Big Three championships; precise dates to be confirmed and dependent on the rate of sign-ups, taking cue from the other tournaments. I advise hosts to plan 48 hours between each cut-off to allow good time for RPing.

SCORINATION
The tournament will be scorinated using the host's preferred method which will be confirmed in due course. We still have not officially sanctioned an IAC-specific ranking system, though there are several proposed systems still floating around WCC ranks could be used to provide a general continuity within NS football, but IAC-specific ranks or RP bonus amounts must be sizeable enough to potentially allow new and consistently high quality RPers a good shot at the title: see unranked Veldgouwen's run to the final in the first edition.

SIGN-UP & DISCUSSION
Sign up in this thread to participate in the thirteenth edition of the IAC. Questions and clarifications welcome. Please remember to declare puppets. For more advanced discussion, feel free to consult our Discussion Thread, available at that link or our forum signature here.

This post confirms Drawkland's sign-up.

Sign-Ups
1. Drawkland
2. Adab
3. Felinetopia
4. Omerica
5. Squornshelan Remnant States
6. Montaña Verde
7. A Mushroom Kingdom
8. Squidroidia
9. TJUN-ia
10. Quintessence of Dust (Montana Verde)
11. Almuzahara
12. Franco-Canadian Michigan
13. Malandrin
14. Garbelia
15. Eshialand
16. Volinovia
17. Miena San Hosana
18. Space
19. HUElavia
20. Minardinia
21. Kriegiersien
22. Poafmersia [PotatoFarmers]
23. Indusse
24. Dari Sultanate
25. Abanhfleft
26. Srednjaci
27. Raspotochje (Srednjaci)
28. Federative Republic of Brasilia
29. Juvencus
30. Sixty-ninE X
31. Pratapgadh
32. Reçueçn
33. New Lusitania and the Algarves
34. The H Corporation
35. Lewhoten
36. Galimencia
37. Kohnhead
38. Sajnur
39. Sannyamathland
40. Trolleborg
41. Republic of Indian States
42. Roless
43. Saterun

Withdrawn
none

[Drawkland]

Confirmed

[Adab]

We sign up!

[Felinetopia]

We'll sign up!

[Omerica]

Entering the Independent Associations Championship! (maybe with a serious bid this time…)

[Squornshelan Remnant States]

In for the farewell tour

[Montana Verde]

We sign up. QoD should be considered our puppet for this edition.

[A Mushroom Kingdom]

In

[Squidroidia]

In. Hopefully we win the title... Perhaps. Probably. Not likely.

[TJUN-ia]

I've seen 4ths and a 3rd, but can I actually make a Final before the year is out?

[Quintessence of Dust]

We sign up. This time, please consider us the puppet: exclude us first if necessary for signup numbers.

[Almuzahara]

Panthers

[Franco-Canadian Michigan]

Franco-Canadian Michigan will sign up, debut.

[Malandrin]

Cmon! Sign me up!

[Garbelia]

In.

[Eshialand]

In!

[Volinovia]

We’d like to enter!

[Miena San Hosana]

In. (Am I allowed in? I don't know, so I'm gonna try to enter and see how it goes.)

[Space]

in

[HUElavia]

An Unlucky Team going into an Unlucky Tournament?

Yeah, why not.

[Minardinia]

In!

[Kriegiersien]

In

[PotatoFarmers]

viewtopic.php?p=38761223#p38761223

[Indusse]

Me, cause why not?

[PotatoFarmers]

Poafmersia's bid for IAC XIII

Exactly 10 years ago, Poafmersia took their first step into international football, with the Ministry of Arts, Sports and Culture (MASC) looking to utilise sports as an avenue to open Poafmersia up to the world. The government saw this as an avenue to start to open up the country to the world, to let more people know about Poafmersia. And the proposal by Adnan Suliaha, first coach of the Poafmersian National Football Team, to set up a national team and participate in qualifiers for the multiverse's World Cup, was adopted. That, was World Cup 84, the very first qualifiers for Poafmersia.

10 years and 5 World Cups later, Poafmersia is one of the fastest rising teams in the multiverse. It took the Red Panjias 4 attempts to make it to the World Cup, and Poafmersia did it once again last year, clinching top spot in their qualification group to make it into the World Cup. A stunning rise for the Red Panjias mean they squeezed themselves into preliminary 15th place by the KPB rankings. But the greatest of Poafmersia has been seen in the IAC. Taking the IAC by storm on their first attempt in IAC9, Poafmersia went on to clinch a stunning 4th place, before going on to clinch both IACX and IAC11 titles. With the titles, Poafmersia became the first team to have a successful defence of the IAC, and only the second nation in the history of the IAC to win 2 titles. It also solidifies Poafmersia's position as one of the best outside of the Big 4 regions. Poafmers have largely seen the past 10 years as a huge success for football, and many other sporting communities in Poafmersia are trying to step up and show their presence on the international stage.

To celebrate Poafmersia's decade of participation in international football, the Poafmersian Football Association (PFFA), together with the support of the MASC, has decided to draw up this bid to host the 13th edition of the IAC. In drawing up this bid, officials from the ministry and PFFA took time in trying to make this bid as unique to Poafmersia as possible. Not only does the PFFA intend to make this a memorable competition for Poafmers, they wanted to go back to the roots of the IAC - to provide an avenue for nations outside the Big 4 sporting regions to come together, and enjoy the beautiful game. Whether it is providing the smaller nations with a shot at a piece of major trophy, or to give new nations an opportunity to interact with experienced teams, this IAC bid will ensure that everyone has an enjoyable experience in Poafmersia.

The Format
Regionals have always been an avenue for teams to try new things, showcase their culture (in football or otherwise), and give younger players an experience of the big stage. As such, this bid aims to bring with it a unique "casaran group stage" that has previously been untested in the IAC.

Stage 1: Introduction
The word "Casaran" rings a bell? To many nations in the multiverse, the word has always been linked to evil, ridiculous, and unrealistic formats that some other nations have attempted to push through. This bid, however, aims to change the face of Casaran stages. The first part of the competition will be a 4-game aggregated group stage. It would be similar to Casaran in terms of how this part will play out, but unlike Casaran, your fixtures will be pre-determined. Teams will be split into 4 pots, regardless of the number of participants, based on the current IAC ranking coefficients. These pots will have the same number of teams, but in the event that it is impossible, the format is able to deal with 2 pots having 1 more team each. Teams will play 4 matches in this stage, against 1 team from every pot including your own. The teams will then be ranked based on the results of these 4 games, in a combined table against every other team in the competition.

You can think of this like the proposed 36-team group stage for the UEFA Champions League. Actually, however, this isn't new. I was inspired by the 2019-20 CONCACAF Nations League Qualifiers, and decided to adopt the format as a means of allowing RP bonuses to build up. Also inspired by the most recent WCoH (1st stage was 4 groups round-robin!) and the 62nd AOCAF (first stage didn't eliminate anyone!)
EDIT: As this stage aims to weed out some of the non-RPing teams, a majority of the teams will qualify for the second stage, but there will also be some eliminations.

Stage 1 Tiebreakers
1) Points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw)
2) Goal Difference
3) Wins
4) IAC ranking coefficients (ONLY for purposes of determining seeding)
5) Coin Flip (OOC: Scorinated games between tied teams, with draws turned off.)

Note: To determine pots in Stage 2, point 4 will be used ahead of point 5. If there is elimination involved, the 4th point will be skipped instead.

Stage 2: Climax
From this point on, the IAC ranking coefficients will only play a minor part in seeding. Yes, you heard me correctly. So what is going to determine the seeding? It will be the ranks from the first stage.
EDIT: Depending on the number of teams at the beginning, the number of teams in Stage 2 will differ slightly. There is also an exception in the case there is less than 24 signups for this tournament, as seen below.

Formats will be as such:

24-30 teams: Top 16 qualify for this stage. 4 groups of 4, top 2 qualify for Quarterfinals.
32-40 teams: Top 24 qualify for this stage. 6 groups of 4, top 2 and 4 best runners-up qualify for Round of 16.
42-52 teams: Top 32 qualify for this stage. 8 groups of 4, top 2 will qualify for Round of 16.
54-64 teams: Top 48 qualify for this stage. 12 groups of 4, top 2 will qualify for Round of 24. 8 best group winners will gain a bye into Round of 16.

Group Stage Tiebreakers
1) Points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw)
2) Goal Difference
3) Points from games in that stage between tied teams
4) Goal Difference from games in that stage between tied teams
5) Wins
6) Coin Flip (OOC: Scorinated games between tied teams, with draws turned off)

Note: There will be no reuse of tiebreakers. For instance, if 3 teams are tied by Points, and only 2 of these 3 teams are level on Goal Difference, they will be tiebroken by the head-to-head result between these 2 teams.

Stage 3: Conclusion
The third part will be the traditional knockout stages. Starting from the Round of 32/16 (depending on the numbers), teams will play each other in a straight knockout format, with a bronze medal match for the losing semifinalists.
The bracket will be a fixed bracket based on group positions in the group stage, designed to minimise meetings till later stage in the tournaments. It would be similar to what is typically employed in the World Cup.

OOC Scorination details
The tournament will be scored using xkoronate, with the SQIS formula. For the knockout stages, any games involving the host will be scorinated by a third-party. Cutoffs will be held every 48 hours where possible, giving participants ample time to RP. The cutoffs will likely be around 7pm AWST, or 11am UTC, 7am EST.
For every cutoff, a cumulative RP bonus scale of 0-3 will be used. Apart from any RP bonus raked up, the host will be given an additional host bonus of 2. The RP bonus will be given primary based on quality and effort of RP, regardless of the medium of presentation.
Additional roster bonus will be given. To encourage rosters to be posted before the first cutoff, up to 1.5x the RP bonus will be given for all rosters posted before that. (Rosters posted after first cutoff will continue to be given a roster bonus, up to the max RP bonus.) A roster penalty of 1.5x maximum RP bonus will also be given to all teams without a roster after the end of the first stage. (The penalty will be removed should the team post a roster anytime after that. The minimum skill a team can have is 0.)

Host Experience
This will be Poafmersia's first hosting experience in terms of a full international competition. The user, however, is familiar with the use of xkoronate, scoring 5, going to 6, whole seasons of the Poafmersian Premier League/Apex; as well as some domestic hosting experience as they are on the IFCF hosting committee.

We are open for any additional questions.