(thanks to Tikariot for the logo!)
Sylestone is a tropical island nation located in western Esportiva, well-known for its thriving environment and tourism industry. It has relatively high scientific advancement and technology, with little crime throughout the nation, although not unknown. The nation is home to roughly 30 million inhabitants and encompasses roughly 700 kilometres square, with its main cities including the capital, Avondale, Chamberley on the western shores, Betham, Cleorough, the treetop city of Pesfield and the almighty city of Sentient Objects, Kirkham. The nation is well-known for its dense rainforests and bright yellow beaches, as well as its inland desert and the Cable Alps in the east, all essential destinations for the everyday tourists. Football is one of Sylestone’s most prominent sports alongside cricket and Australian Rules football, with an emerging league and two relatively strong national football teams - one composed of Sentient Objects and one of humans. After hosting a Cup of Harmony with Ethane a few years back and a Baptism of Fire with Græntfjall, Sylestoneans are eager to get more home football action.
Zwangzug is a country "known" for its idiosyncratic approach to football and life, with such "innovations" as goalkeeperless formations, a stadium-less club, overly-involved musical parodies, and bad math jokes, to say nothing of the constant board game allusions (chess related and otherwise). Having welcomed dozens of developing sides in Cup of Harmony 77, we made a surprising return to the CoH field last cycle and now, as the world’s 34th-ranked side, can look forward to aspiring there or thereabouts again. (Is there an echo in here?)
As Zwangzug is an assistant host in the ongoing World Cup 89 qualifiers, much of this will be a continuation of those bid parameters.
Format: We plan on a straightforward single-round robin group stage and knockout stage structure. Tiebreakers will be, as in the WCQ: points, goal difference, H2H points, H2H goal difference, IC coinflip (scorinated tiebreaker game with draws possible), OOC coinflip. If a tie between multiple teams must be broken and one team wins the tiebreaker at any stage, while the remaining teams are still tied, the tiebreakers start at the top of the list again to break the tie between the remaining teams.
Invitations: We will aim to invite teams that have posted the equivalent of three "slightly above average" RPs in the WC89 qualifiers. As of this writing (approximately halfway through qualifiers), there are approximately 70 teams that have done so already, and 23 more that have at least half that value (ie, are "on pace" to reach it if their second-half output is similar). The bulk of the 30 qualifiers will probably come from this group, therefore, at this time we estimate about 40 to 64 teams will be invited. Teams will be asked to confirm their invitation by posting a roster in the thread.
Scorination: Continuing as in the qualifiers, we will use xkoranate with SQIS and additive mods, bonus directly added to "ranks" (no "percentage" toggle), and cumulative RP bonus. We will carry over up to two cutoffs' worth of bonus from the qualifiers, representing the best and average bonus.
Hosting experience:
Sylestone has previously hosted two WCC events - the 78th Cup of Harmony and the 74th Baptism of Fire. However, they have also hosted other, additional tournaments, such as two Aussie Rules World Cups, a World Lacrosse Championship, the inaugural EspoT20 and are currently hosting the 24th Handball World Cup.
Zwangzug is currently assistant-hosting the WC89 qualifiers, and has previously Zwangzug has hosted 2.5 World Cups (including part of the qualifiers in the four-host WC85), two Cups of Harmony, and five Baptisms of Fire, as well as tournaments in baseball, ice hockey, and Quidditch.
