Independents Cup 7 OOC Thread

[IAC Organising Committee]

INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT

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IAC-1 | IAC-2 | IAC-3 | IAC-4 | IAC-5 | IAC-6

Pretty soon many of the association football-playing nations of NS Sports will be thinking about their CAF, or Campeonato, or Copa: it's the Big Three's regional championship time, and you're not invited...

The IAC-OC is pleased to open sign-ups for the seventh installment of the tournament for those footballing nations who are not eligible for the Big Three championships (AO, Rushmore and Esportiva). They can be puppets of big three nations as long as they are based outside the regions.

HOSTING
IAC-7 is open for host applications. 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 will be organised if more than one bid is received, and in this case it is likely signed up nations with at least one previous user entry will be eligible to vote.

Right now we have one bid, that of Drawkland. Unless another bid comes up in the next week or so, for simplicity's sake, Drawkland will host IAC-7.

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SIGN-UP RULES FOR IAC-7

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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.

The Independents Cup is not, of course, a WCC-sanctioned tournament, and while it 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.

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. Puppets should 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 the last 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 guide for prospective hosts will be for a group stage of 3/4 games 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. WCC ranks will be used to provide a general continuity within NS football, but 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 seventh edition of the IAC. Questions and clarifications welcome. Please remember to declare puppets.

This post confirms Drawkland's sign-up.

Sign-Ups
1. Drawkland
2. Recuecn
3. Lisander
4. Kavagrad
5. Free Republics
6. Zwangzug
7. Squornshelan Remnant States
8. Abanhfleft
9. Orestea
10. Tulize
11. Sajnur
12. Juvencus
13. The PenguinLand
14. Indusse
15. Crownbrook
15. The Authoritarian Republic of Lochario
16. Alpine Union
17. Omerica
18. Darkmania
19. United States of Devonta
20. The Heraion
20. Hot Skitty on Wailord Action
21. Aaaaaa
22. Nilrahrarfan
23. New Lusitania and the Algarves
24. Shatla

[Drawkland]

Confirming my signup above. Host bid forthcoming!

[Recuecn]

In!

[Drawkland]

DRAWKLAND'S BID to HOST IAC-7
Raikennax & Kayo

At long last, with much deliberation, much strife, and too many memes, Drawkland managed to take the IAC title in the sixth edition. Since Schottia's title in IAC-3 and subsequent hosting in IAC-4, it has become an unspoken tradition that the previous IAC champion host the next Independent Associations Cup. The Drawkian International Sporting Council (known to many as DISC) intends to keep this tradition alive, and bring the IAC to Drawkland's shores for the first time in its short history. As one of the few nations still left that has participated in every edition, it's been a long time coming.

While anybody who's anybody has likely already seen what there is to see with Drawk City and Metropolon, the largest city and capital, respectively, DISC has elected to showcase two other major soccer and sporting powerhouse cities. Raikennax and Kayo, home to the Raikennax Charge and the Kayo Queens, two major DLK powers, will be hosting all of the group stage and playoff games for this IAC. The final, of course, will be held in the illustrious Seven Stars Stadium at Grand Gate Park in the Centivar County Complex.

EXPERIENCE

Drawkland is no stranger to hosting, and especially no stranger to hosting the multiverse's highest echelons of soccer events. Drawkland has co-hosted World Bowl XXIX and IBC 21, as well as being a consistent host for conferences in the NSCF and NSCAA. Several International Cups of 7ball have been wholly or partially hosted by Drawkland.

More relevantly, Drawkland has co-hosted Baptism of Fire 65 (with Spaam), Cup of Harmony 70 (with Eshan), and World Cup 79 (with Ceni). This nation is more than experienced and capable enough to handle hosting a tournament of this size.

SCORINATION

For IAC-7, I will be using the SQIS formula with xkoranate. As this entire competition will be hosted in the neutral Drawkian venues, home field advantage will be turned off for all matches. To simulate the home advantage Drawkland would receive, a small bonus will be applied around equal to the bonus a nation gets normally under the home field advantage feature on xkoranate. Additive (xkoranate) style modifiers will be employed. As per the standard, any participating nations will be allowed to select a style modifier between -5 and +5.

Per the IAC custom, the latest World Cup rankings will be used both to sort teams into pots and to apply as a standard ranking bonus. To obtain this bonus, any nation with a valid World Cup rank must post a roster to receive their ranking bonus. Any nations who participate regularly (i.e. at least once) in the IAC but not the World Cup will receive a similar bonus to compensate for the lack of regular rank bonus.

RPs will be counted heavily in this cup, since it is a short tournament and many nations will likely be unranked. The preexisting World Cup rank bonus will slowly deteriorate over each matchday (similar to what Mercedini employed in the previous IAC), to prioritize nations who are RPing regularly.

FORMAT

Since this has been posted right as the thread opens, there's no clear number right now on how many signups we'll be dealing with. Based on previous entry numbers, I have provided the following options for signup landmarks, and their associated formats. The ideal number will be 32, and if we're within 2-3 signups of that, we'll likely wait for that since it's the most convenient of all formats.

24 nations: 6 groups of 4. Top 2 teams in each group will qualify for the 12-team playoff, byes for Top 4 teams.
28 nations: 7 groups of 4. Top 2 teams in each group, and 2 best third-place teams will qualify for the 16-team playoff.
32 nations: 8 groups of 4. Top 2 teams in each group will qualify for the 16-team playoff.
36 nations: 6 groups of 6. Top 3 teams in each group will qualify for the 18-team playoff (Round of 16 with two play-in games beforehand).
40 nations: 8 groups of 5. Top 2 teams in each group, and 4 best third-place teams will qualify for the 20-team playoff, byes for Top 4 teams.

All group stages will be single round robin. Playoffs will be standard single-elimination, no matter the bracket size.

The tiebreakers for ties within the group stage tables will be as follows: Points, Goal Differential, Head-to-Head Points, Goals For, RP bonus, coin flip.

In the likely event Drawkland reaches the knockout rounds, a neutral third party scorinator (preferably one who isn't participating in the IAC) will be employed to fairly scorinate these matches.

CONCLUSION

We hope all independent nations, regardless of their skill or experience in the NS Sports soccer world, will come to enjoy this edition of the IAC, no matter the host. While we do already have this bid out early, if any other nation wishes to bid for this edition for the IAC, then they are fully welcome to!

Any questions for this bid can be asked in this thread and I will respond as quickly as possible. If this bid is modified the changes will be noted here.

Thank you and good luck on the pitch!

[Lisander]

Yes

[Kavagrad]

Kavagrad returns! Hoping to improve on last tournament's 4th Place!

[Free Republics]

We're in.

[Zwangzug]

Tentatively in, schedule permitting.

[Squornshelan Remnant States]

Not sure how detailed my RPs will be this time, but the SRS will return.

[Abanhfleft]

In because I'm a masochist who wants to see myself crash and burn in these tournaments every time.

[Orestea]

Sign Orestea up.

[Tulize]

Tulize wants in.

[Sajnur]

Attempt #2 at the knockout stages for Sajnur!

[Juvencus]

Maybe I'll finally roleplay in a tournament?

[ThePenguinLand]

I'm in for a return.

[Indusse]

In

[Crownbrook]

the big jah is upon us

[The Authoritarian Republic of Lochario]

IN!

[Union of Socialist Alpine Republics]

The Alpine Union is in!

[Omerica]

I guess so

[IAC Organising Committee]

Right now we have 18 signups! That's pretty good, but I know we can do better.

In the interest of keeping things running as smoothly as possible, the signups for IAC-7 will tentatively close at midnight on May 19. Time zone doesn't matter because I doubt anybody will be cutting it close by then. This gives us about another week and a half for potential players to enter!

In any case, unless a bid is forthcoming from anybody else, we'll go forward with the bid from Drawkland (me) to host IAC-7. In the first few editions, the manager of the IAC account and tournament had sole control over who hosted the tournament, so this shouldn't be a problem. I will leave the option for other nations to bid, however, in the interest of fair play. In such a scenario, a host vote will be held as in several previous IAC tournaments.

Can't wait to see you all out on the pitch!

[Darkmania]

Why not?


We go solo, so no puppet entry (unlike World Cup).

[Drawkland]

In the interest of keeping things running as smoothly as possible, the signups for IAC-7 will tentatively close at midnight on May 19.

In any case, unless a bid is forthcoming from anybody else, we'll go forward with the bid from Drawkland (me) to host IAC-7.

Alright, so this tentative cutoff has passed and we only have 19 signups. We definitely need one more to get to a decent even number, while 5 more would make the first good number tournament wise, at least what I had outlined in my bid.

Speaking of which, since nobody else has stepped forward with any interest in hosting this IAC, I am confirming myself as host for IAC-7. Let's get a few more signups so we can get this rolling!

[United States of Devonta]

in

[The Heraion]

Alright, so this tentative cutoff has passed and we only have 19 signups. We definitely need one more to get to a decent even number, while 5 more would make the first good number tournament wise, at least what I had outlined in my bid.

It seems as though we've reached twenty, but if we're pushing for twenty-four, the Heraion can join in again in the effort to get to that number. If we fall short, of course, the Heraion will happily return home to keep the watch.