Hey everyone,
I’m writing to share with the idea of organizing the Football Cup based on a Pong mode. Yes, if you don't like it - don't follow the next lines. Thanks. I’ve already talked with several people about this. There are some people eager to join such a tournament, so I write this post to discuss about it and to give some various proposals and imaginations of the event. The rules (almost all discussable) will go like this:
1. Type of competition. In the past, people tried to make football league. It failed because most of people didn’t come to the matches (which were probably unscheduled). My idea is to make a championship based on UEFA Champions League rules, with the exception that every player can join a tournament if he/she has a team. Let’s assume that we have 16 teams scheduled on a tournament. The tourney will go like this:
1) 4 groups A-D, each with 4 teams, 6 matches per group in a system all vs all. We get the best 2 of
each group advanced = 8 teams, as 1A = 1st at group A and so on. The rest is eliminated.
2) Quarterfinals: matches of 1A-2B, 1B-2A, 1C-2D, 1D-2C. Winners advance.
3) Semifinals: matches of winner 1A-2B – winner 1C-2D and winner 1B-2A – winner 1D-2C.
4) Match for the 3rd place and the final match – we have 3 final places.
Why is it better than league? Firstly, it is shorter, so people will not get bored. Secondly, it is more enjoyable, because we have way more competitive tournament – the loser is eliminated. Thirdly, it is easier to organize it – less matches (with 16 teams we have 32 matches compared to 16*15/2=120 matches in a league of the same size). This tournament is considered to be a test if it could work fine and if it might be continued and developed in the future.
2. Number of players. Most of guys were likely to have a 2v2 cup. It is possible to have 2v2 or 3v3, as more players on the field will not be very entertaining.
3. Match duration. Very good teams at 20-minute match score about 10 goals, sometimes even less, so it can’t be less than 15 minutes to make it fair.
3. Shooting. Most of people who play this are fine with one PGP shoot per round and it actually works fine at the [OTB] Soccer server, so the cup will have this solution in it.
4. Servers. As the main football server around is [OTB] Soccer, I thought about [OTB] servers, as everyone got used to ping they have there, but if we would have more American teams, we can think about different servers and make matches with 2 halves – 1 on American, 1 on European server. It just depends on the players which sign up to the tourney.
5. Team registration. As it is the very first tournament, I think it will work fine if it will be done here, at the forum. There will be new thread created for teams to sign up when everything will be fine.
6. Match scheduling. I’m not experienced at organizing such tourneys, so I would like to hear some opinions here. I was wondering about getting e-mails with the registration and people would schedule a match by contacting with each other by mail or by forum accounts by PM.
7. Results. The result of the match (if anyone couldn’t check the result) would be PM-ed from both of these mails or posted with an image at the forum and if everything is fine, it will be submitted at the scoreboard. 4-5 days should be enough for each round (3 rounds of matches for a group phase, 4 rounds for a championship mode, which might be faster as less teams we will have here). I know that people creates websites for such cases, but as it is the very first try and I’m not sure about how many people will be interested, this option is considered only in the next edition.
Every suggestion, idea and opinion other than ‘meh it won’t work because soccer sucks’ will be greatly appreciated
Looking forward for it. Thanks in advance!