What style of FOFC Cup would you like to see?

[Raven Hawk]

I want to whittle this down first with style, then we will do the actual format (based on # of teams, etc)

Style 1 - Bracket Style. Similar to FOFC Cup IV where everybody is in. They are ranked based on FM's rankings. We fill emptly slots with byes for the top ranked teams. NCAA Basketball Tourney Style

Style 2 - Large Group Play Style. Similar to FOFC Cup III where it is all inclusive group play. We cannot fill the extra spaces with any byes, so we need to fill all spots. Each team plays 3-5 matches in their group first before going to playoffs.

Style 3 - HT World Cup Style. Hasn't been done by us yet. Top teams get byes into group play (4 or 8 teams). Everybody else plays qualifier matches - bracket style - to fill the remaining group play slots. Extra spaces can be filled with byes.

If this poll doesn't work. I apologize, this will officially be the first poll that I post. You must feel lucky . . .

[terpkristin]

I dunno if you've thought of this, and I'm honestly not sure how it works, but have you used the HT Friendly feature in HO?

http://ho.natom.de/

~tk

[Alf]

Option 2 : Group play style

[Cosmicjello]

Forget soccer... lets do the trout thing!

J/K BTW

[Lone Star]

I've been the coordinator of the Lone Star Cup for 7 complete seasons now, and I've used the same basic format. Maybe you could use a few of the components.

Right now it's a 32-club field, playing World Cup style. The only difference being that goup winners advance to the Quarterfinals. I used to have a Round of 16 like the real life World Cup, but I had to push the schedule back a week two seasons ago. I prefer having a same format every season, too.

Ok, so what to do with overflow? I have a Qualifying Round that can accomodate up to 64 clubs. It's a two-legged goal aggregate series, played home and away. Winners advance. If you have fewer then 64 clubs competing, then the higher ranked teams (based on whatever ranking system you choose) get byes to the First Round. This system is great for dealing with an odd number of clubs competing.

I also have a never used before Preliminary Round. should there be more then 64 clubs competing, the overflow plays a single elimination match to get the number back to where i need it.

Now, for the FOFC Cup you could add a week to the proceedings, replacing the Preliminary Round completely, and double the field to 64 in the First Round. The two-legged Qualifying Round could then accomodate up to 128 clubs, the First Round could have 16 groups of 4, and the group winners could advance to the Round of 16.

I use the following schedule (from last season):
http://www.geocities.com/gollum1197/LSCschedule.html

I use these rules:
http://www.geocities.com/gollum1197/LSC19Format.html

Just an idea........

[Raven Hawk]

Originally posted by terpkristin
I dunno if you've thought of this, and I'm honestly not sure how it works, but have you used the HT Friendly feature in HO?

http://ho.natom.de/

TK,

This definitly looks interesting, but I'm not so sure how well that it works. It would allow people to play more games, outside of the "Hattrick" application and thus we could use any format that we would like. However, it appears as though everybody who would want to play in the tourney would need to download the HO application.

[Raven Hawk]

Dola,

Looking at participation, we had 62 teams participate in Cup IV and 90 teams participate in Cup III. When I look at it, I'm figuring that about 72 teams will participate this year. We'll see.

I like some of the ideas that you have Lone Star, and we may end up using them. Right now we're just trying to find out what people's preferences are as to what style people prefer. Thanks for the help.

[DataKing]

I realize that the Seamen weren't in FOFC Cup IV, so feel free to disregard my opinion if you like, but I like option 3. It hasn't been tried yet, and would account for the extra time needed for some of the higher-ranked teams going deeper into their national cups.

[vex]

I like the good 'ole brackets.

[sterlingice]

I'd say, if it's group play, make sure that round is no longer than 3 games. That way as much as possible is decided in head to head games.

SI

[Alf]

SI - in FOFC Cup III, we had groups of 5 => meaning 2 home games & 2 away games for each team. I like it better like that.

FrogMan was hosting the groups page and did a very good job at it !

[Alf]

Bump => seems Group play is a must !

[Havok]

Agreed.... Group play seems like a logical choice to me. Its no fun being in the FOFC cup and being eliminated after the first round.

[FrogMan]

Originally posted by Alf
FrogMan was hosting the groups page and did a very good job at it !

Thanks for the kind words, but I want it to be known, I don't have time to do that anymore. It did put a drain on my weeknight free time during that cup... If anybody is interested in having the excel sheetthat I used to track the 14 groups we had at the time, PM me with an email adress...

FM

[Alf]

FrogMan. Seemed obvious I was willing to take care of this Cup. I just need help on getting your web pages design. My email is in my profile.

Cheers

[FrogMan]

Originally posted by Alf
FrogMan. Seemed obvious I was willing to take care of this Cup. I just need help on getting your web pages design. My email is in my profile.

Cheers

Cool Alf, I didn't want to imply you didn't wanna take care of it, I felt you were taking charge actually

I'll dig up the file, which is on my my hard drive at home. The web design was so easy to use, as long as you use an Excel version at least 2002. At least a version that will let you do a "Save as a web page..."

I'll send you the file at some point tonight...

FM

[Raven Hawk]

Alf,

If you need any support or a break at any point, I would be more than happy to help you out.

[Alf]

Raven Hawk, with pleasure, I think that taking care of getting the matches booked will be the more tedious task, and 2 persons isn't too much.

[FrogMan]

oops, sorry Alf, I forgot to send you the file yesterday. I'll get to it tonight, I promise.

FM