USHFA Champions Shield
The USHFA Champions Shield is the main football competition of the men's national football teams governed by the Union of Saint Holden Football Association. The competition is held every 2 years on an even numbered year.
History
After USHFA was founded in 1951, the very first USHFA Champions Shield took place in 1952. The first finals was held in Linton, Mount Francis and the two finalists were Della Cruz and Saint Samuel, which Della Cruz won on penalties.
Format
Qualification
In order to qualify a team must be winners or runners-up in one of the seven qualifying groups. The groups for qualification are drawn by a USHFA committee using a random draw. Sixteen teams progress to the final tournament, including the hosts and current champions (hosts & champions automatically qualify).
Final Tournament
The sixteen teams are divided equally into four groups, A, B, C and D, each consisting of four teams. The groups are drawn up by the USHFA administration.
The four groups are played in a league format, where a team plays its opponents once each. The points system is used (three points for a win, one point for a draw, no points for a defeat). The winner and runner-up of each group progresses to the quarter-finals, where a knockout system is used (the two teams play each other once, the winner progresses), this is used in all subsequent rounds as well. The winners of the quarter-finals matches progress to the semi-finals, where the winners play in the final. If in any of the knockout rounds after normal playing time, the scores are still equal, extra time and penalties are employed to separate the two teams.
