Difference between revisions of "World Cup"

Latest revision as of 21:52, 3 November 2007

The NationStates World Cup is NationStates' longest-running recurring sporting event, dating back to the first half of 2003. Nations from around the NS world at all sorts of different technology levels play football (also known as 'soccer' or 'Association football') for the ultimate glory of becoming World Champions. For a direct FAQ on the World Cup, see the World Cup FAQs article.

Procedure

Qualifying

Each World Cup since the third has begun with a qualifying stage including anywhere from approximately fifty to one hundred nations, with eighty being the customary number. These nations are typically divided into eight to fifteen qualifying groups of six to ten nations, depending on the exact number entered. Each nation in a qualifying group plays each other nation in that group once at home and once away (the exception to this rule was World Cup 5, where nations in the qualifiers played each other only once). After all matches have been played, thirty qualifiers are determined based on placement in their groups. The first criterion for placement is the number of points earned (three for a win, one for a draw, and zero for a loss). If this results in a tie, the first tiebreaker is goal difference (the number of goals conceded subtracted from the number of goals scored). The next tiebreaker is the number of goals scored. In almost all situations, this is enough to resolve any tie. (If it is not, the results of matches between the tied teams would act as a tiebreaker, and a playoff match would occur if the teams are still tied. This has never been required in the qualifying, although it has been required haphazardly in the group phase, first occurring in World Cup 12 when Timway beat Liverpool England 2-1.) In some cases, playoffs are scheduled as part of the qualifying phase.

World Cup

The thirty qualifiers in addition to the two host nations advance to play in the World Cup proper. The first round (or the group stage, as it is also known) is made up of eight groups of four nations. Routinely, four of these groups play in one host nation, while the other four groups compete in the second. Each nation in a group plays each other nation in that group once. The top two nations in each group advance to the second round, using the same rules as with qualifying. Beginning with the second round (also known as the round of sixteen), a single-elimination format is used. The exception to this is in the semifinals, as the two losing nations in the semifinals still move on to face off in the third-place playoff.

Scorinating

Results are determined by using a scorinator of some sort. Excel spreadsheets are the most common method, but the Java program Leagion has been used more often since World Cup 14. The early versions were created in the time of WC14 by World Cup 13 co-host Rejistania. However, World Cup 13 was not scorinated with Leagion but by another Java-coded scorinator called wc13.java. The primary influence on the results is the rank of each nation, though roleplay bonus can also have a moderate effect (the exact influence of each depends on the formula used and hence varies between World Cups). Another popular scorinator gaining notoriety and use is Bedistan's NSFootySim, currently in its 2.0.1 incarnation, and uses XML as its input language.

History

Upon its institution by Ariddia, there was no qualifying stage and no ranking system, in the World Cup, and match results were determined merely by rolls of the dice. Minor alterations were made to the dice-rolling formula for the second World Cup in Alasdair I Frosticus. Total n Utter Insanity initiated the move away from dice in World Cup 3, and match results were now generated by Excel spreadsheets with, moreover, a qualifying stage appended to the system. This supplementation enabled more nations to participate at any given time, though to this day only thirty-two attain entrance to the World Cup proper. After qualifiers were introduced, the host(s) of the Cup, in addition to the few highest-ranked nations, automatically participated without need of qualification. Ensuing World Cup 7, this too was modified, and thus only the inherent qualification of the host nation(s) prevailed.

In World Cup 9, the RP-bonus was introduced.

Related Tournaments: Baptism of Fire Cup, Cup of Harmony, Under-21 World Cup, Eagle's Cup

Hosting

The World Cup Committee

The World Cup Committee (WCC) elect the hosts of each World Cup, as well as nominate potential (E)WCC Presidents. So, following reforms proposed by Spaam and passed by the old World Cup Committee (now the Emergency World Cup Committee), all nations who have posted a squad (thereby demonstrating active interest in the Cup) in the two previous Cups earn a place on the WCC. Thus membership of the WCC needs to be 'earned' by a roster/team sheet and must be 'renewed' each cup by signing-up to the Cup and posting a squad for their nation.

For full information on the WCC, including Spaam's proposals, see the WCC article.

The WCC President

Current President: Bazalonia
Vice-President: Ariddia

The WCC President acts as something of a figurehead for the World Cup Committee, and is elected from a list of nominees nominated by the WCC. The President calls for and collects the votes for World Cup Host, Cup of Harmony Host and WCC President votes. The President is usually a pillar of the World Cup community and is currently Bazalonia. ICly, the WCC President is former Bazalonian national FA President James Gaines. The Vice-President is former Ariddian coach Evgheny Melenciuc.

WCC Presidents are elected every three cups. Both Bazalonia and Ariddia were reelected in an election scheduled to follow World Cup 36, but held after World Cup 35.

For further information, see the President section of the WCC article.

The Emergency World Cup Committee

For a full list of the EWCC including inactive and ex-nation members, see the EWCC section of the WCC article.

The Emergency World Cup Committee (EWCC) is made up of representatives from all still-existing nations that have hosted a World Cup at some point in the past. As a lot of these experienced nations hang around in #sport, they provide most of the discussion and ideas for World Cup reform. As such they are consulted in 'Emergency' situations when fast decisions are needed. They also constitute the old 'Host Selection Committee' to decide the host of the Cup of Harmony. The nations are:

• Alasdair I Frosticus/The Archregimancy (WC2, WC28, WC34)
• Ariddia (WC1, WC34)
• Audioslavia (WC7, WC25)
• Az-cz (WC33)
• Bedistan (WC8, WC18, WC27)
• Cafundéu (WC36)
• Casari (WC29)
• Commerce Heights (WC26, WC36)
• Eauz (WC15, WC18, WC23)
• Fmjphoenix (WC27)
• Geisenfried (WC32)
• Giant Zucchini (WC10)
• Kaze Progressa (WC12, WC17, WC25)
• Krytenia (WC24, WC29)
• Legalese/Novapsolu (WC22, WC37)
• Lethislavania (WC21)
• Liverpool England/Ad'ihan (WC22, WC37))
• The Lowland Clans (WC31)
• Milchama (WC32)
• New Montreal States (WC28)
• Oglethorpia (WC8, WC14)
• Oliverry (WC26)
• One Red Dot (WC10)
• Quakmybush (WC33)
• The Islands of Qutar (WC30)
• Rejistania (WC13, WC16, WC23)
• Schiavonia (WC30)
• Spaam (WC6)
• Starblaydia (WC20)
• Tanah Burung (WC5)
• Total n Utter Insanity (WC3, WC11)
• Vilita/Turori (WC17, WC19, WC22, WC31)

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Hosts for upcoming World Cup (38)

• Kura-Pelland and Vephrall: [1]

Past winners

Summary by Edition

Summary by Nation

Fast Facts - The Cup

By defeating Liverpool England in the Semi-Final of World Cup 17, Dance 2 Revolution became the first Post-KPB team (a nation that has only competed in the World Cup since the official use of KPB ranks began in World Cup 12) to make the final. Dance 2 Revolution became the first Post-KPB team to finish in the top 3 in two separate cups by beating Total n Utter Insanity in the World Cup 19 3rd-Placing Match. Dance 2 Revolution's World Cup 19 spotlight was quickly stolen by Crystilakere, who went down in history as the first Post-KPB nation to unseat the veterans and win the World Cup.

Rejistania & Bedistan currently hold the record for most World Cups won (four), while Bedistan has the most final appearances (seven). Capitalizt SLANI claims to inherit Bedistan’s record (after the destruction of Bedistan's football association but before the nation ceased to exist, Bedistani footballers played for Capitalizt SLANI), and thus has won five World Cups, but this is not generally recognized. Audioslavia currently hold the record for most losses in the final match, having lost all four times (WC12, WC19, WC20, WC29) that they have reached it. Seventeen nations have made an appearance in the final more than once; of those, two have never won it: Audioslavia and Spaam.

The World Cup 22 final will go down in history as one of the most unexpected finals ever, with both nations outside the top 10 in rankings prior to the finals. It has been suggested that the winning scoreline of 4-0 to Sarzonia is the biggest ever in a World Cup final.

Rejistania's victory in the final of WC23 ended a run of four consecutive victories for sides from the Atlantian Oceania region (Crystilakere - WC19, Vilita - WC20, Bedistan - WC21, Sarzonia, WC22), though AO was back on top again in World Cup 25 with Starblaydia. There had not been a Final without an AO nation appearing in it since World Cup 18 until WC31, when Squornshelous & New Montreal States competed in the final. This also broke a 6 World Cup winning streak for Atlantian Oceania.

Squornshelous currently holds the record for the most cups participated in: 30 qualification attempts, with 29 finals appearances. The Total n Utter Insanity team, never having lifted the cup, are the team with the most appearances without a World Cup Championship.

The record for the most goals in a World Cup match (qualifying or finals) is 15, in Bedistan's 8-7 defeat of Vilita in World Cup 21. The record for highest number of goals scored in penalty kicks during a finals match was an astounding 25 PKs, with Ariddia scoring 13 to Bazalonia's 12 in World Cup 31. The record winning margin in a World Cup match is 11, in Elves Security Forces' 11-0 defeat of Keyne Island in World Cup 35 qualification. Ravea has a rather more dubious record, the worst qualification record in history. They lost every game in qualification - a feat almost attained in World Cup 12 by Hash n Beans, who won their last match having lost the preceding thirteen - and while Mikele and Vorpal Bunnies held the same dubious distinction, neither had such an abysmal goal difference and they have been almost entirely forgotten. Indeed, Ravea are often wrongly believed to be the only team in history to lose every match in World Cup qualification.

The final top-three finishing nations in World Cup 27 were also the three previous Cup Winners: Bedistan (World Cup 26 champions), Liverpool England (World Cup 24 champions) and Starblaydia (World Cup 25 champions). These were, coincidentally, also the top three finishers in World Cup 28 and World Cup 30. None of these teams, however, got past the quarter-finals at World Cup 29.

World rankings

Originally, the NSWC rankings were determined purely on finishing position in the previous Cup. The defending champions would be ranked #1, the team with the best record in qualifying that failed to qualify would be #33, etc. During World Cup 9, the WCC determined that a new ranking system was needed, but it took a while to come to a consensus. World Cup 11 used the RPR-system. The majority of the World Cup community disliked that approach, mainly because Total n Utter Insanity failed to explain it and because its implementation tended to have discouraging effects for new nations. Starting with World Cup 12, the KPB ranking system developed by Kaze Progressa with modifications from Bedistan was officially incorporated. The KPB ranking system takes into account the past three World Cups and associated tournaments Cup of Harmony and Baptism of Fire.

Fast Facts - Ranks

The Empire of Vilita became the first to control two nations inside the top 10 of the KPB rankings at the conclusion of World Cup 19. The Emirate of Turori, a colony of Vilita, lost in the quarterfinals of World Cup 19 to eventual runners-up Audioslavia, but their performance as first time hosts earned them a place in the top 10 for the first time, joining their rulers, Vilita. After Vilita won World Cup 20 and Turori made the quarterfinals, the two remained in the top 10 for their third and second consecutive cups respectively, eventually doing one better as both nations found themselves ranked in the top 5, at 2nd and 4th in the list. The only other time a nation and their puppet have both been in the top ten is after World Cup 34, when Elves Security Forces were ranked fifth and Demot tenth.

Current rankings

As of the end of World Cup 36, the top ten nations in the world are as follows:

1. Ariddia
2. Capitalizt SLANI
3. Elves Security Forces
4. Errinundera
5. Schiavonia
6. Bettia
7. Az-cz
8. Vilita
9. Milchama
10. Zwangzug