World Cup
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The NationStates World Cup is NationStates' longest-running recurring sporting event, dating back to the spring of 2003. As of this writing, World Cup 19 Qualifiers have just been completed.
Contents
Procedure
Each World Cup since the third has begun with a qualifying stage including anywhere from about fifty to one hundred nations, with eighty being the usual 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 V, 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 subracted 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 needed occasionally in the group stage.)
The thirty qualifiers plus the two host nations go on 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. Normally four of these groups play in one host nation, while the other four groups play in the other. 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.
Results are determined by using a scorinator of some sort. Excel spreadsheets are the most common method, with Java program Leagion increasingly used since its debut in World Cup 13, co-hosted by the program's developer Rejistania. 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).
History
The World Cup was started by Ariddia. At the time, there was no qualifying stage and no ranking system, and match results were determined by rolls of the dice. This was changed by Total n Utter Insanity in World Cup III, as match results were now generated by Excel spreadsheets. Also a qualifying stage was added. This addition allowed more nations to participate at any given time, though to this day only 32 make it 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 having to qualify. After World Cup VII, this too was changed, and now only the host nation(s) automatically qualify.
In World Cup VII, the RP-bonus was introduced.
Related Tournaments: Baptism of Fire Cup, Cup of Harmony, Under-21 World Cup
The World Cup Committee
The World Cup Committee (WCC) is made up of representatives from all still-existing nations that have hosted a World Cup at some point in the past:
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World Cup VI was slated to be hosted by Kingsford and Spaam, but RL issues prevented this from happening and Lemmitania took over hosting of the Cup. Both Kingsford and Spaam are still WCC members. World Cups I through VI were hosted by single nations. All World Cups since then (VII through XX) have had two co-hosts.
^ Vilita and Turori share one WCC vote.
Ex-nation hosts
The following hosts have since ceased to exist:
- Alasdair I Frosticus (WC2)
- Brazillico (WC4; WC16, see note)
- Al Quds (WC5, see note)
- Ravenspire (WC9)
- Warnocks Wizards (WC11)
- Lemmitania (WC6, see note; also WC7, WC12)
World Cup V was slated to be hosted by Tanah Burung and Al Quds; however, Al Quds ceased to exist before the Cup could start. A single-elimination playoff was held among the eight fourth-place qualifying finishers to determine who would take the co-hosts' place in the Cup, and Bedistan won the spot. Likewise, World Cup XVI was slated to be hosted by Rejistania and Brazillico, but Brazillico began to become inactive after doing the group draw of the qualifiers and ceased to exist at the end of the world cup. In this case, the Brazillican team was still allowed to participate, but all matches were played in Rejistania.
Past winners
Plus second and third place as a bonus.
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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 IX, the WCC determined that a new ranking system was needed, but it took a while to come to a consensus. WCXI 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 it is highly discouraging for a newb to go 0-0-(number of matches) and the fact that he would be ranked in the top 50 can not really encourage in this cup (this example was exaggerated). Starting with World Cup XII, the KPB ranking system developed by Kaze Progressa with modifications from Bedistan was officially incorporated. The KPB ranking system takes into account the past twelve years of performances in the World Cup and in associated tournaments like the Cup of Harmony and Baptism of Fire.
As of the start of World Cup XIX qualifying, the top ten nations in the world are as follows:
