Group stage
Like last season, we are going to put all the best teams together in one elite group, and all the weakest teams together in another not-so-elite group, and the rest in between.
All the groups, therefore, will contain teams who are relatively evenly matched in terms of their average player ratings.
This should make for many more competitive games for all teams. Some of the stronger teams will fail to qualify for the knockout stages of the Cup, but some of the weaker teams who win their groups will qualify.
The Group fixtures will start on Saturday 30 June, and will be played every following Saturday to complete all home and away group fixtures.
Knockout stage
The draw is predetermined, and can be seen on the Youth Cup Season 9 page - therefore the higher you finish the stronger likelihood of an opponent of a lower rating.
Youth Shield
Those teams that fail to qualify from the group stage for the Youth Cup knockout rounds will enter the Youth Shield.
There will be no Youth Spoon this season and several teams (8) will be eliminated at the group stage. The colour codes can be seen on said pages.
Eligibility of Players
All players must be 21 or under on 31st October 2018.
Any player who turns 22 on 1 November 2018 or after, therefore, is eligible to play.
You can loan players to or from other clubs as normal, either for the season, or just to play in Youth Cup/Shield/Spoon Group and Knockout stages.
Once the Group Stage is complete, no new loans are allowed.
Loans
You can loan players to or from other clubs as normal, either for the season, or just to play in Youth Cup/Shield/Spoon Group and Knockout stages.
Once the Group Stage is complete, no new loans are allowed.
Penalties for playing overage players
Managers are responsible for checking and reporting opponent's teams for ineligible players. Any ineligible players must be reported to me (http://www.soccermanager.com/profile.php?cid=186242) by Private Message as soon as possible, and no later than 10 pm the following Monday.
If you play an overage player or players, you will automatically forfeit the game and a loss of 0-3 will be recorded against your team and a 3-0 win in favour of your opponent.
If both teams play ineligible players, the result will be recorded as a 0-0 draw.
This season will also see the return of the "c" column meaning you also get -1 point if you fail to set your team correctly as well as recieve a 3-0 loss.
If both teams play ineligible players, the result will be recorded as a 0-0 draw.
This season will also see the return of the "c" column meaning you also get -1 point if you fail to set your team correctly as well as recieve a 3-0 loss.
If you have Gold Membership, you can save your Youth Team and First Team, which makes team selection less of a headache.
Reminders to set teams may be posted on the in game newsfeed, and in the WhatsApp group, but at the end of the day it is down to individual managers to select their teams appropriately.
Penalties for failing to arrange fixtures
It is the responsibility of both home and away teams to arrange their fixtures. Obviously, the home team has to send out a friendly request to the away team. But the away team is expected to contact the home team to remind them or ask them to resend the invite if necessary, and to do so at least 24 hours before kick-off, so there is time to see the message and act on it. Similarly, the home team should contact the away team to remind them to accept the invite, if necessary.
Group Admins will also endeavour to remind managers to send out or respond to invites, but ultimately, it is down to individual managers. It is all part of managing a team in this Game World.
If you forget or otherwise fail to arrange your fixtures, you will automatically forfeit the game and a loss of 0-3 will be recorded against your team.
If your opponent also forgets or otherwise fails to contact you to remind you or ask you to resend or accept the invite at least 24 hours before kick-off, the result will be recorded as a 0-0 draw. If they can show that contacted you to remind you, etc., they will be awarded a 3-0 win.
Fictional Extra Time
In the knockout stage, if the scores are level at full-time (and over two legs, if the scores are level taking into account away goals advantage), Fictional Extra Time comes into play:
- One goal scored for the team with most possession.
- One goal scored for the team with the most shots on target.
- One goal scored for the team who scored first in normal time.
Other rules
That's pretty much it, any question please ask on the newsfeed or PM myself, Alex Mclean or Norman Little directly.
Excellent work Dan
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jeff.
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