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Author: nemesys
Date: 25-12-2013, 06:24

This has been already discussed in the past, but since the subject is touched again in this thread on Forum 2, I start a new thread here (I don't wish to spam that thread with this OT, and competition format is a Forum 1 subject anyways).

The goal here it is to make an analysis, not to claim what is the perfect, better, fairest, or whatever; just to try to see if this is a doable option, from a realistic point of view. This thread of course has only the purpose of an academical discussion, being obvious that it is not a solution Uefa will likely introduce in the future. Comments and corrections are of course welcome.

What a full Ko Cup could look like? Let's imagine a single European competition, with a generic name as European Cup. The best 256 clubs of Europe qualify for it (this can likely be done even without Qualification Rounds): with about 50 countries involved, that's a 5 clubs per country average, which should be enough.

The Access List rules are up to you, I don't mind: as somebody once said, if you ask 100 of us what the correct Access List would be, you are lucky if you get 99 different versions, plus one 'I don't know'.

R1: 256 to 128 = 2 legs (2x 128 matches = 256 matches)
R2: 128 to  64 = 2 legs (2x  64 matches = 128 matches)
R3:  64 to  32 = 2 legs (2x  32 matches =  64 matches)
R4:  32 to  16 = 2 legs (2x  16 matches =  32 matches)
R5:  16 to   8 = 2 legs (2x   8 matches =  16 matches)
QF:   8 to   4 = 2 legs (2x   4 matches =   8 matches)
SF:   4 to   2 = 2 legs (2x   2 matches =   4 matches)
FN:   winner 1 = 1 match                  ( 1 match  )
-----------------------------------------------------
Totals:         17 matches/club           509 matches

TVs I think wouldn't dislike this model too much, if allowed to spam the most interesting matches from Tuesday to Thursday. Top clubs used to have 6 GS European matches guaranteed may oppose this system, but still the firsts rounds would honestly be easy, and a possible solution could be allow the clubs to organize international friendlies midweek in case of elimination (I'm not a fan of those friendlies, but how fair would be to impose a club to don't play football at all in a specific midweek?).

Many fans would welcome this full Ko model, many others perhaps not. I think it depends on personal preferences: the cup pathos vs. the league precision. I personally like the two legs pathos solution in the Europeans Cups, as league formats are implemented in the domestic championships already. Others may think different.

As for seeding and drawings procedure, it is possible, for example (just an idea), to have one single draw event in the beginning of the season (as in WC) and a tennis tournament system. This has the advantage that clubs already know in advance where they are likely supposed to play in the next rounds. It protects the strongest clubs from meeting each other in early rounds; but a club lower in ranking gains the seeding of a stronger club if it is able to defeat it. Seeding method example (using Uefa Clubs rankings):

A2: Top 2 clubs participating
A4 : Clubs 3rd and 4th
A8 : Clubs 5th to 8th
B16: Clubs 9th to 16th
B32: Clubs 17th to 32nd
B64: Clubs 33rd to 64th
C+  : Clubs 65th to 128th
C=  : Clubs 129th to 256th

1)  A2  vs. C= --|__
    C+  vs. C= --|  |          QF   SF   Final
                    |--
    B64 vs. C= --|__|  |
    C+  vs. C= --|     |
                       |----|
    B32 vs. C= --|__   |    |
    C+  vs. C= --|  |  |    |
                    |--     |
    B64 vs. C= --|__|       |
    C+  vs. C= --|          |
                            |____
    B16 vs. C= --|__        |    |
    C+  vs. C= --|  |       |    |
                    |--     |    |
    B64 vs. C= --|__|  |    |    |
    C+  vs. C= --|     |    |    |
                       |----|    |
    B32 vs. C= --|__   |         |____
    C+  vs. C= --|  |  |         |    |
                    |--          |    |
    B64 vs. C= --|__|            |    |
    C+  vs. C= --|               |    |
                                 |    |
2)  A8  vs. C=                   |    |-------
    (+15 matches, see above) ____|    |
                                      |
3)  A4  vs. C=                        |
    (+15 matches, see above) ----|    |
                                 |____|
4)  A8  vs. C=                   |
    (+15 matches, see above) ----|

5)  A2  vs. C=
    (+15 matches, see above) ----|
                                 |____
6)  A8  vs. C=                   |    |
    (+15 matches, see above) ----|    |
                                      |-------
7)  A4  vs. C=                        |
    (+15 matches, see above) ----|    |
                                 |____|
8)  A8  vs. C=                   |
    (+15 matches, see above) ----|

---

Cheers!

Best Wishes!

- nemesys