Cup

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Each country has its own national cup system based on teams final rank emerged in league during the previous season.

The main event of the country is the National cup, which is accompanied by lower tier Cups for teams that are eliminated early from the main cup. These are secondary (Challenger) and tertiary (Consolation) cups. In leagues with more than six divisions, a Divisional Cup replicates the entire system for each division below level VI.

At the end of season, only one champion will be named for each cup, and the winner gets their names engraved in the Hattrick Hall of Fame. The main national cup champion also gets one of the two spot (together with the winner of the top league) into next Hattrick Masters.

Cup System

As of season 56, has been introduced a completely redesigned Cup, in which losing one or two games in a cup competition will no more be the end of cup experience for a club.
In the early rounds the team will drop down to a Cup that has, perhaps, a more suitable level of competition, albeit with a lower cash prize. That means at least three cup matches per season guaranteed to every club.

The new Challenger Cup consists of three different competitions that run parallel to each other and to the National cup: one winner will be crowned in each one of them, each with its own unique trophy. The basic Challenger Cups are originally called Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire, but they can be given a local name by the comunity in each country.
There is also a Consolation Cup that does not give any prize money or other perks, but that still gives the winner a trophy.

Note that there is no top scorer award for any cup.

Main cup

In a National Cup a team plays against all other teams of the Country.
In the most populous countries the cup could be split into a first six divisions main cup and into Divisional Cups (one for each below level six), where a team plays against other teams of the same division, and the competition winner will be named the Divisional Cup champion of that specific Division only.

Main National Cup trophy

National Cup prize money: 1 500 000 € for Winner 1 000 000 € for Runner Up 750 000 € for Semi-final exit 500 000 € for Quarter final exit 250 000 € for Round of 16 exit 200 000 € for Round of 32 exit 180 000 € for Round of 64 exit 160 000 € for Round of 128 exit 140 000 € for Round of 256 exit 120 000 € for Round of 512 exit

Divisional Cup prize money: 300 000 € for Winner 150 000 € for Runner Up 100 000 € for Semi-final exit 50 000 € for Quarter final exit 25 000 € for Round of 16 exit

Number of teams (max): 16 384‬
Number of rounds (max): 14
Final on week: 14 (or before)

Emerald Cup

Emerald Cup starts a week after the National cup (then, no matches are played on week 1). It takes on any team that is eliminated from the National Cup in round 1 or 6.

Emerald Challenger Cup trophy

Emerald Cup prize money: 300 000 € for Winner 150 000 € for Runner Up 100 000 € for Semi-final exit 50 000 € for Quarter final exit 25 000 € for Round of 16 exit

Divisional Emerald Cup prize money: 150 000 € for Winner 100 000 € for Runner Up 50 000 € for Semi-final exit 25 000 € for Quarter final exit

Number of teams (max): 8 192‬
Number of rounds (max): 14
Final on week: 15 (or before)

Ruby Cup

Ruby Cup starts two weeks after the National cup (no matches played on week 1 and 2). Teams eliminated in rounds 2 and 5 of National cup are automatically moved to the Ruby cup.

Ruby Challenger Cup trophy

Ruby Cup prize money: 300 000 € for Winner 150 000 € for Runner Up 100 000 € for Semi-final exit 50 000 € for Quarter final exit 25 000 € for Round of 16 exit

Divisional Ruby Cup prize money: 150 000 € for Winner 100 000 € for Runner Up 50 000 € for Semi-final exit 25 000 € for Quarter final exit

Number of teams (max): 4 096
Number of rounds (max): 13
Final on week: 15 (or before)

Sapphire Cup

Sapphire Cup starts three weeks after the National cup (that means no matches on week 1, 2 and 3). Teams eliminated in rounds 3 and 4 are moved to the Sapphire cup.

Sapphire Challenger Cup trophy

Sapphire Cup prize money: 300 000 € for Winner 150 000 € for Runner Up 100 000 € for Semi-final exit 50 000 € for Quarter final exit 25 000 € for Round of 16 exit

Divisional Sapphire Cup prize money: 150 000 € for Winner 100 000 € for Runner Up 50 000 € for Semi-final exit 25 000 € for Quarter final exit

Number of teams (max): 2 048
Number of rounds (max): 12
Final on week: 15 (or before)

Consolation Cup

Consolation Cup trophy

Teams that are eliminated in round one of the Emerald Challenger Cup (week 2) and round one of the Ruby Challenger Cup (week 3) will gain a place in the Consolation Cup.

Prize money for National and Divisional Cups: -

Number of teams (max): 4 096
Number of rounds (max): 13
Final on week: 15 (or before)

Format

Fixtures

Matches are played mid-week, instead of friendlies. The first round always takes place the week before the first league game of the season. The first round opponents are announced one week before the games. Opponents for the next round are always determined immediately after the games.

The highest-ranked teams are always seeded to meet the lowest-ranked teams. Teams that enter a competition in a later round are always seeded to meet the teams that have entered the competition early. If teams entered the competition at the same time, the highest-ranked teams are always seeded to meet the lowest-ranked teams.

The size of the Cups is determined by the number of teams that are qualified for the cup and that have human managers. The smallest possible cup size that still makes room for all qualified human teams will be chosen:

1. The amount of qualified teams managed by humans is counted.
   
2. The smallest cup size that fits all the teams managed by humans is chosen.
   
3. This Cup is then filled out by the human teams first.
   
4. Once all human teams are in, the "regular" bots from the league system are used to complete the starting field.
   
5. If this is not enough to fill up the National Cup, new bot teams are created for the purpose of the Cup only (temporary "neighbourhood" teams - low skilled teams that will enter the Cup at the lowest rank and thus get to play the highest ranked teams through the first few rounds).
   

Cup matches in every country are played on the same day of week and almost same time, Challenger cups varying just for a few minutes. From the Cups page you can check how many rounds have been played, and also see the games played for each round. You'll find cup matches list on a left side link on the "World" top menu. Note that the early rounds of a cup are not all displayed, because there are too many games played.

Rules

• Home & away

The higher-ranked team always plays away, until the last six rounds of the Cup, at which point all matches are played at neutral venues (semi-finals and finals are also played at a neutral ground too).

Since season 83, a lower-ranked team takes over the seed from their opponents for the forthcoming round, should they defeat the higher ranking opponent. The round after they return to their original low-ranked seed.

The home side gets 2/3 of the crowd revenue and the away side gets one-third. On neutral venues the teams split the revenue 50/50.

• Extra Time & Penalty Shoot-out

All cup games not settled during normal time go to extra time, and if that doesn't settle the game, there's a penalty shoot-out. Just before extra time, stamina becomes more important than it was during the second half of normal time and teams lacking experience become even more likely to succumb to nervousness.

• Cards

Cup matches are competitive matches, this means that cards received during a cup match are valid in the League, too. A player who received a red card during a cup match, will miss the following league game.

• Injuries

Remember that players may get injured during cup matches.

• Experience

The National cup is also a good opportunity for you to let your players get some valuable match experience, earning about double as much experience as a league match. The Challenger Cups give half the experience of a league match instead.

Final Considerations

As in real life, playing a whole season will take its toll on the squad. Sometimes it might be a better idea to save your best players and play it cool by fielding the reserves. However, staying in the Cup for a long time gives you more competitive games, a good opportunity to make experience for players and yourself some extra money.

In general, the fans aren't very interested in the first couple of rounds of the cup, but as it goes on, attendance will increase. Participating in the Challenger cups will still be attractive for your club, but rewards are a lot lower than for the National Cup. The Divisional Consolation Cup will attract 50% more spectators than what an international friendly between the two teams would.

If you can, staying in the National Cup should always pay off. This means that a team going far in the cup big money is made through attendance! The rewards for participating definitely outweigh the risks, especially for ambitious teams in lower divisions, and there's also the matter of the glory.

See Also

• Tournament
• Friendly Cup
• List of national cups
• HTs on Global/Cup