Cup

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National Cup logo

Emerald Challenger Cup logopx

Ruby Challenger Cup logopx

Sapphire Challenger Cup logopx

Consolation Cup logopx

Every countries has its own national cup system. Teams in each league qualify for a cup based on ranking in the season before.

The main event is the National Cup competition. In leagues with more than six divisions, a Divisional Cup is added for each division below VI. Both the National Cup and the Divisional Cup are accompanied by secondary (Challenger) and tertiary (Consolation) cups. These are lower ranked Cups for the teams that lose in the main cup.

Every season, the best managers get their names engraved in the Hattrick "Hall of Fame" and the National Cup champion (together with the winner of the top league) gets a spot into Hattrick Masters.

Cup System

In a National Cup you will play against all teams of the first six divisions of your Contry, and at the end of season the National Champion of the Contry will be named. In a Divisional Cup you will only play against other teams of the same Division, and the champion will be named the Divisional Cup champion of that specific Division only. If your team is eliminated early from the Divisional Cup you will, as in the National Cup, get the chance to participate in a lower tier cup instead.

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

As of season 56, a completely redesigned Cup has been introduced. If you lose one or two games in National Cup will no more be the end of Cup experience for a club. In the early rounds you will drop down to a Cup that has, perhaps, a more suitable level of competition. That means every club will be guaranteed at least three Cup matches per season.

The Challenger Cup system will consist of four 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 trophies. The three Challenger Cups are originally called Emerald, Ruby and Sapphire, but they can be given a local name by the comunity in each country.

Emerald Cup

It 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 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

Ruby Cup

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

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

Sapphire Cup

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

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

Consolation Cup

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. This Cup does not give any prize money or other perks, but the winner still gets a trophy.

Prize money: -

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

Cup 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, varying for a few minutes for the Challenger cups. From the Cup 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: The early rounds of a cup are not all displayed, because there are too many games played.

Game Rules

• 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 played at a neutral ground too).

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Remember that your players may get injured during cup matches.

• 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

• List of national cups
• HTs on Global/Cup