Cup

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Each Country 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 tier Cups for the teams that are eliminated early from 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 also a spot into next Hattrick Masters.

Cup System

In a National Cup, a team plays against all other teams of the first six divisions of the Country, and at the end of season the National Champion will be named. In a Divisional Cup your 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.
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	National Cup logo
Number of teams (max): 16 384‬ Number of rounds (max): 14 Final on week: 14 (or before)

As of season 56, a completely redesigned Cup has been introduced: 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. 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 trophy. 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

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 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	Emerald Challenger Cup logo
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 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	Ruby Challenger Cup logo
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 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	Sapphire Challenger Cup logo
Number of teams (max): 2 048 Number of rounds (max): 12 Final on week: 15 (or before)

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 for National and Divisional Cups: -	Consolation Cup logo
Number of teams (max): 4 096 Number of rounds (max): 13 Final on week: 15 (or before)
Note that there is no top scorer award for any 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, 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 in Cup Competitions

• 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).

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 your 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

• List of national cups
• HTs on Global/Cup