International cups
Three cups for the top six of every Elite division: the Champions League for 1st and 2nd, the Contenders League for 3rd and 4th, the Challengers League for 5th and 6th. A club knocked out in qualifying drops into the cup below.
Who gets in#
Each Elite division sends two clubs to each cup by finishing place. Within a cup, the eight clubs with the best club rating — the coefficient built from the last five seasons of these cups, explained on the Leaderboards page — enter the league phase directly; everyone else starts in the first qualifying round.
The road#
| Stage | Format |
|---|---|
| Qualifying round 1 | Two legs. The Champions League has one qualifying round, the Contenders and Challengers Leagues two |
| Qualifying round 2 | Two legs, Contenders and Challengers only |
| League phase | 36 clubs in one table, 8 matches each |
| Knockout play-off | Places 9 to 24 of the league phase, two legs, 9th to 16th against 17th to 24th, for the eight places beside the top eight in the Round of 16. Places 25 and below go out |
| Round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final | Two legs; extra time on level aggregate, no away-goals rule, then penalties |
| Final | One match on neutral ground |
Knocked out of the Champions League qualifier, you drop into the second qualifying round of the Contenders League; knocked out of the Contenders League's first qualifier, into the Challengers League's second. A club knocked out of a second qualifying round is out. You are paid in every cup you were knocked out of.
The final#
The nominal home team is drawn by lot. The venue seats 60,000, the ticket is 5, it sells out, and the 300,000 gate is split 50/50, 150,000 to each club. Neither side has a home advantage.
Prizes by the stage you went out at#
| Stage | Champions League | Contenders League | Challengers League | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winner | 12,000,000 | 5,000 | 250 | 6,000,000 | 1,500 | 125 | 3,400,000 | 750 | 70 |
| Runner-up | 8,000,000 | 4,000 | 150 | 4,000,000 | 1,200 | 75 | 2,200,000 | 600 | 40 |
| Semi-finalist | 5,500,000 | 3,000 | — | 2,750,000 | 900 | — | 1,500,000 | 450 | — |
| Quarter-finalist | 3,600,000 | 2,200 | — | 1,800,000 | 660 | — | 1,000,000 | 330 | — |
| Round of 16 | 2,400,000 | 1,600 | — | 1,200,000 | 480 | — | 700,000 | 240 | — |
| Knockout play-off | 1,500,000 | 1,000 | — | 750,000 | 300 | — | 400,000 | 150 | — |
| League phase, 25th and below | 900,000 | 600 | — | 450,000 | 180 | — | 250,000 | 90 | — |
| Qualifying round 2 | — | — | — | 280,000 | 120 | — | 160,000 | 60 | — |
| Qualifying round 1 | 400,000 | 250 | — | 200,000 | 50 | — | 120,000 | 25 | — |
Also worth knowing#
- Cup matches cost players half the energy of a championship match.
- Attendance, fame and union points weight the cups at 1.3, 1.2 and 1.1, and each cup stage from 1.05 in the league phase to 1.5 in the final.
- The three cups share a daily slot with the National Cup, twelve hours from the championship slot.
See also National Cup and Rewards