TiffToff88
11 months ago
10 months ago
2

Hi all, This is my first post on the forum so apologies if this is the wrong place to post this, But I'm having some problems creating a database and was hoping someone here could help me out? - Actually, to be honest I was hoping someone with much more knowledge and experience of creating FM Databases might like to have a crack at this one for me…

 

Inspired by the Coupe de France, I wanted to create a British Cup, which would involve teams from England (Premier League-L2, Scotland (Premiership-L2), Wales, Northern Ireland, and every British Overseas Territory (BOT's) that has any club teams in the game.

 

My initial thoughts are that in order to reduce fixture congestion, it would replace the Carabao Cup (And any other second tier domestic cups in the other leagues) and that any teams playing in Continental competition would be exempt from the cup for that season.

 

The general idea is that it would include a few preliminary qualification rounds for BOT's, followed by a group stage (Excluding top tier English and Scottish teams - they would enter in the first knock out round after. With the final venue alternating between Wembley, Hampden Park and the Principality Stadium.

 

Any other ideas and suggestions to improve the competition structure are welcome.

xbenjaminx
3 years ago
5 hours ago
368
Premium

The first thing you have to bear in mind is how far down the pyramid you want to go and also the massive gulf in quality between teams in England and Teams in the other nations. One of the considerations with BOSTs as well as you're going to have to edit a lot of league structures to create a tournament like this which then in turn potentially impacts bigger competitions. That's not to say it's not doable. It's just going to be a lot of work.

If you want to include all levels then I'd suggest a three tier competition (essentially model it on UEFA) so that you can put teams in competitions against teams of a similar ability. No point having Chelsea vs Mullingar for example.

To avoid changing any other leagues you could potentially do it as a summer tournament. That way it occurs during pre-season instead (providing it sticks with the European calendar).

You're talking:

England - 92 Clubs (Prem to L2)
Scotland - 42 Clubs (Prem to L2)
Northern Ireland - 24-38 Clubs (Premiership - First Division/Intermediate League)
Wales - 108 Clubs (JD Cymru Premier - JD Ardal Leagues)

Gibraltar - 10 Clubs (Premier Division)

Anguilla - 11 Clubs (Premier Division)

Bermuda - 20 Clubs (Prem & First Division)

Montserrat - 5 Clubs (Premier Division)

British Virgin Islands - 10 Clubs (Premier Division)

Cayman Islands - 22 Clubs (Prem & First Division)

Turks & Caicos Islands - 7 Clubs (Premier Division)
Guernsey - 1 Club (Lower League England)
Jersey - 1 Club (Lower League England)
Isle of Man - 1 Club (Lower League England)
And if you wanted them as well
Republic of Ireland: 20 Clubs (Prem & First Division)

That's 368 Clubs before you start (388 including ROI) so that might get a little hectic.

Whilst the idea is good in principle, what I'd potentially consider is a Champions League (Winners of all the leagues), Cup Winners Cup (Winners of the League and/or FA Cup of each nation) or like I said split it into three competitions, you're looking at 120ish teams in each competition and follow the format of UEFA. The other thing you're going to have to think about is seeding and drawing rules.

TL;DR

It's doable with a lot of work, but scaling it down may yield better results.
 
 

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