Big 30 Football Contest: Who here knows most about the game in Europe and S. America

[GersMan]

Watching the World Soccer draft thread on this board, I am reminded how much fans like to get involved with/feel part of the actual doings of real players and teams.

With this in mind I'm starting a contest, no wagering or expenses involved, only for bragging rights, of selecting the best clubs in the world, or at least in Europe, South American, the U.S. and Mexico. The contest is not for the faint of heart, it is pretty massive in scope actually, but I suspect there will be 18 on here who will enjoy it a great deal.

Basically the way the contest works is this, 18 participants will draft a list of 30 clubs each. The clubs come from the top divisions in 10 South American and 24 European nations, plus Mexico and the United States. In the case of some leagues, there will be one league team per contest player (leagues with 18 teams or more), in other, I have to group 5 nations together, with each contest player taking teams in 4 of the 5 leagues, or in the case of MLS and the A League - 1 of 2. The full listing is in the next post.

How you do in the contest is based entirely on the real life performance of the teams. Your teams earn you 3 pts for a win and 1 pt for a draw in each of their domestic league, domestic Cup and continental Cup competitions. There are also bonus points for high league, domestic Cup and continental Cup placement.

IMPORTANT - contest performance is all about how teams do and nothing about individual player stats, this is not fantasy football per se.

A contest player will need to consider a number of things about the teams he chooses from, including likelihood of domestic success, domestic Cup format (some have more games for top division teams than others), whether the team is in a continental competition (I include CONCACAF Champions Cup, Copa Libertadores, Champions League, UEFA Cup and Intertoto Cup - if a Copa Sudamericana is revived for 2004/2005 I will include that as well).

Additionally, each contest player will have 3 transfers available to him, allowing the swap of a team he has drafted for an untaken team, with the new team's stats from the time of the swap counting toward the player's oveall total, and the old team's stats up to that point being registered.

As leagues start at various times, some of the leagues used have actually already begun the season that counts toward the contest. The general run of the contest is from August to next May, but as I say, those with summer or spring to fall leagues, USA, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Ecuador, Uruguay, Peru, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia already have some results posted.

I'll put the points breakdown in the next post.

[GersMan]

OK - as I say, the teams you draft earn you 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw in every domestic league (including playoffs) match, as well as every domestic Cup (one per country, no League Cups) and every Continental competition they are in.

Bonus points for placement are awarded as follows:

Domestic Title - 20 points for Type A Leagues (see list below); 6 points for runner up; 10 points for Type B Leagues, 3 points for runner up - Countries with Apertura and Clausuras will split the points for each position in half.

Domestic Cup Titles - 12 points for Type A Countries; 6 points for runners up and 3 for semifinalists - 6 points for Type B Winners; 3 for finalist and 1 for semifinalists.

European Cup and Copa Libertadores - 24 points for champion, 12 for finalists, 6 for semifinalists, 3 for quarterfinalists.

UEFA Cup (and Sudamericana if it is revived) 12 for champion, 6 for finalists, 3 for semifinalists and 1 for quarterfinalists.

Intertoto Cup and CONCACAF Cup - 8 for champion, 4 for finalists, 2 for semifinalists and 1 for quarterfinalists.

Type A Leagues - game amount does not include playoffs

Argentina 20 teams - 38 matches Apt and Claus - fall to spring
Brazil 24 teams - 46 matches - spring to fall
Uruguay* 18 teams - 34 matches (Apt and Claus) spring to fall
Chile* - 18 teams - 34 matches (Apt and Claus) spring to fall
Colombia* 18 teams - 34 matches (apt and claus) spring to fall
Mexico 20 teams - 38 matches (apt and claus) fall to spring
France 18 teams - 34 matches - fall to spring
England 20 teams - 38 matches - fall to spring
Italy 18 teams -34 matches - fall to spring
Germany 18 teams - 34 matches - fall to spring
Spain 20 teams - 38 matches - fall to spring
Holland 18 teams - 34 matches - fall to spring
Belgium 18 teams - 34 matches - fall to spring
Turkey 18 teams - 34 matches - fall to sp ring
Portugal 18 teams - 34 matches - fall to spring

PLAYERS WILL DRAFT ONE TEAM FROM EACH OF THESE LEAGUES (15 Teams)

Type B Leagues
Group 1
Peru* - 14 teams - 39 matches spring to fall
Ecuador* - 10 teams - 36 matches spring to fall
Paraguay* - 10 teams 27 matches spring to fall
Bolivia* - 12 teams - 34 matches spring to fall
Venezuela - 10 teams - 36 matches fall to spring

PLAYERS WILL DRAFT 3 TEAMS OUT OF THESE 5 LEAGUES (NO MORE THAN ONE PER LEAGUE -3 Teams)

Group 2
Major League Soccer* - 10 teams - 30 matches spring to fall
A League - 16 Teams - approx 28 matches spring to fall

PLAYERS WILL DRAFT 1 TEAM FROM THESE 2 LEAGUES (1 Team)

Group 3
Austria 10 teams - 36 matches
Scotland 12 teams - 38 matches

PLAYERS WILL DRAFT 1 TEAM FROM THESE 2 LEAGUES (1 TEAM)

Group 4
Russia* 16 teams - 30 matches spring to fall
Norway* 14 teams - 26 matches spring to fall
Sweden* 14 teams - 26 matches spring to fall
Finland 14 teams - 26 matches spring to fall

PLAYERS WILL DRAFT 3 TEAMS FROM THESE 4 LEAGUES (NO MORE THAN ONE PER LEAGUE - 3 TEAMS)

Group 5
Denmark 12 teams - 33 matches fall to spring
Ukraine 16 teams - 30 matches
Greece 16 teams - 30 matches
Hungary 12 teams - 32 matches

PLAYERS WILL DRAFT 3 TEAMS FROM THESE 4 LEAGUES (NO MORE THAN ONE PER LEAGUE - 3 TEAMS)

Group 6
Czech Republic 16 teams - 30 matches
Slovakia 10 teams 36 matches
Bulgaria 16 teams - 30 matches
Poland 16 teams - 30 matches
Romania 16 teams - 30 matches

PLAYERS WILL DRAFT 4 TEAMS FROM THESE 5 LEAGUES (NO MORE THAN ONE PER LEAGUE - 4 TEAMS).

* = league already in progress for contest purposes

This adds up to 30 teams then, that each player will have. Obviously draft order is entirely up to you. There are more bonus points available for Type A Leagues, but Type B Leagues tend to have more obvious front-runners and some times more domestic matches from which to earn points.

As there will be some uncertainty about promotion/relegation when we draft, some teams may find themselves without a team in a given league. They will get a free opportunity to replace their team with an undrafted team before that domestic season begins, although we will likely need to do that in concert for fairness. The competition should wind up next May or June.

I would like to arrange some set times for this draft so we don't drag on forever. I don't mind knowing some of the results ahead of time, but want to get as many teams chosen BEFORE Their league starts.

As I said, there are 18 in a league. If we fill up and it looks like there is demand for a 2nd, we can try that too. There is no charge for the league, but updates may not be every week at given times of the year.

All decisions of the commissioner (me) are final, but I'm pretty reasonable, especially when it comes to acknowledging mistakes.

So I'm throwing this out there to the broader Big Soccer community. Who wants in, I'd like to draft by the end of the month in as short a time period as possible.

[Riverdale Goalie]

It seems procrastinating in writing a book review for my Civil War class has paid off. Since I missed out on all other drafts and this one seems pretty straightforward and not too demanding after all the teams are picked, you can sign me up. Should be interesting...

[TORPEDO]

I'm in.
BTW how long is the season , and who's gonna keep track of the points and standings?

[GersMan]

Keeping track would be me.

Season Begins in effect, now - and runs through the end of fall-spring seasons next year - should be early June.

[Che Matador]

i am in also, sounds interesting

[Hecho en Mexico]

im in. :)

[Montréal United]

Interesting... Count me in.

[GersMan]

OK, including me that's 6, so we need 12 more for our first league. I'd like to start drafting by next week if possible, to meet the artificial draft complettion deadline of April 30.

Who Better Than GersMan?????

[GersMan]

With all the interest in selecting the best world team, the best American team, the best team of all time, I'm somewhat surprised there is not more reaction to being able to determine the best teams per league RIGHT NOW.

One thing I've thought is that with a board like this, you coudl actually make this an ongoing deal, with contest players keeping their teams fromseason to season, and having 3-year, 5-year totals to add to the single-season competition. It may be presuming active participation, but I'm relatively sure I'll be involved for the next five years (if I'm still alive, that is).

Those of you who are in, please feel free to whip up the masses to fill out our ranks.

[argentine soccer fan]

I am not sure about my knowledge of some of those leagues, but Ok, I will try it.

Gersman, how about a group for Asian leagues? I'd like to try my luck with the likes of Japan, South Korea and China.

[GersMan]

argentine fan - great to have you aboard.

Maybe someday on Asia, this is ambitious enough for now :-)

By the way - to all concerned - a great one-stop shopping spot for the makeup, tables, fixtures and results for all of these leagues is here:

http://www.rsssf.com/

If you're concerned about knowing the teams in some of the leagues, this is the best resource I know of.

[kerpow]

Sign me up dude, I'll be in for this.

[SoccerFan8270]

This sounds like a lot of fun. I'm in...

[kerpow]

Do we draft teams by those groups you've created or is it a free for all? I think an FFA would be more fun as it opens the competition up alot more.

[Zak]

I'm in.

[guri]

I won't miss this one. Count me in also

[rauld10]

I'm in, this competition sounds great. It's an interesting twist to have so many teams not players chosen and to have the results based on the whole team not just its players.

[Malaga CF fan]

I'm in. Sounds like fun.

[Hazardinho]

I'm in.