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AOCAF 59 Host Bid - Freeport & Chromatika

Posted: Sep 30 2019, 08:41 PM

Official Bid to Host the 59th AOCAF Cup

Freeport
An archipelago nation located in southwestern Atlantian Oceania, the Confederation of Freeport is culturally distinct from nearby Equestria, despite sharing the latter's majority equine population. Freeport boasts a rather tumultuous history, being previously ruled in past centuries by undesirables such as slavers and necromancers, and having long served as a safe haven for criminal activity. Although Freeport has seen considerable reform in recent decades, first under the Council of Thirteen and most recently under Archon Sunset Shimmer, the island nation remains decidedly less idyllic than Equestria, despite it's tropical climate. The heart of the Confederation is the city-state of Freeport, a former safe port for smugglers and pirates, now a rapidly-modernizing metropolis. Notable outlying settlements include Porthaven and Salty Shores.

Introduced to the sport of hoofball by foreign merchants, Freeport's club teams participate in the United Hoofball League alongside clubs from Equestria and the Crystal Empire. Freeport's national team made their international debut at the 56th AOCAF Cup, staging an upset draw against top-seeded Tropicorp in their first competitive fixture. The Condottieri made their WCC debut at the 68th Baptism of Fire, finishing just short of the podium in fourth-place. Unfortunately, Freeport has performed rather poorly since their initial run of success, crashing out of the 82nd World Cup in embarrassing fashion with a last-place finish in their qualifying group and missing out on the Cup of Harmony. The 83rd World Cup cycle was considerably kinder to the Freeporters, now managed by longtime Equestria NT boss Twilight Striker, as they just missed out on a playoff spot in their qualifying group to eventual quarterfinalists Eura, and put in a respectable showing at the Cup of Harmony and were narrowly eliminated on the final day of the group stage. It's clear that the team still has a long way to go before they can truly claim to be a member of the "Glorious" Southwest, particularly in the wake of their Equestrian neighbors' recent AOCAF and World Cup championships, but the Condottieri are up to the challenge.

Resume
The user behind Freeport is one of NS Sports' most experienced hosts, having co-hosted eight WCC events with their primary nation (Equestria/Equestrian States) as well as numerous other smaller tournaments including the World Baseball Classic, World Cup of Hockey, World Bowl, Di Bradini Cup, and International Basketball Championship.

Chromatika
A series of islands located in the northeastern corner of the map of Atlantian Oceania, Chromatika is a land coming out of isolation. Ruled with an iron fist by the Chromatik Party and its color caste system as long as its peoples could remember, The Rainbow Revolution successfully overthrew the Party, the Chromatik National Team leading the charge. Faced with the prospects of having an elected government, Chromatika is going through its fair share of growing pains, including: a remnant of the Chromatik Party now calling itself the Checkers Party, a generation of people who were born with the ideals that some were born for higher status than others with no possible way of switching that stature, and the issue of figuring out how to incorporate foreign influence that does not undermine its domestic powers from growing.

Chromatika entered international football with a disappointing start in Baptism of Fire 60, finishing in fourth place in their group with a record of one draw and two losses. The 73rd and 74th cycles of the World Cup didn't bear much fruit, but the team broke into the finals for the first time in World Cup 75, starting a six cycle run of at least making it to the final sixteen, accentuated by a fourth place finish at World Cup 76 and back-to-back quarterfinal finishes in World Cups 77 and 78. In the AOCAF, Chromatika has finished second in the 52nd edition, fourth in the 53rd edition, and won the 55th. The team has run into a patch of bad form for their standards, having crashed out in the group stage in both World Cup 81 and 83, and not having entered the last two editions of the AOCAF at all. In fact, after the dismal record of no points gained in the group stage of World Cup 83, there are rumors of change through the entire organization..

Resume
The user behind Chromatika is an experienced host, and has hosted a number of major tournaments over the years across several different nations. As Yesopalitha, they co-hosted Baptism of Fire 46, Cup of Harmony 52, and World Cup of Hockey 18; as Falconfar, they hosted Copa Rushmori XI; and as Chromatika, they have hosted World Baseball Classic 36 and AOCAF Cup 53.

Format
This bid will be utilizing a slightly different format than past editions of the AOCAF Cup, with the group stage to be in the format of World Cup qualifying (double round robin, home and away, held in participating nations), rather than in the host nations themselves. The reasons for this change are primarily for IC reasons. Freeport has not previously hosted any international hoofball/football/soccer competitions, major or minor, and is still relatively short on venues that would meet the typical standards for such events. Meanwhile, the sporting infrastructure exists in Chromatika, but the influence of the Checkers Party means that the Chromatiks would prefer to avoid allowing tens of thousands of foreigners to flood the country for the better part of a month. The knockout stage matches (and any necessary playoffs) will be held at venues in Freeport and Chromatika.

With regards to numbers, at last count there are 31 nations signed up for the tournament. Our preference would be for more manageable group sizes (4-6 teams in each, for 6-10 match days in the group stage), and thus would propose the following formats, although should it be necessary to accommodate the number of participants, alternate formats may be used.

30 participants: 6 groups of 5 teams; 6 group winners, 6 runners-up, and 4 best third-place teams advance
32 participants: 8 groups of 4 teams; 8 group winners and 8 runners-up advance
36 participants: 6 groups of 6 teams; 6 group winners, 6 runners-up, and 4 best third-place teams advance
40 participants: 8 groups of 5 teams; 8 group winners and 8 runners-up advance

Tiebreakers
Overall Record
Head-to-Head Record
Head-to-Head Goal Differential
Overall Goal Differential
Head-to-Head Goals For
Overall Goals For
Playoff (if necessary to determine advancement)

Scorinator & RP Bonus
If chosen, this bid will use the latest version of xkoranate with the NSFS formula and xkoranate-style (additive) style mods. The latest AOCAF rankings will be used for the tournament. RPs will be judged based on quality and creativity over quantity and frequency. Bonuses will be fairly generous to encourage active RPing by all participants and a roster bonus will also be available, as usual.

Questions?
Got a question? Feel free to ask it here, shoot one of us a TG, post on the RMB, or get in touch via the NS Sports Discord. We'll try to answer it as best we can.