FIFA Connect Support and FCMS Support

This user guide will take you through how to create a Knock Out Competition

1. Select Competition

From the menu on left side of the screen select "Competitions"

2. Create a Competition

Press on "Competition" and then select "Multi-stage"

The User will be directed through a Competition creation workflow and it will guide you through all Steps required to successfully create a competition.

There are 4 Steps to complete:

• General information
• Contact details
• Competition settings
• Discipline settings

3. General Information

Fill in the general information of the competition and click "Next" to advance.

4. Contact Information

Fill in the contact info and select "Next" to advance. 

It is possible to add a Regional Competition Manager under the option 'Assigned Managers', users with this role will be able to carry out the same functionalities as a Competition Manager, but in this case they will only have access to do so within this specific competition. Find more information on Regional Competition Manager Role Overview. 

5. Competition Settings

This part will allow you to set up the competition settings, which will be used for all the created stages under this competition.

Player list 

Submission deadline for player list indicates the date till when players can be added to the player list under the team by Club admin. The number of players option will set what is the minimum and maximum amount of players who can be added to the team. The number of foreign players will set what is the maximum amount of foreign players who can be added to the team in the competition. Player age option is designed for underage competitions. You can set the particular date and players born after that date can not be added to the team player list under the competition. 

Match sheet 

Submission deadline for match sheet indicates the date till when before a kick-off the Club admin can assign the starting lineup, substitutes, and team officials for a particular match. Number of players shows the minimum and maximum amount of players who can be registered for the match.

Match details

Match duration allows you to modify periods amount and lenght in this competition. Competition manager can enable Extra Time (XT) and Penalty shoot-outs (PSO) if such option is expected. If Live data collection is enabled, it prevents data from being overwritten in the our system, once scores are added in FCMS. How to use Fair play score calculation, please follow the support article.

Match officials

The predefined list of Match Officials and their groups (if needed) should be set up before moving forward. You may specify minimum Group requirement for Match Officials, so only Match Officials from the specified Group or higher in rank can participate in this competition.

Expense reporting functionality allows competition and referee manager to track and define the default rates of the selected referees work. Enabling the "Rate editing option" will let the Match Officials easily to submit any amount for the match they were assigned to, however, later this should be approved by the referee manager after submitting the report. More information here.

6. Discipline Settings

The discipline settings enable the Competition Manager to create discipline rules which will determine after how many red/yellow cards a player/official will be suspended. To add a rule, select the Create Rule button. To save the added rule, press on the Check mark button under the Actions column and rule is saved. Once all rules are created, proceed by pressing "Create". 

Example of rules:

• A player shall be suspend for the next match after receiving 3 yellow cards (in 3 different matches):

• A player shall be suspended for the next match after receiving a red card:

Select next on the bottom of the page to advance to the next part of the competition creation.

7.Create a Stage

To initiate the Stage creation select on "+CREATE STAGE" button

Select the Group type stage, and select the 'CREATE" button:

8. Stage General Information

Fill in the general information of the stage and select "Next" to advance.

9. Stage fixture setting

Here you will need to select if you want to generate fixtures automatically (Automatic), create them manually or import it via csv file (How to import fixture via csv file can found here). If you choose to proceed with Automatic option, you have to identify how much rounds there will be in competition, you may choose default kick off time for the game and days. Moreover, there is a possibility to add multiple Exception dates, if some games cannot be played during your selected default days, due to public holidays for example. Select the way you want to proceed further and click Next and Create.

10. Stage created

By default created stage will have "Draft" status. In order to change it to the schedule, there are three mandatory steps before that:

1. Teams should be added to the competition;
2. Player should be added to the team under the competition;
3. Teams should be populated to their team grids (step 3);

11. Change stage status to "scheduled"

To proceed with entering match data and managing team sheets for the matches, stage status should be changed to "scheduled"

Once the status is changed, you are no longer able to delete matches from the stage.

12. Types of Knockout Competitions

Each competition can be broken down into various stages and each stage can contain flexible setup options. Here are some examples:

1. Knock out stage with number of participants, that is a power of two and there is one winner (for example 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256); 
2. Knock out stage with number of participants, that is not a power of two, but there is one winner (e.g. early stages of cup competition);
3. Knock out stage with number of participants, that is not a power of two, but there is more than one winner (qualification to later stages/different type of competition, e.g. group stage);
4. Knock out stage with number of participants, that is a power of two, but there is more than one winner;
5. Knock out stage with odd number of pairs, and there is one winner.
6. Knock Stage with two leagues, with one final match (not played over two leagues)

If you require assistance setting up a Knock Out Competition, please reach out to the FCMS Support Team for guidance.

13. Competition Brackets

Brackets are designed to give users a convenient way to see how teams progress in direct elimination rounds via a visual representation of the Stage. 

The brackets will be accessible (for Knock Outs only) under the Stage once:

• The stage has been created
• The team grid has been completed
• The stage status has been changed to scheduled

Knock out competitions are now able to comprehend two (or more) legged matches and brackets will display the team who advances according the result of both matches.

Brackets are available for Download on PDF format at any point of the Competition via the "Download" button:

1. Knock out stage with number of participants, that is a power of two and there is one winner (for example 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256)

EXAMPLE  1

64 teams, play each other once until there is one winner

COMPETITION FORMAT 1

COMPETITION SETTINGS 1

2. Knock out stage with number of participants, that is not a power of two, but there is one winner (e.g. early stages of cup competition)

EXAMPLE  2

63 teams, play each other once until there is one winner

COMPETITION FORMAT 2

COMPETITION SETTINGS 2

3. Knock out stage with number of participants, that is not a power of two, but there is more than one winner (qualification to later stages/different type of competition, e.g. group stage)

EXAMPLE  3

24 teams, play each other once until there are six winners

COMPETITION FORMAT 3

COMPETITION SETTINGS 3

4. Knock out stage with number of participants, that is a power of two, but there is more than one winner

EXAMPLE  4

64 teams, play each other once until there are eight winners

COMPETITION FORMAT 4

COMPETITION SETTINGS 4

5. Knock out stage with odd number of pairs, and there is one winner.

EXAMPLE 5

• 88 teams (40 teams seeded), play each other once until there is one winner
• Phase 1: 48 Teams play each other once until there are 24 winners
• Phase 2: 24 Winners from Phase 1, added to 40 seeded teams. Then, 64 teams play each other once until there is one winner

COMPETITION FORMAT 5

PHASE 1:

PHASE 2:

COMPETITION SETTINGS 5

6. Knock Stage with two leagues, with one final match (not played over two leagues)

EXAMPLE  6

• 64 teams play each other twice until there is one winner, with the final match play over 1 match
• Phase 1: 64 Teams play each other twice until there are 2 winners
• Phase 2: 2 Winners from Phase 1, play each other once until there is one winner

COMPETITION FORMAT 6

PHASE 1:

PHASE 2:

COMPETITION SETTINGS 6