Ok, so after the success of the Youth Cup Season 1 and amazing success of Youth Cup Season 2 I am pleased to officially announce the format and competing teams in Youth Cup Season 3.

The organisers are pleased to announce that the Season 3 Tournament will be sponsored by

http://www.cairnsdidgeridoos.com.au/a/manufacturing-australian-didgeridoos

A company whose close links to famous didgeridooist make them a perfect candidate for sponsoring the Youth Cup.

Format:

In Top 100 Saturday is Youth Cup Day. So next season most Saturday’s you will be able to have your kids playing.

We will have 60 teams competing and a ‘shortlist’ of ‘standby’ teams as well.

They will be spilt into 12 groups (last season was 8) Each group will have 5 teams like last season. This will mean 10 Saturdays of youth football with 2 rest days in that period. 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw etc.

Rules:

It is important to remember to set your team and your subs to ensure you follow the rules. IF you dont then it is highly annoying and whilst I understand you may have issues on occasion due to hols BUT due to level of effort put in and the ‘procedures’ we put in place to ensure EVERYONE is reminded on THURSDAYS by their “Group Administrator” there are really no excuses.

For the full rules on player eligibility see the page “Youth Cup Season 3”

Please note IF a players turns 22 after the Youth Cup has started they he will be eligible to continue playing.

Draw:

Obviously with 60 teams in 12 groups some sort of format/seeding system needs to be put in place and as such I have devised TOP POTS OF SEEDS

Pot A: (Teams who reached the QF last season + those who came closest in the losing in the 2nd Round)
Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, ACF Fiorentina, Lokomotiv Moscow, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Man Utd, Villarreal, AC Milan, CSKA Moscow, Chelsea, Schalke

Pot B: (Teams who reached the 2R last season and are NOT in Pot A AND those teams who did well in the Group Stage and were unlucky not to progress + GENOA and LIVERPOOL and ASTON VILLA who all paid me 1000000 SM Creds to be in Pot 2) 😉
Newcastle Utd, Sassuolo, Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool, Genoa, Olympiakos, Udinese, Benfica, Tottenham Hotspur, Napoli, Barcelona, Aston Villa

Pot C: Everyone else – completely open draw so to speak.
VFB Stuttgart, Sunderland, Celta Vigo, Hertha Berlin, Malaga
Monchengladbach, Levante, Athletic Club, Chievo Verona, Hamburg, Everton
Valencia, Feyenoord, Dinamo Zagreb, Shakthar Donestk, Sporting
Sampdoria, Club Brugge, Anderlecht, West Ham, Cruzeiro, Standard Leige, Stoke City
Paris St Germain, West Brom, Espanyol, Augsburg, Hellas Verona
Basel, Besiktas, Twente, Bayern Munich, Sao Paulo, PSV, Galatasaray, Marseille 

Round 2 will be 32 teams.

With the 12 group winners and 4 best runner up HAVING A HOME TIE v 8 other runner up AND 8 best 3rd place finishers… meaning most teams have a genuine chance of progressing. The draw will be open but you wont play against teams you faced in the Group Stage.

Round 3 will give home advantage to the side who achieved the higher points tally in the Group Stage like Season 2.

QF, SF will all be open draws like Season 2 over 1 leg.

Final will be two legs like Season 2

In the event of draws fictional extra time will be used but we may adopt a new approach to fictional extra time when the time comes.

Both The Doctor and DP have had the honour of being presented with the trophy by Youth Cup President