More info regarding season break including qualifi

02-10-2006 16:47 We are getting closer to the season break, and though we have an exciting round left, we would like to give you some information about how the qualification phase works, and what will happen during the season break. Inactive teams The promotions/demotions between are always affected by inactive/suspended teams. These are teams where the manager has not logged in for a long time, or has been suspended for cheating. To keep the series exciting, we want to move these teams to the bottom of the league structure, since they do not contribute to the game. In order to be considered suspended, you have to have been suspended for at least 35 days. This is to avoid that someone is being unfairly demoted, due to a bad suspension. This gives any suspended managers 35 days to complain if they have been unfairly suspended. In order to be considered inactive, you must not have logged in on that team for at least 70 days. These criteria are the same as we use when we delete inactive/suspended teams, however the period is calculated from the date of the end of the season, and not when the promotion is done. Step one - calculating the positions As soon as the last game of the season has been played, we will calculate the final results of each series. This will be done taking the inactivity/suspension rules above into account. What is done is that anyone that is considered inactive/suspended will be put in the last position in the series, no matter how many points he has. Other than that, the positions are decided by looking at the points in the standings. The positions of two teams that have the same total points will be decided by: 1. Points 2. Goal difference 3. Scored goals 4. Result of the two teams' matches in the league. 5. Random draw Step two - the qualification groups Once the positions have been calculated, everything is in place to create the qualification groups. Our league structure is based on 3 sub-series for each series. That means that each division has 3 times as many series than the division above. The divisions are tied together as shown in the picture below, which shows the first 3 divisions. Note that the series are tied together, so that 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 are strictly connected to 1.1. Teams that are promoted from 2.1-2.3 will go to 1.1, and not 1.2 or 1.3. This is nothing new on ManagerZone, there has always been such a connection between the series. However, the connection has become stricter now, as a consequence of the qualification groups. The qualification groups will be tied to four series, one above, and 3 below. The qualification for series 1.1, 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 will be played in 2 groups, Q2A, and Q2B in the example below. Q2A will consist of: Position 8 from 1.1 Position 2 from 2.1 Position 3 from 2.2 Position 3 from 2.3 Q2B will consist of: Position 9 from 1.1 Position 3 from 2.1 Position 2 from 2.2 Position 2 from 2.3 This will give fair groups, and this pattern is used throughout the whole league structure. Each team in a qualifying group play against eachother once, and standings are calculated as in a normal series. This gives 3 rounds of matches, and after those have been played, the winner of each qualification group is decided based on the same rules as used for the regular series. Note that in series with many inactive/suspended teams, there can be inactive/suspended teams playing in the qualification groups. These teams will play matches as normal, but will be placed last when the winner of the group is decided, just as in the normal series. The qualification matches The matches will give about the same audience and income as friendly league matches. Injuries that occur in the matches are "for real", i.e. they will last. Form will be as in the friendly league matches, it will only affect the form in a positive way. Yellow and red cards only count within the qualification group. Step three - Promotions After the qualification rounds have been played, all is set for the actual promotions. The winners of each series will be promoted, the teams that finished 10-12 will be demoted. The winner of each qualification group will also be promoted, and the other 3 teams in the qualification group will be put in the lower series. A team from the lower series in a qualification group that did not win the group will stay in the series that they played in during the season. I.e. if a team from 2.1 did not win the qualification group, he will stay in 2.1 for the next season. There is one important exception to this, and that is that an inactive/suspended team will never be promoted. For instance, if an inactive team is playing in a qualification group (this only happens when more than 3 teams in a series is inactive), and that team for some reason wins the group, then the team that finished second in the group will be promoted instead. These cases are not very common, but will probably occur due to the huge amount of series and teams that are handled during the season break. Consequences of inactive/suspended teams In a "perfect" situation with no inactive/suspended teams the model that we use would work out just as "perfect". Each qualification group would consist of active teams, and there would not have been a rule where some teams should be moved to the bottom of the division. This rule gives some consequences. Each team that is moved to the bottom division needs to be replaced by another team, so that we don't have gaps in the series. This is done using the rules of the strict ties in the league structure. Look at the picture below. Let's say that there are many teams that are inactive/suspended in 1.3 and 2.8. What will happen then is as follows: 1. Teams from 2.7 and 2.9 will be moved up and fill 1.3. 2. This will in turn create gaps in 2.7 and 2.9. 3. Teams from the series below 2.7-2.9 will then move up filling those gaps. 4. This process is repeated until we reach the bottom division. 5. The gaps created in the bottom division will be filled by the inactive teams that were moved down form 1.3 and 2.8. Note that the teams filling the gaps will be taken from the series that are below and tied to that series. So, when there are gaps in 1.3, they will NOT be filled with teams from 2.1-2.6. Because of this, there may be cases where teams will be promoted more than one level, while others on the same level will not be promoted at all. These cases are not very common, but it will happen. When filling gaps, normal promotions rules will be used (see the list above under "Step one"). Teams from the qualification groups will be taken first. This makes it possible for more than one team to be promoted from each qualification group. Step four - Booking the next season's matches After the promotions and demotions have been made, the new series will be presented, and the matches for the upcoming season will be booked.