eWorld Cup 2014

Day 2,364, 05:17 • Published in France Canada • by New Faustian Man


Hello o/

I am going to simulate the qualification process and the 2014 football World Cup in full so I’m looking for managers to take part and coach each of the sides involved. Prize is 10,000cc for whichever manager eventually lifts the trophy.

The program I'm using to simulate the games is a modified version of the original release of ESMS, a piece of software that’s used by lots of play-by-email leagues. It’s free and pretty basic but it gives fairly faithful simulations and requires very little work. I’ve made a few adjustments to the code allowing for many more possible strategies than the five or six it comes ‘installed’ with.

ESMS gives half-decent output in the form of .TXT files that are easily copy-pasted and shared, making the program ideal for my needs. My modification of the program centers around doing away with the individual ratings, which were very basic, and instead give each player a base rating and a specific ‘role’, i.e. centerback, regista/deep-lying playmaker, wingback, second striker, poacher etc. This ensures team selection is much more interesting, especially when married with strategy.

The actual footballers will be created randomly by the software itself, though the stronger the country in real life, generally the better set of players the software will create for it. So for example, Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Germany will have the strongest sides to choose from, whereas with countries like Andorra, Faroe Islands or Panama it’ll be the reverse. A countries rating will be predicated on it’s official FIFA ranking btw.


During qualification each manager will be required to decide his line up from a national pool of around 50 players, determine team strategy, when players should be substituted and under what conditions etc., I will discuss that more and in greater depth in a later article. Should you successfully qualify for the tournament outright, you’ll have to trim your squad down to twenty-three players, basing decisions on player performance in the qualifiers, plus what combination of players best suits the gameplan you have in mind.



*IMPORTANT* -- If you’d like to volunteer to manage a side, PM me your top five choices (see below for full list of countries available). Countries will be allotted a manager based on the following criteria:

- Your country of origin will be taken into consideration, so that say both player A and player B volunteer to manage country X, if player A is from country X in real life but player B isn’t, preference will be given to player A;

- Knowledge of football is a must and will be taken into consideration.



Qualification process

Qualification will be based loosely on the groups determined by the real world confederations administering football for the 2014 World Cup. However there will be no play-offs between the various confederations to decide the last few places, thus guaranteeing Oceania a place, and meaning each confederation has a set number of places. Also, no automatic qualification for Brazil as host nation, simply to make the South American qualification more interesting. I’ve also drastically decreased the quantity of African nations from, I think it was something like around fifty, down to sixteen.

Each confederation will have the following places:

AFC (Asia): 4 places
CAF (Africa): 5 places
CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean): 3
CONMEBOL (South America): 6 places (no automatic qualification for Brazil as host nation)
OFC (Oceania): 1 place
UEFA (Europe): 13 places

To make a total of 32 teams



The groups in each confederation, and how many countries can qualify from each confederation, are as follows:


AFC (Asia): 4 places

Group A
Iran
South Korea
Uzbekistan
Qatar
India

Group B
Japan
Australia
Jordan
Oman
Iraq

Top two from each group qualify.


CAF (Africa): 5 places

Group A
Ivory Coast
Tunisia
Mali
Central African Republic
Zambia
Libya
South Africa
Sierra Leone

Group B
Algeria
Tunisia
Ghana
Nigeria
Egypt
Guinea
Cameroon
Gabon

Top two teams from each group qualify automatically, and the third-placed team from Group A plays third-placed team from Group B to determine the last team to qualify from Africa.


UEFA (Europe): 13 places

Group A
Belgium
Croatia
Serbia
Scotland
Wales
FYROM/MKD

Group B
Italy
Denmark
Czech Republic
Bulgaria
Armenia
Malta

Group C
Germany
Sweden
Austria
Rep. of Ireland
Kazakhstan
Faroe Islands

Group D
Netherlands
Romania
Hungary
Turkey
Estonia
Andorra

Group E
Switzerland
Iceland
Slovenia
Norway
Albania
Cyprus

Group F
Russia
Portugal
Israel
Azerbaijan
N.Ireland
Luxembourg

Group G
BiH
Greece
Slovakia
Lithuania
Latvia
Liechtenstein

Group H
England
Ukraine
Montenegro
Poland
Moldova
San Marino

Group I
Spain
France
Finland
Georgia
Belarus

Winner of each European group qualifies directly for the eWorld Cup. The eight best runners-up among all nine groups advances to play-offs. The eight best runners-ups determined by the following criteria, with the topmost the most important:

1. Highest number of points
2. Goal difference
3. Highest number of goals scored



OFC (Oceania): 1 place
New Zealand
New Caledonia
Tahiti
Solomon Isles.

Top finishing team qualifies.


CONMEBOL (South America): 6 places
Argentina
*Brazil
Colombia
Chile
Ecuador
Uruguay
Venezuela
Peru
Bolivia
Paraguay

Top six qualify. *No automatic qualification for Brazil as host nation.



CONCACAF (North, Central American and Caribbean): 3

United States
Costa Rica
Honduras
Mexico
Panama
Jamaica
Canada

Top three qualify.

*


Asia - 10 managers required

Africa - 16 managers required

Europe - 53 managers required

Oceania - 4 managers required

South America - 10 managers required

North and Central America plus the Caribbean - 6 managers required


99 managers required in total (though that's not a game-breaker, we can easily play with half that, as long as the top countries are managed we're good to go)


If you’d like to volunteer to manage a side, PM me your top five choices (see below for full list of countries available). Countries will be allotted a manager based on the following criteria:

- Your country of origin will be taken into consideration, so that say both player A and player B volunteer to manage country X, if player A is from country X in real life but player B isn’t, preference will be given to player A;

- Knowledge of football is a must and will be taken into consideration.



Teams Available


Europe

Belgium - Zaphod the Kinky Psychopath
Croatia
Serbia - ExZilYon
Scotland
Wales - ZulSyauqi Zsz
FYROM/MKD
Italy - pinhas7
Denmark
Czech Republic
Bulgaria
Armenia
Malta
Germany - The Anaconda
Sweden - Deepfryedmarsbar
Austria
Rep. of Ireland - ian arbuckle
Kazakhstan
Faroe Islands
Netherlands - Ayame Crocodile
Romania - Didei
Hungary - Apponyi
Turkey - Mustafa K. Ataturk
Estonia
Andorra
Switzerland - Lolfaced
Iceland
Slovenia
Norway
Albania
Cyprus
Russia - CptChazbeard
Portugal - melga
Israel
Azerbaijan
N.Ireland
Luxembourg
BiH - Bosnia n
Greece - Trikavlos
Slovakia
Lithuania
Latvia
Liechtenstein
England - SycoASL
Ukraine - Jimakos-Thess
Montenegro - PodgoricaninPG
Poland - Pierre Dzoncy
Moldova
San Marino - mwcerberus
Spain - NueveOcho
France - Noname27100
Finland
Georgia
Belarus


Asia

Iran
South Korea - penjualbunga
Uzbekistan - Mr Woldy
Qatar
India - ANANTHAKRISHNAN
Japan - Banzai Mlaysia
Australia - aacee
Jordan
Oman
Iraq


Africa

Ivory Coast - Leo Syahmessi
Tunisia - Anoir Kossentini
Mali
Central African Republic
Zambia
Libya
South Africa
Sierra Leone
Algeria
Tunisia
Ghana - zako soldier
Nigeria - Maali Akalka Aki
Egypt
Guinea
Cameroon
Gabon


Oceania

New Zealand - mvcakir
Indonesia - Julian Cassablancas
Tahiti - Marianne RF
Solomon Isles.


South America

Argentina - CatBea
Brazil - Rhual
Colombia - OneJuan
Chile
Ecuador
Uruguay - Dr.Zoid
Venezuela - aaron3998
Peru
Bolivia - Mrischmasch
Paraguay - mhifzan


North, Central American and Caribbean

United States - MagicTitans
Costa Rica
Honduras - Cpt Hawkins
Mexico - Rikardoferreira
Panama
Jamaica
Canada - Bruce Lightninghands



More details on everything, from squads, to fixture lists, to how to compile a team line-up, to how managers will communicate with me [the administrator] will be published in forthcoming articles.


If you fancy taking part, send me a PM.


Regards,
NFM