Change of maintainer: I'm going to be away from easy access to my webspace and the internet in general for a large portion of the coming year, and I won't be able to maintain the FAQ. However, Paul Chan has kindly agreed to help out (Thanks Paul!) to host and maintain the FAQ, at this new address, until early summer 2000. Paul can be contacted at armoury@enterprise.net, contact him for any corrections/queries about the FAQ etc. I can still be contacted, although I won't be able to do much about the FAQ, at chris.applegate@unforgettable.com.
Cheers,
Chris.Recent changes: Change in FAQ maintainer, correction on English League Cup.
This has since been expanded to cover the European and International scene, as well as other subjects in the game.
The questions are listed things by subject, and hopefully your question is answered here somewhere. If I haven’t, or you’ve spotted an error, or you have a suggestion, feel free to e-mail me at chris@dialsquare.freeserve.co.uk.
With four football associations, there exist four separate league setups, four separate cups and four separate national sides. All of these are covered in this FAQ, as much as possible.
From the 6th level down, the leagues become regionalised, and as the levels get lower, they become more and more regionalised, with more and more leagues and more and more teams. Only this bit is really a 'pyramid'
For a full view of the pyramid (Down to level 10), see Paul Crankshaw's non-league site.
There are currently 20 teams, each play each other twice. If two or more teams are equal on points, then goal difference and then goals scored, is used to separate them. If two sides are identical on all three counts, and the places are crucial (e.g. for first/second place or in the relegation zone), then the two sides will playoff at a neutral venue, the winner finishing higher. If the two places are not crucial, they'll just be given equal place.
The bottom three sides are relegated into the Nationwide League, Division One. The top side, unsurprisingly, wins the Premiership. Second, third place etc. may qualify for Europe - see sections 3.1 and 3.3
References to the League winners generally mean the winner of the Premiership.
The top two in the First Division are automatically promoted to the Premiership. The four sides from 3rd to 6th are paired into two-legged playoff semi-finals. The two playoff winners then meet at Wembley in a final, the winner also promoted to the Premiership. The bottom three sides are relegated to the Second Division.
The Second Division operates similarly, with the top two plus a playoff winner promoted to the First Division, but four sides are relegated to Division Three.
In Division Three, the top three are promoted and those from 4th to 7th enter the playoffs. Only the single bottom side is relegated, into the GM Vauxhall Conference.
1.2.2 Why playoffs?
Playoffs were introduced in 1988 to spark up the last few weeks of a season - now even mid-table sides still had a chance at promotion by finishing in the promotion places - meaning less meaningless fixtures at the end of a season.
The bottom three sides are relegated to the three regional feeder leagues – the Ryman (London & SE), Dr Martens (Southern) and Unibond (Northern) Leagues.
The Football Conference was sponsored by GM Vauxhall for eight years, but sponsorship was withdrawn in 1998. After a brief tenure with no sponsor the Nationwide Building Society agreed a sponsorship deal in 1999.
Clubs from the third and second divisions of the League are seeded into the first round. Sides from the First Division and Premiership enter at the third round of 64 teams, traditionally played on the first weekend of January. There are three further rounds; then the semi-finals and the final, all three of which are held at neutral venues.
Each match is a single match and not two-legged. If it is a draw and it is a Qualifying Round match or any match in the 1st-6th rounds, the match is replayed at the away side’s venue. If that match is a draw, extra time of 30 minutes is played, and if it still a draw after that, the match is settled by a penalty shootout.
If the match is a semi-final or final and it is drawn after 90 minutes, then there is no replay, the match goes directly to extra time and penalities, if necessary.
The FA Cup were formerly sponsored by Littlewoods. The sacredness of the world's oldest football cup competition means correct protocol is to describe it as "The FA Cup - sponsored by AXA".
The format is slightly more complicated than the FA Cup. The First & Second Rounds and the Semi Finals are two-legged. The Third, Fourth and Fifth rounds and the Final are all one-off matches. If the match is level, there is no replay, extra time comes directly, and if the two sides are still level, penalties are used. The Final is played at a neutral venue, usually Wembley.
If a side wins the "Double" of both Premiership and Cup, the winner plays the league runners-up.
The competition is split into north and south regions. In each region, there are four one-off knockout rounds leading up to a final, which is two-legged. The winner of each final goes to Wembley for the national final. It’s the only British competition that operates under the Golden Goal rule.
Info for the 1999/2000 season to be provided shortly.
1.7.2 Youth Leagues
The English Youth Leagues are called the Premier Youth Academy Leagues, operating at U17 and U19 level. In Scotland there exists the BP U18 League. Details on the formats aren't very well publicised, if you have any info e-mail me, it'd be much appreciated.
The FA Trophy is the non-league equivalent of the FA Cup: Sides from levels 5-7 of the Pyramid play.
The FA Vase is the equivalent for sides from Pyramid levels 8 downwards.
1.8.2 Playoffs/Shootouts - Unlike soccer in the States, in British football there are no playoffs for the League title - only for promotion places. The team that finishes top wins, no second chance for the runners-up. And there are no shoot-outs after drawn League matches, a draw is a draw.
The Premier League intends to expand to 12 teams for the 2000-01 season. See 2.2.4
Unlike any other British League, the Scottish Premier League operates a 4-week winter break, mirroring some continental leagues.
The First Division winner is promoted to the Premier League, the bottom two are relegated into the second. The top two in the Second and Third are promoted to the division above, whiel the bottom two in the Second are relegated to the Third. Unlike the English Third Division, there is no relegation from the Third Division into non-league.
But this will be different for 1999-00 as the Premier League increases in size. See 2.2.4
2.2.2 The Scottish League Cup (CIS Insurance Cup) – The League Cup for Scotland. Only Scottish League sides participate. There are four rounds then semi-finals and a final. All the matches, however are single matches with replays in the event of a tie, unlike in England.
2.2.3 The Scottish League Challenge Cup – Not be confused with the Scottish League Cup, a now defunct cup between the thirty First, Second and Third Division sides. Due to lack of sponsorship the Scottish League has discontinued playing it.
2.2.4 Other notes on Scottish football: Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup finals are now played on the rebuilt Hampden Park as a neutral ground.
As said above, the Scottish Premier League intends to expand to 12 teams in the 2000-01 season. A preliminary draft suggests teams play each other 3 times (33 games in all), and then a playoff between the top six teams, each playing each other once, to decide the winner.
For the 1999-00 season, to cater for the increase, there will be no automatic relegation from the Premier League. The top side in the League First Division will be automatically promoted, with the second and third placed sides in a series of playoffs with the tenth place side in the Premier League - the top two out of those three going into the Premier League. But this only happens if all top three sides in the League First Division satisfy the stadium requirement of at least 10,000. If not then the best two sides with stadia bigger than 10,000 will be automatically promoted.
Elsewhere, one team will go down from Divisions 1 and 2, with three being promoted from Divisions 2 and 3. Two sides in the Highland League will be added to the League, subject to invitation.
Three teams are relegated from & promoted into the League of Wales, though with several resignations and clubs going bust in past seasons, it has been just two (+ the resigning team) going down recently.
The second bottom side in the First and the second top in the Second playoff for a place in the First, the loser going to the Second. The match is played over two legs.
The general format of European matches is that they are two-legged, home and away for each side, except the Finals, which are single one-off matches held at neutral venues. If the match is a draw, there is no replay, just extra time and penalties if necessary.
The strneght of European Leagues is important - the better a country's sides do in Europe, the higher ranked they are. To see the latest ranking and an explanation of it, visit: http://www.risc.uni-linz.ac.at/non-official/rsssf/miscellaneous/ecfaq.html or http://vlo.waw.ids.edu.pl/~mogiel/EC/current.html
The current rankings for the home countries are: England 6th, Scotland 26th, Northern Ireland 40th and Wales 42nd.
Matches will be played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
The Second Group Stage consists of 16 teams, in four groups of four. Teams play each other twice with the top two advancing to the Quarter Finals. The Quarter Finals involve 8 teams and are knockout two-leg matches, followed by similar two-legged Semi Finals of 4 teams, and the Final, which is a single match played at a neutral venue.
Who enters: In England, the top two League teams will enter the First Group Stage, with the third place team entering in the Third Qualifying Round. In Scotland, the Champions enter the Second Qualifying Round. In Wales and Northern Ireland, the champions enter the First Qualifying Round.
Format (In much more detail): There are six 'tiers' of Leagues
according to their position in UEFA's rankings, which decides where the
teams enter the competition and how many each country enters:
| Tier no. | Rank of League | No. of Participants |
| 1 | 1st-3rd | Four |
| 2 | 4th-6th | Three |
| 3 | 7th-9th | Two |
| 4 | 10th-15th | Two |
| 5 | 16th-26th | One |
| 6 | 27th-48th | One |
Knocked out sides from the Champions League join at the First and Third Round stages.
Most matches will be played on Thursdays, though some can be played on Tuesdays as long as they kickoff by 1800 CET (Or 1700 GMT) to avoid clashing with Champions League matches.
Who enters: In England, the FA Cup Winners, the League Cup winners and the 4th placed side in the League will all enter the UEFA Cup in the First Round. Of course, that is what's supposed to happen, but sometimes it isn't that straightforward. See below for elaboration.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Cup winners and the League runners-up from each both enter, in the Qualifying Round.
So what happened to the Cup Winners Cup?: As the competition became more and more devalued, UEFA decided to merge it with the UEFA Cup to stop it becoming a complete joke of a competition.
Format in more detail: The exact details are hideously over-complicated, so I have simplified it slightly. If you want the full thing go to UEFA's own page at: http://www.uefa.com
Q: What if a side wins the European Champions League and also qualifies
by coming top or second or third in the League?
A: There would be no extra place given if it had qualified through
the domestic league as well. Only if a team won the Champions League and
finished below the qualifying places would there be four places
next season - the top three and the Champions League holders.
Q: What is a side wins the FA Cup and qualifies for the Champions
League or the UEFA Cup separately?
A: Then the losing FA Cup finalist would take the UEFA Cup place for
Cup winners.
Q: But what if the losing finalist also qualifies for the Champions
League, or by the UEFA Cup separately?
A: Then the losing semi-finalists will play-off for the spare UEFA
Cup place. If one of those sides has already qualified for Europe elsewhere
then the single unqualified semi-finalist takes it by default. If both
semi-finalists have qualified for Europe by other means then the UEFA place
goes to a 5th placed side in the League.
Q: What if the League Cup winner also qualifies for Europe elsewhere?
A: In the past, this would mean the League Cup winners' place goes
to a placed side in the League, and not to the League Cup final loser.
However, the FA and the Football League are still unclear about whether
that rule would continue.
The top country in the table gets an automatic fair play place. The seven countries ranked 2nd to 8th are put into a hat and drawn - the two of these countries drawn get a fair play place as well. All three teams enter the UEFA Cup in the 3rd Qualifying Round.
The team that enters from each of the three countries is, starting from this year, the team that tops the country's own fair play ranking. It is not judged on a side's performance in the League. If the team that tops the table has qualified for Europe elsewhere, then the second-placed team takes the place. If the second-placed side has also ualified for Europe then the third plaeced side takes it, and so forth.
Scotland came top of the table for 1999 and so Kilmarnock, who topped the Scottish fair play table, took up the place. England came second, but missed out in the draw out of the 2nd-8th sides to Norway and Estonia.
However, England re-entered the Intertoto in 1998. Wales and Northern Ireland joined in 1997, while Scotland only entered once (Partick Thistle in 1995)
Normally entrants in the InterToto are those sides which finish directly below those who qualify for the UEFA Cup and have qualified for Europe by no other means. In Wales and Northern Ireland it works like this. However, the unpopularity of the competition in England means that entry is on a voluntary basis - hence Crystal Palace's solitary entry in 1998, even though they were a First Division side.
The format used to be one of groups and then knockout rounds, but UEFA have recently updated the format for 1998-99.
3.3.4 The World Club Championship:
This a brand new competition due to start in 2000. It incorporates the six champions of Europe, South America, North & Central America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, as well as the 1998 Intercontinental Cup winners and the champions of the host nation. In the 2000 competition's case Brazil are hosts.
The eight teams are drawn into two groups of four. Teams in each group play each other once. The two group winners play in a final to decide the winner.
The first competition will be in January 2000. Manchester United, as European Champions League winners, will take Europe's place, the fixture clash meaning they cannot take part in the 1999-2000 FA Cup.
3.4 The UK's entrants for the 1999-2000 European
competitions:
| Country | Champions League | UEFA Cup | InterToto Cup |
| England | Manchester United [GS1]
Arsenal [GS1] Chelsea [3rd Q] |
Leeds Utd [1st]
Newcastle [1st] Tottenham Hotspur [1st] |
West Ham United [3rd] |
| Scotland | Rangers [2nd Q] | Celtic [Q]
St Johnstone [Q] Kilmarnock [Q] |
None |
| Wales | Barry Town [1st Q] | Cwmbran Town [Q]
Inter Cable-Tel [Q] |
Aberystwyth [1st] |
| Northern Ireland | Glentoran [1st Q] | Linfield [Q]
Portadown [Q] |
Newry Town [1st] |
Qualification is done on a continent-by-continent basis, with each continent submitting a certain number of participants to the Finals. Details of the numbers or the format of qualifying competition have not been finalised yet.
The Finals are played in a single neutral host country in the summer, and involve 32 sides, which are drawn into eight groups of four teams. Each side plays the other once, and the top two in each group qualify for the Second Round. The Second Round is a knockout match, with no replay - extra time (With the Golden Goal) and penalties are used if the match is a draw. Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and a Final all ensue, with a playoff between the losing semi-finalists for third place.
An explanation is given at the FIFA site, but it is incomplete. A slightly fuller explanation is available at: http://www.risc.uni-linz.ac.at/non-official/rsssf/miscellaneous/fifaranking.html but it is still incomplete. Any information on exactly how it's done would be gratefully received.
The format for qualification for Euro 2000 is exactly the same as that for the 1998 World Cup, 49 teams trying for 14 places. There are nine qualifying groups, four of six teams and five of five teams. Teams tied on points are separated on head-to-head results, if that's equal then goal difference, then goals scored, then away goals scored, and that's all equal, the Fair Play conduct of the teams in question. The nine group winners and the best runner-up qualify automatically.
To decide the best runner up, the nine runners-up are ranked according to the points won in matches against the first, third and fourth placed sides. If two sides are tied then the goal difference in those matches, followed by goals scored, and then away goals scored, are used to break the tie.
The other eight runners-up are paired in playoffs, which are played like European club matches, over two legs, with the four winners qualifying. Those 14 are added to by the two hosts (Holland & Belgium) to make 16 sides in the Finals. Unlike the World Cup, the holder does not automatically qualify.
In the Finals, the 16 teams are split into four groups of four teams. Each team plays the other once, with head-to-head results separating equal sides, and the top two in each group qualifies for the Quarter Finals. Then there follow Semi Finals and a Final. All the knockout matches are one-offs, with extra time (With Golden Goal) and penalties. The current holders are Germany.
4.3.2 The Africa Nations Cup – Held in every even-numbered year, this is the African equivalent of the European championships. Egypt won the 1998 title.
4.3.3 The CONCACAF Gold Cup – Held in every even-numbered year, this involves North and Central American national teams. Mexico won the 1998 title.
4.3.4 The Copa America – The South American Nations’ Championship, held every odd-numbered year. Brazil won the 1999 title.
4.3.5 The Confederations Cup – A gala tournament, involving the winners of each continental championship, plus the World Cup winners. Held irregularly, the last tournament was in Mexico in August 1999. Mexico won the title.
The disciplinary system in the Premiership and the FA Cup has been given an overhaul, and this is the brand new system for the 1998/99 season:
If a player collects five yellow cards before April 12 1999, then he is banned for one domestic match. If a player collects eight yellow cards before April 12 he receives a further one match ban. If a player receives eleven yellow cards in a season he will be summoned to an FA disciplinary commission, who will punish him accordingly.
Unlike last season, the League Cup is no longer separate from the Premiership and FA Cup matches - so bookings in a League Cup match count towards the above match bans, and bans can be for League Cup matches, regardless of what competition the cards were picked up in.
The 'Good behaviour' rule of 'Five cardless games in a row and a booking is wiped off' has now been scrapped.
The rules for red cards are the same:
If a player recieves a red card in a reserves match his ban also applies to first-team matches.
All bans (From red or yellow) are invoked two weeks after the decisive card is given in England (to give clubs time to appeal), though in Scotland it starts from the next match.
5.2.2 European & International Cards:
If a player receives three yellow cards during one season in European club compeittion, he is banned for the next match. he is banned again if he receives three more yellow cards in that campaign as well.
In international match, if a player received two yellow cards in a qualification campaign or tournament finals, he is banned for the next match.
In either club or international competitions, if a player receives a red card, he is banned for his next match.
To stop top teams buying up players from mid-table clubs which have nothing to play for to push for a trophy at the very end of the season, or relegation-threatened sides recruiting players from safe mid-table sides as a last-minute effort, the FA operate a ban on transfers at the end of the season. The deadline for incoming transfers is usually 5pm on the last Friday in March in England, and the 31st March in Scotland. Any players signed afterwards are ineligible to play in a competitive match this season.
British clubs have collectively agreed that the Bosman ruling only applies to transfers within the UK when the player is over 24 – thus stopping youth players being taken away by other clubs.
The EU countries are (in no particular order): The UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, Italy, Austria and Finland.
This rule means that there is no limit on EEA players - which would be illegal under European unemployment law.
Every non-EEA player must obtain a work permit to play in English football - to qualify he must have represented his country for 75% of games played in the past two years, and for the permit to stay valid he should play at least 75% of the club games he is eligible for each year, although this second criterium is more relaxed.
The Department of Employment will be invoking tighter restrictions from 1999, with the three-quarters rule being more strictly enforced, with non-EEA players from lesser countries (The likes of Estonia etc.) being looked on less favourably than those from more established nations, in order to stop an influx of average but cheap players from abroad.
Scotland operate a quota system of work permits - no more than twenty non-EEA players are allowed work permits at any one time. A smiliar system is being proposed for England - allowing up to three non-EEA players in each club's squad.
5.5.1 Domestic Competitions:
Sky – Sky hold the rights to show live Premiership and Nationwide League matches, screen at least one live FA Cup tie in each round, including the final (Which is shared with ITV), screen at least one live League Cup tie, including the final.
BBC – The Beeb hold the rights to highlights of Premiership and weekend FA Cup matches in the evening.
ITV – ITV hold the rights one live FA Cup tie each round, including the final, and one live League Cup semi-final. They also hold the rights to screen highlights of all other League Cup matches, FA Cup replays and Nationwide League matches in the evening.
5.5.2 European Competitions:
ITV hold the exclusive rights to Champions League matches.
For all UEFA Cup matches, except the final, the TV rights are negotiated with the home club in each game. This means any channel can screen live European matches, depending on the highest bidder.
For the 1999/00 season, Tottenham, Leeds and Newcastle will have their home UEFA Cup matches screened by Sky, and so will West Ham's InterToto matches.
The BBC hold the rights to live coverage of the European Supercups and UEFA Cup Fiinals.
Channel 4 hold the rights to screen live Italian League football, and have shown live Dutch matches as well.
5.5.3 International Competitions:
World Cup/European Championship qualifiers and friendlies: Sky hold exclusive rights to all of England’s home matches, except if the match is a crucial one, in which case it has to be screened on network TV. ITV have the rights to screen highlights.
Away matches have to be negotiated with the home nation, meaning any channel can bid for live rights. Generally Sky succeed in doing so, but Channel 5 have bought up four of England’s five away Euro 2000 qualifying fixtures and many of those for Wales and Scotland.
World Cup & European Championships Finals: ITV and BBC hold joint rights to live coverage of Finals, and mutually agree on who will show what. Both show the final live, and any semi-final that involves a home nation. Eurosport also show every match in full, either live or delayed.
Since there is no proper political division between the four home nations, the general criteria is where you were born, or where you parents or grandparents was born. Any player who was born abroad but has since claimed British citizenship is eligible for any of the four home countries.
A player is only bound to a country once he has played a competitive match - A player could thus play for all four home countries in friendlies without binding himself to any.
Various other sources of missing info were obtained from various websites:
James Ross’s pages on English competitions: http://www.zfe1.demon.co.uk/england/
The Association of Football Statisticians: http://www.innotts.co.uk/~soccerstats/
RSSSF: The Rec.sport.soccer Statisticans' Foundation: http://www.risc.uni-linz.ac.at/non-official/rsssf/archive.html
Other useful sites incude FIFA at http://www.fifa.com and UEFA at http://www.uefa.com
The English Football Association have a page at http://www.the-fa.org
but there's nothing there are the moment.
The Scottish FA are at http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/
and the Football Association of Wales are at: http://www.faw.co.uk
Also book-wise, 'The Times Illustrated History of Football' and the 'Rothmans Football Yearbook' are excellent tomes which I have used for reference.
This document originally authored by Chris Applegate, and currently maintained by Paul Chan. © Copyright Chris Applegate & Paul Chan, 1998-1999. Mail Paul at armoury@enterprise.net, Chris at chris.applegate@usa.net. You may not redistribute this document in any form without the author’s consent.
Last modified 22nd September 1999.