Maddest Comp. rules in the game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Pro_League

The rules for the Belgian Pro-League. Seriously?, whoever had that idea?

So mad I almost want to give it a go - probably wont tho.

Copa do Brasil 1st round rules

I was wondering why the second leg of my fixture had disappeared, before noticing this: 'Away team wins the tie if they win by 2 goals in the first leg'. We had won 5-3 away which put us straight into the second round

The Belgium top tier is fairly simple, just get within the top 6 and there'll be a mini-league with points halved. I've been playing there for a few seasons, no problem.

What is mental is the Dutch 2nd tier, the teams that go into the playoffs are completely random all over the table, because it's the teams that get more points through specific periods of the season.

In the past the Brazilian 3rd tier (Serie C) was insane because they'd have like 30 divisions playing parallel, then all the champions from every division went into playoffs and only the 2 or 3 best teams from all got promoted. It's been reshaped to something more sensible nowadays, however.

I've encountered the Brazilian one in my current save. I was actually ready to post it up in the bugs forum until I read the rules. I thought my 2-0 first leg win was excellent to take back home for the second leg.

What's even more mental about the Dutch 2nd Division is that instead of deciding ties on away goals (at least in the final round) teams who are tied need to play a decider, which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't at the end of a mad playoff system (not just with lots of teams but 'periods' as noikeee mentioned above) so to get through all that, think you're up and find you need to play one more seems rather cruel. The playoffs do put me off Belgium and Holland a bit. The Championship playoff in Belgium isn't that unusual but the fact that there's a system of playoffs for everyone in the top division seems excessive.

The old 128 team Brazilian third division was great fun, Indonesia has a fun system & if you can handle the awful football is well worth a look.

In Copa do Brasil 1st round, are the away team always the superior team? Because it seems very arbitrary to say win by 2 goals and you don't have to play a 2nd leg at home... the only reason I can think of is if the away team is far superior and this is an attempt to save them from playing an extra match... ?

In Copa do Brasil 1st round, are the away team always the superior team? Because it seems very arbitrary to say win by 2 goals and you don't have to play a 2nd leg at home... the only reason I can think of is if the away team is far superior and this is an attempt to save them from playing an extra match... ?

Yeah the first leg in R1 and R2 are always played at the smallest club first.

Calling the tie over if the higher ranked team wins the first leg by 2 goals is about as odd as it gets.

ah cool ty (forum can use like button )

Read about Argentinian relegation system, and then tell me if you understand something

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Pro_League

The rules for the Belgian Pro-League. Seriously?, whoever had that idea?

So mad I almost want to give it a go - probably wont tho.

"Teams ranked 15th and 16th after the regular season enter the relegation playoff. It consists of 5 games between the 2 teams. The 15th-placed team starts the playoffs with 3 points whereas the 16th-placed team starts from zero. The loser of the relegation playoff is relegated to the second division. The winner of that playoff enters the Belgian Second Division Final Round with 3 teams from the second division. The winner of this Final Round plays in the First Division the season thereafter."

This is the bit I love most. 2 teams, 5 games - why not 4 games?, and a 3 point handicap - but what if the mini-league is drawn?, maybe there is a play-off?

And all that just to "achieve" a relegation play off place which if you lose means effectively that the Burnley & Birmingham of Bel. League 1 play 5 matches v's, then the "winner" plays another play off round - and they both could still go down. Crazy.

Several years ago the Football Authorities proposed a radical new League structure - groups of 12 teams, top promoted, bottom relegated, p2-5 promotion play offs, p8-11 relagation play offs - I kid you not, it was called "Jupiter" I think (several radical ideas all named after planets).

Belgium has a crazy yet oddly enjoyable system, loved it when we opted for Belgium as on FM10 clan game as most of us didn't have a clue what was going on.

American must be furious, usually they have the weirdest rules.

American must be furious, usually they have the weirdest rules.

Well to be fair our MLS relegation rules are the weirdest ones in the whole world.

Argentina and Belgium systems are pretty simple, but Dutch 2nd division is not understandable for me.

Spl's split is a little silly. Insanely, some SPL clubs want to adopt the Belgian system :S

Well to be fair our MLS relegation rules are the weirdest ones in the whole world.

Exactly the same as the A-League

Calling the tie over if the higher ranked team wins the first leg by 2 goals is about as odd as it gets.

Not really, read about that some time ago, and the logic is that the smaller team gets a good crowd by playing at home, then if they lose by too much then they don't need to make a long and pointless trip just to confirm a cup exit.

Several years ago the Football Authorities proposed a radical new League structure - groups of 12 teams, top promoted, bottom relegated, p2-5 promotion play offs, p8-11 relagation play offs - I kid you not, it was called "Jupiter" I think (several radical ideas all named after planets).

That would simply be because the league was sponsored by a brand of beer (I think) called 'Jupiler', though for while I thought it was indeed called the Jupiter League. They now sponsor the Dutch 2nd Division.

Not really, read about that some time ago, and the logic is that the smaller team gets a good crowd by playing at home, then if they lose by too much then they don't need to make a long and pointless trip just to confirm a cup exit.

Have they not heard of upsets then? Such spoilers.

Have they not heard of upsets then? Such spoilers.

The brazilian league is already full of a compact fixture list, this would only make the problem even worse. The fixtures are too congested as they are

Well then they should just make the fixtures one-legged.

Whoever played in Brazilian Serie C about 4 years ago knows what's crazy. But I really liked it.

The first stage consisted of 16 groups of 4 teams. Top two advanced to Stage 2.

Stage 2 consisted of 8 groups of 4 teams. Top two advaced to Stage 3.

Stage 3 consisted of 4 groups of 4 teams. Top two advanced to Stage 4.

Stage 4 was a 8-team championship. Teams played each other twice. Top 4 got promoted to Serie B.

South America loves two legged ties. They play their Cup Finals over two legs too. I don't get in personally. For me, Finals have to be a one off match. Feels strange otherwise.

I thought MLS was bad with its rules....

The old 128 team Brazilian third division was great fun, Indonesia has a fun system & if you can handle the awful football is well worth a look.

Wait what?

South America loves two legged ties. They play their Cup Finals over two legs too. I don't get in personally. For me, Finals have to be a one off match. Feels strange otherwise.

It is because the land is so big fans simply cannot afford to travel to games, you are talking hundreds/thousands of miles. By having two legs rather than one neutral, you are allowing both sets of fans to see the game (or part of it).

I see what you did there