National Leagues With Plenty of Cups?

Hey guys.

I am basically a bit of a football newbie and so have stuck exclusively to my home Nation of Northern Ireland, and it has actually helped me appreciate my own countries football alot more in real life!

But the thing I really love about the NI League is that there are a multitude of Cups to compete for each and every year, and because of the smaller size of the league, with less clubs in total in its Premier and First Division, there is plenty of opportunity for different teams to win (although admittedly the same big four or five tend to win something each year lol).

This means that every season, even middle teams can legitimately compete for a number of different Cups:

Danske Premier League Cup

Northern Irish Cup

Northern Irish League Cup

Northern Irish County Antrim Shield

Northern Irish Mid-Ulster Cup

All-Ireland Cup

And as a bonus, your reserve squads can still compete for the Lower League Cups once your promoted (if you start lower league):

Northern Irish Steel and Sons Cup

Northern Irish Intermediate Cup

So essentially every year along with the grind of the regular league games there is always the hope of silverware even if you start as a small team and try to break into the big boys like Linfield, Cliftonville, Glentoran, Crusaders etc.

So I was just wondering if there are many other leagues that offer similar setups?

As I said I'm a bit of a football newbie, but in England for example wouldn't it always be the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd etc challenging for the same few cups FA/League?Division? Or at best smaller majors like Tottenham, Norwich etc?

So if your playing as a real minor your going to have to endure perhaps several years of just grinding in the lower leagues for promotion, maybe getting a lucky quater-final or something like that, without much silverware to really challenge for?

So does anyone know of any interesting Leagues like Northern Ireland where you can compete for all different kinds of silverwear and still eventually build up to Euro and Champions Leagues?

Thanks.

As I said I'm a bit of a football newbie, but in England for example wouldn't it always be the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd etc challenging for the same few cups FA/League?Division? Or at best smaller majors like Tottenham, Norwich etc?

So if your playing as a real minor your going to have to endure perhaps several years of just grinding in the lower leagues for promotion, maybe getting a lucky quater-final or something like that, without much silverwear to really challenge for?

England's got a few lower-division cups that the big boys aren't eligible for: the Football League Trophy (strongest teams in this are level 3 aka League One) and the FA Trophy (strongest teams in this are level 5 aka Conference National).

Hong Kong has three cups as has South Africa.

England's got a few lower-division cups that the big boys aren't eligible for: the Football League Trophy (strongest teams in this are level 3 aka League One) and the FA Trophy (strongest teams in this are level 5 aka Conference National).

That's not too bad. Does that mean your reserves can't compete for those then? Although at least that potentially gives me something to do if I make the jump across to Skrill Premier/League 2 Level.

Hong Kong has three cups as has South Africa.

That's not alot compared to the 5 standard, 2 my reserves compete in, and possibly Europe my Larne team have every year lol ... I think Northern Ireland might be a bit spoiled when it comes to quantity of Silverware!