If I was King of Sports, there would be a version of the NIT for soccer. I like the NIT because it gives college basketball teams with successful seasons a chance to continue playing, and I think teams who did not make the World Cup could use it for further training.
Each confederation would get an automatic bid (OFC would get two for the injustice that it does not get a full bid in the World Cup). The bid would go to the team closest to qualifying for the World Cup without actually qualifying. For CAF and UEFA teams, since multiple teams are eliminated at the final stage, the highest ranking team that gets eliminated at the final playoff would get the automatic bid.
Automatic bids: CAF-Egypt, AFC-Jordan, UEFA-Ukraine, CONCACAF-Panama, OFC-New Zealand, New Caledonia, COMNEBOL-Venezuela
This would be a 64-team tournament. The remaining 57 spots would be FIFA's top-57 ranked teams that did not make the World Cup.
There are three options on how I would run this tournament:
1) My favorite- single-elimination
The first round would be a home and home so fans of every team could see their team at least once. The second , third and fourth rounds would be at the #1 seed of the portion of the bracket. The semi-finals and finals would be at the capital city of the previous World Cup winner (if this would have actually happened this year, the semifinals and finals would have been at Madrid, Spain). Teams in the same confederation could not play each other in the 1st round, unless there was no other choice. I did not move teams up or down a seed.
Bracket I @ Kiev, Ukraine (Note: This one might have been moved to Stockholm, Sweden if the political unrest was dire enough).
(16) New Caledonia vs. (1) Ukraine
(9) Albania vs. (8) Libya
(12) Macedonia vs. (5) Peru
(13) Jamaica vs. (4) Austria
(11) Haiti vs. (6) Guinea
(14) Togo vs. (3) Czech Republic
(10) United Arab Emirates vs. (7) Sierra Leone
(15) Gabon vs. (2) Sweden
Bracket II @ Copenhagen, Denmark
(16) New Zealand vs. (1) Denmark
(9) South Africa vs. (8) Jordan
(12) Oman vs. (5) Hungary
(13) Congo DR vs. (4) Wales
(11) Senegal vs. (6) Ireland
(14) Benin vs. (3) Turkey
(10) Trinidad and Tobago vs. (7) Norway
(15) Northern Ireland vs. (2) Panama
Bracket III @ Ljubljana, Slovenia
(16) Palestine vs. (1) Slovenia
(9) Bolivia vs. (8) Finland
(12) Bulgaria vs. (5) Tunisia
(13) Belarus vs. (4) Venezuela
(11) Zambia vs. (6) Montenegro
(14) Uganda vs. (3) Egypt
(10) Ireland vs. (7) Mali
(15) Saudi Arabia vs. (2) Serbia
Bracket IV @ Edinburgh, Scotland
(16) Angola vs. (1) Scotland
(9) El Salvador @ (8) Burkina Faso
(12) Morocco vs. (5) Slovakia
(13) Azerbaijan vs. (4) Cape Verde
(11) Israel vs. (6) Paraguay
(14) Congo vs. (3) Armenia
(10) Poland vs. (7) Uzbekistan
(15) Botswana vs. (2) Romania
The semifinals would be the winner of Bracket IV vs. the winner of Bracket I, and Bracket III vs. Bracket II.
2) The basic group and knock out. Like virtually every other tournament, group play would be a round-robin format and the top 2 would move on to the knockout stage.
3) Double elimination. Like college baseball, groups of 4 teams would meet at one site, and a team is eliminated when it loses twice. The first games are 4 seed vs. 1 seed, and 3 seed vs. 2 seed. The winners would meet in the 2nd game, and the losers would meet. The winners would move on to the round of 16. They would be divided in groups of 4 and the highest ranked team of the group would host. The final 4 would meet at a neutral site.
Group A Group B Group C Group D
1. Ukraine Denmark Slovenia Scotland
2. Peru Hungary Tunisia Slovakia
3. Morocco South Africa Bolivia El Salvador
4. New Caledonia New Zealand Palestine Angola
Group E Group F Group G Group H
1. Romania Serbia Panama Sweden
2. Paraguay Montenegro Iceland Guinea
3. Poland Trinidad & Tobago Ireland United Arab Emirates
4. Botswana Saudi Arabia Gabon Northern Ireland
Group I Group J Group K Group L
1. Czech Republic Turkey Egypt Armenia
2. Sierra Leone Norway Uzbekistan Mali
3. Haiti Senegal Bulgaria Israel
4. Belarus Jamaica Azerbaijan Uganda
Group M Group N Group O Group P
1. Cape Verde Venezuela Wales Austria
2. Finland Burkina Faso Jordan Libya
3. Oman Macedonia Zambia Albania
4. Congo Congo DR Togo Benin
In the double-elimination format the round of 16 would be:
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4
winners of : A,E,I,M B,F,J,N C,G,K,O D,H,L,P
In reality, I can't imagine FIFA or the players actually wanting to do this. It just means more games for the players, and many of them play too much as it is. I would at least like to see this as an U-23 tournament, so those players can get more experience to prepare for the senior level. I would like to see a double-elimination, becuase it would be different for soccer.
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