Tournament Rules

Eligibility

All age groups Players qualify through:

• Country of birth
• Parentage
• Grand parentage
• Citizenship

The responsibility for the player eligibility rests solely on the team manager. Managers who fail to uphold the rules may have their country removed from the tournament.

Upon request, players in the Over 30's [must be born in 1994 or earlier], Over 38's [must be born in 1986 or earlier], Over 45’s [must be born in 1979 or earlier], Over 52's [must be born 1972 or earlier] and Over 59's [must be born 1965 or earlier] will be required to provide proof of age with photo I.D. before each match. Players failing to provide acceptable photo I.D. and proof of age will not be permitted to participate.

Age criteria for players competing in any of the "Over" age categories are determined by year of birth, meaning all players must be over the required age within the calendar year.

Protests regarding player eligibility must be received at the tournament desk within one hour of the end of the game concerned. No protests regarding referee's decisions will be entertained. At the discretion of the tournament committee, should a player be found to be ineligible within the time limit, the team may be disqualified, and any affected games will be recorded as a 1:0 defeat.

Any player who legitimately qualifies for more than one country who wishes to transfer from one country to another (not in the same year) must have the manager of the new country's team submit a request to the Tournament Committee with proof of eligibility and request approval from the committee.

Players participating in the qualifying tournament may not then represent another nation during the actual tournament

Players can ONLY play for one team in any given year of the tournament. Players are prohibited from playing for any other team, any other country or in any other age category

The Tournament Committee reserves the right to make final and binding rulings on player eligibility. At the request of the game officials and the BCSA all players are required to wear numbered shirts. All teams are required to provide a team roster prior to the start of the tournament. The roster must include all players names along with their jersey number.

In the event of a clash in uniform colour the home side (listed first on the fixture list in the programme) will change.

Matches will be contested under FIFA rules in four team round robin groups.

Each team will play one game against each of the other teams in their group.

Three points will be awarded for a win and one point for a draw. No points are given for a loss.

The group winners will be determined as follows:

1. Most points
2. Plus / minus goal difference
3. Most goals scored
4. Games won
5. Head to head result
6. Least amount of Red cards
7. Least amount of Yellow cards
8. Penalty shoot-out or coin toss

Semi-final games, in applicable divisions, will be arranged as follows: Winner of Group 1 will play Winner of Group 2 and Winner of Group 3 will play Winner of Group 4.

For divisions with three groups, the three group winners and the best overall 2nd place team will play in the semi-finals. The best 2nd place team will not play in a semi-final against their own group winner; they will play the winner of the next group.

"Semi-final and final games will be 60 minutes. If teams are tied after 60 minutes, a penalty kick competition will decide the winner. For the Men’s and Women’s Open Finals only, the game will go into two 10-minute periods of "sudden death" overtime. If the teams are still tied at the end of overtime, a penalty kick competition will decide the winner."

Any player receiving three yellow cards during the tournament will be suspended for one game. Any player red-carded for two bookable offences will be automatically suspended for the following game. Any player who is ejected and/or receives a red card for violent conduct, serious foul play, or abusing an official will be suspended at the discretion of the disciplinary committee. Red card and ejection suspensions may, at the discretion of the committee, be carried forward to future tournaments. Note: this also applies to qualifying tournaments.

Players and coaches are reminded that this is a sanctioned tournament and reports misconduct, particularly toward game officials, to the governing body for the appropriate action.

Tournament officials will not tolerate abuse, harassment or intimidation of game officials or tournament volunteers by players, coaches, managers, or spectators. Teams/Individuals who indulge in such actions, will be disqualified from this, and future tournaments.

Coaches and managers who refuse to co-operate in controlling unruly players or fans of their teams will also be liable for disqualification.

In the Men’s Over 52 and Men’s Over 59 division the no slide tackling rule will be in place.

The Nations Cup Tournament has a special liquor licence, which only applies to the beer garden. Alcoholic beverages must not be consumed outside the designated beer garden area.