Open beta v1

Entry and eligibility

Clubs Cup was free during this open-beta rules version. A club needed Clubs Manager installed, an active workspace and a configured tournament channel.

The field was capped at eight clubs. Registration order decided the initial confirmed places and waitlist; final readiness decided who kept a place.

Only a club owner, administrator or captain could register. A captain could manage without playing.

Readiness

A club was ready only when its captain checked in and at least seven active club players responded as available. The captain counted among the seven only when playing.

No fixed tournament roster applied, but every participant had to be an active player of the entered club.

At the check-in deadline, ready waitlisted clubs replaced unready confirmed clubs. Four ready clubs were required for a draw.

Format and fixtures

The competition was a single-elimination knockout for four to eight clubs. Five, six or seven ready clubs received transparently randomised byes.

The bracket published 45 minutes before kickoff and could not be redrawn unless the operator activated emergency repair.

Each fixture could receive one mutually accepted delay of no more than five minutes.

Results

Both captains submitted the final score and a final-result screenshot through the fixture card.

Matching submissions confirmed the result automatically. A mismatch paused only the affected branch for operator review.

A confirmed walkover was recorded as 3–0 W/O. The bot stored screenshots privately but never interpreted them.

No-shows

The waiting captain may report absence five minutes after the scheduled or delayed kickoff and confirm it at ten minutes.

An automatic walkover is allowed only when Discord delivery and the tournament worker are both proven healthy. If health cannot be proven, the branch pauses for operator review instead of penalising a club blindly.

Seven-player halftime rule

A club may start below seven, but must field at least seven human-controlled players by the end of the halftime substitution window.

The opposing captain captures the halftime player-count evidence, leaves before beginning the second half and selects Under-strength team on the fixture card. The accused captain then receives five minutes after confirmed Discord delivery to respond.

No counter-evidence awards the reporter a 3–0 walkover. Clear proof of seven awards the accused club a 3–0 walkover because the reporter left incorrectly. Conflicting evidence goes to the operator. Genuinely inconclusive evidence orders one half replayed from 0–0, followed by golden goal and the documented fallback if still level.

Continuing into the original second half normally waives the automatic under-strength claim.

Evidence and operator decisions

Clubs Manager collects evidence and enforces response windows. It never uses AI or OCR to decide what a screenshot shows.

The platform administrator may confirm or reject a walkover, correct a score, reinstate or disqualify a club, or order the defined half replay. Every decision requires a reason and enters an immutable audit history.

Standard evidence is retained for 30 days. Evidence attached to a dispute is retained for 90 days, then purged.

Platform, Discord or EA failures

The operator may pause irreversible automation when delivery or game-platform health is uncertain. Decisions remain committed even if a Discord update is pending, and delivery is retried visibly.

If fair completion becomes unsafe, the operator may abandon the edition. Abandoned and cancelled cups remain in the archive and do not affect club records.