NFC Champions Cup

NFC Champions Cup

Organising body	Nortua Football Confederation
Founded	1997 (1997)
Region	Nortua
Number of teams	34
2024 NFC Nations Cup

The NFC Champions Cup is an annual international football competition organized by the Nortua Football Confederation, and contested by top-division Nortuan clubs, deciding the competition winners through a round robin group stage to qualify for a double-legged knockout format, and a single leg final. It is the second most-watched club competition in the world, behind the EFC Champions League, and the fifth most-watched football competition overall behind only the aforementioned EFC Champions League, the EFC Nations League, NFC Nations Cup, and the World Cup. It is one of the most prestigious football tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club competition in Nortuan football, played by the national league champions (and, for some nations, one or more runners-up) of their national associations.

In its present format, the Champions Cup begins in late February, usually following the World Cup, with a preliminary round, three qualifying rounds and a play-off round, all played over two legs. The six surviving teams enter the group stage, joining 26 teams qualified in advance. The 32 teams are drawn into eight groups of four teams and play each other in a double round-robin system. The eight group winners and eight runners-up proceed to the knockout phase that culminates with the final match in mid-late May. The winner of the Champions Cup automatically qualifies for the following year's Champions Cup.

Format

Qualification

The NFC Champions Cup begins with a double round-robin group stage of 32 teams, which is preceded by two qualification 'streams' for teams that do not receive direct entry to the tournament proper. The two streams are divided between teams qualified by virtue of being league champions, and those qualified by virtue of finishing second or third in their national championship.

Four of the remaining six qualifying places are granted to the winners of a six-round qualifying tournament between the remaining national champions, within which those champions from associations with higher coefficients receive byes to later rounds.

In addition to sporting criteria, any club must be licensed by its national association to participate in the Champions Cup. To obtain a license, the club must meet certain stadium, infrastructure and finance requirements.

Group stage and knockout phase

The tournament proper begins with a group stage of 32 teams, divided into eight groups of four. The draw to determine which teams go into each group is seeded based on teams' performance in NFC competitions, and no group may contain more than one club from each nation. Each team plays six group stage games, meeting the other three teams in its group home and away in a round-robin format. The winning team and the runners-up from each group then progress to the next round.

For the next stage – the last 16 – the winning team from one group plays against the runners-up from another group. From the quarter-finals onwards, the draw is entirely random, without association protection.

The group stage is played from February to April, whilst the knock-out stage starts in late-April or early May. The knock-out ties are played in a two-legged format, with the exception of the final. The final is typically held in the middle two weeks of May.

Results

Season	Final			Third place play-off
	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Third	Score	Fourth
1997	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
1998	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
1999	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2000	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2001	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2002	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2003	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2004	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2005	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2006	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2007	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2008	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2009	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2010	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2011	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2012	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2013	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2014	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2015	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2016	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2017	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2018	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2019	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2020	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2021	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2022	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2023	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth
2024	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth