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.

Besmenian and Greater Normarkian teams have won 3 Champions Cups each, while FC Schwarz-Weiß Melmingen, Allhofen United, and Rød Sol have each won two tournaments.

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	Aalen-Brenz FC	3-0 stadium, city, country	Coplesti Monarchs	Tessau FC	1-0 stadium, city, country	Club Bellun
1998	Asamandia FC	4-2 stadium, city, country	FC Purac	SK Torunzidis	2-0 stadium, city, country	Pourmaun Polars
1999	Tinegard FK	3-2 stadium, city, country	FC Peggau Laitstadt	Club Bellun	3-0 stadium, city, country	Tarralusia City
2000	Millerrath City	7-4 stadium, city, country	Allengin FC	Slanwell United	4-2 stadium, city, country	Coplesti Monarchs
2001	Rouville FC	1-0 stadium, city, country	Tarralusia City	FC Onot	2-0 stadium, city, country	FC Peggau Laitstadt
2002	Tyrnatini FC	3-2 stadium, city, country	FC Peggau Laitstadt	Vostoc FC	2-0 stadium, city, country	Port Casarta FC
2003	FC Neidenstein-Rot	2-0 stadium, city, country	Ambaliana FC	Aassillit FC	4-0 stadium, city, country	Harlingen FC
2004	Allengin FC	3-1 stadium, city, country	Tarasto FC	Etlannai	4-3 stadium, city, country	Keschem FC
2005	FC Schwarz-Weiß Melmingen	5(4)-(2)5 stadium, city, country	Rød Sol	Selika Hammerheads	2-1 stadium, city, country	Kasema United
2006	Apelnisse United	3-0 stadium, city, country	Wellvale United	FC Halsholm Jakartaburg	5-2 stadium, city, country	Nordfjall BK
2007	Vogoci FC	4-0 stadium, city, country	Apelnisse United	Chamart FC	3-0 stadium, city, country	FC Onot
2008	Gvardia Varšava	2-0 stadium, city, country	Asamandia FC	Allengin FC	3(2)-(0)3 stadium, city, country	FC Sümmingen
2009	SK Torunzidis	4(6)-(5)4 stadium, city, country	Harlingen FC	Vostoc FC	2-0 stadium, city, country	Coplesti Monarchs
2010	Coplesti Monarchs	1(3)-(0)1 stadium, city, country	Norasa FC	Millerrath City	1-0 stadium, city, country	Slanwell United
2011	Rød Sol	6-0 stadium, city, country	Selika Hammerheads	Port Casarta FC	2-0 stadium, city, country	Tinegard FK
2012	Aassillit FC	3-1 stadium, city, country	Chamart FC	Kasema United	2(3)-(1)2 stadium, city, country	SK Lyco
2013	Eçio FC	2-0 stadium, city, country	Autrataya Union	Hillsberg FC	1-0 stadium, city, country	Tyrnatini FC
2014	Rakohovo FC	2-1 stadium, city, country	IFK Brekket	Eblium FC	4-0 stadium, city, country	Tarasto FC
2015	Harlingen FC	3(5)-(2)3 stadium, city, country	FC Schwarz-Weiß Melmingen	Vogoci FC	4=2 stadium, city, country	Ambaliana FC
2016	FC Selonia-Benn	1-0 stadium, city, country	Oftbon-Mells FC	Rød Sol	3-1 stadium, city, country	FC Purac
2017	Vepovo United	2-0 stadium, city, country	Aalen-Brenz FC	Tessau FC	1-0 stadium, city, country	Port Casarta FC
2018	Rød Sol	5-1 stadium, city, country	Cascay Club	Kasema United	2-0 stadium, city, country	Aalen-Brenz FC
2019	SK Lyco	3-0 stadium, city, country	Tinegard FK	Eçio FC	4-0 stadium, city, country	Pourmaun Polars
2020	FC Schwarz-Weiß Melmingen	3-0 stadium, city, country	FC Selonia-Benn	Allhofen United	2-0 stadium, city, country	Norasa FC
2021	Oskarsviik FC	2-1 stadium, city, country	Wellvale United	Tinegard FK	1-0 stadium, city, country	Highsite FC
2022	Allhofen United	2-0 stadium, city, country	Loughdalk FC	FC Schwarz-Weiß Melmingen	4-1 stadium, city, country	Balgita City
2023	Slanwell United	3-2 stadium, city, country	Gran Telea FC	Oskarsviik FC	2-0 stadium, city, country	FC Sümmingen
2024	winner	score stadium, city, country	Runner-up	Third	score stadium, city, country	Fourth