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