Arucian Cup
 | |
| Organising body | Arucian Football Association |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1940 |
| Region | Arucian |
| Number of teams | 8 (group stage) 124 (total) |
| Current champions | AFF Vaxholmen, Eilitliga (1st title) (2022) |
| Most successful team(s) | FC Sainte-Chloé, UFSC (7 titles) |
 2023 Arucian Cup | |
The Arucian Cup is an annual club football competition organised by the Arucian Football Association and is the premier Arucian football tournament in the world and the most prestigious club competition in Arucian football, played by the national league champions of each member football league. It is contested by top-division Arucian clubs, deciding the competition winners through a round robin group stage to determine seeding for a single-elimination knockout format, ending in a final.
In its present format, the Arucian Cup begins a week after the conclusion of the final playoff matches of its member leagues in late September. The winner of each final match, and the runner-up for some leagues, proceeds to the conference round where the 8 qualifying teams are drawn by conference into two groups of four teams. They play each other in a single round-robin system to determine seeding for the knockout phase that culminates with the final match, six weeks later in November.
Chloesian clubs have the highest number of victories (XX wins), followed by Ardesia (XX wins) and Satucin (XX wins). Sainte-Chloé has the largest number of winning teams, with eight clubs having won the title. The competition has been won by XX clubs, XX of which have won it more than once, and two successfully defended their title. FC Sainte-Chloé is the most successful club in the tournament's history, having won it a total of seven times. Porto Sotiri FC is the only club who won all of their matches in a single tournament en route to the tournament victory. AFF Vaxholmen from the Eilitliga are the current champions, having beaten Canicule Suns from the Football Union in the 2022 final.
History
Despite the expansion of its member leagues starting in 1945, the game continued to be dominated by the oldest five teams from Sainte-Chloé and Carucere. The first team not from this group to win the Arucian Cup was the Cuanstad Dockworkers from Imagua and the Assimas in 1962. Over the following decade, the association quickly achieved parity as teams in Boneventura and Imagua and the Assimas acquired proficient players and coaching. This period also saw further alterations to the rules of the sport. In 1964 substitutes were allowed for the first time, but only for players injured before half-time. In 1966 the concept of soloing was adopted as a legal tactic by the AFA Commission to some controversy; while soloing had been part of the game for more than a decade, it was never formally allowed. It was hoped that this would encourage more attacking plays and longer possession, leading to higher scoring. Nevertheless, it remained a specialized skill that a few players could master and dribbling on the ground continued to be the main way to advance the ball.
Several coaches emerged took advantage of sweeping changes to the rules during the 1960s, creating new strategies that emphasized keeping the ball off the ground to maintain possession and creating scoring opportunities. Scoring strategies shifted to catching the ball for a mark to score a base or for a free kick at the goal. By the end of the 1980s, kicking a goal from a 'live' ball from open play largely disappeared from the game. In These changes turned Arucian football into a fast paced, high-scoring sport with spectacular catches and dramatic bases and mark-at-goals. Interest in the sport and the Association increased dramatically across the region. Combined with the implementation of a salary cap, the Association's member leagues and their clubs achieved a high level of parity. Between 1973 and 1981, no team in any league made consecutive appearances to the Arucian Cup.
The controversies and incidents affecting the Association throughout the 1980s hampered the hosting of the Arucian Cup, especially when the Carucerean Football League nearly collapsed. However the gameplay itself and the growing popularity of the game continued despite the uncertainty; the most famous moments of the sport such as the Mark of `87 occurred during this time.
The 1990s and the early 2000s was widely considered to be the golden age for the sport, fueled by economic well-being in across the Arucian. Investments for improved broadcasting and the widespread adoption of new television sets set major records in Arucian Cup viewership in the region.