UEFA Regions' Cup - Format

Format

All of the 53 UEFA-affiliated associations are open to submit a team to compete in the Regions' Cup, granted that they hold a domestic qualifying competition to decide which team will represent that nation. Smaller member nations, however, are permitted to enter a representative national side to compete.

Teams were entered by 32 nations for the inaugural tournament in 1999 and competed in one qualifying round. After increased interest for the tournament over the years, the qualifying stage was enlarged and an extra group round added in 2005, scrapping the playoffs added in 2001.

The preliminary round consists of a small number of teams split into groups, with the best from each group being included in the draw for the intermediary round. In the intermediary round, the teams are placed into eight groups of four teams. The teams within each group play each other once and the team finishing top of the group qualifies for the Regions' Cup finals. The eight group winners are placed into two groups of four for the final tournament and the winners of these two final groups, after each team has played one another once, play in the final, with the winners being crowned champions. Third place is shared between the two teams which finish second in their respective groups.

One part of the Regions' Cup that is different to most other international club tournaments is the hosting of games. As the preliminary and intermediary rounds only have teams playing each other once, as opposed to the more common two-legged fixtures, each group has all its matches held in one particular region. For example, in the 2009 tournament, all of preliminary Group 1's matches were played in San Marino. Another uncommon procedure within the Regions' Cup is the choosing of the final tournament's host. The majority of football tournaments have their host nation, or city, decided by the governing body before qualification begins. With the Regions' Cup, however, the host is chosen only after most of the eight finalist teams have qualified, with one of the qualified regions selected as host.