Provinces' Cup

Provinces' Cup
Countries	Gerenia
Founded	2012
Disbanded	2016
Number of teams	8
Last champions	Ramez ; (2014)
Most titles	Ramez (2)
Television broadcasters	Channel 4
	2014 Provinces' Cup

The Provinces' Cup (Gerenian: Zareproziwies) is an amateur football competition in Gerenia. The tournament is contested by eight teams, each representing the provinces of Gerenia, as one of them is the host.

History

The Provinces' Cup was created in late 2012 by the Gerenian Football Association in order to promote young talents (before the KENSE-Z was opened), and to stimulate the practice of the sport all across the country.

The SZG chose Maremedres to host the first edition of the Provinces' Cup, which took place during 2013. The first tournament was won by the Ramez team.

The following year, the competition was held in Clements, with Ramez obtaining the title once more.

For the 2015 Cup, to be held in Adarma, it was introduced a parallel competition for women. It was also announced that after this edition, the Provinces' Cup will be disbanded, with an equivalent competition being included in the first Gerenian National Games.

Format

The eight teams are split in two groups of four, with each team playing their rivals once. The best two teams of each group advance to the semi-finals. The winners advance to the final.

All the provincial teams qualify automatically for the tournament. This is reflected in the Cup's logo: eight bands that represent the provinces:

Green: Adarma
Yellow: Barzat
White: Clements
Blue: Erstveda
Sky blue: Maremedres
Red: Ramez
Purple: Sängeran
Orange: West.

With a view to the 2014 tournament, taking into account the dissapearance of half the country's provinces caused by the 2013 December Anarchy of Gerenia, the SZG allowed the football associations of Adarma, Barzat, and Sängeran to send a team each (by May 2014, part of such provinces had been recovered), and established the creation of a team to represent the Lost Lands (the territories which once belonged to Gerenia not recognized by the MCS).

Squads

Each team is required to submit a twenty-three-men squad, with three goalkeepers. Professional footballers (those who play in either the Gerenian League 1 or the League 2, or abroad) are not allowed to take part in the competition, although players of semi-professional clubs were allowed to play in the 2013 and 2014 editions. In 2015, the Provinces' Cup will be strictly amateur. Foreign players are also ineligible for representing any province.