Rules
The tournament format — a league, a play-off, the semi-finals and a final — points and positions, and the rules of the live draw that builds the squads, all on one page.
How the tournament works
First a league, then a play-off, the semi-finals and a final. These are the rules the organisers have approved.
The format at a glance
- League8 teams, 7 rounds, 28 matches: every team plays every other team once.
- Play-off3rd v 6th and 4th v 5th. 1st and 2nd go straight to the semi-finals.
- Semi-finals1st plays the lower-ranked play-off winner, 2nd plays the higher-ranked one.
- FinalThe semi-final winners. The winner of the final is the champion.
Format
- Eight teams take part: the seven teams built at the live draw and the Carlsberg sponsor team.
- First comes the league: all the teams play in one table, and every team plays each of the other seven once. The league has 7 rounds of 4 matches — 28 matches in all.
- The play-off follows the league. The top two go straight to the semi-finals; the teams in 7th and 8th place are out.
- In the play-off round 3rd plays 6th and 4th plays 5th, one match each.
- In the semi-finals the league winner plays the lower-ranked play-off winner and the runner-up plays the higher-ranked one. For example, if 4th and 6th win their play-off matches, the semi-finals are 1st v 6th and 2nd v 4th.
- The semi-final winners meet in the final, and the winner of the final is the champion. There is no third-place match.
Points
- Win — 3 points.
- Draw — 1 point.
- Defeat — 0 points.
A drawn league match has no penalty shoot-out: each team takes 1 point.
League positions
Teams are ranked by points. When teams are level on points, these criteria apply in turn:
- goal difference in all league matches;
- goals scored;
- the results of the matches between the teams concerned (points, goal difference, goals scored);
- drawing of lots.
The play-off and semi-final pairings follow the final league positions.
Play-off, semi-finals and final
- Every tie is a single match.
- The team placed higher in the league is the first-named (home) side.
- If a match ends level, the winner is decided by a penalty shoot-out.
Fixtures
The organisers announce the date, kick-off time and pitch of every match. The fixtures are published in the Matches section of the site.
How the squads are built
A captain steps on stage and draws a ball from a pot — the name inside joins their team. Then the position wheel balances the squads.
9 players in every team
Stages
1Captains and vice-captains
The 7 captains and 7 vice-captains are the core of the teams and are not in the pots. The organisers pair each captain with a vice-captain before the draw. Captains are checked in as they arrive, and their figures appear on the big screen.
2Pot 1 and pot 2
The pots hold last season's best 14 players: 7 in pot 1 and 7 in pot 2. The host calls the captains to the stage one by one, and each captain draws one ball from each pot. The server picks the ball at random, and the player inside joins that captain's team. Pot 1 is emptied first, then pot 2.
- Abdul Surxayev
- Amil Budaqov
- Bogdan Kojevnikov
- Hikmət Həşimli
- Məcid Əmir
- Nazim Əsgərov
- Orxan Mənsimov
- Cahid Mirzəmmədov
- Elxan Xammədli
- Güləhməd Güləhmədli
- Hüseyn Məmmədli
- Mahir Abiyev
- Səbuhi Məlikzadə
- Toğrul Əhmədov
3Automatic transfers: leaders and followers
Some players follow a leader: whichever team the leader joins, they join automatically and take no part in the later stages.
- Whichever team draws Hüseynov Mahmud also gets Həsən Musayev.
- Whichever team draws Abdul Surxayev also gets Əliyev Rafiq and Məhərrəmov Ülvi.
4Last season's other players
Last season's players who are not in the pots are placed one at a time in random order: each goes to the team with the fewest players at that moment, among the teams still below the limit for the player's position. Ties are settled by lot.
5The position wheel
New players are shared out by position on the wheel, which holds the names still to be placed in that position. The turn goes to the team with the fewest players in that position; if teams are level, to the smaller squad, then by lot. That team's captain spins the wheel, and the name it stops on joins the team.
- QGoalkeeper
- MDefenders
- YMMidfielders
- HForwards
6Position limits and balance
Every team has 9 players: 1 goalkeeper, at most 4 defenders, at most 3 midfielders and at most 3 forwards. A team that has reached a limit sits out that position's wheel — a team whose captain or vice-captain is a goalkeeper skips the goalkeeper wheel, for example. At every step the server checks that the remaining players can still be placed within the limits, so no team ends up crowded in one position.
7The joker
The joker is a reserve player and never goes on the position wheel. If an automatic transfer ties him to a player, he joins that player's team, which then has 10 players.
8Chance and transparency
Only the server picks the ball and the wheel's result, using a cryptographic random number generator; the screens just show it. Every step goes into a permanent log. If something goes wrong, the host can take back the last step only by giving a reason, and that is logged too.
9Carlsberg, the sponsor team
Carlsberg plays in the championship as the sponsor's team and takes no part in the draw; its squad is announced separately.