CUPDATE – 2021/22 Cups

With four gameweeks of FPL season 2021/22 already gone, some managers will already be focusing on the Cups. I’m Bakes, and this is Cupdate With Bakes.

In the post we have today are:

• A new qualifying process for the 2021/22 FFUK Cup because we have more than 256 managers (my god there’s a lot of you!).
• A breakdown of how the FFUK Cup and the Milk Plate will work this season (much the same as last season!).
• And an FFUK newbie, the FPL League Cup. This will replace last season’s FFUK Champions League that was far too complicated and took far too much time to manage. I’ll leave you to decide what it’s intro music should be.

Qualifying for the FFUK Cup

Round 1 of the FFUK Cup starts in October, with the final held in May. As is traditional with cup competitions, each round takes the form of head-to-head ties, with the winner progressing and therefore half the competitors being eliminated. This requires Round 1 to comprise precisely 256 entrants. This season we have more the 256 managers in FFUK (268 to be precise) so we need a mechanism to reduce that number down to 256 before we start.

To keep things fair and equitable among FFUK managers, there will therefore be an open qualification round taking place in Gameweek 6. All managers will be entered into a random draw to find 24 teams to compete for 12 places in the FFUK Cup. The remaining 244 managers will qualify automatically. The losing 12 teams will still qualify for the Milk Plate (more on that later!).

The FFUK Cup

The FFUK Cup will commence in October contested by 256 managers. Each round will take place over the course of a Gamemonth as determined by FPL. Each month ties will be determined by random draw (as per the FA Cup) and with the draw broadcast live on YouTube. Winners are determined by managers scores in the respective Gamemonth, again as determined by FPL. Note: hits therefore will be deducted by your Gamemonth score, with the exception of the first gameweek in that month when they are not deducted (for some reason). I will set up a Google Sheet with all the draws and results for you to keep track of your progress (or lack of!) and you can always find this on the FFUK Cup page here. The winner receives £200, the runner-up £100 and each semi-finalist £25.

The Milk Plate

The Milk Plate is a second-chance saloon for managers knocked out in round 1 (and qualifying) for the FFUK Cup and as such the prizes are lower: £100 to the winner, £50 for runner-up and £15 each for the semi-finalists. Round 1 takes place in November, and requires 128 teams to take part. We have the 128 losing managers from Round 1 of the FFUK Cup plus the 12 losing managers from qualifying, making 140 in total, so once again we need a qualification process to reduce the number back to 128.

All 140 qualifying managers will be entered into a random draw to find 24 teams, and they will take part in qualifying during Gameweek 11, the first week in the November Gamemonth. The other 116 managers automatically qualify. The 12 winners will progress to the Milk Plate, the 12 losers will be eliminated. The remaining 128 managers will then contest Round 1 of the Milk Plate, with winners determined by their scores for the whole November Gamemonth (including the first week). As with the FFUK Cup each round’s winners are determined by their scores in the respective FPL Gamemonth.

The Milk Plate draw will be made Wimbledon-style with all 128 teams seeded on the basis of their scores in the October Gamemonth, such that seed 1 (with the highest October Gamemonth score) plays seed 128 (with the lowest October Gamemonth score), 2 plays 127 etc, and such that the top 4 seeds, should they get that far, would not play each other until the semi-finals (1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3). The draw will be made after Gameweek 11 qualifying when all entrants are known. There will be a Google Sheet to keep track of how the draw is progressing and you can always find the latest on the Milk Plate page here

FFUK League Cup

FPL has added in League Cups for each invitational league in the game, including FFUK. FPL will run this cup for us and every team will be automatcially entered. The cup will take place over the final few weeks of the season – the last nine weeks by my reckoning, so likely to start in Gameweek 28. Prizes for the FFUK League Cup are as follows: £100 to the winner, £50 for runner-up and £15 for each semi-finalist. More on this nearer the time.

I think that’s all for now. Stay tuned for the draw for FFUK Cup qualifying and the 24 unlucky managers having to take part.

Cheers,

Bakes