LOGacta World and European Cup Files (unofficial)

These two files are my way of playing the World Cup and European Championship for LOGacta Chart Soccer. I have to call these unofficial files because I never owned the actual game (being from America and not even born yet when the original game was first released, it would have been very difficult for me to do so). These files are meant to complement the game sheets that are already available on the sportsreplays.net website. Their purpose is to allow those who want to play the World Cup and European Championship to do so, although I concede that these are almost certainly NOT perfect sheets. They should print cleanly, however, and should be accessible for Microsoft Word 97 and above.

Here’s how to play both tournaments. I will be the first to concede this a snick wordy (4 pages total this document), but I am terrible at summary notes and am going on the possibility that someone may use these to strictly play a World or European Championship to “test drive” the main game before setting up a Super League:

The World Cup

The first thing that needs to be noted here is that the World Cup only admitted 16 nations at the time LOGacta originally came out, unlike the 32 that make up the field today. I wanted to have as close to the feel of the original game as I could, so these files use a 16-team World Cup.

The World Cup is played after season 1 of your LOGacta league and every fourth campaign after that. So following World Cups are after season 5, 9, and so on.

The first thing you need to do is decide which nations are going to take part. The group stage draw sheet will guide you. Notice that the first slot is reserved for the previous World Cup winner as titleholders were granted automatic berths in those days (maybe they still are? I’m a snick behind the times). If you have no titleholder, or don’t want to use a titleholder from a historical World Cup as a base, the team in slot 1 can be whatever nation you want. I suggest one from the UEFA zone but it can be anything you want.

If you don’t know your FIFA qualifying zones, UEFA refers to Europe, CONMEBOL to South America, CONCACAF to North and Central America, CAF to Africa, and AFC to Asia/Oceania. Feel free to do a search for (insert zone here) member nations if you need help picking nations to take part. Europe and South America have won every top-flight men’s World Cup ever contested up to now, so those two zones get the best ratings and the lion’s share of the available spots.

Once you’ve decided your entrants, you’ll need to draw for the group stage. Each nation will have a number from 1 to 16. How you draw is up to you: random number generator, blind draw of cards, a random sorter, whatever. But when you’re done you should have four teams in each group. Today, the group stage reveals the first team in each group one by one first, then the second, and so on. But if you’d rather draw for all the teams in Group A first, then Group B, etc., there is nothing to stop you.

Once you’ve done this, fill in the nations in their appropriate spots on the group fixture sheets and the points recorder sheets, you’ll notice I’ve letter coded the group draw sheet to help you. You’re ready to play the group stage.

The World Cup is considered played at a neutral site for my purposes, so use the neutral cup tie on the Logacta helper sheets and proceed through the groups as if you were playing a set of Super League fixtures, except the team ratings on the neutral cup tie will determine your dice. All draws in the group stage stand. Two points for a victory (which was the international standard) at the time, and one for a draw. You can either play the Group Stage as a set of three matchdays or one group at a time, it’s up to you.

At the end of the group stage, the top two nations on points in each group move ahead to the quarterfinals. If there is a tie, goal difference breaks the tie. If that too is a draw, I suggest you go next to goals scored (most wins), goals conceded (fewest wins), and the head-to-head result in that order. If after all of this there’s still a tie, draw lots to break it. You decide how on that one (coin toss is one way).

Now you’re ready for the knockout stage. The Final Stage sheet basically tells you what to do to line up the quarterfinals, so I won’t repeat that here. Line up the quarterfinals, use the neutral tie chart again to determine your dice, and give it your best roll. If the result gives you a draw, roll the yellow die for extra time, starting with the team on the left. If after one roll per nation of the extra time tie you’re still drawn, go to the green die and roll for penalties, again with the left team first. If this too draws after a roll apiece, continue the shootout with the green die until you get a result. It’s unlikely you’ll need more than two rounds with the green die. The winner advances and the loser is out. Continue on until you have your world champion, who will then be your slot 1 team for the next World Cup.

The European Nations Cup

This tournament takes place at the end of season 3 and every fourth season following that. So succeeding European Nation Cups take place after season 7, 11, and so on. (Hey, I’ve heard of at least one person’s website that has an archive of 160 Super League seasons and counting, it’s possible.)

At the time LOGacta originally came out, the European Nations Cup was a 32-nation affair and 33 nations were members of the UEFA zone. Again, I wanted to come as close to the original game as I could, so that’s the format I designed on the sheets. As with the World Cup it may not be the best use of the sheets on printouts, but they should print cleanly.

I had to take some liberties with rating the nations for this set of sheets. To simplify matters a little, I used the ratings for the club side options that are available on the European club championships (not the FA and League cup) sheets via the sportsreplays.net website. If a nation showed two ratings, I took the higher one where it was possible. To allow for 33 nations to be drawn, I added Northern Ireland, who took part in the 1976 European championships and got knocked around in the group stage (sorry, Irish supporters out there).

The group stage draw basically follows the same procedure as for the World Cup, with the following exceptions:

  • Instead of four groups, you will have eight.
  • One card will not be drawn. The odd one out after all eight groups have been filled is considered “drawn out” and will not take part.

Again, you can draw for the first team in each group, one at a time, then the second, and so on, or you can draw all the teams in a group before moving on to the next. It’s your call. It’s your football association. Have some fun with it!

Once you’ve got your groups drawn, match up their A-D coding with their appropriate groups on the Group Stage Fixtures sheets, and you’re ready to begin the group stage. You’ll proceed through the group stage in almost the same fashion as you did for the World Cup, with three exceptions:

  • The group stage for the European Cup consists of once home and once away against each opponent (you may recognize this as the current Champions League group stage format), which means six games total.
  • Also, instead of the neutral tie dice selector, you’re going to use the home tie dice selector.
  • Only the group winner advances.

Again, goal difference is the first tiebreaker if there is a tie. If this also ties, I suggest the same tiebreak order as for the World Cup: goals scored (most), goals conceded (least), cumulative head-to-head results (this may also draw if both teams won against their rival or if they played to two draws), lot draw.

From here, I admit I wasn’t quite able to solve how the quarterfinal playoff is set up, so I provide two ways: You can transfer the group winners and their ratings to cards in any order you wish and draw for the quarterfinals as you would for the club tournaments, or you can use an optional suggested quarterfinal lineup shown at the bottom of the Final Stage sheet. Again, it’s your game, it’s your association…do what you see fit.

The quarterfinals of the European championship, for purposes of this game, are played on a home and away basis as per the European club championships on the main sheets. Use the home tie dice selector one more time to decide your dice and roll for both games, one at a time. Higher aggregate wins. If this draws, the team with more away goals advances. If this too draws, play a third game using the neutral cup tie. If necessary, use extra time and penalties to decide a draw as you did for the World Cup.

Once you’re down to the last four, it’s back to the neutral cup tie for the dice selector. A suggested semifinal pairing setup is provided for you, or you can redraw for the semifinals if you did that for the quarters. From here on it’s a straight knockout tournament as for the World Cup. Use the neutral dice selector and the team ratings to determine your dice, and root for your favorite. If a draw results, go to the yellow extra time die and start with the team on the left. If this doesn’t settle it, it’s on to penalties and the green die. Roll once for each team as before, starting at the left. If the penalties are a tie, roll again. Adjust the result for your sheets as necessary if you’d like (for instance, if your first round of penalties ends 3-3 and then you roll a 4 and a 1 for the second round of penalties, you could call the penalty result 5-4, in extra kicks, if you so chose).

I hope if you try LOGacta that you try these sheets too. I’m active on The Home of British Sports Replay Gaming Delphi forum as Diceroller1, and post results and league tables of my ongoing Logacta universe (or kind of, because I’m only doing an English association at the time I made these files) every few days. Don’t be afraid to drop me a line there if you have gameplay questions.

Good Luck!

David LeSaffre

Melrose, MA, USA

Diceroller on the Delphi forums