2023 DSAFF Frost Cup

2023 DSAFF Frost Cup

2023 Frost Cup Lannistter-Kurdiastan 2023
The official logo for the 2023 DSAFF Frost Cup
Tournament details
Host country	Lannistter Kurdiastan
Dates	2 January – 14 February 2022
Teams	24
Venue(s)	10 (in 7 host cities)

The 2023 DSAFF Frost Cup, also known as 2023 Frost Cup or simply Lannistter-Kurdiastan 2023, is the third edition of the second most important tournament for major national teams organized by the Democratic Socialist Assembly Football Federation (DSAFF). It will take place in Lannistter and Kurdiastan between 2 January and 14 February 2024.

For the first time in the competition's history, the Frost Cup will be hosted by two different nations. Furthermore, for the first time, the event did not start in December to end in January, but in January to end in February. It was thus called the "2023" Frost Cup despite it not being held until 2024.

Although the 2022 edition had 32 participants, DSAFF decided - in agreement with the host countries - to reduce the number to 24, the same as the first edition in 2021.

History

Despite the success of the two previous editions, DSAFF decided in agreement with the two host countries to reduce the number of participants. Now in its third edition, the Frost Cup returned to having 24 teams, rather than 32, to maintain the Comrades Cup as the federation's most prestigious trophy.

Lannistter returned to tournament hosting a year and a half after the 2022 Comrades Cup, while Kurdiastan made its debut in an official DSAFF competition as a host.

Given the high number of participants, despite the limited number of places available, DSAFF decided for the first time in its history to organize two qualifying playoffs. The second place in the COTEFU route and the three lowest ranked in the MexiCola Ranking took part, bringing the number of participating teams from 26 to 24.

Host nation

On September 10, 2023, the LFA (Lannish Football Association) and the KFF (Kurdiastan Football Federation) presented their official co-host bid to the DSAFF Congress. Lannistter had already hosted the second edition of the Comrades Cup, while Kurdiastan hadn't even played an official DSAFF match yet. On October 15, 2023, as that was the only bid presented, the DSAFF Congress officialized Lannistter and Kurdiastan as the host nations of the third edition of the Frost Cup.

The official logo of the competition was created by the Talamian designer Aneer Ktema, from the Graph studios. It was unveiled on November 30, 2023. The logo featured both Lannish and Kurdiastani colors and a fox head, recalling the Lannish national animal: the silver fox.

Venues

Lannistter and Kurdiastan picked ten different stadiums around seven different cities to host the tournament.

The following stadiums were chosen to host the matches:

• Köissar Adölf I Stadium (Olympic Stadium) in Arkhangelsk, Lannistter (capacity: 120.000);
• Luna Parkën in Arkhangelsk, Lannistter (capacity: 34.000);
• Gördcivtalöllë in Arkhangelsk, Lannistter (capacity: 22.000);
• Akkädi in Arkhangelsk, Lannistter (capacity: 21.500);
• Kläusschgëlle in Klaussportën, Lannistter (capacity: 8.000);
• Vittössk in Tärönttö, Lannistter (capacity: 50,000);
• Säarbössk in Säarbuköo, Lannistter (capacity: 32,000);
• Adenössk Findel in Raedbürgstad, Lannistter (capacity: 46,000);
• Luluat Alsahra in Huz'beer Shawan, Kurdiastan (capacity: 28,000);
• Wasat Filudrum in Tevyat, Kurdiastan (capacity: 95,000).

Qualification

List of qualified teams

After the last edition welcomed 32 teams, the third returned to a 24-team format. For the first time, given that 26 teams participated, qualifying playoffs were organised, in which the four worst-placed teams in the MexiCola ranking took part.

The 24 teams were divided into four pots according to their position in the DSAFF MexiCola™ Ranking as of 27 November 2023, with the highest-ranked teams in pot A and so on. The draw was held in Lannistter's capital city, Arkhangelsk, inside the world-renowned floating restaurand "Laxy", on 1 January 2024. It was led by RistiLand's forward Sbratislav Jutlu, Vicures Islands' manager and 2023 Comrades Cup's best coach Kurt Lappainen, LFA's president Enkel Reuzler and Lannish rising superstar Negro Waskaffar.

A few days before the draw, the Kanoshuan football federation announced its withdrawal from the tournament due to the ongoing war in the country. Kanoshu's spot was taken by the football federation of Soclania, which was exceptionally added to pot B despite being unranked.

Pot	Nation	Region	DSAFF Code	Rank
A	Lannistter	Democratic Socialist Assembly	HOR	1
A	Kurdiastan (H)	Kylaris	KUR	UR
A	Talamia	Democratic Socialist Assembly	TAL	2
A	Yucatan	Democratic Socialist Assembly	YUC	3
A	UEC	Democratic Socialist Assembly	UEC	4
A	Hortizo	Democratic Socialist Assembly	HOR	5
B	Veyoris	Democratic Socialist Assembly	VEY	6
B	Soclania	Forest	SOC	UR
B	Osreton	Democratic Socialist Assembly	OSR	8
B	Akach	Democratic Socialist Assembly	AKC	9
B	UFS Mexico	Democratic Socialist Assembly	MEX	10
B	Nordustra	Democratic Socialist Assembly	NOR	11
C	Itini	Democratic Socialist Assembly	ITI	12
C	Safiloa	Democratic Socialist Assembly	SAF	14
C	Vicures Islands	Democratic Socialist Assembly	KAN	15
C	Tìrastrāl	Democratic Socialist Assembly	TIR	16
C	Fushcor	Lyrali	FUS	18
C	Macbon	Esportiva	MCB	22
D	Scandinavia	Europe	SKA	UR
D	Helisweerde	Europe	HEL	UR
D	Montecrux	Europe	MON	UR
D	North American Atlantic Republic	Democratic Socialist Assembly	NAR	UR
D	RistiLand (Playoff 2 winners)	Democratic Socialist Assembly	RSL	28
D	Furilisca (Playoff 2 winners)	Forest	FRL	27

Format

The third edition of the Frost Cup saw a return to the original format featuring 24 teams in the final round. For the first time in history, however, a DSAFF competition had an official qualification path. The teams officially registered for the Frost Cup were in fact 26. Of these, five made their debut in a DSAFF competition: Montecrux, Scandinavia, North American Atlantic Republic, Helisweerde and the hosts Kurdiastan. The debuting teams were all officially admitted. The qualification path was reserved for the four teams with the lowest place in the DASFF MexiCola™ Ranking: Aarkhytra, Cat Army, Furilisca and RistiLand. The four teams were drawn and played each other in a single match. The two defeated national teams did not advance to the final phase.

The teams were then divided into four pots according to their position in the MexiCola™ Ranking as of 3 December 2023, with the exception of Lannistter and Kurdiastan, the host nations, automatically allocated to group A and group F respectively. The teams were drawn into six groups of four teams each, where they competed in a single-leg round robin format. Teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat.

The winners and runners-up of every group advanced to the knockout stage, along with the four best third placed. The knockout stage involved four rounds of matches, with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round: the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final. There was also a play-off to decide third and fourth place. For each game in the knockout stage, any draw at 90 minutes was followed by thirty minutes of extra time; if scores were still level, there was a penalty shootout to determine who progressed to the next round.

Knockout stage

In the knockout stages, if a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time was played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.

Below is the bracket for the knockout round of the tournament, teams in bold denote match winners.