Independent Associations Championship
 | |
| Organising body | IAC Organising Committee |
|---|---|
| Founded | 24 November 2016 |
| Region | All (except Anaia, Arrosia, Esportiva, Mandalanusa and Rushmore) |
| Number of teams | varies (42 in the most recent tournament) |
| Current champions |  Aphrilia (1st title) |
| Most successful team(s) | (3 titles each) |
| Current: Independent Associations Championship 24 | |
The Independent Associations Championship (IAC), also known as the Independents Cup, is an association football tournament open to nations outside of the "Big Four" sporting regions of Arrosia, Rushmore, Esportiva and Anaia. Created to allow nations outside then-"Big Three" additional opportunities to compete for silverware during the World Cup off-season, the tournament is usually considered equivalent to the regional championships and generally occurs during the same timeframe.
Poafmersia and HUElavia are the most successful teams in the tournament with three titles, with the latter having contested the most finals with seven final appearances along with Drawkland. The current champions are Aphrilia, who defeated Drawkland in the Independent Associations Championship 24 Final.
Name
The tournament has officially gone by two very different names over the course of its history: "Independent Associations Championship" and "Independents Cup". The mixed use of these two names has been a source of confusion that culminated in the ninth edition of the tournament erroneously being called the "Independent Associations Cup", a mistake that has since slipped into common usage.
Format
The format varies depending on the number of participating teams, but has generally featured a round-robin group stage, followed by a single-elimination knockout stage. In the most typical format, the top two teams in each group advance to the knockout stage, often with the addition of a select number of third-place teams depending on the number of groups, if the number of groups is not a power of two.
Since IAC X, ranking systems incorporating the KPB rankings and results of the last three Championships have been used to seed the draw for the first stage of the competition; before IAC X, seeding was determined entirely via the KPB rankings, with IAC results not taken into account.
Results
See also
- Federation of Football Independents
- AOCAF Cup
- Arrosia Regional Championship
- CAFA Cup
- Campionato Esportiva
- Copa Rushmori
- CMFA Mandalanusa Cup
Notes
- ↑ Pan-multiverse edition hosted by 16 countries: Almuzahara, Britonisea, Drawkland, HUElavia, Indusse, Montana Verde, Poafmersia, Saterun, Space, Squidroidia, Squornshelan Remnant States, StrayaRoos Barrier Islands, Sudilia, TJUN-ia, Trolleborg and United Adaikes.
- ↑ Pan-multiverse edition co-hosted by Quintessence of Dust and 10 other countries: Elmyia, Harry Islands, Ile de Richelieu, Indusse, Kriegiersien, Montaña Verde, Squidroidia, Trolleborg, Valentine Z and West Barack and East Obama.
- ↑ The final stage of IAC 18 was played in a double-elimination format. Delaclava and Belnegau are considered to have finished third and fourth by virtue of their defeats in the lower bracket final and lower bracket semifinal respectively.
