Databases North Atlantic Super League/crossborder cups 2024-11-11

This adds a combination of Atlantic Super League proposals, keeping the domestic leagues largely intact.

Each nation has a shortened club season by 11-12 games, with August to just before the November international break filled with these 11-13 mostly crossborder games.

These come at the beginning of the league season in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the end of the league in Sweden and Rep. of Ireland. Denmark play a couple of league games before taking a break, while Norway takes its break near the end of the Eliteserien (18 games now instead of 30).

Thirteen teams qualify for the North Atlantic Super League, while the rest of the top division teams from the affected countries play regional tournaments.

In this timeline, agreements with TV companies dictate the distribution as follows:

Tier 1: North Atlantic Super League

• Scotland (top 4 teams)
• Scandinavia (8 teams: 3+3+2 from Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, sorted by UEFA coefficient)
• Isle of Ireland (1 team from Northern Ireland or Rep. of Ireland, sorted by UEFA coefficient)

Tier 2: Nordic Shield

• Remaining teams from top divisions in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden

Tier 2: Cup of the Isles

• Scotland (remaining teams from SPL)
• Ireland (5 teams: 3+2 from Northern Ireland and Rep. of Ireland, sorted by UEFA coefficient)

Tier 3: All-Ireland Trophy

• Remaining teams from top divisions in Northern Ireland and Ireland

The idea is to spread some TV and prize money around the affected leagues without setting the smaller teams in each league adrift - and to provide a new project for the FM25 delay! Depending on feedback, I can raise the dollar amounts to give these a teams a fighting chance in Europe.

For a team like Celtic, you're swapping the first round of the SPL for the 12 games here, effectively replacing 4 or 5 home dates against lower-ranked Scottish opposition with bigger games. You still get Rangers (assuming they finish top 4 in Scotland) and play midweek Champions/Europa League as usual.

I've left out Belgium and the Netherlands as they weren't included in the last set of proposals around 2022, but I might make something like the Benelux League that was mooted a few years ago.

I recommend using all 7 files, even if you don't load that country, just so that extra round is taken away from each domestic league to make room on the calendar. Use these instead of the All-Irish Cup files from earlier (this replaces it).