we would like to ask thracia and Anceint races, our founder and UN delegate, if we could host a football (soccer) tournament in islam-judaism. this tournament would help foster a closer relationship between nations. it would be open to all nations with teams. and of course be called "Balkans 2004".

OOC: it would be decided by a draw of the hat...and factors for chance of winning would be population...location to host site...and of course luck...i would make up a bracket and draw names. countries wiht more populations would have more tickets in the hat thus increasing their chance of winning. also would be those nations which are neighbors to IJ, they would also receive a few more tickets in the hat. thanks for considering.

Yugoslovenia would like to participate in this year´s tournament. We did not send our soccer team last year when there was a tournament, but this year, after steady growth and activity, we would like to have our national team, the Red Adriatic Bulls (named after our national animal) compete. They are practiced and ready to wage friendly competition against the region´s fellow teams.

The idea of a tournament is a lot of fun! now that the people of Zahumlje have had time to learn to appreciate nogomet, we will field a team, the ZAhumlje All Stars.

Thracia thanks CKIJ for its Football Tournament proposal, and declares its full support for it!

We are grateful that Islam-Judaism has volunteered to organize the tournament, and we promise to help this nation as much as we can.

Thracia will send Xanthi FC (the red foxes) to his tournament.

East Roman Empire is "in"

We will send Paradiszia's all-star football team the, 'Imperial Roman Legionaries', named after the historical Roman Legions.

thank you, youve all been registered for Balkans 2004.

The Empire of New Grandin is in as well.

Ephraim would be honored to send its famous Ephraimite Judges, named after our ancient religious warriors, to play in the tournament. The team is excited by how close the games are to the Ephraimite Republic and have a chance to make a pilgrimage to Mt. Gerizim.

Edessia had developed a strong soccer team when it was in eastern europe and would like to register the Edessian Ravens which is named after our national animal, if it is not too late to register still.

Srpska Kosovo would like to enter its national team in the competition. The team's nickname is the "blackbirds", although officially they are only known as the Srpska Kosovo National Team.

thank you, you have all been registered for balkans 2004. and registration will continue for a couple of more days. brackets will be posted shortly after registration has ended.

We would like to enter our National Team in the tournament.

The Ancient One (Paul) applauds the idea of a regional football league!
Ancient Races will send it's top-ranking team to participate: the Ancient Behemoths

The PeZ Dispensers will represent Annoyastan in the tournament.

*NOTE*: this is also posted on the nationstates balkans forum...

Greetings Balkans! the first round of balkans 2004 has begun....

Paradiszia-0/New Grandin-1
In a major upset New grandin defeated paradiszia 1-0 in a very close game in which the only goal was scored in the 86th minute by New Grandin.

Thracia-6/Bulgarite-7
In the most anticipated matchup heavy favourites Thracia and Bulgarite battled it out in which the two heavy weights had little defense but plenty of offense. Bulgarite defeated Thracia 7-6. At the end of the first half Thracia led 5-1, but the Bulgarite national team battled back finally breaking the 6-6 tie in the 81st minute off a corner kick. 95,524 people attended the match.

Edessia-1/Islam-Judaism-6
In a match that Islam-Judaism was heavily favored...Edessia was first on the board in the 11th minute when a shot from the 18 sailed into the goal off the crossbar. however, the famed Islam-Judaism offense brought out its best stuff and rallied to a 6-1 victory.

Ancient races-2/Annoyastan-1
In another highly anticipated game Ancient Races pulled out an upset over Annoyastan after the Annoyastan forward received a red card for arguing a call that was obviously the right one. after the game the forward commented..."i was jsut mad because i had a lot of opportunities but just couldn't put the ball in the goal." Hes not allowed to play in the next game according to Balkans 2004 rules.

Yugoslovenia-3/Daimyo Oda-1
And Yugoslovenia rode to victory over Daimyo Oda's relatively young team. but not before Oda put together a remarkable bicycle kick goal in the 75th minute.

thank you for listening to our coverage of balkans 2004. remember that the teams that lost today are still in it. matches being held in the fallowing days....
Paradiszia vs Zahumlje
Ephraim vs Thracia
Islam-Judaism vs Byzantium
Ancient Races vs Srpska Kosovo
and Daimyo ODa vs yugoslovenia

Zahumlje's young team the Sokoli are waiting eagerly .....
Fans are sitting in coffee-bars and pastry shops all over Zahumlje singing the Zahumlje Team songs
Zivi Zahumlje Zivi Zahumlje
Zivi Zahumlje Zauvijek!

Roman fans shouting "SIKOSE TO TO TIMIMENO, DEN MPORO, DEN MPORO NA PERIMENO!" (Rise it, the honored [cup], I can't, I can't wait!) wait for the match with Islam-Judaism (ooc: let's hope you won't cheat)

The Shogun and the "fans" are not happy with the lose of their team.If they lose and the second game there will be a punishment for them.

It was all over the news this morning that the Imperial Legions have lost their first game, the Emperor was very disapointed. Paradiszians from all corners of the vast Empire: North Africa, South Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Pacific Islands, Indian Ocean Islands, Caribbean Islands, and even the scientist in Antarctica are watching. In Rome, banners are up everywhere cheering on the national team. People have flocked to caf`es and pizzierias to watch the game, and some have even been praying for victory in church.

The coach of the Thracian team, Xanthi, Alekos Papadimas, expressed his staisfaction with the team's performance, while he also lamented the team's lack of luck.

"We played hard", said papadimas, "and we fought tooth and nail, agains tthe Bulgarite team, but we weren't lucky enough. And, truth be told, our rivals never gave up. They were great."

dont worry byzantium..i wont cheat....but you must not forget the odds are heavily against you. a 900,000,000 pop team against a 2.5 billion team. it is possible for an up set tho..ive seen some already. and for the second round everyone gets an extra dice...except those with 3 already. look for a close game.

hey hey hey why does population play roles? teams both have 11 players and 3 substitutes to make. national population has nothing to do with this!!!

I agree!

OOC: Well.....a larger population means a larger pool of athletes to choose from and hence a higher level of talent. This is not always 100% true, but it should be taken into consideration. It doesn't really matter because I think he said the scores were based on dice rolls.

The Srpska Kosovo National Team has been training hard under coach Gaspar Vekoslav. Forward Miroslav Karac, who has attracted talent scouts from many European teams, is expected to be the key offensive threat. Goal keeper Boban Novakovic and defenseman Erol Dasic are the anchors of the defense.

Kosovo is right. plus, if you look at teams from italy or england, they are much better than teams from cameroon, or nigeria, simply because italy or england have been playing the sport long..with better coaches and a football oriented society. so therefore it is also conceivable that countries with larger populations have been around longer....thus giving their team an edge. and paradiszia, you had 2 dice to new grandin's one, you just got unlucky, its an upset, just like what happened at euro 2004 with some of the teams. also, it will be more fair this round as the teams that previously only had 1 dice will now have 2. im sorry if it seems like it is unfair but i could not think of any better way to do it. if you think you have a better way then i would most certainly like to hear it. and you must also remember it is just in good fun. good luck in the next round, all of you.

man i cant wait till the next game, heehee, lol hey is there a specific standard procedure or does the hosting nation jsut make own up? like using dice? cause i know its early but im interested in hosting it next year...

I say everyone should have th3 same dice. I can say I am a football superpower, and I have the best players around, SO WHAT? We need to start this over again and be completely equal regarding no population. Population thing is bullshit: Greece has 10 millions and France has around 50 but France played worse than Greece and lost 1-0 in EURO2004.

Same with Spain. 40 million country, 1-1 with Greece.


Population playes ABSOLUTELY NO ROLE. You can not say how many worship football in a small ation, in RL Greece people worship football, and I can say the same happens min my country. I say, either one or two dices for EVERYONE, unless youn guys are AFRAID OF LOSING.

OOC: The population advantage would not help me. I am not the smallest, but definately not the largest either. In the end it is up the tournament host. I personally think 3 dice is too many. I haven't seen too many 18-15 matches and that is a real possibility with three dice. If I ever host a tournament I think I will use a soccer (futbol) Playstation game and randomly assign each Balkan team to a team on the game and simulate the game w/o controlling either team. For me, that would be the best solution, but I understand that not everyone could do that.

Although Thracia lost the first game, I am against a "rethrowing the dice".

However, from now on, I think each team should have an equal chance to win or to lose, irrespective of its country's population.

new grandin, with a pop of about 1 billion beat paradiszia with a pop of about 2.5 billion, and new grandin had less dice. it was planned liek that in the first round so the bigger teams have more of a chance. in final four tournament brackets they match the #1 team up agains the #16 team so that the better teams have an easier way to advance. it means the smaller teams have a harder time advancing meaning they must play much better. but i planned that in the second round it would be more even.and for the finals and later rounds each person will have the same amount of dice. and i liek the idea of using a playstation to decide the results. i have a playstatin but sadly no football game. im lookign to buy one however and that could be applied to future use.

ooc:

Ok, fine.

I trust your judgement on what methods and tools to use to determine the reults.

(Also posted in HQ)

Ancient Behemoths win 1st match!

After a good match, the Ancient Behemoths have gained their first points in the Football-league.
Their coach, Guus Hiddink, already a famous man in the homeland of The Ancient One for training the South-Korean national team, has done a great job preparing the team for the match. Leading player of the Behemoths, Ruud 'The Punisher' Buckhomp, comments on the next match: "With our great coach and almost unlimited supply of the famous Ancient Races' soda-pop, the opponent will be crushed!"

NOTE: also posted in the nationstates forum

Second round scores from balkans 2004!

Paradiszia-2/Zahumlje-1

In a very close game that only saw the final goal scored in the 97th minute Paradiszia found a way to win. Paradiszia scored first in the 15th minute off of a superb header goal. Zahumlje struck back in the 17th minute with a rocket from the 18 yard line to tie it up. The score remained tied until the 97th minute when the ball appeared to hover in and around the goal box until a Paradiszian forward punched it in. This division's top contender will depend solely on the upcoming game between New Grandin and Zahumlje.

Ephraim-1/Thracia-0

The bad luck streak continues for Thracia after it is upset by Ephraim 1-0. Thracia looked to be controlling the ball early until Ephraim got a break away and managed to get a goal by some superb dribbling by the team's top forward to get past the final defender and punch it in. The next game between Ephraim and Bulgarite will determine the winner of Division B. it is expected to draw a large crowd.

Islam-Judaism-2/Byzantium-3

Islam-Judaism was heavily favoured in this one. They had the offense but the defense jsut couldnt manage to hold on. In a game that was back and forth with Byzantium striking first in the 3rd minute, the game reached a fevor pitch when Islam-Judaism tied it up in the 64th minute at 2-2. But their defense jsut couldnt hold and Byzantium managed to get the minor upset against the home team. Islam-Judaiosm is only in it if they outscore Edessia or Byzantium in points. There was also minor rioting within Islam-Judaism after their loss.

Ancient Races-1/Srpska Kosovo-0

A much anticipated match between Kosovo and Races resulted in a 1-0 victory by Ancient races. The game was unquestinably one of the most physical as the ref issued 8 yellow cards and one red card. The red card goign to Kosovo's top goal scorer after he appeared to have accidently hit an Ancient races player in the face with an elbow. This is Ancient Races second win in as many games.

Daimyo Oda-2/Yugoslovenia-1

In the rematch between Daimyo Oda and Yugoslovenia, Oda tied up the series with a 2-1 victory over yugoslovenia. The game was tooth and nail all the way and Oda only got the win on a pk after one of its strikers was fouled in the box with wha tlooke to be an easy put away.

Stayed tuned for continuing coverage on Balkans 2004. Teams playong next week...
New Grandin vs Zahumlje
Bulgarite vs Ephraim
Byzantium vs Edessia
Srpska Kosovo vs Annoyastan
and the final between Yugoslovenia and Daimyo Oda.

The Cataphracts bring us the first point of victory
ISLAM-JUDAISM 2 - 3 EAST ROMAN EMPIRE
Fans went bezerk after the end of the match, waving Imperial flags and shouting 'Charisteas!', the name of the golden scorer.

In Constantinople, people massed in the central square and celebrated the victory until 2am.

Who knows what the future may hol, as the East Roman Empire got its first points in Balkans 2004.

'Joyful, joyful Lord we adore thee, God of power Lord of light! Hearts unfold like flowers before thee, hail thee as the sun above!' That is my favorite song buy JS Bach.

Anyway, why is Paradiszia not playing next week?

Wohooo :)
Crowds of people in Trebiziond are celebrating the win over Yugoslovenia in the second match.Now the Shogun hopes his team will win teh next match.

COACH MAKES RADICAL CHANGES IN THE TEAM AFTER SECOND LOSS

Following their second defeat, the moral of the Xanthi players was very low today. Coach Papadimas, speaking on behalf of the team, said that they still could not understand how they were so complacent against Ephraim. "I want my players to give 110% of their efforts in the next game", said Papadimas. "They need to be determined to win; and they need to attack more. In the next game I am planning to stregthen the offense of our team by replacing Pandelidis with Suleyman, and Nazarian with Karamanov."

its a round robin in a division of three teams. so you play twice and the one with the mist points advances. it is similar to olympic prelims.

Ok, thank you.