Cups

Cups are STRATKA's official matches. Only they change the club's rating, bring ticket income from home games and win trophies. Friendlies are for practice; cups are for results.

Ranks

Every club plays the cups of its own rank, from I to VII. The rank depends on the club rating: the "Cups" page shows the ladder of ranks with their rating ranges, and your rank is marked "You".

• The higher the rank, the bigger the prizes and match rewards — and the stronger the opponents.
• The rating changes only after cup matches. Beating a stronger opponent gives more; losing to a weaker one costs more. Friendlies do not move the rating.
• When the rating crosses a rank boundary, the club moves to another rank — up or down — and plays its next cup there.

A cycle of 8 cups

Ranks I–III each have 8 different cups with their own names, trophies and prizes. They are played in turn:

1. Entries are open only for the current cup of the cycle.
2. As soon as its bracket is full, it starts and the next cup appears in the list. Entries for it open after 15 minutes (a countdown runs on the card) even while the previous cup is still being played — but the next cup starts only once the previous one has finished.
3. After the eighth cup a new cycle begins.

The top of the "Cups" page shows your category, rating and the dates of the current cycle; the rank is chosen with tabs. The cup with open entries and the one being played are listed first. Every cup card has a status:

The higher ranks (IV–VII) still work the old way for now: the rank's cup gathers entrants, is played and opens again. Some of them are free and some are paid — in paid cups the entry fees go into a pot for the winner.

Bracket and matches

• The bracket has 8 clubs and is a knockout: quarter-final, semi-final and final. To win the cup you have to win three matches in a row.
• A cup match always ends with one team winning.
• All matches of a round kick off at the same time. The next round starts shortly after the previous one has finished, so a whole cup is played in one sitting.
• Matches are live: you can watch the broadcast, make up to 3 substitutions and tactical changes.

Bots in cups

A cup waits until players' clubs fill at least half of the bracket. If places are still free after that, bots fill them within a few minutes. A cup made only of bots never starts.

Bots play by the same rules but get no match rewards — details in Cup rewards.

How many cups to play

A club can be in only one cup of its rank at a time: you can enter the next one once the club is knocked out or has finished the current one. You can play several cups a day: prizes are always in full, and match rewards and tickets after the first cup of the day are reduced.

How to enter and what is checked before entry — see Entering a cup.