Art. 1 – Sporting Club Centro Giovani Calciatori(CGC) Viareggio has organised the 71st World Football Tournament “Coppa Carnevale - Viareggio Cup” in collaboration with the FIGC(the Italian football federation). The competition is sponsored by the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Tourism, the Tuscany Region, the Province of Lucca,the Municipality of Viareggio and the Fondazione Carnevale of Viareggio.
Art. 2 – The event, which aims to promote young football players, is scheduled from 11 to 27 March 2019 at the Stadio dei Pini “Torquato Bresciani” in Viareggio, and in other cities’ football grounds chosen by the organising committee. The Viareggio Cup organising committee reserves the right to schedule night matches.
Art. 3 – The “Viareggio Cup” is an invite-only competition and reserved to 40 teams, both Italian and foreign. Clubs belonging to foreign football leagues can take part in the “Viareggio Cup” on the condition that the FIGC receives written permission from their respective federations. The FIGC is entitled to demand further documents, to admit or exclude foreign teams.
Art. 4 – All players born from 1 January 2000 on and who are no younger than 15 are allowed to participate in the tournament. Each team is permitted to enrol a maximum of 3 (three) older players, provided they were not born before 1 January 1999 and are current registered members of the participating club. These three players has to be preventively included in the list of participating players in the tournament. The football players belonging to foreign teams have to hold a current membership card for their respective federations. All players have to show to the referee a current membership card issued by their respective federations for the ongoing season, or a declaration by the respective federations proving that the players hold a membership card. Proof of the players’ identity has to accompany these documents.
Art. 5 – Teams participating in the “Viareggio Cup” are entitled to field all players who are on-loan or outright registered members in the current season. Participating teams can take on loan up to 5 (five) footballers. These 5 (five) on-loan footballers must not be born before 1 January 2000. The loans are fixed, not interchangeable, and can be used throughout the entire duration of the tournament. The list of participating players, completed with respective permits, has to be handed in triplicate copies to the Viareggio Cup technical-and-disciplinary committee and sent via e-mail to the address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. before the start of the tournament itself.
THE TEAMS ALSO HAVE TO PROVIDE THE LIST OF THE PARTICIPATING PLAYERS TO THE TECHNICAL-AND-DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE BY 12 O’CLOCK ON 11 MARCH 2019 via –email to the address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The list must not exceed the number of 28 footballers, including on-loan players, and has to include the names of executives, the coach, the doctor and the physiotherapist. For each participating player, surname, name, date of birth, membership number released by the relevant Federation and the shirt number have to be indicated. IT IS MANDATORY TO KEEP THE SAME SHIRT NUMBER FOR THE ENTIRE DURATION OF THE “VIAREGGIO CUP”
Art. 6 – The “Viareggio Cup” will take place as follows:
GROUP STAGE
1) The 40 teams will be divided in 10 sub-groups (1,2,3,4,5,6, 7, 8, 9 and 10), each one comprising 4(four) teams, through a draw. 10 (ten) teams will be in the first pot as seeded teams at the incontestable discretion of the organising committee, whose decisions are final and cannot be appealed.
2) The 10 sub-groups will be divided into Group A, which comprises sub-groups 1,2, 3, 4 and 5, and into Group B, which comprises sub-groups 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The teams that are in the second, in the third and in the fourth pot will be assigned to the sub-groups through a draw.
The teams will play each other in a one-leg match of 90 minutes (two 45-minute halves). The ranking will be made with the following standards:
3 points for a victory
1 point for a draw
0 points for a loss
In case of a tie on completion of the group stage, group standings shall be decided upon using the following criteria in the following order:
- Scores of head-to-head matches
- Goal difference in head-to-head matches
- Goal difference in all matches played in the group stage
- Largest number of scored goals in all matches played in the group stage
- Lowest average age of the list of participating players
- Draw. The draw will take place in the offices of CGC situated in Via Vittorio Veneto, 210 in
Viareggio) in the presence of the technical-and-disciplinary committee and representatives of
the involved teams.
The 5 (five) teams who ended in first place and the 3 (three) best teams among those who ended in second place in each Group according to the aforementioned standards will be eligible for the next round, for a total amount of 16 teams. A ranking of the 10(ten) teams winning the sub-groups as well as of the 6(six) best teams among the second classified ones will be compiled.
ROUND OF 16
Clashes between the 10 group-stage winners and the 6 second classified teams will be determined.The top 4 first classified teams from Group A will form Group 1 as seeded teams and will play in Round of 16 number 1, 3, 5 and 7, while the fifth ranked group-stage winner and the 3 best second classified teams from Group A will be in Group 2 and will play against the top 4 seeded teams from Group B. The same principle is applied to Group B. The top 4 first classified teams from Group B will form Group 2 as seeded teams and will play in Round of 16 number 2, 4, 6 and 8, while the fifth ranked group-stage winner and the 3 best second classified teams from Group B will play against the top 4 seeded teams from Group B.
In reverse order to their respective ranking, the best group-stage winner will play against the third best second-classified team, the second best group-stage winner will play against the second best second-classified team, and so on. The fourth best group-stage winner will play against the fifth best group-stage winner.
1st Winner from Group A v. 3rd Second from Group B = Winner 1
1st Winner from Group B v. 3rd Second from Group A = Winner 2
2nd Winner from Group A v. 2nd Second from Group B = Winner 3
2nd Winner from Group B v. 2nd Second from Group A = Winner 4
3rd Winner from Group A v. 1st Second from Group B = Winner 5
3rd Winner from Group B v. 1st Second from Group A = Winner 6
4th Winner from Group A v. 5th Winner from Group B = Winner 7
4th Winner from Group B v. 5th Winner from Group A = Winner 8
Once the combinations are decided upon, the teams will play knockout matches. In case of a tie at the end of the regular time, the winner will be decided through penalty kicks, in conformity with Article 7 of the I.F.A.B. Association Football Rules.
QUARTER-FINALS
The 8(eight) winning teams will be admitted to the quarter-finals. The winners of Round of 16 number 1 and 2 will play the quarter-final number 1, the winners of Round of 16 number 3 and 4 will play the quarter-final number 2, the winners of Round of 16 number 5 and 6 will play the quarter-final number 3 and the winners of Round 16 number 7 and 8 will play in the quarter-final number 4.
Winner 1 v. Winner 2 = Winner A
Winner 3 v. Winner 4 = Winner B
Winner 5 v. Winner 6 = Winner C
Winner 7 v. Winner 8 = Winner D
Teams will play knockout matches. In case of a tie at the end of the regular time, the winner will be decided through penalty shoot-outs, in conformity with article 7 of I.F.A.B. Association Football Rules.
SEMI-FINALS
The winning teams of Group 1 and Group 2 will meet in a knockout match in the semi-finals. In case of a tie at the end of the regular time, the winner will be decided through penalty shoot-outs, in conformity with article 7 of I.F.A.B. Association Football Rules.
FINAL
The winning teams will advance to the final. In case of a tie after regular time, two 15-minute extra time periods will be played. In case a tie should result after extra-time, penalty shoot-outs will apply as per previous round rules.
Art. 7 – The substitution of 7 (seven) players is allowed in three different moments during the match, besides half time. For matches extended to extra-time, substitutions are also allowed during the break between the 90th minute and the extra-time as well as between the two halves of extra-time. The replacing players have to be chosen from a list of 17 players admitted to the football ground. A list has to be given to the referee before the game begins.
Art. 8 – All participating teams must be present in Viareggio, at the request of the organizers, by 11am on 11 March 2019. Upon elimination, teams will not be required to stay any longer than the following morning. The finalist teams will stay in Viareggio for the entire duration of the tournament, until the morning of 27 March 2019.
Upon registration, each participating team has to indicate a location (and possibly a telefax contact), which must be meant as their headquarters for the entire duration of the tournament, for logistic and technical-disciplinary communications purposes. A full list of all clubs accommodation and headquarters will be provided to every participating team to be used in case of communications or notifications as possible counterparts. In case location is not indicated, the team will be located at the organising committee headquarters for the sole duration of the tournament.
Art. 9 – A special committee created by Centro Giovani Calciatori will provide the logistic organization of the “Viareggio Cup”. The technical-disciplinary committee of the “Viareggio Cup” will be committed to a commission made by the following members:
- The President of the F.I.G.C.-L.N.D. Tuscan Regional Committee, who may charge in his stead the councillor of the Provincial Delegation qualified in this area
- A representative of the A.I.A., the Italian national referee association
- The territorial sporting judge or his deputy of the F.I.G.C.-L.N.D. Tuscan Regional Committee, who will choose the Secretary
This commission will examine match reports and decide upon technical and disciplinary actions, on the grounds of the provisions of these rules and of the N.O.I.F., the sporting Justice Code and every other federal rule that may be applied.
All the decisions of the aforementioned commissions will form an official bulletin that will be issued by the Centro Giovani Calciatori to all the participating teams on the same day. The decided actions will be delivered to the interested teams and to Centro Giovani Calciatori by telegram or fax or e-mail as soon as they will be taken. In any case, the official bulletin of the Commission affixed on the notice-board in the office of the Organization Committee will prevail.
Due to the short-term duration of the tournament, the technical-disciplinary actions, the efficacy of which is limited to the ambit and the duration of the tournament, are unquestionable. The disciplinary infractions sanctioned to players of eliminated teams, upon their remittance, will be demanded to the judgement of the competent disciplinary organs. Automatic sanctions will be applied as follows:
Sent off players cannot play the next match, except any higher sanction inflicted by technical-disciplinary Committee.
During the tournament, the player that receives a second warning will be disqualified for the next match, under declaration of technical-disciplinary Committee.
At the end of group stage, residual warnings will be cancelled.
Art. 10 – The preliminary round draw will be made by Centro Giovani Calciatori, the organising club, in the presence of a representative of the LND department, a FIGC representative, in a public meeting at the Viareggio town hall. The results of the draw will be communicated to the participating clubs. Centro Giovani Calciatori will select the localities where matches are to be held, on playing fields used for amateur and professional matches, after having verified alongside the LND that each ground is in suitable playing conditions.
Art. 11 – The selection of participating teams in the “Viareggio Cup” is at the discretion on Centro
Giovani Calciatori.
Art. 12 – The participating teams have to arrive in time at the playing ground, in conformity with the arranged times, unless as a result of circumstances beyond their control. Teams who fail to arrive on the ground within 15 minutes after the time arranged for the start of the match will be declared to have renounced the match and will be eliminated from the “Viareggio Cup”. Teams who fail to take part in any of the tournament matches will be eliminated and will be charged a fine of € 3,000 before their departure from Viareggio, or recourse will be made to relevant federations. Any team that withdraws less than 20 days prior to the tournament kick off will be charged a minimum fine of € 5,250 within 30 days of the cancellation, excluding any further claims made for damage or losses incurred by the host clubs, as well as losing their total entry fee.
The declaration of the existence of circumstances beyond their control (see clause 1) is under the jurisdiction of the Viareggio Cup technical-disciplinary committee. The requests with relative motivations must be proposed and handed to the committee before 8pm of the scheduled match day, or before midnight for matches started after 8pm,and a copy of such requests must be sent to the counterpart (the opponent) to its headquarters address via telefax or any other adequate device before the same deadline. A proof of the transmission to the counterpart (the opponent) must be attached to the request itself. In case of the opponent being untraceable before 8pm of the scheduled match day,or before midnight for matches started after 8pm, the requesting team must notify it to the Technical-Disciplinary Commission. The requests has to be accompanied with a fee of €300,00 that will be returned in case of reception.
Art. 13 – Without influencing the validity of the norms and regulations in force, considering the brevity of the “Viareggio Cup”, it is hereby explicitly stated that complaints or protests regarding matches played and/or registered members are to be presented to the referee within 30 minutes following the conclusion of the match. Complaints are also to be presented in duplicate copy, including a €300 fee, to the “Viareggio Cup” Technical Disciplinary Commission by 8pm on the day the match was held or before midnight for matches started after 8pm. In case the complaint is not upheld, the Organising Committee will retain the aforementioned sum. The duplicate copies of the complaint are to be accompanied with the receipt for hand-delivered registered post signed by the opposing club or with the attestation proving the effective notification of the copy of the complaint at the headquarters address. The protesting club is to notify the Viareggio Cup Commission by 8pm on the day the match was held or before midnight for matches started after 8pm, so that the protest and related motivations for the same can be made official, and affixed on the notice-board in the offices of the organising Committee. In case of lack of respect for the aforementioned peremptory terms, any and every complaint will be considered inadmissible. The Official Escort has to be delegated by the club chairman to represent the club itself for the duration of the “Viareggio Cup” for any relative circumstances that might arise.
Art. 14 – The participating clubs are required to present their adherence to the tournament with a minimum registration fee of €5,250 required by the organisation in addition to participation costs, within 11 february 2019.
Art. 15 – In case of injury to registered members, the Italian clubs involved are to present a timely report of the same in conformity with the provisions of the relevant sporting regulations. Foreign clubs are to provide insurance for their own players against risks and possible injuries. In any case, the organising committee declines all responsibility for possible injuries to people or properties.
Art. 16 – Change of team shirt and colours: Whenever there is uniformity in the colours of the teams’ shirt and colours, the latter-named club in the calendar of events is to provide for the replacement of the same.
Art. 17 – For matches suspended due to facts that do not imply the imposition of fines (in the article 12 of the Italian Justice Code of Sports), the match must continue on the day after, only for the minutes that have not been played yet. The quantification of the minutes that have still to be playedis determined by the referee and such a decision cannot be appealed. The match continues with the following ways:
- a) The game will re-start exactly at the game situation that was in progress when the match has
been suspended, as noted in the referee’s report.
- b) In the continuation of the match, all the footballers appearing on the lists handed in before the
tournament kick offare admitted to play, independently by the fact that they were or not in the
list of the referee the day the interruption; with the following warnings:
1 The players who were on the football field and were replaced in the first part of the
interrupted match cannot play again.
2 The players who were sent off in the first part of the interrupted match cannot play again
and cannot be replaced by other players in the continuation.
3 The players who were disqualified before the first part of the interrupted match cannot
play in the continuation.
4 The single bookings given by the referee case of the interrupted match will not be taken
into account by the disciplinary bodies, until the continuation of the match is played.
During the continuation, the two teams can make only the substitutions which have not been used yet. The continuation will take place in the same stadium or in another one, the decision to be made by the organising committee.
Art. 18 – The Sporting Club CGC, as organiser of the 71st World Football Tournament “Viareggio Cup – Coppa Carnevale”, has conceded to RAI-Radio Televisione Italiana S.p.A. the exclusive broadcasting rights in the audiovisuals field for 2019.
Art. 19 – For whatever is not specifically covered by the present rules, the FIGC norms in force will apply whenever suitable.
Art. 20 – The “Viareggio Cup” will be played under the rules appearing in the latest edition of the IFAB rules.
