REGULATION
Art. 1 – Sporting Club Centro Giovani Calciatori (CGC) Viareggio a.s.d. has organised the 72nd Worl Football Tournament “Viareggio Cup – Coppa Carnevale” in collaboration with the F.I.G.C. (Italian Football Federation). The competition is sponsored by the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Italian Olympic Committee, the Tuscany Region, the Province of Lucca, the Municipality of Viareggio and the Fondazione Carnevale of Viareggio. The President of the Organising Committee is Alessandro Palagi (President of C.G.C. Viareggio) and the two vice presidents Renzo Pardini and Libero Guizzardi.
Art. 2 – The event, which aims to promote young football players, is scheduled from the 16th to the 30th of March 2020: the matches will happen in some football grounds chosen by the organising committee, who reserves the right to schedule also night matches.
Art. 3 – The Viareggio Cup in an invite-only competition reserved to 32 teams, both italian and foreign. Clubs belonging to foreign football leagues can take part in the “Viareggio Cup” on the condition thet the F.I.G.C. receives written permission from their respective federations and, in case of extra-european clubs, confederations. The F.I.G.C. is entitled to demand further documents, to admit or exclude foreign teams.
Art. 4 – All players born from the 1st of January 2002 on and who are no younger than 15 ara 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 the 1st of January 2001 and are current registered members of the participating club. These three players have to be preventively in the list of the participating players in the tournament. Concerning that, any additional player more than the allowed three will be considered irregular and not admitted to take part in the matches. The football players belonging to foreign teams have to hold a current membership card issued by their respective federations for the ongoing season, or a declaration by their respective federations proving that the players are duly registered. Proof of the player’s identity has to accompany these documents and to be shown before every match.
Art. 5 – Teams participating in the “Viareggio Cup” are entitled to field all players who are registered members in the current season. They can get on-loan up to 5 (five) footballers, whomust not be born before the 1st of January 2002. The loans are fixed, not interchangeable, and can be used throughoutthe entire duration of the tournament. The list of participating players, completed with respective permits, has to be sent to the Viareggio Cup technical-and-disciplinary committee via e-mail to the address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 12 O’clock on 13 March 2020. The list must not exceed the number of 28 footballers, incudin on-loan players, and has to include the names of executives, coaches, doctor and physiotherapist going in the bleachers. For each participating player, name, surname, date of birth, membership number released by the relevant Federation and the shirt numeber have to beindicated. IT IS MANDATORY TO KEEP THE SAME SHIRT NUMBER FOR THE ENTIRE DURATION OF THE “VIAREGGIO CUP”.
Art. 6 – The “Viareggio Cup” will happen as follows:
GROUP STAGE
The 32 teams will be divided in 8 rounds (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) of 4 teams each, through a draw. 8 (eight) teams will be nominated top of each group at the incontestable discretion of the organising committee. The 8 rounds will be divided into Group A, which comprises rounds 1, 2, 3 and 4, and Group B, which comprises rounds 5, 6, 7 and 8. The teams will play each other in a one-leg match of 90 minutes. The classification will be made with the following standards: 3 points for a victory; point for a draw; 0 points for a loss.
In case of a tie on completion of the group stage, round standings shall be decided upon using the following criteria in the following order: 1. Scores of head-to-head matches; 2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches between the teams with same points; 3. Goal difference in all matches played in the group stage; 4. Largest number of scoared goals in all matches played in the group stage;
5. Lowest average age of the list of participating players; 6. Draw, which will take place in the offices of CGC situated in Via Salvatori 1 - Palabarsacchi in Viareggio, in the presence of the technical-and-disciplinary committee and representatives of the involved teams.
The 8 (eight) teams who ended in first place and the 8 (eight) teams who ended in second place in each round according to the aforementioned standards will be eligible for the next turn, for a total amount of 16 teams. A ranking of the 8 teams winning the rounds plus the 8 teams second classified will be compiled.
ROUND OF 16
Combinations between the 8 group-stage winners and the 8 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 4 best second classified teams from Group A will be in Group 2 and will play versus the top 4 seeded teams from Group B. The same principle is applied to Group B. The 4 top 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 4 best second classified teams from Group B will play versus the top 4 seeded teams from Group A. In reverse order to their respective ranking, the best group-stage winner will play versus the fourth best second-classified team, the second best group-stage winner will play versus the third best second-classified team, and so on. The fourth best group-stage winner will play versus the first best second-classified team. 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 10.3 of the I.F.A.B. Association Football Rules.
QUARTER-FINALS
The 8 winning teams will be admitted to the quarter-finals. The combinations of the quarter-finals, once the organising committee have decided at their incontestable judgement 4 seeded teams based on their palmarès, will be determined by a draw and form the Groups 1 and 2. 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 10.3 of the I.F.A.B. Association Football Rules.
SEMI-FINALS
The winning teams of Group 1 and those of 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 kicks, in conformity with Article 10.3 of the 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-times, penalty kicks 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 a maximum 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 disposal of the organisers, by 11am on 16 March 2020. 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 31 March 2020. Upon registration, each participating team has to indicate a location (and possibly an e-mail 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 bu 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 organisation of the “Viareggio Cup”. The technical-disciplinary task 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 referees association; The territorial sporting judge or his deputy of the F.I.G.C. – L.N.D. Tuscan Regional Committee. This commission will be presided by the President of the F.I.G.C. – L.N.D. Tuscan Regional Committee or by the Counselor of the competent Provincial Delegation possibly charged in his stead, who will choose the Secretary. The Sporting Judge member of the above mentioned Commission will examine match reports and dedice 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. The Commission may adopt collectively further technical actions, aimed to the regular development of the Tournament. All the decisions of the aforementioned commission will form an officila bulletin that will be issued by the Centro Giovani Calciatori to the interested teams by e-mail or fax 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 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, unless any higher sanction inflicted by the technical-disciplinary commission; during the tournament, the player who receives a second warning will be disqualified for the next match, on the declaration of the Sporting Judge; 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 L.N.D. department, a F.I.G.C. 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 will be played, on fields used for amateur and professional matches, after having verified alongside the L.N.D. that each ground is in suitable playing conditions.
Art. 11 – The selection of the participating teams in the “Viareggio Cup” is at discretion of Centro Giovani Calciatori.
Art. 12 – The participating teams have to arrive in time to the playing ground, in conformity with the arranged times, except for circumstances beyond their control. Teams who fail to arrive to the ground within 15 minutes after the time arranged for the start of the match will be declared to have renounced the match, will be eliminated from the “Viareggio Cup” and charged to pay a 3.000,00 € penalty before their departure from Viareggio or recourse will be made to relevant fedserations. Any team that withdraw less than 20 dys prior to the tournament kick off will lose the inscription fee and be charged to pay within 30 days of the cancellation a minimum fine of 5.250,00 €, excluding any further claims made for damages or losses incurred by the organizer club. The declaration of the existence of circumstances beyond team 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 commitee before 8pm of the scheduled match day, or before midnight for matches started after 8pm, and a copy of such request 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 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 acceptance.
Art. 13 – Without influencing the validity and regulations in force, considering the brevity of the “Viareggio Cup”, it is hereby explicitly stated that complaints or protests regarding the regularity of the played matches and/or registered members are to be presented to the referee within 30 minutes after the end of the match. Complaints are also to be presented in duplicate copy, including a 300,00 € 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 must be accompanied with the receipt of hand-delivered registered post sign by the opposing club or with the attestation proving the effective notification of the copy of the complaint at the headquarter address. In case of the component being untraceable before 8pm of the scheduled match day or before midnight for matches started after 8pm, the protesting club must notify it to the technical-disciplinary 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 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 inadmissable. THE OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIVE HAS TO BE DEKEGATED BY THE CLUB CHAIRMAN TO REPRESENT THE CLUB ITSELF DURING 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 registration fee established upon agreement with the organising committee to be paid before 15 February 2020.
Art. 15 – Foreign clubs have to provide insurance for their own players against risks and possible injuries. In any case the organising committee declines all responsibilities for possible injuries to people or properties.
Art. 16 – Whenever there is uniformity in the colours of the teams’ shirt, the latter-named club in the schedule must change it.
Art. 17 – For matches suspended due to facts that do not imply the imposition of fines on the basis of Art. 12, 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 played is detrmined by the referee and such a decision cannot be appealed. The match continues with the following ways: 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; In the continuation of the match, all the footballers appearing on the list handed in before the tournament kickoff are admitted to play, independently by the fact that they were or not in the list of the referee the day of 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 in the continuation; 3. The players who were disqualified before the match cannot play even 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 72nd World Football Tournament “Viareggio Cup – Coppa Carnevale”, has conceded to RAI – Radio Televisione Italiana S.p.A. the exclusive boroadcasting rights in the audiovisual field for 2020.
Art. 19 – For whatever is not specifically covered by the present rules, the International Football Association Board (I.F.A.B.) norms actually in force will apply whenever suitable.
