Official Tournament Rules

• Group Stage, followed by Semi-Finals and a Final.
• The top 4 seeds from the Group Stage advance to the Semi-Finals: 1st plays 4th, and 2nd plays 3rd.
• The two Semi-Final winners meet in the Final.
• No Third Place match is played; third place goes to whichever Semi-Final loser earned more points in the Group Stage.

• Roster limit: 26 players.
• Eligibility: Wisconsin residency.
• Eligibility: Nepalese heritage.
• Team captains are 100% responsible for ensuring every player on their roster meets the Wisconsin residency requirements. If a complaint is raised about a player's residency eligibility, the organizers will review the case and their decision is final.

A driver's license or utility bill confirming Wisconsin residency must be presented on game day.

• Group Stage: 30-minute halves.
• Final Stage: 30-minute halves.

• 11 v 11.
• FIFA Laws of the Game apply unless modified by these tournament rules.
• Unlimited substitutions are allowed during an approved stoppage with the referee's permission.
• No slide tackles and no overhead kicks.

Teams are ranked in the following order:

1. Points (Win = 3, Draw = 1, Loss = 0)
2. Goal difference
3. Goals scored
4. Head-to-head result
5. Fair play record
6. Coin toss (if necessary)

• If a match is tied at the end of regulation, the winner is decided by a penalty shootout.
• No extra time.

• Yellow and red cards are issued according to the FIFA Laws of the Game.
• Slide tackles and overhead kicks are strongly discouraged and may result in discipline up to a direct red card.
• A player receiving a red card is automatically suspended for the next match.
• Fighting, abusive language, or misconduct toward referees, opponents, officials, or spectators may result in suspension or expulsion from the tournament.
• In the event of physical violence, everyone involved will be immediately removed from the field by the security team, with further disciplinary action at the organizers' discretion.
• Yellow card: $25.00 fine for the team, deducted from their deposit.
• Red card: $50.00 fine for the team, deducted from their deposit.

• Teams must wear matching jerseys.
• Shin guards are mandatory.
• If jersey colors are too similar, the designated away team must change jerseys or wear pinnies.
• Players must wear the jersey number assigned to them at registration for every match of the tournament: numbers may not be changed between games.
• A player wearing a pinny instead of a numbered jersey must have their assigned number clearly and visibly displayed on their back.
• It is the team captain's responsibility to make sure every player's jersey number matches their registration on the official tournament website and that the player wears that same number on the field.

• All referee decisions on the field are final.
• Only the team captain may respectfully communicate with the referee when appropriate.

• The tournament committee has final authority on all protests, disciplinary matters, scheduling, and interpretation of these rules. Any situation not covered by these rules will be decided by the tournament committee.
• All disputes or concerns from a team must be communicated and addressed through the team captain; players should not directly engage organizers about team-level disputes.

• Champion and Runner-up: the winner and loser of the Final.
• Player of the Match (every match): decided by the winning team's captain, who names the best player from either squad. If the match finished level, each captain nominates one player instead, and the referee decides the award between those two nominees.
• MVP (Most Valuable Player): the Final's own Player of the Match, when that award goes to a player on the winning squad; decided the same way as any Player of the Match, above.
• Golden Boot: the tournament's top scorer, across every match. Ties are broken by assists.
• Best Goalkeeper: chosen by the tournament committee from among the goalkeepers on active rosters.
• Fair Play: chosen by the tournament committee, informed by each team's disciplinary record across the tournament (a yellow card counts for 1 point, a second yellow for 3, and a straight red for 4), but the award is a judgment, not automatically the team with the fewest points.