OPSL Cup

The Omerican Professional Soccer League Challenge Cup (Coupe challenge de la Ligue omericaine du soccer professionnel), commonly referred to simply as the Challenge Cup, is an annual knockout competition involving professional Omerican clubs. Organised by the Omerican Professional Soccer League, participation in the competition is open to member clubs of its four divisions, which equates to those in the top four levels of the Omerican football league system.

The winners of the Challenge Cup receive a berth to the IFCF Challengers Cup unless they have qualified for the Champions League via league finish. Londonderry FC are the current champions, defeating Ever Grande in the most recent grand final.

Format
The competition is contested as a straight cup tournament, with teams eliminated from the tournament after a single loss. All participating clubs enter the competition in the first round; all clubs, regardless of division, must therefore win six games to win the tournament. With the exception of the final, each tie is played over a single leg at one of the two teams’ home ground with no ; drawn matches proceed directly to, followed by a if the tie remains level.

In contrast to the Federation Cup, which draws each round only after the previous has been played, the Challenge Cup uses a fixed which is set by a draw before the commencement of the tournament. Within each of the four divisions, each club is drawn a number from 1 to 16, with four clubs (one from each of the four divisions) having each number. In the first round, Fourth Division clubs host Premier Division clubs with the same “seed” number, while Third Division clubs host Second Division clubs with the same number; in the second round, clubs with the same number play each other, with the club in the lower division hosting the match. From the third round on, a standard sixteen-team seeded bracket is used without reseeding.

The final match traditionally takes place at the midpoint of the league season. This match is the only one to be played at a neutral ground, selected by the Omerican Professional Soccer League administration after the completion of the quarterfinals.