Baptism of Fire 76

The 76th edition of the Baptism of Fire was a football tournament hosted by Banija and Bollonich prior to World Cup 89. The competition was open to every unranked team as of the World Cup 89 cycle, who have not participated in a previous Baptism of Fire.

Host selection
There were two bids to host the Baptism of Fire.

Draw
Thirty-six teams entered the tournament. As all the teams are unranked, there is no seeding, so all the teams are randomly assigned into 6 groups, with Groups A-C being hosted by Bollonich, and Group D-F hosted by Banija.

Format
Teams played each other team in their group in a single round-robin format. The top two teams from each group, plus the four third-placed teams with the best record, advanced to the single-elimination round of 16 bracket.

Tiebreakers
Group standings were determined in the following order of precedence:
 * 1) Points
 * 2) Head-to-head points
 * 3) Head-to-head goal difference
 * 4) Overall goal differential
 * 5) Drawing of lots (OOC: RP Bonus)