In October 2019, the Nations Cup finally entered its tenth and final season, making it the longest lasting tournament format in the history of the competitive scene, ahead of the Warband Native League. As in the previous season, the format allowed for individual nations to field multiple teams, so that as many players as possible could take part in the tournament. However, the old system with a group and a subsequent knockout phase was returned, although, unlike in previous editions, the groups were formed according to the playing strength of the teams.
Thus, Group A contained the tournaments supposedly strongest six teams. In the very first week, two of the top favourites, Turkey and France, met and after a thrilling match they finally had to agree on a draw. Meanwhile, Germany clearly beat their Polish opponents, but missed out on the good performance of the first week the following weeks. The Poles, on the other hand, should not lose another game after their weak start and thus qualify for the knockout phase at the top of the group.
Group B was also made up of some of the heavyweights of the scene, including Belgium & Netherlands, North America as well as Russia & Ukraine. At the end of the group phase, all three teams were to lead the group and thus qualify directly for the knockout phase or the playoffs respectively. Groups C and D included not only the second teams of some nations but also some teams from distant countries such as Argentina, Brazil and China.
In the quarter finals, Poland then took revenge on Germany, who had previously qualified for the knockout round in an unexciting round of playoff matches, for their defeat in the first week of the tournament. In the second rematch of the week, France were to narrowly defeat Turkey, while the United Kingdom had no problems against Turkeys second team. In unarguably the most surprising match of the tournament, the North American team kicked the Polish title contenders out of the tournament after they had clearly defeated Belgium & Netherlands the week before. The North Americans then met the French in the final, which meant that for the first time in its history the Nations Cup final was played out in the home-away-system. In probably the longest in the history of the game, the Frenchside was to get the upper hand in the end, after countless rounds on the tiebreaker map Winterburg, and became the Nations Cup champions for the second time in its history. |