The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either a single game, a series of games, or a tournament, and may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats. Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament.
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
- One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentrated into a relatively short time interval.
- A competition involving a number of matches, each involving a subset of the competitors, with the overall tournament winner determined based on the combined results of these individual matches. These are common in those sports and games where each match must involve a small number of competitors: often precisely two, as in most team sports, racket sports and combat sports, many card games and board games, and many forms of competitive debating. Such tournaments allow large numbers to compete against each other in spite of the restriction on numbers in a single match.
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, whose winner becomes the tournament champion. Each match-up may be a single match or several, for example two-legged ties in European sports or best-of series in American pro sports. Defeated competitors may play no further part after losing, or may participate in "consolation" or "classification" matches against other losers to determine the lower final rankings; for example, a third place playoff between losing semi-finalists. In a shootout poker tournament, there are more than two players competing at each table, and sometimes more than one progressing to the next round. Some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a single-elimination final stage, often called playoffs.
An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams, playing competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels. Conferences often, but not always, include teams from a common geographic region.
The Australian Football International Cup is a triennial international Australian rules football sport competition. It is the biggest worldwide tournament in the sport and is open to all nations. More than 26 nations have participated and the competition has expanded into multiple pools and both men and women's divisions. The most recent event 2020 was postponed and then cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently postponed until 2024. At the time of the last tournament in 2017, the sport had a record 170,744 registered players outside Australia growing at a rate of 25% per annum.
There are a number of formats used in various levels of competition in sports and games to determine an overall champion. Some of the most common are the single elimination, the best-of- series, the total points series more commonly known as on aggregate, and the round-robin tournament.
The Canada national Australian rules football team represents Canada in Australian rules football. The men's side is known as the Northwind while the women's side is known as the Northern Lights. The national team is selected by AFL Canada the governing body for Australian rules football in Canada.
A wild card is a tournament or playoff berth awarded to an individual or team that fails to qualify in the normal way; for example, by having a high ranking or winning a qualifying stage. In some events, wildcards are chosen freely by the organizers. Other events have fixed rules. Some North American professional sports leagues compare the records of teams which did not qualify directly by winning a division or conference.
Australian rules football has been played in Sweden since 1993, with the game currently played in Helsingborg, Malmö, Lund, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Karlstad, Falun, Norrtälje and Uppsala. A national governing body was formed in 2007 under the name Svenska Australisk Fotbollsförbundet or AFL Sweden.
The 2002–03 UEFA Cup was the 32nd edition of the UEFA Cup, the second-tier European club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played between Portuguese side Porto and Scottish side Celtic at the Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla, Seville, on 21 May 2003. Porto won 3–2 after silver goal extra time and became the first Portuguese team to win the competition.
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season in 1897. It changed its name to Australian Football League in 1990 after expanding its competition to other Australian states in the 1980s. The AFL publishes its Laws of Australian football, which are used, with variations, by other Australian football organisations.
The 2008 Australian Football International Cup was the third time the Australian Football International Cup, an international Australian rules football competition, has been contested.
Australian rules football in Asia dates back to 1910 but was only sporadically played until the 1980s after which it has boomed. Clubs have begun in most Asian countries and a governing body for the region, AFL Asia was formed in 2008 to coordinate the Asian Championship and promote its affiliated leagues. AFL Asia estimates that there are now more than 10,000 Australian Football players across Asia.
Australian rules football is played in Europe at an amateur level in a large number of countries. The oldest and largest leagues are those in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, in each of these nations there are several established clubs, and organised men's, women's and juniors programs. The British AFL has now expanded into Welsh, Scottish and English leagues. The Danish AFL has been responsible for the expansion of Australian Football into Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway. The governing body for Australian Football in Europe was founded in Frankfurt in January 2010; the body was initially called the European Australian Football Association, but changed its name to AFL Europe at a general assembly meeting in Milan in October of the same year. It currently has 22 member nations. AFL Europe, with backing of the AFL in Australia has overseen a large improvement in the organisation of Australian football in Europe.
The 2010–11 UEFA Champions League was the 56th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 19th under the UEFA Champions League format. The final was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 28 May 2011, where Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3–1. Internazionale were the defending champions, but were eliminated by Schalke 04 in the quarter-finals. As winners, Barcelona earned berths in the 2011 UEFA Super Cup and the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup.
The Inline Hockey World Championship is an annual inline hockey tournament organized by World Skate. Prior to the creation of World Skate in September 2017, the championship was administrated by the Comité International Roller In-Line Hockey (CIRILH), an organization and discipline of Fédération Internationale de Roller Sports (FIRS). It is the sport's highest-profile annual international tournament.
The 2012 NAB Cup was the Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season competition played before the 2012 home-and-away season. The games were played between 17 February and 18 March 2012.
The 2013 NAB Cup was an Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season competition that was played before the 2013 home and away season. The tournament commenced on 15 February 2013, and concluded with the NAB Cup Grand Final on 15 March 2013. The first group of matches was played between Collingwood, Essendon and Western Bulldogs in Melbourne at Etihad Stadium. The tournament was won by the Brisbane Lions, its first pre-season premiership.
The 2014 Australian Football International Cup was the fifth edition of the Australian Football International Cup, an international Australian rules football competition run by the Australian Football League.
The 2017 Australian Football International Cup was the sixth edition of the Australian Football International Cup, a triennial international Australian rules football competition run by the Australian Football League (AFL).
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