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(s). Each match-up may be a single match or several, for example two-legged ties in European sports or best-of series in North 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 progresses 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.
The AFC Champions League Elite is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition in Asian football, played by the national league champions of their national associations.
The Emperor's Cup JFA All-Japan Football Championship Tournament, commonly known as The Emperor's Cup or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football match in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J.League, current JFL and their predecessor, Japan Soccer League.
In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments, and after applied in women's football and futsal, the coefficients are calculated by UEFA, who administer football within Europe, and the Asian parts of some transcontinental countries.
A wild card is a tournament or playoff berth awarded to a team or individual that does not qualify through an automatic bid. 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.
Apollon Limassol FC is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship title four times, the cup nine times and the Super Cup four times.
Ligat Nashim is the Israeli women's football league. It has been run by the Israel Football Association since 1998.
Ali Samereh is an Iranian football coach and former player. He played for Iranian clubs Fajr Sepasi, Esteghlal and Mes Kerman, for Italian side Perugia, and for UAE clubs Al-Shaab and Ajman. He usually played as a striker.
The Japan Football League, also known as simply the JFL, is the 4th tier of the Japanese association football league system, positioned beneath the three divisions of the J.League. The league features fully professional teams that hold J.League associate membership among its ranks.
Football is the most popular sport in Switzerland. The Swiss Football Association was formed in 1895 and was a founder member of the sport's international governing body FIFA in 1904. The Swiss cities of Zürich and Nyon are home to FIFA and the European governing body UEFA respectively. The country played host to the 1954 World Cup and 2008 European Championship.
The Canadian Championship is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and CF Montréal, eight Canadian Premier League sides, and the champions of League1 Ontario, League1 British Columbia, and Ligue1 Québec. The tournament is organized by the Canadian Soccer Association and has been broadcast on OneSoccer since 2019.
The Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, currently known as the Liga F, is the highest level of league competition for women's football in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of the men's La Liga, and it is organized by the Liga Profesional Femenina de Fútbol (LPFF). As one league of the top six national leagues ranked by Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) coefficient, it is considered one league of the most important women's leagues in Europe. Starting with the 2021–22 edition, as determined by the UEFA women's coefficient, the top three teams will qualify for the UEFA Women's Champions League.
Women's football in the United Arab Emirates is growing in popularity but is mainly played in affluent areas.
The 2016 AFC Champions League was the 35th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 14th under the current AFC Champions League title.
The 2021 AFC Champions League was the 40th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 19th under the current AFC Champions League title.
The 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League was the 21st edition of the European women's club football championship organised by UEFA, and the 13th edition since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League. It was the first edition to feature a double-round-robin group stage, in the same manner as the men's UEFA Champions League.
UAE Third Division League is the fourth tier of football league competition in the United Arab Emirates, the league is organised by UAE Football Association for private funded clubs. The league was established for the 2021–22 season. 12 teams participated in the first edition, divided in two groups of six. On 6 July 2022, UAEFA announced that the number of participants will increase from 12 to 16 teams for the 2022–23 season, an increase of 4 teams from the 2021–22 season.
2023–24 UAE Women's Football League The league was played in two stages, a preliminary stage to seed teams into two divisions where 10 teams contested where they will be seeded. Followed by a final stage of two divisions of five teams to contest the champions of the league.
