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Notes from the organizer: The format for this tournament will mirror that of the real life UEFA Champions League, something that you'll be familiar with if you are a football fan. Hopefully in this one, there won't be any dodgy refereeing.

The format for each game will be the slightly experimental custom set up of LNLLNLLNLNC, with normal rules and winners scoring. The catch is that player one will get to pick every round and will also have the advantage of declaring second. Don't worry, you'll all have an equal number of games as both the picker and non-picker, as the tourney will involve playing “home” and “away” matches, with the home player being player one.

There are 32 places up for grabs in the group stage, which is the start of the main tournament. If we don't get enough entrants, I'll quite happily adapt the tournament to run it with 24 or 16, but no fewer. If we get more entrants than the desired number, a qualifying round will be introduced before the group stage in order to reduce the number. Whether you are required to participate in a qualifier or not will depend on your pro rank at the time of the draw. Those who are required to compete will be divided into first and second seeds, again determined by pro ranks, with the rest of the participants receiving byes into the group stage. For each qualifier, a first seed will take on a second seed. Each tie will take place over two legs, with each player playing at home once. The scores will be added up after both legs have been played and the player who has the highest will advance to the group stage. If the scores are level after two legs, the away goals rule will be used, meaning that whoever scored the most points in their away leg will qualify. If the scores are still level, the outcome will be decided by a single conundrum, which you'll have to set up yourselves. Hopefully you should be capable of working out who has won between you but if you're in doubt, just drop me an aptomail and I'll tell you.

When we have our 32 players for the group stage, they will again be seeded from one to four according to pro ranks, with eight players for each seeding. There will be eight groups of four and each group will contain one player with each of the four seedings. The four players will play each other home and away, making it six games for each player. You will receive three points for a win and one for a draw and the two players with the most points from each group will qualify for the knockout stages. If two or more players are level on points at the end, UEFA's criteria will be used to determine who finishes higher.

Although you only need to finish second to qualify for the knockout stages, there is an incentive to win your group, as it means you'll be up against another group runner-up in the last 16. Also note that you can not be drawn against the player who qualified alongside you in your group at this stage. When it comes to the quarter finals, all restrictions go out of the window and anyone can be drawn to play anyone else. The last 16, quarter finals and semi finals will use the same rules as the qualifiers to determine the winner.

The final will be a one-off game, with players now having an even number of picks each, but still played in the same format and using winners scoring. A tiebreak conundrum will be used if necessary to determine the winner of the tournament.

Although winners scoring awards you the point just for equalling your opponent, I'd prefer to award points just for the rounds you win, as it seems to make more sense. It should mean that the gap between the two players is the same for both systems but it could be a little trickier to keep track of the away goals in the knockout stages. That's the way I'd prefer to do it but if there are any major objections, we'll just stick to the way winners scoring is.

Sign ups will close on Wednesday 20th August and the draw for the qualifiers will be made soon after. I plan to allow three weeks for each knockout round and six weeks for the group stage. This should be plenty of time to get your games played and if you can't make that small commitment, I ask you not to sign up for this. If players do not complete their games in time, I will use pretty much the same rules as Zarte uses for the aptotude league. Whoever has made the most effort to get their game played will be awarded the win, with their score being their average, to the nearest one, while their opponent will get nothing, should this happen in the group stage. Failure to complete your group games without a good reason will result in exclusion from the knockout stage, even if your record is good enough, as I am not prepared to risk further hold ups. If it happens in the knockout stage, I will just advance the player to the next round. If I feel that neither player has made a decent effort, I will not be afraid to punish both. I really hope it doesn't come to this as it's really unfair on everyone who is committed to the tournament. So hopefully the message is clear - play your games or don't sign up.

This is the first tournament I have hosted and I'm open to ideas on how it can be improved. I'll also be happy to answer any questions you may have. Cheers and good luck to all taking part!

Ran from: 21 – 18 August 2014. Format: Champions League. Matches: One-off. Approved.

Signed up: Charlie Reams, Jon Stitcher, Ian Volante, Tom Cappleman, Innis Carson, Tom Rowell, Matthew Tassier, Lloyd Pet, Mark Tournoff, Transude Transude, Phil Collinge, Jason Turner, Niall Seymour, Marcus Hares, Sam Hodkin, Jonathan Wynn, Dave Mattingly, Chris Marshall, Amie Bateen, Jordan F, Ned Pendleton, James Bradley, Giles H, Rhys Benjamin, Martin Long, Tracey Mills, Andy Platt, David Barnard, Kieran Bray, Michael Cullen, James Rowan, Zarte Siempre, Anoush Khachik, Mark Murray, Darran Prior, Matthew Brockwell, James Laverty, Sean D, James Bailes, Dave Nicholson, Alex Fish, Callum Todd, Ed Byrne, Brett Davids, Jamie M, George Ford, John Vivian, Les Tufnell, Bojack Horseman, Frank Jones, Usman Mirza.

Fixtures: 0. Completed: 0.