Cup-tied
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cup-tied".

Cup-tied is an adjective, used primarily in football, to describe a player who is ineligible to play in a knockout cup competition after transferring from another club during that competition.

Application

In virtually all domestic and international club cup competitions, any player who makes an appearance for a club at any stage of the competition is "tied" to that club for all future matches during that season in the same competition. This prevents a strong team from gaining an unfair advantage by signing talented players from clubs that may have lost out in earlier rounds, in an attempt to increase their cup chances.

The rule applies to individual cup competititions, such that a player who plays in the English FA Cup, but not the Carling Cup, for example, is cup-tied only in the former competitition. If the player signs for a new club in the same season, he or she is thus eligible for the Carling Cup but not the FA Cup. Historically, players were cup-tied in European Football after playing in any European club competitition, but the ruling has been refined such that a player may represent one club in the UEFA Champions League, and then another in the UEFA Cup or vice versa.

However, if a player is fielded in the Champions League by a club which later that season plays in the UEFA Cup, he is ineligible to play for a new club in the UEFA Cup, even without ever actually being selected for the competition. This was the case with Alan Hutton who could not play in Europe for Tottenham Hotspur following his former club Rangers' entry into the cup.^[1]

Examples

In the 2008 FA Cup Final against Cardiff City FC, and in previous rounds, Portsmouth player Jermaine Defoe was cup-tied and was unable to play. Portsmouth won the Cup final 1-0.^[2]

In another instance, Ronaldo was forced to buy out his contract with Real Madrid to move to A.C. Milan; he was cup-tied to Madrid in the Champions League which decreased his value to Milan.^[3] A.C. Milan went on to win the tournament, but Ronaldo was not allowed to play in any of their games.

Football associations reserve the right to waive this rule, but this rarely happens. A notable example is that of Stan Crowther and Ernie Taylor who would normally have been ineligible to play for Manchester United in 1958 cup competition, but who were allowed to play following the Munich air disaster, in which many United players died.^[2]

Manipulation

Managers' decisions on whether to field a player can be affected by the potential effect on the player's eligibility for other clubs later in the season. There are two major motivations for deciding to cup-tie a player or not:

To increase a player's value

A team that wishes to transfer a player may deliberately choose not to field him or her in cup competition to ensure (s)he is not cup-tied, increasing the player's usefulness to a club that may be involved in the same competition. A recent example of this was Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez' decision to keep Milan Baroš out of Liverpool's squad for their 2005-06 UEFA Champions League ties in order to retain his value to clubs interested in purchasing the Czech striker's services. (Baroš eventually moved to Aston Villa, which was not involved in the Champions League.)

To decrease a player's usefulness

Similarly, although far less often, a team may deliberately cup-tie a player to discourage a transfer during that season. Note, however, that this does not restrict most international transfers; cup-tying is only an issue internationally if both teams involved in the transfer are involved in a continental cup competition such as the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup.

Criticism

The cup-tied rule comes in for criticism from various fans and media pundits, particularly when a high profile player is ineligible for significant matches. Some argue that the rule is antiquated and that since the introduction of transfer windows, clubs cannot buy players solely for cup matches, but will only do so for the league (in which there is no cup-tie rule).^[2]

Others argue that a purchasing team ought to be able to field its new player as it sees fit, and his or her eligibility for cup competition ought not to be affected by the matches played for previous clubs.^[4]

References