Tournament Information

The Alliance of Independent Nations Hockey Federation is is proud to present the inaugural Alliance Cup. All member nations are invited to compete in the competition slated for April and all nations are invited to bid for the right to host this winner-takes-all tournament. However, there will only be 20 spots available. Some teams will automatically qualify, others will have to go through a qualification round in the week prior to the tournament.

The 20 qualifying national teams will be divided into 4 pools of 5 teams. Each pool will play a round robin where they will face the other members of their pool 3 times. This means each team will play 12 games in the Round Robin, 6 home and 6 away. Round robin competition will be played over 12 days.

The top 8 teams will go to the playoffs, with the quarter finals consisting of a single knockout game between:

QF1: Pool A Winner V. Pool B Runner-Up
QF2: Pool B Winner V. Pool C Runner-Up
QF3: Pool C Winner V. Pool D Runner-Up
QF4: Pool D Winner V. Pool A Runner-Up

The winners of the quarter finals will proceed to the semi finals, also consisting of a single knockout game between:

SF1: QF1 Winner V. QF3 Winner
SF2: QF2 Winner V. QF4 Winner

The winners of the semi finals will play in a single, sudden death match for the Alliance Cup. The losers will be eliminated. Only one team will emerge at the end as AIN Champions.