About the tournament

12 teams (players born in 1994 and younger) will take part in XXIII International football tournament "Commonwealth Cup".

The Tournament will be staged in Saint Petersburg from 16 to 25 January 2015.

The Format of the Tournament

The tournament is played in two stages.

On the first stage participating team are divided into 3 groups (A, B, C) with 4 teams in each group. The first stage competition will be on a round robin basis where each team will have one match with every other team of the same group.
The ranking of the teams in the first and second stages shall be determined basing upon the points acquired by each team (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 point for a defeat).
In case of equality of points of two or more teams the following criteria shall be taken into account:

• the higher number of victories in all the matches;
• results of the matches between each other (quantity of points, goals differences, number of scored goals);
• superior goal difference in all the matches;
• higher number of goals scored in all the matches;
• the smallest quantity of disciplinary violations (yellow card is 1 point, red card is 3 points)
• in the case of all these criteria’s equality, a draw of lots shall be held.

On the second stage teams that have taken 1st and 2nd places in their groups and best two of three teams that took 3rd place compete in playoffs for the spots from 1st to 8th.
The best teams that took 3rd place, determined by the following criteria:

• the highest amount of points
• the higher number of victories in all the matches
• results of the matches between each other (quantity of points, goals differences, number of scored goals)
• superior goal difference in all the matches
• the smallest quantity of disciplinary violations (yellow card is 1 point, red card is 3 points)
• In the case of all these criteria’s equality, a draw of lots shall be held.

The pairs of rivals in the 1/4 finals are as follows:
1st place of group A – 3d place of group B/C
1at place of group B – 3d place of group A/C
1st place of group C – 2nd place of group A
2nd place of group B – 2nd place of group C

If third places are for teams from groups A and B, the winner of group A meets with the third team from group B and the winner of group B meets the third team from group A.
If third places are for teams from groups A and C, the winner of group A meets with the third team from group C and the winner of group B meets the third team from group A.
If third places are for teams from groups B and C, the winner of group A meets with the third team from group B and the winner of group B meets the third team from group C.

The teams which take the 4th positions in Groups and worst team of the 3 places play for 9-12 positions on the play-off basis.
The pairs of rivals in the play-off matches for 9-12 places are as follows:
4th place of group A – 4th place of group C
4th place of group B - worst team of the 3d places of groups
In case of the worst team of the 3d places is from group B the pairs are as follows:
4th place of group A – 3d place of group B
4th place of group B - 4th place of group C

In the case of draw result after the playing time in the play-off matches, the winner is determined by penalty kicks in accordance with the procedure defined by the Laws of the Game.