The Tournament Library

When a tournament runs for several seasons, the same clubs, players and coaches come back year after year. The library is one list of them for the whole tournament: every season's team, player or staff member points at its library entry, so their history adds up across seasons.

The library belongs to one tournament and its seasons. It is never shared with your other tournaments or with other organisers, and it is never shown on your public website.

You mostly don't have to do anything#

MyCup fills the library for you:

• Next season. When you start the next season, every team, player and staff member you carry over is already linked to the same entry.

• Added later. When a club or person is added to a season (by hand, by registration, or by import), MyCup looks for them in the library:

  • exactly one match → linked automatically;
  • no match → added to the library as a new entry;
  • more than one possible match → left for you to decide in To link (see below).

  A spreadsheet import of teams, players or staff links the whole season in one go once the import has finished.

A club matches on its name. A player matches on name and licence number, name and birth date, or on name at the same club when there is neither. A staff member matches the same way, or on a name nobody else has. Two people with the same name but different licence numbers are never linked automatically.

A registration joins the library when you approve it, not while it is pending — together with the players and staff its manager added. A registration you reject leaves nothing behind.

Where you see it#

• Teams list. A Seasons column shows the seasons each club played; click it to open the library dialog. Returning and New this season filter the list, and before the season starts a note tells you how many teams came back.
• A club's Players and Staff tabs. The same Seasons column for each person, with Returning / New this season filters on Players.
• A club's Overview tab and the player and staff pages have an Across seasons card: every season the club or person played, with a link to open it, and Change / Unlink.
• Dashboard. When something needs you, the Needs you card lists The library needs you with a link to the Seasons page.

The chips and cards only appear when the tournament has more than one season, and only to people who can manage its seasons.

Checking a registration#

When a club registers, its candidate page shows whether it has played in another season. A club with the same name gets a Returning club note, and the Past seasons tab shows its record season by season. If only a similar name is found (for example "Lions FC Academy" for "Lions FC"), the tab lists it as Similar name so you can judge for yourself.

Linking by hand#

Open the library dialog from a chip, or use the Library card:

1. Suggested shows the likeliest entries, with the seasons each appears in and, for people, their birth year, licence number and last club. Click one to link.
2. Not there? Click Change and search the library by name.
3. Or choose Add as a new club / player / person if they really are new.

Unlink takes the row out of its entry. If nothing else uses that entry any more, it is removed. Nothing the season recorded changes.

The "To link" list#

The Seasons page lists every club and player that could not be matched with certainty, across all seasons. For each one, pick who they were before (the best guesses are suggested, and there is a search box), or add them as new. Add all as new clubs / players clears the list in one go when you know they are all new.

Duplicate players#

If the same person was entered twice (for example with and without a birth date), the Seasons page shows them under Possible duplicate players, with what they have in common. Compare shows the profiles side by side and lets you choose which one to keep; Merge all identical merges every pair whose name, birth date and club all match. Spotted a pair MyCup missed? Search for the player by name under Spotted one we missed? and merge the two profiles yourself.

• Merge joins them into the record you choose to keep. Their seasons are combined; what each season recorded (numbers, goals, documents) stays as it is.
• Not the same person means they are never suggested together again. Two children with the same name at one club are real, so MyCup never merges on its own.

Things to know#

• A renamed club becomes a new entry. If "Lions FC" comes back as "Lions Academy", MyCup can't be sure it's the same club and adds it as new. When the names are close, the Seasons page lists the pair under Possible renames (and the Dashboard alert points you there): click Same club, link or Not the same club. You can always open the club's chip and link it to the old entry yourself.
• A licence number is remembered. The library keeps each player's and staff member's licence number. A returning person added without one gets it filled in, and a licence you correct on any season becomes the library's. Spaces, dashes and capital letters don't matter when matching.
• A club's country is remembered. The first season that records where a club comes from teaches the library, and a later season's entry for the same club that leaves the country empty is filled in from it. A country you set on a team is never overwritten.
• Privacy. The library only links a tournament's own seasons, and only people who can manage the tournament's seasons see it.
• API. Partners can read and link the library through the MyCup API (/library/…, library_id on teams, players and staff, licence_number on players and staff). A partner key only sees the library through the seasons it has access to. Public keys never see it.