The Tournament is an internal International Football Tournament of Tallink Group “Tallink Cup 2019” (the Tournament) and is intended only for AS Tallink Grupp and its subsidiaries´ employees (the players) working onboard the vessels or in hotels and organizations ashore.

1. General

1.1. The basic FIFA Laws of the Game apply with following exemptions and/or if not otherwise specified below in these Tournament Rules & Regulations of “Tallink Cup 2019”.
1.2. The teams and all players are kindly requested to enjoy the game and honor the fair game rules of football, where the violent and uncivilized behavior (acts or words) is prohibited. The Tournament organizers rely heavily upon captains of the teams to set a positive example of conduct and sportsmanship and to exercise the necessary control over their players.
1.3. Tournament organizers are not responsible for any injuries to any participant in the Tournament on or off the fields.
1.4. All the info about Tournament shall be published in special Tallink Cup webpage www.tallink.com/tallinkcup and other appropriate places.
1.5. Appendixes of the Tournament Rules & Regulations:    
     Appendix 1 – “Registration Form”
     Appendix 2 – “Game Protocol”

2. Eligibility

2.1. Every participating team may consist only of the players employed on that vessel to be eligible. The Tallink Hotels team may include players from all the hotels operated under Tallink Hotels brand. The Office team may include players from all ashore organizations (offices, terminals, contact centers) of AS Tallink Grupp and its subsidiaries in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia.
2.1.1. As an exemption to the principle stated in the preamble of these rules, the trainee, who is doing his/her respective practice onboard of respective vessel and is in the crew list during the game date, can be used as a player of that respective team.
2.1.2. As an exemption to the clause 2.1 - every team may invite maximum two (2) players from the ashore organizations (offices, terminals, contact centers) of AS Tallink Grupp and its subsidiaries in Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Latvia, to play under the colors of the inviting team. The inviting team´s flag of the vessel must be the same as the country/working place of the invited player - as an example, player from the Stockholm office can play only in the team of “Galaxy” or “Symphony”.
2.2. The participating teams are:
   - “Baltic Princess”
   - “Victoria”
   - “Baltic Queen”
   - “Romantika”
   - “Isabelle”
   - “Galaxy”
   - “Silja Symphony”
   - “Silja Serenade”
   - “Silja Europa”
   - Tallink Shuttle (M/S “Star” + M/S “Superstar”)
   - Tallink Hotels
   - Tallink Office
2.3. Every team must fill in Tallink Cup 2019 Registration Form (the list of players of the team – appendix 1 of these rules) and send it by e-mail to taavi@tallink.ee latest by 14th of May 2018. The team can have maximum sixteen (16) players.
2.4. Every team must be able upon request to support the identification of their players, by presenting Tallink ID-card or ID-card or other commonly respected identification document, during the Tournament games. The identification documents of players must be taken to every game.
2.5. A player is allowed to represent only one team in the Tournament, specified in clause 2.1 (including clauses 2.1.1 and 2.1.2) of the Rules.
2.6. If the player is not eligible for the Tournament, specified in these rules, then the player will be disqualified from the Tournament and the team will lose the respective game with result 0:3.

3. Tournament standings

3.1. Group level. The teams participating in the Tournament will be in the first stage divided to four (4) subgroups A, B, C and D (see standings below). The selection of teams’ standings in the groups is arranged by blind lottery.
3.1.1. The teams in every group will play against each other one time only – against the opponents in the respective group.
3.1.2. The team, who won the respective game, held in group level, will get three (3) points, and the team who lost the same game will get zero (0) points. If the game will end in a tie, the both teams will get one (1) point.
3.1.3. From every group, two (2) teams, who got most points (see clause 3.1.2), will go through to quarterfinals (see standings below).
3.1.4. If in the group level the amount of the points (see clause 3.1.2) of the respective teams in the same group is even, then the following steps in following order will declare the team to go through to quarterfinals from that group:
       - the interplay game;
       - the team, who has the best aggregate of the goals (for example 7 – 3 = 4);
       - the number of scored goals;
       - lottery.



3.2. Semifinals and Finals. After the games held in group level (see clause 3.1 with respective sub clauses) the Tournament will continue in play-off system with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (the Bronze game and the Final) – see the standings above. The playoffs will start with the quarter finals, where the first place team of every group will play against the second place team of the respective group, as shown in the playoff scheme above. The selection of standings is arranged by blind lottery.

4. Officials

4.1. Referee - a referee will be assigned for all games in the Tournament.
4.2. Team Leader – a person, who is referred as team leader (the Captain of the team), is responsible for the team during the matches and on free time. The Captain and his appointed deputies will be the contact person(s) of the team.
4.3. The Tournament Manager – Taavi Tiivel is responsible to arrange and organize, with the assistance of the Captains of the teams, all the details of the Tournament in the best possible way.
4.4. Field Marshal - Tournament Manager will name the Field Marshal for every match. Field Marshal is a Tournament official and acts as a representative of the Tournament Manager during the match. Field Marshal will handle the game documents and protocols of the Match.
4.5. All possible protest and complains will be solved by a Tournament Manager (or on the site by Referee accompanied by the Field Marshal) and the decision by the mentioned institution can not be overruled.

5. The Number of Players and Substitutions

5.1. Team can bring in six (6) field players and one (1) goalkeeper on the pitch and can have nine (9) substitutes on the bench.
5.2. During the game time unlimited substitutions shall be allowed. All substitutions are permitted at the discretion of the Referee. Substitutions shall be done only from the half field mark pointed by referee before the game.
5.3. In case of same color playing shirts the second team will switch the shirts or use vests. Vest will be provided by the Field Marshal.

6. Forfeits

If a team is unable to field at least five (5) players at the start time, the game may be forfeited. Teams must remain at the site until a decision is reached. If a forfeit is declared, the team ready to play shall be declared the winner and a score 3:0 will be recorded. The teams are expected to check-in with the Field Marshal at least 5 minutes prior to the start of the game time.

7. Duration of the Match

7.1. All games will consist of two (2) halves of fifteen (15) minutes duration. In all games, each team shall be entitled to a ten (10) minute rest period at half time.
7.2. Should any game in the playoffs phase (quarter- and semifinals only) end in a tie, the game shall be decided directly by penalty kicks taken in accordance with the regulations laid out by the FIFA Laws of the Game.
7.3. Should any game in the Bronze game and the Finale game end in a tie, the teams shall change ends and play two (2) halves of five (5) minutes duration. At the end of the first five (5) minutes period, the teams shall change ends and proceed with second half without a break.
7.3. If, at the end of the two (2) overtime periods, specified in clause 7.3, the game is still tied, the game shall be decided by penalty kicks taken in accordance with the regulations laid out by the FIFA Laws of the Game.

8. Cautions/ejections

8.1. If a player receives two (2) cautions (2 x yellow cards = red card) during a game the player will be disqualified from the game and disqualified from the next game. The same rule applies for the direct red card.
8.2. A player who receives during the Tournament two (2) red cards will be disqualified from the Tournament.
8.3. Captains of the teams are responsible to ensure players sit out any games they are suspended for.
8.4. All cards and their influence in effect (except the 2 red cards rule specified in clause 8.2) will be nullified before the final match.
8.5. If the team uses the respective player, who has the effect of red cards, specified in clause 8.1 and 8.2, then the team will lose the match with result 0:3.

9. Playing fields

9.1. Matches will be held in Tallinn in half size of normal stadium(s). The Tournament of Tallink Cup 2019 will be held in Kalev stadium (Tallinn) – with artificial grass. Kalevi Keskstaadion, Staadioni 3, Tallinn.

10. Calendar of the Games

10.1. The Tournament will be held in two (2) consecutive days on 28th and 29th of May 2019, where in Day 1 (28th of May) the group level games shall be held and in Day 2 (29th of May) the playoffs (quarterfinals, semifinals, the Bronze game and the Finale) shall be held.
10.3. All the info about Calendar of the Games shall be published in special Tallink Cup webpage www.tallink.com/tallinkcup and other appropriate places.
10.4. The respective game arrangements (day and kick-off time) are given and fixed in the Calendar of the Games – see the schedule in respective table below in this clause. If any changes in the schedule, then always the last version given only by the Tournament Manager will apply.