Nerve Palace Look to Make History

Sir Evren's formidable Nerve Palace are on the verge of a historic victory in the UFFA Gold Cup as they look to become the first team to retain the trophy following their narrow victory against Grabimbyda Scrufoviznek last season.

Palace will meet Hristo Krastev's BG United, victors in Season 6, in Thursday's final and whoever emerges victorious will become the first to win the Gold Cup for a second time.

Previous Winners:
Season 8: Nerve Palace beat Grabimbyda Scrufoviznek
Season 7: Erdington Villans beat Little Badgers
Season 6: BG United beat Ely Town
Season 5: Old Avenellonians beat Shaolin Avengers
Season 4: King Krimson FC beat Dragon team
Season 3: Rapid Pitesti beat FC Ulander
Season 2: Katalyst FC beat Dukes Park Dons

Ariadni FC Seal Place in Gold Cup Semis

Ariadni FC became the first team to book their place in the UFFA Gold Cup Semi-Finals following their 3-0 aggregate victory over Jonathan Ditcher's Dynamo Dragons.

Leandro Gioda headed in the only goal of the second leg just before half time, and although the Dragons' created plenty of opportunities they were unable to score the breakthrough goal. In the 80th minute they earned a penalty when Magalhaes brought down Tagliaferro in the penalty area following some great play down the left. However Ariadni's young 'keeper Martin Lowing guessed correctly diving to his right to save Carlos Tevez's 80th minute penalty kick, extinguishing any last hopes the Dynamo fans' had of a late comeback.

Ariadni progress to meet one of Rapid Pitesti, Dueling Dragons, Nerve Palace or Cardiff United, who have yet to complete their Last 16 matches.

XFA Showdown in Gold Cup Semis

XFA Premiership rivals Ely Town and Zigire FC will meet in the semi-final of the UFFA Gold Cup after overcoming tough quarter-final opposition. Ely Town defeated fellow XFA representative, Relleu Gooners, 4-3 on aggregate. Zigire completed a memorable comeback, recovering from a 2-0 first leg defecit to claim a 3-2 aggregate victory against CWA side Harlesden Harriers.

The second semi-final will be contested between the AEFA's Ariadni FC, fresh from victory over Chester Rats, and BG United of the MLFA after they edged out AEFA Premiership leaders Athens United FC on the away goals rule after a 4-4 aggregate draw.

King Krimson To Defend Title

XEFA Organisers have decided to allow current UFFA Gold Cup holders King Krimson to defend their trophy despite Rafael Popovic's decision to move to the AEFA this season, it had looked likely that Rafa's team would not be present in the competition to defend their title.

The decision means that King Krimson will take one of the XEFA's three allocated Gold Cup places in the coming season, leaving only two current XEFA members taking part in the competition -- whilst Krimson's new federation, the AEFA, will be represented by four teams.

UFFA competition places are allocated to federations to award to teams how they see fit -- usually if a team were to leave a federation they would face sacrificing any UFFA competition qualification place they earned in the previous season as federation organisers have proved unwilling to provide one of their UFFA allocation to a team that has left their federation; an approach seen by some as an attempt to dissuade the top teams from moving to rival federations.

After initially informing Rafa that his place in next season's Gold Cup would be forfeited if he moved to the AEFA, XEFA chiefs have now distanced themselves from that position stating 'Common-sense prevailed' after including King Krimson their UFFA allocation for the season.

XEFA Gold Cup Qualifiers:

1. Duelling Dragons FC
   
2. King Krimson
3. ZenEagles