Rules of the Golden Boot Knock Out Cup

Structure

These rules apply if there are fewer than 129 teams qualified to take part in the cup. If there are more the rules relating to replays may need to be amended.
The cup will normally consist of a preliminary round designed to reduce the number of teams to the largest power of two which is less than the number of qualifying teams, followed by up to six "proper" rounds where all remaining qualifying teams take part.
All teams who are properly registered to play the Golden Boot game on a specified date each season (not before 31st August) will qualify to take part in the Golden Boot Cup.
All teams still qualified for a particular cup round will take part in the draw for that round. All draws will be open and fair, there will be no seeding of any kind. Teams will be drawn into pairs who will compete against one another to qualify for the next round.
Arrangements for the preliminary round draw will be published within a week after the qualifying date. For all subsequent rounds arrangements for the draw will be published within a week of all replays being completed.
The number of pairs of teams drawn in the preliminary round will be determined by the difference between the number of qualifying teams and the largest power of two which is less than the number of qualifying teams. Teams not drawn will qualify automatically for the first "proper" round.
The draw for all "proper" rounds will involve all teams still qualified for that round being drawn into pairs.

For each round a specific Golden Boot Game Week is allocated for the ties to be played. A second, later, Game Week is allocated for any replays required as a result of the original tie being drawn.
Each team's score will be the total number of points that it achieves in the Golden Boot Game Week specified for the tie or in the Game Week specified for the replay, as appropriate.
If one team outscores the other in the first Game Week of a round they will qualify for the next round, the team with the lower score will be knocked out and take no further part in the cup. Scores in the Game Week specified for the replay will not be counted.
If the teams have equal scores in the first Game Week, the team which has the higher score in the Game Week specified for the replay will qualify for the next round, the team with the lower score will be knocked out and take no further part in the cup.
If both teams involved in a tie score equally in both the first Game Week and the replay Game Week the winner will be determined by the penalty shoot out rules below.

The penalty shoot out score for a team is based on their performance in the Golden Boot game during the first Game Week and the replay Game Week of the specific cup round added together.
There are eight stages to the penalty shoot out which are taken in order from 1 to 8. If either team is ahead after any stage they are declared the winner and go through to the next round. Any subsequent stages are not considered.
In stage 1 the total goals scored by each team in the two Game Weeks forms the score for the team. In stage 2 the number of 8-point goals is added to each team's score, in stage 3 the number of 7-point goals is added to each team's score etc.
If both teams are still level after stage 8, when the number of 2-point goals are added to each team's score, there is no point in adding the 1-point goals since both teams must have identical records. In this case the winning team is decided by the Golden Penalty rules below.

There are three sections to the Golden Penalty rules. Each section is divided into a number of stages. If either team wins a particular stage they will be have an extra penalty added to their total and win the tie. No subsequent stages or sections will be considered.
In section A the two teams total scores in the current Hot Spot game after the replay Game Week for the round in question are compared. The team with the higher total wins.
In section B the Game Weeks since the end of any previous cup round up to the replay Game Week for the current round are totalled for both teams. There are eight stages in this section which match the eight stages in the penalty shoot out rules.
In section C all Golden Boot Game Weeks in the current season up to the end of the replay Week for the current round are totalled for both teams. Again, there are eight stages in this section matching those in the penalty shoot out rules.