The 2460 IFK World Cup was the 4th IFK World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for open league national phutebola teams organised by the IFK. It took place in Empherias and Grensalbourg, the first dual-host, from November to 21 December 2460, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2453. It was the third time the championships had been held in Alaxia, and the second time they were held in the High Kingdoms of Alaxia.
The tournament phase involved 24 teams, of which 22 came through qualifying competitions held in different continents between 2457 and 2459, while Empherias and Grensalbourg qualified automatically as host nations.
This world cup would be the second to not be invite-only, and include a qualification round. It would also be the first cup to include a proper process for qualification for Qatesh nations, although still limited. Empherias and Grensalbourg, the hosts, automatically qualified. Usually, just one country hosts and so only one slot is reserved for them. Therefore, East Alaxia would lose one of its available slots. Qateshi and Alaxian qualifications would be consolidated into a joint tournament between both confederations in their continents. The 12th place in Alaxia, and 3rd place in Acoria, would play an intercontinental playoff to decide the final space.
↑ 1.01.1They have a potential to gain an extra slot, pending on the results of the Intercontinental playoff.
Alaxian qualification
Qualification in the West and East Alaxian confederations were merged to have a much larger tournament. The combined Alaxia had 12 slots in the World Cup, with an extra potential one pending intercontinental results. The tournament would be held in two parts. The first round would see five groups drawn consisting of six teams each, excluding Group A and Group B which had five due to only a total of 28 countries involved. Groups were drawn using pots that approximated similar team strength. The first and second placing countries in each group would qualify for the World Cup, while third placing countries would go to the second round. The second round was a sixth group consisting of all five third-placers. The first and second placing countries here qualified for the World Cup, with the third placing country going to an intercontinental playoff with an East Qateshi nation.
In the first round, 2 games would be played per fixture, while in the second round it was just 1 game per fixture. 110 matches were played across all six groups. To read the table, the score on the left was achieved by the team named on the row, while the score on the right was achieved by the team's flag shown in the column header. Concerning the first round: the matches played on the top-right were played first, across matchdays in 2453; the matches played on the bottom-left were played second, across matchdays in 2455. Concerning the second round, All matches were played in the matchdays in late 2455 and early 2456. The intercontinental playoff between East Qatesh would be played in March 2456.
Qualification in the Acoria confederation was recommended by IFK due to the standard of economies in the region. It would consist of a single round robin tournament, with 2 games per fixture. Two countries would qualify for the World Cup, while third place would go to an intercontinental playoff against North Qatesh. The top-right matches were in the first half of 2455, while the bottom-left matches were in the second half of 2455.
Due to conflicts within IFK management over cost and organisation, no qualification round was held in North or East Qatesh. Therefore, the teams qualifying and those in the intercontinental playoffs were individually invited. The slots to fill were 3 spots in North Qatesh, 4 in East Qatesh, and another one from each for the intercontinental playoffs. Holy Tempest Empire, Cammel, Yasja-Kanusphra were the West Qatesh nations invited; while United Republic, Suton, Skuria, Ladros were the East Qatesh nations invited. Alsara and Blia were picked to fill up the intercontinental spots.
John Masdon, the key striker to Empherias, is severely injured by a Kanusphran player - who subsequently is given a red card. Masdon is taken off by a medical team in the 67th minute and is not allowed by his doctors to compete in the rest of the tournament