I'm Croatian (you'd have known by now if it wasn't my mom's side of the family) and I'd like to manage Croatia ??. Random is fine but maybe offer the chance to trade teams?

I wish I had thought of the following option:

Managers can select a team, but not the same team two consecutive Cups. Those who do not select a team would receive a random nation for that Cup.

This would allow for managers to enjoy coaching a team of their choice, but still allow for variety across the board.

Could also do ranking preferences.

If you rank a team 1 and no one else wants it it's yours

However if you rank a team 1 and other people want it, it goes into a lottery.

Those who lost in the lottery for round 1 then go to their second preference, if available, if multiple people have the same second preference then it goes to a lottery

Example:

John:

Croatia
England
Norway
 

Brian:
Croatia
England
Norway
 

Allan:
England
Greece
Slovenia

C-Ball:
Croatia
England
Slovenia

John Brian and C-Ball all want Croatia, John wins the lotto.

Allan wants England, he gets England

Brian and C-Ball all have England second, but it is not available

C-Ball has Slovenia third, he gets Slovenia, Brian has Norway third so he gets Norway

If another person has the same ranking then they'd be allocated another country like Australia

No strong preference. My initial reaction was to favour complete randomness, but I'd be happy with John's suggestion. Perhaps just reserve the right to change the process as any flaws come to light.

John,

I appreciate the work you put into that suggestion. Ultimately I think that would be a lot of work to implement. It doesn't mean we can't discuss it more in the future, but right now I would like to make the selection process as simple as possible.

I do like the idea of random selection with time allowed for managers to trade nations for the upcoming competition. This might also include a restriction on the number of consecutive Cups a manager can coach a team, e.g. two.

I appreciate everyone's ideas and input. If you can't tell, I am very excited to get this running.

Cheers!

Can I just be Jamaica every time. Lol

Sorry Dave, but the Reggae Boyz didn't make the cut.

I don't think it would be that difficult - it's simple "ranked choice voting" and most people may not have strong opinions anyways.

Random. It's OLMEC. What could go wrong?

Not sure when the first Cup will run (after S46 or S47), but I personally like the idea of people picking/swapping choices, and the remainder being assigned randomly. Kind of the best of both worlds.