I am in my 8th season at level 8, haven't tanked, haven't missed the top 7, won 4 leagues. I took to heart advice to downgrade my quality at the end of last season for a better cup draw. I tried, but apparently not hard enough. Wasn't willing to cut loose my $15M fast trainers who got to the low 6* and were not marketable.
As a result, I got a league draw where most teams are at my quality or higher and entered the cup that (according to this payout table http://forum.topeleven.com/top-eleve...onsorship.html) is Level 13. By the way, does it say anywhere else that this is a Level 13 cup, the way it says LEAGUE LEVEL 8, for example?
I got curious what it means to be in a cup for which I am seemingly 5 levels underqualified. Well, it's not as bad as that.
Of the 64 teams
Level # of teams Percentage 7 3 5 8 35 55 9 16 25 10 8 13 11 1 1 12 1 1
So, I am in a good company where the majority of the teams are at or below my level and only 42% of the teams are above my level.
We'll see if the winner comes from the 17% of the teams that are two or more levels above me. Some of those teams have 7* players already (though not many). Other teams look abandoned, with illegal formations. We shall see.