I agree. It doesn't make sense.

I'm level 39 right now. Since they changed things four months ago, I have been consistently put in matches against team from 5 or 6 levels above me. Now, I know, someone will come in and say that Nordeus is a for-profit company, and that they want the users to spend money on the game.

But seriously, is there even a point to spend hundreds of dollars to boost my entire team to seven-stars, and still be a good two-three stars lower than my opponents? Nobody without unlimited money would spend money that way. If they want me to spend money, put me against teams my level, such that I would spend money to ensure certain victory.

Incidentally, I asked the people in my association who are much closer to the "average" level, which is where the bulk of the managers are. They told me that they get teams from +/- 1 level. Now I realize the problem is that there are so few teams around level 40 because very few players would consistently play the same game for 3-4 years. The Nordeus way to solve this is to put in the teams from lower levels as fillers. And so the second-tier teams like mine becomes cannon fodder month after month.

The only time when Cup brackets were good to me? The six seasons between Dec 12, 2015 and Apr 30, 2016, when teams were allowed to hold 1-star players to lower their team average rating. Those were the six seasons when I faced teams my level and I actually had a chance to advance past the second round.