In soccer, the gap is not always that high. In France, for example, there are a few examples of lower levels teams reaching the semi-finals or even the final o

In soccer, the gap is not always that high. In France, for example, there are a few examples of lower levels teams reaching the semi-finals or even the final of the national cup. I remember for example Calais in 1999 or 2000 (amateurs forth division), they reached the final, losing quite honorably to Nantes (a top flight team) and beating one or two second division teams, and two first division teams including Bordeaux (first division champion the previous year, and still in the top 5 in 2000). And it's not an isolated case, there are other examples. I would agree that a cup leaves more room for surprises as everything is decided on one match. And generally over the course of a complete season, things tend to equalize, teams with better players get better results overall. But, first, soccer is a team sport, meaning that it's not because you have 11 great players that you get a great team (Porto win in the 2004 Champions League comes to mind, it was a really elegant team, able to unbalance the other teams with a well oiled system and very precise ball circulation and placement). Secondly, the formation schools of professional clubs create a lot of very decent players, but not all these players make it to top flight teams. A lot of them end-up in second to forth level divisions. So a lot of these players were educated to be professionals players with all that entails in term of life hygen, tactical understanding, knowledge of training exercises, etc. Thirdly, there is "amateur" and "amateur", in the forth level (which is amateur in France), the training is quite extensive, the players trains everyday after work (and very commonly, they take part time jobs to do it). It's not as extensive as professional clubs trainings, but it's a world away from amateurs training once a week at most, and taking a beer after there sunday game. So amateurs, specially ones that train a lot and with potentially a professional background can do well, or even very well over the course of one match.