The teams finishing first, second and third in the 2012 AFC Futsal Club Championship, receive automatic byes to the final round.
The top 11 teams of the 2005 AFC Futsal Championship, and the host nation for the 2006 competition, receive automatic byes to Finals.
"The game meant more than the ceremony because there was an automatic bye in the Big East tournament at stake," Knight said.
Should the host nation finish in the top three of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, the fourth-placed team will not receive an automatic bye.
National champions get an automatic bye into the following years' national championships, so they cannot defend their provincial championship.
Lawton's rink was one of four that received an automatic bye to the 2009 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.
Hungary competed in its first Davis Cup in 1924 and was stuck in the first round for 5 years (not counting an automatic bye).
The event featured 11 teams, instead of the usual 10, since the Glenn Howard team was granted an automatic bye for having won the Brier the previous year.
Clubs in the First Division and the Scottish Premier League had automatic byes to the third round.
After going undefeated in the round robin, Team McCarville had an automatic bye into the provincial final.