what if all nations with a comparable small amount of users just play in a continental league one time a week instead of a national cup. the rest stays the same. it wouldn't solve the issue completly but at least you have one competitive game per week if you are in a bot league.
maybe only countries with 30-50 or less users can participate. that would make this continental league competitive.
meanwhile you have two games in your league as every other user.
+: you have competition and human opponents, the communities of different region of the world connect somehow, if you want to compete you can't just tank
-: its similar to B3, you loose a friendly game per week, unfair advantage for teams of micronations.