Group tournament ranking system
Encyclopedia
In a group tournament, unlike a knockout tournament, there is no decisive final match. Instead, all the competitors are ranked by examining the results of all the matches played in the tournament. Points are awarded for each fixture, with competitors ranked based either on total number of points or average points per fixture. Usually each competitor plays an equal number of fixtures, in which case rankings by total points and by average points are equivalent.
s are rare or impossible, competitors are typically ranked by number of wins, with ties counting half; each competitors' listings are usually ordered Wins-Losses(-Ties). In such games a games behind
figure is sometimes included in listings for a tournament still in progress, to allow comparison of competitors who have not completed the same proportion of their allotted fixtures. Where draws are more common, this may be 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw, which is mathematically equivalent but avoids having too many half-points in the listings. These are usually ordered Wins-Draws-Losses. If there are more than 2 competitors per fixture, points may be ordinal—for example, 3 for first, 2 for second, 1 for third.
Some games may have more complex ranking criteria. In rugby union
, bonus points
may be awarded for scoring a certain number of tries
, usually 4, or for losing by a relatively small margin, usually losing by 7 points (the value of a converted try) or less.
In association football, where draws are relatively common, many leagues give 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw to encourage attacking play. Besides the traditional 2-1-0 points and newer 3-1-0 points systems for win-draw-loss, various other systems have been used to try to encourage attractive play. Some examples:
Some leagues have used penalty shootouts
after drawn games, in which case points will vary for regulation win — penalties win — penalties loss — regulation loss:
In FIBA (basketball)-sanctioned tournaments, where ties are impossible (a game goes into as many extra periods — or overtimes — as possible to determine a winner), the following method is used:
For an example, see 2006 FIBA World Championship
.
In the National Hockey League
(and various other minor hockey leagues), where regular season games tied after three periods go into a five-minute sudden-death overtime period and then a shootout if needed, the following method is used:
Most European ice hockey
leagues including KHL use an improvement to the NHL method that does not encourage regulation draws by awarding more combined points than regulation decisions. This system was also used at the 2010 Winter Olympics
in the preliminary round-robin games:
Sometimes, however, ranking ties may stand: prior to 1994, the Five Nations Championship
in rugby union could result in joint champions; likewise for the British Home Championship
in association football
until 1978. In college football
in the United States
, many conferences will use tiebreaks to determine conference champions to determine (for Football Bowl Subdivision schools) conference champions for bowl selection or (for Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, and III) which team will qualify for the conference's automatic bid for the NCAA tournament, tiebreak criteria will be used for this. Where a conference is split into two division
s whose winners qualify for a conference title game, tiebreaks are similarly required for the divisional champions.
A tiebreaker may be a play-off
, with extra matches between the tied competitors. If there are more than two tied competitors in a 2-competitor game, the play-off may be a round-robin or knockout tournament. Instead of a playoff, the original fixtures may provide the tie-breaker criteria:
head-to-head: considering only results of fixtures between the deadlocked competitors. If more than a single fixture is involved, a subtable may be used recursively for the ranking. For example, in the Super League Greece 2006-07, part of the final table was:
!Pos
!Team
!P
!W
!D
!L
!Pts
|-
|11||Xanthi
||30||8||12||10||36
|-style="background: #FFFF99;"
|rowspan="3"|12||Iraklis||30||10||5||15||35
|-style="background: #FFFF99;"
||Apollon Kalamarias
||30||9||8||13||35
|-style="background: #FFFF99;"
|Kerkira||30||8||11||11||35
|-
|15||Aigaleo
||30||7||7||16||28
|}
!Pos
!Team
!P
!W
!D
!L
!Pts
|-
|12||Apollon Kalamarias
||4||3||0||1||9
|-style="background: #FFFF99;"
|rowspan="2"|13||Iraklis||4||1||1||2||4
|-style="background: #FFFF99;"
|Kerkira||4||1||1||2||4
|}
!Pos
!Team
!P
!W
!D
!L
!Pts
|-
|13||Iraklis||2||1||1||0||4
|-
|14||Kerkira||2||0||1||1||1
|}
scoring average: the ratio
of points (goals, etc.) scored to those conceded.
scoring differential
: the difference
between points (goals, etc.) scored and those conceded.
points scored: irrespective of points conceded.
points scored away
: valuing scores "on the road" above scores on one's home ground.
number of wins: in games where draws are possible
disciplinary record: fouls conceded, players sent off, etc.
seeding
or pre-tournament ranking: This may be defined to favour the higher- or lower-ranked competitor.
Neustadtl score
: the sum of defeated opponents' scores plus half the sum of drawn opponents' scores; this method is especially common in round-robin
chess tournaments; in chess Swiss system tournament
s it is used as a secondary tie-break criterion.
Ties remaining on one of these criteria may be resolved by resorting in turn to others of them. Where a group is the qualifying phase of a larger tournament, it may be necessary as a last resort to use drawing of lots
as a tiebreaker. This was used in Group F of the 1990 FIFA World Cup to separate second and third place.
Swiss system tournaments use a variety of criteria not found in other types of tournament which exploit features specific to the Swiss system: see tie-breaking in Swiss system tournaments
.
Points calculation
In 2-competitor games where tieTie (draw)
To tie or draw is to finish a competition with identical or inconclusive results. The word "tie" is usually used in North America for sports such as American football. "Draw" is usually used in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations and it is usually used for sports such as...
s are rare or impossible, competitors are typically ranked by number of wins, with ties counting half; each competitors' listings are usually ordered Wins-Losses(-Ties). In such games a games behind
Games behind
In sports, the phrase games behind or games back , is a common way to reflect the gap between a leading team and another team in a sports league, conference, or division...
figure is sometimes included in listings for a tournament still in progress, to allow comparison of competitors who have not completed the same proportion of their allotted fixtures. Where draws are more common, this may be 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw, which is mathematically equivalent but avoids having too many half-points in the listings. These are usually ordered Wins-Draws-Losses. If there are more than 2 competitors per fixture, points may be ordinal—for example, 3 for first, 2 for second, 1 for third.
Some games may have more complex ranking criteria. In rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
, bonus points
Rugby union bonus points system
The Rugby union bonus points system is a method of deciding table points from a rugby union match. It was implemented in order to encourage attacking play throughout a match, to discourage repetitive goal-kicking, and to reward teams for "coming close" in losing efforts...
may be awarded for scoring a certain number of tries
Try
A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...
, usually 4, or for losing by a relatively small margin, usually losing by 7 points (the value of a converted try) or less.
In association football, where draws are relatively common, many leagues give 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw to encourage attacking play. Besides the traditional 2-1-0 points and newer 3-1-0 points systems for win-draw-loss, various other systems have been used to try to encourage attractive play. Some examples:
- 3-2-1 as in the Greek LeagueSuper League GreeceThe Superleague Greece is the highest professional football league in Greece. It was formed on July 16, 2006 and replaced Alpha Ethniki at the top of the Greek football league system. The league consists of 16 teams and runs from August to May, with teams playing 30 games each...
1959-73; or 4-2-1. Giving 1 point extra in each case for losing may be simply cosmetic, but does allow for awarding 0 points for forfeiting a match. (The FIFAFIFAThe Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
standard is to count a forfeit as a 3-0 defeat.) - The W-LeagueW-LeagueThe USL W-League is a national women's soccer league in the United States on the 2nd level of women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, alongside the Women's Premier Soccer League and below Women's Professional Soccer....
in 2002 gave 4-1-0 with a bonus point for scoring three goals. - The League of IrelandLeague of IrelandThe League of Ireland is the national association football league of the Republic of Ireland. Founded in 1921, as a league of eight clubs, it has expanded over time into a two-tiered league of 22 clubs. It is currently split into the League of Ireland Premier Division and the League of Ireland...
in 1981-82 had 4-3-2-1-0 points for away win — home win — away draw — home draw — loss - In ChinaFootball in ChinaFootball in China consists of Association football as well as the China national football team. Football has been one of the most well supported sports in China, since it was introduced in the early 1900s. The national governing body is the Chinese Football Association...
in the 1970s and 80s, bonus points were for scoring headedHeaderHeader may refer to: Computers and engineering* Header , supplemental data at the beginning of a data block** E-mail header** HTTP header* Header file, a text file used in computer programming...
goals, and for teams whose players were selected for the national squadChina national football teamThe China PR national football team is the national association football team of the People's Republic of China and is governed by the Chinese Football Association...
. - BulgariaBulgarian A Professional Football GroupThe Bulgarian A Professional Football Group commonly known as A PFG is the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The league is sponsored by Victoria FATA Insurance and therefore is officially known as Victoria A Football Group since 2011...
for three seasons 1984-7 gave no points for scoreless draws. - FranceLigue 1Ligue 1 , is the French professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the French football league system. Ligue 1 is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel, the other being Ligue 2....
gave a bonus point for scoring 3 goals in 1973-6, but stopped after rumours this encouraged match fixingMatch fixingIn organised sports, match fixing, game fixing, race fixing, or sports fixing occurs as a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. Where the sporting competition in question is a race then the incident is referred to as...
. However, Michel Hidalgo has reported to the French Football FederationFrench Football FederationThe French Football Federation is the governing body of association football in France, as well as the overseas departments and territories . It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital Paris...
similar proposals to encourage attacking play.
Some leagues have used penalty shootouts
Penalty shootout (football)
A penalty shoot-out, referred to as kicks from the penalty mark in the Laws of the Game, is the FIFA official term for a method used in association football to decide which team progresses to the next stage of a tournament following a tied game...
after drawn games, in which case points will vary for regulation win — penalties win — penalties loss — regulation loss:
- In the playoffs of the French women's leagueChampionnat de France de football fémininThe Championnat de France de Football Féminin, primarily referred to as the Division 1 Féminine, is the French semi-professional football league for association women's football clubs in France. It is the country's primary female football competition and serves as the top division of the women's...
, 4-2-1-0. - Yugoslav LeagueYugoslav First LeagueThe Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia...
had 2-1-0-0 from 1989-92 - Major League SoccerMajor League SoccerMajor League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
had 3-1-0-0 from 1996-9. - The original Japan Football LeagueJapan Football League (former)The former was an association football league that existed from 1992 to 1998. Also known as the JFL, it was the 2nd tier of the Japanese football hierarchy following J...
had 3-3-1-0 in 1996 - In the North American Soccer LeagueNorth American Soccer LeagueNorth American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
in 1975-84, 6-1-0-0, with a bonus point each for up to 3 goals scored - In the Western Soccer LeagueWestern Soccer LeagueWestern Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alliance...
in 1989, 6-4-2-0, with a bonus point each for up to 3 goals scored
In FIBA (basketball)-sanctioned tournaments, where ties are impossible (a game goes into as many extra periods — or overtimes — as possible to determine a winner), the following method is used:
- Win = 2 points
- Loss = 1 point
- Loss by default (all players were ejected/disqualified) = 1 point
- Loss by forfeit (fails to show up for a scheduled game or withdraws from the court before the end of the game) = 0 points
- Win by forfeit = 1 point
For an example, see 2006 FIBA World Championship
2006 FIBA World Championship
The 2006 FIBA World Championship was an international basketball competition hosted by Japan from August 19 to September 3, 2006. It was co-organised by the International Basketball Federation , Japan Basketball Association and the 2006 Organizing Committee...
.
In the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
(and various other minor hockey leagues), where regular season games tied after three periods go into a five-minute sudden-death overtime period and then a shootout if needed, the following method is used:
- Win: 2 points
- Loss in regulation time: 0 points
- Loss in overtime or shootout: 1 point
Most European ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
leagues including KHL use an improvement to the NHL method that does not encourage regulation draws by awarding more combined points than regulation decisions. This system was also used at the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
in the preliminary round-robin games:
- Win in regulation time: 3 points
- Win in overtime or shootout: 2 points
- Loss in regulation time: 0 points
- Loss in overtime or shootout: 1 point
Tiebreaker criteria
When competitors are level on points, there is usually some tiebreaker criterion.Sometimes, however, ranking ties may stand: prior to 1994, the Five Nations Championship
Six Nations Championship
The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....
in rugby union could result in joint champions; likewise for the British Home Championship
British Home Championship
The British Home Championship was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from the 1883–84 season until the 1983–84...
in association football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
until 1978. In college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, many conferences will use tiebreaks to determine conference champions to determine (for Football Bowl Subdivision schools) conference champions for bowl selection or (for Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, and III) which team will qualify for the conference's automatic bid for the NCAA tournament, tiebreak criteria will be used for this. Where a conference is split into two division
Division (sport)
In sports, a division is a group of teams who compete against each other for a championship.-League system:In sports using a league system , a division consists a group of teams who play a sport at a similar competitive level...
s whose winners qualify for a conference title game, tiebreaks are similarly required for the divisional champions.
A tiebreaker may be a play-off
One-game playoff
A one-game playoff, sometimes known as a pennant playoff or play-in game, is a tiebreaker in certain sports—usually but not always professional—to determine which of two teams, tied in the final standings, will qualify for a post-season tournament...
, with extra matches between the tied competitors. If there are more than two tied competitors in a 2-competitor game, the play-off may be a round-robin or knockout tournament. Instead of a playoff, the original fixtures may provide the tie-breaker criteria:
head-to-head: considering only results of fixtures between the deadlocked competitors. If more than a single fixture is involved, a subtable may be used recursively for the ranking. For example, in the Super League Greece 2006-07, part of the final table was:
-
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!Pos
!Team
!P
!W
!D
!L
!Pts
|-
|11||Xanthi
Skoda Xanthi
Skoda Xanthi F.C. , or F.C. Skoda Xanthi Athletic Club, is a Greek football club, based in the city of Xanthi. The club currently competes in the Super League Greece.-History:...
||30||8||12||10||36
|-style="background: #FFFF99;"
|rowspan="3"|12||Iraklis||30||10||5||15||35
|-style="background: #FFFF99;"
||Apollon Kalamarias
Apollon Kalamarias
Apollon Kalamarias is a Greek association football club based in the district of Kalamaria, in southeast Thessaloniki, Greece.The club was suspended from playing in the Second Division for the 2009-10 season, due to unsettled debts...
||30||9||8||13||35
|-style="background: #FFFF99;"
|Kerkira||30||8||11||11||35
|-
|15||Aigaleo
Egaleo FC
Egaleo F.C. is a Greek football club based in Egaleo, a suburb of Athens. Founded in 1931, it currently plays in Greece's fourth division, holding home matches at Stavros Mavrothalassitis Stadium, with a 14,000-seat capacity....
||30||7||7||16||28
|}
-
- These were separated by considering matches between the three tied teams....:
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!Pos
!Team
!P
!W
!D
!L
!Pts
|-
|12||Apollon Kalamarias
Apollon Kalamarias
Apollon Kalamarias is a Greek association football club based in the district of Kalamaria, in southeast Thessaloniki, Greece.The club was suspended from playing in the Second Division for the 2009-10 season, due to unsettled debts...
||4||3||0||1||9
|-style="background: #FFFF99;"
|rowspan="2"|13||Iraklis||4||1||1||2||4
|-style="background: #FFFF99;"
|Kerkira||4||1||1||2||4
|}
-
- ...and then again for the two teams still tied:
- {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!Pos
!Team
!P
!W
!D
!L
!Pts
|-
|13||Iraklis||2||1||1||0||4
|-
|14||Kerkira||2||0||1||1||1
|}
scoring average: the ratio
Ratio
In mathematics, a ratio is a relationship between two numbers of the same kind , usually expressed as "a to b" or a:b, sometimes expressed arithmetically as a dimensionless quotient of the two which explicitly indicates how many times the first number contains the second In mathematics, a ratio is...
of points (goals, etc.) scored to those conceded.
scoring differential
Goal difference
In sports such as ice hockey and association football, goal difference is often the first tiebreaker used to rank teams which finish a league competition with an equal number of points....
: the difference
Subtraction
In arithmetic, subtraction is one of the four basic binary operations; it is the inverse of addition, meaning that if we start with any number and add any number and then subtract the same number we added, we return to the number we started with...
between points (goals, etc.) scored and those conceded.
points scored: irrespective of points conceded.
points scored away
Away goals rule
The away goals rule is a method of breaking ties in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. By the away goals rule, the team that has scored more goals "away from home" will win if scores are otherwise equal...
: valuing scores "on the road" above scores on one's home ground.
number of wins: in games where draws are possible
disciplinary record: fouls conceded, players sent off, etc.
seeding
Seed (sports)
A seed is a preliminary ranking that can be used in arranging a sports tournament. It is called a seed because of the analogy with plants where the seed might grow into a top rank at the end of that tournament, or might instead wither away...
or pre-tournament ranking: This may be defined to favour the higher- or lower-ranked competitor.
Neustadtl score
Neustadtl score
The Neustadtl score is a scoring system often used to break ties in chess tournaments. It is named after Hermann Neustadtl, who proposed it in a letter published in Chess Monthly in 1882....
: the sum of defeated opponents' scores plus half the sum of drawn opponents' scores; this method is especially common in round-robin
Round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...
chess tournaments; in chess Swiss system tournament
Swiss system tournament
A Swiss-system tournament is a commonly used type of tournament where players or teams need to be paired to face each other for several rounds of competition. This type of tournament was first used in a Zurich chess tournament in 1895, hence the name "Swiss system". The Swiss system is used when...
s it is used as a secondary tie-break criterion.
Ties remaining on one of these criteria may be resolved by resorting in turn to others of them. Where a group is the qualifying phase of a larger tournament, it may be necessary as a last resort to use drawing of lots
Sortition
In politics, sortition is the selection of decision makers by lottery. The decision-makers are chosen as a random sample from a larger pool of candidates....
as a tiebreaker. This was used in Group F of the 1990 FIFA World Cup to separate second and third place.
Swiss system tournaments use a variety of criteria not found in other types of tournament which exploit features specific to the Swiss system: see tie-breaking in Swiss system tournaments
Tie-breaking in Swiss system tournaments
Tie-break systems are used in chess Swiss system tournaments to break ties between players who have the same total number of points after the last round. If the players are still tied after one tie-break system is used, another system is used, and so on, until the tie is broken...
.
External links
- Scoring Systems, USA leagues lists many other systems used in soccer leagues in the USA