Group tournament ranking system

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 match,[n 1] with competitors ranked based either on total number of points or average points per match. Usually (though not always, e.g. the 1895 County Championship in English cricket) each competitor plays an equal number of matches, in which case rankings by total points and by average points are equivalent.

In several leagues and competitions, like the National Hockey League, league tables during the regular season are also determined by points. Since this calculation is not based solely on wins and losses, like winning percentage or games behind, the statistic is also known as points percentage.[1][2]

Points calculation

In two-competitor games where ties are rare or impossible, competitors are typically ranked by number of wins, with ties counting half; each competitor's 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 matches.) Giving a half-point for a draw in chess was introduced in 1868 by the British Chess Association; previously, drawn games in chess tournaments were replayed.[3] Where draws are more common, the award 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 match, points may be ordinal—for example, 3 for first, 2 for second, 1 for third. An extreme example of this is Formula One, where the top ten racers in each Grand Prix are given 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 respectively.

Some games may have more complex ranking criteria. For example, in rugby union, bonus points may be awarded for scoring a certain number of tries in a match, usually four, or for losing by a relatively small margin, usually 7 (the value of a converted try) or less.

Additionally in many leagues, the governing body is able to penalize a competitor who has broken the league's rules (for instance by allowing an ineligible player to play) by deducting points from that competitor's total. Sometimes this deduction may be carried over to a following season, particularly if the infraction occurs during the off-season, meaning that the competitor will start the following season with a negative points total rather than zero.

In association football, where draws are relatively common, many leagues give 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw in an attempt 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 necessary 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:[18]

Summary

League/organizer Full-time win Overtime win Draw Overtime loss Full-time loss Forfeit loss
Association football 3 N/A 1 N/A 0 N/A
Australian Football League 4 N/A 2 N/A 0 N/A
Chess 1 N/A ½ N/A 0 0
Cricket (Limited Overs) 2 N/A 1 (NR) N/A 0 N/A
FIBA basketball 2 2 N/A 1 1 0
Field hockey 3 N/A 1 N/A 0 N/A
Go 2 N/A 1 N/A 0 0
Handball 2 N/A 1 N/A 0 N/A
IIHF ice hockey 3 2 N/A 1 0 N/A
National Hockey League 2 2 N/A 1 0 N/A
Rugby league 2 N/A 1 N/A 0 N/A
Rugby union 4 N/A 2 N/A 0 N/A
Volleyball 3 (3 or 4 sets) 2 (5 sets) N/A 1 (5 sets) 0 (3 or 4 sets) N/A

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 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 permit joint champions. However, if ranking within the conference determines eligibility for a postseason bowl game, tiebreak criteria will be required to separate the joint champions. Similarly, U.S. college conferences in other sports, notably basketball, use tiebreak criteria as needed to determine seeding in postseason conference tournaments.

A tiebreaker may be a play-off, with extra matches between the tied competitors. This may be a full match or a reduced format such as a penalty shootout or speed chess. 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 matches may provide the tie-breaker criteria:

head-to-head
considering only results of matches between the deadlocked competitors. If more than a single match 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:[19]
Pos Team P W D L Pts
11Xanthi308121036
12Iraklis301051535
Apollon Kalamarias30981335
Kerkira308111135
15Egaleo 30771628
The three teams tied on 35 points were separated by considering only matches between any two of them....:
Pos Team P W D L Pts
12Apollon Kalamarias43019
13Iraklis41124
Kerkira41124
...and then again for the two teams still tied:
Pos Team P W D L Pts
13Iraklis21104
14Kerkira20111
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 or Sonneborn-Berger score[20]
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 or Go Swiss system tournaments (which use Swiss pairing) 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, such that ties are not admissible, it may be necessary as a last resort to use drawing of lots as a tiebreaker (as was used in Group F of the 1990 FIFA World Cup to separate second and third place).
Sum Of Defeated Opponents' Scores (SODOS)
suffices if draws cannot occur, such as in Go when komi is set to 6.5 or another half-point value.
Sum of opponents' scores (SOS)
While SODOS works well, SOS fails as tie-breaker in tournaments with Swiss system pairing or that have all players play all others. But SOS makes more sense than SODOS does as tie-breaker in tournaments with McMahon pairing.[21][22]

Swiss system tournaments and variants thereof use a variety of tie-breaking criteria not found in other types of tournament which exploit features specific to the Swiss system: see tie-breaking in Swiss system tournaments. Chess and some Go tournaments use Swiss pairing.[23]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ A match for the purposes of a tournament (also called a tie, fixture, or rubber) may comprise multiple individual matches in the sport or game concerned (also called rubbers or legs).

References

External links

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