2025/08/05 by Devriesere, Karel, Goossens, Dries, Spieksma, Frits · 2 citations
#FOS: Physical sciences #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2508.08290
Recently, UEFA changed the group stage of its international soccer competitions to an incomplete round robin tournament. Previously, teams were divided into groups, each playing a double round robin tournament with a resulting ranking table. In contrast, the new format has all teams competing in one league, producing a single ranking. We investigate the effect of the new format on the number of competitive matches in the UEFA Champions League. A match is non-competitive if the prize for at least one opponent does not depend on the match outcome, or if there exists an opportunity for both opponents to collude; otherwise, we call a match competitive. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the new format results in more competitive matches than the old format.