5 papers
The uncertainty of a tournament draw: Insights from the Champions League
László Csató, András Gyimesi, Dries Goossens +3
The group draw of major sports tournaments implies some uncertainty, with lucky teams often enjoying a substantial unfair advantage. First in the literature, we propose a technique…
Match classification in the last round of four-team round-robin tournaments
László Csató, András Gyimesi
Classification of matches played in the last rounds of sports competitions is a well-established tool for evaluating tournament designs. Both deterministic and probabilistic approa…
A probabilistic match classification model for sports tournaments
László Csató, András Gyimesi
Existing match classification models in the tournament design literature have two major limitations: a contestant is considered indifferent only if uncertain future results do neve…
Increasing competitiveness by imbalanced groups: The example of the 48-team FIFA World Cup
László Csató, András Gyimesi
A match played in a sports tournament can be called stakeless if at least one team is indifferent to its outcome because it already has qualified or has been eliminated. Such a gam…
Ranking matters: Does the new format select the best teams for the knockout phase in the UEFA Champions League?
László Csató, Karel Devriesere, Dries Goossens +3
Starting in the 2024/25 season, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has fundamentally changed the format of its club competitions: the group stage has been replaced…