Tournament design : a review from an operational research perspective

Devriesere, Karel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6774-849X, Csató, László ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8705-5036 and Goossens, Dries ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0224-3412 (2025) Tournament design : a review from an operational research perspective. European Journal of Operational Research, 324 (1). pp. 1-21. DOI 10.1016/j.ejor.2024.10.044

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2024.10.044

Abstract

Every sport needs rules. Tournament design refers to the rules that determine how a tournament, a series of games between a number of competitors, is organized. This study aims to provide an overview of the tournament design literature from the perspective of operational research. Three important design criteria are discussed: efficacy and effectivity, fairness, and attractiveness. Our survey classifies the papers discussing these properties according to the main components of tournament design: format, seeding, draw, scheduling, and ranking. We also outline several open questions and promising directions for future research.

Item Type:

Article

Uncontrolled Keywords:

OR in sports; Ranking; Scheduling; Seeding; Tournament design

Divisions:

Institute of Operations and Decision Sciences

Subjects:

Decision making

Funders:

National Research, Development and Innovation Office, János Bolyai Research Scholarship, Research Foundation - Flanders

Projects:

FK 145838, S005521N