Csató, László 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8705-5036 and Ilyin, Sergey
(2025)
Misaligned incentives in sports : a mathematical analysis of the post-2024 UEFA Champions League qualification.
IMA Journal of Management Mathematics
.
DOI 10.1093/imaman/dpaf016
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/imaman/dpaf016
Abstract
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) declares that it is committed to respecting the fundamental values of sports. However, the qualification rules of the post-2024 UEFA Champions League are shown to be unfair: a game with misaligned incentives was narrowly avoided in the 2023/24 German Bundesliga. We develop a mathematical model to reveal how incentives for losing can be reduced or eliminated. Since UEFA repeatedly commits the same theoretical mistake in designing the qualification system of its competitions, governing bodies in sports are called to work more closely together with the scientific community.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | fairness; incentives; integrity; tournament design; UEFA Champions League |
| Divisions: | Institute of Operations and Decision Sciences |
| Subjects: | Decision making Mathematics, Econometrics |
| Funders: | National Research, Development and Innovation Office, János Bolyai Research Scholarship |
| Projects: | FK 145838 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/imaman/dpaf016 |
| ID Code: | 11215 |
| Deposited By: | MTMT SWORD |
| Deposited On: | 19 May 2025 08:35 |
| Last Modified: | 19 May 2025 08:35 |
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