Csató, László 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8705-5036, Devriesere, Karel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6774-849X, Goossens, Dries ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0224-3412, Gyimesi, András ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6333-3318, Lambers, Roel and Spieksma, Frits C. R.
(2025)
Ranking matters : does the new format select the best teams for the knockout phase in the UEFA Champions League?
International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 21
(2).
pp. 1123-1131.
DOI 10.1177/17479541251405330
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/17479541251405330
Abstract
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Football Associations (UEFA) has fundamentally changed the format of its club competitions: the group stage has been replaced by a league phase played by 36 teams in an incomplete round robin format. This makes ranking the teams based on their results challenging because teams play against different sets of opponents, whose strengths vary. In this research note, we apply several well-known ranking methods for incomplete round robin tournaments to the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League league phase in order to check the robustness of the official ranking, as well as to call the attention of organizers to the non-trivial issue of ranking in these competitions. Our results show that it is doubtful whether the currently used point-based system provides the best ranking of the teams.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | fairness; incomplete round robin tournament; ranking; strength of schedule; UEFA Champions League |
| JEL classification: | C44 - Operations Research; Statistical Decision Theory Z20 - Sports Economics: General |
| Divisions: | Institute of Operations and Decision Sciences |
| Subjects: | Decision making Culture, sport |
| Funders: | National Research, Development and Innovation Office under Grants, János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research FoundationFlanders (FWO) |
| Projects: | FK 145838, S005521N |
| DOI: | 10.1177/17479541251405330 |
| ID Code: | 12761 |
| Deposited By: | MTMT SWORD |
| Deposited On: | 29 Apr 2026 08:01 |
| Last Modified: | 29 Apr 2026 08:01 |
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