FIFA World Cup Tie Breaker Rules
Considering how many draws we’ve seen in the World Cup group stage so far, I am probably not the only one who has wondered, exactly what rules do they apply for the placement of the group members if they end up having the same amount of points at the end of the group stage?
Luckily, the official 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa regulations come to the rescue. Article 39, no. 5, reads:
The ranking of each team in each group will be determined as follows:
a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
b) goal difference in all group matches;
c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings will be determined as follows:
d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams concerned;
g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
In other words, if the points are the same, and both goal difference and scored goals are the same, they resort to how the two or more tied teams fared only in their games against each other. And if all else fails, the order will be drawn from a hat.
Drawing lots is without the stupidest way of determining such an important result. What excitement will there be in that??
I think that scissors, paper, stone – played as a best of 111 would be far more interesting!!
Hey lads!
If i got it right, South Korea will qualify, if they lose against Nigeria only by one? Even tho on h2h Nigeria would advance to next round, but at first goal difference decides? (I picked Argentina as a winner on the other match)
Sorry if it’s a dumb question, but it’s kinda confusing for me. Thanks ^^
Idea for tie breaker…
Assuming actual shots on net don’t count (it would reward offence which is a good thing).
If after round robin it’s all tied up, then the team with the lowest percentage of ball possession goes through.
This may seem counter intuitive, but it would be incentive to make something happen, instead of just passing the ball around and eating up the clock.
it’s just crazy! Spain has a playing style of lot of possession, whilst others are gambling on the counters. Punish them for their style isnt fair. Why not who has more shot, that goes through? Or who is more efficient. Or so on. Football is played on goals, so cannot see any other fact or stat matches could be decided by. Drawing a lot gives 50/50 chance each side. Citing stats which doesnt reflect the way of the match would kill the game. Imagine, if, lets see, more possession would decide: imagine if two teams are equal on the decisive match – they would pass in their backline whole match, to increase the possession time/percentage.
I think not we are the ones who should re-think the rules. They are nice
If the least possession would decide.. cannot imagine more funny thing than teams kicking away the ball to lose the possession in order to get into better position
Let the teams decide it on the field – 15min each way golden goal wins.
If that fails then a penalty shot out. This tournament takes so long to complete Im sure they can find some time to fit it in.
Why not have a PK shootout right before the start of the next round match to determine who plays instead of drawing lots?
Park, Korea won’t qualify under that scenario. Goal difference would be -1 For Nigeria and -2 for RSK…
Corner kicks as the tiebreaker. More corner kicks tends to indicate more forward movement and more opportunities. So leave it to corner kicks AFTER all of the above tiebreakers. Then no one has to play extra minutes in the first round and possibly accumulate extra cards (suspensions) over potential future opponents, and no additional goal opportunities could decide Golden Boot recipients. In the meantime, you are also rewarding attacking football that results in further goalscoring opportunities.
What a load of rubbish!! FIFA have it all wrong with their Short sighted desire to turn towards a random hat. One day it will happen and there will be outrage for the loser so is it not better to expand the tie breakers now than seek the wrath of a nation?? Their initial tie breakers are fine but prior to hat pulling I would add the following:
1. Yellow/Red Cards – FIFA wants fair play then what better way to reward it. Everyone knows where they stand. However this could also be tied.
2. FIFA World Ranking- it would reward teams for past performances and is a clear tie breaker. It would also legitimize a ranking system that ppl hardly care about otherwise.
Alternatively give the coaches a vuvuzela and see who can snort the most coke. Diego to cane it.
it isn’t a dumb question Park Ji-Sung but it is phrased badly. Nigeria need to win 2-0 or better to go through instead of South Korea. FTW Warriors!
im suprised no one has mentioned head to head results. if 2 teams are tied, then the team that won out of those 2 teams deserves to go through.
assuming of course the game was not a draw.
fifa should make this criteria THE FIRST decider before even looking at goals for/against
you’d be pretty boned if an equal team got through that YOU beat!
minh, head to head rule is already covered under d) rule, after GD & GS. this is fair enough
Here is an idea for the finals, drawing lots will only ever happen if the two teams involved draw their match. Since in the finals the teams only play each other once in the group stages. Rather than drawing lots, if a match ends in a draw then there should be a penalty shoot-out at the end of the game. In the event (under the current rules) that qualification is dependent on drawing lots, instead the team that qualifies is the winner of the penalty shoot-out between the two-teams.
This means that after every game that ends in a draw there is a penalty shoot-out. Not only does this add additional excitement to the finals it incentivizes teams to go for a win especially if their first game was drawn and they lost the penalty shoot-out.
Why not simply put there some people who are able to score???
I am also for the extra time solution, it won’t affect a lot the golden boot as we are just talking about 1 goal, no more.
Its about to happen between Mexico and South Africa if my maths is correct
thanx for the xplanation
Am I reading something wrong or are rules E and F totally superfluous? If rule D doesn’t settle it, that means the two teams tied in their head-to-head meeting, in which case goal differential will be nil for both… I don’t get it. Seems like these rules are for double-round robins….
The only way that rules e and f can come into play is if three teams end up on equal points. In this case, the other team and games involving them are struck from the table and the winners are recalculated. Furthermore, rule d is not used if all four teams are drawn after rules a,b and c are applied.
Whatever rules precede drawing lots, they have to match up with FIFA’s philosophy. That is: the best performers in the group go through; there are allowed to be ties in group games; the world cup must be as fair as possible to all 32 teams; world cup team performances are judged rather than style, coincidence, referee ability and longer term history.
So these ideas are obviously ruled out: shoot outs; goal speed; attacking/defensive stats (other than goals); possession; penalties and cards; FIFA ranking; qualification (Australia has won qualification matches 22-0 and 31-0); extra games; extra extra game time and unfortunately paper, scissors, rock and multiball.
An even chance draw does seem fairest with these restrictions. I would like to see yellow and red cards play a role if referee standards and objectivity were increased and subject to review. I like the fact that ties are allowed in the world’s biggest sporting competition, otherwise golden points and shoot outs would be fine. I don’t see any other way around it.
E and F aren’t superfluous if there are more than two teams tied. If three teams were tied then there would be scenarios were rule D wouldn’t settle the issue, but E or F would.
its very unlikely that at point, 6f the teams would be level but if they there is also this paragraph that follows the ranking rules.
“With the approval of the FIFA Organising Committee and should the
coordinated international match calendar allow, play-offs may be
played instead of drawing lots to decide ties within groups (cf. art. 17,
par. 6g). If any such play-off ends in a tie, extra time of two periods
of 15 minutes each will be played. If the score is level after extra time,
penalty kicks will be taken to determine the winner in accordance with
the procedure described in the Laws of the Game.”
any go Japan, Japan looking pretty hot this evening………
To Michael
No, E and F are not superfluous. The first series of tiebreakers is for all four teams in the group. The next is only for the tied teams. So say team A had 9 points, B and C each had 4, and D had 0. A would be in, D is out. The next two tiebreakers for B and C are goals. If they are still tied, then compare B and C only, starting with head to head, then goals.
How about making a world level poll to send the best team forward ? Assuming the population of respective country is more or less equal….
Appears like Brazil easily handles Chile in World Cup action yet again! Poor Chile!