Ingles2. Groups
• Round Robin
competition
• Top performers move
on to next stages
Current Base Formats - Worldwide
Knock Out
• Simple competition
• Based on pairs
• The smaller the group, the
lower uncertainty: speculation
• Increase in players: number of
matches grows exponentially
• Existence of “death” or “weak”
groups
• Number of players and games
increase exponentially (2n)
• Works for 2n number of
participants only
• Additional participants in bye
3. Two key issues discussed in recent years regarding FIFA World Cups
(TM) Finals:
– How to allocate the limited 32 spots across different FIFA
Confederations:
• Hopes of world football development
• Each Confederation desires more spots
• Broadcasting & commercial opportunities in rising markets
– How to open the game to ensure that teams play to win and
avoid speculation:
• On September 9th, 2010 Mr. Joseph S. Blatter said to FIFA.com:
“We have to try to find a way to encourage free-flowing football in tournaments like the
World Cup, with teams playing to win.”
– Also: Goal scoring average has been on the decrease in
recent World Cup Finals
Tournament Model for FIFA Events
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
4. First Major Issue: How to Increase the
Number of Teams in FIFA World Cup Finals
• A big challenge: is it possible to have more teams in the
First Round without collapsing the FIFA World Cup Finals
(tournament length, venues, rest schedule)?
– Confederations want more spots in the FIFA World Cup Finals
– “We would like to have 6 African representatives in the World Cup 2010,”
said Joseph S. Blatter, FIFA President
– “Our position continues being the same. From a logistic and technical point
of view, the increase is feasible. However, we can’t seem to determine how
we can reduce 36 teams to only 16 in the next phase with a clear and fair
system which is understood by everybody. In our opinion, this is the most
consistent argument against the increase. We’re now waiting to find a
concrete solution,” said Wolfgang Niersbach, Vicepresident of FIFA World
Cup 2006
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
5. Mr. Blatter said: We have to try to
find a way to encourage free-
flowing football in tournaments
like the World Cup, with teams
playing to win.
http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/president
/presidentcolumn/newsid=1299857/index.html
6. Also an Issue: Decreasing Scoring Average
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
Last 3 World Cups
among worst four
Goals-per-match
Historical Average:
3.1 goals-per-match
Goal Scoring average in FIFA World Cup Finals
8. Our Proposal: Leandro Shara System ©
• Cup-style competition with a 6-multiple participants teams:
• Not in groups of 4, not in groups of 6...
• But IN POD
• Under this model, a 36-team cup competition would be
distributed in 3 Pods (i.e. following FIFA Ranking,
geographic distribution, qualifications, draw, other):
• Pod A with the top 12 ranked teams
• Pod B with the following 12 ranked teams
• Pod C with the last 12 ranked teams
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
Pod A Pod B Pod C
9. Pod A Pod B Pod C
• Every team plays 3 matches in the First Round
• Every team plays against ONE team of each pod, no matter in
which pod it has been placed
First Round
• As in modern-era FIFA World Cups, all participants will play a
minimum of 3 and a maximum of 7 matches during the event.
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
10. Knock-out Rounds
After 3 games in the First Round…
All-36 teams are placed in the general
standings following normal tie-breakers
(points, goal average, etc)
Top 16 teams qualify to the knock-out
rounds
Pairings into Round-of-16 are determined by
the general standings of the First Round, thus:
1st versus 16th,
2nd versus 15th,
3rd versus 14th, etc
Teams are always encouraged during the First
Round to improve in the standings: top ranked
teams play against last ranked teams in the
Round-of-16
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
Top 16 teams
in GENERAL
STANDINGS
qualify to
Round-of-16
17th to 36th
in GENERAL
STANDINGS
are eliminated
11. Knock-out Rounds
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
1° vs 16°
6° vs 11°
8° vs 9°
3° vs 14°
7° vs 10°
4° vs 13°
5° vs 12°
2° vs 15°
Round
of 16
Round
of 8
Round of
Semifinal
A vs B
G vs H
C vs D
E vs F
1 vs 2
3 vs 4
Losers
SA-SB
3rd and 4th Places
Winners
SA-SB
1st and 2nd Places
12. Participants vs Tournament Length
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
16
24
32
36
42
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Teams
Number of
Days
©:
13. • The Model works for all FIFA events on a 6-multiple basis: World Cup, youth &
women’s competitions, beach soccer, futsal
• The Model only changes the sight of the first phase by improving it, and not
changing the knock-out stages
• Huge leverage for attendance, media interest, commercial and broadcasting
opportunities
• As the general standings in the First Round determines the Round-of-16 pairings,
all teams will be focus in winning and scoring in every match to improve their
rankings
• Under our proposal speculation possibility is reduced from 50% to 5.6%
• This Model adds excitement to the competition: world class matches will be seen
since the First Round but still there won’t be “death” and “weak” groups
• With this Model, in the First Round...
– 6 additional games are played (+12.5%) in a World Cup of 36 teams in 32 days,
or
– 15 additional games are played (+31.3%) in a World Cup of 42 teams in 34 days
– Always with a maximum of 4 games per day
Some Advantages
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
14. Some First Round matches in South Africa 2010
under Leandro Shara System©
• Italy vs Germany
• Netherlands vs Argentina
• Portugal vs England
• Spain vs France
• Brazil vs USA
• Only a comparable actual
game in the Group Stage
of South Africa 2010:
Brazil vs Portugal (0-0)
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
Following FIFA Rankings prior to the World Cup:
16. What we have done
2010 National
Soccer Tournament
Costa Rica
2011
Football Copa Chile
Championship
Chile
2011 National Chess
Tournament
Chile
2009
Beach Volleyball
Tournament
Copacabana, Brazil
2011 Futsal
Tournament
Alger, Algeria
2010 CONCACAF
Qualification
Tournament for
Brazil 2014
2011 Table Tennis
Tournament
Boudouao, Algeria
17. We are talking with…
2010 National
Soccer Tournament
Costa Rica
2011
Football Copa Chile
Championship
Chile
2011 National Chess
Tournament
Chile
2009
Beach Volleyball
Tournament
Copacabana, Brazil
2011 Footsal
Tournament
Alger, Algeria
2010 CONCACAF
Qualification
Tournament for
Brazil 2014
2011 Table Tennis
Tournament
Boudouao, Algeria
FIFA
AFC
HWC
IOC
SO
ATP
PwC
25. The EURO 2012's decreasing goal scoring
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
Goal average in the "Group stage" is the
worst. In tables shown of recent London
2012 Olympics Games Football
Tournament, the total Goal Average was
2.25 however the Goal Average in Group
Stage was 1.92.
26. Euro Cup 2012 Group 1
Teams Points Goals
Difference
Czech Republick 6 -1
Russia 4 +2
Greece 4 0
Poland 2 -1
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
X
27. Euro Cup 2012 Group 2
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
Teams Points Goals
Difference
Germany 9 +3
Portugal 6 +1
Denmark 3 -1
Netherlands 0 -3
2
5
8
10
28. Euro Cup 2012 Group 3
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
Teams Points Goals
Difference
Spain 7 +5
Italy 5 +2
Croatia 4 +1
Ireland 0 -8
Teams Points Goals
Difference
Spain 4 +4
Croatia 4 +2
Italy 2 0
Rep.
Ireland
0 -6
29. Euro Cup 2012 Group 4
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
Teams Points Goals
Difference
England 7 +2
France 4 +0
Sweden 3 +0
Ukraine 3 -2
Teams Points Goals
Difference
France
4 +2
England
4 +2
Ukraine
3 -1
Sweden
0 -2
30. Analysis under Leandro Shara System ©
• No teams classified
• No teams eliminated
• All matches are important
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
• Matches of the 3er date:
– Greece vs Russia
– Poland vs Czech Republic
– Portugal vs Denmark
– Germany vs Netherland
– Croatia vs Spain
– Italy vs Rep. of Ireland
– Sweden vs France
– England vs Ukraine
Pos Team Points
Goals
Difference
1° Germany 6 2
2° Spain 4 4
3° Russia 4 3
4° Croatia 4 2
5° France 4 2
6° England 4 1
7° Portugal 3 0
8° Denmark 3 0
9° Ukraine 3 -1
10° Czech Republick 3 -2
11° Poland 2 0
12° Italy 2 0
13° Greece 1 -1
14° Sweden 0 -2
15° Netherlands 0 -2
16° Republic of Ireland 0 -6
31. Analysis under Leandro Shara System ©
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
1° vs 8°
4° vs 5°
3° vs 6°
2° vs 7°
1° Germany vs 8° Croatia
4° Portugal vs 5° Czech Rep.
3° England vs 6° Italy
2° Spain vs 7° Russia
Pos Teams Points GD
1° Germany 9 3
2° Spain 7 5
3° England 7 2
4° Portugal 6 1
5° Czech Republick 6 -1
6° Italy 5 2
7° Russia 4 2
8° Croatia 4 1
9° France 4 0
10° Greece 4 0
11° Sweden 3 0
12° Denmark 3 -1
13° Ukrania 3 -2
14° Poland 2 -1
15° Netherland 0 -3
16° Rep. of Ireland 0 -8
X
X
Then Russia and Croatia go through to
the next round, the difference is in the
couples of the second round
33. Final Remarks
+ Spots for emerging teams
© Copyright Leandro Shara All rights reserved, 2006.
+ Commercial revenues & broadcasting opportunities
+ Games between top teams from first phase
+ Matches’ attendance and visitors to the organizing country
+ Sporting Fair Play
+ Offensive and goal-oriented tactics
+ Audience’s interest with all teams competing at their best from the very beginning
+ Intensity of competitiveness to be the best, from the first match
+ Potential leverage for FIFA Rankings
34. © Copyright Leandro Shara
All rights reserved, 2006.
© Copyright Leandro Shara
It is prohibited its reproduction, whether total or partial, and its
transmission, distribution, disclosure or any other use,
by any means, including paper, electronic, chemical,
optic, magnetic, recording, photocopy or any other
mean known or future, without the prior and
written author’s authorization.
Unauthorized reproduction, transmission, distribution or any other
use is punished under criminal and civil law and the
pertinent international treaties on the subject matter.
This work is registered with the Intellectual Property Registry in Chile,
Registration Number 154857 dated May 17, 2006. Santiago - Chile