With the 2019 Draft World Cup all done and dusted, it's time for a whole new tournament!
This year we have adopted a new ranking system, and it is more accurate the more matches that are fed into it. Therefore, ahead of new year's Draft World Cup, I wanted to give each team some matches to play. But rather than having pointless end-of-season friendlies, I was inspired by UEFA's unlikely success - the Nations League!
I am particularly keen to have teams play opponents from other continents (again, to improve the accurate of the rankings). So all 219 teams in DWC-land are going into one big league system.
The teams were split, according to ranking, into the following divisions:
The full structure is summarised below:
This year we have adopted a new ranking system, and it is more accurate the more matches that are fed into it. Therefore, ahead of new year's Draft World Cup, I wanted to give each team some matches to play. But rather than having pointless end-of-season friendlies, I was inspired by UEFA's unlikely success - the Nations League!
I am particularly keen to have teams play opponents from other continents (again, to improve the accurate of the rankings). So all 219 teams in DWC-land are going into one big league system.
The teams were split, according to ranking, into the following divisions:
- Division A: 24 teams, split into 6 groups
- Division B: 24 teams, split into 6 groups
- Division C: 24 teams, split into 6 groups
- Division D: 24 teams, split into 6 groups
- Division E: 30 teams, split into 6 groups
- Division F: 48 teams, split into 12 groups
- Division G: 45 teams, split into 12 groups
The full structure is summarised below:
As well as promotion/relegation, it would be nice for teams to have something to play for. I am not going full UEFA and giving winners of each Division a route into next year's DWC.
Instead, we introduce the Nations Cup - a cup competition for the winners of all 54 groups! Teams' entry is phased (like the FA Cup), otherwise the competition is full unseeded and single-leg ties will eventually lead to an eventual winner! This is the specific format:
Instead, we introduce the Nations Cup - a cup competition for the winners of all 54 groups! Teams' entry is phased (like the FA Cup), otherwise the competition is full unseeded and single-leg ties will eventually lead to an eventual winner! This is the specific format:
I know no-one will care, but I am very proud of what I think is a very elegant tournament design.
So, onto the groups themselves. This is the draw for each division (teams listed in order of world ranking):
So, onto the groups themselves. This is the draw for each division (teams listed in order of world ranking):
I'm sure you will be delighted to know that I don't plan on going through each group in any detail. Instead, we are going to go straight to the results of each group:
There are some interesting individual stories. For example, Guam were rock-bottom of the DWC rankings, but took 5 wins and a draw from their 6 games to win their group. Although it's not too shocking a result; because the teams at the bottom of the rankings rarely play each other, it's hard to accurately rank them - hence this competition.
More interesting are the results in the top two divisions. Despite never having made the DWC finals, Slovenia earn promotion to Division A. Less surprising is Russia moving up, whilst Wales' meteoric rise continues with a thumping group victory.
The real surprises are in Division A itself. Looking at the groups, each one had a top seed most would expect to easily get through (maybe with the exception of Group A3). In fact, only one of the top seeds won their group - England. The two sides to have lifted the DWC - Germany and Spain - both narrowly avoid a humiliating relegation, a fate that former DWC finalists Brazil cannot avoid. It's utter carnage, and I don't think anyone would have predicted those six winners.
This means these are the teams going into the Nations Cup:
More interesting are the results in the top two divisions. Despite never having made the DWC finals, Slovenia earn promotion to Division A. Less surprising is Russia moving up, whilst Wales' meteoric rise continues with a thumping group victory.
The real surprises are in Division A itself. Looking at the groups, each one had a top seed most would expect to easily get through (maybe with the exception of Group A3). In fact, only one of the top seeds won their group - England. The two sides to have lifted the DWC - Germany and Spain - both narrowly avoid a humiliating relegation, a fate that former DWC finalists Brazil cannot avoid. It's utter carnage, and I don't think anyone would have predicted those six winners.
This means these are the teams going into the Nations Cup:
Next time we will run through the results of the first three stages of the tournament. Hopefully you'll join us for what will be a very interesting tournament!