Times Colonist (Victoria)

Math whiz points to flaw in FIFA rules; Says unclear tie-breaking

guidelines could lead to 'riotous' situation
Sun Jul 12 2009
Page: A3
Section: Capital & Van. Isl.
Byline: Sarah Petrescu
Source: Times Colonist
Illustrations: Photo: Bruce Stotesbury, Times Colonist / Aaron Williams demonstrates the problem with a line score in his apartment: "The language is ambiguous."

Victoria mathematician Aaron Williams has
discovered what he says is a "potentially disastrous"
fault in international soccer rules for breaking
three-way ties -- something that could wreak havoc at
next year's 2010 World Cup tournament in
Johannesburg.
Two different teams could make a logical argument
for a second-place ranking in a three-way tie for first
place, depending on how the guidelines are followed,
said Williams, 31, who holds a master's degree in
math and will defend his PhD in computer science
this fall. "In a particular round-robin situation, three
teams could argue they finished in the top-two spots
based on the rules as they're written."
to declare Morocco the winner. "If Chile advanced,
then it's a contest between the next two and the most
points between them," he said.
He said scenarios such as these are often dealt with
before they reach the tournament phase. Nonetheless,
Williams raises a "great question," he said. "There is
a lot of money involved at this level of the game and
the teams are very high-profile around the world.
That's why FIFA has the experts to interpret the rules
-- these kinds of things can absolutely spark public
outcry."
Williams said he is not satisfied with FIFA's
response.

When he presented the problem to a third-year
undergraduate logic class at the University of
Victoria, he used the countries Chile, Morocco and
Turkey in an example, and had the students go
through the tie-breaking rules to rank the teams in
order.
The 32 teams in the World Cup are initially divided
into eight groups of four. Teams play games against
each of the other countries in their group, with the top
two advancing to the next round of the tournament.
"Regardless of which team would advance by FIFA's
ruling, the eliminated team would have logical
grounds for an official protest.
"FIFA should do the right thing and eliminate the
ambiguity from the rules before it leads to an
embarrassing -- and potentially riotous -- situation."
spetrescu@tc.canwest.com

Imagine each of the three countries has won two

games. According to the Fédération Internationale de
Football Association (FIFA) rulebook, Chile would
be in the top spot because it scored the most goals in
Williams's scenario.

The difficulty comes in determining who would be in

the number-two spot, because of disagreements over
how the tie-breaking criteria are applied.

"Do you continue breaking the tie as if three teams

are involved, or now approach it as a two-way tie and
apply the tie-breakers in order?" said Williams. "The
language is ambiguous and the remaining two teams
have logical grounds to argue for second place --
which could get very messy in an already charged
environment like the World Cup."

In fact, when the scenario was presented to two

different authorities, they came up with different
responses. FIFA representatives contacted by the
Times Colonist named Turkey as the second-place
winner under the scenario outlined.

However, when the Times Colonist presented the

query to Joe Guest, director of refereeing for the
Canadian Soccer Association, his initial response was

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