A round-robin competition or an All-play Every player (or team) in an all-round tournament competes against every other team in the competition, whether they win or lose (typically once, occasionally twice in a double round-robin event). Members of a pool compete against one another in a preliminary round-robin round of some tournaments (such as the World Cup in cricket and football) to determine who advances to the competition’s subsequent elimination stage. The team with the most points or the highest winning percentage at the end of the schedule is declared the winner. (Points are acquired by victories and defeats.)
Round-robin tournaments are the ideal sort of tournament to use in the competition if there is enough time and space available. It results in a genuine victor. Essentially, there are two sorts of round robin tournaments:
- Single round robin tournament: Here every team shall play once with every other team. The total number of matches can be calculated by N* (N – 1) / 2, where N is the number of teams.
- Double round robin tournament: in this type, every team shall play twice with every other team. The total number of matches can be calculated as N* (N – 1), where N is the number of teams.
Formula
1. Number of games per league: N (N-1)/2
2. Number of games per entry: N-1
3. Number of rounds
- Even number of entries: N-1
- Odd number of entries N
4. Number of games per round
- Even number of entries: N/2
- Odd number of entries: (N-1)/2
5. Determining percentages Games won or games played
Method of Drawing Fixture
There are three methods of drawing fixtures:
- Cyclic method
- Tabular method
- Staircase method
Cyclic Method
While drawing fixtures with the cyclic method, the following things are to be determined:
- Total number of teams
- Total number of matches
- If the number of teams is even, then the number 1 team will be fixed, and the other numbers will be rotated in a clockwise direction.
- If, in the case of an odd number, a bye is fixed and rotates in a clockwise direction,
- Total number of rounds, if
- The number of teams is EVEN (N – 1)
- The number of teams is ODD, N.
Every league functions best when there are an equal number of teams participating. An illustration of how to create a round robin match schedule for six teams is given below. Simply keep the No. 1 team in the same position when arranging match rotations from round to round and rotate the remaining team numbers in a clockwise direction. If there are an even number of teams, this strategy will work.
N = 6, No. of rounds = 5, No. of matches = 15
| 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | 4th Round | 5th Round | |||||
| 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 |
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
If you have an odd number of teams, simply include a “bye” in the schedule and continue with the same method of scheduling as described above. Here’s an example:
N = 5, No. of rounds = 5, No. of matches = 10
| 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | 4th Round | 5th Round | |||||
| 5 | B | 4 | B | 3 | B | 2 | B | 1 | B |
| 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
Tabular Method
In the tabular method, fixtures are drawn horizontally as well as vertically. Here, the number of columns is dependent on the number of teams participating, i.e., even or odd numbers of teams.
For,
- Even number of teams, number of columns = (N + 1),
- Number of columns, odd number of teams = (N + 2)
- Total number of rounds, if
- The number of teams is EVEN = (N – 1)
- The number of teams is ODD = N
Procedure for drawing fixtures
- Draw the required number of columns, both horizontally and vertically.
- Draw a line diagonally from the left topmost corner to the right bottom corner.
- Enter the teams in 1st horizontally and vertically.
- The square that falls on one side of the diagonal line except for the bye column indicates the matches to be played by a team.
- The number that is entered in the square indicates the particular round in which the concerned teams have to play.
Procedure for entering numbers into the squares indicating the rounds.
- In the squares of the horizontal column immediately below the teams, enter the number serially from no. 1 onwards.
- The number in the last horizontal column indicates the maximum number of rounds for the league.
- Then in each vertical column (except the last vertical column), enter the number serially, starting from the number next to that placed at the top.
- The serial numbers to be entered in any of the squares should not exceed the number indicating the maximum number of rounds.
- For last vertical column,
- In the second square of the last vertical column, enter the number 2.
- Then, proceed with entering number by adding 2 every time
- It may be noted that the number of the bottom most square will be 2 less than the number of the top-most square.
If N = 6, the number of columns is N + 1 = 7
Round Count = N – 1 = 5
| A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| A | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| B | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | ||
| C | 5 | 1 | 4 | |||
| D | 2 | 1 | ||||
| E | 3 | |||||
| F |
If N = 5, the number of columns is N + 2 = 7.
Number of Rounds = N = 5
| A | B | C | D | E | BYE | |
| A | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| B | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | ||
| C | 5 | 1 | 4 | |||
| D | 2 | 1 | ||||
| E | 3 | |||||
| BYE |
Staircase Method
The fixture can also be drawn with the help of the staircase method. In this method, a team is fixed left side on left side on each step or stair, starting from the 1st team onwards until the last two teams play.
If N = 6, then
| 1-2 | ||||
| 1-3 | 2-3 | |||
| 1-4 | 2-4 | 3-4 | ||
| 1-5 | 2-5 | 3-5 | 4-5 | |
| 1-6 | 2-6 | 3-6 | 4-6 | 5-6 |
Procedure for Deciding the Winner
The winner of a league tournament will be decided on the basis of the points secured by the respective team. In most league tournaments, points are awarded to the teams as
| WIN | 2 |
| LOSS | 0 |
| DRAW | 1 |
The team that secures the maximum points will be declared the Winner. If there is a TIE in points, the following procedure will be adopted.
- The team that defeated the other team (the tie-up team) in the league match will be given a higher position.
- If there is still a tie (draw in between), then the team winning the maximum number of matches will be given a higher place.
- If the tie still remains, then it will be decided by considering points or goal differences.
- Here also, if there is still a tie, it shall be broken according to the rules set by the organizing body.
The advantages of a round robin tournament are:
- They provide true results.
- Tournament results provide true rankings
- No one is eliminated
- All teams get to play until the end of the tournament.
- All teams play an equal number of games.
- It’s the fairest way to determine a champion.
- All teams are ranked at the end of the tournament.
- It permits continuous play with maximum use of facilities.
Disadvantages:
- Time-consuming, especially if there are many teams or limited facilities.
- Can result in ties, necessitating tie-breaking procedures.
- More facilities are required.
- No epic final match:
- Much longer than other types of tournaments.
- Possibility of leagues ending in ties.
Combination Tournaments
When a tournament is conducted by dividing the teams into a number of groups or zones, it is known as a combination tournament. This type of tournament involves a combination of knockout and league systems of play depending upon the suitability of the activities, the number of participating teams, time, money, etc. The teams belonging to the concerned group play among themselves, either on a knockout or league basis, and decide the winner of the group. Then, the selected winners will play among themselves again on a knockout or league basis and decide the champion. This type of tournament is highly recommended for conducting interschool, college, district, university, etc.
Generally, there are four types of combination tournaments:
- Knock Out Cum Knock Out Tournament
- League Cum League Tournament
- Knock out Cum League Tournament
- League Cum Knock Out