3 Comments

Dear Sir. Please let me point out how Concacaf has NOT correctly borrowed the "swiss" tournament system from chess. They don't understand it.

The "swiss" system works to rank contestants in a league format without having all contestants play each other because in each round of games contestants are paired against a player just above or below them in ranking. Further, the rankings are re-ordered after every round! THIS LAST PART IS MASSIVELY IMPORTANT and CONCACAF IS NOT DOING IT. They are not using the Swiss system used in Chess. Concacaf has not used the most elemental and important part of the Swiss system. What Concacaf is doing is fundamentally unfair and without sporting merit.

I am hoping that your reporting can bring some attention to Concacaf leaders that they are earning for themselves well deserved derision. Please avoid reporting their propaganda that they are using the Swiss system from chess.

Expand full comment

Would be interesting to know how different the fixtures would’ve been even if they applied that last part. Judging by the current concacaf rankings, most of the fixtures would’ve still been the same.

Expand full comment

In the actual swiss system you don't play the same team twice. Contestants are re-ordered on results (though you would start the day using an ELO ranking system). There will be times that you are right, and results might be similar. But in a true swiss system the results would be determined solely on the field as it should be.

Expand full comment