Example: Soccer league
What do soccer fans, sponsors, team owners and league officials have in common? They all really want one thing - to see soccer matches in which the players put in their very best effort every time they play, regardless of the score and the strength of their opponents.
If you are one of them and if you ever had hopes of this happening, they will remain just hopes unless the current championship system is replaced by a system that is more advanced, precise and flexible. The current championship system is at the root of the problem why fans leave the arena in the middle of a match. The accumulative point system based on who wins and who loses simply does not induce players to do their best all the time, especially in soccer leagues where 2 or 3 teams have dominated their national championships for decades, like in the Netherlands, Scotland, Portugal and Ukraine. No wonder that the top teams from the Netherlands, Scotland, Belgium and Portugal have had discussions about creating a separate league for the best teams from these countries only. Such a league would generate more income for the teams and there would be more opportunity for players to grow, and more funds to keep top players.
But instead of starting such an exclusive league, we propose a new championship system that gives all major stakeholders - fans, sponsors, officials, players and coaches - what they really want: a complete, enriching and high-quality tournament experience. On top of this, the new system will also greatly stimulate the development of talented young soccer players.
Ranking
First, to make players do their best during the whole match regardless of the score the ranking system must take into account every goal scored. After every goal that a team scores its ranking should go up exactly like the stock price of a company after every bit of good news. This will give the soccer players a clear message that it is crucial to score as many goals as they can.
Second, when the strength of the opponent becomes another major component of the ranking calculation we send another important message, namely that no matter whom you play against it always pays to go out there and do your very best. This is especially important in leagues with teams of very different levels as we mentioned above. In fact, in the equRanking system proposed here it can happen that a team might gain more points from losing 0:1 to the number one team, than by winning 1:0 against the last team.
The equRanking system is extremely informative. The number of points a team has earned is much more meaningful than in the old system. It represents the ability of the team to perform, as opposed to the accumulation systems where the number of points simply represents the ability of the team to accumulate the points.
In an accumulation system the fact that one team has more points than another often does not even imply that the first team is necessarily the better one. It could have accumulated those points simply by playing against weaker teams.
By contrast, in equRanking if one team has more points than another, this always means that the first team has thus far performed better then the other team. On top of that, the point difference between them provides extremely useful information about precisely how much better the first team is than the second.
For example, if the difference in points between two teams is 2.0 then this means that the first team is able to beat the second with a difference of two goals. And if in the next match between these two teams the first one wins by a score of 4:2 then the number of the ranking points of both teams remains unchanged. The last result simply confirms that these two teams deserve to have 2.0 ranking points difference between them. So, for the first team to go up in the ranking it must show that it can do better than winning by just 2 goals difference. It needs to win the match by at least a 3-goal difference. The same is true for the other team. If it is to go up in the ranking it needs to do better than lose with a 2-goal difference. But it doesn't necessarily have to win. Even if it loses with a one-goal difference it will still go up in the ranking while the first team will go down.
You can also look at the difference of the ranking points in the equRanking as a sort of handicap like they use in golf. The purpose of the handicap system has always been to attempt all players or teams to compete as well as they can, to bring out the best in all the participants regardless of their level. The handicap system is very successful in golf and it has served the sport and the players extremely well. According to www.NetHandicap.com the number of registered members has grown exponentially from 25.000 in 2001 to 160.000 in 2006.
Scheduling
The second major feature of the equRanking system is the flexibility of its ranking and scheduling components. In the current accumulation system the ranking and scheduling components are inextricably connected to each other. The system only works if all teams play against every other team. As a result, in Ukraine, for instance, the most anticipated match of all, Dynamo vs. Shakhtar, happens only twice in a season. These two teams are major players in the international tournaments, but most of their matches in the national championship - 28 out of 30 - they have to play against significantly less skilled teams. The same thing can be said about the Rangers and Celtic in Scotland; Ajax, Eindhoven and Feyenoord in the Netherlands; Benfica, Porto and Sporting in Portugal.
By contrast, in equRanking the ranking and scheduling components are almost entirely independent of one another. As a result the ranking component can coexist with countless scheduling schemes. This gives the league officials the freedom to use whatever scheduling scheme best fits their particular needs, as well as the needs of the other major stakeholders in any competition: the fans, the media, and the sponsors.
For example, with equRanking it is possible to significantly increase the number of matches played between teams of approximately the same level of strength. In the Ukrainian competition, for instance, one could implement a scheduling rule according to which only teams that are not further apart in the ranking than 8 positions can play against each other. As a result, Dynamo would play against Shakhtar at least 5-6 times per season. Ajax, Eindhoven and Feyenoord would have at least 12-16 matches between them. Yet the resulting rankings would be no less accurate and reliable as they would be under any other scheduling systems.
The equRanking system is so flexible that it is possible to have any number of teams in the Premier division, as long as they pass a certain minimum requirement. Just imagine the football league with more than 100 teams! Imagine that instead of 4 tables from the Premier, I, II and III divisions, there is only one table where every team's performance is represented by line graphs similar to the listings of corporate stocks being traded at the stock exchange. Every time your team scores a goal the team's graph goes up and the opponent's goes down. The stronger the opponent they score against the more points your team gains. Just imagine what a much more intense sense of belonging fans and team owners around the country will have! All teams in the same league, all playing their very best game in every match!
Introducing the equRanking system will produce a major breakthrough in all aspects of football, including the development of junior soccer. With the equRanking system it is easy to run powerful junior leagues and teach young soccer players the professional mentality of doing their very best during the whole match from an early age. With equRanking it is also very easy to maintain cost-efficient soccer leagues that include soccer teams from all high schools in a country. equRanking is so precise and flexible that a high school soccer team can earn a credible national ranking by playing only 10-15 matches per season. What makes such a league so cost-efficient is the fact that with equRanking you need only play against teams in your own area to obtain a national ranking, so you do not necessarily have to spend large amounts of money and time on travel. Of course, if your school has money you can go on tour during study breaks or the summer and play ranking matches against teams which are located geographically further away. In this way, it is entirely feasible to have 2000-5000 high-school football teams listed in one very credible, nationwide ranking.
