Comparing league formats with respect to match unimportance in Belgian football Dries Goossens ¢ Jeroen BeliÄen ¢ Frits C.R. Spieksma Received: date / Accepted: date Abstract Recently, most clubs in the highest Belgian football league have become convinced that the format of the league should be changed. Moreover, the TV station that broadcasts the league is pleading for a more attractive competition. The clubs, however, have not been able to agree on a new league format, mainly because they have conflicting interests. In this paper, we discuss the current league format, and two other formats that are presently being considered by the Royal Belgian Football As- sociation. We simulate the course of each of these league formats, based on historical match results. The attractiveness of each of the formats is measured by the number of unimportant matches: the less unimportant matches, the more attractive the compe- tition. Furthermore, we provide an overview of how each league format aligns with the expectations and interests of each type of club. Keywords tournament design ¢ match importance ¢ football ¢ simulation ¢ optimiza- tion 1 Introduction For decades, the ¯rst (and highest) division in Belgian football has been organized as a double round robin tournament, i.e. a tournament in which each team plays each other team twice, once at home and once away. The games of the tournament are grouped in rounds, such that each teams plays exactly once per round. Since the season 1977-1978, Dries Goossens K.U.Leuven - Faculty of Business and Economics, Naamsestraat 69, 3000 Leuven, Belgium E-mail:
[email protected] Jeroen BeliÄen H.U.Brussel - Center for Modelling and Simulation, Stormstraat 2, 1000 Brussels, Belgium E-mail:
[email protected] Frits C.R.