Football League Tables

[Quizmonster]

Football league tables change on a more or less daily basis, as matches are played. Clearly, the team with most points from wins and draws is placed at the top and so on down.
If two or more teams have the same number of points, Goal Difference (GD) is used to separate them. But what if GD is also the same and are there any further aspects which come into effect to enable the table to be accurately produced?

[Stephen_G]

Head to head results, if everything else is the same.

[angie55]

After goal difference, it's usually goals scored.

[Quizmonster]

I take it then, Stephen, that that is the only additional feature involved and that it never all ends up just by putting them in alphabetical order, for example!
Thank you for a very rapid response.

[Quizmonster]

Your response wasn't there when I answered Stephen, Angie. So, it seems that there may well be other aspects after all! Is there somewhere I can see a definitive list?

[Lie-in King]

For the Premier League, at least -

"If any clubs finish with the same number of points, their position in the Premier League table is determined by goal difference, then the number of goals scored. If the teams still cannot be separated, they will be awarded the same position in the table."

https://tinyurl.com/ybuyyge6

[angie55]

It depends on the rules of each league. The Premier League and the Football Leagues all work on points, goal difference and then goals scored. Many of the feeder leagues (National League, the old Conference), National Leagues North and South and the leagues that feed to them also work on the same system. Outside that, ie. lower down the pyramid, it may be different, but you would need to look at the rules of the relevant league.

[Quizmonster]

Thank you, L-i-K, but whilst positions may well be 'awarded' in the abstract, they must be 'presented' in table-form for publication, so just how is that done? Is this where my ABC method enters the fray?

[Lie-in King]

From an article in 2015 (again it's Premier League-related, but I think it would apply to the lower tables too) -

"The Premier League rulebook states: "If at the end of the Season either the League Champions or the Clubs to be relegated or the question of qualification for other competitions cannot be determined because 2 or more Clubs are equal on points, goal difference and goals scored, the Clubs concerned shall play off one or more deciding League Matches on neutral grounds, the format, timing and venue of which shall be determined by the Board."

https://tinyurl.com/y4qmrdkp

[Quizmonster]

Ah, now there's an additional feature...playoffs!
(God, how I detest playoffs! However, in this case they seem perhaps to be justified, unlike the other versions. Those involve teams playing a whole season based on points and then, all of a sudden, the fifth team...perhaps a dozen points adrift...may well be considered more worthy of promotion than the second one. Absurd!)

Rather than season-end league tables, L-I-K, I was originally thinking simply of the league tables that appear in the press etc throughout the season.)

[Lie-in King]

Sorry, I meant to add above - as that article shows, for mid-season publication, teams are shown alphabetically, so you were right :-)

[Lie-in King]

Oh good grief, I forgot the quote this time -

"...for the time being, Chelsea are leading the table on alphabetical order alone."

[Calibax]

I think all other things being equal they are presented in alphabetical order.

[Quizmonster]

Wonderful! Thank you for that, L-i-K. I just knew my notion about the alphabet being an essential ingredient would have to be relevant
somehow!
Cheers to you, too, Calibax.

[archibaldy]

As an aside the World Cup group - mini league - stage has a lot more scope for ties due to the low number of teams and the final positions have a large effect on the shape of the rest of the tournament, there are more criteria in play:-

1. Highest number of points
2. Goal difference
3. Goals scored
4. Points obtained in group games between teams concerned
5. Goal difference from games involving teams concerned
6. Number of goals scored in games between teams concerned
7. Fair play points
8. Drawing of lots by FIFA

[Quizmonster]

Thanks to all of you for your contributions; I have a much clearer picture now.

[Ken4155]

Quizmonster; Yes, to an extent, the Play Offs can be seen to be totally unfair; the team in 3rd, 12 points ahead of the team in 6th, having to play them in a 2-leg play off to determine a trip to Wembley to play yet another team who they've finished way ahead of. But you have to remember that everyone knows this may be the case at the beginning of the season, so it is, in effect, a level playing field. The Play Offs were introduced as a quick fix in '87 in order to lose 2 clubs from the 1st Division and, possibly because of the extra revenue they generate to those involved, they have stayed around longer than the mother in law. I would like to see a change in that the team finishing immediately below the promotion places gains automatic entry to the play off final, with the 4 teams below fighting it out for the honour of meeting them at Wembley. Just a tad fairer imho.

[Quizmonster]

I agree, Ken, that your idea is a tad fairer. However, it still makes it possible for teams which are effectively inferior - for want of a better word - to bypass their already-proven betters. For me, that whole concept is simply wrong.