Scoring and Rules

 

History:

I started the Desai Invitational in 2010 because I didn’t really like the existing World Cup pick ’em, pool, or fantasy structures.  I think a good World Cup fan competition should:

1. Encourage participants to follow more games
2. Allow participants to follow the teams they like (and root against the teams they don’t) without punishing their loyalty too harshly
3. Require little effort to enter
4. Encourage people to watch games they otherwise wouldn’t have
5. Reward people for picking sleepers (poorly regarded teams that do well)
6. Reward people for picking teams that go deep into the tournament (especially the last few teams left)

Tier Structure:

I ranked all 32 participating teams by averaging their ELO ranking and Sports Illustrated Power Rankings, then divided them into eight tiers of teams.  Participants will pick one team from each of the eight tiers.

Tier 1:
Brazil
Germany
Spain
France

Tier 2:
Portugal
Argentina
England
Belgium:

Tier 3:
Uruguay
Colombia
Mexico
Switzerland

Tier 4:
Croatia
Peru
Poland
Denmark

Tier 5:
Sweden
Iceland
Costa Rica
Russia

Tier 6:
Serbia
South Korea
Australia
Iran

Tier 7:
Nigeria
Senegal
Japan
Morocco

Tier 8:
Egypt
Panama
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia

Scoring:

Group Stage:
3 points for a win
1 point for a tie
3 points for advancing to the knockout stage

Knockout Stage:
4 points for winning in the round of 16
8 points for winning a quarterfinal
12 points for winning a semifinal
16 points for winning the cup

Multipliers:
Tiers 1 and 2 = score x 1
Tiers 3 and 4 = score x 2
Tiers 5 and 6 = score x 3
Tiers 7 and 8 = score x 4

Group Stage Picks and Knockout Bonus Picks:

Each participant picks eight total teams before the group stage, and receive points according to how well those eight teams perform.  In the knockout stage the participant will continue to receive points for their initial picks, depending on how deep they go in the tournament.

In addition, after the group stage is completed, participants will select two bonus teams for the 16-team knockout stage.  Participants are allowed to pick a bonus team that they already selected in the group stage and receive double points for that team in the knockout stage.

For example, let’s imagine renowned comedian and filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait chose to participate.  In the first round, he selected:

Tier 1: Germany
Tier 2: Portgual
Tier 3: Mexico
Tier 4: Croatia
Tier 5: Costa Rica
Tier 6: Australia
Tier 7: Japan
Tier 8: Panama

After the group stage is over, Germany, Mexico, Croatia, and Australia made the knockout stage out of Bobcat’s original picks (great job Bobcat Goldthwait!).  Bobcat will continue to accumulate points for these four teams if they win in the knockout stages.

He still has to pick his two bonus teams though.  He could pick Brazil and Nigeria as his bonus teams, and he would add whatever points they accumulate to his score.  He would still get the 4x multiplier for Nigeria moving forward.

On the other hand, he could re-pick one of the teams he already had selected and double what he receives moving forward.  For instance, if he picked Brazil and Japan, he would get Brazil’s points in the knockout stage (no multiplier), and he would double the points he got for Japan in the knockouts.  Since Japan is already receiving 4x points, that means he would get 8x points for any Japan wins during knockout stage.

You can re-pick two of your teams again, but you have to pick two different bonus teams.  So Bobcat could pick Germany and Portugal as bonus teams for double points, but not Germany twice for triple points (or Brazil twice).

The page for selecting your bonus teams will go live as soon as the knockout teams are determined.