World Cup 71 Host Bid - H.R.E. and RK of Québec

[Nephara]

Yeah, if any decently good team gets some really bad luck - and it wouldn't take much in a 6-match group stage - their rank is gonna fucking crash and burn.

Though I guess the counterpoint is that a team punching above their weight and then getting destroyed in the second group stage would be punished for their achievement in the rankings, rather than rewarded.

[Free Republics]

Will the playoff in the middle count towards the rankings? I don't believe there has ever been a World Cup Qualifying with a playoff in the middle, as opposed to at the end.

I also don't particularly like the rankings precedent, and wouldn't have supported it if I were around at the time, since it would create too much separation between the teams who advanced and the teams who didn't. But that has nothing to do with the bid itself, and I won't hold it against the bid. I will, however, oppose the following of the precedent in the event this bid wins, and instead support using the maximum points for each team's games, varying depending on whether they made the second stage or not.

Edit: The publicly listed formula on the spreadsheet says the formula for World Cup Qualifying KPB points is "points divided by games played, multiplied by the numbers listed for the relevant WCQ." I would interpret that to explicitly mean you have to divide points by the number of games that team played. The Constitution itself does not specify a formula, but says the formula must be public (it is, in the spreadsheet) and that it can only be changed by WCC vote. So assuming the Constitution was the same then as it is now (and I wasn't here, so I don't know) that precedent was incorrectly applied IMO and we shouldn't continue to follow it. Alternatively, we could vote to change the formula so that would be the correct method, but as I said above, I wouldn't support that.

This is the formula that was used to produce the adjusted point totals. The adjustment worked out to crediting every team eliminated after the first round with an additional 3 points beyond what they attained (for a 5 matchday second group stage). For a 3 matchday second group stage, teams would be credited with an additional 2 points. However, I'm not going to object should the rankings be handled in a different manner, if there's a general preference for handling it a different way. In the event that our bid wins, then that question will have to be settled.

As for the playoff, I think there's a pretty solid precedent that playoffs don't count toward the rankings and I see no reason to change that here. The reward for winning the playoff would be advancement to the second group stage. That said, if the final number is 180, then there wouldn't be any playoffs in the format at all.

[Greater Watford]

On the one hand, I would like to see a 2-group qualifying stage, as I think it could work reasonably well, and can help deal with one of the usual problems of RP'ing against BoF nations who have already given up. On the other hand, as Nephara said, a good team who RP's could lose out, and take a hit to the rankings.

For the second round, how will the groups be determined? Would be they be seeded by KPB rankings, or by the rankings in the first gorup stage?

[Free Republics]

For the second round, how will the groups be determined? Would be they be seeded by KPB rankings, or by the rankings in the first gorup stage?

We will use the scorination ranks from the final matchday of the first group stage to seed the draw for the second group stage. In other words: rank plus RP/roster bonus. The reasoning behind this is that rank plus bonus better reflects the relative strength of the teams going into the second group stage, leading to more balanced groups.

[Jeckland]

For the second round, how will the groups be determined? Would be they be seeded by KPB rankings, or by the rankings in the first gorup stage?

We will use the scorination ranks from the final matchday of the first group stage to seed the draw for the second group stage. In other words: rank plus RP/roster bonus. The reasoning behind this is that rank plus bonus better reflects the relative strength of the teams going into the second group stage, leading to more balanced groups.

How is that going to be explained ICly?

[Kernansquillec]

I take it any playoffs would be held on a neutral ground? Would they also be included within the side bids?

The changes are definitely a good move in my opinion. The qualification in two times would be interesting by having so many groups with so few teams per group in the first stage (unless you get a tough draw ^^).

I'm just wondering about the ranking system afterwards. I've only had a quick glance at the comments above and the previous formula, but my main worry is that a team that qualifies for the second round and then losses all their matches could end up worse off than a team that didn't qualify for the second round. That would seem quite unfair to me, but if the formula avoids that I'd be very close to backing this bid

(And PS: for the 200 team scenario I guess it's supposed to be the top 2 qualifying from the second phase unless you want a 47 team World Cup )