2018 WORLD CUP PREDICTION

HOW DO I ORGANISE A POOL?

Ask every participant to fill in the spreadsheet linked above and send it to you prior to first match of the World Cup. It is recommended that you share the predictions with all participants so that there is no doubt of fixing. Then update points as you go along? If you are in doubt on how to apply points, please look below. Alternatively I can organise it for you - click here for more.

HOW CAN I ATTRIBUTE POINTS?

The World Cup is split into two stages: the group stage (where matches are known) and a knock-out (where the matches are known once the previous round finishes). I suggested the following points:

First Round

All games in the first round are known and therefore participants try to predict outcome per match as follows:

2 points if you guess the outcome

4 points if you guess the outcome and score difference (given a team wins) 

6 points if you guess the exact score

3 points if you guess the outcome as a draw

Say that you predicted the score for Russia 3 - 0 Saudi Arabia. If the actual result is 3-0 for Russia, then you gain 6 points. If Russia wins with a goal difference of 3 (say 4-1, 5-2) then you gain 4 points. If Russia wins but with a goal difference which is not +3, then you gain 2 points. No points are gained if Russia does not win.

Now  for another example, say you predicted Iceland 1- 1 Croatia. If the result is 1-1 then you gain 6 points. However in the case of a draw which is not 1-1 (say 0-0 or 3-3), then you will gain 3 points. The reasoning behind this is that the goal difference will always be 0 in a draw. Obviously if the game does not end in a draw, you do not win any points.

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All Rounds

The games in all other rounds are not known. Therefore points are earned for each team guessed to reach different rounds as follows: 

15 points for each team guessed to reach the round of 16

30 points for each team guessed to reach the quarter final

50 points for each team guessed to reach the semis

75 points for each finalist team guessed

100 points for guessing the winner 

(so guessing winner  results in earning 100 + 75 + 50 + 30 + 15 = 270 points as they would have reached the previous round)

CAN WE BET REAL MONEY?