Bracketology: predict a path to World Cup victory

How it works

The advancement of nan World Cup from lucifer to lucifer is wished from nan beginning: location are nary further draws to determine who plays whom in consequent rounds.

To maximise nan spectacle, nan title is structured, broadly, to guarantee that nan “bigger” teams don’t look each different (and sound each different out) excessively early successful nan competition, and to guarantee that each 48 teams person an inducement to section their strongest broadside for every fixture.

The apical 2 teams of each 12 spell into nan adjacent information automatically. Because nan victor of a group will look a second- aliases third-placed team from different group, nan dream is that France, for instance, will not remainder connected their laurels erstwhile they person capable points to suffice for the knockouts but will effort to triumph their past crippled to get what successful principle are easier opponents successful nan adjacent round, nan past 32.

At nan different extremity of nan table, a squad who cognize they will travel astatine best 3rd successful their group still person an inducement to springiness their each successful that past group crippled because nan 8 best-performing of nan 12 third-placed teams besides spell into nan past 32.

Let’s return nan illustration of England, wholly arbitrarily. If England top their group, they will look a third-placed squad successful nan first knockout information (technically immoderate 1 of 20 different teams, but plausibly a team specified arsenic Côte d'Ivoire aliases Algeria). If they travel second, they will play nan runners-up from Group K, plausibly Colombia. And if they come 3rd but person a amended points full aliases extremity quality than 4 of nan different third-placed teams, they get a tougher fixture, against the winners of Group K, perchance Portugal. The simulator includes the predetermined routes for each 495 imaginable combinations of groups yielding nan 8 champion third-placed teams.

This simulator allows you to alteration nan result of each group and see nan effect that those changes person connected nan past 32, and past to imagine nan victor of each knockout crippled to crippled each team’s imaginable way to nan final.