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Changing a football format after you have saved it

One dialog holds the league type, the match length, the points a result is worth and the group questions. Changing any of them rebuilds every fixture.

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Written by Maab Saleem

Everything you answered when you chose the format can be changed afterwards. Only the tournament Owner and an Administrator can.

Everyone else is sent to the tournament's public page, which has no Format tab.

Before you start

Read this first. Changing any value here throws away every fixture in the tournament and builds it again. Scores go with them. A match that had been played and finished comes back Scheduled and empty, and nothing undoes it.

So do this before you publish the fixture list, not after. If the tournament is under way, you are choosing between the change and the results you already have.

Opening the dialog

  1. Open the tournament and select Format. Configuration sits in the Phases header.

    The Phases header of a group and knockout tournament, with the Configuration button outlined.

  2. Read the dialog. It is headed Football Configuration and it scrolls: the group questions and the knockout question are below the fold.

    The Football Configuration dialog showing League type, Match duration, Win points, Draw points, Loss points and the two group questions.

  3. Set Win points, Draw points and Loss points. These are what the PTS column in the group table counts. Each takes a whole number from 0 to 99.

    The points fields at their defaults, with Draw points outlined and reading 2.

  4. Choose Encounters - how many times each team plays the others in its group. The first option is written out as Play all teams in pool once; the rest are the numbers 2 to 10.

    The Encounters list open, showing Play all teams in pool once above the numbers 2 to 10.

  5. Choose How many teams proceed to knockout?. The list stops at the number of teams you have, so eight teams offer 2, 4 and 8.

    The knockout list open over the scrolled dialog, offering 2 teams, 4 teams and 8 teams.

  6. Select Save, then read the warning and select Confirm Changes. Select Cancel if you would rather keep your fixtures.

    The Update Football Configuration dialog, warning that the current scheduled matches will be reset and recreated.

The defaults, and what a draw is worth

A new football tournament starts on 3 for a win, 2 for a draw and 0 for a loss. A draw is worth 2, not 1.

Those values are applied whether or not you ever open these boxes, and they are what the group table adds up. See Reading the group standings table in a football tournament.

What each template asks

The dialog changes with the template you chose. The league type, the match duration and the three points boxes are on all three.

  • Group & knockout phase asks the group questions, Encounters, how many teams proceed to knockout, and whether to push overflow matches onto the next day. That is the tournament photographed above.

  • Knockout phase only asks neither group question and has no Encounters. It asks how many teams go into the bracket, and the overflow question.

  • Group phase only asks the group questions and Encounters. It has no knockout question and no overflow question, and it carries a League schedule block instead. That block is described in Choosing a format for a football tournament.

On Knockout phase only the points boxes still appear, and they do nothing. Straight elimination has no table to score.

What you will see

The fixtures are thrown away and generated again from the new settings. Kick-off times, pitches and match numbers all change. Anything you set by hand on those matches is lost.

Selecting Save without changing anything is safe. Your fixtures keep their dates and their scores.

If it does not work

  • You cannot type in a points box. Use the stepper arrows in the field. Typing puts the new digit in front of the old one, so 1 over 2 leaves 21.

  • Save does nothing and there is no message. Check the points. The boxes accept 0 to 99, and a value of 100 or more is refused by the server with nothing on screen to tell you.

  • You did not want the fixtures rebuilt. Select Cancel on the warning. Nothing is sent until you select Confirm Changes.

  • You lost a played result. There is no way back. The warning is the only chance to stop it, which is why this article puts it first.

  • The points changed nothing. Your tournament is knockout only. There is no group table for them to count towards.

  • There is no Configuration button. You are not the tournament's Owner or an Administrator.

  • You wanted a different template entirely. Configuration keeps the template you chose. It changes the questions inside it, not the shape of the tournament.

Padel and Other Sports

A padel tournament has a Configuration button too, and a different dialog behind it - standings type, scoring, rounds and courts. See Changing a padel format after you have saved it.

An Other Sports tournament opens this dialog, and its heading still reads Football Configuration. The settings work the same way.

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