VICTORIA MATHEMATICIAN FINDS FLAW IN FIFA RULES
Jul 13, 2009
A VICTORIA MATHEMATICIAN HAS FOUND A POTENTIALLY PROBLEMATIC FLAW IN FIFA'S INTERNATIONAL RULES FOR BREAKING THREE WAY TIES.
AARON WILLIAMS, STUDYING FOR HIS PHD IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AT UVIC, SAYS THE WORDING IN WHO GETS SECOND PLACE IN A THREE WAY TIE COULD LEAD TO CONFLICTING RESULTS.
"the question is, what do you have left. Do you have a two-way tie, between the remaining two people or, do you still have an unbroken three-way tie?"
WILLIAMS WENT ON TO SAY, THAT SUBTLE DIFFERENCE COULD WREAK HAVOC ON THE TIE BREAKING RULES, AND COULD AFFECT WHICH TEAMS ADVANCE OUT OF THE FIRST ROUND.
IT HASN'T HAPPENED YET, BUT IT COULD. WILLIAMS SAID HE'D HEARD FROM BOTH THE CANADIAN SOCCER ASSOCIATION AND FIFA, BOTH INTERPRETED THE RULES IN DIFFERENT WAYS.
- GREG FORSBERG
