An instance data repository for the round-robin sports timetabling problem

The sports timetabling problem is a combinatorial optimization problem that consists of creating a timetable that defines against whom, when and where teams play games. This is a complex matter, since real-life sports timetabling applications are typically highly constrained. The vast amount and variety of constraints and the lack of generally accepted benchmark problem instances make that timetable algorithms proposed in the literature are often tested on just one or two specific seasons of the competition under consideration. This is problematic since only a few algorithmic insights are gained. To mitigate this issue, this article provides a problem instance repository containing over 40 different types of instances covering artificial and real-life problem instances. The construction of such a repository is not trivial, since there are dozens of constraints that need to be expressed in a standardized format. For this, our repository relies on RobinX, an XML-supported classification framework. The resulting repository provides a (non-exhaustive) overview of most real-life sports timetabling applications published over the last five decades. For every problem, a short description highlights the most distinguishing characteristics of the problem. The repository is publicly available and will be continuously updated as new instances or better solutions become available

Scheduling a non-professional indoor football league : a tabu search based approach

This paper deals with a real-life scheduling problem of a non-professional indoor football league. The goal is to develop a schedule for a time-relaxed, double round-robin tournament which avoids close successions of games involving the same team in a limited period of time. This scheduling problem is interesting, because games are not planned in rounds. Instead, each team provides time slots in which they can play a home game, and time slots in which they cannot play at all. We present an integer programming formulation and a heuristic based on tabu search. The core component of this algorithm consists of solving a transportation problem, which schedules (or reschedules) all home games of a team. Our heuristic generates schedules with a quality comparable to those found with IP solvers, however with considerably less computational effort. These schedules were approved by the league organizers, and used in practice for the seasons 2009-2010 till 2016-2017

The carryover effect does not influence football results

In a round robin tournament, it is often believed that each team has an effect on its opponent, which carries over to the next game of that opponent. Indeed, if team A plays against team B, and subsequently against team C, A’s performance against C may have been affected by B, and we say that team C receives a carryover effect from B. For instance, if team B is a very strong team, then team A could be exhausted and discouraged after this game, which could benefit its next opponent, team C. Clearly, any schedule will lead to carryover effects. In practice, the perceived influence of carryover effects has been used as an argument when producing a schedule. In this work, we develop an approach to measure whether carryover effects have an influence on the outcome of football matches. The authors apply this method on the highest division in Belgium, using data from over 30 seasons, amounting over 10,000 matches. In our data set, we find no evidence to support the claim that carryover effects affect the results, which has major implications for the sporting community with respect to generating fixtures.status: publishe

The Cowl - v.28 - n.17 (2) - May 04, 1966

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 28, Number 17 (2) - May 04, 1966. 8 pages

Programación del Fixture de la Segunda División del Fútbol de Chile mediante Investigación de Operaciones

Presentamos en este trabajo la aplicación de técnicas de Investigación de Operaciones a la programación del fixture de la Segunda División del fútbol de Chile. Este fixture debe cumplir una serie de condiciones solicitadas por la Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP), entidad que organiza el torneo. El criterio geográfico es particularmente importante, debido a que la disposición de algunos equipos en lugares extremos del país implica largos desplazamientos, a menudo realizados por vía terrestre. Abordamos el problema mediante un modelo de programación lineal entera que define cuándo y dónde se juega cada partido del torneo, sujeto a que todas las condiciones se cumplen. Para las instancias más difíciles, desarrollamos un modelo adicional también de programación lineal entera que genera patrones de localías y los asigna a los equipos, previo a la ejecución del modelo que define la programación de los partidos. Los fixtures así generados han sido exitosamente utilizados en los cinco torneos de Segunda División que se han disputado entre 2007 y 2010, reemplazando la metodología aleatoria que la ANFP utilizaba anteriormente. Durante este período, el tipo de torneo ha sufrido diversas modificaciones, incluyendo un cuádruple round-robin y un torneo en dos etapas que considera fases regionales y nacionales. Hemos debido entonces adaptar nuestros modelos temporada tras temporada, según el tipo de torneo. Esta aplicación marca un nuevo avance en el uso de Investigación de Operaciones para la gestión del fútbol chileno, que se suma a otros proyectos desarrollados en la misma línea en los últimos años.Fil: Duran, Guillermo Alfredo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Matemática; Argentina. Universidad de Chile; Chile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Guajardo, Mario. Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration; NoruegaFil: Wolf Yadlin, Rodrigo. Universidad de Chile; Chil