Tie-Breaker Policy

Ok, I'm not whining about losing the title. As far as I'm concerned, we won runner's up and qualify for another year of Champs League. I also realized when watching Barca play this season, we lacked important ingredients to be crowned champs. I didnt see a drive, a motivation, a muse. I saw players who carried themselves high on a pedestal and were more concerned about off-the-pitch issues than on.

Anyways, I digress. My main issue is with the tie-breaker policy in La Liga. I don't agree with the head-to-head record of tied teams to determine the eventual winner because it is irrespective of the aggregate season performance of each team. In other leagues, most notably the Premiership, teams are seperated on the basis of goal difference. The amount of goals scored versus the amount of goals conceded in both home and away fixtures. The eventual winner is decided by whichever team record shows the highest margin of goal difference. I believe this is how it should be, standardized by the UEFA for all Euro leagues.

True, football is not all about goals. But today's football is all about winning. We can argue all day about the correlative relationship of both or whether they are mutually exclusive, but thats beside the point for now. My argument is that a team's goal tally for the entire season reflects the cumulative team performance and therefore should be the basis of deciding who should be the winner in a tiebreaking event. It's not all about goals scored (GS) but equally important is the goals scored against (GA). Whereas GS only feeds those who think football is all about scoring goals goals and goals, GA is a determinant factor of the defensive ability of the team as a unit. Ok, we dont watch football because of defense. We want to see goals. We want to see "crisp" passing. We don't necessarily watch because of double-lined defenses and the beauty of stronghold by packing all 11 in the box in a corner situation (Andorra?). But preventing goals is as important a business as creating goals. And the better team should have the better ability to do both.

Singular head-to-head records are not indicative of the better team. There are a multitude of variables that affect outcome in this secular event. For example, scheduling. Let's say Sevilla had to face Valencia for Copa del Rey then AC Milan in Champs League, then a make-up game in La Liga against Bilbao, only then to face Sociedad, the other eventual tiebreaking team, all in the same week. Then let's say Real Sociedad does not compete in Champ League or Copa del Rey and didn't have a make-up game to play, and have all their players fully rested for the match against Sevilla. Obvious differences will arise in the ensuing results. Fatigue, injuries, team morale might all be factors of outcome. To have this disadvantage for this particular heavy week should not have to haunt Sevilla later at the end of the season, while Sociedad walks away with the trophy.

I say, let the better team be decided based on all-season performance judged by the difference between goals scored (GS) vs goals conceded(GA). Although not the most holistic statistic of overall performance to determine the better team, it does tell a more meaningful story than a head-to-head record.

Football is Life

Life is Football

Goal Differential: The Way to Go

I definitely agree RO...

The tie breaker rules should be standard throughout all leagues in the world. FIFA should step in and require that the tie breaker policy should be goal differential. How else are we going to promote higher scoring games? The last World Cup was one of the most low scoring Copa Mundials of all time. We need to change this somehow. By allowing teams to win titles in their domestic leagues based purely on head to head, we are moving backwards.