Finding Fair Draws for Incomplete Round Robin Tournaments
2026-07-20 • Discrete Mathematics
Discrete Mathematics
AI summaryⓘ
The authors looked at tournaments where not every team plays against all others, which can lead to fairness problems because teams face different opponents. They studied how hard it is to figure out if a fair match schedule can be made when factors like team strength groups, teams from the same region, and match connectivity rules are involved. They also ran experiments to show ways to create fair schedules under these conditions. Their work helps understand the challenges in making fair incomplete tournaments.
round robin tournamentincomplete tournamentfairnessteam strengthpotsassociationconnectivitycomplexityschedulingexperimental algorithm
Authors
Sten Wessel, Frits Spieksma
Abstract
In an incomplete round robin tournament, teams play against different sets of opponents. Given varying strengths of the teams, this raises a fairness issue. We establish the complexity of determining whether a fair draw exists under various scenarios involving the presence of pots (i.e., strength based groups of teams), teams coming from the same association, connectivity requirements, and others. We also show experimentally how fair incomplete round robin tournaments can be generated.