Rankings
This article is about the current rankings. For past rankings, see Historical Rankings.
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The 4chan Ranking is a ranking system for fictional 4chan image board teams in association football, currently led by /wg/. The teams are ranked based on their game results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. The rankings were introduced on April 2, 2012. Previous ranking methods had /a/ on top following the inaugural 2011 4chan Summer Cup.
History
Following the inaugural Summer Cup, the 4chan Cup Committee (4CCC) first published a listing in rank order of its member associations to provide a basis for comparison of the relative strengths of these teams. Significant changes were implemented in April 2012 as a reaction to criticisms of the system. Membership of the bi-annual tournament has expanded from 16 to 24, and most recently to 40 since the rankings began; all members are currently included in the rankings.
2011 Method
The original method consisted of the order the teams were eliminated from the current Summer or Winter Cup, irrespective of past results. A team could have not participated in previous tournaments, yet if they win the latest one, they are automatically number one.
2013 Method
In 2013 the calculations were amended in two ways. First, a 12 month season was implemented which included the two most recent Cups and two most recent Babbys. All points outside the season were dropped from the totals, making the rankings more reflective of the events of the Cup year. Further, the Match Status multiplier of Cup games was increased to 2.0, giving more emphasis to the main cup. These changes were meant that teams were ranked based on their current and recent history, but early cup wins were not buoying formerly good teams up, as well as making so yo-yo teams which participated in all 4 events were not given excess standing in the rankings.
Dragongate
Every part of the 4chan Cup was rocked by this horrific scandal and the rankings were no different. Matches were abandoned, results were reversed, and happening so shortly after the implementation of a new Ranking system, teams made incredible jumps up and down the rankings. This was a time of great upheaval for the 4CCC, and a distinct turning point in the history of the cup.
Ranking Changes
All matches involving a team deemed influenced by Dragonfag was voided according to the following set of situations:
- Matches with two teams influenced by Dragonfag.
- Matches with one team influenced by Dragonfag, and the match ended in a victory to the Dragonfag team.
This didn't apply to /sp/ during the 2013 Winter Cup, as the team was deemed legitimate by the Repercussions of Evil document. The situations where the match wasn't voided, is as follows:
- Matches with one team influenced by Dragonfag, and the match ended in a draw.
- Matches with one team influenced by Dragonfag, and the match ended in a victory to the other team.
Criticism
Despite the ubiquitous adoption of the ranking system by GermanBro and the 4CCC, there have been a vocal minority crying out for changes to the system. The complaints lie mostly in the the disparity between the ranking and the perceived quality of the teams. The fact that a team like /sp/ has been around forever and are 700 points higher than /m/ is a major talking point for the opposition. Despite /sp/'s 3 straight losses in the Autumn Friendlies, they are still far ahead of /m/.
Also, because playing additional games is an unequivocal advantage in the ranking system, teams that get relegated to the Babbies and win promotion there will inflate their point totals due to having an entire tournament's worth of additional games. This can cause a bizarre scenario where a bubble team (a team that is frequently relegated/promoted) could find itself ranked considerably higher than a team that has never been relegated, when common sense dictates that the top-tier team should be ranked higher.
Another problem is the extra games in the tournaments. In the 2012 4chan Summer Cup, the four best teams all received a bye week, thus missing out on a a few hundred points. There have been ideas on how to rectify this problem but no consensus of a fair decision. However, the fact that all future tournaments will have 32 teams and thus have no bye weeks in the cups make this a one time event. A solution is not a priority at this time by the 4CCC.
Current Calculation Method
The system is extremely similar to that of a league, though with changes made to ensure that it is still representative of the teams' performance despite playing differing numbers of matches per six-month period, and the differing strength of opposition that teams have to face. The factors taken into account are as follows:
- Match result
- Match status
- Opposition strength
Teams' actual scores are a result of the average points gained over each calendar year; matches from the previous two years are considered, with more weight being given to recent ones.
Win, Draw or Defeat
With this system, the points allocation is simple: three points for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss, in line with most league systems around the world. In the event of a match being decided by a penalty shootout, the winning team receives two points, and the losing team one point.
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Win (no penalty shootout) | 3 |
| Win (penalty shootout) | 2 |
| Draw | 1 |
| Loss (penalty shootout) | 1 |
| Loss | 0 |
In two-legged play-offs, if Team A loses the first leg 2 – 0, then matches the result in the return leg and wins after a penalty shootout, it will receive two points. However, if Team A wins the return leg by one goal only, being eliminated in the process, it will receive 3 points.
Match Status
Different matches have different importance to teams, and the 4CCC has tried to respect this by using a weighting system, where the most significant matches are in the Summer/Winter Cups, and the lowest weighted are friendly matches. The 4CCC states that it wishes to recognize that friendlies are still important, since they make up half of the competitive matches counted in the rankings. 4CCC also stated, however, that it did not plan to make any adjustment for teams that qualify directly for major tournaments. The match status multipliers are as follows:
| Match Status | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Summer/Winter Cup | 2.0 |
| Winners' Bracket | 2.0 |
| Babby Cup | 1.0 |
| Losers' Bracket | 1.0 |
| Seeding Matches | 1.0 |
| Friendlies | 0.5 |
| Babby Cup Qualifiers | 0.5 |
Opponent Strength
Obviously, a win against a very highly ranked opponent is a considerably greater achievement than a win against a low-rated opponent, so the strength of the opposing team is a factor. This system uses an opposition strength factor based on team rankings. The formula used is:
- Opposition Strength Multiplier = [ ( 75 - ranking position ) / 75 ]
With the exceptions that the team ranked first is given a multiplier of 1.00, and teams ranked 50th and below are assigned the minimum multiplier of 0.33. The ranking position is taken from the opposition's ranking in the most recently published 4Chan Ranking before the match is included in the ranking calculation.
Assessment Period
Matches played over the last two years (24 months) are included in the calculation, but there is a weighting to put more emphasis on recent results. The date weighting is as follows:
| Match Date | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Current Cup/Babby | 1.0 |
| Previous Cup/Babby | 0.5 |
Current Event Multipliers
Previous 4chan friendlies and tournaments with multipliers depending on the assigned value of the assessment period. The event is dated according to when the last game of the tournament or friendly is played.
| Event | Date | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 Autumn Babby Cup | Oct 12 | 0.5 |
| 2013 Winter Friendlies | Dec 12 | |
| 2013 Winter Cup | Feb 13 | |
| 2013 Spring Friendlies | Apr 13 | |
| 2013 Spring Babby Cup | May 13 | 1.0 |
| 2013 Summer Friendlies | July 13 | |
| 2013 Summer Cup | Aug 16 | |
| 2013 Autumn Friendlies | Sep 21 | |
| 2013 Autumn Qualifiers | Oct 25 |
Ranking Formula
The final ranking points figure for a single match is multiplied by 75 and rounded to the nearest whole number.
- Ranking Points = [ 75 x ( Result Points x Match Status x Opposition Strength ) ]
Awards
Each period, the 4CCC hands out an award for team of the period for its member teams, based on their performance in the rankings. They are:
Team of the Period
Team of the Period is awarded to the team that finishes top of the 4chan Rankings at the end of each half-year.
| Period | 1st Place | 2nd Place | 3rd Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 2013 - Present |  /wg/
|
 /mu/
|
 /b/
|
| June 2013 - August 2013 |  /toy/
|
 /int/
|
 /sp/
|
| January 2013 - May 2013 | /sp/
|
/toy/
|
/wg/
|
| July 2012 - December 2012 | /sp/
|
 /m/
|
 /k/
|
| January 2012 - June 2012 | /sp/
|
/k/
|
 /ck/
|
| July 2011 - December 2011 |  /a/
|
/ck/
|
/sp/
|
Ranking Schedule
Rankings are published after major events such as Summer/Winter Cup, the Spring/Autumn Babby Cup, as well as the accompanying Friendlies. Official rankings after friendlies are used to determine the seeding for the upcoming Cup for qualifying teams. The events and which months they approximately take place are as follows:
| Event | Est. Month☨ |
| Spring Friendlies | April |
| Spring Babby Cup Qualifiers | April |
| Spring Babby Cup | May |
| Summer Friendlies | July |
| Summer Cup | August |
| Autumn Friendlies | October |
| Autumn Babby Cup Qualifiers | October |
| Autumn Babby Cup | November |
| Winter Friendlies | January |
| Winter Cup | February |
Months are estimated and are subject to change
External Links
Current rankings file updated October 28th 2013
www.mediafire.com/?q66kksl77bl6m78
Last Tinker/toy/ rankings file update from July 21th 2013
www.mediafire.com/?9yxlwbraw0dgn5j