Misaligned incentives in sports: a mathematical analysis of the post-2024 UEFA Champions League qualification
Abstract Accepted by: Phil Scarf The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) declares that it is committed to respecting the fundamental values of sports. However, the qualification rules of the post-2024 UEFA Champions League are shown to be unfair: a game with misaligned incentives was narrowly avoided in the 2023/24 German Bundesliga. We develop a mathematical model to reveal how incentives for losing can be reduced or eliminated. Since UEFA repeatedly commits the same theoretical mistake in designing the qualification system of its competitions, governing bodies in sports are called to work more closely together with the scientific community.
Authors
- S. Ilyin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0320-395X)
- Łászló Csató (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8705-5036)
Institutions
- Corvinus University of Budapest (HU)
- Operation PAR (US)
- HUN-REN Institute for Computer Science and Control (HU)
- Decision Sciences (United States) (US)
- Decision Systems (United States) (US)
- Research Network (United States) (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- IMA Journal of Management Mathematics
- Published
- 2025-04-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/imaman/dpaf016
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Sports Analytics and Performance
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 12.52
Funders
- Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
- National Research, Development and Innovation Office