HWCI EURO 2012 Pool Frequently Asked Questions

Inaugural Quadrennial HWCI UEFA European Championship Soccer Tournament Pool
	HWCI EURO 2012 Pool - F.A.Q.

Why a EURO pool?
- For the World Cup, soccer is a favorite sport of mine so I wanted to run some type of pool, a la the NCAA Tournament pool. However, nothing really existed out there. So I started devising a pool where everyone would have to enter their picks before the World Cup started. One obvious problem was how to handle the Round of 16 bracket. There are no rest days between the last Round Robin match and the first Round of 16 match. So I allowed the people to choose all the Round Robin games and their own bracket, which adds difficulty to the picking but creates more fun (or frustration). Since that first pool in 1998, the fundamentals of the rules and point system has not changed.
- As for why a EURO pool? There was some interest, and with all games on regular cable TV (ESPN networks), it seemed like a good tournament to expand our pool to. Also, some consider the EURO tournament better soccer than the World Cup.
What freebies do you get for running the pool?
- Like our HWCI NCAA pool, we get no special privileges. No free entries. No administrative fees. Just the fun of losing. All monies go toward prizes (likely 1st through 4th place prizes).
In picking my Quarterfinal bracket, I have 1A-Russia meeting 2B-Portugal and 1B-Germany facing 2A-Greece. And I have Russia and Germany winning those matches. But what if Russia finishes 2nd instead of 1st? Then they'll face Germany in the Quarters!
- Exactly. The good news is you are guaranteed to get one team into the Semifinals (Russia or Germany). The bad news is can't get both teams in. I never said this was going to be easy. That's why I finished 21st of 23 people in 2002.
The Czech Republic is ranked #26 (in FIFA's Team Ranking)! What does this mean?
- Take the FIFA rankings for what it is - a strength of schedule measure (like the RPI in college basketball). This ranking system is much improved than in 2006 and is a decent indicator (unlike the old method in 2006 when the USA was #5). Win against weak teams, your ranking falls; lose against strong teams, your raking rises. Don't play for two months (for whatever reason) and see your ranking fall. Play a lot of games and see your ranking rise. This should be one of several sources of data for determining how good teams are.
Are there other World Cup/EURO pools?
- Well, in 1998, when we first started, we couldn't find any that incorporated both the Round Robin and Round of 16 matches as one entry, which is why we started ours. Even today, most pools require you to enter your Round of 16 bracket after the Round Robin is completed or require you to predict the scores. But yes, there are a lot more sites now that offer an office pool-style, which is great.
Why is the pool structured as it is and why can't I edit my picks after the EURO has started?
- We've tried to make the pool friendly to both soccer fanatics and novices (like the NCAA pool). Like the NCAA pool, it's "pick & pray". There are no second chances! Also, new as of EURO 2012, you can pick ties for the Round Robin phase. And you don't have to know any tiebreaker procedures to pick the two teams that will advance out of the group. Just pick the two teams from each group. You can pick the POL to win all 3 matches (worth two points each) but not pick them to advance to the Quarterfinals (worth 5 pts). How you pick the Round Robin matches is completely independent on how you pick your Quarterfinal bracket.