An interactive bracketology tool allows fans to predict the path to World Cup victory. Users can click through the group stage and knockouts to crown a champion.
How the Simulator Works
The progress of the World Cup from match to match is determined from the beginning; there are no further draws to decide who plays whom in subsequent rounds. To maximise the spectacle, the competition is structured broadly to ensure that the bigger teams do not face each other too early and that all 48 teams have an incentive to field their strongest side for every fixture.
The top two teams of all 12 groups go into the next round automatically. Because the winner of a group will face a second- or third-placed team from another group, the hope is that France, for instance, will not rest on their laurels once they have enough points to qualify for the knockouts but will try to win their last game to get easier opponents in the last 32. At the other end, a team that knows they will come at best third in their group still has an incentive to give their all in that last group game because the eight best-performing of the 12 third-placed teams also go into the last 32.
Let us take the example of England, wholly arbitrarily. If England top their group, they will face a third-placed team in the first knockout round—technically any one of 20 other teams, but plausibly a team such as Côte d'Ivoire or Algeria. If they come second, they will play the runners-up from Group K, plausibly Colombia. And if they come third but have a better points total or goal difference than four of the other third-placed teams, they get a tougher fixture, against the winners of Group K, possibly Portugal.
Using the Simulator
The simulator includes the predetermined routes for all 495 possible combinations of groups yielding the eight best third-placed teams. This simulator allows you to change the outcome of each group and see the effect on the last 32, then imagine the winner of each knockout game to plot each team’s possible route to the final.
Groups: Touch and drag teams into predicted finish order for Groups A through L. Then pick eight sides to advance to the last 32 from the third-placed teams. Finally, tap a winner from each match in the knockout stage to plan your route to the final.
Credits: Editorial by James Dart, Marcus Christenson and Philip Cornwall. Design and development by Barry Ainslie, Georges Lebreton, Seán Clarke, Harry Fischer, Petter Nitter and Freddie Preece.
