2023 SEALS Cup: What are the Tiebreakers?

Veronica Giwa

In the 2023 UI SEALS Cup, five tiebreakers would be used to determine which team advances to next stages when there is a tie. They are in the order of a goal difference, number of goals scored, Head to Head, Fair play and Coin Toss. Other tiebreakers become invalid once an initial criteria breaks the tie. What then are tiebreakers?

Tiebreaker in football is used to determine which team advances when there is a tie in points at the end of a competition or group stage games/matches.

A goal difference is a criterion where total goals conceded are subtracted from the total goals scored. The team with the higher goal difference gets a higher ranking. To illustrate, Team A scored a total of 7 goals and conceded 4 goals at the group stage, Team A will have a goal difference of +3. Moreso, Team B scored a total of 3 goals and conceded 5 goals, Team B has a goal difference of -2. Team A has a higher goal difference, so it will proceed to the next stage.

Meanwhile, if two or more teams have the same points and goal difference, the number of goals will be used to determine which team advances. The team with the higher number of goals will advance in this case. Team A has 4 goals while team B has 7 goals at the end of the group stage, therefore Team B will proceed to the next stage.

When the three initial criteria do not break the tie, head to head is used. In some cases, home and away wins are used, in other cases, head to head records are used. A vivid example of an away and home win is if Team C wins 3-0 at home and draws at an away match, Team C will automatically proceed. An example of a head to head record is when Team C and Team D have played against each other in 11 previous games. The wins, losses and draws will be checked and the team with the highest wins will proceed to the next stage.

The next criterion that is used when other criteria do not break the tie is the Fair play or team conduct. The deduction of points from yellow cards, indirect red card (after 3 yellow cards) and direct red card obtained by a team determines which team would proceed.

Coin Toss is usually the last resort when other criteria do not break the tie. A coin is tossed to determine the team that will proceed to the next round. In FIFA games, balls with the names of the teams with a tie are often placed in a bowl and drawn out. This criteria is based on luck.

In a nutshell, the above explains the criteria that would be used in the 2023 SEALS Cup when a tie occurs. These criteria are used in continental and international football competitions as well.