Double Points Game: Raising the stakes and the attractiveness of the league schedule

In order to encourage the teams to play attacking football and chase the league win harder, instead of settling for a draw, the famous English football presenter Jimmy Hill came up with the idea to award the win with three points, instead of two.

His concept was first implemented in the English Football League in 1981 and, encouraged by its success, many more national leagues and international tournaments soon followed the example. By the mid-90s, awarding the teams with three points for winning a football match had become a standard in the football world.

Now, I would like to go a step further in this direction and propose the "Double Points Game" concept which will double the points earned by the teams in two of their league games during the season.

Format

• Before the release of the league fixtures for the new season, at a special ceremony, each team will pick a rival with whom it will play a home game with double points at stake - 6 points for a win, 2 points for a draw and 0 points for a defeat.

• The lowest-ranked team from the previous season will pick its rival first, the second-lowest-ranked team will select second, etc.

• The same two teams cannot meet in two Double Points Games. If Team X selects Team Y, then Team Y will not be able to select Team X.

• Each team will play one Double Points Game at home and one Double Points Game away from home.

• Each team will play one Double Points Game in the first half of the season and one Double Points Game in the second half of the season.

• Each round of league fixtures can have a maximum of one Double Points Game.

• If the league does not want the key outcomes (title, European qualification, relegation, etc.) to be decided by the new Double Points Games in the last moment, no Double Points Games can be scheduled in the last three or five rounds of fixtures, for example. Another option is to schedule all the Double Points Games in the first part of the season. For example, if the league has 20 Double Points Games, they can be scheduled in the first 20 rounds of fixtures.

On the example of the English Premier League

In order to present the concept of the Double Points Game in a more concrete way, I will use the current 2023/24 season of the English Premier League as an example.

In this simulation, I will assume that each team will select the lowest-ranked available team as a rival in the Double Points Game. This way, we will have the following 20 Double Points Games in the English Premier League in the current 2023/24 season:

1. Manchester City - Liverpool

2. Arsenal - Manchester City

3. Manchester United - Arsenal

4. Newcastle United - Manchester United

5. Liverpool - Newcastle United

6. Brighton & Hove Albion - Tottenham Hotspur

7. Aston Villa - Brighton & Hove Albion

8. Tottenham Hotspur - Aston Villa

9. Brentford - Crystal Palace

10. Fulham - Brentford

11. Crystal Palace - Fulham

12. Chelsea - West Ham United

13. Wolverhampton Wanderers - Chelsea

14. West Ham United - Wolverhampton Wanderers

15. Bournemouth - Everton

16. Nottingham Forest - Bournemouth

17. Everton - Nottingham Forest

18. Burnley - Luton Town

19. Sheffield United - Burnley

20. Luton Town - Sheffield United

• Luton Town is the lowest-ranked team from the previous 2022/23 season as they won the EFL Championship play-offs and qualified for the Premier League as the third team from the EFL Championship. This means that they will pick their rival first and they will decide to host Sheffield United - the lowest-ranked available team which finished second in the EFL Championship the previous season.

• Sheffield United, the second-lowest-ranked team from the previous season, will select second and as Luton Town are not available for selection, they will choose to play with Burnley - the lowest-ranked available team which won the EFL Championship the previous season.

• Burnley will be picking third and they will take Luton Town. Then, Everton will opt for Nottingham Forest, Nottingham Forest will take Bournemouth, Bournemouth will choose Everton and so on until we reach the third-best-ranked Manchester United.

• The third-best-ranked team, Manchester United will not be able to select the fifth-best-ranked Liverpool because this will create a situation in which the top two teams, the runners-up Arsenal and the champions Manchester City, will have to play each other twice and this is not allowed. In this case, Manchester United will select Arsenal.

• Arsenal will have only one option left and it will be to face the champions Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium.

• Similarly, there will be only one rival left for Manchester City and this will be Liverpool.

Benefits and advantages

• Breaking the monotony of the league fixtures

The standard league formats and their rounds of fixtures are usualy quite monotonic and in order to break that monotony, some leagues have implemented additional solutions such as promotion/relegation play-offs, splits of the participating teams into two or more groups or penalty shootouts at the end of regulation draws, for example.

The Double Points Games can be another intriguing tool for diversification of the league fixtures.

• More big games with a lot at stake

Each team in the league will play two Double Points Games, one at home and one away from home, which will offer much bigger rewards and generate much higher interest than the regular league fixtures. With so much at stake, the Double Points Games will be like cup finals in comparison to the regular league fixtures.

Depending on the league format, usually half plus one of the Gameweeks will have one Double Points Game.

• Increased motivation and more attacking football

With the win being awarded with 6 points and the draw with 2 points, teams will be very motivated to play attacking football and chase the win as hard as possible. Such games will be very entertaining for the fans.

Furthermore, the visiting teams will have additional motivation to beat their rivals and show them who is better knowing that the home side has picked them as the easiest rivals for this game.

• Tightly contested games

As the lower-ranked teams will select their rivals first and they will want to select other lower-ranked teams in order to have better chances to win, the Double Points Games will feature teams of very similar quality and should be tightly contested.

• Improved competitive balance

The lower-ranked teams will get the opportunity to win 12 points in two Double Points Games against other lower-ranked teams. This means that the points from the Double Points Games will be distributed between the lower-ranked teams and they will not loose them to much higher-ranked and stronger teams.

These higher-ranked teams will face other strong teams in the Double Points Games and will take points from them.

• Higher uncertainty and dramatic changes in the standings

By winning 6 points in a single game, the teams will be able to make big jumps in the standings and impact the league table in a major way.

Teams, who still have a remaining Double Points Game or two, will keep the level of uncertainty and unpredictability in the league very high.

• Additional income

As the Double Points Games will generate significant interest, they have the potential to generate significant additional revenue, too.

The leagues can attract an official partner/sponsor for their Double Points Games or the clubs can do this individually for their home Double Points Game.

Bonus Point Game

If the leagues find the concept of the Double Points Game too extreme, they can replace it with the alternative Bonus Point Game which will award the teams with an additional point for a win or a draw. In this case, the teams will receive 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw or 0 points for a defeat.

The Bonus Point Games should also generate much higher interest than the regular league games and the leagues can benefit from that by attracting a partner/sponsor for this initiative. Partners/sponsors should be quite interested in partnering with a league in a "Bonus Point awarded by (name of their company)!" marketing campaign, right?

From the author

Nowadays, the football world is rapidly changing and constantly evolving with more and more new concepts and solutions being suggested and implemented.

As a passionate fan of the game, I would also like to share some of my ideas and discuss them with fellow football enthusiasts. I do not claim that these ideas should be implemented but I think that they can be an interesting discussion topic.

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions.

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