20th Kick Off 2 World Cup | The Seeding Groups

[Torchiador]

33 confirmed players.

Principles used are:

-Performance in previous World Cups
-Performance in other tournaments
-Recent form and practice level
-Where two players must be separated, head-to-head record
-Personal opinions / quality assessment
-Ranking points.

There will be 4 groups on Day One. If there are dropouts/new registrations for the world cup, players will be arranged following the rules above.

The aim of this process is just to come up with four balanced groups .


Group 1
Thor S, Gianni T, Fabio F, Alkis P

Group 2
Spyros P, Christopher D, Steve C, Mario F

Group 3
Alessandro V, Ektoras K, Nikos A, Frank F

Group 4
Steve B, Panayotis P, Robert S, Lorenzo L

Group 5
Ian K, Samu G, Rodolfo M, Fran S

Group 6
Jaume P, George Ka, Vasilis K, Kostas O

Group 7
Gabriele G, Klaus Le, Cornelius H, Hannes B

Group 8
Manfred S, Michele L, Kostas Ka, Antonis T

Group 9
Michalis A

[alkis21]

Seeding groups updated as Stelios had to drop out due to Covid.

[alkis21]

Here is the Seedings Vs Reality comparison:

Group 1
Thor S 5th ↓
Gianni T 1st ✓
Fabio F 3rd ✓
Alkis P 9th ↓↓

Group 2
Spyros P 7th ✓
Christopher D 4th ↑
Steve C 13th ↓↓
Mario F 6th ✓

Group 3
Alessandro V 10th ✓
Ektoras K 20th ↓↓
Nikos A 12th ✓
Frank F 15th ↓

Group 4
Steve B 14th ✓
Panayotis P 11th ↑
Robert S 8th ↑↑
Lorenzo L 2nd ↑↑↑

Group 5
Ian K 22nd ↓
Samu G 16th ↑
Rodolfo M 18th ✓
Fran S 19th ✓

Group 6
Jaume P 30th ↓↓
George Ka 21st ✓
Vasilis K 23rd ✓
Kostas O 25th ↓

Group 7
Gabriele G 17th ↑↑
Klaus Le 24th ↑
Cornelius H 27th ✓
Hannes B 32nd ↓

Group 8
Manfred S 24th ↑
Michele L 26th ↑
Kostas Ka 29th ✓
Antonis T 31st ✓


As I have explained many times in the past, it is very hard to divide people by strength/form into groups of four, so I only consider it a poor prediction when someone was seeded two or more groups above or below of his final position (the ↑↑ and ↓↓ of the list above). Unless you actually think it was unacceptable of us to predict that Klaus would end up in positions 25-28 where in fact he ended up 24th. I only count 5 such cases, therefore I believe the seeding groups were very well thought of. We should always keep in mind that some people will always overperform and some others may underperform, it is not a given that, for instance, Jaume should have been seeded two groups below, especially if you take into account that he was one goal away from the Top 16.

[Abyss]

Nothing wrong with the seeding groups

[Torchiador]

Specially this world cup with a gap of 3 years and no tournaments in between to have some hint on how to place players (apart those few that play online) I do think it's been done a good job with the seeding.
The point it isn't to predict the final position but it is to have 4 balanced groups. I think we had 4 balanced groups. Then for the final position of course much depends on performance of the day. we have seen also players performing very well in the first day and then perform less well in day two. like Jaume (to name one) I remember Flavio who was a shot to reach the top16 on day one and then to finish in the very bottom of the ladder in the silver cup.
On the other side we have seen Lorenzo reaching the top 16 for an hair's breadth on day one and then finding a sit for the World Cup Final.
One of the reason we love this game is that this is like real soccer. we know the forces in play but any game starts on the 0-0 and you never know what could happen next.