Three points for a win is a standard used in many sports leagues and group tournaments, especially in association football, in which three (rather than two) points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points to the losing team. If the game is drawn, each team receives one point.

Contents 1 Rationale 2 History 2.1 Year of adoption of 3-points-for-a-win 3 Variants 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Rationale

"Three points for a win" is supposed to encourage more attacking play than "two points for a win", where the conventional wisdom for managers was to draw away matches and win home games. The idea is that, if the score is level near the end of a game, teams will not settle for a draw if the prospect of gaining two extra points (by playing for a late winning goal) outweighs the prospect of losing one point (by conceding a late goal to lose the match). Some commentators agree that it has resulted in more "positive" attacking play.^[1] However, critics suggest teams with a one-goal lead late in a match become more negative to defend the lead.^[2] The number of matches finishing in a draw has not been affected in England by the change to three-points-for-a-win.^[3] However, the average number of goals per match in Turkey (top division football) has risen significantly by the change to three-points-for-a-win.^[4]

[edit] History

The system was proposed for the English Football League by Jimmy Hill.^[5] It was introduced in England in 1981,^[2] but did not attract much use elsewhere until it was used in the 1994 World Cup finals. The following year, FIFA formally adopted the system,^[2] and it subsequently became standard in international tournaments, as well as most national football leagues.

[edit] Year of adoption of 3-points-for-a-win

This lists leagues where the standard is three points for a win in regulation time, one point for a draw, zero for a defeat. The year given is when the relevant season started.

• 1981: England
• 1982: Israel^[6]
• 1983: New Zealand (NSL)^[7]
• 1987: Turkey,
• 1988: Norway^[8]
• 1992: Greece^[9]
• 1993: Belgium (Div. 2), Bulgaria,^[10] Rep. Ireland,^[11] Italy (Serie C)
• 1994: Croatia,^[12] Czech Rep., France, Hungary, Italy (Serie A), Romania, Scotland
• 1995: Argentina, Austria, Belgium (Div. 1), Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay
• 2000: United States^[13]

[edit] Variants

Some leagues have used shootout tiebreakers after drawn matches. Major League Soccer (1996–2000) used three points for a win, 1 point for a shootout win, 0 points for a shootout loss, 0 for a loss.^[13] The Norwegian First Division (in 1987) used three points for a win, 2 points for a shootout win, 1 point for a shootout loss, 0 for a loss.^[14]

In the National Hockey League in North America, a system described as "the three-point win" was proposed in 2004, with three points for a win in regulation time, two for a win in overtime, and one for a tie. This proposal was put on hold by the 2004–05 NHL lockout and subsequently rejected by team owners in February 2007.^[15] In 2009, the Central Collegiate Hockey Association adopted a system of three points for a regulation or overtime win, two for a shootout win, one for a shootout loss, and zero for a regulation or overtime loss.^[16]

[edit] See also

• Group tournament ranking system

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Guardian commentary 2009