How Football Hooligan Rankings Work

The Core Idea: Quality Over Quantity

The ranking is built on one key principle: beating a strong club is worth more than beating a weak one. To make this happen, the system uses an iterative algorithm where clubs exchange "score points" after each fight. Every club starts with a base score of 1, and this score grows (or changes) based on their results.

Calculating Points for a Single Fight

For every fight, points are calculated and awarded. Here’s how it works:

1. Team Strength: First, the system calculates the "strength" of each team by adding up the current scores of all their member clubs.
2. Points Transfer:
   • Winner: The winning team receives points equal to the total strength of the losing team.
   • Loser (Consolation Points): The losing team still gets points! They receive 5% of the winning team's strength score, rewarding them for taking on the fight. If the fight lasts longer than 2 minutes, this is increased to 15% to recognize their endurance.
   • Draw: Each team gets 50% of their opponent's strength score.
3. Point Sharing: In an alliance, the earned points are split evenly among the participating clubs (or proportionally based on each club's contribution if individual quantities are specified).
4. Uneven Fight Multipliers: When teams have different numbers of fighters, adjustments are made to reflect the imbalance.
   • Winner: Points are adjusted proportionally, clamped between 50% (minimum) and 150% (maximum) of normal points.
   • Loser: Gets normal points (as if fighting at even numbers, no penalty/bonus).
   • Example: If a team of 100 beats a team of 30, the winner gets 50% of normal points (minimum). If a team of 22 beats a team of 50, the winner gets 150% of normal points (maximum).
5. New Club Multiplier: Clubs with limited fight history receive reduced points to prevent early results from having disproportionate impact.
   • 1st fight: Only 33% of points awarded.
   • 2nd fight: Only 66% of points awarded.
   • 3+ fights: Full points (100%) awarded. Once a club reaches 3 fights, all their previous fights are recalculated with full weight.

Special Factors and Bonuses

It's not just about who won or lost. Several factors can adjust the points awarded in a fight. All these weights are multiplied together.

• International vs. Domestic: The matchup type changes the stakes.
  • International Win Bonus: The winning team in an international fight gets a +10% bonus on points gained.
  • Domestic Fight Modifier: The total point value of a domestic fight is adjusted based on the size of the country's scene (see below). Fights within certain regions (like Scandinavia or Benelux) are also considered "domestic-regional" and receive a fixed -20% reduction.
• Domestic Scene Size: To balance the value of wins in countries with many active firms versus those with fewer, a multiplier is applied to all domestic fights. A larger scene means domestic wins are worth more.
  • 88+ Firms: 100% of points awarded (no reduction).
  • 44-87 Firms: 80% of points awarded.
  • 22-43 Firms: 60% of points awarded.
  • 1-21 Firms: 50% of points awarded.
• Time Decay (Relevance): Older fights are less relevant.
  • Fights within the last 4 years: 100% of points awarded.
  • 4-5 years old: 90% of points.
  • 5-7 years old: 50% of points.
  • 7-10 years old: 30% of points.
  • 10-15 years old: 10% of points.
  • Over 15 years old: 5% of points.
• Quantity Weight (Scale): The size of the fight matters.
  • Small fights (4v4 or less): -20% points penalty.
  • Large fights (25v25 or more): +10% points bonus.
  • Standard fights: No change.
• Age Weight (Youth Fights): Youth fights are weighted to give them slightly less impact than open-age encounters.
  • U-21 and younger: The points are scaled down based on a reference of 50 (e.g., a U-21 fight is worth 21/50 or 42% of an open-age fight).
  • U-22 and older: The points are scaled down based on a reference of 40 (e.g., a U-25 fight is worth 25/40 or 62.5% of an open-age fight).
• Blitz Bonus (Decisive Victory): A special bonus is awarded to the winning team for a quick and decisive victory. This bonus depends on the fight's size and duration.
  • +10% Bonus: For large fights (25+ vs 25+) that end in under 1 minute.
  • +15% Bonus: For large fights (25+ vs 25+) that end between 1 and 1.5 minutes.
  • +10% Bonus: For medium fights (10-24 vs 10-24) that end in under 1 minute.
• Tryouts Match: If a fight is marked as "tryouts," its total point value is reduced to 30% to reflect its lower stakes.
• Country Strength Multipliers: The strength of your opponent's country affects point values.
  • Beating Strong Countries: When winning against clubs from strong countries (like Poland), you receive a +20% bonus on points gained.
  • Beating Only Weak Countries: When winning against clubs from only weak countries, you receive a -30% penalty on points gained.
  • Losing to Weak Countries: When losing to clubs from only weak countries, your loss penalty is increased by +30% (making the loss worse).

Final Ranking Calculation

The system repeats this calculation for all fights multiple times (10 iterations). This allows the scores to stabilize, as a win against a team that has also won a lot becomes more valuable. After the final iteration, clubs are sorted by their total score to produce the final ranking you see on the dashboard.

Final Score Adjustments

After calculating base scores, additional penalties are applied to ensure rankings reflect competitive quality and ambition. These penalties are applied as multipliers to the final score.

Polish Performance Penalties (Non-Polish Clubs)

Non-Polish clubs are evaluated based on their performance against Polish clubs. Poland is ranked #1 among countries, making it the strongest national scene. The penalty structure encourages clubs to compete against top-tier opposition:

• -30% penalty (0.7 multiplier): Haven't fought Polish clubs OR lost to top-31+ Polish clubs.
• -15% penalty (0.85 multiplier): Lost to top-21-30 Polish clubs.
• -10% penalty (0.9 multiplier): Lost to top-20 Polish clubs.
• -5% penalty (0.95 multiplier): Won against top-21-30 Polish clubs.
• 0% penalty (1.0 multiplier): Won against top-20 Polish clubs.

Polish Domestic Penalties (Polish Clubs)

Polish clubs do not receive penalties for their domestic fight performance. All Polish clubs receive a 1.0 multiplier (no penalty) regardless of their domestic fight record.

How to understand the ratings

In essence, the ratings are based on three components, in the following order of importance: strength, activity, and quantity. As a result, highly active mid-table firms can sometimes outperform less active top-tier firms. However, a victory over a renowned opponent is always worth significantly more than five wins against weaker ones.

Wins against teams with no age limit are valued at two to three times more than wins against youth teams, and brawls involving a large number of participants also receive a small bonus. From time to time, clearly weaker teams may find themselves in disproportionately high positions, usually as a result of one or two unexpected victories. We also cannot include in the database or in the calculations any agreed-upon meetings that are disclosed to the public, which likewise has an impact on the ratings.

The average observer cannot be aware of all the influencing factors: perhaps the defeated favourite fielded an experimental line-up; perhaps the underdog used side-hustle fighters or used a help from their friends; perhaps it was simply "their day" for some, and the opposite for others. We are likewise unable to assess internal conflicts, generational shifts, or difficulties within acabs that could impact the firm as it stands today. Nevertheless, every brawl is assessed strictly according to the same formula, with no manual intervention.

Like many things in this peculiar world, our ratings are grounded first and foremost in fairness.