Please help- 38 players. 4 vs 4 games.

[Danechan]

Hello all,

I hope you are well,

I am hoping someone can help me with creating a soccer tournament round-robin.

I will have 38 players.
The games will be 4v4.( 1 )3v3 game will be played each round
I will be able to use 5 fields each round
I will play 6/7 rounds

We call this a Dutch style tournament in  the soccer world

[Ian Wakeling]

I have found the schedule below which may be useful.  The best part is that any given pair of players will play together on the same team at most once,  but in order to get this I have had to sacrifice the opponent balance a little, so there are some pairs of players who oppose twice.  

(10 23 28 34 v  9 17 13 29)  (31 25 18  7 v 22 16 19 35)  (37 11 38 20 v 15 30 33 27)  (36 14  8 12 v 21 32 26 24)  ( 1  2  3 v  4  5  6)
 (1 35 38 26 v 34 20 17 22)  (33  2  4 29 v 31 24 14 28)  (32  6 30 25 v 15 23 18 21)  (13 16  5 36 v 37 27 19  3)  ( 7  8  9 v 10 11 12)
(12  2  7 27 v 33 36  1 23)  (11 35 30  5 v 24 29  6 10)  ( 3  4 25 20 v 19 32 34  8)  (21 31 38 22 v 28 26 37  9)  (13 14 15 v 16 17 18)
(18 14  5  2 v 26 34  7 30)  ( 1 32 16 10 v  3 33 28 11)  (38 12 13  4 v 35 37 29 25)  ( 9 27 36 31 v  6 15 17  8)  (19 20 21 v 22 23 24)
(24  7 13 19 v 38  9 15 32)  (35 10  8 21 v 16 23  2 37)  ( 6 11 36 22 v  4 34 14  1)  (31  3  5 17 v 33 20 18 12)  (25 26 27 v 28 29 30)
(30  2  9 22 v  3 38 29 16)  (23 26 12  5 v 11  4 15 19)  ( 1 25 28 17 v 18 37 24  8)  (21  7  6 14 v 20 10 27 13)  (31 32 33 v 34 35 36)

I would be interested to know if there are standard schedules that people use for Dutch style tournaments?  Perhaps for multiples of 8 players where all the games are 4v4.

[Danechan]

Ian,

I can not tell you what a generous service you provide. To myself, you helped me out in a tough bind and I am grateful. It is amazing to me how you help us all in need, and I know we all can not thank you enough.


The Dutch style tournament is an alternative to the normal, ( build a strong team and play format). The tournament promotes a single player using technique( ball control and 1v1's. While the dutch style also promotes a major mental element. How to provide the correct balance in tactics for a team, pass more and stop the dribble, or to play more defense because the other team is attacking.

In holland and other European countries the high level youth "football" leagues do promote this style of compititation at a younger age. Also during inner squad practices for fun or fitness. It might explain why they are advanced , but American soccer is learning and growing every game, it will not be much longer before we are a strong side.

All the best,

And many blessings.