Organising a football tournament is no more a hassle. In the 21st century, with the mobile in your hand a network in the air, everything is possible. Its possible to organize a perfect tournament with less paperwork and stress-free. In this blog, we shall discover how we can make your football tournament easier with playinga.
In a typical tournament, there are just 4 basic questions we need to answer – What, When, Where, How and How Much.
The What
In this section, the organiser answers certain questions like what tournament to conduct. The organiser has to choose the sport and the type of the tournament. In a soccer tournament, the organiser selects the sport and the format such as knock out, round robin and group+playoffs. This decides the type of the tournament forms the basis for all the underlying questions. The format of the tournament decides how long the tournament will go on and how many teams does the organiser need to accommodate to make the tournament a successful one. In PLAYINGA, it easy to schedule a tournament as it supports all these three formats.
KEY TAKEAWAY
- Choose the format – knockout, round robin, group playoffs.
- Decide on the number of teams you can accommodate.
The When
If you are a tournament organiser, the date of the match is crucial. This is also dependent on the number of teams expected to participate in the tournament. The number of teams and formats of the tournament decides the number of days required and the slot of each match. This will help the team to plan better for the tournament. An ideal tournament takes place on leisure days such as Saturdays or Sundays. This is encouraged often because you could have players who have day jobs, you could have kid tournaments and you want their parents to be there cheering for their kids. Once the day is finalised, you draw fixtures and let the team know about their match schedule. Generate fixtures automatically with an online tool and let the team be notified of their upcoming matches.
KEY TAKEAWAY
- Choose a day when you can attract maximum participation from players and fans.
- Set up an online tool to enable online registration. This will give you an exact count with the list of teams and players.
- Use automated tools to generate your fixtures and notify teams beforehand so that they plan better.
The Where
Deciding on a location can be a crucial and laborious task sometimes. The place should be decided based on the number of teams you are willing to accommodate. The place should not be far for everyone to travel and at the same ensure you have enough parking spaces for your players, fans and friends. Having an online page to track registration helps you keep a track of influx to your tournament. With the social media revolution, choose a ground which looks good and convenient to all. The picture you post about the tournament tells a lot about how it is being organised. The size of the ground or stadium is decided based on the age group of teams, number of fan following, and friends of each of the players.
KEY TAKEAWAY
- Have an online registration tool to keep track of your influx. This will help you decide how you can manage the venue better.
- Select a ground which is convenient to all – in terms of distance from residential areas.
- With active social media everywhere, choose a ground which could be managed easily without hassle. Pictures taken at the tournament venue conveysa lot about how well the event is managed.
The How
In this section, we need to address how each and every match will be conducted and managed efficiently. In a tournament, we will have many matches being played one after another and the success of a tournament depends on how well its managed. Managing a football tournament end-to-end consists of registration, fixture generations, match scheduling scoring and publishing results. Tracking all these aspects on a paper can become tough. It’s not just games but also involves logistics, refreshments and managing the crowd. Such activities can be classified into two – the ones which require personal attention and the ones which can be outsourced to a technology to handle it. Managing refreshments and fans require personal care. However, generation of fixtures, scoring matches on a paper can be automated with a tool which could be used to capture the scores and publish results.
KEY TAKEAWAY
- Managing a tournament can be split into two tasks – ones which require personal care such as refreshments, fans, security, cleanliness and player’s need, and others which can be automated.
- Focus on personal care activities and see if you can automate certain tasks such as recording scores, generating fixtures to an automated system.
The How Much
Every event has its own expenditure. As an organiser, you need to manage it wisely. Generally, tournaments are conducted using funds from club membership fee, donations, selling tickets etc. However certain open tournaments are conducted for non-members too where the public can reach out, register and play in a tournament. Such tournaments incur a registration fee. Manage your costing efficiently so that you don’t spend more than the budgeted amount.
KEY TAKEAWAY
- Budget correctly. Have little buffer
- Don’t exceed your budget.
- Manage fee collections, registration fee, ticketing all on one platform which directly transfers the amount to your account.