Discussion Papers,
Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science

Abstract: In many international sports tournaments, teams are divided into groups that contest a first stage competition typically structured as a single round robin within each group, with matches held across a shared set of venues. The first aim of this paper is to define a problem and model for this tournament structure, where the central decisions concern the assignment of matches to dates and venues. The resulting formulation can be classified as a multi league scheduling problem with shared venues and incorporates key practical considerations observed in real competitions. The second aim is to employ this model to examine the schedules of UEFA Euro 2024 and the FIFA World Cup 2026, with particular emphasis on the minimization of travel distances. Both UEFA and FIFA have publicly stated that reducing travel for teams and fans was an important priority when designing their tournament schedules. To evaluate these claims, an integer programming model is developed that minimizes travel distances subject to operational constraints, and its optimal solutions are compared with the official schedules. Running the model in a restrictive setting, with parameters following what is observed in the official schedules, suggests that the schedule for the FIFA World Cup is highly efficient, deviating by only about 1% from the optimal solution. In contrast, the schedule implemented for UEFA Euro is approximately 9% above the minimum distance solution. In a more flexible setting—while still closely resembling actual features—the model finds solutions that reduce travel distances by 14–18% compared to the official schedules. The paper also analyzes the trade-off between minimizing total travel distance and balancing differences in travel distances among teams of the same group. In particular, for the FIFA World Cup 2026, the paper also examines the potential for reducing the number and magnitude of time zone shifts experienced by teams between matches.

Keywords: Sports scheduling; Travel distances; FIFA World Cup; UEFA Euro; Fairness

JEL-codes: C40; C44; C60

Language: English

27 pages, May 11, 2026

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