All Standing Criteria Explained (Including ELO, Buchholz, and Set-Based)
Standing criteria in Score7
Standing criteria determine how participants are ranked in round-robin and Swiss tournaments. Score7 supports 15+ criteria that you can enable, disable, and reorder by priority. The first enabled criterion is the primary sort; the second acts as a tiebreaker, and so on.
To configure: go to Standings → Update Standing Criteria (Premium feature). Drag to reorder, toggle on/off, and set ascending/descending for each.
Core criteria
These are the standard ranking criteria available for all tournament types:
| Criterion | Description | Default sort |
|---|---|---|
| Points | Win/draw/loss points earned from match results | Descending (most points first) |
| Score Difference | Score for minus score against | Descending |
| Score For | Total scores in favor across all matches | Descending |
| Score Against | Total scores conceded across all matches | Ascending (fewer conceded is better) |
| Matches Played | Number of matches completed | Descending |
| Number of Wins | Total wins | Descending |
| Winning Percentage | Wins divided by matches played | Descending |
| Points Per Game | Average points earned per match played | Descending |
Points is enabled by default and typically serves as the primary ranking criterion. All criteria — including Points — can be toggled on or off and reordered.
Chess and Swiss criteria
These criteria are designed for Swiss-system tournaments and are widely used in chess:
| Criterion | Description | Default sort |
|---|---|---|
| ELO Rating | Performance-based rating that accounts for opponent strength. Stronger opponents yield higher rating gains. | Descending |
| Buchholz | Sum of all your opponents' points. Measures strength of schedule — if your opponents did well, your Buchholz is high. | Descending |
| Sonneborn-Berger | Your results weighted by your opponents' final scores. A win against a strong opponent counts more than a win against a weak one. | Descending |
When to use these: Any tournament where opponent strength matters for tiebreaking. Swiss tournaments typically use Points → Buchholz → Sonneborn-Berger as the default tiebreaker chain. ELO is useful when you want a rating that reflects performance across the entire tournament.
Set-based criteria
For sports played in sets (volleyball, tennis, badminton, table tennis, squash):
| Criterion | Description | Default sort |
|---|---|---|
| Sets Played | Total number of sets across all matches | Descending |
| Sets Won | Total sets won | Descending |
| Sets Lost | Total sets lost | Ascending (fewer lost is better) |
| Sets Difference | Sets won minus sets lost | Descending |
When to use these: Any tournament using set-based scoring. A common volleyball tiebreaker chain: Points → Sets Difference → Score Difference → Score For.
Fair play criteria
| Criterion | Description | Default sort |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow Card Count | Total yellow cards received across all matches | Ascending (fewer cards ranks higher) |
| Red Card Count | Total red cards received across all matches | Ascending (fewer cards ranks higher) |
When to use these: Football and rugby tournaments where fair play is a tiebreaker. For example, if two teams are tied on points, score difference, and head-to-head, the team with fewer yellow cards ranks higher.
These criteria require player stats to be enabled — cards are tracked per player per match and aggregated for the team.
Head-to-head tiebreaker
In addition to the criteria list, Score7 supports a head-to-head mini table as a tiebreaker.
When enabled, if all tied participants have played each other in a complete round-robin and each has the same number of matches against the others, Score7 creates a sub-ranking using only the matches between the tied participants. The same criteria chain is applied within this mini table.
Conditions for activation:
- All tied participants must have played each other
- Each must have the same number of matches against the others in the tied group
If these conditions aren't met, the head-to-head tiebreaker is skipped and the next criterion in the chain is used instead.
Example tiebreaker chains
| Sport / Format | Recommended chain |
|---|---|
| Football | Points → Score Difference → Score For → Head-to-Head → Yellow Cards |
| Volleyball | Points → Sets Difference → Score Difference → Score For |
| Chess (Swiss) | Points → Buchholz → Sonneborn-Berger → ELO |
| Basketball | Points → Score Difference → Score For → Winning Percentage |
Related
- How to Customize the Ranking System — step-by-step configuration guide
- How to Customize Display Columns — control which columns are visible
- Manual Standings Adjustments — point modifiers for bonuses and penalties
- Set-Based Scoring — entering set results for volleyball, tennis, etc.