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🥷 [S2] Challenge 27

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Just KNIME It, Season 2 / Challenge 27 reference

Challenge question​

Challenge 27: Exploring World Cup Datasets

Level: Medium

Description: We explore World Cup datasets in this challenge, with the goal of seeing how many games under FIFA were played between different confederations in the last year (between 2021-2022). We have two files, results.csv and shootouts.csv, from which we need the year when the games were played. We also have a third file, teams.xlsx, detailing teams and to which confederation they belong. The output table should look something like this

        AFC    UEFA    CONCACAF
AFC             34         67      89   
UEFA            67         65      12
CONCACAF  89      12       36

Author: Sanket Joshi

Dataset: World Cup Data in the KNIME Hub

Challange and data understanding​

This challenge question is quite simple; all you need to do is understand what is meant by "how many games under FIFA".

What is FIFA​

FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) is the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer. Established in 1904 and headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, it is responsible for organizing major tournaments like the World Cup and enforcing the laws of the game. It also oversees international fixtures and controls the distribution of revenue from such events. FIFA consists of 211 national member associations.

What are the FIFA tournaments? does friendly game is a kind of FIFA tournament?​

FIFA organizes several major tournaments. Some of them are:

  1. FIFA World Cup: This is the biggest and most recognized tournament, contested by senior men's national teams, it takes place every four years.
  2. FIFA Women's World Cup: It is similar to Men's World Cup but is for women's national teams.
  3. FIFA U-20 World Cup: This tournament is for male players under 20.
  4. FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup: This tournament is for female players under 20.
  5. FIFA U-17 World Cup: For male players under 17.
  6. FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup: For female players under 17.
  7. FIFA Confederations Cup: This tournament brings together the winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships, along with the FIFA World Cup host nation's team, and the previous FIFA World Cup winner.
  8. FIFA Club World Cup: This tournament is held annually, contested by the champions of all six continental confederations, along with the host nation’s national league champion.
  9. FIFA Futsal World Cup: This is the international tournament for Futsal, the indoor version of football.
  10. FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup: This is an international beach soccer competition.

Friendly games are not considered FIFA tournaments. They are matches played between countries, where the result does not affect any rankings or does not qualify the team for any tournament. It's essentially a practice or exhibition game. However, they are often used as preparation for major tournaments.

Does UEFA Euro is a kind of FIFA’s game​

UEFA Euro is not a game of FIFA's, rather it is a tournament run by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Although both FIFA and UEFA are governing bodies of football, they govern at different levels. FIFA is the global governing body, while UEFA is responsible for governing football in Europe.

However, FIFA recognizes and coordinates with the UEFA and its tournaments. UEFA Euro, or simply called "the Euros", is one of the most prestigious football tournaments globally, second only to the FIFA World Cup.

Any thoughts?​

  • Regarding the question of "how many games under FIFA," I believe there may be some controversy. Some people may argue that all matches, except those not FIFA label, are considered FIFA games. While this distinction may not be particularly important for the purpose of challenging the issue, if we want to assess the level of teams, using only FIFA tournaments may result in the loss of significant data.
  • In comparison to the challenge at hand, the ranking of teams in the World Cup proves to be more intriguing. This blog post comes highly recommended, particularly for its insightful analysis on calculating the ratings of each team, and ratings V.S. the average market value part. It has provided me with a wealth of knowledge.
  • The data is available on GitHub and is still being updated by the author.