Operations Research Techniques for Scheduling Chile's Second Division Soccer League

DURAN, GUILLERMO ALFREDO; GUAJARDO, MARIO; WOLF YADLIN, RODRIGO

INTERFACES

INFORMS

Año: 2012 vol. 42 p. 273 - 285

0092-2102

In this paper, we use operations research (OR) techniques to schedule the Second Divisionof the Chilean professional soccer league. The solution must satisfy a series of conditionsrequested by league officials. Because the teams generally travel long distances by bus, geographicalrestrictions are particularly important. We specify the scheduling problem andsolve it using an integer linear programming (ILP) model that defines when and where eachmatch is played, subject to constraints. For the most difficult instances, we formulate a secondILP model that generates home-away patterns and assigns them to the teams; we then runthe model, which determines the match schedule. Chilean league officials have successfullyused the models to schedule all five Second Division tournaments between 2007 and 2010,replacing the random scheduling methodology that they used previously. Since 2007, thetwo formulations have been adapted to various formats with which the Second Division hasexperimented; these include a quadruple round-robin and a two-phase tournament with zonaland national phases.In this paper, we use operations research (OR) techniques to schedule the Second Divisionof the Chilean professional soccer league. The solution must satisfy a series of conditionsrequested by league officials. Because the teams generally travel long distances by bus, geographicalrestrictions are particularly important. We specify the scheduling problem andsolve it using an integer linear programming (ILP) model that defines when and where eachmatch is played, subject to constraints. For the most difficult instances, we formulate a secondILP model that generates home-away patterns and assigns them to the teams; we then runthe model, which determines the match schedule. Chilean league officials have successfullyused the models to schedule all five Second Division tournaments between 2007 and 2010,replacing the random scheduling methodology that they used previously. Since 2007, thetwo formulations have been adapted to various formats with which the Second Division hasexperimented; these include a quadruple round-robin and a two-phase tournament with zonaland national phases.In this paper, we use operations research (OR) techniques to schedule the Second Divisionof the Chilean professional soccer league. The solution must satisfy a series of conditionsrequested by league officials. Because the teams generally travel long distances by bus, geographicalrestrictions are particularly important. We specify the scheduling problem andsolve it using an integer linear programming (ILP) model that defines when and where eachmatch is played, subject to constraints. For the most difficult instances, we formulate a secondILP model that generates home-away patterns and assigns them to the teams; we then runthe model, which determines the match schedule. Chilean league officials have successfullyused the models to schedule all five Second Division tournaments between 2007 and 2010,replacing the random scheduling methodology that they used previously. Since 2007, thetwo formulations have been adapted to various formats with which the Second Division hasexperimented; these include a quadruple round-robin and a two-phase tournament with zonaland national phases.In this paper, we use operations research (OR) techniques to schedule the Second Divisionof the Chilean professional soccer league. The solution must satisfy a series of conditionsrequested by league officials. Because the teams generally travel long distances by bus, geographicalrestrictions are particularly important. We specify the scheduling problem andsolve it using an integer linear programming (ILP) model that defines when and where eachmatch is played, subject to constraints. For the most difficult instances, we formulate a secondILP model that generates home-away patterns and assigns them to the teams; we then runthe model, which determines the match schedule. Chilean league officials have successfullyused the models to schedule all five Second Division tournaments between 2007 and 2010,replacing the random scheduling methodology that they used previously. Since 2007, thetwo formulations have been adapted to various formats with which the Second Division hasexperimented; these include a quadruple round-robin and a two-phase tournament with zonaland national phases.In this paper, we use operations research (OR) techniques to schedule the Second Divisionof the Chilean professional soccer league. The solution must satisfy a series of conditionsrequested by league officials. Because the teams generally travel long distances by bus, geographicalrestrictions are particularly important. We specify the scheduling problem andsolve it using an integer linear programming (ILP) model that defines when and where eachmatch is played, subject to constraints. For the most difficult instances, we formulate a secondILP model that generates home-away patterns and assigns them to the teams; we then runthe model, which determines the match schedule. Chilean league officials have successfullyused the models to schedule all five Second Division tournaments between 2007 and 2010,replacing the random scheduling methodology that they used previously. Since 2007, thetwo formulations have been adapted to various formats with which the Second Division hasexperimented; these include a quadruple round-robin and a two-phase tournament with zonaland national phases.In this paper, we use operations research (OR) techniques to schedule the Second Divisionof the Chilean professional soccer league. The solution must satisfy a series of conditionsrequested by league officials. Because the teams generally travel long distances by bus, geographicalrestrictions are particularly important. We specify the scheduling problem andsolve it using an integer linear programming (ILP) model that defines when and where eachmatch is played, subject to constraints. For the most difficult instances, we formulate a secondILP model that generates home-away patterns and assigns them to the teams; we then runthe model, which determines the match schedule. Chilean league officials have successfullyused the models to schedule all five Second Division tournaments between 2007 and 2010,replacing the random scheduling methodology that they used previously. Since 2007, thetwo formulations have been adapted to various formats with which the Second Division hasexperimented; these include a quadruple round-robin and a two-phase tournament with zonaland national phases. The application we present is one of a number of such projects that theauthors and their colleagues developed over the past few years, and represents an expansionof the use of OR techniques for managing tasks in Chilean soccer.