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Daniel Vitek - Reverse-engineering FIFA's secret World Cup algorithm

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Daniel Vitek HOME ARCHIVE ABOUT Contents ↑ The laws of the game Matching up How FIFA didn’t do it It’s not random It’s not lexicographic It’s not greedy It’s not rest days How FIFA did it This is not a coincidence The key idea A two-dimensional illustration Numerics Where’d they come from? Was the fix in? Why weren’t they public? Appendix: better bounds Improving d Improving m Reverse-engineering FIFA's secret World Cup algorithm Posted on July 6, 2026 by Daniel Vitek. Tagged: combinatorics, high-dimensional geometry. INT. FIFA HEADQUARTERS - ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - NIGHT An INTERN enters, clutching a printout.             INTERN “Sir, we have the score from Algeria vs. Austria. Somehow, it’s a tie: 3-3.” GIANNI INFANTINO’s chair turns slowly, revealing him first in side profile and then head-on.             GIANNI INFANTINO “The time has come. Execute option sixty-seven.” I’m not quite sure that’s how it actually played out, but at some point on June 27 Perhaps early in the morni

INT. FIFA HEADQUARTERS - ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - NIGHT An INTERN enters, clutching a printout. INTERN “Sir, we have the score from Algeria vs. Austria. Somehow, it’s a tie: 3-3.” GIANNI INFANTINO’s chair turns slowly, revealing him first in side profile and then head-on. GIANNI INFANTINO “The time has come. Execute option sixty-seven.” I’m not quite sure that’s how it actually played out, but at some point on June 27 Perhaps early in the morning of June 28 Zurich time. , 2026, somebody at FIFA finalized the standings of the twelve third-place teams at the 2026 World Cup. The top eight…

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