How to read a league table: from matches played to points

A league table looks like a wall of letters and figures, but it is built from only a few ideas. Each row is one team, and each column answers one question about its season so far. The graphic with this article takes the columns in the order in which they are usually printed.

The columns, one by one

The first column shows matches played. It matters more than it seems, because teams have not always played the same number of matches. A side that stands lower in the table but has played fewer matches may still have ground to make up.

Next come the results: matches won, drawn and lost. Added together, the three must equal the matches played. After them come the goals: those a team has scored, those it has conceded, and the goal difference, which is the first minus the second.

Points and order

Points turn results into a ranking. In football the usual system gives three points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss. A team that wins often therefore climbs faster than one that seldom loses but draws a great deal.

Teams are ordered by points first. When two or more are level, the tie-break rules decide, and each competition sets these for itself. Some look first at goal difference, others at the matches between the level teams, so the same results could give a different order under different rules.

That is why the graphic names no single rule for breaking a tie. Before drawing conclusions from a tight table, look at the regulations of the competition in question. The table tells you where the teams stand; the regulations tell you why.