VerifiedThe AFL and NRL ladders and finals hold together, the market de-vig sums to one and club Elo is zero-sum under property tests; the backtest board here scores past seasons. About the tiers
Season simulation. European leagues run on our club Elo: the points each club has banked, then every remaining game drawn from the Elo engine's own win, draw and loss model, with home advantage and the draw rate measured on each league's last five seasons. Each simulated season also shakes every rating by an amount fitted on 167 past league seasons. Scotland's split is simulated. The North American leagues, the Premier League, the Champions League, the EuroLeague and Formula 1 reuse their own published models unchanged.
Bracket simulation. The Europa League and Conference League play their drawn league phase, then the real knockout bracket. Goals are not modelled, so a two-legged tie level on results goes to extra time and penalties. The FA Cup is drawn at random from the third round, with the lower divisions entered at the club Elo's own rating for a cup-only side.
Favourite strength. Where we hold national or franchise ratings but not the fixtures, each side gets a tournament form shock, the strongest by form reach a randomly drawn knockout, and the ratings settle it. Groups, hosts, squads and the draw itself are not modelled. The field is the sides from the last two editions that have played in the last three years. Treat these as the ratings' view of who is strongest, with lower confidence than a simulation.
Every forecast freezes at the season start, or on the day we first published it if the season had already begun, and is scored against the champion the Champions Ledger records. A side the live season sim has knocked out is removed the same day, before the next rebuild. Markets are Polymarket's, with the bookmaker margin removed, shown only where the event has traded at least $10,000. A reference line, not advice.