The Excel Soccer World Cup Planner

On this page, we have compiled a short description and guide of our Excel Soccer World Cup Planner. The software has been primarly developed in Microsoft Excel 2003 and was also tested in Microsoft Excel 2007 and Microsoft Excel 2010. Please note, that we will not support – also in the future – older versions of Excel and that other spread sheet software, like Open Office, were not considered. Our solution is based on formulas and does not use VBA Macros.

Please note, that the date and time format shown in the screenshots below are those setted up on my german operating system and german Office version. Of course, when running the Excel Planner of a different system, the date and time format settings will match your settinges.

Of course, we are also (despite the utmost care) not immune to errors. If you find an error, we would really appreciate a short message via e-mail.

Welcome

If the Excel file is opened for the first time, you may first accept the license terms. Then you are welcome by the page shown in the picture below. You will find on this page a quick guide and an explanation for the icons used in the planner.

Venues

This page briefly presents the host country and venues used for the event. Thanks to authors from the wikipedia for the images.

Results

This page list all matches which will take place in the World Cup. When loading the file, the current system date is retrieved. If the match is in the future, the input fields in the sheet for the results are filled with a blue background. In case the match had already taken place, the fields are orange. If you enter results for matches in the future, the text will be in red.

You can simulate the system date. For this, please check the option and input a date in field right to the option. All formulas are activated until the date you entered.

Settings

You can reach the settings for the planner by clicking on the corresponding symbol on the result or prediction game sheet. The settings sheet allows you to configure the planner in various ways. If you live in a country with a different timezone than in the country where the world cup takes place, you may adjust this setting by selection a timezone near you and activate the setting. In this case, all start times for the matches are recalculated. You can also activate and select a favourite team; then all matches for the selected team will be highlighted with a background color. The settings sheet also allows you to configure the points assigned to the different types of predictions and bonus questions to your needs. And, finally, you can setup 4 groups of participants to the prediction game.

Prediction game

The Excel Soccer World Cup Planner also includes a prediction game for up to a maximum of 128 players who can be distributed to 4 groups with a maximum number of 32 participants in each group. On the right side of the sheet, you can enter the predictions for the participants. If a prediction matches one of the different prediction types (tendancy, difference and correct result), the player receives a configurable number of points and the result is also highlighted by a specific icon.

Prediction game participants

Before using the prediction game, it would make sense to setup the participants in the game. This can be done in an extra sheet, as you can see in the picture below. The particpants can also answer some bonus questions for getting more points.

Charts

You can reach the charts sheet by clicking on the corresponding icon on the prediction game sheet. Through selecting a sorting for the ranking, you can determine the rankings for the participants based on group stage, on the knockout stage or on all games. Additionally some filters let you evaluate these results, for example for differents groups in the group stage. You can evaluate the results for all participants or each group of participants too. This sheet also calculates the goals for each team.

Tables

The tables for the rankings and results are divided into three views. The first summarizes all the group games and the games of the final round in a global view. As long as the group stage has not yet been completed, a note should be displayed on the upper right of the view. We really liked to display the flag for each team, however, Excel will take to much time for calculations in this case, especially when calling the print preview. So, we decided to display the flags only for the first three places.

Tables for the group stage

By clicking on the icon „Groups“ you can call the page with the tables for the group stage. In case the ranking of the teams shown in the group table sheet differs from the offical ranking after the group stage (for example if an assignement by lot is necessary), you can change the rankings by selecting the team from the appropriate field.

Tables for the knockout stage

You can also call the page with the tables for the knockout stage from the overview, as shown in the picture below.

Info & Copyrights

By clicking on the icon with the “i”, you will reach a page with the license terms and a presentation of the people involved in the development of this tool.