Getting Your Teams

The Most Important Week

In about 12 hours the registration for BISERGS will be closed and we will know exactly who will be competing for the title of BISERGS 2018. The winner also gets an amazing prize which I will announce soon, but here's a hint: it isn't a shirt this time. Your BISERGS fate will be decided on the playing field this summer, but which national teams control your BISERGS destiny will be determined in the next week.  On Saturday, June 2nd, the draft order draw will take place in Abu Dhabi.  Sometime in the next week, you'll need to compete your team preferences.  I'll send all of you a link via email.  These need to be completed by Saturday, June 9th.  The next day the BISERGS draft will begin and soon you will know which four teams you'll be cheering for throughout the summer. These three events are explained in the FAQ, if you want more details.

Picking Your Teams

If you don't follow soccer, you may be struggling to decide how to rank your teams.  For people that want to make there decisions based on the best data available, one option is to use the FIFA World Rankings.  These rankings are based on teams performances over the past four years.  Another option is to look at the betting odds.  I'm not encouraging you to take up gambling, but this website may be a pretty good way to measure the likelihood that all of the teams will win.  Just looking at numbers may not move you.  Do you want to choose a team that looks good on the field?  Then check out the way this English website ranked each team's kit.  

Draft decision room (2006 BISERGS)

If you are helping kids choose teams, or if you are still stumped yourself, I recommend is printing out this PDF with all the flags of the world cup.  Cut each flag out and shuffle them until the end up in the order you want.  One final suggestion is to check out these team nick-names.  Intimidating the opposition with a scary name is one key to success.  Who would you take? The Pharaohs,  The Super Eagles, The Blue Samurai, The Coffee Growers?  Some names are much better than others and I'm not sure how accurate the English translations are, but I'll definitely be consulting this document when I make my picks.

The Form

Screenshot of BISERGS draft preference form.

On Saturday, I'll email all of you a link to a form where you will put your teams in order by dragging and dropping them into the right place.  It may be helpful to have your order already written down before you get started because you need to have all 32 teams in order.  The deadline for completing the form is Saturday, June 9th.  If you don't get your form completed by Saturday, you're draft picks will be made for you randomly by Microsoft Excel.

The Draft

On June 10th, the draft will begin sometime in the afternoon or early evening Abu Dhabi time, when I have some time after work.  I'll create a page on this website where you can watch the draft unfold in real time.  That way you can get on Amazon and order all of the needed gear for your four teams before the World Cup starts on the 14th.