Are draws for tournaments fixed?

Is there a real cause for concern?

Derbies being played in the early rounds of a tournament, underdogs playing each other in the latter stages to get a boarding pass to the next round and teams playing each other again and again year after year, you would think this supports the above question?

The first time Drogba returned…

Drogba and Mourinho have always had a strong relationship. His reception on his return was inspiring.

Also in support of this debate is the coincidence of a tie being drawn after much speculation in the media.  Let me expand upon this.  Didier Drogba scored the winning penalty for Chelsea in their first UEFA Champions League victory as finalist in 2012 and is forever going to be hailed as a legend.  He later left that summer for pastures new but soon returned to Europe after a very short stint in the bizarre environment of Shanghai Shenhua in China.  As a Galatasaray striker in the 2014 European Cup he went on record to state how he would have loved to visit Stamford Bridge to face his former teammates in the first round of the knockout stages, in the Last 16.  This was published throughout the UK tabloids on how he would receive a wonderful reception.  Why and behold his ‘dream’ came true, Chelsea drew Galatasaray, what a ‘twist of fate’.

Clubs from the same country meeting

In European club football, teams from the same country tend to be drawn against after the group stages, a round which banishes them from doing so, simply to narrow down the chances of one country dominating the whole tournament.  We often see this occur in the quarter or semi-finals of a competition.  Although the chances of them being drawn together are more likely with the number of teams in a tournament reducing as time goes on, it seems inevitable that Chelsea will be drawn against say Manchester United or Barcelona go ahead to ahead with Atletico Madrid.

Has the excitement been ‘drawn’ out

Where did the excitement and the unpredictability of the draw vanish?  When the FA cup draws took place it was a momentous occasion each and every time but this no longer seems to be the case. Maybe it has always been this way and the expectedness of two teams meeting in a tournament year after year will never change?  I can tell you where the thrill of the draw went… in the back pocket of those drawing out the numbers perhaps, or their advisers who organize these ‘pot luck draws’.  ‘Here you are son, here’s a tasty £100 bonus if you can guarantee that ball number one, Arsenal draw out ball number eighteen in the pot, Tottenham Hotspur in the third round of the FA Cup’.  What a load of cotton rollocks!

Everyone wants a competition that sees the best teams compete against each other but shouldn’t this be seen towards the end of the tournament after they defeat their minnows?  I understand that at some point two of the big teams will go head-to-head and yes this could happen in the early stages of a tournament but there seems to be no randomness in a draw.  Big fixtures in each round of domestic cup football are purposely put in place to keep the interest of the FA Cup alive following its alleged demise.  This is how TV claimed its rights once again.

The seeding system

A big pointer on how draws can be derived as fixed is the seeded system put in place to ensure the better clubs get through the early stages of a competition easily.  Therefore this gives the underdogs less chance of playing each other ‘by chance’ as they must play the more successful teams first.  How is this categorically fair or have those rewarded with a top seed earned the right to an easier route? What happened to random draws where you would see the ultimate group of death in the first round of the World Cup?  The whole layout for an international tournament and European club competitions is set out so the predicted finalists actually get to the final and ‘don’t disappoint’.