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Scheduling Sport Tournaments using Constraint Logic Programming

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Abstract

We tackle the problem of scheduling the matches of a round robin tournament for a sport league. We formally define the problem, state its computational complexity, and present a solution algorithm using a two-step approach. The first step is the creation of a tournament pattern and is based on known graph-theoretic results. The second one is an assignment problem and it is solved using a constraint-based depth-first branch and bound procedure that assigns actual teams to numbers in the pattern. The procedure is implemented using the finite domain library of the constraint logic programming language \eclipse. Experimental results show that, in practical cases, the optimal solution of the assignment problem (which is not necessarily optimal for the overall problem) can be found in reasonable time, despite the fact that the problem is NP-complete. In addition, a local search procedure has been developed in order to provide, when necessary, an approximate solution in shorter time.

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  1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica Gestionale e Meccanica, Università di Udine, Via delle Scienze 208, I 33100, Udine, Italy

    Andrea Schaerf

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  1. Andrea Schaerf
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Schaerf, A. Scheduling Sport Tournaments using Constraint Logic Programming. Constraints 4, 43–65 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009845710839

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