THE REGULATIONS

0. Introduction

The Concorso Pronostici 2026 (CP2026) is a competition without prizes based on accurate predictions (i.e., also counting the number of goals) of the results of 306 matches of the Italian League Championship (Serie A) played in 2025-2026 (9 matches for 34 stages).

The participants to the competition (hereafter players) can be individuals, groups, or even computer programs, as long as the rules and regulations described below are followed.

1. Rules for participating in the CP2026

To participate in CP2026 it is necessary to fill out the following form, (do not alter the format or change the keywords in any way):

    Name:
    Reference ID (max 5 letters):
    Email address:

and send it via e-mail to cp2026@rrweb.org

Alternatively, the subscription is doable online, using the web page http://www.rrweb.org/cpyear/subscribe.htm It is not necessary that different players use different e-mail addresses. More than one user (whether human or computer program) can use the same e-mail address. However, in this case, it is necessary to explain the situation to the organizer who has the right to refuse any particular subscription to CP2026.

It is necessary, however, for the identifying "Reference ID" to be unique for each participant (upper and lower case letters are not distinguished). Thus, a given ID can be rejected by the organizer if it is already in use.

Subscription or entry to CP2026 can occur at any time prior to the playing of the 14th valid stage (that is to say on December 14th, 2025).

2. Length of the Concorso Pronostici tournament

CP2026 will take place over 34 stages among the 38 planned for the Italian League Championship (Serie A) 2025-2026 (the four stages excluded are those played during the week plus others, to get to four). Each stage is composed by nine "regular" games plus one "reserve" game (semi-randomly picked among the ten games of the week). The "reserve" game will be fully considered if and only if one of the regular games is suspended or postponed to a much later date.

3. Filling out of the Weekly Match Forms

To participate in a stage of CP2026 the player will have to send by e-mail to the organizer the appropriate week's match-form filled out in the correct manner.

The match-form will be similar to the example below:

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
             DATE: August 24, 2025
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

    WEEK #1  (string id *** DO NOT CHANGE THIS ***)

    ATALANTA     - PISA          [_]  [_]
    CAGLIARI     - FIORENTINA    [_]  [_]
    COMO         - LAZIO         [_]  [_]
    genoa        - lecce         [_]  [_]
    INTER        - TORINO        [_]  [_]
    JUVENTUS     - PARMA         [_]  [_]
    MILAN        - CREMONESE     [_]  [_]
    ROMA         - BOLOGNA       [_]  [_]
    SASSUOLO     - NAPOLI        [_]  [_]
    UDINESE      - H.VERONA      [_]  [_]

    Reference ID:

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

where the game written in lower case letters is the reserve game.

For each game, including the reserve game, the player will have to enter a number representing the number of goals which he/she thinks will be scored by the team in question. The first [_] is for the first team (the home team) and the second [_] is for the predicted goals of the second team. For example, if you feel the score for PISA @ ATALAATA should be 3-1, then the second line will be edited like so:

    ATALANTA     - PISA          [1]  [3]

You will also have to fill out the Reference ID: with your own unique ID name/numbers.

The lines between "WEEK" and "Reference" must be changed only insofar as the score is entered in the appropriate slot. Any other change (including the ones made surreptitiously by the e-mailing programs) will invalidate the match form (with the exception of the initial characters on each line generated by the "reply" command).

Any match-form which does not completely satisfy these requirements can be rejected by the organizer or accepted as he sees fit (for example, unfilled slots, i.e. missing scores, are implicitly assumed to be 0). However, in the latter case, a penalty will be assigned to the player (see rule 9).

4. Mailing the match-forms

The e-mail address to which the match form should be sent is: cp2026@rrweb.org

The e-mail message with the match form (hereafter referred to as ECSP) *MUST* have the following subject:

Subject: Re: CP2026: Week #(and here goes the number of the particular week or stage of the tournament)

The "Re:" does not necessarily have to be included. An ECSP filled out in this manner will be automatically archived without even being read by the organizer. Consequently, if you wish to communicate with the organizer about a given topic, you must use a different subject line.

The ECSP must arrive at the organizer's site *BEFORE* the first game of the corresponding Serie A weekly stage. What will count will be the date of *ARRIVAL* at the site of the organizer of CP2026. It will be up to the judgement of organizer whether to accept any ECSP which arrive after the official deadline but which were sent before the deadline.

There is no limit to how early an ECSP can be mailed in as long as every ECSP contains only one filled out match-form.

There are no problems if the player sends in more than one ECSP for a given match-week, provided that these forms are identical. Should they be different, only the one which was received first will be considered valid, unless the player him/herself makes clear what is to be done.

The player who sends in two or more different ECSPs is advised of this inconsistency, but not necessarily in time to fix the problem.

The organizer himself will send his ECSP, on time, to Tiziana Moscufo who will be the ombudswoman for the organizer.

5. Rights of the players

Every person who subscribes to CP2026, at the moment the entry is received, will receive via e-mail the 34 blank ECSP match-forms, irregardless of how many stages have already been played. These forms can also be found at http://www.rrweb.org/cpyear/allforms.htm.

Before each stage, the corresponding match-form will be sent by e-mail with the subject "CP2026: Week #XX" so that the "reply" command can be used. The match-form itself can also be found at http://www.rrweb.org/cpyear/matchform.htm (or) http://www.rrweb.org/cpyear/matchforms/e-weekXX.htm, where XX is the the number of the particular week or stage of the tournament.

When a compiled match-form, independently on how it was received, is found correct by the organizer and therefore accepted, a copy of it is sent back by e-mail.

Before the matches are played, the organizer will send a "Warning" to the participants who have yet to send their ECSP for the week. Instead, the names of the players who have already sent it in can be found at http://www.rrweb.org/cpyear/news.htm.

6. How points are scored for each stage (TP)

Definitions:

GH	predicted number of goals for the home team
GR	predicted number of goals for the visiting team
RH	actual number of goals scored by the home team
RR	actual number of goals scored by the visiting team

PA	absolute guess for the match (outcome and number of goals for each teams)
RA	actual outcome and number of goals for each team
PP	partial guess (i.e., guessing the winner or a tie) (represented by the usual 1-X-2 convention where 1 means victory for the home team, X is a tie, and 2 is victory for the visitors)
RP	actual outcome as far as winners/ties/losers (i.e., not looking at goals scored)
SP	predicted goal difference between the two teams: GH - GR
SR	actual goal difference
DH	difference between the goals scored and the goals predicted for the home team: abs(RH-GH)
DR	the same quantity for the visiting team: abs(RR-GR)
DS	the difference between the predicted goal difference and the actual goal difference: abs(SP-SR)

MPP	maximum number of points for a given game (20)
mpp	maximum number of points for a single game where the outcome is guessed incorrectly (8)

The actual point total for a given game (PSRP) is calculated in the following manner (note: the reserve game is not included):

(a)	if PA = RA, then PRSP := MPP
(b)	else if PP=RP, then PRSP := MPP - DH - DR - DS
	but if PRSP < mpp, then PRSP := mpp
(c)	otherwise PP != RP and PRSP := mpp - DH - DR
	but if PRSP < 0 then PRSP := 0

Explaining the above formulation in words: an exact prediction as far as outcome of the game and goals scored nets the player the maximum of 20 points. In the case the correct outcome is guessed but the goals are off, then 1 point is taken away for each goal (plus or minus) that the goal difference is off by and another point is taken away for each goal (plus or minus) that the goals for each team are off by. In any case, if the outcome is guessed correctly, a minimum of 8 points will be awarded. If the outcome is not guessed correctly, then from a maximum total of 8 points 1 point will be subtracted for each goal (plus or minus) that each team's predicted goals is off by. In all instances, the lowest possible total for a given match is 0 points.

The PSRP is defaulted to 0 points in the event that:

[1]	The games have already been played when the organizer receives the ECSP;
[2]	Two or more games for a given match-week are postponed to a later date (the first postponed game is replaced by the reserve game);

Also remember (see rule 3) that when the ECSP is not completely filled in, the missing predictions are assumed to be 0 (zero).

The total points per stage (TP) is given by the sum of the PRSP for a given match EXCLUDING THE BEST AND WORST RESULT, unless the latter is associated with a correct PP, in which case it will be part of the TP. (This is sort of a bonus for those who get all the partial outcomes correct)

7. Bonus

For each stage, all the TP are ordered in decreasing order and the first 10 players on the list are assigned the following bonus points in order from the first player to the tenth player: 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 points. Those who finish with an equal number of points among the first ten are given the bonus points ex-aequo. (i.e., if two players finish tied for third they each receive 10 bonus points).

The Bonus points are added to the TP to produce the final point total for a given stage (hereafter EPT).

8. General Standings for CP2026

The total number of points for every player at the end of the competition is given by the sum of the 21 best EPT. In other words, you can enter CP2026 34 times, but only your 21 best point totals will count toward the final overall total. In case of a tie for the top spot, the next best match-week as far as EPT will be included (i.e, we will look at the best 22 EPTs for the tied players only). In case of a further tie, we will continue adding the next best match-weeks until the tie is broken. Missing EPTs (in case one of the contestants does not have the full total of 34 stages) are equivalent to 0 points.

9. Penalties

Since CP2026 is run by automatic programs, any error in compiling an ECSP means that the organizer has to intervene "manually" to fix up the situation. The first 3 such screw-ups will result in a warning with penalty points awarded for any following screw-up as follows: (-1 for the fourth infraction, -3 for the fifth, -6 for the sixth, -10 for the seventh, and so on where the penalty is calculated as 1+2+3+4+... for subsequent infractions).

The penalties are applied to the General Standings.

Back to the CP2026 home page

To contact the organizer