Logistics in sports: How competition calendars are made?

Has anyone ever wondered whether the calendars of sporting competitions are related to logistical aspects?

This is the case of the Premier League (English football’s top division), which takes into account issues such as the distance between cities, the number of matches in the same region on the same day or the influx of public transport on specific dates when drawing up the calendar.

Manchester City FC and Liverpool FC fans outside Wembley Stadium in the run-up to the Cup Final.

Elaboration of the calendar

It is a complex process and is designed by an external company called Atos. First of all, it is necessary to know the so-called “FIFA dates” when international matches are played (national teams) and the “UEFA dates” when European competition matches are played (Champions League). Next, clubs must select an opponent, a team that they will not play at home on the same date in the calendar (many teams usually say the rival city club, e.g. Manchester United and Manchester City).

At this point they start to place restrictions, which are as follows:

• In a set of 5 matches, a maximum of 3 matches can be played as home or away, but never as home or away, but never more than 3.
• The maximum number of consecutive home matches is 2.
• The first two matches of the competition or the last two matches may not be played at home.
• On Boxing Day (26th and 27th December) or New Year’s Day only 1 away match may be played.

Review and approval phase

The incorporation of these restrictions results in a timetable that is reviewed by various bodies such as the British Police, the Transport Authority, the Supporters’ Federation, the Premier League, the Football League and Atos. The involvement of all these stakeholders, and in particular the transport authorities, allows for a more convenient timetable for fans, facilitating shorter journeys to watch their team, as well as avoiding traffic problems or congestion in the city itself.

Anfield (Liverpool FC) and Goodison Park (Everton FC) stadiums separated by Stanley Park.

For all this, the Premier League calendar takes into account logistical aspects such as distance, rivals, restrictions, and stakeholder involvement for fan convenience.

How Qatar was able to host the World Cup?

As a big football fan, the other day I was remembering the last World Cup in Qatar in November and it came to my mind, how can a country with less than 3 million citizens host more than 1 million people who came to watch football?

The choice of host

To explain it you have to go back to the beginning, when FIFA selected the Middle Eastern country to host the tournament. Everyone knows and it has been proven that the selection of Qatar was a fraud due to vote buying. But the organisers may not have thought about what the country had to do to host the World Cup.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter announces Qatar as the host nation for the FIFA World Cup 2022, in Zurich December 2, 2010.

Construction and accommodation of housing for fans

Qatar needed to build or remodel eight stadiums, training centres, roads, parks and even a new city, but the biggest challenge was to accommodate the 850,000 visitors, politicians, media and teams expected during the tournament. Many of the available rooms were secured by the organisers, leaving a shortage for fans.

The peak of demand would be on 27-28 November when organisers expected 276.000 ticket holders to seek accommodation. In spring 2022, Qatar had some 33,000-34,000 hotel rooms, and at the rate at which the country was building hotels, another 25,000 rooms were expected to be available by November. However, even with this optimistic estimate, the country still fell short of the target, so organisers used several strategies to increase the number of rooms available.

• Launched the “host a fan” campaign to encourage local people to host visiting fans.
• Offered camping in the desert outside Doha in a small tent city as a more affordable option.
• Recommended a satellite city called Madinatna, with two dozen hotels and a huge rental apartment complex that will house up to 27,000 fans.
• Made available two cruise ships that were in the port of Doha with a total of 3,898 cabins.

The Qataris also expected fans to stay in other Gulf cities, such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE or Muscat in Oman, thus reducing their hotel demand. However, delay in planning meant that there was constant construction work to build tents or bungalows to house fans while the tournament was taking place, angry fans clamouring for accommodation that had not yet been built and constant chaos on the streets of Doha.

Despite this, Qatar was able to host the World Cup, drawing the largest number of spectators in the event’s history and achieving its real goal, sportwashing the country’s image.

Makro distribution network

This is a private video, just the ones with the link can see it.

Uk, THE NEW LOGISTIC MANUFACTURER AGAINST THE COVID-19

In the midst of panic and confinement situation, measures taken from the government leaders of the different nations, the concern of the British state about a shortage of medical equipment arises, which forces the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to call urgently to the manufacturing industry.

Call for businesses to help make NHS ventilators

The aim is to increase production by making immediate changes to production lines, something that not all companies consider ready. However, time is running out, and every minute is gold, it is wartime, and it has to be made to work.

Ventilators are vital in the treatment of patients whose lungs have been attacked by the infection. The health secretary told that the country currently has 5,000 ventilators but said it would need “many times more than that”.

Interview Health Secretary Matt Hancock

But questions remain over how engineering firms with no experience of producing ventilators will be able start manufacturing the complex medical devices.

The use of NHS ventilators means that twice as much space must be used as usual, in the face of the collapse of hospitals. For this reason, the Best Westen hotel chain has ceded its rooms and other facilities to the government in case they were needed. In short, the United Kingdom wants to be prepared to face this health crisis.

I encourage you to comment on “ingenious” measures with which your countries will be alleviated from the lack of logistics that COVID-19 has created.

And if you are interested in knowing more about the news I recommend the following links and sources of the post:

Why doesn’t the UK have enough NHS ventilators?

www.bbc.com/news/business-51896168

sold out!!!!

In every store, in every community, in every place….from all over the world store there is a key product that rather than seeing that its sales are falling day by day, experience the precise opposite.

Mercadona Perfumery aisle shelves (Valencia) and (Madrid)

They are the famous hand-cleaning gels, already known during the past illnesses: “Bird flu”, or “Ébola”, which are supposed to disinfect and kill the microorganisms they come into contact with. And they are among the first products to be sold out in supermarkets around the world. Currently, with the Coronavirus, the image of empty shelves is an evidence of the social alarm that has been triggered among citizens.

Despite the wide variety of gels offered by supermarkets, the out-of-stock sign is the new double-edged sword for the economy of certain companies.

Hand-cleaning gels (Mercadona)

Overnight-Express or: How to order lobster from overseas

Do you know how long it takes to walk 1000 kilometers? I bet you don´t. Of course you could calculate it, for example by taking an average speed and adding some time for basic needs like sleeping and eating. I won´t tell you the question´s answer, but all of us know: it will take a lot of time. Next question: How long takes a flight from Madrid to New York City? Less than 9 hours you will say. And by the way, the distance is almost 6000 kilometers. The 100-year old invention of the airplane completely changed all our lives. The airplane connects the world. It plays an important role in freighting people as well as goods. The air freight has become indispensable for sending urgent as well as perishable cargo, because it is fast, reliable, and the freight is under controlled conditions. Some examples for delicate cargo: medical supplies, foods, animals.

Thanks to logistics engineers, who developed an all over the world perfectly working, highly sophisticated logistics-system based on IT-technologies, nowadays it is possible to receive a package from overseas within 24 hours. To make this possible, it is indispensable that all required steps interlock perfectly, beginning with the record of an order, to the delivery to the customer. Same for the information flow.  In one of the world´s largest air freight transshipment-centers, the DHL HUB Leipzig in Germany, 1500 tons of freight are transshipped per night. Of course every step has to work and there is no space for mistakes.

When starting its journey around the world, an express package like a coolbox containing lobsters will rarely stand still. The journey is planned from A to Z by an IT-System and it will be timed minutely. Do you still remember the question at the beginning of this text? The lobsters will be faster!