Old firm matches not scheduled correctly

Hello, we have not seen this happening in internally, there would always be an equal amount of home and away fixtures in the league.

Can we check if the user if you aren't confusing one of the fixtures as a cup game or something?

If not, could we please get some screenshots showing this, thank you.

On 16/11/2023 at 14:04, Zachary Whyte said:

Hello, we have not seen this happening in internally, there would always be an equal amount of home and away fixtures in the league.

Can we check if the user if you aren't confusing one of the fixtures as a cup game or something?

If not, could we please get some screenshots showing this, thank you.

Hi, to add to this, I added a comment on this last year and one of the team got back to say it was a nice detail that they would look to sort. 

The original poster is correct. It is part of the SPL fixture scheduling. Whichever team of Celtic and Rangers plays at home first when playing one another always plays at home second the following season. It isn't just that in his save they aren't playing home and away twice, it is that the code is not reflecting real life in terms of the fixture cycle year to year. 

22/23 before split - Celtic home twice, away once, after split away

23/24 before split - Rangers home twice, away once, after split away

Repeat the same cycle, so Celtic home twice 24/25 before split, Rangers home twice before split 25/26 etc. The poster means that if he plays as Celtic, and plays the first game v Rangers at home in season 1, IRL he knows that the next season, the first game v Rangers would need to be away. 

For example, this season, Rangers play twice v Celtic at home and once away before the split. If they both make top 6, then the last game against one another would be Celtic v Rangers at Celtic Park. The SPFL sometimes have to knock the balance of how many times you play an opponent home or away (e.g., you make top six but have coincidentally already played all five of the other top six at home twice - it would mean you play three away, two home, so play two teams at home three times and only once away). However, the Celtic/Rangers fixtures always balance correctly regardless of the others, so they always play two home two away against one another if they end up in the same half of the league. 

I do have sympathy for how this would be coded, but to not know is a bit strange, Scottish research team will be able to confirm in 30 seconds. 

The same is also true of Hearts v Hibs, and Dundee v Dundee Utd. Follow the same pattern due to rivalry and not being fair to play main rival three times away in one season. Also same in terms of swapping where first game is played season to season.

Edited November 22, 2023 by joe5p

Apologies we haven't communicated a further reply as of yet, has been one we've been exploring to see if it's possible to implement. 

Everything you've mentioned above is correct, including the part about the complexity to code it within game unfortunately. 

We're keeping it on our radar, but it's not one we'll be able to include within FM24. The issue arises when either clubs don't finish in the top 6, or likewise when the other derby teams finish at opposite ends of the table. 

The 'home to begin one season, away the next season' will be one we investigate as a Feature Request going forward.