Those old enough to remember will know that up until 1981, teams were awarded two points for a win and one for a draw and English football was the first country to implement a change.
While one point for a draw was still kept, the English FA introduced three points for a win, with the main aim to encourage teams to play more attacking football.
Perhaps surprisingly, this wasn’t implemented globally, until much later; FIFA introduced it for the 1994 World Cup, while it became used domestically around the world a year later.
How Much Difference Has The Change Made?
It could be argued that on balance the change has made a lot of difference to football and the way the game is played. Especially from the mid nineties onwards when attacking football really appeared to be in vogue.
Of course, we have had periods where managers by default have been defensive specialists and content to set their teams up not to lose, or play on the counter-attack; Jose Mourinho in particular being a good example of this, though we have also seen records broken as well.
The Arsenal “Invincibles” side of 2003/04 were the first (and still only) Premier League team to go unbeaten in a season, playing arguably some of the most attractive football we have seen.
Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona blitzed their way to several trophies playing a brand of football that tore opponents apart.
If the points system was still the same today, it would be interesting to see whether we would have witnessed these accomplishments over the last couple of decades.
Attacking Players Reaped The Benefits
It is also maybe no coincidence that the transfer market since this introduction then became more focused around attacking players.
With the three point for a win rule, this saw the clubs the world over turn their attention to focusing more on attacking players with their transfer policy.
The nineties certainly saw a particular league reap the rewards. Arguably, Serie A enjoyed its best years during this period, with the best attacking players from around the world (in particular South America), flocking to Italy.
Clubs like Inter Milan (Ronaldo Nazario) and Fiorentina (Gabriel Batistuta) were quick to take advantage of this and the goals flowed.
The English Premier League soon took over in the 2000s being a major draw for the world’s best attacking talent; the likes’ of Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea taking advantage. The same could be said of La Liga sides like Real Madrid and Barcelona in particular.
When A Draw Feels Like A Win
Of course for a few clubs, one point is better than nothing and some last minute equalisers over the decades have felt like a winning goal; especially for newly promoted clubs or when smaller sides have faced bigger clubs.
However, what some fans don’t realise is that based on the points system, it is actually mathematically better to lose one and win two, instead of drawing three. Yes, you can say that you’re unbeaten, though it doesn’t necessarily help your points total, indeed, it could decide survival come the end of the season.
It could therefore be argued that the change in the points system gave managers something to think about in terms of how they set their teams up tactically.
