A tournament key generates which team is playing against which other team at what time. It is the blueprint of tournaments, so to speak.
The DFB key
The DFB provides a key for tournaments. It is supposed to ensure a distribution of participants that is as even as possible. It makes the distincion between indoor soccer and leagues.
MeinTurnierplan.de makes it possible for you to let your tournaments be calculated by the DFB key. To do this just go to step three of Prepare Tournament, scroll down and pick Calculation mode for groups, DFB Key. The implemented algorithm can be used for as many teams as you wish.
DFB sources
Indoor Soccer
- Overview: http://portal.dfbnet.org/de/service/dfbnet-module/hallenfussball.html
- Indoor soccer key (11/29/2012): http://portal.dfbnet.org/fileadmin/content/downloads/freigabe/halle/110111-Schluesselzahlensystem__3a_.pdf
Leagues
- Overview: http://portal.dfbnet.org/de/service/faq/spielansetzung.html
- League key(11/02/.2011): http://portal.dfbnet.org/fileadmin/content/downloads/faq/211111_SZ_DFBnet_extern_mit_Gegenueberstellung4.pdf
Concerning indoor soccer please note: The match schedule for six participants in the DFB template is different than the DFB key on MeinTurnierplan.de. The reason is that participant number 6 has four home games there. MeinTurnierplan.de instead provides the result of the underlying algorithm, so the distribution is even.
Standard key of MeinTurnierplan
Also, MeinTurnierplan.de has its own algorithm for the calculation of tournaments. It also provides an even distribution of participants but the pairings here start with 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and so on. Therefore, the standard algorithm is useful for tournaments that are inherited from Excel sheets. Excel sheets usually start with these pairings.