Three points for a win is a standard used in many sports leagues and group tournaments, especially in football (soccer), in which three (rather than two) points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points to the losing team. If the game is drawn, each team receives one point.

The system was proposed for the English Football League by Jimmy Hill to encourage attacking play; previously, the conventional wisdom for managers was to draw away matches and win home games. The idea is that, if the score is level near the end of a game, teams will not settle for a draw if the prospect of gaining two extra points (by playing for a late winning goal) outweighs the prospect of losing one point (by conceding a late goal to lose the match).

The system was introduced in England in 1981, but did not attract much use elsewhere until it was used in the 1994 World Cup finals. It subsequently became standard in international tournaments, as well as most national football leagues.

Year of adoption of 3-points-for-a-win

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The year given is when the relevant season started.

• 1981: England
• 1992: Greece
• 1993: Belgium (Div. 2), Bulgaria, Rep. Ireland, Italy (Serie C)
• 1994: Czech Rep., France, Hungary, Italy (Serie A), Romania, Scotland
• 1995: Argentina, Austria, Belgium (Div. 1), Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay

Football (soccer) terminology

Driepuntensysteem