The Beautiful Game, Calculated: Two New Apps Open the World Cup to Every Fan
June 9, 2026
- Author
- Jay Pfeifer
When Garrett Walker ’26 was growing up, soccer was more than just a sport — it was family.
His father, Jim ’90 played on the Wildcats soccer team and is now executive director of Georgia Soccer.
The younger Walker also served as team manager for the men’s soccer team for two years. Now, the 2026 World Cup marks the culmination of a passion project for the math major.
Working with Tim Chartier, Joseph R. Morton Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science, Walker has spent the past year developing two apps that approach the World Cup from different angles.
The first, Soccer Bingo, emerged from a simple conversation with Chartier and an idea suggested by the National Museum of Mathematics: How do you invite casual fans — those who don't know much about soccer — to feel engaged while watching a match?
Walker devised an elegant solution. Participants pick a team’s players and make predictions about their performance (three shots, two saves, one goal), and the app randomly generates a bingo board based on actual game statistics. Friends of Walker’s who’d never watched soccer before tested the prototype and had a blast.
“I made it a little easier for people who don’t know the sport to understand,” Walker said, “but I also think it’s a good game for someone who’s really knowledgeable in the sport to play, too.”
For fans who want to dig deeper into the numbers, Walker’s second project offers sophisticated analysis tools. His World Cup ranking site lets users explore three different mathematical rating systems — ELO (used in chess and by FIFA), Colley, and Massey — to predict which teams will advance and who will claim the trophy.
The site goes beyond simple rankings: users can adjust how much weight they give different tournaments, set burn-in periods to account for historical form, and even simulate the entire tournament bracket. This project extended the work of previous Chartier collaborators Michael Mossinghoff, Ph.D., and Mark Kozek, Ph.D.
The data points to Spain as the favorite, with England and France close behind, while Argentina — the defending champions — ranks fourth. The rankings place several African teams surprisingly high and the USA lower than many American fans might hope, though Walker himself remains optimistic for a strong showing.
The site also curates recent soccer news, letting fans consider breaking developments like injuries to star players when they run their own simulations.
“I’m excited to see how people react to the rankings,” Walker said.
With the tournament approaching, soccer fans of all stripes now have new ways to understand the beautiful game.
