I work as a web developer, but my passion for soccer dates back to my childhood. I avidly followed various championships, including European, Latin, and Oceania tournaments, as well as international club competitions like the UEFA Champions League.
My gaming journey began with gamepads, starting with the Nintendo 8-bit and later transitioning to the Sega Mega Drive 16-bit. I indulged in FIFA games, initially on gaming consoles and eventually on PC. This marked the beginning of my unique soccer adventure. The PC platform allowed me to customize teams extensively, altering everything from names and colors to players, and even creating my championships. I experimented with crafting an alternate Ukrainian championship and UEFA Champions League, using my own rules.
Rather than actively playing, I found joy in making the AI compete. Even the "FIFA Manager" game failed to capture my interest. I manually created paper tickets, designed tournament groups, and meticulously recorded results and statistics in Excel.
As I discovered my passion for development, I started building a soccer league using Python. This allowed me to execute commands and witness the outcomes, complete with amusing images for a bash CLI. Eventually, I modified the script to generate an HTML page displaying standings tables with team logos. I playfully named the teams after animals, a nod to my love for nature.
Over time, my interest evolved, and I became a football fan. I delved into the intricacies of the game through explanatory videos, transitioning to watching full games, predominantly in college football with occasional forays into the NFL. Inspired, I ventured into creating a new football competition simulator, grappling with complexities like quarters and yards, all scripted in Python. The simulation involved an 8-team season, with results conveniently displayed on an HTML page.
In the summer of 2019, I decided to take my simulations to the web, constructing websites that autonomously ran seasons, allowing me to simply observe. I found the statistical insights, generated randomly, to be a fascinating aspect of this endeavor.