Financial Modeling World Cup

Overview

The Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC) is an organization that hosts various Microsoft Excel–based competitions. The FMWC held its first competition in September 2020 and currently hosts three competitions:

Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC) Microsoft Excel World Championship (MEWC) Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge (MECC)

Description, competition format, and scoring

FMWC is an annual Excel modeling competition. During the course of a season (January through November), competitors complete eight stages of modeling problems, and are allotted two hours over a 48-hour window to complete each stage. Each stage contains three case studies, one to five pages long, with multiple choice or fill-in questions at the end. Contrary to what the name suggests, not all case studies are financial modeling based; many are business modeling or data modeling based. Stage points are available for:

Task: Correctly solving questions on each case (points vary by question) Time: Completing the stage early (10 points per minute, awarded only if the competitor has scored 900 task points) Each stage winner's score is normalized to 1,000 points, and the score of all other competitors are normalized accordingly. FMWC rankings and final standings are based on points scored across each competitor's top 6 stage scores (the bottom 2 stage scores are dropped).

Format changes

2020: The first of four FMWC stages started in September 2020. All stages contributed to the final standings. 2021: The stage count increased to twelve. The bottom two stages for each competitor were dropped from the final standings. 2022: The stage count decreased to eight. Case authors could not score a higher time bonus than any other player. Stage score normalization was introduced. The prize for top company was eliminated. 2023: For each stage, case authors may not score more points than the best player playing full-time. 2024: Case authors write cases for an entire stage and are automatically awarded 1,000 points for that stage. They can create cases for no more than 1 stage and are ineligible for prize money in the stage where their cases are used. 2025: The FMWC Championship Ring is no longer awarded to the Financial Modeling World Cup Champion.

2021

The MEWC began in 2021 as the FMWC Open, an Excel Esports tournament. The competition was a standalone event that did not impact the Financial Modeling World Cup rankings in regular seasons. The tournament began with a qualification round, with the top 128 qualifiers advancing to a single elimination tournament. Qualification rounds began on November 13, and continued into December. The last three rounds of the FMWC Open competition were held on December 11, 2021, and were broadcast on the FMWC YouTube channel and ESPN3. Andrew Ngai (now representing Australia), Anup Agarwal (India), and Michael Jarman (Canada) returned as quarterfinals qualifiers, and Harry Gross from the UK, Jason Moore from the US, Joseph Palisoc from the US, Sameer Jagetia from the US, and Tim Roberts from the UK also qualified. The final round, entitled "Knights and Warriors", had contestants, each representing a fictional nation, send fictional warriors to conquer each other. Ngai defeated Jarman 734–280, with a maximum of 1,000 points per side.

2022

The FMWC Open was rebranded as the Microsoft Excel World Championship (MEWC). Like its predecessor, it also consisted of a qualification round and the top 128 qualifiers advancing to a single elimination tournament.

Qualification results (Top 50)

In total, 377 people took part and 128 qualified for the final round. The best ranked participants of the FMWC rankings were prequalified.

2023

The MEWC continued in 2023 with a modified format, the Qualification round was split into nine events, called "Road to Las Vegas" and one Qualification Round. However the 128 final-participants will still be competing in a 1v1 grid. The final of the top 8 will be hosted in Las Vegas.

Qualification results (Top 50)

In total, 377 people took part and 128 qualified for the final round. The best ranked participants of the FMWC ranking, were prequalified.

Bracket

The 2023 edition had a different format for the last three rounds. The knockout format was used for the first four rounds. The eight participants that won their Round of 16 match qualified for the in-person Finals in Las Vegas, where 8 more players would join them in a last-chance qualification round.

2024

The structure for the 2024 Microsoft Excel World Championship was revamped in several areas, including for the qualification round. The number of players in the main event remained at 128. Qualification for the MEWC was as follows:

50 players, 5 in each of the 10 Excel Esports Battes (called the "Road to Las Vegas"). One player would qualify from the YouTube livestream, while four others would qualify from online participation. 16 players from the Financial Modeling World Cup. 60 players from the MEWC online qualification round. 2 wildcards.

Qualification results

The following participants qualified for the event:

Main draw (morning session)

The 128 players in the main draw bracket were divided into 8 groups of 16, with three of those groups playing at 8:00 AM BST to accommodate players from the Asia Pacific region. The remaining five groups played at 5:00 PM BST. The main draw brackets were only played for four rounds, with the final eight competitors automatically qualified for the in-person semi-finals at Las Vegas. The other 24 of the top 32 qualified to play in the game day competition one day before the finals.