These tables are stored rows, not a calculation run when you open the page. The sync computes them from finished matches and writes them back, and refreshes the affected table as soon as a match ends — so what you are reading is the standing as of the last result that came in, not a snapshot someone updates by hand.
Only finished matches count. A goal scored in a game being played right now does not move a team up the table until that match is over — the computation skips any match that is not finished, which is deliberate and was not always true: a table that follows a live score tells you about one moment rather than the season, and mixing the two is a bug we have actually had.
Tiebreakers follow each competition's own regulations rather than a single house rule, because they genuinely differ. The 2026 World Cup applies head-to-head record before overall goal difference — the reverse of the order used from 1998 through 2022 — while most domestic leagues go straight to goal difference. Where two teams appear level, the order above is the competition's own.