The Growing Importance of Football Analytics
31 May 2020
From the origins of data analytics in football to FC Liverpool’s dominance, we explore how stats and algorithms are changing the Beautiful Game.
FOOTBALL ANALYTICS
A must-read before diving into football analytics:
Latest articles:
Wonderkids: 2021 Outlook
14 January 2021
Nothing captures the imagination of a football fan quite like the emergence of wonderkids, players surrounded by both high hopes and expectations, and significant uncertainty. Predicting the career trajectory of
Wonderkids: Ansu Fati
14 January 2021
Of the wonderkids born in 2001 or later, Ansu Fati is the most likely to reach “world-class player” status, according to our analysis. In the final third he participates effectively
Wonderkids: Ryan Gravenberch
14 January 2021
Technically gifted and physically strong, Ryan Gravenberch is reaping the benefits of developing in the perfect environment, AFC Ajax, and being the client of one of the most powerful agents
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Top heading players in European football
19 April 2019
Headings require three key skills: a good timing, jumping reach and coordination. In the top 5 leagues, three forwards stand out for their heading skills: Giroud (Chelsea), Pavoletti (Cagliari) and
Bend it like Beckham: the top free-kick takers in Europe
11 April 2019
Who have been the best free-kick takers in Europe over the past five years? Lionel Messi? Cristiano Ronaldo? According to our research, neither of the two. After analysing all the free-kicks taken in
The Vitruvian Goalie: A deep dive into the goalkeepers’ stats
9 March 2019
Goalkeepers save 69% of the opponents’ shots on target, on average. The save ratios differ greatly depending on whether the shots are taken inside or outside the box (60% and 85%, respectively).
The non-correlation between physical efforts and football performances
30 July 2018
The stats of ‘Russia 2018’ confirmed the absence of any meaningful correlation between physical efforts and football performances. The overall outcome is in line with the available literature, although more clearly than
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Juventus under coach Pirlo
20 September 2020
Juventus will be one of the most interesting teams to watch in Europe this season. The main reason for our excitement is the leap of faith taken by the top
AZ Alkmaar’s Talent Factory
28 November 2019
The quantity and quality of players that the AZ Academy is able to promote to the first team every year is outstanding. This is no coincidence, but is the result
AZ Alkmaar: Creating Success Through Data Analytics
21 November 2019
As a case-study, AZ Alkmaar proves that logical thinking and a rationale vision could be a winning formula, also when applied to football. Further, it reminds us of the growing importance of data analytics in the Beautiful Game, a sport that many believed to be too difficult to be analysed. What FC Liverpool, AZ, FC Midtjylland and a few other teams are accomplishing with the help of data analysis should inspire many other football clubs, at all levels. Thirdly, player development could drastically improve with the right quantity and quality of information.
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Premier League: A statistical recap
16 June 2020
The English Premier League will be the third of the top-five European leagues to restart, doing so on Wednesday 17th June. At the top of the standings, Liverpool have already
Primeira Liga: A statistical recap
3 June 2020
The Primeira Liga will be back on 3rd June. Unsurprisingly, it’s a close call between Benfica and Porto. Benfica have shown better performance stats overall (SPR of 49 vs Porto’s
The Bundesliga is back: A statistical recap
14 May 2020
The German Bundesliga will be the first top European league to restart after football was suspended across the continent due to the coronavirus. In spite of a difficult start, Bayern
La Liga: Heavy Traffic on the road to Glory
27 November 2019
La Liga at the moment looks like a congested motorway during rush hour, with several teams side-by-side at the top. However, with Lionel Messi back from injury and in very
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The evolution of Bruno Fernandes
4 August 2019
Today’s Supertaça against Benfica could represent a farewell match for Sporting CP’s Bruno Fernandes. In the 2018/19 Primeira Liga, Bruno Fernandes captained the Leões to the third place, displaying outstanding performances: playing as
Russian matryoshkas: Historical vs World Cup performances
28 July 2018
We look at ten ‘top players’ and compare their World Cup performances to their historical ones, determining whether – in Russia – they outperformed or underperformed vs their own standards. By
World Cup’s Top-11 and launch of SPR
19 July 2018
We introduce Soccerment Performance Ratings (‘SPR’), an algorithm-driven system aimed at offering a rigorous and unbiased view regarding the performance of football players. What better way to launch SPRs, than
Understanding Dele Alli’s uniqueness
23 April 2018
Dele Alli is quite a unique player. Difficult to define him or find similar players. We try to understand him better by looking at his performance stats, comparing them to
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Wonderkids: 2021 Outlook
14 January 2021
Nothing captures the imagination of a football fan quite like the emergence of wonderkids, players surrounded by both high hopes and expectations, and significant uncertainty. Predicting the career trajectory of
Wonderkids: Ansu Fati
14 January 2021
Of the wonderkids born in 2001 or later, Ansu Fati is the most likely to reach “world-class player” status, according to our analysis. In the final third he participates effectively
Wonderkids: Ryan Gravenberch
14 January 2021
Technically gifted and physically strong, Ryan Gravenberch is reaping the benefits of developing in the perfect environment, AFC Ajax, and being the client of one of the most powerful agents
Wonderkids: Lassina Traoré
14 January 2021
Lassina Traoré is a 19-year-old striker from Burkina Faso who plays for AFC Ajax. While his imposing physique might lead some to consider him a target men, and his finishing
Free
The Football Analytics
Handbook
A few years ago, some football clubs (Liverpool, AZ Alkmaar, Brentford), have embraced data analytics and are now starting to greatly benefit from it. Many, now sceptical about the importance of data in football – or soccer if you prefer – will soon follow.
If you’d like to know more about how data analytics is transforming football, download our Football Analytics Handbook: it’s free!
Read it, forward it to your friends and help us with our mission: accelerating the adoption of data analytics in football.
OUR MISSION IS TO ACCELERATE THE ADOPTION OF DATA ANALYTICS IN FOOTBALL
