2015/06/23 by Javier López Peña, Peña, Javier López, Raul Navarro +1 · 2 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Engineering · Medicine · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FOS: Physical sciences #Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph) #Social and Information Networks (cs.SI) #Sports Analytics and Performance #Sports Dynamics and Biomechanics #Sports Performance and Training
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1506.07768
openalex publication_date 2015/06/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Traditionally, most of football statistical and media coverage has been focused almost exclusively on goals and (ocassionally) shots. However, most of the duration of a football game is spent away from the boxes, passing the ball around. The way teams pass the ball around is the most characteristic measurement of what a team's "unique style" is. In the present work we analyse passing sequences at the player level, using the different passing frequencies as a "digital fingerprint" of a player's style. The resulting numbers provide an adequate feature set which can be used in order to construct a measure of similarity between players. Armed with such a similarity tool, one can try to answer the question: Who might possibly replace Xavi at FC Barcelona?