Data Analytics in Football Positional Data Collection, Modelling and Analysis

Data Analytics in Football provides students, researchers and coaches with a firm grounding in the principles of modern performance analysis. It offers an insight into the use of positional data, exploring how it can be collected, modelled, analysed and interpreted. Introducing cutting-edge methods, the book challenges long-held assumptions and encourages a new way of thinking about football analysis.

Based on data collected from the German Bundesliga and the UEFA Champions League, the book seeks to define the role of positional data in football match analysis by exploring topics such as:

• What is positional data analysis and how did it emerge from conventional match analysis?
• How can positional data be collected and which technologies can be used?
• What are the benefits of a data-driven approach to decision making in football?
• What Key Performance Indicators based on positional data should be used?
• How can traditional match analysis be complemented by using positional data and advanced KPIs?
• How can these new methods evolve in the future?

Accessibly written, packed full of examples from elite football and supplemented with expert interviews (Ralf Rangnick, Urs Siegenthaler and others), Data Analytics in Football is a thought-provoking, rigorously evidence-based guide to the use of data analytics in football performance analysis. As such, it is a vital resource for any student, researcher or coach interested in performance analysis and skill acquisition, or anyone interested in football more generally.

Preface by Hansi Flick, Preface by Ralf Rangnick, Acknowledgements, 1. Where is the Revolution?, 2. A Historical Perspective on Positional Data, 3. Technological Background, 4. Collecting Data in the Bundesliga, 5. In Search of the Holy Grail, 6. Betting and Sports Analytics, 7. Where Are They Running?, 8. From Media to Storytelling, 9. Key Properties of Long-Term Success in Football, 10. The Key to Success, 11. Reasons for Dominance, 12. FCB Versus FCB, 13. The Myth of Home Advantage, 14. Managerial Influence, 15. All on Attack, 16. Laws of a Derby, 17. Who is Nominated for the FIFA World Cup 2018?, 18. Conclusion, Index

Daniel Memmert is Professor and Executive Head of the Institute of Training and Computer Science in Sport at the German Sport University Cologne, Germany.

Dominik Raabe is Research Assistant at the Institute of Training and Computer Science in Sport at the German Sport University Cologne, Germany. He is also studying Scientific Computing (MSc) at the Institute of Mathematics at the Technical University Berlin.