IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jorssc/v70y2021i1p174-201.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Bayesian approach for determining player abilities in football

Author

Listed:
  • Gavin A. Whitaker
  • Ricardo Silva
  • Daniel Edwards
  • Ioannis Kosmidis

Abstract

We consider the task of determining a football player’s ability for a given event type, for example, scoring a goal. We propose an interpretable Bayesian model which is fit using variational inference methods. We implement a Poisson model to capture occurrences of event types, from which we infer player abilities. Our approach also allows the visualisation of differences between players, for a specific ability, through the marginal posterior variational densities. We then use these inferred player abilities to extend the Bayesian hierarchical model of Baio and Blangiardo (2010, Journal of Applied Statistics, 37(2), 253–264) which captures a team’s scoring rate (the rate at which they score goals). We apply the resulting scheme to the English Premier League, capturing player abilities over the 2013/2014 season, before using output from the hierarchical model to predict whether over or under 2.5 goals will be scored in a given game in the 2014/2015 season. This validates our model as a way of providing insights into team formation and the individual success of sports teams.

Suggested Citation

  • Gavin A. Whitaker & Ricardo Silva & Daniel Edwards & Ioannis Kosmidis, 2021. "A Bayesian approach for determining player abilities in football," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 70(1), pages 174-201, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jorssc:v:70:y:2021:i:1:p:174-201
    DOI: 10.1111/rssc.12454
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/rssc.12454
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/rssc.12454?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David M. Blei & Alp Kucukelbir & Jon D. McAuliffe, 2017. "Variational Inference: A Review for Statisticians," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 112(518), pages 859-877, April.
    2. Chib, Siddhartha, 2001. "Markov chain Monte Carlo methods: computation and inference," Handbook of Econometrics, in: J.J. Heckman & E.E. Leamer (ed.), Handbook of Econometrics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 57, pages 3569-3649, Elsevier.
    3. Gianluca Baio & Marta Blangiardo, 2010. "Bayesian hierarchical model for the prediction of football results," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 253-264.
    4. Boshnakov, Georgi & Kharrat, Tarak & McHale, Ian G., 2017. "A bivariate Weibull count model for forecasting association football scores," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 458-466.
    5. Chib, Siddhartha & Winkelmann, Rainer, 2001. "Markov Chain Monte Carlo Analysis of Correlated Count Data," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(4), pages 428-435, October.
    6. Ian G. McHale & Philip A. Scarf & David E. Folker, 2012. "On the Development of a Soccer Player Performance Rating System for the English Premier League," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 42(4), pages 339-351, August.
    7. Ruiz Francisco J. R. & Perez-Cruz Fernando, 2015. "A generative model for predicting outcomes in college basketball," Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 39-52, March.
    8. Ian G. McHale & Łukasz Szczepański, 2014. "A mixed effects model for identifying goal scoring ability of footballers," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 177(2), pages 397-417, February.
    9. M. J. Maher, 1982. "Modelling association football scores," Statistica Neerlandica, Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research, vol. 36(3), pages 109-118, September.
    10. Marc Gronwald & Beat Hintermann, 2016. "Explaining the EUA-CER Spread," CESifo Working Paper Series 5795, CESifo.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kharrat, Tarak & McHale, Ian G. & Peña, Javier López, 2020. "Plus–minus player ratings for soccer," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 283(2), pages 726-736.
    2. Rose D. Baker & Ian G. McHale, 2015. "Time varying ratings in association football: the all-time greatest team is.," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 178(2), pages 481-492, February.
    3. Takahashi, Makoto & Watanabe, Toshiaki & Omori, Yasuhiro, 2016. "Volatility and quantile forecasts by realized stochastic volatility models with generalized hyperbolic distribution," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 437-457.
    4. Holmes, Benjamin & McHale, Ian G. & Żychaluk, Kamila, 2023. "A Markov chain model for forecasting results of mixed martial arts contests," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 623-640.
    5. Alain Pirotte & Jean-Loup Madre, 2011. "Determinants of Urban Sprawl in France," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(13), pages 2865-2886, October.
    6. J. James Reade & Carl Singleton & Alasdair Brown, 2021. "Evaluating strange forecasts: The curious case of football match scorelines," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 68(2), pages 261-285, May.
    7. Azam, Kazim & Pitt, Michael, 2014. "Bayesian Inference for a Semi-Parametric Copula-based Markov Chain," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1051, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    8. Babatunde Buraimo & David Forrest & Ian G. McHale & J.D. Tena, 2020. "Armchair Fans: New Insights Into The Demand For Televised Soccer," Working Papers 202020, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    9. Jensen Mark J., 2016. "Robust estimation of nonstationary, fractionally integrated, autoregressive, stochastic volatility," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 20(4), pages 455-475, September.
    10. Xianhua Dai & Wolfgang Karl Härdle & Keming Yu, 2016. "Do maternal health problems influence child's worrying status? Evidence from the British Cohort Study," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(16), pages 2941-2955, December.
    11. P. Girardello & Orietta Nicolis & Giovanni Tondini, 2002. "Comparing conditional variance models: Theory and empirical evidence," Departmental Working Papers 2002-08, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    12. Gianluca Baio & Marta Blangiardo, 2010. "Bayesian hierarchical model for the prediction of football results," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 253-264.
    13. Shinya Sugawara & Yasuhiro Omori, 2017. "An Econometric Analysis of Insurance Markets with Separate Identification for Moral Hazard and Selection Problems," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 50(3), pages 473-502, October.
    14. Robert C. Smit & Francesco Ravazzolo & Luca Rossini, 2020. "Dynamic Bayesian forecasting of English Premier League match results with the Skellam distribution," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS72, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.
    15. Paolo Girardello & Orietta Nicolis & Giovanni Tondini, 2003. "Comparing Conditional Variance Models: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 7(3-4), pages 177-206, September.
    16. Leonardo Egidi & Nicola Torelli, 2021. "Comparing Goal-Based and Result-Based Approaches in Modelling Football Outcomes," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 801-813, August.
    17. Shirota, Shinichiro & Omori, Yasuhiro & F. Lopes, Hedibert. & Piao, Haixiang, 2017. "Cholesky realized stochastic volatility model," Econometrics and Statistics, Elsevier, vol. 3(C), pages 34-59.
    18. Buraimo, Babatunde & Forrest, David & McHale, Ian G. & Tena, J.D., 2022. "Armchair fans: Modelling audience size for televised football matches," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 298(2), pages 644-655.
    19. Yoshihiro Ohtsuka, 2018. "Large Shocks and the Business Cycle: The Effect of Outlier Adjustments," Journal of Business Cycle Research, Springer;Centre for International Research on Economic Tendency Surveys (CIRET), vol. 14(1), pages 143-178, April.
    20. Federico Fioravanti & Fernando Delbianco & Fernando Tohmé, 2023. "The relative importance of ability, luck and motivation in team sports: a Bayesian model of performance in the English Rugby Premiership," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 32(3), pages 715-731, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jorssc:v:70:y:2021:i:1:p:174-201. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rssssea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.