IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/rpanxx/v11y2011i3p438-449.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors Associated with Goals and Goal Scoring Opportunities in Professional Soccer

Author

Listed:
  • Craig Wright
  • Steve Atkins
  • Remco Polman
  • Bryan Jones
  • Lee Sargeson .

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the factors associated with goals and goal scoring opportunities in soccer taking into consideration a broader range of performance indicators. The study was part exploratory but, based on the current literature, we also developed some a priori predictions. In particular, it was predicted that (a) most goals would be scored within the penalty area (> 70%); (b) approximately 30% of goals would be scored from set plays and (c) the majority (> 70%) of goals would be scored from a relatively short (< 4) passing interchange. Data was collected from 1788 attempts and 169 goals for an English FA Premier League season. The Web-soft snapper performance analysis tool was used to time code when attempts on goal were made and the associated behaviours relating to the attempt on goal. All a priori predictions were supported. The binary logistic regression identified 3 covariates which had a significant (P < 0.05) impact on goals scored. This included position of attempt; goal keepers’ positions and type of shoot. Transitions in play accounted for 63% of all goals scored and well over half of all attempts on goal. Although similarities were evident between this and previous literature, this investigation also highlighted the importance of other key variables associated with goals and goal scoring opportunities. The high contribution of factors associated with transitions in play helped to uncover the importance of tracking goals and goal scoring opportunities back to their point of origin.

Suggested Citation

  • Craig Wright & Steve Atkins & Remco Polman & Bryan Jones & Lee Sargeson ., 2011. "Factors Associated with Goals and Goal Scoring Opportunities in Professional Soccer," International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 438-449, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rpanxx:v:11:y:2011:i:3:p:438-449
    DOI: 10.1080/24748668.2011.11868563
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/24748668.2011.11868563
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/24748668.2011.11868563?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sumit Sarkar & Sooraj Kamath, 2023. "Does luck play a role in the determination of the rank positions in football leagues? A study of Europe’s ‘big five’," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 325(1), pages 245-260, June.
    2. Carlos Lago-Peñas & Miguel Gómez-Ruano & Gai Yang, 2017. "Styles of play in professional soccer: an approach of the Chinese Soccer Super League," International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(6), pages 1073-1084, November.
    3. Marc Brechot & Raphael Flepp, 2020. "Dealing With Randomness in Match Outcomes: How to Rethink Performance Evaluation in European Club Football Using Expected Goals," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(4), pages 335-362, May.
    4. Christoph Buehren & Dominic Jung, 2022. "Performing without pressure? The effect of ghost games on effort- and skill-based tasks in the football Bundesliga," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202227, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    5. Marc Brechot & Raphael Flepp, 2018. "Dealing with randomness in match outcomes: how to rethink performance evaluation and decision-making in European club football," Working Papers 374, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).

    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:taf:rpanxx:v:11:y:2011:i:3:p:438-449. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RPAN20 .

    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.