- Soccer Analytics Tutorial: Scraping EPL Data using R (2022 Update)Reading Time: 10 minutes This is an update to last year’s web scraping tutorial. I focus on getting data from my beloved fbref.com for Manchester City, the English Premier League 2021-22 champions. This guide uses R programming.
- EURO 2020 SERIES: The Statistical Breakdown of Central DefendersReading Time: 9 minutes We present different central defenders and their EURO 2020 stats, having analysed their performance over nine different categories.
- EURO 2020 Introduction to the Statistical Breakdown of Every PositionReading Time: 3 minutes Some days after I watched the EURO 2020 Final, I was contemplating what should be our farewell to the competition. I had already decided that I was not interested in writing an analysis of the Final and instead I believed that it would be more interesting to focus on the best performers. After a discussion with Bill, the idea of a series of articles focused on the players’ statistical breakdown was born.
- Messi and Neymar Top the 2021 Copa América Player Stats LeaderboardsReading Time: 5 minutes In a hard fought final against Brazil, Argentina won their 1st Copa América title since 1993. Messi gave it all he had and won his first ever international title. He really wanted to lift the trophy and the stats we gather prove that!
- EURO 2020 Semi-Finals analysis and a breakdown of the finalReading Time: 7 minutes Italy went for a different approach, struggled against the ball-dominant Spain but Donnarumma saved the day. England was the better team, missed plenty of chances but needed some extra help to qualify to the Final.
- Advanced Soccer Analytics: EURO 2020 Final Predictions (A Shot of Poisson)Reading Time: 7 minutes What a EURO it has been! It’s had it all: emotions, tension, goals, own goals, records broken, controversial decisions. The EURO 2020 will definitely be remembered for years to come! The final will be played at the Wembley Stadium in London. Can England lift their first EURO trophy in their home ground? Is “football coming home” or is “football coming to Rome”?
- EURO 2020 Player Clusters: The Good, the Bad, and the Awesome (Semi-Finals Edition)Reading Time: 7 minutes This EURO’s semi-finals contain a very impressive group of players. There are so many players that stand out from each team, each for their own reasons. Some performances come as a surprise, either good or bad, while others have played as expected. Lucky enough, both
- Advanced Soccer Analytics: EURO 2020 Semi-Finals Predictions (I got the Poisson, I got the Remedy)Reading Time: 7 minutes The EURO2020 is turning out as the tournament of surprises and high scores. The model managed to successfully predict the good and efficient performance of Belgium and England. It also predicted that the match between Spain and Croatia would be balanced (with a slight advantage in favor of Spain, as it turned out in overtime). Italy had a hard time but eventually progressed while in the other knockout matches we had surprises that were difficult to predict by a model or experts of the sport. The definition of the model is given in detail at the end of this article.
- Betting Value: Finding Value in the Bookmakers’ Odds (EURO 2020 Quarter-Finals Day 2)Reading Time: 5 minutes Our attempt here is to find where bookmakers’ overvalue or undervalue an outcome. To do that, we compare the probabilities and odds of the bookmakers to those of the bivariate Poisson model.
- Advanced Soccer Analytics: EURO 2020 Quarter-Finals Predictions (Choose Your Poisson)Reading Time: 7 minutes The EURO2020 is turning out as the tournament of surprises and high scores. The model managed to successfully predict the good and efficient performance of Belgium and England. It also predicted that the match between Spain and Croatia would be balanced (with a slight advantage in favor of Spain, as it turned out in overtime). Italy had a hard time but eventually progressed while in the other knockout matches we had surprises that were difficult to predict by a model or experts of the sport. The definition of the model is given in detail at the end of this article.
- EURO 2020 Goalkeepers: What Do the Stats Tell us?Reading Time: 3 minutes What kind of stats would a coach want to see for his goalkeeper? Of course, 0 saves off of 0 shots on target. The better the defense the happier the manager! But, in a realistic scenario such as this year’s EUROs, keepers must be able to block shots and also play with their feet.
- Betting Value: Finding the Bookmakers’ Mistakes (EURO 2020 Quarter-Finals Day 1)Reading Time: 5 minutes Our attempt here is to find where bookmakers’ overvalue or undervalue an outcome. To do that, we compare the probabilities and odds of the bookmakers to those of the bivariate Poisson model.
- EURO 2020 Analysis: Denmark’s Formations and Superb Tactical ApproachReading Time: 8 minutes I watched Denmark vs Wales for my affinity for Danish football and my interest in Kasper Hjulmand’s preferred tactical approach. I enjoyed watching him orchestrate his team’s magnificent performance. In my analysis, I elaborate on the Danish players’ roles and present an easy to understand tactical breakdown.
- UEFA EURO 2020 Group Stage Stats Recap: Top Players – Part 4 of 4 (Round 16 Matchday 4)Reading Time: 3 minutes Team Stats leaders that play on June 28 knockout games: Toni Kroos, Kalvin Phillips, Alexander Isak, Andriy Yarmolenko
- UEFA EURO 2020 Group Stage Stats Recap: Top Players – Part 3 of 4 (Round 16 Matchday 3)Reading Time: 3 minutes Team Stats leaders that play on June 27 knockout games: Memphis Depay (3rd), Cristiano Ronaldo (5th), Kevin De Bruyne (14th), Patrik Schick
- Advanced Soccer Analytics: EURO 2020 Round of 16 Predictions (Choose Your Poisson)Reading Time: 8 minutes “After the first analysis on June 22, 2021 on the predictions for the last games in the Group Stage for the EURO 2020, we move on to the scientific predictions for the Round of 16 Knockout Stage”
- UEFA EURO 2020 Group Stage Stats Recap: Top Players – Part 2 of 4 (Round 16 Matchday 2)Reading Time: 3 minutes Team Stats leaders that play on June 27 knockout games: Memphis Depay (3rd), Cristiano Ronaldo (5th), Kevin De Bruyne (14th), Patrik Schick
- UEFA EURO 2020 Group Stage Visual Recap: A Comparison of Top Players Based on Stats. Part 1 of 4 (Round 16 Matchday 1)Reading Time: 3 minutes Toni Kroos is MAGNIFICENT, Pedri is amazing, Memphis Depay is awesome But you already knew that and we won’t talk about them today. Stay tuned! Basic and Advanced Stat Categories for Our Comparison We use our beloved fbref.com for stats. If you haven’t already, check
- EURO 2020 Fantasy: Projected Points and Probabilities for the Round of 16Reading Time: 2 minutes The EURO 2020 Fantasy tournament starts again today. Are you excited? Our algorithm team has not been doing too good. We had 65 points in Matchday 1, 29 in Matchday 2, and 49 in Matchday 3. With 143 points, we are 25th in our Sweep
- Soccer Analytics for Beginners: An R Tutorial on EURO 2020 Data – Web Scraping & Radar PlotsReading Time: 12 minutes Bill K from SweepSportsAnalytics.com presents Soccer Analytics for Beginners: An R Tutorial with EURO 2020 Data – Web Scraping & Radar Plots. Step 1: Download R Studio Step 2: Install packages Step 3: Load libraries Step 4: Read fbref.com URLs Step 5: Read a single pair of tables for a single game Step 6: Read all tables for all games Step 7: Create summary data frame Step 8: Select players Step 9: Create the radar plots Step 10: Make the graph presentable Step 11: Interpret the graph
- EURO 2020 Group F: Matchday 2 Review & Matchday 3 Outlook – France, Germany, Portugal, and Hungary All Potential Casualties in the Group of DeathReading Time: 3 minutes The Group of Death turned out to be even more exciting than expected. All four teams have a chance to make it to the next round. Every goal counts as the 3rd place may lead to the next round as well.
- UEFA EURO 2020 Group E: Matchday 2 Review & Matchday 3 Outlook – Spain, Sweden, Poland, and Slovakia Battle It OutReading Time: 4 minutes Spain absolutely needs a win against Slovakia. The Spaniards are strong favorites, with 80% chances of winning. Slovakia will work hard to at least get a draw that would see them qualify to the round of 16. Poland and Sweden have similar chances of winning, with the Central European team having a slight edge. With a draw, the Scandinavians would clinch at least 2nd place and may even finish 1st if the other group match ends as a tie too.
- UEFA EURO 2020: Group D – Czech Republic VS England PreviewReading Time: 3 minutes England Are Favorites to Top Group D with Win over the Czech Republic. The hype is there for England; the good performances are not. Czech Republic not to be underestimated. The Czech Republic is lucky as it goes. Maybe their luck runs off against an England side that needs to put behind their poor performance against Scotland.
- UEFA EURO 2020: Group D – Croatia vs Scotland PreviewReading Time: 5 minutes Croatia and Scotland are neck in neck to make it to the round of 16. Will Croatia improve before it’s too late? Scotland performs better than you think. No team will settle for a draw, and we are looking forward to watching a display of offensive football with plenty of chances, and hopefully goals.
- EURO 2020: Group C – Matchday 2 Review & Matchday 3 OutlookReading Time: 4 minutes Both Austria and Ukraine will qualify with a draw, but chances are that Ukraine won’t risk conceding a late goal. The Netherlands have qualified and North Macedonia have already exited the tournament.
- EURO 2020: Group B – Matchday 2 Review & Matchday 3 OutlookReading Time: 5 minutes Belgium are the obvious favorites in their match against Finland. Russia against Denmark is a much expected game against two sides that play different styles of football.
- EURO 2020: Group A Matchday 3 – Switzerland vs Turkey Review & OutlookReading Time: 2 minutes Both the Swiss and Turks have been underperforming. Who will turn it around? Group A has already offered brilliant highlights and an amazing football story to follow. Italy has been praised for their fluid attacking style and they put 3 goals passed both Switzerland and
- EURO 2020: Group A Matchday 3 – Italy vs Wales Review & OutlookReading Time: 3 minutes Italy has been performing great, will Wales put a halt to their winning streak? Group A has already offered brilliant highlights and an amazing football story to follow. Italy has been praised for their fluid attacking style, and we are certainly amazed by their exceptional
- EURO 2020: Group F – Matchday 1 Review and Updated OutlookReading Time: 4 minutes France and Portugal made their first step towards the round of 16 Portugal writes history scoring 3 goals in the final 10 minutes of the game What an impressive feat for Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo also broke some important records; Not only has he become the
- EURO 2020: Group E – Matchday 1 Review and Updated OutlookReading Time: 4 minutes Spain couldn’t overcome Sweden and Slovakia pulls off an upset. Spain’s impeccable 85% of possession was not enough. The opening game turned out more challenging for Spain than what the statistical representation suggests. Spain’s control of the ball and the middle of the pitch pushed
- EURO 2020: Group D – Matchday 1 Review and Updated OutlookReading Time: 4 minutes Group D England broke their Matchday 1 spell and a 3-way battle for the knockout phase expected England faced Croatia and was arguably the better team of the night. England’s midfield work rate and aggression choked Croatian super star Luka Modric. While Croatia’s counter-attacks proved
- Euro 2020: Groups A, B, & C – Review and Updated OutlookReading Time: 3 minutes Group A: A Surprise Draw Made Things Interesting Matchday 1 Italy put on a great performance and got the win, as expected. The fresh Italian team took advantage of Turkey’s mistakes. Turkey had some nice attacking glimpses but failed to convert. The “surprise” came with
- Copa América – Group A PreviewReading Time: 2 minutes Player Preview Neymar ready to lead Brazil to another title Neymar is a rare talented leader who has his eyes set on a back-to-back title with Brazil. It’s likely that he’ll lead the competition in goals with his attacking form. André Carrillo to continue his
- Copa América – Group B PreviewReading Time: 2 minutes Overview Lio Messi Expected to Star Pursuing his first title with Argentina, La Liga’s top goalscorer wants to put an end to his team’s 28-year draught. But first, will they manage to “conquer” their nemesis, Chile, during Matchday 1? Marcelo Martins Moreno is here to
- Our Euro 2020 Fantasy Optimized LineupReading Time: < 1 minute The Euros are finally here! Our algorithms had a party today and worked on our Fantasy Football lineup. We used betting odds from multiple bookmakers to calculate the probabilities of each player scoring fantasy points. It is not what we expected but we’ll trust our
- UEFA Euro 2020 – Group F Predictions and Top PlayersReading Time: 2 minutes We crunched the numbers, ran 1,000 simulations, and this is what we got! The best group was saved for last. Anything goes here in the group of death as @equipedefrance@dfb_team and @portugal battle for a spot to take them through to the next round. Can @mlsztv do any damage? #euro2020#uefa#footballanalytics#socceranalytics#france#deutschland#portugal#hungary#montecarlo#odds#rprogramming#predictions
- UEFA Euro 2020 – Group E Predictions and Top PlayersReading Time: 2 minutes We crunched the numbers, ran 1,000 simulations, and this is what we got! @_rl9 had an amazing season this year. Can he lead a good @laczynaspilka squad to glory against a fresh @sefutbol team? @swemnt is also going to put up a fight and let’s see how @sfzofficial and @kuco33 perform. What are your predictions? #euro2020#uefa#footballanalytics#socceranalytics#españa#poland#sweden#slovakia#montecarlo#odds#rprogramming#predictions
- UEFA Euro 2020 – Group D Predictions and Top PlayersReading Time: 2 minutes We crunched the numbers, ran 1,000 simulations, and this is what we got! Is football coming home to @england this year? The squad is packed with talent that have gained great experience since the last major tournament. Excited to see how @hns_cff, @ceskarepre, and @scotlandnationalteam battle it out. #euro2020#uefa#footballanalytics#socceranalytics#england#croatia#czechrepublic#scotland#montecarlo#odds#rprogramming#predictions
- UEFA Euro 2020 – Group C Predictions and Top PlayersReading Time: 2 minutes We crunched the numbers, ran 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations, and this is what we got! The Netherlands are clear favorites but anything goes for the 2nd and 3rd place spot as Austria and Ukraine battle it out. I wouldn’t underestimate North Macedonia, there’s some great
- UEFA Euro 2020 – Group B Predictions and Top PlayersReading Time: 2 minutes We crunched the numbers, ran 1,000 simulations, and this is what we got! There are bunch of exciting players in this group and everyone will be watching a super-talented Belgium team as the try to reach the finals.Swipe through the graphs for some player stats
- Join our Euro 2020 fantasy league!Reading Time: < 1 minute Click on the link below or enter the code 72LUL71H07 to compete against a group of data enthusiasts. Good luck! https://gaming.uefa.com/en/uefaeuro2020fantasyfootball/leagues/72LUL71H07/00530077006500650070002000530070006F00720074007300200041006E0061006C00790074006900630073/The%20Broom
- UEFA Euro 2020 – Group A Predictions and Top playersReading Time: 2 minutes We crunched the numbers, ran 1,000 simulations, and this is what we got! It looks like it will be a tight battle between Switzerland and Turkey for 2nd place. Italy has an interesting talented team. Can Wales mess up the party? What do you think?