Inter-operator reliability of live football match statistics from OPTA Sportsdata

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the inter-operator reliability of OPTA Client System which is used to collect live football match statistics by OPTA Sportsdata Company. Two groups of experienced operators were required to analyze a Spanish league match independently. Results showed that team events coded by independent operators reached a very good agreement (kappa values were 0.92 and 0.94) and average difference of event time was 0.06±0.04 s. The reliability of goalkeeper actions was also at high level, kappa values were 0.92 and 0.86. The high intra-class correlation coefficients (ranged from 0.88 to 1.00) and low standardized typical errors (varied from 0.00 to 0.37) of different match actions and indicators of individual outfield players showed a high level of inter-operator reliability as well. These results suggest that the OPTA Client System is reliable to be used to collect live football match statistics by well trained operators.

Match statistics related to winning in the group stage of 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup

“…The inter-operator reliability of the company's tracking system (OPTA Client System) used to collect football match statistics was identified to have reached an acceptable level (Liu, Hopkins, Gómez, & Molinuevo, 2013). Ethics committee approval of the current study was gained from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.…”

Performance profiles of football teams in the UEFA Champions League considering situational efficiency

“…The reliability of the tracking system (OPTA Client System) which is used by the company to collect football match statistics has been verified by Liu and colleagues (Liu et al, 2013) which showed that team match events coded by independent operators using this system reached a very good agreement (weighted kappa values were 0.92 and 0.94). Ethics committee approval of the study was obtained from the local university.…”

“…As discussed in the introduction, based on the review of available literature (Castellano et al, 2012;Lago-Peñas et al, 2010;Liu et al, 2013), three groups of performance-related match events were chosen: (1) variables related to scoring: shots, shots on target, shots from open play, shots from set piece and shots from counter attack; (2) variables related to attacking and passing: passes, pass accuracy (%), crosses, through balls, corners, dribbles, possession, aerial success (%); and (3) variables related to defending: fouls, tackles, yellow cards. Operational definitions of the variables can be found elsewhere (Liu et al, 2013).…”

Analysis of Match Performance of Full-backs from Selected European Soccer Leagues

“…The data for analysis was provided by an OptaPro match analysis system. Data from each match were taken in real time by three analysts (one for the home team, one for the away team, and one data verifier) and by an IT system tracking the players movements during match play (Liu et al 2013). Every possible type of ball touch and on the ball action in match was covered by a rigid set of definitions which were recorded in the system.…”

“…The analysts have undergone strict training to learn thoroughly about the definitions and to become familiar with the shortcut keys of different actions in the system before formally operating. During the training, an analyst is allowed to use "test servers" to imitate a live match situation (Liu et al 2013;OPTA 2012). The analyzed match variables included the total number of passes, total number of crosses, and total number of ball touches in three zones of the playing field: attack, midfield and defense (each being a 1/3 of the pitch length).…”