Network Characteristics of Successful Performance in Association Football. A Study on the UEFA Champions League

Abstract

The synergistic interaction between teammates in association football has properties that can be captured by Social Network Analysis (SNA). The analysis of networks formed by team players passing a ball in a match shows that team success is correlated with high network density and clustering coefficient, as well as with reduced network centralization. However, oversimplification needs to be avoided, as network metrics events associated with success should not be considered equally to those that are not. In the present study, we investigated whether network density, clustering coefficient and centralization can predict successful or unsuccessful team performance. We analyzed 12 games of the Group Stage of UEFA Champions League 2015/2016 Group C by using public records from TV broadcasts. Notational analyses were performed to categorize attacking sequences as successful or unsuccessful, and to collect data on the ball-passing networks. The network metrics were then computed. A hierarchical logistic-regression model was used to predict the successfulness of the offensive plays from network density, clustering coefficient and centralization, after controlling for the effect of total passes on successfulness of offensive plays. Results confirmed the independent effect of network metrics. Density, but not clustering coefficient or centralization, was a significant predictor of the successfulness of offensive plays. We found a negative relation between density and successfulness of offensive plays. However, reduced density was associated with a higher number of offensive plays, albeit mostly unsuccessful. Conversely, high density was associated with a lower number of successful offensive plays (SOPs), but also with overall fewer offensive plays and “ball possession losses” before the attacking team entered the finishing zone. Independent SNA of team performance is important to minimize the limitations of oversimplifying effective team synergies.

Comparison of network processes between successful and unsuccessful offensive sequences in elite soccer

“…These results are in line with previous findings, indicating a negative effect of density on the success of offense [19]. One explanation for higher total links and density in unsuccessful offensive units may be that when teams perform a higher number of passes, they spend more time on offense, allowing the opponent to reorganize the defensive block and making it more difficult to score a goal.…”

“…Successful teams presented a higher number of connections amongst players [4] and these were positively associated with team performance [19]. Conversely, a higher number of total links (passes) was observed in this study in unsuccessful offensive units compared with successful ones in teams that achieved the last 3 stages of the competition (round of 8, semifinals, and the final).…”

Passing Decisions in Football: Introducing an Empirical Approach to Estimating the Effects of Perceptual Information and Associative Knowledge

“…Within each of the 38 game scenarios used in the study, the values for the openness of passing lanes, Euclidean distances, and defensive coverage were linearly transformed to values between 1 and 10. In addition to adjusting model sensitivity (e.g., Pina et al, 2017 ), this transformation helps maintain information about the situation-specific distribution of the predictor variables within the variable values. The predictor variables were z-standardized and screened for univariate outliers.…”

Using position data to estimate effects of perceptual features of play on passing decisions in soccer

“…The resulting values were then divided by the variable's range in that game situation, resulting in numbers between zero and one. To adjust for model sensitivity (e.g., Pina, Paulo, & Araújo, 2017), the values were multiplied by a factor of nine to obtain values between zero and nine. These variables were z-standardized and screened for outliers.…”