The origins of goals in the German Bundesliga. Issue 22 (17th November 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Anzer, Gabriel; Bauer, Pascal; Brefeld, Ulf
• Is Part Of: Journal of sports sciences. Volume 39:Issue 22(2021)
• Page Start: 2525
• Page End: 2544
• Publication Date: 2021-11-17
• Subjects: Sports analytics -- Professional football (Soccer) -- Hierarchical Clustering -- Tactical Analysis; Sports -- Periodicals; Sports -- Physiological aspects -- Periodicals; Sports -- Psychological aspects -- Periodicals; 612.044
• DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2021.1943981
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0264-0414

Abstract

ABSTRACT: We propose to analyse the origin of goals in professional football (soccer) in a purely data-driven approach. Based on positional and event data of 3, 457 goals from two seasons German Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga (2018/20, 219 and 2019/2020), we devise a rich set of 37 features that can be extracted automatically and propose a hierarchical clustering approach to identify group structures. The results consist of 50 interpretable clusters revealing insights into scoring patterns. The hierarchical clustering found 8 alone standing clusters (penalties, direct free kicks, kick and rush, one-two's, assisted by header, assisted by throw-in) and nine categories (e.g., corners) combining more granular patterns (e.g., five subcategories of corner-goals). We provide a thorough discussion of the clustering and show its relevance for practical applications in opponent analysis, player scouting and for long-term investigations. All stages of this work have been supported by professional analysts from clubs and federation.