Blog
Soccernomics - Football and Big Data
Geoff Riley
21st August 2013
A special article in The Economist this week looks at the expanding role of big data analysis in the world of professional soccer. Football is one of the hardest sports to analyse with statistics. But English clubs are at last starting to put Big Data to use.
A new book by US behavioural economists The Numbers Game, by Anderson and Sally, is a very interesting analytical perspective on soccer. For example, they calculate the average match points obtained in the Premier League by teams scoring 0,1, 2 goals etc, and teams conceding 0, 1,2 etc. They find that strengthening defence has a bigger pay off then strengthening attack.
Economist video on their special report
The Numbers Game - relevant links
The Guardian - book review
New Statesman - book review
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.