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Current Approaches to Tactical Performance Analyses in Soccer Using Position Data

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Abstract

Tactical match performance depends on the quality of actions of individual players or teams in space and time during match-play in order to be successful. Technological innovations have led to new possibilities to capture accurate spatio-temporal information of all players and unravel the dynamics and complexity of soccer matches. The main aim of this article is to give an overview of the current state of development of the analysis of position data in soccer. Based on the same single set of position data of a high-level 11 versus 11 match (Bayern Munich against FC Barcelona) three different promising approaches from the perspective of dynamic systems and neural networks will be presented: Tactical performance analysis revealed inter-player coordination, inter-team and inter-line coordination before critical events, as well as team-team interaction and compactness coefficients. This could lead to a multi-disciplinary discussion on match analyses in sport science and new avenues for theoretical and practical implications in soccer.

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Acknowledgements

The content of this leading article is based on three lectures given by the authors to an invited symposium at the European College of Sport Science 2014 Congress held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cognitive and Team/Racket Sport Research, German Sport University, Am Sportpark Müngersdorf 6, 50933, Cologne, Germany

    Daniel Memmert

  2. Center for Human Movement Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen/University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Koen A. P. M. Lemmink

  3. Research Center for Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development (CIDESD), University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal

    Jaime Sampaio

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  1. Daniel Memmert
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  2. Koen A. P. M. Lemmink
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  3. Jaime Sampaio
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Correspondence to Daniel Memmert.

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Funding

No financial support was received for the planning or conduct of the research presented in this article. Preparation of the article was supported by a Grant from the German Research Council (DFG, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) [ME 2678/3-3] to Daniel Memmert.

Conflict of interest

Daniel Memmert, Koen A.P.M. Lemmink and Jaime Sampaio declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of this article.

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Memmert, D., Lemmink, K.A.P.M. & Sampaio, J. Current Approaches to Tactical Performance Analyses in Soccer Using Position Data. Sports Med 47, 1–10 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0562-5

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