Highlighting Shooting Opportunities in Football

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 23; no. 9; p. 4244
• Main Authors: Loutfi, Ilias, Gómez-Jordana, Luis Ignacio, Ric, Angel, Milho, João, Passos, Pedro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 24.04.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: attacking patterns; Behavior; co-positioning; Football; heatmaps; high-tech video cameras; soccer; Threats; time and space; Two dimensional models; Portugal; high-tech video cameras; soccer; time and space; heatmaps; co-positioning; attacking patterns
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s23094244

The purpose of the present study was to create a two-dimensional model which illustrates a landscape of shooting opportunities at goal during a competitive football match. For that purpose, we analysed exemplar attacking subphases of each team when the ball was in the last 30 m of the field. The player's positional data (x and y coordinates) and the ball were captured at 25 fps and processed to create heatmaps that illustrated the shooting opportunities that were available in the first and second half in different field areas. Moreover, the time that the shooting opportunities were available was estimated. Results show that in the observed match, most of the shooting opportunities lasted between 1 and 2 s, with only a few opportunities lasting more than 2 s. The shooting opportunities did not display a homogenous distribution over the field. The obtained heatmaps provide valuable and specific information about each team's shooting opportunities, allowing the identification of the most vulnerable areas. Additionally, the amount, duration, and location of the shooting opportunities have shown significant differences between teams. This customizable model is sensitive to the features of shooting opportunities and can be used in real-time video analysis for individual and collective performance analysis.