Football Analytics

Our Football Analytics short course aims to develop managers who are able to make decisions, based on provided models, regarding both player and team valuations.

The performance data industry in football has grown dramatically in recent years and detailed data and analytics have become integrated within club processes. Professional teams can now access this data and employ performance analysts to help coaches, scouts, players and executives work with the new technologies available, particularly video.

It is essential that staff are equipped with the skills to interpret and apply this information correctly and also be able to present and discuss it with key decision makers. Teams also amass large databases of their own subjective information on players, but may not be able to manage that data appropriately, and clubs can still have limited knowledge of how to use data to strategically plan for the future and in budgeting. On the other hand, some teams have made great progress in this area employing data scientists to build advanced models. Whilst this progress is excellent, new problems are raised where many within the team aren’t able to interpret the advanced outputs being shown.

It is the analysts who have the chance to improve this dramatically. Using practical case studies, this Football Analytics short course offered at postgraduate level gives you the opportunity to gain knowledge and skills relating to:

• the statistical landscape in sport: how data is used in elite sport
• statistical models and their application in football
• collecting and analysing subjective data: integration of different datasets
• using data in an applied setting
• analytical software
• data visualisation: best practice
• presenting advanced analysis: managing conversations and negotiating with decision-makers
• long-term, strategic planning using data beyond ‘day-to-day’ work.

This short course is assessed by an examination and a group presentation.