Umeå University's logo

umu.sePublications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Detecting Playing Styles In Swedish Football: A Clustering Approach
Umeå University, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics.
2023 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (professional degree), 20 credits / 30 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

This thesis presents an investigation regarding the playing styles of football teams in Allsvenskan, the biggest football competition in Sweden, using clustering analysis. The research makes use of data pre-processing, feature engineering, and K-Means clustering to identify different, distinct, clusters that aim to represent different playing philosophies. The dataset undergoes pre-processing, including cleaning and normalization, to ensure good quality for performing clustering analysis. Plenty of features are, with caution, engineered to capture dominance in possession, physical intensity, and defense qualities. The resulting clusters reveal various playing styles, ranging from possession-based teams to physically intense counter-attacking teams. The practical implications of the analysis are discussed, highlighting the value for Football Analytics Sweden and their clients in areas such as team composition and match strategies. Future work suggestions include investigating how playing styles change when teams take the lead or concede, as well as using the model with real-time data for media purposes. The framework delivery to the company includes Python scripts for data processing and visualization, as well as the clustering model implementation. The comprehensive report documents the methodology, results, and practical implications. This thesis contributes to football analytics by uncovering playing styles, empowering decision-making processes, and providing a foundation for future research.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2023.
National Category
Engineering and Technology Mathematics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-223549OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-223549DiVA, id: diva2:1852631
Educational program
Master of Science in Engineering and Management
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2024-04-19 Created: 2024-04-18 Last updated: 2024-07-02Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(14093 kB)666 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 14093 kBChecksum SHA-512
e427a42a886d7ca5400b10b1bf5d8ddd20d18852de5c602805257428e9814e0a00e33b1e40d2b4f4e86a62ee920a33a53a841af5a7902cb6528db6f377230b75
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

By organisation
Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics
Engineering and TechnologyMathematics

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 666 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 1661 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf