Inside the World of Soccer Statistics: How Soccer Statistics Are Collected

Discover the surprising manual process behind the data that drives soccer’s stats.

Tenedos
6 min readAug 22, 2024

Soccer, often called “the beautiful game,” is loved by millions of fans around the world. Every match is full of excitement, with goals, passes, and dramatic moments. But have you ever wondered how every single pass, ball recovery, or interception is recorded and analyzed? Some people might think that all this is done by a “supercomputer” using artificial intelligence (AI), but the truth is more straightforward. Most of the work is done manually by skilled people.

In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at how soccer statistics are gathered and analyzed. We’ll explore the roles of companies like Opta and StatsBomb, which provide real-time data to clients like betting companies, fantasy soccer websites, and live score apps. We’ll also explain how human analysts work to collect this data and discuss the future possibilities of using AI in this field.

Photo by Mario Klassen on Unsplash

1 The Leaders in Soccer Statistics

When it comes to collecting soccer statistics, Opta and StatsBomb are the big names. These companies are leaders in the industry, supplying real-time data to clients during live matches. They cover…

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Tenedos

I love to write about technology and turn complex topics into engaging reads