PFF FC Partners with Wharton AI & Analytics Initiative to Revolutionize Player Performance Analysis
PFF FC is proud to announce a groundbreaking partnership with the Wharton Sports Analytics and Business Initiative and the Wharton AI and Analytics Initiative of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. This collaboration will bring together the expertise of Wharton’s WSABI and WAIAI programs to push the boundaries of player performance analysis.
Project Overview
The joint research initiative focuses on integrating player tracking and event data to develop advanced models for analyzing player performance. By leveraging cutting-edge methodologies, this collaboration aims to enhance the depth, precision, and applicability of sports analytics in professional football.
The project will concentrate on three major competitions: the English Premier League (EPL), Major League Soccer (MLS), and the 2022 FIFA World Cup, providing a robust dataset for rigorous analysis and innovation.
Research Goals
The research initiative encompasses several critical areas aimed at advancing sports data science. A primary objective is to improve performance metrics by leveraging player tracking data. By modeling player movements and interactions, the project seeks to refine game event analysis and enhance decision-making processes for teams and analysts alike.
Another key focus is the development of an advanced expected goals (xG) model. This model will predict scoring probabilities in various shooting scenarios, analyzing the likelihood of a player scoring based on their positioning and control of the ball. Such insights will provide a deeper understanding of offensive effectiveness and players’ contributions to scoring opportunities.
Additionally, the partnership aims to evaluate player skills through innovative metrics that assess game state, team dynamics, and ball retention probabilities. This approach will illuminate individual and team performance in dynamic, in-play scenarios. The collaboration will also explore other applications within the dataset, encouraging innovation and uncovering new performance indicators that may further enrich sports analytics.
Expected Outcomes and Deliverables
This partnership is expected to produce significant outcomes that will benefit both PFF FC and the wider field of sports analytics. The research will deliver actionable insights that can be integrated into PFF FC’s products, as well as contribute to the academic community through potential publication in leading journals.
To ensure practical application, the collaboration will result in detailed modeling approaches for each objective, including xG analysis, skill evaluation, and exploratory models. These methodologies will be developed in Python or R and documented extensively to ensure their adaptability and reusability. Comprehensive technical reports will accompany each deliverable, outlining the models’ specifications, methodologies, and potential applications. This rigorous documentation will enable PFF FC to seamlessly incorporate the findings into its existing infrastructure while providing a foundation for future research.
A Milestone for Sports Analytics
This collaboration marks a significant step forward in the application of data science to football analytics. By uniting Wharton’s academic rigor with PFF FC’s industry-leading expertise, this initiative promises to deliver innovations that redefine how player performance is measured and understood.
A Milestone for Sports Analytics
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