Using network science to analyze football passing networks: dynamics, space, time and the multilayer nature of the game

TL;DR

This paper explores how network science can be used to analyze football passing networks, capturing team dynamics, spatial and temporal aspects, and the multilayer structure of the game beyond individual performance metrics.

Contribution

It demonstrates the potential of network science to analyze complex team behaviors in football, emphasizing the importance of system-level analysis over individual metrics.

Findings

Network analysis reveals patterns in team coordination.

Spatial and temporal dynamics are crucial for understanding gameplay.

Multilayer network models capture the complexity of football matches.

Abstract

From the diversity of applications of Network Science, in this Opinion Paper we are concerned about its potential to analyze one of the most extended group sports: Football (soccer in U.S. terminology). As we will see, Network Science allows addressing different aspects of the team organization and performance not captured by classical analyses based on the performance of individual players. The reason behind relies on the complex nature of the game, which, paraphrasing the foundational paradigm of complexity sciences "can not be analyzed by looking at its components (i.e., players) individually but, on the contrary, considering the system as a whole" or, in the classical words of after-match interviews "it's not just me, it's the team".