Spatial similarity index for scouting in football

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel spatial similarity index for football player scouting, leveraging spatial data analysis to identify players with similar profiles based on their positions on the field.

Contribution

The paper presents a new spatial similarity index that incorporates positional data, enhancing player comparison methods in football scouting.

Findings

Successfully applied to La Liga data from 2019-2020

Identifies players with similar spatial profiles effectively

Offers a new tool for football talent scouting

Abstract

Finding players with similar profiles is an important problem in sports such as football. Scouting for new players requires a wealth of information about the available players so that similar profiles to that of a target player can be identified. However, information about the position of the players in the field is seldom used. For this reason, a novel approach based on spatial data analysis is introduced to produce a spatial similarity index that can help to identify similar players. The use of this new spatial similarity index is illustrated to identify similar players using spatial data from the Spanish competition "La Liga", season 2019-2020.