Space evaluation at the starting point of soccer transitions

TL;DR

This paper introduces OBPV, a novel method for evaluating space at the start of soccer transitions, improving upon previous models by assessing the entire pitch and capturing team-specific space utilization patterns.

Contribution

The paper presents OBPV, an advanced space evaluation method that extends existing models to better analyze transition points in soccer using new field value and transition kernel models.

Findings

OBPV effectively highlights space utilization during counter-attacks.

OBPV reveals team-specific space usage patterns after transitions.

Experiments demonstrate OBPV's ability to analyze space in La Liga data.

Abstract

Soccer is a sport played on a pitch where effective use of space is crucial. Decision-making during transitions, when possession switches between teams, has been increasingly important, but research on space evaluation in these moments has been limited. Recent space evaluation methods such as OBSO (Off-Ball Scoring Opportunity) use scoring probability, so it is not well-suited for assessing areas far from the goal, where transitions typically occur. In this paper, we propose OBPV (Off-Ball Positioning Value) to evaluate space across the pitch, including the starting points of transitions. OBPV extends OBSO by introducing the field value model, which evaluates the entire pitch, and by employing the transition kernel model, which reflects positional specificity through kernel density estimation of pass distributions. Experiments using La Liga 2023/24 season tracking and event data show that OBPV highlights effective space utilization during counter-attacks and reveals team-specific characteristics in how the teams utilize space after positive and negative transitions.