Structural Pass Analysis in Football: Learning Pass Archetypes and Tactical Impact from Spatio-Temporal Tracking Data
Oktay Karaku\c{s}, Hasan Arkada\c{s}

TL;DR
This paper presents a novel structural analysis framework for football passes using spatio-temporal tracking data, identifying pass archetypes and their tactical impact on defensive organization.
Contribution
It introduces three new structural metrics and a composite Tactical Impact Value, enabling detailed analysis of pass influence on team structure and tactics.
Findings
Higher TIV passes are more likely to progress territorial control.
Four pass archetypes are identified: circulatory, destabilising, line-breaking, space-expanding.
Distinct structural passing styles are observed across teams and key players.
Abstract
The increasing availability of spatio-temporal tracking data has created new opportunities for analysing tactical behaviour in football. However, many existing approaches evaluate passes primarily through outcome-based metrics such as scoring probability or possession value, providing limited insight into how passes influence the defensive organisation of the opponent. This paper introduces a structural framework for analysing football passes based on their interaction with defensive structure. Using synchronised tracking/event data, we derive three complementary structural metrics, Line Bypass Score, Space Gain Metric, and Structural Disruption Index, that quantify how passes alter the spatial configuration of defenders. These metrics are combined into a composite measure termed Tactical Impact Value (TIV), which captures the structural influence of individual passes. Using tracking…
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