QPass: a Merit-based Evaluation of Soccer Passes
This provides a novel merit-based evaluation for soccer analysts and teams, though it is incremental in sports analytics.
The paper tackles the problem of quantitatively evaluating soccer players' passing contributions beyond descriptive statistics, introducing QPass to rank players based on pass value and revealing that losing ball possession can improve winning chances.
Quantitative analysis of soccer players' passing ability focuses on descriptive statistics without considering the players' real contribution to the passing and ball possession strategy of their team. Which player is able to help the build-up of an attack, or to maintain the possession of the ball? We introduce a novel methodology called QPass to answer questions like these quantitatively. Based on the analysis of an entire season, we rank the players based on the intrinsic value of their passes using QPass. We derive an album of pass trajectories for different gaming styles. Our methodology reveals a quite counterintuitive paradigm: losing the ball possession could lead to better chances to win a game.