Analysis of discriminant performance indicators of the FIFA Ranking in the 2018 World Cup

Abstract

Nowadays the evaluation of performance in football is a subject of study, both in terms of technical and tactical aspects, indeed very often innovative methods are used for its assessment. The FIFA ranking classification is included in this perspective. This work aims to identify which indicators are discriminating compared to the FIFA ranking, through the analysis of the matches of the World Cup played in Russia in 2018. The selected indicators concern: goals, throws, offside, corners, effectiveness, assists, penalties and ball possession. Through the method of k-means cluster analysis the national teams participating in the world championship were grouped into three groups: high-level teams, intermediate-level teams and low-level teams. The subsequent analysis (one-way ANOVA) revealed statistically significant differences for the shots, corners, assists and ball possession, and above all the differences between high and low level teams. The results obtained lead to think about how decisive can be, to be able to discriminate the strength of a team based on game indicators and how these data can be useful to coaches and performance analysts to assess the performance of their team and those they will have to face.