Dr. López del Campo, Author at Football Innovation Hub

24 Abr The Jump That Makes the Difference: When Pressing Aggression Really Pays Off

Posted at 13:25h in Research

Introduction Pressing is one of the most defining defensive behaviors in modern football. But within pressing, not all actions are equal. The “jump” — a player breaking structure to aggressively press the ball carrier — represents the most decisive and risky defensive action. It raises a fundamental question: Is...

23 Abr Intensity Imbalance in Football: Why Players Should Not Be Judged by the Same Physical Standard

Posted at 11:23h in Research

High-intensity running is one of the most commonly used indicators in football performance analysis. Coaches, fitness coaches and analysts often look at sprinting metrics to understand how demanding a match was, how involved a player was, or whether a team showed enough “intensity”. However, there is...

22 Abr Can We Predict Corner Kicks Before They Happen?

Posted at 11:11h in Research

https://youtu.be/sgsMs0EO7fs From Descriptive Analysis to Predictive Intelligence in Set Pieces What if coaches could know, before a match, which corner situations are most likely to occur — and why? In recent LALIGA seasons, approximately 30% of goals originate from set pieces, with a significant proportion coming from corner...

20 Abr Beyond Shooting: Identifying Two-Way Impact in Attacking Players

Posted at 13:31h in Research

Rethinking how we evaluate offensive players In professional football, attacking players have traditionally been assessed through metrics directly linked to their offensive output, such as goals, assists or total shots. While these indicators remain essential, they provide only a partial view of player performance, particularly in...

16 Abr Teams Don’t Win the Way You Think They Do

Posted at 13:36h in Research

Introduction: Forget What You Think You Know About Winning Most coaches intuitively associate winning with dominance: more possession, more passes, more control. But what if the data from an entire LaLiga season suggests something different? A recent scientific study analyzing all 380 matches of the 2021–2022 LaLiga...

15 Abr It’s Not January: What LaLiga Data Reveals About the Relative Age Effect

Posted at 12:12h in Research

Introduction For years, one idea has dominated football: Players born in January are more likely to become professionals. It’s simple. It’s intuitive.And analytically, it’s misleading. Using data from all players in LALIGA EA SPORTS 2024/25, we revisited the Relative Age Effect (RAE). The conclusion is clear: The issue is not January.It’s...

Author: Dr. López del Campo