Research

18 Sep The DNA of a LALIGA Champion: What 15 Seasons Reveal Beyond Possession

Posted at 13:42h in Research

Across 15 complete LALIGA seasons and 300 team-seasons, champions repeatedly showed the same performance fingerprint. Once raw volume, exposure and redundant metrics were controlled, the strongest signals were not simply more possession or more actions, but more productive possessions, stronger territorial progression, better chance creation,...

17 Sep Same League, Different Game: How LALIGA Learned to Keep the Ball Connected

Posted at 13:15h in Research

Across 18 seasons of Opta data, LALIGA has changed how possession is built. Sequences of 9+ passes have risen by 173.1%, while possessions last longer, contain more passes and progress less directly. Yet passing speed itself has increased only modestly. The real evolution is not...

10 Sep Are Substitution Patterns a Coaching Style — or a Reaction to the Scoreline?

Posted at 13:12h in Research

In LALIGA EA SPORTS 2025/26, 78% of coach-team units made their first substitution earlier when losing than when winning, with an average difference of 5.5 minutes. But timing alone does not define substitution strategy. Combining game-state-adjusted timing, substitution volume, bench exposure and temporal distribution reveals...

03 Sep Fouling as a defensive style: who interrupts most, and where?

Posted at 16:09h in Research

Which LALIGA teams use fouls most frequently while defending — and where do those interruptions occur? Using 2025/26 data normalized by effective out-of-possession time, this analysis ranks all 20 teams and maps their fouls across the three pitch thirds, revealing clear differences in defensive style...

01 Sep When Training Matches Reality: Modelling the Space Elite Teams Actually Have to Attack

Posted at 12:06h in Research

What if reduced-space training is not an artificial constraint, but a reflection of competition itself? Using 2025/26 LALIGA data and a 25 Hz spatial model, we examine how compact opponent structures, high defensive lines and dynamic interaction zones shape the attacking environment faced by FC...

28 Ago What Does One More Minute of Football Really Cost?

Posted at 10:26h in Research

Five extra minutes of effective playing time can add almost 3 km of collective running. But that physical cost is far from identical across LALIGA teams—and high-speed running tells a very different story. This analysis explores how Effective Playing Time shapes match demands, why possession...