Football player dominant region determined by a novel model based on instantaneous kinematics variables

Dominant regions are defined as regions of the pitch where a player can reach before any other and are commonly determined without considering the free-spaces in the pitch. We presented an approach to football players` dominant regions analysis, based on movement models created from players` positions, displacement, velocity, and acceleration vectors. 109 Brazilian male professional football players were analysed during official matches, computing over 15 million positional data obtained by video-based tracking system. Movement models were created based on players` instantaneous vectorial kinematics variables, then probabilities models and dominant regions were determined. Accuracy in determining dominant regions by the proposed model was tested for different time-lag windows. We calculated the areas of dominant, free-spaces, and Voronoi regions. Mean correct predictions of dominant region were 96.56%, 88.64%, and 72.31% for one, two, and three seconds, respectively. Dominant regions areas were lower than the ones computed by Voronoi, with median values of 73 and 171 m2, respectively. A median value of 5537 m2 was presented for free-space regions, representing a large part of the pitch. The proposed movement model proved to be more realistic, representing the match dynamics and can be a useful method to evaluate the players` tactical behaviours during matches.
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Bibliographic Details
Subjects:
Notations:sport games
Published in:Scientific Reports
Language:English
Published: 2021
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97537-4
Volume:11
Pages:18209
Document types:article
Level:advanced