Data Science in Football: The Game Through the Lens of Analytics

The lecture was based on concrete data and real-world examples. During the event, participants had the opportunity to see that modern football analytics goes far beyond goals, assists, or ball possession.

Mateusz Kuczyński explained how professional clubs use data capturing match events as well as player and ball positioning, along with advanced metrics (such as xG, xT, and VAEP), to analyze gameplay, evaluate players, and support tactical and transfer decisions. The session discussed the types of data used in professional football and illustrated the transition from simple statistics to advanced probabilistic models. Attention was also drawn to the fact that some popular indicators, such as ball possession, can lead to misleading interpretations. An important part of the lecture was also an analysis of the costs of football analytics in relation to the budgets and revenues of sports clubs.

The event was organized on January 22, 2026, by SRG Data Science.