Goal analysis of the entire Italian National League Serie A

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to analyse the goals in soccer Italian League Serie A (2018–2019) in relation to (a) the number of total attempts; (b) the time reached; (c) the area from which the final action occurred. Also, the effect of achieving the first goal in the match outcome was studied.MethodsA total of 380 matches were studied, with 1019 goals scored. All matches were analysed with the SportScout software. Chi-square test was used to find differences between the display frequencies of each variable.ResultsMore goals were scored in the second half of the match (χ<sup>2</sup> = 25.438, <i>p</i> < 0.05) and in the last 15 minutes. Most goal attempts were made through the penalty box and outside of it (χ<sup>2</sup> = 2365.002, <i>p</i> < 0.05), though the highest success rates were shown in the attempts from the goal box. Overall, 30% of the total number of goals were scored from set plays (χ<sup>2</sup> = 171.493, <i>p</i> < 0.05), most of them after a corner shot (χ<sup>2</sup> = 18.488, <i>p</i> < 0.05). Furthermore, it appeared that the first goal had a strong impact on the final outcome since in 67.34% of the cases, the team that scored first won the match.ConclusionsMore goals were scored in the second half, especially in the last 15 minutes. Coaches should prepare their players to be fit to cope with the whole match. They will also need to improve their defensive and offensive tactics in set plays.