Articles by Stefan Gouyet

Analyzing English Team of the Year Data Since 1973

October 17, 2018 | Stefan Gouyet

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Team of the Year is released in England at the end of each season, picking the 11 most influential players in each of Britain’s leagues. The Team of the Year award was launched in the 1973-1974 season, meaning there was 44 years worth of data to ...

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One-Sided Matches in the English Premier League

October 9, 2018 | Stefan Gouyet

While some English Premier League matches are bitterly even in nature, others are historically more one-sided. Using the engsoccerdata package in R, I looked at EPL results data from 1888 to 2017, and sought to find the answer to the question: what have been the most uneven matches in the English first ...

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Winners at the World Cup

August 15, 2018 | Stefan Gouyet

The 2018 FIFA World Cup has been over for a month now but the memories are far from fading. It was a fabulous tournament, combining underdog stories, upsets, and some pretty high quality football. The World Cup has been around for 88 years now, featuring 79 national teams and over 900 matches played. Kaggle’... [Read more...]

A Change in Age at the Olympics

August 10, 2018 | Stefan Gouyet

The Olympics is an interesting competition for soccer fans: it has the characteristics of both a big tournament like the World Cup and a smaller showcase for young players. The quality of play is often top class and the excitement can be very high, but it’s ultimately a chance ...

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The Growth of Soccer (1872 – Present)

August 6, 2018 | Stefan Gouyet

Soccer (football) is one of the world’s most popular sports, played and watched by millions of people all around the world. But while today it is played in virtually every country, it hasn’t always been that way. As you can see in the animated map below, soccer started ... [Read more...]

How does an FA Cup Trophy Impact League Position?

January 25, 2018 | Stefan Gouyet

With the 2018 FA Cup now in its fourth round, I asked myself: what is the importance of the trophy in relation to league position? If the primary goal for English (and Welsh) teams is succeeding in the league, does the FA Cup help teams with this objective? I decided for ...

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The Year of Manchester City

December 19, 2017 | Stefan Gouyet

With 55 points from 19 games, Manchester City look absolutely unstoppable. No matter how you put it, the league leaders have been the best team so far this season.