Heuer A and Rubner O, Fitness, chance, and myths: An objective view on soccer results, The European Physical Journal B - Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, 2009, 67: 445–458. Lee J, Borgatti S P, Molina J L, and Merelo Guervós J J, Who passes to whom: Analysis of optimal network structure in soccer matches, Poster at the Sunbelt XXV conference, URL:, 2005. Yamamoto Y and Yokoyama K, Common and unique network dynamics in football games, PLoS ONE, 2011, 6(12): e29638.ĭuch J, Waitzman J S, and Amaral L A N, Quantifying the performance of individual players in a team activity, PLoS ONE, 2010, 5(6): e10937. Onody R N and De Castro P A, Complex network study of brazilian soccer players, Physical Review E, 2004, 70(3): 037103.

Hughes M and Franks I M, Notational Analysis of Sport: Systems for Better Coaching and PErformance in Sport, Routledge, New York, 2004. Mendes R S, Malacarne L C, and Anteneodo C, Statistics of football dynamics, European Physical Journal B, 2007, 57(3): 357–363.īrillinger D R, A potential function approach to the flow of play in soccer, Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 2007, 3(1): 3. Passos P, Davids K, Araújo D, Paz N, Minguéns J, and Mendes J, Networks as a novel tool for studying team ball sports as complex social systems, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 2011, 14(2): 170-176.Įuro 2004 network predictions at Revista Redes (accessed January 2012), URL:, 2004. Spain’s ability to restore their combinative game and move the focus of the game to offensive positions and talented players is shown to tilt the balance in favor of the Spanish team. The effectiveness of the opposing team in negating the Spanish game is reflected in the change of several network measures over time, most importantly in drops of the clustering coefficient and passing length/speed, as well as in their being able in removing the most talented players from the central positions of the network.

Results of the last three matches (the decisive ones) indicate that the clustering coefficient of the pass network remains high, indicating the elaborate style of the Spanish team. A temporal analysis of the resulting passes network is also done, looking at the number of passes, length of the chain of passes, and to network measures such as player centrality and clustering coefficient. The team is considered a network with players as nodes and passes as (directed) edges. This paper analyzes the network of passes among the players of the Spanish team during the last FIFA World Cup 2010, where they emerged as the champion, with the objective of explaining the results obtained from the behavior at the complex network level.

Fifa world cup 2010