Football information model on the example of Russian participation in 2018 World Cup

Abstract

Aim: The purpose of this work is to show the football information model (FIM) on the example of a practically significant task of the successful performance of the Russian national team at 2018 World Cup. Material and Methods: We watched video recordings of 2016-2017 Russian Premier League and fixed won and lost individual confrontations according to a list of 50 components. We transformed the results in a player's rating on a game component. We registered the speed of their decrease during a game. The data on national and club teams were obtained with the help of www.myscore.ru website and were processed using www.ra-first.com website. During the study we also used the software developed by masters' degree students. Results: At a usual level of management effectiveness of Rt = 2563 the Russia national football team achieved a 1:0 victory over Egypt, lost to Saudi Arabia 1:2 and to Uruguay 0:2. However, a more favorable outcome is possible, in which the Russia national team is able to reach ¼ final. We determined the initial team from the number of >100 Russian Premier League players having a Russian passport, which would have the largest number of individual confrontations won over these rivals. We also determined an optimal number of such confrontations in each component of the game. We selected the most successful combinations for this team in each game, developed using individual confrontations with the greatest advantage of our players. Conclusion: The problem of the assessment of a player's level and game tactics has remained unchanged since the 60-es and is still resolved by the number (%) of tactical and technique actions, which does not correlate with a game outcome. Therefore, coaches manage the game. However, the volume of information in football is too large for one coach. The information model proposed demonstrates the advantage over coach decisions and reflects the tendency of IT-system implementation in sports management.