Wednesday 19th October 2016

Rob Mastrodomenico - Owner and quantitative analyst, Global Sports Statistics and RSS Executive Committee member

Statistics for soccer match prediction

The increased data in sports has provided statisticians with the tools to build models of sporting events. This talk will look to show how data from soccer matches can be used to create models with the ability to predict upcoming matches. Starting from a very simple approach we will show how a modified Poisson approach is able to characterise the dynamics of the beautiful game. Following from the model definition we fit it on data from England and show how the output can be used in predicting games from the English Premier League.

Dr Bill Gerrard - Professor of Business and Sports Analytics, Leeds University Business School [Presentation]

Winning with analytics: some reflections on using data analysis in high performance sport

The use of data analysis in high performance sport is growing exponentially and is widely acknowledged as one of the sources of marginal gains exploited so successfully by Team GB in the Rio Olympics. Bill, an economist, who describes himself as an old-fashioned Scottish empiricist, has been developing applications of data analysis in high performance sport for over 20 years. He has worked with, amongst others, Bolton Wanderers, Celtic, Oakland Athletics, Saracens, Sky Sports, AZ Alkmaar, Natal Sharks and British Olympic Cycling. In his talk, Bill will reflect on the lessons he has learnt on the successful application of data analysis in high performance sport. He will explore the challenges of ensuring that data analysis is both statistically rigorous and practically relevant. Bill will consider the statistical and practical problems faced in creating player rating systems in complex team sports in which player performance is multi-dimensional. He will conclude by looking ahead at some of the leading-edge developments in sports analytics.

Venue: Carnegie Pavillion 418 theatre, Headingley Stadium campus, Leeds Beckett University (Pink building 15 on campus wayfinding map, 29 on Headingley campus map – PDF map download ), West Yorkshire Metro information on transport links can be found here, Refreshments 3-3:30pm, Presentations 3:30-5pm