Ball circulation on high performance soccer teams offensive phase: influence of match status, venue and competition stage

Performance in top level soccer teams is usually associated with its adaptation potential considering the oposition within a match or during a sequence of matches. The goal of this study is analyzing the variation of ball circulation patterns in top level soccer teams according to different contextual situations. The ball circulation patterns are identified from notational analysis of offensive actions within a ball possession noted in a framework of two variables: a dynamic, the Space of Defensive Occupation, and a static, the Pitch Static Partition. The possessions gathered will be interpreted and classified according to predefined categories of ball circulation dynamics. The sample will be composed of all matches from top four teams of the main european teams competition, of a mixed tournment format(i.e., group phase, final phase). The duration is of a season. Ball circulation patterns will be analyzed within each team in order to find out its tendencies and variations regarding to the following contextual variables: match status, venue, tournment phase. Factors considered will include the frequency of ball circulation dynamics, possession length related to each dynamic and its respective efficiency in order to analyze the degree of the teams adaptation to different opposition situations.