ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Sport Psychology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1527437

This article is part of the Research TopicSpatial-temporal Metrics to Assess Collective Behavior in Team SportsView all 11 articles

Application of Association Rules to Ball Possessions in Professional Men's Football

Provisionally accepted
Rubén ManeiroRubén Maneiro1*Mario AmatriaMario Amatria2José Luis LosadaJosé Luis Losada3Gudberg K. JonssonGudberg K. Jonsson4Antonio Ardá SuárezAntonio Ardá Suárez5Iyán Iván-BaragañoIyán Iván-Baragaño6
  • 1University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain
  • 2Pontifical University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
  • 3University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
  • 4University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
  • 5University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain
  • 6European University of Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid, Spain

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This study represents one of the first attempts to apply association rule mining to analyze ball possession in professional men's football. Using observational methodology, 2,324 ball possessions from the UEFA Euro 2020 championship were analyzed to uncover hidden patterns among key tactical variables such as possession time, tactical intent, and possession zones. A total of 4,818 association rules were generated using the Apriori algorithm. The results show that short possessions, with the intention to progress and developed in advanced zones of the field, are strongly associated with successful outcomes, as indicated by high lift values (up to 40) and confidence levels. In contrast, long possessions in offensive zones did not consistently correlate with success. These findings suggest that short possessions, in advanced zones, with the intention to progress are more closely associated with successful outcomes than possession duration alone. Association rule mining emerges as a valid and interpretable tool to support decision-making in elite football.

Keywords: performance analysis, Football, Soccer, association rules, Observational methodology

Received: 13 Nov 2024; Accepted: 26 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Maneiro, Amatria, Losada, Jonsson, Suárez and Iván-Baragaño. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Rubén Maneiro, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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