Currently, there are still few studies on the tactical and contextual criteria that determine offensive success in women’s soccer. The objectives of this study were to discover contextual and tactical criteria that show an association with success in elite women’s soccer and to establish a multivariate predictive model for the offensive phase. For this, 2323 ball possessions were analyzed in FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 via direct observation. In addition, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with women’s soccer coaches and players. For direct observation, a bivariate analysis between the analysed criteria and possession’s outcome was suggested. Additionally, a multivariate predictive analysis was proposed via a decision tree method. To analyze the interviews, a sequential analysis of delays and polar coordinates analysis were carried out. It was established a multi-variant model of offensive success based on possession zone (middle offensive), initial offensive intention (progress) and start zone (preoffensive or offensive) criteria. The probability of offensive success was 75.2% interactively between those criteria. In addition, the analysis of the interviews allowed us to conclude that criteria related to technical–tactical performance, decision-making and physical capacities of the players will be decisive in increasing the probabilities of success.

This study aimed to examine the effect of goalkeeper distribution on offensive team performance, during the 2018/2019 and 2019–2020 seasons of the Women Spanish La Liga. A total of 10,868 distributions, during 376 matches were analyzed by systematic observation. Two UEFA PRO coaches designed an...

Introduction: Scientific knowledge about the criteria that determine success in women’s football is beginning to develop.Methods: This study was carried out with the aim of detecting regularities in the offensive success in elite women’s football, as well as carrying out an interrelational analysis of linked behaviors, based on in-depth interviews with professional coaches and players. Eight in-depth interviews were conducted with professional Spanish coaches and players. The interviews were analyzed by indirect observation from a process of “quantitizing,” through the construction of an indirect observation ad hoc instrument. The segmentation of the transcription of the interviews was carried out in textual units, and the creation of a matrix of codes. Two types of analysis were performed: first, a lag sequential analysis (LSA) was performed and, then, a polar coordinates analysis (PCA), which allowed to find, respectively, a wide number of established communicative patterns with offensive performance in women’s football, as well as an interrelational map between the established codes.Results: The results obtained allowed us to suggest a statistically significant association between success in women’s football and criteria such as the physical characteristics of a particular player, the individual action space, the duration of the attack, the type of dynamic start, individual and collective technical and tactical aspects, decision making and the type of attack used.Discussion: Based on these results, the influence of these criteria on performance in women’s soccer can be studied in future studies. In addition, with the aim of increasing the validity of these conclusions, new studies on this subject may be carried out following strategies such as the Delphi Method.

Introduction: Research in women’s football and the use of new game analysis tools have developed significantly in recent years. The objectives of this study were to create two predictive classification models to forecast the occurrence of a shot or a goal in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 and to identify the associated technical-tactical indicators to these outcomes.Methods: A total of 2,346 ball possessions were analyzed using an observational design, mapping two different target variables (Success = Goal and Success2 = Goal or Shot) with a relative frequency of 1.28 and 8.35%, respectively. The predictive capacity was tested using Random Forest and XGBoost and finally and SHAP values were calculated and visualized to understand the influence of the predictors.Results: Random Forest technique showed greater efficacy, with recall and sensitivity above 93% in the resampled dataset. However, recall on the original test sample was 13% (Success = Shot or Goal) and 0% (Success = Goal), demonstrating the models’ inability to predict rare events in football, such as goals. The indicators with the greatest influence on the outcome of these possessions were related to the possession zone, attack duration, number of passes, and starting zone, among others.Conclusion: The results highlight the need to incorporate a greater number of predictive variables in the models and underline the difficulty of predicting events such as goals and shots in women’s football.

El conocimiento científico sobre el rendimiento táctico en fútbol femenino se ha desarrollado principalmente en los últimos años. Por este motivo, el número de publicaciones en relación con esta temática aún es escaso. Los objetivos de este trabajo fueron describir cómo desarrollaron las posesiones de balón las selecciones mejor clasificadas en la Copa Mundial Femenina de la FIFA Francia 2019 y conocer las diferencias tácticas en el inicio, desarrollo y resultado de las posesiones de balón entre estas selecciones. Para alcanzar estos objetivos, fueron analizadas 1.148 posesiones de balón llevadas a cabo por las selecciones semifinalistas en la fase final de la Copa Mundial Femenina de la FIFA Francia 2019 a partir de la metodología observacional. Los resultados de este estudio permitieron probar la existencia de diferencias entre las selecciones analizadas para los criterios: resultado temporal (p<.001), posicionamiento defensivo rival (p<.05), configuración espacial de interacción (p<.005), intención inicial ofensiva (p<.001) e intención inicial defensiva (p<.05). Por otro lado, no fueron encontradas diferencias en el resultado de la acción (p=.114) entre estas selecciones. Los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir que, a pesar de las diferencias demostradas en el desarrollo de las posesiones de balón, el grado de éxito ofensivo obtenido por las mejores selecciones fue similar. Esto pone de manifiesto la posibilidad de alcanzar el éxito ofensivo en fútbol femenino de élite mediante diferentes estrategias, adaptadas a las características del equipo. Scientific knowledge on tactical performance in women's soccer has developed mainly in recent years. For this reason, the number of publications on this topic is still low. The objectives of this work were to describe how the top-ranked teams developed possession of the ball at the FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019 and to understand the tactical differences in the start, development and result of possession of the ball between these teams. To achieve these objectives, 1,148 ball possessions carried out by the semifinalist teams in the final phase of the FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019 were analyzed using the observational methodology. The results of this study made it possible to test the existence of differences between the selections analyzed for the criteria: match status (p<.001), defensive positioning (p<.05), interaction context (p<.005), initial offensive intention (p<.001) and initial defensive intention (p<.05). On the other hand, no differences were found in the possession outcome (p= .114) between these selections. The results obtained allow us to conclude that, despite the differences demonstrated in the development of ball possession, the degree of offensive success obtained by the best teams was similar. This highlights the possibility of attaining offensive success in elite women's football through different strategies, adapted to the characteristics of the team.