At StatsBomb, we have always been passionate about supporting women's teams with bespoke research of the women's game, free access to our advanced analytics platform and open data releases. We recently had the opportunity to speak with professional analysts from some of our partnered women’s clubs about how they use our data and analytics platforms in their day-to-day work.
Many professional women's teams use data and analytics to gain a competitive edge and improve performances on the pitch. The support we offer, free StatsBomb IQ access in particular, is gradually seeing more and more professional women's teams turning into StatsBomb customers. The likes of Reading WFC (FA WSL), Real Betis Balompie (Primera Division) and OL Reign (NWSL) have recently taken advantage of the offer - taking our women's customer base to 35 clubs.
All the teams in the top women's leagues in England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the USA and Sweden can sign up for the offer. We also added Mexico's Liga MX Femenil to our women’s league coverage, meaning that all 18 teams within the league can now take advantage of this initiative, the first Latin American women’s league to benefit from StatsBomb data.
As our customer base grows, so does the number of individuals within clubs using our data and analytics to help their teams succeed. Michael Poma (Houston Dash), Laura Brambilla (AC Milan) and Austin Buchanan (Racing Louisville FC) are prime examples of individuals that work with our data and products on a daily basis at women’s clubs.
We spoke with Michael, Laura and Austin about how they use our advanced data and StatsBomb IQ in their day-to-day work.
How do analysts at women’s clubs use advanced data?
Michael Poma | Houston Dash | Performance Analyst
Michael cut his teeth in football analytics with a Bachelor of Science in Sport and Recreation Management. He went on to work as a Freelance Analyst at Sky Blue FC before taking up various analytics roles at James Madison University, the U.S Soccer Federation and San Diego Wave.
Michael is now responsible for performance and opposition analysis at Houston Dash as well as integrating advanced data into the club’s coaching workflows. He started off by talking about how he uses our solutions in his day-to-day responsibilities as a Performance Analyst.
“By using StatsBomb products, I have been able to process and implement quality data throughout my analysis workflows, from creating bespoke match reports to implementation into Sportscode.”
Michael goes on to highlight how he uses data to complement the work he does in Sportscode and how it aids his analysis of opposition playing styles and build-up play.
“To dive deeper into a more specific example of utilising the data in Sportscode is how I've created possession clustering. Both all possessions and possessions with shots.“
“The data enables me to label them in Sportscode and quickly find scenarios or build-up play that opposition teams are utilising the most. This process also creates the potential to track shot maps or player involvement in build-up play.”
Laura Brambilla | AC Milan | Match Analyst
Laura started as a Match Analyst with reigning Serie A champions Juventus Women, helping to analyse opposing teams for upcoming matches and scout prospects for future recruitment. After three years, Laura took an opportunity to join Napoli Femminile as a Match Analyst & Technical contributor. At Napoli, Laura took advantage of the free IQ offer and now in her role at AC Milan Women she uses a full paid data package.
She is responsible for using a mixture of data and video to analyse players in training and matches, before delivering bespoke reports to the players and coaching staff to outline how they can improve individual and team performances.
Laura started by talking about why she uses data in her work.
“We play in a very competitive league, and I know that every detail can make a difference in terms of a competitive edge. My team and I are using data to analyse individual player and team performances and create key insights about our upcoming opponents.”
Laura went on to discuss her favourite features within StatsBomb IQ and their utility in her day-to-day responsibilities.
“I love using IQ Tactics and taking advantage of all its functions. It's really useful because the interface is intuitive and it is easy to visualise goal sequences and key passing data. It is also helpful to be able to easily analyse key metrics such as On-Ball Value (OBV) and xG in StatsBomb IQ, as both are fundamental to our team and the wider game right now.”
Austin Buchanan | Racing Louisville FC | Director of Strategy & Compliance
Austin has always been passionate about coding, modelling data and learning about the different use cases for event data. He has also been a long-term follower of StatsBomb and now gets to work with our data every day in his role as a Director of Strategy & Compliance at Racing Louisville FC.
Day-to-day, Austin focuses on identifying prospects for upcoming transfer windows, analysing upcoming opponents and creating post-match reports for the coaching staff. He also uses his legal background to help the club with transactional activities. Austin discusses why he uses StatsBomb Data in his workflow to help perform objective analysis in key areas.
“My team & I try to ensure that we’re analysing players for recruitment, matches, opponents, and coaches in an objective manner with the most relevant, contextual data possible.”
Austin went on to talk about how helpful the additional level of detail in StatsBomb Data is for specific areas of the game.
“Contextual shooting data is loved by the staff, because having an accurate xG model is critical. My team & I also look at game model specific player radars to try to gauge their fit on our roster and in our game plan.”
Do you work for a Women's football team in England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, USA, or Mexico? Access our free StatsBomb IQ initiative here. Otherwise, we released several free Women's Super League datasets to encourage the development of analysts in the women's game, or you can take our Introduction To Football Analytics course today.
