Expected Goals
The story of how data conquered football and changed the game forever
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 30 days of Premium Plus free
Buy Now for £12.99
-
Narrated by:
-
Simon Darwen
-
By:
-
Rory Smith
About this listen
Football has always measured success by what you win, but only in the last twenty years have clubs started to think about how you win. Data has now suffused almost every aspect of how football is played, coached, scouted and consumed. But it’s not the algorithms or new metrics that have made this change, it’s the people behind them.
This is the story of modern football’s great data revolution and the group of curious, entrepreneurial personalities who zealously believed in its potential to transform the game. Central to this cast is Chris Anderson, an academic with no experience in football, who saw data as an opportunity to fundamentally change a sport that did not think it could be changed. His aim: to infiltrate the strange, insular world of professional football by establishing a club whose entire DNA could be built around data.
Expected Goals charts his remarkable journey into the heart of the modern game and reveals how clubs across the world, from Liverpool to Leipzig and Brentford to Bayern Munich, began to see how data could help them unearth new players, define radical tactics and plot their path to glory.
Featured article: Best football audiobooks
Whether you belong to a football club, are a Premier League fan, or simply just interested in learning more about the football world, our list of the best football audiobooks captures what draws so many people to makes ‘the beautiful game’. Here’s our list of the best football audiobooks to hit play on, brought to you by your favourite sportswriters and international football superstars....
Expected brilliance
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fascinating, really enjoyed it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very interesting stuff!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fascinating listen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really interesting
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.