[ad_1]
Midtjylland captain, Captain Erik Sviatchenko, votes for the Meister Cup. Bild: imago images / Gonzalez Photo
YB Midtjylland’s opponents want to calculate wins, not buy them
The Danish champion and opponent of the Young Boys in the Champions League third qualifying round relies entirely on detailed data analysis and is therefore successful. Won the championship for the third time since 2015, 14 points ahead of FC Copenhagen.
When the Young Boys and FC Midtjylland met in the Europa League in autumn 2012, they were both failed gray mice. When they meet tonight in the third qualifying round for the Champions League, winners who are eager for success and financially well positioned will face each other. Since then, both have won the championship three times and the cup once.
In Herning, in the heart of Jutland, the western part of Denmark, FC Midtjylland has emerged from the ruins of a bankrupt club, a masterpiece that is unrivaled only by English club FC Brentford. Both clubs are among the most exciting in Europe at the moment, they are connected to each other and possibly revolutionize football.
Your strategy of striving for success with detailed data analysis may not sound very disturbing at first, as it has long been a part of everyday life in football today. But Brentford and Midtjylland go much further. Performance data is not interpreted on the basis of personal and subjective evaluations by coaches and scouts, but players with qualities that others do not see are brought in for little money.
Success shows that FC Midtjylland is right. Image: www.imago-images.de
Midtjylland sees qualities in Finn Tim Sparv von Greuther Fürth completely underrated that even he himself does not recognize. Sparv becomes one of the best players in the super league. The motto: knowledge is power. Every decision is made based on statistics and probabilities. Nobody listens to your stomach.
Memories of Moneyball and Billy Beane
The stories are reminiscent of Moneyball and how Billy Beane once made data analysis the most important part of his successful baseball job with the Oakland Athletics. Matthew Benham is the pioneer of the most complex football.
Having enriched himself with sports betting thanks to sophisticated formulas, he begins to use the flood of data specifically for football and his favorite club, Brentford FC, and becomes its owner in 2012. In his company, a kind of Silicon Valley in London, more than 200 nerds put numbers on computers. In 2014 Brentford returned to the championship. Curious coaches like Thomas Tuchel and Ralf Rangnick visit Benham and hear that Benham is replacing irrational and subjective decisions with scientific methodology.
And one day Rasmus Ankersen will also come. The former FC Midtjylland pro and player got Benham to buy three-quarters of the club for eight million euros on the condition that his numbers philosophy was applied without compromise. Ankersen becomes president.
President Rasmus Ankersen is fully based on the philosophy of numbers. Image: imago images / Ritzau Scanpix
At first, the players and many in the club think: What bullshit! But just a year later, the club is Danish champion for the first time in its history, leaving far more powerful clubs like FC Copenhagen and Brondby behind financially. All processes in the field, in training, exploration, medical department and administration are scientifically analyzed with a modern data system. In addition to the tactics, the transfers have also been calculated successfully since 2014. The increase in revenue: 33.93 million euros.
The “normal” pass rate is completely uninteresting
But what exactly is behind the really top-secret formula’s success strategy? How is it different from the knowledge of other gurus? How can you calculate success in football, where chance, luck and bad luck reign?
Now some of the key indicators for Midtjylland are known.
- Example 1: If the pass ratio (how many passes have come) is generally adopted 1: 1 for a player’s evaluation, this is completely irrelevant for Midtjylland and Brentford. The only thing that counts are important passports. Those who initiate a door or prepare it directly.
- Example 2: The “normal” duel quota is also irrelevant. Only battles won that lead to a goal or dangerous ending or prevent a goal are significant.
- Example 3: There were phases in which the “Wolves” scored a goal in each game based on a set piece. They have a large number of variants and routes.
- Example 4: During the break, the coach receives an analysis of the game via SMS.
Even if much of the Danish system remains secret: a hard bone is waiting for the Young Boys. The winner of this game plays in the playoffs against Slavia Prague for a place in the premier category.
