Soccermatics: how maths explains football | David Sumpter | TEDxUppsalaUniversity
Summary
TLDRThe speaker recounts a personal journey from a young football enthusiast to a mathematician, exploring the unexpected intersections between the two fields. Despite lacking football talent, the speaker's passion for math led to a career studying animal behavior and social dynamics. The birth of his son, a talented football player, rekindled his interest in the sport, prompting him to delve into the mathematical aspects of football, such as randomness, player positioning, and game strategy. He discovered that mathematics could enhance understanding of the game and even aid in player selection. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the accessibility and joy of mathematics, not as an esoteric discipline but as a tool for gaining insights into the world around us.
Takeaways
- 😀 The speaker's childhood love for Liverpool Football Club and football in general was not matched by their skill on the field.
- 🧮 A passion for math and computers led the speaker on a journey of academic exploration and collaboration with researchers worldwide.
- 🐜 Studies of animal behavior, such as ants, fish schools, and bird navigation, revealed complex mathematical patterns and behaviors.
- 👏 The speaker investigated the contagious nature of human social behaviors, like clapping, and how groups coordinate their actions.
- 🔄 The speaker's son's football talent and the speaker's own involvement in coaching rekindled their interest in finding a connection between math and football.
- 🤔 The speaker discovered that about two-thirds of a football match's outcome could be attributed to randomness and unpredictability.
- ⚽️ Mathematical models were used to analyze player performance, passing patterns, and the best strategies for scoring goals.
- 📊 Statistical analysis was applied to determine the best strikers in the world and to understand team dynamics through passing networks.
- 🏆 The speaker's research into football strategies and game theory provided insights that could be used by Premier League Scouts and managers.
- 🔢 Mathematics, while present in everything, does not hold all the answers to life's complexities; it offers an edge in understanding and problem-solving.
- 💡 The speaker encourages seeing mathematics as an accessible and enjoyable activity, akin to a friendly game, rather than an exclusive pursuit for geniuses.
Q & A
What was the speaker's passion when he was 10 years old?
-The speaker loved football, particularly Liverpool Football Club, and also had a passion for math and computers.
What did the speaker study regarding the mathematics of animal trails?
-The speaker studied how small animals like ants can build massive transport networks, how they organize their traffic, and how they collect food.
What insights did the speaker gain from studying fish schools?
-The speaker learned how fish schools can escape predators by interacting with just a few nearby neighbors.
How does the speaker describe the mathematical journey he took?
-The speaker's mathematical journey involved studying various systems and building mathematical models to help understand them better, leading him to collaborate with researchers worldwide.
What changed the speaker's perspective on the connection between football and mathematics?
-The speaker's son Henry's talent in football and his involvement in coaching led him to explore the mathematical aspects of the game.
What mathematical concepts did the speaker find in football?
-The speaker found mathematics in football through randomness, vector fields of passing, player forecasts, passing and positioning, shots and goals statistics, passing networks, and game geometry.
How does the speaker relate football to strategy and game theory?
-The speaker studied how strategy and game theory can be used to explain the evolution of football strategies and how managers use passing networks to scout the opposition.
What was the speaker's conclusion about the importance of mathematics in football?
-The speaker concluded that mathematics provides an edge and a deeper understanding of the game, but it doesn't allow us to understand everything about the complex world of football.
What message does the speaker want to convey to his children and the audience about mathematics?
-The speaker wants to convey that mathematics is not just for detached geniuses but is something everyone can and should be doing, like a kickabout with friends.
How does the speaker feel about the limitations of mathematics?
-The speaker acknowledges that mathematics can't explain everything and there are many things in the world that we'll never understand, but it gives us a little extra understanding to win more matches than we lose.
What is the speaker's final thought on the role of mathematics in understanding the world?
-The speaker believes that while mathematics is present in everything, it doesn't provide the ultimate answer to life's mysteries but offers valuable insights and advantages.
Outlines
😀 Childhood Passions and Mathematical Adventures
The speaker reminisces about their childhood love for football, specifically for Liverpool Football Club, and their lack of skill in the sport. Despite this, they had a deep interest in mathematics and computers, which led them on a 'wonderful adventure'. They studied various mathematical concepts related to animal behavior and social dynamics, such as the mathematics of ant trails, fish schools, bird navigation, and human applause. These studies took them around the world, collaborating with researchers at prestigious universities. However, they never saw a connection between their love for football and their mathematical research until their son, Henry, showed talent in football, prompting the speaker to explore the mathematical aspects of the sport.
📚 The Mathematics of Football
The speaker discovered a wealth of mathematical principles within football, starting with randomness and last-minute changes in matches. They analyzed vector fields of player passing, made player forecasts, and discussed these with Premier League Scouts. They also studied passing and positioning to determine the best places for shots and passing combinations. The speaker delved into statistics and probability related to shots and goals, identifying the world's best striker. They examined passing networks to understand team connections and how managers use this information to scout and strategize. The speaker also appreciated the geometric beauty of Barcelona's 2010-2011 team and studied strategy and game theory in football. The speaker's work has led to opportunities to advise Premier League Scouts and analysts, and they humorously expresses a desire to join Liverpool's team, ending with a personal note about their daughter Elise, who is introduced to the speaker's book on the mathematics of football. The speaker concludes by emphasizing that mathematics is for everyone, not just geniuses, and that while it cannot explain everything, it provides an 'edge' in understanding the world.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Football
💡Liverpool Football Club
💡Mathematics
💡Randomness
💡Vector fields
💡Game Theory
💡Geometry
💡Statistics and Probability
💡Social Behavior
💡Premier League
💡Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Highlights
Passion for Liverpool Football Club and football since childhood.
Love for math and computers led to a career in mathematical research.
Study of the mathematics of animal trails and their organization.
Research on the mathematics of fish schools and their escape strategies.
Investigation of bird navigation and social behavior through mathematical models.
Global collaboration with researchers and universities on mathematical models.
The realization of a connection between football and mathematical research through coaching.
Discovery of mathematics in football, including randomness and player forecasting.
Analysis of vector fields in football passing and their impact on player performance.
Application of mathematical models to help Premier League Scouts select players.
Study of passing and positioning to optimize shooting opportunities in football.
Statistical and probabilistic analysis of shots and goals to identify top strikers.
Examination of passing networks to understand team dynamics and strategies.
Geometric analysis of football games, particularly Barcelona's 2010 team.
Application of game theory to explain the evolution of football strategies.
Mathematical analysis of Zlatan Ibrahimovic's bicycle kick against England.
The increasing presence of mathematicians in Premier League teams for strategic advice.
Mathematics as a universal language and activity, not just for geniuses.
The importance of mathematics in providing an edge in understanding complex systems.
The humility in recognizing the limits of mathematics despite its usefulness.
The final message about the value of mathematics in everyday life and personal growth.
Transcripts
so when I was 10 years old I absolutely
love football and more than that I loved
Liverpool Football
Club this is a picture of me when I was
10 I'm the one with a Liverpool shirt on
the cute one with a Scotland strip
that's my little brother
Colin now while I loved football I
wasn't any good you know that thing
where you're in the school playground
and two people have to pick teams to
play against each other well I was
always the one who was picked
last but there were other things that I
loved when I was 10 years old I really
liked math and I totally loved
computers and those other two passions
they took me on a wonderful
Adventure I studied the mathematics of
Trails showing how these small animals
can build massive transport
networks I looked at the algorithms
behind how they organize their traffic
and how they collect
food I studied the mathematics of fish
schools showing how they can escape as
one from a predator despite just
interacting with a few nearby
neighbors I studied the mathematics of
bird navigation
how they interact with each other follow
each other how they produce consensus
decisions decide where they're going to
fly
together I studied our social behavior I
looked at how clapping was a
contagion how when we coordinate our
Applause after a seminar or after a Ted
seminar like this we can move together
and coordinate in a in a a very
coordinated manner
and this mathematical journey I took has
led me all around the world to
collaborate with lots of different
researchers at different prestigious
universities I have the most amazing job
I get to talk to people about different
systems and then I get to build
mathematical models which help them
understand these systems better but the
football though I never I never
completely gave up on the football I
still played with friends still badly
I um watched on television I went to
matches but I never really saw any
connection between my interest in
football and my interest in research the
friends I had who were interested in
football well they didn't really care
about ants and fish and all the
mathematical models I did so there was
no real connection there but then a
remarkable thing
happened
this this is my son Henry when he was
nine years old he's playing this is a
picture taken from the local newspaper
he's playing against boys twice his size
it turned out that Henry had the talent
which I
lacked
and so did lots of his friends and I
ended up with a bunch of other
enthusiastic dads coaching Henry's team
oala
EF and it was really then that I started
to think again about was there a couple
between mathematics and football when I
was training these players I was trying
to see if there was mathematics behind
it and I found a lot of mathematics in
football I started with Randomness and
last minute changes of Fortune I worked
out that about 2third of a football
match comes down to
Randomness I looked at Vector fields of
passing of players and I could make
player forecasts just like we can make
weather forecasts I talked to Premier
League Scouts about how they could use
these forecasts to pick the players that
were best fit into their
team I studied passing and positioning I
found out the best places to take a shot
from and how to make a passing
combination I studied shots and goals in
terms of statistics and probability and
worked out who was the best striker in
the world
I looked at passing networks how teams
are connected together and managers use
these passing networks to scout out the
opposition find which connections are
are most used and try and break them
down and I studied the geometry of the
game I worked out that Barcelona's team
of
20101 created the most beautiful
geometry ever seen on a football
pitch and I looked strategy and Game
Theory and how they could be used to
explain the evolution the constant
changing evolution of football
strategies and I even studied the
mathematics behind Zlatan
ibrahimovic's incredible bicycle kick
against
England there is so much mathematics in
football uh since I did all of these
analysis I've had this amazing
opportunity to talk to Premier League
Scouts and analysts about how the game
should be played most teams now have
some form of mathematician who works for
them and tries to work out how the team
can play better
together one thing though I haven't yet
been signed for
Liverpool and I thought I'd take this
opportunity Jurgen klopp if you're
watching just give me a call I'm
available
this is my daughter
Elise um I finally when I was going to
give a TED Talk I finally got her to sit
down and actually have a look at the
book that I've written about mathematics
and football Elisa is 13 years old and
she thinks a lot about how the world
works just like I did when I was that
age and when I was writing somatics when
I was studying how mathematics and
football were connected together I'd
often think about what I could communic
unate to her Alise isn't interested in
Barcelona's geometry or Ronaldo's shot
statistics what is it that I can tell
her about um the the coupling between
mathematics and
football the thing that I would like to
say to Elise and to Henry and to all of
you is that mathematics is not for some
detached Geniuses it's not about picking
you you you you're going to be in the
best team and other people aren't in the
team mathematics is like a kickabout
with friends it's about getting stuck in
it's about getting dirty and enjoying
yourself it's about using your
imagination it's about using it's
building up analogies between different
parts of the world mathematics is
something that all of us can and should
be
doing now often at talks like this you
see someone like me waving their hands
about saying mathematics is in
everything mathematics is everywhere way
and I have just done that and it is
something I agree with there is a lot of
mathematics in the world I showed a lot
of mathematics in
football but while there is mathematics
in everything it doesn't mean that
mathematics is the answer to the meaning
of life the universe and everything the
answer isn't 42 it isn't any other
number it isn't some complicated
equation that nobody else understands
what I learned from thinking about maths
and football was a lot more modesty
about my
subject so I can study Newton's
equations as much as I want but I'll
never be able to do a slatan Ibrahimovic
bicycle kick I can study the geometry of
Barcelona but I'll never be able to pass
in the way those players can I can study
Game Theory and strategy but I'll never
be able to manage a team like Pagen or
Pep
Guardiola I can study as many fancy
calculations make lots of fancy
calculations but in the end I'll still
be that boy 10 years old in the
Liverpool strip who can't play football
and only has a small insight into this
incredible complex and complicated world
we we live in math can't allow us to
understand everything not even close
there's lots of things in the world that
we'll never understand but what
mathematics does give us it gives us
this Edge it gives us that little extra
bit of understanding it allows us to win
just a few more matches than we lose and
that is why mathematics is important to
me to you and every one of us thank you
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