Uncovering Europe’s Best Goalscorers from the 2009-2010 Season

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University of San Francisco

From the SelectedWorks of Joel Oberstone

April 2011

Uncovering Europes Best Goalscorers from the2009-2010 Season

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INTRODUCTIONThis paper examines the contributions of the 20 leading goal scor-ers from each of the six most prestigious football leagues inEurope: the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A,German Bundesliga, French Ligue 1, and the Dutch Eredivisie. Sincemost of these leagues have 20 clubs and about 25 players on eachroster, the leading 20 scorers in each represents the top 4 or 5percent in each leaguethe crme de la crme. The goalscoringtables for each of these leagues are provided in Appendices Athough Appendices F.

Although it is tempting to simply compare and rank these120 players according to their goal production, it would ignore thesignificant disparity in the prevalence of goal scoring between lea-

gues. Additionally, two of the six leagues have 34 games per sea-son and the rest, 38. Because of this interleague incongruence, aranking that acknowledges and takes into account these differenc-es between leagues needs is devised before meaningful compari-sons can be made.1

METHODOLOGYThe interleague disparity of goalscoring is quick to see in the con-trast between the leading scorer in Ligue 1, Mamadou Niang ofOlympique de Marseille, who scored only 18 goals, with La LigasLionel Messi of Barcelona who banged in 34 league goals. The dif-

ference is not only among the top scorers but throughout the en-tire sample of 20 representing two leagues: the La Liga scoring av-erage (15.75) is approximately 22% higher than their counterpartsin Ligue 1 (12.65)approximately 3 more goals per season.

One way to manage these interleague inequities is to create astandardized Intraleague performance measure (SIPM) for eachplayer based on his within league performance using Z-scores con-verted to percentile ranks. This procedure facilitates between

1 The standardized approach in this paper does not embrace the FIFA differential assess-ment of goals scored by downgrading the Eredivisie compared to the other five leagues,i.e., points earned by the Holland league receives 1.5 points per goal scored compared tothe 2 points per goal for the other leagues.


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league comparisons using the SIPM tocreate a common scale of measure.

The mean and standard deviationfor goals scored for each league areshown in Table 1. An Illustration of thecomparison procedure follows.

INTERLEAGUE COMPARISON OF TWO EQUALGOALSCORERSBoth Diego Forln of Athletico Madridand Mamadou Niang of Olympique deMarseille have scored 18 league goals(Figure 1). However, the performance within each league is quite

different. Here are the relative statistics of these two leagues ap-plied to the same number of goals scored for each player in termsof the relative percentile rank:

Forln:

ZGoals

=X

La Liga

La Liga

=

18 15.75( )6.48

= 0.35 PRZ=0.35

=63.58%

Niang: ZGoals =X

Bund

Bund

=

18 12.65( )2.43

= 2.20 PRZ=2.43

=98.60%

These measures suggest that Niang outperformed Forln whenthe comparison is tempered with the relative performance differ-ences existing between the leagues. This should make sense sinceLa Liga has a Top 20 average number goals scored that is bothhigher than that of Ligue 1and, using the coefficient of relativevariation (CRV), displays approximately 300% greater variability.2 Inessence, this means that an elite striker in Ligue 1 is likely to ac-cumulate considerably fewer goals than his counterpart in La Liga.Niangs goals place him 2.20 standard deviations above the mean

2 The CRV is the ratio of the standard deviation to mean, / and is a useful indication ofthe amount of spread in a set of data, i.e., the higher the value, the greater the sample va-riability.

Table 1. 2009-2010 GoalScoring of Top 20 Six Eu-ropean Leagues.


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and rank him near the 99th per-centile even though the exactsame number of goals scored byForln place him barely one-third of a standard deviationsbeyond the La Liga mean at the64th percentile.

A PROPOSAL TO EXPAND THE ROLEOF GOALSCORER BEYOND GOALSSCOREDThe notion of goalscorer hastraditionally been viewed in nar-

row, personal terms, i.e., goalsscored. This paper explores amore inclusive perspective to embrace the overall influences onteam successthe ability to contribute as well as create goals.Thisbroader interpretation includes measures that may not directly leadto a players personal goalscoring tally yet leads to goalscoring forhis teammates.

Contrary to the limited perspective offered by ESPNs newly-coined soccer expert, polster-statistician Nate Silver of FiveThir-tyEightfamewho suggested that there are relatively few measuresavailable to evaluate football (soccer) performancein reality there

are dozens of such factors. The challenge, however, is how to se-lect those that are most meaningful and whose inclusion is argua-bly, strongly compelling. These factors might include assists, keypasses, and penalties awarded that might even be taken by team-mates. Even the total game minutes a player can accumulate is anindication of durabilityan essential factor of being able to contri-bute from game to game: being there.

Additionally, more subtle measures of effectiveness and effi-ciency that might view or per-unit time focus are also included toaccount for players that have not accumulated the pitch minutes toaccumulate the kind of statistics that are obviously strong. Usually,

these are the players that are not in the starting eleven or havebeen injured over a significant duration of the season. Regardless,all of these kinds of measures may also be meaningful indicatorsthat provide a more expansive and, possibly, subtle perspective ofhow a player contributes to goal scoring.

Figure 1. Diego Forlan (l) and Ma-madou Niang (r).


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An example of why it is important to think outside the box(no pun intended) of the variety of considerations still make valua-ble contribution to goalscoring using Wayne Rooneys very differentrole played for Manchester United over the seasons of 2008-2009and 2009-2010.

CASE IN POINT: WAYNE ROONEY AS RONALDOS FOIL AND AS PRODIGIOUSGOALSCORERDuring the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 EPL seasons, ManchesterUniteds Wayne Rooney accumulated a total of 24 goals and 17 as-sists. Although these tallies are decent numbers, they would not bythemselves have catapulted Rooney into the elite class of goalscor-ers. However beyond his personal numbers, Rooney was instrumen-

tal in making huge contributions over this same time span to Cris-tiano Ronaldos extremely successful campaigns in which the win-ger was selected as the runner up (2007-2008) and eventual winner(2008-2009) of the prestigious Ballon dOr Award.3 There is littledoubt that much of Ronaldos accomplishments were directly attri-butable to Wayne Rooneys ability to control and hold the ball andto create open space by drawing defenders to himself in the leftflank as well as the key passes he provided into the area. Rooneyclearly sacrificed individual goalscoring opportunities for massivecontributions to overall team effectivenessespecially to Ronaldo.

Following Ronaldos departure to Real Madrid in the summer

transfer window following 2009-2010 season, Man Us attack phi-losophy changed. With Ronaldo gone, Rooney became the center ofattention and often played alone on top as the central striker inMan Us 4-5-1 formation scoring 26 league goalsmore than thepast two seasons combinedand 34 in all competitions, before be-ing injured over the last six games.4 Rooney illustrated that a player

3

The Ballon dOr award (now called the FIFA Ballon dOr) is given to the footballer that isconsidered to have delivered the years best performance. This award is, arguably, worthmillions in terms of the players market value and, possibly, the commanding position itputs the player in at the next contract negotiation with his club.4His assist total dropped from 17 over the two seasons prior to 2009-2010 to only 3 illu-

strating the shift in his role from support and attack to the primary goalscorer for Man-chester United.


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can contribute distinctly different, yet impressive, performancenumbers from either an individual or supporting role during thesethree consecutive seasons. At the end of the day, a strong case canbe argued that the overall contribution made to the team goalcount is what matters the most.

Performance factors that include both individual as well asteam contributions are suggested next in an effort to more fullyuncover those performance qualities that create the robust makeupof a valuable goalscorer.

CUMULATIVE AND TIME-SENSITIVE GOALSCORING ATTRIBUTESThis paper presents an that a great goalscorer not only scoresgoals but also creates goals beyond personal or immediately direct

measures. The most common measures that represent goalscoringare comparatively few (Figure 2). However, these are cumulativemeasures and will tend to over-look players who dont havethe opportunity of playing reg-ularly. With limited game mi-nutes, it is possible to overlooktalented goalscorers who havemissed game time during theseason due to injury or be-cause they were not selected in

the clubs starting eleven. Anexpanded, more comprehen-sive array of goalscoringmeasures that include perfor-mance that reflects efficiency,productivity, effectiveness, andresilience not so closely tied to minutes on the pitch is shown inFigure 3.

Figure 2. Basic Goalscoring Factors.


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from a PK is close to 80 percentyou might even call it the easyway of accumulating a goal count. And it is.

Table 2 lists the top 25 goal scorers from all six leagues forthe 2009-2010 season and reveals some interesting findings thatinclude: Both Antonio Di Natale, (1st, Udinese, Serie A, 29 goals) and Luis

Suarez (2nd, Ajax, Eredivisie, 35 goals) place above, arguably,the most highly prized goalscorers in football that include LionelMessi (3rd, Barcelona, La Liga, 34 goals), Didier Drogba (5th,Chelsea, EPL, 20 goals), Wayne Rooney (10th, Manchester United,EPL, 26 goals), Diego Milito (11th, Inter, Serie A, 22 goals), andCristiano Ronaldo(12th, Real Madrid, La

Liga, 26 goals). Another cluster ofthe goalscoring elitethat finished furtherdown (and somebeyond) this presti-gious ladder in-cludes Carlos Tevez(17th, ManchesterCity, EPL, 23 goals),David Villa (25th, Va-

lencia, BarcelonaEPL, 21 goals ), Ar-jen Robben (27th,Bayern Munich, Bun-desliga, 16 goals),Fernando Torres(31st, Liverpool, EPL,18 goals), DiegoForln (32nd, Athleti-co Madrid, La Liga,18 goals), and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (34th, Barcelona, La Liga, 16

goals). Although the list does not include any that might be considered

non-entities, quite a few lesser-known players that were highlyranked and include: Edin Dzeko (4th, Wolfsburg, Bundesliga, 23goals), Mamadou Niang (6th, Marseille, Ligue 1, 18 goals), Stefan

Table 2. Standardized List Top 25 Goal Scor-ers for 2009-2010 Season.


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Kiessling (7th, Bayern Leverkusen, Bundesliga, 21 goals), KevinGameiro (8th, FC Loreint, Ligue 1, 17 goals), and Mads Junker(16th, Roda JC, Eredivisie, 23 goals).

The apparent disconnect between the relative goalscoring perfor-mance illustrated in Table 2 and the cluster commonly believed tobe the best goalscorers in football suggests that there must bemore to the implied value of a goal scorer than simply scoringgoals. If not, Antonio Di Natale, Luis Suarez, Edin Dzeko, and Ma-madou Niang, also ranked highly in relative goal scoring, would beviewed as on par with members of the more illustrious array, andyet they are not. Additionally, it interesting to note that none ofthese four were involved in the summer 2010 transfer market eventhough there were numerous rumblings that Dzeko was being con-

sidered for transfer to AC Milan and both Manchester footballclubs. Similar rumors occurred for Suarez. This conundrum begsthe question, Is there more to the value of being a top-notchgoalscorer than simply the scoring of goals?Assists. Any direct pass to another player that results in a goal ac-knowledges and correctly rewards the contributing, yet non-scoringplayer. Although most assists are primarily associated with centralor holding midfielders, there are exceptions. This skill is particular-ly important since most assists occur in the final third of thepitchoccupied by a significantly larger number of defenders re-side. Moving the ball in this location is particularly challenging and

often not given the credit deserved. As a result, some outsidebacks (wing backs) and attacking midfielders and even, to a lesserdegree, forwards, are often significant contributors. The findings,shown in Table 3, generally support the contention that the primaryassist leaders are midfielders, although not entirely. Midfielders Zvjezdan Misimovic (1st, VfL Wolfsburg, Bundesliga,

13 assists), Balazs Dzsudzsak (4th, PSV Eindhoven, Eredivisie,15 assists), Frank Lampard (5th, Chelsea, EPL, 14 assists), CescFabregas (6th, Arsenal, EPL, 14 assists), and Yohan Cabaye (7th,Lille, Ligue 1, 8 assists).


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The handful of for-wards and attackingmidfielders that areamong the most suc-cessful at creatinggoals for their team-mates include Ronal-dinho (2nd, AC Milan,Serie A, 14 assists),5Luis Suarez (3rd, Ajax,Eredivisie, 17 assists),Lionel Messi (8th, Bar-celona, La Liga, 9 as-

sists), Ronaldo (10th,Real Madrid, La Liga,8 assists), Zlatan Ibra-himovic (11th, Barce-lona, La Liga, 8 as-sists), Diego Forln(12th, Athletico Madr-id, La Liga, 7 assists),and Didier Drogba (13th, Chelsea, EPL, 7 assists), and MamadouNiang (14th, Marseille, Ligue 6 assists).

Key passes. A pass that leads to a goal scoring opportunity that

may or may not result in a score directly reflects a players passingskills and, moreover, an indication of unselfish-ness. Theseimportant indicators are typically passes into the area or throughballs that the potential goalscorer runs onto in spaceoftenbeyond the defender. This measure is rarely published in the publicdomain and is typically only access-ible from game analysis sourcessuch as Opta Sports (Opta Index), STAT LLC, Catrol (Castrol Index)and PA Sport (Actim Index).Game minutes. The total minutes accumulated during the seasonserves as testimony to a players durability. These are the iron

5 Ronaldinho primarily plays as a winger or attacking midfielder a bit deeper than the cen-ter forward although he is sometimes listed as a forward as well.

Table 3. Top 25 Assists for 2009-2010 Season.


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men that play game inand game out and sug-gests players ability toshake off niggling inju-ries if and when they oc-cur. Additionally, the ef-fective salary of theplayer creates an artifi-cial inflation for his clubas well, e.g., it the playeris paid 25,000 perweek and yet plays anaverage of only 45 mi-

nutes a game, his effec-tive salary is costing theclub closer to 50,000per week.

The top 25 ratedplayers, as measured bythe standardized amountof game minutes accu-mulated during the season, is shown in Table 4. A quick scan ofnames reveals few of the these hard working footballers wereamong the top rated goalscorers listed in Table 2, with the excep-

tion of Edin Dzeko (9th

, Wolfsburg, Bundesliga, 3001 minutes). It isnecessary to look past the first 16 places in the table before yousee the other highly recognizable names of Di Natale, Surez andMessi.

CLUSTER 2TIME-SENSITIVE GOALSCORING MEASURESIt can also be argued that considerations for footballers who haveplayed only a fraction of the total minutes possible because of ei-ther (1) injury or (2) they have not broken into the starting eleven,are also very important to include. Cumulative measures such astotal goals scored and assists will typically penalize these part-

time players since they will usually not be among the leaders simp-ly due to lack of minutes.

Factors such as minutes between goals (MBG) as well as per-cent of shots-to-goals ratio provide a chance to uncover playerswhose cumulative numbers cannot shine but, when examined in

Table 4. Game Minutes Played Per Season


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conjunction with the how they use the available minutes they haveplayed, can be identified as hidden gems. A simple regressionanalysis reveals that neither of these time-sensitive factors providesa useful relationship with season goals scored emphasizing the im-portance of employing such measures.6Minutes between goals. Although Table 3 and Table 4 includemany of the sameplayers, Table 5 ismore forgiving ofplayers that have li-mited playing mi-nutes. The new group of

high performanceplayers includesToifilou Maoulida(1st, Lens, Ligue 1,105.8 minutes pergoal) who tops theMBG list with apercentile rank ofover 97%. Whoshe? Maolidas per-formance would

normally be diffi-cult to uncover be-cause he startedonly 12 games andplayed less than 31% of the time during the Lens season and yetscored 10 goals in his abbreviated game time.

Luis Suarez (2nd, Ajax, Eredivisie, 84.9 minutes per goal), LionelMessi (3rd, Barcelona, La Liga, 83.5 minutes per goal), Antonio

6Although the Pearson test statistic is significant, an extremely low coefficient of deter-

mination and large residual error makes the relationship of no practical use: althoughp


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DiNatale (4th, Udinese, Serie A, 103.9 minutes per goal). AndGonzalo Higuain (5th, Real Madrid, La Liga, 88.9 minutes pergoal)far more recognizable names than Maoulidahave donewell with goals scored and continue to deliver quality perfor-mance even when examined with the MBG factor. However, Ar-jen Robben (6th, Bayern Munich, Bundesliga, 111.1 minutes pergoal), and Fernando Torres (7th, Liverpool, EPL, 95.3 minutesper goal) are two more players that, due to injury, missed a sig-nificant portion of their season and, as a result, did not accumu-late performance numbers near the top of goal scoring list andgreatly benefited from the MGB measure.

A few of the elite goalscorers such as Edin Dzeko (17th,Wolfsburg, Bundesliga, 130.5 minutes per goal), Diego Milito

(21

st

, Inter Milan, Serie A, 121.1 minutes per goal), Carlos Tevez(22nd, Manchester City, EPL, 124.7 minutes per goal), ZlatanIbrahimovic (24th, Barcelona, La Liga, 127.3 minutes per goal),and David Villa (25th, Valencia, La Liga, 129.0 minutes per goal),do not score as well on the MGB measure and illustrate thattheir productivity is more closely tied to creating opportunitiesby having time on the pitch rather than on efficient productivi-ty.7 Keep in mind, however, that if you are on any of these lists,you are still considered a premier performer among the com-plete set of league players.

Percent of goals to shots. Accuracyas represented by the pro-

portion of a players shots that are on frameis of little importanceif the ball rarely finds the net: it is a highly overrated figure of me-rit. However, the same cannot be said of a player that converts a si-zeable proportion of the shots taken into goals. The top 25 per-formers for the highest proportion of shots converted to goals isshown in Table 6. The minutes between goals covers how well aplayer uses what the time available to score goals, however thepercent of goals to shots addresses the effectiveness of a playerslimited number of shotsa measure of realized opportunity and,very possibly, the quality of the strike.

7However, persistence is, in itself, an attractive attribute.


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Although ToifilouMaoulida (1st, Lens,Ligue 1, 28.6% goalsto shots) surprising-ly leads the packagain, and GonzaloHiguain (6th, RealMadrid, La Liga,29.3% minutes pergoal) who was 5thin the list of mi-nutes betweengoals, numerous

names that have notmade earlier listspopulate most ofthe top slots. Pedro(2nd, Barcelona, LaLiga, 34.3% goals toshots), Ruiz (3rd,Twente Enschede,Eredivisie, 33.8% goals to shots), Lopez (4th, Catania, La Liga,31.4% goals to shots). Even though names like Fernando Torres(5th, Liverpool, EPL, 26.1% goals to shots) and Emmanuel Ade-

bayor (7th, Manchester City, EPL, 25.0% goals to shots) appearon this list, the common element shared by almost all of thisfactor is that they have missed large portions of the season andwould not have been uncovered when only the singular perfor-mance factor of total goals scored is viewed as the gold stan-dard for goalscoring.

CONCLUSIONSAlthough scoring goals is an inescapable focus of football, consid-erations that value the more subtle measures of scoring contribu-

tions such as a key pass, assists, or the ratio of goals to shots areacknowledged as well. Inflationary measures such as receiving cre-dit for a goal scored via a PK when another player was originallyawarded the penalty also needs to be reconsidered. Possibly a shar-

Table 6. Interleague StandardizedGoals-to-Shots Ratio.


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ing of the goal on a 50-50 basis would be a fairer measure with thepenalty taker not receiving his share of the goal if it is missed.

Additionally, cumulative measures are important and give thesports analyst a summative impact of a players performance ob-viously influenced by their opportunity to performgame time mi-nuteswhile other top flight players may not have those minutesavailable to them due to a variety of reasons including injury orteam rotational policies, or simply because, although talented, theyhave not broken into the starting eleven. In these cases, the needto include measures that view the efficiency of the player on a perminute basis may often be essential.

This is just a preliminary step in attempting to examine themeaning of goalscorer in broader terms that have been accepted

traditionally. Further analyses need to examine a fuller collectionof measures although there will never be consensus agreement re-garding which factors truly comprise a complete set. Without adoubt, the collection will be subjective and represent a reflection ofthe analysts or organizations value system. However, and withthose limitations in mind, here are some judgments regarding theperformance factors assessed in this paper:

1. Shooting accuracy, such as the percentage of shots on target,is important, but this measure does not guarantee prodi-gious goalscoring the qualityof a shot is not reflected byaccuracy alone, e.g., a soft shot on target can be easily de-

fended by a goalkeeper.2. The most prodigious goalscorers typically create the mostprolific number of shots on goal irrespective of accuracy!With only a few exceptions, the very best goalscorers are notamong the most accurate. Opportunity is more importantthan accuracy.

3. There is a dramatic difference between leagues in the aver-age minutes a player accumulates over the season. However,it would not be reasonable to assume that the reason for thelower, overall percentage of playing time for Ligue 1 is asso-ciated with injuries but, instead, a more active rotation policy

in the starting eleven. Although there are exceptions, thisdifference is statistically significant when a one-way ANOVAis used to access this parameter (p


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primarily created by the goalscorer, e.g., it a players totalsare inflated by successful PK conversions, and especially ifthat player did not suffer the awarded penalty but is, rather,the default PK for his team, his numbers are inflated by anevent that has close to an 80 percent success rate (as com-pared to the approximate 15 percent chance of scoring froman in-play opportunity).

5. Sometimes, considering the accumulated goals scored elimi-nates players who may have spent a portion of the season ei-ther injured or reflect their part-time status as a player notyet breaking into the starting eleven. It may be of great valueto closely examine the performance per minute to uncoverplayers that fall in this part-time category. Gonzalo Higuain is

an example of a goalscorer who had difficulty getting gametime at the beginning of Real Madrids season but, based onhis prolific performance across those precious minutes hedid get, he eventually gained a starting status (and outscoredhis more illustrious counterpart, Cristiano Ronaldo).

6. When a broad range of factors are included that extendsbeyond the traditional measure of goals scored, many of themost famous names associated with this skill are joined bynumerous, lessprestigious play-ers who move in

to the top tenlists of five fac-tors (Table 7).Only two playersplaced on morethan two of thelists selected inthis study: LionelMessi and Gon-zalo Higuan. Di-dier Drogba,

Cristiano Ronal-do, Luis Suarez, Di Natale, Dzeko, and Wayne Rooney onlyregistered on two lists.

7. No matter what array of measures ultimately used, it will notprovide an objective measure of performance. It seems that

Table 7. Standardized Comparison Using Col-lection of Five Diverse Goalscoring Factors.


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almost all of the organizations that rank or rate player per-formance, including Opta, Actim, and Castrol all seem topresent their index numbers as objective by virtue of statis-tical presentation. They are not. The best that can be hopedfor is that a rating system is clearly explained and, therefore,rational. However the selection of criteria used by the variousprestigious rating systems and the typically unexplainedweighting that differentiates more important from less im-portant measures are clearly subjective. Nothing is wrongwith that except that often these ratings are accompanied bythe assurance that they are, incredulously, objective. It is suf-ficient that the process is clearly explained and, therefore,provides a frame of reference that can encourage meaningful

dialogue that is either supportive or critical. Rationality isabout the best we can hope for. Different parties will alwaysbring different values to the tablesimple as that. May thebest argument win.


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APPENDIXA:TOP 20GOALSCORERS

Table A1. English Premier League Top 20 Goalscorers.


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APPENDIXA:TOP 20GOALSCORERS (CONTINUED)

Table A2. La Liga Top 20 Goalscorers


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Table A3. Serie A Top 20 Goalscorers.


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Table A4. Bundesliga Top 20 Goalscorers. *

*Note: Bundesliga and Eredivise play a 34 game season; all other leagues play 3son.


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Table A5. Ligue 1 Top 20 Goalscorers


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Table A6. Eredivisie Top 20 Goalscorers. *


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APPENDIX B. Friedman and Dunn Tests for Comparing Interlea-gue Goal Scoring Statistics

The six groups of goals-corers from each of theleagues in the study wererank-ordered from topthrough the 20th playerbased on total goalsscored during league playfor the 2009-2010 season(Table B1). The values forthe Bundesliga and Eredi-

visie reflect the normaliza-tion needed to grow the34 games played in thesetwo leagues to the 38 thatthe remaining four lea-gues play.

The initial intent ofusing a paired one-wayANOVA test to determineif a statistically significantdifference existed between

at least one pair of leagues as measured by mean goals scored forthe top 20 goalscorers was abandoned because the five of the sixleague sample distributions failed the normality test (Table B2). Theparametric data was downgraded to ordinal and the use of leagueranks was compared using the distribution free, non-parametricFriedman test for matched, rank-order-ed samples. The Friedmantest examines the six leagues of twenty ranked player and will de-termine if the rank totals and median rank values differ significant-ly between at least one pair ofleagues.

FR=

12 Ri( )

2

i=1

k

Nk(k+1)

3N(k+1)

in which

N= number players in each group, 20

Table B1. Rank Ordered Top 20 GoalsScored In League Play for 2009-2010 Sea-son (Note: Bundesliga and Eredivisie 34game season adjusted to 38 game equiva-lent).


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k= number of leagues, 6

Ri = the sum of player ranks in the i

th league

For sample sizes inexcess on N=4, thechi-square distri-bution for k-1 de-grees of freedomis used. If statisti-cally significantfindings are dis-covered usingFriedmans test,

the Dunns posttest is applied topinpoint the spe-cific pairs of lea-gues that exhibitsignificant differ-ences.

The resultsshow that that,based on thecomparison of the

relative sum of ranks, numerous, statistically significant differencesexist between leagues (Table B3). The findings suggest that Ligue 1and the Eredivisie delivered significantly lower scoring than that ofthe EPL, La Liga, Serie A, and Bundesliga.8

8It is interesting to acknowledge that even though the Eredivisies Luis Surez led the

overall scoring for the season, the overall distribution of ranks for this league was compa-ratively weak and many of Hollands top division occupied many of the lower ranks whencompared to the other leagues.

Table B3. Dunn Test of Differences Between SpecificLeague Comparisons.


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REFERENCES

Torben Tiedemann, Tammo Francksen and Uwe Latacz-Lohmann,Assessing the performance of German Bundesliga football players:a non-parametric metafrontier approach, Central European Journalof Operations Research, Volume 15, Number 4, 309-328, DOI:10.1007/s10100-007-0034-y (2007).s, May 2010,

Isidoro Guzmn and Stephen Morrow, Measuring efficiency andproductivity in professional football teams: evidence from the Eng-lish Premier League, Central European Journal of Operations Re-search, Volume 15, Number 1, 21-45, DOI: 10.1007/s10100-006-0017-4, November 2007.

David Biderman, Ranking Europe's Big Soccer Leagues, Wall StreetJournal, August 17, 2010.

Nate Silver, A Guide to ESPNs SPI Ratings,

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/4447078/ce/us/guide-espn-spi-ratings?cc=5901&ver=us, December 7, 2009.

Table B2. Descriptive Statistics and ANOVA Testsfor Normality for Six Leagues.!


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Metro Fantasy Football: Top 5 strikers, 3 August 2010,http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/836972-metro-fantasy-football-top-

5-strikers

WW Daniel, Applied Nonparametric Statistics( 2nd ed.), PWS-Kent1990, pp. 240-241.

Sidney Siegel and N. John Castellan Jr., Nonparametric Statistics forBehavioral Sciencesby McGraw-Hill 1988, pp. 174-180.

Uncovering Europe’s Best Goalscorers from the 2009-2010 Season

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