FIFA World Cup Extravaganza

More or Less: Behind the Stats

BBC

Business, Mathematics, Science, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2018

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

The World Cup starts this week and the More or Less team is marking the event by looking at the data behind all the World Cups since 1966 (our data shows that this was the best world cup because England won). We’ll answer all football fans most burning questions; which World Cups have seen the most shots, fouls, dribbles and most importantly goals? Do the statistics back up the reputations of famous players like Pele, Cruyff, Maradona and Paul Gascoigne? And which of them actually committed the most fouls at one World Cup? Ben Carter talks to Author and Opta Sports football statistician Duncan Alexander about how the ‘beautiful game’ has changed…through numbers. (Picture: The World Cup, credit: Shutterstock)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Morales on the BBC World Service with me Ben Carter.
0:09.5	The weight is over, the World Cup has started and on Morales we couldn't be happier because
0:15.0	a month of football means a month of football data, goals, shots, fouls, dribbles.
0:22.7	If you can count it, we love it and we are not alone.
0:26.8	The football statistics firm Opta has gone back and analysed all the World Cups going
0:31.5	back to 1966, which has universally agreed to be the best World Cup ever because England
0:38.3	won.
0:39.3	This has given them a fascinating data set that shows how the World Cup has changed.
0:44.3	For example, let's compare the final in 1966 and 2014.
0:50.0	At one level they are quite similar, both went to extra time and both featured Germany.
0:55.7	In 2014 they beat Argentina.
0:58.6	In 1966 they lost to England but the games themselves were incredibly different, something
1:05.0	we will demonstrate with a more or less audiogram.
1:08.6	Like a graph you can listen to.
1:11.5	OK, this is the 2014 final with 120 minutes condensed into 20 seconds.
1:19.7	Those sounds you are hearing represent a player taking a shot.
1:24.2	There were 20 in 120 minutes.
1:28.6	Now we are going to hear the same kind of 22nd treatment of the 1966 final.
1:36.4	That sound you are hearing isn't a machine gun, that's the incredible frequency of shots
1:40.6	in the 1966 final.
1:43.2	77 shots in 120 minutes.
1:46.4	53 of those are from outside the area and not one of them went in.
	...

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