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An affordable data solution for player recruitment for clubs in the South African Premier Soccer League
As football becomes increasingly data-driven, the high cost of advanced player analytics threatens to leave resource-limited clubs at a competitive disadvantage, particularly in player scouting. This growing reliance on expensive, granular data under-scores the need for affordable, innovative data s...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
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Department of Statistical Sciences
2025
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| _version_ | 1867613205134573568 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | King, Wesley |
| author2 | Watson, Neil |
| author_browse | King, Wesley Watson, Neil |
| author_facet | Watson, Neil King, Wesley |
| author_sort | King, Wesley |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | As football becomes increasingly data-driven, the high cost of advanced player analytics threatens to leave resource-limited clubs at a competitive disadvantage, particularly in player scouting. This growing reliance on expensive, granular data under-scores the need for affordable, innovative data solutions. This dissertation seeks to democratize access to player evaluation data for football clubs in the South African Premier Soccer League. This is achieved by developing a cost-effective system that uses models to approximate Statsbomb's proprietary ‘On the ball' player evaluation metric using cheaper, frequency data from Wyscout and FBref. The analysis shows that linear regression models can effectively estimate key components of this metric using basic frequency statistics. The findings are then packaged into a prototype web-based Decision Support System with budget-aware scouting features, showcasing how club scouts and analysts can integrate sophisticated data-driven recruitment strategies into their clubs without incurring prohibitive data costs. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42338 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:26.116Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | Department of Statistical Sciences |
| publisherStr | Department of Statistical Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42338 An affordable data solution for player recruitment for clubs in the South African Premier Soccer League King, Wesley Watson, Neil Clubs South Africa Premier soccer league As football becomes increasingly data-driven, the high cost of advanced player analytics threatens to leave resource-limited clubs at a competitive disadvantage, particularly in player scouting. This growing reliance on expensive, granular data under-scores the need for affordable, innovative data solutions. This dissertation seeks to democratize access to player evaluation data for football clubs in the South African Premier Soccer League. This is achieved by developing a cost-effective system that uses models to approximate Statsbomb's proprietary ‘On the ball' player evaluation metric using cheaper, frequency data from Wyscout and FBref. The analysis shows that linear regression models can effectively estimate key components of this metric using basic frequency statistics. The findings are then packaged into a prototype web-based Decision Support System with budget-aware scouting features, showcasing how club scouts and analysts can integrate sophisticated data-driven recruitment strategies into their clubs without incurring prohibitive data costs. 2025-11-26T07:01:06Z 2025-11-26T07:01:06Z 2025 2025-11-26T06:56:36Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42338 en eng application/pdf Department of Statistical Sciences Faculty of Science University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Clubs South Africa Premier soccer league King, Wesley An affordable data solution for player recruitment for clubs in the South African Premier Soccer League |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | An affordable data solution for player recruitment for clubs in the South African Premier Soccer League |
| title_full | An affordable data solution for player recruitment for clubs in the South African Premier Soccer League |
| title_fullStr | An affordable data solution for player recruitment for clubs in the South African Premier Soccer League |
| title_full_unstemmed | An affordable data solution for player recruitment for clubs in the South African Premier Soccer League |
| title_short | An affordable data solution for player recruitment for clubs in the South African Premier Soccer League |
| title_sort | affordable data solution for player recruitment for clubs in the south african premier soccer league |
| topic | Clubs South Africa Premier soccer league |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42338 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kingwesley anaffordabledatasolutionforplayerrecruitmentforclubsinthesouthafricanpremiersoccerleague AT kingwesley affordabledatasolutionforplayerrecruitmentforclubsinthesouthafricanpremiersoccerleague |