# Who can replace Xavi? A passing motif analysis of football players

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.07768 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.07768/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 23 Jun 2015.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [6MapNet: Representing soccer players from tracking data by a triplet network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.04720/) (2021)
- [Characterizing player's playing styles based on Player Vectors for each playing position in the Chinese Football Super League](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.02731/) (2022)
- [Predicting soccer matches with complex networks and machine learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.13098/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Traditionally, most of football statistical and media coverage has been focused almost exclusively on goals and (ocassionally) shots. However, most of the duration of a football game is spent away from the boxes, passing the ball around. The way teams pass the ball around is the most characteristic measurement of what a team's "unique style" is. In the present work we analyse passing sequences at the player level, using the different passing frequencies as a "digital fingerprint" of a player's style. The resulting numbers provide an adequate feature set which can be used in order to construct a measure of similarity between players. Armed with such a similarity tool, one can try to answer the question: Who might possibly replace Xavi at FC Barcelona?