Analysis of corner kicks at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 in relation to match status and team quality

Abstract

This study analysed the characteristics of 476 corner kicks taken during 52 matches at the FIFA women's World Cup 2019. The effect of current match status/team quality was examined, and the corner characteristics associated with the 17 goals scored from corners (3.6%) and 93 shots on-target (19.5%) were identified. Goals from corners were more likely from dynamic attacks or with 1-4 defenders for short corners. Shots on-target were more likely from corners delivered into GA3&CA3 and the outer zones, ≥6 attackers were inside the delivery area or involved ≥3 intervening attackers. Match status was significantly associated with number of defenders, attackers for short corners, defenders for short corners and type of marking. Team quality was significantly associated with type of delivery, kicking foot, number of attackers, attackers for short corners, defenders for short corners, defenders on posts, number of intervening attackers and offensive organisation. Team quality was not significantly associated with corner outcomes, perhaps a consequence of higher-quality teams not always favouring corner characteristics which are associated with increased success (goals or shots on-target). These results can assist coaches to understand corner characteristics to expect when winning, drawing, or losing, or against different levels of opposition within women's international football.

Systematic Observation of Corner Kick Strategies in Portuguese Football Players

“…Contrastingly, open trajectories (or outswing) were most frequent in other European leagues (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, and French), especially for indirect corners [19]. Some studies [16,17,42] reported that professional teams use more outswing trajectories and bottom level inswing, which is contrary to our results. Caution must be taken when comparing this data with amateur players with studies performed with top level players.…”

“…In our study, 31% of the 500 corners resulted in attempts at goal, with 6% of these resulting in a goal. This is slightly higher than previous studies, which range from 2.2% to 3.6% [13,[16][17][18]21,22,41]. Successful teams were more clinical in front of goal, scoring 8% of their corners, with unsuccessful teams scoring 4%.…”

“…It is interesting to notice that short or indirect corners are less frequent, but some data report this kind of option as the one that has more probability of getting a shot on goal [18,23]. Higher ranked teams favored short corners [17,42], in order to disrupt the opponent defensive structure [42].…”

“…Corner kicks provide more goal scoring opportunities than other set pieces [12], thus, can often be a determining factor in the outcome of a match [13][14][15][16]. Typically, there are about 10 corners per match [14][15][16], with between 2% and 4% resulting in goals [13,[15][16][17][18][19].…”

Ferramentas de avaliação de desempenho técnico, tático e físico no futebol feminino: uma revisão sistemática (Herramientas de evaluación del rendimiento técnico, táctico y físico en el fútbol femenino: una revisión sistemática) (Technical, tactical and physical performance assessment tools in women’s soccer: a systematic review)

“…Os próprios autores calcularam a confiabilidade intra e inter-observador na sua amostra, sanando assim a ausência de tal evidência científica na literatura. Muitos pesquisadores têm optado por esse método para que assim apresentem as evidências de validade da sua ferramenta de coleta, visto que os valores de confiabilidade e validade da fermenta são muito importantes para que se possa analisar o quão confiável são seus resultados Iván Baragno et al, 2021;Lee & Mills, 2021).…”