World Cup 2022 in charts: how football is changing

More running, fewer shots and greater goalkeeper involvement — these are some of the trends emerging from the World Cup in Qatar that show how the broader world of football is changing.

Just eight games are left after the 56 group stage and first knockout games already played, providing fans of football data a wealth of information to devour. Using statistics from the “high-tech match analysis tools” compiled for Fifa, football’s governing body, the Financial Times has picked out some of the main trends.

As teams prepare for the quarter-finals that begin on Friday, these metrics help to explain why some teams have excelled and others have been eliminated.

Teams turn to crosses and make shots count

Teams are becoming smarter about how and when they shoot, with the number of shots per goal continuing a downward trend from the past three tournaments, even though the number of goals has remained almost the same, at 147 compared with 148.

England have been the most clinical, scoring at a rate of better than one goal every four shots. At the opposite end, Denmark found the net just once from their 35 shots.

The number of goals scored from crosses has increased by 83 per cent compared with the same stage in 2018, despite the fact that the average number of crosses per team each match is lower (18 down from 21).

In addition to making better-informed decisions, teams are also adapting how they defend, according to Arsène Wenger, the former Arsenal manager who now leads Fifa’s global football development. Focus has increased on packing the penalty area and guarding the space directly in front of it.

In a trend seen across European club football in recent years, goalkeepers at the World Cup are increasingly important in how teams play out from their own penalty area.

The average number of passes made by each keeper per match has increased only slightly to 28 from 26.5 in 2018, but other measures show a much bigger change.

The number of “offers to receive” — a Fifa-favoured metric on how often a goalkeeper makes himself available for a pass — has gone up sharply since 2018.

Wenger believes that aspiring young goalkeepers will increasingly be expected to prove themselves as outfield players before moving permanently between the posts.

Substitutes scoring more goals in longer games

In the early group games the amount of time added on at the end of each 45-minute half jumped, partly the result of direction from Fifa to have more time when the ball is in play.

This World Cup has already had 562 minutes of added time, the equivalent of more than six extra matches and considerably higher than in all of the last tournament.

A byproduct of the extra minutes, as well as the introduction of the five-substitute rule at a World Cup for the first time, is a greater contribution being made by those coming off the bench.

Substitutes have already scored 24 goals — up from a tournament total of 16 in 2018 — and the proportion of goals scored in the second half has increased.

Players running further than ever

Qatar is often described as a “World Cup of firsts”. While a major disruption for club football, holding the tournament in the middle of the European season for the first time has enabled players to compete while in peak condition, rather than at the end of a long and grinding campaign.

The small size of the host nation means players have also been based in one place for the duration — eliminating the long distances teams have often had to travel between matches.

One possible side effect of this has been that players are running much further during games compared with previous World Cups. Every nation’s average total distance is more than the 2018 average, with sides running almost 10km further in total per match compared with four years ago. This can partly be explained by the extra minutes being added, but even accounting for that the average has increased.

Spain have run the furthest, although this will be skewed slightly by the fact that they played extra time in their round-of-16 game against Morocco. The USA is on top if the games that have gone to extra time are discounted.

Ageing stars playing at walking pace

The Fifa data also break down the individual running stats of each player, separated out into walking, jogging and sprinting. Perhaps unsurprisingly, some of the tournament’s older players top the walking category.

It is also a reflection of the way teams with older star players set up — to limit the hard yards required and put the onus on younger players to do the hustling.

As Argentina’s Lionel Messi has shown again at this tournament, top players only need to perform a few moments of magic to make the difference.