Technical performance profiles in the European Football Championship 2016

The main aim of this study was to analyse the differences amongst the technical performance profiles of the teams involved in the 2016 European Football Championship. A k-means cluster analysis was preliminarily performed to identify the close matches of that tournament. Then, the team-match statistics gathered from the official website of the Union of European Football Championship (UEFA) were grouped into three categories: variables related to shots, variables related to possessions and passes, and variables related to defensive processes. Furthermore, the level of strength of each team was estimated by means of FIFA ranking coefficients (i.e., the situational variable), and this was used as a dependent variable in further analysis. Technical performance profiles according to the team’s level of strength were established by using the median and the upper and lower quartiles of convenient team-match statistics. Several team-match statistics related to the shots and to the possessions and passes were statistically different between high- and low-level teams, with the effect size of these differences ranging from small to moderate. The differences between high- and intermediate-level teams and between intermediate- and low-level teams were less consistent in magnitude (i.e., the effects size of the differences are small). Indeed, the technical performance profiles analysed here seem to suggest that the level of strength reflects the level of technical efficiency of the teams, and this evidence is primarily related to the technical elements of the offensive processes (i.e., shoots, passes and possessions). This information could be useful for supporting coaches during the design of training sessions according to an evaluation of the performance of the next opponent.