Modern football analysis rests on a small family of measurements that were almost unknown a generation ago. This compendium explains what each of them computes, where the models disagree, and why a career total without its counting rule is not a record at all.
Every figure below is a measurement of play that has already happened, with the rule that produced it written next to it.
Five measures carry most of modern analysis. For each one the card states the formula, what the number actually shows, and the specific reading it invites that the metric cannot support. They are static reference cards: no chart, no live figure.
The probability that an average player, from that position with that service, converts the attempt. Read it as chance quality, not as a result.
Where it misleadsIt under-reads a genuine finishing streak and over-reads a single long-range strike; it says nothing about who took the shot.
Credits the pass that created an attempt with the value of the attempt itself. It measures creation, so it can be earned with no assist on the record.
Where it misleadsIt rewards the pass, never the run that made the pass possible.
How long a team allows an opponent to circulate the ball before intervening. A low value reads as aggressive pressing.
Where it misleadsA team pressing only in its own third scores a low PPDA without being brave; the zone must be stated.
Counts progressive passes and carries that move the ball meaningfully towards goal, separating territorial work from mere possession.
Where it misleadsThe threshold is arbitrary, and a short pass into space can be worth more than a long pass backwards.
Adds placement and power to the pre-shot model, so the goalkeeper is judged on the shots that actually arrived.
Where it misleadsIt needs tracking data; on video-only feeds the post-shot adjustment is coarse.
Career and single-match marks, each with the rule that produced it and the date of its last re-check. Some entries in this vault will fall; several already have. A record is a snapshot of the best result under a stated definition, not a permanent ceiling.
One tallied record for a celebrated forward, using a definition that folds in unofficial fixtures. The floor of the same career is quoted near 757.
Minutes, not goals, decide this mark. The entry is bounded by when the clock was officially kept and by what counted as a senior fixture.
A sequence that crossed two seasons and two competition formats, and is counted in matches rather than days.
A single-match mark, and the most likely kind of entry in this vault to be revisited at any time.
There is no single official all-time goalscoring ranking, because no authority owns the sport's entire history. The table below uses one explicit rule, described in its caption, and the diverging tallies are listed with the definition that produces them.
| Player | Tally | How the tally is assembled |
|---|---|---|
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 900+ | Senior competitive club and national-team goals, all official matches counted, from the first professional season onward. |
| Lionel Messi | 850+ | Same rule as above: official senior matches only, club and country, top-division and continental competition included. |
| Josef Bican | 805 | Includes wartime league championships, which some authorities classify as official and others exclude. |
| Romario | 772 | Includes state-league and youth fixtures, which inflates the total against a strict senior-only rule. |
| Pele | 757 to 1,281 | The widest published range in the sport: the low figure counts only first-team competitive matches, the high figure folds in tours and friendlies. |
| Ferenc Puskas | 700+ | Senior official matches across the Hungarian and Spanish leagues, counted under the strict rule. |
The great fixtures read as running totals. Each one is framed at a stage of its history, because the numbers move with every meeting and the split of wins is the most volatile figure on this page.
The xG family from the inside: what goes into a shot value, why finishing above or below expectation is normal, and how much data a reliable number needs.
What the model sees before it prints a number, and where that process leaks.
Core metric
Distance, angle, body part, service type and pressure, one by one.
Core metric
Why the penalty is removed, and what changes once it is.
Applied metric
Variance, selection and skill: the three honest explanations.
Applied metricPossession measured as pressure rather than as a share: what a team allows, where it wins the ball, and why the zone matters as much as the count.
The definition, the zone problem, and the two teams that share one number.
Core metric
Why the final-third share is a better territory measure than possession.
Core metric
Where the ball is won, how quickly it is won back, and why football's best sides farm it.
Applied metric
Approximating effort from consequences, and the ambiguity that follows.
Advanced / contestedThe measurable act of moving play upfield, from progressive passes and carries to line-breaking deliveries and zone-based threat.
The distance thresholds, who they favour, and why the number needs its rule.
Core metric
Counting passes that remove defenders, and why the definition resists automation.
Advanced / contested
A grid of positions, a value for each, and what the model quietly ignores.
Advanced / contested
Action-level value, and the reason a big number is not always a compliment.
Advanced / contestedShot-stopping above expectation, claiming, sweeping and distribution: the specialist numbers that make goalkeeping comparable.
Adding placement and power to the model, and what that changes about judging a keeper.
Core metric
The subtraction, its variance, and why one season is not evidence.
Core metric
Crosses claimed, defensive actions outside the box, and the risk that comes with them.
Applied metric
Pass length, progressive distribution, and the risk inside the build-up.
Applied metricDefinitions, samples and the differences between the major tracking models, which explain why two credible totals rarely match exactly.
How Opta and StatsBomb approach the same match differently.
Core metric
From raw log to metric: where the definition enters and what it moves.
Advanced / contested
Five mechanisms that make two correct numbers differ, and how to identify them.
Core metric
The routine checks that catch the errors analysis cannot see.
Core metric