What are “Scoring Opportunities”?

FOOTBALL – The Guardian’s analysis of Leicester City’s surprise season included a reference to scoring opportunities, one of the numerous variables that we at Infostrada Sports collect in our live coverage of football matches around the world. As explained in the article, this is a measure which counts major chances whether they result in a shot or not. Calculating the difference between scoring opportunities for and against produces a measure which is highly correlated with the league table standings. Below are some examples of goal attempts which would be classified as scoring opportunities.

ANALYSE THIS: Premier League rich but performs below par

FOOTBALL – The Deloitte Money League has been released and unsurprisingly, the Euro Club Index ranking, which rates clubs based on performance, is highly correlated with this annual ranking of wealth. Four of the top-five clubs on the Deloitte list are also in the Euro Club Index top-10. Manchester United are the big exception at third in the Money League but ranked only 13^th by the Euro Club Index. Another Premier League club, Liverpool, are the ninth richest in the world but are currently only just hanging onto a place in the Euro Club Index top-25. All nine Premier League clubs in Deloitte’s top-20 richest are ranked lower by the Euro Club Index.

ANALYSE THIS: The disappearance of the top teenage tennis player

TENNIS – If, like me, you grew up watching tennis in the late-1970s and early-1980s, you’d remember numerous teenage players at the top of the women’s game. At Grand Slam tournaments during those years, it was perfectly common for around one third of the seeds in the Ladies’ singles to be teenagers. However, at this year’s Australian Open there is one seed yet to celebrate her 20th birthday, the maximum there has been at each of the last seven editions of the year’s first Grand Slam.

REVIEW: France win their first European Volleyball title

VOLLEYBALL – France defeated Slovenia in the final of the men’s 2015 European Championship on Sunday. For Slovenia it was their first final in an Olympic team sport since 2004 (World or continental championship), when they lost the men’s handball title against Germany at the European Championship.

REVIEW: Sagan first Slovakian to win world title

Cycling – Peter Sagan became the first ever rider from Slovakia to win the World Championships men’s road race. Peter Sagan has now won 78 UCI races, including 19 in United States (24%).

ANALYSE THIS – Champions League Group of Death?

FOOTBALL – The Euro Club Index (www.euroclubindex.com) rates all teams in top flight football in Europe and today has proved a guide to assess the 2015/2016 Champions League group stage draw. It points out the Group of Death, the teams facing strongest/weakest opposition and also the teams that were most fortunate/unfortunate in the draw.

ANALYSE THIS: New CL draw system can produce Group of Death

FOOTBALL – The Champions League draw pots for this evening are based on a slightly adapted system compared to previous years as the champions of the top eight countries on the UEFA coefficients have now all been placed in pot 1. The remainder of the pots have been ordered based on the UEFA coefficients for clubs at the end of last season as before. Pot 1 is now less representative of the top teams than it has previously been, particularly with Dutch champions PSV who would have been in pot 3 in the old system but, using an alternative ranking system like the Euro Club Index should actually be in pot 4.

RECORD: Spain to serve up five-star CL campaign

FOOTBALL – Valencia CF reached the main stage of the Champions League and made Spain the first country ever to be represented by five teams in one CL season. In Thursday’s draw pots Valencia will be joined by fellow Spanish sides FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid and Sevilla FC.

REVIEW: Lightning Bolt strikes thrice

ATHLETICS – Usain Bolt won the men’s 100m at the world championships in Beijing. It was his third world title in this event. Bolt joined Carl Lewis (USA) and Maurice Greene (USA) as the only athletes to win three world titles in this event. Bolt also won in 2009 and 2013. Since Yohan Blake won this event in 2011, it is now four Jamaican gold medals in a row.

REVIEW: China rule world of water

AQUATICS – At the conclusion of the 2015 Aquatics World Championships, China have emerged as the most successful country winning 15 gold medals, 10 silver medals and 10 bronze medals. For the first time since 2001 (Australia), United States do not top the overall table.