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Football Penalties shootout data analysis

Exploring historical World Cup penalty shootout data to visualize shot patterns and begin modeling optimal strategies for shooters and keepers — work in progress.

Data Science & ML

Context

I’m analyzing past FIFA World Cup penalty shootouts through data exploration, distribution studies, and visual analytics. The goal is to understand patterns in penalty-taking—where players shoot and how goalkeepers react—with hopes of one day modeling optimal shot placement or goalkeeper strategy.

Approach

  • Data: Compiled historical World Cup shootout data (e.g., shot zones, outcomes, kick sequence), enriched with domain-specific features and visual distributions.
  • Analysis: Exploratory modeling with distribution plots, event heatmaps, and basic predictive patterns; planning for deeper modeling—e.g. success probabilities of shot zones.
  • Vision: Aiming to inform both takers (best spot to shoot) and goalkeepers (optimal dive strategies), based on statistical and visual insights from real-world data.

Results

Initial exploratory visualizations highlight non-uniform shot distributions and suggest goalkeepers favor certain areas. As the analysis progresses, I expect to transition from descriptive insights toward predictive modeling of penalty outcomes.