On the development of a soccer player performance rating system for the english Premier League

Abstract

The EA Sports Player Performance Index is a rating system for soccer players used in the top two tiers of\textbackslashr\textbackslashnsoccer in England—the Premier League and the Championship. Its development was a collaboration among\textbackslashr\textbackslashnprofessional soccer leagues, a news media association, and academia. In this paper, we describe the index and\textbackslashr\textbackslashnits construction. The novelty of the index lies in its attempts to rate all players using a single score, regardless\textbackslashr\textbackslashnof their playing specialty, based on player contributions to winning performances. As one might expect, players\textbackslashr\textbackslashnfrom leading teams lead the index, although surprises happen.