SynthesisSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2020
A Systematic Review of Collective Tactical Behaviours in Football Using Positional Data.
Synthesis in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 243 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biological and Race Strategy Characteristics Investigated in Elite Endurance Track Running: A Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Beyond Traditional Metrics: A Systematic Review of Spatial and Spatiotemporal Indicators in 5-on-5 Basketball.Journal of sports science & medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Can Current Metrics Characterise or Differentiate Between Elite Track and Field Athletes Within the Sprints, Hurdles, High Jump, Long Jump and Triple Jump? A Systematic Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Pooled it
- Match-play data according to playing categories in badminton: a systematic review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Pooled it
- Quantifying Exposure and Intra-Individual Reliability of High-Speed and Sprint Running During Sided-Games Training in Soccer Players: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Pooled it
- Relationships between External, Wearable Sensor-Based, and Internal Parameters: A Systematic Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Pooled it
- Match Analysis in Team Ball Sports: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.Sports medicine - open · 2022Pooled it
- Integrating physical and tactical factors in football using positional data: a systematic review.PeerJ · 2022Pooled it
- Training Design, Performance Analysis, and Talent Identification-A Systematic Review about the Most Relevant Variables through the Principal Component Analysis in Soccer, Basketball, and Rugby.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Association Between Mechanical, Physiological, and Technical Parameters With Canoe Slalom Performance: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Pooled it
- Passing Networks and Tactical Action in Football: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Identification, Computational Examination, Critical Assessment and Future Considerations of Distance Variables to Assess Collective Tactical Behaviour in Team Invasion Sports by Positional Data: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Effects of Tai Chi training on lower-limb coordination pattern and variability during walking in patients with functional ankle instability: a pilot randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Transferability of Intra- and Inter-Sectoral Coordination Between Training Tasks and Official Matches in Semi-Professional Football Players.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Article
- Team Synergies in Professional Football: A Goal-Referenced Performance Indicator for Rapid Ball Recovery in Negative Transitions.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Within-System Agreement Between Real-Time and Post-Processed Data Using Dynamix from League Optical Tracking (Hawk-Eye) in Professional Football.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- From tracking data to ecologically grounded tactical indicators: a conceptual validation procedure for team invasion sports.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Artificial Intelligence in Sub-Elite Youth Football Players: Predicting Recovery Through Machine Learning Integration of Physical, Technical, Tactical and Maturational Data.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Characterizing the spatial structures of competing football teams.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Competitive Match Running Speed Demands and Impact of Changing the Head Coach in Non-League Professional Football.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPerformance analysis research in association football has recently cusped a paradigmatic shift in the way tactical behaviours are studied. Based on insights from system complexity research, a growing number of studies now analyse tactical behaviours in football based on the collective movements of team players.
objectiveThe aim of this systematic review is to provide a summary of empirical research on collective tactical behaviours in football, with a particular focus on organising the methods used and their key findings.
methodsA systematic search of relevant English-language articles was performed on one database (Web of Science Core Collection) and one search engine (PubMed), based on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses) guidelines. The keywords 'football' and 'soccer' were each paired with all possible combinations of the following keywords: 'collective movement behaviour', 'collective behaviour', 'tactical behaviour', 'interpersonal coordination', 'space', 'Voronoi', 'synchronisation', 'tactical analysis', 'constraints', 'ecological dynamics', and 'dynamic positioning'. Empirical studies that were related to tactical analyses of footballers' positional data were sought for inclusion and analysis.
resultsFull-text articles of 77 studies were reviewed. A total of 27 tactical variables were identified, which were subsequently organised into 6 categories. In addition to conventional methods of linear analysis, 11 methods of nonlinear analysis were also used, which can be organised into measures of predictability (4 methods) and synchronisation (7 methods). The key findings of the reviewed studies were organised into two themes: levels of analysis, and levels of expertise.
conclusionsSome trends in key findings revealed the following collective behaviours as possible indicators of better tactical expertise: higher movement regularity; wider dispersion in youth players and shorter readjustment delay between teammates and opponents. Characteristic behaviours were also observed as an effect of playing position, numerical inequality, and task constraints. Future research should focus on contextualising positional data, incorporating the needs of coaching staff, to better bridge the research-practice gap.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.