Analysis and evaluation of the corner kick in soccer at the highest level

Abstract

Objective. To analyze the corner significance during a soccer game and to know which are the main actions that occur during a corner kick in senior male professional soccer.

Methods. We analyzed 333 corner kicks executed in 35 games, corresponding to five national team international competitions. For its analysis, 370 possible solutions were categorized based on four levels: Kick side, corner kick deepness; field position at which the ball is thrown and second play actions.

Results. The number of corners per game was 9.54 ± 1.02 (variance: 11.79; range: 5 - 18). Its behavior follows the Poisson distribution. The key features are the right side kicks (52.4%) vs. left side (47.6%); the long kicks (82.8%) over the short ones (17.2%); the center kicks (53.7%) over the ones sent to the first post (28.2%) or the second post (28.2%). At the end of the play, the number of clearances (182 - 58.9%) and counterattacks (31 - 10.0%) outperformed the number of corner kicks ending in shots on goals (53 - 17.2%) or becoming in goals (5 - 1.6%).

Conclusion. The corner is a common action used during a soccer match but with a low effectiveness level (1.6/match). We understand that, given the low number of goals scored during a game, the maximum optimization of these tactical actions reaches a relevant value in modern soccer.