The strongest correlation existed between points for all of the leagues besides ligue 1, as a function of defense and midfield. By excluding ligue 1 and offense in our model, we ended up with an r2 value of .658. This is surprising as it suggests that having better rated forwards means little to how well a team does over the course of a season. Using weights assigned to defense and midfield we project that the overall point total for a team playing a 38 game schedule (Bundesliga plays 34 games a season so we weighted their point total to reflect 38 games) follows the form Points = -244.8511 + 2.0671*Midfield + 1.9066*Defense.
We took these projections and compared them to the current season even though the seasons aren’t over. We compared current place in standings to the projected standings of each league given their projected point totals. Of the four leagues, La Liga and the Premier league are closer to the predicted table averaging within 2.35 and 2.5 places respectively of their projected finish. The Bundesliga and Serie A are not as close to predictions as they average within 3.6 and 3.75 places respectively.
fifa_rankings_weighted.xlsx |