SOCCER (ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL)

Statistics have been the backbone of sports since their inception and it allows fans to get ideas and create heroes in their minds without even watching them play. This is extremely relevant in American Sports, because we knew Babe Ruth was powerful because of his home runs, we knew Larry Bird could shoot well because of his shooting percentage, we knew Dan Marino was a good passer because of his yards and we knew Ken Dryden was a great goalie because of his goals against average. To some extent this is true in soccer, as most English fans know of Dixie Dean, one of the greatest players ever to play in England, known more for his goal statistics then watching him play. Since there was a lack of statistics, many great stars are forgotten. If only goals are counted in professional hockey, Bobby Orr would not be regarded as one of the best all-time because we would have only known that he scored 270 goals (which is not many for a professional hockey player) but thanks to his 645 assists, we can see what a great offensive player he was.

With the new generation (Generation Y) being accustomed to television, video games and the internet, the need for quick reference materials has become much more as an everyday resource. Young people today have more knowledge then the previous at generation but lack the tools and mind set to follow the in-depth reports on the games that appear in the various at news publications available to them. Instead they go straight to the result page and look at the goal scorers and line-ups. To re-train the new fan, the need to develop a useful set of statistics that would give the reader more information in a quick reference style and in turn would persuade the reader to go to that publication.

The soccer statistics that we tabulate and produce can create commercial opportunities for the consumer. We currently collate statistics and gather information for the following soccer leagues:

Argentina; Australia; Austria; Belgium; Brazil; Chile; Croatia; Czech Republic; Denmark; England - Premiership, Championship, League 1, League 2, Conference; Finland; France - Le Championnat, 2 Div.; Germany - 1 Bundesliga, 2 Bundesliga; Greece; Holland - Eredivisie, Gouden Gids; Hungary; Italy - Serie A, Serie B; Japan; Mexico; Norway; Poland; Portugal; Russia; Scotland - Premier League, 1 Div., 2 Div., 3 Div.; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain - Primera, Segunda; Sweden; Switzerland; Turkey; USA - MLS, A-league, WUSA.