Sofascore ratings explained

The ultimate football metric

Around the world, football is known as ‘the beautiful game’. Its beauty emerges from countless details - and details can be measured.

With every action on the pitch, players generate data that is used to rate their performance.

This data is then transformed into an objective performance indicator - the Sofascore Rating.

Sofascore Rating scale

How does it work?

Hundreds of data points are collected both in real time and post-match, then aggregated and presented as a single number.

Calculated by a machine learning algorithm, the Rating assigns a value to each offensive, defensive, and goalkeeping action based on its context and impact in the match.

Actions are grouped into 5 categories

Shooting - How the quality of a player’s shots impacted their team’s chance of scoring.
Passing - How a player’s passes affected their team’s chance to score.
Dribbling - How ball carries and dribbles contributed to their team’s chance to score.
Defending - How well the defence prevented goals.
Goalkeeping - How effective a goalkeeper was at preventing goals.

Some passes count more

Actions from each category are scored and added up according to their impact. Let’s look at passing as an example.

Not every pass is equal. Some contribute more to creating a scoring chance than others (e.g. progressive vs. backwards).

That’s why two accurate passes can have different values.

Rating in action

As you explore the app, you’ll see the Sofascore Rating pop up in various places. It comes in two forms.

Match rating

Reflects player and team performance during a single match.

Season rating

Reflects average player and team performance over the course of an entire tournament or season.

Player of the Season Awards

The player with the league’s highest average Sofascore Rating gets a special honour: the Player of the Season award.

Top-rated players in 120 football leagues get an in-app badge for their achievement, while major league players also get a physical trophy. All get eternal bragging rights.

Objectivity

Ratings are not entered manually by members of our team. They are product of an computer algorithm with deeply thought parameters, not the individual, human assessment. Calculation algorithm is the same for every player with some smaller exceptions depending on the player position.