3zden/fbref_football_player_performance_2024-2025

FBref Football Player Performance Dataset (2024-2025 Season)

Dataset Description

This dataset contains comprehensive performance statistics for 2273 professional football players during the 2024-2025 season. Sourced from FBref, it includes both traditional metrics (goals, assists) and advanced analytics (xG, xAG, progressive actions) across top European leagues.

• —Curated by: FBref
• —License: Publicly available football statistics (check FBref terms for redistribution)
• —Update Frequency: Seasonal
• —Dataset Size: 2273 players × 33 features

Key Features

• —Player metadata: Name, nationality, position, age
• —Match participation: Matches played, starts, minutes
• —Goal contributions: Goals, assists, non-penalty goals
• —Expected metrics: xG, xAG, npxG, npxG+xAG
• —Progressive actions: Carries, passes, receives
• —Disciplinary records: Yellow/red cards
• —Per-90-minute metrics: 16 efficiency statistics

Supported Tasks

1. 1.Player performance analysis
2. 2.Transfer market valuation
3. 3.Fantasy football optimization
4. 4.Positional comparison (Attackers vs. Midfielders vs. Defenders)
5. 5.Age-performance correlation studies

Dataset Structure

Data Fields

Data Splits

• —Single comprehensive file (PlayersFBREF.csv)
• —No predefined train/validation/test splits (recommended for exploratory analysis)

Dataset Creation

Curation Rationale

This dataset was compiled to:

• —Provide standardized player performance metrics
• —Enable quantitative comparison across leagues
• —Support data-driven football analysis
• —Facilitate academic research in sports analytics

Source Data

• —Source: FBref (https://fbref.com)
• —Coverage: Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1
• —Time Period: 2024-2025 season
• —Player Selection: All players with significant minutes (≥ 200 mins)

Preprocessing

1. 1.International symbol standardization (e.g., "AT" for attacker)
2. 2.Minutes formatting (e.g., "3,371" → 3371)
3. 3.Per-90 metrics calculated from raw totals
4. 4.Duplicate entries consolidated (e.g., Salah appears once)

Known Limitations

• —Contains European league bias
• —Goalkeeper statistics are limited
• —Position classifications may oversimplify hybrid roles
• —Set-piece contributions not isolated

Usage Considerations

Ethical Considerations

• —Player data is publicly available professional information
• —Performance metrics shouldn't be used for personal criticism
• —Age data requires careful interpretation in analysis

Potential Biases

• —League coverage favors top 5 European competitions
• —Playing time bias (bench players underrepresented)
• —Metric weighting favors offensive contributions

Recommended Use Cases

• —Academic sports research
• —Fantasy football optimization
• —Player scouting and talent identification
• —Football analytics education

Additional Information

Citation Information

@dataset{fbref_player_performance_2025,
  author = {FBref},
  year = {2025},
  title = {European Football Player Statistics 2024-2025},
  howpublished = {https://fbref.com}
}