Wendie Renard and Sweden, the most honest high scoring player and team

2019-09-15

As we did with the Men's tournament, we also analysed how much top scoring teams and players used diving as one of their tactics during the Women's World Cup in France. Here are the results:

Sweden were the third highest scoring team but they had the highest Goal per Dive ratio (1.2). They were the only team in either World Cup (Women’s and Men’s) to score more often than they dived (12 goals vs 10 dives).

Women’s goals vs dives by team

The top scoring players in the tournament were Alex Morgan (United States), Ellen White (England) and Megan Rapinoe (United States), with 6 goals each. But the Golden Boot was awarded to Megan Rapinoe, as she played the least amount of time during the tournament, giving her the best Goal per Minute ratio. Nevertheless, of the three top scoring players, Ellen White dived the least (1 dive).

Women’s goals vs dives by player

However, the most honest high scoring player was Wendie Renard (France) who scored 4 goals without a single dive. This made her the only high scoring player to refrain from diving in either the men’s or women’s tournament.

Header photo by Steffen Prößdorf

Liverpool, the most honest team in the Champions League semifinal

Liverpool with only 4 dives, the most honest team this round.

More

The Queensland Study: A self-feeding mechanism

The diving player is more likely to ‘get away with it’ the more frequently they dive.

More

2018 World Cup diving wrap up

A summary of diving at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

More