Updated May 2024
RANKINGS
Q: How often are
rankings updated?
A: Rankings update
daily.
Q: How are the team rankings calculated?
A: We pull from over
400 official sources in order to provide the most comprehensive results. We
look at the goal difference in every game played in the last 12 months,
including games against older teams. There is a line below the last result that
counts towards your ranking. More recent games and games against a similar team
are given higher weight. To improve your rating, you have to do better than
predicted. Your rating will go down if you do worse than predicted.
We don't make any
assumptions about the quality of leagues or even the age of teams. Instead, we
look at the results of all teams and calculate how good every team is (this is
their rating). We then use the ratings to determine age and gender rankings (as
well as club rankings). As you would expect, higher quality leagues such as MLS
and ECNL rise to the top of the rankings, but that is purely driven by the
results of those teams in inter-league play and tournaments.
Q: Why do the
rankings change?
A: It’s normal for a
team to have beaten higher ranked teams and lose to lower ranked teams. Your
ranking is an average of your performances, not your best or your worst. You
may move up or down in the rankings if someone you play moves up or down.
Our ranking algorithm becomes more accurate the more results you feed it, so we
want to have a complete and accurate result history for not only your team but
the teams you play. To make the rankings better we rely on the community to
review and cleanse the teams. All PRO members can fix anything they see so long
as they are 100% sure of the changes.
Q: How do I find different ranking lists?
A: Use the drop down
menu on the “Team Ranking” page to view Team Ranking, Unranked Teams, Offense
Ranking, Defense Ranking, Schedule Ranking, and Favorite Teams. Choose which
one you want to view.
Q: We play in a
developmental league. Why are those results included in the rankings?
A: Our policy is to
include all results we can obtain in the rankings. We reject the notion that
results at some future older age group are more important than results at
younger age groups. We also reject the notion that the kids on the field are
not trying their hardest to win in every game. No player thinks, “oh this is
developmental, I won’t try as hard”. Soccer is a sport with winners and losers.
Everyone needs to embrace that. Coaches that don’t develop the technical
ability of their players or don’t give them game time are simply bad coaches.
It has nothing to do with rankings. Pep Guardiola tries “new things” all the
time!
We created these
rankings to ensure fairer flighting when teams play in tournaments. It is no
fun for parents, players or coaches to pay a whole lot of money for a weekend
of mismatched games. Soccer is about having fun. Providing a fun experience for
the millions of kids out there playing every week is what matters.
We understand that
sometimes a team cannot or chooses not to play their strongest 11. There is no
way to adjust for this in the rankings. The most accurate rankings require as
many results as possible. We measure the actual quality of your team, as demonstrated
every week.
Please don’t remove
poor results from your team. That would be interpreted as manipulating your
ranking in contravention of our usage policy.
Q: How are club
rankings calculated?
A: We
use the average of the ratings of the top teams. This is equivalent to two (2)
clubs playing their top teams against each other and then aggregating the
scores to see who is best. We include the core competitive age groups of U11 -
U17. A club must have teams in five (5) age groups to be ranked.
Q: How are offense and defense rankings calculated?
A:
Imagine 3 teams: A, B and C. They play the following games:
A 2 - 0 C
B 4 - 2 C
From these we would
infer a ratings of: A = 30, B = 30 and C = 28 (the baseline is irrelevant). We
can also determine that B has a better offense than A and a correspondingly
worse defense. Their ratings would be:
Team |
Offense |
Defense |
|
A |
30 |
30 |
|
B |
32 |
28 |
|
C |
29 |
27 |
(here you see averaging across the 2
games) |
Q: What are schedule rankings?
A: A team’s schedule
rating is the average of the ratings of their opponents in the last year.
Team’s with the highest schedule rating play the toughest schedule.
Q: Do you rank co-ed teams?
A: No. we exclude
co-ed teams. If you want them to be included in the rankings you’ll have to
list them as a boys team.
Q: Why is my 2017 or 2016 team unranked?
A: We find that teams
just starting out tend to play in a closed system (i.e., groups of teams
playing each other but not playing many games outside of this group). Until
teams play outside of these closed circuits we can't accurately assess where
they stand in the national rankings. When teams play tournaments, you'll see
them all appear.
Q: Can a team be
removed from rankings if they have disbanded?
A: Disbanded teams
move to the unranked list after a period of time of no recent results. We only
remove teams that are never going to play again. Teams are removed
automatically from rankings after 7 months of inactivity. You can disband a team by clicking Edit then Remove From
Rankings. Please only take this action if you are 100% certain that the team
will never play again. Disbanding teams carelessly will result in losing
editing privileges.
RATINGS
Q: What are ratings
and how do they impact the rankings?
A: The
rating is a measure of the quality of the team, measured in goals. Rankings are
determined by comparing ratings.
PREDICTIONS
Q: How do predictions
work?
Step 1: Find the
opponent first and go into their team details.
Step 2: Click
‘PREDICT RESULTS’
Step 3: Click ‘ADD
FAVORITE’ and choose your team. You will see predictions.
Moving forward, no
matter what opponent you look at, your team will be remembered. If we predict
you will win by 2 goals, and you win by more than 2 goals, your rating will
improve. If you win by less than 2 goals, tie or lose then your rating will go
down.
Q: How do I delete a team from my predictions screen?
A: Swipe left to
remove teams you no longer want to see on your prediction screen.
MAKING EDITS
Q: How can I correct
my team’s name?
A: Team names come
from your last competition entry via an official website. Team names are not
manually edited by users or USA Sport Statistics. If a team recently
changed its name, it might take a week for us to merge the update. The club
name root is always placed in front of the team name on the app.
Q: Can users correct / add a coach or manager's name?
A: Coach and manager
names come from your team's last competition entry. Look at the most recent
source we have for your team. If you click on that source it will link you to
the website where the coach and manager names you see on the app were picked up.
To change this you'll have to update names on the website and it will take us
about a week to load and merge the updates.
Alternatively, the
next competition your team registers for, make sure they update the coach's
name and you'll see that reflected on the app when those new results are
loaded. Keep in mind that the app will only pick up the first name (if there
are multiple) of each coach and manager listed.
Q: How do I correct the club, state, year and/or gender for
my team?
Step 1: Click ‘EDIT’
in the top right corner
Step 2: Use the drop
down menu to correct club names, gender, year, and state
Step 3: Click ‘DONE’
when your corrections are finalized or else your changes will not stick.
Alternatively, click ‘Cancel’ if you have made a mistake and want to leave the
team stats as is.
Q: What about bad actors?
A: We have found that
the vast majority of users are well intentioned. Occurrences of bad behavior
are rare. However, every now and then we do find a bad actor. We are able to
remove editing rights and lock out from anyone who is making changes that are inaccurate
or not aligned with our policies. If you feel a result is controversial
(i.e., a team playing in the wrong age group or players left but the coach is
keeping the same name, etc.), email support@usasportstatistics.net and let us know. Do not get looped
into a battle of changing scores again and again for the same team unless you
are prepared to lose editing rights.
Q: How do I add results?
(Missing games/tournaments)
Step 1: Locate your
team
Step 2: Click ‘EDIT’
in the top right corner
Step 3: If necessary,
scroll down until you see ‘ADD MISSING SOURCES’
Step 4: Click ‘ADD
MISSING SOURCES’ and choose the missing result you need.
Step 5: Click on the
missing result you are adding. This will turn light green, indicating your
choice. If there are other results you would like to add, continue to click on
each source.
Step 6: If you are
happy with the edit and it’s correct, click ‘ADD’ in the top right corner.
Alternatively, if you have made a mistake and want to start over, click
‘CANCEL’.
Q: I couldn’t find the results following the steps above.
A: Please send links
(not screenshots) to the web pages showing your team's results in the missing
competition and we will take a look at this. While we pull results for hundreds
of websites, we don’t get every website out there and some sites take longer to
upload than others.
Q: How do I delete
results that don’t belong to my team? (Missing games / tournaments)
Step 1: Locate your
team.
Step 2: Click ‘EDIT’
in the top right corner and, if necessary, scroll down to ‘SOURCES’.
Step 3: Click the red
trash icon for any result that is not correct. If you are happy with the edit
and it’s correct, click ‘DONE’ in the top right corner. Alternatively, if you
made a mistake, click ‘CANCEL’ in the top left corner.
Q: I’ve split my teams into 2 different ones and my
corrections won’t stick. What’s wrong?
A: Unless your teams
have different names, the software is going to merge them together. The best
thing to do in this situation is moving forward, differentiate your teams
better and then merge older results with the new name.
Q: Why aren’t my edits sticking?
A:
There are a handful of reasons why this can be happening. If you see that
consistently your edits are not sticking, reach out to us immediately and we’ll
talk through and work on your specific case. The good news is this is temporary
and we just ask for your patience as we sort it out.
Q: How do you
identify a favorite team?
A: Go to the team
page that you wish to make a favorite and click the heart. The heart will turn
red when chosen. After selecting as many favorite teams as you like, you can
see them all on the main drop down menu when you click ‘FAVORITE TEAMS’
RESULTS
Q: How often are results posted?
A: Results are
usually loaded within 48-72 hours barring complications. If a result takes
longer than 72 hours to show up, the first thing to do is click ‘EDIT’ in your
team details and try to add the missing results by searching for the team name
you used to enter the competition. If you can’t find the results, from the edit
screen click ‘REPORT AN ISSUE’ and send links (not screenshots) to the web
pages showing your team's results in the missing competition and we will take a
look at this.
Q: What are live updates?
A: If a parent is recording a game for
their player, the game score will display in near real time on the team page.
To learn more about this, visit: https://youtu.be/VcuvQHczUg4?feature=shared
Q: Will live updates count against my
team’s rankings?
A: No. Only official results are used
to determine your team’s ranking.
Q: Why has the live update result
disappeared?
A: We show live
updates on the day of the match. On the following day, we will usually display
the official result. If the official result has not been posted then the result
is not displayed until it is.
Q: How do I add
unpublished results?
A: PRO users can
capture results for competitions where the organizer has chosen not to publish
the results. It cannot be used to add missing results for published
competitions.
If you participated in an unpublished
league, please send us the name of the league as well as the date, time,
opponent and score of one of the games. Then we can set it up so you and others can add the rest.
Q:How do I remove a
forfeited game?
A: If the competition
organizer tags the game as a forfeit, we will ignore it. Otherwise, our policy
is to always use the official results. We don’t allow updates to individual
game results as that is too open to abuse.
Q: How can we go about getting a tournament added to the
results?
A: Please send a link
(not a screenshot) to the webpage showing the results for your team and we will
take a look at this.
Q: We won the final
on PKs but you show a tie?
A: For the purposes
of rankings we prefer to use the full time score because this most accurately
represents the relative quality of the teams. If they were tied at full-time
then the two teams were equal on the day. The penalty shoot out is useful for awarding
the trophy but does not provide meaningful information about the quality of the
teams.
Q: Where is my team?
A: If you can’t find
your team on the ranked list, check the unranked list. Teams will appear when
we have 6 -10 recent results played against multiple ranked teams. To see it
sooner, find a team they have played and look at their playing history. From there,
you may be able to drill into the missing team and add additional results to
get them ranked faster.
Q: Why is the app showing the wrong results?
A: It looks like the
tournament organizer got it wrong. Our policy is to always use the official
results. We don't have a way to correct individual results. Please work with
the competition organizers to get this removed. If that happens in the next
couple of weeks then we will pick up the update.
Q: Why were we ranked a week ago and now we’ve moved to the
unranked list?
A: Our system
requires a minimum knowledge about a team in order to rank it. If your team
fluctuates weekly between ranked and unranked then you are right on the line.
This tiny movement might be caused by many factors including what we know about
your opponents. As you play one or two more games you will almost certainly
become ranked.
Q: I registered my
team as a split age group (e.g. 2011/2012). What year will it be placed in the
rankings?
A: The team will automatically be
placed in the older age group.
PLAYER STATISTICS
(PS)
Q: What is the
purpose of Player Statistics?
A: Player Statistics
provides professional level metrics and analysis based on what was recorded.
This helps with player development.
Q:What are the 2
different levels of recording?
A: We offer
two levels of recording:
Easy: You record
every action the player performs, such as passes, tackles, interceptions,
shots, free kicks, and fouls. You also record playing time.
Expert: This is the
same as “easy” level, except that you also record where every action
happens and where every pass or shot goes.
Q: Can I change the
level I use during a game?
A: No.
Q: Can I change the
level I use for different games within a season?
A: Yes.
Q: How do I add a
player on the Player Statistics (PS) screen?
A: Open the app and
click on the “players” icon at the bottom of the screen.
1. Click ‘ADD A
PLAYER.’ Then you 2 choices:
A.
To add
an existing player, the owner will send you a one-time only code. In
this case, you will have received the code from a user and you will add the
code to the box. Then click ‘ADD SHARED PLAYER’
B.
If this
is a brand new player who has never been added to the app click “ADD NEW
PLAYER”. Once you do this you will be taken to a new screen where you
will add the player’s name, gender, birth year, optional photo, and your
relationship with the player. For any relationship answer other than ‘parent’
you will be asked to certify that you have permission from a parent/guardian.
Click the box if this is the case.
C.
When
all fields are completed an ‘ADD’ button will appear in the top right corner.
Click ‘ADD’.
Should you want to
make any changes to the player (e.g. change photo, etc.) click ‘Edit’ in the
top right corner and make the changes. When finished, click ‘Done’ or if you
choose not to make any edits, click ‘Cancel’. To view a detailed video on how
to do this, visit: https://youtu.be/gx3k9NW1hAs?feature=shared
Q: How do I add a
game?
A: Click the green
button ‘ADD GAME’ when drilled into the player’s screen. You will need to:
We recommend anyone
who is first starting out to practice recording a game through training mode.
This mode will not count in your history. You can click training mode in the
‘Add Game’ screen.
Q: How do I record a
game on the Player Statistics (PS) screen?
A: When you are ready
to record a game follow the steps below:
1.Click ‘RECORD’ to
record your player’s actions during each game.
2. Click ‘EASY’ or
‘EXPERT’ level - you will be prompted with this question.
2. Click the
appropriate size of the field for this game. Choices are: 7v7, 9v9, 11v11 - you
will be prompted with this question.
3. Click the field
direction. Choices are: left to right or right to left - you will be prompted
with this question.
4. Click the player’s
position. Choices are: on bench, goalkeeper, left defender, center defender,
right defender, left midfield, center midfield, right midfield, left forward,
center forward, or right forward - you will be prompted with this question.
5. Click ‘KICK OFF’
to begin recording.
6.
Begin
recording touches and involvement on the field. The field will be a bright
green to show where it is possible for your player to have an involvement. To
see more detailed videos of how PS work visit https://www.youtube.com/@usasportstatistics
Q: What if I don’t
know what a term or graph means on the game statistics page?
A: When you are on
the Game Statistics page, touch the term or graph and a definition will appear
underneath. To remove the definition click it again.
Q: What game
statistics are gathered?
A: Professional level
statistics are gathered and they will change depending on the position played.
Q: What is the
difference between ‘game statistics’ and ‘player statistics’?
A: The ‘Game
Statistics’ icon is found on the recording screen and displays only what
happens in the game being recorded. The player’s ‘Statistics’ is a tab found on
the player’s detail screen. When you click on that it shows you a summary of
all games recorded in the last year.
Q: Where do you get
the data?
A: Parents, or
someone whom the parent has given permission to, records the player's touches
and involvement in a game. This is usually done in real time, but some parents
may choose to record the game and enter the data at another time.
Q: What if someone
cheats?
A: PS are private to
the players parents and anyone else they explicitly share them with. Cheating
only hurts yourself.
Q: Who can see my
child’s data?
A: Only the person
that created the players and others that they explicitly share access with. On
the ‘Add New Player’ screen the user is asked what their relationship (e.g.
parent, coach, team manager, self, college recruiter, other) is with the
player. For any option other than “self” the user must certify that they have
permission from a parent/guardian to add the player to the app.
Q: What happens if I miss a game?
A: If you miss a game
you can ask another adult to record your players detailed statistics during the
game, or you can record (i.e. goals, assists) statistics after the event by
looking at a recording of the game that was taken.
Q: How do I update the score?
A: If your player
scores, the result will update automatically. If another player on either team
scores, click the scoreboard in the left corner and use the arrows to update
the result.
Q: What if I make a
mistake while recording?
A: if you notice the
mistake immediately you can undo it by clicking this icon .
Otherwise, you are stuck with it.
Q: How do I share my
player with someone else (e.g. college recruiter, etc.)?
A: You can share your
player with any PRO user of the app. Go to the ‘My Players’ screen and click on
the player you want to share. Then click ‘Edit’ in the top right corner. From
there, click on the green ‘SHARE PLAYER’ button at the bottom of the screen.
You will be asked 2 questions and then given a code. Click ‘Done’. At this
point, you will see a list of the codes and everyone who has access to your
player. You can text, email, WhatsApp, or verbally tell the code to that
person. To see a detailed video on how this is done, visit: https://youtu.be/dsqgp-shtlc?feature=shared
Q: What about data
privacy laws?
A: Before adding a
player into the system, you must be their parent or guardian, or have
permission from their parent or guardian. The parent/guardian controls who gets
to see the players details.
Q: What if there is
no Internet at the field?
A: You can record a
game in the app without Internet connection. However, you won’t be able to see
how your player compares to other players on the team until you’re back online.
Q: Will it be
embarrassing if my player has a bad game?
A: Only
parents/guardians (and anyone else that they share access with) can see the
player’s statistics. However, the app shows how the player is doing compared to
their peers on the same team and playing at a similar level. For example, the
app will tell you that the player ranked 3 of 10 players for playing time in
the last game, but it won’t tell you who 1 and 2 are.
Q: What do the icons
mean?
A:
Click on this icon to take you back to
the recording field.
Click on this icon to read definitions
of terms. The definitions change depending on the choices displayed.
Click on this icon to take you to the
game log. The most recent touch or movement is recorded at the top of the log.
Click on this icon to take you to
analytics.
Click on this icon to go back to the
previous screen. Use this if you make a mistake while recording and you want to
delete what you did.
Click on this icon to get out of
recording a game to check email or use your phone in other ways. The game will
be saved.
SCORE
COLOR
Q: What do the red,
green, and black colors mean?
A: Some scores are
highlighted in red because it was a weak result that hurt that team's ranking,
not necessarily a loss. Green is a good score that improves your ranking. You
can lose to a very good team by 1 goal and improve your ranking. Similarly, you
might beat a very bad team 2-0 and hurt your ranking. Black scores are "as
expected." If you look at the predictions you can see the goal
difference needed to keep your ranking unchanged.
CLUBS & LOGOS
Q: Can users add
clubs?
A: We load clubs from
all competitions on our end. Users can change clubs that are incorrect from our
list. If your club is missing, please let us know.
Q: What if the logo displayed is not current?
A: We pull logos from
the latest competition. Please check to make sure it is current on the
competition's website. If we have an incorrect logo send us a message with the
webpage link with the official logo and we will update it in the app. If there
are a lot of logos on the website, also send us a PNG or JPEG of the logo,
along with the link, so we know which to pull.
Q: What if my club’s website is not
displayed?
A: We pull club websites from
competition entries. If your website does not appear on your club’s page make
sure to include it in your next competition entry and we should pick it up.
COMPATIBILITY
Q: The app is not
compatible with my Android?
A: In our testing the
app crashed on phones with less than 4GB of RAM. For this reason, we are not
currently allowing downloads for devices with less than 4GB of RAM.
Sorry.
Q: I’m not able to
access the contact us tab or the ‘report an issue’ button within the app?
A: The reason for this is a privacy
setting within the user's phone settings. If you update the settings on your
end, then you will be able to use the contact buttons within the app.
POLICIES
Team Name Changes and
Transfer of History
We are happy to
change your team name and merge your old team’s history so long as the original
team name is not used by another group of players in the new season. If
it is being used by another group of players in the new season, our policy is
that the team name defines the team, not the players or coach and hence the
team with the original name is considered to continue playing from last season
to this season, therefore a team’s history does not transfer.
We understand that
parents and coaches often want the past results of a team’s history to transfer
and find it frustrating when they have gone from a ranked team to an unranked
or lower ranked team. When this happens, it’s important to remember that it’s
temporary: the new team’s ranking will normalize over the next month or
so.
Please don’t be
tempted to try to merge results if the team name is continuing, as you will end
up with a big mess and you might lose your editing rights if you persist.
Using Results
Our
policy is to always use the official results. We don't have a way to correct
individual results. Please work with the competition organizers to get this
removed. If that happens in the next couple of weeks then we will pick up the
update.
Revoking Editing Rights
USA
Sport Statistics reserves the right to revoke any user’s editing rights if they
are deemed to be inaccurate. If your editing rights have been suspended
incorrectly, please email at support@usasportstatistics.net to explain what
happened. There is no refund should you lose editing rights. You will be able
to access all PRO features except editing.
Cancel PRO Access
From your iPhone, you can check your
membership status by clicking on ‘Settings’ and then ‘Subscription’. This will
take you to where you can manage your subscription. We cannot give refunds and
encourage you to speak directly with Apple or
Google should you need one.
Splitting the States
Unfortunately, we
cannot tell which half of the state a team is in. Hence, the sub-state rankings
are quite inaccurate. Therefore, we’ve decided to keep it simple and go with
whole state rankings.