Football is a beautiful game and one where the numbers help to reveal the details behind each day’s matches and results. With stats like goals, shots , corners, passing accuracy, and even Expected Goals(xG), those watching get to know a bit of what actually happened on the pitch. Still, possession is one of the football betting stats that supporters are most familiar with. You might have seen a match referred to as “65% to 35% possession”, and been left asking, just what does it all really mean?
Is a team likely to win if it keeps the ball most of the time? Is possession a factor in making bets? Possession is a key piece of information but it must be taken into account with other football betting statistics besides just possession and how those influence a match. Possession in football is a simple but powerful stat that can reveal a lot. The possession chart will not show you everything. But if it does, what it can reveal and the various ways you can interpret it are what we are going to look into. At Uwin Sports, we provide football fans with opportunities to follow matches. User can also explore football betting markets while using relevant statistics to support their own research.
Contents
What Does Possession Mean in Football?
Possession is a measure of how long each team keeps the ball during a football betting match. For instance, if you were to take a look at a possession breakdown between one team and another and found one team at 60% and the other at 40%, it would show that the 60% team had possession of the ball for about that percentage of the time of that particular match.
Whereas the 40% team only controlled the ball approximately those percentage of the total. It needs to be understood that possession is by no means indicating that the team is always the attacking side. They can have a good percentage of possession just by passing the ball from defender to defender and from there to midfielders without any danger being created.
How Is Possession Calculated?
A. Tracking Ball Control
Possession statistics in football betting are the result of integrating match-tracking technologies and event-data collection. The exact method may differ among data suppliers, but at its core, the principle is simple and clear: time that teams are in charge of a ball is registered during a match.
B. Expressing Possession in Figures
The actual measured possession figure can then be expressed with a percentage for the two teams involved, like for example:
- Team A: 58% of possession
- Team B: 42% of possession
C. What Possession Does Not Show?
By itself, possession offers no insight into where the possession happened, whether the team passed the ball back and forth fast or slowly, or the number of meaningful chances created.
D. Using Other Statistics in Football Betting
Finding those facts will require more data like shots on goal, goals expected from shots, number of passes, number of touches in the last third of the field, and the number of goal-scoring opportunities created.
Does More Possession Mean a Team Is Better?
No, it really does not. Just having control of the ball for the longer part of a match is not a clear indication of which side is really the stronger or more effective one. Sometimes, a very well controlled ball can’t result in any real shots. Whereas the opponent is able to create really good chances by launching fast counterattacks. Suppose Team A is in possession 70% of the time. But only scores three shots onto the goal area. Team B has 30% possession. Yet, they are much more efficient with seven shots on target. In a nutshell, possession is not everything. It goes together with shots on goal, expected goal value ( xG), chances created, and how good at attacking you are overall.
Possession and Different Football Betting Styles
The possession statistics only say something about the strength and weaknesses of each side’s football betting playing style. There are teams that dominate possession through continuous and accurate passing movements. They also have great positioning and they usually end up possessing more than 60%. Then again, there are teams that rather let the ball be to the opponent through a compact defensive line and then quickly counter attack with the ball.
Obviously, both styles are equally valid and not inherently one better than the other. The possession-oriented team might have difficulty against a deep defensive formation. This makes it a bit hard to penetrate the deep area. The counterattacking team is able to get the ball quickly, get into space and play the final move and score the goal with a lot of ball movement. But in fact a lot of space, rather than possession, would be the key.
Explore Football Betting Markets with Uwin Sports
Football betting fans can track the games. They can also enjoy the experience of football betting when they visit Uwin Sports. They can take into considerations statistical indicators like passing time to enhance. It can strengthen their own game analysis. Determine market for a bet if your possession of the game is the main concern you have before your bet is made then possession should be the one to lead you. But to have a better idea you can also look at possession, number of shots, team shape, and other indicators.
Uwin App is one of the main channels for football betting followers to use their mobile phones to track football with Uwin bonuses. Also, Uwin website is another platform they can use to look for different types of football markets. Please make yourself well informed about each type of market so that you can make a wise choice when you are betting.
FAQs
What does possession mean in football?
Possession shows the percentage of time that each team controls the ball during a match.
Is 60% possession good?
It can indicate strong ball control, but it does not automatically mean the team is performing better. The quality of its attacks and chances also matters.
Can a team win with less possession?
Yes. Counterattacking teams can create dangerous chances with relatively little possession.
Does possession help predict football results?
Possession can provide useful context, but it should not be used alone to predict a result. Other statistics and match factors are also important.
Is possession useful for football betting?
Yes. Possession can help when analysing teams and certain football betting markets, particularly when combined with statistics such as shots and xG.
Conclusion
Possession is one of the most widely known statistics in football betting, but its definition is broader than you might think. Holding a large amount of possession can suggest the club is in control, but it is not a way to ensure goals or wins. Even a team with less possession might have more shots on goal if their strategy is to counterattack.
Possession should be viewed by bettors as one of the factors in their analysis for each game and not solely as a statistic. Possession should be taken into account with shots, expected goals, players’ form, home/away records and tendencies. Knowing how teams utilize possession gives you the advantage of forming your own opinion about a football game rather than just being aware of the result or where a club is placed in the league.