I am very pleased to announce that Soccermetrics will be creating more analytics content on South American football competitions, thanks to a partnership with sports data provider DataFactory.

Based in Buenos Aires and with offices throughout the Americas, DataFactory is the leading sports statistical data company in South America and the official data supplier for CONMEBOL and CONCACAF competitions and domestic competitions throughout the two regions.  DataFactory supplies its media and professional customers with rich data feeds that supplements their content across their platforms.

Soccermetrics will use DataFactory’s match data to create soccer analytics content on Argentina’s Primera A domestic competition and CONMEBOL’s Copa Sudamericana.  Some of the content will be similar to that seen on this site for the English Premier League and other competitions, but the data provides an opportunity to make more of a foray into more advanced and popular metrics, from tempo and possession analysis to expected goal values.

This agreement also marks the beginning of Spanish-language content on this site.  I have always believed that there is an opportunity to communicate analytics to a region that may not have the statistical analysis culture as North America and some parts of Europe but are passionately involved with football.  There are other sites that engage in soccer analytics in Spanish — Informe de Fútbol is one example, Projecão de Gol and Chance de Gol (in Portuguese) are another,  and this article at Univision shows its penetration into mainstream media.  I believe that my background, my history in soccer analytics, and my language skills give me a chance to make a good contribution.  We shall see.

I’d like to take this moment to thank Ernesto Cambursano, CEO of DataFactory, for his interest in this idea when I proposed it to him and his support in making it reality.  I’d also like to thank Mariano de Biasi, Leonardo Albajari, and Ernesto Chávez for their assistance on business and technical issues related to this partnership.  I hope that this is the start of a long and mutually beneficial relationship between us.

There will be one or two posts before I leave for CASSIS in Vancouver, with many more to come in the months ahead.  Watch this space.