DETERMINATION OF STABILITY OF PERFORMANCE INDICATORS IN FOOTBALL

The aim of this study was to determine minimal number of matches needed for obtaining a stable performance profiles of technical-tactical elements of players and teams in defined indicators. Based on the 88 matches of the Croatian First Football League in season 2014/2015, the cumulative arithmetic mean was used to determine stable performance profiles. Results showed that evaluation of the level of competitive performance through situational efficiency indicators requires different minimal number of analysed matches: 7 to 8 matches for the lost balls, 9 to 10 matches for ball possession, 12 to 13 matches for shots on goal, crosses, clearances and throw-ins, 13 to 14 matches for clearances after crosses, 14 to 15 matches for corner kicks, 15 to 16 matches for assists, key passes, blocked shots and crosses, 16 to 17 matches for yellow cards and at least 17 to 18 games for red cards and infringements resulting in penalty kick. Based on the results it can be concluded that a relatively large number of matches needs to be analysed for obtaining objective feedback and drawing conclusions on players’ and teams’ performance profiles, as well as different number of matches considering ranking of the team is needed to stabilize certain performance indicators.