Call for Proposals
- Use this Call for Proposals (due Oct 23) if you have an idea for a research project and you need our data to do it.
- If you have something to present and you do not need our data, look for the Call for Abstracts in mid-October.
Do you have a cool idea for a research project that you could tackle, if only you had access to some good data? Here is your opportunity! In partnership with SkillCorner, we are excited to offer women’s soccer tracking data to support the researchers who send us the best proposals. Selected researchers will receive data to complete their proposed projects and submit research papers. The authors of the best papers will receive invitations to give brief presentations on stage at the Summit.
Theme
Over time, certain teams and coaches will become widely recognized for their distinct tactical identities. Most teams, however, lie in the ambiguity between styles of play. Identifying how a team plays and what repeated structures and patterns they utilize in games can be incredibly useful for understanding how best to compete against them. Tracking data allow us to go beyond on-ball patterns and holistically analyze a team’s structure at any given moment; over the course of multiple games, these data can be used to identify that team’s tactical meta: their tendencies in attack, defense, set piece plays, and more. The theme for this year’s research competition is structures and patterns. This may include but is not limited to investigating questions like:
- How do teams utilize different patterns across game states? Are teams more likely to deploy certain patterns of play when losing?
- Are certain teams more chaotic or more structured, and how can this difference be quantified?
- Do common patterns exist across teams, and are some more effective than others?
Data
Note: We do not expect to have shot events available in the provided dataset, so you will need to get creative in how you structure your analysis. For example, how else can you measure the efficacy of a pattern of play? Some questions may not even need a “success” measure at all!
The dataset available to selected research proposals will comprise player- and ball-tracking from SkillCorner covering the 2025 National Women’s Soccer League season (~182 matches) and the 2025-26 English Women’s Super League season (~132 matches).
SkillCorner Game Intelligence combines and synchronises event and tracking data to create integrated physical, technical and tactical metrics, forming the world’s broadest and deepest football performance dataset for both on-ball and off-ball analysis:
On-ball: Understand passer tendencies and evaluate passing decisions
- Line breaking passes/opportunities
- Dangerous/difficult passes
- Execution under different levels of pressure
On-ball: Identify players that create movement on-ball
- Initiate give and goes
- Receive backward and play forward
- Possession retention when under different levels of pressure
Off-ball: Find players who support the ball carrier effectively
- Options between lines, in space
- Off-ball runs broken down by type and threat
- Off-ball runs that lead to shot and/or goals
Off-ball: Combine tactical and physical insights
- Speeds, trajectory, angles for different types of movements
- Sequences of off-ball runs to create threat
Eligibility
We have two tracks for submission: Undergraduate and Open.
To be eligible for an Undergraduate submission, the lead author of the proposal (who would present on stage at the Summit) must be an undergraduate student (high school is okay). We encourage collaborations, and the team need NOT be composed entirely of students. Each selected Undergraduate proposal will be paired with an academic or industry expert mentor to help them complete their proposed project.
There are no eligibility requirements for the Open track. We encourage collaborations. Only the lead author will be invited to present on stage at the Summit.
Submission
Please submit your proposal as a PDF document (max 1 page, max 10 MB) here.
The deadline for submission is 11:59 p.m. CT on Friday, October 23, 2026.
To facilitate anonymized review, do not include any personally identifying information in the PDF.
Review
We will begin reviewing proposals after the submission deadline and aim to release decisions by late November. We will evaluate the proposals on three equally weighted facets: originality, feasibility and applicability.
Selected researchers will have a second deadline at the beginning of February to complete their projects and submit their papers. Those invited to present their work at the Summit will be selected by late February.
