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What are assists?
In practical terms, it assists teams, analysts, and fans in understanding player contributions beyond goal scoring, highlighting their role in creating a high-quality chance opportunity for the intended target. Players like Kevin De Bruyne and Ozil have cemented their names as some of the best assisters in football history.
For instance, according to Sportmonks, Lionel Messi has recorded an astounding 379 career assists in his career so far, showcasing his exceptional vision and passing prowess.
Definition of assists
An assist is generally awarded to the player who makes the last pass, cross, header or touch that sets up a teammate to score. This can include various types of passes, from short lay-offs to long through balls. However, there are nuances:
✔ Own Goals: If a shot deflects off a defender into the net, an assist is awarded to the shooter or crosser of the ball.
✔ Deflections/Rebounds: If a shot is saved or hits the woodwork and a teammate scores from the immediate rebound, an assist may be awarded to the initial shooter, depending on the data provider (e.g., Opta, StatsBomb).
✔ Penalties/Free Kicks: Winning a penalty or free kick that subsequently brings a goal return does not result in an assist (also depending on the data provider).
Why are assists important?
Understanding assists is essential for optimizing attacking output, assessing player performance and making informed decisions regarding player recruitment and tactical strategies. Without this understanding, decision making can become inefficient, leading to missed opportunities and potentially undervaluing key players.
Assists are vital for understanding offensive contributions. While goals often take center stage, assists provide context for how scoring opportunities are created. By analyzing assists, teams can identify key contributors, refine tactical approaches, and improve overall attacking efficiency. The role of statistics, particularly assist data, is crucial in this process.
Assists are vital for;
✔ Smarter tactics: By looking at how assists happen, coaches can build their team strategy to play to their strengths in attack. For example, if most assists come from crosses, maybe they should focus on getting better in the air.
✔ Giving credit where it’s due: Assists shine a light on the creative players, the ones who make magic happen. This helps them get the recognition they deserve, which is important for things like contracts and transfers.
✔ Helping players improve: Coaches can use assist data to help players get better. They can focus on things like passing and vision to help players create more chances.
✔ Finding the right players: When teams are looking for new players, assist data helps them find those who are great at setting up goals. These players are valuable to any team.
✔ Making the game more exciting: Assists create those unforgettable moments that fans love. A perfect example is one of the most celebrated assists in football history where Julian Draxler executed a stunning backheel assist to Raul during Schalke’s 9-0 victory over Al Sadd in Raul’s farewell match in 2013.
✔ Seeing the whole picture: Sometimes a team plays well but doesn’t score many goals. Assists help us see that they’re still creating chances, even if the finishing isn’t there yet.
Using Sportmonks data provides valuable insights. For example, Mohammed Salah’s 13 assists in just 19 matches in the 2024/25 season, compared to 10 for the entire 2023/24 season, shows a marked improvement in creative output.
How do assists work?
An assist is credited to the player whose pass or action directly sets up a goal, highlighting their role in creating the scoring opportunity.
Here’s how it usually works:
✔ The final pass: If a player makes a pass that leads directly to a goal, that’s an assist. It could be a through ball, a cross, a simple pass to the side – as long as it sets up the goal scorer, it counts.
✔ Bounces and deflections: Sometimes things get tricky with bounces and deflections. Different groups who keep track of football data might have slightly different rules about this. Even a corner kick that deflects into the net could count as an assist!
✔ Winning free kicks and penalties: Just winning a free kick or a penalty doesn’t usually count as an assist (unless in fantasy football leagues), even if a goal is scored from it (It may count as a fantasy assist though).
Common challenges in tracking assists
Tracking assists can be insightful but comes with several challenges:
Different rules: Not everyone agrees on what exactly counts as an assist. Some groups might count deflections, others might not. This can make it hard to compare stats from different sources.
✔ What to do: It’s important to know what rules are being used and stick with data from the same place to make sure things are consistent.
Missing data: Sometimes, especially in smaller leagues or older games, it can be hard to find complete assist data. This can make it tough to get the full picture.
✔ What to do: We can use other stats that measure creativity, like key passes (passes that lead to shots) or xA (expected assists, which show how many assists a player should have based on the chances they created). This helps us understand a player’s contributions even when assist data isn’t perfect.
Focusing too much on assists: Assists are important, but they don’t tell the whole story. A player might be amazing at defending or building up play, even if they don’t have a lot of assists.
✔ What to do: To get a complete view of a player, we need to look at a mix of different stats. We also need to consider their role on the team.
The team matters: A player’s assist numbers can be affected by their teammates, the team’s tactics, and even the quality of the other team.
✔ What to do: It’s important to compare players in similar situations. We can also use stats like xA, which take into account the quality of the chances created, to get a fairer idea of a player’s creativity.
