Evolução das formações táticas com double pivot no futebol profissional masculino: análise das principais ligas (2014-2024)

Abstract

Football is the most popular team sport. Unpredictability is a defining characteristic of this game, which is constantly changing and evolving in its rules, tactical formations and strategies, causing coaches and players to adapt to these constant changes in order to perform better. The tactical formation in football refers to the organization of the players on the pitch and the double pivot is the two midfielders who remain in front of the defenders and behind other attacking midfielders. This study used a descriptive and analytical approach with the aim of quantifying the frequency of use and evolution of this formation in the world's leading professional football leagues (Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, La Liga, Ligue 1, Premier League, Serie A and Bundesliga) between the 2014-2024 seasons. The data collected is publicly available (www.FBref.com; Sports Reference LLC, Pennsylvania/USA) and contains general information and advanced statistics for each match, provided by the company OPTA®Sportsdata (Opta Sports, London, UK). The match reports were obtained through web scraping, totaling a sample of 21,880 games from 194 different clubs, adopting 21 different tactical formations in the 6 competitions, covering the 10 seasons analyzed (Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, n= 21; La Liga, n= 21; Premier League, n= 21; Fußball-Bundesliga, n= 20; Ligue 1, n= 20; and Serie A, n= 20). When considering only the double pivot tactical formation, four different structures were identified, ordered according to frequency of use: 4-2-3-1 (96%), 4-2-2-2 (3.4%), 3-2-4-1 (0.3%) and 4-2-4 (0.2%). These formations were used by approximately 33% of the teams in matches. The teams adopting the double pivot-maintained consistency of use throughout the season (~82% of occasions). The success rate of the double pivot is approximately 3% more wins. There was a higher frequency of use of the double pivot for "home" games (51.3%). There has been a decrease in the use of this formation in recent seasons, especially in the Brazilian Championship, German Bundesliga and Spanish La Liga. The frequency of use remains stable in French Ligue 1 and the English Premier League, while there has been an increase in Italian Serie A. Future studies are essential for a tactical and evolutionary understanding of the game with regard to the use of the double pivot in teams' tactical formations and competitive strategies.