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Marina Kim(Eunji)
Marina Kim(Eunji)

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[Personal Project7 ] EURO Women's 2025: Round 1 Finished — Who Wins? Attack vs Defence

#python #sportsanalysis #visualization #eurowonens2025

The first round of the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 is finished.
I wanted to find out:

Do teams win more with strong attack, or with strong defence?

This is part of my personal data project. I’m learning sports analytics by doing real analysis with Python. All the data is from the first 8 matches of the tournament.

1. Data & Tools

2. How I Analyzed It

For each match, I looked at:

  • Who won the match
  • Their attacking stats: shots, shots on target, expected goals (xG), big chances
  • Their defensive stats: tackles, clearances, interceptions

This tournament is in neutral venues, so I didn’t look at "home vs away".
I focused on winning team vs losing team.

3. Attack vs Defence — Who Wins?

I made two bar charts:

  • Attack stats of winners vs losers
  • Defence stats of winners vs losers

1) Attack Comparison

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In 6 out of 8 games, the team with stronger attack (more xG, shots, chances) won.
That’s a strong trend: attacking teams usually win.

2) Defence Comparison

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But something interesting happened on July 2nd.
In two matches on that day — Iceland vs Finland, and Switzerland vs Norway — the team with better defence but lower attack won.

So defence can still win games, but not always.

4. What About Weather?

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I also checked weather and match time.
On July 2nd, matches were played in higher temperature and humidity compared to other days.

Could that make attacking harder, and help defensive teams?
Maybe! It needs more data, but it’s an interesting idea.

5. My Thoughts

  • In general, strong attack wins in this tournament.
  • But in tough conditions (like July 2nd), defence and efficiency can beat big attack numbers.

This is why I enjoy football data — it tells the full story behind the score.

Why I’m Doing This

This project is part of my journey to become a sports data content creator.

I’m currently looking for opportunities in sports analytics or content creation.
If you work in this field or like this topic — let’s connect!

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