A Virtual Coach for Fantasy Soccer using Mathematical Programming

BONOMO, FLAVIA; DURÁN, GUILLERMO; MARENCO, JAVIER

Leuven

Conferencia; International Conference on Mathematics in Sport; 2013

General awareness of the contribution mathematics can make to sports decision-making has been raised by the movie "Moneyball" through its portrayal of a real professional American baseball club that used mathematical tools to improve team performance. This article addresses the same problem using as a test case a fantasy sport game organized by an Argentinian newspaper. Several mathematical programming models are presented that act as virtual soccer coaches which choose a virtual team lineup for each match. The a priori designs create a competitive team for the game while the a posteriori models determine what would have been its optimal lineup once the season is over and all the results are known. The a priori models were entered in the fantasy game, achieving results that positioned them among the highest-scoring participants. Further development of such models would provide useful tools for supporting decision-making by coaches or managers of real sports.