Football Scores

If you know the final score of a football match, what might the half time score have been?

Football Stadium

For example:

Somewhere City 5 - 3 Fiction FC

Write down all of the possible scores at half time.

Is there a quick way to figure out how many possibilities there are?

Investigate

 

Football Scores Trophy Challenge

You can earn a Transum Trophy for the work you do for this investigation. If you can complete the table below then a virtual trophy will be awarded to you.

1. How many different half-time scores could there have been if the final score was 2 - 2?

2. How many different half-time scores could there have been if the final score was 2 - 5?

3. How many different half-time scores could there have been if the final score was 5 - 6?

4. How many different half-time scores could there have been if the final score was 7 - 9?

5. How many different half-time scores could there have been if the final score was 8 - 8?

6. How many different half-time scores could there have been if the final score was 8 - 10?

7. How many different half-time scores could there have been if the final score was 15 - 13?

8. When she found out the final score of the Wanderers vs Baggies game she calculated that there could have been 56 different half-time scores. If Wanderers scored 7 goals how many did Baggies score?

9. When he found out the final score of the United vs City game he calculated that there could have been 70 different half-time scores. If United scored 9 goals how many did City score?

10. A strange new fantasy game is called Tripfooty. The trip part of the name does not refer to foul play, it refers to the word triple. Three teams are involved in this weird game and when Huffletought, Snivenly and Sparrowthumb played a friendly game the final score was 5 - 5 - 3
How many different possibilities were there for the half-time score?

Check

Try some other activities that apply systematic listing strategies.

Here are some more mathematical ideas with a football theme for you to investigate.

Goal Scoring Patterns

If a team scored 4 goals in a match, what are the possible sequences of scoring times if each goal was scored in a different 15-minute interval?

If Player A scored twice as many goals as Player B in a tournament, and together they scored 18 goals, how many goals did each player score?

Penalty Shootout Analysis

If a team won a penalty shootout 5-4, what are the different possible sequences of successes and misses?

Given the probability of scoring a penalty is 75%, what is the probability that a team scores exactly 4 out of 5 penalties?

Attendance and Revenue

If the average ticket price for a match is £50 and the stadium capacity is 60,000, calculate the total revenue if the stadium is 80% full.

Compare the revenue generated from ticket sales in two different matches with different attendance rates and ticket prices.

Player Statistics

If a player’s average goal-scoring rate is 0.5 goals per match, calculate the expected number of goals over a 38-match season.

Given a player’s goal conversion rate is 20%, how many shots on target would you expect them to need to score 15 goals?

League Table Predictions

If a team has 10 matches left and currently has 50 points, explore different scenarios of possible outcomes (win, lose, draw) to predict their final point tally.

Analyse the impact of goal difference on league standings if two teams end the season with the same number of points.

Euro Travel and Logistics

Calculate the total distance travelled by a team if they play away matches in various cities across Europe. Use a map to determine the distances between cities.

If a team needs to travel to 5 different cities for their group stage matches, and they travel by bus at an average speed of 60 mph, estimate the total travel time.

Fantasy Football Budgeting

If you have a budget of £100 million to build a fantasy football team, how would you allocate your funds to select 11 players, ensuring you stay within budget constraints?

Create different team compositions and compare their potential points based on past performance statistics.

Probability of Match Outcomes

Given the probabilities of a team winning, drawing, or losing a match are 40%, 30%, and 30% respectively, calculate the probability of the team winning exactly 2 out of their next 3 matches.

Explore the different outcomes of a knockout stage match if each team has an equal probability of winning each match.

Instructions

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BBC News,

Thursday, July 11, 2024

"Billy Watson, 21, from Kimberley, has combined maths, statistics and psychology to calculate the best place to aim in penalties.

He said "I used a branch of mathematics called game theory to try and understand why penalty takers don't shoot down the middle, even though that is statistically supposedly the best place to put it."

He calculated that players should shoot left 60% of the time and right 40% of the time.

Read the full article here"

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