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Exploring team-handball tactics and formations

Type of thesis: Masterarbeit / location: Leipzig / Status of thesis: Open theses

The match performance in team-handball is a multidimensional construct, including physical, technical-tactical, cognitive, and further factors.

It is not only determined by the individual performance of the players, but also by the interaction between the players.

While much is known about the physical match demands of the players, less is known about the different tactics the teams are using.

Since 2019 each game of the [LIQUI-MOLY Handball-Bundesliga](https://www.liquimoly-hbl.de/de/) is tracked by the same Local Positioning System (LPS) technology (Supplier [Kinexon](https://kinexon-sports.com/blog/what-does-lps-stand-for/)). This technology captures data on speed, acceleration, and positioning.

Identifying and recognizing patterns in attack and defense sequences in team-handball can be crucial for analyzing team performance, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and devising strategies.
Using data analytic skills (e.g., preprocessing, feature engineering, sequence identification, pattern recognition, statistical analysis, visualization) the task is to explore defense and attack sequences in team-handball.
Facing tactics in team-handball can be a challenging task due to defining the start and end of a sequence (e.g., set-pieces, stop-fouls, goals).
Practical aspects are detecting frequently used attack patterns, changes in team formations and in relation to success, or weaknesses in the defense.

Hence, we are in search of a passionate student in Computer science or comparable study programs who is interested in team-handball analytics. The topic is advertised as a Master’s thesis.

Kontakt: Dr. Christian Saal Sportwissenschaftliche Fakultät (https://www.uni-leipzig.de/personenprofil/mitarbeiter/dr-christian-saal)