Evaluation of Goalkeepers’ Performance via Grey Relational Analysis Method: Example of Africa Cup of Nations

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate the technical performance of goalkeepers via the gray relational analysis method. Materials and Method: The sample of the study consisted of 21 goalkeepers competing in the African Cup of Nations 2023. Data was obtained from the official website of the Confederation of African Football and Transfermarkt. Technical performance indicators were determined as “save percentage”, “claimed crosses” and “passing accuracy”. The data were evaluated by the grey relational analysis method among the quantitative research methods. In this context, six steps of the grey relational analysis method were applied respectively. These are "preparation of the data set and generation of the decision matrix", "normalization of the data", "generation of the reference series", "generation of the absolute value table", "generation of the grey relational coefficient matrix", "calculation and ranking of the grey relational degrees". Results: According to the analysis results, the highest technical performance value was calculated as 0.7654, while the lowest technical performance value was calculated as 0.3949. Thus, the top 3 goalkeepers were determined as Ronwen Williams (South Africa), Edouard Mendy (Senegal), and Babacar Niass (Mauritania). The last 3 goalkeepers were determined as Richard Ofori (Ghana), Ibrahim Koné (Guinea), and Baboucarr Gaye (Gambia). Conclusion: According to the results of the research, Ronwen Williams (South Africa), who won the Golden Glove Award and was selected for the team of the tournament at the Africa Cup of Nations, was determined as the goalkeeper with the highest performance. His national team South Africa completed the tournament in 3rd place, despite being ranked 19th among 24 teams in terms of market value. Similar conclusions were obtained for the remained goalkeepers. It is expected that this conclusion will provide significant contributions for stakeholders such as researchers, goalkeepers, coaches, scouts, and trainers.