A Look at Center Back Goal Kicks at the 2022 Women's Euro
Both Austria & Belgium used them, but they differed in their approach
Earlier in the summer, I came across a Twitter thread discussing short goal kicks (goal kicks taken inside the penalty box).
Towards the end of the thread, it shifted gears to goal kicks where the initial goal kick pass itself is taken by a center back.
Various men’s club teams in Europe progressed the ball farther up the field following goal kicks where the center back made the initial pass instead of the goalkeeper. The author of the thread posed the question as to why this was the case.
There is no blanket answer for this question, but there can be similar patterns among teams.
I looked at the Statsbomb Data from the 2022 Women’s Euro to see if there were patterns in short goal kicks at the tournament.
Who Attempted Center Back Goal Kicks at the Euro?
Of the 526 goal kicks at the Euro, 195 were short goal kicks. Of the 195 short goal kicks, 43 were goal kicks where the center back made the initial pass.
There were only five teams that attempted these types of goal kicks. I wanted to not only see the average progression height at the end of the sequences, but also the height of ball progression as the sequence developed.
I took a closer look at Austria because their difference in their ball progression from goalkeeper goal kicks and center back goal kicks is the most drastic.
I also looked at Belgium because their performance between goalkeeper and center back goal kicks were very similar.
Austria
After matching the video with the data, Austria’s patterns on short goal kicks became apparent.
The aim of their set up was to get goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger on the ball in the central channel so that she could pick out long or mid-range options.
The keys were Zinsberger’s centrality and pass end locations in central and half space areas. Long passes in those areas gave Austria a higher chance of keeping possession of the pass or winning the second ball as those areas are usually more populated than wide areas.
The next two frames are from the same sequence.
Austria did not take as many goalkeeper goal kicks because they didn’t want to become trapped in wide areas.
Their preference for playing passes that originate in the central channel is also reflected in the data.
Another pattern that emerged but wasn’t as commonly used by the Austrians were triangles made with the goalkeeper, center back, and defensive midfielder.
If Austria played short only to go long, then why play short at all?
The ability to move with the ball is very valuable for opening up passing options, and players can’t move with the ball on the goal kick pass itself.
Another reason is because after the ball is played, opposing players will automatically start moving which also opens up passing options.
Belgium
Belgium took a different approach to center back goal kicks than Austria. They used combinations and triangles in the penalty area to find open players.
It must be noted that the teams Belgium faced didn’t high press nearly as much as the teams that Austria faced. The Belgians may have taken a different approach against different opponents.
Against Sweden, they baited pressure with center back goal kicks and then combined around individual pressing players.
The following two frames are from the same sequence.
Belgium was comfortable moving the ball around in the box and then progressing forward from various channels.
Conclusion
It will be interesting to see if center back goal kicks become more common. There has already been an increase from the World Cup in 2019 where only 1 center back goal kick was attempted (although the goal kick rule had only changed 2 months before the tournament).
Just because short goal kicks and center back goal kicks have increased in international football, doesn’t mean teams should jump on the bandwagon.
Not all teams are built for it, and like most things in football, the reason for trends varies by team.
Photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images