Net Gains: Inside the Beautiful Game's Analytics Revolution - Hardcover

by Ryan O'Hanlon (Author)

Soccer has long been driven by instinct, tradition, and intuition--but this fast-moving, idea-driven book shows how analytics is reshaping how the game is played, managed, and understood around the world.

In Net Gains, ESPN writer Ryan O'Hanlon takes readers inside the clubs, front offices, and analytics departments pushing the sport forward. From cutting-edge teams to unconventional thinkers, he introduces the data scientists, coaches, and outsiders challenging the way soccer has always worked.

In the spirit of Moneyball and modern sports reporting, Net Gains reveals how data is challenging long-held beliefs about how soccer is played and understood.

Through a globe-spanning narrative, the book explores how new metrics and experimental approaches are redefining everything from possession and shot quality to player development and team strategy. Along the way, it reveals how a multibillion-dollar sport operated for decades with limited self-examination--and what happens when that begins to change.

As competing ideas collide, O'Hanlon shows how complexity, uncertainty, and human behavior continue to shape outcomes no spreadsheet can fully predict.

For fans, analysts, and curious readers alike, Net Gains offers a compelling look at how data, intuition, and decision-making intersect in one of the world's most unpredictable games.

Author Biography

Ryan O'Hanlon is a staff writer at ESPN, where he covers soccer and the evolving role of analytics in the sport. His work has appeared in The New York Times, FiveThirtyEight, and GQ, and he is the creator of the newsletter No Grass in the Clouds, which explores the analytical and strategic side of the game. He is also the host of the Infinite Football podcast. He lives in Los Angeles.