FA WSL Season 3 / Opta Data Preview

A single-page FA WSL Season 3 preview built around a question and answer session with Opta’s Simon Banoub, who explains that the analysts collect full data for every FAWSL game, though not live, gathering it on the Monday after a weekend’s fixtures. Every action is time-stamped and given x/y co-ordinates, more than 1,600 individual pieces of data per match, collected exactly as for the top men’s leagues so that like-for-like comparison is possible. Recordings come through a partnership with The FA, and facts will be tweeted from the OptaJoe account. Last season’s top tens are reproduced, with Jessica Fishlock and Laura Del Rio among the names. The page also reports that FAWSL players become eligible for PFA membership from the 2014 season, and lists the 33 clubs whose applications to join an expanded WSL in 2014 have now closed.