Football statistics are everywhere at the moment. After nearly every big game, supporters compare expected goals, player ratings, possession maps, shot location and passing numbers.

The betting sites employ vast amounts of data to value markets, broadcasters fill screens with graphics, and fans constantly discuss performance with numbers. But even before football data became so apparent, PS games were already introducing millions of players to the statistical side of football.

This familiarity is what accounts for the seemingly intuitive nature of the modern sport bet experience for digitally-savvy football enthusiasts. Once the domain of scouts, coaches and statisticians, numbers now have a place in the everyday world of football and video games were a large factor in making this happen.

Player Ratings Made Statistics Personal

Football games quickly learned that statistics are more engaging when they are related to players that people can recognize.

FIFA, Pro Evolution Soccer and now EA Sports FC-type games quantified aspects like pace, passing, shooting, strength and dribbling. Players can now compare two footballers without having to read a scouting report.

Those numbers are not intended to be refined predictive models. Their goal was to make real football skills into play. But their cultural impact was more.

The supporters were used to debating whether a striker should have been rated higher for his finishing ability or whether a winger’s pace was not taken into account. Footballers started to speak to the public about their ratings. Statistics were now fun.

Football Games Made Squad Analysis Normal

PlayStation football games also helped people learn to think outside the box.

To create a successful team, it involved thinking in terms of formation, chemistry, player roles, and player positional strengths. A player in career mode might compare a few midfielders and figure out which one would fit in a specific tactic.

That’s the kind of thought that is now pervasive in football.

Progressive passing and pressing numbers, expected assists and defensive actions are subjects of discussion among supporters on a regular basis. Fantasy football has taken another step, making individual performance into points and making it possible for fans to monitor the statistical trends of the entire league.

A sport bet can be a comparable analytical procedure. When choosing between a goalscorer and a match market, a customer may analyze form, injuries, past performances, and other factors before deciding.

While numbers vary, it is no longer uncommon to have familiarity with data.

Ultimate Team Turned Footballers Into Moving Markets

Ultimate Team took the relationship between football and numbers one step further.

The players became digital assets; they got ratings and attributes, and their market values changed. Users were taught how to compare prices, observe the market supply/demand and make their purchasing and selling decisions accordingly.

Again, this is not really financial trading or sports betting. Ultimate Team is a component of a video game economy.

But the interface did a number on the user and let them know that the football goodie could potentially always be worth something.

If a player shows good performance in real money games, it could generate more interest for that player. The value of existing cards may be affected by the introduction of new ones. When making squad-building decisions, there was a balance between performance and cost.

Football was thus transformed from a game that could only be analyzed for 90 minutes to something players could analyze on a continuous basis.

Betting Apps Arrived in a Data-Literate Football Culture

That has been to the advantage of modern sportsbooks.

Today’s football sport bet can include a lot more than just the home or away win/draw.

Customers can encounter markets involving shots, assists, corners, cards and individual players. In-play betting is an added feature that allows prices to reflect the game as it unfolds.

Data is a crucial element of these markets.

Official sports data providers can send events from the stadiums in a matter of seconds. Automated trading systems then work on that information and adjust prices on a wide range of markets.

The technology behind a sportsbook is much more complex than a football game’s player-rating system, but it is fundamentally the same – converting what happens on the pitch into numbers that people can understand and interact with.

Games Helped Change How Supporters Watch Matches

It’s not just about betting. A longtime PS football manager might be looking at football games in an analytical way. They have been made to think like a manager in games and see formations, player positions, substitutions and mismatches.

Football broadcasts are now more reinforcing of such behavior.

Coverage formerly was all about possession and shots, but now includes tactical graphics, live statistics and advanced metrics. The fans can get detailed data on their phones within seconds of the last whistle.

This has resulted in a generation more at ease with information than those that have gone before it.

That data literacy presents opportunities for ever more granular markets for the sport bet industry. For broadcasters and football clubs, it offers them the chance to produce more analytical content.

EA Sports FC Is Making the Statistical Layer Deeper

Football games today are still taking the same direction.

EA Sports FC has been adding more real-world data, including player characteristics and tactics designed to make virtual soccer more realistic.

It can be a two-way street.

Young supporters can first get to know a player through a PlayStation football game and then start following him in the real football arena. They might discover positions, leagues and tactical concepts in the game before they hear them in the broadcasts.

Although not originally intended for education, games have successfully integrated into football education.

PlayStation Made Numbers Part of Football Culture

The world of sports betting apps is not the first to exploit statistical football fandom. They came after the game, fantasy sports and ever-evolving broadcasts had been reshaping supporters’ perceptions of matches for years.

PlayStation was especially impactful because it brought the numbers to life.

Players didn’t just read that one midfielder could pass the ball better than another. They felt the difference as they controlled them. Transfer decisions, formations and results were impacted by ratings.

That contributed to making football statistics a popular entertainment rather than specialist information.

From the recruitment department to a sport bet placed from a cellphone, today’s world is powered by sophisticated data. The technology is now more advanced than just player ratings, and the culture change began long before.

Football fans learned that the game could be deciphered with numbers while they were still gripping their controller.