Physicists have revealed that the real-time dynamics in a football game are subject to self-similarity characteristics in keeping with the laws of physics.
A team of Japanese scientists has analyzed the time-dependent fluctuation of both the ball and all players' positions throughout an entire match and have discovered that these complex dynamics have a fractal nature.
The finding implies that the movement of the ball/front-line at any given time has a strong influence on subsequent actions due to the so-called memory effect, linked to the game's fractal nature.
The findings, which provide a new perspective on sports science, were published in EPJ B.