Have you been watching the 2018 World Cup? If so, you’ve probably had your own predictions about the worst team, winning team, number of cards given or best player, but what are these predictions based on? Instinct? Previous performance?
This summer, the English nation has been gripped by Gareth Southgate’s fledgling squad, who have shown masses of motivation and increasing confidence, and the phrase “It’s coming home” now seems to be an integral part of each and every conversation amongst friends, family and even strangers on the tube.
Here at Loqate’s UK headquarters, we have decided to put good use to our location intelligence data in order to find out which English county produces the footballers most likely to play for their national team, and which county produces players most likely to score a goal for England.
Wondering how location data can possibly tell you that? Well, simple - we looked at the birth counties of the top 50 English players of all time who have played internationally, and found that, outside of London, footballers born in Lancashire are most likely to play for England. This year’s squad includes Phil Jones who was born in the Northern county, following in the footsteps of fellow Lancastrians David Platt and Fred Dewhurst.
(Goal data based on findings from www.11v11.com)
We also discovered that players born in Greater London are most likely to score in an England match than any other county.
Despite the fact the player with the overall greatest number of goals is Wayne Rooney, born in Merseyside, we revealed that 16% of the top 50 came from Greater London. Of the 2018 England squad, Harry Kane born was born in Greater London, making him (based on location) the most likely to score in the upcoming semi-final game vs Croatia. Other notable players to hail from Greater London include David Beckham and Teddy Sheringham.
(Goal data based on findings from www.11v11.com)
Of course, football is very much a game of both skill and luck, so we’ll just have to wait and see, but we’ll be keeping an extra close eye on Kane and Jones.
“It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming….”
Find out more about Loqate’s data to see the power of location intelligence.
Post by Danielle Reed
