While footballers are the most important elements of the game, football would be nothing without a ball to connect them. However, in every match there is only one ball, and therefore, only one player touches it at any given moment. What happens, then, with the other twenty-one players?
As football analysis has evolved in detail and depth, we can now objectively study everything that happens around the ball. Everything that goes beyond the player in possession. In an era where all things can be measured and verified, Driblab’s Off-Ball Runs shed light on this crucial aspect of the game, revealing the true importance of what happens when players don't have the ball.
Under the name Off-Ball Runs, Driblab introduces a new metric pack within Arrigo, the cutting-edge technology that combines event and tracking data to analyze football like never before.
Tactical Relevance
For years, the analysis of runs and off-ball movements has relied mainly on visual observation and subjective interpretation of attacking actions. Off-Ball Runs provide precise and contextualized measurements of how players move without the ball throughout a match, offering a new perspective on offensive dynamics.
With this tool, it is possible to objectively evaluate:
- How off-ball movements create space and destabilize defensive structures.
- Players’ ability to offer passing options to the ball carrier.
- How runs stretch defenses, both vertically and horizontally.
- The way off-ball movements break lines and facilitate ball progression.
- How player movement reveals intention and tactical understanding.
This structured perspective allows coaches and analysts to better understand the real impact of off-ball movement, identifying team patterns and optimizing tactical and strategic decision-making.
Data accuracy and reliability
At Driblab, we have developed several models for our product Arrigo, which combines tracking and event data to create intelligent, game-adapted metrics. These metrics have been designed with a very high level of precision, ensuring that each run is identified and categorized with complete accuracy. This eliminates ambiguities in the interpretation of data and guarantees reliable analysis — something essential for decision-making in high-performance environments.
The accuracy and reliability of Off-Ball Runs, which we define as purposeful runs made without the ball, allow us to precisely identify when and where these movements occur. Each off-ball run is evaluated using a series of spatial and temporal conditions extracted from player tracking data.
Off-Ball Run metrics
- Overlap: the player makes a run around a teammate on the outside (closer to the touchline) while the teammate has the ball, overtaking them. Only occurs in wide channels.
- Underlap: in wide channels, the player runs inside their teammate, passing on the side closer to the center of the pitch. In central channels, any forward run by a player without the ball that overtakes the ball carrier will be considered as an underlap.
- Run Ahead: A forward run made by a player who was already ahead of the ball carrier that stays in front of the last defender.
- Runs in Behind: runs that penetrate the last defensive line, positioning between defenders and goalkeeper.
- Cross Receiver: runs made inside the box where the player receives a cross from a teammate.
- Support Runs: the player moves to align with the ball carrier, offering a short passing option in attack.
- Coming Short: the player moves closer to the ball carrier to offer nearby support or a short passing lane away from the opponent’s goal.
Driblab’s Off-Ball Runs reinforce the company’s mission to transform football understanding through metrics that provide real, applicable value. Beyond simple quantification, these metrics make it possible to identify patterns, evaluate individual and collective performance, and optimize offensive effectiveness in a structured way.
Their integration into tactical analysis gives coaches and analysts a powerful tool to make smarter, data-driven decisions.
With this new pack of metrics, Driblab continues to expand the scope of tactical analysis, offering tools to monitor, compare, and optimize movement and spatial occupation with total precision. Off-Ball Runs bring clarity to concepts that were traditionally subjective, such as attacking width, positional depth, or block compactness.
If you are a club, analyst, or football professional interested in integrating these insights into your workflow, contact us for a personalized demo. We would be delighted to show you the full potential of this new innovation.
