Measure real football vision. Traditional assist numbers reflect whether a teammate converted; Expected Assists (xA) and Shot-Creating Actions (SCA) measure the true quality, angle, and probability of the pass itself.
Compare Expected Assists against realized assists to evaluate teammate clinicality.
Calculates the probability that a pass receiver will score from the resulting shot based on receiver body position, defender proximity, and distance to goal.
Credits the two offensive actions immediately preceding a shot. Captures dribbles that break defensive lines, drawn fouls in dangerous areas, and set-piece deliveries.
The elite sister metric of SCA. Tracks the two offensive events directly leading to an actual goal, recognizing the pre-assist and initial transition spark.
Completed passes that advance the ball towards the opponent’s goal-line by at least 10 meters from its furthest point in the last six passes, or any completed pass into the penalty box.
If an attacking midfielder plays an inch-perfect through-ball leaving their striker with an open net (0.85 xG), but the striker hits the post, traditional stats record 0 assists. Conversely, a 5-yard sideways pass before a 35-yard screamer gives an assist. xA corrects this distortion.
Over the past decade, Kevin De Bruyne, Lionel Messi, Florian Wirtz, and Lamine Yamal have consistently generated between 0.40 and 0.55 xA per 90 minutes, the gold standard for global creative vision.
Yes. Comprehensive football analytics databases distinguish between Open Play xA and Dead-Ball xA, allowing coaches to assess whether a playmaker creates chances from open possession or set-piece deliveries.