Innovation alert from the MLS! The league dedicated to American youth soccer, MLS Next, will replace its traditional ranking system based on results (wins, draws, losses) in favour of... a "quality of play" index. The objective of this experiment is to "shift the paradigm of player development to focus primarily on process and progress, rather than competition," said Luis Robles, technical director of MLS Next. The League had already eliminated results in its U13 and U14 championships in anticipation of this announcement. What will this "quality of play index" be based on? Although it is a subjective criterion, it will be evaluated by the British analysis firm "Taka" and its team of 40 analysts assigned to observe, quantify, and then analyse the offensive and defensive actions of each team, and each player, both with and without the ball. While the process may seem difficult to visualize precisely at this point, it certainly deserves serious consideration.
Brief
From now on, MLS Next teams will be ranked based on their "quality of play" rather than their results.