Predicting the J1 League Standings Using Pythagorean Expectations

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a prediction formula for the winning points of the J-League, a Japanese soccer league, and compare it with the actual winning points. The Pythagorean expectation formula, which predicts winning percentages in baseball and basketball, was modified for soccer for this purpose. We used the ggplot2 package of the statistical software R to visualize and compare the actual winning points with the winning points calculated using the Pythagorean expectation formula for soccer.