Analysis of attack tactics of football teams in the champions league for the period from 2014 to 2019

The aim of this research is to present the essential parameters related to the highest quality football teams attack tactics to the scientific and professional public by analyzing the longterm competitive manifestations in the Champions League elite football competition. The analysis comprises all the matches that have been played since the 2014/15 season ending up with the 2018/19 season, which means 625 played matches in total. In order to clearly present the top teams criteria related to the attack tactics, in this research, variables describing the ball possession and the attacks after which the goals were scored were observed. The results showed that the teams spent most of their time gaining the ball possession in the maneuvering third of the field (51%) and that the organization of the attack was dominated by the passes in the middle distances (10 - 30m). Apart from that, it was noticed that every tenth shot towardsthe goalrepresents an effective attack and that most of the goals are scored in the last 15 minutes of the game (p=0.008). When it comes to the structure of the effective attacks, the results showed that 76% of the goals are scored after the ball possession, while 1/4 of the effective actions ocurred after the organized set pieces attack. Additionaly, no significant differences regarding the prevalence of the activities that preceded the scoring of the goals from the game (p=0.16) and after the set pieces (p=0.88) by seasons were found. However, the final shots from the game were usually preceded by a pass from the side in the form of a cross shot and a return ball (p=0.000), and when it comes to organizing the offensive set pieces (p=0.000), the goals were most often scored after corners and penalties. The results obtained in thisresearch provide objective information that can be used for planning and organizing training units in the preparation of teams for competitive performances.