Simulating Temporal Dynamics of Soccer Game

Project with X. Joan Hu and K. Ken Peng

This proposed project aims to extend the framework and strategies developed by Peng et al (2026, arXiv:2601.07980v1) to simulate the temporal events of a soccer match, including goals and corner kicks. The project consists of the following three stages.

· Preparation. The USRA will conduct a solid literature review on dynamics of soccer games, with particular attention to soccer game generation. At the same time, the USRA will familiarize the relevant software packages.

· Early Generation. The USRA will program to generate a soccer game focusing on one of the soccer events: (i) beginning/ending of the two halves of the game, (ii) goals, and (iii) corner kicks of a segment in the game.

· Final Generation. The USRA will appropriately pool together the strategies developed in the last stage to simulate the whole event dynamics of a typical soccer game.

The USRA will experience how to implement what are studied from statistical courses. They will have opportunities to discuss the project with our collaborators in sports analytics such as Professor Tim Swartz, a worldwide well-known researcher in the area, and Riley Isaacs, an MSc student of SFU-statistics and a professional lacrosse player.