The myth of the default: how important are stationary balls in modern football?

In every football match there are a number of standard situations. Whether corners, free kicks or penalties, dead balls – these situations are always a potential source of danger. But are the standards really that dangerous or are they overestimated? Statistics provide the answer.

According to a report from the official Bundesliga website, approximately every fourth goal in the German top flight comes from a stationary ball. This statistic includes goals from corners, free kicks and penalties. In the Premier League that percentage is around 21 percent; roughly every fifth goal comes from a set piece. A remarkable value that shows how important standards can be in modern football.

DFB relies on standard coach

Many teams see it that way too. Because many teams already have special standard coaches. For example, the German national team, which hired Mads Buttgereit (38) as a coach for standard situations in 2021. The story of the Dane, who has only dealt with stationary balls for several years, represents the standard revival in modern football. From 2015 to 2019, Buttgereit refined his tactics at Danish club FC Midtjylland, helping the provincial club become one of the most dangerous dead-ball teams in all of Europe, winning the Danish championship title and the cup once.

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For the 2021 European Championship, he was included in the technical staff of the Danish national team and played an important role in the Danish European Championship fairytale. Thanks to a few standard goals, the Scandinavians sensationally reached the semi-finals. During the tournament, the Dane received a call from Germany and was included in the DFB team by the then national coach Hansi Flick (58). And the transfer was also immediately fruitful in Germany.

While the German national team averaged just 0.27 standard goals per match between the 2018 World Cup and the 2021 European Championship, the figure has risen to 0.73 since Buttgereit took office.

State-of-the-art techniques

Standard Freak Buttgereit works with the most modern techniques. He uses the Trackman system and radar equipment known from the golf world. “For example, ball speed, spin axis or wall height are measured,” he once explained. He also conducts video analyzes of the standards together with the players and studies variations from his self-developed script. During the games, he then analyzes the situations on a tablet and makes real-time improvements. A full-time job for dead balls.

But why do coaches see norms as increasingly important in modern football? A popular theory is that teams are getting better tactically and therefore want to exploit the moment of chaos of the stationary ball to create a goal threat.

Is the angle overrated?

The most common standard situation is the corner kick. Statistics from the last Bundesliga season show that this is overestimated. 2970 corner kicks led to only 93 goals. On average, it takes about 32 corners to score one goal. A comparison with the past shows that modern techniques and video analyzes can still yield something. In the 1993/94 season, Bundesliga teams needed approximately 56 corners to score a goal.

Teams are even less likely to be successful after free kicks. However, indirect free kicks with crosses promise more success than free kicks taken directly. In the Bundesliga, approximately 4.5 percent of all goals come from free kicks and 0.7 percent from a direct attempt. But here too there are new training methods; Real Madrid, for example, trains its free kicks with robots.

The default situations are a real myth. Some trainers practice them more often and pay more attention to them, others less. Buttgereit’s example has shown that it is worth getting a coach for the inactive balls. Whether this will also prevail in football remains to be seen. The Germans are currently proving that good standards are no guarantee of victory. Things aren’t going well for them, even their basic freak.