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Thuuz Sports, the fast growing leader in automated short form sports video production, to help redefine and enhance the viewing experience for business partners and consumers of sport worldwide, today unveiled the most exciting teams and matches from the just completed World Cup. Using their custom designed algorithms to measure real time global event excitement with partner FOX Sports, it was determined that Spain and Croatia were the most exciting teams throughout the tournament, while the Croatia vs. Russia match was the most exciting match of the tournament with a perfect score of 100.
The measurement scores were done on a 0 to 100 scale and take into consideration game pace, team parity, play novelty, momentum shifts, social buzz, and historical context. The algorithms behind the excitement ratings are statistically calibrated to insure the appropriate distribution of ratings across the course of the tournament.
“This was one of the most exciting World Cup’s in history, and we were pleased to work with IBM and FOX Sports throughout the event to measure excitement and create customizable highlights in real time for millions of fans,” said Thuuz CEO Warren Packard. “While every fan will have his or her most memorable moment, measuring metadata in this way gives us a great snapshot into the collective excitement felt around the globe as we look back on such a great global phenomenon. When people say ‘the excitement was palpable,’ we can now verify it!”
Using the Thuuz excitement measurement platform, the top five most exciting matches were:
1) Croatia vs Russia – July 7: This game featured everything you would want in an unbelievably exciting game. A stunning 1st goal, a tying fastbreak goal, a couple fantastic chances in the 2nd half, and 1 goal by each team in extra time. That wasn’t enough, so the match finished in a shootout that went to the final shot. This game is just ahead of the #2 game of the list because of the atmosphere boost it gets because of Russia being the host country.
2) Japan vs Belgium – July 2: In terms of pure excitement in a soccer game, this Belgium come-from-behind win was thrilling. Japan were the heavy underdogs, and took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd half behind a fantastic goal, only to see Belgium’s dynamic offense come alive, and score 2 quick goals to tie the game. The moment of magic came at the end when Belgium went from their own box to scoring in 8 seconds, with what turned out to be the last meaningful kick of the game.
3) Belgium vs Brazil – July 6: This matchup between 2 of the top-3 teams in the world was probably the highest quality soccer produced on the pitch at the World Cup. Belgium were dangerous on the counter-attack all game, and De Bruyne scored a screamer from outside the box to stage Belgium to a 2-0 lead. Brazil had a ton of chances at the end after cutting the lead to 2-1, but Courtois made a fabulous save on Neymar, and Belgium and their “Golden Generation” held on at the end for an exciting 2-1 victory.
4) England vs Colombia – July 3: A scrappy game featuring a lot of fouls and up-and down action, which included a Colombia goal in the 93rd minute to send the game into extra time. The extra time featured a few meaningful chances, and then in the shootout, England had the chance to exorcise their PK demons and won in a close World Cup shootout for the 1st time ever.
5) Spain vs Portugal – June 15: Cristiano Ronaldo’s jaw-dropping free kick late in regulation gave Portugal a 3-3 tie in a game that featured an epic solo goal by Spain’s Costa, and a Ronaldo hat trick for Portugal. This was the best group stage game of the World Cup.
In terms of most exciting teams, SPAIN led all clubs with a 93.5 score, followed closely by CROATIA (91), BELGIUM (91), GERMANY (90) and PORTUGAL (89.75). Champion France came in 7th with a score of 86.6. While winning matches certainly has some impact on team excitement, the most salient statistics impacting team excitement are the overall suspense and surprise across all the matches that a particular team plays.
ABOUT Thuuz Sports
Leveraging its automation platform, Thuuz Sports enables Personalized Clips, Highlight Reels, and Condensed Games: any duration, any perspective, involving any set of plays, players, fantasy rosters, narratives, and themes. Thuuz Sports also offers a Subjective Sports Metadata Service that enables its customers to deliver sports apps and guides that deliver a true personalized experience to their fans based on leveraging Thuuz Sports excitement ratings, dynamic headlines, and real-time notifications. Thuuz Sports customers reach well over 150 million sports fans worldwide and include some of the biggest names in the industry.