Are English Penalty Taking Footballers Less Successful than Top Elite Players from Around the World?

Abstract

In recent history, penalty shoot-outs have become a difficult hurdle to overcome for the England football team and has become a widely talked about problem that English football cannot seem to escape. The aim of the study was to assess whether players from the England International squad penalty performances are less successful than performances by top elite players from around the World. The study investigated ten players (five from England and five from the Rest of the World). Footage of penalties from the start of the 2010/2011 season to the end of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil were analysed and input into a hand notation system with eighteen penalty related indicators. No significant association between type of team and success was found (χ²= 0.59, P = 0.472). Results show that the England players are equally as successful as top elite players from around the World, therefore previous penalty shoot-out failure can be attributed to other external factors such as the Environment or player Psychology.