A sequence is one unbroken spell of possession by one team. It begins when a side takes control of the ball and ends when they lose it, the game stops, or a set piece intervenes. Every match breaks into roughly 250 of them, and the whole league into about 74,000. They are the unit this platform reasons in, because a possession is the smallest thing that has a shape: a start, a route, and an outcome.

Why possessions rather than passes. Counting passes tells you volume. A possession tells you intent. Ten passes that go sideways in front of a low block and three that split it are the same on a pass chart and completely different here, because the sequence records where the ball started, where it travelled, and whether it produced anything.

Reading a card

• Each card is one possession, drawn start to finish, attacking left to right.
• The hollow ring is where the team won the ball.
• Arrows are passes; small dots are events with no destination, such as a touch, a take-on or a shot.
• Dotted segments are movement the feed does not record as an event, usually a carry or a flick. The ball moved, we just cannot see how.
• A star marks the shot. Anything drawn faintly after it is a rebound or second phase, not part of the original move.
• xT is the threat the possession added by moving the ball into more dangerous areas. The league averages about 0.016 per possession, so anything above 0.4 is an exceptional move.

What the type filter means

Possessions are tagged by how they started and how they travelled: from deep, won high, patient build, over the top, switches of play, wide combinations, hold-up play. Picking a type shows the highest-threat examples of that pattern across the league, which is the quickest way to see what a route actually looks like when it works.

Finding similar possessions

Click any card and the tool finds the closest matches anywhere in the league, comparing fourteen standardised features: where it started and ended, how far it travelled vertically and laterally, how many passes, how long they were, the threat generated and how much of it happened in the attacking third. Distance is the measure, so lower is a closer match. It is comparing shape, not teams, which is why a Miami move can match a Vancouver one.

One honest limit: sequences describe the team in possession. The opponent’s shape, and any pressure that forced a decision, is invisible in event data. A possession that looks laboured may have been the only option available.