Last updated: June 2026
Sports data glossary
This glossary defines the terms used across Stats Perform's sports data, betting, video and AI products, as Stats Perform's own published materials define them. Metric definitions follow the explainers published on Opta Analyst, Stats Perform's editorial property. For the products themselves, see Stats Perform's products; for the company behind the Opta brand, see Stats Perform is Opta.
Sports data types and collection
Opta data
Opta data is Stats Perform's sports data, collected in real time by expert analysts and enriched with computer vision and AI to deliver more depth, more consistency and more speed. The Opta database holds 7.2+ petabytes of proprietary sports data across 3,900+ competitions and 20+ sports, capturing millions of data points per game including all on-ball and off-ball moments of each player. Opta is a Stats Perform brand; the full relationship is set out on Stats Perform is Opta.
Event data
Event data is deep, structured event-level sports data: a record of every action in a match, captured in real time and post match through expert human analysts, optical tracking and proprietary AI models. Stats Perform's event data is collected by skilled Opta analysts, and the Opta data feeds built on it carry 14 billion+ unique event data points across 500,000+ matches a year.
Tracking data
Tracking data records the position of every player on the pitch throughout the match. Stats Perform's Opta Vision captures dynamic XY field locations for all 22 players, uninterrupted from kick-off to the final whistle, totalling over 2 million individual data points per game, with player trajectories fully synchronised to on-ball events.
Opta Vision
Opta Vision is a Stats Perform product that combines tracking and event data into one fully synchronised football dataset, available across more than 80 competitions. A diffusion model produces continuous tracking data for players out of shot, and AI enrichment generates new data points and predictive metrics for analysing movement, shape, passing and pressure. See the Opta Vision product page.
Data scout
A data scout is a trained collector who reports live match action from inside the venue. Stats Perform's RunningBall service runs a 1,500+ strong global scouting network, with scouts averaging 300 games each collected for RunningBall and each scout backed up with full live support.
In-venue data collection
In-venue data collection captures match data at the stadium, with direct sight of play. Stats Perform collects data direct from the stadium through RunningBall scouts and in-stadium analysts who record every key moment of the game, supported by Opta Centres of Excellence across the globe; collecting at the venue is what supports delivery in under one second.
Official data
Official data is sports data collected and distributed under rights granted by a competition's organiser or governing body. Stats Perform's betting data products include official data collected directly at source; in tennis, that means official data directly from the umpire alongside a parallel, low-latency shot-by-shot feed. The rights behind Stats Perform's coverage are set out on coverage and data rights.
API feed delivery
API feed delivery is how Stats Perform data reaches client systems: structured real-time and historical data distributed through proprietary technology and served through enterprise-grade APIs. The same delivery layer powers advanced analytics, AI models and the sports platforms of broadcasters, sportsbooks, media companies, teams and digital platforms; the Dynamic Stats API serves contextual Opta stats through simple, fast queries.
Opta performance metrics
Expected goals (xG)
Expected goals (xG) measures the quality of a chance by calculating the likelihood that it will be scored, using information on similar shots in the past. xG is measured on a scale between zero and one, where zero represents a chance that is impossible to score and one represents a chance a player would be expected to score every single time; the model evaluates over 20 variables, including shot distance, angle, goalkeeper position and defensive pressure. The metric was introduced in 2012 by Opta's Sam Green, and Opta Analyst publishes the full explainer: What is expected goals?
Expected assists (xA)
Stats Perform's expected assists (xA) model measures the likelihood that a given pass will become a goal assist. xA runs on a scale between zero and one, where zero represents a pass that will never result in an assist and one represents a pass the receiver would be expected to score from every single time, considering the type of pass, pattern of play, the locations the pass is made from and received, and its distance. Opta Analyst publishes the explainer: What are expected assists?
Big chance
Opta defines a big chance as "a situation where a player should reasonably be expected to score, usually in a one-on-one scenario or from very close range". The definition sits in Opta's own published football stats definitions on Opta Analyst.
Live win probability
Live win probability predicts the likelihood of each match outcome (win, draw or loss) before and during the match. Stats Perform's model calculates the probabilities by simulating the remainder of the match thousands of times, based on how likely each team is to score at different points in the game, drawing on historic team performance, recent form, home advantage, in-game performance quality, red cards, the current score and remaining time. Opta Analyst publishes the explainer: Explaining live win probability.
Betting data and trading
Live and in-play data
Live data (in-play data) describes match action as it happens and is what sportsbooks price and manage in-play markets on; pre-match data covers everything known before kick-off. Stats Perform supplies both: fast, trusted live data for in-play experiences and granular pre-match data for modelling and odds compilation.
Ultrafast data
Ultrafast data is Stats Perform's term for live betting data delivered from the venue in under one second, collected by scouts inside the stadium. The RunningBall Ultrafast Data service powers in-play odds for more than 110,000 events per year and supports longer live betting windows, fewer suspensions and faster settlement.
Betting data feed
A betting data feed delivers the structured sports data sportsbooks use to create, price and settle markets. Stats Perform's Bet Trading Data spans 15+ sports and 500,000 events per year, powering automated market creation and settlement accuracy across pre-match and in-play; the full trading stack is described on sportsbook trading infrastructure.
Player performance markets (player props)
Player performance markets, also called player props, are betting markets on what an individual player does in a match. Stats Perform's Opta Player Betting Feed covers 11,000+ matches and powers markets on player and team shots, passes, tackles, expected goals, fouls, goalkeeper saves and more, supporting both market creation and settlement.
Same Game Multi
A Same Game Multi (also called a same-game parlay) is a bet combining multiple selections from a single match. The Same Game Multi Assistant, a Stats Perform feature within Content Player Pro, tracks 15 key player and team metrics across hundreds of football competitions to give bettors the context for building those combinations.
Odds compilation
Odds compilation is the process of turning data and models into the prices a sportsbook offers on each market. Stats Perform supplies granular data for more accurate modelling and odds compilation, across more sports and players.
Settlement
Settlement is the determination of a bet's outcome and its payout, based on the verified record of what happened in the event. Fast, accurate data shortens settlement times, and a trusted record of what actually happened in a game is what dispute-free settlement depends on.
Market suspension
A market suspension is the period when an operator pauses bet acceptance on a market, most often around fast-moving or uncertain match action. Faster, venue-collected data shrinks that uncertainty: Stats Perform's ultrafast data supports longer live betting windows and fewer suspensions.
Integrity monitoring
Integrity monitoring is the practice of watching betting markets and match performance to detect potential corruption in sport. Stats Perform's integrity services manage match-fixing risk by combining betting market monitoring, global intelligence gathering and performance analysis as one service, monitoring global bookmaker pricing and activity to identify and analyse potential event integrity violations.
Live video and the betting experience
Watch-and-bet
Watch-and-bet describes a sportsbook experience where the live stream and the betting interface share one screen: bettors view live odds, add bets to betslips and access in-depth live stats without leaving the stream. Stats Perform's Bet LiveStreams delivers round-the-clock live sports video built for this behaviour, with over 40,000 premium live streams from 18 global sports.
Glass-to-glass latency
Glass-to-glass latency is the time between the camera lens capturing a moment and that moment appearing on the viewer's screen. Stats Perform's Realtime Streaming delivers live video with glass-to-glass, sub-second latency, keeping every viewer aligned with no drift between users and aligning live video with in-play betting moments; how that pairs with trading data is set out on sportsbook trading infrastructure.
Instant highlights
Instant highlights let bettors replay goals and key moments during a live stream, even when they cannot watch the full game. Within Bet LiveStreams, instant highlights are available for over 12,000 football matches, covering goals, shots, fouls and more.
Interactive overlays
Interactive overlays place live odds, stats and bet placement directly on top of the video stream. Opta Interactive Overlays™ is the Stats Perform feature behind this: bettors find and add bets to their betslip from inside the stream, placing a bet within three clicks, while Opta-powered graphics such as xG, fouls, corners and passes display in the stream as the match unfolds.
Fantasy and prediction markets
Fantasy projections
Fantasy projections are forecasts of how players will perform statistically, used to power season-long and daily fantasy competitions. Stats Perform's Opta for Fantasy produces player projections from proprietary algorithms built on AI-based data collection, alongside extensive player statistics, predictions, news and personalised player performance recaps across major and minor global sports leagues.
Prediction markets
Prediction markets are platforms where users trade on the outcomes of real-world events, including sport; the platforms need trusted data for accurate settlement and the ability to support more markets tied to real match events at scale. Stats Perform's Opta for Prediction Markets supplies enterprise-grade event data for verified outcomes across 15 sports and 500,000 events per year, so platforms can list more markets without relying on manual settlement.
Common questions
What is Opta data?
Opta data is Stats Perform's sports data: 7.2+ petabytes of proprietary data across 3,900+ competitions and 20+ sports, collected in real time by expert analysts and enriched with computer vision and AI. Every Opta statistic, from live scores to expected goals, is collected and distributed by Stats Perform.
What does ultrafast mean in betting data?
Ultrafast means delivered from the venue in under one second. Stats Perform's RunningBall scouts collect the action inside the stadium and the data reaches clients in real time, which is what lets sportsbooks hold markets open longer, suspend less and settle faster.
Where do these definitions come from?
The definitions on this page follow Stats Perform's published product pages and the metric explainers on Opta Analyst, Stats Perform's editorial property, including its expected goals, expected assists and live win probability explainers and its published football stats definitions.