How a player positions themselves off the ball tells us how they relate to the game around them: the spaces they choose to occupy, the movements they make to create angles or condition a defender’s positioning. Yet it has long gone unmeasured. 

Common event data records the pass that was played and the player who received it, but says nothing of the players who offered additional options with their movement and/or positioning.

Passing Options fill that gap.

Rather than counting only completed actions, they measure opportunity: every moment a player makes themselves a viable target for the ball-carrier. In doing so, they capture both where a player prefers to receive — their function — and how dangerous those positions are — the quality of their positioning and movement.

Every line-breaking option is defined by the opposition line it engages: first, second-last or last, and the route it takes: through or around.

For a fuller explanation of how Passing Options work, see Episode 1.

In this episode, we turn to the last line of pressure — typically the opposition's defense — and the ways a player can get beyond it.

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Applied Use Case

Centre Forwards

Ranking Centre Forwards by Option Through Last Line surfaces those who most often offer in behind, between the defensive line’s widest players. 

Watkins, Højlund and Vardy lead the way.

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Full-Backs 

When it comes to Full Backs, topping the Option Around Last Line ranking are the deep, wide players who hold the touchline and offer outside the defense, stretching the last line from the flank. 

Ouattara, Diego Moreira and Svensson stand out.

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Metric Definition 

Option Through Last Line is the number of times a player was in a position to receive a pass beyond the opponent’s last line of pressure. More specifically, it represents the number of times a player was positioned between the widest players of the opposition's last defensive line.

Option Around Last Line is the number of times a player was in a position to receive a pass outside the opponent’s last line of pressure. This represents the number of times a player was positioned wider than the widest players of the opposition's last defensive line.

In SkillCorner's Game Intelligence framework, a Passing Option is an off-ball Dynamic Event: it captures the moment a player makes themselves available to receive a pass from the current ball-carrier, recorded whether or not the pass is actually attempted or completed. It logs a teammate positioning themselves or moving to open up a passing lane, creating a viable target. It is never a simple yes/no, as each option carries a set of contextual flags (Phases of Play, xT, xP, and many more).
Far from a traditional event, a Passing Option captures opportunity rather than outcome. By mapping every option available to the ball-carrier against the choice they actually made, it opens the door to deeper analysis of positioning and decision-making.

Passing Options are one of the key contextual metric groups that make up our Game Intelligence suite, combining on and off-ball insights for more precise performance and stylistic profiling. Get in touch to learn more.