If Leicester City’s fairytale campaign in the Premier League this season wasn’t enough to have fans shaking their heads at the incredulity of it all, the tactics they employed to get there will probably make your jaw drop. If you thought their outrageous possession stats compared to EPL champions in recent years was one of a kind, their long ball strategy has seen a paradigm shift in the way football is played in England.
Although they have slightly improved on their possession stats in the past couple of months, the Foxes are still a team that allows their opponents to have more of the ball. Claudio Ranieri has set up his team to counter-attack almost at will. And a key tactic is the use of the long ball over the defence for the pacey Jamie Vardy to latch on to and beat the goalkeeper.
According to CIES, among the top five leagues in Europe (namely the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, French Ligue 1 and the Italian Serie A), Leicester City are currently third in terms of long balls used to get forward. 6.9% of their passes are long balls!
The other league leaders – Juventus, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain – are literally at the very bottom of the list, barely registering between 1.1% and 1.6%. The team that uses the long ball tactic the most is German club Darmstadt (10.7%) followed by Ingolstadt (7.8%).
Among teams who are around the top four of their respective leagues and do use long balls are Hertha Berlin (4th in the Bundesliga) and Athletic Bilbao (5th in La Liga)
| Rank | Club | League | League Position | Long Ball % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darmstadt | Bundesliga | 11 | 10.7% |
| 2 | Ingolstadt | Bundesliga | 9 | 7.8% |
| 3 | Leicester City | Premier League | 1 | 6.9% |
| 4 | Sunderland | Premier League | 18 | 6.7% |
| 5 | Eibar | La Liga | 9 | 6.6% |
| 6 | West Bromwich Albion | Premier League | 14 | 6.5% |
| 7 | Frosinone | Serie A | 18 | 6.3% |
| 8 | Bastia | Ligue 1 | 12 | 6.2% |
| Deportivo de La Coruna | La Liga | 13 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Sporting Gijon | La Liga | 18 | 6.1% |
| Caen | Ligue 1 | 9 | 6.1% | |
| 12 | Carpi | Serie A | 17 | 6.0% |
| 13 | Guingamp | Ligue 1 | 14 | 5.8% |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | Premier League | 16 | 5.7% |
| 15 | GFC Ajaccio | Ligue 1 | 18 | 5.7% |
| 16 | Watford | Premier League | 12 | 5.6% |
| Athletic Bilbao | La Liga | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 18 | Real Betis | La Liga | 14 | 5.5% |
| Hertha Berlin | Bundesliga | 4 | 5.5% | |
| 20 | Newcastle United | Premier League | 19 | 5.4% |
| Granada | La Liga | 17 | 5.4% |
