Physical metrics – speed, distance, acceleration – on a football pitch has become a hot topic this season, with pundits pointing out during the international break that Real Madrid was sitting last in La Liga this season in distance covered per match. Some reporters are attributing this lack of team movement as a contributing factor in Madrid’s struggles over the past 2+ seasons. But is there any correlation between how much distance a team covers on the pitch and actual success? A deep dive into
the data confirms a resounding no.
A number of recent league champions were teams that covered comparable or less distance than Madrid this and last season. Prior to this weekend’s matches, Real Madrid was averaging 96.5 kms per match in league play this season, tied with Parma for 93rd amongst the 96 teams in the top five European leagues. Madrid has only registered more kilometers than their opponent in one match this season –- in the opener against Espanyol — but los Blancos have sprinted more often than their opponent in five of nine matches. The Merengues are averaging 99.3 sprints per match, placing Jose Mourinho’s squad 65th out of 96 teams. Last season Madrid was 68th in the top-five leagues in distance covered –- tied with Tottenham — averaging 101.2 kms per match in league play while finishing 35th in sprints per match. That was more kilometers per match than La Liga winners FC Barcelona (97.6 kms, 87th overall) and Serie A champions Inter Milan (86.8 kms, 95th overall) in 2025/2026. The teams that averaged the most distance covered (Girona, 112.4 kms) and sprints (Liverpool, 223.7) per match in the top five leagues last season performed poorly, finishing 19th (53 points behind FC Barcelona) and fifth (25 points behind Arsenal), respectively, in their league.
Prior to this weekend’s matches, the team covering more distance won just 34.7% (86 of 248) matches across Europe’s top-five leagues, compared with 40.7% (101 of 248) for the team covering less distance. Although teams with more ball possession generally run less, the difference is smaller than many might expect. The team with less possession covered more distance in 56.7% of matches this season, while the team with more possession did so in 42.4%; both teams covered the same distance in the remaining 0.8% of matches.
There is a more positive, though insignificant, correlation between the team that sprints most and wins most. Of 244 matches in the top five leagues where one team out-sprinted its rival, 41% (100 matches) of the time the higher volume sprinting team won, 34.4% (84 matches) the higher volume sprinting team lost and 24.6% (60 matches) of the time the match ended in a tie. Again, very weak correlation between who sprints more and who attains the most points in the match.
As shown below, no club that ranked first in distance covered in one of Europe’s top five leagues won its league last season or is leading it this season. Southampton in 2024/2025 and Pisa in 2025/2026 led the Premier League and Serie A, respectively, in total distance covered but finished last in points. Conversely, Inter won Serie A last season despite ranking last in both distance covered and sprints. Liverpool won the Premier League in 2024/2025, and Barcelona currently leads La Liga; both ranked first in their leagues in total sprints. This suggests that sprint volume may be more relevant to winning than total distance covered.
We analyzed three seasons of Opta Vision data from Europe’s top five leagues to examine how team performance relates to distance covered and sprint frequency. As expected, points achieved had a strong positive correlation with goals scored and a strong negative correlation with goals conceded. Last season, points and possession were also strongly correlated, with a coefficient of 0.78. In contrast, points attained showed only a very weak positive-to-negative relationship with distance covered (recall Southampton and Pisa led their leagues in distance covered but finished last, while Inter won Serie A despite covering the least distance) and a very weak-to-weak positive relationship with sprint frequency.
With Pisa finishing last in points and first in distance covered while Inter won the scudetto while finishing last in kilometers, it is perhaps not surprising to see that the Serie A was the one top league in 2025/2026 where there was a strong correlation between distance covered and points attained, albeit a strong NEGATIVE correlation (-0.74) as well as between sprinting frequency and points achieved (-0.66).
We examined Real Madrid’s average distance covered per match in the Champions League knockout rounds from 2009 onward. In several title-winning seasons, Madrid covered less ground in those elimination rounds than it did in seasons when it failed to win the orejona.
One thing that is often ignored when doing this analysis is that not every match has the same amount of effective playing time which is when the vast majority of player movement takes place. This is particularly true in Champions League knockout phases where sometimes there are an additional 30 minutes if the score is tied after the first 180 minutes across both legs.
Through data provided by UEFA, we were able to analyze the average distance covered (in kilometers) per minute of effective playing time in each match. As the graph below demonstrates, in five of Madrid’s last six Champions League winning seasons, the team averaged under 1.80 kms per minute of effective playing time in knockout rounds while the team has broken that barrier in each of the last two unsuccessful Champions League seasons.
Since 2009, Real Madrid has played 46 two-legged Champions League ties. In 35 of those 46 ties, Madrid covered less distance than their opponents in both matches. In 7 of those 46 ties, Madrid covered less distance in one match and more distance than their opponent in the other. Only in four of those 46 ties did Madrid cover more distance than their opponent in both matches. The four ties:
– 2013 Round of 16 vs. Manchester United
FIRST LEG: RM 115.34 kms; United 111.56 kms
SECOND LEG: RM 116.03 kms; United 109.22 kms
Note that in the second leg, United played with 10 men from the 57th minute, which contributed to United covering less distance in that match.
– 2017 Quarter-finals vs. Bayern Munich
FIRST LEG: RM 108.96 kms; Bayern 108.68 kms
SECOND LEG: RM 135.73 kms; Bayern 134.66 kms
Note that in the first leg, Bayern played with 10 men from the 62nd minute, and in the second leg, Bayern played with 10 men from the 85th minute (the match went to extra time); this contributed to Bayern covering less distance in both matches.
– 2022 Round of 16 vs. PSG
FIRST LEG: RM 105.6 kms; PSG 105.49 kms
SECOND LEG: RM 106.32 kms; PSG 102.69 kms
– 2026 Round of 16 vs. Manchester City
FIRST LEG: RM 113.69 kms; Man City: 113.44 kms
SECOND LEG: Real Madrid 114.46 kms; Man City 109.89 kms
Bear in mind that in the return leg, City played with 10 men from the 21st minute onwards, which contributed to Pep Guardiola’s team covering less distance in that match.
In other words, out of the 46 two-legged Champions League ties Real Madrid played over the last 18 years, the only one where they covered more distance than their opponent in BOTH matches—while playing 11 vs. 11—was against the PSG side featuring Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, and Neymar. Furthermore, in each of Madrid’s last six Champions League finals, los Blancos covered less distance than their rivals, an average of 5.3 kilometers less per match.
In conclusion, Real Madrid, even in its title winning seasons was not a team that covered a vast amount of distance. And many title winning teams have been near the bottom of running metrics. Fans and reporters alike that are trying to equate kilometers with a winning formula are going down the wrong path.
