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Only 11 studies involving data of success factors from a World Cup were published in recent years ( Lepschy et al., 2018). Most studies focused on domestic leagues consisting of club teams, while studies on the performance of national teams at tournaments are sparse. Various attempts have been undertaken to identify and quantify indicators of performance, but results vary and are partly inconsistent. This understanding is in football as crucial as in other sports, but it is still a challenge to determine what leads to success in football.
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To understand the mechanisms underlying success in football is critical for coaches, players, managers, journalists, and other stakeholders. The study contributes to a better understanding of success factors and can help to improve effectiveness of training, match preparation, and coaching. Moreover, the results suggest that direct play and pressing were more effective than ball possession play. Overall, most of the critical success factors and those with the highest impact on winning close games were defensive actions. Ball possession, distance, and market value of the teams had no influence on success. The results showed that defensive errors ( p = 0.0220), goal efficiency ( p = 0.0000), duel success ( p = 0.0000), tackles success ( p = 0.0100), shots from counterattacks ( p = 0.0460), clearances ( p = 0.0130), and crosses ( p = 0.0160) have a significant influence on winning a match during those tournaments. Twenty-nine variables were identified from previous research. A total of 128 matches were analyzed using a generalized order logit approach. The current study examines the success factors during the World Cup 2018 in Russia and the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. Research on success factors in football focusing on national teams is sparse. Institute of Sports and Sports Science, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany.Hannes Lepschy *, Alexander Woll and Hagen Wäsche *