GUIDES · BETSLIP DOCTOR
How does Opta separate an assist, a key pass and chances created?
In Opta data, a goal assist is a teammate’s final touch leading to a goal; a key pass leads to a shot that does not score. Chances created adds assists and key passes, with stated exceptions for certain direct goals.
For Soccer fans, fantasy-football users and readers of player-creation statistics · Updated
The outcome separates an assist from a key pass
Opta’s goal-assist category credits the teammate whose final touch leads to the scorer’s goal. Its key-pass category covers the final pass to a teammate who attempts a shot but does not score. These labels answer different questions about the same attacking sequence: did the final touch lead to a goal, or to a non-scoring attempt?
Opta defines chances created as the combined total of goal assists and key passes. It is therefore broader than a count of assists alone.
- Final teammate touch leads to a goal: goal assist, subject to Opta’s listed exceptions.
- Final pass leads to a teammate’s shot attempt without a goal: key pass.
- Chances created: the total of assists and key passes in this Opta definition.
Some goals do not receive a goal-assist credit
The published Opta definition does not award a goal assist for an own goal, a goal scored directly from a free kick, or a goal scored directly from a corner. It also excludes a directly scored penalty unless the taker chooses to pass to another player who scores. An opposition deflection does not by itself remove an assist when the final touch was travelling to the eventual scorer.
Those are provider-specific crediting rules. A match’s goal and a player’s assist credit are separate records, so do not assume every goal has an assist attached.
Follow the final touch through the result
When a provider table shows a key pass or assist, trace the final action and what happened next. A shot saved or missed without scoring can leave the final pass as a key pass; a goal may make that final touch an assist unless one of the listed exceptions applies. The combined chances-created figure includes both categories.
Two fictional attacks and one direct corner
In a fictional first attack, a midfielder makes the final pass, a teammate shoots and the goalkeeper saves it. The pass fits Opta’s key-pass definition because the shot attempt does not score. In a second attack, the midfielder’s final touch leads to a teammate scoring, so it fits the goal-assist definition. In a third, the corner taker scores directly from the corner: Opta’s page says no goal assist is awarded. The provider’s chances-created total combines the first two event types; it does not turn the third direct corner into an assist.
Related questions
Does a pass before every shot count as an Opta key pass?
The definition requires it to be the final pass to a teammate who attempts a shot without scoring. A goal-producing touch is handled as a goal-assist question, subject to Opta’s exceptions.
Does a direct-corner goal get an Opta goal assist?
No. Opta lists a goal scored directly from a corner among the situations where it does not award a goal assist.