العربيةSeason2025/262026 · this seasonAll seasons
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Player reportLigue 1 2026

Sofiane Diop

Nice
Advanced playmaker AM
2.38 key passes/90 · 0.16 xT/90
attacking midhalf-space creatorcreationbetween the lines
340
minutes
8 apps
9
key passes
2.38/90
22
progressive passes
5.8/90
5
box entries
1.32/90
17
final-3rd entries
4.5/90
1
goals
0.40 xG
9
dribbles
56% won
75%
pass completion
165 passes
Overview

The player

Who he is and how he compares with his peers.

Thin sample this season. Sofiane Diop has played 8 matches (340 min) so far, so sections that need a bigger sample to say anything reliable are not shown here — they are missing on purpose, not broken. See all seasons combined →
01

What Patterns Define Him?

His repeatable signature. A step only appears if its reliability score (sample size × match coverage) reaches at least Medium confidence — pattern mining, not anecdotes.

RECEIVE
Left Wing, Attacking third — between the lines — mostly in the attacking third (53% of his 165 passes)
75% completion · 165× in 8/8 matches
↓
TURN / BEAT MAN
face forward in the pocket
56% won · 9× in 5/8 matches
↓
CREATE
through-ball, cut-back, key pass
2.38/90 · 9× in 4/8 matches
↓
FINISH
arrive and shoot from central zones
1 goals · 0.40 xG · 5× in 3/8 matches
Signature: receive between the lines → turn → create or finish.
20

Where is he influential — vs where is he merely present?

Red fill = raw touch territory. Gold rings = zones where his influence (xT added, progression, line-breaks, key passes) outweighs how often he's actually there — one combined map instead of two separate maps to compare by eye. Red with no ring: present but not dangerous. A ring on faint red: rare touches, outsized impact.

own goal left, attacking →
21
passes / match
1.8
dribbles / match
4–56
pass range (matches)
1–3
dribble range (matches)
Pass range = his fewest and most passes in any single match this season (4 at the low end, 56 at the high) — a measure of match-to-match involvement, not pass distance. Dribble range works the same way, for dribbles/carries per match.
In possession

In possession

What he does with the ball: build-up, progression, creation, carrying and finishing.

07

How dangerous are his carries?

Real ball-carries

33 tracked carries (8.7/90, 3 progressive, 303m total) — the ball moving with his touches, a different signal from dribbles below (beating an opponent 1v1). this counts every touch-carry, not just his dribble attempts below — a fuller picture of how much of his ball-carrying is control-and-move rather than beating a man.

3%3%6%9%3%12%12%3%9%12%18%9%
progressivelateral/short% of his 33 carries originating in each zone · own goal left, attacking →
Every carry, exact path — median 8m, longest 29m
By zone — where the carry started → where it ended
4Outside → Inside
17Inside → Inside
9Outside → Outside
3Inside → Outside
First (22)Second (11)grouped by carry pattern (start + end position), largest group first
startendown goal left, attacking →

Dribbles (1v1s)

Does he carry to create or drift wide? Dribbles by channel. Season rate: 2.38 dribbles attempted /90.

brighter band = more dribbles · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 67%
OUTSIDE 33%
Dribble location — 6 inside · 3 outside
Right Wing
0 · 0%
Right Half-Space
2 · 22%
Central
1 · 11%
Left Half-Space
3 · 33%
Left Wing
3 · 33%
Vision AI His carries cluster centrally — a central creator.
15

How does he build & move the ball?

How he moves the ball — his 4 busiest progression routes, not where every pass starts and ends separately. Arrow width = how often, colour = xT gained, dashed = switch of play. The full breakdown is in the lane matrix below.

own goal left, attacking →
Lane transition matrix — when he receives in a lane, where does it go?
TO →RWRHSCLHSLWRW1436%536%514%27%17%1RHS1958%1121%416%35%1C3212%422%741%1316%59%3LHS277%27%215%426%744%12LW3110%335%1155%17FROM
Rows normalised: each row sums to 100% of that lane's completed passes. Grey number = passes from that lane.

Primary route: the left half-space in the middle third → central areas in the final third — 2 progressive passes (12% of his progression) at 0.134 xT each. He moves it inside.

His progression is inward: 75% of progressive passes move the ball toward the middle versus 0% going wider — he cuts in rather than holding width.

12% of his passes are cross-field switches — he changes the point of attack often.

Quality behind the volume: 10 line-breaking passes and 17 final-third entries, 0.6 total xT added.

Origin and destination are measured on the same event row — no receiver inference. Receiver identity is not recoverable from this data source.
All passes — origin zone share
Filter: from to
1%2%5%12%7%1%5%9%13%1%1%5%4%15%15%5%
completedincomplete165 passes · any zone → any zone · own goal left, attacking →
165
passes
75%
completed
42
lost
Vision AIIn line with his 75% season completion rate.
10

How does he progress play?

How much he drives the ball forward. Progressive = completed pass advancing ≥15 toward goal.

22
progressive · 5.8/90
17
final-third entries · 4.5/90
5
box entries · 1.32/90
15
progression index /90
Progression index: one composite number — progressive passes + progressive carries + 2% of total distance progressed + 8× positive xT added, all per 90. Weights VOLUME and THREAT together rather than counting progressive actions alone.
02

How does he create chances?

9 key passes (2.38/90), 0 of them assists — where his chance creation specifically comes from, 18 zones (6×3), showing his share of key passes originating there.

Chance creation — key pass origin zone share
Filter:
22%22%11%11%33%
chance creation (9)assist (0)% of the selected group's key passes originating in each zone
Box deliveries — key passes reaching the final third, by flank
from the left (4)from the right (5)of 9 key passes landing in the final thirdattacking ↑ toward goal
12

Where does he become vulnerable?

46 possessions lost. Directness has a cost — the question is where. Attacking-third losses are cheap; deep ones are dangerous.

30
attacking third (cheap)
11
middle third
5
own third (dangerous)
Vision AI 65% of losses are in the attacking third — he gambles where a turnover costs little.
Mistake danger (proxy): 2.56 danger-index/90 · 0.211 avg/turnover. Weights each loss by threat conceded at that location. True xT-conceded needs the opponent possession model; positional proxy.
13

What is his passing profile?

165
passes attempted
41%
mostly forward
45%
mostly medium
Direction
Forward
68 · 41%
Sideways
42 · 25%
Backward
55 · 33%
Length (completed)
Short (<15m)
54 · 44%
Medium
55 · 45%
Long (>30m)
14 · 11%
11

Preferred Progression Routes — xT-weighted

His progressive passes as zone→zone routes, weighted by expected threat (xT) added — arrow width and the number are the total xT generated on each route, not just how often he plays it. This is where he actually moves the needle.

0.330.320.240.220.210.20
own goal left, attacking →
Highest-value routes (xT)
0.33
Left Wing Mid third → Left Half-Space Att third
1 passes
0.32
Right Wing Att third → Right Half-Space Att third
1 passes
0.24
Left Half-Space Att third → Left Half-Space Att third
1 passes · 1 to a shot
0.22
Left Half-Space Mid third → Left Wing Att third
2 passes
0.21
Central Att third → Right Half-Space Att third
1 passes
0.20
Left Half-Space Mid third → Central Att third
1 passes · 1 to a shot
05

Where Does He Receive?

The zones where Sofiane Diop gets on the ball — his top three ball-collection areas highlighted (gold = primary). Reception is proxied by where his on-ball actions begin (no explicit receiver is recorded).

123
1 = primary, 2 = secondary, 3 = third · own goal left, attacking →
His collection zones
13%
Primary
Left Wing, Attacking third
13%
Secondary
Left Half-Space, Middle third
12%
Third
Central, Attacking third
These are the zones where he collected the ball most.
06

Where Does He Operate? — Every Zone

Every on-ball touch (pass, dribble, shot) binned into a 6×3 grid — raw counts of where Sofiane Diop actually gets on the ball. Hover any zone for its breakdown by action type, its share of all touches, and the exact coordinate range it covers.

Filter:
28826278210152351381914
own goal left, attacking → · brighter + higher number = more touches

Passes only — completed vs incomplete, by zone

Same zone grid, restricted to passes so completed/incomplete and match filters actually mean something — a shot or a dribble has no "completed" in the pass sense.

1%2%5%12%7%1%5%9%13%1%1%5%4%15%15%5%
own goal left, attacking →
14

Every Pass This Season — completed vs incomplete

Every pass this season, plotted individually — green = completed, grey (dashed) = incomplete, gold = key pass. Filter by outcome or isolate one match below.

9Key pass
7Cross
5Cutback
22Progressive
24Long ball
10Switch
By zone — where the pass started → where it landed
22Outside → Inside
46Inside → Inside
23Outside → Outside
32Inside → Outside
By direction
68Forward
55Backward
42Sideways
own goal left, attacking →
03

Tactical patterns — how his football actually looks

Three clustered sequence diagrams from his own event data — his three busiest routes: the way he progresses, the pattern behind his chances, and where a turnover turns dangerous.

own goal left, attacking →
How does he progress the ball forward?
His most common route for progressing play: he plays inside from the left wing toward the left hs, advancing it forward in the middle third — 1 passes worth 0.33 xT.
Where do his chances come from?
Of 9 key passes, his busiest route is a delivery where he plays straight through the left hs in the final third — 2 times. The receiver isn't identifiable in this data, only where the pass started and ended.
Where does he lose the ball most?
This is a RATE, not a raw count — the share of his touches in each zone that end in a turnover, so a zone he simply plays in more often doesn't automatically look riskier. His weakest zone is the right half-space in the final third: 44% of his 18 touches there are lost (8 times).
—0 touches · too few—1 touch · too few—2 touches · too few—3 touches · too few—7 touches · too few—3 touches · too few20%2/10 lost16%3/19 lost10%2/20 lost15%2/13 lost31%5/16 lost44%8/18 lost25%5/20 lost42%5/12 lost24%5/21 lostRWRHSCLHSLWDEFMIDATT
04

Does he carry inside or outside — his ball-carries across the pitch

Four arrows, one per movement class of his ball-carries: outside→inside (cutting in with the ball), inside→outside (carrying wide), outside→outside (down the touchline) and inside→inside (through the middle). Each count is measured from the carry's real start and end coordinates.

own goal left, attacking →
Across 33 ball-carries, his dominant tendency is that he carries through central areas (52%). He carries from outside into the middle 4 times and out toward the touchline 3 — a genuine inside forward who cuts in with the ball.
09

What happens right after he carries the ball

Every carry's end point matched against his own very next pass or shot in the same match, when one starts almost exactly there — the direct continuation of that touch, not a separate stat. “No clean link” means no pass or shot of his own started close enough to count (often the carry ended in a tackle or a loss); it isn't a claim about exactly what happened, only that nothing traceable followed.

Shot
0 · 0%
Progressive / key pass
5 · 15%
Simple pass
19 · 58%
No clean link
9 · 27%
Of 33 carries, 0% flow straight into a shot of his own, 15% into a key or progressive pass — a genuine end product to the carry, not just ball retention. 27% have no clean link to a next touch of his own close to where the carry ended.
08

Crosses & Cutbacks

7 crosses (1.85/90, 3 completed) and 5 cutbacks (1.32/90, 4 completed) — two separate wide-delivery patterns into the box, each its own map with a completed/failed filter. Neither is a tagged event, so both are inferred from pass geometry — the intended end point of a failed attempt is still real data (an interception doesn’t erase where the ball was aimed): a cross is a pass aimed into the box starting from a wide channel; a cutback starts almost on the byline but is squared back rather than driven forward, aimed centrally around the box. The completed-cross count was checked against this platform’s own real match-level cross totals and lands within about 1 cross of the true count.

Crosses — close-up on the final third
Cutbacks — close-up on the final third
completedfailed (dashed)close-up on the box — attacking ↑ toward goal
Out of possession

Out of possession

Where and how he defends and presses.

17

How & where does he defend?

38 defensive actions across the season (10.1/90). Where he wins the ball, and how — the core question for a defender. Aerial duels are not recorded for this competition, so aerial dominance is not measured here.

click a card to isolate that action type · own goal left, attacking →
8
tackles · 88% won
5
interceptions · 1.3/90
15
recoveries · 4.0/90
1
clearances · 0.3/90
1
blocks
56
avg action height
14
won high (att 3rd)
18
middle third
6
own third
Vision AI A front-foot / high defender. He wins the ball mainly by stepping in — tackles, interceptions & recoveries outweigh clearances. 28 proactive ball-wins (7.4/90), tackle success 88%. He defends high, stepping out to intercept — suits a high line.

Defensive work in the attacking half

Ball-wins in the attacking half only (own half vs. attacking half, a simple 2-way split, not the usual thirds) — the clearest single signal of how much he presses and recovers the ball high up the pitch.

26
attacking-half actions · 6.88/90
16

Against Different Pressing Intensities

Split by how hard the opponent pressed (opponent PPDA — lower = more intense press). Does Sofiane Diop keep producing when the game is tight and the press is high? Tiers of ~2-4 matches — directional evidence, not proof.

press tier
xT /90
prog /90
key P /90
dribble%
High press (PPDA 5.5, 2m)
1.03
3.0
0.00
0%
Mid press (PPDA 6.0, 2m)
0.82
12.0
3.00
0%
Low press (PPDA 7.6, 4m)
1.19
5.8
2.89
71%
Team

Team context

How much of the team runs through him, and what changes without him.

18

Impact on the Team

Insufficient sample: Sofiane Diop played nearly every Nice match in the loaded data, so there is no meaningful "without him" comparison yet. This section fills in as more matches (and the rest of the season) are scraped.

19

His Share of the Team

Of everything Nice produced this season, the categories where the biggest share ran through Sofiane Diop specifically — his share of the team total, not a per-90 rate.

category
share
him / team
goals
17%
1 / 6
expected goals (xG)
15%
7.5 / 49.6
successful take-ons
14%
37 / 263
Recruitment

Style and verdict

Style profile, closest comparables, and the summary.

21

Playing-Style Profile

Not raw event counts — football style scores: weighted models scored 0–100 against the 247 attacking mids in the pool (min 450 min). This is what separates players who post similar numbers but play differently. Proxy dimensions are inferred from on-ball data; true off-ball running / under-pressure context is not measured.

Half-space creator71%Advanced playmaker (8)68%
Why Half-space creator 71%: a weighted blend of creativity 69 (weight 40%) + final-third threat 63 (weight 30%) + dribbling 74 (weight 15%) + box threat 69 (weight 15%). The score reflects how distinctively his profile SHAPE matches this archetype vs his peers.
Elite
passing directness
Strong
dribbling, build-up
Average
line-breaking, creativity, box threat, press resistance, transition, receiving zones, final-third threat, ball-winning, retention, progression, through-balls, carrying, crossing
Weak
defensive aggression, territory (wide vs central)
Unknown
aerial ability, marking, off-ball running — not in event data
Passing directness
86
Dribbling
74
Build-up
73
Line-breaking
70
Creativity
69
Box threat
69
Press resistance ~proxy
67
Transition ~proxy
65
Receiving zones
64
Final-third threat
63
Ball-winning
63
Retention
61
Progression
58
Through-balls ~proxy
56
Carrying
49
Crossing
46
Defensive aggression
30
Territory (wide vs central)
12
22

Similar Players — in style space

Closest comparables measured on the style scores above, within the same position family — so it separates how players are alike, not just how much they touch the ball. Each line explains the shared strength and the divergent mechanism. A light physical-profile term (height / weight; this player: 175 cm / 65 kg) is included at a quarter of one style axis's weight — enough to break ties between stylistic twins, not to override style. Scope: pooled across the Ligue 1, Bundesliga, La Liga, Premier League and Serie A, percentiled within each player's own league before comparing — a match from another league is marked with its league name.

Style, not quality: a high match here means two players tend to produce the ball in similar ways — it is not a ranking, a scouting recommendation, or a claim that they are equally good.

Azzedine Ounahi Girona · La Liga 25/26 · 182 cm / 65 kg
80%
Driven by: territory (wide vs central) (13%), creativity (10%), passing directness (10%). Different mechanism — Ounahi more via carrying, receiving zones.
Nico Paz Como · Serie A · 185 cm / 79 kg
72%
Driven by: territory (wide vs central) (15%), dribbling (10%), box threat (10%). Different mechanism — Paz more via defensive aggression, receiving zones.
Romain Faivre Auxerre · 180 cm / 75 kg
71%
Driven by: defensive aggression (16%), passing directness (16%), transition (12%). Different mechanism — Diop more via box threat; Faivre more via carrying, territory (wide vs central).
Marcus Tavernier Bournemouth · Premier League · 178 cm / 70 kg
70%
Driven by: creativity (14%), box threat (12%), transition (11%). Different mechanism — Diop more via passing directness; Tavernier more via territory (wide vs central).
Alberto Moleiro Villarreal · La Liga · 171 cm / 67 kg
70%
Driven by: territory (wide vs central) (25%), creativity (15%), defensive aggression (10%). Different mechanism — Diop more via ball-winning, dribbling.
Julio Enciso Ipswich · Premier League · 173 cm / 64 kg
69%
Driven by: territory (wide vs central) (19%), dribbling (14%), build-up (13%). Different mechanism — Diop more via line-breaking, ball-winning; Enciso more via defensive aggression, carrying.
23

Summary

Sofiane Diop is a half-space creator / advanced playmaker (8): 2.38 key passes /90, 5.8 progressive passes, 1 goals from 0.40 xG. A between-the-lines creator. [Off-ball movement into pockets needs tracking.]

Based on 8 matches (340 minutes) — an early read, treat with caution until more minutes are logged. He profiles as a half-space creator / advanced playmaker (8) — best used in a system built around that identity. His biggest room for growth is final-third threat — even a modest improvement there would meaningfully lift his overall half-space creator profile.
✨ This report is interactive

Click any stat card to filter its map, hover a dot for the exact match, and use the dropdowns to slice passes zone-to-zone. Nothing here is static.

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