Team Strengths via Bayesian Modeling

Predicting sports results is a complex and intriguing problem due to the inherently unpredictable nature of sports and the numerous factors influencing outcomes. This unpredictability contributes significantly to the enjoyment of sports and has attracted interest from bookmakers, bettors, and fans. With the increased availability of sports-related data and online sports betting, interest in match result prediction has surged. Our study focuses on football (Polish Ekstraklasa), but unlike most studies, we do not aim to predict future outcomes. Instead, we strive to identify effective measures for assessing match odds and evaluating team strength. This approach could potentially replace the Elo rating, which is challenging to apply across different leagues.