Scouting Fridolina Rolfö
In the latest episode of PlaymakerTV we spoke about Sweden international and FC Barcelona player Fridolina Rolfö. This article is just resume so make sure to watch the full episode. Link below.
PlaymakerTV - Episode 6, SCOUTING FRIDOLINA ROLFÖ
In 2014 Fridolina Rolfö’s left foot made its presence known for the first time on the international stage. Rolfö scored a hat trick in Linköping FC’s 3–0 win over Liverpool in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. She opened the scoring with what has become one of her main signature moves — a powerful left-footed shot from a distance.
Rolfö’s background
Fridolina Rolfö was born and raised in Kungsbacka, located on Sweden’s west coast, just outside Gothenburg, or Göteborg as we say in Swedish. The Swedish winger started her senior football career in the Damallsvenskan, Sweden’s top flight for women, with Jitex BK in 2011. Ahead of the 2014 season, Rolfö joined Linköping FC, where she played, accompanied by several of Sweden’s most promising youth players and upcoming talents such as Stina Blackstenius (Arsenal), Magdalena Eriksson (Chelsea) and Jonna Andersson (Hammarby) to mention a few.
After winning the Swedish league with Linköping, Rolfö moved to Germany, where she has, since then, represented both FC Bayern München and Vfl Wolfsburg. Before the Olympics in Tokyo 2021, her current destination was announced - FC Barcelona in Liga F.
Fridolina Rolfö during the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage match in Malmö.
Photo credit: Mia Eriksson
If anyone had doubts about Rolfö’s abilities to play for a team like Barcelona, her performances in Japan probably silenced a few of her critics. Still, perhaps they weren’t all silenced until now. Going into a new season with Barcelona, Sweden’s Diamantbollen-winner (MVP 2021) came from a rather criticised performance in the European Championship tournament with the Swedish national team, where some meant that she didn’t perform at the top of her level. Now, in this blog, I am allowed to express my feelings and opinion, which will make me say that I did not fully agree with the criticism after following most of her season in the Catalan club in Liga F, which had another very successful year both domestically and internationally, reaching another UEFA Women’s Champions League final. Let me explain my opinions further.
Rolfö, the football player
As one who has followed Fridolina Rolfö since the early days of her career, it’s easy to admire the winger’s technical and physical skills. In addition, Rolfo also appears to be an intelligent decision-maker on the pitch. These spider graphics below show her metrics in the following listed abilities; aerials, passing, defensive skills, duels, creativity and finishing. One spider is from the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 with Sweden, one is from the current season of Liga F, and one is from last season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League - the latter are, of course, from her playing with Barcelona. The red spider is Rolfö, and the black is a spider that shows all other players in the competitions on average. So, where the red parts are more prominent, she scores higher than most. Without going further or deeper into anything here, the first look at these will hint at the slight differences between all three competitions and the two teams she represents; Sweden and FC Barcelona.
Fridolina Rolfö spider graphic comparisons from UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, Liga F 2022/23 and UEFA Women’s Champions League 2021/22. Graph credit: Jesper Haglöf/PlaymakerAI
All data in this article come from PlaymakerAI, a Swedish Football Analysis platform, and this writing can not, in any way, replace watching her play - either on video or on-site. The aim is to show what the data suggests about her roles in Sweden vs Barcelona.
@capbeebara on Twitter posted this selection of clips after Barcelona’s UWCL group stage game 2022/23 against FC Bayern München.
To give Rolfö a fair take, we must also consider that as teams, Barcelona and the Swedish national team are entirely different, player-wise and in playing style.
Fridolina Rolfö spider graphic comparisons from UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, Liga F 2022/23 and UEFA Women’s Champions League 2021/22 per 90. Graph credit: Jesper Haglöf/PlaymakerAI
There is a significant difference in her spiders in two metrics for each team; xT received, and xT passes. But let’s start with some explanations of what these metrics are:
xT is short for expected threat. xT is a statistical machine learning model that measures how much you increase the odds of your team scoring later in the possession when moving the ball from point A to B. xT is measured on passes, carries and dribbles, set pieces are excluded, but it can be used for set pieces as well. An action that occurs in the final third increases the threat more than a long pass from the first third to the central third. PlaymakerAI’s model is updated regularly and estimated from several thousand historical games.
xT received is a model that mirrors the expected threat values on the player that gets the ball from crosses and passes. A player running routes and receiving through balls or acting as a target in the box usually has high xT received values. The measurement is used to determine how receivable a player is in play.
xT passes are calculated per 90 and show the xT for pass actions only, all passes in the play included, including crosses.
For many people in Sweden, she probably is most known for her ability to know when a shot from a distance seems to fit the purpose. As her career has progressed, she also has added the skillset of knowing when dribbling could be attempted with success. Left-footed players are a rare commodity in football, especially players with the Barcelona players’ technical ability. Barcelona’s supporters have probably realised by now that she causes most opponents trouble when she’s allowed to progress with the ball down the flank along the sidelines, making crosses or cutting in to create opportunities to take the shot herself.
Rolfö’s role
When speaking about positions, I think the criticism of Rolfö, when playing for Sweden, tends to get slightly out of hand. For most of the time, she has been used on the left wing in the attack for Sweden and occasionally also as the No. 10 - the attacking midfielder. In Barcelona, some people lifted their eyebrows in Sweden and Spain when she was seen as the left full-back in Barcelona’s back four.
Remember that a position in football is just a starting point because most people don't. A player's role reflects what they do when playing with their team. Forget the position. Focus on their role.
The data could make us guess that, when playing with Sweden, Rolfö’s role as the left winger is to create opportunities for her teammates with passes (remember the spider above with the high xT passes value), such as being at the end of them herself to take a finish and score. Her xT share is much higher, looking at this swarm plot below, in the Swedish national team. In Barcelona, when playing in the Champions League, she is not the one with the most significant share of xT.
Fridolina Rolfö shared xT comparisons from UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and UEFA Women’s Champions League 2021/22. Graph credit: Jesper Haglöf/PlaymakerAI
If Rolfö’s role in Sweden in this summer’s Euro was to create chances and score goals herself and people were disappointed by her performance, so be it, but anyone could see the shift she put in defensively when Sweden was out of possession. Out of all left-wingers in the Euro in England that played more than 250 minutes, the swarm plot below is about Challenges per 90: challenges won per 90 by a given player. The action is seen as successful if possession is recovered.
Fridolina Rolfö challenges per 90 PADJ comparisons from UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and UEFA Women’s Champions League 2021/22. Graph credit: Jesper Haglöf/PlaymakerAI
PlaymakerAI’s position detector wants Rolfö as a left winger since she mainly operates high up on the left-hand side of the pitch, no matter if she plays for Sweden or Barcelona. This is another reason the player's position on paper doesn’t matter. It’s where the player operates and what they do that counts.
Last but not least, this graphic below shows three passing networks on average; one for Sweden in the Euro 2022, one for Liga F in the current season with all the games played till now and one for Champions League 2021/22. The circle indicates what we already know; she operates in the same space on the pitch, whether she plays as a left winger (for SWE) or as the full-back for Barcelona. The average position on the pitch when playing as a full-back in Liga F shows us that she doesn't have anyone behind her, which hints that she needs to cover that space in defence herself next to Mapi León, Barcelona’s left centre-back.
Fridolina Rolfö positions on average pass networks graphic comparisons from UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, Liga F 2022/23 and UEFA Women’s Champions League 2021/22. Graph credit: Jesper Haglöf/PlaymakerAI
Rolfö’s profile
The last thing we will look at in this article is Rolfö’s profile as a player. PlaymakerAI can describe many profiles for one player. Rolfö’s profile fits the bill as the star, the classic winger, the deep threat and the creator. This is how PlaymakerAI explains these profiles:
The Star:
This is a player who usually plays as a winger or a striker. The player usually tops your team's chart in points. The player contributes with shot assists and comes to many finishes with a high frequency of turning the shots into goals.
The Classic Winger:
This player is usually acting as a winger in the midfield. The player is defensive-minded, more focused on defensive actions and recovering the ball. Regarding the attack, the player plays wide, focuses on crosses, and delivers the ball to the central midfield.
The Deep-threat:
This player plays as a striker or winger and usually has a high carry gain in the final third. The player also covers a lot of ground without the ball and is good at taking deep routes to receive through balls. The player also stands out in dribbles compared to the 4-4-2 fielder and the creator, although the deep threat usually comes to fewer finishes than the star.
The Creator:
The creator is similar to the playmaker but more offensive in the average position. The player is precious in the foul play, mainly with its passes and crosses. The creator usually plays as a central offensive midfielder that can move freely in the final third on both sides of the box. The creator can also be a winger; additionally, the player usually contributes significantly in delivering the ball into the box with its passes and carries.
Fridolina Rolfö’s profile spiders comparisons from UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and UEFA Women’s Champions League 2021/22. Graph credit: Jesper Haglöf/PlaymakerAI
So, the difference here? Rolfö scores high on the profile deep-threat profile in Barcelona, while in the Swedish national team, she does not. That could explain her spider being more prominent in the metric xT received.
The conclusion
Fridolina Rolfö during a friendly match in Gothenburg when Sweden played France on October 11th 2022. Photo credit: Mia Eriksson
Position and role are essential. What role Rolfö is playing for Sweden v Barca is different. Sweden and Barcelona are two completely different teams. Rolfö is a good, good player. Good conclusion. Thanks for reading!