For the past two years adidas and Opta have identified a new type of player ‘The Engine’ from an algorithm summarised by a mathematical equation.

‘The Engine’ is a type of player who will not run out of energy, a box-to-box midfielder, a player who seeks goal scoring chances, tracks down his opponent such as Bayern Munich’s Javi Martinez.

Based on the adidas insight, Opta have helped to reveal the fundamental character of ‘The Engine‘ by finding out how to measure and quantify his performances. adidas & Opta will analyse data from matches from the UEFA Champions League and the Confederations Cup and show ‘The Engine’ players via an index entitled ‘The Engine Scale’.

Opta are a statistics and insights company and followed Javi Martinez’s movements and work rate made in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League.

Some of the players believed to fit ‘The Engine’ stereotype are Bayern Munich’s Javi Martinez, FC Barcelona‘s Dani Alves, Roma’s Daniele De Rossi & Paris Saint-Germain’s Ezequiel Lavezzi.

Aidan Cooney, CEO, Opta mentioned: "We are delighted to be working with adidas on confirming the existence of ‘The Engine’ player.

Football fans are passionate about comparing, contrasting and analysing world class players’ performances.