Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 27, 2025

Using Wavelet Entropy to Demonstrate how Mindfulness Practice Increases Coordination between Irregular Cerebral and Cardiac Activities
Published on: May 10, 2017
Spatial and Temporal Entropies in the Spanish Football League: A Network Science Perspective
Johann H Martínez1,2, David Garrido2,3,4, José L Herrera-Diestra5,6
1Biomedical Engineering Department, Universidad de los Andes, 111711 Bogota, Colombia.
Abstract:
We quantified the spatial and temporal entropy related to football teams and their players by means of a pass-based interaction. First, we calculated the spatial entropy associated to the positions of all passes made by a football team during a match, obtaining a spatial entropy ranking of Spanish teams during the 2017/2018 season. Second, we investigated how the player's average location in the field is related to the amount of entropy of his passes. Next, we constructed the temporal passing networks of each team and computed the deviation of their network parameters along the match. For each network parameter, we obtained the permutation entropy and the statistical complexity of its temporal fluctuations. Finally, we investigated how the permutation entropy (and statistical complexity) of the network parameters was related to the total number of passes made by a football team. Our results show that (i) spatial entropy changes according to the position of players in the field, and (ii) the organization of passing networks change during a match and its evolution can be captured measuring the permutation entropy and statistical complexity of the network parameters, allowing to identify what parameters evolve more randomly.
Related Concept Videos
Entropy
Entropy
When an ideal gas expands isothermally, the disorder in the gas increases. From the molecular perspective, the gas molecules have more volume to move around in.
Consider an infinitesimal step in the expansion, which...
Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
The relation between entropy and disorder can be illustrated with the example of the phase change of ice to water. In ice, the molecules are located at specific sites giving a solid state, whereas, in a liquid form, these molecules are much freer to move. The molecular arrangement has therefore become more randomized. Although the change in average...
The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Entropy Change in Reversible Processes
The statement can be further generalized to prove that entropy is a state function. Take a cyclic process between any two points on a p-V diagram.
Second Law of Thermodynamics

