Methodology

For each player at the World Cup 2026, we assign one club: the team they played for during the season immediately preceding the tournament. From that club we derive a single domestic league — the league where the club plays its league fixtures (e.g. Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga).

If a player switched clubs mid-season, we prioritise the domestic league where they accumulated the most appearances and minutes.

• Only goals scored in official FIFA World Cup 2026 fixtures.
• Penalty shootout goals are ignored — they don't count toward any player, club or league total.
• Own goals are ignored for the scorer's club/league — they aren't part of the attacking output story.
• Penalties scored in open play (during 90 + ET) do count.
• Friendlies and warm-up matches are excluded.
• International club competitions (Champions League, Europa League, etc.) play no role in league assignment.

A league (or club) earns +1 Key Presence point every time one of its players plays at least 60 minutes in a World Cup match. It is based exclusively on World Cup match-by-match minutes — seasonal club minutes are never counted. The live data will come from the fixtures/players API endpoint.

The League Impact score is intentionally simple and transparent:

impact = goals × 4
       + assists × 2
       + key_presence × 1

Goals weigh the most because they're the rarest event. Assists are half the weight of a goal. Key Presence rewards leagues that actually put minutes on the pitch — not just names on a sheet.

This MVP runs on curated mock data so the structure and stories are clear from day one. The schema is built so that an automated sync against an external football data provider can populate the real numbers as the tournament unfolds — no manual admin required.