Data continues to play an ever-increasing role in the world of football, and it’s gone beyond clubs wanting access to said data so they can see how their teams and players are performing.

Football pundits, commentators, fans and more are keen to have access to as much data as possible, and a significant step forward has been taken with the introduction of the iBall. 

The top division in Portuguese football, known as Liga Bwin, which, as you can guess, is sponsored by Entain’s bwin, the global gaming company also behind online casino PartyCasino, is the first to put the iBall to work after receiving approval from FIFA.

The league were waiting for the ball, which contains a sensor developed by Kinexon, to get the thumbs up from FIFA in the form of a FIFA Quality Pro certificate, which duly arrived. Everything was then good to go. 

• Paulinho

Sporting are into the Taça da Liga final for the fifth time in six years after beating Arouca 2-1 in an action-packed semi-final in Leiria.

The Lions dominated the first half only to apparently fall behind on the stroke of half time, but Antony’s goal was ruled out after a long VAR check. To rub salt into the wounds for Arouca, there was still time before the break for Paulinho to give Sporting the lead.

The second half was a different story with a far more adventurous Arouca deservedly equalising through in-form Palestinian striker Oday Dabbagh, but a late Paulinho strike put Sporting into Saturday’s final, where they will play either Porto or Académico de Viseu. 

The Liga Bwin season reached its halfway point this weekend, with usual suspects Benfica, Braga, Porto and Sporting all recording wins to give the top four a familiar feel.

Down at the bottom Marítimo boosted their survival bid by beating Estoril, as did Gil Vicente with an impressive victory at one of the league’s surprise packages Casa Pia.

Another over-achieving side this campaign has been Arouca, sitting in 6th place after a resounding triumph over Portimonense. Manager Armando Evangelista has done a superb job at the helm, and is in focus as the PortuGOAL Figure of the Week.

• Benfica
• Primeira Liga,
• Santa Clara
• Goncalo Ramos
• Enzo Fernandez
• Goncalo Guedes
• Frederik Aursnes

Gonçalo Guedes has marked his return to Benfica with a goal in his first outing for the Eagles, helping Roger Schmidt’s side onto a 3-0 away win against Santa Clara, this Saturday.

The Lisbon giants eased into the fixture with a 9th-minute opener from Frederik Aursnes, excelling in the air to give Benfica a much-needed advantage.

Benfica’s dominance ensued with a second goal shortly after being supplied by the in-form Gonçalo Ramos, meanwhile his namesake, Guedes, secured the victory with goal number three in the second period.