Player ratings explained – how the ScoreMondo 1–10 score works
The ScoreMondo player rating is an open formula, not an opinion. Every footballer starts a match at 6.0 and gains or loses a fixed number of points for each thing he does in that match: a goal, a tackle, a misplaced pass, a yellow card. The total is kept between 3.0 and 10.0 and shown with one decimal. All the weights are published on the ScoreMondo methodology page, and this guide walks through them one by one.
The idea in one minute
A rating answers a narrow question: what did this player do in this match, according to the recorded facts? The calculation has three steps.
- Start from 6.0.
- Add or subtract the points for every counted action (the tables below).
- Keep the result inside the range 3.0 to 10.0 and round it to one decimal.
The weights are fixed, so the same facts always give the same rating. A fact that is not available counts as 0; it is never guessed. The rating exists for football only.
The full weight table
The methodology page lists the weights in six groups. The numbers below are the ones published at the time of writing; the page itself always shows the current ones.
Attack
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Goal (not a penalty) | +1.0 |
| Penalty scored | +0.5 |
| Assist | +0.7 |
| Per 1.00 xG of his shots (penalties apart) | +0.5 |
| Shot on target | +0.1 |
| Penalty missed | −0.6 |
The xG line rewards getting into good shooting positions, even when the ball does not go in: shots worth 0.60 xG add 0.3. How that value is produced is covered in our guide to expected goals.
Passing
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Key pass | +0.25 |
| Every 10 accurate passes | +0.1 |
| Every 5 misplaced passes | −0.1 |
| Successful dribble | +0.1 |
Defending
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Tackle | +0.15 |
| Interception | +0.15 |
| Blocked shot | +0.1 |
| Duel won | +0.05 |
| Duel lost | −0.05 |
| Dribbled past | −0.1 |
| Clean sheet (defender, 60+ minutes) | +0.3 |
| Goal conceded while on the pitch (defender) | −0.15 |
Goalkeeping
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Save | +0.3 |
| Clean sheet (goalkeeper, 60+ minutes) | +0.5 |
| Goal conceded while on the pitch (goalkeeper) | −0.3 |
Discipline
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Yellow card | −0.3 |
| Sent off for a second yellow | −1.0 (the first yellow counts too) |
| Straight red card | −1.5 |
| Own goal | −0.8 |
| Penalty conceded | −0.6 |
| Penalty won | +0.4 |
| Foul committed | −0.05 |
| Foul suffered | +0.05 |
| Offside | −0.05 |
In the Laws of the Game a yellow card communicates a caution and a red card a sending-off, and receiving a second caution in the same match is itself a sending-off offence (IFAB, Law 12). In rating terms, a player sent off for two yellows therefore loses 0.3 for the first card and 1.0 for the dismissal, 1.3 in total, slightly less than the 1.5 of a straight red. What a card means for later matches is a separate subject, explained in cards and suspensions.
Team result
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| His team won | +0.2 × minutes / 90 |
| His team lost | −0.2 × minutes / 90 |
A full 90 minutes in a win adds 0.2; a substitute who played 45 minutes of it gets 0.1. A draw adds nothing. The result is deliberately a small term: the individual actions decide a rating, not the scoreline.
The rules around the numbers
The 15-minute rule. A rating needs 15 minutes on the pitch. The exception is a player who scored, assisted or was sent off: he gets a rating with fewer minutes, because something decisive happened.
When only match events are available. The detailed numbers (passes, tackles, duels, saves) count when the match data has them. Where it does not, only the match events count, and the match page says so. A rating built from events alone moves far less away from 6.0, so do not compare it with a rating from a match with full data.
Live movement. During a match the rating uses what has happened so far. It rises and falls as the game goes on, and a late goal or a red card can change it visibly. You can follow that on any match page opened from the live scores.
Bounds. However much happens, the total never goes below 3.0 or above 10.0.
Player of the match
The player of the match is the best rating among players with at least 30 minutes on the pitch. If two players are level, the one with more minutes wins the tie; if that is level too, the player from the winning team does. There is no vote and no editorial choice behind it.
What does not count
Nothing outside the table counts: no reputation, no club, no transfer value, no earlier match. A famous striker and an unknown teenager with identical numbers get the identical rating. Every position can earn points: defenders through tackles, interceptions, blocks and clean sheets, goalkeepers through saves.
A worked example
This is an illustration with an unnamed player, not a real match. A centre-back plays all 90 minutes of a 0–0 draw.
| Action | Count | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Clean sheet (defender, 60+ minutes) | 1 | +0.30 |
| Tackle | 4 | +0.60 |
| Interception | 2 | +0.30 |
| Blocked shot | 3 | +0.30 |
| Duel won | 8 | +0.40 |
| Duel lost | 4 | −0.20 |
| Dribbled past | 1 | −0.10 |
| Accurate passes | 50 | +0.50 |
| Misplaced passes | 5 | −0.10 |
| Yellow card | 1 | −0.30 |
| Foul committed | 2 | −0.10 |
| Team result (draw) | – | 0.00 |
The actions add up to +1.6, so the rating is 6.0 + 1.6 = 7.6. No goal, no assist, and still a clearly good mark, earned entirely with defensive work.
How to read a rating sensibly
- One match only. A rating describes 90 minutes, not a player. A 5.4 after a bad evening says nothing about his season.
- A 6.0 is a neutral match. It is the starting value: pluses and minuses cancelled out, or little was recorded.
- Position matters. A single goal is worth 1.0; a centre-back needs six or seven tackles to collect as much. Forwards have access to large single bonuses, defenders and midfielders collect many small ones, and a goalkeeper who faces no shots has little to gain. Compare players in similar roles.
- Read it with the statistics. The rating is a summary; the numbers behind it are on the match page. How to read match statistics explains them.
- It sees only what is recorded. Positioning, a run that opens space or a shout that organises the back line are not in any table.
Try it on last night's matches in yesterday's results or on a fixture from the Premier League.
Frequently asked questions
Why does every player start at 6.0 and not at 5.0?
Because 6.0 is the value the formula defines as a neutral performance. The scale then has room for three points downwards and four upwards, which fits the fact that the large bonuses (goals, assists) are bigger than most single deductions.
Can a player really get a 10.0?
Yes, but the total is capped there. A player whose actions add up to more than four points above the start, for example with several goals and assists, is shown at 10.0 and no higher. The same applies at the bottom with 3.0.
Why did a rating change after the final whistle?
During the match the rating is calculated from what is known at that moment. After the final whistle the full match data arrives, which also names the shooters and the blocked shots, so the figures behind a rating can be completed.
Why does a substitute have no rating?
He probably played fewer than 15 minutes without scoring, assisting or being sent off. In that case there is too little to judge and no rating is shown.
Does a defender lose points for every goal his team concedes?
Only for goals conceded while he was on the pitch: 0.15 each for a defender and 0.3 each for a goalkeeper. Midfielders and forwards have no such deduction, and no clean-sheet bonus either.