Receptions in Final Third

What it measures

Receiving the ball inside the final third.

The question it answers

Who gets the ball into dangerous receiving zones?

In the Variation framework

Receptions in the Final Third count how often, and by whom, the ball is received in the danger area. It is the destination half of the Lab's DLB → RFT conversion metric: breaking a line only matters if someone actually receives beyond it.

2026 World Cup example

Measured
Directly in the PMSRs. Across the 80 decided matches, the side ahead on final-third receptions won 66.2% of the time (53/80) — the fifth-strongest of nine predictors tested, behind xG, shots on target, possession and shots. Read the full report →