(( ATTENTION : Solve the question with 24 players NOT 20 players !!!)))

The football Network

This ANN predicts the results of soccer matches. The network receives information about the two competing teams and the conditions of the match and is supposed to predict how many goals each team will score. Let us say that every team consists of ( 24 players ). You are providing the following input data to the network:

1) The skill level of every player on each of the two teams. Skill is rated by a group of football reporters on a scale from 0 (is unable to kick the ball) to 10 (world class player). How are you going to represent the skill of the player and how many neurons is required?

2) The number of matches that each team has played during the last two weeks. There are never more than seven matches in that period of time. How are you going to represent the number of matches of each team and how many neurons is required?

3) The statistics of former matches between the same two teams within the past 10 years (e.g., Team A won 30% of the matches, Team B 45%, and 25% of the matches were tied). How are you going to represent the proportion of wins of each team and how many neurons is required?

4) The continent that each team comes from (North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, or Australia). How are you going to represent the continent of each team and how many neurons is required?

5) Where the match takes place (Team As stadium, Team Bs stadium, or neutral place). How are you going to represent the place of the match and how many neurons is required?

6) The phase of the football season (early season vs. late season). How are you going to represent the phase of the football season and how many neurons is required?

7) How many hidden-layer neurons is sufficient for this network?

8) How many weights is sufficient for this network?

9) How many training samples is sufficient for this network?

10) Which NN Algorithm is sufficient for this game problem?