Most match-rating services show you a number without showing their work. MatchGrade is built the other way around: every rating starts from the same transparent baseline, and every point gained or lost is visible in the breakdown.
This page explains the method in full — useful if you want to understand why a rating landed where it did, or if you're comparing MatchGrade to other rating systems you've seen.
See the method in action — grade a real performance.
Open the calculatorEvery performance begins at 6.0 — not zero, not five, but a number representing an anonymous player who did their job. This matches the convention used across most professional rating systems, so a MatchGrade score is directly comparable to what people are used to seeing on matchday.
Every stat entered is compared to a realistic expectation for that position, scaled to a full match. Outperforming the benchmark adds points; underperforming subtracts them. The weighting differs by stat and position — a goal is worth more for a rating than a single tackle, but a center-back's clean sheet and duel-win rate carry real weight too.
Team result, cards, and — in soccer — goals conceded and errors leading to a goal all adjust the score on top of the individual stat line. These are kept deliberately small relative to personal performance, since an individual rating should reflect what a player actually did, not just whether their team won.
A rating you can't see the reasoning behind is hard to trust or argue with. MatchGrade shows every contributing stat and its exact point value, so if a rating looks surprising, you can see precisely why — whether that's a heavily weighted defensive stat, a diminishing-returns goal bonus, or a minutes-played adjustment pulling a short cameo back toward neutral.
Take a central midfielder who plays the full 90 minutes in a 2-1 win. They complete passes at a high rate, create two chances, win most of their tackles and score no goals.
The result is typically a rating in the high 6s to low 7s: a good, useful performance without a goal or assist. The calculator's breakdown shows each step as a line, so you can see where the score came from.
Most stats don't scale in a straight line. The first goal in a match moves the rating a lot, the second a little less, and the third less again. The same applies to tackles, clearances, runs and wickets. This keeps one huge number from swamping the rest of the performance, and it matches how people judge a game: a hat-trick is great, but it isn't three times as good as one goal.
In soccer, stats are scaled to a 90-minute equivalent so a substitute who plays 25 minutes isn't unfairly compared to a starter. Because a small sample can exaggerate both good and bad numbers, very short appearances are also pulled gently back toward the neutral 6.0. A few good touches in a cameo shouldn't produce a 9.
MatchGrade works only from the numbers you enter. It doesn't see the match, so it can't capture off-ball movement, leadership, or a pass that never appears on a stat sheet. It is also not affiliated with any commercial data provider, and its scores won't always match theirs. Think of it as a consistent, transparent way to turn a stat line into a number, not a final verdict on a player.
6.0 is a common baseline used by many rating services to mean an anonymous, did-their-job performance. Everything above or below it is earned or lost from the stats.
An individual rating should reflect what the individual did. A great performance in a loss still deserves credit, and a quiet game in a win shouldn't be inflated.
Yes. The calculator has a custom formula option that lets you adjust the weight of each category. With every slider at 1.00x you get the standard MatchGrade result.
Soccer (football) and cricket, each with role-specific models. See the soccer guide and the cricket guide for the exact stats used.