Duncan Alexander

Duncan Alexander is an association football statistician, broadcaster and author for The Athletic.

Career

Under the pseudonym of 'OptaJoe', Alexander was the Chief Data Editor for football statistics company Opta. As 'OptaJoe' Alexander was a football commentator and pundit who live-tweeted during football matches with statistics and jokes.[1][2] His first book, OptaJoe's Football Yearbook was published in 2016. His second book Outside the Box: A Statistical Journey through the History of Football was published in 2017.[3][4][5]

Alexander has also written for the BBC,[6] the Premier League,[7] The Football Association,[8] The Guardian,[9] The Daily Mirror,[10] and Sky Sports.[11]

He is a regular contributor on The Totally Football Show,[12] and has appeared on BBC Radio Five Live,[13] The Anfield Wrap[14] and podcasts for The Times,[15] The Independent,[16] and The Daily Telegraph.[17] He has been interviewed by FourFourTwo[18] and Coca-Cola.[19]

In January 2023 Alexander announced that he was joining subscription sports magazine The Athletic.[20]

Awards

OptaJoe was nominated for the 'online media of the year' award at the 2017 Football Supporters Federation Awards.[21]

Personal life

Alexander studied history at the University of Manchester. When interviewed by FourFourTwo Alexander chose as his favourite ever football book 'Among The Thugs' by Bill Buford (1991).[22] Alexander is a supporter of Wycombe Wanderers and lives in south London.

References
  1. "Duncan Alexander". www.penguin.co.uk.
  2. "Exclusive: Interview with Duncan Alexander, author of Opta Joe's Football Yearbook 2016 - The Boot Room". 4 September 2016.
  3. Outside the Box, A Statistical Journey through the History of Football by Duncan Alexander. www.penguin.co.uk.
  4. Cairns, Gordon. "When Saturday Comes - Outside The Box: A statistical journey through the history of football". www.wsc.co.uk.
  5. "Opta stats guru releases new book!". Goal.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  6. "Opta Insight: Premier League Trends". BBC Sport.
  7. "Sequencing unmasking true creative forces".
  8. Tuesday 31 Jan 2017 (31 January 2017). "Opta Sport provide their Emirates FA Cup team of the fourth round". Thefa.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  9. Alex, Duncan; er (11 February 2015). "Louis van Gaal v Sam Allardyce: who is right and what is a long ball anyway? - Duncan Alexander". the Guardian.
  10. "Duncan Alexander - Mirror Online". www.mirror.co.uk.
  11. "Bournemouth to upset Chelsea in Opta Joe's Super Six £1 million predictions". Sky Sports.
  12. "The Spy with the Cold Nose, Zlatan's Galaxy Quest, and memories of that 7-1 - Totally Football Show". www.thetotallyfootballshow.com.
  13. "Football trivia from one of the country's top football statisticians, Duncan Alexander, Essential Phil Williams - BBC Radio 5 live". BBC.
  14. "TAW Special: Duncan Alexander On 'Outside the Box: A Statistical Journey Through the History of Football' - The Anfield Wrap". 15 November 2017.
  15. "The Game podcast: Where did Chelsea go wrong against Guardiola's City?". 2 October 2017 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  16. "The Indy Football Podcast: How competitive is the Premier League?".
  17. Sport, Telegraph (28 December 2017). "Total Football Podcast:Toughest stats questions answered". The Telegraph.
  18. "No, seriously: what the heck is expected goals (xG)?". 22 November 2017.
  19. "Game Changer: How the Second Screen has Revolutionised Rugby". Coca-cola.co.uk.
  20. "Why I joined: Duncan Shearer, locked cars and the evolution of football data". The Athletic.
  21. "FSF Awards 2017 shortlists announced - Football Supporters' Federation". www.fsf.org.uk. 31 October 2017.
  22. https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwos-best-football-books-ever-writers-choices%3F_format%3Damp


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