This book presents the field of sports statistics to two very distinct target audiences, namely academicians, in order to raise their interest in this growing field, and, on the other hand, sports fans, who, even without advanced mathematical knowledge, will be able to understand the data analysis and gain new insights into their favourite sports. The book thus offers a unique perspective on this attractive topic by combining sports analytics, data visualisation and advanced statistical procedures to extract new findings from sports data such as improved rankings or prediction methods. Bringing together insights from football, tennis, basketball, track and field, and baseball, the book will appeal to aficionados of any sport, and, thanks to its cutting-edge data analysis tools, will provide the reader with completely new insights into their favourite sport in an engaging and user-friendly way.