Rookie question about soccer statistics

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to better understand the game and have a question about reported statistics that I'm guessing many of you can easily answer.

The English Premier League website gives a lot of player statistics, including one called "touches."

https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/touches

Should I interpret this to be first touches? Or would it include every touch of the ball-- i.e., if a player dribbles upfield, would each dribble be a 'touch?'

TIA!

[Anonymous]

No, each dribble is not a touch.

[Anonymous]

Each 'possession' to put it in a more American football or basketball context. For example in basketball touches would be each time they had the ball, not each time they dribbled it. A touch could last a nano-second or a few seconds.

OPTA Sports handles the stats for the Premier League and they have a good primer on what counts as what here:

https://www.optasports.com/news/opta-s-event-definitions/

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much. Very helpful!