Submission rules

Every number on Longshot is only as good as the data behind it. These rules exist to keep the database honest.

📍

Shot origin

→The shot must originate outside the 18-yard box. Shots from inside the box are not eligible.
→Click the pitch map at the point where the player's foot makes contact with the ball.
→Use the yard labels and 18-yard box line as reference. Each stripe = 6 yards.

Red zone = inside the 18-yard box, not eligible. Orange dot shows a valid shot origin.

🦶

→Mark the frame where the ball is in contact with the player's foot, or the first frame immediately after it has left.
→Do not mark mid-swing before contact — the ball must be touching the boot or have just left it.
→If contact isn't clearly visible, use the first frame where the ball is clearly in flight.

Mark the frame where boot meets ball — not the windup before it.

🥅

→Mark the frame where the ball crosses the goal line — not when it hits the back of the net.
→If the shot hit the post or bar first, mark the frame of contact with the post or crossbar.
→If the goalkeeper touched the ball, flag it — a keeper touch significantly reduces velocity and should be noted.

Mark when the ball crosses the line — the net bulging comes frames later and gives a slower speed.

⚠️

→Never use slow motion footage to mark frames. Different cameras record at different frame rates and playback speeds — slow motion will produce wildly inaccurate speed calculations.
→Always use the real-time broadcast feed — typically 25fps or 50fps for European football.
→Right-click the YouTube video → Stats for nerds → look for @XX in the Codecs row to confirm frame rate.

🌀

→Longshot calculates distance as a straight line from shot origin to goal. A curling shot travels a longer actual path.
→For heavily curling free kicks the actual flight distance may be 2–5 yards longer than recorded.
→Flag curling or knuckling shots in the shot details so viewers can interpret the numbers correctly.

🎥

→Video proof is strongly encouraged. Submissions without it are marked unverified and won't appear on leaderboards.
→If the goal is inside a longer highlights reel, use the timestamp feature to mark start and end time.
→You can attach a replay angle screenshot to confirm the shot location matches the pitch coordinates.

🔍

Every speed on Longshot shows its working:

→The contact frame timestamp, entry frame timestamp, and frame count are all publicly visible on every shot.
→Anyone can verify the footage at those exact timestamps.
→A ±margin of error is shown accounting for the inherent ±1 frame uncertainty in manual marking.
→Submissions with implausible frame windows relative to the recorded distance can be flagged for community review.

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