Ball possession
Ball possession is the amount of time a team possesses the ball during a game of football. Possession is usually expressed as a percentage (for example, 60% for team A, 40% for team B). Historically, Dutch clubs (especially Ajax) were famous for dominating ball possession, but more recently FC Barcelona of the Liga Santander became the best in maintaining ball possession; Germany's FC Bayern Munich came out second. Xavi Hernandez is considered to be the most possessive player in recent years. Teams that play possession football often try to press their opponents high in the pitch, so to recover the ball rapidly. As a result, the defensive line of team that play possession football is usually place very high in the pitch, around the halfway line and not unusually, in the opponents half. When the team loses the ball the defensive line must move rapidly otherwise the team may be subject to dangerous counter-attacks because of their high defensive line.
Supremacy in ball possession is generally seen as desirable and useful by coaches, but it is by no means certain that it can guarantee victory; for example, Italian clubs are extremely successful in European football without putting much emphasis on ball possession.