S. Mohammad Arabzad - Department of Industrial Engineering, Tehran Science and Research Branch, Azad Islamic University,Iran
M.E. Tayebi Araghi - Department of Industrial Engineering, Tehran Science and Research Branch, Azad Islamic University,Iran
S.Sadi Nezhad - Department of Industrial Engineering, Tehran Science and Research Branch, Azad Islamic University,Iran
Nooshin Ghofrani - Department of management, Research Institute of ShakhesPajouh, University of Isfahan, Iran

Predicting the results of sports matches is interesting to many, from fans to punters. It is also interesting as a research problem, in part due to its difficulty, because the result of a sports match is dependent on many factors, such as the morale of a team (or a player), skills, current score, etc. So even for sports experts, it is very hard to predict the exact results of sports matches. This research discusses using a machine learning approach, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), to predict the outcomes of one week, specifically applied to the Iran Pro League (IPL) 2013-2014 football matches. The data obtained from the past matches in the seven last leagues are used to make better predictions for the future matches. Results showed that neural networks have a remarkable ability to predict the results of football match results.

Prediction, Sport Science, Football match results, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Iran Pro League