CheckForm — the Team Form Score Behind CheckLive Football Predictions
CheckLive rating system · Component one of three
What is CheckForm?
CheckForm is the form component of the CheckLive match rating: a team’s recent results and momentum condensed into one score. This is how it looks on a real match page, in the Predictions tab:
Example — the “Three CheckLive metrics” block from a real match page
- 1This article’s row. The home team’s CheckForm on the left (57), the away team’s on the right (35.5). Bars grow outwards from the centre line — the solid side is the home team, the pale side the away team. Longer means stronger recent form.
- 2The other two components — CheckSkill (squad quality, green) and CheckMental (pressure handling, amber) — read exactly the same way. Here the away side keeps up on skill (51.3 vs 54.6) but collapses on form and mental, which is what decides the read.
- 3CheckLive total is the weighted combination of the three rows — 35% form, 45% skill, 20% mental. The blue badge is the gap between the teams: +18.4 here. The gap is the number our published accuracy is sliced by — in the table below, gaps over 10 avoided defeat in 72.8% of matches.
If you normally check a team’s recent form before a match — the last five results, goals, home and away splits — CheckForm is that check done for you: the same recent-form signals condensed into one score.
The weights are fixed and published, so the output can be reasoned about rather than taken on faith. The inputs come from our own database:
What CheckForm is not
A high CheckForm score means a team has been performing well recently — nothing more. On its own it does not predict a result.
CheckLive explains what is happening in a match and why. It does not tell you what to stake, and it never will.
At 35% of the composite it can be outvoted: a team in poor form with a much stronger squad will often still rate higher overall.
CheckForm measures each team’s own recent performance, not the history between the two sides. Head-to-head is a separate view on the match page.
How accurate is the combined rating?
We measured the composite on 10,901 finished matches over 180 days. Accuracy rises with the gap between the two ratings — the same gap shown in the blue badge above:
| Rating gap | Matches | Won | Avoided defeat | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 2 — near-even | 3,393 | 42.2% | 63.2% | |
| 2 to 5 | 3,516 | 47.3% | 68.5% | |
| 5 to 10 | 2,117 | 53.8% | 73.4% | |
| Over 10 — clear favourite | 1,875 | 53.9% | 72.8% |
The full breakdown — including the three places the model is not good enough — is in our accuracy article.
Where to see it and how to read it
- Open a match page on checklive.com and select the Predictions tab. Predictions are generated for 1,328 leagues; we enable a league only when its data is complete enough to model, so most smaller competitions will not have one.
- Look at the gap first, not at the prediction. When two composite ratings are close, treat the match as open.
- Read the components separately. A team strong on CheckSkill but weak on CheckForm is a different proposition from the reverse.
CheckForm replaces the first step of a football match analysis — the recent-form check — so you can spend your attention on what a single score cannot condense.
An earlier version of this page carried accuracy figures that were never measured and a reviewer who does not exist. Both are gone. Everything above is measured or directly checkable on the site.
Questions people actually ask
No. It is one input of three. And where we have tested our signals against the market — 806 live cases — the return was a 13.3% loss, which we publish. Use CheckForm to understand the state of a team, not to size a bet.
Horizon. CheckForm reacts to recent matches and momentum; CheckSkill measures squad quality and tactical efficiency over a longer period. A relegation-zone side on a three-win streak can show high CheckForm and modest CheckSkill at the same time.
Because its league is not enabled. We cover 1,328 leagues out of roughly 7,000 in football, and we switch a league on only when its data is complete enough to model.
Method. Weights and database figures are the live production values of the CheckLive composite. The example block is a real match page from 28 August 2026, unedited. Accuracy: every finished football match in the last 180 days with a prematch rating, frozen at kickoff — 10,901 matches, no filtering. Everything on this page is about football; other sports have separate pipelines.
Last updated 28 August 2026.