Best Use of Technology in Football 2018
Catapult Sports
Despite satellite-based tracking systems having been used in elite football for over 10 years, traditional GPS metrics offer few valuable insights for goalkeepers given the relatively low speeds they reach and short distances they cover. Goalkeepers and outfielders may play on the same team, but in a sports science context they are essentially playing different games.
Determined to provide goalkeepers and their coaches with actionable, position-specific metrics, Catapult created the G5 – the world’s first goalkeeper monitoring device – to identify, record and present goalkeeper data. Identifying actions such as jumps, dives and returns to feet, the G5 has transformed goalkeeper coaching by quantifying the loads experienced by goalkeepers in training and games.
Giving coaches the data required to support training load management, player development, injury rehabilitation and talent identification for goalkeepers, the G5 is now used by over 120 clubs and federations worldwide. Delivering eight goalkeeper-specific metrics at an accuracy of 98%, the device is the only one of its kind and is driving a revolution in goalkeeper training in elite football.
EA Sports & Monterosa
EA SPORTS, as the Lead Partner of the Premier League, challenged themselves to transform the sole and exclusive Player of the Month right, introducing richer fan engagement and delivering on their aim to blur the lines between the real and virtual game.
In selecting Monterosa’s LViS interaction platform and Fan Voice voting technology, EA SPORTS took greater ownership of the end-to-end process and overhauled the fan’s experience, doubling the volume of votes received, extending dwell time to over 7 minutes per fan, sharing over 300,000 personalised meme cards and capturing details for over 270,000 Premier League fans.
The attractive 2017/18 EA SPORTS Premier League Player of the Month process delivered true innovation into the sport, creating enjoyable moments for fans around the globe and establishing a meaningful position within the real-life football world for EA SPORTS, FIFA 18 and FIFA Ultimate Team.
English Football League
The launch of iFollow has been a game changer for the EFL, Clubs and fans – both overseas and in the UK. The streaming service has not only revolutionised the way fans can follow their team but it’s provided a brand new revenue stream for Clubs, the first in several years.
It’s a move which few other major sports rights holders have yet attempted, instead favouring live streaming partnerships with social media sites or Amazon. The EFL took the forward thinking step of becoming a broadcaster in their own right – a first for English football – providing each Club with their own bespoke club branded iFollow product.
iFollow is innovative in its execution and unmatched in its scale – 58 clubs and as many as 36 concurrent matches. With already a total of over 280,000 unique streams recorded last season overseas and over £2million revenue generated in the first fourth months – the future is bright for iFollow.
Elite Skills Arena
Elite Skills Arena is a sports technology company, formed to penetrate the underdeveloped market of professional football training equipment. All of our products use revolutionary LED light and vibration software, to create targets for players to hit. Different light sequences are programmed as training modes to work on different attributes. They provide a competitive environment for users to challenge themselves, incorporating a scoring system and statistical feedback to keep players enthused. All ESA products are based around the mantra of ‘repetition’, maximising training intensity for faster and more pronounced improvement. ESA has 3 underlying objectives:
- Continually advance and progress our products, to create and build value for professional football clubs and players using our technology.
- Bridge the gap between grass roots and professional football by providing a more affordable platform for improvement using the same technology endorsed by the professionals.
- Generate value for ESA through the sale, rental and provision of our products to various markets across the sport.
Manchester United FC and HCL Technologies
There is a need for modern football clubs to adopt a forward-thinking approach and embrace transformative solutions to realise their digital potential. Manchester United and HCL Technologies set out to design a fan first focussed app, creating a one-stop digital shop which connected the club’s 659 million global fans and followers to the club they love. The app delivers exclusive content and behind-the-scenes player access, whilst also allowing them to share their passion for the game and connect with other fans around the world. Just days after launch, the Manchester United Official app reached number one in the App Store’s sports category download charts in over 70 territories around the world and has monthly active users in over 210 markets. The app achieved 4.7 overall rating in the Google Play store and Apple App store, and 4.9 in UK app store.
STATSports Group
STATSports is the world’s leading provider of GPS player tracking and analysis solutions for elite sports teams.
In 2012, STATSports released the pioneering Viper system, which enabled elite sports teams to gather intricate data on their athlete’s performance. Many teams adopted this cutting-edge technology and saw the benefits it could bring. There was always room for improvement with the Viper system, even if it was the best system available on the market at that time.
Building on the success of Viper, STATSports released the brand-new Apex system for the 2017/18 season. STATSports Apex device is five years more technologically advanced than competing devices and is the first ever device to incorporate both GPS and Ultra-Wideband technology making the product suitable for both indoor and outdoor environments, a key development for the elite sports industry.
Apex incorporates Bluetooth LE which enables coaches to receive accurate and reliable live data to an iPad, mobile phone or smartwatch.
The success of the Apex system has allowed STATSports to grow at an exponential rate. Over the last 6 months, STATSports have signed many lucrative partnerships including with US Soccer, the Brazilian FA, the Chinese FA and Chinese Super League.
StreamAMG
StreamAMG’s proprietary Cloud Matrix platform represents the future of OTT services in the football space.
The system, which debuted with the relaunch of LFC TV GO in May 2018, unites content creation, payment and distribution in one intuitive package.
It reflects an ‘upload once, publish anywhere’ philosophy which simplifies workflows and allows custom feeds of content to be created quickly and easily, with little technical knowledge.
An advanced metadata system can leverage clubs’ video archives to enhance dwell time, video views and, ultimately, fan engagement.
Cloud Matrix can power entire video sections and apps with minimal development, allowing content teams to be agile and publish bespoke collections of content to take advantage of the constantly fast-moving nature of professional football.
Cloud Matrix is the next step in the evolution of StreamAMG, whose systems served more than 5 million hours of playback time, thousands of pieces of VOD content and in excess of 500 live events on behalf of clubs during the 2017-18 season.
Swansea City FC
At Swansea City, the fans and the players are the lifeblood of the club. A new digital strategy to invest in technology saw the development of two innovative new apps.
The Official Swans app is engaging fans and augmenting the excitement and anticipation of the big kick-off for fans at the game and at home and keeping the buzz going after the final whistle. The app made Swansea fans the first to hold matchday tickets on their phones at the start of the year.
The app offers a way for fans to connect with their club, with each other, and feel part of a community, consuming everything Swans they need (and this really is about need when you are so passionately supporting your football team) at their fingertips.
The Swansea Players app has developed an informative welcome brochure into a quick and easy-to-use app that can be updated simply and when needed, forming a reliable source of information for players from their club. With crucial support services information, the app is helping with easing the transition to a new club and providing ongoing support, putting mental health at the top of the agenda for players.
