Paris (AFP)
Track players and the ball in real time: this technological revolution in data analysis offers a new tactical weapon appreciated by the generation of young "laptop coaches" ("computer trainers") like Julian Nagelsmann, who will be settling in this summer on the bench of Bayern Munich.
Big Data at the service of football.
The German start-up Kinexon, which has developed a tool that it presents as revolutionary, on May 5 became the preferred supplier to the International Football Federation (Fifa).
"For coaches like me of the + laptop coaches + generation, data is a very important subject and will be more and more so", explains Nagelsmann, technician prodigy, who, at 33, will take over the Bavarian giant.
Speaking by videoconference, during the formalization of the Kinexon-Fifa partnership, installed in front of a giant erasable whiteboard with magnetic pawns, the coach is pleased to be able to "control the physical data" of his players using digital tools.
But "in the future it will be more important to control tactics, the more interesting for a young manager like me".
"With the ability to trace the ball, we can learn from times when we lose it as from times when we get it back," he explains.
How it works?
On a computer screen, the match in aerial view is reproduced with colored dots for the players, and a multitude of data is transmitted immediately: the distance of the pass, the orientation and the speed of the passes etc.
For example, a line connects the four defenders and calculates their distance from each other, to measure the effectiveness of the block.
- "Model" -
The first important innovation lies in the tracking of the Kinexon ball, called iBall, thanks to a chip inserted inside.
For players, it is sewn on the back, at the top of the jersey, below the neck.
The second innovation comes from real-time data processing.
"The key is live," Maximilian Schmidt, Kinexon co-founder, told AFP.
Collecting data, "all professional teams have been doing it for 20 years," he continues.
"But it was done in a lab. Our technology for us, and other players in the market, is to bring the software to the field."
In the Bundesliga, Hoffenheim have used this system for several seasons.
"It's really fantastic as a tool," Sascha Härtel, the performance scientist at the German club, told AFP.
"Having the live data gives you an idea of how a player should work in training. And in a match, (that) immediately gives us the opportunity to react," he continues.
Härtel takes the example of dry cleaning.
“You can measure how much it uses up the battery, how many times you can do it. You can use different formations and model them to find out how much energy it costs,” he explains.
- "Prevent injuries" -
This technology "gives us a better idea of this complicated game that is football," insists Härtel.
It also makes it possible to communicate in a more reasoned and rational way with the players, with supporting figures.
Some are excited, like defender Dominique Janssen, 2017 European champion with the Netherlands.
"After the Euro, we had stats showing that we had been compact in pressing, more than other teams," said the player from Wolfsburg, Germany.
She also appreciates the individualized data, "we can measure fatigue, prevent injuries," she adds.
Janssen sees "a lot of positive, but football remains football, we can not replace human communication with data. You will always have to explain why you are not in the starting XI, for example".
"Of course, the system does not replace the human factor, it provides information", agrees the head of the research sector of Fifa, Nicolas Evans.
"Data won't win the game."
For the time being, this technology concerns clubs, pros and amateurs, "the price fluctuates between 25,000 and 75,000 euros per team and per season depending on the scope of the services offered, the number of teams monitored, the tracking of players or more balloon, etc. "
says Schmidt.
But in the long term it should affect all the players.
Broadcasters are starting to use it, and "fans will be able to find more content there, on their club, their favorite player or even their fantasy football team. Football will be more and more digital," predicts Maximilian Schmidt.
© 2021 AFP