It’s a new step in the use of technology in football. Participants in the World Cup in Qatar will have access to their individual data immediately after the matches, Fifa announced on Friday, September 23. The announcement follows a few days the publication by the players’ union Fifpro of a Data Rights Charter, a delicate subject as the analysis of ever finer parameters has become ubiquitous in professional football.
Concretely, explains Fifa, players will be able to download as soon as they arrive in Qatar a dedicated application, on which will be compiled “advanced football data, physical performance data and football intelligence data”. Alongside the analysis carried out within each selection, they will have access to detailed data on the intensity of their pressing and their runs, on their calls for the ball, the zones where the ball is received, or even on their ability to break the lines with a pass.
FIFA World Cup 2022™ players to access data insights through app. The Player App was developed, based on input from professional players, in collaboration with @FIFPRO. It will be used for the first time at a @FIFAWorldCup.
https://t.co/GGISDAH2z6 pic.twitter.com/gkp9jcY90I
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) September 23, 2022
These data combine raw observations via “several cameras placed all around the field” synthesized on “positional heatmaps”and work of “Fifa performance analysts”, develops the organization. They will then be “synchronized with match footage to allow players to review – from different angles – the key moments of their performance”adds FIFA.
The world body had tested its new real-time analysis system on the occasion of the Arab Cup 2021, and intends more widely “maximizing the potential of technology” in football, according to its director of technological innovations, Johannes Holzmüller.
“Gamers have made it clear to us that they want to have better access to their data and derive more benefit from this collection”, indicates for his part Simon Colosimo, deputy secretary general of Fifpro, quoted in the press release. World Cup participants will be able to “save or share” match photos and statistics “on social networks, directly from the application”says Fifa.