The success story of StatSports has nothing to do with the luck of the Irish but rather with technology. In less than 10 years, the Ireland-based company has become a leader in the field of player tracking and analysis, and it expects its latest product, set to launch in November, will “blow the industry away,” co-founder and CEO Alan Clarke said.
StatSports’ client base reads like a who’s who of European soccer, with Manchester United, FC Barcelona, Juventus and Bayer Leverkusen being only a small sample of the teams using the company’s systems for performance monitoring and analysis.
Clarke, who founded the company along with business partner Sean O’Connor in 2007, said StatSports’ growth
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| StatSports is set to roll out its newest product, the Apex, on Nov. 10. |
happened organically through word of mouth. The company started out providing third-party wearable technology and sports-science products to amateur Gaelic sports teams and professional rugby teams in Ireland before entering the U.K. market through a partnership with English rugby.
“The rugby teams got us noticed and then we started with English rugby and that got us into football,” Clarke said.
At that time, around 2009-10, StatSports hadn’t even created its own product and was using a range of different products and services to collect data for clients.
The company started developing its own hardware and software in 2011. The result, the Viper Pod and Viper Software, rolled out in 2012 and has become the industry standard, used by 14 of the 20 clubs in the English Premier League.
StatSports has since expanded beyond Europe into North America, Asia and the Middle East. The company last year opened a U.S. office in Chicago and teamed up with a number of NFL, NBA and MLS franchises.
“We waited to enter North America until last year because we wanted to establish a strong structure before coming here,” Clarke said. “I think we are attacking it really fast.”
The company counts the Carolina Panthers among its U.S. clients.
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| The company’s Viper Software is used by 14 of the 20 clubs in the EPL. |
“Their technology and GPS monitoring units are extremely accurate and reliable,” said Brett Nenaber, athletic performance analyst for the Panthers. “This allows the user to have peace of mind knowing that everything that the athletes they are monitoring are doing on the field is getting recorded and can be analyzed.
“A key takeaway that we have found in the StatSports data is that there is a ‘sweet spot’ for each individual as well as the team as a whole on how much load is necessary to put on them in each practice throughout the week. … There must be a balance of a high enough load placed upon the athletes within the week to ensure that their bodies are fully prepared physically, while still allowing for optimal recovery leading into the game.”
StatSports plans to officially unveil its new product, the Apex, on Nov. 10. It expects the product will build on the success of the Viper and enable StatSports to continue its rapid growth. The Apex tracking product can be used outdoors and indoors using GPS and ultra-wideband technology, Clarke said. The tracking system, which is powered by MAPPS technology, provided accurate player positioning down to 20 centimeters during tests.
“Several clubs including Barcelona and Everton have used the new system during their preseason preparation,” Clarke said.
The new product will also mark StatSports’ move into the private consumer market. “It will give amateurs the opportunity to track their progress and compare themselves to pro athletes,” Clarke said.
The Apex initially will be released to professional sports teams before it will be available to the public. StatSports has not yet announced pricing for the product. The company’s goal is to empower its partners to use the technology on their own, though it has a team of staffers available to respond to calls, Clarke said.
HJ Mai writes for sister publication SportsBusiness Daily Global.
