German tracking company Kinexon is set to embed its sensors in the handballs used during the men’s Velux Champions League Final4 event in Cologne on May 26 and 27. Announced yesterday by the European Handball Federation, this means that fans will get real-time analysis of a ball’s motion during each contest. That could mean shot speed, distance from goal, and heat maps of shooting locations.
Kinexon is best known in sports for athlete-tracking wearables. The company’s U.S. clients include NBA teams such as the 76ers and Rockets, the NHL’s Penguins and the Stanford men’s basketball team. Kinexon also began supplying the beach volleyball Major Series with tracking devices last August.
But during the EHF Champions League semifinals and final Kinexon sensors will be in the ball, offering a host of new data points for both coaches and commentators to analyze. Both in-venue fans and at-home viewers for the continent’s top club competition will see this information in real-time.
“By being able to see the speed of the ball or the 3D placement of shots, fans have the opportunity to see their beloved sport from completely new and fascinating angles,” said Kinexon CEO Maximilian Schmidt in a statement.
Kinexon debuted similar technology for a German soccer match last fall—a low level game between between the reserve team of FC Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 Munich—and has said it’s working on providing the same for beach volleyball. The handball sensor has been designed to withstand speeds exceeding 140 kph (87 mph) and the impact of hitting the post. The Select-manufactured iBall was introduced during a side event at last year’s Final4 and underwent testing during the season.“The Kinexon chip is placed at the very heart of the ball, on the bladder, to keep it safe from shots and bumps, while in play,” explained Select CEO Peter Knap. “Specially developed foam gives the chip-enabled ball an extremely soft feel and fits great in the hand. The ball is light and lively, but above all its constant balance ensures there are no random bounces.”
According to EHF Marketing managing director David Szlezak, tracking the ball will help grow his sport. “The iBall is an important step into the digital future of European handball,” he said. “The data we are collecting allows us and media partners to better explain the fast and dynamic sport of handball and provides a new dimension to storytelling around sport.”
SportTechie Takeaway
While tracking data is becoming increasingly commonplace in sports, in-ball sensors remain rare. The engineering challenges to embed chips that can withstand the rigors of a game while not affecting the flight or expected movement of the ball are significant. Last season, the NFL became the first major North American sport to head down this path, with Zebra tracking chips installed in every football. Yet none of that ball data has been publicly released. The NHL has announced plans to have tracking chips in pucks, but that system is not yet ready.
While Kinexon had a one-game soccer demonstration with an in-ball sensor, this handball partnership signals the first such usage at a major tournament, but likely not the last. And one added benefit of tracking the ball could even be helping referees catch bad decisions before they spark controversy.
