FIFA will allow in-game video and tracking data via sideline tablet during the World Cup. Here, Northampton Town uses an iPad during a preseason friendly. (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)
FIFA will permit in-game player tracking analysis and communication for the first time during this summer’s World Cup.
A pair of optical tracking cameras will log positional data for every player and the ball. That data and the video will be accessible to every team via small handheld technologies. FIFA is allotting one tablet to an analyst sitting in an overhead booth and one coach on field level.
The analyst will have access to a tactical application enabling telestrator drawings overlaid on the video feed. Still images with diagrams can be sent over the network for in-match adjustments.
There will be secure radio communication between the analyst and coach, as well as a chat function in the app (presumably in case the stadium gets too loud to hear).
FIFA is calling this platform the Electronic Performance and Tracking Systems, or EPTS.
SportTechie Takeaway
As pervasive as advanced analytics are throughout sports, their usage remains spotty during in-game competitions among the major sports leagues. The NBA approved sideline video and data at the start of the 2012-2013 season and upgraded the system prior to the 2016-2017 campaign.
The NHL, on the other hand, only began permitting video-enabled iPads on the bench during last year’s playoffs, before expanding the program to the regular season last fall. The NFL only allows still photography to be accessed on its sideline tablets, and the iPad Pros MLB provides in the dugouts are not connected to any network.
Video isn’t even common in some major sports, much less player-tracking data, making this World Cup implementation a rare initiative from FIFA that can be called downright progressive.
