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When Sport Meets Technology
When Sport Meets TechnologyThe remarkable demolition of Brazil by Germany at this yearâs World Cup soccer tournament was nothing to do with destiny or luck
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When Sport Meets Technology
The remarkable demolition of Brazil by Germany at this year's World Cup soccer tournament was nothing to do with destiny or luck. Technology helped to boost the Germans' performance.
History was made this year when Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup semifinal. That was no easy task, as the Brazilians were five times former World Cup champions.
The key to Germany's success lies in technology. The German Football Association (DFB) undertook excellent preparation for the tournament and used Big Data technology to reach its goal to be in the world's top five soccer nations.
So how did Big Data technology help the German soccer team?
The DFB, as the largest sports federation in the world with 6.8 million members, more than 8 percent of Germany's population, partnered with SAP to reach its goals.
SAP is a world leader in enterprise applications in terms of software and software-related service revenue. Based on market capitalization, SAP is the world's third-largest independent software manufacturer.
DFB and SAP undertook a co-innovation project to build SAP Match Insights solution for football. This solution runs on SAP HANA, real-time computing platform, to facilitate the analysis of data collected during training, preparation and tournaments.
According to SAP vice president of products and innovation technology Hoo Yean Fee, technology can boost a soccer team's performance.
SAP Match Insights can help communication between coaches and players, where both parties have a better understanding based on real-time analytical information during soccer practice.
Optical tracking technology was used during DFB's practice sessions. Tiny devices were also attached to the players during practice, which later sent information to tablets to be analyzed and to track players' performances and prep them to be at their best.
Yean Fee said that with the SAP Match Insights solution, DFB is able to collect all kinds of information from speed to geography and process it in real time.
"Basically it is infrastructure, a tool," she stated during an interview with Channel News Asia.
As with any tool, if placed in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, it can be most beneficial.
In soccer training, the analytical and research ability of this huge data plays an important part in prepping the team for optimum performance and strategy.
The DFB also teamed up with SAP to serve its customers better, via comprehensive mobile apps. The DFB and SAP have created products and services tailored specifically to the needs of soccer fans and federation members, which builds loyalty and long lasting relationships with them.
The application enables customers to follow their favorite team's fixtures both home and away, gives early bird special ticket promotions and even allows customers to allocate seats near their friends and family who have purchased tickets separately.
Through this partnership with SAP, the DFB, which has grown to some 25,500 member clubs fielding 170,000 men's and women's teams with over 2 million players, will grow even bigger and stronger, as Germany excels as a leading soccer nation.
