FIFA chooses Camp Nou to test the data monitoring systems used in the world of football

FIFA continues to use FC Barcelona as a testing laboratory in the field of sports technology. This time they chose the Camp Nou to make a precision study of the monitoring systems used by companies that collect variables during football matches.

These tests, carried out in several sessions during this month of October, have focused on indicators of positioning and speed of the players and have been supervised by a team of experts from the University of Victoria (Australia), an entity that collaborates with FIFA on this project. The measurements were made with the help of thirty students from the Barcelona Campus of the National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia (INEFC). To make them, a 30 x 30 metre quadrilateral was formed on the pitch, with ten cameras on each side, within which the students, with sensors attached to their bodies, made a physical circuit walking, jogging and sprinting, in different directions and with acceleration changes.

The monitoring systems of 13 leading international companies in the tracking sector have been subjected to these tests, including Track160, Catapult, Statsports and Fitogether. The practical application of this study would be oriented to the analysis of the game for the coaches and the medical teams of the clubs, as well as to extend the quality of the sports broadcasts by providing more information.

FIFA already held similar sessions a few months ago at the Miniestadi. Performing them now at the Camp Nou has allowed researchers to step forward and validate the tracking systems from much larger stands, similar to those in the most important stadiums in the world, and with more variety of spaces to test the radio frequency devices.

With this new experience, the Barça Innovation Hub keeps the door open to the football and sports technology industry and consolidates the club's facilities as a testing space, with the aim of turning FC Barcelona into the largest sports experimentation and innovation laboratory in the world.