Bundesliga
brings new insights
Meanwhile,
to the north, the German Bundesliga last month became the first major
football league to restart, but with similar restrictions in place.
There, too, technology is playing a major role. The league partnered
with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to provide fans watching in more than
200 countries with a new experience.
They
debuted Bundesliga Match Facts, providing two new sets of statistics
for commentators and fans to gain a deeper understanding of the state
of play: Average Positions, and Expected Goals (xGoals), providing
insights into intended playing style based on real-time analysis of
data. The data is generated from live video feeds, streamed into the
AWS cloud, analysed by a machine learning tool, and then instantly
fed back to broadcasters as live statistics.
According
to the IoT Newsdesk, published by the IoT M2M Council, the statistics
help audiences better understand things like the strategy involved in
decision-making on the pitch and the probability of a goal for each
shot.
“Fans
will be able to see the positioning of a team’s players on the
pitch and gain insight into the team’s intended playing style.
Average Positions provides insights based on analysis performed on
data captured from tracking a player’s average location on the
field, which is then displayed in real time.
“This
Bundesliga Match Fact allows viewers to identify the current momentum
on the field and understand tactical changes. The statistic will help
pinpoint if a team is setting up in an attacking or defending style,
pressing up the middle, or using the wings. By displaying the average
location and position of each player in real time, Average Positions
helps fans understand tactical changes as the game progresses.”
The
system uses a system called Amazon SageMaker, a machine learning
platform which, coincidentally, is also used by South African banks
to identify fraudulent transactions as they happen.
IoT
Newsdesk reported: “To calculate the precision of xGoals,
machine-learning models were trained by analysing 40,000 historical
shots on goal in addition to an array of features derived from
positional data, including distance to goal, angle to goal, player
speed, number of defenders in line of shot and goalkeeper coverage.”
According
to Andy Isherwood, vice president of AWS, the company “is helping
the Bundesliga enhance the broadcast viewing experience by delivering
deeper insights into the game that didn’t previously exist”.
“Bundesliga
is able to provide real-time statistics to predict future plays and
outcomes. These two new statistics are just the beginning of what
we’ll be able to deliver for football fans as we look forward to
unlocking new ways to better educate, engage and entertain viewers
around the world.”
- Arthur
Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of
Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram on @art2gee
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