Boosting Performance In Football With AI & Machine Learning
fcbusiness finds out how Kognia is helping coaches gain better insights through its Artificial Intelligence driven platform that delivers tactical match analysis of football games and training sessions.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in sports is becoming increasingly popular as it has the potential to enhance performance and improve training processes in what is normally a time and labour intensive activity.
Using AI in performance analysis is now helping coaches analyse player performance in real-time and identify areas for improvement whist providing insights into team and individual performance for deeper tactical analysis. This information is also helping coaches identify strengths and weaknesses, and develop game strategies to optimise performance outcomes.
Machine learning is the process of training algorithms to make predictions or decisions based on input data. The idea is to use algorithms to automatically learn patterns in the data, rather than explicitly programming the system with rules. This process is often facilitated by the use of statistical models, which are mathematical representations of the relationships between the variables in the data.
Kognia is a new innovative software that uses both AI and machine learning to produce automatic tactical analysis in football matches based on advanced football know-how to recognise tactical fundamentals from video and requires no additional data to be digested, setting it apart from other solutions on the market.
Supporting analysts at clubs, Kognia is providing deeper insights into football matches by removing low quality tasks such as manual coding and replacing them with high quality tasks such as performance feedback to the coaching team or players which in turn is aiding off-field and on-field tactical decision-making.
Developed by co-founder and CEO, Maurici A. López-Felip, the former Head of Research in the Methodology Department at FC Barcelona, is a behavioural scientist who specialised in Ecological Physics and holds a PhD at the University of Connecticut (UConn). His work combines a practice-oriented approach into science and football which led to the development of the system.
“What I was pursuing was to develop software that was oriented towards the tactical analysis of football, but not only that, to provide it in an automatic way,” Maurici explained.
“My journey to make this is what I think adds value to the current industry because we have developed a systematic way to detect principles in the game that is revolutionising the world of football analysis in an objective, faster and more cost-efficient way.”
Tactical analysis in football has developed hugely in recent years as technology has advanced but it still has its limitations. Kognia seeks to break through those limitations and provide coaches with far deeper levels of data that can be applied to advance a player’s on field tactical knowledge.
“There are two limitations that currently exist in the game. One is the amount of time it takes to analyse a game and the second limitation is that only one person can analyse one single level of analysis. Our product provides depth and breadth in the sense that it can analyse multiple levels of the game, and different games at the same time.
“What arises is the ability to quantify all the aspects that so far have been considered too qualitative to quantify, things like the reception [of the ball] between the lines, a movement of the striker behind defensive lines – things that were only appreciated by the eyes of the coach, we can capture those now.
“We have created a system that not only detects patterns but also automatically draws the concept of opportunities for action in relevant contextual environments which makes the tool so powerful, especially for young players developing their game.”
In December 2022, pioneering Swedish club, AIK signed a collaboration agreement with Kognia with the tool being widely used throughout the club across its senior and youth teams.
The implementation of Kognia’s tactical performance analysis system aligns with the innovative pedagogy and coaching methodology developed with AIK’s research and development department and applied in AIK’s child and youth departments.
The club will monitor the tactical dynamics of its teams and players in an optimal manner by avoiding laborious manual processing, providing greater objectivity and depth of analysis and allowing staff to use their time more efficiently as the club negotiates a large number of matches throughout the season.
Currently in use at FC Barcelona, Head Coach Xavi Hernández has been publicly open on the importance it has on his role. He said: “As a coach, Kognia provides me and my staff with critical information that helps me take the best decisions. It can enhance the team and the players’ performance thanks to the automated tactics of the game.”
By combining the filters and analysis, FC Barcelona is creating insights into player development across the First, ‘B’ and Juvenil teams making it a key aspect of their work. Kognia has allowed the club to integrate new innovative technology internally which supports their traditional methodology.
Fellow LaLiga club, Villarreal CF is also using the tool for its first- and second-men’s team, the first women’s team and its youth team (Juvenil A). Through Kognia, the club is monitoring all the tactical game behaviours of its teams and players automatically. Using only video input the company is providing the club’s analysts with all the tactical information from games they need to be able to analyse their own and/or their opponents’ matches and share all the information in an agile and simple way from the cloud.
“We seek to facilitate the hard work of analysts and provide quick solutions for the tactical analysis of opponents and the team itself,” Maurici said. “The collaborations with FC Barcelona and Villarreal CF have been very positive as they have allowed us to adjust to the needs of both clubs that are at the forefront in the development of their own football methodologies, as well as in the application of the best technologies to achieve their objectives in the game.”
ABOUT KOGNIA
Kognia uses a combination of proprietary, cutting-edge technologies and world-class football knowledge to bring to the market a disruptive proposition based on three main differentiators:
Tactical analysis of the game – Instead of delivering a generic set of stats derived from the match, the solution provides clips for video analysis of key tactical situations from the game.
Automated process – Kognia’s technology analyses the game in an automated manner, avoiding the inefficiencies of manual tagging, introducing objectivity to the analysis of the game.
Multiple game analysis – Analyse multiple games simultaneously and get the equivalent of 350 hours of manual analysis per game.
Find out more about how Kognia can help you, visit: www.kogniasports.com
