Until recently, predicting sports outcomes was typically based on historical data collected from player and team statistics. However, this approach does not guarantee results. In fact, it often leads to disappointing and disappointing results.
Perhaps the most famous example of this predicament was the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-final, where Germany defeated Brazil 7-1. The South American team was stunned by the crushing defeat, as traditional metrics favored Brazil, highlighting the inability of existing statistical models to accurately represent team performance.
Soccer statistics you’ve never heard of
Former Bundesliga midfielder and UEFA Champions League player Stefan Reinartz gave an example of this during a recent panel discussion hosted by Soccerex Miami. After experiencing his own “aha!” moment, Reinartz became the founder of IMPECT, a German analytics company that revolutionized the role of statistics in soccer.
“Typical soccer statistics like possession, tackles won, distance run, etc. don’t really have any correlation to the end result,” Reinerts says. “I was very shocked when I realized that they really couldn’t tell me anything about the performance of the players or the team.”
He realized that when he read about Moneyball’s approach to using advanced statistical analysis to acquire undervalued players and build competitive teams despite limited budgets. It was then.
“While some sports, such as baseball, may be well-suited to such a data-driven strategy, others, such as soccer, are more complex and it is difficult to create appropriate KPIs,” he says. explained.
Soccer is a low-scoring game of continuous action between 22 players, requiring complex strategies and great effort to evade opponents and score points. Apart from goals and passes, individual statistics are almost non-existent, making it difficult to create universally reliable metrics.
His own beliefs changed when he realized that soccer statistics do not measure the true value of individual players. Together with fellow midfielder Jens Hegeler, he founded IMPECT, which aims to develop soccer data that can be used to valuablely evaluate players and teams. They invented “packing” to quantify the value of passes and dribbles.
Basic soccer statistics such as goals and assists primarily reflect strikers and attacking midfielders, the players who do most of the scoring and assisting. Midfielders, who do most of their running and passing to initiate attacking movements, have little statistical recognition. What they do best is pass the ball past opposing players. That’s the packaging measure.
The methodology is simple. Players earn points for any movement that takes the ball past an opposing player, including crosses, dribbles, and long passes. The recipient will also receive points.
Today, IMPECT is a thriving business that collects and sells packing data that helps teams scout players, analyze their own performance, and learn important facts about their opponents.
What does SAP have to do with it?
During the discussion, Achim Ittner, vice president of sports at SAP, highlighted the company’s focus on user-centered design and collaboration with prominent coaches and national teams, drawing from its roots in business software to developing specialized sports applications. He explained the company’s progress up to this point.
“Like IMPECT, we have focused on developing data-driven solutions and related tools for sports clubs using direct feedback and a design thinking approach,” Ittner said. He explained that SAP has built an integrated platform to address the fragmented software ecosystem in sports. The platform integrates APIs and data sources to support processes such as injury prevention, training recommendations, match preparation, and player health.
“Sports analytics represents the marriage of data science and athletic performance, providing a blueprint to guide decision-making by coaches and trainers,” he said. “The importance of data in today’s sports ecosystem cannot be overstated. It is needed for everything from game plan strategy to personal skill development.”
SAP’s involvement with IMPECT is just one example of how the company is collaborating with different teams and experts to further shape sports technology. New technologies such as social media, mobile, digital capabilities, and sensors in player uniforms and equipment are transforming the sports industry. SAP is committed to helping sports organizations leverage these new innovations to deepen fan engagement, improve team performance, grow revenue faster, and run their businesses and venues more efficiently. I’m here.
SAP has solutions for scouting and measuring team performance, as well as solutions for customer engagement and marketing. At the end of the day, the fan experience is just as important as the team’s performance. The SAP Sports One solution provides a 360-degree view of each customer and fan to better target individual preferences and purchasing behaviors by delivering personalized experiences across online, mobile, and social channels. Teams can grow their fan base, manage merchandise, and increase loyalty with personalized rewards.
Providing experiences
“A great sports experience is about more than winning games,” Ittner said. “This includes a variety of factors including players, spectators and organizers.”
For fans, clear communication about food and beverages, merchandise, a great streaming experience, and schedule and movement around the venue is critical. It is the team management’s job to ensure that the winning team has the right players and provide them with the best care and training before and after the match. And finally, the venue must offer good facilities, infrastructure, safety and security.
SAP brings it all together and helps create the intersection of sports, technology, and innovation.
