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WED 30 JUN 2021 | FOOTBALL PROJECTS
How LaLiga’s Mediacoach platform brings value to clubs, broadcasters and fans
How LaLiga’s Mediacoach platform brings value to clubs, broadcasters and fans
  • Through Mediacoach, LaLiga has democratised access to real-time match data for all participating clubs, allowing them to prepare, analyse and execute matches from a level playing field.
  • Broadcasters and fans also benefit from real-time stats that are introduced during live transmissions and into accompanying content.

On and off the pitch, football is being transformed by data. From the coaches and analysts looking for tactical insights to consumers on social media, advanced match statistics can provide new insights that were previously hidden, improving the understanding and enjoyment of the game and increasing its value.

Mediacoach, the data analysis and visualisation tool developed by LaLiga, is among the industry’s most sophisticated platforms with the ability to capture over 25 frames per second and track thousands of data points per player. With so much potential value on offer, LaLiga chose to make the tool available to all clubs of the competition as well as to its broadcast partners, allowing them to build new insights for their respective needs and to assist the competition’s global growth. 

Equal opportunities for clubs

Speaking at the Soccerex Connected 100 event this month, Mediacoach product manager Silvestre Jos explained the democratising effect that this data has for clubs and the benefits that it brings to the whole competition.

“All clubs have access to the same information, allowing them to analyse the opposite team based on their previous LaLiga matches,” he said. “That’s very special from a league perspective, because every single club has the same tools. With this solution, we are levelling the playing field for everyone.”

Granada CF is a compelling example of what can be achieved by a club that uses such resources intelligently. In just two seasons, the Andalusian club rose from Spain’s second tier to achieve consecutive top-half finishes in LaLiga Santander and a European quarter-final. Álvaro García, the analyst on the club’s coaching staff who worked closely with Mediacoach during that time, pointed out the vital role that data played in the process.

“Granada’s success is in part possible because we are based in LaLiga and have access to Mediacoach,” he said. “In other leagues, this data is not available. It gives you the possibility to increase your chances of winning every game, despite the quality of the opposition. We won a game against Barcelona two months ago, in part because of having equal opportunities to access this data.”

Reflecting on the club’s time spent in the second division, García added: “LaLiga’s democratic approach to data means that in LaLiga SmartBank you have the same access to all the same data as the best teams of LaLiga Santander. This powers you to have equal opportunities to progress on and off the pitch.”

Analysing video data

Aitor Karanka, the ex-Real Madrid coach who also has experience working in the first and second divisions in England, has seen first-hand that other competitions don’t provide the same resources. “When I was working [in England], the resources were not the same between the first and second divisions,” he said. While the quality was still good, there was a big difference between the two and even today you can find a difference. One of the things that LaLiga is doing really well is to provide the same quality of information to every single club.”

 

Garcia highlighted the role that each club then has in analysing this data in the best possible way. “Data needs to filtered into key performance indicators,” he argued. “There are hundreds of pages of data available but you need to consider the information that is most relevant to your model of play.”

For Karanka, showing this key performance data through video makes the job of coaching players easier. “The best way to convince your players that they can beat [big teams] is to try to show them where the weaknesses of the opponent are,” he said. “With video, you can teach them and make more clinical insights.”

“Video is the key,” Jos agreed. “Having the ability to share this data in a visual way is the quickest way to make an impression on the player. It’s an easier to understand the information we are gathering.”

Preventing injuries

As well as helping clubs improve tactically, data from Mediacoach can support coaching staff when it comes to the prevention of injuries. The real time data allows coaches to have a good level of knowledge of the players’ physical load at any given moment, giving teams the chance to make spot any anomalies. Fitness staff at LaLiga clubs have even suggested adjustments that have been incorporated into the Mediacoach system, providing more data that fits their quantification and control methods.

Fabio Nevado, a technical analyst in the Mediacoach team, provided some examples stating: “If you have a player who has just returned from a long injury, maybe you put them in in the 60th minute, but you don’t want them to make too a big effort. So, you can monitor them in real time and if you detect some issue or some data that is not right, you take a decision there.”

Nevado added: “This information helps clubs to reduce the injury risk and to help their players compete very near to their top performance.”

The benefits for LaLiga’s broadcast partners

As well as helping clubs to improve performance, match data is an important asset for global broadcasters who are looking to bring spectators ever closer to the sport. One of the many developments LaLiga has made in this area has been the incorporation of Mediacoach data into live matches. 

The league’s production team accesses the same match data as clubs but instead of using it for tactical changes, it superimposes the data onto the pitch during a game. Examples of this include individual player heatmaps on the pitch or the placing of tactical circles and lines to highlight a team’s changing formation.

This additional use case presents another strategic advantage for LaLiga has compared to other leagues. “We want to get all the information not only to clubs, but also to fans,” Jos said. “The very best way to deliver information to fans is through the broadcasts of our games. We oriented the tracking and event information to include these graphics in the live transmissions to help our fans understand how the game is going, in every single game of LaLiga.”

“Data and analysis is an inevitable part of football,” Jos concluded. “For live transmissions we will certainly see new developments in the coming seasons, as well as within clubs. The technology is evolving at such as pace that the opportunities are endless.”

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