It was a big weekend for Manchester City FC. They beat Tottenham FC 3-1 and clinched the Premier League title, capping a historically dominant season. But when Man City was preparing for the match this past Saturday, its players had an added level of insight from a tablet screen where they gleaned critical information about the opposing side, an edge that perhaps played a role in its victory.
The football club, which has long used SAP to power the back-end operations of its organization (think: human resources, finance, travel and fan engagement), began using SAP Challenger Insights in recent months to feed players data about opposing lineups ahead of matches.
Tom Glick, the chief commercial officer of City Football Group, the parent company of Man City, said the team has been deploying the cloud-based technology via tablets located in its locker rooms to try to improve its performance on the pitch.
“This is being used by our first team for essentially game preparation,” he said. “We’re able to use the data from other matches that our opponents have played and patterns of play and be able to look at the variables of different formations, the different players in those formations, and see what happened in previous matches to anticipate and prepare what will happen.”
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Initially developed in 2014 with insight from the German Football Association as the team was preparing for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, SAP’s insights offer an overview of team characteristics, such as offensive and defensive behavior, likely formations, saliences and other statistics from teams competing in the European Football Championship. The statistical analysis is usually accompanied by game video to provide players visuals.
In the days leading up to games, data populates the SAP Sports One platform, a team performance solution hosted on Man City’s locker room tablets, so players can review historical data with their coaches to prepare for approaching matches and opposing team tactics. Once the competing lineup is finalized, Man City can make last-minute adjutants to its playbook. The players can review the data again after game day for post-match analysis.
“Our fist team coaches love it,” said Glick.
SAP Chief Marketing Officer Alicia Tillman said that player performance data is “changing the game” across professional sports, though she notes that the technology and data itself can only go so far.
“It is about how well they digest that information and what they choose to do with it,” she said.