The Mexican Soccer Federation has inked a deal to bring sophisticated video coaching technologies to Liga MX clubs and youth leagues as it preps for the next FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The Mexican National Team will be hoping to build on its strong performance so far at this summer’s tournament—two wins out of two games, including one against defending champion Germany.
The soccer organization announced a partnership with SeeUplay, a local partner of Pixellot, an automated video production platform. The deal will deploy Pixellot video coaching systems to all 18 Liga MX clubs and youth academies.
The Pixellot C Coaching systems are being installed at all Liga MX stadiums, training facilities, and at the national team’s training complex. Those installations are set to be completed in time for the start of the 2018 league play on Jul. 20.
“Pixellot is a core component of our intelligent coaching system that can follow the players on the court, with information available at any time, whether it’s a match or official training,” said Víctor Guevara, FMF Operations Director, in a statement.
The system generates panoramic footage of an entire pitch, as well an automatically-produced feed of a game that enables frame-by-frame review of each play and high-quality footage of each player. Connected to the cloud, insights from the system are delivered to coaches with minimal delay, allowing them to make real-time decisions during practice and games.
The Pixellot system also offers production modules, including automatic highlights, high-end graphics, editing tools, scoreboard, and audio from a play-by-play commentator.
Liga MX will join dozens of professional clubs around Europe and China (including top clubs in England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and Germany’s Bundesliga), that already use Pixellot to boost performance.
“We’re excited to equip Mexico’s top teams with state-of-the-art coaching technology,” said Eduardo Gorodzinsky, director general of seeUplay. “We see very promising talent in Liga MX’s youth teams and have no doubt that the Pixellot coaching systems will contribute significantly to their development.”
SportTechie Takeaway
Automated video highlights and real-time video distribution are enabling teams across professional sports to make coaching decisions on the fly. This has been on full display for the first time at this year’s World Cup. FIFA approved the use of tablets for coaches on the bench for the first time in 2018. Each of the 32 competing teams have the option to use tablets fed real-time information about player metrics, positional data, and video footage.