The science of football
26 February 2010
Researchers from LJMU's Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Science working as a team with UEFA and FIFA.
Professor Mark Williams and Alistair McRobert from the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Science (RISES) at LJMU have recently been undertaking work for UEFA in their efforts to validate a new, real-time player tracking system for use in this season's European Champions League.
The system is used by UEFA to record the positions and movements of players in a continuous manner as the match progresses. A number of cameras are located around the ground and using a number of sophisticated algorithms the cameras are able to track all 22 players for the entire duration of the game.
The system provides information on the distances covered by each player as well as each individual's technical contribution to the match. UEFA now employs these cameras at all Champions League venues and the information gathered is used by television broadcast companies and other media outlets as well as to inform coaching and the coach education process.
A team of researchers from LJMU filmed a number of matches at last summer's European U21 Finals Tournament in Sweden in order to ensure that the system provides accurate and reliable data.
Providing a level playing surface
Professor Williams has also been working with Dr Mark Lake after being commissioned by FIFA, the world governing body of football, to undertake research work to evaluate the effectiveness of the new generation of artificial playing surfaces.
The work, which is to be carried out over the next 12-months, will involve testing the second generation of artificial playing surfaces against traditional football turf in order to ascertain the extent to which the performance characteristics may differ across surfaces.
Research groups from Valencia, Cologne and Cardiff are also involved in the project. Tests will be conducted to examine the interaction between player and playing surface in several countries across Europe over the next year - with the overall aim being to provide standardised benchmarking criteria for the preparation of artificial playing surfaces.
Although the use of artificial surfaces for competitive matches in the UK is not extensive, the surfaces are used routinely for training, and in countries where the weather is too cold or dry to easily grow high-quality grass pitches their use has become more widespread.
