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Best Football Tracking Technologies

Best Football Tracking Technologies Football Tracker Review

Do you want to be able to track how you play football but don’t know what the best football tracking technologies are? In this article, we are going over the pros and cons of different football technologies that are worth having, and that you can legally use when playing football.

Top 3 Best Football Tracking Technologies

While it would be cool to wear an advanced tracker like WHOOP or something more casual such an Apple Watch while playing games to have all your data together in one space, wrist trackers aren’t allowed in football games.

Why? As they are dangerous to other players. Imagine someone like Ibra smacking someone with an Apple Watch rather than just their hand. That wouldn’t end well.

The top 3 best football tracking technologies that you can use for football? GPS trackers, Insole/Sock trackers and Smart Video Cameras

What’re the Differences Between These Football Tracking Technologies?

GPS trackers? You put them on your chest. If you were ever wondering what that thing on players chest was when they took off their shirts, it most likely was a GPS tracker. As the name suggests, they use GPS to track your movements on a football pitch. Most of them also come with heartrate sensors, which makes them of significant advantage.

Insole trackers? They are trackers specifically designed for football and that you put into your boots. The fact that they are on your feet allows for football-related tracking of things such as touches on a specific part of your foot. Xampion insoles are also able to measure player speed and sprints, although due to lack of GPS, can’t pinpoint exactly where you ran.

Smart video cameras? Companies like Veo combine cameras with AI to track football with video recording. This is a technology that brings visual data that clubs, especially of lower leagues, lack a lot. There’s a lot of potential with this technology as software gets better and better.

What’s the Most Beneficial Football Tracker When It Comes to Data?

When it comes to data, these 3 different types of trackers all emit different types of tracking which we’ll break down below.

If Looking for the Best Tracker for Measuring Fitness:

If you are primarily looking to see your athletic performance on a pitch, a GPS tracker is your best option for it in most cases. Why do we say most cases? As GPS trackers don’t work great indoors or anywhere else where there is a weak GPS signal.

GPS trackers, since they also come with heart rate sensors, are incredible for that data that allows you to see how you are performing on the pitch from the perspective of fitness and positioning, like no other type of football tracking technology we will mention in this article.

A great advantage of having GPS in such a tracker is that instead of seeing how many sprints you made and at what speed, you are able to see in what direction they were.

If Looking to Improve as a Footballer:

The downside of a GPS tracker placed at your chest is that football is played with two legs and not with your chest meaning that while a GPS tracker can provide incredible athletic data, it’s limited when it comes to football data.

And that’s where the Xampion insoles are a great option. Being able to see what foot you use the most, the part of the foot you touch the ball the most with, and the speed of your shots/passes is the type of data that GPS trackers aren’t able to get, that is vital for improvement.

 Best Football Tracking Technologies Football Tracker Review

If you are looking to improve as a footballer player, being able to see how many times you use your left or right food combined with what part of the foot do you shoot with, provides you with insights into what you need to change. Of course, that data by itself is of no value if you do not implement changes.

They can also track your tempo, sprints took, speed, and distance ran like GPS trackers, although they do lack a heartrate sensor, and aren’t able to show you were you exactly sprinted.

When Looking for Visual Data:

While GPS trackers can show you where you ran and while Xampion can show you how many times you passed or shot the ball, what they can’t tell you is how successful those were.

That’s where visual data comes in with devices like Veo.

Data is meant to improve us, and while knowing that you need to work on a certain aspect of a game will make an incredible difference, when it comes to mistakes, it’s impossible to analyze your mistakes during the game unless you have footage of them.

Veo? It replaces the cameraman and does a much better job recording your videos than if done by someone else that wasn’t part of a proper camera crew. How? As it comes with two 4k cameras that combine for an overall 180° degree shot. The AI part of the camera? It will pan and zoom in/out to the point that the footage will never be too far away or too close to see ensuring that you always have the perfect highlights from your match.

Of course, no player with ever be at a ball during the entire game, and when it comes to analyzation, the big limit of recording is that it’s often impossible to capture all the players to see how they are reacting in certain situations, meaning that you still lack the data that you need. That’s where the Veo camera makes a difference. That 180° shot allows for capturing the entire pitch.

Do you need it? Ultimately someone else can record your game. But no standard camera will survive shooting for as long as the Veo with a battery life of 4 hours. No other camera will shoot the entire pitch, with the AI also capturing footage following the ball. As far as analyzing, it’s the best there is. And while it’s not a tool that can provide data like GPS trackers on insoles yet, there is potential for implementing that, with the right algorithms.

The Best for Coaches:

Looking for what’s best for coaches? Different football tracking technologies have varying importance depending on who you are.

GPS tracking overall is able to provide the entire staff with information about how a player is doing on a pitch which can allow for the right changes to be made whether that’s to avoid injury or to improve teams performance.

Insole trackers? They can show if a player is playing too much with one part of his leg and if he or she should try to implement using the other leg too.

Meanwhile, visual data allows for analyzing what the team does wrong and showing every player what he or she can do better, in a way that would otherwise be very hard to show.

The Most Stress-Free Football Tracking?

Veo? It requires time to set up when it comes to games. It also requires a tall tripod or otherwise stands. And while the battery life on it is 4 hours and more than enough for one game, you will need to remember to charge it pretty often.  GPS trackers? They also require some setting up, although a lot quicker than with Veo.

Xampion? It works right away as you start moving, meaning that you don’t ever need to set anything up. Oh, and both of trackers can last up to 20-hours which is much more than 7 of most GPS trackers and 4 of Veo. Oh, and it comes a 30-day satisfaction guarantee! Like it or return it.

 Best Football Tracking Technologies Football Tracker Review

Which One of These Football Tracking Technologies Is the Best for You?

All football tracking technologies currently have some pro and cons. Although, mostly, not due to the companies no trying, but due to the type of device.

If we were to tell you which to get, we’d tell you to get all of them. For ultimate improvement from the perspective of data, all of these football tracking technologies have some pros an cons and all rock very unique feature that the others don’t.

If looking for football data, get Xampion. It can provide you with data that you can’t get with trackers on your chest while also being able to track your fitness to a point. With that said, if you care more about the fitness element or if a coach that wants to monitor a team while the play, a GPS tracker might be a better option.

Of course, pricing is a big factor to consider when looking for which of the different football tracing technologies is the best for you. And that’s where Veo isn’t an option for most individuals and even some teams. At a price of over €1000 + a subscription, it’s not a sum that anyone can just spend. Xampion and GPS trackers? Much more affordable.

Found this article about the pros and cons of different football tracking technologies useful? Want to improve as a footballer? Whether trying to get a football scholarship in the US, just trying to overall improve as a footballer, or trying to become a pro, we have something for you on our blog!

Michael Smolski