“Our target is to measure the performance of every individual player to create a basis for training management and decision making”, says Hasan Salihamidžić, Sports Director of FC Bayern Munich.
The football training of the future won’t just happen on the pitch – it will also take place in the lab. High-precision measuring instruments, combined with precise data from engineers and sports scientists, makes skills.lab the perfect solution for FC Bayern. The skills.lab measures the speed of a player’s overall pace and play, while providing precise quantitative data on precision, technique and cognitive recognition of tactical situations. In addition, skills.lab measures and evaluates each player’s individual football-specific performance.
“Modern football is going through a technical revolution. Measurement technology, data analysis, and statistics play an increasingly strong role in daily training and scouting of players,” says Dr. Friedrich Santner, CEO of Anton Paar Group. “Anton Paar SportsTec GmbH was founded because, as a measurement engineering company with a high affinity for football, it seemed natural to invest in this development area.”
VARIOUS APPLICATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT
Triggered by Sports Director Hasan Salihamidzic, FC Bayern developed a concept for their newly founded Innovation Center, that aims towards a holistic use of skills.lab. “Skills.lab delivers valuable information about strengths and weaknesses of our players. Our know-how and experiences, in return, will be used to further develop skills.lab. That is a clear win-win situation for both parties”, explains Hasan Salihamidzic.
Michael Niemeyer, Head of FC Bayern’s Innovation Center, identifies additional values that skills.lab will add to their training approach: “Targeted individual training of players, screening of try-out players, or adding objective parameters to a complex player monitoring – the fields of application are manifold.”
FOOTBALL MEETS HIGH-TECH
Inside the 320m² skills.lab arena, multiple cinema projectors simulate dynamic on-field scenarios for players who are fed precise passes by automated ball machines. Each ball machine provides service with pinpoint, repeatable trajectory and pace of up to 130 km/h. Players are then measured by their ability to control the pass and execute the correct tactical play with precision and sound technique. skills.lab can also provide the perfect workout intensity for all players and situations, as each ball machine is able to provide up to 20 passes to the player per minute. The simulator offers every type of workout to help every type of player measure and improve their precision and technique.
“skills.lab offers more than 50 different training sessions that each offer five difficulty levels,” explains Dr. Johannes Tändl, CEO of Anton Paar SportsTec. “We cover the entire performance spectrum, providing highly specific training targets for every type of player and every position on the field. The training contents will be continuously extended and improved using the know-how of FC Bayern.”
