Germany’s secret formula for penalty success revealed

Germany are the penalty masters having not lost a penalty shoot-out at a major tournament for over two decades – a record that was extended as they beat Italy in the European Championship quarterfinals. But what is their secret formula; well while it isn’t an exact science, perhaps one answer could be the SAP Sports One software.

SAP has a long-standing partnership with the German football association and have recently added a penalty insights function into its Sports One software, which helps coaches and goalkeepers predict how opponents will take penalties.

The Germans are using the big data analytics well as Manuel Neuer helped keep Matteo Darmian and Leanardo Bonucci’s efforts out as they progressed on Saturday evening.

The function is built on SAP’s HANA in-memory analytics platform and analyses data in real time, allowing coaches to show players before and during matches on a mobile device.

The data shows the most likely part of the goal a player would aim for, along with other details such as run up style – reducing the likelihood of German goalkeepers being tricked by stuttered approaches.

This data is supported by video clips provided by third party providers.

SAP has worked with the DFB for more than a decade, mainly for back office operations, but attention has recently turned towards using software to improve team performance.

“We are the experts in developing software and they are the experts in football,” SAP’s Fadi Noum told TechWeekEurope. “Based on the results, they were impressed and said this was a good start – but only the beginning.”

The Match Insights app used two years ago has been overhauled with a new UI, is integrated with SAP Sports One, and provides access to a central cloud media library.

The SAP Team One app allows players and coaches to shre videos images and messages within individual groups – such as a back four defensive line – and ‘Challenger Insights’ is a completely new addition for 2016.

This feature provides information about opponent’s formations, offensive and defensive character traits and is updated in real time. This allows coaches to adjust tactics in real time and create a pre- match plan in training.

The theory is that by having more time to work with the SAP software in France than in Brazil, the insights gained from analytics will be more effective, especially since the DFB and SAP have been working closely together.

•Culled from www.isportconnect.com