Technological monitoring of players provides key information to the coach. But the team with the best technology is not necessarily the best team in the European Football Championship.
"Technology gives the coaching team key information, but tactical decisions and the technical skills of individual players will likely determine the outcome of the football championship."
That's what sports researcher Per Thomas Byrkjedal from the University of Agder (UiA) says.
While working on his doctoral degree, Byrkjedal studied 20 football players in Start and 15 hockey players in Stavanger Oilers.
Tested physical capacity
Byrkjedal conducted strength and sprint tests to assess the players' physical capacity.
One of the objectives was to provide the coaches with a basis for evaluating individual training programmes that maintain or enhance physical capacity. Technology can provide relevant information about physical fitness, agility, capacity, and much more.
"The human assessment of this information is crucial for developing top athletes. Monitoring and frequent testing provide a solid foundation for developing and maintaining physical capacity, such as speed, strength, and endurance," says Byrkjedal.
GPS monitoring during training and matches
In elite football, it is common for players to be monitored through GPS measurements during both training and matches.
So far, it hasn't been as common among top ice hockey teams. The ice hockey players were unfamiliar with such tracking when Byrkjedal conducted tests with them.
The GPS device is attached to a so-called sports bra worn by the players. The GPS device is also called a tracking device. The device used by Start and Oilers measures physical exertion and speed. It also measures how far players run, their sprint frequency and distances, and much more.
"The data from the GPS device is important for managing each player's workload and customising their training in the best possible way," says Byrkjedal.
Testing under optimal conditions
Byrkjedal tested the players' agility, speed and strength in the gym, indoor arena as well as outdoors.
"The tests are conducted under optimal and standardised conditions, which gives us valuable insights into their physical attributes and capacity," says Byrkjedal.
The test results together with the GPS data give us a clear idea of the player's physical level. This data is also helpful when a player needs to train to recover from an injury.
"It gives coaches a benchmark to follow and helps them adjust the training load to match the player's capacity before they got injured," Byrkjedal says .
Sports bras in the football Euros
Byrkjedal believes that GPS technology can provide useful information during the football Euros now taking place in Germany.
"A football championship with many matches close to each other is hard on the body. Here, having good routines for interpreting data from the tracking device can provide useful information about the players' physical fitness," Byrkjedal says.
He explains that coaches use this information to manage the workload of individual players. This allows them to ensure that each player performs well throughout the whole championship. The information also helps coaches rotate the team and avoid overloading individual players.
No correlation between tests and matches
When conducting research on players from Start and Stavanger Oilers, he found no clear correlation between their performance in physical tests and on the field.
"While high or low scores in a test can indicate a player's capacity, there is no direct link between how players perform in tests and how they perform in actual matches," Byrkjedal says.
He explains this can be due to tactical considerations during matches. Players may conserve their energy and run less than they would during training, which does not necessarily indicate bad form. This can mean that players make smart tactical choices.
"Good players position themselves correctly and thus avoid unnecessary sprints and duels. Performance is highly dependent on tactical abilities," says the researcher.
He emphasises that physical tests measure a player's physical capacity and not their overall performance.
"Tests show how each individual player should structure their training to help improve their speed, agility and explosiveness. This differs for each player, so significant gains can be made," says Byrkjedal.
Limited research on training-match relationship
Earlier this year, Byrkjedal defended his thesis on testing, GPS usage and customised training programmes. He believes that the study is representative of how tests and matches relate to each other for other teams besides Start and Stavanger Oilers.
He conducted his tests during Covid and wished he had more tests and participants in the study. There has been minimal research on the correlation between physical capacity during tests and matches.
"In that sense, my study opens up a new area of research on the relationship between tests and matches," Byrkjedal says.
Reference:
Per Thomas Byrkjedal: Physical fitness and external load in icehockey and football, doctoral thesis, University of Agder, 2024