U.S. Soccer agrees a landmark deal with Statsports

U.S. Soccer has signed a landmark partnership deal with Northern Ireland-based sports analytics firm Statsports to provide their official on-field performance monitor devices.

The GPS partnership will provide performance monitoring units to players across the U.S. Men’s, Women’s, Youth, Paralympic, Futsal and Beach National Teams, Development Academy clubs and NWSL.

Both U.S. Soccer and Statsports will align data, information and support within the elite player pathway.

U.S. Soccer will provide a number of Development Academy clubs with free Statsports systems and offer Academy clubs the ability to be a part of this initiative that will help improve the development of world class players. By providing all NWSL and U.S. National Teams the technology and offering Development Academy clubs the same system

U.S. Soccer High Performance Director James Bunce said: “The ability to utilize the system live to help make instant and informed decisions is second to none. By developing a customizable, centralized hub to analyze data from players across the U.S., we will be able to assess, monitor and optimize the physical development for those players.

“This project has the potential to collect data on a scale that has not been achieved before in any sport or organization and will support our mission to develop world class players through numerous avenues including benchmarking, injury prevention and talent identification.”

U.S. Soccer Director of Sport Development Ryan Mooney said: “This technology will drive our support, improve performance, and better monitor health and safety across all of our National Teams and our nation’s elite players in the Development Academy.

“By partnering with a world leader in wearable performance tracking, we will help drive and improve player environments through the exchange of data between clubs and U.S. Soccer as players enter and leave National Team camps. Over time, this information will be used to research, support and educate the entire landscape.”

Statsports Group Managing Director Jarlath Quinn added: “Players, parents and coaches are looking for data that can really help them improve and the APEX Athlete series GPS units do just that.”

“Key performance indicators are emerging by position that will assist with developing national standards, player development initiatives, national team selections, in-game tactical considerations, review training responses in real time and adjust practices based upon environmental change and conditions. This is an incredible initiative for STATSports, and this ground-breaking partnership will see our technology make its much-anticipated entry into the consumer wearables market.”