How do people calculate the ratio, correct breakdown, the percentage holding the ball in each game?

Behind the figures on the screen is the effort of a team of meat-based trackers.

Team X was the team that kept the ball more with 69% of the time. Team Y is the more cross-pass team - 327 passes with an 83% accuracy rate. In the middle of the ball rolling, we see these numbers on the screen, accompanied by the commentator reading the parameters aloud. I wonder where these parameters come from.

In the age of technology, one of us might think that these detailed numbers are the magic of some advanced advanced tracking system. You are both right and wrong, that advanced tracking system is passionate people, knowledgeable about flesh and blood, and their work is partly supported by technology .

The analysis room is creating a huge database.

Enthusiastic people record each pass, each phase presses, each step runs

With each click and drag of the mouse, the young soccer fans in the analytical room are creating a huge database, changing the way the king sport is played, viewed and analyzed.

We have two outstanding names: Opta and Prozone , the two companies put the parameters of a match to go further than goals and goalkeepers to block the shot. They give us a successful percentage of passes, a number of successes, success rates and more.

Modern cameras cannot follow all of these parameters, so companies provide more rental parameters about real people, most of them young men, doing this extra time. They track and record every game progress.

Young men watch and record every game.

Twelve years ago, Opta has never provided the same football parameters today. In 2001, the company transferred technology from using pen and paper to writing to computers.

As the players celebrate a goal, these dedicated people have time to rewind the goal, while at the same time watching other events take place. In the match, the specialist will track the pass of anyone, hold the mouse and drag the two passes and receive the ball, then note who has just received the pass. On their screen, the background image is a football field image, overlaid on top is a video of the ongoing game.

Looking at this screen, we will be confused about which way. But for professionals who are used to work, that's another story.They hold the mouse, drag the first and last points of the newly made pass, different from the ball position in real time.

Looking at this screen, we will be confused about which way.

The more a strange team formation, the harder their work will be. So when working with a tightly organized team, whichever comes out like Barcelona or Real Madrid, the parameters are much easier to record.

But passion for football is also a strong point when working here. Because it is possible to call this work "allow employees to come and watch the ball and go home". Because of the enthusiasm for football, the atmosphere in the office is like a beer shop, a football café.

There was a complaint from the manager at Opta that: "no matter how hard you try, if Liverpool score a goal while Man City is one goal worse, you will hear screams from Liverpool fans, sometimes sometimes there are some vulgar words ".

Conditions of admission outside of being knowledgeable about football, using technology tools, it is also a flexible eye-hand bonding skill . They all have to type the keyboard quickly without looking down. A top football coach may not even get this skill, but a player does.

In addition to using technology equipment, employees also need to know the eye-hand bonding skills.

Besides human factor is the technology factor

There are quite a few tracking technologies, the circumstances of the tournament will determine which technology is used.

During training, some teams use RedFIR, a technology developed by the Germans. It is a radio transmitter that weighs 15 grams, can be mounted on a shirt, on shoes or even on a ball, signaling receivers placed around the field.

Every event is recorded, such as a pass, a cross, a goal, even a count of steps, speed or a player's field covered. Frauhofer IIS, the company that makes RedFIR, says that this radio wave transmission system is more than any other tracking device, because it will be less likely to be blocked by objects.

Technology of RedFIR.

But it seems FIFA still has not applied this technology, largely because the device weighs 15 grams above will change many things, especially when attached to the ball. Moreover, the player himself did not want to play with a microchip attached to his leg or up the gravure.

The 2014 World Cup saw the Matrics technology helping match index analysts, an image tracking technology developed and produced by Deltatre from Italy. It is installed at every stadium, using a number of technologies and much of the information is manually entered to provide real-time parameters.

The system works like this: three HD cameras are located in 3 different locations to identify 22 players, 3 referees and 1 ball. The system tracks the coordinates of the three subjects, giving information about the screens of a team of 74 people sitting right at the venue. They are supported by another technical team in Italy, which creates Matrics.

The beauty of football lies in the performances of the players on the field.

The algorithms of the pass count system, the ball retention rate - usually, this ratio is calculated by the number of successful passes, and many other parameters; A total of 350 things. The image recognition system is also not fully automated. Before each match, someone needs to manually input information such as the color of the team shirt, the color of the referee, placing the players on the field.

The work of dedicated people behind a computer screen, combined with high-tech cameras, captures the value of players who do not score flashy goals, but those who have passes. As standard, the runners cover a wide yard to control and sweep - It is also the people who play an extremely important role to make a victory.

There will always be fans saying bitter words that the number they care about is the number in the corner of the screen, the score. But no matter what they say, the result is only a part, the beauty of football is also much in the performances of the players on the field.

And after every pass, every run or every shot, in the analysis room of the game, there are diligent people who are recording everything to give us a complete look around the ball.