How Pixellot is Advancing Israeli Soccer Using AI

With competition from the best teams in the world, the Israeli Football Association is turning to technology to surge forward

Overview

The Israel Football Association (IFA) controls all organized football in Israel since its inception over 90 years ago. Around a thousand teams, ranging from young children, youth, adults both men and women numbering a total of some 30,000 players who are registered with the IFA take part all year round in domestic competitions with hundreds of matches each week.

In the early ’90s, Israel was accepted by the European football community as a full UEFA member. The integration into European sports competition made it necessary to adapt to a high level of play and management.

Background

The Israeli Football Association first approached Pixellot in 2017 to provide advanced video analysis tools for the Israel National Team’s practice facility at the Israel National Football Center. Initially, the IFA utilized the installed systems for their youth teams. After the solution was adopted successfully, the IFA appliedPixellot’s systems to service the practice needs of coaches and analysts as well as for broadcasting games.

Before deploying Pixellot solutions, the IFA filmed matches and training sessions manually. This was a very labor-intensive, inefficient, and expensive way of preparing videos for games and practice sessions. When it came to broadcasting games, they were limited to 10-15 games in total, using manual camera teams.

Challenge

Modernizing Coaching with AI-Automation

When it came to preparing for matches, the IFA relied on typical, old-fashioned training methods since it didn’t have a technologically advanced automated platform. This usually meant relying on a “pair of eyeballs” in the stands and camera operators at the training grounds. It was not easy to make adjustments during the game or analyze player and team performance immediately after the game or during practice sessions.

Additionally, especially with youth teams, families and fans had to go physically to the venue if they wanted to watch their sons and daughters playing. This became even more challenging for international teams during tournaments. The IFA needed a way to streamline and improve their analytics as well as have the means to keep family and fans connected and remotely engaged.

Solution

Automatically film and broadcast – anytime, anywhere

After installing Pixellot systems at the national training center in Shefayim, the IFA was able to easily film games and practices, covering all the activities automatically, without the need for any human intervention. 

In addition, the media department started using the technology to broadcast all international tournaments and major competitions from the National Training Center via Facebook and YouTube. Broadcasting all of the games enabled the IFA to build a community, attract new followers from around the world, and engage local and international fans with its page.

Result

Sharing, editing, and analyzing video footage easily

Pixellot’s technology is helping the national association improve team and player performance both before and during matches. Using the live video feed allows the coaching staff to monitor specific movements and team formation in real-time, improving performance during the game. Moreover, analysts can tag, cut, and share video clips and insights instantly with players and coaches easily and efficiently.

Engaging supporters and building a fan base

Since the IFA broadcasts and streams every live match from the national center, more fans are watching all the action, highlights, and video clips on social media platforms. This has resulted in some unexpectedly positive developments. For example, as a result of the increased exposure to women’s football, the IFA saw a surge in the participation and enrollment of girls in the youth football clubs.

“In my years of playing, the coach had a flipchart or one page on the wall and spoke about the training or game. Today we have all the possibilities.”

Willie Rutenshteiner – Technical director of the IFA

“We use the Pixellot systems to maximize player and team performance. The analysis of training and sports games enables them to be the best they can be”.     

“Using live video allows the team to understand the good things that they did and correct the bad things for future matches.”

Ofer Fabian Under-16 head coach

“We see today that more girls are registering to play football because of the content that we upload to our social media platforms”

Eitan Dotan: Press officer of the IFA