“A huge evolution that keeps on growing“
Our next person in our blog series that shines his light over the evolution of data in football is very known in the belgian football world. First as a football player but now as an assistant coach at KV Kortrijk. The headcoach of KV Kortrijk, Karim Belhocine is interested in some aspects of data but especially makes sure he is surrounded with a team of experts that advise him based on data & video. It seemed very useful to see Gunter’s vision on data and how it’s being used at his current club.
“If we analyze our next opponent their physical data is also relevant next to the tactical data, it’s more the basic information that’s being shared with the team instead of going further into detail."
Gunter himself has been in the football industry for a very long time already, first as a player but now as a coach as well. He has witnessed a lot of changes in the sport, one of them being the emerging role of data.
Evolution of data
“ The evolution is huge, in the past we occasionally worked with videos during presentations or other meetings but now it’s easier to work with data, it has become essential. All the footage and information is clipped and given to you that it’s just a vital and easy tool to dispose.”
Gunter also has his UEFA A license which he recently achieved. During these courses he had a lot of meetings and information about the future and the current use of data.
“ I was shocked to see how a game can be analyzed and put into data driven benchmarks. I can see the benefit of all this but you need to be able to link it with the reality if you can put it into the right context. If not, it loses his value.“
Not only the coaching staff but also the players get more and more interested in data to see their own performances and results. How many sprints, high intensity meters and the list goes on and on.
A lot of players are more interested in their personal results compared to the collective results. They wanna see if they had more sprints than another player or if they run faster. It creates a sort of competition to be the best each training and game.
