What Top 5 Roles Did Wearable Tech Play in the European Championships 2016?

If you’re a techie and a football fan, then you must be curious as to what wearable tech line up at this year’s much awaited tournament. The game reaped the many benefits of wearable technology improving team and individual-player performance. Even fan experience was enhanced by this technology enhancing the attendees’ overall immersion in the Games.

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Wearables have been a big part of training for many years, allowing coaches to predict and evaluate performance, and even to identify potential injuries before they happened. Two years ago, the German team used Adidas miCoach to monitor everything from heart rate to speed and distances during training. Many other teams followed suit.

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Last year, FIFA announced that it will have wearable tech ‘standards’ for football. There is no news on when these new standards will take effect, but the future looks promising. Until the rules are revealed, here is a rundown on how wearable tech manifested in Euro 2016.

1. Wearable cameras:  Spanish company FirstV1sion utilized its camera-embedded clothes ensured they will be the next big thing. The wires and cameras are discreetly built into the shirt alongside RF transmission tech, and the whole package delivered broadcast quality recording.

2. More stats for fans:  Player tracking made its way to Europe 2016 via the RFID system by Zebra Technologies. The wireless tracking device was inserted into the players’ shoulder pads to let fans tap into an app and see real time stats—everything from player speed to direction and distance travelled each game. This technology was previously tested in the NFL and the response was great.

3. Smarter plays:  Smart clothing prototypes by Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 used sensors to track the ankle, base of the spine, and knees and sent data wirelessly to smartphones, in real time. This information allowed coaches to track the posture and positioning of multiple players for tactical decisions. It also assisted the coach in deciding when it was time to take somebody off the field.

4. The Football Fan Shirt:  Fan Favorite put out by Wearable Experiments (We:eX) used the skin as an interface with haptic technology connecting fans in real-time through touch to game action such as penalties, shots off goal, red card and goal scoring.

5. Catapult Sport’s OptimEye S5 device:  This wearable technology utilizes data collection for acceleration, direction, position and collision impacts collecting 800-900 data points per second through their sensors.  This high tech is used by both rugby and cycling for training resulting in fewer injuries and increased performance.

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