German Football Club to Utilize SAP Solutions

SINSHEIM, Germany, Nov. 11 – SAP AG today announced an expansion of its relationship with the German Bundesliga football club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim to include SAP solutions leveraging Big Data and Internet of Things innovations that help analyze player activity data. With innovative training and game evaluations based on data collected from wearable sensors and analyzed in SAP HANA, the club can gain real-time insight into player and team playing behavior, which can help improve performance. The announcement was made at the SAP Forum for Sports and Entertainment, being held November 11 in Sinsheim, Germany.

“SAP is a long-standing partner, and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim has used software by SAP intensively and successfully for many years,” said Peter Rettig, CEO, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. “With this new development, we are taking our performance to the next level. SAP technology will give us an immediate advantage over our competition.”

To support the analysis of player performance, SAP and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim are developing a real-time player analysis solution based on sensor data and in-memory geospatial processing of SAP HANA. Placing special sensors in shin guards, clothing and the ball itself, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim collects an enormous amount of actionable data from training, which is stored, processed and analyzed by using SAP HANA. Based on these analyses, trainers are developing new ways to improve the players’ game. Capability characteristics, such as acceleration, speed and ball contacts are calculated in real time for individual players or the whole team and visualized via an easily configurable user interface. This data is used to personalize training to strategically target the strengths and weaknesses of each player and help create the most effective training plan possible. For instance, spatial analytics can be applied to individual and team movement profiles in order to track distances, speed averages and ball possession as well as player tendencies. The information can also be used to help reduce the risk of injury and ultimately boost levels of play.

“Whether in the regional or the top league in German football, we have supported TSG 1899 Hoffenheim as a technology partner,” said Gerd Oswald, member of the Executive Board of SAP AG, Scale, Quality & Support. “The real-time analysis of player and team performance based on SAP HANA will help not only to elevate levels of play, but provide foresight to customize trainings accordingly and in a way not previously possible.”