Aspire launches new era of football technology with player app

Aspire Academy continues to help lead the way in Qatar’s football development as it launched the innovative Qatar Player App yesterday.The launch event, hosted at Aspire Academy’s Football Performance Centre, was attended by the representatives of partners in the project, including the Qatar Stars League (QSL), the Qatar Football Association, and the clubs, who were represented by coaches, players and officials.Ali Salem Afifa, Aspire’s Deputy Director General, began the launch by emphasising the Academy’s ongoing commitment to technological advancement in sports."This digital platform represents a significant milestone in Qatar’s football development journey,” said Ali Salem Afifa. "It embodies our commitment to nurturing talent through innovation and technology.”Miguel Heitor, Director of Football Development at QSL, followed with remarks highlighting the collaborative spirit behind the project."As QSL, we have been committed to presenting all the information and data to co-ordinate with Aspire to improve Qatar’s football ecosystem further,” Heitor explained."We have over 1,700 games assessed and analysed with event data and physical data, and there is nowhere in the Middle East or indeed worldwide with this amount of information."As QSL, we are helping to feed this information to all the stakeholders, to QFA, Aspire, and the main clubs with the intention of improving and enhancing football in Qatar.”During his comprehensive presentation, Valter Di Salvo, Director of Football Performance & Science at Aspire Academy, showcased how the custom application seamlessly integrates data from across Qatar’s football ecosystem, including QSL clubs, national teams, and the Academy itself.The system, developed over the last decade by Aspire Academy’s Football Performance and Science department, sets a new benchmark in sports performance technology.Andre Fornaziero, Head of Physiology at Aspire Academy, demonstrated the capabilities of the custom app, which will only be accessible to the players and the relevant club officials.He showcased how players can instantly access their match statistics, review personal achievements, and analyse their performance through video replays.The morning’s proceedings highlighted how the technology enables coaches to receive real-time wellness updates from their players, facilitating more informed training decisions. Players can study upcoming opponents’ playing styles and tactical approaches, adding a new dimension to match preparation that was previously available only at the highest levels of professional football.The Qatar Player App, which is a development of 2017’s Qatar Football Analytics Dashboard, will continue to evolve in the future, with nutrition and injury tracking being just two ideas being considered.Qatar’s national team captain, Abdulaziz Hatem, who plays for Al Rayyan, has no doubts about how important the app will be for players."This is going to help us a lot by giving us access to a lot of details. I’m going to get to know a lot about yourself, what you did, what you can improve, and in an easy way too, using an app on your phone,” he said. "It’s a very big opportunity for us to let us to improve. Over time will get used to using the app and they will make full use of it because this, it’s very good for the players. His thoughts were echoed by Al Ahli coach Igor Biscan, who also played at the highest level in Europe."Massive compliments to all the people that were involved in making this application. It’s a huge help for every coach, and I would say even for the players,” he said."It’s a great tool. It’s a great help for every coach to be able to analyse and evaluate on a daily basis and then create the content to optimise the performance of your players.”"It’s something really unique, and I believe that we might see something similar to this in some other countries, other leagues, and other organisations, which will be the best proof that this is something that everybody needs.