4 minute read
A World First - Hudl Pro Suite Goes Live across Belgian Football
This year, Belgian Pro League and RBFA entered into a
collective agreement with Hudl.
This agreement marks the first major step in the Pro League’s plans to provide all clubs with the tools they need to reach an even higher level, on and off the pitch.
Hudl will be responsible for the delivery and installation of cameras, the use of software for live match analysis, and a video platform. This deal is fully supported by the Pro League clubs.
All 24 Pro League clubs will receive:
A tactical wide-angle camera on the midfield line Two behind-the-goal cameras, or an 18-yard box camera on either side of the pitch Three Hudl Sportscode licenses Access to the league exchange, an online database of all wide-angle footage from every Belgian League game Hudl’s tactical 4K cameras are linked to analysis software, which analysts can use from the sideline to make tactical adjustments in real time.
All stadia will be equipped with access points on the analysis position, on the bench and in the dressing rooms. That this will happen at all clubs is unseen in Europe. Finally, the league exchange tool will simplify sharing games between the clubs.
Roberto Martinez, manager and technical director of the RBFA, explains the value of the partnership to Belgian football.
“It’s essential, for an analyst, for a coach, for a team, for a player, to access the latest technology,” said Martinez. “It allows you to be at the forefront of being part of a high-performance environment.”
John Bessell, Club Brugge Lead Performance Analyst
For RBFA Head of Performance Analysis and Innovation
Luke Benstead, a key strength of this deal is how the entire
federation is impacted.
“The best part about this partnership with Hudl is that it
contacts all areas of football within Belgium,” said Benstead.
“So it’s not just men’s football in the Pro League, but also
women’s football and academy football and amateur football.”
Every angle of match day is covered.
One of the most powerful aspects of Hudl is the tools
it provides coaches and analysts on match day. A
simple connection to a laptop provides access to three
angles, which seamlessly powers the live coding and
tagging process.
“When we arrive at the stadium, it’s an easy process,” said
John Bessell, Club Brugge’s lead performance analyst. “The
cameras in each of the stadiums in Belgium are fantastic, it’s
just a matter of plugging in to the network portal, straight into
the computer to get the three angles.“ from the wide-angle footage, which can be shown to players
and coaches for strategic changes or individual feedback.
Improve training ground analysis.
At Club Brugge’s training ground, Hudl cameras are installed
high above their pitches to allow for live tagging and analysis,
same as during a live match scenario.
“We arrive, the coaching team discuss obviously what they
want to work on throughout the day, and a big part of it for me
is to see what drills are on where and what’s important for the
session,” said Bessell.
“Then we look to program the cameras, and I sometimes
manually control with the joystick where we need to film. We
also tag live, and the vision is to have live footage on the field
as well to give immediate feedback.”
In terms of installation, Bessell and his team were pleased
with how easy Hudl’s expert consultants made the install.
“In the initial stages, Hudl was fantastic,” said Bessell. “The
calibration of the cameras was fantastic, and to go up in the
servers, things like that; the specialists did a perfect job. I’ve always had a Hudl consultant easily available by phone.”
Education is a key building block.
Providing cutting-edge technology for match and training analysis is at the heart of this deal. But the long-term sustainability of the partnership rests on education.
To best utilize the new technology, Hudl’s educational courses will provide support to Belgium coaches and analysts. Initial workshops out of the RBFA headquarters in Tubize have already been held to cover the new wide-angle capture system, with further courses planned for the season.
The idea of education isn’t just to teach current analysts how to use the new tools at their disposal, but also to drive their knowledge upwards over time. Club Brugge academy analyst Jelmer Platteeuw was an attendee at the initial workshops, and has already seen the value in the ongoing education.
“The Hudl courses, they helped me quite a lot during my development as an analyst,” said Platteeuw. “But also Hudl and Sportscode were really new for me, and through these courses, I learned quite fast the specifications of Hudl and Sportscode.”
Benstead believes education is a key pillar for the development of the Belgian analyst.
“This deal is nothing without the educational support that Hudl has provided,” said Benstead. “The best thing about Hudl is they understood the journey these analysts would go on, that they need to go on with them as well.”
