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| Google helps the England coach choose his team |
With Europe's biggest soccer tournament nearing, Google is helping England coach Gareth Southgate pick and supervise the most promising players.
One of the main tools is the Player Performance Program developed by The Football Association, the governing body of the Football Association of England, and Google.
The platform aims to centralize various data sources in one place so that managers can track a player's performance.
"We have players in the English Premier League, German League and La Liga every weekend," Southgate said. "We need access to these snapshots and all the data that can be obtained from these matches as soon as possible."
The platform contains thousands of minutes of video and stats data, including passports, completed records, errors detected and distances traveled, as well as data from mathematical analysis company Opta, Scout7 Recruiting, and even BBC.
Southgate came under pressure from spectators due to her excellent English performance in the European Championships. The European Championship began on June 11 in Rome and ended on July 11 at Wembley Stadium in London.
England had never won a league before: the team played four rounds in Italy in 1968 and returned to the country in 1996 after losing to Germany with a penalty kick.
The data gathered from the English players goes far beyond their performance on the field and in the training ground, and their sleep and mental health is monitored.
The player performance platform also contains data recorded by the internet-connected fitness equipment at the team's training ground near Birmingham.
The FA's Chief Information Officer said: “The platform powered by Google opens new horizons for Southgate and other UK coaches and we hope they thrive and win.”
The Football Association's chief information officer has confirmed the existence of other cloud computing service providers such as Microsoft, Amazon and IBM and said that the soccer leagues rely on different products.
He praised Google for its open standards and greater flexibility, saying: Google enables us to work together effectively and integrate with other cloud services.
“The England Players' Performance Platform was created by a team of developers from the Football Association in cooperation with Google and other companies,” said the FA's Chief Information Officer.