Sky Sports gets an insight into a new analysis of footballing performances as adidas and Opta join forces to identify one of the game's most sought-after style of player
Thursday 25 April 2013 17:26, UK
Sky Sports learns about a new method of discovering the box-to-box, hardworking footballer.
The box-to-box, hardworking gem is the type of player most managers dream of having in their team. That specific individual can sometimes prove difficult to find. But not anymore. For the last two years, adidas have been working behind the scenes to identify the category of player they have called 'The Engine'. Now they have revealed a partnership with leading sports data provider, Opta, who can confirm the existence of this player. Based on the adidas insight, Opta have helped to reveal the fundamental character of 'The Engine' by finding out how to measure and quantify his performances. They have produced a mathematical algorithm which defines the perfect 'Engine' player and will be used to track their performance. Some of the players believed to fit 'The Engine' stereotype are Bayern Munich's Javi Martinez and Barcelona's Dani Alves, who met in Tuesday night's UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg when Bayern battered Barcelona 4-0, along with Roma's Daniele De Rossi & Paris St Germain's Ezequiel Lavezzi. Opta CEO Aidan Cooney said: "We are delighted to be working with adidas on confirming the existence of 'The Engine' player. Modern football fans are passionate about comparing, contrasting and analysing their favourite players' performances." With the help of Opta and their database of statistics and insights, the algorithm will be used to pinpoint 'The Engine' performances week in, week out. Certain indicators, such as work-rate, pitch coverage, and on/off-ball statistics will be measured and players will be scored out of 100. adidas and Opta will analyse data from key matches from the Champions League and the Confederations Cup and highlight 'The Engine' players via an index entitled 'The Engine Scale' before then producing the results as infographics and other statistic-based imagery. And Claus-Peter Mayer, adidas vice president global sports marketing football, said: "Working with Opta has confirmed that adidas have found 'The Engine' footballer. 'The Engine' is a player we have been focusing on in recent years in terms of our footwear development and player recruitment, so for the world's leading data provider to prove this insight through their scientific analysis is a fantastic and exciting development." For further information please go to facebook.com/adidasfootball, optasports.com or @adidasfootball and @optasuit on twitter and join the conversation with #TheEngine