Wisła Kraków Football Academy is constantly focused on development and improving the football skills of its players. To this end, coaches working with youth teams turn to technological innovations that provide invaluable support in the process of working with young players. Recently, the Academy acquired the modern PlayerMaker system and VEO cameras, which are used, among others, by the coaches of the U-15 team competing in the Central Junior League.

The PlayerMaker system is a revolutionary solution increasingly used in training and daily work with players at clubs around the world. It is primarily used to monitor the technical and physical aspects of the game, assessing the performance of young players. It collects detailed information about a given footballer’s contact with the ball, their behavior during plays, reactions when off the ball, physical loads, and assessment of their technical versatility. One set consists of 24 trackers and the system. Currently, the solution is used by CLJ U-15 players, although its introduction to the U-14 team is also planned.

“PlayerMaker provides us with comprehensive data that helps us create personalized training plans, showing a given player’s strengths and weaknesses and revealing information about their technique. This allows us, for example, to focus on developing their weaker foot or generally improving their technical skills. In addition, the system provides extensive records of training loads and thus allows us to manage the intensity of training sessions, which creates an opportunity to avoid injuries. In the long term, it shows the progress a given player has made in terms of performance, technique, and tactics,” said CLJ U-15 team coach Dawid Ślusarczyk.

Another recent addition is the VEO cameras, which are available to the Kraków teams. The club has three cameras of this type: two are VEO 3 models, enhanced with additional artificial intelligence-based features, and one is a VEO2. Veo Analytics serves as a modern tool for analyzing data from recorded matches. The information obtained includes team and individual statistics, but the system also makes it possible to track the most important moments of a given match, assess it from a tactical perspective, and use drawing tools to support detailed analysis of situations. In addition, Veo allows users to create individual player profiles, where information about a given appearance can be entered, the progress made by players can be monitored, and personalized reports can be created. The Veo camera also has a Player Spotlight feature for tracking individual player performances by recognizing players through the numbers on their shirts. In this way, the system automatically creates highlights from a given match for a specific player, which can then be discussed by the coach together with the player concerned. The feature also enables the best moments to be added to player profiles, which can be shared with scouts or coaches. In this way, VEO cameras support coaches and their players on the path to development by providing a full range of important information.