After a match in the 1990s, footballers would often knock back a few beers on the team bus or enjoy some fish and chips. Now, they treat their bodies better, even if it means being patient with trolls on social media who target them for wearing little black vests that resemble sports bras. The likes of Lionel Messi, Kevin Csoboth and Hwang Hee-Chan are wearing a fitness harness.
GPS-powered (global positioning system) sports vests have been around for years, but usually attract attention only when players celebrate. For example, Csoboth of Hungary couldn’t keep his shirt on after his team’s victory over Scotland during Euro 2024. STATSports, which offers performance data and athlete monitoring solutions, has posted on social media that “every team” Messi has played with (Barcelona, PSG, Inter Miami and Argentina), Leo has been using the company’s technology.
STATSports, for example, supplies the technology to Premier League teams. Catapult is another leader when it comes to GPS wearable devices in the professional game. Then there are companies such as Barin Sports and Hudl.
The vest is designed to hold a pod between the shoulder blades that contains a GPS, an accelerometer and a magnetometer (measures the orientation with the Earth using the magnetic pull of true north). These devices can capture hundreds of data points per second to measure how much and how hard players are working, and both players and coaches are able to analyse data such as total distance, top speed, number of sprints, sprint distance, power, load, intensity, and more.
Such harnesses are proving useful even during the recruitment period, where coaches can identify gems based on metrics like total distance, high-speed running, high-intensity distance, max speed and a score that appears in the app.
Information is also received about how much the opposition was pressuring a team, as defensive and midfield lines move closer together. It may lead to a change in tactics.
There is also an element of safety. If a player’s performance drops significantly over a run of games, it could be a sign of fatigue, leaving them vulnerable to injury, so they can be given extra rest.
It can also reveal if a player is not fit enough, meaning additional work needs to be done.
FIFA, as well as hundreds of clubs worldwide, permit players to wear electronic performance and tracking system devices.
The popularity of these devices is evident from the number of teams using them. STATSports, for instance, states on its website that over 1,900 teams use it globally across sports like football, American football, rugby, baseball and hockey.
Lately, AI-driven metrics have also been introduced to expand the scope of performance data.
Tom Allen, head of sports science and performance at Arsenal FC, uses the STATSports GPS tracker. He said: “Its ability to provide lightning quick and pinpoint accurate live data is paramount to our performance load management.”