Want to know where on the pitch Zlatan Ibrahimovic spends most of his time during a match? How about a real-time reenactment of an exciting attacking move that tracks every player’s movements on the pitch, as well as the ball and the referee?

TRACAB Chief Executive Johan Apel says that the Stockholm-based company uses the same technology as SAAB’s missile-guidance systems to track the movements of footballers and to provide broadcasters and broadband media with real-time individual and aggregated statistics.

“We set up 16 cameras around the pitch and the video is analyzed by image-processing algorithms,” Apel says. “The process of capturing, processing and delivering the information is done in 1/25 of a second.”

Viewers of the qualifying matches for Euro 2008, held in Austria and Switzerland this summer, were already familiar with heat maps, radar views and virtual replays that TRACAB makes available under its 2006 to 2009 agreement with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

For fans on the fixed internet, TRACAB has developed sites with UEFA sponsor Castrol, as well as with the online version of Sweden’s Aftonbladet newspaper. TRACAB has also developed java-based mobile applications that deliver information to subscribers.

“Online is where we have the biggest traction,” Apel says. “In Sweden, Zoom, which is a match center on Aftonbladet, gives the consumer a fantastic live experience. If they don’t have access to the broadcast, they can follow the game online and get fixed 3-D real-time representation of the game; or if they watch the game, they can use their PC for supplementary information.”

Apel says that the next frontier for the technology will likely be the US, where he says there is interest in using the applications for basketball and American football broadcasts. TRACAB supports football broadcasts worldwide, including Egypt, Russia and Sweden.

“It makes the live broadcast better,” Apel says. “It gives the fans more information during the game, but the biggest advantage is how it enhances the pre-match and post-mast broadcasts, where there is time for more analysis.”

The software enables the creation of real-time player profiles that show such performance metrics such as the speed they reach in certain situations and at certain times in the game, to whom each player passed and whether the passes were successful or not.

“There is huge interest from teams to get this data,” Apel adds. Though the company’s main focus is media, he says that TRACAB will focus on adding football clubs to its client portfolio after the Euro 2008.

Beyond association football, Apel says that TRACAB is testing products for American and Australian football, as well as rugby. “American football is probably the next step, together with basketball. We have a big interest from the US market,” he says.

David Callahan