What is technology in football?
In the past 2 years, Vietnam's national teams as well as clubs have recognized the importance of applying technology to training and competition.
"All factors from technique, physical strength, even psychology can be measured by charts, data by devices, software called football technology. Technical quantification such as number of passes, accurate pass rate...; physical quantification such as heart rate, frequency of movement...; are increasingly interested and developed by sports companies.
For Vietnam, football technology is actually a concept that has been around for 10 years. But at that time, thinking about technology only existed in terms of information. The practical application of technology in club operations was not really developed at that time," said Mr. Le Minh Dung - former assistant of the Vietnam National Team, former Executive Director of Can Tho and Pho Hien clubs.
Mr. Le Minh Dung analyzed: "Currently, some Vietnamese clubs have begun to apply technology more seriously and professionally in football. For example, at Hanoi club, the management board has taken advantage of statistical data to scout players. They also hired fitness coaches and cooperated with partners to develop electronic devices and GPS chips to monitor player activities in the past few years. This model has also been applied by PVF Center and Hoang Anh Gia Lai club".
However, not every Vietnamese football team is enthusiastic about applying technology to football.
"It is known that at this time, 3-4 football technology suppliers are ready to "invite" Vietnamese clubs with prices ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 USD/year for 1 team. Each supplier has different packages, from providing basic equipment for monitoring player fitness such as GPS chips, shirts to higher-level machinery systems such as strength meters, automatic video image analysis systems, player performance analysis... I myself have talked to V.League club leaders. They approach the explosion of football technology with a cautious mentality. Time is what these leaders need to understand the nature and value that technology brings. I need to emphasize that data does not mean right or wrong. They only provide more reference information before making decisions," said Mr. Dung.
Scientific experience from national tournament
In the context of Vietnamese clubs being divided into two halves, ready or hesitant to approach and use technology in training and competition, the unit accompanying V.League, FPT Play, has boldly applied AI to bring experiences to viewers watching on television.
Mr. Tran Quy Long - Deputy Director of FPT Play's V.League project - shared: "Statistical technology is progressing at an extraordinary speed, thanks to the development of AI. That is also the focus of FPT Corporation in general, FPT Play in particular. We want to take advantage of our strength in V.League. The idea is to create statistics for V.League matches, thereby helping the audience watching the match have more professional indicators, better understand the match".
Currently, all matches in V.League 2024-2025 provide data about goals, assists, cards, starting lineups, ball possession, number of shots, number of shots on target, passes, successful pass rate, fouls, etc. Thanks to that, fans, in addition to enjoying the matches in the traditional way, can also refer to specific data about player performance. Love, hate, right or wrong determination of a face, team is also demonstrated and quantified by detailed numbers.
"Activities on the field will be counted by the second. Passing the ball, finishing, kicking the ball, committing fouls... are all considered recorded actions. Then we will put the data into specific categories, classifying them into defined indicators," said Mr. Tran Quy Long.
He also emphasized that in the future there will be further criteria, upgraded in stages with more in-depth statistics.
