This white paper we will focus on football sport, how this sports is getting popularity in India & and other Asian countries and how use of information technology in sports management will benefit the football sport.

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Use of Information Technology for
Sports Management

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Introduction
Sport as cultural and commercial force was centered on Western leagues and teams since the
96 ’s. Past fe ea s e ha e see a ious spo ts a e o i g up e ell i Asia , Middle
East and other regions. There is tremendous change in mindset of people towards various
games. Few year back there were few country specific or region specific games e.g. many
people in Asia particularly, India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Bangladesh etc. use to play cricket (since
this ga e does ’t e ui e spe ial i f ast u tu e a d there is lots of potential when one pursue
this as carrier but there were lots of challenges and competition to get place in national team or
even in state team). But last few years we have seen other sports like football, badminton,
hockey and kabaddi are played across Asia and other regions. There are various leagues
organized by local clubs and companies and local teams are getting opportunities to play with
international teams. The rise of Asian football to global significance is irreversible and that East
and West would benefit from it.
This white paper we will focus on football sport, how this sports is getting popularity in India &
and other Asian countries and how use of information technology in sports management will
benefit the football sport. It is the responsibility of any sport manager to ensure that members
of their organization put in their best towards attainment of set goals of the organization.
Football growth in last 3-4 years
We have seen football sports is growing very fast in Asia and Middle East country. In India alone
there is target to enroll around 11 million kids to play football by promoting this game across
various school, coaching school and clubs. Earlier this game was famous in Europe and it was
being played by various clubs across Europe. In recent times there is a huge response for
football game in Asia and Middle East. India started playing Indian Super league, there is Oman
Premier league and various other leagues started by many more regions. In India alone this
game is getting lots of popularity, there are lots of special coaching school which are coming up
in every major city and there is 5 year road map prepared by big corporates to promote football
in India.
Because of new leagues, there are lots of clubs and their players are getting chance to play
under league team and they are getting opportunities to play with international teams and also
getting coaching from international coaches.

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Qatar having won the bid to host the World Cup in 2022, Asian football would get a new push
towards the global stage after Japan and SouthKorea co-hosted the World Cup in 2002.
We have seen lots of grassroots teams are formed and in country like Oman there are 44 clubs
and each clubs has around 25 to 30 players.
Growth and Infrastructure (Stadium, grounds, coaching staff, physician, medical and other
staff)
For the growing need of the football game, as per the survey by National Skill Development
Corporation, India, for every 1100 field on the field, India need 55 coaches, 25 sports medicine
experts, 22 sports nutrition expert, 15 track & field expert, 50 trainers, 106 strength trainer and
11 sports psychologist. We have seen new stadium or coaching facilities are coming up very
well and there are few malls where we have seen small football turf where people can play and
enjoy football game on daily basis.
Coach, physio, medical staff, support staff and other technical staff is associated with individual
team and every club will have multiple team based on age group or there might be one senior
national team and other various team e.g. U -16, U-19 and U- 22 and these team will good
infrastructure to support their training.
Use of Information Technology in Football sports
With the growing number of teams, number of players under each team and supporting staff;
at so e poi t it e o e e t e el diffi ult to a uall a age the tea ’s/pla e ’s
demographic data and their performance data. It needs information system to smoothly
manage large data so generated. A good football association, club or team generates lots of
data around players, competitions, camps and their day to day activities. Information is very
vital for managers of sports organization or outfit. It allows for management of resources
effectively and also communicate with stakeholders.
Details managed by Football Management application
Any football association, clubs or team will need software application to manage following
piece of information.
 Player details – even though it is simple one word but there is lots of data build around
players and using information technology one can generate analytics to monitor player
performance and overall team performance

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o Player general information – player name, joining date, Player jersey name,
jersey number, club name and team name
o Player technical information – playing at which position, strength and weakness
o Player personal information – date of birth, address, contact details, passport
details, civil id, birth certificate, passport expiry date
o Player physiological details- various details like player physical fitness records,
different fitness test & results, player body measurements, different screening
records. This will also cover different supplement or drugs, their dosage
prescribed to players and prescribed period. This will help to monitor
supplement or drugs effects on their performance.
o Player medical records- capture player injury, treatment, progress, procedure
and any follow-up actions. Incase of any injury it will also capture nature of
injury, which body parts affected by injury, movement of different parts after
injury, pain increase or stable after
o Player contact information- player, relative information and their contact
information (incase of any emergency, these people can be informed)
o Player school, college or working place information- incase of any camp or event,
information will be sent to these institute or organizations
o Previous assignment history- this will capture previous club or team assignment
history
o Psychological details- this will capture player psychological session details
Good application will capture above details about the players and generate various reports to
improve player performance, physical strength, injury and recovery monitoring and various
other reports & analytics
 Team, coaching staff, supporting staff and management team details – every
association, clubs or organization may have one or team. Good application will allow
user to define various team and staff working for the team. It will also give flexibility to
transfer player from one team to another team.
 Competition- flexibility to define various competitions and matches under individual
competitions. Select players for competitions and their positions
o Competitions- flexibility to define competitions and select players for the
competitions. Select position for individual players.
o Matches- define matches under competitions and select player for the matches.
Based on yellow card & red card shown in previous matches, indicate player may
miss next match if players get one more yellow card. Injured player or suspend
players list.

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o These indicator will give good options for coach to select player for the match
and they can also define strategy for the match around specific player.
o Player performance – flexibility to record score and individual player
performance for the match.
o Match performance- flexibility to record overall match performance
o Competition performance – flexibility to record competition performance
Based on above details, coach and staff will be in better position to assess the individual player
performance, match and competition performance and they will take better decision supported
by the data.
 Camp details – flexibility to define various camps and select players for the camp.
Record detail plan covering different activities performed in camp. As part of tracking &
monitoring record details against individual activities, individual player performance and
overall camp performance.
 Random player feedback- flexibility for coach and other staff to record good player
details when they will see other matches and call these player for the match or camp.
 Reporting-
Web application
Since football is outdoor game played across multiple cities or stadium it is advisable to have
web application where user can access application over internet and record various details. It is
important to record detail at source and also ensure integrity of the data. Web application will
be supported by multiple role e.g. player, coach, assistance coach, team manager, kit man,
system admin and medical staff or doctor. Each user will have one or more role and based on
role based access will be given for different features.
Most of the data can be recorded using web application and if application has responsive UI
one can also use Tab or mobile devices and record these details
Mobile App
It will be good to expose few features as part of native app since for coach or other staff
sometime it is difficult to record data using laptop and they can easily use mobile app to record
details e.g. during match they can select player and record his performance and it can be done
in any match. Now a days smart phone is available with almost every user and Mobile App

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become handy tools to record details. Following feature can be exposed through mobile app:
 Random player feedback
 Player match performance (including score, red card or yellow card details and
individual player performance
 Match performance
 Competition performance
 Record camp events
 Player performance in camp
 Camp performance
As mentioned in earlier section, it is important to ensure data capturing at source and for which
mobile application play important role since it will be easier for user to record various details
without carrying laptop of some places it is difficult to carry laptop.
Social Media & SEO
Social media play important role in promoting game and providing relevant awareness across
fan base. Social medial can be used to show case social awareness, awareness about games
and get fan feedback and also to promote various games. This is also cost effective way to
market game.
Using Search engine optimization (SEO)
Using google analytics or other tool one can see how overall performance of the web site can
be improved to get more users. Which different pages are mostly hit and which pages needed
improvement. This is good tool to identify potential improvement in web site content or
improve social media presence.
Reporting Tool
A good application generate lots of data and various report can be generated using reporting
tool or business intelligence (BI) tools.
Summary
In next 2-3 years we will see tremendous growth in football and various sports. All these sports
needs to be properly supported by good infrastructure, skill coaches, physio, medical staff and
technology. Technology will play important role to improve the overall quality of game.

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With increase in demand, more number of people will play game and using proper technology
it will be easier to manage huge data and do predictive analysis or decision supporting. For of
information to be deemed good, it must possess the following – Completeness (helps in
decision making; Relevant to the problem at hand for decision to be taken Timeliness – at the
right time; Accurate for its intended purpose; must be very clear).