Throughout the duration of the FIFA Club World Cup 2021 in Abu Dhabi, FIFA’s Technical Study Group (TSG) are tasked with selecting the Man of the Match. A team of analysts monitors, tracks and codes the performance of every player, noting a player’s movement, with and without the ball, how many times they break through lines of defence, and how much pressure they put on opposition ball carriers. This analysis means that over 15,000 data points are collected per game. The vision of Arsène Wenger, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development is for such data to be used to increase and develop the understanding of the game for team analysts, coaches and players. As well as for media, and to improve the fan experience. In the opening match between Al Jazira and AS Pirae, the host team’s Mohamed Jamal was selected by our TSG as Man of the Match with an impressive performance in centre midfield.

The second game of the tournament took place at the Al Nahyan Stadium as Al Ahly faced CF Monterrey. Despite being without many first-team players due to Egypt’s continued participation in the AFCON, Al Ahly, inspired by a standout performance from their captain Ramy Rabia. A deeper analysis of the game can be found on the FIFA Training Centre.

In the third match of the tournament, attacking midfielder Matheus Pereira of Saudi club Al Hilal was selected as Man of the Match with an influential performance, particularly in relation to attacking play. With one goal from his four attempts in addition to one assist, he also applied 50 defensive pressures when his team were out of possession.

Analysts are using the new FIFA Football Language, which has been over two years in the making. It provides an open resource for coaches and players all across the world, aligning technical expertise and developing all levels of the game. These insights will also be used at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ to better understand trends at the very top of the game.

The FIFA Technical Study Group in Abu Dhabi are Pascal Zuberbühler, capped 51 times for Switzerland, who is now FIFA’s Goalkeeping specialist. Former England manager Steve McClaren who also coached in The Netherlands and Germany. Alberto Zaccheroni, in a 35 year managerial career, coached in four countries, including spells at AC Milan, Internazionale, Lazio, Juventus and Torino among others. Roy Aitken made almost 500 appearances for Celtic and was capped 57 times as a player, before coaching in Scotland, England and the UAE. The aforementioned quartet are supported by Chris Loxston, Group Project Leader of FIFA’s Football Performance Analysis & Insights team, together with football analysts, data engineers, data scientists and performance analysts based both in Abu Dhabi, and in the UK.

The FIFA Training Centre has been launched as an innovative tool that is available to players and coaches all across the world. With a comprehensive bank of technical football information, the online academy features insightful resources developed by the sport’s leading experts and illustrates FIFA’s goal to harness technology for the benefit of the global game.