Footbar Meteor tracker: a data tracker for everyone

Hailing from France, Footbar is a football technology startup aiming to boost personal performance by providing individualised data to athletes via the organisation’s flagship product – the Meteor tracker. 

Guided by the desire to “democratise access to artificial intelligence in soccer”, Footbar’s Meteor tracker is a non-intrusive and affordable product designed for use by amateurs and professionals.

Headed by experienced individuals in the footballing world such as Stéphane Martin (former president of Girondins de Bordeaux) and Jacques D’Arrigo (former director at Nike and Girondins de Bordeaux), the company has flourished.

Having previously been recognised as the first tracker to be endorsed by the KNVB (Dutch Football Association) and awarded by the FFF (French Football Federation),  Footbar has also enjoyed an extremely successful 2024.

Commercially, the company sold over 30,000 trackers across the year while crucially expanding its club portfolio through gaining 80 contracts with professional and amateur clubs, including big names such as RB Leipzig, Rayo Vallecano, FC Groningen and FC Metz.

The Meteor Tracker 

Designed for clubs and players across the world, the Meteor tracker is an easy to use and comfortable tool.

Instead of being obtuse, bulky or heavy, the Meteor is an incredibly small and lightweight device that either sits in a leg sleeve or is strapped to an athletes’ calf, depending on the player’s choice, in order to measure their performance.

Validated and certified through rigorous testing by Dutch sports analysis company Inmotio, Footbar’s Meteor tracker has been proven to accurately track two types of data.

The first type is technical data, this range of statistics covers explicit footballing actions. Meteor records the following technical data:

  • Shots: Number of shots taken, including clearances and crosses.
  • Max Shot: Fastest shot taken, recorded in km/h.
  • Average Shot: Average speed in km/h of all shots taken.
  • Pass: Number of passes made.
  • Possession: Number of seconds with ball.

The second set of data is physical data, covering non-footballing actions. Meteor tracks physical data such as.

  • Distance: Total distance moved, recording in kilometers.
  • Activity: Proportion of distance covered while running.
  • Sprint Max: Fastest speed achieved.
  • Race: Total time ran, recorded in minutes and seconds.
  • Sprints: Number of times a player recorded a speed 30% above average pace.
  • Average Sprint: The average speed of all recorded sprints.

Utilising artificial intelligence, Footbar breaks down all data recorded by the Meteor and conveys into a digestible format which can be simply accessed through the tracker’s companion app “Footbar”, available on the Apple App Store, or Google Play. This allows coaches and players to access match data on the fly, in their hand, in an easily understandable package.

Acknowledging the long stints players are active for, Footbar has developed the Meteor tracker to be operational for six hours without charging, ensuring coaches do not have to worry about recharging equipment in-between double header matches or long training sessions, letting them focus on what is important.

However, in the event the Meteor tracker needs to recharge, the device has a rapid average charging time of 30 minutes, allowing it to be quickly ready for action. Additionally, the Meteor tracker utilises a small USB adapter, making it easily portable and versatile.

Conclusion 

Having delivered 30,000 products to professional and amateur clubs, across all continents and in 134 countries, Footbar has evolved from a simple start up to a global frontrunner through delivering a world-leading product in the Meteor tracker.

Armed with a global face advertising the brand in Raphaël Varane, Footbar continues to grow, achieving 12 million views on TikTok in 2024 from 30,000 in 2023.

As the organisation’s momentum continues to push it further into the future, the Meteor repeatedly delivers excellence for clubs across the world and could be a valuable tool to elevate those looking to improve.

 

 

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Uplift Labs: Redefining movement analytics in sports

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Uplift Labs was created by co-founders Sukemasa Kabayama, Jonathan Wills, and Rahul Rajan. Each brings years of experience in tech innovation, uniting their expertise to build a cutting-edge startup dedicated to improving human movement.

Mission

Uplift Labs is driven by a mission to enhance human movement performance across all aspects of life.

Their AI-powered technology delivers advanced analytics designed to optimise performance while reducing the risk of injury across sports, fitness, and daily activities.

With a strong focus on movement and health, Uplift places human interaction at the forefront of coaching and training, helping people move better in all areas of life.

Key Partnerships

Uplift Labs collaborates with a range of leading organisations to push the boundaries of movement technology, including:

LAFC

AWS Startups

Nvidia Inception Program

Driveline Baseball

Athletes Unlimited

Investment Profile

Uplift Labs is backed by a prestigious group of institutional and individual investors. This includes prominent professional athletes such as Seth and Callie Curry, David DeCastro, Eric Gagné, Marc Gasol, Andrew Luck, and Renee Montgomery, as well as celebrated Olympic medallists including Kosei Inoue, Kosuke Kitajima, and Yuki Ota.

With a unique combination of cutting-edge AI, strategic partnerships, and world-class support, Uplift Labs is poised to transform how movement is understood, trained, and optimised.

Solutions

The company’s solutions are split into three categories of Sports performance, Sports medicine and Sports media. This is Uplift’s vision on how to tackle these issues in sports.

Sports Performance

Gather accurate and reliable data for comprehensive movement analysis.

Track 28 key points to generate kinematics and movement-specific events and metrics across entire athletic movements.

Optimise your athletes’ movement performance.

Elevate your assessment of athletic movements and unlock athletes’ full potential by analysing functional movements using only iOS devices.

Make data and insights accessible and easy to understand.

Evaluate player movements in a variety of ways across your organisation, from detailed kinematic data to directional reporting and 3D visualisations.

Sports Medicine

Quantify movement health to improve baselines, boost performance, and reduce injury risk.

Establish baseline movement abilities to track improvements and identify potential risk factors.

Perform detailed movement assessments.

Evaluate players or patients and generate reports with valuable, actionable insights. Using iPhones or iPads, our solution reliably captures biomechanical and kinematic data in any environment.

Prioritise player health by minimising injury risks.

Maximise performance and reduce risks by collecting detailed movement data that highlights deficiencies and identifies opportunities for improvement.

Support rehabilitation and recovery with objective measurements.

Use individualised movement analyses, reports, and visualisations to develop informed return-to-play programming and rehabilitation plans. Provide precise Individual Patient reports to guide recovery.

Sports Media

Captivate fans with biomechanical data overlays during live games.

Boost fan engagement by presenting exciting content that overlays biomechanical data, offering a new perspective on elite athletic performance.

Deliver valuable insights in real-time.

Integrate Uplift with your media production pipeline to analyse player movement and provide instant, ready-to-use insights during live commentary or replays.

Enhance the fan experience with clear, engaging visuals.

Offer simple, engaging data on athlete performance and skills to help fans connect with the action. Provide fresh insights for commentary and graphics, helping fans better understand movement analysis in the context of their favourite sports.

Conclusion

As soccer continues to evolve, technology like Uplift Labs’ AI-powered movement analysis is becoming increasingly vital for the sport’s future.

By providing accurate, real-time data and actionable insights, Uplift empowers clubs, players, and medical staff to optimise performance, prevent injuries, and enhance player health.

The ability to track and analyse movement in such detail not only elevates athletic development but also opens new avenues for fan engagement and storytelling.

Making Football Fairer: Dreamstock DSFootball Platform

Player scouting is one of the most challenging and vitally important tasks a club has to manage, without fresh and skillful new players a club will struggle to compete with its peers.

However, scouting can take a significant amount of time, manpower and research, leaving clubs with less resources at a significant disadvantage.

Additionally, for young players aiming for a professional career in football it can be extremely difficult to get noticed, especially if they are unable to frequently travel to far away tryouts.

To bridge the gap, Japanese organisation Dreamstock aims to reshape traditional scouting procedures via technology.

Launched in 2017, Dreamstock operates one of the largest online player selection platforms in the world – DSFootball.

Via DSFootball, Dreamstock strive to achieve three goals on the path to make football fairer for upcoming talents:

  • Create connections between club and players.
  • Generate opportunities through technology and innovation.
  • Transform the scouting market with transparency

DSFootball Platform 

Available in two packages, DSFootball is a multifaceted platform designed to aid both clubs and players. The first package is designed for grassroots clubs and academy players, while the second is a premium version tailored for professional clubs and players.

Through the DSFootball app, players create a profile that details their physical attributes, location, position and footballing history. Additionally, they can upload video clips of their performances to entice clubs to contact them.

For clubs, the DSFootball platform allows them to search for the perfect players to fit their unique needs by filtering their searches.

The platform houses a vast and expansive youth database for players across the U13, U15, U17 and U20 age groups, presenting the aforementioned player profiles to clubs.

These profiles showcase the important player information scouts need to know, so they can determine if potential players are suitable for them or note. Most importantly, the profiles showcase valuable game footage and clips, allowing scouts and coaches to see the potential of players without travelling to see them in person.

Through the DSFootball platform, clubs can individually contact interesting players via their profiles, or they can launch scouting events and tryouts to assess players in person. Furthermore, DSFootball allows for direct contact to player representatives to foster important connections and conversations.

Via DSFootball, Dreamstock provides a way for clubs to access and scout players they normally never would have been able to under traditional methods, as it drastically reducing barriers for upcoming young players.

In providing each of these services, DSFootball acts as a one-stop-shop for clubs, significantly reducing the amount of hassle they are subjected to.

Global Impact 

Developing from its two headquarters in Brazil and Japan, Dreamstock has achieved significant success in its short lifespan via the DSFootball platform. With the company and its platform having grown active in over 36 countries, encompassing more than 200 clubs and 50 leagues.

Through their work, Dreamstock has fostered key partnerships with premier competitions such as the Bundesliga, Serie A, Eredivisie and even Australia’s very own A-League.

As a product, DSFootball has been revolutionary. With over one million registered players on DSFootball, Dreamstock has created a premier destination for clubs to select future stars from, connecting players to clubs at a faster and more expansive rate than ever before.

For players, DSFootball has proven to be an excellent way to develop personally and attract attention from clubs. Of the one million plus registered players on the DSFootball platform, more than 100,000 are active participants in selection.

There is no sign of Dreamstock slowing down either, attaining over two million website views each month, illustrating a continued desire for the platform.

For more information on Dreamstock and the DSFootball platform, click here.

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