Measuring the Immeasurable: How StepOut is Transforming Football Analytics

Match analysis demands long hours of tedious, menial work. Analysts hand-crop clips, rewatch sequences and track every individual player, burning exorbitant amounts of time and money.

Even with entire teams dedicated to the task, analysts cannot fully interpret or understand the movements, positioning and actions of every player at every moment.

When Key Data Gets Lost

As a result, even large clubs allow critical data to fly under the radar. Professional analysis can misread causes, misconstrue effects and realise inaccurate conclusions. Players pay the price. When analysts miss key actions, they fail to properly assess individual contributions.

So much more goes into winning games than the striker who scores, or the keeper who saves. Collective pressure, positioning, and presence does. Its intangibility and sheer complexity means it can never be properly evaluated by humans.

StepOut addresses this gap with AI-powered software that streamlines and optimises the analytical process. Coaches upload a video recording of a match, and the platform produces clear, usable data analytics for every player. Unlike human analysts, StepOut evaluates every metric, movement and action simultaneously, without fatigue or bias.

The company’s mission is simple: deliver more accurate sports analytics that turn today’s talent into tomorrow’s stars. By extending elite-level analysis to under-resourced grassroots clubs, StepOut builds a more equal, merit-based football ecosystem.

Impact at the Frontline of Australian Football

Now partnered with more than 7,500 clubs worldwide, StepOut operates across Europe, Asia and the Americas. In Australia, its influence is most visible at the frontline of player development.

Partnerships with Football NSW, Geelong Galaxy, Kalamunda United and Manly United have integrated the platform into local pathways, embedding elite analysis into everyday training and match preparation.

Player Management Director at Football NSW, Phil Myall describes the software as “essential for coding player actions and offering stats that improve our strategy”, underscoring its growing role in how Australian clubs assess performance and develop talent.

Recognition from Football’s Elite

Internationally, StepOut has earned recognition through awards in Ajax’s Reimagine Football Challenge and Real Madrid’s Next Accelerator for Asia.

Ajax, renowned for its data-driven development model and tactical innovation, identified StepOut as a tool capable of enhancing talent identification and player growth. Real Madrid’s accelerator placed the platform among a select group of technologies shaping the future of football performance across emerging markets.

These accolades reinforce StepOut’s credibility at the highest level. In an industry crowded with untested analytics platforms and superficial metrics, endorsement from elite clubs signals trust, rigour and scalability. The recognition confirms that StepOut’s models deliver not just technical sophistication, but practical value in real football environments. For grassroots clubs and developing players, this validation matters. It ensures access to technology trusted by the game’s most powerful institutions.

At its core, StepOut builds its brand on accessibility and precision. The platform’s intuitive interface removes complexity rather than adding to it. Coaches do not need analytical backgrounds or data expertise; StepOut converts indecipherable VODs into clear, actionable insights. By lowering technical and financial barriers, the software empowers clubs that previously lacked access to advanced performance tools.

Redefining Performance in the Modern Game

Across the broader football ecosystem, StepOut is reshaping how the sport defines success and contribution. By measuring off-ball movement, spatial awareness and defensive cohesion, the platform captures the game’s unseen dimensions. This shift encourages smarter coaching, sharper scouting and a deeper understanding of football’s collective nature. Over time, it may reshape how clubs train, select and value players.

As StepOut expands across competitions and continents, its brand has become synonymous with clarity, fairness and innovation. It does not replace human judgement; it strengthens it. In a sport where marginal gains decide careers and outcomes, the ability to measure what was once immeasurable is transformative. StepOut is not just analysing matches, it is redefining how performance is understood and who earns the opportunity to be recognised.

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FCA to Host Exclusive Two-Part Goalscoring Workshop Series with Dr Ron Smith

One of Australian football’s most respected coaching minds shares decades of research ahead of the FIFA Men’s World Cup.

Football Coaches Australia (FCA) has announced an exclusive two-part coach education series featuring renowned coach educator and football analyst Dr Ron Smith, offering coaches a rare opportunity to explore the evolving science of goalscoring through the lens of one of Australia’s most influential football thinkers.

The online workshops, scheduled for June 1 and June 8, will examine the historical development, modern trends and future direction of goalscoring in football, drawing on extensive research that formed the foundation of Dr Smith’s doctoral studies.

For FCA, the sessions represent the culmination of more than a year of planning and provide a timely opportunity for coaches to deepen their understanding of attacking play ahead of the FIFA Men’s World Cup.

“Ron’s work on goalscoring has been years in the making and continues to evolve,” FCA President Ian Greener said.

“We felt there was no better time to bring this knowledge to the coaching community than in the lead-up to the World Cup, when coaches around the world will be analysing the game’s best teams and players.”

Across the two sessions, Dr Smith will present findings from his extensive research into goalscoring patterns and trends, examining how the game has changed over time and what coaches can learn from football’s biggest tournaments.

Topics covered throughout the series will include:

  • Historical analysis of goalscoring trends
  • How goalscoring has evolved in the modern game
  • Key patterns identified through Dr Smith’s research
  • Scoring trends across the last six FIFA Men’s World Cups
  • Comparisons between men’s and women’s World Cup tournaments
  • The role of pressing, transition moments and direct play in creating goals
  • Practical coaching implications for improving attacking performance

The two-part structure has been intentionally designed to build upon itself. Session One will focus on the evidence, data and research underpinning Dr Smith’s findings, while Session Two will explore the practical applications and coaching interventions that can emerge from that analysis.

Football Australia has accredited both workshops with one Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hour each, allowing coaches to earn two CPD hours by attending both sessions.

Dr Smith’s coaching and coach education credentials span decades. He has worked extensively with Football Australia, the Australian Institute of Sport and the Socceroos, while also holding coaching roles internationally in Iceland and Malaysia, as well as within the A-League.

His contributions to coach development have helped shape generations of Australian coaches, making this series a valuable opportunity for coaches across all levels of the game.

Event Details

History and Future of Goalscoring – Session One
Date: Monday, June 1, 2026
Time: 7:30pm AEST
Format: Online
CPD: 1 Football Australia-accredited CPD hour

Following the completion of the FIFA Men’s World Cup, FCA is also planning a special panel discussion featuring leading Australian and international coaching voices to analyse the key tactical developments, trends and lessons emerging from the tournament.

Further details regarding that event are expected to be released later this year.

FCA members can attend the workshops free of charge, while guest registrations are available through Eventbrite.

Football NSW calls on clubs to Make It Red for Heart Health Round

Football NSW is calling on clubs and associations across the state to register for the 2026 Make It Red campaign, joining a national awareness movement aimed at reducing heart-related deaths on sporting grounds ahead of Heart Health Round on the weekend of June 5 to 7.

The campaign, developed by the Heartbeat of Football Foundation, asks sporting clubs to wear red, raise funds and build awareness around heart disease and sudden cardiac arrest, which is the leading single cause of disease burden and death in Australia for both men and women, and one that health authorities say is largely preventable through modifiable risk factors.

The call to action comes as the Foundation continues its work to map and register Automated External Defibrillators across NSW sporting facilities, a project that has already engaged twelve football associations and fed data into both the NSW Ambulance GoodSAM registry and NSW Health’s public AED map. The availability of a functioning, registered AED on site is among the most significant determinants of survival following sudden cardiac arrest, with survival rates declining sharply for every minute without defibrillation.

Football NSW is encouraging clubs to engage with the campaign across three areas. Clubs can register for the Make It Red campaign to help fund research, education and prevention programs. Participants, particularly those aged over 35, are encouraged to seek a free heart health screening test from their local GP or enquire about hosting a Heartbeat of Football testing day. Clubs are also urged to ensure their grounds have active, accessible AEDs in place, with guidance available through Football NSW’s Rescue Ready Guide.

The Make It Red campaign runs from June 5 to July 12, with Heart Health Round taking place across the opening weekend. Clubs can register and access participation resources at makeitred.org.

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