Athlete Monitoring Technology at 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Following the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, we’ve taken a look at the use of athlete monitoring technology in women’s football in the context of the game’s rapid recent growth.

This is a time of great positivity and progress for the women’s game, with fan interest, commercial sponsorship, and the profile of the athletes at an all-time high. As the game continues its evolution, the World Cup was a fantastic showcase not just for women’s football, but for global sport in general.

As part of the technical development of women’s football, we are seeing an increasing number of international teams implement athlete monitoring technology to help optimise performance and reduce injury risk. Of the teams that competed in France, six (France, Scotland, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and Thailand) used Catapult wearable devices during the tournament.

By using athlete monitoring technology in training and games, teams are now better able to quantify the physical demands of elite women’s football. This information can then be used to guide training and ensure that athletes are optimally prepared to meet the demands of the tournament. In addition, the data allows users to set benchmarks to monitor individual fitness levels and implement effective injury risk reduction processes.  

Matti Demegård, who travelled to the tournament as an analyst for the Nigeria Super Falcons, worked extensively with Catapult in his previous role as a strength and conditioning coach for the Swedish women’s team.

“By monitoring the players in each training session leading up to the last FIFA Women’s World Cup, I used Catapult to ensure that individual players had the correct load to condition them in the pre-tournament camp,” said Demegård. “I also used it to ensure that the players had appropriate recovery, so the individual players were not being overloaded during the World Cup.”

As women’s football continues to grow worldwide, we look forward to continuing to work with women’s teams to improve access to athlete monitoring technology and performance data at all levels of the game.

Interested in discovering what Catapult can do for your team? Click here to find out more.