Zone7, artificial intelligence to reduce football injuries

Zone7 tackles the problem of football injuries

In today’s football, where the number of matches is increasing, some players can find themselves playing 70 matches in a single high-intensity season. The risk of injury is increasing, and managing it is crucial for all clubs.

A solution recognised by professionals

The Zone7 solution meets this need by enabling players to be more available and perform better physically, thanks to AI. This solution is already used by a large number of teams, including Liverpool, Napoli and LAFC.

The results highlighted in their case studies are good. Zone7, for example, claims to have reduced the number of days lost to injury for Liverpool players by 30%. This figure rises to 53% for LAFC and even 69% for LAFC for non-contact injuries. Even if these impressive figures can be inflated by factors other than Zone7, it can still be said that the solution enables a fairly significant reduction in injuries.

Technical implementation

Here are the steps involved in setting up Zone7 for a club:

1. Gather the club’s match and training data for at least one full season and combine it with player-related data (age, height, weight, etc.).
2. Enter the injury history of the various players in the team.
3. Adapt the model according to the different tools used by the club to manage its data and train this artificial intelligence model on the club’s data.
4. Use AI to identify training sessions at risk and players at risk of injury over the next 7 days.

Two points are also extremely important with Zone7 or any application of this type.

• As it is likely that in a group of 30 professional players, more than 7 are at risk of injury at the same time. In this case, the tool can quickly become unusable for the coach. Zone7 has therefore set up an injury risk scale.
• Artificial intelligence must be part of a collaborative approach with the medical staff and be easy to use, i.e. it must be able to present the cause and nature of the risk. The medical staff will have more confidence in the tool and will be able to adapt the player’s workload and advise the coach more effectively.

Conclusion: Artificial intelligence is a good tool for controlling injuries in football clubs

Zone7 can be a real asset for a club in its quest to control injuries. The use of AI in this area is not only linked to football and exists in other sports.

If you would like to find out more about the use of machine learning in football, please contact our team.

To understand what machine learning is, with examples linked to football, read our article on the subject.

Source : 

• Team, Zone7. « The Silicon Valley algorithm helping Liverpool Cope with History-Making Quadruple Assault » . Zone7, 19 septembre 2023.

• Team, Zone7. « MLS Cup Winners LAFC improve Availability Through AI Informed Load Management » . Zone7, 19 septembre 2023.