Automatic Team Assignment and Jersey Number Recognition in Football Videos

Football is one of the most-watched sports,but analyzing players’per-formance is currently difficult and labor intensive.Performance analysis is done manually,which means that someone must watch video recordings and then log each player’s performance.This includes the number of passes and shots taken by each player,the location of the action,and whether or not the play had a successful outcome.Due to the time-consuming nature of manual analyses,interest in automatic analysis tools is high despite the many interdependent phases involved,such as pitch segmentation,player and ball detection,assigning players to their teams,identifying individual players,activity recognition,etc.This paper proposes a system for developing an automatic video analysis tool for sports.The proposed system is the first to integrate multiple phases,such as segmenting the field,detecting the players and the ball,assigning players to their teams,and iden-tifying players’jersey numbers.In team assignment,this research employed unsu-pervised learning based on convolutional autoencoders(CAEs)to learn discriminative latent representations and minimize the latent embedding distance between the players on the same team while simultaneously maximizing the dis-tance between those on opposing teams.This paper also created a highly accurate approach for the real-time detection of the ball.Furthermore,it also addressed the lack of jersey number datasets by creating a new dataset with more than 6,500 images for numbers ranging from 0 to 99.Since achieving a high perfor-mance in deep learning requires a large training set,and the collected dataset was not enough,this research utilized transfer learning(TL)to first pretrain the jersey number detection model on another large dataset and then fine-tune it on the target dataset to increase the accuracy.To test the proposed system,this paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of its individual stages as well as of the sys-tem as a whole.

Concept, Interests and Systems: Logical Consciousness of the China Campus Football Policy Trip

Based on the “Healthy China 2030 Planning Outline”, the literature method and logical analysis method are used to review and analyze the implementation process of China’s school football policy from three dimensions: value, interest appeal and institutional background. The study believes that in order to break through the bottleneck of policy implementation and improve the effect of policy implementation, it is necessary to establish correct values and form broad recognition of policies;meet the reasonable interests of all parties and form a synergy for policy implementation;optimize the institutional environment for policy implementation and form effective incentives.

Orientation and Decision-Making for Soccer Based on Sports Analytics and AI:A Systematic Review

Due to ever-growing soccer data collection approaches and progressing artificial intelligence(AI) methods, soccer analysis, evaluation, and decision-making have received increasing interest from not only the professional sports analytics realm but also the academic AI research community. AI brings gamechanging approaches for soccer analytics where soccer has been a typical benchmark for AI research. The combination has been an emerging topic. In this paper, soccer match analytics are taken as a complete observation-orientation-decision-action(OODA) loop.In addition, as in AI frameworks such as that for reinforcement learning, interacting with a virtual environment enables an evolving model. Therefore, both soccer analytics in the real world and virtual domains are discussed. With the intersection of the OODA loop and the real-virtual domains, available soccer data, including event and tracking data, and diverse orientation and decisionmaking models for both real-world and virtual soccer matches are comprehensively reviewed. Finally, some promising directions in this interdisciplinary area are pointed out. It is claimed that paradigms for both professional sports analytics and AI research could be combined. Moreover, it is quite promising to bridge the gap between the real and virtual domains for soccer match analysis and decision-making.

Science Put to the Test of Mysticism in the “Navetanes”

Mystical practices or “Xon” exist in virtually every sector of social life in Senegal. Popular or “navétane” football is particularly and profoundly affected by this phenomenon, to the point of raising questions about their place in this sport, which is naturally governed by scientific rules of performance. To provide an answer, we used qualitative methods, including participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 9 coaches and those in charge of the “xonjom”. The main results highlight the predominance of “Xon” over training. The players pay more attention to the mystics. The creation of a commission responsible for occult practices and the efforts made by the players to approach occultists and ensure that their instructions are respected attest to the importance of “xonjom”. As a result of the social anchoring provided by education, popular football is not spared from “xon”. More time is spent practising mysticism than training. They are seen as a source of victory, playing the role of psychological preparation. The centralisation of “xonjom” is reflected in the prioritisation of “xon” over training. The marabouts’ instructions take precedence over those of the trainers.

My Favorite Sport

Hello, everyone. I'm He Wei. My favorite sport is playing football. In middle school, I joined in the football team. All the teammates trained hard after school. Once our school had a match with another school. At first, we were all nervous and couldn't cooperate very well,because it was the first time for us to compete for the honor of the school.

Echoes From Cote d’Ivoire

A look back at the upsets and unexpected turnarounds at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations,Cote d’Ivoire brilliantly orchestrated and won the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations(CAN),held from 13 January to 11 February 2024,demonstrating its excellence in sports,security and modernisation.Sporting challenges were at the heart of the event,with 24 passionately competitive teams divided into six groups,offering intensely contested matches to an enthusiastic audience.These encounters highlighted the balance of footballing power between nations,and unexpected turnarounds defying predictions of bookmakers and football pundits.

World News

A GALLERY OF PEOPLE AND PLACES FRANCE The five Olympic rings hang from Eiffel Tower in Paris on 18 June GERMANY Two seals move footballs towards a goal post in an event held to predict the outcome of the group stage of the EURO 2024 in Wilhelmshaven,Lower Saxony,on 13 June.

基于风险的Football组合法在筛选农用地优先控制酞酸酯类污染物的应用

为探索建立农用地优先管控酞酸酯类有毒有害化学物质的筛选方法,基于Football组合法开展了相关研究。结果表明,邻苯二甲酸二丁酯(DBP)、邻苯二甲酸二(2-乙基己基)酯(DEHP)、邻苯二甲酸二异丁酯(DIBP)、邻苯二甲酸丁基苄基酯(BBP)和邻苯二甲酸二乙酯(DEP)等5 种酞酸酯类内源污染物潜在风险较高,将筛选结果与国内外管控化学物质名单进行比较分析,表明Football组合法可用于筛选农用地优先控制酞酸酯类有毒有害物质。

Football injuries of the ankle: A review of injury mechanisms, diagnosis and management

Football is the most popular sport worldwide and is associated with a high injury rate, most of which are the result of trauma from player contact. Ankle injuries are among the most commonly diagnosed injuries in the game. The result is reduced physical activity and endurance levels, lost game time, and considerable medical cost. Sports medicine professionals must employ the correct diagnostic tools and effective treatments and rehabilitation protocols to minimize the impact of these injuries on the player. This review examines the diagnosis, treatment, and postoperative rehabilitation for common football injuries of the ankle based on the clinical evidence provided in the current literature.

Effect of deep transverse friction massage vs stretching on football players’ performance

BACKGROUND Flexibility,agility and muscle strength are key factors to either win or lose a game.Recently the effect of a new technique,deep transverse friction massage(DTFM)on muscle extensibility as compared to traditional stretching techniques has been examined.AIM To compare the effect of DTFM vs static and dynamic stretching techniques on the hamstring’s extensibility,agility,and strength amongst Lebanese and Syrian football players.Recording the incidence of non-contact hamstring muscle injury was a secondary objective.METHODS This study is a single-blinded prospective longitudinal randomized controlled trial.The experiment took place over a period of four weeks.Football players were randomized into three intervention groups(static stretching;dynamic stretching;DTFM).Participants of each group were followed-up carefully by assessors during their intervention sessions three times per week,for a total of 12 sessions and during the data collection.Extensibility,agility,and strength were compared between intervention groups at(baseline;acute;and chronic)phases.Straight leg raise and 1 repetition maximum tests were used to measure the dominant leg hamstring muscle extensibility and maximal strength respectively.T-drill test was used to assess the lower extremities agility.RESULTS Of 103 Lebanese and Syrian male football players aged between 18 and 35 were sampled from Damascus-Syria and South of Lebanon to participate in this study.Between-groups measures of acute strength(P=0.011)and chronic extensibility(P=0.000)solely showed a significant difference,and the static group showed to be superior as compared to the other groups.No loss to follow-up or protocol violation was recorded.CONCLUSION Static stretching is showing to be superior to the other techniques used,regarding gaining long-term extensibility and short-term maximal muscle strength.In addition,DTFM showed improvements but did not outweigh the effects on footballers’performance when comparing it to static and dynamic techniques.Finally,no difference between the interventions is recorded regarding the rate of muscle injuries incidence.

A relationship between temperature and aggression in NFL football penalties

Background： Increased ambient temperature has been implicated in increased physical aggression, which has important practical consequences. The present study investigates this established relationship between aggressive behavior and ambient temperature in the highly aggressive context of professional football in the National Football League （NFL）. Methods： Using a publicly available dataset, authors conducted multiple hierarchical regression analyses on game-level data （2326 games）. Results： The analysis revealed that temperature positively predicted aggressive penalties in football, and that this relationship was significant for teams playing at home but not for visiting teams. Conclusion： These results indicate that even in the aggressive context of football, warmer weather contributes to increased violence. Further, the presence of the heat-aggression relationship for the home team suggests that the characteristics of interacting groups may influence whether heat would have an adverse effect on the outcome of those interactions.

Modelling home advantage for individual teams in UEFA Champions League football

Background:Home advantage(HA) is well documented in a wide range of team sports including association football(soccer).Although much attention has been paid to differences in the overall magnitude of HA between football competitions and across time,few studies have investigated HA at the team level.Methods:A novel method of estimating HA for individual teams,based solely on home performance,was used to compare HA between the highest performing teams and countries in the Union of European Football Associations(UEFA) Champions League over a 10-year period(2003/2004 to 2012/2013).Away disadvantage(AD) was also estimated based on each team's performance away from home.Poisson regression analysis was used to estimate covariate adjusted HA and AD in terms of the percentage of goals scored at home(HA) and conceded away from home(AD).Results:When controlling for differences in team ability,HA did not vary significantly between the 13 selected teams.There was evidence(p < 0.1),however,of between-team variation in AD,ranging from 45%(away advantage) to 68%(away disadvantage).When teams were grouped into the 11 selected countries,both HA and AD varied significantly(p < 0.02) between countries:HA ranged from 52% for Turkish teams to 70%for English teams,while AD ranged from 52%(France) to 67%(Turkey).Conclusion:Differences in style of play and tactical approaches to home and away matches may explain some of the variation in HA and AD between teams from different countries.

Evaluating the Performance of Iranian Football Teams Utilizing Linear Programming

In this paper, we utilize Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which is a linear programming-based technique, for evaluating the performance of the teams which operate in the Iranian primer football league. We use Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique for aggregating the sub-factors which involve in input-output factors, and then DEA is used for calculating the efficiency measures. Also, AHP is used to construct some weight restrictions for increasing the discrimination power of the used DEA model. For calculating the efficiency measures, input-oriented weight-restricted BCC model is utilized.

ECG and Echocardiographic Findings of Athletes in Bamako—A Study among 227 Footballers

Background: A cardiovascular assessment is rarely performed among athletes despite more and more frequently reported fatal events. Most of these accidents are of cardiovascular origin. Moreover, data on ECG or Echocardiography are rare in our context justifying our study to assess electrical and echocardiographic pattern among high-level footballer in Bamako. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted in Bamako from April 2015 to?March 2016 among high-level footballers aged 14 to 35 years old without distinction of sex with at least 10 hours weekly training since one year. The ECG and echocardiographies were recorded respectively with a 12-lead CONTEC and an ATL 5000 echocardiographic machine. Each ECG record was analyzed by a cardiologist in accordance with the Seattle 2013 criteria and those pathological reviewed by a second cardiologist according to the same criteria and definitively classified as normal (physiological) or abnormal ECG (requiring complementary explorations). A third cardiologist was associated in case of discordance of the first results. The collected data were inserted in a Microsoft Excel sheet and analyzed with SPSS version 20. Chi Square and Fisher statistical tests were used to compare our results. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results: We collected data of 227 top footballers with male sex represented in 90.3% giving a sex ratio of 3.04. Means for age, weight, height, body mass index (BMI) were respectively 22 years, 69.90 kg, 177.21 cm and 22.21 kg/m2. Sinus bradycardia was found in a proportion of 45.8% more represented in the age group of 30 and more years (p = 0.275). First-degree atrioventricular block (AVB) was present in 19.4%. Short PR was found in 0.4% of the sample. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVG) according to the Sokolow index was found in 70.5% (96.9% males and 3.1% females) with p Conclusion: Many electrical and echocardiographic signs of cardiac adaptation were found in our sample and must lead to a closer follow-up of these trained footballers to avoid or prevent dramatic cardiovascular events.

Assessing the Impact of Internet of Everything Technologies in Football

Internet of Things has been one of the hottest technology concepts of recent years. It started with the wearable devices and any digital device connected online, and evolved to a web connected network linking everything from devices, sensors, machines, people, processes, companies, and so on, creating the Interact of Everything concept. There are many application areas, but one stands out due to its popularization and importance to industry, Sports, and specifically Football. Football has been reinventing itself with the implementation of technology, recreating the formula used in the United States Major Sports, where technology helps to enhance the spectacle experience, expand game analysis by coaches, players, and media, provide live refereeing and improve health recoveries and detection of injuries. This research is a state-of-situation regarding technology in football, recognizing the presently used technologies and what could be implemented, and ultimately measuring the impact of these devices in Football.

The Reliability of the Prowler in High School Male Football Players

Horizontal plane muscular power output is important in sports such as football especially for down lineman who must engage an opponent and push them for a number of yards. The Prowler resistance sled is a commonly used apparatus that aids in the development of horizontal plane muscular power output. However, there is limited documentation regarding the Prowler＇s role as a strength and conditioning training modality as well as its potential use as an assessment tool for measuring horizontal plane muscular power output. Hence, the purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of the Prowler sled push in High School male football players. High School male football players （n = 16） performed two trials of the Prowler sled push 91 kilograms （200 pounds） for a distance of 9.1 meters （10 yards）. Each trial was timed with a handheld stop watch with a 2-3 minute rest period between trials. The trial 1 and 2 scores were 5.14 ±0.95 and 5.15 ±0.88 seconds respectively. The interclass and intraclass reliability coefficients were r = 0.93 and ICC = 0.93. The standard error of the measure was SEre = 0.25 seconds with 90% confidence limits Of UL： 0.36, LL： 0.20. The mean difference between trials was 0.01 ±0.36 seconds （90% confidence limits Of UL： 0.17, LL： -0.14）. Within the parameters of this study, the Prowler sled push is a highly reliable field test for measuring horizontal plane muscular power output.

English professional football players concussion knowledge and attitude

Background： Concussions are a common pathology in football and multiple misconceptions exist amongst the players and managers. To address these misconceptions, and potentially reduce concussion associated sequela, effective educational interventions need to be developed. However, the current knowledge and attitude status must be ascertained to appropriately develop these interventions. The purpose of this study was to assess the concussion knowledge and attitude of English professional footballers. Methods： Twenty-six participants from one English Football League Championship club completed the study. A mixed methods approach included the Rosenbaum Concussion Knowledge and Attitudes Survey （RoCKAS） and a semi-structured interview. The RoCKAS contains separate knowledge （055） and attitude （15-75） scores and was followed by a semi-structured interview consisting of concussion knowledge, attitude, and behavior related questions. Results： The mean score on the RoCK.AS knowledge was 16.4± 2.9 （range 11-22） and the attitude score was 59.6 ± 8.5 （range 41-71）. The interview responses identified inconsistencies between the RoCKAS and the intended behaviors, endorsing multiple concussion misconceptions, and revealed barriers to concussion reporting. Conclusion： The results of this study suggest that Championship Level English footballers have moderate concussion knowledge, safe attitudes, and good concussion symptom recognition when assessed with pen and paper questionnaires. However, within the semi-structured interview many respondents reported unsafe concussion behaviors despite accurately identifying the potential risks. Further, multiple barriers to concussion reporting were identified which included perceived severity of the injury, game situations, and the substitution rule. These findings can help form the foundation of educational interventions to potentially improve concussion reporting behaviors amongst professional footballers.

Stretching in the prevention of hamstring strains: Attitudes, beliefs and current practices among football coaches in Mauritius

Context and Objective: Hamstring strain is a common injury in football and it causes a significant amount of time lost from competition and training. Since poor flexibility is thought to predispose to muscle strain, stretching is routinely recommended during warm-up routines by coaches to prevent injuries. However, available evidence suggests that pre-exercise stretching (PES), especially static stretching, has no benefit on injury rates and may even reduce performance in explosive type activities. We designed this study to assess the attitudes, beliefs and practices of football coaches regarding stretching in the prevention of hamstring strains. Design: A cross-sectional survey. Setting: Mauritius Football Association (MFA). Participants: 26 football coaches registered with the MFA. Intervention: Questionnaires were distributed to football coaches of the MFA via sports officers. Questionnaires were then collected two weeks after distribution. Main Outcome Measures: Attitudes, beliefs and practices of football coaches regarding stretching in the prevention of ham-string strains. Results: MFA coaches held generally positive attitudes and beliefs towards stretching. 88% of coaches felt that PES is beneficial and 93% believed that PES prevents hamstring strains. The majority of coaches recommended stretching after warming up (81%) and after the training session (93%). 76% of coaches also advised stretching outside the training sessions. 96% of coaches used static stretching to stretch the hamstrings. The hamstrings were stretched on average for 4 times at each training session and the mean duration of a static stretch was 12 seconds. Conclusions: Nearly all coaches believed that PES prevents hamstring strains although evidence is limited. Some of the coaches’ beliefs and practices were not in line with current recommendations. Coaches reported that their stretching practices would be most likely influenced by scientific research. Thus there is an urgent need to devise awareness and training programmes in this area.

Preseason elimination impact on anterior cruciate ligament injury in the national football league

BACKGROUND Anterior cruciate ligament(ACL)injuries represent detrimental injuries in the National Football League(NFL).A significant portion of these injuries often occur in preseason exhibitions.The Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic presented a unique disruption to preseason NFL football with the cancelation of all preseason games.AIM To compare the incidence of ACL tears through the first eight weeks of the NFL season in 2020 to the mean incidence over the previous 5 seasons(2015-2019)and determine if there was any change in incidence with the elimination of the preseason.METHODS NFL players who suffered ACL tears during the preseason and first eight weeks of the NFL season from 2015-2020 were identified.The number of ACL injuries for the 2015-2019 seasons was compared to the 2020 season for four different timeframes.For each analysis,the cumulative number of ACL injuries to that time point was used to calculate the percent difference for descriptive analysis.Additionally,the number of teams with at least one player suffering an ACL tear were identified and compared using Chi-Squared testing.Finally,a cumulative relative risk was calculated for each week played.RESULTS There were 14 ACL tears through the first four games of the 2020 season,a 118.8%(14 vs 6.4)increase in comparison to the 5-year average over the first 4 regular season weeks of 2015-2019.However,when accounting for injuries occurring during the preseason from 2015-2019,there were 18.6%(14 vs 17.2)fewer total ACL injuries through regular season week 4 with no significant difference in percentage of teams impacted when these preseason injuries were accounted for P=0.394.Results were similar(19 vs 17.2)over 8 total games played(whether regular season or preseason),and over 8 regular season games(P=0.196,P=0.600).CONCLUSION The elimination of the NFL preseason resulted in a higher rate of injuries during the first 4 games of the regular season.However,these increases are offset by the injuries typically sustained during the preseason.This suggests there may be front-loading of injuries over the course of an NFL season,such that players may be more prone to injury when the intensity of play suddenly increases,whether in the preseason or regular season.

Impact of Football Fields on His Progress

The purpose of this article is to identify, through the methodology, the impact that the quality of football fields and their continuous improvement influences the football players and the football level in general, as well as the advantages; and disadvantages of this process. In the meantime, it reveals the football field＇s quality effects in the performance at the national championships, at television transmission rights, and sale of football players to foreign clubs. In addition, the dynamics of investment in the last two decades and the Albanian Football Federation objectives for the future are an important part of this article