Indian football team uses GPS trackers for the first time during training

Pune: The Indian football team implemented the Player Tracking system for the first time in its ongoing preparatory camp ahead of the 2018 World Cup Qualifying game against Iran. The team is training at the DSK Dream City here.

The players wore the GPS systems inside their vests, resembling pretty much pictures of Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibramovich which had gone viral some weeks back.

The development kicked off under national coach Stephen Constantine with sports scientist Danny Deigan monitoring the entire process.

"From now on, we will be using them in every training session, even during matches," Deigan said.

"FIFA approved them two months ago to be used during the match. It just needs to be approved by the match commissioner a day prior to the match," he added.

"Australian Football has been using them for the last 14 years, Rugby have been using them since the last seven years.

This is much more reliable than the video systems which have been used," Deigan maintained.

"From the conditioning point of view it will make drills a lot more specific. I know how to supplement Football drills to make sure the Players are best prepared for the International standard."

Constantine added, "The way the game is going at the moment it's pertinent that you have every possible piece of information in your hand to evaluate the Players, both mentally and physically.

"The game has reached new levels of expertise and now we can monitor the Players while they are in training, as to how they do it and how long they do it. It's invaluable in identifying a player's capabilities from the physiological point of view."

Deigan further stated, "The trackers will facilitate injury prevention. We know that we need to condition Players so that they are prepared for the match conditions.

"It's also about seeing where the players are at the moment. We can see the maximum speeds which they have attained, their heart rates, speeds at which they work, and understand where they stand at the global level.

"Thirdly, we will use them to monitor our players, seeing how they tolerate training load and we will be working with individuals to bring them up to the required standard."