Hudl and the Oceania Football Confederation Renew Long-Term Exclusive Multi-Year Rights Agreement

Lincoln, NE – June 7, 2026 – Hudl, the global leader in sports performance analysis and scouting, has renewed its long-term exclusive multi-year scouting rights agreement with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The partnership continues comprehensive coverage of men's and women's football competitions across the Oceania region.

The Oceania Football Confederation holds rights to the following competitions, all covered under this agreement: OFC Champions League; OFC Women's Champions League; OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament; OFC Men's Nations Cup; OFC U19 Men's Championship and Qualifying; OFC U16 Men's Championship and Qualifying; OFC Women's Nations Cup; OFC Women's World Cup Qualifying; OFC Women's Olympic Qualifying; OFC U20 Women's Championship; and OFC U16 Women's Championship. 

Hudl will have exclusive access to video from these competitions and it will be made available for professional purposes through Hudl Wyscout — the world's largest database of football video and data.

"We are pleased to renew our long-term partnership with the Oceania Football Confederation, continuing to provide clubs and scouts with access to the full breadth of OFC competition through Hudl Wyscout," said Mateo Bourrut Lacouture, Hudl's strategic partnership manager."Hudl’s commitment to supporting football in Oceania is facilitated via our long-standing relationship with the OFC, allowing us to support Member Associations and its clubs’’

About Hudl

Hudl empowers hundreds of thousands of teams globally to reach their potential, working with coaches, athletes and administrators at every level of sport. We equip teams with tools and insights to elevate performance, streamline operations, drive recruitment and deepen fan engagement. Our smart cameras capture every second of practices and games, powering the industry's ecosystem of film review, recruiting, scouting and more. Our trusted software layers data and analytics onto video to help athletes and teams reach their potential. And our platform helps every team create a stronger connection to their fans through livestreaming, athlete highlights, tickets and updates on all the information fans care about. Learn more at Hudl.com.

J1 100 Year Vision League: Three Talents to Watch

As part of the J.League’s shift to a fall-spring calendar from the 2026-2027 season, a special bridging tournament was needed to smooth the transition. Enter the J1 100 Year Vision League.

The one-off tournament also provided J.Leaguers with a last chance to make their case for national team selection this summer in the United States. While only three domestic-based players eventually made the cut, the 100 Year Vision League nevertheless provided an excellent scouting opportunity for forward-thinking clubs looking for talented young players.

We pick out three such prospects and - using Hudl Statsbomb advanced data - we analyze these potential future Samurai Blue stars.

All the data is correct up to the last matchday of the league phase of the 100 Year Vision League.

Ryunosuke Sato (19, FC Tokyo, Attacking Midfielder)

Ryunosuke Sato is the latest player from FC Tokyo's noteworthy academy production line. A Japan youth national team regular, where he won continental titles and appeared at the U-17 and U-20 World Cups, it was only in 2025 that the 19-year-old got a taste of regular top flight action on loan at Fagiano Okayama – albeit at an unfamiliar wing back position. 

This experience made him a more well-rounded player and, after a successful 2025 in which he also won his first full national team cap in June, he returned to FC Tokyo in 2026.

The most important aspect of Sato's play is his technical qualities on the ball. Due to his small size, he uses his agility to his advantage, twisting and turning away from pressure in tight spaces to face forward to pass. 

Despite often playing out wide for club and country, he is much more of a playmaker rather than an outright winger, especially as he prefers to receive ball-to-feet rather than run into large spaces. 

Standing at 1.71m, the question has always been whether he can handle the physicality at higher levels of play. 

Watching footage both at Okayama and with FC Tokyo, Sato has consistently exhibited enormous physical output in terms of his running intensity on-and-off the ball – at least at the J.League level – all while maintaining his great technical qualities. He expends a lot of effort in pressing and loose ball recoveries but, due to a lack of top-end speed and explosiveness, he is better suited to a playmaker role than an out-and-out winger. 

The physical data supports this too, as seen below when comparing Sato to all wingers in the Top 5 European leagues. We can see that, while there’s a solid foundation from his J.League performances, Sato will need a bit of time to adapt to a European league physical standard.

Understanding the context in which Sato plays is important for recruiters considering how he would fit into their team style. 

In FC Tokyo's 4-4-2 / 4-2-3-1, Sato will drop deep to act as the third midfielder to settle possession against the opponent's high press and set the tempo. In Tokyo's build-up patterns, one of the double pivot will occasionally split the center backs which then gives Sato more room to find spaces between the lines in the middle third. 

This movement invites pressure inside which can then open up the full backs or wide midfielders on the outside when he lays off the ball or when he is able to turn forward himself to play the pass - as per the example below.

Further forward, he prefers operating in the left half-space and has great vision for through-balls and line-breaking passes.

Regarding his end-product, Sato finished the half-season with 4 goals (plus 1 penalty) from 2.72 non-penalty xG. His ball-striking can be inconsistent; however, he uses his side-foot well to curl into the corners when cutting inside from the left. 

As seen in the shot map below, most of his shots are clustered in the left half-space side edge of the box, amounting to xG of middling quality. A bonus is that he is a great penalty kick tacker as seen in the various shoot-outs in the league and the youth national teams.

Set pieces have become an increasingly important weapon in modern football – and are another feather to Sato’s bow. 

Despite FC Tokyo struggling to score from dead ball scenarios, he is among the highest percentiles for set-piece xA, and is third in set piece xG assisted among attacking midfielders and wingers with at least 800 minutes. 

Overall with 0.97 open-play key passes per 90 and 0.04 open-play xG Assisted per 90, he may lack in absolute numbers for assists and direct chance creation for an attacking midfielder, but given how deep he drops he can be involved in possession sequences that lead to chances in various ways. 

With the profile of a technical yet hard-working number 10, his skillset would be suited to a number of European leagues – albeit perhaps one that would not be such a jump in physicality and intensity.

Nelson Ishiwatari (20, Cerezo Osaka, Central Midfielder)

Cerezo Osaka have been an exciting J.League team to watch since Arthur Papas took over in 2025 and Nelson Ishiwatari is one of their more interesting young prospects. 

It would be easy to put his performances on loan spell at J2 side Iwaki FC last year down to his unique physicality advantages at that level. Nevertheless, over the past few months, he’s demonstrated that these strengths have carried over to the first division.

Ishiwatari's strengths lie in his endurance and mobility from which he can then use his long legs to tackle or intercept the ball. He can be quite imposing, as seen by his 78% tackle/dribbled past%, which is close to the 90th percentile across all central midfielders in the league. 

Compared to all J1 100 Year Vision League central midfielders who have played at least 900 minutes, Ishiwatari ranks highly in aggressive actions, pressures, counter-pressures, and tackles & interceptions – which quickly paints a picture about his role on the team.

Looking at Hudl’s physical data we can see just how active Ishiwatari is. In terms of pure running distance he is in the top percentiles, not only in the J.League but compared to other central midfielders in the top 5 European leagues. 

However, there is a relative dearth of sprints and other high intensity actions compared to what his positional profile might suggest. Incorporating more intense running and sprints into his game has been an area that Ishiwatari himself has mentioned that he can improve upon so that is something to keep an eye on in the future.

For all his defensive abilities, Ishiwatari is still raw and elements of his game need refining. Due to his aggressive style of play he concedes a lot of fouls (2.71 per 90) and his first touch and ball control needs improving (1.6 turnovers per 90 is in the 19th percentile among midfielders). 

On the ball it’s a mixed bag. In the build-up phase, Ishiwatari uses his mobility quite well by popping up into various zones centrally and out wide to combine in short exchanges.

Once the ball is progressed further forward, he makes plenty of underlaps in support to hit the pockets in/around the box, but he does need to start producing more once he receives the ball there.

Despite his supporting runs, his actual deep completion numbers as well as his On-Ball Value (OBV) in passing, dribbles, and carries are all in the very low percentiles compared to other midfielders.

On the bright side, there still are occasional moments of progressive and creative passing (like his assist vs. Kyoto Sanga) and, as part of a Cerezo Osaka team that is attractive on the eye, he should have ample time to hone that part of his game.

Yumeki Yokoyama (20, Cerezo Osaka, Left Winger)

Unlike the other two players in this list, Yumeki Yokoyama is a player that came through the local club and then high school football scene — highlighting the diverse pathways one can take to become a professional footballer in Japan. 

The most compelling aspect about Yokoyama is how his ball carrying has held up to the step-up to the J1 league after joining from J2 side FC Imabari this past winter. 

Primarily looking at his OBV, understandably there has been a slight drop in his Pass and Shot OBV, as you would expect in a higher level division. But his Dribbles and Carry OBV has remained one of the top percentiles of the league.

What is interesting is that Yokoyama is far more secure on the ball with less turnovers and is getting more touches in the box. Of course, he now has higher quality teammates around him, but there is clear personal development as well. 

Watching footage of Yokoyama, something you notice is that even if the initial dribble attempt fails or he's in an unfavorable situation, Yokoyama simply resets by going back to his teammates and then re-position to try again – always showing for the ball and staying positive.

As his Dribble & Carry OBV (D&C OBV) shows, dribbling is Yokoyama’s biggest weapon, able to both go down the line to play with his left foot or cut inside to play with his right foot for both crossing or shooting opportunities. This breadth of choice gives defenders trouble as it’s not so simple to just show him to one side or force him on one particular foot.

Throughout his time in J2, his biggest issue was consistently getting good shots and his final third impact in general was quite variable. That continued in J1 with Cerezo Osaka in the beginning but, in the past month or so, it's slightly improved. 

Yokoyama is a player who fires off a lot of crosses – the fifth most crosses into the box among his positional peers. This accounts for 60% of his passes into the box. However, for all this effort and reasonably positive OBV values, Yokoyama maintains a rather low cross completion, and his key passes and xG Assisted numbers are quite low. If he can improve on this final product, he would be an elite-level proposition.

While he has mainly played as a winger across the club and national team level, he also showed some versatility playing as a second striker at FC Imabari. Another challenge for Yokoyama earlier in the season was that Cerezo already had an established left winger so he was forced to play on the right for several appearances. Since then, he has won his spot in his preferred position.

In the past year, Yokoyama has shown considerable growth and resilience in different contexts, especially with his track record of consistently being able to step up to a higher level (going from J3, J2, to J1). The time for Yumeki Yokoyama to make a step up to a European league should come probably within the next year given his form in the 100 Year Vision League.

As these three players demonstrate the J.League continues to provide intriguing profiles that fit the modern game and tactical meta. This summer should be another big market for Japanese players heading to Europe.

Learn how Hudl Statsbomb’s industry-leading data can power your analysis and recruitment.

Visit Shogun Soccer to read more from Ryo.

The Illinois Project: Building an Analytical Powerhouse

Illinois Men’s Basketball is in the midst of a golden era – recently even featuring a trip to the Final Four. It’s a proud program with a storied history that’s hit the big stage, largely by doing the little things right along the way. 

That includes their video analysis. Seven years ago, staff members Zach Hamer and JC Keller set a vision of making video and data a seamless, indispensable asset to the program by centralizing the operation onto a single platform. 

“It’s been a big priority of ours to make our workflow as single-platform as possible,” Hamer says. “And obviously with Hudl’s acquisition of Fastmodel, that’s kind of made that pretty possible for us as well.”

From scouting to game day to player development, here’s the workflow behind one of the Big Ten’s most analytically sophisticated programs.

Video and Data Are Inseparable

At the core of Illinois’s approach is a simple conviction: There’s no room for video without data or data without video. 

“Just being able to have all of our video tied to data and data tied to video is probably the key point of it all,” Keller says. “Having that living archive and being able to document and archive that the best we can.”

That architecture starts in the scouting process. Games come in through League Exchange and Competition Database, get coded with the program’s own tags, and flow directly into game day preparation. Everything lives in one place, with no platform switching or re-exporting.

Introducing the “Remote Environment”  

Hudl Replay runs on the bench during every game, with staff live-coding from multiple positions. But the way Illinois uses it in practice is equally intentional.

“We provide individual feedback without the need to stop practice,” Hamer explains. “There’s a time where showing your whole team video on the court makes sense, and then there’s a time where showing an individual player video from that practice session makes sense.”

On the sideline, Replay enables something Hamer calls a “remote environment.” If a coach wants to see something, it’s there. Clips tagged during the game feed directly into halftime edits without interrupting the live-coding workflow. And when the NCAA changed its rules to allow video review at halftime, Illinois was ready.

“There have been several times, both on offense and defense, where we’ve shown clips at halftime, our guys have done the thing we weren’t expecting them to do again later in the game, and we’ve handled it as we hoped,” Hamer says. “I love the term ‘coaching option’.”

Track What Matters. Ignore What Doesn’t

JC Keller has spent years building custom output windows inside Hudl Sportscode - and the philosophy behind them is as important as the windows themselves.

"Just because you can have an output report for something doesn’t mean you need an output report for it."

What started with simple tempo-free statistics evolved into pre-game, in-game, and post-game reports that track process metrics alongside the box score - the things that aren’t counted globally but matter to Illinois specifically.

"Anyone can look at a box score and get a good sense of what is and isn’t working,” Hamer says. “Being able to keep track of our process in real time, in a way that everyone in our program can understand and digest quickly and make informed decisions - that’s been a great change.”

At every media timeout, the staff prints a one-sheet report. It’s a focused, detailed look at what’s going to move the needle in the next four minutes. Nothing more, nothing less.  

The Automatic Tagging Unlock

Zach Hamer didn’t always trust automated tags. He came up tagging everything manually, and when Competition Database’s automated tagging arrived, he was skeptical.

“I wanted all of our guys coding everything manually,” he admits. “But the progress that’s been made in the last five years with the tags and with the competition database is unbelievable. It totally changed our process.”

That trust unlocked real capacity. Hours of manual cuts turned into meaningful time for player development, individual film sessions, and the kind of work that requires a human in the room.

Every Minute Counts

Neither Hamer nor Keller will point to one moment where Hudl “saved the day.” That’s not really how it works.

"It’s not that you save a whole day’s work in one day. It’s that you save 15 minutes over the course of an entire week or season - and that adds up into something else you were able to spend your time on."

For Hamer, that something else is usually players.

“Any moment we can spend with our players is gold,” he says. “Being able to save some time there allows us to have more time with our guys on the court, more time watching film together, more time just spending time with those guys and helping them learn and process the game.”

Hamer and Keller continue to refine Illinois’ system, tinkering with new tasks and workflows that save more time and unearth more insights. The key? Hamer tells it simply: “We don’t need to live with the inconveniences. We don’t need to do that anymore.”

- - -

Illinois Men’s Basketball uses Hudl’s full suite - including Sportscode, Hudl Replay, Competition Database, Fastmodel, and custom output windows - to manage film, scouting, analysis, and recruiting workflows. To learn more about how Hudl supports D1 basketball programs, visit https://www.hudl.com/solutions/professional/basketball  

Defensive Responsibility: A New Way To Measure Defensive Output

Defending is one of the most complex and least understood aspects of football analytics. We can measure what a team concedes - expected goals against, possession value conceded - but attributing that to individual players has always been far more difficult.

For years, trying to quantify individual defensive contributions from event data has been an uphill battle. The earliest approaches simply counted raw defensive actions, such as tackles, interceptions, and blocks. But it quickly became clear that raw counts don’t measure defensive quality; they only measure defensive volume. A centre back in a low-block team racked up the blocks and clearances, while world-class defenders were entirely anonymous on a spreadsheet.

Possession-adjusted metrics were the next step forward, normalising defensive actions against the team’s time in possession. We could account for the fact that a player on a low-possession team faces more defensive situations than one on a team that dominates the ball. Now we’re cooking… or so we thought. 

It was a meaningful improvement, but it introduced a different problem in treating every moment of opposition possession as an equal defensive opportunity, regardless of where the ball is, what kind of action is being played, or which player on the defending team would actually be expected to respond to it. A lateral pass between two centre backs in the opposition half counts the same as a cutback across the six-yard box.

To truly understand defensive impact, we have to stop treating defending as a collection of isolated events, and start treating it as a dynamic system. We need a model that understands not just what happened, but who was actually supposed to deal with it.

Enter Defensive Responsibility (DefR).

Defensive Responsibility (DefR) is an event-based framework that distributes defensive accountability across a team. It looks at every carry, pass, and shot the opposition makes and predicts - based on the location of the action, the momentum of the attack, and the defensive shape of the team - which player in which role would typically be expected to respond to it.

The result is a Responsibility Matrix. For every player, across every match, we know how many defensive actions were expected of them and how many they actually made. The difference - defensive actions above or below expectation - is the signal.

So what does DefR actually tell us that we didn't know before? The clearest way to answer that is to put it side by side with possession-adjusted defensive actions and see where the two metrics disagree.

The two metrics do correlate, but the divergences are where it gets interesting.

Take Kylian Mbappé. Real Madrid averaged 59% of the possession in 2025/26, lifting the possession-adjusted numbers of their entire squad. PAdj sees Mbappé as a modestly infrequent defensive contributor, but DefR is more sceptical, identifying Mbappé as the clear outlier when it comes to defensive output - accounting for the actual attacking actions played through his zone and his defensive output against them. His defensive activity map also shows this.

On the other hand, by possession-adjusted metrics Adrián Liso of Getafe looks like a middle-of-the-pack defensive contributor. But Getafe average just 41% possession, meaning PAdj has been quietly depressing the defensive numbers of Liso and his teammates, while underselling what Liso is doing relative to what was asked of him. DefR corrects for that.

This is the core upgrade DefR offers over PAdj: it stops penalising players for their team's lack of the ball, and stops rewarding players for their team's dominance of it.

DefR doesn't just transform how we evaluate individual players, it changes how we read teams too.

At the team level, the metric tells us which teams are defending more aggressively than the situations they faced demanded, and which are falling short. The difference from PPDA is that DefR accounts for the specific nature of the attacking actions a team faced, rather than treating every opposition pass as an equal defensive opportunity.

Brighton top the chart, with Newcastle close behind - two clubs whose managers, Fabian Hürzeler and Eddie Howe, have built sides to be aggressive and disciplined off the ball. At the other end, West Ham and Sunderland’s more passive defensive approach, preferring to drop into a shape and contain space rather than actively engaging the opponent, is reflected clearly in the data.

Applying Defensive Responsibility (DefR)

Evaluating centre-backs is notoriously difficult because their data is highly dependent on their team's defensive approach and the opponent's attacking approach. By plotting a defender's Expected Defensive Actions against their Actions Above/Below Expectation, we can filter out team noise and divide centre-backs into four distinct tactical profiles.

The Front-Foot Aggressor

Top-Right Quadrant: High Expected Actions / Actions Above Expectation

Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi sits firmly in this quadrant. His system demands a high defensive workload, and Senesi consistently meets them, stepping out of the defensive line to aggressively shut down attacks before they develop.

The System Absorber

Bottom-Right Quadrant: High Expected Actions / Actions Below Expectation

Castello Lukeba at RB Leipzig faces a high volume of expected responsibility based on his position and the attacking approach of RB Leipzig’s opponents, but he performs fewer defensive actions than expected. This implies that he relies more on his recovery pace and positional containment within Leipzig's structure than meeting and engaging with the play, but this is something that thorough video scouting should verify.

The Passive Line-Holder

Bottom-Left Quadrant: Low Expected Actions / Actions Below Expectation

Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa occupies this space - as does his centre back partner Pau Torres. Both play in a highly disciplined, structured defensive unit where their primary role is to hold the offside line and protect the penalty box rather than hunting for the ball.

The Virgil van Dijk Zone

Top-Left Quadrant: Low Expected Actions / Actions Above Expectation

The most fascinating quadrant is, arguably, in the top-left.

The common narrative around Virgil van Dijk is that he is a more passive defender who simply shepherds attackers away from danger without needing to make a tackle. The data tells a much more nuanced story. Van Dijk's low expected output confirms that Liverpool are effective at preventing their opposition from playing through his defensive zone (or, rather, teams deliberately steer their attacking plays away from his zone knowing that he is best avoided). However, DefR reveals that when opponents do dare to play through his territory, van Dijk is highly efficient, consistently performing more defensive actions than the model expects. Perhaps he isn't passive after all, more just ruthlessly selective.

For a recruitment analyst, these quadrants can help to identify players who best fit the defensive demands of your team and the specific profile of centre back that would work most effectively.

Central Midfielders, though having different demands placed upon them, can be evaluated similarly.

Comparing the output of Elliott Anderson and Pedri demonstrates the utility of DefR.

In raw numbers, Anderson’s role in a low-possession Forest side sees him engage in slightly more tackles, interceptions, and pressures per 90 minutes than Pedri. When you apply the traditional possession-adjustment, the data swings wildly the other way: Pedri skyrockets to 35 PAdj Pressures per 90 - an alarming 70% higher than Anderson’s 22 PAdj Pressures per 90.

But DefR reveals that both metrics miss the true story. By measuring their output against the exact spatial and tactical opportunities they faced, DefR reveals that Anderson and Pedri are actually performing at an identical, elite level - registering roughly 8.2 defensive actions above expectation. Anderson is an ultra-active destroyer tasked with a high defensive workload who consistently goes above and beyond for his team; Pedri plays in an intensely aggressive Hansi Flick system where he actively hunts down the ball the second possession is lost. Traditional metrics forced a gulf between them; DefR recognises that their individual defensive hunger is exactly the same.

Our new DefR model isn’t a tool reserved exclusively for the elite. It is fully integrated across Hudl Statsbomb's global database, allowing analysts to scale their recruitment across different continents, tiers, and both the men's and women's games.

With DefR, recruitment analysts and clubs can finally cut through the noise of possession dominant and low-block biases to identify genuine out-of-possession workload. By moving away from flat normalisations and treating the defending team as a dynamic network of positional roles, DefR allows us to evaluate players based on what their specific tactical system and the phase of the opposition's attack actually demanded of them.

Hudl and the Canadian Hockey League Renew Multi-Season Scouting Rights Agreement

Lincoln, Nebraska – June 4, 2026 – Hudl, the global leader in sports performance analysis and scouting, has renewed its multi-season scouting rights agreement with the Canadian Hockey League (CHL).

This partnership continues coverage of three major junior hockey leagues across Canada: Western Hockey League (WHL), the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Video and data from these competitions will be made available for professional purposes through Hudl Instat.

"We are pleased to renew our agreement with the Canadian Hockey League, continuing to bring coverage of the WHL, OHL and QMJHL to Hudl Instat's global user base," said Adam Jaffe, market lead at Hudl. "This renewal reinforces our commitment to providing scouts and coaches with access to hockey content."

About Hudl

Hudl empowers hundreds of thousands of teams globally to reach their potential, working with coaches, athletes and administrators at every level of sport. We equip teams with tools and insights to elevate performance, streamline operations, drive recruitment and deepen fan engagement. Our smart cameras capture every second of practices and games, powering the industry's ecosystem of film review, recruiting, scouting and more. Our trusted software layers data and analytics onto video to help athletes and teams reach their potential. And our platform helps every team create a stronger connection to their fans through livestreaming, athlete highlights, tickets and updates on all the information fans care about. Learn more at Hudl.com.

Introducing Hudl Playlist Integration in FastScout

It’s 11:00 PM. Tonight’s game just finished processing, and you’re staring at two screens: one with your Hudl playlists and another with your FastScout report. For years, these have been two separate worlds. You’ve had to download clips, re-upload them, or manage the gap between your detailed video library and your final scouting document.

But what if your video lived exactly where your notes do?

For a scouting report to actually stick, it can’t just be a wall of text or a box score. 
It has to be seen. 

We’re bringing this workflow closer together with the new FastScout + Hudl Integration. We’re closing the gap between your video workflow and your prep work, making your scouting reports a true "one-stop shop" for your roster.

How It Works: From Playlist to Report in Seconds

We’re constantly trying to simplify the work of our analysts, so that means removing steps as much as possible. Adding video to your reports is meant to provide everyone with a native, seamless experience.

• Select Your Tile: Choose the specific section in your FastScout report where you want the video to live.
• Browse Your Library: Access your Hudl Playlists directly within the FastScout interface. You can narrow your search by label or add clips to athletes directly from a Hudl Sportscode playlist.
• Instant Access: Once linked, the video is live. Players and coaches can watch film without ever leaving the app.

This works across the entire ecosystem. Whether players are on their laptops or using the FastScout mobile app, the film is right there in their pockets.

Why This Changes the Game

This isn't a workflow tweak — it's a fundamental shift in how your staff operates between the film room and the report.

When you add a clip to your Hudl playlist after a report's already been sent, FastScout updates automatically. Your staff is always working off the same version. No chasing down outdated files, no re-sending.

If your program is already running Hudl and Sportscode, FastScout now plugs directly into that ecosystem. No exporting, no third-party tools, no manual steps between platforms. The workflows you've already built just got more powerful.

Two Ways to Build Your Report

We built two distinct methods because no two staffs work the same way.

• Tile-by-tile precision is built for specificity. Bring your Keys to Win to life with live-action film. Link a Hudl video playlist directly next to your main defensive or offensive game plan focus. Browse, attach, done. Every priority is backed by video proof.

   

• Add Clips to Athletes is built for volume. Sportscode users can take a single playlist and automatically assign clips to multiple personnel tiles in one step — faster and more intuitive than the previous integration. If you're building full opponent breakdowns at scale, this is where you'll feel the difference most.

Put It Into Practice

Two situations where this changes your prep immediately:

• Personnel scouting: Link your transition defense playlist directly to the opposing point guard's profile tile. Your staff sees the player and the evidence in the same place.
• Practice prep: Push your scout team playlist through the app before practice. Your guys have already studied the looks before their feet hit the hardwood.

Ready to Streamline Your Workflow?

The days of bouncing between apps are over. Hudl and FastScout now operate as one connected system — less time on manual uploads, more time on the stuff that actually wins games.

Already using FastScout?Log in and try the integration on your next opponent.

New to FastScout?Book a demo to see how we’re revolutionizing the coaching workflow.

How to Watch Soccer: Why the Score Lies (and xG Doesn't)

You've seen this match before. One team pins the other back for 70 minutes — three posts hit, a goal ruled out for offside, a goalkeeper having the game of his life. The other team touches the ball six times in the final third and scores twice on the break. The scoreboard reads 2-1 to the wrong team. You know it. Everyone in the stadium knows it.

The data knew it long before the final whistle. That number is expected goals. xG.
 

What is xG?

Every shot taken in a soccer match carries a probability. Based on where it was taken, the angle to the goal, whether it was a header or a foot, and how it was created, analysts can calculate the likelihood that any given shot results in a goal. A penalty is worth roughly 0.76 xG. A header from 18 yards is worth around 0.05. A tap-in from two yards is close to 1.0.

Add up every shot across a full 90 minutes, and you get a number that describes what should have happened, based on the quality of the chances each team created.

It does not care about who scored. It does not care about lucky deflections or the goalkeeper who woke up and decided today was their day. It just describes what the game actually produced.
 

What it Adds to the Final Score

The scoreline tells you who won. xG tells you whether it was likely to happen again.

Teams tend to regress when they consistently score more goals than their chances suggest they should. Teams tend to improve if they consistently underperform their xG. Over a long enough sample, results catch up to the underlying quality of chances being created.

In a single match, the gap between a team's xG and their actual goals gives you useful context for what you watched. A team that wins 1-0 with an xG of 0.4 against their opponent's 2.1 got a result. Whether they deserved it is a different conversation. A team that loses 1-0 with an xG of 2.6 against 0.3 was the better team by a wide margin — and probably knows it.

The scoreboard is the result. xG is the story underneath it.

There is a subtlety worth knowing: not all xG is created equal. When shots happen in sequence — a penalty, then a rebound off the save — adding those numbers together overstates the actual threat. The rebound only existed because of the missed penalty, which means it was never as independent as the raw figure suggests. Analysts who work with this data every day account for those conditional sequences, which is why the xG picture of a match can look different from the numbers a broadcast graphic gives you.
 

What to Watch for

The next time you watch a match, start paying attention to the quality of chances rather than the volume. Ask yourself: was that shot actually dangerous?

A team peppering the keeper from 30 yards is not creating pressure. They are inflating their shot count while building almost no xG. A team that plays slowly and deliberately, then carves out two clear looks at goal from inside the box, is doing something far more threatening — regardless of how it looks on the surface.

A few things that reliably push xG up: shots from central positions inside the penalty area, chances that come from cutbacks across the face of goal, and situations where the defense is pulled out of shape before the shot is even taken. 

Those are the moments analysts circle. Those are the moments that decide matches, even when they do not become goals.
 

The Number Underneath the Number

One thing xG does not capture on its own: everything that happened before the shot. The pass that split the defense. The carry that dragged three defenders out of position. The run that pulled the center back six yards left and opened the channel. All of that work happens before the shot, and all of it contributes to how dangerous that shot becomes.

Analysts at the highest level of the game have built models that assign value to every single action on the pitch — not just shots — to capture that full picture. xG is the entry point. Once you understand it, you start wanting to understand how teams build toward those high-quality chances in the first place.

That is where the modern game gets interesting. And it starts here.

Hudl and the Malaysian Football League (MFL) Announce Exclusive Multi-Year Scouting Rights Agreement

Lincoln, Neb. – June 3, 2026 – Hudl, the global leader in sports performance analysis and scouting, has renewed its multi-year scouting rights agreement with the Malaysian Football League (MFL).

The agreement, which first commenced in the 2023 season, has been renewed as part of a continued mission to strengthen the development of professional football through the use of high-level performance analysis and scouting technology.

The exclusive multi-year agreement provides video and data for a wide range of competitions across Malaysia, including the Liga Super Malaysia, Piala FA, Piala Malaysia and Challenge Cup. Hudl will have exclusive access to all related video from these matches, which will be made available for professional purposes via Hudl Wyscout, the world's largest database of football video and data.

“Since the partnership was established, the Hudl platform has played an important role in assisting clubs and local football stakeholders to access match analysis, video footage, and performance data more effectively and professionally,” said MFL Chief Executive Officer, Mohd Shazli Shaik Mohd. “This also includes assisting the Harimau Malaya squad management in evaluating players who have been playing with their respective clubs before being called up to join the national team. Our renewal of this agreement reflects the continued commitment of both parties in empowering the Malaysian football ecosystem in line with the progress of global sports technology.” 

The collaboration between Hudl and MFL provides Malaysia League clubs and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) greater opportunities to enhance through data and video analysis comprehensively positively impacting team performance, player development, and talent scouting processes.

“We are pleased to announce our exclusive agreement with the Malaysian Football League, supporting clubs and the league with premium video and data for video and analysis on Hudl Wyscout,” said Mateo Bourrut Lacouture, Hudl’s strategic partnership manager. “This agreement allows us to showcase Malaysian football on the world’s leading scouting and analysis platform, empowering clubs and the league to develop talent to the highest standards."

About the Malaysian Football League (MFL)

Established in 2015, the Malaysian Football League (MFL) operates and commercializes the highest level of Malaysian professional football, which includes Liga Super, Piala FA, Piala Malaysia, MFL Challenge Cup, and the Piala Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah (Perlawanan Sumbangsih), with over 228 matches and the highest total live viewership base in Malaysian sport. 

With the vision to make football a pride of the nation once again, MFL’s efforts to transform Malaysian football are centered around four key pillars: competitive matches in all competitions, positive commercial growth, strong partnerships with stakeholders, and increasing professionalism as well as integrity in team and league management. https://www.malaysianfootballleague.com

About Hudl

Hudl empowers hundreds of thousands of teams globally to reach their potential, working with coaches, athletes and administrators at every level of sport. We equip teams with tools and insights to elevate performance, streamline operations, drive recruitment and deepen fan engagement. Our smart cameras capture every second of practices and games, powering the industry's ecosystem of film review, recruiting, scouting and more. Our trusted software layers data and analytics onto video to help athletes and teams reach their potential. And our platform helps every team create a stronger connection to their fans through livestreaming, athlete highlights, tickets and updates on all the information fans care about. Learn more at Hudl.com.

One System, Every Sport: How IWCC Stopped Piecing It Together

Shane Larson has been in small college athletics long enough to know exactly what it costs.

Not just the budget line items. The other costs. 

The coach who burns out by year three because 90 percent of the job is administrative and 10 percent is the reason they got into coaching in the first place. The program that makes do with outdated tools because the resources were never distributed evenly to begin with. The AD who spends half his week managing vendor contracts instead of building something.

Larson knows that world because he came up through it. He drove buses. He stretched budgets. He learned to work within limitations that everyone around him had simply accepted as the cost of doing business at the small college level.

As the athletic director at Iowa Western Community College, he decided to stop accepting them.

Twenty-Six Sports. One Problem.

It started, as a lot of things do, with a budget audit.

Larson sat down to map out what Iowa Western was actually spending on technology across the athletic department — who had what, who was paying for what, and whether any of it made sense. What he found surprised even him.

“We were like, man, I did not realize we were spending this much money on three different providers and 15 different packages," he said. 

Twenty-one coaches. Twenty-six sports. And a technology infrastructure that had been built one contract at a time, program by program, with no coherent system underneath it.

The bigger issue wasn't the cost. It was what the fragmentation was doing to the department. Football had resources. Basketball had resources. And then, somewhere down the line, the sports that didn't generate much revenue were making do — cobbling together workflows, going without tools their athletes deserved, getting a different experience than the programs that happened to sit at the top of the budget priority list.

Larson saw it as an equity problem as much as an efficiency problem. And he set out to fix both.

The Real Opponent

Every coach on Larson's staff was fighting a version of the same battle. The opponent wasn't the other team. It was the clock.

Men's soccer coach Mike Brown was waiting three to five days for match data — days when a correction could have already been made. Men's basketball coach Andy Shaw will tell you that going into a game without film on your opponent is one of the worst feelings in coaching. Softball coach Heidi Jordan was up until midnight reviewing games by hand. Football coach Scott Strohmeier was charting plays until 2 a.m. — down and distance, formation, defense — one play at a time.

Multiply that across 26 sports and the picture gets clear. The manual grind wasn't a quirk of one program. It was the operating condition of the entire department. And it was stealing time from the one thing every one of those coaches came to Iowa Western to do.

The Decision

The turning point wasn't a product demo. It was a decision Larson made about what kind of athletic department he wanted to run.

The answer was the Hudl athletic department package — one contract, one platform, every sport. 
Film, automated cameras, streaming, data, recruiting tools. All of it, department-wide, under a single system built for programs exactly like Iowa Western's.

When he ran the numbers, the math surprised him. "We figured out it was actually cheaper for us to give these resources to every program than what we were paying for the seven or eight programs that had individual contracts," he said.

But the more important calculation wasn't financial. It was cultural. If softball and dance team had the same access to tools as football, basketball and soccer, something shifted in what it meant to be a coach and athlete at Iowa Western. The athletic department package made that possible without asking Larson to choose who got access and who didn't.

Associate AD Ian Alumbaugh had been the skeptic in the room. The manager of gameday operations and an old-school media guy, he wasn't convinced that Hudl Focus cameras could replace a person behind the lens. "These automated cameras aren't going to do what a person behind the camera can do," he said. 

Then he tested one. "I was quickly proven wrong." 

By January, he had the entire baseball and softball streaming schedule set — games that would go live automatically, without a filmer to schedule or a battery to charge. "January, February, March, April, May — that I don't have to worry about the live stream going live at that game time."

His conviction flipped entirely. "If you're not using it, you're behind," he said. "Automated cameras are the new norm."

We figured out it was actually cheaper for us to give these resources to every program than what we were paying for the seven or eight programs that had individual contracts.

What the Time Buys

The efficiency gains were real. But Larson will tell you that was never really the point.

The package gave every coach the same foundation — a platform to upload, review, and share film, automated cameras to capture it, and Assist to break it down. What they did with that time was up to them.

For Brown, it changed the dynamic in the film room entirely. Instead of waiting days for data and spending nights manually building a scouting report, he had the film and the breakdown ready when he needed it. 

"When I had the film and the data to back it up, it's not me versus them. It's me with them," he said. That shift changed his program. A player who could have transferred to Division I after his first season looked at what Iowa Western had built and decided to stay.

With Focus cameras capturing every practice and game automatically, and automatic breakdowns from Assist, the turnaround that used to take days now took minutes.  Strohmeier's practice film was cut and ready before his staff finished breakfast. 

Shaw's players could pull up game film ten minutes after the final whistle. Jordan's athletes were back in the dorms clipping their own swings and sending them to coaches that same night. "Assist is a dream come true for us," Jordan said. "Because now we actually get some sleep."

And Larson started seeing something he'd been working toward: coaches who didn't feel defeated before they walked in the door. "When 90 percent of your job is the part you don't like, and only 10 percent is the part you like — that's when you see burnout," he said. "I want to flip that."

A Big-Time Feel at a Two-Year School

There's one more piece of the Iowa Western story that doesn't show up in a budget line.

Streaming.

Focus cameras eliminated the student-filmer problem and turned every Iowa Western game into a broadcast — and the audience turned out to be bigger than anyone expected. Alumbaugh pulled the numbers and found Iowa Western was getting more international views than domestic ones. "A girl from Brazil will have 25 different family members watching every game," Larson said.

For women's soccer coach Bruce Erikson, whose roster is largely international, streaming isn't a nice-to-have. "When you have half your roster that are international kids, you can go two years and not see a parent in person," he said. "Video and data can sometimes be a more universal language."

Strohmeier framed what all of it adds up to: "We have a full broadcast — play by play — to give it a big-time feel. Yes, we're a junior college. But from our facilities to someone watching it on their TV, it is a big-time feel."

That's what Larson built. Not a D1 program in miniature. Something specific to what Iowa Western is — a two-year school with a two-year window to develop an athlete, change a trajectory, send someone somewhere better than where they started.

"This is the same analytic technology that they use in Major League Baseball," Larson said. "You start telling the kid that — they're not looking at it as an inferior experience."

They're looking at it as Iowa Western.

The coaches put it differently.

Strohmeier's version is simple: "Let's get our work done. Let's go home. I want my coaches to be able to watch their kids' volleyball games."

Women's basketball head coach Zach Loll, who has coached at other programs, notices the difference every morning. "I've walked in to work at different places and felt defeated before I even step in the door," he said. "And here you step in the door and you kind of smile."

One system. Twenty-six sports. And finally, enough room to coach.

Bridging the Gap: NFYL Finals Review 25/26

In the UK, less than 1% of academy players get offered a professional contract at Premier League clubs. Most are released and left wondering what comes next.

The National Football Youth League (NFYL) aims to bridge that gap between college and academy football. It aims to give aspiring players “outside of the system” a professional, competitive environment which will allow them to continue to flourish – both inside football and in further education. 

Success stories include the likes of Britt Assombalonga and Shandon Baptiste, who both progressed from securing professional contracts to playing at top level for both club and country. 

Assomabalonga was released from Nottingham Forest at the age of 15 and went on to play for clubs in the English Championship – including a homecoming to Forest – and in the Turkish Super Lig. He is now an ambassador for the NFYL. Baptiste also suffered initial rejection from the academy system, leaving Reading’s set up after being deemed too small. He eventually made it to the Premier League with Brentford and Luton.

Central to the NFYL’s mission of raising the standards and aspirations of talented football players is their use of technology, giving players access to the same tools used by professional clubs. 

As part of a new agreement with Hudl, next season all ten NFYL Premier Divisions will be available on Hudl Wyscout – the world’s most comprehensive library of football video and data.

“We want the NFYL to be recognised as one of the most progressive youth football environments in the country for both men’s and women’s football,” said League Director and Founder Louise Macey.  “The partnership with Hudl helps raise standards across the league while giving players, coaches and clubs access to the tools and insights used in the modern game.”

As a taste of what that coverage will look like, we used Hudl Wyscout to break down four of the finals, which recently took place at The Hawthorns, the home of Championship club West Bromwich Albion, at the beginning of May. 

Northampton Town emerged victorious in a five-goal thriller to beat Bolton to the U19 Premier title. It was a clash of styles with Wanderers dominating possession (60%), outpassing their opponents (454 vs 272), but Northampton were more clinical in front of goal.

A look at the xG dynamics paint a picture of a game that was neck-and-neck, until the game burst into life with a flurry of activity between the 73rd and 78th minute. A two-goal salvo in the space of 3 minutes from the Cobblers ultimately proved to be decisive. 

Statistical Spotlight: George Steers

Central to Northampton's win was midfielder George Steers, who embodied both sides of their performance — quietly influential during the even exchanges before stepping up when it mattered most. 

Awarded player of the match, the data also points to Steers as the standout performer. As well as being the author of the crucial third goal, no player from either side made more key passes (4) or duels (30) – highlighting his influence in the middle of the park.

In the League Cup final of the same age group, Middlesbrough’s class saw them complete a second-half comeback thanks to a Spencer Walker double.

Strachan had more possession (55% vs 45%) and started the game stronger. Particularly noticeable was their high press. Looking at PPDA, which measures passes allowed per defensive action and is a reliable indicator of pressing intensity, Strachan’s 4.8 to Middlesbrough’s 8.6 showed a significantly higher level of aggression – indeed it was the highest of any team in the four featured finals

One possible explanation for Middlesbrough’s second half dominance was that Strachan’s aggressive approach led to a physical drop off and allowed Middlesbrough back into the game – as demonstrated by the fact Boro created 1.29 xG in the second half compared to their 0.39 in the first half.

Statistical Spotlight: Spencer Walker

It was a mixed game for Walker who was the goalscoring hero but ended up receiving a red card in the dying moments of the game. Nevertheless, his two goals from an xG of 0.65 and just three touches in the box demonstrated his unerring ability in front of goal. Watching the footage back, his ability to run in behind the defence, hold off challenges and keep his composure was on full display.

NFYL covers both men and women’s football and the U21 League Cup final witnessed a thrilling David versus Goliath clash. Aryanna Adesan caught favourites Everton cold with an early looping long range strike but goals from tournament top scorer Lola Smith and Cerys Williams were enough for the Merseysiders to walk away with the trophy.

Of the four finals, this was arguably the most evenly matched from a tactical standpoint. Both teams had nearly identical PPDA (6.1 vs 6.0), possession (52/48), and pass accuracy (62/56), making it the tightest tactical battle of the four. Everton’s accuracy in front of goal with 8 shots on target from 12 attempts edged the tie.

Statistical Spotlight: Aryanna Adesan

Despite finishing as runner up, Barking Abbey’s Adesan was a constant thorn in Everton’s side. Adesan had more shots (4) and more touches in the box (5) than any other player and her physicality and movement caused Everton plenty of problems. She is a young player to watch, having already made appearances in the semi-professional National Women's League South for Hashtag United.

Procision Oxford and Macclesfield could only be separated by penalties after a 1-1 draw during normal time. Oxford had the better xG (2.36 vs 1.32) and took more shots (18 vs 15), but Macclesfield keeper Justin Griffith kept them at bay during 90 minutes with 5 saves – including 4 reflex saves. 

However, despite his heroics during normal time, there was nothing he could do in the shootout, with Procision Oxford netting all five of their penalties to get the win.

Statistical Spotlight: Connor Barrett

The Procision Oxford skipper put in an all-action captain’s performance, topping the ranks for key passes (4), deep completions (2) and dribbles (7). Nominally a right-sided attacking midfielder, he often found himself the furthest man forward and no Oxford player had more shots than his 8. 

Although his performance wasn’t rewarded with a goal, he stepped up first in the penalty shoot out to lead by example, emphatically thumping his shot into the net and setting the tone for his teammates.

The Oxford vs Macclesfield final in many ways encapsulated a theme that ran across all four games.

Three of the four finals were won by teams who underperformed in possession but were more clinical, the exception being Oxford who dominated xG but had to go to penalties. 

Another trend was three of the finals also saw comebacks, with Bolton, Barking Abbey and Strachan all losing having been in winning positions.

“Football is developing and changing quickly, and we want the NFYL evolving with it,” summarised Macey. “What excites us most is the opportunity to support player development in new ways, and Hudl and Wyscout give us a major step forward in creating a progressive environment for both our men’s and women’s divisions.”

Explore how Hudl Wyscout can elevate your youth scouting and recruitment, or speak with our team about building a scalable youth scouting strategy.

Hudl and the National Football Youth League (NFYL) Announce Exclusive Multi-Year Scouting Rights Agreement

Lincoln, Neb. – May 28, 2026– Hudl, the global leader in sports performance analysis and scouting, has announced an exclusive multi-year scouting rights agreement with the National Football Youth League (NFYL). The partnership will provide comprehensive coverage of youth football competitions across men's and women's categories in England.

“Football is evolving quickly, and we want the NFYL evolving with it. This partnership is a major step forward in creating a progressive development environment for both our men’s and women’s divisions,” said Louise Macey, National Football Youth League CEO. “The opportunity to support player development in new ways — giving both our men's and women's clubs access to the same analysis tools used throughout the professional game — is something we're really proud to offer.”

The agreement covers video and data for a broad range of NFYL competitions, including the Men's U23 North, Central, South and League Cup; Men's U19 Premier Division North East, North West, South, South 2, League Cup and Premier Cup; Men's Trophy; Women's Premier Division North, South and South 2; Women's League Cup; and Women's Trophy. Delivered via Hudl League Exchange, Hudl will have exclusive access to all related video from these competitions, which will be made available for professional purposes through Hudl Wyscout, the world's largest database of football video and data.

"Partnering with the National Football Youth League reinforces Hudl's commitment to football at every level of the game," said Jack Scott-Gatty, business analyst at Hudl. "From grassroots youth competitions to the elite stage, we're proud to ensure that clubs, coaches, and scouts have access to the video and data they need to identify and develop the next generation of talent through Hudl Wyscout."

About National Football Youth League

Formed in 2010, the National Football Youth League (NFYL) is the UK’s strongest youth football competition outside of the professional academy system, providing a progressive and competitive environment across both the men’s and women’s game from U19 through to U23 level. The league was originally founded with a player-first philosophy to create meaningful opportunities for players who had not been offered scholarships or who had been released from the professional game, and that commitment to player development and progression remains central to the NFYL today. The NFYL has also been at the forefront of developing opportunities within the women’s game, with early investment and innovation helping establish some of the strongest female youth divisions in the country. Operating nationally, the league continues to bring together clubs from a wide range of professional, semi-professional and independent development environments, with a strong focus on high standards, meaningful competition and modern player development.

About Hudl

Hudl empowers hundreds of thousands of teams globally to reach their potential, working with coaches, athletes and administrators at every level of sport. We equip teams with tools and insights to elevate performance, streamline operations, drive recruitment and deepen fan engagement. Our smart cameras capture every second of practices and games, powering the industry's ecosystem of film review, recruiting, scouting and more. Our trusted software layers data and analytics onto video to help athletes and teams reach their potential. And our platform helps every team create a stronger connection to their fans through livestreaming, athlete highlights, tickets and updates on all the information fans care about. Learn more at Hudl.com.

Hudl Wyscout Hits Record Year for Youth Football Content

Lincoln, Nebraska, - 28 May, 2026 - While elite-tier football remains a staple of global analysis, the real explosion in demand is occurring at the youth level. New data from Hudl Wyscout reveals that the youth sector is now the fastest-growing area of global football.

In FY 25/26, Hudl Wyscout recorded a landmark with nearly 15,000 total youth football video uploads — a staggering 29% increase over the previous year. Beyond the increase in volume of footage, access to comprehensive data has surged, ensuring that more youth matches than ever before are being broken down into data-driven insights.

We sat down with Kerry Morrow, Hudl’s Head of Youth Football to discuss why youth competitions have become the most strategically important scouting environments in the world.

Kerry, why is the industry pivoting so aggressively toward youth video and data right now? 

"In an era of FFP, increasing transfer fees, and tightening budgets, the identification of talent earlier in the recruitment process is the only scalable model for long-term success. Our presence in the youth sector supports the early identification of high-potential talent, giving clubs a genuine competitive edge in the transfer market."

How does Hudl Wyscout help clubs manage the sheer volume of emerging talent? 

"With access to Hudl Wyscout, clubs, scouts, and other industry professionals can easily monitor over 40,000 players across more than 200+ global youth competitions. Historically, youth football lacked structured video and reliable data, but Hudl is closing that gap by providing access to high-quality content that was previously inconsistent. 

This transformation is powered by our complete ecosystem: our AI-driven cameras—from fixed Hudl Focus to the portable Hudl Focus Flex—capture the play automatically, feeding high-quality footage directly into the Hudl platform for instant, in-depth analysis and visual feedback. It’s no longer just about watching a player on a pitch, it’s about the verified data captured around them. We are removing the geographical barriers that previously prevented recruitment teams from watching emerging talents on a global scale."

How does youth data compare to top-tier league data in terms of accuracy? 

"All youth competitions are processed with the same professional rigor as top-tier leagues which are hosted on Hudl Wyscout. This level of data is essential for high-stakes recruitment—ensuring a standard that 'standalone' or automated-only libraries simply cannot guarantee. Furthermore, given our portfolio of youth content lives directly within the same platform as 800+ professional competitions, it creates benchmarking opportunities during the recruitment process. This ensures a seamless transition from discovery to analysis without the friction of switching between fragmented, disconnected tools."

Which key tournaments can users find on Hudl Wyscout, and what is the significance of the events Hudl is now co-organizing? 

"We cover the world’s most prestigious stages, from national team tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup (U17 and U20), European Championships (U17, U19 and U21), and CONMEBOL (U15, U17 and U20) to club-level competitions such as the UEFA Youth League, and many domestic youth leagues across Europe, including top-tier leagues in England, Portugal, Sweden and Norway. 

We have also taken an even more active approach this year by organizing our first two proprietary tournaments in Spain and Argentina respectively, featuring academies from top clubs like Manchester United and various leading South American national teams, including Argentina. In these events, we control the quality of the video and the depth of the tagging from the ground up, ensuring scouts have the best possible toolkit for evaluation.”

The global surge in youth data is more than a trend, it is a fundamental shift in how football clubs build for the future. By closing the "video and data gap" in youth football, Hudl Wyscout ensures that the next generation of talent is never more than a few clicks away.

To learn more about the Hudl Wyscout Record Year, read the full blog here

About Hudl

Hudl empowers hundreds of thousands of teams globally to reach their potential, working with coaches, athletes and administrators at every level of sport. We equip teams with tools and insights to elevate performance, streamline operations, drive recruitment and deepen fan engagement. Our smart cameras capture every second of practices and games, powering the industry's ecosystem of film review, recruiting, scouting and more. Our trusted software layers data and analytics onto video to help athletes and teams reach their potential. And our platform helps every team create a stronger connection to their fans through livestreaming, athlete highlights, tickets and updates on all the information fans care about. Learn more at Hudl.com.

Beyond the Arc: What Actually Wins in Europe

There is a common question that modern basketball hasn't found an answer to yet: Should you play fast or should you play smart?

I've analysed data from the past few seasons in the Euroleague regular season using Hudl Instat shot chart data. I mapped 14 shooting zones across all 18 teams, calculated eFG% for each zone, and broke down the numbers by play type — overall, in transition, and in half-court sets.
The results don't always line up with what you'd expect if you've been following the analytics conversation over the past decade.

This is the first of two articles. Here, I'll lay out the data. In the second, I'll bring the film: real game footage showing what these numbers look like on the court.

Analytics entered the chat

Even though it sounds like a false dilemma, analytics has become a tool that can help coaching staff tackle that question with more tangible inputs than "feel".

We definitely see the implications in how a team is built, which shots they look for and how they prepare matches. Pace is not a neutral variable any more, it has become a philosophy.

Decades ago, the answer was pretty intuitive. Fast teams scored more points because they had more possessions. That was before starting to use possessions as the way to measure efficiency, with offensive/defensive rating as a popular and easy-to-understand metric by normalising to 100 possessions and beginning the era of comparing apples with apples.

In 2004, Dean Oliver established a new framework with his Basketball on Paper and the Four Factors that quantified success:

• Shooting (40%)
• Turnovers (25%)
• Rebounding (20%)
• Free Throws (15%)

So raw pace, on its own, tells you almost nothing about whether a team wins or loses. A slow team can be elite if it's efficient while a fast team can be mediocre if they don't convert their chances.

Next step: Moreyball rate

ASVEL Villeurbanne had one of the highest Moreyball Rates in the EuroLeague last season — 86% of their shots come from either at the rim or behind the three-point line. By the analytics textbook, that's close to perfect. 

They finished 15th.

Fenerbahçe, the reigning champions, have the lowest Moreyball Rate in the league: 76%. They take more mid-range shots than anyone else. 

They finished 2nd.

The numbers are tighter than you'd think. Moreyball Rates range from Monaco's 75% to Real Madrid and Bayern's 86%. That's an 11-point spread for the entire 18-team field — narrow enough to suggest we've reached something like a consensus on where to shoot from.

Mid-range attempts account for just 13% of total shots and convert at the league's worst efficiency (39% eFG). The three-point rate sits at 41%, and here's what might surprise NBA-centric readers: recent research by Foteinakis and Pavlidou (2025) found that the EuroLeague actually has a higher three-point attempt rate than the NBA, driven partly by the shorter 6.75m arc.

When the exception becomes the norm

Jared Dubin coined the "Moreyball Rate" metric for FiveThirtyEight back in 2018, when he noticed that nearly every NBA team had adopted Houston's approach and the Rockets' competitive edge was evaporating. The same thing has happened in Europe, perhaps with a few years' delay, as it usually happens with everything related to analytics.

But when I ran the correlation between Moreyball Rate and Win% across all 18 EuroLeague teams, the result was r = -0.07. 

For the non-stats readers: that's essentially zero. No relationship whatsoever.

Look at the extremes. ASVEL (86% Moreyball, 38% Win%), Virtus Bologna (84%, 27%), and Zalgiris (83%, 44%) all sit in the top third of shot selection discipline — and the bottom third of the standings. Meanwhile, Monaco (75%), Fenerbahçe (76%), and Barcelona (78%) have among the lowest Moreyball Rates and are all playoff-bound.

This doesn't mean Moreyball was wrong. The expected value math still holds. A league-average mid-range shot is still the worst shot on the court. But when every team takes 75-86% of its shots from the two most efficient zones, there's just not much room left to gain by tweaking your shot diet. The spread is too narrow. At this point, thedifference between teams comes down to who actually makes the shots — not where they're taking them from.

And we also need to factor in who is shooting, because a better player will score more efficiently. We can probably all admit that the Fenerbahçe roster was way better than ASVEL, right?

Transition: the rising tide every team wants to surf

If pace itself doesn't drive efficiency, what about transition offense — the fastest, most efficient play type in the game? I analyzed transition and half-court efficiency separately for all 18 teams, and the finding was clear: transition is where everyone is good.

The league-wide eFG% jumps from 54% in half-court sets to 65% in transition — a 10.6-point boost. Every single team except one improves in transition. The range is wide (Bayern at +24.3 points, Paris at -2.4), but the correlation between transition efficiency and winning is weak: r = 0.11.

Compare that to half-court eFG% at r = 0.76.

It makes sense if you think about it: when everyone shoots 60-70% eFG in transition, nobody gains an edge from it. You need to be competent in the open court — you can't afford to waste easy baskets — but transition alone isn't winning you a 34-game EuroLeague season.

Ben Falk's work at Cleaning the Glass has shown a similar dynamic in the NBA: transition matters, but the real separation happens when the defense is set and you need to create advantages in the half-court.

The exceptions are worth a closer look, though. Bayern München sees a +24.3 eFG% boost in transition, the largest in the league, suggesting a team built to run. Paris is the only team that gets worse in transition (-2.4 eFG% vs. half-court), which is puzzling and worth a deeper look in the film-based follow-up article.

Can we actually predict winning?

The correlation hierarchy across half-court metrics is clear:

eFG% is by far the strongest predictor. Teams that make their shots win games. This confirms what Oliver's Four Factors framework established two decades ago, and what Falk's Cleaning the Glass data has shown consistently: eFG% is the single most important factor in basketball success.

3Pt eFG% is an important metric too, as making threes matters more than taking them. And the Moreyball Rate has even lower correlation, close to zero signal.

Basketball Index found that raw eFG% correlates year-to-year at just 0.28, while their "Shot Making" metric — how well a player converts relative to shot difficulty — correlates at 0.66. The ability to make tough shots is a more stable and predictive skill than simply taking easy ones. That lines up with what I see in the EuroLeague data: the teams at the top have players who convert from the zones everyone targets.

What the shooting profiles reveal

Shot selection looks the same across the league. Execution doesn't. When you look at the shooting profile radars — eight zone groups mapped by eFG% — no two teams look alike, even if their Moreyball Rates are similar.

Efes has the best shooting efficiency in the league. There are no weak spots on their radar — strong from the corners (63%), the wings (58%), and the paint (63%). That's what a roster full of high-level shot-makers looks like in the data.

Fenerbahçe is the opposite story. The lowest Moreyball Rate, but a functional 55% eFG and a title defense to show for it. Their mid-range shots aren't a weakness because they have the personnel to convert them. Georgios Giasemidis reached the same conclusion in his independent EuroLeague analysis: the correlation between mid-range volume and winning was -0.15, statistically insignificant. A mid-range shot is only inefficient if taken by a mediocre shooter.

And then there's ALBA Berlin, who make the whole argument in one line: 80% Moreyball Rate (above league average), decent shot selection — but the worst eFG% in the league at 51%. They take the right shots and miss them. No system can overcome that.

Where this leaves us

The analytics revolution in European basketball achieved exactly what it set out to do. It optimized shot selection. Teams shoot more threes, attack the rim, and have largely abandoned the mid-range as a primary weapon. The EuroLeague's shot distribution looks more like the NBA's than it ever has.

But there's a limit to how much you can gain from shooting philosophy alone. When everyone has bought into the same principles, the edge stops being about the system and starts being about the people running it. In the 2024-25 EuroLeague, the question now isn't whether teams are taking the right shots: they are! It's about player development, shooting improvement, screen quality, and the ability to create clean looks against set defenses.

None of this means the last decade of analytical work was pointless. The league-wide shift to three-point-heavy, rim-attacking offense has raised the floor for everyone. Offensive ratings have climbed, the game is more efficient than ever, and the analytical framework that drove this change remains sound. But the low-hanging fruit is gone.

What comes next is messier: developing shooters, improving screen quality, finding players who can create and convert against set defenses. The kind of work that doesn't fit neatly into a shot chart.

In the next article, I'll take these findings to the film room. We'll look at real game footage to understand what efficient and inefficient possessions actually look like; what a "good shot" means beyond the zone it comes from, and how the best teams in Europe create advantages that the shot chart alone can't capture.

Fulham FC Women: From Rebirth to Invincible with Hudl

Hudl teamed up with Training Ground Guru to host a webinar showcasing a compelling story from English women's football - the remarkable rise of Fulham FC Women. 

Head Coach Steve Jaye, Performance Analyst Michael O'Brien, and Physical Performance Coach Matthew Greenwood walked attendees through the workflows the club has used to transform itself from a team reborn in the lower divisions into back-to-back league champions.

Fulham FC’s Women’s team were resurrected in 2014. What followed was a methodical climb through the divisions. By the mid-2020s, they had established themselves as a genuine competitor, sitting top of The FA Women's National League Division One South East and pushing hard for promotion to the third tier of the women's game.

Victory in knockout competition, winning the Capital Women’s Senior Cup, further emphasized the growth of this relatively new team. 

Central to that growth, their staff explained, is the Hudl Pro Suite and the sophisticated and connected workflows it enables across coaching, analysis, and physical performance.

Opposition Analysis Workflow: Pre and Post Match

The pre-match analysis process within the Fulham Women’s team brings together elite-level opponent scouting, video coding, and tactical presentation in a coherent, easy-to-operate, workflow.

League Exchange: Scouting the Opposition

Hudl's League Exchange is the starting point. The platform aggregates match footage from across the league, giving access to video of upcoming opponents without the need to physically scout every game. From the Exchange, Fulham’s analysis team can pull footage, tag key moments, and build an opponent profile with genuine depth.

Hudl Sportscode: Coding, Clipping, and Debriefing

Hudl Sportscode sits at the heart of Fulham’s match analysis workflow. They use a customisable code window to tag and categorise footage in real time. The code window is built around the club's game model and each button click creates a timestamped data point which can then be turned automatically into a clip reel, a statistics report, or a presentation package.

Pre-match, those clips are used to build opponent analysis presentations for the squad, including footage filmed at the club's own training sessions. 

Post-match, the same Sportscode workflow underpins a detailed technical debrief held every Monday after a weekend match. Most matches take place on a Sunday, so this workflow allows vision and data to be ready for the next day. All clips from the game are organised, annotated with notes and labels, and structured around the team's principles.

Hudl: Sharing Footage with the Squad

Hudl's core platform is used to share video with the squad directly. Players can access footage on their own  devices, enabling self-review and reinforcing the analytical culture that Jaye has built within the group. This direct player access is a key element of embedding the game model — not just telling players what to do, but showing them in footage and inviting them to engage critically with their own performances.

"We’re able to download the footage directly from our library into Sportscode and use its more advanced features."

Physical Performance and Measuring Workload

Physical performance at Fulham Women’s has developed into a sophisticated approach. At the heart of the club’s load management methodology is the Acute to Chronic Workload Ratio (ACWR).

The ACWR compares a player's recent training load (typically over one week — the 'acute' load, representing fatigue) against her longer-term average load (typically over four weeks — the 'chronic' load, representing fitness). 

The ratio is a powerful indicator of injury risk: a player whose recent load spikes dramatically above their baseline is in a high-risk zone; a player whose recent load drops well below baseline may be underprepared for the demands of a match.

Greenwood uses GPS data from Hudl's WIMU units to calculate these ratios automatically, before measuring that data on the Hudl Signal athlete monitoring platform. 

"If we play against a team that drops into a low block, we might see that our pressures are much lower. We might see a drop off in the physical data and apply the context of the game. That's the value of integrating the two."

Automated Capture and Communicating Detail

Video capture at Fulham Women’s relies on Hudl's Focus camera system. Home matches are filmed using the Focus Outdoor — a fixed, AI-powered camera that automatically tracks play across the pitch without requiring an operator. Away matches use the portable Focus Flex camera, giving the analysis team the same quality of footage wherever the game is played.

Both cameras upload footage automatically — either via ethernet connection or wirelessly — directly into the Hudl ecosystem. This seamless integration means there is no manual file transfer workflow to manage; footage from a Sunday match is ready to work within Sportscode before the Monday debrief begins. Focus Outdoor also integrates directly with Sportscode for live analysis during matches, enabling coaches to pull clips in real time for the half-time team talk.

"With our post-week presentations, we use the telestration tools that come in Studio… We can see distances covered, we can see speed, it gives us a nice way to add a little bit more detail to what we’re showing."

Hudl Signal generates bespoke, dynamic dashboards tailored to the club's specific performance priorities — daily reports, microcycle analysis, and longitudinal tracking across the season. When a data point stands out — a player recording an unusually high top speed, for instance — Greenwood can immediately cross-reference it against the session video to understand the context. Was it a well-executed sprint in a pressing sequence? An unexpected injury-risk moment? The combination of GPS data and video removes ambiguity.

The Fulham post-match debrief on Mondays draws on both sources: if physical metrics show a drop-off in high-intensity running during the second half, the analysis team can verify whether that reflects fatigue, tactical adaptation to a low block, or reduced opportunity — avoiding simplistic judgements and applying proper context.

The ACWR approach, underpinned by WIMU and Signal, has allowed Greenwood to manage player readiness across a congested schedule while minimising soft tissue injuries — a critical factor in a part-time squad where players may be balancing training with professional commitments outside football.

Fulham Women’s FC club reinstatement in 2014 began a journey that was always going to demand more than talent alone. Sustained success at any level requires the right structures, the right culture, and the right tools.

The proof is in the record. Two consecutive unbeaten league seasons. Back-to-back titles. Victory in Cup competition. A squad that thinks analytically, trains purposefully, and performs consistently. Fulham FC Women are not just rising through the divisions — they are building a club foundation that will last the test of time.

Ready for your ambition to meet professional infrastructure? 

Used by Fulham FC. Built for your club.

Try Hudl Pro Suite today! 

Titan Essentials Episode 0: No More Guesswork

GPS tracking used to belong exclusively to the NFL and Power 4 college programs. It was the kind of elite technology that required massive budgets, a dedicated sports science staff and a team of analysts just to make sense of the data. For the average high school or smaller college program, it was entirely out of reach.

As a coach, that meant you had to rely almost entirely on "feel." If your star wideout or starting left tackle looked gassed during a grueling session, you had to make a gut-instinct decision about how much they had left in the tank.

But gut instinct can’t accurately tell you if your top playmaker is just catching their breath, or if they are entering a physical danger zone, risking injury late in the game.

That’s changing. And our new Titan Essentials series is here to show you how.

Hosted by Nick Danielson from Hudl’s College and Professional team, this series is designed specifically for football coaches and staff who want to get more from their athletes—but who traditionally haven’t had the time, budget or resources to do so. We’re breaking down how elite-level tracking is finally affordable, scalable and built for the modern realities of high school and college football.

In this debut episode, Nick introduces the series and explains how data can transform your program from the first day of summer camp to the state championship.

What to Expect from the Series

This series is aimed squarely at football coaches who are serious about winning and player safety. 

You might be a head coach who also handles the strength and conditioning program. Perhaps you’re a coordinator on a staff where everyone wears multiple hats. Or, you find yourself already having access to tracking data but aren’t quite sure how to translate the charts into better performance.

Whatever your situation, this series meets you where you are. We’re here to help you protect your players and get the most out of your roster.

Each episode is built to be immediately practical. By the end of it, you'll have clear steps you can take back to your staff straight away.

Stay tuned for our next episode, where we’ll dive deep into why Titan GPS trackers are built for the modern demands of football.

Kostenlose Daten: Hudl Statsbomb veröffentlicht fünf Top-Frauenligen

Bei Hudl Statsbomb ist unser Engagement für die Fußball-Analyse-Community eng mit unserem Einsatz für die Förderung des Frauenfußballs verbunden. Um sicherzustellen, dass Analysten und Fans weiterhin Zugang zu Daten auf Elite-Niveau haben, freuen wir uns, unsere neueste kostenlose Datenveröffentlichung anzukündigen: fünf komplette nationale Frauenligen mit 771 Spielen, 62 Mannschaften und 1500 Spielerinnen.

 Diese neue Version enthält die komplette NWSL-Saison 2023 sowie die kompletten Spielzeiten 2023/24 der Women's Super League (WSL), der Serie A Women, der Frauen-Bundesliga und der Liga F.

Stärkung der Frauenfußball Community

Offen zugängliche Daten waren schon immer das Herzstück des Fortschritts in der Fußballanalyse. Es fördert die Innovation und dient als Sandkasten für angehende Analysten. Der Zugang zu umfassenden, öffentlich zugänglichen Daten für den Frauenfußball hat sich jedoch in letzter Zeit als schwierig erwiesen, sodass für diejenigen, die die taktischen und statistischen Feinheiten des Frauenfußballs untersuchen wollen, eine deutliche Lücke besteht.

 Wir glauben, dass die Data Community keinen Schritt zurück machen sollte. Die kostenlose Bereitstellung dieser Daten ist unsere kleine Art, uns aktiv für die Analytics-Community und den Frauenfußball einzusetzen.

 Dies ist für uns kein neues Terrain. Seit fast zehn Jahren bietet Hudl Statsbomb Frauenmannschaften auf der ganzen Welt kostenlosen Zugang zu unserer Analyseplattform und Daten für ihre eigene Liga. Heute sind wir stolz darauf, Partner von Dutzenden von Frauenfußball-Eliteteams auf der ganzen Welt zu sein, die alle genau dieselben konkurrenzlosen Event-Daten nutzen, die wir heute der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich machen.

Die Daten

Diese Version stellt eine unserer bisher größten Mengen an kostenlosen Fußballdaten dar und liefert genau die gleichen hochspezialisierten Event-Daten, die von Profivereinen weltweit verwendet werden. Über 771 Spiele hinweg haben Sie Zugang zu detaillierten Daten für jede Aktion auf dem Spielfeld - einschließlich Pässe, Mitnahme, Schüsse und Druck - sowie zu unserem branchenführenden Expected Goals (xG)-Modell.

 Die in dieser Ausgabe enthaltenen Saisons haben einige der historischsten Momente des modernen Frauenfußballs eingefangen und bieten ein reichhaltiges Feld für Analysen. In der WSL können Sie die letzte, titelgebende Saison von Emma Hayes' legendärer Amtszeit beim FC Chelsea unter die Lupe nehmen. In Deutschland war der FC Bayern mit 19 Siegen und drei Unentschieden in 22 Spielen der Frauen-Bundesliga nicht zu schlagen, während in Spanien der FC Barcelona in seiner Quadruple-Saison den Titel in der Liga F als eine von vier Trophäen gewann.

Auf der anderen Seite des Atlantiks gipfelte die NWSL-Saison 2023 in der märchenhaften "worst-to-first"-Serie des Gotham FC, der die NWSL-Meisterschaft gewann.

How to Access the Data

Der Zugriff auf die Daten ist einfach. Mit unseren Open-Source-Paketen StatsbombR und statsbombpy können Sie den vollständigen Datensatz direkt in R oder Python übernehmen.

Die spezifischen Wettbewerbs- und Saison-IDs für diese Veröffentlichung sind unten aufgeführt:

• Women’s Super League (Wettbewerbs-ID: 37. Saison-ID: 281)
• Serie A Women (Wettbewerbs-ID: 131. Saison-ID: 281)
• Frauen-Bundesliga (Wettbewerbs-ID: 135. Saison-ID: 281)
• Liga F (Wettbewerbs-ID: 182. Saison-ID: 281)
• NWSL (Wettbewerbs-ID: 49. Saison-ID: 107)

Wir empfehlen, die Spezifikation der Event-Daten bei der Arbeit mit den Daten bereitzuhalten. Diese enthalten eine Liste aller Spaltennamen und Variablen in den Daten, mit Definitionen. Um Ihnen den Umgang mit den Daten zu erleichtern, haben wir die Leitfäden Using Hudl Statsbomb Data In R und Using Hudl Statsbomb Data In Python erstellt - ideal für alle, die gerade erst anfangen.

Wir hoffen, dass dieser Datensatz ein willkommener Impuls für die Fußballanalyse-Community ist, und wir werden uns auch weiterhin für den Frauenfußball stark machen. Ob wir den Eliteklubs die Daten geben, die sie brauchen, um sich einen Vorteil zu verschaffen, oder ob wir unsere Archive der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich machen, wir werden uns weiterhin aktiv für mehr Sichtbarkeit, Gerechtigkeit und Einblicke auf allen Ebenen des Frauenfußballs einsetzen.

Wir können es kaum erwarten, zu sehen, was Sie mit diesen Daten aufbauen.

Das Hudl Statsbomb Team

Dati gratuiti: Hudl Statsbomb rende disponibili i dati di cinque campionati femminili di alto livello

Per Hudl Statsbomb, il nostro impegno verso la comunità degli analisti è profondamente legato alla volontà di contribuire alla crescita del calcio femminile. Per continuare a garantire ad analisti e appassionati l’accesso a dati di alto livello, siamo entusiasti di annunciare la nostra ultima release gratuita: cinque campionati nazionali femminili completi, per un totale di 771 partite, 62 squadre e oltre 1.500 giocatrici e giocatori.

Questa versione contiene la stagione completa 2023 della NWSL, oltre alle stagioni complete 2023/24 della Women's Super League (WSL), della Serie A femminile, della Frauen-Bundesliga e della Liga F.

Sostenere la crescita della comunità del calcio femminile

I dati ad accesso libero sono sempre stati la linfa vitale del progresso nell’analisi calcistica. Stimolano l’innovazione e fungono da sandbox per gli aspiranti analisti. Tuttavia, negli ultimi tempi l’accesso a dati pubblici e completi sul calcio femminile ha dovuto affrontare sfide significative, lasciando un vuoto evidente per chi desidera studiare le sfumature tattiche e statistiche del gioco femminile d’élite.

Crediamo che la comunità dei dati non debba fare un passo indietro. Fornire questi dati gratuitamente è il nostro piccolo modo di essere sostenitori attivi di questa stessa comunità e del calcio femminile.

Questa non è una nuova frontiera per noi; per quasi un decennio, Hudl Statsbomb ha gestito un'iniziativa dedicata che fornisce alle squadre femminili di tutto il mondo l'accesso gratuito alla nostra piattaforma di analisi e ai dati per il loro campionato. Oggi siamo orgogliosi di essere partner di decine di squadre di calcio femminile d'élite in tutto il mondo, che utilizzano tutti gli stessi dati sugli eventi che oggi rendiamo completamente accessibili al pubblico.

I dati

Questa release rappresenta una delle nostre più grandi distribuzioni gratuite fino ad oggi, mettendo a disposizione lo stesso livello di dettaglio utilizzato dai club professionistici di tutto il mondo. Su 771 partite, avrete accesso a informazioni dettagliate per ogni azione in campo, inclusi passaggi, conduzioni, tiri e pressioni, oltre al nostro modello di Expected Goals (xG), leader del settore.

Le stagioni incluse in questa release hanno catturato alcuni dei momenti più storici del calcio femminile moderno, offrendo un ricco campo di analisi. Nella WSL, è possibile analizzare l'ultima stagione, quella della vittoria del titolo, del leggendario mandato di Emma Hayes al Chelsea. In Germania, c'è stata una campagna invincibile per l'FC Bayern, che ha vinto 19 delle 22 partite della Frauen-Bundesliga e ne ha pareggiate 3, mentre in Spagna il Barcellona ha vinto il titolo della Liga F, uno dei quattro trofei della sua stagione quadrupla.

Dall’altra parte dell’Atlantico, la stagione 2023 della NWSL è culminata nella favolosa corsa del Gotham FC “dall’ultimo al primo posto”, fino alla vittoria del campionato.

Come accedere ai dati

L'accesso ai dati è semplice. È possibile estrarre il dataset completo direttamente in R o Python utilizzando i nostri pacchetti open-source StatsbombR e statsbombpy.

Gli ID specifici delle Competizioni e delle Stagioni per questa release sono indicati di seguito:

• Women’s Super League (ID Competizione: 37. ID Stagione: 281)
• Serie A Women (ID Competizione: 131. ID Stagione: 281)
• Frauen-Bundesliga (ID Competizione: 135. ID Stagione: 281)
• Liga F (ID Competizione: 182. ID Stagione: 281)
• NWSL (ID Competizione: 49. ID Stagione: 107)

Si consiglia di tenere a portata di mano le specifiche dei dati dell'evento, mentre si lavora. Contengono un elenco di tutti i nomi delle colonne e delle variabili dei dati, con le relative definizioni. Per aiutarvi ulteriormente a navigare tra i dati, abbiamo creato le guide Using Hudl Statsbomb Data In R e Using Hudl Statsbomb Data In Python, ideali per chi ha appena iniziato.

Ci auguriamo che questo dataset serva a dare una spinta alla comunità degli analisti e rimaniamo fermamente impegnati a sostenere il gioco femminile. Sia fornendo ai club d'élite i dati di cui hanno bisogno per ottenere un vantaggio, sia aprendo i nostri archivi al pubblico, continueremo a spingere attivamente per una maggiore visibilità, equità e approfondimento a tutti i livelli del calcio femminile.

Non vediamo l'ora di vedere cosa costruirai con questi dati.

Il team Hudl Statsbomb

Datos gratuitos: Hudl Statsbomb publica cinco de las mejores ligas femeninas

En Hudl Statsbomb, nuestro compromiso con la comunidad de analistas de fútbol está profundamente conectado con nuestra dedicación a elevar el juego femenino. Para garantizar que analistas y entusiastas sigan teniendo acceso a datos de élite, nos complace anunciar nuestra última publicación gratuita: cinco ligas nacionales femeninas completas, con 771 partidos, 62 equipos y 1500 jugadoras.

 Esta importante versión incluye la temporada 2023 completa de la NWSL, junto con las temporadas 2023/24 completas de la Women's Super League (WSL), la Serie A femenina, la Frauen-Bundesliga y la Liga F.

Potenciar la comunidad del fútbol femenino

Los datos gratuitos siempre han sido el motor que impulsa el avance en el análisis del fútbol. Estimula la innovación y sirve de caja de arena para los aspirantes a ser analistas. Sin embargo, el acceso a datos públicos de calidad sobre el fútbol femenino se ha enfrentado recientemente a importantes dificultades, lo que ha dejado un claro vacío para quienes desean estudiar los matices tácticos y estadísticos del fútbol femenino de élite.

 Creemos que la comunidad de datos no debería dar un paso atrás. Proporcionar estos datos de forma gratuita es nuestra pequeña forma de defender activamente tanto a la comunidad de analistas como al fútbol femenino.

 Esta no es una nueva frontera para nosotros; durante casi una década, Hudl Statsbomb ha llevado a cabo una iniciativa dedicada a proporcionar a los equipos femeninos de todo el mundo acceso gratuito a nuestra plataforma de análisis y datos para su propia liga. En la actualidad, estamos orgullosos de colaborar con docenas de equipos de fútbol femenino de élite de todo el mundo, todos los cuales utilizan exactamente los mismos datos inigualables sobre eventos que hoy ponemos a disposición del público.

Los datos

Este lanzamiento representa una de nuestras mayores entregas individuales de datos de fútbol gratuitos hasta la fecha, ya que ofrece exactamente los mismos datos de eventos de alta granularidad que utilizan los clubes profesionales de todo el mundo. A lo largo de 771 partidos, tendrá acceso a datos detallados de todas las acciones sobre el terreno de juego, incluidos pases, entradas, disparos y presiones, junto con nuestro modelo de goles esperados (xG), líder en el sector.

 Las temporadas incluidas en esta edición capturaron algunos de los momentos más históricos del fútbol femenino moderno, ofreciendo un rico campo para el análisis. En la WSL, puedes analizar la última temporada de Emma Hayes en el Chelsea, en la que ganó el título. En Alemania, el FC Bayern realizó una campaña invencible, con 19 victorias y 3 empates en 22 partidos de la Frauen-Bundesliga, mientras que en España, el Barcelona ganó el título de la Liga F como uno de los cuatro trofeos de su cuádruple temporada.

Al otro lado del Atlántico, la temporada 2023 de la NWSL culminó con el cuento de hadas del Gotham FC, que se proclamó campeón de la NWSL "de peor a mejor".

Cómo acceder a los datos

El acceso a los datos es sencillo. Puede extraer el conjunto de datos completo directamente en R o Python utilizando nuestros paquetes de código abierto, StatsbombR y statsbombpy.

Los ID específicos de Competición y Temporada para este lanzamiento se detallan a continuación:

• Women’s Super League (ID de Competición: 37. ID de Temporada: 281)
• Serie A Women (ID de Competición: 131. ID de Temporada: 281)
• Frauen-Bundesliga (ID de Competición: 135. ID de Temporada: 281)
• Liga F (ID de Competición: 182. ID de Temporada: 281)
• NWSL (ID de Competición: 49. ID de Temporada: 107)

 Se recomienda tener a mano la especificación de los datos del evento mientras se trabaja con los datos. Contienen una lista de todos los nombres de columnas y variables de los datos, con sus definiciones. Y para ayudarte aún más a navegar por los datos, hemos creado las guías Using Hudl Statsbomb Data In R y Using Hudl Statsbomb Data In Python , ideales para los que acaban de empezar.

 Esperamos que este conjunto de datos sea una gran ayuda para la comunidad de analistas de fútbol, y seguimos comprometidos con el impulso del fútbol femenino. Ya sea proporcionando a los clubes de élite los datos que necesitan para obtener una ventaja, o abriendo nuestros archivos al público, seguiremos impulsando activamente una mayor visibilidad, equidad y conocimiento en todos los niveles del fútbol femenino.

 Estamos impacientes por ver lo que construyes con estos datos.

El equipo Hudl Statsbomb.

Free Data: Hudl Statsbomb Release Five Top Women's Leagues

At Hudl Statsbomb, our commitment to the football analytics community is deeply connected with our dedication to elevating the women's game. To ensure that analysts and enthusiasts continue to have access to elite-level data, we are thrilled to announce our latest free public data release: five complete domestic women’s leagues, spanning 771 matches, 62 teams and 1500 players.

This major release features the complete 2023 NWSL season, alongside the full 2023/24 seasons for the Women’s Super League (WSL), Serie A Women, Frauen-Bundesliga, and Liga F.

Empowering the Women’s Football Community

Open-access data has always been the lifeblood of progress in football analytics. It sparks innovation and serves as a sandbox for aspiring analysts. However, access to comprehensive, public data for women’s football has faced significant challenges recently, leaving a distinct void for those looking to study the tactical and statistical nuances of the elite women's game.

We believe that the data community shouldn't have to take a step backward. Providing this data for free is our small way of standing up as active advocates for both the analytics community and women's football.

This is not a new frontier for us; for nearly a decade, Hudl Statsbomb has run a dedicated initiative providing women's teams across the globe with free access to our analytics platform and data for their own league. Today, we are proud to be partnered with dozens of elite women’s football teams around the world, all of whom utilise the exact same unrivalled event data that we are making completely open to the public today.

The Data

This release represents one of our largest single drops of free football data to date, delivering the exact same high-spec event data used by professional clubs worldwide. Across 771 matches, you will have access to detailed data for every on-pitch action - including passes, carries, shots, and pressures - alongside our industry-leading Expected Goals (xG) model.

The seasons included in this release captured some of the most historic moments in modern women's football, offering a rich field for analysis. In the WSL, you can dissect the final, title-winning season of Emma Hayes’ legendary tenure at Chelsea. In Germany, there was an invincible campaign for FC Bayern, who won 19 and drew three of their 22 Frauen-Bundesliga games, while in Spain, Barcelona won the Liga F title as one of their four trophies in their Quadruple season.

Across the Atlantic, the 2023 NWSL season culminated in Gotham FC’s fairytale "worst-to-first" run to lift the NWSL Championship.

How to Access the Data

Accessing the data is straightforward. You can pull the full dataset directly into R or Python using our open-source packages, StatsbombR and statsbombpy.

The specific Competition and Season IDs for this release are outlined below:

• Women’s Super League (Comp ID: 37. Season ID: 281)
• Serie A Women (Comp ID: 131. Season ID: 281)
• Frauen-Bundesliga (Comp ID: 135. Season ID: 281)
• Liga F (Comp ID: 182. Season ID: 281)
• NWSL (Comp ID: 49. Season ID: 107)

To pull all five leagues simultaneously and clean the event data, you can use the following script:

# Install the package if you haven't already
# remotes::install_github("statsbomb/StatsBombR")
library(StatsBombR)
library(dplyr)
# Fetch all available free competitions and matches
Comp <- FreeCompetitions()
Matches <- FreeMatches(Comp)
# Filter for the specific competitions and seasons in this release
TargetMatches <- Matches %>%
        filter(competition.competition_id %in% c(37, 131, 135, 182, 49)) %>%
        filter(season.season_name %in% c("2023", "2023/2024"))

# Download and clean all event data (Note: Pulling all 771 matches in one go may take some time)
events <- free_allevents(MatchesDF = TargetMatches, Parallel = TRUE)
events <- allclean(events)
events <- get.opposingteam(events)

If you are working in Python, you can loop through the competition and season ID pairs using statsbombpy to compile the matches and events:

# Install the package if you haven't already
# pip install statsbombpy
import pandas as pd
from statsbombpy import sb
# Define the target competition and season ID pairs
target_leagues = [
    {"competition_id": 37, "season_id": 281},  # WSL
    {"competition_id": 131, "season_id": 281}, # Serie A
    {"competition_id": 135, "season_id": 281}, # Bundesliga
    {"competition_id": 182, "season_id": 281}, # Liga F
    {"competition_id": 49, "season_id": 107},  # NWSL
]

# Compile matches across all specified leagues
all_matches = []
for league in target_leagues:
    matches_df = sb.matches(competition_id=league["competition_id"], season_id=league["season_id"])
    all_matches.append(matches_df)

combined_matches = pd.concat(all_matches, ignore_index=True)

# Example: Fetching events for the entire dataset
# Note: Pulling all 771 matches sequentially may take some time
all_events = []
for match_id in combined_matches['match_id']:
    try:
        match_events = sb.events(match_id=match_id)
        all_events.append(match_events)
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error fetching match {match_id}: {e}")

combined_events = pd.concat(all_events, ignore_index=True)

We recommend keeping the event data specification handy while working with the data. These contain a list of all column names and variables in the data, with definitions. And to further help you navigate the data, we created the Using Hudl Statsbomb Data In R and Using Hudl Statsbomb Data In Python guides — ideal for those just getting started.

We hope this dataset serves as a welcome boost to the football analytics community, and we remain fiercely committed to championing the women's game. Whether through providing elite clubs with the data they need to gain an edge, or opening up our archives to the public, we will continue to actively push for greater visibility, equity, and insight across every level of women’s football.

We cannot wait to see what you build with this data.
The Hudl Statsbomb Team

How UNK Football Revolutionized Practice with Focus Point LR

For Nate Baker, the Offensive Line Coach and Run Game Coordinator at the University of Nebraska-Kearney (UNK), the quest for perfect film used to be a logistical nightmare. 

Between film towers, unreliable scissor lifts and a perpetually short-staffed crew of student filmers, the “eye in the sky” was often more of a headache than a help. 

That changed when the UNK football program implemented the  Focus Point LR end zone camera. Having consistent access to a permanent, automated end zone camera system transformed the Lopers’ coaching workflows and set them up for success in the lead-up to games on Saturdays in the fall.

Solving the Tower Problem

Every program has a pain point. For UNK, it was a loss of infrastructure. 

“We got a new scoreboard, and they took the tower away,” Baker explained.

Suddenly, the traditional vantage point for the end zone shot was gone. Even with a non-Hudl replacement camera, they still struggled relying on student filmers. “I only have two filmers…sometimes it’s more like one and a half. Now with Focus Point LR and Focus Outdoor, I can get two end zone shots and film from every side without needing a person filming. I start it, and it records.” 

Practice: Where the Hidden Value Lies

Many college and high school football programs think of end zone cameras primarily for game day. But Coach Baker found the biggest impact during the day-to-day grind of a long season. 

“We use it over seven hours per week,” he explained. “We film individual drills, 7v7, our whole practice…it’s been a huge deal for practice and an important addition for us.” 

Having access to reliable end zone film has widespread ramifications for top-tier programs. As Baker explained, that viewpoint allows position coaches to see everything they might need to make adjustments and give meaningful feedback: 

• The O-Line: Baker can see the exact fit of combination blocks and technical footwork.
• Wide Receivers: Coaches can analyze spacing and route depth in real-time.
• The Sideline: Because the camera captures "every single second," coaches can even monitor player behavior and readiness on the sidelines.

The ROI Conversation

In the world of high school and college athletics, return on investment is always a critical part of the conversation. For Coach Baker, the math on Focus Point LR became the easiest argument he’s ever had to make to his boss. 

“I told Coach Held we’d need to pay for a scissor lift and a person three times the amount of money we would for this camera,” Baker said. 

When you factor in the recurring rental fees for equipment and the constant scramble to find volunteer filmers, the traditional way of filming football games and practices quickly increases a coaching staff’s already heavy mental load. 

By switching to a permanent, automated camera solution, UNK upgraded its film quality and saved valuable dollars in the process.

“The investment is minimal, and the return is very high,” Baker said. “...You’re not going to find anything else at that quality at that price point. To pay for the camera, we’ve already gotten our money’s worth from it.” 

Michigan Football Has a Champagne Problem

What happens when an old-school, smashmouth football coach has a newfound point to prove? We’re poised to find out this fall in Ann Arbor. 

After a stellar 22-year career at Utah, Kyle Whittingham is now the head coach at the University of Michigan—and he plans to bring his ultra-physical brand of football with him. 

For over two decades, Whittingham was the underdog whisperer, doing more with three stars, grit and duct tape than most do with five-star flash. Now he’s got a crown jewel quarterback at a place that views anything less than a College Football Playoff appearance as a colossal failure. 

Going from the hunter to the hunted is one thing. Finding ways to mold budding superstar quarterback, Bryce Underwood, into a dual-threat weapon is another. This offseason, the Wolverines added offensive firepower, beefed up at the line of scrimmage and installed a new offense to showcase Underwood’s abilities. If all goes to plan, Michigan could jump back into the upper echelon of the top conference in college football. 

How Does Michigan Get More Out of Bryce Underwood?

Priority number one for Whittingham and new offensive coordinator Jason Beck is getting more out of Underwood in 2026. 

Last season, Underwood showed flashes of his sky-high abilities, without ever hitting top gear. He finished with a little over 2,400 yards and 11 touchdowns, but struggled with accuracy, throwing nine interceptions.

In 2025, Underwood was an efficient runner of the football. He averaged 7.5 yards per carry and finished with a 0.25 EPA/Rush figure. He did a nice job of moving the chains on designed quarterback run plays and possesses enough mobility to evade pressure on passing downs.

The area of his game where he could stand to improve the most is his passing. During the 2025 season, he barely eclipsed the 60% completion percentage threshold. He also posted a -7.4% CPOE (Completion Percentage Over Expectation), which means he completed fewer passes than an average quarterback would in similar situations. That number is an indicator that he consistently struggled with accuracy and missed throws.

Standing at six-foot-four-inches tall and weighing around 230 pounds, Underwood has all the tools in the world. He’s got a big arm. He can run like a deer. He was the No. 1 recruit in the country for a reason. 

For Whittingham and Beck to get more out of Underwood, they need to find ways to simultaneously simplify the offense while also putting Underwood in a position to let it rip. Too often last season, Michigan played with an ultra-conservative mindset, and it likely hindered Underwood’s development as a passer. 

Last season at Utah, Beck got a lot out of Devon Dampier in the designed run game. Dampier is a gifted runner, but doesn’t possess the same top-end abilities as Underwood. Underwood would benefit from more designed QB run plays and one or two-read pass plays. 

Michigan's Champagne Problem

Landing a five-star quarterback is a Champagne problem, but a problem nonetheless. 

It’s the ultimate “be careful what you wish for” in college football. You’ve spent the NIL dollars. You nabbed the high-profile recruit. Now, before the bubbles go flat, you have to figure out what to do with him. 

Underwood’s freshman season in Ann Arbor was a side step. He looked the part in the running game, but looked every bit like a freshman as a passer. But with Whittingham at the helm and Beck calling the offense, there’s room for optimism that Underwood can deliver in 2026 and push Michigan back into the College Football Playoff conversation.

Titan Essentials Episode 1: Preparing for Pre-Season

Pre-season is the most physically demanding phase of the football year — and the one that sets the tone for everything that follows. 

In episode two of Titan Essentials: Soccer, Hudl Solutions Consultant Felicia Medalla-Kennedy breaks down how to use GPS data to build a fitness foundation that lasts all the way to your final match. 

Watch the video below, then use the guide that follows to pull out the key points and put them into practice.

The Pre-Season Principle: Exposure

If you had to sum up pre-season in a single word, it's this: Exposure.

This is the ‘preparation phase’. The goal here isn't to peak before the season has started — it's to gradually expose your players to the physical demands of competition so their bodies are ready for the grind ahead. Volume is at its highest point of the year, and intensity is at its lowest. That's intentional.

As pre-season progresses, that relationship shifts. Volume scales back, intensity ramps up, and by the time your opening fixture arrives, your players should be physically sharp and ready to hit the ground running.

Don't just review what your players did — use the data to shape what comes next

The Power of Establishing Positional Benchmarks

Different positions require entirely different physical attributes — and your data should reflect that. So one of the most valuable things you can do in pre-season is establish clear benchmarks for each position in your squad.

Midfielders tend to cover higher total distances, forwards often produce highest intensity sprints, while defenders' outputs shift depending on your tactical setup.

By setting these positional benchmarks now, you can use last year’s numbers to create an objective reference point for the entire upcoming season. You'll know exactly what physical targets each player needs to hit — and you'll be able to make squad selection decisions based on data rather than instinct.

How Titan Can Help

Titan is Hudl’s accessible, professional-grade athlete tracking solution – helping coaches at every level easily transform GPS data into visual, intuitive feedback. Here are four ways it can help prepare you for pre-season:
 

1. Ditch the Bleep Test

   Traditional fitness testing pulls players away from the ball and gives you one data point on one day. With Titan, your session is the test. Use the Drill Database to select drills that naturally hit your target speeds and distances — and track improvement over weeks of exposure instead.
    

2. Make Every Drill Count

   Not all drills deliver the same physical output. The Titan Drill Database lets you plan sessions with a specific goal in mind. If a drill isn't producing the volume or intensity you need, small tweaks — pitch size, player numbers, work-to-rest ratios — can make a significant difference without changing the technical focus.
    

3. Turn Last Season's Data Into This Season's Plan

   By syncing GPS data with game footage, you can identify Peak Periods — the one-to-five-minute windows of maximum intensity in a match. If your team struggled physically in the final ten minutes last season, your data will show you exactly what intensity to expose players to now to bridge that gap.
    

4. Coach Forward, Not Backward

   Pre-season data shouldn't just tell you what happened — it should shape what comes next. If Tuesday's session ran heavier than planned, Titan gives you the insight to ease off on Wednesday and make sure players aren't carrying unnecessary fatigue into the next session.

Learn more about how Titan can motivate athletes, optimize performance, and give you a recruiting edge.

Hudl Releases Raw X&Y Tracking Data via API

We’re excited to announce that Hudl has launched raw X&Y tracking data —  FIFA-certified frame-level coordinates for every player and the ball, derived from single camera footage across 120+ competitions globally.

Unlike third-party tracking providers, this data is generated natively within the Hudl ecosystem — already aligned with your event data and linked directly to video in Hudl Insight and available via API. No separate datasets to reconcile. No integrations to maintain.

This is the spatial layer that event data alone can't provide. Where events tell you what happened, X&Y data tells you where everyone was when it did — the positional context that underpins physical profiling, tactical modelling, and off-ball analysis.

Built to Remove Fragmentation

What makes this different from standalone tracking providers isn't just the data — it's where it lives.

Because the tracking data is generated inside the Hudl ecosystem, the X&Y coordinates arrive already aligned to the event data your analysts are working with. From there, you can move directly to the associated video clip inside Hudl Insight, without switching platforms, reconciling datasets, or maintaining a pipeline between unrelated suppliers.

For data scientists, the API feed provides the high-fidelity spatial raw material to build proprietary models that reflect your club's specific philosophy. For recruitment and team analysts, it removes the time-tax of manual alignment that has historically made tracking data the preserve of only the best-resourced clubs.

And with an unrivaled depth in emerging markets where tracking was previously unavailable — as well as coverage of youth and second-tier competitions, this update ensures that there are no scouting blindspots.

If you're an analyst who has lost time trying to align event and tracking data between two providers, you already know why we built this.

Built to Keep Improving

Most tracking models are validated in isolation – trained on AI output, tested against AI output, with no external check on whether the data actually reflects what happened on the pitch.

Hudl's approach is different. 

The event data from every match we collect feeds back into retraining the model – validated against the same manually collected event data that powers the rest of the Pro Suite. This gives users end-to-end control in one fully integrated ecosystem.

It's a human-verified feedback loop only possible at Hudl. Every match makes the model better. Every match makes your data more reliable.

ECNL and Hudl Put American Youth Soccer Players on the World's Digital Recruiting Map

Lincoln, Neb. —  May 20, 2026 — Every year, American players join the ECNL, driven by love of the game and the league’s unmatched path to the next level. The college and professional coaches who scout these players and control that path search for talent in Hudl Wyscout — the world's largest soccer database, used by collegiate programs and professional clubs globally. Until now, American youth club players were not in it.

Today, Hudl and the Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) announced that ECNL is the first youth soccer league in the United States to change that. 

Beginning this fall, ECNL league games in the ECNL League Video Exchange will be broken down in Hudl Wyscout — putting these athletes’ game video and data into a permanent, searchable record that clubs can use to enhance player development, and college and pro scouts can find on their own terms. ECNL members with Hudl club packages will get access to Wyscout’s advanced video, data and scouting tools at no extra cost when the program launches this fall.

"This incredible new service to provide Hudl Wyscout data and analytics for the players in our league is part of fulfilling our mission to provide the best youth sports experience in the world," said ECNL President Christian Lavers. "Bringing Hudl Wyscout to our clubs isn't a feature update. It's a declaration that ECNL players deserve the same scouting infrastructure that college and professional players have had for years. If you're good enough to compete in the ECNL, you're good enough to be on the radar of every college and pro team using Hudl Wyscout."

What makes this possible is Hudl’s integration throughout every aspect of ECNL competition: game capture and livestreaming with Hudl Focus cameras, hosting game film on the league exchange, stat breakdowns through Hudl Assist+, and now, player breakdowns and recruiting visibility in Hudl Wyscout. Coverage spans ECNL Boys and Girls competitions for the four age groups with a centralized league video exchange — U15, U16, U17 and U18/U19 — so that all clubs have equal access to game film.

"The digital gap between where the best American youth players compete and where college coaches actually discover talent for recruits has been closed,” shared Hudl President Matt Mueller. "ECNL players on Hudl Wyscout are part of that critical conversation now.”

The announcement arrives as the world gears up for North America’s biggest year in the sport since 1994 — a marker of how far American soccer has traveled and a reminder of how much still depends on building the right infrastructure beneath the game's ambitions. For families evaluating clubs, and for players with next-level aspirations, the question is no longer just who the competition is. It is: who can find you?

About ECNL:

The ECNL is the nation's leading youth soccer development platform for America's top soccer players. The ECNL mission to provide the best youth sports experience in the world drives constant innovations in competitions and experiences for players, parents, families, coaches, referees, and partners. The ECNL has questioned convention and challenged the status quo of youth sport since 2009, pushing boundaries and striving for unmatched excellence. Together with its clubs and club leaders, the ECNL creates unforgettable memories and supports the development of youth players into college stars, professionals, world champions, and leaders. Learn more at TheECNL.com.

About Hudl:

Hudl empowers hundreds of thousands of teams globally to reach their potential, working with coaches, athletes and administrators at every level of sport. We equip teams with tools and insights to elevate performance, streamline operations, drive recruitment and deepen fan engagement. Our smart cameras capture every second of practices and games, powering the industry's ecosystem of film review, recruiting, scouting and more. Our trusted software layers data and analytics onto video to help athletes and teams reach their potential. And our platform helps every team create a stronger connection to their fans through livestreaming, athlete highlights, tickets and updates on all the information fans care about. Learn more at Hudl.com.

Press Contact:

Rachel Krasnow
Hudl Director of Strategic Partnerships
Rachel.Krasnow@hudl.com

How Iowa Western Football Built a Launching Pad

Scott Strohmeier has sent somewhere between 40 and 50 players a year to the next level for nearly two decades. He's won a national championship. In 17 seasons as head football coach at Iowa Western Community College, his program has never finished below .500.

That's not luck. That's infrastructure.

The kind of infrastructure that takes years to build — the right staff, the right administration, the right tools — and the discipline to protect what matters most once you have it. For Strohmeier, what matters most has always been the same thing: time with his players.

Getting there, though, took a long time. And it started with a lot of things that looked nothing like football.

Everything Except Coaching

Ask Strohmeier what junior college coaching looked like when he started, and the picture he paints isn’t glamorous.

"I've painted the fields before," he said. "I’ve done laundry. I’ve put on helmet stickers — in [my] spare time, plus on top of your coaching duties and any other issues you've got to deal with on a day-to-day basis."

The film work was its own ordeal. Every play, charted by hand. Down and distance, formation, defense — written out one at a time, then imported into a spreadsheet or some other program, then cross-referenced with VHS tape.

"We used to literally watch every play from a VHS tape and hand-chart every single play," he said. "That's when you're staying up until 1:00, 2:00 in the morning to do it."

And beyond the film, there was everything else. On road trips in those early years, coaches drove the minibus. "From Council Bluffs to Grand Rapids, Michigan — 10 hours, coach a game, then we had to get on the bus and drive home."

Every hour spent driving a minibus or hand-charting a VHS tape was an hour stolen from a player’s development. In the JUCO world, where the window to get recruited is small, that’s a cost Iowa Western can’t afford.

Getting Their Time Back

Iowa Western has used Hudl for years, and Strohmeier is direct about what it changed.
"We just bring our computer and we can do work from home," he said. That sounds like a small thing. It isn't. It meant his staff — many of whom have kids of their own — could actually be home.

"I want my coaches to be able to go watch their kids," Strohmeier said. "Monday is kind of that day. And if you have to start early in the morning and stay later some nights, I want our guys to be able to get home with their families."

When Iowa Western added Hudl Focus cameras to their practice and game fields, the shift got more significant. The student filmer problem — the missed clips, the dead batteries, the angles that were off — went away overnight.

"I didn't have to worry: is my filmer there? Is he on time? Are the camera batteries charged? Is he paying attention or is he missing clips?" Strohmeier said. "We got them all."

After practice, the process that used to take the better part of a morning now runs on its own. Film is uploaded, cut and ready before the coaching staff finishes breakfast. They come back in, and it's waiting for them.

Game film tells the same story. "If we finish at 4:00 or 5:00, I can start at 5:05 watching the other team," Strohmeier said. That used to be a next-morning task, at best.

Hudl Assist brought the same logic to breakdown work. Down and distance, formations, tendencies — the time-consuming manual charting that used to swallow entire evenings — now happens automatically. 

"Formationally is probably a big one offensively and defensively," Strohmeier said. "Those are the first ones we're going to pull."

With those hours back, the staff can divide and conquer. Coordinators pull their specific reports. Position coaches build their own playlists. "We can get double the duty in the same amount of time," Strohmeier said.

From a recruiting standpoint, Hudl turned a full-time logistics operation into something he can run from his phone. "I'll get text messages at all times. 'Take a look at this kid' — I just click the link that was sent to me," he said. "I don't even have to search for it."

Their recruiting database now has highlight film links attached to every prospect. A school that's never recruited Iowa can pull a player's film and evaluate him in minutes. "It's made it a lot easier to find kids," Strohmeier said. "And a lot easier for people to find ours."

What He Does With the Time

Here's what the reclaimed time actually looks like.

When a quarterback needs individual attention, Strohmeier doesn't wait for the next team film session. He pulls that player's clips, adds comments — what he did right, what needs to change — and sends them directly to the kid's phone. "They don't have to watch every clip from practice," he said. "They can watch just their own."

It's a level of one-on-one coaching that would've been logistically impossible before. Now it's part of the weekly routine.

That extends to the culture Strohmeier has built around his staff. Practice at 7:00 a.m. means afternoons are for position meetings, development and, when the work is done, going home. "There's a million ways to do it," he said. "I've been successful the other way — staying until midnight, 1:00. But we found our way of doing it."

The result is a staff that stays. His defensive coordinator, Mike Blackbourn, has been with him for two years at his previous stop and all 17 at Iowa Western. That kind of continuity is rare at any level. At the junior college level, it's extraordinary.

And it shows in the players.

Iowa Western sends 40 to 50 players a year to the next level. The wall in Strohmeier's office tells the story of who went where. Kaden Wean — a two-time Jet Award winner who headed to the NFL Combine — came through Council Bluffs as a relatively unrecruited prospect. So did Jake Waters, now the quarterbacks coach at Penn State.

"That's why you get into the profession," Strohmeier said. "To help the kids. And for us, it's a little bit different — because we get them, and then we get to go see them do it at the next level."

A Program That Never Stops Building

Iowa Western isn't standing still.

Strohmeier is now looking ahead to the Hudl Focus Point LR, which will provide them film from the end zone angle. What he describes is the ability to film multiple segments of practice simultaneously — four things going at once, all captured automatically, all ready to review without chasing down footage or syncing mismatched clips.

"That is really exciting," he said.

It's the same instinct that's driven the program since 2009: find a better way to do it, so you can spend more time doing what actually matters.

"At the end of the day, it comes down to coaching the guys who aren't just your starters," Strohmeier said. "Those are the easy ones. Don't discard the guy who's third or fourth on the depth chart. Give him the same amount of time."

That philosophy — applied consistently across 17 seasons, with better tools every year to support it — is the real legacy of Iowa Western football. Not just the national championship. Not just the players on NFL rosters. But a program where kids come back, talk about their time fondly and mean it when they say they're proud to have played there.

"Hopefully," Strohmeier said, "they say he did it the right way."