Osasuna partners with Staige for streaming and analysis
Osasuna has installed four Staige cameras equipped with AI technology at the club’s training facilities. They wil be used to capture plays for detailed analysis and broadcast games from C.D. Subiza, U19, U17 and Osasuna Femenino live.
The installation marks an important step in the partnership with Osasuna that began around six months ago, with the club utilising both the streaming and analysis capabilities offered by Staige.
“Firstly, Osasuna are using the cameras to broadcast the matches of their youth academies on YouTube, on their own channel. And the second part that we are offering is basically an analysis coaching software that we have developed together with Borussia Dortmund, which is also a shareholder in our company,” explains Florian Backhaus, head of international sales, Staige.
The club is currently broadcasting a few matches a month, while the software is being used daily to increase the coaching quality.
The project involved installing four systems on four pitches. “Each camera captures a 180-degree view of the whole pitch, so it looks like a scouting feed in a way,” continues Backhaus. “Inside the cameras are six separate lenses, which create this 180-degree panoramic view of the field. These six signals then go to the cloud, we don’t have a physical server on the ground, but everything goes directly to the cloud. And within the cloud, the artificial intelligence works and makes one signal out of these six separate lenses it receives. And that gives the impression that the camera is actually moving like a camera operator would move it because the AI detects where the action is happening, and therefore follows the game, zooms in, zooms out, everything in real time.”
Analysis can also be done on the same feed while software makes scheduling simple. “The club can say ‘I have a training session on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at two, three and 5pm’. They put it in the system and the next step would be to schedule games. And then for every broadcast they can say if they want it public, internal, on YouTube or on any streaming platform,” he adds.
Installation of the system only took around a couple of hours and was carried out by an electrician.
“The tricky part is actually mounting the camera so it’s the right distance to the pitch, the right height,” says Backhaus. “We usually do that on floodlight poles, assuming that they are on the halfway line, which they usually are, but not always. In Osasuna we had the issue that they have nets to protect the ball from flying from one pitch to another. And obviously, if you have a net in front of the camera, it’s not really ideal, so they actually mounted it there first then changed it to the other side where there’s no net, but that’s kind of the easy challenges we face.”
Osasuna is already benefiting from the Staige set up, both by getting value out of the coaching side of the technology and so increasing the youth development, but also by getting more reach and more awareness for the games that are streaming on YouTube.
Imanol Lobo Yeregui, head of analysis and big data at Osasuna, says: “Real-time analysis provides significant advantages for our coaches and players and allows us to reach our fans worldwide through live broadcasts.”
Looking ahead and Backhaus sees more opportunity for Staige technology in the area of youth football.
“We are offering a product that enables you to broadcast or analyse broadcasts that you haven’t been able to produce before due to costs. We’re not looking for full amateurs, but somewhere between amateurs and professionals, that’s how we want to scale operations.”
And it’s not just in football that is seeing the benefits Staige can bring.
“We’re active in eight sports, so basically we can do everything in a rectangular field. So coming from Germany, apart from football, the focus is ice hockey, basketball, volleyball, handball. We’ve done some more exotic things like equestrian, which works quite well for us, because we are the only player in the market who’s doing equestrian.”