Handball data impresses sports enthusiasts

From which position does Mathias Gidsel score most goals? Who is the opponent’s most dangerous attacker, and what characterises the matches that Denmark loses?

Numerous questions crop up during the European Men’s Handball Championship, and the Danish TV channel TV2’s sports journalists find the answers aided by Systematic’s new BI solution, which is based on historic data from handball tournaments such as the EHF Champions League, the Olympic Games, the World Handball Championship and the European Handball Championship.

The solution functions as an analysis and visualisation tool that provides detailed insights into the many facets of the handball game, including scoring percentages, attack formations, game openings, missed shots and technical errors, all broken down by player, position, team or tournament. At the moment, the solution is being tested in TV2’s handball studio, where it has already been something of an eye-opener for TV2’s handball experts.

Data beats sports experts with sticky memories and enhances the coverage

The Systematic solution allows users to select relevant parameters themselves, after which the software presents large amounts of data in clear graphs, tables and percentages etc. When TV2 Sport was shown the solution, they were blown away:

“Our journalists and commentators know a lot about handball, but the detailed facts, statistics and comparisons that we can extract from this data is not something that even seasoned sports experts with sticky memories can spout off the tops of their heads. It means that we can inform our viewers and give them surprising facts and details in a way that provide a more nuanced coverage of the matches,” says Dan Philipsen.

Great potential for clubs, coaches, agents and referees

Traditionally, Systematic develops software solutions for critical sectors of society such as healthcare, defence, education, the police and the emergency services. However, in the Business Intelligence & Data Science department, Senior Project Manager Solveig Dissing and her colleagues are experimenting with the development of innovative solutions for other areas, and in this way explore opportunities for new business ventures.

According to Solveig Dissing, it is not just the sports media that can benefit from Systematic’s handball solution. Coaches, players, clubs, agents and referees can also use the solution’s analyses in order to optimise performance, for example.

“Clubs and coaches can use it to improve their game and team set-up, but also to analyse their opponents and find the best tactics for upcoming matches. Referees can see how they officiate matches compared to other referees, which can be instructive and help to ensure more consistent decisions in handball in general. And agents will be able to use the data to improve their negotiating position when buying or selling players,” she says. 

“At the moment, the solution is at the prototype stage, and in this context it has been really valuable having TV2 involved as a partner to contribute with live testing. Through their feedback, we can improve and develop the finished product, which in the long term can be developed for other sports,” says Solveig Dissing.

She is optimistic about the product’s potential, as several Nordic TV broadcasters have already shown considerable interest in the solution.