How a Wearable Camera can Benefit Soccer Players

The advancements of technology in sports have played a crucial role in the progressive changes from an athlete performance standpoint. For example, there are many sports, like soccer that have seen many technological advances and devices introduced. In soccer, Video Assistance Review (VAR) is one of the more recent means of technology that is aimed at assisting officials, such as referees, to make the most correct decisions, according to the rules, on and during the field of play (Carlos, Ezequiel, Anton, 2019). This specific form of technology could possibly have changed the referee’s decision for Diego Maradona’s famous “Hand of God” goal for Argentina against England in the 1986 FIFA World Cup when he scored a clear goal with his hand and the referee failed to call a handball, against him (Britto et al., 2014). The result of that match resulted in an Argentina team win. Argentina went on to eventually win the FIFA World Cup that year. Thus, it is better late than never that this form of technology was implemented so that further incidents where referee human errors can be avoided. Goalline technology is another example of a revolutionary mean of technology that has positively integrated in the sport of soccer. England’s fate at the 2010 FIFA World Cup could have changed when England midfielder, Frank Lampard’s strike from outside the penalty box crossed over the goal line against Germany in the Round of 16 of the tournament. The referee failed to rule in favor of the goal for England, and were eventually eliminated that game, losing to Germany. Since goal-line technology had been introduced to the sport of soccer in 2012, referees across different professional soccer leagues have instant alerts on whether the ball has entered the net (Brockhoff, Huff, Maurer, Papenmeier, 2016). The following paper explores the idea of how technology, and wearable cameras can improve the performance of professional soccer players by providing them with the first person perspective of what they are faced with on the field.