Nigeria’s Sunday Oliseh joins Wenger, others for Qatar World Cup technical study group
FIFA has unveiled the Technical Study Group (TSG) for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The group which will be led by by FIFA’s Chief of Global Football development, Arsene Wenger also have the Nigeria ex-international and former Super Eagles Coach, Sunday Oliseh on the list.
According to FIFA, the team ‘will provide cutting-edge analysis of all FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ matches while increasing and developing understanding of the game across the world”.
The TSG also consists of Jürgen Klinsmann (Germany), Alberto Zaccheroni (Italy), Cha Du-Ri (Korea Republic), Faryd Mondragon (Colombia) and Pascal Zuberbühler (Switzerland).
“The TSG will be supported by FIFA’s Head of High Performance Programme Ulf Schott and Group Leader Football Performance Analysis & Insights Chris Loxston, as well as by a team of football analysts, data engineers, data scientists and performance analysts based in both Qatar and Wales” a FIFA statement said.
“During the event, FIFA will share the most modern metrics and performance data in the tournament’s history with the worldwide TV and online audience, as well as with the participating teams and their players”
“Developed by the FIFA High Performance team and Arsène Wenger, the Enhanced Football Intelligence service will offer new and exciting insights to enrich the coverage and analysis of every game at the tournament through a unique set of in- and post-match visuals presented as augmented reality and traditional graphics.”
Besides analysing the action on the pitch, the TSG is expected to study trends and benchmarks for the future of the game including their impact on coach education and talent development.
“We want to describe, analyse and interpret what is happening on the pitch to inspire technical experts and football fans in general,” said Wenger. “We will not only be collecting more data than before, but we will also be aiming to find the right balance between technical expertise and data. And we want to inform people about our technical observations directly and during the tournament itself, not months after the tournament”
Over 15,000 data points to be collected per game in the world with the TSG leading the charge for the ever growing Tecno-scientific study of the game.
The 2018 Russia FIFA World Cup had another Nigeria ex-international, Emmanuel Amuneke as one of its TSG members.
Regarded as part of the golden generation, Oliseh played 63 international matches and scored three goals for Nigeria. While also featured at the Football World Cups of 1994 and 1998, he would be fondly remembered as part of the Nigeria Olympic gold medal winning team of 1996.
He was appointed Super Eagles Coach in 2015 and resigned in 2016.
