Football is an energetic game of runners. It is rightly said football is a game that increases your stamina. Played between two teams consisting of total twenty two members and played for ninety minutes, a football player approximately covers a distance of about eleven kilometers running on the field. Due to rapid and intense movements of the players it will be very difficult to track the eye movements and to understand exactly where the players gaze. Eye tracking study involves the understanding of sub-conscious mind of the players during the actual game of football. Eye tracking allows to view things from the perspective of players, this act can be studied and recoded by coaches for their scrutiny. This study can depict the spontaneous behavior and action patterns of the players on the field. The analysis can be used to check and improve a number of skills used by the players. Notably, this study is helpful to judge the fixation duration of the players at the time of the game.
With the use of Tobii Pro eye tracking glasses, we can get an insight into the various behavioral patterns showed by the players in the game. The data is collected using modern eye tracking technology and can be helpful in designing new improved methods to frame new concepts whereby the performance of the players can be improved. To have a more precise understanding of the study and analysis, we can have a check on the below case study.
From a team of Norwegian premier league club, five male football players were selected for this type of study , these were the players from norway’s under-21 national team and all of them were most talented players in their respective ages. These players were playing as central mid fielders. This position players are such that they are always surrounded by- both teammates and the opponents from all directions. Being in the central position, they are experts in attacking and explore their surroundings constantly and quickly for the most exceptional action on the field. All the governmental procedure and documentation formalities were completed and such weather conditions were decided which would benefit the players as well as those who were assigned the activity to grab the data. Before the actual match for testing, all the players tested the device. Out of the total five players, batches were divided among three and two members with different time options respectively. All the data was recorded, inspite of the time differences and other interruptions. A tobii pro glass -2 eye tracker was used to check the gaze behavior of the players. This device has a head unit and a recording unit. The tracker was adjusted in such a way that the players could move freely for the match. The device used a gaze overlaid video and it would record the data of actions wherever the players would gaze. Thereafter, fixations performed by the players were checked with a fixation filter equipped on the device itself. The fixation filter is a velocity based algorithm for fixation detection. This study was conducted to have an in depth study about the gaze behaviors of the players in a real world action setting. The results showed that the players used longer fixation durations when more areas of interest were visible within their vision or fixation circle. Our analysis suggested that, the more complex the situation is the more time the player needs to get sufficient information before he implements his decision. The players who used shorter fixation durations were showing a high skill level and were elite players.
In the current scenario, researchers are keen to get more information on the gaze behavior and performance of the players. This is now being done with help of modern technologies. Lastly, the results revealed that central midfield players have a longer fixation duration when maximum areas of interest are available.