Major League Soccer’s reigning champion, Atlanta United FC, is arming youth academy players with wearable technology to aid in their technical development. The soccer club, which defeated the Portland Timbers in the 2018 MLS Cup and is currently ranked third in the Eastern Conference, has partnered with Tel Aviv-based PlayerMaker to put tracking chips on the cleats of 13- and 14-year-old Atlanta United Academy players.
This investment in PlayerMaker is specific to the Atlanta United FC’s academy—it won’t be used by the first team—and is viewed as a development tool that can help coaches assess adolescents in different stages of puberty.