This is the first of our Case Study series in which we invite our customers to speak about their experience using SoccerLAB. The goal of the series is to paint a realistic picture of our system as seen through our customer’s eyes and the first to volunteer was Austrian giant SK Rapid Wien.

SK Rapid Wien uses SoccerLAB at the core of its sports development. Our interlocutor today was Matthias Schuh from the SK Rapid Wien Academy:

Hello Matthias, tell us something about yourself:

“I am 26 years old and originally from Linz. I have a B.A. and an M.A. in Sports, Culture, and Event management from the University of Applied Sciences Kufstein Tirol. My role at Rapid is in the sports management department of the Academy, where I oversee all organizational aspects of our U18, U16 and U15 teams. I am also the application manager for SoccerLAB at SK Rapid, i.e. the contact person for SoccerLAB and the key user in the club for sports management.”

Why SoccerLAB?

“SK Rapid uses SoccerLAB from before I joined. However, I know that in the past we had many different software solutions and that this was the reason why the club has decided to use only one platform where all the necessary information is gathered and available to all the relevant people.”

“We use SoccerLAB holistically”

Matthias Schuh

How does Rapid use SoccerLAB?

“There are different key users for the different departments, for sports science, video analysis, training, sports management and so on. We use SoccerLAB holistically because we want to integrate into our work everything SoccerLAB has to offer.”

How does SoccerLAB help you on a daily base?

“For us in sports management, it is very important to have the contacts of the players’ parents in a central system. The calendar is also very important, because all players know when and where the trainings take place, and this is displayed very clearly and well in SoccerLAB. In addition, the players can watch videos of the training sessions as well as games directly via their Player-app. This means that video analysis can practically be done at home, which is a great advantage for us, as we saw it during the pandemic.”

What are the next steps in the project?

“We believe that we will see significant improvements in our players over the next few years as the value of SoccerLAB is given by the value of the data within. I think the biggest benefit will be in five to ten years when a player who started with us in the U8 plays with the U18, the second team and the pros. Of course, progress through data is very important to us.”

“Progress through data is very important to us”

Is data part of Rapid’s sports culture?

“Data is becoming more and more important for all areas from sports science to video analysis and the technical-tactical part. We have more and more data coming in from different providers [Author’s note: hardware like GPS tracking] and SoccerLAB brings it all together. The biggest advantage is that everything is in one place and that we do not have to switch to other island solutions to access data.”

About SoccerLAB:

SoccerLAB is a Player Intelligence Platform created in 2008 which can be used by all technical departments (coaching, scouting,medical, performance,..) of a football club, both for the first team and the Academy. All objective and subjective data is centralized and can be analyzed and visualized.

The platform is used worldwide by federations and clubs like BVB Dortmund, PSV Eindhoven, Atletico Paranaense, AZ Alkmaar, KRC Genk, Club Brugge KV, Al Nassr FC, and dozens of others.

SoccerLAB is a product of Quesd NV with sister products focusing on multisports (Panega Sports) and tennis (TennisLife).

About SK Rapid Wien:

SK Rapid Wien is the most successful Austrian football club, having won the National Championship a record 32 times. Rapid reached twice the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, in 1985 and 1996.

They are the most supported football club in Austria, 39% of Austrian football fans pledging allegiance to the green-whites. Their biggest rivalry is with FK Austria Wien and the Wiener derby is the 3^rd most disputed city derby in Europe.

Founded:	1899
Country:	Austria
National Championships:	32
Colours:	Green-White
Ground:	Allianz Stadion, 28.345 capacity
Nickname(s):	Die Grün-Weißen, Die Hütteldorfer
Website:	www.skrapid.com