June 22, 2026, 12:33 pm | Read time: 4 minutes
During celebrations or jersey swaps, they often stand out: the tight vests many soccer players wear under their jerseys. Colloquially, they’re often called “men’s bras.” In reality, they are advanced tracking systems for performance analysis. TECHBOOK explains what’s behind them.
Athletes who focus on training their chest muscles and sprinting across the field need proper support. The solution is simple: a sports bra. No, of course not. Yet, on many occasions, male soccer players are seen wearing a type of bustier. In fact, these are special tracking vests serving a technical purpose. With integrated location modules and sensors, they collect data on players’ movements and performance.
High-Tech Vest Instead of Bra
What visually resembles a sports bra is actually a holder for a tracking and analysis system. Players’ positions are determined using global satellite navigation systems like GPS or Galileo, with signals evaluated by receivers integrated into the vests. Precise positioning requires signals from multiple satellites. The collected data is then transmitted to the club’s analysis software and can be evaluated both live and afterward.
Such high-tech vests are used not only in men’s but also in women’s soccer. Many national and international professional clubs use the systems in training and–if competition rules allow–in games. These tracking vests have become standard equipment for numerous professional and national teams.
What Data the Vests Capture
The systems provide far more than just position data. Modern tracking systems can capture numerous performance parameters. In addition to running distance, speed, and acceleration, they measure movement patterns, direction changes, or peak loads using additional sensors. Information on sleep quality or resting heart rate can also be included in the analysis, though these usually come from separate devices or wearables.
Sport medicine expert Prof. Dr. Ingo Froböse from the German Sport University Cologne explains what information the systems can provide: “They record movements on the field and store the physical data,” Froböse told TECHBOOK. “Where does the player move, how fast is he? What is his heart rate? When does his willingness to run decrease?” Heart rate data is typically captured by additional sensors linked to the system.
Furthermore, it can be analyzed how players behave tactically on the field and what forces, for example, affect them in duels.
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Tracking Systems Versus Coaching Experience
Many clubs now consider such systems indispensable tools for performance diagnostics. Especially in load management and injury prevention, the collected data is seen as a crucial basis for training and rehabilitation measures.
There are various providers of such systems. Many professional clubs rely on solutions from companies like Catapult Sports, STATSports, or Kinexon. Costs vary significantly depending on the provider, number of players, and the functionality of the systems used.
Overall, coaches today have more data and analyses available than ever before. Games and training sessions are recorded, performance data evaluated, and individual load profiles created. After all, soccer is not only a popular mass sport but also a billion-dollar business.
Dr. Froböse has a clear opinion on this development: “It’s considered too important. It’s absurd how game evaluations are conducted nowadays. Much of it has nothing to do with the quality of the players. People hide behind science. And the individual quality of the players is pushed into the background.”
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“Fans Don’t Want a Mathematical Game”
Tracking systems are now used both in training and in many competitions. “I view this critically. The systems capture data and calculate metrics. For sports and performance, it’s not automatically beneficial when decisions are made based on such data,” Froböse assesses.
Chance still plays a role in sports. Above all, the attempt at maximum optimization is not welcomed by everyone. “Fans don’t want a mathematical game; it would take away the emotion,” Froböse believes. “Individuality is lost. It no longer matters how the player feels or what individual skills he has. You always have to see: Success ultimately also depends on scoring goals.”
In fact, evaluations have shown for years that the teams with the highest running stats are not automatically the most successful. High running performances alone do not guarantee victories or championships. Besides physical fitness, technique, game understanding, efficiency, and individual quality remain decisive factors.
Regardless of the criticism from some experts, data collection in professional soccer is likely to continue playing an important role. Whether technology actually decides victory or defeat remains controversial. However, the disappearance of data analysis and performance monitoring from modern professional soccer is considered highly unlikely.