Communication analytics is not an incremental improvement in football data. It is the first system to measure how players organise each other in real time.
By David Findlay, Founder of KiqIQ.
Quick Answer: Communication analytics introduces a new performance layer in football: the ability to measure when players speak, how often they organise teammates, and how that behaviour changes under pressure. Platforms like Vokalo convert communication into structured data, allowing clubs to coach, benchmark, and recruit based on verbal organisation, not just movement and events.
Definition: Communication analytics is a performance data layer that captures the frequency and timing of player interactions, adding a measurable verbal dimension to positional tracking and event-based datasets.
Key point: Football has spent years measuring where players move. Communication analytics measures how they organise each other. That shift turns leadership and organisation from subjective traits into quantifiable performance variables.
Measuring the Missing Voice
That gap has existed for decades.
Players have been tracked to the centimetre. Clubs know distances covered, sprint intensity, recovery runs, and positional structures. They can model defensive lines, pressing triggers, and transition phases.
What they have never been able to measure is the verbal layer that connects those actions.
No tracking system can tell a coach whether a centre-back warned a full-back about a runner. No dataset has shown when a defensive line stopped communicating before conceding.
That is what communication analytics is beginning to change.
Vokalo, now used in training by Lommel SK and deployed within City Football Group and Rangers FC environments, is designed to quantify that missing layer.
The starting point is simple: did the player speak?
At Lommel SK, head coach Lee Johnson used the system to turn that question into a measurable variable. Players wear lightweight audio devices embedded in training vests. The system captures communication events, tags them, and converts them into frequency data by player, by phase, and by session.
The outputs are specific enough to act on. Defender Henry Oware initially recorded between 1 and 2 communication interactions per minute. In a later match against Venlo, that figure increased to 4.2 interactions per minute. Across the following six games, Lommel’s defensive organisation improved.
The interpretation was direct: once communication became measurable, it became coachable.
This is what makes the data useful. The difference is not anecdotal. It is timestamped, player-linked, and repeatable. Coaches are no longer relying on general impressions of leadership or organisation. They can define thresholds.
The system operates in three layers. First, wearable devices capture raw audio. Second, AI tagging identifies communication events. Third, the data is visualised through cloud-based tools. Coaches can monitor sessions live or review interactions after training. Players can also tag moments themselves during sessions.
Just as important is what the system does not attempt to do. It is not built around full transcription. It does not primarily analyse what was said. It measures whether communication occurred, how often, and when it drops.
That distinction matters. Football already has dense datasets covering movement, load, and events. What it has lacked is a structured account of the spoken coordination that shapes those movements.
Communication analytics begins to fill that gap.
The Missing Layer in Football Data
Tracking data explains movement. Communication analytics explains organisation.
GPS shows where a defender was positioned. Communication data shows whether he organised the line before the threat developed.
These are different types of information.
Performance departments have spent the last fifteen years building models around positional tracking, physical output, and event data. These systems explain how players moved, how hard they worked, and what happened at the end of each sequence.
They do not explain whether the structure was verbally maintained before it failed.
This is why communication analytics matters.
A communication rate of 4.2 interactions per minute is not just an isolated metric. It is an early benchmark for a new class of performance data. Once a club understands the communication level required for defensive stability, it can ask more precise questions:
- When does communication drop during matches?
- How does it change under fatigue?
- Which players maintain organisation under pressure?
- Which players become silent when the game opens up?
The implications extend beyond coaching.
Recruitment evolves when clubs can evaluate not just physical and positional output, but organisational influence. Load management improves when verbal drop-off is tracked alongside physical decline. Player development becomes more structured when communication is treated as a measurable skill rather than a subjective quality.
Most clubs will initially treat this as an additional data layer. That is typical. The competitive advantage lies with those who understand how it changes the model underneath.
Communication analytics is not replacing existing datasets. It is exposing a dimension of performance that those datasets never captured.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is football communication analytics?
It measures how often players communicate, when those interactions occur, and how communication varies by player and phase of play.
What does Vokalo track?
It tracks communication events using wearable audio devices, producing frequency and timing data such as interactions per minute.
Why does this matter if clubs already use tracking data?
Tracking data explains movement and physical output. Communication analytics explains organisation. Together, they provide a more complete picture of performance.
Why would academies use this early?
Because communication is a trainable skill. Data allows coaches to measure whether players organise teammates effectively under pressure.
Sources
- Training Ground Guru: Lee Johnson on communication data
- Vokalo: Communication analytics platform
- M&A Insights: Vokalo scaling audio analysis
Vokalo and its logo are trademarks of Vokalo. This article is provided for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Vokalo or any of the platforms referenced.