Every football season is unique and the 22/23 season was no different, especially with a World Cup happening in the middle! (You can remind yourself of what went down in Qatar here.)

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Below we look at some of the most interesting and exciting BEPRO user stories from the past European season. From unexpected youth success in Germany, to survival stories in France and promotions in Spain, there’s plenty to cover…

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Going Up in the World

Perhaps the easiest place to start is to take a look at those who will be playing at a higher level in the 23/23 season.

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Not one, but two Spanish BEPRO user teams achieved promotion to LaLiga this season! Enjoying the ‘easier’ journey, UD Las Palmas finished second in the league to end five years in the second tier. It was a real team effort when it came to goalscoring, with 16 different players scoring at least once, but no one scoring more than seven.

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Finishing fourth, Deportivo Alaves had to take on the challenge of the playoffs. As our oldest Spanish users, it’s great to see them return to LaLiga at the first time of asking, although this unfortunately meant they were required to beat fellow users SD Eibar in the semi finals. Alaves left it late, until 120+9’ to be precise before scoring the first goal in the two-legged final against Levante. You can watch a video to hear more about how BEPRO makes a difference across the club below.

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Moving to England, the oldest professional club in the world, Notts County, have returned to the English Football League following their promotion from the National League. In a season where they challenged Wrexham for the title (and the one automatic promotion place), they finished on 107 points, four points and a place behind the Welsh team. Thankfully they navigated their way through the playoffs, winning the final on penalties. It was an amazing story and they did it all without any help from Hollywood megastars. You can see a video we made with them in the 21/22 season here.

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“BEPRO was very valuable to us, in particular on matchdays as it allowed us to show the coaching staff and then the players the scenarios we were feedbacking on, which creates more clarity on the whole feedback for the player.”
‍Joao Alves, Assistant Coach, Notts County

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Some other promotions worth highlighting include:

• Dunfermline Athletic, who have secured a return to the Scottish Championship, only losing one game all season
• UF Maconnais, who will now compete in France’s fifth tier, National 3, having secured back-to-back promotions in the two previous seasons
  
• AD Alcorcón won promotion back to LaLiga 2 thanks to victory in the playoffs

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Tales of Survival

Not every team can hope to win their league. For many finishing their season safe from relegation represents success. With that in mind, a number of our users beat the odds and will be starting next season in the same division as they were in last season.

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In Serie A Lecce left it late, only securing their place in Italy’s top division in their second to last fixture - a 1-0 victory over fellow BEPRO users Monza. That doesn’t tell the full story though! With the match level at 0-0, in the 84th minute Monza were awarded a penalty after a VAR check. Luckily for Lecce their goalkeeper Falcone dived the right way to make a fantastic save. As the game continued into extra time another penalty was awarded, again through a VAR check, but this time in favour of Lecce. With the clock at 90+11’, Columbo stepped up and scored, giving the side the vital points needed! It’s worth watching the highlights if you have a few minutes spare.

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Meanwhile, in Group B of France’s National 2, Wasquehal Football defeated the odds to survive having been promoted from National 3 the season before. Although they were a fully professional team around the millennium, the club has recently been rebuilding following multiple relegations. With one of the smallest budgets in the league, the team made the decision to invest in BEPRO to give them access to video tools and data that brought their match videos to life and made it easier to analyse and improve performances. Survival was particularly important this season given the increased number of teams facing relegation following a planned reorganisation of French football.

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Not Surviving, but Thriving

AC Monza continued to defeat the odds as their men’s team finished in 11th place in their very first season playing at the top of Italian football. With 52 points, they were the joint best performing promoted team (alongside Fulham) competing in Europe’s top five leagues. Their men’s youth team also secured promotion to Primavera 1 for the first time, therefore reaching the highest level of youth football in the country. We can’t wait to see what the club can achieve over the coming seasons!

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Supporting a 110-Year Old Football Federation

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) is responsible for many leagues and competitions in Spain, as well as the national side.

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Perhaps the most famous of the RFEF’s competitions is the Copa Del Rey, the premier tournament for men’s teams in the country. This year’s final saw Real Madrid defeat surprise package (and BEPRO users) Osasuna, with the staff from both teams benefitting from live tactical video provided by BEPRO. They were given further support in the form of event and tracking data. The federation also benefited from this content and our match report, using these to produce an online summary of the action. You can see more about how we supported them here.

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For men’s youth football, the Copa de Campeones Juvenil represents the highest level of cup competition for U19s. We provided RFEF and the four semi-finalists (Real Madrid, Real Betis, UD Las Palmas and Athletic Bilbao) with live tactical video, event and tracking data.

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Success in the Women’s game 

There’s no denying the continued growth of women’s football and we are glad to be working with some great teams around the world. 

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Moving to Spain, another club where we support many teams is SD Eibar. They finished second in Primera RFEF Femenina, thanks mainly to only conceding 18 goals all season, which means they will once again compete in Liga F, the highest level of women’s football in Spain, having been relegated in 21/22. 

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We work with many departments at Bologna 1909, including the women’s teams. They recently won their league, winning 27 of their 30 games, scoring 114 and conceding just 26 goals, making their record comfortably better than anyone else's in Serie C! They use the BEPRO platform to organise and analyse their match and training videos, as well as communicate with players. 

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Last but not least we go back to Germany, where Eimsbütteler TV's U17 girls survived in a tough Youth Bundesliga group, featuring a lot of better funded clubs. The wider club are a great example of one who have invested in their analysis infrastructure, allowing both their youth and senior sides to improve performances by having access to analysis tools.

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Entering Europe

One of our newer users, Larne FC, achieved a club first as they lifted the Northern Ireland Football League Premiership trophy. Joining us part way through the season, this ambitious team looked to secure the title with some investments in data, including getting support with some bespoke reporting from BEPRO. Through winning the league they will now face qualifiers for UEFA competitions!

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You can see more on our new data reports service here.

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LaLiga’s Osasuna will return to European competition for the first time in 16 years after they secured a place in the upcoming Europa Conference League. They nearly secured a place in the Europa League thanks to reaching the Copa Del Rey final, but they unfortunately lost out 2-1 to Real Madrid.

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Youth Highlights

BEPRO’s first users were in youth football, so it’s always great to hear stories of how we continue to support those looking to create the next generation of talent. We’ve already mentioned Monza’s U19 men’s success, but there’s a lot more to share from across Europe.

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This season we saw a lot of great results in Germany. Perhaps the most impressive season was enjoyed by Chemnitzer FC’s U17 boys, who outperformed many bigger rivals. They won their regional cup (defeating Dynamo Dresden 4-1), were runners up in their Youth Bundesliga (beating Hertha BSC and RB Leipzig) and also performed very well in the DFB Sonderspielrunde, a competition that was put on by the federation after the season finished early. In this they came second in their first group, which allowed them to compete in the second group stage, which they won over teams like 1. FC Köln, Hoffenheim and Karlsruher. 

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Two other German teams deserving recognition are Carl Zeiss Jena’s U19 mens and Energie Cottbus’s U17 boys, who both achieved promotion to their respective Youth Bundlesligas. Both teams were supported by BEPRO event data which provided performance information and a wide range of precut clips to save time.

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Moving to the UK, another team that had a successful season were South London’s Crystal Palace. They finished fourth in Premier League 2 Division 1, ahead of teams like Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United and one place higher than what they achieved the season before. They also reached the final of the Premier League International Cup, a competition for U23 sides featuring 12 English and 12 other European clubs.

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“We've managed to bring BEPRO in who save a lot of our time in terms of hours...(our analysts) are actually analysing individual player performance, they're analysing our game model, our team performance. They've actually got a lot of hours back.”
Dougie Wright, Head of Academy Analysis, Crystal Palace

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