A Newry, Northern Ireland company whose GPS vests and pods track how far and how hard athletes work, used by football clubs and national teams around the world.
STATSports makes wearable devices that measure how athletes train and play. Its main product is the Viper, a matchbox-sized GPS pod that sits in a snug vest between the shoulder blades and records distance, running speed, heart rate and how much strain a player is under. A pitchside antenna collects the information, and the company's software turns it into reports within minutes of a session. Coaches use the reports to manage workloads and to spot signs that a player may be at risk of injury. The company says its technology serves more than 800 professional teams and federations worldwide, including Liverpool and other Premier League clubs.
STATSports was founded in Northern Ireland by Alan Clarke, who is its chief executive, and Sean O'Connor. Reports give the founding year as 2007 or 2008. Mr Clarke has said the company's mission is to "help teams and athletes reach their full potential" through performance-monitoring technology. In an earlier interview he described the staff as "highly skilled and incredibly knowledgeable about the sports performance monitoring industry". The Irish Football Association named it as an official player performance analysis partner in 2020 and extended the partnership in 2023.
STATSports' global headquarters is in Newry, Northern Ireland. A news report from around 2018 said it was creating 211 new jobs there, including 26 in research and development, with hiring in human resources, sports science, sales, R&D, finance and marketing. It also has offices in London, Chicago, Florida and Melbourne. ACQUIRED: by Sony (October 2025), according to the Irish Post, with plans to combine its wearables with Sony's optical tracking businesses Hawk-Eye Innovations and KinaTrax and its visualisation company Beyond Sports. We found no sign that the STATSports name or Newry base are changing.
The sources we could read say little about daily culture. What they show is a technical team in a town better known for its border location than for sport technology, with specialists in sports science working next to engineers. Its own description of staff as highly skilled and knowledgeable is a company claim. The company has also described its data as helping one major European club cut its soft-tissue injuries from 44 to 22 in a year, which gives staff a clear sense of purpose, though that is a company claim too.
A company at this scale employs many kinds of people. Electronics and embedded engineers design the pods and vests. Software developers and data scientists build the analysis. Sports scientists support clubs in using the data. Sales and account managers work with teams, and finance, HR and marketing staff run the business, as the 2018 hiring list shows. Engineering, computing, sport science and business are common subjects. The company's website is the best place to see what roles it currently lists.
Website: statsports.com
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