Revolutionizing Youth Football: Red Bull Wings Cup Meets KINEXON Sports
What if youth football wasn’t just about the score — but about the players who shape the game? That’s the bold vision behind Wings Cup 2025, hosted by RB Leipzig, and why KINEXON Sports proudly partnered with this first-of-its-kind event. From April 22 – 24, 2025, the tournament became the world’s first global youth football competition to feature live player and ball tracking — marking a new era in data-driven player development.
Reimagining Youth Football: From Team Focus to Individual Impact
The Wings Cup 2025 flipped the traditional tournament model on its head. Instead of focusing on team results, the spotlight shifted to individual performance — powered by real-time tracking technology and sport science insights.
By capturing and analyzing physical, technical, and tactical data live, the tournament rewarded young talents not just for winning, but for how they played: their decisions, movements, and influence on the pitch.
Tournament Format: A Data-Driven Playground for Young Talent
The Wings Cup featured:
- 6 elite academies: RB Leipzig, RB New York, PSV Eindhoven, Red Bull Salzburg, RB Bragantino & Southampton FC
- 5v5 fast-paced matches, 8 minutes each with rolling substitutions
- Individual performance scoring based on live-tracked data
- Real-time feedback for coaches, players, and even spectators
This format enabled an unprecedented level of player evaluation — from work rate and decision-making to technical execution — all happening live.
The Tech That Powered It: KINEXON’s Live Player & Ball Tracking
Behind the scenes was KINEXON’s Connected Ball Technology and UWB Player Tracking System — the same cutting-edge solution trusted by over 500 professional football clubs worldwide.
What Was Tracked:
- External Load Metrics: Distance covered, HMPD, sprints, accelerations, decelerations
- Technical Data: Passes, dribbling, shot power
- Ball Data: Velocity, touches, trajectories, touch points
By combining GPS, IMU, and UWB data through our real-time engine, we delivered:
- Instant feedback for in-game and post-match coaching
- Cloud-based analysis for performance benchmarking and long-term development
- Seamless integration with existing club performance systems
And thanks to our ultra-low latency infrastructure, data was displayed live on pitchside screens and immediately accessible for post-match review.
More Than Numbers: A Shared Mission to Develop Tomorrow’s Stars
At KINEXON Sports, our mission is clear: Innovate the Game by transforming live data into actionable insights. Through our partnership with Red Bull’s global football network, we’ve helped create a standardized, science-backed performance ecosystem — now extending to the youth level.
This tournament was a direct reflection of that mission: empowering young athletes with data, visibility, and the tools to grow.
Beyond the Pitch: The Youth Football Congress
A standout moment at Wings Cup 2025 was the Youth Football Congress, held on April 23, 2025. Our Managing Director & Co-Founder, Maximilian Schmidt, delivered a keynote: “Ball Tracking Technology – How it Works. How it Changes Football.”
The session explored how sport technology is reshaping modern football — from match analysis and scouting to player development and tactical strategy.
The Future of Football Is Already in Motion
Wings Cup 2025 wasn’t just a youth tournament — it was a live football innovation lab. A space where technology, talent, and tactical thinking converged. Coaches, scouts, analysts, and players all witnessed firsthand how live performance data is unlocking a new standard for training, evaluation, and growth.
At KINEXON Sports, we’re not just tracking the game — we’re shaping the future of football.
Want to learn more or see these tools in action?
Reach out to your KINEXON Sports contact or drop us a message – we’d love to talk to you!
More stories
How Basketball Performance Data Connects the Court and Weight Room
What happens on the court shapes what athletes need in the weight room. Purdue’s Jason Kabo shares how he cross-references KINEXON performance data with sprint testing and other measures to adjust training, manage individual workloads, and guide daily decisions.
From Jump Count to a More Complete View of Volleyball Load
Jump count is one of the most familiar metrics in volleyball, but it only captures part of an athlete’s physical performance. Looking at movement intensity, like acceleration or changes of direction, and position-specific demands can provide the context needed for a more complete view of the overall load.
Limited Camps, High Demands: Preparing for International Handball Tournaments
The Women’s EHF EURO and Men’s World Championship present a similar challenge for performance staff: preparing players for an intense tournament with limited time together. How can national teams use the camps leading into competition to better understand and manage individual load?
How Drill Intensity Shapes Weekly Basketball Load Targets
Basketball coaches need more than a list of practice drills. Historical performance data and drill intensity help coaches refine practice plans, manage individual workloads and adjust the next session based on what athletes actually completed.
Sustainability: Can the Athlete Maintain Intensity Throughout the Duration of the Game?
Matching game workloads are only part of athlete preparation. Can players sustain high-intensity efforts when fatigue builds? Read more from Dayannara Munoz, KINEXON Sports Customer Success Manager, about how performance data helps coaches assess changes in output, compare practice with competition, and prepare athletes to meet the demands of the entire game.
How Individualized Football Performance Data Improves Load Management
Football performance data helps coaches move beyond team averages to individualize load management. By combining GPS metrics with each athlete’s role, historical data, and readiness, coaches can identify the right exposure, reduce excessive stress, guide recovery, and better prepare every player for game day.
Beyond the National Team Window: How the DHB Connects Performance Data
National teams spend only a fraction of the season with their athletes. See how the German Handball Federation connects club and national-team data to maintain performance context across the season and support individual decisions when players move between environments.
One Athlete, Two Jerseys: Connecting Athlete Monitoring Between Club and Country
When athletes move between club and country, their performance history moves with them. The 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup highlights why monitoring continuity matters when athletes arrive with different workloads, competition exposure and preparation behind them.
The Role of Connected Ball Technology in Modern Officiating
From ghost goals to offsides, officiating technology has steadily raised fairness in football. But the one element at the center of every decision, the ball, has until now been silent. Connected Ball Technology (CBT) changes that, giving football’s most iconic object its own voice.
COMPETE Vision on a New Level: Refined for Faster Insights
The latest COMPETE Vision update streamlines the entire performance analysis workflow, from camera setup to automated reporting. Faster uploads, improved player identification, automated court calibration, and smarter player assignment help coaches spend less time managing technology and more time turning objective data into coaching decisions.
How KINEXON Game Insights Gives Basketball Coaches the Tactical Advantage
Basketball coaches already use in-game tracking data to evaluate their athlete’s physical exposure. As more teams adopt performance tracking methodologies, that same underlying data source can extend beyond physical optimization and be utilized to compare rosters, assess opponents, and understand the demands behind each matchup.
From Data to Decisions: Six Key Takeaways from Elite Handball Performance Practitioners
Elite handball is one of the most physically demanding team sports in the world. Within sixty minutes, players sprint, decelerate, jump, throw, change direction, absorb contact, and repeat those actions under fatigue, all while making split-second tactical decisions.
From Potential to Performance: How AI, Ball & Player Tracking Are Transforming Talent Identification in Youth Football
How can AI, player and ball tracking, and expert scouting work together to identify football talent? Discover how Skillers Academy, SAP, and KINEXON Sports combine connected technologies and human expertise to create a more objective and accessible approach to youth talent identification.
How Xavier Women’s Basketball Optimizes Daily Load Targets for Low- and High-Minute Players
Optimizing daily workloads goes beyond keeping players fresh. For Xavier’s Gil Weinstein, Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, daily (and weekly) performance reports helped connect practice loads to game demands, guide workload adjustments, and support 99% player availability throughout the 2025 – 26 season.
Inside Columbia Women’s Basketball’s Approach to In-Season Load Management
Managing in-season workloads takes more than tracking minutes. Performance data helps basketball coaches individualize weekly targets, adjust practice plans, and keep high-minute players, role players, and scout team athletes prepared to perform.