This week, Richard Graves is joined by former Bundesliga footballer and IMPECT co-founder Jens Hegeler to explore how football analytics are changing the way professional clubs assess performance, identify talent and make decisions.

Drawing on his experience playing at the highest level in Germany, Jens explains how a conversation about the limitations of traditional football statistics led him and his co-founders to develop IMPECT. Their approach challenged the value of conventional metrics such as possession and passing statistics, instead focusing on how individual actions influence the game.

Central to that approach is Packing, a method of measuring how effectively players bypass opponents through passing, dribbling and other actions. Jens explains how the concept has evolved, how clubs can use contextual data to evaluate players across different leagues and why understanding the quality of an action is often more valuable than simply counting how many times it happens.

The conversation also explores the role of data in modern recruitment, the importance of combining analytics with traditional scouting and how IMPECT's integration into Catapult is creating opportunities to connect tactical analysis, video scouting and physical performance data.

Looking ahead, Jens shares his thoughts on the growing influence of artificial intelligence in football and why, despite advances in technology, human judgement will remain an essential part of understanding player performance.

In this episode you will learn

• Why traditional football statistics, including possession and passing numbers, don't always reflect the quality of a team's performance.
• How IMPECT's Packing concept measures the impact of individual actions by identifying how effectively players bypass opponents.
• How Packing Expected Threat adds context to player actions, helping assess their contribution to creating goalscoring opportunities.
• How professional clubs use data to identify specific player profiles, compare performances across leagues and inform recruitment decisions.
• Why team tactics, playing styles and the quality of teammates must be considered when evaluating individual performance.
• Where data analytics can support traditional scouting, and why watching players remains an essential part of recruitment.
• How IMPECT's integration with Catapult is bringing together tactical intelligence, video analysis and physical performance insights.
• The opportunities artificial intelligence could create for football analysis, scouting and performance departments.

About Jens Hegeler

Jens Hegeler is a former professional footballer, co-founder of IMPECT and currently Head of Commercial, Global Scouting at Catapult.

During a professional playing career spanning clubs including Bayer Leverkusen, 1. FC Nürnberg, FC Augsburg, Hertha Berlin and Bristol City, Jens developed a first-hand understanding of the demands of elite football.

In 2014, while still playing professionally, he co-founded IMPECT alongside fellow footballer Stefan Reinartz and Lukas Keppler and Matthias Sienz. The company was established to develop football-specific performance metrics that went beyond conventional statistics and provided a more meaningful assessment of individual contributions to the game.

IMPECT became known for its innovative Packing metric and has developed scouting and analysis solutions used by professional football clubs.

Following IMPECT's acquisition by Catapult in 2025, Jens has continued to help develop its global presence, supporting clubs in using advanced data and technology to improve recruitment and performance analysis.

Learn more about IMPECT: https://www.catapult.com/solutions/impect

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