Ex-national player Fabian Ernst develops smart football

The former Schalke player becomes a founding investor. The start-up Sport Technology Systems is to develop a smart football.

The 24-time international Fabian Ernst becomes a founding investor of a start-up in Hanover. "Every area of the game has been completely explored," the 41-year-old told Deutsche Presse Agentur

. "Only the ball is still an untouched topic." He now wants to change that: The start-up Sport Technology Systems is developing a football with a chip that can measure all the data of a football match, including altitude, speed as well as every touch.

A first prototype comes from the US. "The ball developed there was already good. But it was still in its infancy," Ernst tells dpa. "We are currently refining the whole thing." The ball should be on the market as early as this summer. Ernst sees the benefit not only with professional teams, but also with amateurs and youth teams. That's why the ball with app should cost "well under 100 euros". The DFB is also already showing interest. "Fabian Ernst's start-up is a very good example of the positive trend of current and former players getting actively involved in the development of innovations and technologies," Mirko Dismer, head of the Performance, Technology and Innovation department, told dpa

. He said he was pleased "that we will also soon be entering into an exchange with Fabian Ernst's start-up."