Premier League clubs adopt smart urinals to curb dehydration

The Mictório Inteligente Premier League initiative sees Arsenal, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Manchester United install the Smart Urinals, or S‑Urinals, developed by Spanish company Kamleon, to analyse players’ urine in real time. The devices aim to measure hydration biomarkers instantly and alert staff to dehydration.

Why clubs are embracing the technology

The Premier League is the world’s premier national football competition, where the largest transfer fees are spent and many of the continent’s top teams in Europa compete. Inglaterra’s clubs have long been early adopters of performance technology. Within and beyond the pitch, England’s leading clubs often set new standards, and the latest innovation is the Smart Urinal.

Arsenal, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Manchester United have already fitted the devices, while clubs such as Barcelona and Monaco in other countries have also joined the project. The system measures specific gravity, colour, volume and total electrolyte concentration of urine, delivering a hydration score from zero to one hundred that is categorised as green, yellow or red.

Bruno Mazziotti, health and performance manager at Real Valladolid and the Peru national team, said that receiving clear, rapid data allows technical staff to act swiftly and makes a big difference. Mazziotti works for Real Valladolid and the Peru national team.

A display above each urinal lets a player choose to identify himself or remain anonymous, with the data then linked to his previous samples for longitudinal analysis. The information is transmitted instantly to the medical team, enabling immediate interventions.

Implications for clubs and the tech firm

Jordi Ferre, CEO of Kamleon, told The Athletic that real‑time feedback lets clubs address dehydration on the spot rather than waiting for later laboratory results. The system provides a hydration score from zero to one hundred, categorised as green, yellow or red.

A 2020 study in the European Journal of Sport Science found that 66.2 percent of professional players showed some degree of hypo‑ or dehydration, a condition that can impair performance. Mazziotti warned that a dehydrated athlete can suffer cardiovascular effects, reduced plasma volume, higher heart rate, fatigue, impaired thermoregulation and a drop in physical capacity.

For the clubs, the technology promises healthier athletes and potentially better on‑field output, while for Kamleon it represents a high‑profile investment that could set a new standard across football. Although the system may still be costly for many teams, it offers a way to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive sport.