Soccer coaches looking to enhance their team’s performance may soon have a solution in an artificial intelligence system designed to identify the next superstar.
Technologists suggest that a kind of sporting Aladdin’s lamp is on the horizon, enabling managers to emulate the aggression of Erling Haaland or the composure of Jude Bellingham. Should the team require a new player, the AI could recommend the perfect candidate.
Eyeball, a digital scouting company, utilizes a system that uses video and automated tracking to analyze the performance of nearly 180,000 soccer players worldwide. Eyeball currently serves over a dozen Premier League clubs and other elite teams in Europe and North America.
By tapping into the world’s largest youth football video database, containing players from 28 different countries, Eyeball can now offer profiles of current or recent top stars based on eight archetypes. They claim to identify the best young players suitable for specific team roles.
For instance, the ideal midfielder would embody attributes of top international players like Steven Gerrard, Kevin De Bruyne, Dominik Szoboszlai, Federico Valverde, Dani Olmo, and Bellingham. Eyeball’s modern number nine archetype draws inspiration from players like Haaland, Robert Lewandowski, Harry Kane, Victor Osimhen, Karim Benzema, and Nicholas Jackson.
Co-founder David Hicks envisions a future where scout queries are voice-activated, enabling requests like, “Show me a player like Steven Gerrard” or “I need a box-to-box midfielder who can impact the game.”
Eyeball’s long-term impact is yet to be determined. However, they are deploying cameras to gather detailed player data in various soccer hotspots across the globe.
Eyeball boasts a clientele including 13 Premier League clubs, clubs in Spain, Germany, and Italy, Ajax Amsterdam, a US-based Major League Soccer team, and universities in Europe and Africa.
Former England defender Sol Campbell collaborates with another AI-driven scouting startup, Tarnets, focusing on players from countries like South Africa, Ghana, Ivory Coast, North Macedonia, Serbia, and potentially more.
AI scouting is seen as a game-changer in a field often influenced by subjective judgments and personal interests, according to Tarnets’ founder Darko Stanoevski.
Eyeball employs a single camera to scout players aged 12 to 23 at amateur clubs in Europe. The technology tracks various metrics like player distance, speed, sprints, acceleration, deceleration, and agility.
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Notable players scouted through this method have transitioned to professional careers, such as Abdoulaye Kante, Daniel Skalud, and Ahsan Ouedraogo.
The effectiveness of this AI-driven approach will be evaluated in the coming years to determine its success in player selection.
Hicks envisions a future where AI analysis can predict future talent based on video data and typical player behaviors.
The system prompts discussions on whether AI analysis could influence the playing style of top-league soccer players in the future.
While decisions are still influenced by club philosophies and physical attributes, it is believed that AI scouting could lead to subtle changes over time.
Source: www.theguardian.com
