Top football clubs are using AI as scouts to find stars of tomorrow

A London-based technology company is trying to use the "scout" football talent discovery system through mobile applications. This free app called aiScout is now available worldwide. Young people with a dream of football can participate in the virtual trial of professional clubs by uploading self-portrait training videos.

The application provides 75 standardized training programs, equipped with action demonstration videos, and automatically scores participants through artificial intelligence technology. Professional clubs can adjust the database and accurately locate potential new stars based on multiple screening conditions such as age, gender, and on-field position. Currently, Chelsea and Burnley have cooperated with them, and each team can also customize exclusive selection criteria by allowing youth training players to complete the same training.

"We use data preposition to improve scouting work efficiency," said Richard Felton-Thomas, chief operating officer of application developer ai.io. "For example, the system will prompt 'Today's visit, there are three players whose data exceeds Chelsea standards.'"

Greenwood is the first user of the aiScout application and can be experimented with professional clubs.

This is not empty talk. After 17-year-old Ben Greenwood downloaded the app and uploaded the video in 2019, he became the first amateur to get a professional club trial through the app, and finally signed with the Premier League Bournemouth in 2021. According to Felton Thomas, since it was officially launched in September 2023, 135 players from 125 countries have obtained professional clubs or national team trials through the app, and the current database has more than 100,000 users. With the Major League signed a multi-year cooperation agreement last year and more than 100 clubs queuing up to settle in, users are expected to surge to millions this year. In terms of business model, clubs need to pay an annual fee to obtain platform usage rights, ranging from six figures for giant teams to thousands of pounds for low-level teams. Against the backdrop that the global sports analysis market size is expected to maintain an annual growth of 22% by 2030, AI technology is reshaping the traditional sports selection system. However, Felton Thomas emphasized that the new technology is designed to assist rather than replace artificial scouts: "We cannot evaluate players' ability to respond to adversity, or their psychological qualities when dealing with mistakes - these still need to be observed by real people. "

Currently, football is still the main battlefield of AI, but the company has turned its attention to a broader field. Felton Thomas revealed that in the future, the technology may be applied to medical and health assessment, military training and emergency services. "Imagine that you can complete motor function analysis at home, which has the potential to migrate across industries."