The Coronavirus pandemic has changed the way sports are managed. In football, it has led to clubs finding new methods of scouting for new talents.
One club that has managed to pull away from the pandemic’s constraints is Burnley Football Club, a side playing in the English Premier League. The club has paved the way for upcoming global stars to trial for its academy via a mobile phone app. While EPL matches continue in midweek, giving you the chance to wager on Betway.
Upcoming football stars above the age of 14 have the opportunity to take videos of themselves doing specific drills and uploading them freely to the app. The app uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse, accord ratings, and make a comparison of players.
App for Sports
Sports and gambling industries have seen innovative apps before, for example the betway betting app that allows punters to bet on the go. However, this new development by Burnley is unique and will open the way for similar innovations.
After a successful takeover by American Investment Group ALK Capital, Burnley will be inviting qualified youngsters identified from the app by scouts to formal trials later in the year.
“This is the first opportunity for us to introduce new data-led technologies into the football club and promote Burnley to a wider football world by giving aspirational young players an opportunity.” Said Alan Pace, the new Burnley Football Club new chairman, and a minority stake holder in the AiScout app.
“With the pandemic currently leading to a suspension of youth football in Lancashire and across the UK, this trial represents an open and inclusive opportunity for football players to complete a set of drills in their own environment that could end with them being scouted by a Premier League club.”
Scouts
The app is Darren Peries’ brainchild after Tottenham released his son. Scouts approached him requesting for online clips of his son, which got him thinking.
“I wasn’t a football dad, in terms of making sure that I had all this type of information. It intrigued me. I wanted to know why they still had to go out on a Saturday or Sunday morning in the rain when they sign professional guys with data.” Peries, who acts as both the founder and CEO of AiScout app told BBC sport in an interview.
“What we’ve done is take what happens in a six to eight-week trial, such as the drills and athletic tests, and we’ve put those in the app and made them accessible to millions of people through a phone rather than the lucky few who get scouted. It allows the scouts to get a good view of the player.”
The app is designed to analyse up to four player capabilities: technical, cognitive, athletic, and psychometric.
One beneficiary of the new technology is Bournemouth defender Ben Greenwood, 17. Before signing for the championship side, Greenwood had a series of trials with Premier League clubs and was also featured for the Republic of Ireland’s Under 18 side. Interestingly, he has never enrolled with any academy structure, nor has he been scouted before. Were it not for the app; he would still be playing for non-league side Surrey.