Artificial intelligence started to be used in football: It can revolutionize player transfers

Is the era of artificial intelligence starting in the football world? Major League Soccer (MLS) is preparing to use the potential of artificial intelligence in player selection. Partnering with London-based start-up ai.io, MLS will use artificial intelligence-assisted tools in the player selection process from the end of this year.

MLS starts using artificial intelligence

This move by MLS marks a major transformation in the selection of players and the discovery of amateur players around the world. The app, which ai.io calls “aiScout”, will use videos of amateur football players to assess their skills. When the aiScout app launches in the coming weeks and becomes available to MLS later this year, players will be able to shoot videos of themselves doing certain workouts. These videos will then be uploaded to the scout version of the app, where scouts working for specific teams can discover players based on whatever criteria they want. For example, an observer might look for a striker with a certain height and batting score.

Richard Felton-Thomas, director of sports sciences at Ai.io, says AI can set performance benchmarks by performing video analysis and provide valuable information to clubs. However, he notes that observers are still important and artificial intelligence cannot follow fast movements. The FIFA Innovation Program reports that ai.io’s AI-powered tools have an accuracy level of 97 percent. The data can even be used by clubs to track player form. In other words, we can say that the use of artificial intelligence in sports is unlimited.

Discovery of talent can be easier

This is an approach that MLS or any league has not tried before. Thanks to ai.io’s technology, football clubs will be able to discover the talents of amateur football players around the world more easily and effectively. Thus, potential stars in the football world will be less likely to be overlooked.

Professional sports have long shown an interest in technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics. These technologies enable to analyze games more efficiently and strategically, monitor players’ performance and predict injury risks. Football, in particular, stands out as a field that can benefit greatly from the advantages offered by these technologies.

Joel Shapiro, a professor at Northwestern University, said: “I think we are at the beginning of a highly sophisticated use of artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to understand and predict human behavior.” says. For this reason, the use of artificial intelligence in player selection has the potential to better understand and evaluate the abilities and performances of players.

There are some concerns

However, it is stated that this innovative step may lead to some criticism. The AI-assisted selection process could replace traditional monitoring and evaluation methods. Especially outside of developed countries, the concerns of talented football players about equality of opportunity may increase. For this reason, it is of great importance to ensure that artificial intelligence is used fairly and objectively.

Despite this, experts agree that artificial intelligence could revolutionize football player selection. AI-powered analytical tools can enable clubs to work more effectively and efficiently for talent scouts and take over the jobs of scouts. However, open discussions about the reliability and ethical use of this technology are also likely to be required.

As a result, MLS’s move towards artificial intelligence-assisted football player selection is causing excitement and anticipation in the football world. Artificial intelligence can help football players to be selected more objectively, effectively and fairly. However, the limitations of technology and ethical issues should be taken into account, and detailed planning of the artificial intelligence-assisted football player selection process should be ensured. This step could be an important milestone in shaping the future of the football world. Because according to current data, FIFA, which has 240 million registered players and billions of fans worldwide, currently consists of 205 member associations with more than 300,000 clubs. Synthesizing the player resource here with artificial intelligence can create great opportunities.