The race between teams to lead at the top of the football pyramid is determined by small technical details. Artificial intelligence is the next decisive frontier for winners and losers.
Could Kroos, Mbappe and Messi be coached by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the future? Or, maybe not in this life? Julian Nagelsmann's job is safe for now.
But AI is undoubtedly playing a bigger role in the coaching game even at Euro 2024. Daniel Memmert from the University of Sports in Cologne, points out, that "now it depends on who will build the best AI, who has the best parameters well, and of course also who is able to use the results achieved in the match or in training properly."
These AI systems will become the ultimate coaching assistant. Breaking down the opponent's tactical systems and determining the strengths and weaknesses of the players.
The data is already there. With every pass, cross and shot caught in stadiums and on the training ground.
But it can take human analysts up to eight hours to properly break down a single match's data. While AI would speed up the process, Daniel Memmert underlines: "If we have positional data available and evaluate it with our software, it takes us 8 seconds to analyze the same number of parameters."
The best teams in the future may indeed be those working side by side with AI./ DW
