Determining the FC Bayern transfer strategies: Who's in charge?
AI Transforming European Football's Player Scouting
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the player scouting landscape in European football, offering an objective and comprehensive approach. Many Bundesliga clubs, including FC Bayern Munich, are leveraging AI tools to streamline the scouting process and make informed decisions.
AI in Bundesliga Clubs
In the Bundesliga, the use of AI has become an integral part of clubs' operations. KI-tools like PLAIER assist sporting directors and chief scouts in assessing potential new signees, reducing the dependence on human intuition.
FC Bayern Munich, in particular, is evaluating the possibilities of AI to maintain its leading position in the Bundesliga and the international market. As Markus Brunnschneider, Head of Technical Recruitment at Holstein Kiel, points out, the English Premier League provides a model for the infrastructure that can be developed due to owner-based structures.
Use of AI by Premier League Clubs
Liverpool FC is one club that has embraced AI-supported models, analyzing performance data and tactical orientation in real-time. While the coaching staff is responsible for tactical decisions, the team has hired astrophysicist Laurie Shaw from Manchester City in April.
Before Shaw's arrival, Liverpool was already successfully implementing data strategies, highlighting their Premier League victory in 2019-2020.
AI in Spain and Italy
AI is proving to be successful in Spain, with FC Barcelona letting AI analyze movement data and player loads to minimize injury risks for players such as Robert Lewandowski. In Italy, Atalanta Bergamo is considered a pioneer, with an in-house Director of Football Intelligence creating data models using AI to assess a player's fit into the system.
Using AI in Scouting
Via platforms like PLAIER, professional clubs can evaluate desired players worldwide, using detailed performance data collected by clubs like FC Bayern. The AI tool then looks for patterns that contribute to a team or player's success through billions of calculations.
The result is a numerical score that represents a player's sporting value. According to PLAIER CEO Jan Wendt, the AI is right nine out of ten times in transfer evaluations, with the accuracy steadily increasing.
"Of course, this shakes the very foundations of football," said Wendt, acknowledging the potential impact of AI on the sport. Wendt's tool evaluated the potential new signees of FC Bayern and rated Jonathan Tah at only 4.600 (the average value of the Bayern squad is 5.500), while Min-jae Kim has around 6.100.
AI and FC Bayern
FC Bayern also relies on AI in scouting, working with software giant SAP. While data helps provide insights, the sporting expertise of the club's management remains crucial in making transfer decisions. "The data only offers hints to challenge subjective interpretations on another level," said Brunnschneider, who also works as a match analyst at the International Football Institute.
The use of AI can have a significant impact on smaller clubs, helping them cover markets more efficiently and focus on relevant players earlier. However, forFC Bayern Munich, a smaller number of players come into question at the outset, making AI's impact less pronounced.
The limits of AI in professional football remain endless, but intuition cannot be replaced by AI yet. As the market for AI in football continues to grow, it will be interesting to see how clubs adapt to these technological advancements and the impact they have on the sport.
AI is not only transforming the player scouting process in the Bundesliga, but also in other European leagues like the Premier League, LaLiga, and Serie A. For instance, Liverpool FC uses AI-supported models to analyze performance data and tactical orientation in real-time, while Atalanta Bergamo in Italy employs an in-house Director of Football Intelligence to use AI in assessing a player's fit into the system. The use of AI in scouting extends beyond European leagues, as clubs like FC Bayern rely on AI tools like PLAIER to evaluate desired players worldwide, providing a comprehensive and objective approach to player assessment.
