The void left by
Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo
, known in the football world as
'Monchi'
, when he left as sports director of
Sevilla in Spain
was difficult to fill.
The leader transformed the Andalusian club into
one of the best in attracting emerging talents
, which were later instrumental in the sporting results that positioned it in Europe and the world.
Now, the institution from the South of Spain
innovates the player recruitment process and data analysis with artificial intelligence
, through the
Scout Advisor
tool developed together with the IBM company.
The objective?
Improve the effectiveness and results in the search for players, in less time and have a competitive advantage in the football industry.
Custom search interface of the Scaut Advisor tool for Sevilla FC / Vocero IBM
In fact, Scout Advisor is
an artificially intelligent scout that is built on IBM's Watsonx platform
.
The design is versatile and easy to customize, which makes it easier for those in charge of the different Scouting Departments to be specific when searching for data.
The development of this tool allows us to close the gap between scouting based on metrics and human observations that are not visible on the field of play.
This automated process provides player identification and decision making
.
Paula Horita
, IBM spokesperson regarding the development process, told
Clarín
:
"IBM's team of engineers and developers was able to design this tool to increase and strengthen the capacity of 'headhunters' who previously carried out this process manually. which required considerable time to prepare and interpret them
. "
The system has the capacity to process information in natural language and other large models, which allows obtaining results on unstructured qualitative data, such as textual analysis of the scouts to which Sevilla FC has access.
In addition, Scout Advisor understands the jargon of scouts and phrases typical of the language of football such as a 'mixed 10' or a 'winger with an offensive vocation' and the search can be filtered by criteria such as:
quality, age, injury history and others quantitative data
.
Scaut Advisor tool interface for Sevilla FC / Vocero IBM
José María del Nido Carrasco
, president of Sevilla FC, highlighted the importance of collaborative work for the development of the football industry:
"We are very happy to work with IBM, since this project can be disruptive for Sevilla FC and the entire industry. In the sport, our team of scouts and analysts are committed to finding the best players to support our team's success and have worked tirelessly to build an impressive database of player reports, and now, with the support of IBM, "We can use this asset to its full potential
. "
In 2022, Sevilla FC developed
Transfer Tracker
, a free tool that makes it possible to obtain financial compensation for the transfer of players trained in the club's youth system.
As a result, the Andalusian institution has generated approximately
1,000,000 euros
in fees associated with the solidarity mechanism.
Currently the club has
a team of engineers, doctors in mathematics and scientists
who work on the development and strengthening of new tools with artificial intelligence to improve efficiency and productivity in different areas.
The work in the Sevilla quarry is considered a benchmark in the training of players for clubs throughout Europe and the world.