Like other sports, football is increasingly driven by data analysis. For example, teams collect and analyze data to determine which transfers they want to make, as well as to optimize tactics, formations and match strategies.
However, not every team has the same capabilities to process data on a large scale. “Access to sophisticated analyzes often depends on the financial and technical resources that a team has available,” FIFA wrote in a press release on Wednesday. Smaller countries are therefore more likely to be disadvantaged.
FIFA wants to change this during the World Cup with ‘Football AI Pro’, an AI assistant developed by Lenovo. According to the association, the software will analyze “hundreds of millions of data points” during the tournament and on this basis generate insights that will be translated into text and video as well as 3D graphs and visuals. The assistant will understand different languages.
The intention is that all 48 participating countries in the World Cup can use the tool. In this way, FIFA wants to create a level playing field, where every team has access to the same data and analyzes when making tactical decisions. The AI assistant can be used before and after, but not during matches.