⚽️ AI Will Discover the New Ronaldo, Mbappe and Messi
"Talent is everywhere!"—is the motto of Czech startup Eyeball.Club, which uses AI-powered tools to help professional football clubs find and promote future stars. Last October, the platform received €5M in funding from Finnish venture capital fund Vendep Capital.
⏱ How does it work?
The service analyzes games and training sessions' video footage of amateur football clubs from 12 to under-21-year-old level. One small camera captures the whole pitch and follows the ball. Algorithms turn the game into player- and skill-specific clips. The AI tracks 48 parameters, including each player's run distances and speed, number of sprints, sharp 90-degree turns, and other characteristics.
In 2020, the platform began by collecting game data from 50 French youth amateur clubs. Now Eyeball.Club boasts the largest video database of over 180,000 teenage players from 28 countries. And it continues to expand.
🏆 Find a champion with one prompt
Thanks to the platform, several young talents have already made it to the big sport. These include 18-year-old Côte d'Ivoire midfielder Abdoulaye Kanté, 17-year-old Norwegian winger Daniel Skaarud of Ajax Amsterdam, and 19-year-old Côte d'Ivoire defender Assane Ouedraogo, who moved from his local club FC San Pedro to MLS club Charlotte FC.
Today, talent scouts from over 100 professional European clubs, including 13 members of the English Premier League, German Bundesliga teams, Italian Serie A, and Champions League clubs, have access to the Eyeball.Club database.
Shortly, the developers expect to add an option to activate the search inquiries via voice prompts. "A scout will simply have to say 'Show me a Steven Gerard-type player' or 'I want a box-to-box midfielder who can impact a game,'" explains Eyeball.Club co-founder David Hicks.
He says the 15 and 16-year-olds currently growing up on the platform could be the superstars of the next World Cup.
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