AiSCOUT has developed a fully automated Talent Analysis & Development Platform (TADP), which with the use of artificial intelligence, can engage, analyse, score, rate, and assist development of any player in the world using only a mobile phone.
The platform has been developed by industry leading experts in data, talent ID and artificial intelligence, with the assistance of professional football clubs and additional industries not usually associated with football.
The purpose: To equip footballing organisations with the technology to reach any player in the world to detect & develop talent.
AiSCOUT enables amateur footballers to engage with many types of footballing organisations, from professional clubs & national squads, to universities & private academies. Using only a mobile phone, players now have access to trials, drills, scoring, rating and feedback, as well as the opportunity to develop their game and get scouted & signed. All made possible by AiSCOUT’s use of advanced artificial intelligence.
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
I founded AiSCOUT in 2018 when my son Reef was released from the Tottenham Hotspur Football Academy, a number of scouts began to reach out to request information and footage and I quickly realised that they were travelling to games without knowing anything about a player! Clearly, there was no way for them to collect reliable data, plus there was no existing technology or science behind amateur talent identification.
Over the next few years, I assembled a team of experts from the worlds of data, talent ID and AI, and with the assistance of professional football clubs, we were able to gain valuable insights into scouting and the development of amateur players. The purpose was to ultimately develop a platform that enables sports organisations to reach & analyse any athlete in the world, allowing them to detect & develop talent.
The result is a first of its kind app-based platform and the only one on the market that offers remote professional trials, as well as allowing the player to generate benchmarked data via a mobile phone. AiSCOUT increases scout’s access to players that they may never have had the chance to see, and provides 1000’s of actionable data points that would have been impossible for them to collect themselves.
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How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?
During its development and initial testing, AiSCOUT has been successfully used by professional clubs including Chelsea FC, and Burnley FC, professional academies such as RYFC in India, and amateur players in 125 countries. A long list of additional football organisations including governments, national squads, universities, leagues and clubs from all over the world have eagerly awaited the full role out.
In September 2022, after 2 years providing valuable research & insights, AiSCOUT was signed by Chelsea FC as its Official Academy Recruitment Partner, with the platform set to become an integral part of the club’s recruitment and scouting process for academy players over the next five years.
Burnley FC are another leading UK club that has also made AiSCOUT an Official Partner. They have identified the benefits of the platform for their academy and Women’s 1st team.
With many more premier league clubs and clubs all the way down to the non-leagues, as well as clubs & leagues throughout the world waiting to join the list of clients, the opportunities for players all over the world will be amazing. Successful beta & MVP testing has resulted in 77 amateur players being trialled & signed for professional football clubs and selected for national squads so far.
Incredibly, 4 out of those 77 players had never played organised football before, and 2 of those 4 players used a village phone to enter the opportunities and changed their lives..!
In early 2022 AiSCOUT was also invited into the FIFA Innovation Programme, which provides a platform for the most innovative products in football to become integrated with the governing body of football.
Finally, Loughborough University London has been a partner for the last 2 years, and Intel, one of the world’s largest tech companies became a technology partner in March 2022.
What can we hope to see from AiSCOUT in the future?
We have developed a mobile Elite Performance Lab which is designed to support the Professional, signed, and trial player, plus fan engagement opportunities. The Lab has been tested with leading clubs over the last few months with great results. It is due to be released officially later this year.
There are also many discussions currently underway for AiSCOUT to support a number of huge global sports, as well as a number of other industries – news will be released very soon.
