Computer Support for Coaching and Scouting in Football

Abstract

Science and football are two different worlds that nevertheless deal with each other in an increasing manner. Decisions about the effective and efficient use of football’s most important human capital, the players, are taken not any more solely on the base of intuition and common sense, but are supported by advanced computer systems. These systems allow the club management to measure and analyze the effectivity of the decisions in a more objective and sound way, resulting in a decrease of wasted money, such as ‘bad buys and transfers’. Indeed, football is arrived in the process of professionalization, although — like in all sports — emotion and work of man will never be excluded! In this paper two computer support systems are introduced, namely Coach&ScoutAssistant and EffectivityInAction. The first system is used to track and trace the development of (youth) players and to calculate the value-added and best position in the team of a scouted player. The second system is used on-line during the match and generates graphs that reflect the effectivity of the competing teams. Both systems are answers to the intriguing question about the discrepancy between individual and team performance: what is the relation between the performance of an individual player and the performance of his team as a whole?