Let’s go back to 2009, to Real Madrid’s training center, where football greats such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo train. For everyone there, it’s just another training session, but not for Eric Castien.
The Dutch journalist and writer feels he has the answer to the question “What makes the difference between a really good player and a world-class player?”.
The answer is that it’s all in the mind. Castien sees Ronaldo play very intelligently and knows that he must study the human brain.
A few years later, Castien, in collaboration with the neuroscientists Ilia Sligte and Andries Van de Ley, founded the BrainsFirst, which today big clubs use to identify talents from a very young age and to predict through a specific process whether they will be able to compete at the top level.
All this happens when combined by professionals, high level in sports, neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence.
Eric Castien gave an exclusive interview to the “Peloponnisos” newspaper and talked about the entry of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into football and sports in general.
He also talked about the ways in which it can be predicted if a child can play at a high level, while emphasizing that in the future a coach will be able to use an AI assistant! It’s an interview worth reading…
– How can you predict the future of a football player from a young age? Are you able to tell if a 13-year-old can compete at a high level a few years later?
“To be able to play at a high level, one must observe a large amount of information, make decisions quickly and correctly, execute accurately and at great speed. All these skills are related to the functions of the brain, known as “brain power”. We assess this brain power with neuroscientific games, which challenge all different parts of the brain.
We tested more than 1,000 players. From Champions League level to amateur level. From 16 and up we have a good estimate of a player’s cognitive bandwidth.
We can predict whether their brain power at the age of an adult will be able to meet the demands of elite football. If the brain is not fast, powerful or accurate enough, the player will need to (also) compensate a lot for it with other skills (such as technical or physical).”
– Could a cognitively underperforming player play at a high level?
“The probability is quite low. Conversely, a player with a lot of “brain power” is very promising cognitively, but if that player does not perform well technically, mentally and physically, it is still difficult to meet the demands of elite football. We help clubs make better talent decisions to mitigate investment risk in, for example, recruiting players to their academy.”
– How can you “marry” neuroscience with football?
“Soccer is primarily a brain game or brain activity. Without the brain the muscles, bones, lungs or anything else is of no use. The so-called ‘cockpit between the ears’ determines whether one can play at a high level.”
– Does the human brain decide everything?
“This is a philosophical question. This also concerns the (sub)conscious. It is clear that brain functions play a key role in performance on the field.”
– Can you tell us some of the 53 factors you measure?
“For example, many attention skills such as concentration, directing art, distracting attention, or shifting attention. Or working memory – factors such as the ability to filter out (non)relevant information’.
– Which major football clubs are most interested in working with BrainsFirst?
“Forward-thinking clubs like Real Sociedad, Eintracht Frankfurt, PSV Eindhoven, AZ Alkmaar, Feyenoord Rotterdam or the Belgian federation are constantly trying to beat the richest clubs who can buy the biggest talents. To build the future stars of tomorrow, you must recognize the potential of those stars today. There we help them with objective data that predicts performance.”
– Is it possible that in the future with the development of Artificial Intelligence, it will be predicted in which country he will be able to compete or specifically in which type of team and specific system?
“If there is a lot of data available, such as physical, event, brain data, it will become increasingly possible to predict potential performance. Of course this will never be 100% accurate. For example, you don’t know if or when someone will get hurt.”
– How does Artificial Intelligence affect football?
“In various ways. There is still a lot of information available. To see patterns, separate them from incidents, make predictions: AI helps improve decision-making. Both in talent identification and talent development. However, there is still a long way to go in interpreting and contextualizing the data. The expert’s eye plus the data is the key and the best combination.”
– What has Artificial Intelligence already changed in football? Will we even be able to predict what will happen in a game?
“Artificial Intelligence has already changed the way club management makes decisions, managers choose tactical strategies, clubs buy and sell players, doctors prevent injuries and so on.
Football is so complicated that there will always be exceptions and surprises. The good thing about AI – if the data is consistent, valid, reliable and objective – is that it reduces opportunism and subjective decision-making.”
– Is there a chance in the future that we will see coaches using an AI assistant?
“Of course, like in chess. It will be able to receive strategic or tactical advice based on scenarios. For example: “Analyzing the opponent’s defensive game today, I advise you to replace player X with player Y in the second half to significantly increase xG (expected goals).” Or “continue to invest in academy player X because of the expected future value, rather than player Y, even when Y is performing better today”.
– How do you comment on the phenomenon, that more and more programmers and data analysis scientists are hired by the big clubs?
“It depends on what task needs to be done or what goal needs to be achieved. I recommend using data combined with the expertise of experts and people with experience. Especially in decision-making we want to reduce all kinds of human biases. Generally there should be a bridge between theory and practice. Unfortunately, there is often a “glass wall” between the data department and the football department. A data scientist with football knowledge and a football expert without data knowledge have the risk of misinterpretation/misunderstanding. Of course, lack of knowledge sometimes leads to “fresh perspectives”. I would recommend hiring at least one data translator, bridging football expertise and data expertise.”
– Is sport threatened by Artificial Intelligence? Could sports become more predictable and therefore more boring in the future?
“As long as you let human beings (and not robots) play the sports, it will be fun, amazing, relatable, emotive. BrainsFirst helps identify brilliant football minds known for their creative ways of playing. That’s what the majority of fans want to see: players with unusual solutions to problems on the pitch.”
– If you were the president of a big club, in any team sport, in which areas would you choose to make use of Artificial Intelligence?
“Everywhere there is room for improvement. Add AI to augment human intelligence, aware of ethical behavior and fair decision-making. But be careful and make sure you continue to understand what’s going on so you kind of have control over the basics.”
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