AI Revolutionizes Football Scouting for Ghana’s Young Talent

International football clubs are leveraging cutting-edge artificial intelligence systems to identify young talent in Ghana who exhibit traits of current or recent top stars, according to The Guardian.

Eyeball, a digital scouting company, has introduced advanced camera technology to gather detailed performance data from youth games in football hubs like Spain, France, Ghana, Senegal, and Ivory Coast, as well as smaller nations like Burkina Faso.

This technology tracks various metrics, including players’ running distances, sprint counts, acceleration, deceleration over short distances, and sharp 90-degree turns. Such data enables scouts to evaluate players’ suitability for one of eight specific archetypes, including roles such as “box-to-box midfielder,” “modern No 9,” “playmaking No 10,” and “inverted wing-back.”

Former England defender Sol Campbell is also part of this AI-driven revolution. He is involved with Talnets, another AI-powered scouting startup that operates in Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, and Ivory Coast.

Darko Stanoevski, the founder of Talnets, believes AI is transforming the scouting process by removing bias and reducing the influence of politics and football agents. He describes the approach as “democratizing a process that is very subjective and often driven by vested interests.”

These innovations aim to create a fairer and more accurate way of identifying football talent, opening opportunities for young players in Ghana and beyond to shine on the international stage.