The Future of AI in Soccer: Coach or Computer?

This week, the scoreboard team took part in a preview screening for F1. F1 is a Hollywood blockbuster with an imaginative title that turns APX GP into Expensify, following the fictional Formula 1 team’s Twists and Turn.

Top Gun: If you enjoyed the soft spots of Maverick, Creed, or Pixar’s Cars Trilogy, you can enjoy all 2 hours and 36 minutes. Co-producing Apple and Warner Brothers is a lot of fun. Even if the action on the track is pretty fanciful, F1 fans will definitely get the kick from watching Toto Wolff (one of the film’s executive producers), Zak Brown and Stefano Domenicali, who will be appearing alongside Brad Pitt and Javier Bardem. FT film critics gave it four stars.

Like an F1 car, the movie is dripping with sponsors. The driver is SUP Heineken 0.0 on every occasion, and the uniforms for the APX GP team are made by Tommy Hilfiger (Lewis Hamilton, one of the brand’s ambassadors, was also a co-producer).

This is F1 attempt to invade the US cultural mainstream after it exploded during lockdown behind Netflix Show Drive To Survive. If successful, it could be in favor of improved media rights deals in the US. While other sports are fighting investment and regulatory fires, F1 still appears to be able to place long-term bets.

This week we’re bringing you an interview with soccer datawith Ian Graham about what the next phase of the technological revolution will look like. Additionally, there are highlights from the recent Business of Tennis Special Report and a compilation of news from John Text’s busy week in life. Read it – Josh Noble, Sports Editor

AI is changing how top football teams are ticking

Football has come a long way from the age when managers who want everything handle everything from team selection and tactics to recruiting players. Data and analysis have reconstructed modern football, but not everyone has acquired that trend. Some managers still prefer to bring in the feel of the intestines instead of numbers.

FT’s Simon Kuper spoke to Ian Graham, research director at Liverpool FC until 2023 for the Sports Exchange for a new series featuring some of the most influential figures in sport ownership and leadership.

Graham, founder of Sports Advisor Leed Nautis, did not do much to Liverpool’s Premier League and Champions League victory.

Liverpool has been working with Google DeepMind on artificial intelligence to improve corner kick defense, but many of their rivals remain less accepting of change.

Don’t expect AI to do everything for your club. “The general concept is, ‘I send all this data into my AI model and my model identifies the next Lionel Messi.” Graham says. The problem he has with AI is that it is a “black box” that even if it has improved, it finds “hard to explain that reasoning”.

According to Graham, English Premier League clubs are ahead of the pack of reliable data to inform decisions. Most clubs in Europe focus their energy on choosing the right head coach and calling out shots.

“It’s still the standard approach in Italy, Spain, and those teams are still doing very well in (mainland) Europe. It’s a traditional coach-led show, and it’s all tactics and that’s what wins the game.”

Traditional methods have drawbacks. “There’s a limited number of coaches who make that difference. That approach puts all the eggs in one basket, a coach basket. It’s similar to the number of transfers that fail.”

English clubs in particular have moved to a system in which committees, including coaches and data analysts, come together to determine player signatures. Increased data capture makes it easier to form smarter opinions about who fits.

“It leaves us with a more refined understanding of what is important and who is good. We can ask, “Does this player choose what we consistently consider to be a valuable option?” “Event data cannot be viewed.

But the real game changer could be the spiritual aspect of football, one of the toughest areas to map for data crunch. Players will provide clues unknowingly on social media and interviews, but assessing their mental state is not easy.

“In interviews, you get a lot of unstructured data, such as body language and facial expressions, that’s difficult to process,” says Graham. “That’s what AI is good at.”

Read Graham’s remaining insights here. And here you can watch scoreboard videos in the soccer data arm race.

Tennis business

The Wimbledon Championship begins on Monday and FT has a wealth of stories to make you feel good. Earlier this week we published our annual special tennis report. Here are the highlights:

For a low-ranked professional tennis player, life at a 150-year-old, finances are tight. Many people get huge credit card bills to pay for travel, coaches and physio. In many cases, there are very few prizes.

Interview: Former world number one player, Naomi Osaka discusses the challenges of returning to tennis, business and court after becoming a mother.

Who controls tennis? Players, tours and grand slams are all fighting for bigger slices of pie. The fight for money can become more intense as investment flows from private equity and sovereign wealth funds into sports.

Challenger Racket’s new tennis equipment brands, Furi, Diadem and Solinco, have made bold bets in sectors that have long been dominated by big established names such as Wilson and Babolat.

Amateur apps A variety of new coaching software and training gadgets can bring casual players a kind of benefit limited to professionals.

Tennis TiktokThe sport is making a big push to social media to connect with the next generation of tennis fans.

Riyadh’s Tennis Bet Saudi Arabia has poured money into tennis, sponsored tours and tournaments, and lure top players into the country. But is sports still in place at home? Our Riad correspondent went to find it.

But that’s not all. My FT Globetrotter colleagues also belong to tennis mode. They have asked famous Londoners to choose their favorite park court, but there are some tips on how to choose a racket.

Chart: Padel’s rise and rise

We know that Padel is growing rapidly, but how fast can the latest annual survey of sports, created for preorders for the app PlayTomic, feel.

According to the Global Padel Report 2025, the number of courts around the world more than doubled in 2024 in 2020. Last year, almost nine new Padel clubs were opened per day, but the UK has made its appearance in the most valuable market.

Grassroots Padel Growth explains why investors behind the Hexagon Cup, a professional padel tournament based on the tennis Rubber Cup, are currently aiming for the amateur league.

Highlights

Former skateboarder and Fubotv boss John Text has threatened legal action from three investors who supported the acquisition of French football club Olympics Lyon. Hedge fund billionaire Jamie Dinan and co-investors Alexander Naster and Edward Eisler are demanding that the $93 million stake be repurchased at Eagle Football Holding, which owns Brazilian champion Botafogo and Belgian RWD Morenbiek. Read the FT scoop here.

The conflict came the day after Lyon was kicked out of Ligue 1 by French football regulators due to the unfortunate state of its finances. The club’s debt was 445 million euros, losing 117 million euros in the first half of the financial year. Lyon vowed to appeal.

Meanwhile, the text is heading out to Crystal Palace. He agreed on Monday to sell about 45% of the Premier League club to Woody Johnson, the owner of the New York Jets and former U.S. ambassador for the UK. Some of the funds raised will head to Lyon, some will be used to reduce the debt owed to ARES management by Eagle Football Holding.

The NBA has approved a $1.5 billion sale for the Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA lynx e-commerce entrepreneur Mark Roar and retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez. The deal was initially agreed more than four years ago, but former owner Glenn Taylor tried to cancel sales last year, leading to a fierce battle for control of the team.

Transfer Market

Volleyball World, the commercial arm of sports supported by private equity group CVC Capital Partners, has named Ugo Valensi as its new CEO. Valenci joined Grand Slam Tennis, the organization that manages collaborations between the Australian Open, Roland Garos, Wimbledon and the US Open.

The last whi

Do Diego Maradona and 28-year-old physical education teacher Christian Gray have the same thing with New Zealand’s Christian Gray? Both names will forever be associated with Boca Junior at the Argentine Football Club.

Only Gray surprised the South American powerhouse when he scored an equalizer that won an 1-1 draw for amateur team Auckland City at the Club World Cup.

“I’m from a small town and it’s a long way from here and it’s a huge difference from this environment, so that’s a bit of a dream,” Gray said.

You can see the story of this underdog here.