Exclusive Interview: Football and Artificial Intelligence with Camila Manera

Football clubs worldwide use AI to track and interpret competition, injuries, biometrics, scouting, and more. 

Librodepases’s Camila Manera discusses how AI’s influence on football is destined to grow.

The MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas once again welcomed thousands of international artificial intelligence professionals for the Ai4 Conference in August 2024. AI4 is the world’s largest gathering of AI innovators.

These industry leaders came from a plethora of industries, including researchers, academics, government workers, investors, analysts, and startup entrepreneurs.

SportsBoom.com obtained an exclusive interview with Camila Manera, the chief AI strategist for Librodepases (known simply as LDP among football professionals outside the Spanish-speaking world). 

LDP is an AI-powered scouting platform that helps football clubs, agents, players, and other participants connect efficiently. As one of Ai4’s distinguished speakers, Ms. Manera was excited to discuss what she believes to be football's natural evolution.

Enriching Club/Coach Knowledge and Growing Fan Engagement

“Historically, when it came time to update rosters, clubs often made the mistake of trading players for similarly performing players. AI tools help clubs, particularly head coaches, by offering them specific, accurate data to find players who’ll work better within their system,” Manera told betting news site SportsBoom.com. 

As a native Argentinian and lifelong football fan, Manera was frustrated when budding clubs didn’t reach their full potential. Whether it was due to the sophistication of their play or conflicting personalities in the locker room, she aimed to develop a tool to streamline better scouting practices. 

“The transparency of this data is also good for fan engagement. In Argentina, for example, when fans hear about new prospects over social media, they’ll say ‘No!’ or ‘Why?’ because they don’t understand the metrics involved in that decision

AI for Personalized Game Experiences

“We have so many data based on statistics, but we don’t possess the soft parts of sports. That’s important for understanding the players and helping head coaches (second assistants and others) work profitably with them.”

Mathematical statistics have long been a part of sports, and clubs started leaning into in-depth analytics at the turn of the 21st century. Manera has no plans to mess with the strides made in the Moneyball era. 

Analytics are an enormous part of scouting; however, she feels clubs will fall short if they ignore “soft” issues, namely all possible variables that live beyond the numbers.

“Putting all the soft information together—summarized with the help of AI—will highlight performance abilities with other clubs, combine that with scouted soft/social information, and set up ratings like those seen on Google reviews, Trip Advisor, or LinkedIn. So, just like how we choose a place to eat, clubs can review player biometrics and how they work with others. In sports, this is going to be huge.” 

Gambling on AI

“In many ways, gambling companies are more advanced than football clubs regarding the game's predictive aspects. In Latin America, many big sponsors are from the betting world, and these betting companies have a very aggressive marketing campaign to show off their prominence in football. AI and collected data will only increase their profile within the game and improve their predictive accuracy. While good for the sport’s visibility, some restrictions may have to be considered due to football’s popularity among youths.”

Bookmakers have always relied on analytics to offer the most competitive numbers. In the not-too-distant future, they will be one of thousands of industries forced to choose whether to integrate aspects of artificial intelligence. Either choice has the potential to significantly affect the essence of sports gaming. 

“In South America, gambling is just as popular as in the United Kingdom and the USA. Although there are numerous restrictions and policies, and even with my work on a campaign to prevent kids from betting on all matches in Argentina, it’s not enough. Children understand technology extremely well, and advancements in data and AI make gambling more and more accessible on technological platforms. It doesn’t need to be avoided but controlled to keep the sport fun and not a problem for the future.”

AI Involvement in the Development of Young Talent

“The magic of AI allows us to process tons of information to provide a wide array of insights. We now have access to data that has never been available, which allows us to monitor athletes from a young age. Not only can it assess skills, combat weaknesses, and predict how to train and develop, but it also tracks those important soft skills. Nobody cares much about this now, but a player’s personality and mentality are key to performance and longevity. These aspects, combined with social media presence, will help young players develop their skills and brand and help them grow an audience.”

Worldwide Integration

“Alongside football, the other game being played on the world stage is profitization. AI is growing in almost every business, and integration is a challenge for them all. It’s particularly tough in sports because players and other parts constantly move around. I believe Europe is leading this race because they have invested so much. For ten years, they’ve been making advances in technology and infrastructure. For example, Manchester City uses sports science and engineering in far more advanced ways than the United States or South America have even tried.”

“Europe has a long-form tradition while other countries often have shorter seasons and tournaments. Fortunately, this is changing. The United States has embraced league play, and South American countries are creating new teams. The Middle East also wishes to compete with Europe, but they’re still in the planning stage. Until these measures mature, Europe will stay ahead of the evolution.”

Personalization of Clubs and Branding

“So far, I haven’t seen much fan personalization with TV or streaming of the matches. I am, however, seeing the surge in teams’ branding and merchandise. AI is efficient in creating designs and establishing branding across the globe.”

A club’s win/loss record is no longer the sole measure of their success. If kids in Australia wear Tottenham caps to school, the Spurs record a victory without even hitting the pitch. Manera is a staunch believer in what should already be obvious. A club, or even a sport, with more viewers is more marketable and, therefore, more successful. Winning remains the overall goal, but a successful team often has access to more resources to achieve its goals.  

“Other personalization advancements come in the form of short videos. Young people and others aren’t currently wired with the attention span to watch every two-hour match. But we’re all on our phones, and AI can detect and create highlight videos faster, so the game remains an interactive experience. Finally, AI will soon be a big part of translation. Without AI, it would be impossible to translate matches into all the world's languages. However, as AI platforms achieve greater accuracy and efficiency, more countries worldwide will be able to connect with the game.”