Launch of AI platform PLAIER revolutionises and democratises player scouting in football

• AI analyses a club’s playing systems and squads and provides them with the appropriate data-based player profiles
• Analysis of the world’s largest aggregate data pool containing the player information of over 100,000 active professional footballers
• Highly accurate analysis improves the “success rate” of player transfers

(Hamburg, May 3rd, 2023) Data analysis is becoming increasingly important in paid football. The launch of the online platform PLAIER, which aims to revolutionise player scouting by means of artificial intelligence (AI), marks a new milestone in this development.

Launched in March 2023, PLAIER enables football clubs to analyse their playing systems and squads in real time and link the results of this analysis to the players currently available on the global player market. Every club that uses PLAIER therefore receives transfer suggestions that are individually tailored to them. To do this, PLAIER’s in-house developed AI analyses the largest aggregate global data pool in football to date, comprising over 100,000 active players from all over the world. The special thing about PLAIER is that the platform not only generates a ranking of players per position, but also weights players according to their skills in relation to the club carrying out the search and with regard to whether they strengthen the squad in its current league. Opposing clubs and their playing styles and squads are also taken into account in this weighting, resulting in previously unmatched accuracy when finding the right reinforcement for the team.

Players and clubs benefit in equal measure

The database contains data and analyses of nearly all football matches played worldwide in a relevant league in recent years. This includes matches in leagues that are less reported on in Europe, such as those in Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. In this way, talents who have always gone under the radar of European clubs now have the chance to be discovered by player scouts.

“Our platform revolutionises scouting in paid football and brings unprecedented democratisation to the sport, which benefits both clubs and players,” explains Jan Wendt, co-founder of PLAIER. “We open up equal opportunities for every player in the world to be discovered by a club and have a successful career. PLAIER enables every club to find players which are best suited to the team whilst also helping every player to identify the clubs which are the best match for their career,” Wendt continues.

AI analyzes playing systems and squads of clubs and provides each club with data-based player profiles that match them (Source: PLAIER)

Improved success rate

PLAIER’s AI is able to calculate the development potential of a player in their intended new role individually for each interested club.

However, the platform is by no means intended to completely remove the need for player scouts. Rather, it enables scouts to focus on relevant potential additions instead of spending resources on unsuitable players. PLAIER’s AI also supports the discovery of previously unknown players by identifying suitable candidates, i.e. those who are the best fit for the team carrying out the search. In particular, players with great potential and a low transfer fee will receive increased attention in future.

“PLAIER will really shake up the transfer market. The data will show that even players of an advanced age, for example, who may not usually be considered interesting candidates could actually be a great reinforcement for a club. Many young players are overvalued and many older players are undervalued. With PLAIER, we are in a position to help clubs to noticeably improve their playing qualities,” says Wendt.

Data availability increases transparency in professional football

Data and AI-supported tools like PLAIER create greater transparency in the player transfer market, making it easier for clubs to plan their finances reliably. “We are bringing financial market tools to football with PLAIER,” says Tim Schröder, who is primarily responsible for product development within the company. “With our platform, every football club’s CFO can calculate which sums they can write off for each player over a certain period of time or work out when is the best time to sell a player,” Schröder continues.

PLAIER is already used by several well-known European clubs.

To schedule an interview, please contact torben.kneisler@dr-p.de

About PLAIER
PLAIER (www.plaier.com) is an innovative online platform for global professional football that uses in-house developed AI technology.

Founders Jan Wendt, Tim Schröder and Johnny Wilkinson used their experience to set up PLAIER without outside capital in 2021. The goal is not only to revolutionise and thus democratise player scouting in football, but ultimately to understand every sport better than we do today through the use of artificial intelligence and to put it on a new footing.

Pressekontakt:
Christoph Lapczyna
DEDERICHS REINECKE & PARTNER
Agentur für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Tel.: +49 40 20 91 98 261
E-Mail: christoph.lapczyna@dr-p.de