From Ivory Coast to Qatar, the AFCON and AsiaCup have offered us the most formidable emotions and sometimes unexpected outcomes. It seemed a combination of the right team selection, good managerial tactics and Team spirit/will-power were the major ingredients for success. However, not all teams had these ingredients. Despite the presence of many talented players in some teams, they struggled to have the right combination of players on the field.

Teams struggle to select players who are the right fit for both their culture and performance needs. Player in-match decision making like deciding whether to shoot or pass when approaching the goal; coaching and game strategies especially when players who usually don’t play on the same team come together to play for a nation and injury prevention are some of the challenges national teams face.

The current way to solve the above challenges for most African teams has been the use of the collective wisdom of players, managers, coaches, scouts, and the front office, which is proving to be ineffective in modern competitions. Employing Artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics can help tremendously in addressing most of these challenges and improving the performance of a national football team.

This article discusses some of the ways that AI could help African national teams improve their performance and become more competitive.

Player Scouting and Recruitment

Players recruitment and team lineup has always been the subject of controversies, with fans not always happy with the omission of one or more players in the national team. It seems to be sometimes very subjective with no data supporting selection choices.

AI can assist in player scouting and recruitment based on player performance and team requirement. And this is not entirely new. In 2003, Oakland Athletics, a baseball team used empirical analysis of baseball statistics to compare player’s performance, predict future performance, and to understand a player’s contribution to their team. Learning from baseball, football team, Liverpool improved their 2014-2015 season win-loss-draw record of 18-12-8 to 30-1-7 in the 2018-2019 season.

By analysing player data from various sources, AI can identify potential talents, assess their skills and performance, and provide recommendations for recruitment. AI can analyse vast amounts of data collected during matches, such as player movements, passes, shot accuracy, and physical fitness. By using machine learning algorithms, AI can identify patterns, trends, and insights that may not be apparent to human observers. This analysis can help coaches and staff make data-driven decisions when selecting players.

Game Strategy and tactics

AI and machine learning can be utilised to collect and analyse data from matches, including player movements, physical fitness assessment, and other match-related features. Particularly through simulation-based studies, AI helps in understanding complex game scenarios, which can eventually be applied to design training sessions and test the tactics with the squad. Such insights help coaches decide which strategies and tactics are most effective.

AI can also help with Opponent analysis by studying footage and stats of an upcoming opponent, AI could identify weaknesses or tendencies in their strategy, playing style, formations etc. The analysis can help coaches develop effective game strategies and tactics to exploit the opponent’s vulnerabilities and optimise team performance.

Some of these capabilities are already being used by some football clubs like the Scottish Glasgow Rangers.

To push things further, An AI assistant coach could take input on team strengths and opponent weaknesses and generate detailed game plans including plays, formations, situational strategies etc.

Limitations – Team Spirit and Will-power

Teams with a strong sense of shared goals and team spirit are often more motivated to perform at their best and are better equipped to handle challenges and setbacks. This is because they feel a sense of pride and ownership in their work resulting in strong determination and resilience. It is well known in football that it is the best team that wins and not the best player.

Though AI tools can help with facilitating communication, strategy and collaboration, fostering team spirit and will-power requires more human touch than technology. As one study finds, team spirit or resilience rests fundamentally on transformational leadership, shared team leadership, team learning, social identity (developing a distinctive team identity), positive emotions, and relationships within the squad.

Conclusion

AI has the potential to complement human coaching by handling data analysis and simulation that can inform better strategic decisions, and recruit the right players for a team. National football teams in Africa should take advantage of such already available technology as discussed in this paper for a better chance at international competitions and to improve their overall technical performance.

However, teams should be aware that AI and technology is not the only ingredient to a successful team and that it has its limitations. Human intuition, leadership and relationships are still essential for any team.