Discover how our predictive intelligence can inform recruitment and player development decisions
Register InterestTHE MISSING LINK IN FOOTBALL ANALYSIS
A player’s performance is intrinsically linked to how they fit the team’s playing style and their chemistry with other players. Yet, despite being awash with data and statistics, recruitment and player development decisions are largely based on subjective judgements of performance and value.
Ai Abacus brings together a team of experts from across the sports industry, including specialists in artificial intelligence, renowned pioneers in sports performance analysis and innovative business leaders. All with a shared vision of disrupting the data-drenched football analytics market, providing greater assurances for key decision makers, mitigating financial risk and reducing the reliance on subjective judgements.
Using the latest artificial intelligence techniques, Ai Abacus aims to address two common challenges faced by football clubs and player agents:
- Identifying players who will fit the playing style and dynamics of a team.
- Achieving commercial success via effective and profitable player trading.
Our highly intuitive analytics portal offers direct access to a range of intelligence-driven metrics and interactive features, predicting a player’s performance, value and suitability based on how they fit a team’s playing style and their chemistry with other players.
WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?
Intelligent
We use the latest artificial intelligence techniques to develop unique player and team metrics to support decision making.
Predictive
We assess player suitability based on a team's style and dynamics, predicting chemistry with other players as well as future performance and value.
Interactive
With a range of intuitive features, our analytics portal provides an objective view of different recruitment and squad management scenarios.
Experienced
Our unrivalled team of industry specialists bring together a wealth of expertise in artificial intelligence and sports performance analysis.
MEET THE TEAM BEHIND AI ABACUS
On the Pitch
RYAN BEAL
RYAN BEAL
Ryan has considerable experience in developing and applying theorems on Game Analysis, Team Dynamics, Team Chemistry and Team Selections & Substitutions. His work has been recognised by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence in various publications and presentations.
Ryan leads the Ai Abacus Analytical Team, developing the algorithms to train our Neural Networks Engine, turning the wealth of global football data into predictive intelligence to help our clients make smarter recruitment and player development decisions.
DR TIM MATTHEWS
DR TIM MATTHEWS
Tim is an experienced software developer who has applied his Computer Science degree, Masters in Artificial Intelligence and PhD in Computer Vision and Machine Learning to develop innovative software solutions.
Tim is responsible for the interface between the Ai Abacus analytics portal and our Neural Networks Engine, providing our clients with direct access to our unique, intelligence-driven metrics and interactive features.
PROF GOPAL RAMCHURN
PROF GOPAL RAMCHURN
Gopal is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence in the Agents, Interaction, and Complexity Group at Southampton University. His research looks at the design of autonomous agents and multi-agents for real-world socio-technical applications including energy systems, disaster management, and crowdsourcing.
Gopal’s work combines a number of techniques from Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence and Game Theory and has been featured in various media outlets, including BBC News, New Scientist, Sky News and Wired.
Alongside Tim Matthews, Gopal developed Squadguru, a pioneering combinatorial optimisation algorithm that finished in the top 1% of Fantasy Premier League players in 2018. Squadguru used Machine Learning techniques to select players on a weekly basis to boost overall team performance.
ANDY FORRESTER
ANDY FORRESTER
Andy has over 10 years experience working in performance analysis with renowned clubs and federations around the world.
He began his career working for ProZone in South Africa as an analyst at Ajax Cape Town before supporting the South Africa U20s with post-match and opposition analysis.
In 2013, Andy moved to the Middle East to work with the Qatar Stars League, the Qatar Football Association and Aspire Academy, building relationships and managing the delivery of ProZone/Stats Perform’s tracking and event data. In 2018, Andy took on a senior role in StatsPerform’s market-leading Customer Success Team in the UK.
Andy joins Ai Abacus with a wealth of knowledge and product experience, making him well positioned to understand and deliver what football clubs need in today’s hyper-competitive market.
In the Boardroom
RAMM MYLVAGANAM
RAMM MYLVAGANAM
Ramm founded ProZone in 1998 after being surprised by the lack of analytical frameworks in elite sports, particularly in football. Its success was attributed to the innovative team of people that transformed the analytical processes used in team sports.
Ramm is driven by the 3Ps principle – great People make great Products that make mutually assured sustainable Profits. A principle that had endeared him to Mars Inc. for many years as their Strategic Business Development Director working worldwide.
Ai Abacus builds upon Ramm’s extensive involvement in transformational sports data and information businesses. As Chairman, Ramm aims to disrupt the data-drenched football analytics market, providing an interactive product that drives intuitive insights in player trading and performance development.
STEWART REGAN
STEWART REGAN
Stewart has a wealth of experience in sports administration, having previously been CEO of the Scottish FA and Yorkshire County Cricket Club, as well as MD of the English Football League Championship. He has also worked as a global consultant to both FIFA and UEFA.
Prior to a career in professional sports, Stewart spent 16 years in the brewing industry, including a role as UK Strategic Planning Director for Molson Coors.
Today, Stewart is the founder & owner of Ascend Global Consulting Ltd, providing strategic guidance and support to sporting organisations around the world. In addition, he is currently non-executive Chairman of Yorkshire-based marketing agency, Banana Kick.
DR PAUL NEILSON
DR PAUL NEILSON
Paul is a resourceful and versatile business leader with specialist expertise in sports performance analysis and technology.
Having achieved a PhD in Sports Analytics from Loughborough University, Paul worked for a number of businesses before joining ProZone where he led a global team of experts, consultants and scientists tasked with delivering a new generation of data-driven performance solutions.
More recently, Paul was the Director of Market Development for Hudl, a company providing performance analysis software to 4.3 million coaches, athletes, trainers and analysts across multiple sports.
He is now part of the Ai Abacus leadership team, drawing upon his in-depth knowledge and passion for sports data analytics to drive product development, innovation and business growth.
BARRY MCNEILL
BARRY MCNEILL
After 20 years working across the global sports technology space, Barry has a track record of building and realising value for disruptive, high growth and transformational organisations. Over his impressive career, he has established global brands including ProZone and Catapult Sports alongside a portfolio of consultancy and non-executive roles.
Barry is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Sportsology, a strategic advisory company empowering sports organisations to create and own their future. He is an experienced executive, motivated by and attracted to inspirational leadership, high performance environments, developing human capital, building commercial sustainability and most of all creating enduring cultures and organisational health.
LEONARDO DE MARCHI
LEONARDO DE MARCHI
Leo holds a Master’s degree in Artificial intelligence and is the current Head of Data Science and Analytics at Badoo, the world’s largest dating site. He is also the Lead Instructor at ideai.io, a company that specialises in providing organisations with Machine Learning and Deep Learning training.
As an expert in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Leo acts as an Industry Advisor to the European Commission and authored ‘Hands On Deep Learning’, drawing upon his academic experience and previous role as a Data Scientist for JustGiving and Apollo Medical Information Systems.