Sevilla FC has been present this week at the prestigious ‘Sport Summit Leaders’ congress held in Argentina, where it was represented by Juan Esteban Gómez, the club’s coordinator for digitization and continuous improvement. He did so by sharing with the attendees the innovation and data management model for professional football carried out by Sevilla FC, which was described by the event’s moderator as “a success story and a model to follow,” considering the results achieved
Since 2019, when the ‘Innovation Center’ was launched as a meeting point for the innovative proposals that the club offers to the sports industry, the number of projects that provide added value through work processes has been increasing. “We need to generate capital gains and new business lines, which is why the project is not just a one-time need,” said Juan Esteban, before gradually explaining the work that is being carried out. “Making mistakes is allowed, but not trying is not,” he added when explaining the creation of three key areas: R&D&I, Data, and Innovation Center.
The R&D&I area comprises four pillars: Medicine and Sports Science, Data Football, Analysis and Digitalization, and Performance. All with the aim of “contributing to the achievement of the sporting goals through the pursuit of excellence by means of research, development, and the implementation of technology and methodologies that improve the first team’s results,” in the words of Juan Esteban. Another concept conveyed referred to the importance of sharing knowledge: “If we want to innovate, it’s foolish to think that we have all the knowledge ourselves; we should invite people and companies that want to become part of our organization.”
The representative of Sevilla FC also explained projects that have been implemented and are the result of the organization’s technological commitment., one of these projects is AI FOOTBALL, which aims to search for and characterize players; AI RADAR, which has become a “lighthouse” for tracking the market; AI TRACKING, which has subsequently been commercialized with LaLiga Tech as TRANSFER TRACKER, a service for all clubs worldwide that helps determine the corresponding training rights for your players; AI TICKETING, an AI-based platform that predicts stadium attendance at Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán; AI FANS, currently in development to better understand and interact with fans; and AI PATROCINIOS, which enables sponsor scouting.
Juan Esteban concluded by emphasizing the importance of people with an inspired focus to build work processes based on continuous improvement supported by technology.
The Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán has become a luxurious venue for hosting events of
all kinds. An ideal setting that provides opportunities for hosting training
sessions for various courses offered by Sevilla FC through its Innovation
Center every year. Just this week, the Sevilla FC stadium hosted the final day
of the Master’s in Sports Journalism organized in collaboration with the
University of Seville and another in-person session for the Master’s in Big
Data applied to Football Scouting, sponsored in conjunction with the University
of Murcia and the Sports Data Campus.
The latter is one of the flagship programs offered by the club in its
continuous collaboration with universities, adding significant value to the
Sevilla FC brand. The Master’s in Big Data applied to Football Scouting has
already completed four editions with over 200 students who have honed their
skills and been able to grow professionally in a sector that includes sports
directors, analysts, and scouts. During this visit to the Sánchez-Pizjuán, held
on Thursday, students from both the third edition, who received their
respective diplomas, and the fourth edition, which began in March and will
conclude in 2024, participated. Professionals from various departments of
Sevilla FC, a national and international reference in data usage and
technological development applied to football, were the ones conducting the
training sessions. The special guest was the new Sporting Director of Sevilla
FC, Víctor Orta, who had already participated in previous editions as a global
reference in the field.
The following day, it was the turn of the Master’s in Sports Journalism,
marking the completion of its tenth academic year. Organized by the Faculty of
Communication at the University of Seville, through the Center for Permanent
Training, and sponsored by Sevilla FC, this master’s program concluded with a
keynote address by Ismael Medina, a journalist from Movistar. The event took
place in the press room of the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, named after the
illustrious sports journalist José Antonio Sánchez-Araújo.
Attending the event were Pastora Moreno, the program’s director, Enrique
López, the director of Continuing and Complementary Education at the University
of Seville, and the club’s vice president, Fernando Carrión, who highlighted
the club’s commitment to the media. He stated, “Sevilla FC has always
understood the importance of walking hand in hand with communication, hence the
firm commitment, since the beginning of this century, to have a robust
Communication Department, in line with the entity, growing with it and
sensitive to new technologies and the current digitization of information. It
is a source of pride for us to collaborate with the Faculty of Communication
through this master’s program from its inception, training journalists.”
Furthermore, the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán not only serves as a luxurious
“classroom” for its own courses and master’s programs but is also
regularly chosen by LaLiga Business School to host special sessions for many of
its academic offerings. If there was a visit from students of the Master’s in
Sports Law in April and students from Hong Kong in May, these days saw the
visit of students from the Master’s in Management, Methodology, and Analysis in
Football.
These students had the opportunity to explore the inner workings of the club
and its management in various areas and departments: youth academy recruitment
– led by David Martín Valle, a scout for the lower categories of Sevilla FC –
sports management – led by Fermín Galeote, a member of that department – and
data usage for scouting by Jesús Olivera, the Data Football manager at the
club.
“The VII Youth Academy Meeting concluded this Tuesday at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán with the presentation of the technological model implemented by Sevilla FC in its youth ranks and the anticipated updates expected in the coming months as part of LaLiga’s National Youth Academy Optimization and Improvement Plan. Sevilla FC is a pioneer in the development and utilization of technological tools aimed at optimizing all processes related to youth development. Additionally, through LaLiga’s Impulse Plan, the club envisions a series of investments for the future.
The two-day congress served as a platform for the club to showcase key aspects of using various technological tools in everything related to the youth academy. In the words of José María Cruz Gallardo, head of the club’s R&D department, ‘It is an honor that we have been chosen as a reference in terms of technology, work processes, and infrastructure. The player recruitment and development process is multifactorial, and we try to translate all of that into variables that we can analyze, quantify, and transform into a 360º view of the player. Everything is aimed at helping make the best possible decisions within the youth player development process, that is, within our youth academy’s strategic plan.'”
All LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank clubs, present in this seventh edition, exchanged information, experiences, and advancements within a joint project through which LaLiga aims to position Spanish clubs ahead of the rest of their European competitors. Special interest was shown in articulating a legal advancement that provides protection to clubs regarding young talents who, with a simple change of residence, leave their training teams.
“The future of Spanish football lies in the youth academies,” emphasized Monchi, the sporting director of Sevilla FC, on the first day. The key to improvement is sharing methodologies and information to seek feedback that aids in self-reflection, correction, and growth. “Nothing is luck, and the example is in this season. Initially, there was no bad luck, and now it’s not a matter of good luck either; it’s about reflecting, self-critiquing, and achieving the desired improvement,” explained Monchi.
