Scouts at Serie A side Bologna FC 1909 are to become the first to use Opta Vision, Stats Perform’s new AI-enriched deepest-ever data, in addition to historic Opta data, to monitor and discover prospective players that suit their club’s football philosophy, from multiple top European and global competitions.

Opta Vision sets a new benchmark for scouting and team analysis workflows by using computer vision and machine learning to remotely collect off- and on-the-ball player movement and combine it with human-collected player actions like passes and shots into a single source – all of which is being done to measure performance in terms of pressure and pass related metrics across multiple leagues.

Bologna FC 1909’s recruitment team will ingest Opta Vision data into a new internal data hub and analyse player contributions in different team shapes (aka formations), playing styles, in multiple situations and circumstances, for specific moments in a match.

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The multi-year partnership between Bologna FC 1909 and Stats Perform also includes multiple other Opta and Stats Perform team performance services including event and tracking data, physical analysis tools, fitness data, efficiency index reports for Bologna’s own players, as well camera systems and GPS trackers.

Giovanni Sartori, Director of Football at Bologna FC 1909, said: “The new Opta Vision data set represents a valuable tool that will guarantee the Club’s technical area an improvement in the scouting process, integrating traditional channels with a large study of high quality and rapid use data.”

Matthieu Lille-Palette, Head of Stats Perform’s Pro services in Europe, said: “We are delighted such a storied club as Bologna FC 1909 were so quick to see the potential in Opta Vision for their recruitment strategy. We’re confident it will give them far deeper insights across more players than ever before, whilst significantly simplifying their workflows, by combining both player movement and action data into a single source.”

“We would like to thank Bologna FC 1909, a Stats Perform customer since the 2015-16 season, for their trust in our new Opta service. They have a clear vision for the critical role of our most advanced data in their scouting activity, and we look forward to supporting them over many years,” Lille-Palette added.