Artificial intelligence (AI) could be the future "brains" of the soccer field. A team at DeepMind, Google's research lab, reports in Nature Communications today that they've developed a system called "TacticAI" that can predict the outcome of corners and provide real-time tactical advice in soccer matches. In tests, experts from Liverpool Football Club preferred TacticAI's recommendations to current tactics 90% of the time. The work could pave the way for the next generation of AI assistants that would help coaches select the best player formations and devise winning counterattack strategies.
TacticAI Integrates into Soccer Tactical Development [Image credit: Google DeepMind]
Corner kicks are critical in soccer, offering a high chance of direct scoring and an opportunity for coaches to intervene and improve team performance. As corner-kick routines are typically prepared ahead of a match, systems that assist in their analysis and improve scoring efficiency can greatly support human experts in their decision-making.
The DeepMind team presents an AI-driven coaching assistant that analyzes corners using high-quality tracking data. The team used geometric deep learning techniques to identify key strategic patterns. Their results show that TacticAI accurately predicts the first receiver and the outcome of a corner kick, both in terms of direct result and likely movement of other players, generating alternative tactics that led to a better match outcome.
The team trained TacticAI on a dataset of 7,176 corners from the English Premier League provided by Liverpool Football Club. They demonstrate its utility and find that the suggested set plays are viable and indistinguishable from real-world scenarios, as judged by five experts (three data scientists, a video analyst, and a coaching assistant at Liverpool FC). In a survey, users selected the TacticAI tactic over the existing tactic 90% of the time.
The technique could be extended to other team sports with set-piece situations.
Corner kicks are interesting because they are taken almost parallel to the goal and so are unlikely to result in a direct shot. Instead, they require a set piece routine. Typically, this involves either a long pass that delivers the ball into the penalty area or a shorter pass that allows a player to dribble or pass it into the penalty area. Therefore, corner kicks are a combination of individual skill and tactical play, with better quality corner routines leading to more goals. With AI entering the scene, it is now possible to have a coach who can learn from match footage and create the most threatening routines, which players can then simply follow. Of course, the possibilities on a soccer pitch are endless and players' form varies from game to game, so the extent to which these tactics will be successful in practice is another question.
