Serie A Club Parma Calcio Signs Deal with Stats Perform for Access to the Most Sophisticated Player Identification Tool—Edge Recruitment

The Serie A side become the first club worldwide to access the innovative Edge Recruitment platform

CHICAGO & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Stats Perform, the sports tech leader in data and AI, announced a deal with Italian football club Parma Calcio, recently purchased by Iowa-based Krause Group, which will see the Serie A side become the first club worldwide to access the innovative Edge Recruitment platform, the industry’s most sophisticated player identification tool.

Since the emergence of technical scouting during the mid-2000s, recruitment analysts have been using data to assess prospects through the lens of traditional on-field position labels. Launched earlier this season, Edge Recruitment introduces a new method of assessing players, applying multiple AI-powered models to profile players based on their role in a team.

At the heart of Edge Recruitment is Role Discovery, a model which detects 18 different types of role all over the pitch based on a player’s spatial tendencies, contributions to different phases of play, possession involvement, distribution and shooting tendencies.

Through applying Role Discovery, recruitment analysts can directly compare players who fit the parameters of each role within their game model more objectively. This can streamline the scouting process to ensure that players, who play in the same position on the field, are not assessed like-for-like but instead are analysed in the context of the role they fulfil. Edge Recruitment then enables clubs to benchmark players and compare prospects profiling in the same role across key recruitment markets.

Tommaso Refini, Business Development Manager Italy at Stats Perform, commented: “We are delighted to be enhancing existing processes in place at Parma Calcio and supporting them with access to innovative unique insights. It is going to be a new exciting AI-driven approach to their scouting activity and, thanks to Oliver Krause and his team, we are looking forward to being a part of this journey.”

Oliver Krause, Director of Analytics at Parma Calcio, said: “When we acquired Parma Calcio, one of our pillars for the club is to become a European leader in analytics. Our first step was to find an innovative way to optimize our scouting and recruitment methods. After working with Stats Perform during the final stages of their creation of Edge Recruitment, I was extremely impressed with what I saw and eager to be the first club to use the revolutionary AI tool. We have already seen the benefits available by identifying young players from unconventional markets who fit the roles we need and can contribute in Serie A. We are looking forward to expanding our use of the data provided by Stats Perform and creating even more value from the partnership.”

About Stats Perform

Stats Perform is the market leader in Sports Tech providing the most trusted sports data and the latest advancements in applying AI and machine learning to deliver better predictions for teams, sportsbooks and a more engaging broadcast, media and fan experience.​ The company collects the most detailed sports data to create new experiences across sports. Leveraging the richest sports database, Stats Perform enhances sports competition and entertainment through machine learning and computer vision to create advanced predictions and analysis – be that for digital and broadcast media with differentiated storytelling, tech companies with reliable and fast data to power their innovations, sportsbooks with in-play betting and integrity services, or teams with first-of-its-kind AI analysis software. For more information, visit StatsPerform.com