Analytics FC is a football podcast looking at the beautiful game in a different light.
Each episode, we’re joined by a guest from the world of football analytics to talk about the ways we can use numbers, statistics and data to better understand the sport.
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Tofa Fakunle is currently the assistant General Manager at Canadian Premier League cub, Cavalry FC.
Before this current role, he was the football operations manager at the same club, and then before that, a professional player.
Based in Calgary, Cavalry FC are one of 8 teams that compete in CPL, which is a relatively new league, having only started in 2019. The league is the only professional league in Canada, which offers a lot of potential to grow, especially with the World Cup arriving in 2026.
In this conversation we speak about how Tofa has to look after and manage the clubs’ budgets, the rules set by the leagues around squad building, and how Tofa and his team source players, for free, from all over the World.
We touch on data, the MLS, and a bit more on the overall football landscape within Canada.
Timestamps
0:00 – Introduction
1:28 - Tofa joins and gives some background
3:47 – Transitioning from player to front office, roles & responsibilities
7:55 – Transfer window and season timeline
10:41 – Access to data and spending rules
14:56 – Recruiting players from around the World
18:26 – The landscape of football in Canada & North America
24:25 – Cavalry FC squad profile
28:18 – Rules around building a roster
31:57 – Networking and working with agents
33:38 – Team culture
35:40 – Trading players for profit, thinking long-term
42:59 – Future thoughts on soccer in Canada
46:24 – Summary and wrap up
You can also see more of Chris chatting to analytics professionals over on his podcast too, right here: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisgill_UK
Episode 55: Ricardo Moreira, Orlando City (01:03:39)
Ricardo Moreira currently is General Manager and Sporting Director at MLS club Orlando City SC.
Now in his 7th year at Orlando, Ricardo joined from another MLS side, Columbus Crew, as Orlando's head of recruitment. Ricardo is highly knowledgeable when it comes to building squads around the constraints and regulations that MLS sides must contend with.
In this conversation we touch on a few of those aspects such as allocating playing budgets accordingly and getting the right balance of youth and homegrown players.
We then go on to talk about scouting around the world and how Ricardo uses his South American background to find great success there, as well as data, and promoting youth. A great insight into what goes on behind the scenes of an MLS team when trying to construct a competitive squad.
Episode 54: Ryan Beal, Sentient Sports (01:03:52)
Ryan Beale is the CEO and co-founder of sports AI company Sentient Sports.
After completing a degree in computer science, Ryan went on to do a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. Like many others, he was very keen to combine this skillset with his passion of football and one of the first ways he did this was via Fantasy Football.
From there, Ryan raised capital to fund his startup, and now Sentient Sports is working on some really interesting tech being used by professional clubs and organisations.
In this conversation we speak about different types of artificial intelligence and how this is having an impact of professional sports. We highlight scouting, decision making and how certain jobs are changing within the industry.
Ryan also shares a little more on GuardianAI, a tool that the Sentient team is working on that detects online abuse, in real time, that is being directed at athletes and officials. Just another cool application of how AI technology can add to the sporting world
Episode 53: Nikos Overheul, formerly Vancouver Whitecaps, Statsbomb, Brentford FC (00:54:07)
Nikos Overheul is an experienced football scouting and strategy professional who has spent time working with various clubs around the world.
Nikos was actually involved with Brentford FC in the early days of their data revolution and since then, spent time with Statsbomb, and Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS.
As well as this, Nikos has also operated as a consultant, aiding teams in their recruitment and alignment towards longer term goals.
In this conversation I ask Nikos about some of the intricacies that come with working in the MLS, how he thinks about risk and reward, and I pitch him a hypothetical job to try to better understand Nikos’ thought process when working with a new club.
Episode 52: David Ray, Plymouth Argyle (00:51:19)
David Ray is currently Head of Finance at Championship football club, Plymouth Argyle.
His role is a really interesting one, as it seems he is much more involved with the typical performance and recruitment aspects of the club that a typical head of finance would be elsewhere.
David speaks about the transfer committee they have, how they model and forecast the club’s income to ensure they can remain sustainable and how the club has been clever to diversify their assets.
Plymouth actually went into administration back in 2011 so to now see them competing in the Championship is great to see. Their budget is definitely one of the smallest in the league and David speaks about the challenges that this brings, but how it also forces them to be creative.
Ultimately the goal is to be a sustainable football club that can produce a squad that can compete. We all know the importance of getting recruitment right, but this chat hopefully shows you how a club thinks about optimising income to invest in squad building.
Episode 51: Gregg Broughton, Chicago Fire FC (01:00:39)
Gregg Broughton is the new Sporting Director at MLS side Chicago Fire, having previously held the same role at Blackburn Rovers FC in the English Championship.
Gregg has vast amounts of experience when it comes to player development, squad building and leadership. Prior to Blackburn Rovers, Gregg spent time as head of player development at Norwegian side FK Bodø/Glimt after spells as academy manager at both Luton Town and Norwich City.
In this conversation we speak about factors to consider when constructing a squad and planning for the future, but also the importance of a ‘club identity’.
Episode 50: Devin Pleuler, Maple Leaf Sports (00:54:02)
Devin Pleuler is currently director of research and development at Toronto based multi-club ownership group, MLSE.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment have a portfolio of clubs across football, basketball, ice hockey, Canadian football, and even esports. Devin’s role is to oversee each of the analytics departments and also stay on top of exciting trends and opportunities within the world of sports analytics.
Devin has also played and coached football, as well as spending some time working at Opta as a statistician. He then joined the group as manager of analytics for Toronto FC, before gradually becoming more senior.
In this conversation, Devin explains a bit more about what his role entails. We also speak about tracking data, technological advancements, and how Devin thinks about and decides on new research projects.
Chris Gill is our new host of the podcast, brought to you by Analytics FC.
Episode 49: Special Edition - How to buy a football club (Analytics FC x Ankura) (00:56:38)
This month, Analytics FC teams up with Ankura Consulting Group, an independent global expert services and advisory firm, to discuss the process and pitfalls of acquiring a football club. Alex is joined by Analytics FC CEO Jeremy Steele and Ankura's Jonny Gray and Jon Brown to discuss their new partnership.
Episode 48: Dan Micciche, Ex-England, Arsenal and Spurs Coach (00:30:13)
This month, Alex spoke to Dan Micciche. Dan is widely regarded as a coaching innovator whose career has encompassed stints at the FA, coaching England youth teams, Arsenal, MK Dons, and most recently, Crawley Town.
Dan talks about the England DNA approach, football and language, and how to create a set-up that fosters creative coaching.
You can find Dan on LinkedIn - he is smart enough to avoid Twitter!
We’ll be back next month with another interesting guest, but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc.
Episode 47: Special Edition - Brexitball Report with Andy Watson and John Kiely (00:48:08)
This month, we spoke to Brexitball expert Andy Watson and immigration lawyer and senior partner at Fragomen LLP, John Kiely, about Analytics FC's ground-breaking new report. The report examines the impact of the GBE regulations on the British transfer market.
The pod discusses, among other things, the difference between the English and Scottish markets, the impact on the Women's game, and breaks down effects on a league-by-league basis.
Episode 46: Mike D'Auria, Second Spectrum (00:19:47)
This month, we spoke to Mike D’Auria, Chief Commercial Officer at Second Spectrum, a tracking and analytics provider working in, among others, the NBA and the Premier League.
In our chat, we talked about how Mike came to work in the analytics space, what Second Spectrum do, and how clubs and media organizations are harnessing the power of tracking data to improve understanding of the game, which can be leveraged in different ways.
You can follow Mike on Twitter @mikewdauria and Second Spectrum at @SecondSpectrum.
Episode 45: Elliott Stapley, Sports Interactive and Football Manager (00:48:37)
This month, we spoke to Elliott Stapley, a software engineer working on the match engine and data for Sports Interactive’s Football Manager game.
During our conversation, we talked about how the Football Manager match engine works, how Sports Interactive use data benchmarking to guarantee the realism of Football Manager, and considered what Football Manager can teach us about the game in real life.
You can follow Elliott on Twitter @elliott_stapley and Sports Interactive @SIgames.
Episode 44: David Sumpter, Uppsala University and Twelve Football (00:37:01)
This month, we spoke to David Sumpter. David is Professor of Applied Mathematics at Uppsala University, the author of a number of books about data analytics, and the co-founder of football analytics company, Twelve Football. He also works for Hammarby in the Swedish Allsvenskan.
In the course of the conversation, David talked at length about the use of tracking data within football analysis, the industry’s shift towards more bespoke modelling and the impact of big data on football itself.
You can follow David on Twitter @Soccermatics and Twelve Football @twelve_football.
We’ll be back next month with another interesting guest, but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc.
Episode 43: Justinas Gasiunas, First Team Goalkeeping Coach at Hajduk Split (00:28:43)
This month, we spoke to Justinas Gasiunas, the first-team goalkeeping coach at Hajduk Split.
After ending his career as a goalkeeper, Justinas has coached with a number of clubs including Brighton and Hove Albion and Brentford.
In the conversation, we talked about the development of goalkeeping analysis, Justinas's processes for analysing opponents ahead of games, and the future of goalkeeping analysis.
You can follow Justinas on Twitter @GasiunasJ.
We’ll be back next month with another interesting guest, but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc.
Episode 42: Kim McCauley, Director of Analytics at Angel City FC (00:25:42)
This month, we spoke to Kim McCauley, Director of Analytics at Angel City Football Club. Starting off working in the media, Kim has spent the last year or so setting up an analytics department at one of the newest clubs in the world.
In our chat, we talked about implementing a data strategy from scratch at a club that has no players, working towards an NWSL and NCAA expansion draft, and how the capacity to be able to make mistakes is important for the implementation process.
Kim McCauley is Director of Analytics at Angel City Football Club. You can follow her on Twitter @lgbtqfc and Angel City @weareangelcity.
We’ll be back next month with another interesting guest, but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc.
Episode 41: Oliver Seitz, Business Intelligence Director at United World (00:36:21)
This month, we spoke to Oliver Seitz, business intelligence director of United World.
During his career, Oliver has worked with agents and clubs, he has completed a PhD and lectured on the topic of football business, he has worked on the scouting side of the industry, with coaching staff and with ownership groups. This depth of experience led to a very insightful conversation.
In the course of the discussion, Oliver talked about the processes of implementing data strategies within a multi-club, the importance of having a long-term approach to data, and how communication is key when working across a number of clubs.
Episode 40: Richard Battle, Founding Director of Left Field Football Consulting (00:20:50)
This week, we spoke to Richard Battle, founding director of Left Field Football Consulting.
In the conversation, we talked about the processes of implementing data strategies within football, the importance of getting data buy-in at the highest levels, and what the future of data in the football industry looks like.
To find out more about Left Field Football Consulting, visit their website: www.leftfieldfc.com.
We’ll be back next month with another interesting guest, but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc.
Episode 39: Peter McKeever, StatsPerform - Visualising Data (00:30:42)
This week, Jon spoke to Peter McKeever, Data analyst at StatsPerform and Data Visualisation Editor for Opta’s new website, The Analyst.
In their conversation, they talked about the importance of visualising data within the football industry, the challenges faced by visualisers and how the industry can use visualisation better..
Peter is on Twitter @petermckeever and you can read The Analyst at theanalyst.com.
We’ll be back next month with another interesting guest, but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc.
Episode 38: Oliver Gage, Canadian Premier League - Doing Analysis within a League (00:36:26)
This week, Jon spoke to Oliver Gage, the director of football for the Canadian Premier League.
Originally from Sheffield, Oliver’s career has carried him to North America via Leeds Met University and Sheffield Wednesday. Working as an analyst, he spent time with Houston Dynamo before joining the newly-founded Canadian Premier League as their director of football in 2019.
In their conversation, they talked about the various challenges faced by analysts working at the level of individual players, within clubs and then finally at the league-wide level.
To find out more about the Canadian Premier League, visit www.canpl.ca. Oliver is on Twitter @G4gey.
We’ll be back next month with another interesting guest, but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc.
Episode 37: Hugo Schoukens and Jo Van Hoecke, Double Pass - Assessing Academies (00:35:56)
This week, we spoke to Hugo Schoukens and Jo van Hoecke, the co-founders of Double Pass, a Belgian company that assesses, advises and educates (con)federations, leagues, clubs and individuals on optimising their talent development.
We focused on their work assessing football academies and asked what impact the auditing process can have on a club’s academy production.
If you want to find out more about Double Pass, you can visit their website: www.doublepass.com.
We’ll be back next month with another interesting guest, but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc.
Episode 36: Alex Farnell - The Impact of Head Coaches on Performance (00:21:34)
This week, we spoke to Alex Farnell, an economics researcher at the University of Lancaster looking into labour markets and issues to do with personnel, specifically using data from professional sports to illustrate.
We focused on his work investigating the contribution of Head Coaches to the success of football teams, and whether changing coaches brings the desired change to performance.
His other research includes looking at discrimination in the market for NFL coaches and looking at how fatigue and multi-tasking contribute to the in-game decline in performance of baseball pitchers in MLB.
His collaborative paper on head coaches is titled ‘Special Ones? The Effect of Head Coaches on Football Team Performance’ and it can be found online at www.iza.org.
We’ll be back next month with another interesting guest, but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc. Goodbye!
Episode 35: Tal Brown, Zone7 - How Predictable Are Injuries? (00:26:23)
This week, Jon spoke to Tal Brown, co-founder and CEO of Zone7. We talked about the problem of predicting injuries in sport, the impact of coronavirus on injury and the future of big data in the sports medical sphere.
Through Zone7, Tal and his team develop and apply proprietary artificial intelligence to help athletes, coaches and medical teams forecast injury risk and attain peak performance. He has worked with professional and amateur teams across the EPL, MLB, MLS, NCAA, La Liga, Serie A, and the Olympics.
Here’s what Tal had to say:
So that Tal Brown, founder and CEO of Zone7. If you want to follow Tal, he can be found @talbrown on Twitter and to find out more about Zone7 visit @Zone7ai on Twitter or go directly to their website: www.zone7.ai.
We’ll be back next month with an episode looking at the impact on coaches on team performance but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc. Goodbye!
Intro music is MMHHMM by LiamLRY. Logo created by Erik Wagner from the Noun Project.
Episode 34: Tom Worville - Analytics and the Media (00:34:51)
On the Analytics FC podcast, we’ll be putting out episodes every month with a thematic focus from using data to analyse injuries to quantifying the cognitive aspect of football, from working with agents to the use of tracking data.
This week I spoke to Tom Worville about Analytics and the media, focusing on the challenges faced by presenting data to a public audience and asking what, if anything, analytics can learn from the use of data in the media space.
Tom Worville was one of the founders of Analytics FC. From there, he went to Opta where he worked for four years. Since 2020, Tom has been The Athletic’s Football Analytics Writer where he has overseen the roll-out of a form of data journalism across their platform.
Follow Tom on Twitter @worville and read his articles and listen to his podcasts at www.theathletic.com.
We’ll be back next month with an episode on using data to quantify injuries but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc. Goodbye!
Intro music is MMHHMM by LiamLRY. Logo created by Erik Wagner from the Noun Project.
Episode 33: Christofer Clemens (German National Team) (00:55:28)
Joel and Jeremy are joined by Christofer Clemens, the German national team's head of match analysis and scouting.
Tweet us! www.twitter.com/AnalyticsFC
Find Joel and Bobby on twitter:
Joel www.twitter.com/MessiSeconds
Bobby www.twitter.com/BobbyGardiner
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Intro music is MMHHMM by LiamLRY. Logo created by Erik Wagner from the Noun Project.
Episode 32, Part 2: Xarius Desai (Brentford) (00:27:01)
We put your twitter questions to Brentford FC's Xarius Desai! Check out our previous podcast with Xarius here: https://soundcloud.com/analytics-fc-podcast/xarius-desai
Tweet us! www.twitter.com/AnalyticsFC
Find Joel and Bobby on twitter:
Joel www.twitter.com/MessiSeconds
Bobby www.twitter.com/BobbyGardiner
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Links from pod:
OneShortCorner https://oneshortcorner.wordpress.com/
Statsbomb list https://twitter.com/StatsBomb/following
GoalImpact https://twitter.com/GoalImpact
Intro music is MMHHMM by LiamLRY. Logo created by Erik Wagner from the Noun Project.
