How’s the 2025-2026 season going?

[rainbow_unicorn]

It's not about what's available now. Its about what will be availabe 5-10 years from now. AI will get better and once its 90%+ correct on capturing stats it will be easy to grade/rate players and coaches.

Who cares about 5 years from now. My kids will have aged out by then and all the youth soccer buffoons will be in the rearview mirror. By the way, subjectivity will never go away in soccer evaluation. Top pro leagues have all the stats and more on players today. But it comes down to their gut feel and instinct on a player. Soccer is not baseball, golf or bowling...soccer is not a numbers/stats game. There are so many intangibles that a player can do to help the team that don't show up on a stat sheet.

 

[Carlsbad7]

Who cares about 5 years from now. My kids will have aged out by then and all the youth soccer buffoons will be in the rearview mirror. By the way, subjectivity will never go away in soccer evaluation. Top pro leagues have all the stats and more on players today. But it comes down to their gut feel and instinct on a player. Soccer is not baseball, golf or bowling...soccer is not a numbers/stats game. There are so many intangibles that a player can do to help the team that don't show up on a stat sheet.

I said AI being "90% correct on on capturing stats" to account for intangibles. Yes, there will always be subjectivity but overall AI will be able to grade / rank player and coach ability just by watching a game.

How it will work is 10 players will all be considered for a spot on the team because of AI defined grading / ranking. The coaches job will be to decide which one of the 10 players AI defined do they want to offer a spot to. For coaches AI will be able to tell their style of play, if the play favorites, etc. If you have enough data you'll be able to know if a coaches style will be successful. You could probably tell if a coaches style would be successful against specific teams as well.

You say that soccer isnt a numbers game. I think that is untrue. AI defining actions without subjectivity will enable it to become a very numbers driven game.

 

[John T.]

I said AI being "90% correct on on capturing stats" to account for intangibles. Yes, there will always be subjectivity but overall AI will be able to grade / rank player and coach ability just by watching a game.

How it will work is 10 players will all be considered for a spot on the team because of AI defined grading / ranking. The coaches job will be to decide which one of the 10 players AI defined do they want to offer a spot to. For coaches AI will be able to tell their style of play, if the play favorites, etc. If you have enough data you'll be able to know if a coaches style will be successful. You could probably tell if a coaches style would be successful against specific teams as well.

You say that soccer isnt a numbers game. I think that is untrue. AI defining actions without subjectivity will enable it to become a very numbers driven game.

No subjectivity in U.S. youth soccer sounds like an oxymoron. AI is already reshaping professional soccer games, just look at how underdog clubs like Brighton and Brentford use AI and data to challenge giants like Manchester City in EPL.

But in US youth soccer, personal connections still outweigh performance metrics. Coaches favor players who attend their clinics, have well-connected parents (incl. team managers), or other siblings in the club. On and on and on... You all know many of these. Even if some players are noticeably subpar, they might still earn a spot while AI screams otherwise. Unfortunately, no robust algorithm can override these dynamics in US youth soccer.

The real issue isn’t whether AI can meet the standards. For sure, it can. The question is whether youth coaches and clubs actually care.

 

[Carlsbad7]

No subjectivity in U.S. youth soccer sounds like an oxymoron. AI is already reshaping professional soccer games, just look at how underdog clubs like Brighton and Brentford use AI and data to challenge giants like Manchester City in EPL.

But in US youth soccer, personal connections still outweigh performance metrics. Coaches favor players who attend their clinics, have well-connected parents (incl. team managers), or other siblings in the club. On and on and on... You all know many of these. Even if some players are noticeably subpar, they might still earn a spot while AI screams otherwise. Unfortunately, no robust algorithm can override these dynamics in US youth soccer.

The real issue isn’t whether AI can meet the standards. For sure, it can. The question is whether youth coaches and clubs actually care.

I agree

This is why I keep saying that AI will be able to grade / rank players AND coaches. Coaches might be able to avoid the AI performance spotlight at first but eventually it will call them out if they're not at the same level as their piers.

Imagine an equivalent app to the soccer ranking app but for coaches. Once this type of info is available for parents and players its game over for the coaching buddy system.

 

[John T.]

I agree

This is why I keep saying that AI will be able to grade / rank players AND coaches. Coaches might be able to avoid the AI performance spotlight at first but eventually it will call them out if they're not at the same level as their piers.

Imagine an equivalent app to the soccer ranking app but for coaches. Once this type of info is available for parents and players its game over for the coaching buddy system.

I genuinely applaud your effort! But what you're tackling may be as challenging and complex as solving world hunger. I only wish there were a magic wand to turn your vision into reality, because I truly can’t stand the buddy-buddy coaching culture that plagues our youth soccer here in the US.

 

[Fieldsofgold]

Who cares about AI in the future. Can we get back to the current season and these awesome teams .

Thoughts on some colleges turning into prep for pro soccer instead of building a team , community and earning degrees. How long can one possibly play soccer

 

[SuperSoccerStar]

Who cares about AI in the future. Can we get back to the current season and these awesome teams .

Thoughts on some colleges turning into prep for pro soccer instead of building a team , community and earning degrees. How long can one possibly play soccer

Also everyone is talking about all this “data” ai is going to use. Where is this data coming from? Parents inputting stats? Everyone wearing trackers? Everyone on video? We are far away from all that data being available and trustworthy for the youth level.

 

[SuperSoccerStar]

Is everyone ready for league? Anyone want to take a stab at the final 8 making it to Nationals? Going to be a crazy year for 2010’s. This time next year we should see the cream of the crop accepting verbal offers. Going to be a wild year!!!

 

[Culer]

Is everyone ready for league? Anyone want to take a stab at the final 8 making it to Nationals? Going to be a crazy year for 2010’s. This time next year we should see the cream of the crop accepting verbal offers. Going to be a wild year!!!

Here's my Top 8 prediction:
1. HBK (no surprise here, individually really good athletes)
2. SD Surf (could we see some changes after their early exit?)
3. Legends (3rd time's a charm?)
4. LA Breakers (New coach, added really good depth and looked good at Surf Cup)
5. Blues (Will they score goals? Tied tons of games last season and still finished 6th)
6. Slammers (Strong finish toward the end of season and the only team to challenge the eventual Champs)
7. Beach (Lost a few players but will still be strong)
8. Eagles, Pats, LAFC, SD Legends, LV Surf... just my humble opinion.

 

[SuperSoccerStar]

Here's my Top 8 prediction:
1. HBK (no surprise here, individually really good athletes)
2. SD Surf (could we see some changes after their early exit?)
3. Legends (3rd time's a charm?)
4. LA Breakers (New coach, added really good depth and looked good at Surf Cup)
5. Blues (Will they score goals? Tied tons of games last season and still finished 6th)
6. Slammers (Strong finish toward the end of season and the only team to challenge the eventual Champs)
7. Beach (Lost a few players but will still be strong)
8. Eagles, Pats, LAFC, SD Legends, LV Surf... just my humble opinion.

I don’t know about Beach and Blues. Beach was pretty gutted. I would add them in your list of 8 and spots 6-8 are up for grabs. Looking at what breakers are trying to do and what legends did a couple years ago it is possible to just break in and have an immediate impact in league. It will also be interesting to see if the recruiting year does anything to any of these teams. Play tends to get selfish around this time. Some of these teams also have brutal first half schedules so you might see another Slammers run for some like they did the second half last year. It’s going to be an interesting year.