Major League Soccer and ai.io set to provide talented players an opportunity to be scouted

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Major League Soccer and ai.io
Image credit: Ringo Chiu via Shutterstock

Football is very quickly evolving in the United States, with artificial intelligence-based platform ai.io set to partner up with Major League Soccer (MLS) to provide a service that allows all players an opportunity to be analysed, scored and seen by scouts from the MLS.

Available in December 2023, US clubs across the MLS, MLS NEXT Pro and MLS NEXT will have access to ai.io’s main product, aiScout – a free downloadable app that allows players of any geographical or financial situation an equal chance to be scouted by the league.

Fred Lipka, Technical Director of MLS NEXT, expressed his excitement for this game-changing product that gives every young player a fair opportunity.

“At MLS, we believe this partnership is going to be a real solution for some of the most important issues faced in Soccer across North America namely, cost, geography, and accessibility,” he said via press release.

“It is critical that we provide all players with an opportunity to access MLS NEXT and MLS NEXT Pro programming, and ai.io has built a fantastic technology platform that enables us to eliminate these traditional barriers and increase opportunities for players at no cost to the player.”

This aligns with the MLS’s Youth Development vision for 2024 and beyond, as Lipka stated in a recent interview.

“Youth Development is a vital factor is determining the long-term success of the league, however this goes beyond individual talent. Cultural shifts about the system in this continent (North America) are necessary.”

ai.io is a ground-breaking, award winning technology company, that provides technology solutions to generate & analyse amateur & professional sport data, providing sport organisations & players with real time analysis and reporting, while creating valuable insights and outcomes.

In ai.io’s mission statement on their official website, it states: “No athlete, player or talent left behind. We are on a mission to transform the way talent is discovered in Football.”

Their two core platforms, aiScout and aiLabs, will be made available to the MLS in December 2023 and will be in effect immediately after to scout talent.

The league’s investment in the MLS NEXT program show the priority in developing elite level talent in North America to advance the MLS as a league, and this particular partnership with ai.io is innovative and provides the league with a cutting-edge, in terms of realising potential talent.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

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Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

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