FOCUS Sports Business School and Comparisonator have established an Academic Partnership connecting the practical use of data and artificial intelligence in football recruitment with executive education.
The collaboration will focus on how clubs translate player analysis into recruitment decisions that serve their sporting strategy. It will examine AI’s contribution to player identification, evaluation and squad building, alongside the contextual understanding and professional judgement these decisions require.
A central part of the collaboration will be joint analyses through FOCUS Intelligence Hub, combining Comparisonator’s data with FOCUS’s perspective on sporting strategy and organisational decision-making. These analyses will examine how clubs interpret player performance, assess recruitment options and align squad building with strategic priorities.
The partnership will engage participants in the MBA in Football Strategy & Leadership and the Executive Diploma in Sporting Directorship, alongside FOCUS Leaders Network members, to explore the relationship between analytical evidence, sporting context and professional judgement.
“Data becomes valuable when it helps leaders make better decisions. Through this partnership with Comparisonator, we aim to examine what recruitment evidence means in practice and how leaders and clubs can act on it,” said Ahmet Hızal, Director of FOCUS Sports Business School.
“AI can bring complex football data into clear, practical insights very quickly, but human experience and judgement remain essential. Through this Academic Partnership with FOCUS, we can bring these two sides together and share our practical experience with the next generation of football leaders,” said Tarkan Batgun, CEO of Comparisonator and Author of The Book of Scouting.
Comparisonator
Comparisonator is an AI-powered football intelligence platform helping clubs and football professionals turn complex player and team data into clear, practical insights.
Through tools covering player recruitment, comparison, Virtual Transfer, squad analysis, physical data and CompAI, Comparisonator helps decision-makers identify and evaluate players and reach relevant football intelligence quickly.
The principle is technology should support football professionals along their experience and judgement.
Visit Comparisonator at https://comparisonator.com
