Love it or loathe it, AI is here to stay. Whether creating medical twins in a health care environment, researching a web article for a mass audience or judging a potential offside on a soccer pitch, AI is part of a changing world. However, are FIFA and world soccer embracing it too quickly in their strategies?

AI and machine learning in sports had their roots in the Moneyball theory. Billy Beane and Sandy Alderson began to use this statistical method to identify undervalued players for their Oakland A’s in the 1990s. Moneyball was an innovative amendment to the established sabermetrics principle originally used in baseball statistical analysis during the 1970s. You may ask what this has to do with AI.

Like sabermetrics, AI and machine learning are established principles, with machine learning’s history dating back to 1943 and the concept of AI first named in 1956 by mathematics professor John McCarthy. As with Beane and Alderson’s Moneyball, only human study and innovation have progressed AI to the generative models incorporating algorithms, backed by machine learning, in use today. The point is that Moneyball and AI both stem from human innovation and indicate ongoing progress in this changing world you’re a part of and embracing. If you’re doing so, why shouldn’t FIFA?

A 2012 to 2023 analysis shows that AI research is making strides in emerging economies, with the U.S. and China leading the trend with a

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