Sol Campbell, Ex-Arsenal & England Defender, Joins SportsTech Start-up TALNETS

In professional sports, identifying the right young talents can make a difference. However, finding those grassroot athletes proves to be a challenge, because scouting is mostly a manual & complex process and professional data analysis is reserved only for the big clubs. TALNETS aims to democratise the sports talent scouting process giving every young athlete a chance to be discovered. Its platform leverages ML and AI to extract relevant events and data from match footage for scouting, player analysis or content creation.

In his new role as Head of Football Insights & Coaching, Sol Campbell, a Pro Licence holder, will work together with TALNETS CEO, Darko Stanoevski. Sol will spearhead the platform’s capabilities to add further insights to talent identification data.

Campbell said: “I am excited to join this diverse, talented and ambitious team. As a young kid from East London, talent identification in my time was all about being in the right place at the right time. With TALNETS, I am joining a team who not only share my passion in sports technology, but a desire to democratize talent identification and to make sure every kid out there has a chance to be discovered, regardless of their background and where they are in the world.

On the pitch, Sol’s immense footballing talent was evident from the early days. Rising through the ranks at Tottenham Hotspurs, young Sol captained the team to the 1999 Football League Cup Final victory. This achievement saw him get the opportunity to lead England and at the same time become the second-youngest player to captain England, behind the great Bobby Moore. Sol’s footballing pinnacle came at Arsenal, where he won many trophies with the club.

Off the pitch, Sol applied the same astuteness that saw him succeed as a footballer, in business. As an entrepreneur, Sol has closely followed the sports innovation scene where he has been among the leading voices in the adoption of technology to advance the sport that he loves.

“Having first met and spoken to Sol at the recent World Football Summit in Sevilla, it was evident that we shared the same vision regarding the future of data driven talent identification and talent management in football,” said TALNETS CEO Stanoevski. “With data being the new oil, its application in underrepresented regions where talent identification and scouting is nuanced, will be a game changer. This is something that has been echoed by our existing partners in talent rich sub-saharan Africa, where TALNETS has a strong footprint. By adding more insights to this data we will be able to propel players, clubs, academies and leagues in these regions to realize their full potential.”

Founded in 2023 and led by an executive team with over 15 years in data management and software development business, TALNETS AG is a SportsTech start-up headquartered at the Technopark Luzern. Although the platform is still under development, TALNETS has already paying customers from Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Customers include Clubs / Academies, Leagues and Football Associations.

(Press release / SK)
Picture: Talnets team with Sol Campbell (third from left) and Darko Stanoevski (third from right)