Technical director Max Huiberts:
data is playing an increasingly important role in AZ's scouting department

At AZ, data plays an important role in improving player performance. Data forms the starting point of discussions within the scouting department. That’s what Max Huiberts, technical director of AZ, says. Previously, Huiberts played as a footballer for, among others, AZ, Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Roda JC. In this interview, he talks about the increasingly significant role of Athlete Performance in professional football.

“Athlete Performance didn’t really exist yet during my time as a professional player. In the 1990s, technology was hardly used to improve players’ performance. The first time I encountered Athlete Performance was at Borussia Mönchengladbach. You could say they were ahead of the curve in this area, and German clubs had to be. German football was and still is very physical, so it’s important that players have enough strength and endurance. Otherwise, the opponent will score—in typical German fashion—in the final minutes.”

“Borussia Mönchengladbach only collected physical data, whereas nowadays, measurements are also taken of athletic and mental performance. Still, we regularly underwent blood tests, and it was impressive to see that our physical data was consistently monitored. Anyone who was lacking calcium, magnesium, or vitamins would be given supplements. Although it may seem old-fashioned with all the modern technology, this was a perfectly data-driven way to improve players’ performance.”

“Through companies like Ortec and StatsBomb, we collect data from more than 60 different competitions. This allows us to objectively determine the performance of the players and assess whether they would be a good fit for AZ. Algorithms support us in our search by selecting players who could potentially be good enough. For example: we expect a left-back to reach the byline a certain number of times, deliver a specific number of crosses, or cut inside a certain number of times. This requires a certain speed and intensity, which we also look for in the data. Of course, this is separate from the footballing aspect, whether someone is technically good enough to keep up. Data thus forms the starting point of the discussion.”

AZ also collects data from its own squad, of course. “We collect physical data using Catapult, the GPS devices that players wear under their shirts. This way, we can see how much distance a player covers, how many sprints he makes, and how fast those sprints are. We can measure all these things precisely, which gives us insight into the players’ performances and possible areas for improvement.”

“Beane has been involved with the club as an advisor since 2015, and his approach is well-known for a reason. Many clubs work with data, but we have the advantage of having Beane, a pioneer, on board. His insights help us filter out less conspicuous players based on data. That model is paying off. For the past seven years, we have been combining the ‘hard side’ (data insights) with the ‘soft side’: the mental aspect, whether someone fits the profile. This way, we scout more effectively.”

“We have gained even better insight into the fact that the less conspicuous player can be very important. There are footballers who are less flamboyant or noticeable, but can still be very valuable to the team. Jonas Svensson, for example, is such a footballer. As a potential right wing-back, he scored well in our model, but for other clubs he seemed less attractive. The data proved to be right: he performed very well for four and a half years and played almost every match. Thanks to data, as a club we remove the bias (the unconscious prejudice) from our selection model.”

“More and more clubs are recognizing its value and have a data department. I have no idea whether every club is making optimal use of it; I believe there are still plenty of opportunities in this area. There is increasing focus on player data, but I wonder if data is truly leading in football organizations. It will take some time before every club puts player data at the center.”

“AZ believes in Athlete Performance because it has brought us a lot over the past seven years. As a result, it has become part of our working method. It is important to have data at your disposal. But it is even more important that the data is actually used. Stick to the plan, as Billy Beane always says. We try to take emotion out of decisions and partly steer by data, no matter how difficult that is, because people like to follow their feelings. But objective data doesn’t lie.”

“We are constantly looking for new things to measure and improve, such as the position of the players. At the moment, we measure what players do with the ball, but we are also investigating what players do without the ball. On average, a player has the ball for no more than two minutes. So there is much more data on players who do not have the ball. We are now trying to distill insights from that.”

“I am convinced that Athlete Performance and data insights will play an even greater role in the football world. In that respect, football is still in its infancy; other sports use more technology than the football industry. At AZ, we try every day to use even more technology to work in an even more data-driven way. For example, this reduces the chance of a bad purchase, improves scouting, and allows you to improve player performance even more effectively.”