Dutch great Seedorf bats for use of technology in sports

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

The Netherlands’ former great Clarence Seedorf stressed upon the use of technology in sports while speaking at the Dubai Artificial Intelligence Sport (DAIS) conference on Tuesday.

“I have been in the favour of the use of technology well before the FIFA introduced VAR or goal-line technology.

“Because there is a limit to which a human eye can see and not beyond it. If the action is transpiring very fast then you are bound to miss some part of it,” said Seedorf.

Seedorf is currently the head coach of Cameroon national football team and was an integral part of Netherlands team from 1994-2008.

“We need to be very intelligent to use Artificial Intelligence (AI). I have been using it in some areas of late.

“Years back AC Milan had introduced the use of the technology in their training programmes that really extended the career of many players up to 40 years.

“When people wrote them off that they could not play anymore. But the use of the technology not only extended their careers but also saved them from injuries,” added the decorated footballer.

Seedorf played with Italian giants Milan from 2002-2012 before ending his career at lesser-known Botafogo in 2014.

He made a whopping 300 appearances for Milan and won two UEFA Champions League title with them in 2002-03 and 2006-07 during his stay at the club.

He has the distinction of winning four UEFA Champions League titles with three different European teams. He also won the Champions League with his first club Ajax and once with Spanish giants Real Madrid in 1994-95 and 1996-97 respectively.

“Throughout my career my focus was to avoid injuries that could end my career. Now all the big clubs in the Europe have labs to take your biometric data and use it to implement with the strategy of the coach for a better performance.

“As a manager I don’t have too much time to spend on these things. I rely more on my instincts in taking decisions.

“I do the analysis manually and then ask my team what kind of data I need of a certain player. There are so many elements in the sports that go beyond numbers like emotion and motivation. And no machine in the world can evaluate them,” said the former Dutch star.

While batting for the use of AI and technology, he maintained that there should be regulations in the use of such things.

“Regulations to put a curb on the use of AI is very important. They should not overpower human beings.

“Only UAE’s minister for technology and Artificial Intelligence Omar Al Olama was saying the same thing. It should not render the people jobless,” he added.

Seedorf was sharing the dais with the celebrity swimmer and four-time Olympic gold-medallist of Ukraine Yana Klochkova.

Klochkova said: “I finished my career 20 years back and then the technology was not so advanced. I had to undergo a knee surgery. It finished my career. But now we have technology that can prevent career-threatening injuries in sports.

“For the young generation it is very important to use different devices. They can choose the best from the very beginning. We can choose the best and mould them into better and better,” said the former swimming queen.

Meanwhile, Johannes Holzmuller, head of the Football Technology Innovation Department at FIFA, informed that the football’s world governing body is aiming at a future where the match officials can take technology-assisted decisions without stopping the game.

The use of VAR has been severely criticised by certain sections of people in the football fraternity.

However, FIFA president Gianni Infantino always advocates the use of VAR in football.

VAR is being used in all the important football games to avoid refereeing mistakes and deliver correct decisions.