Students from St Petersburg University create an information system for evaluation of junior football team players

The key idea of the project is to make the site as logical and understandable as possible for ordinary people, i.e. to improve the system of search for information about a football player, to show player’s statistics, and the history of their victories and defeats. Such well-known programmes as InStat, WhoScored, Wyscout can be considered as analogues. Yet, these sites provide data only on professional players. A distinctive feature of the development of our students is the provision of detailed information on junior leagues and squads.

The invention of U-stat team is designed to: structure methods for analysing the abilities of young players; establish a mobility system within junior clubs that enables players to develop into professional athletes; and collect statistics on juniors.

‘We propose to analyse the internal structures for the presence of potentially high-quality players at the level of the main team. If the team has personnel problems, we will offer our services to find those players who can strengthen the squads both in the main and junior teams,’ said Aleksei Pakhomov, Head of the U-stat team project. ‘Moreover, thanks to the inclusion of the services of a sports agent in the project, we will be able to: accompany a player in their football career; help them pass the screenings; and offer those clubs that will be able to unlock the potential of a football player and help them develop professionally.’

The annual contest of interdisciplinary projects the SPbU Start-up 2022, which is organised with the support of the Endowment Fund of St Petersburg University, takes place for the seventh time this year. Winners of the contest receive cash prizes: 350,000 roubles for the first place, 250,000 roubles for the second, and 150,000 roubles for the third. Research supervisors of teams can also take part in the contest: if their students take one of the three prizes, they will receive awards in the amount of 100,000 roubles. In addition, two small innovative enterprises established together with the University on the basis of winning projects will receive two grants from the Endowment Fund of St Petersburg University to develop their companies: 1,000,000 roubles and 700,000 roubles.

Aleksei Pakhomov, Head of the U-stat team project, revealed that to get into the world of professional football, it is necessary to either successfully pass a screening organised by a professional club or to play in a home match of the player’s club. The match is attended by a scout who selects players for the team. ‘Usually such screenings are organised at the request of the coaching staff or the sports director. Scouts view hundreds of matches across the country, carefully choosing the right player. However, a successful combination of circumstances both in the first and in the second situation plays as important role in this matter as a successful game on the field,’ explained Aleksei Pakhomov, Head of the U-stat team project. ‘In general, there are systematic problems with finding young players in the youth structures of clubs. As some of my comrades who used to be professional footballers put it, to get into a professional club, too many things have to work out well. This is the problem we want to solve,’ added Aleksei Pakhomov.

U-stat team includes the following students:

• Sergei Martynov — a second-year student in the Economics academic programme
• Dmitrii Linnik — a second-year student in the Economics academic programme
• Valeriia Timofeeva — a second-year student in the Law academic programme
• Anastasiia Darovskaia — a fourth-year student in the International Relations academic programme
• Aleksei Pakhomov — a second-year student in the Economics academic programme