This Company Says Its Software Can Pick Soccer Stars

About a decade ago, when Eric Castien was writing a history of Real Madrid soccer stars, he asked scouts and coaches what defined the greats. “They all pointed to their head and said, ‘It’s in between the ears, something complex, maybe even magic,’ ” the Dutch journalist and entrepreneur recalls. Could they be more specific? Not really.

Castien went looking. In 2012 he met Ilja Sligte, an assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam and a rising star in cognitive neuroscience. Two years later the pair founded BrainsFirst BV (originally called SportsQ), an Amsterdam startup that promises to identify the world’s next soccer superstars. Although there’s no peer-reviewed data to support it, the company claims its neuroscience games can identify natural affinities for the sport that may not be immediately obvious. A scrawny, inexperienced player, for example, may have a working memory and spatial awareness on par with Lionel Messi’s. The goal, says Sligte: “Match cognitive supply and demand.”