Reading have launched a new research partnership with Vision AI firm Score and become the first professional football club to appoint a head of AI.
Stuart Fenton has taken on the new role, which the League One club says will explore how artificial intelligence can support performance analysis and wider club operations.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Score on this ground-breaking Vision AI research initiative,” Fenton said. “I see immense potential in co-developing these Vision AI agents to revolutionise how we analyse performance and begin to create the ‘Reading model’.”
The one-year collaboration will focus on developing Score’s video-analysis technology, which the company says can process match footage significantly faster than current methods. Score chief executive Maxime Sebti said the partnership would give Reading “better tools to see patterns they couldn’t see before”, helping with decision-making across the club.
Reading say the work will be used to support match analysis, recruitment, tactical planning and broader operations, including fan experience and stadium systems. Research and development will be shared between the club and Score, with any intellectual property jointly owned.
Former Reading manager Brian McDermott, who led the club to the Premier League in 2012, will contribute to the project. Score’s research team, led by co-founder Dr Peter Cotton, is already working with Reading’s football and performance departments.
