"Players apply to join Tonsser United and you would need a certain number of votes and data to be selected,” explains Holm. “We would also ask their coaches for feedback and send surveys to team-mates.
“We held the first of our selection events in Paris in January. We invited 30 players in three age groups and we filmed them going through a training session with our coaches and then split the groups for trial games. They all had wearable devices with accelerometers to track their movement and touches."
“All Tonsser United players will go on a watch list that clubs can pay to have access to — we currently have 50 different data points for each player and will get to 80."
“We will filter the data we collect from the app to find players to invite to join Tonsser United. Membership will cost €3 (£2.50) a month. We don’t want to price out anybody and that’s the price of a bus ticket."
“The membership will give players more visibility, access to opportunities and tools to progress, including capturing more data and video to their portfolios.”
“I have known the company for quite a while, the best part of five years, and I have always admired the mission they have,”
They are providing opportunities for young players and there are some massive inefficiencies in the system: who gets selected, who doesn’t.
“Technology can help solve that problem, and that is what Tonsser has done. It makes so much sense that technology can help provide more opportunities for players but also for clubs scouting players.
“Academy scouting is labour-intensive and with technology, you can bring the costs down but also be more effective.”
Key to its success will be the data it gathers on the players as that is what the clubs who use Tonsser are going to be interested in.
“This has been one of the issues traditionally with youth scouting,” says Ankersen. “There wasn’t always data available and that is why it is labour-intensive.
“But Tonsser offers a whole new level of granular data on youth players. If Tonsser is successful, it can change everything in youth scouting.”
“The whole area of talent development is something I have been interested in, not only through my work at Midtjylland, Brentford and now at Sport Republic, but also through my research, my books and studies into the best talent environments in the world,” Ankersen adds.
“I am passionate about talent development, and I am interested in it from a systemic point of view and how you build a system that captures all the talent and not just a very small proportion of the talent pool.
“Youth scouting is very difficult, no matter how good you are and what process you use. It is difficult to get right because there is so much uncertainty about how a player is going to develop as a human being and as a football player.
“It is difficult, but that’s why it is important to keep as many players in the system for as long as possible because you never know what trajectory their career will take. This is what Tonsser does.
“We need to get away from the idea of saying a player either has it or they don’t have it.”
