Wayne Rooney, legend of English football and Manchester United, takes a risk after retiring from the pitch in his coaching career in Major League Soccer (MLS). For DC United, a club that he defended in the final stretch of his years as a player, Rooney “revolutionizes” the scenario by using an unusual tool to manage his squad: Football Manager, a football simulation game.
In an interview with The Times, the coach says that the American team has a partnership with the owners and developers of the virtual game. In this way, information from scouts about the athletes is passed on exclusively to the club, which, in return, promotes the game and all advertising related to Football Manager.
“A lot of the market is in South America and we’ve done a deal with Football Manager where we give them publicity and they give us access to scouts, 11 or 12 of them, that they use in different places around the world to help to create the game”, said the coach. In the virtual universe, these scouts are responsible for classifying each athlete, their potential and technical attributes, such as finishing and passing, within the game.
Rooney also says that the inspiration for this partnership with the developers – Sports Interactive and Eidos Interactive – came from another renowned coach: “José Mourinho did something similar in the past”, says the former player. Today at Roma, the Portuguese coach used the tools of the game to discover talents in the past.
Football Manager tries to simulate a coach’s career in the virtual world, in which the user manages a soccer team and makes strategic decisions on and off the pitch. In addition to Rooney, Will Still, coach of Reims, France, became coach after years of experience in the game. He ventured out as a player, but hung up his boots to complete his studies as a coach.
2023-07-18 15:12:00
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