C.D. Numancia and BrainsFirst sign for a multiyear project 2020/23

The Spanish football club CD Numancia and the Amsterdam-based company BrainsFirst started their collaboration early this month with a focus on the club’s academy players.

Their partnership is based on a cognitive test battery for the (potential) players of CD Numancia. Objective cognitive data to enhance the overall player profile already based on existing technical and/or physical data is the key aspect of the service contract agreed upon.

Moisés Israel, the president and owner of the club was personally involved in the evaluation and decision making, as he sees the value of cognitive skills for an increasing number of home grown players in his first team.

José Luis Felipe, the club’s CIO holding a PhD in sport science has been working with data from BrainsFirst since summer 2020. The head of this newly launched project explains: “We see the value of cognitive skills in respect to anticipation and decision making on the pitch. We really want to expand our player monitoring with these skills to get a more holistic understanding of the player potential. BrainsFirst has proven to be an experienced and reliable partner in this area”.

About BrainsFirst:

BrainsFirst BV was founded in 2012 to work on the context specific cognitive functions of elite football players. Since 2013, the data collection based on the own developed NeurOlympics test has proven the correlation between (young) player’s cognitive functions and future success as a professional football player. Several European football clubs make use of the company’s services in their daily work. In addition to national teams, BrainsFirst also supports renowned European clubs like Feyenoord Rotterdam, PSV Eindhoven or AZ Alkmaar with its professional and detailed player analyses.