Challenge

Better Collective faced the challenge of creating an optimal football line-up builder, hampered by slow processing times that detracted from user experience. The tool needed to account for complex variables like player affiliations and budget constraints, making it a sophisticated and computationally intensive task.

Solution

To address this, a combination of warm starts, model optimisation, and a pseudo-heuristic approach was implemented, significantly reducing solution times. These strategies, tailored through extensive benchmarking and collaborative decision-making, enhanced both the speed and flexibility of the line-up builder.

How AI added value

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning were instrumental in rapidly optimising the squad builder, achieving a more than 16x speedup within a four-week timeframe. Additionally, AI/ML allowed for the implementation of scalable heuristic levels, providing Better Collective with the ability to adjust the system's operational capacity as needed.

Better Collective, a prominent sports betting media group, acquired a company with a well-known e-soccer community platform. This acquisition was a part of Better Collective's strategic ambition to become a leading digital sports media group, with plans to integrate and develop products and services across its media portfolio. Now Better Collective offers valuable insights into e-soccer through an optimised line-up builder, and as such has become a key resource for passionate e-soccer players looking to optimise their team composition.

The need to improve the acquired company's existing features arises from the increasing demand for more efficient and user-friendly tools in the e-soccer community. The acquisition by Better Collective could lead to more significant investments in the platform, enhancing its capabilities and user experience. This involved the development of more sophisticated algorithms and user interfaces, making the process of building and managing virtual football teams more intuitive and engaging for gamers.

A good starting point

Before the AI solution was implemented, Better Collective's line-up builder was functional but slow, taking around 40 seconds to build an optimal line-up. This sluggish performance was not in line with the fast-paced demands of users and the dynamic nature of football line-up building.

Identifying the need

The primary need identified was a significant reduction in solution time without compromising the quality of line-up selection. Better Collective required a solution that could incorporate user preferences and complex variables, like player affiliations, within a much shorter time frame to enhance overall user satisfaction.

Aligning with the strategic goals

Better Collective's overarching goal was to establish itself as a market leader in line-up building tools by offering a highly efficient, user-friendly platform. This project was a strategic step towards integrating advanced technological solutions to meet evolving market demands and user expectations in the sports analytics domain.