The biggest European tournament of the year UEFA Euro 2024 is well-known for its unpredictable nature. Pundits mostly set their bets on the safe side, leaving the belief in fairy tale stories of underdogs achieving success to the most adventurous of punters. However, there’s another challenger incoming to the competition – artificial intelligence (AI). Working with a vast amount of advanced data it shows numerous successes in predicting simple results. But can it help when the stakes are high?
The machine challenges the human expert
While AI can provide impressive analyses, it still lacks a fundamental component – the intuitive judgement and first-hand knowledge of the game by the expert pundit. The most accurate predictions are likely to combine AI insights with the human elements.
You might ask yourself – «Why even bother predicting winners in advance when it takes some of the excitement out of the tournament?» It’s a fair objection. But in a world where gaming companies, fans and commentators are constantly challenging each other’s predictions, AI can bring a new and sharp analytical perspective. For those, who find fun in something else, there are casino games, for example, where you don’t need to bother forecasting. Try zacasino at the review link and find a lot of slots, table games and lucrative promotions.
The new wave of AI predictions
We’ve long witnessed expert predictions of matches and tournaments based on statistics, team performance and gut feelings. But now, artificial intelligence has entered the arena as the next evolution in sports prediction.
These AI systems feed large amounts of historical data and real-time input into their advanced models. Out come detailed probability assessments for possible outcomes and winning scenarios. Some of these systems claim to be able to predict the winners of Euro 2024 with up to 80% accuracy.
Advanced analysis from all angles
So what exactly are the key benefits of AI-based predictions for Euro 2024? Firstly, AI systems can incorporate a huge amount of data inputs – tactical trends, player and team statistics, injury lists, weather conditions, referee ratings and much more.
These algorithms can also identify and weight subtle patterns and correlations that the human eye would easily miss. By combining different data sources and analysis methods, they can provide more holistic and nuanced assessments.
In addition, some AI systems can use more advanced techniques such as machine learning and neural networks to constantly update and improve their own predictive models throughout the tournament.
Limitations and challenges
However, AI predictions are far from perfect. Firstly, their accuracy depends on the quality and quantity of the input data they are fed. Insufficient or misleading data sets can produce unreliable results.
In addition, some of the most human aspects of football – such as psychology, motivation, team chemistry and coach influence – are extremely difficult to quantify and model for an AI system.
The match flow is also a big factor – an injury wave, red cards or other unexpected events can easily change the match picture and make previous predictions obsolete.
The prediction field of the future
As these technologies develop further, we can expect to see more refined and integrated prediction methods. Perhaps combinations of AI systems, human experts and crowdsourced fan predictions will provide the most accurate Euro 2024 predictions.
Either way, AI predictions should still be taken with a grain of salt. Because just like the football matches themselves, the outcome of the tournament can have surprising twists and turns that even the most advanced algorithm didn’t foresee.
Your intuition or the AI’s calculations?
Although for the most passionate of us the personal preferences are above smart analytics and any data, time shows that informed guesses are always closer to the truth than gut feeling. Experience and football expertise mixed with AI smarts can become the unbeatable team in everything related to predicting results.
The fun starts when dynamic twists and turns of unexpected scores take place at Euro 2024, and games follow the script, that has no explanation – be it analytical data from AI or pundits’ raw understanding of the sport. Therefore, we aren’t there yet with 100% accuracy of predictions, but is it really a necessity, when players bring so many emotions with 90+ minute equalisers, that defies odds and logic?